#but it's important to do

[roseofbattles]

This has become something of a tradition at this point so ten good things that have happened this year/things I'm proud of!

Greatest Hits of 2023

1. TRAVEL. I went a lot of cool places this year which after the last few years felt like a big deal. Highlights were a trip to Boston with a group of old friends, and a trip to NYC with a group of new friends 💗

2. I got a lot closer to my reading goal with 41 books this year - if I finish the book I'm currently reading before the end of the year. I really loved reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

3. My garden has done great this year - that's the best part of where I live in California 100% is that I can grow things year round. I picked more tomatoes this week and am growing so many other things.

4. A lot of writing happened this year - less fanfic and a lot more original work. I'm hoping to finish the first draft of my novel in 2024. I'm really proud of what I've accomplished with it so far - it's my longest piece so far at ~75k words

5. I tried a lot of new recipes this year with a lot of success! Cooking is something I love but struggle to do for myself so it's been really helpful cooking virtually with a friend every other week. Favorites included: 20 minute creamy sausage and gnocchi and coconut curry chicken meatballs I also made Yor's stew which was delicious!

6. I sent a lot of letters this year! I've always loved to but I made a concerted effort to send more this year. It's always a joy to hear when someone gets one, or getting one back. (If anyone wants a pen pal lmk ;))

7. My Spanish has improved! I knew virtually no Spanish when I moved to California but I'm able to have basic conversation with my coworkers now which is very exciting. Learning a second language has been a goal of mine for a long time and being around people who speak another language every day is definitely helping me practice.

8. Saw two new musicals: Le Mis and Hadestown (I know I'm one hundred years late to Le Mis) but I had forgotten how nice it was to see live performances like that. Both were incredible

9. Lots of time with new friends and old this year was a highlight; having people visit from out of state and also over to play board games

10. Survived a lot of bad things! Including a terrible roommate and a lot of stress related to that. That's been a huge improvement.

Bonus: something I'm hoping 2024 brings is more rest, and more time with the people I love 💞 This year has been simultaneously endless and over in a blink and it's been a very exhausting one, emotionally and mentally. I'm very grateful for all of my friends and family and also my cat, who is the best cat

Tagging anyone who would like to participate and also @lantur @firewoodfigs @nightofnyx8 @x-rainflame-x @fullmetalscullyy @janetfraiser @possumsinatrenchcoat @smoothshine @thatisadamnfinecupofcoffee @musing-and-music and @littlewitchbee if any of you would like!

[enemywasp]

I'm sorry I keep posting my tiktok comments but please. What does this mean. What do people THINK shipping is for anymore???

[despazito]

After nearly 20 years of trying to increase the red-headed vulture population, this endangered baby vulture was born in March at the Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo in northeast Thailand. The endangered bird is the first red-headed - also known as Asian king vulture - to be bred in the continent and only the second in the world. X

[aretarers]

mantra when you fuck up is "i'm in my early 20s it's literally not a big deal"

[yakityyaku]

very funny (irritating) to me that everyone whined and yelled about stupid rainbow capitalism and how performative wokeness/allyship is a net bad we should all refuse to support and now like.

tumblr is doing nothing for pride and target isn't selling much (if any) of their pride collection offline except at certain stores (in democratic areas, basically) and build a bear has a much tinier collection than normal and all the actual pride stuff is on their "adult" website (not sure if it's in stores, but pride = adult is a hell of a message)

there are genuinely good criticisms for performative allyship in all its applications. it shouldn't be the only thing we expect from people and companies. but if all the shit I see being called performative stopped tomorrow then in terms of the LGBTQ+ community especially we just. wouldn't talk about queerness or queer issues or celebrate pride or do anything.

open your fucking eyes. we are very close politically to having gay marriage rolled back. now companies are basically being let off the hook to even make a miniscule effort (which matters to the people who don't have access to any other kind of support in their communities! which normalizes the community in public spaces!) because the only reaction they have gotten over the last few years are negative ones from BOTH sides.

we are so entrenched in discourse at all times for the sake of our OWN performance of who is the wokest and who is REALLY an ally or a good community member that we have basically handed over all the work of activists of the last several decades to the other side because we'd rather scream at each other over fucking chicken restaurants and shit than the real life backsliding that's happening.

and this goes for other shit too. feminism, poc rights, all of it.

also. trans rights aren't discourse and aren't just culture war arguments. in case any terfs think they can spin this to be antitrans.

[kottkrig]

People liking your personal OCs is still such a crazy feeling, I've been doing this for years and ppl asking about them still fills my entire heart with warmth and idk how to handle it

You enjoy this fictional guy I made up for fun?? Whose only content is random artwork or writing made by me and a handful of other artists at most? They have no show/book/game with a large fandom, it's just one person with an art blog?? I love u

[xgoldenlatiasx]

I’m really glad that Aaron’s self-immolation for Palestine is getting attention, but on November 8th there was also a Congolese man who did the same thing for the genocide happening in the DRC. From what I read in the article above, his fate and identity are unknown but I think his story should be getting equal amount of traction and I haven’t really seen anyone talking about it on Tumblr specifically yet.

[wanologic]

reminder to take care of your loser human body

[ochibrochi]

the first and last time he'll let his brothers pick him up from school (wishful thinking 🙄!)

[tanoraqui]

I just love love love that there’s a guy wandering about Dungeon Meshi going, ‘but what are the socioeconomic and geopolitical consequences of this fantasy quest adventure, both while it’s ongoing and after its inevitable completion?! The skillset required to find and kill a Mad Mage is different than that required to responsibly, benevolently and effectively rule a kingdom. I personally must either find a good candidate, somehow make one, or, most likely, take on the whole Mageslayer/King role myself.” Except he doesn’t have the first skillset, and his whole party keeps dying while these highly competent chucklefucks wander past, kill and eat the monster, and save their bodies for the nth time. Kabru would demand to know if Aragorn is familiar with Gondorin tax law. His isekai energy is off the charts, because this is all exactly what I would do if dropped into a fantasy quest adventure, right down to repeatedly dying due to not actually being suited to the genre conventions.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

zany to me how these um actually nihilists like to pretend that "um actually love/friendship/cooperation/kindness isn't real bc we evolved that way to benefit ourselves as a species..." um YES? that's also where tool use comes from? that's where cooking comes from? am i supposed to think social bonds & tool use & cooking aren't "real" because they evolved over time instead of appearing fully formed from the ether?

sorry u can't enjoy things. im a superior being twirling a fork in my bowl of delicious noodles whilst staring in adoration at the world

[chloesimaginationthings]

Susie meets the friendly yellow rabbit in FNAF..

[foolsocracy]

they barge into justice league meetings saying they have something very important to show them. and do stuff like this

[catmask]

does anyone have like an anti aesthetic. like something you look at and can recognize as a complete fashion/interior design/artistic movement and understand it but it makes you shudder seeing it. i am not talking like “its morally bad” “its poorly structured” like just sheerly devoid of joy for you actually invites a repulse response.

[mountainshroom]

They deserve to have a quiet moment for themselves (and Zuko is seriously questioning his taste in men)

[elodieunderglass]

changes and trends in horror-genre films are linked to the anxieties of the culture in its time and place. Vampires are the manifestation of grappling with sexuality; aliens, of foreign influence. Horror from the Cold War is about apathy and annihilation; classic Japanese horror is characterised by “nature’s revenge”; psychological horror plays with anxieties that absorbed its audience, like pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, femininity. Some horror presses on the bruise of being trapped in a situation with upsetting tasks to complete, especially ones that compromise you as a person - reflecting the horrors and anxieties of capitalism etc etc etc. Cosmic horror is slightly out of fashion because our culture is more comfortable with, even wistful for, “the unknown.” Monster horror now has to be aware of itself, as a contingent of people now live in the freedom and comfort of saying “I would willingly, gladly, even preferentially fuck that monster.” But I don’t know much about films or genres: that ground has been covered by cleverer people.

I don’t actually like horror or movies. What interests me at the moment is how horror of the 2020s has an element of perception and paying attention.

Multiple movies in one year discussed monsters that killed you if you perceived them. There are monsters you can’t look at; monsters that kill you instantly if you get their attention. Monsters where you have to be silent, look down, hold still: pray that they pass over you. M Zombies have changed from a hand-waved virus that covers extras in splashy gore, to insidious spores. A disaster film is called Don’t Look Up, a horror film is called Nope. Even trashy nun horror sets up strange premises of keeping your eyes fixed on something as the devil GETS you.

No idea if this is anything. (I haven’t seen any of these things because, unfortunately, I hate them.) Someone who understands better than me could say something clever here, and I hope they do.

But the thing I’m thinking about is what this will look like to the future, as the Victorian sex vampires and Cold War anxieties look to us. I think they’ll have a little sympathy, but they probably won’t. You poor little prey animals, the kids will say, you were awfully afraid of facing up to things, weren’t you?