Powered By Chocolate

I don't know what I'm writing. I don't know why they'd care. My mind is in a million places And not one of them is here. Hungry Stressed Cold Perplexed I don't know what I'm writing, Feels like I'm writing laps. I'm hitting walls and pitfalls, Can't turn on the tap. Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest I don't know what I'm writing But the why never changed. Because if I quite the writing, My mind becomes deranged.

I'm one of those people who is pretty organized at work and adequately organized digitally. I'll make spreadsheets and to do lists and optimize workflow processes and get apps specifically for work scheduling. The rest of my life is pretty cluttered and messy and generally has a level of quiet chaos at all times. I can't get my laundry done on time to save my life. My bed is never made. My poor car is only cleaned when I know people will be in it. I'm not even sure what's in my purse right now. Thankfully I'll get occasional bursts of motivation to take care of these typically untidy places. ...Usually it's about when I haven't seen my bedroom floor for a few days. Here's the thing though. No matter how much constructive criticism or encouragement to clean I get... I'm never going to care about keeping my whole life immaculate as much as I "should." My energy is better spent elsewhere 90% of the time. (That other 10% falls i...

Welcome to part two of the Gender Unicorn series! To recap, this is the Gender Unicorn: www.transstudent.org /gender The Gender Unicorn helps explain the differences between gender identity, gender expression, sex, physical attraction, and romantic attraction and the scales upon which those things exist. I'm here to clear up some of the terminology. Today's phrase of the day is "gender expression." This one isn't really complicated. Gender expression is the way a person conveys their gender identity to the world through their appearance and behavior. The three arrows represent the scales of femininity, masculinity, or otherness a person may exist on when expressing their gender identity. They could be at the beginning of the arrow, representing little or no expression of those traditional, socially defined traits. They could be in the middle, representing some or moderate expression. Or they could go to the far right, representing a great deal...

Polyamory:  The practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the consent of all the people involved.  - Oxford Living Dictionaries There are posts in certain corners of the internet discussing the misconceptions of polyamory. Now, I haven't been poly for a very long time, but I've seen a few misconceptions pop up often enough in those posts and others discussing polyamory (in various lights) that I'd still like to give my two cents on them.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things people are generally incorrect on about the practice, but these three are the big ones. Misconception 1: Polyamory is cheating I'm genuinely unsure how this myth has such a strong following other than the idea that people can't be bothered to read an entire 16 word dictionary definition all the way to the end.  Yes, a poly person tends to be (but isn't always) involved in more than one relationship. However, cheating at its core means deception and...

Two people are walking the streets of their neighborhood. Lucy is walking her new dog, and Dave is out for his evening stroll. "Hey, Dave!" "Hi, Luce! Is that the new pup? She's sure a beauty!" "It's a he, actually," Lucy corrects, smiling. "His name is Jack. And aren't his markings cute? I lo--" "No, no," Dave interrupts. "That's definitely a girl dog. Jack must be short for Jacqueline. I know a lady when I see one. ...But just to be safe, let me see her parts." I could go on, but isn't that ridiculous enough? No one questions a dog owner when they correct someone on their dog's pronouns or assumption of sex. They assume, 'Oh, they know the dog better than me. Obviously they're right.' And then they usually apologize, correct themselves, and use the right name and pronoun from that moment forward. Now, I think it's safe to say a human being knows themselves even better than a ...

Sex and gender and gender expression are a bit...muddled in the media today. So, with the help of the Gender Unicorn, I'm going to be doing a quick, basic series of posts explaining some different terms and ideas. What's the Gender Unicorn? http://www.transstudent.org/gender This helpful creature is used by many people and classes to explain the differences between gender, gender expression, sex, physical attraction, and romantic attraction. Today I'm going to focus on gender. Gender (also called gender identity) is the mental state of being a female/woman/girl, male/man/boy, none of the above, or something in-between. To be perfectly clear, this isn't something you choose. It's just how you are. If you go looking for them, there are lists and lists and lists of genders on the internet. While this is helpful for people looking for a word to identify themselves clearly, it can be confusing for people just wanting to learn "the basics." The ...

My dream office would be a bright white room with a single pink wall. Or whatever color happened to be my favorite when I painted it. There'd be a couch, lots of light, an end table with a printer, and the colored wall would be covered with white boards and cork boards and probably a bunch of different colored Post-It notes with random ideas and character designs. Link to image here I'd eschew the traditional desk and roll-y chair, and use a lap-desk on my couch. The soundtrack to Saints Row: The Third would be playing in the background. (It helps me concentrate more than any other soundtrack I've tried, couldn't tell you why.)   For now, I take my lap-desk and laptop and plonk myself down anywhere with an outlet that I can hear myself think without being deafened by absolute silence. And if I never get a whole room, I'll totally be okay simply having one of those rolling whiteboards as a miniaturized Wall of Madness somewhere near a sufficiently comfy...

The world was bright as starlight and desolate as a barren moon. Xalia Corsair looked for anything to tell her where she was and realized her eyes, her real eyes, were closed. She fought to open them in an all-too-familiar feeling. She’d been drugged. The world was blindingly white. Xalia’s bones were lead weights and her vision slid in and out of focus, trying to see anything at all. The effort was Herculean and cost her her consciousness. She woke, truly woke, in semi-darkness. She remembered she’d been drugged and tried to move her limbs. Relieved when they responded, Xalia searched for her memory of how she had gotten here, in this skinny bed with railings. Hospital , her brain supplied sleepily. We’re in a hospital. Then the floodgates opened and Xalia bolted out of the bed. “She doesn’t have a Bio-ID, doctor.” “Take a sample and send it to the precinct.” The floor felt frozen to Xalia’s bare feet. She ran down the halls on tiptoe, searching for a way out. Rows ...

Everyone knows Facebook has become a bit of a stalker. What I didn't know was how much it was learning about me personally. A couple weeks ago, my feed displayed a promotion for a kickboxing class in town. $10 for gloves and 3 classes! I have no idea how the social site knew I wouldn't be able to resist. But I couldn't. Today was my first class. And holy **** I haven't worked that hard since my swim coach made us do three sets of stadium bleachers without pause. I was wheezing and dizzy after the  warm up  and sure I was going to fall over at some point the rest of the time. But I punched and kicked my way through it. And I  loved it . It's my working theory that taking karate ten-plus years ago paid off. The stances were pretty much the same, even if you hit with your shin instead of the top of your foot with the one kick. Pivoting with my back foot came back like a muscle memory that had been dying to be used. And, damn, I made that bag MOVE. Now, at ...

On Friday, I watched an hour and forty-four minutes of a webinar. I'm guessing there was about fifteen minutes left when I clicked out. They'd gotten pretty deep into their sales pitch and even though the service seemed pretty cool, it cost about three times more than I have in my bank account. So instead I walked away with a little over a page of notes and the intense need for some waffles. Always bring snacks to a webinar, y'all. As it happened, I did learn a little about freelancing. The professed "key idea" being to figure out your Freelancing Superpower™. In my case, the question to answer is a fill in the blank. Or, ideally, fill in the blank with multiple ideas. I can use my writing to help a client ______. Fill in the blank quizzes were never my favorite in school. But I think this one will be worth the work. ~Liss

...blame the writing prompts. Today's is "What revolution will you lead?" I feel like I covered that in my elevator pitch post . But if I had to name  said revolution, I would reference a picture I found on Pinterest who knows how long ago and declare it The Gay Shakespeare Revolution. I really wish I knew the original poster of this image. They might've literally changed my life by hitting me over the head with the fact that more needed to be written and that I was someone who could do it. ~Liss