#I am not in this for the exercise I am in this for skill. I want to get my skill level back up where it was

[fixyourwritinghabits]

The Quick Guide of Taking Care of Yourselves

RIGHT ANYWAY, semi-functioning again. Here's some generic tips for Americans (and beyond) in these trying times.

Limit Your Social Media News Consumption

Seriously, you need to set specific times to be aware of what's going on, and then you need to put down your phone. Many of the things that are happening are beyond your control. Doomscrolling is paralyzing. Do not fall into despair loops. This helps no one and it especially does not help you.

Make a channel in your Discord group for dumping things in and leave it to that. Find ways to plug into your local community - talk to your local library, check your local subreddit, pay attention to local events. But you also must give yourself a break from all of the above for your own mental health.

Pick a set time at night and put down your phone. Don't scroll through it before bed, don't start scrolling the second you get up. Form firm habits that allow you to rest and take care of yourself. It's important to be aware of what's happening, but it does not require your constant attention.

Do Things For Yourself

In addition to making art, it's important to find ways to keep yourself grounded. Take a class you're interested in. Go to that book club. See if there's a local group into that hobby you want to start. Need to brush up on your technical skills? See if there's some online classes that you can take (and get a certificate for!).

Don't over-commit (I say, having signed up for three different activities this year), but it is vital to take time to do things for yourself to stay grounded. Having other things to focus on is going to help. I'm taking a strength-building exercise class and German lessons, and having to focus on squats and gendered nouns for certain hours of the day has been so helpful in keeping me going. Give it a try.

(You don't have to try German, just to be clear. I just think it's a neat language.)

You Do Not Have to Constantly Rearrange Your Priorities

I donate monthly to my local animal shelter. That's still going to be an important thing to do. I reblog things I don't have the funds to contribute to myself. That's still useful to do. I'm still going to pay for my patreon subscriptions, because I am supporting people I like and want to succeed.

There are some things you can do. If you are in a position to cancel Amazon Prime, you should probably do that. But some people can't, because they don't have a more reliable way to get certain necessities, and that's fine. If you're in a position to close your Meta accounts, that seems like a good call. However, while I've currently got mine locked down, I need my Instagram for professional reasons, and it's my only point of contact for certain people. I hate it, but I've made the decision to keep using it. There's no morally perfect options out there.

Think Local and Connect with Community

You cannot do anything about most of the terrible things happening. You can, however, make connections to the people around you and find ways to support yourself and others. You can find places to volunteer. You can participate in your local political groups and keep up-to-date on protests and political action. You can keep pressure on your local politicians with phone-calling and letter campaigns. Making connections to others will help you find ways to feel useful and help, even if it doesn't feel like you can.

Most importantly, though, MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAFE. If you're a vulnerable minority in a deep red state or desperately need to keep your head down at your job, you need to make decisions that are best for you. You cannot help others if you yourself are also drowning, and that is okay.

There are still some small things everyone can do. Boycotts of certain products and companies (shout-out to all of Canada, keep it up and I hope for nothing but the best for y'all) is something you can do that doesn't put you at risk. Stay connected to like-minded friends. Stock up on masks and get your vaccines. Have an emergency-prepared plan in cases of natural disasters (always a good plan).

Hang in there. Sometimes you'll spiral, everyone will. But keeping your head above water and building steps to pull yourself up from those holes will be essential.

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! Weird question time again! What's the verb for punching a punching bag that is more general so it can include things like kicks and elbow strikes? Using the punching bag sounds weird but I am struggling to come up with another verb for it

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

from now on I think I might embrace a slight linguistic shift and stop saying that I want attention or special treatment and instead say that I want glory and honor.

meaning I want attention (glory) and special treatment (honor), of course, but said in a way that makes me sound like more of a man's man

[gemsbian]

In reflection of recent events I have decided I do not like living on a farm </3 soon I will return to dorm life with open arms. There’s nothing I want more than the loving embrace of the prison-like aesthetic of half empty college dormitories

[niconiconwo]

Study that shows causal effect between overuse of spellcheck and a lack of spelling capacity, study that shows causal effect between overuse of GPS and lack of direction finding, Microsoft itself made a report that generative models are making people literally incapable of their jobs. That study on handwritten vs typed notes still lives rent free in my head.

It kinda sucks for gen z and alpha to be the test pigs for this shit, but even worse is that you know people are too stupid to realise this is a real problem that needs to be addressed now, and the worst is that the funding to create the necessary programs to preserve these fundamental cognitive skills will never happen in time.

Boomers down through us Millennials didn't really have this issue because it wasn't a default tool; we learned spelling and map reading and had to manually proof read and correct our writing and so on.

Now you just right-click the squiggle or ask google how to get somewhere or expect a machine to do a job and pray it doesn't fuck up in a way you are literally too incompetent/underskilled to either fix or recognise. Tech tools are neutral things and used right can be beneficial but man we are speed running our way to Idiocracy real fast.

[seaofreverie]

We should normalize bringing these sort of "small talk ideas" cards to meetings with other people so that it's possible to avoid the awkwardness of not knowing what to talk about to kick things off or if it's considered normal to talk about this specific thing and AUGHGHFCG all this stuff.

[arodrwho]

also GOD my BOSS wants me to PRESENT SOMETHING during a MEETING as a stupid STRETCH GOAL. like ma'am. please. i'm dying here

[ariennebeak]

first baldurs gate character for my first time digitally rendering :D (timelapse under cut)

[diomedrian]

I have to learn business management from scratch while studying supply chain analytics and i don't want to leave classics behind so im at the very least trying to keep up with translation (and failing actually) and i have to work on my personal skills so im looking for a theatre class (social anxiety is absolutely not helpful) all the while running and exercising cos i've got a lot to be angry about. So YEAH ✌🏼✌🏼

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! Weird question time again, this time about push-ups! So I have a weird assortment of health issues, which makes most exercise in general somewhere between difficult, impossible, and inadvisable, but back before I got sick I was learning to do handstands and I loved it. Long story short, my new meds are helping, but it's been more than a decade and I want to work myself into being able to do handstands again without my arms collapsing and landing on my head, so I've been trying to strengthen my arms a little at a time So far, that's mostly been pushups*, but today I tried pushups with my feet elevated and that was significantly easier than normal pushups??? I'm pretty sure it's working different muscles, but it's also closer to a handstand, so have I been doing pushups wrong this whole time if my goal is handstands??? Also, are there other exercises you'd recommend if my goal is handstands? I want to really overprepare my arms in particular, because sometimes when my blood pressure is wonky my muscles are weaker than they should be, so I can't rely on them reacting correctly and I really don't want to fall on my head

*I also have a weird headstand trainer contraption thing that's basically like a shoulder rest so you can be upside down, like a headstand, without putting all your weight on your head? idk how to describe it but it helps practice the "being upside down" and "various torso muscles keeping you balanced while upside down" parts of handstands. I have no idea what it's called my mom was thrilled I wanted to do handstands and sent it to me

[moiled-spilk]

it’s also insane to me that they said “reads harry potter uncritically” where did I say uncritically?????? do you think I like harry potter because I don’t see the inherent anti semetism, racism, fatphobia and transphobia?? no I read it because it’s fucking whimsical. insane concept but you can like a piece of media without giving seven gajillion dollars to the creator every time you turn a page and even if I don’t support her financially (which I make a conscious effort not to I pirate the books) she is still a billionaire with shares in one of the largest theme parks in the entire fucking world. it is insane to me how quickly people on this website just make assumptions about you. yes I’m a classist transphobe because I like harry potter and think assuming everyone can or wants to read high literature is kind of weird. go. outside. I beg of you.

No babe it’s so cool and hot that you always insist that fantasy books written to meet a 4th graders’ comprehension skills have more complex themes and a greater sense of praxis than anything written for adults

[aspectpriority]

after some faffing about today i've gotten Tavros, Gamzee, and Kanaya's quirks all working just fine. these were a little harder because you can't just find and replace characters, which is how I've been doing it so far - you have to flip through the string and check what actually needs capitalising.

We've found a couple different examples for this sorta thing, one used character arrays and another used string builders - i'm not sure if one is better than the other? This kinda thing often bugs us a lot - we like to do things the "proper" way, but frankly, for what this is (a silly little baby's first java project) it literally doesn't Fucking matter. Maybe we'll get good enough to give a damn at some point? but for the time being, especially for something that no one Else is going to use, it's pretty inconsequential.

That said! we've got everyone from Aradia through to Terezi done now. Just over half way through! Isn't that neat!

[solankifitnesss]

Fitness Video by Prashant Solanki | Personal Fitness Trainer | #@solank...

[murasaki-sama]

I have made this, a little (mostly complete) booklet containing the 114 (and doesn’t that number bother me at times) that I have memorized or wish to memorize in the future. I shall now be spending a significant part of each day working on doing just that!

[britneyshakespeare]

for me, consulting writing advice is always more confusing than not. like when you tell me to start my literary essay with "an attention-grabbing first sentence" i'm like, i've literally been told my whole life that every thought i have about literature is boring to most people. my own attention is already siezed; as for "grabbing" other people's, you can't ask me how i expect to do that.

[cringelordofchaos]

i hate myself.