Chris Chibnall. For God's Sake You Need To Give Us A Meeting Between The Thirteenth Doctor And Her Daughter

Throughout all of my recent research into Ulysses S Grant and William T Sherman, I realized that we were never really taught in school about the Western Theatre of the Civil War; i.e., Grant’s mostly-successful campaigning around the States of Kentucky, and Tennessee, and Missouri. It’s his and others’ victories there that later helped win the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in two.

But what do we learn about in Social Studies/History? Gettysburg. Fort Sumter. Bull Run/Manassas. Antietam. In other words, the Eastern Theatre of the War. And those battles were dominated by incompetent Union commanders for a large majority of them: McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, McClellan again-- men who were more likely to retreat at the very cusp of victory than jump forward and seize the day. It’s bad enough learning about the Eastern Theatre that I remember saying to my parents that with such incompetent commanders the Union deserved to lose the Civil War.

I understand that History class has only so much time to teach students, and I understand that the Civil War is too big to teach in-depth, but why do we focus so much on McClellan and Lee, Hooker and Lee, Burnside and Lee, Meade and Lee, and brush over such an important part of the War as the Western Theatre? We effectively forget about Grant and Sherman until they’ve entered the Eastern campaign, let alone all of their fellow commanders and soldiers, and their years of fighting to take back and then keep the Mississippi in Union hands.

Who I see:

Who I think of:

u ever hear a drum beat that changes ur life

“What town is that?”

Longstreet looked. “Gettysburg,” he said. 

The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara, p. 16

I get where you’re coming from, nannyogg! I think Chibnall did name Alec after Thomas Hardy but I suspect he was aware of the definition of what ‘hardy’ really means in the English language. He likes his plays on words, lol.

What always really intrigued me about the name was the sound of ‘Alec’. Saying it out loud the name sounds cut off, or broken; your tongue wants to automatically continue the name into ‘Alex’ or something similar just so you’re not left hanging. So having ‘Alec’ as his first name, a word that’s broken, followed by his last name ‘Hardy’, literally meaning able to survive in the most difficult circumstances, is a fantastic juxtaposition.

So, totally random thought. As English is not my native language I do look up the precise definition of words frequently to avoid using them in the wrong context (I still do way too often though, sigh). Anyway, so I looked up something and stumbled over the word “hardy”. It never occurred to me until then that the actual definition of “hardy” is “able to live through difficult conditions & strong and able to accept difficult or unpleasant conditions”. I mean like a lot of us Alec Hardy enthusiasts I assumed that Alec is named after Tomas Hardy, but it is a nice coincidence, isn’t it? (well it might not be one after all).

Thoughts anyone? I’m sure @penfairy has figured this out ages ago. LOL. Anyway, happy Sunday everyone, I’m working on the next chapter for The Ocean Breathes Salty ;-)            

I was looking through my old artwork and stumbled across this. I drew it over ten years ago now. God, her story makes my heart hurt.

🐌🐌🐌If you receive this it means you make someone happy! Go on anonymous and send this to ten blogs who make you happy or some you feel need cheering up. If you get some back, even better. 🐌🐌🐌

Thank you so much! It’s definitely made my day and I hope what I write makes you happy too! x)

Question about writing here: in my senior year of school my English teacher told my class that the word ‘get’ should never be used when writing. He said it’s a lazy word that never adds anything to the story, and that you should find a better way of explaining what you mean. I typically tend to avoid using ‘get’ as a result of what he said, but is it really that bad of a word to use? 

but it was NOT YOUR FAULT BUT MINE

and it was YOUR HEART ON THE LINE

i really FUCKED IT UP THIS TIME

didn’t I MY DEAR

didn’t I my -

Trying to explain to people that it’s not a problem with your ears (I’m 24 and I’ve passed every hearing test I’ve ever been given with flying colors) and being told it must be all in your head then.

Auditory Processing Problems

• *someone says something* “what?” *repeats themselves* “sorry?” *repeats themselves again* “pardon?”

•"hey, y'see the red thing at the top of the shelf, will you get it?“ “Sorry, what?” “On the sh-” “oh yeah sure, I’ll get it.”

•*doesn’t hear teacher because someone’s pen is making a scratchy sound at the back of the room*

•*replays video 10 ten times to figure out what they’re saying*

•teachers asking, “why do you always stop writing in the middle of a sentence, just write down whatever I’m saying,” followed by the response, “I’m just processing it,” rebuked by, “we’ll stop processing it and just write.”

•*gets really focused on staring out the window and goes through four songs without hearing a single on*