Since that last one was kind of negative I also want to put up some positives of the last year.
One unexpected one is that I'm blogging more and actually feel more established and like a part of the community on tumblr now! (After a decade lol) What is this now, a personal blog? It started as more of a fandom and academic thing but I'm sharing a lot more now and actually I think that's healthy. (Or at least, it's a place for me to scream into the void and see who, if anyone, in the void screams back!)
Just going through a few others:
I'm feeling broadly better about my body and not like I need surgery any more. (Well, apart from the ones I need to function, lol, medical condition life). I meant cosmetic surgery. I'm not saying I won't ever get some, but I've (mostly) broken the crutch/addiction impulse towards it that tells me I'm a horrible monster creature without it, and that in my book is a positive. I don't like feeling out of control or in thrall.
I've dated a bit this year, which has been healthy. It hasn't worked out, but at least I wasn't intimidated to do it OR obsessive about it and overcompensating. And, I've remembered how much I like being in a relationship. I forgot because my previous one was a nightmare with a guy who was a perpetual child in terms of maturity & responsibility.
I've connected positively with my family, specifically my sibling and a cousin. I hope we can look out for each other in the future.
I've seriously thought about a lot of serious things in life, like career, side hustles, where I want to live etc.
I've met a lot of new people and taken the lead to maximise those connections into friendship, networking etc. I love people to be about and I'm making that happen as much as I can.
I've travelled a bit (just in the UK) and taken the opportunity to take trips and see people when I can. I've been to 3? other cities, (Manchester, Camb, Inverness) not including Edinburgh, and I might make it a 4th by the end of the year. And I learned a lot about what I like AND don't like when travelling. I've got a bit better at living in the moment and spending money on me to enjoy things, rather than hoarding it like the poverty dragon I once was.
I've got a lot fitter and stronger AND I've reminded myself to not expect too much of myself due to medical reasons. Good for me and good for the average person my age aren't necessarily the same thing. I need to be kind to myself even though I'm competitive!
I've shared some of my interests with people irl and built on them. Like design and reading. I've got back into gaming a bit as well which is comforting when its just me on my own. And I've read more books this year, not just cosy crime ones - my soft entry back into reading after being too stressed too read early in the pandemic. I've been dressing more like myself too, on the street too, not just in 'safe spaces'. Next stop... try a bit at work?
And, like my life motto, or one of them anyway...
In many ways, I've MADE IT WORK.
What more can you ask out of a year on this earth?
And I've been singing more as well. Kacey, Stevie, Dolly, Florence, Joni, Lana and others, thanks for inspiring me and bringing some lightness to my life.
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The Craven
by Arby Jenkins
Once upon a righteous fury
While I pondered in a hurry
Whether I would someday be ennobled in Collegiate lore—
While I wondered, nearly slumbered, suddenly there came a dumber
Person even than myself, tap-tapping on my office door.
“Tis some Positive,” I muttered, “tapping on my office door—
Only Eric, nothing more.
Ah, distinct the recollection of that autumn resurrection
Of the question of Steve Pettit’s contract, would it be renewed four more?
Eagerly, demanding entry into Admin’s inner sanctum
There to press for more tomorrows—for Steve’s now forsaken powers—
For the banjo-playing campman whom the Fundies named Doctor.
Tossed away for evermore.
Hark, the rising of our mission, sizing up the Board’s ambitious vision
Filled me—willed me to fantastic glories not bethought before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“Could it be that I could do it, take Steve’s place by coup, nor rue it,
Ease myself by scheming to be President? Just do it!
This I hoped and wanted more.
Presently the coup grew stronger, hesitating then no longer,
“Board,” said we, “or Madmen, reformation cannot be foregone;
But the fact is you have sinned, against our Pettit you have been
Harping, carping at him, now we rise up to implore,
That you stop your firing plans—here I burst in through their door—
Silence there and nothing more.
Could it be my powers failing, leaving me with only wailing
That I should be hearkened unto as my wisdom I deployed?
No one heard me, no one listened, neither Board nor ‘Ministration,
Til my voice was rasping vainly with the weakest, “por favor”
This I whispered, but they cackled, “No sir, not you anymore.”
Ate the donuts, nothing more.
Back into the office turning, my ambition whirling, swirling,
Why could I not be the person chosen for the vacant role?
“It’s because you’ve not been stable, this and that, you prove unable
Through the years your fundy label has not proven to be full.
This they told me and it echoed deep into my soul
Unproven, I had nothing more.
Quick to Facebook churning, turning, all my grievances a-burning,
Soon the friends all gathered, shouting louder than before.
“Surely we can overcome the sinful Board and then become them;
Wielding all their former power as we wish to make our score—
Let us see, then what is out there, keeping us from doing more—
Let my heart relax one moment while I ponder what’s in store—
‘Tis my hubris, nothing more!
Now I open up the Answer, to discern the written dictum
Of the former Chairman of the Hypocritic Board—
Not the slimmest bow he made me as he left the Table gamely,
Tossing at me only his disdain while leaving me insanely
Gaping at the now-shut door.
My ambitions on the trodden floor.
Enter Doctor Alan Benson, lately of Gen Z dissension,
Begging them to choose a church ennobled with the “BJ Core,”
He’ll be Acting, merely Acting, in the role I craved expecting,
Nay, desiring, while expiring Pettit’s case I did implore.
Overstepping, always fretting, and my welcome is no more.
Let this be a lesson, children, when you crave a righteous burden
Not to see your self-importance as another’s prime devotion.
In the end they’ll all desert you and declare they never knew you,
While you feign to be so loyal to the Board who now abhor you
Joke’s on them, their school is flailing, Fundies are no more prevailing,
Legacies now dim and fading shall be lifted nevermore.
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A while back my pharmacist saw my deadname on my profile and accidentially called it out, he corrected and deleted my deadname from the system so only my preferred name shows up now. There was a crowd of people behind me, so as he hands over the pills he apologized, in equal tone and volume as when he called my deadname and lied saying it's been a long day and he didn't mean to call out -his own- name. I quietly told him it was fine and he didn't need to do that for my sake.
His response: "No, it's my name now."
I went to the pharmacist yesterday, his nametag is my deadname. He informed me he's immigrating and in the process he's changed his first name to my deadname to have an English sounding name. That's why he's now able to get a reprint of his nametag to be my deadname. And repeated, with the intense seriousness of someone who is going to die on this hill: "It's mine now. Not yours. I'm taking." His tone indicated that decision is final.
Bro literally deadnamed me once, and has committed to flat out stealing my deadname. It's his now. Legally. Officially. I over heard his co-workers call him by the name.
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One of the most dangerous things in the world is not being able to say no to people because you don't want to upset them or dissapoint them. This will completely ruin your life in every way possible, at work, in your private life, your sex life and your friendships. It's a way of removing your own consent in your own decisions and go against your wishes, it is always a crime against yourself. Let yourself have a say. Upsetting people is better than traumatizing yourself.
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the phrase ‘this is my first time being alive’ has done wonders for me recently. Yeah, I don’t know how to navigate this situation! It’s brand new to me and I’m learning on the fly, aren’t humans such wonderfully adaptive creatures?
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