ratcreature

So, LJ migrated my Scrapbook, which is a good thing, because apparently the old system had already corrupted ten of my pictures so they couldn't migrate them now, when I myself had only noticed two that had been messed up while I happened to look at old posts. However I would have liked the migration report a little more informative when listing the damaged ones, because if you haven't titled your pictures, the report doesn't even give you the folder. Or, you know, if LJ's Scrapbook hadn't corrupted my pictures in the first place, but I've learned not to set my expectations too high when it comes to LJ.

The thing is, when the old Scrapbook was still around and destroyed one of my pictures, I could usually still see the preview picture that had been created, and of course the folder and the position the picture was in. I asked support whether they might be able to give me that information at least about the pictures they corrupted, but the reply, while prompt, wasn't helpful. They could just tell me that they passed this on to the migration team as suggestion, so that maybe the log could become more informative for others who aren't migrated yet.

Thanks to the DW search function I have at least found posts for about half of the images when they were embedded or linked, and could reconstruct what they had been, and restore those. But I'm still at a loss what some of the other pictures were. Well, hopefully the new system won't eat any more of my stuff from now on.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/474968.html. | comments

I haven't been online as much as usual (hence the total lack of public fannish posts and the like around here recently), but I had set up my jamesmcavoywithsloths Tumblr with a queue to post a picture once a day automatically even when I'm not around, only the last few days that feature seems to be broken? I've seen some official post mentioning problems over the weekend, but my queue didn't post today either. Is this still non-functional for other people too? *kicks Tumblr*

Unrelated, I find it a little worrisome that I didn't smell that one of my rats had peed on my bed right next to me just now, but only noticed it due to the wetness. Granted, the spot was small, but now I worry that I might not notice either if I myself smelled of rat pee, because I've become habituated to small amounts of it. (Though I definitely smell if I forget to change their wet bedding in the cage every other day, so I'm not completely desensitized but still.) Like the people in the hoarding reality tv shows who don't smell their house is filled with cat poop or such. Though any potential problem is probably mitigated by my habit to change from regular clothes to rattier (pun intended) indoor clothes most of the time before I interact with them, to not have holes chewed into everything I wear. I mean, their social grooming efforts are probably well meant, but this just doesn't work on fabric as it does on fur.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/474616.html. | comments

My four rats are now in their rowdy adolescence/early adulthood, and scuffle quite a bit. It's not that they injure each other seriously *knocks on wood*, but now I have squeaking balls of squabbling rats roll around, that box and kick and claw at each other, and for some reason they really like to do that on my bed. Perhaps because it is soft. Unfortunately I am also often on said bed while they do this, and they aren't considerate of me while they fight and move around in this space I already occupy. So I end up with scratches.

Just now Rusty practically gouged my right arm (bleeding scratches!) as he ran and scrabbled across me. I think they don't realize that non-furred animals don't take to claw contact quite as easily. I try to startle them out of the fights and relocate them to the floor, but it has little educational effect so far. They still think my bed is a great place to settle their differences.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/470621.html. | comments

I forgot to rec one XMFC AU yesterday:

Engine of Creation series, by Regann. Slash, Charles/Erik. WIP (ca. 77,000 words so far in currently two completed stories)
This is a space travel AU that mixes XMFC with elements from Andromeda, plus some alpha-omega dynamics. I'm really enjoying the action-adventure and team here, and Moira as ship AI is great.

And now to the non-XMFC AU recs:

due South

Sheepskin, by theleaveswant. Het, Diefenbaker/Francesca. (ca. 7,400 words)
This has a really cool premise, i.e. that Diefenbaker is a lycanthrope who is a human once a month, and a wolf the rest of the time.

Eagle of the Ninth

Dealing with the Consequences, by nemo_r. Slash, Marcus/Esca, Marcus/Esca/Seal Prince. (ca. 61,160 words)
In this AU Marcus and Esca don't kill the Seal Prince, but capture him.

Merlin

Loaded March, by Footloose. Slash, Merlin/Arthur. (ca. 490,420 words; the series is a WIP, the individual stories are complete)
This is a modern AU in which they are soldiers, but with magic still existing. I actually haven't gotten around to reading the last novel-length part, but I liked the worldbuilding and the action-adventure iirc overall.

Let Us Dare, by kianspo. Slash, Merlin/Arthur. (ca. 29,500 words)
In this AU Uther died instead of Ygraine when Arthur was born. I enjoyed how canon adventures where mixed into this different Camelot.

SGA

Deprivation, by mikes_grrl. Slash, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. (ca. 9,300 words)
This is a Conversion AU where John doesn't recover completely. As everyone knows I have a really soft spot for Bug!John, and this is a good one of the genre, with nice alien details.

Suits

The New Deal, by Closer. Gen. (ca. 33,500 words)
In this AU Harvey and Mike meet earlier than in canon. Harvey is still a student and Mike a teenage runaway.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/470066.html. | comments

An absence which could not be more there, by aesc. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 18,000 words)
This is a modern day AU, still with powers, and has quite lovely worldbuilding detail. I liked the exploration of dating with telepaths, and thought it was quite neat how the story contrasted the intrusion of telepathy with the way Erik can also glean information with his powers.

Exegesis, by aesc. Slash, Charles/Erik. WIP (ca. 10,500 words so far)
This is a kind of dystopian fantasy AU with powers and so far quite intriguing worldbuilding.

Omega, by apokteino. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 44,660 words)
In this AU mutants are public but segregated on Genosha, and human born mutants are sent there based on gene tests. Charles parents hid him. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this AU.

A Man of Light Virtue, by cygnaut. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 13,500 words)
Charles with telepathy working as prostitute tends to challenge my suspension of disbelief for AU scenarios, but I could at least see this story's premise getting Charles there (more or less a mix of sugar daddy and telepathic scam, that gives Charles good money without stealing, and perhaps was a path of least resistance kind of thing). I liked the atmosphere, and the relationship. Also that it was not a reformation/rescue kind of scenario.

Strict Machine, by euphorbic. Slash, Charles/Erik. WIP (ca. 47,600 words so far)
This is a biker gang AU, without powers. Usually I'm not that fond of no-powers AUs, but this one is very vivid, so it really pulled me in, and I'm enjoying it.

Beloved of ravens, by khaleesian. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 19,100 words, there is also a WIP sequel with about 32,000 words so far)
This is a vivid Viking!AU, which I particularly like because they still have their powers.

Mutually Beneficial Transaction, by Pookaseraph. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 41,500 words)
This is a no powers, modern AU, but quite an enjoyable romance trope story. Erik and Charles meet through a sugar daddy website, because Erik wants to finance college debt and Charles wants something easy and convenient. Of course they fall in love, yet are both clueless.

A Boy and his Bear, by PoorMedea. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 4,450 words)
This is a fusion with A Bear Named Winnie. So there is fluff with a cute bear cub, and a fix-it via bear power.

Phoenix Street, by Quietbang. WIP (ca. 6,900 words so far)
This is a modern AU, but still with powers. Mutants are public, Erik is a cop and Charles a college student, there is a murder mystery. I'm enjoying the worldbuilding here quite a bit. Unfortunately it's not been updated recently.

In London, by rrhiab. Slash, Charles/Erik. WIP (ca. 29,000 words so far)
This is a Victorian AU, with powers, and so far I'm enjoying the setup quite a lot. It has Charles doing charity work, partly as cover to find more mutants, and Erik as a dock worker who tries to find his mother's killer.

Start a War, by stewardess. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 34,000 words)
In this AU Erik is a cyborg.

A Degree of Hope, by TigerDragon. Het and femslash, Charles/female!Erik, Raven/female!Erik. (ca. 77,000 words)
This is a female!Erik AU but has AU worldbuilding that goes beyond this, so I enjoyed it a lot, even though I'm not particularly fond of genderswitch AUs. The switch here tied into the worldbuilding of a somewhat more mundane introduction of mutants to the public than an international nuclear missiles crisis. I enjoyed the take on how a day-to-day mutant culture might develop in the parallels with queer history with clubs and clinics and such.

Father Charles series, by Yahtzee. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 52,800 words; the series is a WIP, the individual stories are complete)
This one has Charles as a Catholic priest, and also the interesting twist that their mutant powers seem to exist in some way, but they are less aware of them.

In Shadow and Silence, by Yahtzee. (ca. 13,000 words)
This AU setup is basically a vehicle for extreme h/c, but really enjoyable for that. Mutants are oppressed and experimented on. Charles, who survived experimentation by his family and was rendered mute, runs a mutant sanctuary, and rescues Erik who has been blinded by experimentation.

Paralyzer, by Yahtzee. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 43,500 words)
Another with Erik as a cop, but set in the 1960s, and this one has a cool twist to the cop premise, in that a big part of Erik's motivation to join the NYPD is strategic infiltration to prepare for the human-mutant war he expects, so he can network with mutants, gain access to weapons and information and such. Charles is an FBI agent here, and they hunt a truly creepy mutant serial killer together.

Dæmon 'verse, by zihna. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 41,000 words; the series is a WIP, the individual stories are complete)
X-Men: First Class with dæmons, what's not to like?

Fix-its

These Bridges We've Built, by alishatorn. Slash and het, Charles/Erik, Azazel/Mystique. (ca. 22,700 words)
Mystique leaves Kurt with Charles, so some contact between X-Men and Brotherhood is started. I liked how the ensemble came together and the way Charles and Erik reconciled against adversity. It also has good fanart.

lay down beside me (so still and so soft) by C_Gracewood. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 53,500 words)
This is a really enjoyable fix-it. It retells the XMFC movie, but with Charles and Erik developing a relationship, accompanying angst, and a happier ending.

Empowerment, by Coriander Tea. Het, Erik Lehnsherr/OFC. WIP (ca. 114,000 words so far)
This is kind of a Mary Sue story, in which the OFC time travels and thus enables a fix-it scenario, but it is a lot of fun to read. So I don't mean it in a negative way. It's a good action-adventure, and I liked the OFC. Unfortunately it's not been updated recently.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/469524.html. | comments

I dreamed they rebooted the Muppets with Kermit redesigned as six legged frog, or well, two legs and four arms.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/469055.html. | comments

I was in dire need of comforting food, because RL sucks more than usual right now, and on top of that the weather has been really cold and unpleasant the last days. So after having some of this quite delicious mushroom bourguignon (though I made it without pearl onions, because my supermarket didn't have any), I had a slice of this cheese cake. This was first time I've made a cheese cake, and it turned out very tasty, even though despite following the comments and baking it at 175°C, it still got slightly too brown at the edges (also instead of all low fat curd cheese I used part low fat, part regular).

( photo of my cheese cake behind the cut )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/467324.html. | comments

...for people watching Michael Fassbender interviews where you have to drink every time he says "you know". You can watch any short clip (like this or this) and have almost dozens of instances, so this works well for people who need a drinking game, but don't have the time to watch a whole movie for a quirk to repeat itself. If you add "sort of" on top, you'll likely be in a coma at the end.

I never used to watch random actor interviews but Tumblr encourages this, because these clips just crop up on my dashboard rather than behind cuts or as links as they tend to be on journals. Via Tumblr I also came across this James McAvoy clip where he replies to a question of how he developed the on-screen chemistry with Fassbender with "We had sex every morning, and that helped. You know, you can make the chemistry."

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/466454.html. | comments

For the first time some of my rats (now almost properly rat sized, if not quite fully grown) just voluntarily ran down the ramp out of the cage. Granted, I first had to put them outside and they ran back (as I've done about once an evening in addition to leaving the cage open for a few hours), but then Rusty and Silas at least have come out again, and are right now have a good time exploring. So I hope that is a breakthrough, and they'll finally decide that the outside is not scary after all.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/466239.html. | comments

I'm reading a sewing instruction, that says it is suited for beginners, and it really doesn't look all that complicated, and has lots of photos for the steps. So that is promising.

However, first there are still a bunch of words that I have no idea what they mean (though I have used a sewing machine before so my knowledge is actually not zero), also it omits crucial information in the steps, like it doesn't even say what stitch it is they are using for the seams (though at least I can see that on the photo, and I think I recognize it), it says that you need to leave an opening to turn the piece, but doesn't say how large that needs to be to be turned easily, and so on and so forth.

I think since I need to return some library books anyway, I'm going to come back with a basic sewing book that has a glossary, or "sewing for dummies" or something like that.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/465758.html. | comments

What a sad day for comics. This is the obituary on the BBC news site. If you inexplicably don't know his work, the official page is not great (the navigation sucks for one and I don't think my problems come from it being in French, and it doesn't have good galleries that I can find), but this Tumblr dedicated to his comics has many scans and is English too.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/465395.html. | comments

...but not yet. Meanwhile my rats still won't come out to play. This rather sucks, not least because with them in the cage all the time I have much less contact with them, than if they were running outside where I sit, reading fanfic, watching tv, wasting my time on the internet, etc. I mean, I do go up the cage of course to pet them, and bribe them with treats and such, but I'm not standing next to a cage door for hours on end. I'm used to my rats just coming up to me throughout the evening whenever they want. Of course right now these don't.

If I had wanted to feel snubbed by my pets I would have gotten a cat. :(

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/464188.html. | comments

I'm starting to think my new rats aren't particularly fearful of the outside, but just really phlegmatic for their age. I keep the cage open for hours on end every evening and they don't venture out. I set them outside and they run back inside again (mostly to sleep some more). And I don't hear them tearing around the cage at all hours like maniacs, scuffling and making a racket either. I'd worry that something was wrong with them, but their appetite is good, their fur is glossy, and they are growing as you expect. And they react quickly enough to the treat noise. They just seem lazy. I mean, not that I can't relate, but seriously. They don't even use half their cage regularly, content to hang out in just the upper part.

Well, maybe they'll grow up into lap rats who hold still for petting and cuddling. I mean, when I took Silas outside today, sat down on the floor near the cage ramp, and petted him while he sat on me, he just kept sitting for quite a while before he decided to bother running back up into the cage. But I did not equip the room with a ferret climbing tree, two tree branches, a box for digging, tunnels etc. just to trip over rat stuff. This is really odd.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/464011.html. | comments

My last rats wanted to explore outside the cage by day three that they were living with me (though I didn't let them go there before they were somewhat comfortable with being picked up), and I could let them out by this time. With my current group I've been keeping the cage open in the evening the last two days, but only Silas has been even curious about the ramp leading outside, but hasn't dared to climb down. And they all still prefer to hang out in the upper levels. (Which is why for example I don't think Rusty has even noticed that ramp's existence).

They all climb onto me (especially with food encouragement) and I can pick them up, though there are different comfort levels, and again Silas is the one who comes to me most often. They also now mostly grasp the concept of the "treat noise" (though I have to say, this group doesn't seem the brightest bunch). But they are still surprisingly timid. I never had to encourage rats to come out and take possession of all space offered for exploring. What I'm used to is to frantically try to limit young rats' curiosity, and to prevent them from escaping somewhere as soon as the cage door opens, not having to entice them to come out.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/463626.html. | comments

Seriously, neither of the two supermarkets nearest to me had any plain white sugar when I tried to buy some this week. Last year before they raised the sugar price there were signs in the supermarkets that they wouldn't sell more than five kilo to a customer, because some people were apparently hoarding sugar, either in anticipation of a price increase or to resell it in neighboring countries where sugar prices were already higher, but at least it was still available. And of course now it's been selling at the higher price of 85¢/kg for some time. When it's available, that is, which apparently it is not right now as far as my nearest supermarkets are concerned. I ought to have hoarded some too. (Or I guess I could walk around to other supermarkets further away, looking for a place that has sugar, but I'm lazy.) >:(

It's a good thing I didn't throw out the sugar that got a little wet and clumped in its package when I accidentally spilled water on it some weeks ago, but rather dried it out, so at least I still have some clumpy sugar, even if I almost used up the rest.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/463507.html. | comments

Because journals are for your cat rat pictures, here are the few that aren't entirely blured or just a vanishing tail or the like:
( ten photos, mostly of them eating and drinking, because it's even harder to photograph them otherwise. )

Trust building proceeds slowly, but surely. They still startle easily, and I can't pick them up yet, but all will let themselves be petted to varying degrees and come halfway onto my arm, i.e. two feet still safely in the cage. Silas and Kieran even dared to venture fully onto me with all four feet as long as my arm is still next to the cage. Rusty and Kieran both started grooming me and nibbling on my hair.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/463172.html. | comments

...but I think I'm able to tell the two gray ones apart in good light when I look closely. I hope. Also I'm making inroads into recognizing the black ones without looking under their belly. Still, somewhat challenging. I've decided to name the all black one Kieran, the black with the tiny white belly stripe Oskar, and for the minks I kept the name Rusty (well I think I kept the name for the right one) and renamed the other to Silas.

They are still quite shy, and are mostly camping out just in the upper part of the cage rather than claiming everything, though I've seen Silas (I think) explore a bit more in the lower modules. But their appetite is very good (tiny rats eat a lot, as fast as they are growing). Already they are not really bothered by my hand in the cage, and Kieran in particular even came a few times to my hand to groom it a bit and let himself be petted a little. A super soft fluff ball!

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/463009.html. | comments

I'm just back from picking up four adorable baby rats. Unfortunately the two mink ones which when I selected them appeared dark and light mink now have quite a similar shade, so currently I still have trouble telling the two apart. I hope that will get easier once I get to know them and learn more subtle details. From above I can't tell apart the black ones either, but with them one has a white stripe on his belly. I still need to decide on the names.

( here's a first photo showing three of them, the other black hid in a different house )

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/462694.html. | comments

I made some this upside down apple cake, and I already reduced the sugar by a third in the cake (and put no sugar in the whipped cream), yet in combination it was still so sweet as to be almost inedible. This always happens to me with US cake recipes. Are other people having this problem? In principle I like sweet things, and the cake recipes that came with my mixer for example I make without reducing the sugar, so it's not like I'm against a sugary taste, but whenever I try a recipe from an US blog, things turn out too sweet. I guess I should bake more often to get a better feel for tolerable sugar amounts so I don't have to depend on the recipes.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/462434.html. | comments

Sorry that the costume meme responses haven't yet been forthcoming, but I was so bothered by the Goodreads thing I mentioned in the last entry (where they switched away from Amazon and that messed up some book data they got from there) that I asked for the "librarian" rights to help fix the stuff myself. As a result a massive time suck event happened, as I'm correcting the data for my books and adding covers and so on. (And of course I first had to read the rule manual and learn the idiosyncratic conventions of the site to not mess things up.) But I haven't forgotten about the fashion meme.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/461571.html. | comments

Apparently Goodreads soon can't use the Amazon data anymore, because Amazon put even more restrictions on this or something. Instead they use other sources, and they ask you to enter data for those of your books that don't have other sources. That applied to quite a number of mine (almost a hundred), and I dutifully entered stuff, though thankfully for many not every field had to be entered.

So that was mildly inconvenient, but what really bothers me is that the replacement data they imported from some other sources is oddly formatted sometimes, and I can't fix it, because I don't have librarian rights. For example it messes up the capitalization (and sometimes punctuation and spaces) in titles that were okay before. In German book titles only the nouns are capitalized not verbs or adjectives, but somehow the new source or sources for many of the books capitalize every single word. It looks horrible and wrong. This is driving me crazy when I look at my book list now.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/461508.html. | comments

It isn't all that cold here, but I dislike wearing socks indoors, and am not that fond of wearing layers constantly either, OTOH I'm not thrilled with huge heating bills and rather enjoy getting a little of my advance payments back. So winter is a time of constant compromise and dilemma. Also blankets. Unlike socks I don't mind using blankets. So now I'm wondering how cold (or comfortably warm) other people are at their place. (If it's summer right now where you are, just remember your last winter.)



This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/461027.html. | comments

Is there a way to get Goodreads to stop the stupid Facebook nagging? I already had to click away the dialog to add some book to my "timeline" (whatever that is) twice. Surely they can't mean to ask me every time I add or finish a book when I don't even have a FB account. It's not that I can't see how some people might want this integration, and one popup to ask me whether I wanted to set it up would have been fine, but surely you must be able to turn it off permanently somewhere? I couldn't find anything in the dialog or my settings.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/460374.html. | comments

I don't always read the announcements on the ff.net mainpage, so I only now noticed the update from January 5th which says "We are redesigning the storymarks (story bookmarks) feature and unfortunately the new system is incompatible with the current setup. If you have existing storymarks, please save them at your earliest convinence [sic]." What on earth are these "storymarks"?!? Do they mean the favorites list? I do have favorites bookmarked that way, though most are old, and more recently I've just used the the story alert feature, but I'd still save them, only it doesn't seem like you can export them as bookmarks. Or do they mean some other feature I'm not aware of? I have never seen the term "storymark" on the site before in all the years. Why can't they call things in their announcements like they are called in the site navigation?

ETA: sholio explained to me that they are apparently something separate from the favorites (phew!). I still can't find the feature (maybe they are already gone?) and don't recall ever seeing anything called that, but at least I won't miss the feature. Also I can see why they need to redesign it, if the feature was so hidden as to completely escape any notice by a regular user.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/460256.html. | comments

I think I just got spammed through a poll on LJ? I mean, an openID account that links to some tattoo-related domain replied to one of my polls. I didn't click on the URL, but the poll was very old and asked which icon to draw next, and I have already drawn almost all of them, including the one the responder just picked. So as a genuine poll response it makes no sense. Does this come up as spam vector for others? And can you delete or report it?

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/459937.html. | comments

So I've read about the English Wikipedia being blacked out today to protest that internet legislation, and wanted to see how it looks, but I can see it like always? So do they only black it out in the US? I'm confused.

Unrelated, I was totally right about the formula "McAvoy + sloths = insta-popularity".

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/459698.html. | comments

...once this winning combination had occurred to me. There really was a void, thus:

jamesmcavoywithsloths.tumblr.com

(obviously inspired by the hilarious Michael Fassbender with Pugs)

ETA: Also just now while looking for more photos of McAvoy to combine with sloths, I actually came across one with him hanging in a tree like a sloth. Clearly this is a sign.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/459012.html. | comments

First, how hard it is to follow a simple discussion with more than two participants. (I know, not what Tumblr is built for, but people still use it for that.) I mean, even if you ignore the unfortunate formatting, that makes it so hard to attribute what is quote and who said what, as soon as a conversation branches, you are never going to see all threads in a single of the reblogs, and if you go to the notes of the original post you can see all the responses and reblogs (i.e. the "A reblogged from B and added" bits) but there they are cut off and shortened, so you have to click and end up with a gazillion tabs to read one post with three comment threads. It's maddening. Unless there is some other reading method I missed to find and display responses? *nurses futile hope*

Second, a more subjective dissonance for me, is how Tumblr is one of the places where publicly celebrating popularity numbers is done by some (on dA it also happens, there with page view milestones mostly). I mean, from what I can tell you can't see the follower numbers like you can on LJ-clone platforms as default with friend-of/subscriber lists, so maybe that's why some people make posts going "yay over 4000 followers!" or the like instead. But of course only the ridiculously popular people do this as far as I can tell, and I can't help feeling kind of crushed in comparison. Though perhaps I wouldn't take notice so much if on Tumblr you weren't seeing "reblog/like" numbers all the time, that draw attention to the audience size constantly, even without extra action.

Which on the one hand I know is silly, because it's not like without these kinds of follower-numbers squee posts I would be unaware that someone else is very popular and has cool content, but still. I mean, with the LJ/DW model that moment of comparison is there whenever you subscribe, but you become aware of a range of numbers, and also then it fades somewhat from awareness for me. However on Tumblr you (or at least I) mostly notice the really popular numbers. For example I'm hardly going to celebrate my next Tumblr milestone which would be if ever the number of followers inched up to a round ten instead of currently eight. And I assume most other people with non-popular Tumblrs feel the same, so the impression gets distorted.

It's of course a completely irrational response to feel bad to have less audience than cool Tumblr X, but at the same time not even do anything to attract more people. If I wanted non-embarrassing follower milestone posts to happen, I would probably need to switch my topics from "mostly crappy doodles" to something with popularity potential, like say "James McAvoy with baby sloths" or something (as a side note, does that already exist? it should, I'd probably follow that), and post consistently and do all the other things that make a Tumblr attractive.

This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/458848.html. | comments

I've been wondering about epicanthic folds after reading once again a line in an eye tutorial that they appear only on Asian eyes. I know that is not true, because my own eye corners have such a skin fold, though not an extreme one (here's a closeup photo of my own eyes, you can see the small folds on the inner corners). I realize they aren't *that* common with Caucasian eyes (a couple of times I was even teased as a kid), but obviously they happen as normal variation (and not just with genetic diseases).



This entry was originally posted at http://ratcreature.dreamwidth.org/458509.html. | comments