#The water goes somewhere

[travalerray]

Self affirmations: you are not wasting your time, you are giving yourself space to heal. Life will go on, nothing is permanent

[camels-pen]

usopp and sanji late night impromptu date swimming in the aquarium. reblog if you agree

[agenttommykinard]

the problem is I could maybe work out travel costs but when I also have to put in like prices of hotels and stuff, it's too much so I haven't really traveled

[formulahs]

i was watching the new senna documentary yesterday and there’s this grid interview right before the race in brasil 1990 where the reporter is like “so do you think you can win today” and senna literally starts crying hjsjsjjsk

[casiavium]

can things STOP HAPPENING TODAY

[commsroom]

Non-serious Eiffel question for you: How would Eiffel spend a day at the beach? 🏖️🩵

in theory: chilling out, doing nothing, getting a tan. in practice: can't find a comfortable position to lie down in, gets bored, gets the worst sunburn known to man. complains about sand in unmentionable places. (whether he's the type of prequels disliker who thinks it's funny to rag on that sand line, or if he'd just resent the comparison entirely, well... up to you.) he needs an activity. set him loose with a metal detector or something.

[northernsuccubus]

Do what feels right, we are obsessed with you regardless if you post pictures so if it brings the creeps out of the woodwork err on the side of caution. Remember this is supposed to be a space the brings you pleasure and happiness. No need to put out food to attract the bad seeds. Lol that sucks to say because I know I would be absolutely drooling over any picture you share of you.

-🐇

Thanks. I know I don’t have to and there’s no real reason for it. But I kind of want to. I just wanna do my thing and it kind of sucks to even have to think about it. If I’m feeling hot and confident I want to be able to share that in my little space here.

[nudibutch]

Can I ask… how many partners have you had/dates have you been on? I just broke up with my longtime gf, and I just- she’s the only person I’ve ever been with, and I feel so inexperienced being single again.

hey anon. im really sorry to hear this, i know exactly how you feel right now. its funny, i was going to say after that post in the tags "this is me on every date ive been on (which isnt many)"

first dates? i think maybe 6 total. im not sure if im the best person to ask, since i clammed up pretty hard emotionally when my first long time girlfriend and i broke up. i havent had a serious gf since then -- she was my first and only. ive been with one other person in a complicated way (but cut them off as it was a bad situation), and the rest of my experiences have been casual.

completely unsolicited advice from a stranger (me):

1. process it. please dont shy away from processing it.

2. take your time. a breakup with a long term partner is a big emotional change. allow yourself the time to equilibrate. this could take six months, a year... for me, it took 4 years. there is nothing wrong with how long it takes you. theres nothing wrong with not "getting back out there" quickly. in fact, i'd encourage you to wait -- this time allows you to reflect while you process, so you feel more prepared for when you do feel ready to start dating again.

3. take this time to learn more about yourself and to spend time with yourself. this is probably corny but it gives you time to (1) appreciate yourself! and (2) offer more clarity on who would be compatible for you when youre ready to date again.

and finally, 4. when you are ready to start dating again, know that "inexperience" is all relative, and in the end, meaningless. especially in the gay community, where a lot of us are late bloomers due to a variety of things... a lot of people are more similar to your position than you think. and dating "experience" =/= emotional maturity. it might feel weird getting out there again at first (makes sense... you were in a relationship after all!) but you will adjust -- as long as youre kind and honest, i really dont think you can go wrong, no matter your "experience" level. a good person will be looking at your character, not your stats.

[anidealistatbestburntoutatworst]

the bsd fandom gravelly overlooks the meme potential of kunikida liking to fish… i’m just sayin

[mejomonster]

What is it about internal pain that hurts so much more than external pain :c

[fluorescentbrains]

anyway. the ghost files premiere. one thing i love about ryan and shane is their willingness to include clips of themselves staring expectantly at ghost hunting gadgets while nothing at all happens

[toasteaa]

Dash forgive me, I'm thinking about them tonight 😔

[today-i-am-thinking-about]

cheese graters

[elisaenglish]

Pangaea in Flood

Blessings seep, my moon—I have loved you fierce, as you have shifted oceans, where my lands have sought to bloom. An era lost but unforgotten, bright similitude I give and give, consumed as naked huntress to the wind, the quite immortal, sink us deep and like the fecund breath aloft, to know that we might break apart, but only to be lush as one, become, inside this us again.

[sophiamcdougall]

I am never going to complain about Greek Duolingo again

I mean, I am. But still.

So, as some of you know, my family has been coming to this tiny Greek seaside village for several years. Just over a week ago I came out here with my mum, under the impression that early September, after the height of the summer heat, would be a good time to have a holiday. ANYWAY Storm Daniel had other ideas about that. Locally things are improving (I'm actually really pissed off about the disaster-porn tone of most English-language media coverage, but that's another post). The power is back on, there's running water most of the time, and though the latter is not drinkable, a truck from the government came and handled out free bottled water yesterday. But we are currently kind of stuck. Can't do tourist things. Can't go home. There aren't any local flights out until Saturday and the road to Thessaloniki is still closed.

So this evening, feeling kind of aimless and depressed, I go down to the nearest beach with a couple of binbags and start cleaning up in an effort to at least do something positive. I always try to do this at least once out here and obviously, after the storm, there's a lot more plastic and rubbish than usual.

At some point I find this large, round bit of metal - some kind of machinery part, I think -- that's too big for the bag, so I take it to the bins on its own, leaving the rubbish bag on the beach. And when I come back for it, something among the stones beside it moves.

Specifically, it pulls its head sharply inside its shell

So, meanwhile I've been trying to learn some Greek with the help of Duolingo.

I currently have a 33-day streak and... I have questions. Shouldn't I be able to use the past or future tenses by now? Shouldn't I be able to say "x is like y"? I can't do those things. But one thing I absolutely can say all day long is έχω μια χελώνα : I have a turtle.

This is far from the limit of Duolingo Greek's turtle-related content. "An obsession with turtles" is my mother's characterisation. I can inform you that the turtle is not a bird, and, improbably, that the turtle is drinking milk. I can introduce you to a turtle in company with a horse and an elephant. As far as Duolingo is concerned, it really is turtles all the way down.

Now this, you may be able to see, is not a turtle. It has claws rather than flippers. It is a tortoise. I know there are wild tortoises in Greece: my aunt once rescued a pair of them shagging in the middle of the road -- but that was up in the mountains. I've even seen one myself, but it was also on a road and very dead.

I am 95% certain they don't belong on beaches. There's nothing for it to eat, except, unfortunately, a lot of plastic. Even if it gets off the beach it will immediately find itself on a road where it could get hit by a car. I'm pretty sure it must have been washed down by the floodwater and has been just sitting there, dazed, ever since.

Now obviously the first thing I want to do on encountering this unusual animal is to go and tell my mummy, so I do. The tortoise immediately brightens her day. She agrees that the tortoise is not happy on the beach and needs to be taken somewhere safe. it gets surprisingly wriggly when picked up so we put it in a carrier bag with some grapes and cucumber and go looking for somewhere to rehome it.

We find a path leading up between the houses towards a likely-looking field, but before we get very far a dog in a yard goes berserk and a man's head pops over a fence and demands to know what we're doing. He does this in English, as evidently we're just that obviously tourists.

"I found a tortoise on the beach!" I explain. "We want to find somewhere to put it."

"A what," he asks.

"It's like a, you know," I begin and then to my astonishment I find myself saying... "μια χελώνα"

"Oh! A turtle!" he says.

"But from the land. δεν είναι χελώνα", [it is not a turtle,] I say, as I am worried he will tell me to put it back near the sea where I found it. As it turns out it actually IS a χελώνα, Greek does not distinguish between turtles and tortoises, but I don't know that; I can't even name the days of the week or identify any colours other than pink yet, give me a break.

The man's entire demeanour changes and thaws. He does not worry about my turtle-that-is-not-a-turtle conundrum. He knows where οι χελώνες come from and where η χελώνα μας belongs. He leads us through a gate into a courtyard area.

"[somethingsomething] μια χελώνα," he explains to the assembled onlookers, of whom there are, suddenly, a surprising number.

"ΜΙΑ ΧΕΛΩΝΑ!!!" crows the throng of delighted small children, who are, suddenly, everywhere.

"μια χελώνα!" I agree, accepting that at least for current purposes, that is what it is.

"Μπορούμε να δούμε τη χελώνα σας; [can we see your turtle?]" asks an adorable little girl, shyly, and I understand??

The children fucking love looking at the χελώνα and showing it to them is kind of magical?

I finally put the tortoise down on the grass of this wild area off to the side of the courtyard, and marvel aloud that it is weird that I barely know any Greek except how to say μια χελώνα.

"I think she will soon run off," a kind lady called Aspasia assures me, seeing I remain slightly anxious about its fate. "I don't know why I'm saying 'she'. I suppose because χελώνα is feminine in Greek."

"Yes! I know that!" I exclaim, thrilled.

"Well done!" she says. And also she asks if we are OK for drinking water after the storm and if we need any help with anything and is just generally incredibly lovely and now we know more of the neighbours!

So "μια χελώνα" has just become, by a long way, my most-used and most understood and all-around most conversationally successful phrase in Greek. So I guess I have to admit I was wrong to doubt Duolingo's wisdom: it is correct to be obsessed with turtles. And I concede that prior to learning how to count to ten or to distinguish right from left, the simple ability to yell the word TURTLE over and over again is, it turns out, a crucial element of the responsible traveller's social skills.

(I am pretty fluent in Italian and turtles haven't come up in conversation even once?)

[torpublishinggroup]

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Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Bandits of Liangshan proclaim a belief in justice—for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats. Together, they could bring down an empire. 

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Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

The long-awaited sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it. Welcome back to Marsyas Island—home to six magical and purportedly dangerous children. This is Arthur’s story.

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After so many years, Misha’s big Oscar moment is here. All he has to do? Kill off the gay characters in his long-running streaming series, “for the algorithm.” Misha refuses, but that’s hardly the end, because monsters from his old horror movie days have begun to step out from the silver screen and stalk him. 

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It’s important to read Swordcrossed because while you’re reading gay fiction, you can also study the blade.

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