#anyway this was like a poem to me

[bardicbird]

a little siffrin comic about touch, violence, and oranges

[girlypsyop]

I'm going crazy I need somebody to read this conversation I overheard on an airplane in 2022. I totally forgot about it until I found it while going through my notes.

It is a bit long but it was just so surreal and beautiful and something something humanity ok?

u ever just overhear one of the most touching interactions of your life in the back of a airbus a320

So I'm gna explain this really bad and it was kind of a "had to be there" situation but just imagine a completely dark airplane, no lights, no open windows, except a single one in the row behind you

In that aisle there's a middle-aged man sitting on the aisle. He is traveling alone. 2 women are sitting next to him

Across the aisle from them are 3 guys

So this middle aged guy. his name is Roy:)

He sits down next to the two woman and as we are shuttling to the runway, he asks if they can open the window because it's his very first flight.

They open the window

They ask him about his destination

He says he's going to Chicago when the plane starts taking off. He YELLS "Woah! Full throttle baby!" (Imagine this in the most southern accent you've ever heard)

Everyone in the back 3 rows cracks up

He laughs and says "yall got your windows closed? Not the least bit curious about what in the hell just happened?"

Everyone at a window seat who could hear him opened their window for a bit

For a while he points out things in the window.

"First time I stepped outta my podunk little town and saw the city it seemed so massive. Just... skyscrapers you have to crane your neck to look at, I'd never seen anything like it. But look at it... you can see the entire city from up here. Look at those teeny tiny little buildings."

....

"Are all those squares down there farms?"

"I think so yea"

"....if aliens ever visit they're gonna think someone got to us first"

....

"I thought there'd be more trees. There are trees everywhere where I'm from. I mean ive seen pictures of deserts and whatnot. Just never seen it with my own two eyes. How do people live like that"

"well it is January. Maybe they're all just dead"

"Oh right. No shit............. that's worse somehow."

....

"This is gonna be a stupid question but is that a cloud down there? Or just fog from a different angle or something, I dunno! Nothing looks like it does down there, I don't trust my own eyes"

"Yes its a cloud"

"That is so awesome. I was hoping we'd see some clouds. I looked up pictures on the internet, but they don't compare to the real deal"

After that he gets a bit nervous, says he doesn't like how the plane feels so still, as if we aren't even moving. He asks if we get drinks on this flight, they say yea usually. He tells them to wake him up when it happens.

When the attendant is a few rows ahead of him, they wake him up. He asks them if they've got bourbon. They laugh and say "not for the poor people" then they ask him if he likes ginger ale he says

"I mean sure"

"If you like ginger ale you'll love it on an airplane"

"Why in the... why the hell does it make a difference on a plane?

"I don't know, the carbonation the ginger it settles your stomach. And it just tastes better somehow. Trust me, it's almost a tradition."

"Well gee there's something you don't read about.. ginger ale on airplanes.."

...

He gets the ginger ale

"It tastes like a ginger ale"

"Yea but it's ginger ale on a plane!"

"If you say so"

A few minutes later he says

"Yknow maybe my expectations were just too high. I was expecting it to taste like. I dunno God's spit or something."

The guys across the aisle lose it

"Man that's what I'm calling airplane gingerale from now on. God's spit"

He goes back to sleep after that. As we start our initial descent he wakes up. one of the girls asks where's he's from

"Lousiana. Small town, I never left it once."

"Wow you must have really loved it"

"Ha. Something like that. I'm a rehabilitation counselor there. Have been for 3 years. Got a big fancy promotion last year, now I'm a bit of a team leader. Who would have thought. Have to wear a tie and everything. Never pictured myself someone's boss. Normally I'm... normally I'm the one quittin after a few months and slashin the boss's tires"

"Oh yea? You ever piss someone off enough to get your own tires slashed"

"Not yet but a man can dream"

A minute passes

One of the guys across the aisle, he's wearing a tie tells roy

"I was in and out of rehab for nearly my whole life. What a thankless job, nobody likes you until long after they've left"

"Ah well. We don't do it for the thanks. It's rewarding to see people turn their lives around. Not all of them not even most of them. But every now and then...."

"Well I hope you know even the ones who don't quite make it are just grateful someone gives a shit about them, even if they're being paid to."

"Oh I'm well aware son. I'm In recovery myself. It's why I could never leave my town. My mom died birthing me and my dad... well it's hard for him. He's got health problems and head problems probably. I think losin her really fucked him up. He did what he could but.... Well I don't wanna bring down the room.....bringing down this particular room would be terrorism I think"

I died at that one

"This is the first time in my life I've had a paid vacation. I never married or had kids and. Well I'm taking this trip for me, but those folks back in the facility are what push me to do this. It's hard sometimes to convince them it's worth it to cross the finish line when I can't show em proof of a better life."

"So why chicago?"

"Well... I never said it out loud but I used to read about those old prohibition bars. Those were big in Chicago. I always wanted to go. Secret entrances and passwords and all that. So I looked it up and there's some those old speakeasies that you can still go to. It's a bit kitch

....

"My ears hurt real bad don't they control the pressure in these tin cans?"

"I guess not very well. Try opening your mouth a bunch it'll pop your ears"

"That's.. disturbing"

[mueritos]

happy pride to all queer children of immigrants

patreon

[onawhimsicot]

i know not many people would want to read a 10,000 word article about the minecraft end poem and how the author, Julian Gough, was never fairly compensated for his work and has made it public domain.

But it's a very well-written and heartfelt read, and he makes it very clear that none of this is a cash-grab and despite the fact that he is essentially a starving artist in this capitalist society, he only mentions his financial struggles despite Minecraft's huge huge success at the bottom of this article and not in the tweets so as to not dilute his message.

Anyway, I just think it'd be cool if those who are able to could support him in some way whether it be subscribing to his substack or donating to his paypal (that's linked in the article, you can ctrl + F to find it easier), that's all.

[deeneedsaname]

Is this anything

[guinevereslancelot]

i always wanted someone to make blackout poetry of one of my posts but so far i have only had one blacked out to say egg. i guess you if you can't write the poem yourself you can't choose the poem

[horreurscopes]

i like my body when it is with your body.

[transmasccofee]

the subway rats poem is teruhashi coded

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

heeyyy gaaanggg

the pose and the background of the album version (left) are based on oingo boingos only a lad album art. not cause i think he has anything to do with it but just cause ive been wantin to draw that pose for like. weeks and i didnt know who to put there. so why not my latest bug man.

[skrunksthatwunk]

GIRLFRIENDS POST-UHAUL (uhaul the second, i guess)

[firefly464]

Because you are love

Version without text under the cut!

[whaliiwatching]

other lives and dimensions and finally a love poem…

[fearandhatred]

i was thinking about this line from my fic:

But the fall had hurt, too. Because the wind had cut into his useless wings like knives, his skin and grace peeling away under the friction, and he had been looking right up at the multicoloured and unreachable expanse of sky just to see it fade from his eyes into dull greys.

and i came up with this. i hope the vision came through

[demigod-of-the-agni]

kurunthokai, 168 — “what the hero said to his heart”

[iiusia]

three-chord prayer: i can trace my faith back to many people, but i can only owe it to the Lord

translation:

ila el abad el abeedeen, ameen: common formulation to end a prayer. "forever and ever, amen"

merci Seigneur, de l’avoir appelée à toi: thank you Lord, for calling her to you

ya Rab, barek el taree’, barek el siyyara, barek el ta’es, barekna: Lord, bless the road, bless the car, bless the weather, bless us

je crois, Seigneur; vient en aide à mon incrédulité/ouminou ya Sayed; fa aʿen ʿadama eemanee: "i believe, Lord; help my unbelief" in the respective languages

[whenyoulosesmallmind]

Nicklas Bäckström & the Washington Capitals (+ nickeovi) ― Immortality, Clare Harner | insp.

credits: x. x. x. x. x. x. x. x. x. x.