Ursula Katherine Spiller

URSULASPILLER.CH writer, author, scribbler ♥ AuDHD ♥ film lover ♥ enthusiast of random things tag: my art Interview with the author BlueSky Mastodon (not used actively) Goodreads

[ursulakats]

📌 pinned post

“On this day of all days, I'm here for murder. Not committing one, just solving it.” - Cookie

“May the good spells follow you home.” - Q’s Key

Unfortunately, just because the world had ended, that didn't mean it needed no more saving. And someone's gotta do it, right? - How a Post-Apocalyptic Vampire Librarian Saved the World

Kiki had to realise that she was - to the surprise of absolutely no one - completely wrong. - The Coffee Shop AU

Time to look at stories from a whole pᴉɟɟǝɹǝuʇ ɐuƃlǝ. - The True Ship

German translation:  Wie ein postapokalyptischer Vampir-Bibliothekar die Welt rettete

You can find everything about my novels here.

📌 pinned post

[iwannarunawayandbeapirate]

got curious because idk how well-known this is internationally so:

Are you familiar with twist bread/Stockbrot?

Yes; I'm German

No; I'm German

Yes; I'm not German

No; I'm not German

Nuance button

Remaining time: 5 days 20 hours

[hotvampireadjacent]

Reading a book about and called Enshittification and this is the opening page

[melthedestroyer]

there’s a big difference between “i’m sad because a character i was emotionally invested in was killed off” and “this character’s death served no purpose, was used for shock value, and is the product of bad writing and i’m upset about that”

[fforsythiaaa]

Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.

[hypokeimena]

#'this is present in the text' is often a good first step #but those second and third ones (naming it; describing its function) are vital (via @elucubrare)

[depsidase]

[inkskinned]

Every day I handle more money than I will ever make. Every day.

At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and it’s not to watch the shoppers. See, we can’t actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.

At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didn’t exist in my household. It’s normal now. Here is something that is not for me.

“What the hell, I’ll take another,” says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.

The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.

I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. He’s not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. He’s not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadn’t spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldn’t have spent any. I go home. I don’t own a watch.

I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.

I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht. 

I’m not worth the cost of a watch.

[inkskinned]

i wrote this while i was working at orlando’s walt disney world parks.

i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.

as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.

disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (“cast members”) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even “face” characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.

at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.

i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.

i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.

we are both worth more than the watch, anyway.

[storm-of-feathers]

yeah yeah rainbow capitalism is bad and whatever but like. when I was a child, being pro gay was not the popular or lucrative choice. I'm happy that times have changed.

[storm-of-feathers]

I miss rainbow capitalism. I do. I miss when it felt like public opinion was still pro gay. I understand it was always an empty gesture, but it mattered in a sense of knowing how socially acceptable being queer is. If that makes sense.

[hellenhighwater]

This whole project was heavily inspired by the work of Lina Shamoon/ Mirrors by Lina (website here, check out her very cool and much higher quality work). My spin on things is definitely not made as well as her stuff, but I'm still loving the effect.

[hellenhighwater]

This thing is still bringing me a great deal of joy. It's usually the last thing I see on my way out of the house in the morning and it's very good.

[dogpuppy]

[squirrelly-13]

they got married btw

[visit-me-here-in-wonderland]

oh you’re not kidding

[scunthotter]

People who are making posts telling us what is happening over on threads, twitter, and Instagram are like war correspondents sending us reports from the front.

[half-gobbled-piece-of-toast]

“I ain’t reading all that” your brain is rotting and shrinking

[springsgreenleaves]

Yes, but also, I am begging you on bended knee, paragraph breaks.

[the-haiku-bot]

Yes, but also, I

am begging you on bended

knee, paragraph breaks.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[lovesicklobotomy]

[metal-autistic-coven]

Happy pride month to him

[charmwasjess]

Having someone ask ChatGPT in a meeting is like being a grown-ass professional adult in a room full of other grown-ass professional adults trying to solve a problem, while a colleague with one of those baby toys that makes animal sounds repeatedly presses the cow button. And we all have to stop what we're doing and listen to cow go moo and say "wow hm yeah that's not really what we're asking but the cow does definitely go moo, good thoughts"

[baddywronglegs]

Except increasingly the cow is being treated as a respected contributor to meetings as we pivot to a moo-centric business model that principally produces bullshit

[scarletjohansson]

HAPPY PRIDE! 🌈 WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS | S4E05

[ssavaart]

Ooh. This is SO GEN X.... hopefully some of you younger ones will get it too.

[honeysucklepink]

I can't believe they left out the most important one...

Things We're Never Gonna Do:

[helix-enterprises117]

Give you up.

[a-knight-of-hope]

Let you down

[helix-enterprises117]

Run around

[a-knight-of-hope]

Desert you

[helix-enterprises117]

Make you cry

[a-knight-of-hope]

Say goodbye

[helix-enterprises117]

Tell a lie

[a-knight-of-hope]

Hurt you

[cleo-fox]

Writing tips:

“You feel the bulge in his pants” - implies that you are feeling some guy’s penis, may be sexy depending on context

“You feel the bugle in his pants” - implies that this guy has a military horn in his pants, invites confusing questions like why does he have that and how big are his pockets

[maple-seed]

Both options convey that he's horny

[cleo-fox]

How dare you be funnier than me on my own post