#Happy holidays op!!! Thanks for the gift 8)

[pillarsalt]

Anon worried about her trans-identified friend again, I wish I had the words to express how much I appreciate your kind words!!! (Maybe admitting it made me tear up would help? haha) Your response was just as thoughtful and considerate as I thought it would be, but I never expected you'd write so much for a stranger talking about another stranger, let alone throw compliments my way. You're a truly special person and everyone on here, including me, is so lucky we get to hear what you have to say and chat with you :) (And see your wonderful art to boot!! Finding another bug-lover is such a lovely surprise!)

I'll keep your kind thoughts in mind whenever the rare friction comes up again between my friend and me. It was such a quick process for me to desist and become gender critical that I think it's easy for me to forget how much harder it is for people to change their minds on the trans topic when they're so much more invested in it than I was. (Feel the same way about religion too, even as a little kid I was asking questions about why certain things bothered me in the Bible and getting frustrated when I got shame instead of answers. Maybe being annoying and asking too many questions is just in my DNA haha. But all the more reason why it's important to help those who aren't naturally critical: they're the ones falling for unreality the hardest because of that fact.)

Ultimately I will keep being me and see what happens, like I've done before. If nothing comes of it, then there was nothing else I could've done differently anyway. I've asked her if she'd like to do gift exchange for the holidays. We're planning on getting each other a few embarrassingly nerdy collectibles we've been eyeing for a while :)

Thank you again for your help, I'll cherish your words always!!! Hope you have a blast on your trip and get to see all the little guys you could dream of!!!

I'm very glad to hear from you, anon! :) and thank you so much for the kind words! it makes me very happy to be able to help in any way. ❤️

It's funny that you mention questioning the bible as a kid. I went to catholic school and I remember being taught in first grade that we were supposed to love god more than anything. More than we loved our parents or even our dogs, and I just couldn't get past the notion that I had to somehow love the kinda mean, angry, invisible flying grandpa*, who never says a damn thing when I pray, over the actual people who had raised me. I stayed in catholic school until graduation despite opposing catholicism, argued a LOT. I think my point is that I've also kind of been primed for voicing unpopular opinions, so I'm biased when it comes to people who are more hesitant to take any position on the matters at hand.

*sidenote, around this time I obsessively read My Book of Bible Stories (1978) which was given to me by JW doorknockers. This is a bit uncanny, I haven't seen this since I was about 8. It was a treasured book to me, it's full of old testament stories and pretty brutal:

To demonstrate how young I was while reading this: the book refers to god as Jehovah, but I was still learning to read and thought he was called Joseph. So all the adults I told all these Joseph stories to were confused as to why I thought Jesus's stepdad was so OP. Anyway yes, Joseph was a scary guy in my mind, I mean look what he made abraham do before he said sike:

which really didn't give me much faith in him. Kind of a questionable thing to do to a guy tbh. Finally here's the illustration that basically inspired my URL:

Sorry to hijack your ask anon, for some reason your message sent me down memory lane. Finding that pdf was crazy.

ANYWAY: you made my night with yoir nice message, so thanks for that, hope you stay well. I'm happy that it's chill for the time being, and the gift exchange sounds like fun. Come around to chat anytime.✌️

[bensiskos]

Benjamin sisko is the happiest he’s ever been. it’s 2358, and his son is turning 3 years old, his wife is at his side and nothing could be better. He looks at the holocamera, rolling forest spread out behind him, crisp clean air in his lungs, and he thinks to himself, “I am so lucky to be here”.

Benjamin sisko is the saddest he’s ever been. It’s 2367. His son is 10 years old and recovering in sickbay, his wife is dead. He sees the holophoto from 8 years ago, the smallness of his quarters closing in on him, the dry recycled air burning in his lungs, and he thinks to himself, “I would give anything to be there again.”

Benjamin sisko is the proudest he’s ever been. It’s 2374, his son is 17 and just showed him the latest draft of his novel, kassidy is arriving soon, ops is bustling with activity. As he remembers that lovely day back on earth; he thinks to himself, “I am so glad to be here.””

A @startreksecretsanta gift for @sturfadurf! They requested a happy sisko family! And a special thank you to @loathsome-aesthete for reading the lil thing I wrote and giving me some feedback! Happy holidays to everyone!

[peterkayscarshare]

FANFIC: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow by OvertheRainbow

NOTE: This fic is NOT by me, Ikkleosu. I was very kindly asked if I could host this fanfic for another writer who wanted to contribute to the Car Share fanfic cache. And once I’d read it, BOY, was I ever honoured to host this fic. I love it! Lots of feels people, be prepared.

(I will TRY and post updates daily, but I have a busy week so it could be a couple of days between updates)

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow – By Over The Rainbow

Chapter One - "It"

7am. The alarm clock heralded the start of another day by belting out Beyonce's Bootylicious. In one fluid motion, Kayleigh swung her arm across her body and hit the off button with a satisfying smack. For a few blissful moments as she came into wakefulness, it was as though "it" had never happen. As though the world was still filled with the exciting possibilities of newly found love, of secret hopes, of unspoken feelings...of what could be...but now never would. Before "it" happened, she'd sit on the edge of her bed first thing every morning, looking at her heart shaped novelty lamp on the windowsill. The morning light, causing it to cast a warm, soft, rose tinted glow. She'd ponder its infinite meanings and possibilities, like its plastic held the secrets of the universe. All to the never-ending soundtrack of Steve reviving his f'ing bike outside the window of her tiny little box room. She'd shower with one foot on the door, dress, fix up her hair and apply her make-up, have a quick jeuge of Jade Goody's "Shh", then make her way to the kitchen for the daily ritual of fighting for space to grab some toast and a quick brew. She'd become adept at dodging an ever frantic Mandy, issuing orders to a disinterested Chloe and Alfie, as they wander about aimlessly, glued to their phones like zombies. All this while PE kits are handed out and tuna sandwiches and PomBears are stuffed into backpacks. Morning Mandy was like some strange creature, half Mum, half octopus. By 8 am Kayleigh would linger in the hallway and the little red car that held all her hopes and dreams would slowly come to a stop outside. Some days she'd see him arrive, on other days she'd hear his voice first, chatting to Steve and laughing at some daft joke. She always took a moment to check her hair and lippy in the hall mirror one last time, take a deep breath, shout her goodbyes to Mandy and the kids, then head out with her heart beating faster, filled with excitement, like a teenager on her first date.

 Today was different though. Tomorrow would be different too. Life was different now....all because "it" had happened yesterday. There would be no more little red car. A text sent from the back of a taxi before she'd switched off her phone, removed any lingering doubt that she intended to make her journeys alone from now on. The novelty heart lamp was now in a black bin bag under her bed. She'd taken it down in a cloud of tears the night before. What had for so long been her touchstone, sat there taunting her, reminding her of her foolishness, of her naivety, of her aching loneliness. Like a block of Kryptonite to Superman, it's mere presence seemed to weaken her ever more with each passing minute. She'd thrown it in the waste paper basket in her bedroom. Then taken it out with a view to throwing it in the wheelie bin downstairs but Steve was still out tinkering and she couldn't bear the interrogation, or worse, the smart arsed comments. Abandoning the momentary thought of burying it in the back-garden like a cursed artefact, finally, in desperate need of a solution to her pain, she'd gone to the kitchen in a quiet moment and grabbed a bin bag....along with a full packet of Maryland Cookies...and some Babybels. Sleep eluded her and this time she couldn't blame the curtains. YouTube offered no solution, just salt for a gaping wound. By the time Beyoncé was insisting, "I don't think you're ready for this jelly", Kayleigh wasn't ready for anything and "jelly" was the least of her problems. She had a full day ahead of her and was facing it with an empty, broken heart.

 She must have looked as bad as she felt this morning. Mandy had paused in her usual flurry of activity to say, "Christ sis! So much for an early night. You look bloody awful!" Kayleigh replied with a half-hearted, weak voiced, "Thanks". Other than to decline dinner and make her excuses while heading up stairs the night before, it was the first words she'd spoken in more than twelve hours. Perhaps it was the tone, perhaps it was the universal language of sisterhood but it stopped Mandy in her tracks. "Seriously Kayleigh....are you alright?" For a second she wanted to scream "NO! I'm not ALRIGHT! I'm anything but! I get woken up at dawn by your bike obsessed fella, your screaming kids are driving me mental and why can't you get a lock on the bathroom door?! Oh and I got my heart ripped out of my chest last night by a man I thought might just be the love of my life and my future...and my happiness...and my whole bloody world, so NO I'm not ALRIGHT and I don't think I'll ever be ALRIGHT again!"....Instead, she said, "Yeah. I'm fine" then turned and left the kitchen and headed down the hall to her sister's suspicious gaze burning a hole in her back and the strains of Chloe shouting, "Give it back Alfie!....MUM!!!!"

 Yesterday, Today  & Tomorrow – By Over The Rainbow

Chapter Two -  "Hello darkness, my old friend"

6.15 am. The alarm didn't go off. It didn't need to and not  just because he didn't need the extra 45 minutes anymore. He got the text  while he was still stuck in traffic. "I'll make my own way from now  on". That's all it said. "I'll make my own way". He'd turned  off the radio in the car and spent the rest of the journey home in silence.  The final glimpse of the taxi heading off into the distance was burned on his  brain and kept replaying to the point of torture. By the time he got home,  his Nana was snoozing in his armchair in front of Emmerdale. The parcel,  which had seemed so urgent and yet was now so redundant, was sitting on the hall  table. Ignoring it, he decided to let her sleep for a bit. With legs like  lead, he went upstairs into his room, closed the door, sat on his bed and  cried. He cried like he hadn't cried since his Dad passed. Cried like somehow  it would make a difference. That it would be enough to make it stop. Then,  when he felt he couldn't cry anymore today, he got up, dried his eyes, washed  his face and went back downstairs.

He'd called out to his Nana as he went; concerned that he  might frighten her with his sudden appearance. She was awake and responded,  "Is that you our John?" her tiny crackling voice echoing up the  hall. "Yeah Nana it's me. You were asleep when I got in. Did you get  your tea?" She'd had the quiche. She was tired now and wanted to get  home. Get the curtains drawn. He drove her home, through quietened streets  while she told him the latest news about Paul and the holiday he'd booked and  how much Ben and Sophie were looking forward to it and what a good Dad he was  and how busy he was with his job and on...and on..and on..until it wasn't  words anymore just sound. He'd switched on her television and checked that  the back door was locked. She was paranoid about that back door. Then he'd  kissed her cheek, assured her he'd bring her a Dairy Box at the weekend and  left. Strangely, he thought as he sat in the car, she never did acknowledge  that simple gesture. Never did say thank you. He said it every time; he did  it every time and yet nothing. He couldn't remember the last time Paul called  round. At least, when it wasn't a flying visit to leave Ben and Sophie, to  "See their Nana"/get a bit of free babysitting. Maybe that's what  happens when you've got a wife and kids. Your priorities change. Then again,  it wasn't something he needed to think about. It wasn't going to happen to  him. He'd made absolutely sure of that.

In that moment, he couldn't prevent his mind drifting back  to when he gave Kayleigh that heart shaped lamp. She'd looked like a kid at  Christmas. You'd have thought he'd handed her the world, not just a plastic  novelty lamp. He remembered her talking about it. A casual aside in a stream  of chit chat. It was on offer in non-foods and she'd buy it if she had a few  quid left over at the end of the month. She wanted to cheer herself up.  Hearts always cheered her up. He'd hated seeing her so sad. There was  something profoundly wrong about Kayleigh being sad. He wanted to fix that.  Something inside him told him he needed to fix that. By the time he headed to  non-foods in pursuit of the lamp, it was sold out. His mission to locate one  then felt essential. Like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. That lamp was  his Holy Grail. He finally found one in Preston and by convincing Tom Ackerly  that a customer had requested it and he'd buy him a drink at the staff party,  it had arrived with the Tuesday morning delivery. He'd just hand it to her he  thought, not make a fuss. Then he'd found himself buying a gift bag. It would  make her smile. How he missed that smile. How he loved that smile. There was  that pain. He'd driven home, stopping briefly at the Co-op late shop for a  meal for one.

He hadn't slept that night. At least not in any useful  sense. To spare himself the piercing tone and in a final admission of defeat,  he'd turned the alarm off hours ago. He'd just lay there ever since. Not so  much staring at the ceiling as tunnelling through the darkness...only to  discover there was no light to be found, just more layers of darkness. It was  gone. The light was gone from his life. Now there was a thought to conjure  with. Not so much "gone" this time eh John, as thrown away. When  did he become such a coward? When he lost Anna? When he lost  Charlotte?....When he lost his Dad? He didn't want to think about it. Then  again, he never did. He knew he was falling in love with her. Knew he had  fallen in love with her. She was like no one else he'd ever met. Funny,  joyous and optimistic. Never letting the past get in the way of the future.  Naive and yet at times, strangely wise. So beautiful to his eyes and yet so  self-conscious and self-critical to her own. She made him happy. Stupidly.  Intoxicatingly. Completely, happy. Why the Hell did that frighten him so  much? Why didn't he stop himself?! Why didn't he stop before it hurt so  much?!...and God did it hurt. Worse still, there was no relief from it. It  was relentless. It was as though pain and loss was filling every part of his  body. That a dam had burst in his heart and he was drowning. It had been  twelve hours and yet in some ways it felt like twelve minutes and in others,  like years. The thought of her was like a knife in his chest. So he tried not  to think of her. That only made him think of her more....and round and round  it went until he was punch drunk. A substantial part of him wished he was  literally drunk. He always valued the control of being stone cold sober but  right now he longed for the oblivion of being shit faced, leathered.

This pain was new and yet in some ways it felt like an old  friend. Looking back, what hurt with Anna was the sense that he couldn't  compete. He wasn't smart enough, or cool enough or edgy enough....or anything  "enough". He was a kid with some vague notion of going to music  college one day and a part time job stacking shelves at Tesco. It was  inevitable that it would come to an end. In many ways it made his life  easier. Not least of which was that he had a few extra quid in his pocket at  the end of the month. Anna never did like paying her way and he was too much  of a gentleman to complain...or maybe he just wanted to avoid the  confrontation. When it came to fight or flight, he'd taken off more  frequently than EasyJet. It worked too in fairness. He'd never once felt the  loss of her. It was the same with Charlotte. He felt embarrassed by what  happened. He felt guilt. He felt sorry that he'd unintentionally hurt someone  he cared for. Someone who didn't "deserve" to be hurt. He wished it  all hadn't gone so far. That he'd allowed himself to be boxed into a corner  and had made promises he couldn't keep. That he'd "gone along with  it" to please everyone but himself. His father was so ill at the time  and he just wanted to make him smile, to make him happy. His Dad really loved  Charlotte. He would have adored Kayleigh. There was that pain again. For a  time after Charlotte left, he'd felt alone and part of him even missed the  companionship...and the regular sex, let's be honest... but that soon passed.  Like Anna before her, he'd never once actually felt the loss of Charlotte.  This was what was new. He felt the loss of Kayleigh. The sound of her voice,  her laugh, her smile, her eyes. Her presence in his car and in his life. That  his heart would beat faster every time he saw her. That being with her felt  right in a way that nothing else ever had or ever would again. He wished he'd  never said the things he'd said, not only because he'd caused her pain but  because he didn't mean a single word of them. Not a single word. Ironically,  the words he had meant, she'd never heard.

[spainwealth89-blog]

Holidays at the Pier Are Back for the First-Time in a Decade

November 19 through January 6, only at the historic merry-go-round at the Santa Monica Pier. 

By Staff Writer

For the first time in over a decade, the Santa Monica Pier is getting into the holiday spirit. Starting November 19th and running through January 6th, the historic Merry-Go-Round and Carousel Park will be dressed up and decked out for the first-ever Wonderland by the Water.

Wonderland by the Water is seven weeks of art, events and holiday magic at the Pier, including art installations, a food festival, craft/gift market, puppet shows, story time, photo ops and more. We’re working with some of LA’s best event producers to host an unforgettable experience for locals and tourists alike. Below is a quick overview, but of course we’re happy to send more info over!

Seadragons Village Art Installation: Local artist, Myriad Slits, is creating a magical Seadragons Village art installation in the windows of the historic Merry-Go-Round. From outside the building, guests will be treated to whimsical scenes of sea creatures celebrating the holidays and from the inside, visitors will see giant “presents” decorated and wrapped for the holidays.

November 19 – January 6

FREE

Puppet Show with Bob Baker Marionette: The celebrated theater found a new home at the Pier. This iconic puppet show will feature classic songs of the season and Bob Baker favorites.

November 29, December 6, 13 & 20

6:00 and 7:00 PM (two shows a night)

FREE

Story Time and Mermaid Photos: The sea scenes come to life with Holiday Mermaids and King Triton. We’ll be offering photos and story time thanks to our friends at the Santa Monica Public Library and Dark Tide Productions.

December 7, 14 & 21

Photos: 3:00 – 7:00 PM; Story Time: 4:00 PM

FREE

Smorgasburg LA Holiday Food Festival: Westside fans will get to taste the best of Smorgasburg LA on their own turf with favorites from DTLA, when more than 70 of the festivals most popular vendors take over the Pier.

December 8

11:00 AM – 4:30 PM

FREE

Shop Local with Unique LA: One of LA’s best independent design and immersive shopping experiences is heading to the Pier! Meet and shop directly from hundreds of hand-selected designers and artists. 2 Days, 300 Artisans, Thousands of Shoppers & Free Activities… it’s the best way to shop for all your holiday gifts.

December 15 & 16

10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Tickets are $15 at com

Santa Monica Pier Corporation’s Executive Director, Negin Singh, shares: “no matter where you come from, how old you are, or what religion you ascribe to, the holidays at their best are a time of togetherness, kindness, and magic. At the Pier, we see almost 30,000 people a day during the holiday season; if we can share even a little bit of that spirit with our guests, we are doing something right. We are so thrilled to have curated the best of LA artists and event producers to bring this season to life.”

Artist Myriad Slits added, “The Pier is a vibrant and rich atmosphere, and an artist’s dream inspiration. I am so excited about playing with the brilliant colors, textures and materials that exist underwater to create a tableau that the eyes will want to devour. We’re using iridescent shells and pearls, bright colors and an array of festive materials to make Seadragon’s Village at Wonderland by the Water an incredible feast for the eyes.”

Presented by the Santa Monica Pier, Wonderland by the Water is free and open to the public and suitable for all ages. Special thanks to sponsors Lyft, One West Bank, Uniqlo, Santa Monica Hotels, and Pacific Park for helping to bring the program to life.

Wonderland by the Water 7 weeks of art, events and holiday magic at the Santa Monica Pier November 19 – January 6

Santa Monica Pier 200 Santa Monica Pier Santa Monica, CA 90401 santamonicapier.org/wonderland

About the Santa Monica Pier Corporation The Santa Monica Pier Corporation (SMPC) is a non-profit, public benefit corporation dedicated to preserving and enhancing the Santa Monica Pier experience for all visitors. santamonicapier.org

About Myriad Slits Myriad Slits makes art in all forms: performance, photography, painting, installations. She is the creator of “Morton Salt Children’s Religious Revival”, an annual performance art retreat that’s going into its 12th year. Her art has been featured in Heart of Art gallery, Leimin Space, Neutra Museum, Los Angeles City Brewery and Galeria Obscura. You can find her performing with her band, ModPods, all throughout Los Angeles or teaching art to children ages 4 to 8-years-old.

Source: https://smmirror.com/2018/11/holidays-at-the-pier-are-back-for-the-first-time-in-a-decade/