#Whatever I saw it now so

[bean-there-before]

okay okay I admit it

I’ve been sleeping on the guy who didn’t like musicals

[aashiqeddiediaz]

you know what boils my blood.

over the last 2 weeks, i've seen countless patients walk into my urgent care center, symptomatic for so many things, refusing to get tested for covid and flu, citing that they don't want to knowingly bring it to their holiday tables. i had a patient tell me, verbatim, "i don't want to test for covid, because i don't want to be the asshole who brings it on a plane."

i understand that - i understand that holidays are times where people look forward to meeting loved ones that they might only see once a year, or where they get a break from the hectic back and forth of their lives.

but here's the thing - whether they get tested or not, they will bring whatever they have to their holiday tables. it's pure recklessness to know that you're sick, and walk into someone else's house spreading the disease.

today, january 2, i saw 91 patients, many of them who have tested positive for covid and flu. many of these patients are the same ones who didn't want testing 3 days ago, until their events were over, and now, they will have to reach out to everyone they know to let them know that they were positive because they were showing symptoms well before their event.

the next week or two? we're going to see many, many more, all people with symptoms that started around christmas. these are the only two viruses we test for rapidly in our office, but they are potent and can be fatal in many people.

so here's why i wrote this post, and maybe it's a little late, but - if you care about your loved ones, please get tested if you know you're sick. it doesn't have to be at a clinic if you don't want it to, because the over-the-counter tests work just fine too (if you test within 5-7 days of symptom onset). just...please don't try to run from the knowledge that you might have covid, because immunocompromised people, elderly people, people with co-morbidities like asthma, pregnancy, diabetes, etc...many of them may not recover. and they may not be sitting at your holiday table in the future because of it.

[introspectivememories]

was it casual when i sat in your lap in public? was it casual when i said "recently my heart is crying because you're leaving"? was it casual when we decided how your last name would fit with mine? ("yuki tsunoda-gasly" / "no tsunoda, only gasly" / "yuki gasly?") was it casual when we sang adele's "someone like you" together at your going away party? was it casual when i knew it was you just by touching your ass? was it casual when i knew it was you by smell alone? was it casual when "will you miss me?" / "for 2-3 minutes maybe" / "i'll take that. even if it's just 2-3 minutes, i'll take that"? was it casual when that bus was completely empty and we still sat right next to each other, all the way in the back? was it casual when i picked you up multiple times so you could dunk a basketball? was it casual when i begged to come over to your house multiple time and then you finally let me and we cooked fried rice together? was it casual when we played christmas twister together and i said "your big eggplant is touching my ass"? was it casual when we were pressed up against each other on a scooter going two miles per hour? was it casual when-

[hinamie]

every so often i have to relearn how to draw yuuji or he starts fighting me

[buttercupshands]

can you even call it a warm up if I'm going to bed without drawing anything big

and a sketch I made while sitting in the park today

[mossy-aro]

ultimately i think my insistence on aro positivity honestly is as much a political stance as a personal one.

when i say aro positivity is crucial and that i dislike doomer-ist posts that express sentiments like 'I hate being aro so much I wish I was dead instead’ it's not because I don’t think there can and should be a space for negativity and acknowledging self-hate, or the many ways being aromantic can really suck sometimes. i find that to be very important!

that being said. there is smth here about how self-hate posts are sometimes just arophobia that we inflict on ourselves. and when we put that out into the ether it (intentionally or not) can become arophobia that we inflict on other members of the community. i think there absolutely needs to be a place for negativity and the expression of anger and frustration and self loathing even - these are all good things to talk about because these are things that we experience. that being said, it can also be genuinely upsetting and triggering to people to have what is essentially arophobia shown to them and then have that be validated by other aspec people. your personal thoughts can affect your wider community on a level you may not anticipate. and i understand it i truly do! it took me so long to be able to recover from accepting being aroace - it threw my entire world off kilter and made me question everything about my place in the world.

but my insistence on aro joy and positivity is because ultimately i do believe that building is at the core essence of it all. that ultimately discussions and the purpose of community should be about construction, not destruction. and this is both a personal and a political stance. talking about how much you hate yourself and cultivating online discussions/spaces where negativity about aspec identity is the main and only theme is destructive - if that’s where we let the conversation end. these thoughts can and should be used as a vehicle to look for a path forward!

joy and positivity create a space where the focus can become on forging a path forward, on construction, on community building instead of tearing ourselves and others down with negative thoughts. it’s not productive or healthy when it stops at a place of negativity - it becomes actively destructive to the essence of community.

and i do think that this is especially poignant considering the fact that being any kind of queer, but especially aromantic (and/or asexual) means forging a path for yourself and making your own happiness where there is no obvious way forward. our communities exist mostly online (right now, anyway), there is little recognition of our existence in the real world, the effects of amatonormativity are both pervasive and actively dehumanising, and there are legal, economic and social structures in place actively making our lives more difficult. yes that all sucks! it’s good to acknowledge that. we need to in order to change it. but more importantly, that’s not the end. we are still here and our happiness, our future is for us to determine. even if we can’t change the laws or society, loving yourself and understanding aromanticism as a political identity (as well as personal), as a radical worldview, and as a protest against amatonormativity is essential for both community and personal well being. the personal is political.

tldr. i guess my point is that as a community, we should focus on building, improving, and nurturing ourselves and each other (construction) as opposed to destruction. we should recognise aromanticism and asexuality as political identities as well as personal ones and rely on community and self-love in the absence of anything else as a form of protest and political power. destruction (the recognition of everything that is wrong) is essential as a starting point - but where do we go from there? we rebuild.

[kazifrost]

Velcrows

[agentark]

see you around, rvb

[monkesupreme]

Maybe i SHOULD draft out my ‘Clark is a SuperPlant’ propaganda post

[samwise1548]

[ID: A screenshot of an ask by user adamofingolstadt that reads “The ‘K’ in ‘Martin K Blackwood’ stands for Kettle” with a heart at the end of the message. \End ID]

AAAAAAAAOH NOOOOO!!! @adamofingolstadt WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM?!?!?!?!?? NOW HE'S KETTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ID: An animated gif of Martin Blackwood from the Magnus Archives from the waste up. He’s drawn in a chibi style and only colored in blue. The animation is of his head transforming into a kettle. His expression through the process is of agony. \End ID]

[xxplastic-cubexx]

if i weren’t dead broke id comm u so hard for catboy fc!charles bc charles xavier is so cat coded that at least ONE iteration of him deserves to get the catboy treatment in earnest, don’t let the bald cats (2019) homage be his legacy PLEASE ✋😭

take him.

[grandtreeangel]

Another angle of the 2008 little cabbage incident has surfaced (feat. devastating bashful Pete smile)

[cozylittleartblog]

whip you into shape!!

print on my etsy

[welcometogrouchland]

I understand that literature nerd Jason Todd is kind of overblown in fanon compared to it's actual presence in canon (a few issues during his pre (and post?)crisis Robin tenure that highlight it) BUT consider that I think it's hilarious if the unhinged gun toting criminal has strong opinions on poetry

[solplease]

oh look it’s seth

fell apart drawing this

[fanaticallyfleeky]

“She guessed my favorite color on the first try. To be honest I didn’t even have a favorite color until she yelled out yellow”*

Whatever you do, don’t think about Tommy. Tommy, who doesn’t think he has a favourite flower because honestly, nobody has ever gifted him flowers. And throughout his life he was told time and time again that flowers were definitely not for men.

“Flowers are delicate, like women, Thomas. I’m not a sissy, and neither are you,” his father had grunted when Tommy had asked him, at 8 years old, what his favourite flower was after they learned about the different meaning of flowers in school. He’d never brought it up again, but his father had made sure he would never forget about it.

Then, decades later, Buck comes into his life, with his sunshine smile and gigantic heart and it’s so easy to just let himself fall in love. And at some point in their young and blooming relationship Buck gifts him flowers. A beautiful bunch of fresh peonies. And Tommy nearly cries from happiness there and then.

Because it’s not just that no one has ever gifted him flowers, but it’s also the beaming smile on Buck’s face as he thrusts them in Tommy’s hands. It’s the pure love that radiates from his gaze, and it’s the typical enthusiasm in which he tells Tommy everything there is to know about peonies and the meaning of flowers. It’s the devotion in his voice as he murmurs:

“I saw these and they made me think of you.”

Because Buck guessed his favourite flower on the first try. But to be honest Tommy didn’t have a favourite flower until Buck gifted him peonies with a smile that could light up the whole city.

(*Rudy Francisco)