Space Marine and Dragonwrangler Bar & Grill

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_Sian_

Ooooh, pretty lights and sirens :D
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Right now, I feel like honestly giving you all the hugs. :Hug2:

This. I am so sorry for you Junely :( I got crap when I was younger, but that was mostly to do with people not wanting to hang out with me ect cause I was a smart arse know it all. Everything was fine after we got past 10th grade anyway.

This I agree with. Luckily for me I didn't talk to many people too often so I was able to pretty effectively hide most of the stuff about myself that would have gotten me the most crap.

It's also the reason I didn't come out as gay the moment I knew I was. They would have kicked the living crap out of me endlessly for that. For that and for so many other things about me. With the gift of hindsight I'm able to realise I was a bloody weird kid.

So I guess being a loner has advantages in certain situations. Still, I'm always stuck with the thought that if I didn't get my self-esteem roundly demolished for 5 whole years, I'd probably be a better person than I am today. *sigh* The things that could have been...
I've seen two ways of doing things. The first way is the loner way, and it works. The other way I've seen is to be so totally up front about it that you own it and the people bullying you just look like weak pathetic jerks.

I had one friend who did that. It probably also helped that he was 6ft 3 inches, but he just breezed through his coming out by saying "duh. You're idiots for not realising it earlier."

He's done well for himself too. I'm sure there were issues there, but never big ones.

It's never too late to work on your self-esteem. Now is as good a time as any.



Says who? Is there a rule somewhere? Are you only a writer if you're a bestseller, like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling? Are you only a writer if you're published, Gina? Or are you a writer when you write?

You're a writer because you're writing. Whether you're just learning the ropes, or you've sold a million copies, you're still putting words on paper and learning and honing your art, just like the rest of us.

This, but I would also add that even if you're not writing, you're still a story teller. And that's just as awesome :)
 
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maxmordon

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Angel, you're a precious, witty, adorable, funny, saucy and atractive and yes, we all have our ups and downs, God knows I have, but you have to try. Why? Because it's part of you; yes, there may be regrets but when you get it you are swarmed with indescribable joy.
 

jallenecs

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This. I am so sorry for you Junely :( I got crap when I was younger, but that was mostly to do with people not wanting to hang out with me ect cause I was a smart arse know it all. Everything was fine after we got past 10th grade anyway.

Don't feel too sorry for me. I was no saint during that time. Yes, it could be argued that I was defending myself, but I didn't have to be quite so vicious. I was so fricking angry during that time, and I took it out on other people. That was uncool.
 

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My baby has now been subbed to Strange Horizons. It might not be to their tastes. I need them to love it. *hyperventilates*

Okay, I'm good. I swear. *checks status update page* *refreshes* ... *refreshes* ... *checks email even though the iPhone instantly notifies me when I have mail*

Fingers crossed for you! That will be a SFWA-qualifying and Campbell Award-qualifying sale if it happens. *just to make Fen even more nervous than she already is*

I know I'm putting myself in a serious minority here, but I find Beckett funny as hell. Yes, there is the morose elements, but he balances everything so, so well...

I saw Harold Pinter's Old Times on stage yesterday, and I hadn't realised how many laughs there were - I'd read some of his plays, seen TV productions and film adaptations but hadn't seen one in a theatre before.

And with you on Beckett.

You forgot the part where only so many markets take 9k fantasy 'shorts' ;) But I'm in no rush to get it published, if the one sub every two years is any indication!

F & SF will take longer fantasy shorts than that. And I'm sure there are others. And as and when a certain collaboration gets finished, it will be submitted rather more often than that!

*resists urge to begin sharing grosser things about eyes and needles*

Well, I'm the one who had a steroid injection in my right eye, the first time I ever had iritis.

Thank you sweetie. I know I just did a shit-ton of whinging, and I am bitter about a lot of it. But for the most part, I've made my peace with myself, if not with them. 99% of the time, I'm a happy person.

:Hug2: Junely. I've heard it said more than once that girls get bullied psychologically and boys physically. Having heard some accounts like yours I'm not sure of that. I was an exception to that and another AW-er (female) I've corresponded with on a recent thread in the YA forum was another.

Don't feel too sorry for me. I was no saint during that time. Yes, it could be argued that I was defending myself, but I didn't have to be quite so vicious. I was so fricking angry during that time, and I took it out on other people. That was uncool.

I suspect I wasn't physically bullied because up until my mid-teens I was the second-tallest in my year at school. But with you on the anger - it can come back very quickly, even thirty years later. And I'm not someone with a temper, usually.

I'm now thinkiing of dealing with the subject in the next YA novel I write. Not that I necessarily want to get a reputation for pushing every envelope going in YA, but that will be following up the one in my sig which is about a sixth-form bisexual love triangle.

Did you know that in china the birth rate goes up by about 10-20k during the year of the dragon?

Conversely, it drops during the less lucky years

That's interesting. I'm not Chinese, but I was born in a Year of the Dragon.
 

aliwood

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Morning :Sun:

Not that I actually feel very chipper this morning, but I'll fake it until I feel better. :e2woo:
Do you think it'll work?

I did know about the Chinese birth rate. It must play hell with their demographic planning.

It's round 2 of eating all the birthday food today, which reminds me - it's a certains local fairy's birthday on Tuesday I believe. (I have a terrible memory, so I figured if I wrote it down here, someone else will remember)

:Coffee:
 
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I was very very badly bullied, from the time I was six years old until was about fifteen or sixteen. Physical, emotional, name calling, things thrown at me. They had lots of reasons to target me: I was ugly, I was too tall, I wore homemade clothes, I was a teacher's brat, I was too smart, I talked differently than they did. I was just too different.

It was bad. Really bad. I had dirt and gum and dog shit rubbed in my hair. I had my glasses broken on my face (and I don't mean the frames; I mean this guy hit me so hard the glass -- and it was glass, not polymer, and a quarter of an inch thick -- actually shattered in the frames). I've been spit on and called names that I don't even want to think about. They tried to pull elaborate practical "jokes" on me; luckily, I didn't usually fall for them.

By the time I hit high school, I was so angry all the time.... I can't explain how angry I was. But that's mostly what stopped the bullying: I made it very clear that I wasn't afraid to destroy anybody who crossed me. I stabbed one boy with a bit of broken wood when he tried to get physical with me (this is the same boy who broke my glasses, only three years later). I hit a boy and broke his nose. I developed a hellaciously sharp tongue, and would go for the jugular with my words; I could destroy your reputation in a day's time, and I wasn't a bit afraid to do it. And I never got in trouble for it because I had a good reputation and I was a teacher's brat.

I only had to deal with the dean of girls twice. Once when I stood up in class and told my science teacher to go to hell (that was a long story). The other time, I got in a fight with another girl; my mom was actually the one who sent me to the office, and even then, the dean of girls took my side, because I was a Clarkson.

I sometimes look back at the girl I was the day before I started my first day at school and how different I am now. I sometimes wonder what sort of person I would have turned out to be, if all the bullying -- and my own reactions to the bullying -- hadn't warped my personality so much.

Remember me saying a while back that loving my neighbor was all the Christian duty I could handle, that it was too much work to do more? That's why. I live in the same community where I grew up, and I interact with those same people who used to bully me. And I have to figure out a way to love them. Not so easy.

Ostracized is good. Be glad all they did was ostracize you. It could have been soooo much worse.



Wow, jal. That's awful. Reminds me of when I was in school. It's just hard to believe sometimes how awful another person can be without anyone even realizing. No matter how fucked up it can make someone, I'm always glad when they survive it. Some people I know haven't been so lucky. (For certain definitions of lucky, of course. :( )


You've turned out pretty damn well despite it, I think most people will agree.
 

bettielee

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I just ruined a fabulous little pot of hot cocoa. :( I wondered why the damn microwave didn't ding, but too late. Instead of 1:30 I did the clock for 13:00!!! :( And I don't have much cocoa left. Oh well. I got one little cup of it. :(

Yep, that too. I found the product on Amazon's page, they've taken the image down and there's about 400 reviews all giving it 1 star because of the cover.

And now I'm in the mood to read Anne. :)

I got my version for free from Gutenburg for my Kindle. No cover controversy there.

Okay. We don't have them here:tongue. Like pumpkin flavoured sweet anything, or sweet potatoe chips. And that creamer stuff you guys use for coffee

I could not live w/o that creamer stuff...

Well, we call them chips (as in fish and chips - someone from Britain back me up on this please :) ) but we have neither crisps or chips :p

So translated, we have neither sweet potatoe chips or fries

you are missing out.
 

Fenika

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*shows up at Bettie's with yogurt thickened hot cocoa*
 

10trackers

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Say, 10, do you ever engage in fierljeppen?

:Wha: What... why do you ask?

That sounds dirty.

It IS dirty.

It can be, but it's also hella impressive. The length is fairly astounding.

Yes, but the girth isn't anything to write home about. And despite that, you still get wet like 70% of the time.

It's never too late to work on your self-esteem. Now is as good a time as any.

This. I'm 35 and I'm only now getting to the point where I can say I may be getting better. Like June, I was bullied viciously, from kindergarten up to my second year in uni (yes, you'd think people would outgrow that. but no). I don't like to talk about it, as some horrible stuff happened. For example, in kindergarten they strung my brother up by his neck for being my brother. He was saved in the nick of time by a teacher. Luckily, he didn't blame me, but other friends did when they were bullied by association. And now let me shut up about it for another 30 years :D


In other, happier news:

I got nothing. Wait, I wrote a bit. Wooooo! :hooray:
 
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Reservoir Angel

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I've seen two ways of doing things. The first way is the loner way, and it works. The other way I've seen is to be so totally up front about it that you own it and the people bullying you just look like weak pathetic jerks.
I'm now a firm practioner of the second method when it comes to my sexuality. Of course, given I don't have much real-world interaction with anyone beyond my family (who are the only people in my life who don't know what team I bat for), this mostly just means if someone I see or talk to online has a problem with it I will never let them get away with it.

Basically, when it comes to my online life, I'm incredibly open and gung-ho about it. As my choice of avatar will probably tell you...

This, but I would also add that even if you're not writing, you're still a story teller. And that's just as awesome :)
It's kind of awesome, yes.

Angel, you're a precious, witty, adorable, funny, saucy and atractive and yes, we all have our ups and downs, God knows I have, but you have to try. Why? Because it's part of you; yes, there may be regrets but when you get it you are swarmed with indescribable joy.
See, this is a demonstration of how still messed up I am when it comes to people being nice to me: I see this and my immediate reaction is to think like a prick about it and say to myself "wow, talk about low standards".

Because I'm still working through the whole "incapable of seeing myself as in any way appealing" thing.
 

_Sian_

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I think most people work on that till they just don't care.

I reached just don't care at 17. As long as a few close friends are good with me, I'm fine with the rest of the world. I know who I am, well enough, at the moment. That'll change as I get older, but I'll still be fine with being me. There's not enough time or enough certainty to do otherwise imo
 

Andelana

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Ahhh, Charo... You have aged remarkably well if that isn't a wig...

Howdy, Cantina. I'm going to install some trunking today so I can stop running my internet cable across the middle of the floor. Woo. I've also written some words. Woot!

Otherwise, I've just spent a day and a half compiling and writing out recipes for a friend who's suddenly found out she's allergic to wheat and cow's milk AND most of the usual things you substitute for those things in recipes. Ay yi yi. She couldn't figure out what in the world she could eat, so I helped (I hope...). Yay! :D

Feeling very accomplished so far, and it's not even noon!
 

BigWords

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I was thinking about the whole gamut of bullying the other day because of the stories about teenagers killing themselves which has been in the news for the last couple of years - maybe this is an instance where those who have gone through that can do something concrete. Not sure what - my first inclination was a series of blog posts, but those have been done so many times they get lost in all the other chatter... *is still thinking*

Fingers crossed for you! That will be a SFWA-qualifying and Campbell Award-qualifying sale if it happens. *just to make Fen even more nervous than she already is*

I'm, uh... trying to get her to chill a little.

Actually, everyone with something out on sub should channel that excess energy into writing something else rather than obsessing about how well it is being received. :)

I saw Harold Pinter's Old Times on stage yesterday, and I hadn't realised how many laughs there were - I'd read some of his plays, seen TV productions and film adaptations but hadn't seen one in a theatre before.

I. Am. So. Jealous.

Year of the dragon just sounds so much cooler than year of the rat.

Year of the Rabbit is cooler. :D
 

eyeblink

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I. Am. So. Jealous.

£10 on-the-day ticket with a slightly restricted view, namely a pillar, but I didn't have to move my head much to see what I needed to, particularly as this play has a cast of just three.

I'm glad I don't live in London - I couldn't afford to anyway - but it is nice to be within train distance.
 

BigWords

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The last play I saw was... Ack. SIX YEARS AGO.

My first exposure to real am-dram regional theater was enough to convince me that I am willing to pony up the money to see proper productions. Of late, thoughts about writing a play have once again entered my head, but the only idea I ever had which would make for something interesting is tangled in things I don't want to write...
 

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I'd go to the theatre a lot more often if I could afford it. £10 is ridiculously cheap for London's West End. (And that's only that one theatre, the Harold Pinter Theatre - formerly the Comedy Theatre - on Panton Street. They hold back a hundred £10 tickets which are available from 10am on the day of performance, personal callers only.)
 

BigWords

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Long story short: I am incredibly stupid.

That is all.

We're gonna need more info so we can judge for ourselves. :D

They hold back a hundred £10 tickets which are available from 10am on the day of performance, personal callers only.)

For that money, ANYTHING would be worth seeing. The small shows they put on north of the border? Why, those would be upwards of £30, thankyouverymuch... *sigh* There's a reason I am so critical of being stuck here in Scotland, and being gouged at every opportunity* is right up there at the top of the complaints.

And no, calling a performance a "world premiere" doesn't count if one of the bloody cast wrote the thing. :Soapbox:

*I know people are going to be saying "things are expensive everywhere", but I subscribe to the "you get what you pay for" line of thought. When it is what I want, then the money is irrelevant - which is one reason I want to be back in London. When it is all knock-off crap? THAT makes me so furious that I honestly can't say anything good. Those terrible Shakespeare performances where people stumble over their words, transpose sentences, miss out complete ACTS...

And yes. That counts as a rant.

I promise I'm trying to give them up.
 

Fenika

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My status page says Under Consideration and they are still working on subs from the first.

But I didn't check first thing this morning, so that's a plus. Now I just have to not check all day long :D

*breathes into brown bag*
 

lilyWhite

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Well...I thought today was my girlfriend's birthday, and even stayed up late to declare it on Twitter.

It's actually tomorrow...

*headdesks*
 
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