#Life Baffles

[fortunesrevolver]

In other news, I have *three* medical procedures in April — two of which are surgery — and still no one will hire me. :’) It doesn’t help that a job probably doesn’t want to hire me just to turn around and give me time off for needing surgery.

I’ve been applying all over the place, but just. I swear to god, no one is actually hiring. They just claim they are. And it’s so frustrating… I’m still doing the best I can with my Etsy and trying to add new decals, but…

I just have to keep trying…

Does anyone have a thing or series they wish they could slap on their car, laptop, wall, or other surface for my consideration in making things? :’)

[bookishbrigitta]

Had an interesting conversation about this IRL the other day, so...

*Onions excluding "green onions" AKA scallions and already cooked or chopped onions

[greelin]

people when trauma victims act traumatized especially in a way that is unpalatable to them because it involves lashing out and unpredictable moods and having boundary issues rather than just being demure, sad, and consumable

[justaz]

merlin (immortal) giving arthur (pendragon) the only blade that could kill him

[opens-up-4-nobody]

The x-files jersey devil picture is so precious to me

[notsocooljess]

oh nothing just thinking about how katniss knew gale for years and never hugged him until she was reaped for the games but within the first year of knowing peeta she hugged, kissed, shared a bed with, cuddled with her head on his chest, and rested with her head on his lap all while not being in a legitimate relationship

but miss girl tried to convince herself she liked gale 🥴

[melonteee]

pls tell me im not crazy and nami indeed had a horrible character assassination post-timeskip. the new chapter of her whining like a baby actually has me baffled. who is this???? this is not the nami i loved!! she was never the "sakura stereotype", give her back!

Ty for the spoilers anon idk how many times I have to say I only read the officials and you will know when I've read it because I stream the chapters.

And yes you are going crazy she has literally always run away, whined and cried at danger ever since she's been allowed to open up and stop having to pretend to be brave after Arlong Park. She's literally close with Usopp (and Chopper) for that very reason, she's complained and sobbed to Luffy multiple times due to Luffy pulling them into danger she wanted no part of. I strongly advise you to go back and re-read One Piece if you think Nami sobbing or whining at any sign of danger or peril is character assassination lmao

[annabelle--cane]

can you imagine the drama videos about melanie in the tma verse. she gets cancelled for having a public meltdown about being stabbed by a ghost, vanishes from social media, is rumored to have been shot on a solo trip to india, and then reappears a year and a half later, having moved in with another paranormal influencer after blinding herself on her old work premises. what could the public possibly make of that.

[braxiatel]

Honestly Cleo walking up to Bdubs - canonically her ex husband - and calling Etho Bdubs boyfriend only to then go and off and - in their own words - marry Etho? Absolute legend. Their power is unrivalled.

[psalmsofpsychosis]

Me: yeah no i can cook gutwrenching Batman headcanons

Gotham TV: baby Bruce curls besides Alfred's hospital bed after Alfred gets stabbed in the heart, never leaves his side for one moment to the point that Gordon has to bring him food, he's red faced and hicking up all the time, whispers to Gordon "i can't lose him; he's all i have," and after Alfred comes back to life he brings books from Wayne Manor and softly reads horror bedtime stories to Alfred during the day until Alfred eases down and falls asleep

Me: god nevermind

[theminecraftbee]

The Watchers stare down at the world of torment they have theoretically created.

I MAY HAVE MADE AN ERROR OF JUDGEMENT, the first one says.

YOU THINK, the second one says.

IN MY DEFENSE, HUMANS ARE HARD TO PREDICT WHEN THEY ARE FEELING PRESSURE AND GRIEF. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE LIKE THE SECOND ONE. THE SECOND ONE WAS FUN.

THIS IS NOT LIKE THE SECOND ONE.

I DIDN’T WANT THEM TO PLAY HOUSE AGAIN.

LOOK HOW THAT WORKED OUT.

THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE ENEMIES. OR IN DESPAIR. OR CLINGING DESPERATELY TO EACH OTHER. NOT…

The Watchers fall silent for a while. Below them, the Players continue their intricate game. What that game is, the Watchers could no longer tell you. They sort of lost track after the second day. It happens sometimes.

MAYBE WE SHOULD WRITE THIS ONE OFF, the first one says tentatively, AS A BIT OF A BAD JOB.

I MEAN THEY ARE GOING MAD WITH THE PRESSURES OF THEIR LIMITED TIME. YOU AT LEAST GOT THAT MUCH RIGHT.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE SARCASTIC AT ME.

SARCASM? I AM A BEING OF UNFATHOMABLE AIMS. I DO NOT DO SARCASM.

AND I DON’T MAKE MISTAKES, BUT HERE WE ARE.

TELL ME, WHICH PART WAS THE MISTAKE? THE FROGS? THE FAMILY TREE? THE INCREASINGLY HIGH STACK OF BRIDGES? TELL ME, BECAUSE THOSE ALL SEEM PERFECTLY TRAGIC AND—

YOU DO BETTER THEN!

NO, I WILL JUST WATCH.

Below them, one of the Players strips into his underwear.

WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN, the first Watcher says. There is audible despair in its voice.

I WOULD SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE INGENUITY OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT, the second one says, BUT I THINK ACTUALLY MAYBE THEY’RE JUST DUMB.

The first Watcher sighs.

[nepttunnee]

the thing that really gets me in mha is that like. before deku gets his quirk everyone is like you cant be a hero at all. which at the time makes sense bc all might is number one but like at all??? thats crazy. and then woah he has a quirk and he can be a hero and gets into the top class of the top hero school and we immediately meet a guy whose power is just tail. his name is tailman. and another who i kid you the fuck not is a diaper wearing misogynist whose whole schtick is he has sticky balls. and they’re like these r the top students ever!! the future of japan!! and deku is like i could have never gotten here without all might!! meanwhile ojiro is sitting there like a singular fucked up backflip away from being in the same boat as him hello?? looking at him straight on he’s just man?? are you serious right now. and then deku loses his super cool quirk whatevs and has to wait forever for his super powerful best friend/lover/enemy? to buy him a super cool gadget thingy whole time fucking tailman is over here on the same level as the kid who makes lightning bolts strong enough to fry the human brain come out of his hands

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

i think a major thing that is overlooked in the x files is that when they do their little cutscene of them driving from washington dc to the bumfuck middle of nowhere at the start of each episode, their roadtrips must be SO long. so what are they doing in that time? are they fighting over which radio station to listen to? filling the silence with conversation? is that how they become inseparable, over mind-numbing hours on the road where stories slip off of the tongue with ease?

[brother-emperors]

Now Valentinian was chosen emperor in Bithynia (as we have said before). He gave the signal for the march for the next day but one, and assembling the chief civil and military officials, as if ready to follow safe and sound advice rather than his own inclination, inquired who ought to be chosen as partner in the rule. [...] Dagalaifus, at that time commander of the cavalry, boldly answered: "If you love your relatives, most excellent emperor, you have a brother; if it is the state that you love, seek out another man to clothe with the purple." The emperor, angered by this, but keeping silence and concealing his thoughts, forcing the pace, entered Nicomedia on the first of March, and appointed his brother Valens chief of his stable with the rank of tribune. Then, on his arrival in Constantinople, [...] on the twenty-eighth of March he brought the aforesaid Valens into one of the suburbs and with the consent of all (for no one ventured to oppose) proclaimed him Augustus. Then he adorned him with the imperial insignia and put a diadem on his head, and brought him back in his own carriage, thus having indeed a lawful partner in his power, but, as the further course of our narrative will show, one who was as compliant as a subordinate.

AM 26.4.1-4

there's some hint of 'no one's allowed to talk shit about my brother but me,' energy, but also generally I'm just kind of obsessed. not with Valentinian I, but with Valens. hello.

I'll probably get into Valens later, since he's taking up a significant amount of room in my thoughts, but for now, it's the 'oh! the brothers were co emperors!' that's making the wheels spin. (the last time I was reading about brothers, or people made to be like brothers, as co-rulers, it was with Tiberius. and that goes about as well as you expect it to lmao)

Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D, Noel Lenski

⭐ I have a tip jar (ko-fi)!

⭐ and other places I'm at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

[fantastic-nonsense]

I think I've watched maybe three episodes of Teen Wolf total but I remember being absolutely baffled at Stiles/Derek being so popular when the concept of Scott/Stiles exists

[secretmellowblog]

i just dont really understand why theyd target les mis? and like. its interrupting the work of actors and crew and house staff who dont have anything to do with fossil fuel corps. people who just paid to see the show who dont have anything to do with it.

i understand les mis is a show about rebellion and humanity but to me it doesnt make any sense.

( i say this as someone whos probably very unaware and very slow to realize the deeper meaning of things so i apologize if it comes off snobby i am just confused !! /genuine )

I'm very sorry if this comes off as rude but like.... "I don't understand why people would use Les Mis as the symbolic centerpiece of an act of protest/rebellion against the government" is just a very strange thing to say, and I'm genuinely not quite sure how to begin to respond XD. Like....it's literally Les Mis. It is Do You Hear the People Sing. The original novel was written to be a political rallying cry, it was written to bind together activists, and it has been used that way thousands of times since its publication in 1862. It's Les Mis, I don't know what else to tell you XD. Also I know this next comparison isn't perfect, but:

“I don’t understand why Les Amis interrupted Lamarque’s funeral.  Obviously I agree with Les Amis’s goals, but was this really the right way to protest? Obviously the government is doing something bad— but was this symbolic event really the right place to talk about it? Why even choose to interrupt this event, and the lives of the workers leading it and everyday people attending it? It wasn’t responsible for what was happening! 

Okay, yeah, I get the funeral is ‘symbolically significant.’  I get that Lamarque has become, in popular culture, a symbol of rebellion and resistance against a government’s unfair policies.  I get Lamarque’s funeral is a pretty big public event that has a lot of symbolic significance ties to ideas of rebellion against the state.

I get that Lamarque’s words are often seen as a rebellious call to action, so illegally interrupting his funeral could be a statement about resisting tyranny. It could be a call to action playing off the popularity and symbolic role that Lamarque has in the public consciousness.

 But at the same time— shouldn’t Les Amis have just gone to the palace and attacked the king directly? Why disrupt this symbolic event instead? They’re not really going after the people responsible! 

After all, there were so many people there who just wanted a normal day. They weren’t responsible for what the government was doing and had nothing to do with it.  They wanted to see the procession, to hear Lafayette’s speech and grieve a political figure they cared for. They wanted to hear people praise ‘resistance’ in the abstract, without actually doing it.

 Weren’t Les Amis disrupting that?  

Aren’t Les Amis bad activists? Isn’t disrupting people’s everyday lives for the sake of 'activism' always inherently a bad thing? I’m not against activism, but isn’t doing that kind of disruptive activism rude? Isn’t disrupting the lives of ordinary people just doing their jobs or going out for a special event evil— no matter why you’re doing it, or what your goals are, or whether the government actually is doing something vile that we should start to stage great events rallying against?

Even if this Lamarque's funeral has special significance because of its symbolic pop cultural ties to rebellion against tyranny—shouldn’t they have just avoided rudely interrupting some regular people’s everyday lives? 

Protests shouldn’t disrupt things. they should be big parades that don’t make anyone uncomfortable, don’t interrupt anything, and don’t disrupt any aspects of ‘normal people’s daily life.’ No one should ever target symbolic events— like a funeral for a political figure or a musical about revolution—  to make a political statement. Protests should be little quiet festivals that cause absolutely no interruption in everyday life so that we can all just safely ignore them, until the climate catastrophe they’re warning us about arrives.”