Tundras

fairy1234:

My friend Sarah made me really amazing, sexy, super, special awesome fanart of Mei/Gai for Christmas. GO SHOWER HER WITH LOVE PLZ AND NEVER STOP AT IT. It’s under a read more break because it’s not safe for work.

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that. is. so. gorgeous. *+*

magicalgirlserena asked: I think you meant #my adorable face. you both look so happy *______*

hnnng, well. we do make a pretty cute pair. thank you serena! c:

astropea asked: 9, 20, 23, 26, 60, 82, & 83!

(meme)

9) the immediate answer that comes to mind is yes; i do think someone has written a poem about me, but i can’t quite remember who! my best friend back in secondary school wrote poems that featured me quite often; we shared poetry notebooks. but for some reason, i can’t help but think that there was someone else whom i am forgetting about right not. hm! well.

20) i’m not sure if it would be counted as a weakness, but my difficulties with speaking to people (especially new people) have done me very few favours in life. it’s very hard for me, and i struggle to get better at it all the time. (i think if i were to reflect more, i would come up with a better answer to this…) my greatest strength is probably listening to other people. i’m not sure i always say the right thing in return, but i try to always be there when a friend wants to talk.

23) when i was younger, we lived at the top of a hill, and there was a ravine nearby. when i was angry, i would go pelt bottles into the ravine, just to hear them shatter. it calmed me down, i guess. these days, i… emote on twitter or plurk, i suppose. mostly i keep my anger bottled in, which is not a very good thing to do, i know.

26) i’m mostly satisfied, i think. i’m still young, and i have a lot more strides to make, but when i look back on the person i used to be, i am glad that i am not her anymore.

60) i have a couple pink shirt and towels in the closet, which is about ten feet away, i think. there is also an ariel beach towel not far from me; there is a lot of pink in that. :) oh, and there is a pink folder on my desk, and lots on pink stickers in a drawer nearby.

82) reify! i think it’s a cool word. and very pretty somehow.

83) haha, i’m actually drawing a blank. i read the question wrong somehow at first, and i’m now having trouble trying to bring something to mind spontaneously, and not think about it. i keep rereading the question but that doesn’t help either. haha. i guess … a literal heart. pumping, tissue, valves and all.

fairy1234 asked: Oh my god! Laura! I had no idea that you reblogged some of my posts that were about Team Gai. STUPID EMAIL, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LET ME KNOW THESE THINGS. :( Ummm, anyway, LOVE AND MISS YOU. *3*

WOW EMAIL THAT WAS RUDE!!!!!

*A* some days i really miss team gai. maybe i will miss them enough one day to go reread naruto. I LOVE YOU TOO TRACY.

nerdphobia asked: BEAUTIFUL PERSON AWARD! Once you have been given this award, you are supposed to paste it in the ask of 8 people who deserve it. If you break the chain nothing will happen, but it’s always sweet to know that someone thinks you’re beautiful inside and out ♪( ´▽｀)

/kisses you on the cheek. my pookie. :)

fairy1234 asked: BEAUTIFUL PERSON AWARD! Once you have been given this award, you are supposed to paste it in the ask of 8 people who deserve it. If you break the chain nothing will happen, but it’s always sweet to know that someone thinks you’re beautiful inside and out.<3

you are beautiful, tracy. :)

so i did that thing where i forgot about tumblr again! ahah. not quite accidentally. the internet i have right now is super slow, and i can only use 3 gigs a month before it gets even slower. things like tumblr eat up a lot of mb, so. ;;

but, yes, i will try to check my dash a bit more often, and post some actual content. i’m amazed i still have any followers at all. haha!

france is pretty baller.

right now i’m going to make some mashed potatoes, which is the only thing i can eat right now, because i have an awful toothache, and then i am going to answer meme questions from ten years ago. or maybe ten weeks ago, you know, same thing.

adventuresofcomicbookgirl:

Looks like this essay was needed, so I went ahead and did it. Not sure I said everything I wanted to say, but I tried

So, there’s this girl. She’s tragically orphaned and richer than anyone on the planet. Every guy she meets falls in love with her, but in between torrid romances she rejects them all because she dedicated to what is Pure and Good. She has genius level intellect, Olympic-athelete level athletic ability and incredible good looks. She is consumed by terrible angst, but this only makes guys want her more. She has no superhuman abilities, yet she is more competent than her superhuman friends and defeats superhumans with ease. She has unshakably loyal friends and allies, despite the fact she treats them pretty badly.  They fear and respect her, and defer to her orders. Everyone is obsessed with her, even her enemies are attracted to her. She can plan ahead for anything and she’s generally right with any conclusion she makes. People who defy her are inevitably wrong.

                God, what a Mary Sue.

                I just described Batman.

                Wish fulfillment characters have been around since the beginning of time. The good guys tend to win, get the girl and have everything fall into place for them. It’s only when women started doing it that it became a problem.

                TV Tropes on the origin of Mary Sue:

The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment.  

Notice the strange emphasis on female here. TV Tropes goes on to say that is took a long time for the male counterpart “Marty Stu” to be used. “Most fanfic writers are girls” is given as the reason. So when women dominate a genre, that means people are on close watch, ready to scorn any wish fulfillment they may engage in. This term could only originate if the default was female.

                In fact, one of the CONTROVERSIES listed on the TV Tropes page is if a male sue is even possible. That’s right, it’s impossible to have an idealizied male character. Men are already the ideal.

                In our culture, male tends to be the default. Women take on the distaff parts. “Him” and “mankind” are what humanity are, “her” and “womankind” are secondary. Yet this isn’t true for Mary Sue as a term. That name was created first . It was a Star Trek fic that coined it. This female is name the default to use when describing idealized characters. Marty Stu and Gary Stu are only to be used if you’re discussing men specifically.  Heck, there isn’t even an agreed upon term for them. So the only time female can be default is when discussing a badly written character, someone who is more powerful or important or liked than they should be allowed to be, someone the plot focuses on more than you would like, someone you don’t want to read about. Hmmm.

                What’s really wrong with a thirteen year old girl having a power fantasy, even if it’s badly written?  Who is it hurting? Men have baldly admitted to writing power fantasies and self inserts since the beginning of time. How many nerdy, schlubby guys suddenly become badasses and have hot girls chasing after them in fiction? See: Spiderman- blatant everyman who happens to  stumble across amazing powers and catch the eye of a supermodel.  Mary Sue is considered the worst insult to throw at a character as it renders them worthless. But since when are idealized characters automatically worthless? Aren’t all heroes idealized in some way? Don’t all heroes represent the author in some way?

                If you look at the TV Tropes page for Mary Sue, it’s ridiculous. You can be a sue for having too many flaws, or not enough, for fixing things or messing things up, for being a hero or a villain. And of course, this is specifically pointed out as a trope related to the Princess and Magical Girl genres- genres aimed towards women are naturally full of Mary Sues.  Magical girls are powerful and heroic and actually flaunt femininity as a good thing. They are a power fantasy designed for girls. So of course, a girl using traditionally feminine traits to dominate and triumph means she’s a sickeningly pure Mary Sue who makes everything go their way. Feminine traits are disdained and look down on, so when the positive feminine traits are prominent, the reader has an aversive reaction. How can a character be so feminine and triumph? She must be unrealistic, she must be badly written, because everyone knows it is impossible to be feminine and powerful.

                Let’s look at what kinds of Mary Sues people will point to. People will claim a female character is a Mary Sue if she is a love interest. Put a female character within a foot of a male character, and people will scream “Mary Sue!” Why does someone falling in love with her make her a Mary Sue? Well, she hasn’t “earned” this awesome dude character’s love. What has she done to show she’s worthy of him? Fans miss the irony that this line of logic makes the male character seem more like the Sue in Question, as he’s apparently so perfect one has work for his coveted love and praise.

                The idea that woman has to “earn” any power, praise, love, or plot prominence is central to Mary Sue.  Men do not have to do this, they are naturally assumed to be powerful, central and loveable. That’s why it’s the first thing thrown at a female character- what has she done to be given the same consideration as a male character? Why is she suddenly usurping a male role? “Mary Sue” is the easiest way to dismiss a character. It sounds bad to say “I don’t like this female character. I don’t like that this woman is powerful. I don’t like it when the plot focuses on her. I don’t like that a character I like has affections for her.”  But “Mary Sue” is a way to say these things without really saying them. It gives you legitimacy.

                . If a character is badly written, there’s generally something much more problematic than idealization going on. The plot will be dull and the character will perpetuate harmful stereotypes while other characters act oddly.  For instance, Bella Swan is one of the only character’s I’d even begin to classify as a Mary Sue, yet it’s not really her supposed Mary Sue traits that bother me. I don’t mind that she gets what she wants and everyone loves her, that she’s Meyer’s power fantasy. What I actually mind is that Stephanie Meyer has her perpetuate harmful anti-woman stereotypes- women need to be protected, women are shallow, women’s worth rests in desirability. That’s what’s actually harmful about her and worth discussing. I would criticize that rather than even get to the fact Bella got to be “too perfect and powerful”- that’s just a tiny, insignificant thing not worth mentioning in a huge pile of problems.

                And that’s why I don’t call characters Mary Sue anymore. There’s really nothing bad about a power fantasy or wish fulfillment. It’s what’s fiction’s about.  If one of my characters is called a Sue, I’ll proudly say “yep”, because that must mean that she broke out of that box a female character is supposed to be in.  So I’ll go and say it: I love me some Mary Sues.