#I am grateful for the work that they DO get done

[spirits-n-giggles]

Work together.

These days, none of us can do it alone.

About 7ish years ago, my 55+ mom was supposed to start a bed and breakfast with my 60+ aunt, but then my aunt met some man online, literally ran off to get married, sold the house they were both living in together, and kinda left my mom homeless.

Who helped us out? My landlord.

My landlord is also my current boss.

She is also a friend that my mom and aunt have worked with for about 15 years. She was in the middle of it all when all of that drama went down between my mom and aunt. At the time her rent house wasn't fully renovated and she discounted the price by over half so my mom had a place to live. I moved in soon after to help my mom split everything. Renovations didn't get done when 2020 hit.

The house needs taxes paid on it, but that's all we pay on it. My landlord could have jacked the prices up any time, but because she is the one that signs my check, she knows how much is going into my house, so she can't screw me over without the risk of screwing over herself. The best part (sarcasm) is that the American economy has been flushed down the shitter, and she is now unable to keep up with all of the repairs on all the houses she has. She can't move anyone else into any house, not now, and she knows if she wants to keep the house we are living in, then she has to keep us there. It's like playing a real game of Monopoly that my boss/landlord is slowly losing lol. She has owned these homes for almost 30 years so she isn't exactly new to the game.

I am also aware that I hella lucked out on my situation, because my boss/landlord bends over backwards to help out both me and my mom-- right down to taking up 2 other jobs just so she can keep me on payroll. She doesn't have to do that, she easily could have raised my rent, or told me to find another job, but she gave me the option on if I wanted to stay or leave, and she took the burden on for herself. We help one another like a literal machine so none of us go under.

In this case, the renter and the rentee HAVE to work together to keep our lives standing. But at least our lives are standing, and I am grateful for that. I do not feel stuck. I can leave when I want to, but why leave when I have the cheapest rent in the city in 2024?

I KNOW (because of this meme alone) that I do not have a normal situation, but.... all I ask is that.... if you do have a nice boss or if you do have a nice landlord, just.... talk to them, get to know them, and learn how human they are. You never know how much you could help each other.

No it is not perfect. This is a person has their fair share of shortcomings, but who doesn't. We always butt heads with each other politically, but we know how to listen to one another, and because I listen, so does she, and she has learned progressive ideals that she never would have understood without me, and vise versa.

It can be a challenge, but in really hard times like these, we have to look into the humanity of people and find the nuance. Unfortunately, it is up to you to find those people and keep them close. They might not be your boss or landlord, but I guarantee you can find those people on your own street and start building real relationships with real people. Who knows. That might include your landlord or your boss.

With all of the fear in the world since the election, I have started walking in my neighborhood to meet with my neighbors. Turns out anyone I've talked with feels the same, and we all just want to make connections. It's amazing how many people are just waiting to join in on a movement, but they just don't know how to start it.

I understand the constant fear, and I know things are going to get rough, but we really have to stop pitting humans against other humans, and go after the real threat: government, both small and big.

Be kind to the humans around you. Not all of them are out to get you. Yes, most of them are, but it is so worth it to weed out the uglies so you can find the good ones and stick together during the hardest times.

Fuck the prison industrial complex tho. I fucking hate modern day slavery, and can't wait for that to be destroyed.

[frvnkcastles]

Hi! I love your writing so so much!!

If possible, could you do one where the reader has been working overtime at work and is exhausted, like they've been having headaches and barely sleeping & Frank notices and basically convinces them and helps them to take a break? Thank you!! 💕❤️

KEEP ME COMPANY ’TIL THE END ➵ F. CASTLE

Summary: You’re pushing yourself past your limits for work and Frank intervenes.

Warnings: Stress, mostly fluff, gender neutral reader, language

Word count: 770

Author’s note: Hiiii my loves! I am so sorry for being MIA, this semester is kicking my ass :( Rn it seems like my posts will be a little infrequent because I have sooo many deadlines before Christmas, but I’m gonna try my best!! I have not forgotten about all your requests!! Thank you so much for your patience, thank you also for 900 followers, that’s so wack but I am so grateful <3 Anon, I hope you enjoy this short fic and that you forgive me for being so slow to get this out. Much love!

A brewing headache pinched at your temples and you were painfully aware that every minute you spent staring at your outrageously bright laptop screen only sealed your fate tighter and tighter. It was getting late but you still felt like you had so much to do; like you had barely scratched the surface of all your responsibilities. You had only taken a break to go to the bathroom and reluctantly eat something when Frank had insisted on it, and now the tension from sitting on the couch with your laptop huffing and puffing on your thighs was starting to seep into your shoulders and neck.

Frank didn’t like it, the way you worked yourself to the bone, but he had swallowed down his complaints when you had promised to wrap things up within the hour. Still, you could feel his scrutinizing stare on you from across the couch, his attention on your focused frown rather than the football game he was supposed to be watching. He was itching to say something, to force you away from the suffocating bubble of stress, but he was trying to be patient — though the scratched label of his beer bottle said plenty.

When you winced at the pulsating headache behind your eye, though, he cleared his throat and reached for your laptop.

”Hey! Frank, noooo. I’m not done”, you insisted, trying to get the device back but he was quick to save your document and then slap it closed before you could retrieve it. He angled it behind his back and tutted at you, disapproving of the way you were pushing yourself for the sixth day in a row.

”Nah, sweetheart, I’m tellin’ you, you’re gonna waste away if you don’t take a break. You’ve been at it all day, aight? I want you here with me, not worryin’ about shit”, he argued back, your pout doing nothing to sway him. He always caved in and gave you what you wanted — unless your health and sanity were at stake.

You frowned, a sudden surge of guilt swinging at your chest. ”I guess I’ve been kinda neglecting you…”, you admitted with shame. That had never been your intention, but you couldn’t deny that you had not been a very present partner lately.

Shaking his head, Frank set the beer on the coffee table and took your hand in his own. ”It ain’t about that, darlin’. It’s the fact that this is wearin’ you out. I know you ain’t sleepin’ and I gotta jump through all these hoops to just get you to eat. I’m worried, y’know?” he explained, his tone stern but still warm. He was trying his hardest to be understanding, but he took your well-being too personally to let this newfound routine go on.

You managed a nod and squeezed his hand. ”I know, Frankie, I’m sorry, it’s just… there’s so much to do and I can’t fall behind”, you tried to rationalize your persistent working, and he sighed softly, not out of frustration but to acknowledge the difficult situation.

”I get it, sweetheart. But no one can expect you to be efficient at this hour, aight? You need to rest, too. Yeah?” Frank pointed out, tilting his head to catch your gaze. He was right and you knew it, so begrudgingly, you admitted defeat.

”Okay. I’ll limit myself”, you agreed, and with the concern in his eyes slowly fading, Frank nodded approvingly. He placed the laptop on the table before opening his arms for you, gesturing for you to cuddle up to him. The invitation made you smile and seeing joy on your face for the first time all day got Frank’s lips twitching, too.

You nestled against him and he wrapped you into a cocoon of safety and warmth, hoping to distract you from the stress lingering on your mind. It was hard not to think about all the work you could have been doing, and Frank suspected as much.

”I know it ain’t easy to just turn it off. But you deserve a break, baby. And I’m fuckin’ proud of you for all your effort, but I’ll be proud if you cut back a lil, too”, he spoke up after a moment of just cuddling, and with your heart soaring at his praise, you tilted your head up so you could kiss his jaw tenderly.

”Thank you, Frank. Love you”, you muttered, feeling the exhaustion of the past week creep up on you. Frank noticed, but he was glad — you needed sleep, and he was going to try and help you do it however he could.

”Love you too, sweetheart.”

[gingerreblogs]

Hot take but maybe Ao3 should use some of their funding to make their own encryption / Captchas instead of giving the domain to Cloudfare. Or at least implement an alternative, non-3rd-party method of defending against DDosses

Since, y'know, Cloudfare could be a massive data mining company and is already causing problems for a lot of users... Further reading below

"Now cloudflare has control to eavesdrop and log any user interactions with your website or silently tamper content if they please." -dr jimbob (Link) explains this well & briefly in a stack exchange comment.

JoePie91 has a post criticizing Cloudfare & provides alternatives at the end, although the article is old so take it with a grain of salt (Link).

Troy Hunt has an equally old article in support of Cloudfare, if you want a different opinion (Link). Although I disagree with a lot of his takes, and the whole "anyone who disagrees is crazy and polarized" bit is super off-putting.

"if your choices are to either run entirely unencrypted or to protect against the 95% (or thereabouts) of transport layer threats that exist between your visitors and your origin, do the sensible thing. Nobody in their right mind is going to advocate for remaining totally unencrypted rather than using CloudFlare purely to encrypt between their edge nodes and your users. There are people not in their right mind that will argue to the contrary and that's precisely what the title of this post suggests - it's unhealthy security absolutism."

I personally think security absolutism is silly, but to say people who want to use more secure alternatives are "not in their right mind" is an insane straw man.

Idk I just want Ao3 voulenteers to do more research!! Users being forced to consent their info to Cloudfare in order to use the site is dumb! I'm done yapping, feel free to RB with your own thoughts / disagreements..

[mildmayfoxe]

yknow it is crazy to think about how much i have been able to improve my quality of life by selling art as a supplementary form of income. like obviously it's a second job and it's taxing but it's also so rewarding to know how much people enjoy my work and how much good it is doing me to like, feel like i can buy snacks at the store. to be able to get takeout every once in a while. like obviously those are extremely minor changes or things most people take for granted but to me it's huge. having berries in the house when they're out of season and more expensive. buying things for CONVENIENCE??! it feels so crazy to me to have such a sense of luxury which i know says more about the bleak feeling of poverty that's followed me around my entire adult life than anything else but i feel so much gratitude that i am afforded these small luxuries at least in part because of people that like my art. not to mention how nice is is to make things consistently again when, prior to 2020, i hadn't made art regularly in almost a decade. anyway. it's cool!

[evening-art]

The neurodivergent urge to be a little silly.. A little cringefail perhaps.. I will say "yippee" and "bestie" and "okiedokie" unironically!! I will allow myself to enjoy things that are considered weird and/or childish!!! I will instill fear within my coworkers and make them hyperaware of their own mortality for funsies!!! I will do as many hand flappy stims as I want in public and no one can stop me!!!! No more masking I am breaking my chains here and now!!!!!!

[sentientsky]

In the place where the foundations shiver with the weight of every ghost you’ve laid to rest beneath the floorboards / In the liminal, staticky place where you were first made monstrous (made hollow and whimpering and fickle) / In the place that tore you lengthwise and emptied you onto the front porch, you learn to swallow back the rage, hold it captive and writhing in your gut. 

You learn your way around a set of teeth.

You learn the hackles-raised, jagged-mouthedness of a home without a scrap of heat. You learn how to pull each of your canines out by the bloodied pulp, all nerve endings and the blunted edges of grief.

You learn it because what other choice do you have? What’s the alternative, when all you’ve ever known is the dull scrape of your back against the wall, of your heart tearing clear through your chest?

And god, god, god (you pray to an empty sky). God, you’re so bitter and your bones are all galvanized under your skin, and it hurts. It fucking hurts. 

And yet you’d sooner turn your own snapping jaws on yourself than risk learning what happens to animals that misbehave.

So you make yourself small, you make yourself antiseptic and supplicating and placid. You domesticate every thrashing need to escape. You walk into a family dinner with darting yellow eyes: Cerberus with three heads, each maw zip-tied shut by your own hand. You show them the soft flesh of your underbelly—you show the whites of your eyes.

You bite back the terror, you choke on the wrath. Because what else is there to do? (inspired by this post from @actual-changeling. thanks for the gut-wrench, alex </3)

[sealeneee]

siiiiiiigh

[all-thestories-aretrue]

To do list for tomorrow surely I can finish everything before I leave

2 hours admin (three if you count commute)

Put away laundry

Wash sheets

Sweep

Mop

Take out trash

Tear down boxes

Last minute dishes (breakfast + dinner)

[juniestar]

Oh my god one last thing my ex took me to outside lands and when we tried to watch lana del rey he laid down on the grass and had a “panic attack” (this was after months of him talking about how he didn’t like her) so we went to see foo fighters after a bit and he was FINE

[mwebber]

finally homeeeee oh god. week 2 of law school done and it's hitting like an 18 wheeler. the thing they dont tell u about going 2 school for reading and discussing the faults of society is that when u finally get a break from reading and discussing the faults of society ur brain refuses to use any horsepower even remotely related to reading or the faults of society so u simply. Marinate. on the bright side though im totally free for the weekend!

[rosemarytales]

social interaction

[north-wilkesboro-moonshine-cave]

not to be a colossal fucking cowabummer about everything but it really does suck that like. my really chill and like. supposedly more realistic type of career goal feels about as unattainable as like a kid saying he wants to be a singer or something

[mem-fr]

Was just wondering how long you have been doing pixel art for? Oh and what art program do you use for your pinfeather pixels? ^-^

i'm not really sure ! i've never really focused on pixel art , i've just kind of meandered in it now and then since like 15 years ago when i would spend my computer class drawing in MS paint with a mouse haha .

i've also never gone out of my way to make 'real' pixel art . i know that there are standards in regards to the amount of colors , using layers / layer effects , etc. that some pixel artists and communities considered defining elements to whether something is actually pixel art . the limitations are considered part of the craft which is very cool ! but i don't have any of that stuff in mind , or refrain from using anything that gets the look i want or makes my work easier , so i don't try to call myself a pixel artist or the pinfeather pixels 'real' pixel art , i just sort of go for the aesthetic i suppose lol .

so , i use SAI 2 and photoshop ( CC 2018 ) for the pinfeather pixels , same as most of my art ! SAI's binary brush has a very smooth tapering effect with pen pressure that makes creating Good Shapes™ easier . i do a lot of the actual drawing in SAI .

photoshop has the custom brushes i use for broader dithering + layer management and adjustment tools that create a smooth workflow . these templates take a whole lot of work , time , and testing to create , with the trade off that i am making them as easy and efficient to use once i am actually taking orders .

[an-absolute-nightmare]

dude i have issues

[lovelaceisntdead]

Something I need to stop doing is getting excited when a job comes up that is perfect for me but realistically I know I can't do. Just because it's a job I would enjoy doesn't mean I can now magically do a 7 hour shift? Because then I just end up sad and frustrated AGAIN because I get caught up in the what could be and then I remember that my body hates me.

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

openly weeping at the idea of someone genuinely hating soul punk.