You can call me Avant. (He/Him). Iâm 28 years old, a Pisces, and an adjunct English professor. I love academia so much that I made an OC who does the same thing, but with actual job security and a decent salary to live off of. (Unlike myself, this OC does dabble in crime. His name is Dr. Julien Cadieux Hyde.)
I am taking a hiatus from writing fanfiction. If you want to read my fanfics, here is the link to do so: This Is a Link
This blog is not as active as it was, so if you want to contact me, my Discord username is avantgardegeek.
If you are a human being who is not a bigot, welcome to my blog!
It's been a loooong time since I've last been on here. I'm doing alright! My summer has been filled with job applications and interviews, you know, big boy things. I'm trying to land a full-time job so I can finally be on my own and live on my own terms. Teaching and tutoring is rewarding but on an adjunct/part-time salary, it is not economically feasible.
I hope by the end of August that I am hired at one of the colleges/universities I applied for. Going for a staff position since they are easier to obtain. (I also really don't want to be teaching and tutoring this fall if I can help it. I need to be properly compensated.)
I still love the GTA series, and I still play online on PC! (The Pizza Boy deliveries are actually fun, not going to lie.)
I am active on Discord, so let me know if you want to be Discord friends!
this new reblog chart feature is FASCINATING and it is also highlighting how much people on this website fail gifmakers and other content creators. you NEED to start reblogging gifsets and art if you want this site to continue functioning and being a place content creators WANT to be on. look at this
there are almost NO reblog chains!! the majority of reblogs are directly from me, and then it just. ends. the like to reblog ratio is almost 1:4.
this is why posts die. this is why artists have left, this is why gifmakers are giving up. this is killing tumblr.
reblogging is the ENTIRE POINT of this website, and you can't just like something and move on and expect gif/editmakers and artists to continue putting in the effort to make content FOR YOU.
if a trans woman complains about the ongoing campaign of trans genocide in the united states and the uk and your response is âwell itâs not TECHNICALLY genocide yet so you really shouldnât use that word because it makes us look badâ i think you should perhaps actually just shut the fuck up and read literally any news coverage containing the words âtransâ and âdesantis,â just for starters
like wow so theyâre not literally dragging us to camps??? itâs not literally a nazi germany style holocaust so you canât call it genocide????? buddy do you think the fascists are BLUFFING?????????? grow the fuck up you child, because if youâre even a little bit not-cishetwhite theyâre gonna use the âthreatâ us trans people represent as a pretext to come after you.
we call it a genocidal agenda NOW because that is THEIR STATED INTENTION. that is the ONLY logical outcome of the policies theyâre proposing and the words they say and the hate they foment. we call it a genocidal agenda NOW because by the time it actually becomes a genocide itâll be TOO FUCKING LATE
I'm teaching a composition course this summer for eight weeks. Today was the first day of the class.
I have willingly admitted I play GTAO, The Sims, City Skylines, and Minecraft as the "non academic" side of me.
My students were amused at the GTAO confession and I proudly told them I was a "Level 200 something." (I'm 221 right now.)
During their 10 minute break, a student of mine asked why it took me until this year to play Minecraft.
My answer?
"They were glorified Legos to me back then."
If you want to know the kind of professor I am, I know when to be seriousâ˘, but I would literally want to roll into class with a Razor scooter with my Starbucks vanilla cold brew coffee in hand, hollering a deep "YEET!"
Putting this below a Read More because it is a but lengthy and I do not want people to scroll too much!
I havenât updated my fanfictions in awhile, and there are two main reasons why:
Iâve tinkered and refined Julien behind the scenes.
I have major writerâs block.
Back when I began to write Grand Theft Immortal, I initially wrote this fanfiction to be a mostly original parody of the infamous My Immortal fanfic. I did not take it so seriously in the first few chapters. However, with the introduction of my OC Julien, thatâs when it really took off.
I stopped where I did in GTI because I did not know how the second part of the fic would play out, and after some time, I was dissatisfied with Julienâs plot. I considered his feud with the publishing head to be way more ambitious than I thought it would be. Considering that My Immortalâs protagonist is a literal Mary Sue, I subconsciously made Julien into a Gary Stu to fit the parody. Am I re-writing his canonical situation to Julienâs motherâs death? Yes.
GTI was a real-time evolution to how I saw Julien and his character at the moment in writing. I put a lot of myself in Julienâs personality at the time, because I wanted to see someone like myself represented in a fic in terms of our trans and gay identities, as well as our love of academia. Julien and I are similar, but he has a more âseriousâ disposition. I also tried to fix My Immortalâs overused love triangle trope to a polyamorous one, as both Julien and I are polyamorous. Would Julien be involved with Michael? Sure, but he probably would stay far away from Trevor romantically. At the time, I was very invested in trying to write and explain how I saw Michael and Trevorâs relationship.
Now, I have very different feelings about GTI. It did serve its purpose in trying to find my identity as a young scholar and academic in Julien and cultivating and working hard at a polyamorous configuration. (In real life, I have had lackluster experiences with past partners and my ex metas- a poly term for my partnerâs partner(s).) The fic served its purpose in working out the nuts and bolts for Julien as an OC. However, I think it is time to âabandonâ the fic. This means while I will still have it for people to read, it is certainly not 100% canonical in terms of Julienâs events.
This is still canonical about/for Julien:
He is a professor at ULSA and has a PhD in English
He is a vigilante assassin who works behind the scenes (he rarely gets on the front lines)
His motherâs unfortunate demise
June Margot is his surrogate mother
He is trans/gay/poly
Heâs a dual citizen of Canada and the US, but grew up in the US.
He speaks enough French to get by and have a conversation, but he is not 100% fluent. (His mom was French Canadian - Quebecois)
This is NOT canonical for Julien (as of 5/22/23):
His motherâs killer is the publishing head.
He is personally involved with the GTA V trinity and other characters.
He did not write a script for a movie.
You can say GTI is both a fever dream and a fanfic study. I am indebted to the readers and commenters, as well as the friendships I made with others over my fic. However, due to my feelings about where I see this fic now, it is time to shelve that away. Also, with My Immortalâs foundation in being a HP fanfiction and of its seriesâ author being a major bigot, it feels unethical for me to continue GTI.
That also means Blue Eyes and Homoerotic Vibes is a fever dream in itself, although I still find it quite enjoyable to read. (And downright sexy.)
In terms of my fic with Julien and Juan (Ăxtasis en Aguamarina), that is another fanfic case study. Julien in a million years would never associate with Juan due to his own safety in mind. At the time, I was super simpy for Juan and I wanted to write more homoerotic fanfiction.
Fanfiction will always hold a special place in my heart, and I want these stories to still be accessible because I want the guys/masc folks in the GTA V/GTAO fandom to enjoy fanfiction written by someone like me and to see themselves being desired.
I still very much play GTAO, but I have so much development in terms of Julienâs character in the works behind the scenes. If I were to upload that content, it would technically not be fanfiction. It would be original writing. Letâs see where this goes, and I will find a place to house these original works of Julien.
Is this to say I will stop writing fanfiction for good? No. My fanfiction writing comes in waves. I just have to be really hyperfixated on a fandom and have a lot of ideas. Right now, I donât. My priorities in how I engage in fandom morphed significantly these past couple or so years. I still very much love to discuss and analyze media! Iâve analyzed both as a student and as a young adjunct. I just enjoy the nonfiction parts too. Iâm that guy with an iced coffee who will sit down with individuals who want to play Operation on media and discuss, analyze, and critique media in the lens of scholarly and informal inquiry. If that sounds like you, I would love for you to join me at this metaphorical table.
I still very much am invested in Julien, other OCs, and your fanfictions! I am just taking a step back from the fanfiction writing table to focus on Julienâs world buildings.
If you read this far, then youâre a champ. Hereâs a gold star!
Itâs weird to think that some people arenât daydreaming 24/7 and creating all kinds of stories and worlds in their heads. Do you mean that when youâre listening to music or walking somewhere your mind is just blank? Sounds weird.
Avant Garde Flavored Geek, M.A. @laviedavantgarde - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
