obstinatecondolement: Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation shown from the shoulders up, standing in front of a painting of a planet (Default)
[personal profile] obstinatecondolement
So! I have been incommunicado on here for Some Time now, but I thought I'd swing by and write a quick update.
RL stuff involving workplace bullying and mental illnessI've been having kind of A Time of it with my mental health and various RL things—I was bullied very badly at work by a supervisor and eventually let go at the end of the probationary period*, which has been a blow. I will be starting a 1–2 year accountancy technician course soon though, so onwards and upwards.

In more fandom-y news however, I participated in [community profile] pod_together for the second year, and had a great time. I was in two teams: one as a writer and one as a podficcer. I also contributed some line readings to the team I wrote for, because it was a Discworld fic and I thought that having a second reader for the footnotes would help mitigate potential confusion.

I wrote Radio Killed the Semaphore Star which [personal profile] semperfiona adapted to audio in the podfic version of the story. It's a post-canon imagining of the invention of radio on Discworld (full credit for this premise to [personal profile] semperfiona! I thought it was such a great idea for this event) in the form of various connected vignettes featuring different sets of characters interacting with and reacting to the new medium. The podfic is very creative and [personal profile] semperfiona did a great job with it.

The podfic I made for the event was [Podfic] Death with Dignity, based on a fic by [archiveofourown.org profile] Thebiwife's fic Death with Dignity. The story is s an examination of the social model of disability through the lens of Deanna Troi's backstory and the extent to which she experiences extra sensory abilities having been aritrarily pathologised both on Betazed and Earth depending on what's considered the "default" where she happens to be at the time. In the final part of the fic, she interacts with everyone's favourite ex-Maquis Betazoid murderer, Lon Suder from Star Trek: Voyager, whose lack of empathic abilities have also been pathologised and problematised throughout his life. The fic is very poignant and I think it hit it out of the park.

There is a fully soundscaped version of the audio version I made featuring some intro and outro music, in addition to many bells and whistles as I could jam in artfully integrate from a combination of sound effects available on TrekCore and Free Sound. This was my first time experimenting with audio effects beyond just trying to get the raw audio of my own recording cleaner with noise reduction and the Audacity de-esser plugin etc., and I had a lot of fun with it.

For people who prefer less busy audio in their podfics, there is also an effects light version that is mostly vanilla audio with the exception of a little echo and reverb added to telepathic lines of dialogue—there are time stamps for the above lines in the work itself as well as information and time stamps for specific sound effects I thought could trigger misophonia in the soundscaped version. I will try and add a completely vanilla version in the near future!

*Possibly these are somewhat related, but it was also just... a mess there for various reasons that I don't think were my fault and I frankly think that it was a terrible management decision to let me go and they didn't know what a good thing they had with me, but you'll have to take my word for it. I also got fired almost immediately after disclosing my disability, so. Lol. [click to return]

Date: 2023-09-01 07:21 pm (UTC)
flamingsword: “in my defense, I was left unsupervised” (Default)
From: [personal profile] flamingsword
If your government offers any protections against this sort of thing, please report the bigot/bully to the appropriate authorities? If they did it to you, they'll do it to others.

Date: 2023-09-01 10:43 pm (UTC)
flamingsword: “in my defense, I was left unsupervised” (Default)
From: [personal profile] flamingsword
You may not be able to tell government authorities about this because of the anti-labor way such rules are written (which is such 💩), but maybe you could request an exit interview with HR? Or email HR directly, whichever suits your temperament. If you go over what this persona non grata said to you, how it was abusive, and how it was ableist, then HR will know that her crappy personality is leaving them open to future legal culpability, and maybe someone will hold her to account. It may also serve to reinforce in your head that you did not deserve that, and that such bad behavior deserves to be pushed back on. It’s one thing to tell ourselves that we deserved better, and another to act on that impulse to defend ourselves and others.

I may be speaking to my own traumas here, but I let people push me around in school and in relationships like that, and eventually I had to stop letting people do whatever 💩 thing they liked with no pushback, because it was bad for my mental health to not at least say something. But I am one of those Fueled By The Fires Of JUSTICE™️ type of autistics, which not everyone is.

*offers hugs*

Date: 2023-09-02 07:33 pm (UTC)
flamingsword: *hugs* by flamingsword (hugs)
From: [personal profile] flamingsword
That is so crappy, and you deserve better. I’m sorry that your brain is doing a depression / executive dysfunction to you, and hope that that calms down soon.

I wish we could return that stuff to sender, like “here, Bully, have some executive dysfunction!” Sadly, the world doesn’t work that way. But it should. * glares at your former coworker* 😒

Date: 2023-09-01 08:59 pm (UTC)
kavyina: Closeup image of branches with yellow/orange leaves on them. (branches)
From: [personal profile] kavyina
I'm very sorry to hear about the workplace bullying. But I wish you good fortune on your accountancy technician course! I am, as the kids say, manifesting good things for you. Or something. :)

Podfics are great! I've dipped my toe into podficcing but never actually published one, mostly because my recording capabilities extend only to "my laptop in my closet," but I did record some audio for an excerpt I wrote to nail down line delivery and even got to practice my accents with it, so there's that, at least. Maybe one day! I must admit that being able to pick out sound effects and do all the bells and whistles (as you say) does sound quite fun.

Date: 2023-09-01 09:12 pm (UTC)
vriddy: Cute dragon hatching from an egg (Default)
From: [personal profile] vriddy
Wow, the way that job ended is awful. So sorry that happened. Good on you for bouncing back like this and wishing you the best with the course.

The event sounds really cool, glad you were able to participate from different angles, that's neat! :D

Date: 2023-09-02 07:02 am (UTC)
vriddy: Cute dragon hatching from an egg (Default)
From: [personal profile] vriddy
So cool :D I subscribed to the comm, we'll see if the timing works out next year!!

Date: 2023-09-03 11:11 am (UTC)
ilthit: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ilthit
Having a second reader for footnotes was a brilliant idea tbh!

Date: 2023-09-04 05:53 am (UTC)
ilthit: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ilthit
Dude that is GENIUS.

I got so excited at the idea that I skipped a breath, closed the mobile I was reading my notification email on and opened my PC to come and tell you that.

I neither produce nor consume podfic but I truly admire it as an artform.

Date: 2023-09-04 05:27 pm (UTC)
ilthit: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ilthit
I had those books too! Cassette and picture book with text.

Small communities really are better, and I also try to practice distancing myself from expecting reaction. I know I'm going to get a lot more hits on my Scum Villain fic even if it's inane trash, and a fic I think is better might not get any, and you just kind of have to accept that's how it works. I'm not gonna click on any link for an introspective fic in a fandom I don't know either. XD

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obstinatecondolement: Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation shown from the shoulders up, standing in front of a painting of a planet (Default)
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