#America isn't great

[impetuousdesigns]

眠れない・Can't Sleep

眠れない。2時間だけ寝て急に目を覚ました。嵐が来た？猫が遊んでいる？子供が泣いている？トイレに行きたい？いいえ。ただ目を覚まして眠れない。

Can't sleep. I slept about two hours but suddenly woke up. Is the storm here? Is my cat playing around? Is my kid crying? Do I need to go pee? Nope. I just woke up and can't sleep.

明日、しなければならないことが多い。リビングを片付ける、お土産を買う、空港行きバスの時間を確認する。心配も多い。娘は日本語がまだまだ足りない。台風はいつ来る？したいことも多い。姉に電話したい。絵を描きたい。娘のハロウィーン仮装を作りたい。自分のハロウィーン仮装も作りたい。あっ、そうね。昨日、スーパーに行ったのに、あれを買うのを忘れた。頭がうるさいね。眠れない。

I have a lot of things to do tomorrow. I need to clean up the living room, buy some souvenirs, check the airport bus schedule. I have a lot of things to worry about. My daughter still needs to learn more Japanese. When will the typhoon finally get here? I want to call my sister. I want to do some art. I want to make my daughter's Halloween costume. I want to make my own costume. Oh, right. I forgot to get something when I went to the grocery store yesterday. My head is too noisy. Can't sleep.

夫は今どこにいる？飛行機に乗ってヨーロッパに飛んでいるのを知っているけど、今どこにいる？ふむ、夜9時出発だったら、多分中国の上にいるだろう。夫は寝ているかな。私は眠れない。

Where's my husband now? I know he's on a flight to Europe, but where is he now? Hmm, he left around 9pm, so he's probably somewhere over China by now. I bet he's sleeping. I can't sleep.

アメリカの大統領の選挙について考えたくないね。あの人が勝ったらどうする。嫌だ、絶対嫌だ。勝つわけがないだろう。8年前もそう思ったが、結局勝った。4年前に負けたから、今回も負けるだろう。負けて欲しい。あの人が負けても、アメリカに帰りたくない。家族に会いたくても、アメリカに帰りたくない。眠れない。

I don't want to think about the upcoming presidential election in the US. If that guy wins, what will I do? Awful. Totally awful. There's no way he can win. 8 years ago we thought that too, but in the end he won. He lost 4 years ago, so he's definitely going to lose this time, right? I hope so. Even if he loses, though, I don't want to go back to the US. Even if I want to see my family, I don't want to go back. Can't sleep.

猫は本当に可愛いよね。今飼っている猫が世界一かもしれない。耳の形がいいし、鼻が茶色くて可愛いし、目の色が素晴らしいし…この猫が大好き。昔飼っていた猫もとてもいい子だった。ナタリーちゃん。初めてのペットで本当に良かった。喉頭の問題のせいで、ナタリーの「ニャー」が「ギャー」になった。いつも一緒に寝て、朝に起こしてくれた。兄妹3人で森に遊びに行った時、ナタリーも一緒に行った。ある冬、ナタリーが凍った池に歩いている時、氷が割れた。ナタリーが冷たい池に落ちて、私に救われた。よどんで臭い池に落ちたナタリーをコートの中に入れてあたためた。ナタリーのいい思い出のおかげで、眠くなってきた。

Cats are so cute. The cat I have now just may be the best in the world. Cute-shaped ears, cute brown nose, beautiful eyes... I love this cat. I had a great cat when I was a kid, too. Natalie. I'm so glad she was my first pet. She had some problem with her voice box, so her "meow" was more like "gaa." She always slept with me and woke me up in the morning. When my siblings and I went to play in the woods, she often came with us. One winter, Natalie was talking on a frozen pond when the ice broke. Natalie fell into the cold water, but I quickly saved her. She was so stinky from the stagnant pond water, but I stuffed her inside my coat to warm her back up. Thanks to these sweet memories of Natalie, I'm feeling a bit sleepy.

My black cat Natalie・黒猫のナタリー

[urbandokkalfar]

To add my own experience to this: I have a broken bone in my foot, part of that bone split off and now just, chills at the base of my little toe on the side of my foot.

I also have a cracked knee cap. On the same leg.

I work full time, pay ONE PAYCHECK out of TWO for the month in rent, the other one goes to bills, household expenses etc.

I don't have enough to even t h i n k about healthcare after everything.

The last two years I've been treating it myself because I can not afford to miss work long enough to have the surgeries and recover to a point I can go back to work - I would have to go back to work within a week or less in order to have money to pay bills AND make the medical payments.

I'm not in any sort of debt and I never plan to be because I can't afford to be.

Abolish for-profit health care insurance.

[hemlock-dreams]

hold on, I saw the tags of the tattoo post. covid happened in Peter's universe?????

So my Hunt!Peter's fangs are NOT retractable, though @thistleraven's Peter's fangs absolutely are!

Peter has spent over a decade basically keeping his mouth closed. He's (in)famous for his closed-lipped smiles and pursed grins. When he does crack a laugh, it's usually either laughing through his nose or on the extremely rare occasion, behind his hand. When he eats, it's in tiny bites, etc. etc.

When Peter gets excited (adrenaline/arousal/etc.), and his fangs start producing venom, he usually starts talking through his teeth and swallowing a lot.

Most people (including Wade) don't consider the closed-mouth stuff to be anything weird. Some people have tics or quirks that don't mean anything. And Peter knows better than to call attention to it. (He misses COVID -a totally normal thing to say- but wearing a face-mask on the reg is just asking for people to try and peek under it.)

Spidey on the other hand, is MUCH more expressive. Something about the weight of the mask on his head is psychologically freeing. However, sometimes habits bleed through and Spidey ends up doing something that gives Wade extreme deja vu.

[loveisinthebat]

I don’t actually know what to say about this Picture.

[iniziare]

Consider Yelan's facial expression to be my own in reaction to opinions shared on both X and Tumblr, and I guess I'm in the minority of the 'loud ones', but I'm pretty excited for Natlan since that trailer, actually. The previous teasers left me a little 'eh', but this definitely got my hopes back up, and I'm back in the right spirits for it (and ready to catch some Pokémon.)

Now I wouldn't be me if I didn't touch on the salt that I've seen scattered across the dash, so here I go. Listen, I read people's objections and I see what you're all aiming at, but in that light want to note that it's often incredibly easy to point fingers (arguably too much so) at others while being, quite honestly, hopefully rather aware that many of our own countries, cultures, and its populations across the board (and no, I'm not excluding anyone here) would likely be just as easily guilty as MHY is with these things. And no, I'm not blindly defending them, but I also won't point fingers at only one without pointing them everywhere else as well, including those you might think would 'never do such things', because I'm absolutely certain that they would. /continues on in the tags.

[slightlytoastedbagel]

actually On Your Feet gave us two good things (well. three if you like Realize which I do). Kohane's "it's frustrating" line and the great crack fic idea of Vivid Bad Squad getting cancelled online for skipping school to yell at The Kotaki Taiga as he was about to go back to America.

[scarlet--wiccan]

I know that West Coast Avengers ended like 6 years ago and the Watts siblings have barely been in anything sense, but I keep seeing people on Twit listing them among Black mutants/X-Men characters and um. I'm sorry to rain on your parade but they are not and have never been X-Men characters and are officially listed as human mutates. No X-genes here.

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

Hi! I'm interested in working through the Hatchet field stuff while I'm on break. Is there a recommended viewing order? Or can I jump in anywhere?

ahahaaaa i am SO SORRY I am just now seeing this. in my defense i caught covid about the time you sent this (and also infected my mom who does NOT do sick well) buttt if you're still looking,

tbh you can start anywhere, because while they're all related, they aren't connected--like you'll appreciate certain jokes and callbacks, but in that way I guess it's like an anthology.

Technically, the first musical is The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. If you know someone who doesn't like musicals, they might actually like this one (PROMISE ME YOU'LL THINK ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS) It's the first introduction to Hatchetfield and there are some recurring characters in the next musical, which is Black Friday. It is about Black Friday and consumerism and the amazing line "I've met god. he had nothing nice to say about you" BITCH OMG. The most recent musical is Nerdy Prudes Must Die, and honestly imo it has the least connections to the first two, so you could probably start with that one if you wanted--again, you'll appreciate some jokes more if you've seen the other two. It does also have more Lore, but I still think you'd be fine not knowing anything about it. I don't know that much about it and it was still good, because--

---there's a whole series of web-icals? Social Distance Musicals? Whatever, it's called Nightmare Time and they dive deeper into the lore of Hatchetfield and I've never managed to watch more than the opening number of the first one (it's a sound quality issue, i just need to watch it on a laptop or something) but look to be really cool and interesting and maybe deal with the same Hatchetfield? Because the Hatchetfield in each of the musicals is...not the same one. Or it is, but different timelines. Or different dimensions. Something. I think Nightmare Time does more into that.

Basically, you could watch them all as standalones, there's not really a plot that goes through all three of them, but characters and concepts that do.

But that's the order I'd do them in. From a theatre nerd standpoint, it's also really cool to see how they've evolved musically. Just technically with how they're putting numbers together and adding vocal layers. NPMD has a few songs that i would LOVE to see the sheet music for so I could try and figure out who is singing what. Honestly the best comparison I can make is "Wait For It" from Hamilton.

Anyway I hope you enjoy them!!! If you want to shout opinions at me i am here for that :)

[fumblingmusings]

I haven't actually followed the strips in ages and only see bits in pieces pop up now and then, but does Matthew call Arthur an older brother? I remember Matthew was the one taking care of Arthur when he fell apart after Alfred left but then there are times where they don't seem very close at all? Alfred and Matthew in fanon are usually portrayed as having a very close friendship while canon has the more typical 'no one else knows how to piss me off like you do' sibling relationship.

Ooooh yeah let's get our sources out for this one lads. Except not the April Fools'/Halloween Specials I'm too tirrrreeeed and I genuinely don't think there's anything in them regardless. Please excuse odd image formatting - go follow the links to read the strips in their full context!

The very early strips from like 2011 England and Canada did not have much of a relationship at all, but then we got a few Canada focused strips in like 2015 ish which kind of shed some light on what their dynamic is.

I can only find three references to Arthur being a father - and that's in the strip's title, not actually anything anyone says. Otherwise it's kind of implied with the toy bear metaphor but even then...

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 193; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 204

The other is - of course - from Cleaning Out the Storage. Thanks Alfred for that one. It still isn't the F word but whatever...

Cleaning out the Storage

In the strips set in the modern day, Canada just calls England England (or jackass in his head in one of the older strips... which is fair). Canada has never called England big brother, instead consistently calling Arthur Mr England.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 196; Fly Canada Fly (Also 'I'll leave the caring of his heart to you' WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH T_T)

It's the same for Oz, who hasn't even said England's name yet, but it's harder to say what he thinks of his relationship to England him since A) he's far more informal in his manner of speaking and B) has far fewer appearances.

However, they still are family I think even in modern day? I can only do logic by association here really. Canada and England explicitly call each other family when Mattie is a baby as well as some of the 19th century strips too. England getting custody has him say: 'from now on I'll be your family' and Canada gets very excited at the thought of a family.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 192

Matt and Alfred are called brothers (more than even) far more consistently.

Fly Canada Fly; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 199; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 178;

When Canada is introduced to Australia, England says that he wanted to introduce the newest member of their family to him. He's defined as a 'sort of' younger brother.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 201 (I like how Arthur tells Oz off - not because he's wrong but because it's rude... poor Canada...)

Zee is the blessed exception! He calls both England and Canada big brother fairly consistently.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 269; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 414; Hetalia World Stars Chapter 227;

Mattie has, as far as I can recall, never had the B word come from his mouth regarding to Arthur. He does however refer to him as family.

Hetalia World Stars Chapter 181

So you have Matthew who apparently fine with calling Arthur the equivalent of Sir, Zee who merrily calls both Big Brother, and Arthur who doesn't correct the boys either way (extrapolate what you will from that insecurities all around methinks). And yet Arthur and Matthew don't refer to each other as siblings in return. Arthur doesn't call anyone his brothers aside from Wales, NI and Scot.

And Alfred. Which ended badly so... that kind of tracks actually. Like literally Arthur rejects anything too informal because it like... triggers him??? Or something. Trauma flashbacks right here.

The Battle for America

So one sided familial relationships all around??? I think the more likely answer is Matthew and Arthur are simply less open with those terms than say Alfred was or Zee is; I assume the translation from Japanese is much a term of endearment as it is an actual declaration of relation.

So, in some ways Matthew and Arthur's relationship is not the same situation as whatever Alfred and Arthur have going on, as there's no explicit on page declaration of 'I'm not your little brother' like we got from Alfred or 'It's not like that at all' from Arthur (that strip in Africa where that soldier says he can't believe they're related and they both say no they aren't [in their own ways]), so until then... Schrödinger Sibling.

I quite like that they don't really put a name to it. It just is. They're family, sure, but beyond that... shrug. And that thing (cough cough colonialism) can't really be boiled down to one term. Everyone's relations are in such flux and beyond just one word to define it.

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Red hood: some people need to die

A good chunk of marvel heroes: uh,,, doi, yeah they do! Up top!

BSKSBDKS

[an-incoherent-mess]

So I'm really into genealogy and have been for a few years now and I'm blessed with being really good with names and dates etc. So in conversation I can remember like a ridiculous amount of:

Jane Doe Smith Johnson

b. 1805 Tennessee d. 1879 Missouri

Married 1828 to John Patrick Johnson. Had five children. Died of TB

Etc etc

And that's cool enough apparently but I've mostly been using it for

A. Making up bullshit but real sounding names for stuff (i.e my name is Emily Stewart, Grace Kolár, etc). The point is that they're normal sounding and varied.

B. Having a bizarre frame of reference for historical events. Like "oh [small town],[state] 1942 had [random] event happen? My 1st cousin 4x removed got married there that year, small world!"

It's so dumb, like I'll read about some historical event from my area (where I've had family in the vicinity of since the 1840s) and I'll link up the time frame in my head and be like hmm... I wonder what 3rd great aunt Helen thought about that happening next door to her church.

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

sometimes i wonder if rocco had successfully killed carlo and eddie, would clemente be fucked or not

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

[vaguely-functional-directions]

It's like when someone says something that you don't agree with but don't know specific facts to really be able to disagree (?) and also do not want to get into a debate

[bumpscosity]

too scared to go off anon but we are mutuals and i love seeing your posts about the disney rides and such. its like peeking in a window to something i know nothing about but enjoy seeing on my dash regardless

HAI MYSTERY MUTUAL!! glad ya like it! disney parks are a hyperfixation so it's always fun to post about for me :)

[le-panda-chocovore]

Sometimes I read post about things that happens in USA like how much it cost deliver a baby in a hospital, or the number of school shooting, or the laws about not teaching about Gay People or Gender Identity or Period, or the reciting a patriotic song each morning in school, or some other shitty facts, and each time I have this realization like "Wait you guys actually live like that ? This is not a joke ? It's not even exaggerated ?? This is your daily life ??? HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE OH MY GODS ARE Y'ALL OKAY ???" (the answer is obviously No)

It's maybe because I don't pay much attention about news in my country (I know it's not joyful but I don't think it's THAT bad) cause it makes me really depressed, and it might be because USA is way more transparent about everything that happens, but for real, what the fuck.