#Great Depression 2: electric boogaloo

[headknight-oh]

My desire for home ownership manifests in me saving cute furniture pieces on facebook market and crying about capitalism

[andromedaspark]

So we got great depression, great war (the war to end all wars) turned ww1, and ww2

So do we get to call this Great Depression 2: Electric Boogaloo? Or are we picking something lame

[cryptictangerine]

You ever hear about the virus in WoW that spread to player characters so well it was considered an example of a what a modern pandemic would look like? This was a few years before 2020 and its fascinating just how similar the situation was to the 2020 pandemic.

Anyway I think the worth wiki could effectively simulate the stock market crash that started the great depression if they wanted too. Just for fun! Just as a little haha.

[heatherchadler]

reblogging this post at the end of his presidency to see if it'll actually be abhorrent or if we're just being anxious

[perplexed-penguin]

Are you ready for The Great Depression 2 Electric Boogaloo?

[genericpuff]

Life update! This is frankly one I've been trying to avoid but at this point it's kiiinda super necessary ┬┴┬┴┤(･_├┬┴┬┴

DISCLAIMER: VERY LONG POST AHEAD. A LOT OF IT IS ME TALKING ABOUT LIFE SHIT OBV. I RAMBLE A LOT AS I TEND TO DO. I'VE BOLDED THE IMPORTANT SHIT SO THAT HOPEFULLY IT'LL MAKE IT EASIER TO PARSE THRU. PLS FORGIVE ME ;-;

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First things first, I quit my job! Or rather, I put in my resignation letter with my current shop, with two weeks notice. Not something I had to do, I just felt it was the least I could do to go out on decent terms (and it means I can honor the appointments I still have booked and use the time to notify all my clients).

There were several reasons for leaving but ultimately it was a personal decision that will - hopefully - allow me to build a better environment for myself within the larger tattooing industry. I've learned through too much trial and error with all the shops (of which there have been 3) I've worked in that I don't particularly enjoy working in one single shop under one single shop owner. It's often counter-intuitive with my ADHD and anxiety, and it's kind of hard to address my mental health problems when I'm still in an environment that exacerbates them.

Of course, this wasn't an "all or nothing" decision because I frankly wasn't giving up a whole lot by leaving. The tattooing industry has been going through some hard times, between The Great Depression 2: Electric Boogaloo and the oversaturation of shops that exist everywhere now (seriously, everyone and their mom nowadays is a tattoo artist). Not only is the industry changing and being forced to adapt, I too have to change and adapt, not just to maintain my place in this industry, but to align it more with what I need within it, rather than trying to force myself to align with what other people often project (and believe me, some of the people in this industry do a LOOOT of projecting, tattoo artists ruined the tattoo industry fr LOL)

So it's scary, but it's necessary. I'm still gonna be tattooing, but I'm doing it on my own terms now. Instead of locking myself down to a single shop environment waiting for the work to come to me, I'm going where the work is, through guest-spotting and expos and whatever other collaborative opportunities I can find, something that I was a lot more restricted in doing with single shop environments.

Also I'm just like, tired of being broke from not getting more consistent work and the shop splits cutting all my generated income in half LOL There's a reason so many artists - even established folks who have been tattooing for decades - are going private nowadays or opting instead for booth rent shops over the 50/50 splits. I could go on for ages about this but I'd rather spare you all the details because they frankly don't matter here and I don't want to dwell.

Buuut making this decision is, ultimately, to address both my exacerbated anxiety from working in a shop environment, and my financial issues from said environment not benefiting me. Especially now that-

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-my roommate is moving out in April! I'm very excited but also very terrified. This will be the first time my husband and I have ever been able to live alone since we started living together some 6-7 years ago. Yeah. As much as I'm a social person, at home I'm a hermit and introvert, and I'm frankly just sick of people who I'm not romantically committed to constantly being around. Even when they're sweet people (which my roommate mostly is) it's still like living around a sinkhole. Sure, it's pretty simple to just walk around the sinkhole and place all your furniture around it and mind where it is at all times, but it sure would be nice if the sinkhole just wasn't there to begin with, y'know?

There are so many things I've been wanting to do and simply can't on account of living with a roommate, projects that I want to pursue, spaces that I want to create for both myself and others. Knowing that she's leaving in April has almost made me even more anxious and impatient, because now I'm actually thinking about all the things that will improve and become available to me just with one less person in the house and I'm DYING for it to finally be reality. I can finally have an actual dedicated workspace area that isn't just a corner of a small den, we can separate our leisure space from our work space, we can decorate the whole place how we want it, we don't have to worry about being intruded upon during our conversations, we'll have so much more counter space in the bathroom and kitchen, we don't have to pray that she's not in the bathroom every time we need to use it because that inevitably means we either have to wait an hour or go piss in the corner toilet shoved next to the washing machines, we can put the doors that originally separated the living room from the kitchen and hallway back up because she had removed them to make space for her 15437281 bookshelves. Much of what I'm describing isn't anything that was her 'fault', it was just the circumstances of living with a roommate which I'm just so excited for my husband and I to get away from.

But of course, her leaving means we now gotta make up for what she would normally cover in bills each month (the biggest of which is obviously rent). And with how dire the tattooing scene has become, leaving my shop to pursue other ventures - even if it costs me more time and money and energy on the forefront to do so - felt like a necessary change, because staying there certainly wasn't gonna accomplish anything, either. The shop kind of felt like a sinkhole in and of itself as well, a bottomless pit of unrewarded effort and stress, weighing down on my subconscious every day. While many of these feelings were largely personal, they weren't helped by the nature of that environment being what it was.

Part of my ongoing treatment for my ADHD is accepting and reminding myself that it is a disorder and that I need to allow myself to walk the path of least resistance, rather than force myself to conform to what I think I "should" be able to do out of the instilled belief that if I can't, I'm "failing". Rather, I need to actually build an environment for myself that doesn't work against me. It's not that I'm failing completely on my own, it's a failure of the systems and environments that I've forced myself to exist in for years. What I'm trying to do is going "against the norm", sure, but for someone with ADHD, going against the norm is necessary because the norm isn't built for me.

Going solo with my tattooing and freelance work might end up not panning out, but I won't know until I try, and for now, it sure beats the path of resistance that I've been drudging through with what's now amounted to very little. Going solo means my time is my time again, as is my work and rewards. As scary as it was to hand in that letter of resignation, I've removed myself from the path that was hindering me and set myself on another that promises, at the very least, change. Whether or not it ends up being beneficial or productive change, well, that's something I'll be finding out as I walk it. At least now I can walk it with my head held high and my hopes renewed.

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It goes without saying that this year has been a rough one so far, and we're only at the end of March. I'm sure most people can tell that I'm not really as "present" as I used to be, especially when it comes to the constant delays in Rekindled updates and lack of posting outside of that. I've been in a state of limbo, where everything and nothing is happening at the same time, waiting for the moment when I could finally make progress (and as I described above, much of that has been tied to my roommate finally leaving). With the move-out date right around the corner, and my resignation handed in, it feels like I can finally start removing things from my plate to make it more manageable, and rearranging everything to include the things I want rather than the tasteless, unfulfilling garbage I've been choking down.

But that leads me to one of the things that will be getting removed from that metaphorical plate.

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Anyone with ADHD and RSD knows that it's hard to be selfish, even when the situation calls for it. But sometimes you have to be, for the sake of establishing and respecting your own boundaries and care.

So, in a little act of selfishness for the sake of self-care: Episode 70 will be going up as soon as it's available, I'm hoping by next weekend at the latest. After that, Episode 71 will also be going out as soon as it's available, hopefully within 2-3 weeks time as has been needed over the past few months. This will hopefully line up with my resignation from my shop.

Following Episode 71, Rekindled will be taking a mid-season hiatus.

I know this kind of sucks considering all the delays we've already endured, but it's precisely because of those frequent delays as of late that a hiatus is sorely needed. It not only gives me time to rebuild a buffer of some kind, but largely to focus on cleaning up that aforementioned plate of bullshit that Gorgon Ramses himself would throw at a wall.

I'm aiming for the hiatus to last between 2-3 months. During this time, I'm hoping that I'll find enough stability in my real life to dedicate time and care to it again. The reality is that a free-time hobbyist project like this does require free time. And that free time is hard to justify when it's all the time on account of lack of consistent paid work. To put it simply, if I don't have a roof over my head, I can't keep doing what I do here. Rest assured, it's not that dire yet, but it would be if I stayed on the same path. Projects like these are at their best when they can just be done in one's free time, for fun, without the stress of mounting bills and other responsibilities piled on top. That pile's been getting pretty high for me lately and now even Rekindled hasn't been safe from it - while the art and story has continued to elevate itself with each new episode, the turnaround time has lengthened and the stress of Real Life™️ outside of it has affected my own enjoyment in making it.

I love making Rekindled. But if I want to keep loving it, I have to put it aside for a bit so I can cultivate a better environment in which to create it in. Ultimately the suffering and spite isn't what makes Rekindled great, it's joy and care. And neither of those things can be committed to it when everything else around me feels like it's been burned down.

I do still have my own doubts with this decision. Going on long-term hiatuses has always been difficult for me, largely when it comes to getting out of them (fans of my original work are all too familiar with this). But I know the circumstances here aren't the same, and that they won't repeat themselves if I don't allow them to. I have far better tools to combat burnout now than I did even just a year or two ago, but one of those tools is drawing boundaries and knowing when to step away.

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This was obviously a VERY long post and I realize with the Rekindled hiatus announcement near the ass end, a lot of people will surely be wondering where tf Episode 70 is LMAO but I'm sure I'll get asks in my inbox about it anyways that I can respond to, and when we actually go on mid-season hiatus, it'll be mentioned properly in the episode itself with a link to this post.

With my roommate moving out soon and my shop resignation now turned in, I feel like now I at least have the mental room to start breathing again, rather than gasping for air. And that will, in the long run, also allow me to create even more cool shit for both myself and all of you :> I do have plans, both for Rekindled after its hiatus and other projects (wink wink), that I now feel like I can start really getting off the ground with the shackles of my living situation and work environment finally loosening. And I do hope that, whenever those plans start to materialize, y'all enjoy what I have in store! It'll take some patience, and a lot of work, but it's work that I'm hoping will pay off in all the best ways ┬┴┬┴┤･ω･)ﾉ

Thank you all for your patience, kindness, and support. I know I've been saying this a lot lately with each episode delay, but I am really grateful to get to create what I do for you all. And I wanna keep doing it. I just can't do it without filling in that pesky sinkhole first (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و

[technofeudalism]

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is a sleepy part of the Treasury Department. It’s also where, sources say, a 25-year-old engineer tied to [ ] as admin privileges over the code that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more."

[ ... ]

"Two of those sources say that Elez’s privileges include the ability not just to read but to write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government: The Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS). Housed on a top-secret mainframe, these systems control, on a granular level, government payments that in their totality amount to more than a fifth of the US economy."

[ ... ]

"“You could do anything with these privileges,” says one source with knowledge of the system, who adds that they cannot conceive of a reason that anyone would need them for purposes of simply hunting down fraudulent payments or analyzing disbursement flow."

the Bureau of the Fiscal Service is responsible for financing the national debt. get ready for these morons to inject blockchain into the nation’s banking system. tech bros so desperately want to crash the USD and switch us over to crypto and this is just another brick in the wall of that construction effort. all of this while many BRICS nations are ready to switch to a different default currency altogether. the 20's are really back, baby. Great Depression 2 Electric Boogaloo.

[aurae-rori]

DR RATIO ANALYSIS: PART 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

SPOILERS FOR 2.1 CONTENT.

Now, you might be saying - "Aurae, you already did one, why do you need a second?" And my answer is, "LORD, I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT HOW HIS DEFINITION OF 'IDIOT' IS DIFFERENT. AND ALSO HE DOES NOT HATE AVENTURINE NOR DOES HE THINK AVENTURINE IS STUPID." Once again, here is my disclaimer - although I have been researching psychology for a solid six years, I am NOT a professional. (I will be, one day. Just you wait, just youuuu wait-) So understand that everything I say has been analyzed with personal judgement, with my own conclusions, come to with logic and my personal interpretation. This is just what I have concluded, and you are always free to disagree.

This is my legacy. To be an analyzer. So let's go.

Okay, now that my disclaimer is over, let's take off Ratio's plaster head and chuck it into the sea, and see - what does he mean by 'idiot'?

This will be much shorter than my last, so don't worry - I will not be flashbanging you with another 4k words. This is more like a follow up, than anything else, because there's a few things I wish to touch on.

Dr. Ratio doesn't hate idiots in the sense that he hates people that have 'low IQ' or are 'stupid' in terms of being 'slow to understand'. I definitely touched on this in my last analysis, but he hates people who take their education for granted and don't go places with the gifts that they've been given. He hates "idiots" - "narrow minded" people who have the capabilities to do more and perceive more than they choose to do. People who deliberately look away or take what they know and what they could do for granted. He wants to open people's eyes and allow them to see life from multiple different angles and he believes that everyone should have a chance to learn - with the whole "knowledge for everyone" thing he's got rolling.

He wears a plaster head around people he doesn't seem to know too well in order to think more, or so that he doesn't have to see the faces of the people he dislikes. Pretty good roast. However, he does NOT wear that plaster head around Aventurine. Let's listen to the doctor's judgement - Aventurine is far from stupid. Although he likes to chalk up a lot of the things he does to his own luck, he is an INCREDIBLY capable individual who's managed to get this far because of his own form of genius. He's a man who relies on chance and good fortune, yes, but his charm, his way of scheming, and the way that he's good with people? That's skill. A talent he doesn't take for granted. Dr. Ratio respects him for this - because despite the fact that he has no proper education, he has his eyes wide open to the world and doesn't take shit for granted. He learns what he can in order to survive and he does it fucking well - Aventurine is a very smart man. He's observant, quick on his feet, and great at going with the flow and thinking in the moment.

Aventio aside, I actually believe that Dr. Ratio would be a really good teacher to those who struggle. He's patient where it's needed to be, even if he's got a quick temper, and I believe in his pursuit for knowledge he would do his best to go out of his way to find strategies that would work for their individuals. We're all unique, and he's aware of this - and because he wants to allow people to think for themselves, whatever helps the individual works. Depression? He's got a psych degree, I'm sure bro could give you some strategies. Autism? He has a touch of the 'tism himself. ADHD, and not feeling organized? Bro will help you. It's canon that he's a great fucking teacher - those who finish his classes go on to become successful people who are intelligent and critical thinkers. Round of applause for Ratio, the man that kins my father. He's shit at emotions, but great at knowledge.

Also, on that note, I believe that he would most likely hate parents that push thier "gifted" students to the limit without any compassion for the person that they really are. He's most definitely got some of that academic trauma so I believe that bro holds a secret disdain for parents who just use their children to gain more recgonition. Well, not so secret. He'd cuss them out. (Ratio please cuss out the horrible parents.)

Dr. Ratio, the Teacher ever. (Hey, maybe he'd get along with Kunikida...)

Also, I am definitely planning on making a fic where he teaches Aventurine Latin. As long as you're eager to learn and willing to look past the chalk being thrown, he's got a place for you.

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk. I did not read this through, so this is not edited. Take my unedited rambles.

[grizzlyofthesea]

Guys. Please.

Please go out on Saturday (April 5th) and protest this madness. Show the world that we aren't okay with the current administration sinking us into Great Depression 2: Electric Boogaloo. I can't be there because of my funky work schedule, but I'm still going to do my part by calling my representatives and refusing to buy anything.

[but-a-humble-goon]

Hey so once Elon and Trump's upcoming Great Depression 2 Electric Boogaloo is over and coming out the other side of it it turns out all the wealth is even more consolidated in the hands of them and their handful of billionaire buddies while everyone else suffers as is always the long term result of any recession, do you think that will finally be the point where dumbass racist Americans realize who their actual enemy is or am I being too naive?

[transbeckett]

great depression 2 electric boogaloo

[sumquiasum]

A crazy spell puts all of the riverdale characters in separate decades. What decade do you put each character in, and how are they fairing?

1900s: Cheryl. Turn of the century, between the old and the new, industrialisation in full swing but not everywhere. More of a clash of the centuries. She would fare alright, though she wouldn't thrive.

1910s: Archie. Trench war-fare 2, electric boogaloo. Guess how he's doing.

1920s: Veronica. She'd THRIVE. She already owns a speakeasy in canon.

1930s: Kevin. US-American reaction to Nazi Germany, rising fascism in the US as well. Kevin's complicity turning into refusal as he realises the leopards would 100% eat his face too and finds community with other marginalised people. He doesn't thrive. (Alternatively: Jughead gets to be one of those Great Depression authors.)

1940s: Betty. Rosie the Riveter but it's Betty. Charles is fighting in WW2. The Coopers mysteriously always have meat. Unrelated, sometimes people disappear without a trace around Riverdale. She'd be doing alright.

1950s: Fangs. Rockstar Fangs was pretty fun so let's do it again.

1960s: Jughead. Cold War. Conspiracy theories. He also gets to get involved in civil rights in a very 2x11 way where he learns racism exists, is outraged by it and becomes a fierce ally for a week before getting distracted by space aliens or something.

1970s: Toni. Free love, black power. She is THRIVING! Also maybe she'd get an afro.

1980s: Tabitha. She's just having fun living a John Hughes movie, but more diverse.

1990s: Josie. Disco revival. Need I say more.

2000s: Reggie. Partially responsible for the economic crash. Scammed a lot of people out of a lot of money. He's thriving.

[alethiaii]

Great Depression 2, electric boogaloo.

[top-shelf-tender]

{{Alastor (probably) died before the end of The Great Depression, so he decided to host The Great Depression 2: Electric Boogaloo with the silly depressed cat man he was charmed by}}

[selkie-tea]

My special interest timeline and ranking score bc why not

Note: ages listed only describe when these fixations were Loudest in my brain. I still maintain interest in most of these subjects even if they are not front and centre.

Earliest I can remember — Fish: 10/10

legally I have to score this one a 10/10 bc it literally came in first

Circa 7-10ish years old — Cetaceans (whales and dolphins): 8/10

Following on the marine biology thread, I was enraptured by the social behaviour and intelligence of these fellas. Also learning of the vast scope of dolphin species unfamiliar to the general public was terrific enrichment for my little autistic brain. I distinctly remember a book in my elementary school library that listed dolphin species of the world and that was my absolute favourite thing. I am genuinely saddened not to remember what it was called. Unfortunately this special interest hit me at a particularly annoying age so I’m giving it a lower score for just how bothersome I was about it

Tweens/early teens — HTTYD book series: 10/10

Can’t possibly imagine why a socially outcast protagonist with a particular interest in a certain type of animal spoke to me at this age. Also giving this one a 10/10 because of not only what a great series it is, but the role it has come to play in my life. These books grew up with me, moved me, but also came to save my ass from depression much later. Cannot express my love for these books enough

Early/mid-teens — Avatar: the last Airbender & The Legend of Korra: 8/10

An absolute classic, both are incredible shows. Only reason it’s not getting a higher score is because it didn’t have the same lasting impact on me as the httyd books. Korrasami did make me a lesbian for a time though*

*Gender and sexuality are fluid don’t @ me with deterministic shit

Mid/late teens — Steven Universe: 6/10

Great show still, don’t get me wrong, but I have no idea why it grabbed me as much as it did. Actually wait, I do know. It was a gay cartoon pioneer and I was just coming into my queerness. Which is still pretty cool, but my current assessment of the show just doesn’t line up with how thoroughly obsessed I was. It also gets a knocked down score because of all the teen angst I associate with it. Not the show’s fault, but this is a list about my experience so it does have an impact.

Late teens/Early 20’s —

Look, every interest in this era was fleeting and not particularly strong so everything here gets a 5/10 given that none of them can really be considered *special* interests, just interests. I was incredibly depressed so my brain just didn’t latch onto things in the same way. Interests in this era include the care and keeping of parrots, snakes, and other reptiles. I was also interested natural history as a whole. Very interesting subjects, but they hardly count as special interests given where my brain was at.

Early/Mid 20’s — Httyd books 2: electric boogaloo: 10/10

Oh would you look at that, a relapse. Not complaining though, this bad boy gets full scores once again. Given this was my first time experiencing a true special interest again after a very rough depression it was a very exciting ordeal: I genuinely wasn’t sure if my brain could do that anymore. I got involved with an incredibly based fandom and made some great friends. I’ve been having an excellent time here.

Mid 20’s/current — Danmei/yaoi/BL: 8/10

The score is getting knocked down a peg for the sheer humiliation factor of having this as a special interest. Still, this shit made me an MLM gay the way korrasami made me a lesbian* so we can’t deny the impact it had. Humiliation factor aside though, I learned a lot about myself with this one and also unlearned a lot of biases about the genre that I had no idea were mostly terf propaganda. This one also helped me work through a lot of personal gender and sexuality issues so it will almost certainly hold a special place in my heart going forward.

*same note as before about ~fluidity~ but if you must have a more thorough explanation I’m also trans. Hope this helps.

Current/emerging — Sherlock Holmes: ????

Too early for a ranking. It’s also too soon to tell if this will become an actual special interest or just a short-term passing fixation. This one definitely holds promise though so we’ll see where my brain goes with it.

Anyways, feel free to reblog with your own timeline I’d love to see it :)

Actually, I’ve decided I wanna make this into a tag game. tagging

@bayofalgecirascranes @jusiri @sox-rok68 @zephsthings @it-me-rain @aarie-mudpuppy @jam-ham @wickedcriminal and also literally anyone else who feels like it

[purpetua]

Streaming now in the U.S "Great Depression 2: Electric Boogaloo"