i noticed i am one of the few using lowercase while writing on substack and wordpress. back in 2013, when i was writing my wattpad daily journal, the faults in being a fangirl, i was one of many who adopted this low-effort stylistic choice. 

i first noticed this way of writing on tumblr through various blogs and poetry. i can’t recall any specific users or posts that were notable in this way, i just remember seeing it a lot and thinking it was cool. if i dig deep through the my blurry, youthful memories, i can pull out a distinct instance where i remember turning “auto-capitalization” off in my iphone 6 settings, and i haven’t turned it off since. my iphone 14 and whatever contraption i have in the beyond will never see proper capitalization over text.

i do this on teams too when talking to my coworkers, but never on email when i am communicating with external clients. for work, i use a desktop and keyboard, and from my understanding, there is no way to have auto-capitalization when i type. if there is, then i don’t want to know. i prefer to use the “shift” key manually whenever capitalization is needed. and when i talk to my coworkers in all lowercase, i hope they know i intend to appear down-to-earth, approachable, and not give in to the normal conventions of grammar. i do this with my friends over text, and even though my coworkers aren’t my friends per se, they are in the confines of my 9-5. within those hours, i genuinely do care about them and want them know they can come to me. however, i do wonder if they talk to me and think about the tweet below:

and to that i say: “jokes on you, i am just being efficient and effective in my communication! have fun wasting time holding the ‘shift’ key!”

with my 2014 yearning as an influence, there is the other anti-grammar choice i make. the Random capitalization for subtle Emphasis, Inspired by john green’s character Margot in paper towns. in the same way my coworkers are my friends, so is everyone reading this, i will write the way i do for everyone i care for; therefor, i Will Capitalize Random words for subtle Emphasis. from what i remember about the book, margot was a rebel in general with no intention to give meaning to her writing style, but i saw it, loved it, and then gave it my own meaning. 

unless it is against the rules in wordpress and substack to write in lowercase, then i will continue to do so. someone needs to continue 2014 tumblr sad girl culture, and that is a burden i am willing to carry. 

i hope this is a natural segue to give an update to my previous post, “my tormentor, elementor.” jerome from elementor support replied to my ticket, saying the most likely issue i am experiencing on falloutvia.com is the pixl theme. i knew i was supposed to use the hello theme from elementor when using the plug-in, but i didn’t want to believe it. the hello theme is so ugly and the pixl theme fits my 2014 tumblr sad girl aesthetic i am trying to honor because of the burdens i am facing with keeping this culture alive. but, since i paid the $60 annual fee for elementor despite my “commitment” to unnecessary spending in may, i now have to capture the 2014 tumblr sad girl aesthetic using the very necessary elementor plug-in. so if you happen to stumble upon falloutvia.com and it looks funky, know the site is in progress, as is everything relating to brain dump from now until i die or give up.

while i am on the topic of personal branding, and since i don’t believe this next tid-bit warrants a whole post, let me explain the nonsensical username “falloutvia.” in middle school, my best friend emily (featured in my post “we held on til may!”) and i were obsessed with giving each other nicknames and using our names in puns. my favorite band was fall out boy, and in my thirteen-year-old brain, i thought “outvia” was a notable play on words since it only changed two letters of my name, “olivia.” and even better, when you separate “fallout” and “via,” “via” means “way” in latin. knowing this, i thought i was also giving a nod to my love, gerard way, through my username. via is an english word as well, meaning “through” or “by way of” so to normies, my username would be “fall out through” or “fall out by way of.” fall out by way of what? who knows.