Some Free Or Inexpensive Comprehensible Input, Audio And Video Lessons, And Listening Practice Stuff

sleeping my problems away in a richard papen way

hi! if you’re feeling especially depressed, or anxious during these times, or just in general, i’ve compiled a list of things that are sweet and hopeful and might help you smile!

tumblr posts

How To Feel Again by @wowanothered

make a Hot Honey Drink with @fierybluebeacon 

love is via @battlechick

little notes for when you’re sad by @flowerais

asks

Make Me Admit Stuff by @jreadhd

Lighthearted Questions by @definegodliness

Soft, Stay At Home Ask Game by @serotoninsuggestion

Let’s Get Personal by @castielwinchester83

Fantasy Asks by @spectral-ask-memes

Flower Asks by @thatsthepositivitea

videos

Some Good News with John Krasinski

Reasons To Smile by Thomas Sanders 

Homemade with Steven Lim

Ambient Worlds (a channel dedicated to the background music of different places you’ve wanted to visit, i.e- each Hogwart House common room, Disney World, etc.)

Walkthrough Disneyland

books

Tea Dragon Society: Katie O’Neill (cute graphic novel about tea, and dragons)

Extra Yarn: Mac Barnett (a cute picture book about a little girl and her magic yarn)

The Astonishing Color of After: Emily X.R Pan (YA novel about grief, and love)

All Out: Sandra Mitchell (short story collection about LGBTQIA+ characters)

Counting By Sevens: Holly Goldberg Sloan (a middle grade novel of grief and family)

The Prince and the Dressmaker: Jen Wang (an adorable YA graphic novel with a non gender conforming character, and a soft, teen love story, set in the middle ages time period, with loads of lovely dresses and magic~)

Winnie The Pooh: A.A Milne (we all know our beloved winnie the pooh)

The Hidden Life of Trees: Peter Wohlleben (a rly interesting nonfiction book about trees and how they communicate)

Bloom: Kevin Panetta (a soft, cute, gay graphic novel love story)

movies

any Studio Ghibli film

the classic, animated Winnie the Pooh 

any old, animated Disney movie

Legally Blonde, 2001 dir. Robert Luketic

Miss Congeniality, 2000 dir. Donald Petrie

High School Musical (we all know the one)

Princess Diaries, 2001 dir. Gary Marshall

Wall-E, 2008 dir. Andrew Stanton

shows

The Good Place

New Girl

Schitt’s Creek

One Day At A Time

Hilda

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Merlin

podcasts

Welcome To Nightvale 

The Two Princes

activities

pick and press flowers

heres some basic homesteading skills that are pretty fucking cool via @martinihomestead

knit/crochet (same link as ^)

read 

(heres another link for free books and essays from @diabeticlesbian)

listen to music (links via @vivienvalentino)

bake

cook

art things with @artsyskelly

redo your room

sketch

learn a new language

lie on the floor with your window open and listen to the world

read through wikipedia articles

host an online game night/day

get ahead on schoolwork

say fuck this and go on a run

make tea

make face masks

sew

plant shit

make a discord server

generate cool mansions/cities via @mostlysignssomeportents and @vesperlionheart

yoga

water your plants

create an oc with @kannibalprinceref

paint by numbers

call someone and either talk, or watch something together, or do your own thing, still on the call, as if they were with you

clean

write letters and save the USPS

catch up on the news (but in bursts, perhaps find some good news too)

make sidewalk art

talk to your plants

play a boardgame with someone (online or with the people you’re living with)

clean out your room

make your room/house into a place you feel safe

dance

write a song

write a story

(writing prompts via @veronicabunchwrites)

call someone

learn to play DnD

paint your nails

paint someone else’s nails

go adventuring

make a youtube channel

make a podcast

talk to yourself

learn to bake bread

garden

paint your room a new color

lie on your floor

lie in bed

sleep

watch a crappy free movie on youtube and make fun of it

exercise (but stretch first)

go on a walk and take pictures of things you think your friends would like

scroll through social media and send things to your friends

cover your wall with pictures, quotes, artifacts

make lists

find a pen pal

clean shit

you dont have to be productive, babe

these are just things i’ve seen/read/thought of- so if anyone else wants to add on- pls do! 

this isnt complete! so pls add on things that help you feel good, or stuff for people to do whilst stuck in quarantine! 

hello again (bill clinton limewire voice) my fellow americans

There are a few states that actually have Shield/Refuge laws designed to help trans people fleeing from trans-unsafe states, which also guarantee trans folks access to healthcare. These states are:

California

Colorado

Illinois

Oregon

Vermont

Washington

Minnesota

New Mexico

Maine

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

Connecticut

Washington D.C.

Additionally, some states have "trans sanctuary" executive orders signifying safety for trans folks seeking healthcare. These states are:

Maryland

New Jersey

New York

Living as a resident in these states means you are protected by state's rights and state government to continue or begin receiving trans healthcare. These laws have been codified in their states so everything has been a-ok'd by their state governments.

Stay alive. You got this. I love you.

ᴛɪᴘꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ [ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ]

don't let your skill in writing deter you. publishers look for the storyline, not always excellent writing. many of the greatest books came from mediocre writers—and also excellent and terrible ones.

keep writing even when it sucks. you don't know how to write this battle scene yet? skip ahead. write [battle scene here] and continue. in the end, you'll still have a book—and you can fill in the blanks later.

find your motivation. whether it's constantly updating That One Friend or posting your progress, motivation is key.

write everything down. everything. you had the perfect plot appear to you in a dream? scribble down everything you can remember as so as you can. I like to keep cue cards on my nightstand just in case.

play with words. titles, sentences, whatever. a lot of it will probably change either way, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new turn of phrase—or move along on one you're not quite sure clicks yet.

explain why, don't tell me. if something is the most beautiful thing a character's ever laid eyes on, describe it—don't just say "it's beautiful".

ask for critique. you will always be partial to your writing. getting others to read it will almost always provide feedback to help you write even better.

stick to the book—until they snap. write a character who is disciplined, courteous, and kind. make every interaction to reinforce the reader's view as such. but when they're left alone, when their closest friend betrays them, when the world falls to their feet...make them finally break.

magic. has. limits. there is no "infinite well" for everyone to draw from, nor "infinite spells" that have been discovered. magic has a price. magic has a limit. it takes a toll on the user—otherwise why can't they simply snap their fingers and make everything go their way?

read, read, read. reading is the source of inspiration.

first drafts suck. and that's putting it gently. ignoring all the typos, unfinished sentences, and blatant breaking of each and every grammar rules, there's still a lot of terrible. the point of drafts is to progress and make it better: it's the sketch beneath an oil painting. it's okay to say it's not great—but that won't mean the ideas and inspiration are not there. first drafts suck, and that's how you get better.

write every day. get into the habit—one sentence more, or one hundred pages, both will train you to improve.

more is the key to improvement. more writing, more reading, more feedback, and you can only get better. writing is a skill, not a talent, and it's something that grows with you.

follow the rules but also scrap them completely. as barbossa wisely says in PotC, "the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules". none of this is by the book, as ironic as that may be.

write for yourself. I cannot stress this enough. if what you do is not something you enjoy, it will only get harder. push yourself, but know your limits. know when you need to take a break, and when you need to try again. write for yourself, and you will put out your best work.

create your own archives people!!!

You should be starting a recipe book. I don't give a shit if you're only 20-years-old. The modern web is rotting away bit by bit before our very eyes. You have no idea when that indie mom blog is going down or when Pinterest will remove that recipe. Copy it down in a notebook, physically or digitally. Save it somewhere only you can remove it. Trust me, looking for a recipe only to find out it's been wiped off the internet is so fucking sad. I've learned my lesson one too many times.

Being a writer is basically emotionally bonding with fictional people and then ruining their lives for fun.

Listen. If you think writing fanfiction is cringe please know that I am currently pursuing my Masters degree in Creative Writing for fiction and I want you to know that most of the people in my graduate program either read fanfiction, write fanfiction, or do both. I promise you: cringe is dead. Write whatever you want. Do whatever makes you happy.

"don't worry about it" i say while spending nights directing what I did to make you do that to me

I be like “yeah we cool” then never feel comfortable interacting with u again