#but no one can really afford to live in a place like that

[snailchimera]

Speaking as someone who was able and willing to get the fuck out of Florida, it was the right thing to do and I don't regret it, but it fucking hurts. I miss my home. I miss my shitty toxic eutrophic bayou and my lizard neighbors and liveoaks with Spanish moss and palmettos and honeysuckle that is probably invasive and tiny stubborn canebrakes and sandy patches of scrub. I miss bugs, which is not a thing I would have predicted saying, not because I dislike bugs but because it never occurred to me that other places were so bug-deficient. I miss the cluster of left-adjacent people ranging from peace-and-love Unitarians to the serious union folks or the people running a grocery co-op that actually functioned as a grocery store normal people could buy food at to the folks fixed on one specific problem like housing or healthcare to the anarchists and the socialists and the queer community spread through all of the above and That One Communist whose sole purpose in life seemed to be hawking a newspaper, all clustered together because you can't afford to splinter into two billion different factions in a conservative town full of gun nuts, and honestly probably being a more functional group because of it. I miss streets and buildings that used to be fixtures in my life, landmarks that told me exactly where I was. I miss stupid small things like the art on my library card, the sound of a road, an absolutely objectively terrible park that was always full of glass and spent fireworks the day after New Years or the 4th of July. I miss my best friend from middle/high school (though we're still in touch), and at least a couple members of my family, and my dad's weird friend who wrote absolutely godawful political poetry and hand painted beautiful cards for holidays and once tried to steal my pet turtles to turn them loose in the nearby river (which would have been bad as they were a nonnative species).

I have missed multiple funerals I should have been at and I don't think I'm ever really going to get closure for that.

I've been living up north for over a decade now and the air still tastes wrong. The seasonal shifts here are beautiful, but in the way an alien planet is. It is literally physically impossible to acquire a decent orange or orange juice that tastes like it's actually meant to be a consumable foodstuff here, and I didn't even grow up in orange growing country so it's not like my standards are fresh-picked-today high.

And I didn't really leave a community behind the way OP would have to. I was always pretty isolated, all things considered.

I'm out of Florida, and also alive in general, because an internet friend took me in and inexplicably hasn't kicked me out yet. That's not a viable plan for most people. And, although I am spending more money than I can really afford to renew a passport I've never used, it's very unlikely I'd be able to find sanctuary in another country with my disability, spotty work history, and lack of money. Even if I could, there are people I can't leave behind.

I do think you should get a passport if you can. If you have the money, help other people get one too. It's useful documentation, and if it comes down to it... a Hail Mary escape plan is still better than waiting to die. But the people brave enough to keep fighting for their homes aren't stupid, and the places they love are worth fighting for. The people who can't leave are not acceptable losses. And most red states are red because of deeply entrenched systems of disenfranchisement and suppression.

Just care about people.

I see a lot of posts along the lines of, "people stay in Florida because they can't afford to leave," in reference to both climate disasters and Republican politicians.

I don't see enough, "because it's their home, and leaving under such conditions is traumatic, even if they can afford to drop everything and leave."

I wish people would stop telling me "just move" when I talk about the problems I want to fix. I wish people would stop telling me "it's a sunk cost, you should just leave" when I try to encourage political participation and community involvement. I wish people would stop asking me "lmao why" when I say that I love Florida. I wish people would stop asking me if I "need help leaving" when I have never declared any intention to do so, and have been quite vocal about how happy I was to move back to Florida after a long time away.

I know this land, I know this community, I have deep roots here. I'm tired of everyone telling me to rip them up and "just leave" when I'm trying so goddamn fucking hard to try and help make things better.

You might just see a gross swamp full of rednecks, but I see the sides you refuse to. I see the humanity, I see the communities banding together, I see the beauty, I see the hope. I see the climate activists advocating for our people and our environment, engineering new ways to mitigate hurricanes and update our infrastructure. I see the groups fighting for immigrant rights, racial justice and reparations, affordable housing, organized labor, abortion access, and disability justice. I see the queer organizations carving out space and helping trans people access healthcare. I see people fighting DeSantis tooth and goddamn nail at every single opportunity. I see the reasons to keep fighting for this place that everyone else has written off as a cheap punchline.

I wish y'all would stop ignoring us when there isn't a deadly hurricane or a Florida Man headline, and I wish y'all would stop treating Floridians like we're either helpless victims or horrible bigots with zero in-between.

Some of us are doing our damnedest to make things better. Some of us love Florida with every fiber of our being. Some of us think of Florida, and before anything else, we think "that's home."

It feels pretty fucking bad to constantly see people say your home should be abandoned. It feels pretty fucking bad when the entire rest of the world refuses to see your home as anything but a joke or a problem.

Florida is beautiful. Florida is my home. I'm going to fight for it no matter how many people reading this think I should just pack up and abandon it.

[savvthedate]

Skz! Smalltown!AU

Plot; after getting kicked out of her old private school, Y/N is sent to live with the family of her mother's closest friend in her mother's hometown. As Y/N struggles to get used to her new life she meets several interesting people.

RELEASE; N/A

Characters

Chan - The hardworking boy nextdoor

• The son of Y/Ns mother's friend

• almost religiously devoted to his family's shop

• dreams to make it big as a music producer, until then he's stuck here

Lee know - Mayors' Son

• Rich douche bag (it's an act I swear stay with me now)

• his family's been in this town longer than anyone, and for some reason the last 3 mayors have been relatives

• honestly thinks this town doesn't do him any justice

• should be protecting his reputation (he doesn't give even half a damn)

Changbin - Manny McManface

• son of the local sheriff (don't know if this is a good thing or bad)

• brought up to be the best damn QB out there, but he ended up doing wrestling and spending most of his weekends with felix

• stress on 100, he's got expectations to meet and he doesn't know where to start

• sweetest person here (next to Felix)

• biggest protective older brother energy

Hyunjin - Vincent Van Hwang

• parents aren't really that big in town (there the local florist) but trust hyunjin is well known for the wrong things

• if he's not at school, he's either at his one of two jobs; delivery boy for his parents, or at his cashier job at the only fast food place in town (an off brand McDonald's called tastywing)

• working hard for his parents

• gets in the most trouble out of literally anyone in town (if it weren't for his parents relations with Sheriff Seo he'd honestly be screwed)

• people literally love his talent for art, but the majority hate him. You'll either hear "Van Gogh" or "Man go"

Han jisung - Local Loser

• working day and night like a dog at the local library just so he can afford a guitar

• aspiring rock star plays literally ever festival

• literally goes up to people hitting them with "you look like you got potential"

• always seems to be free

• doesn't get out much

Felix - That one guy

• the most likable person you'll ever meet, it's almost concerning

• part time model who's out of town often, but when he's there it's a sunny day

• has to work at tastywing just to make ends meet

• he's so sweet you couldn't even tell he's dated half the girls in town

Suengmin - dog washer

• lives alone (not really, his parents are always away)

• he either has nothing planned at all and just sits around or he's busy with the most random shit

• he works at a dog grooming place, but you swear you never see him there

• hardly works but is always dressed head to toe in designer

• has the biggest house in town, and with his schedule always doing something in said house

Jeongin - Pastor's Son

• His parents own the one church in town

• if you meet him on a Saturday you wouldn't even think he had a holy bone in his body, until you go to church that Sunday and hear him recite scriptures to the congregation

• if hyunjins not doing anything stupid, you can count on Jeongin to do something to keep it interesting

• do not be fooled at all, no matter how he acts trust and Believe he's never even been alone with a girl for more than five seconds, he just acts bold in front of others

[fleeglefazbeagle]

I made a poster for my Walten Files AU that centers around the holiday special antagonists today.

Yes, I based it off that concept poster for Shin Godzilla.

Here's the lore summarized the best way I can(trigger warning for murder, burning and mental breakdowns):

Basically, it involves the holiday special characters (Boozoo's Ghosts and The Mysterious House).

They basically came from an obscure restaurant/playhouse called "Prezzy's Wonderland"(Willy's Wonderland reference, lol).

The animatronics are:

Mortality(originally named Prezzy)

Jolly the Sheep

Sad the Clown

Pumpkin Rabbit

Witch Sheep(full name Willow the Witch Sheep)

TVA

Jonkler(this is just a placeholder name I recently made for Halloween Billy, so please don't get used to it just in case).

The animatronics, like in my FNAF AU, are sentient(think Security Breach) and have their own individual personalities. The restaurant is acknowledged by Jack Walten and Felix Kranken and even liked by them.

It was somewhat well known, so it had its reoccurring customers but the owners didn't mind. Two particular reoccurring customers were Lily Anderson and her mother Gloria, Lily often brought a plush bunny named Daisy (keep this in mind).

Things were going quite well until one day, on Lily's 12th birthday when she and Gloria were about to head home(it was kinda late and they were the last to leave), a man named Richard murdered the both of them outside. Prezzy heard the commotion and rushed over to the door to unlock it but it was stuck and by the time he finally managed to get out to see what was happening, it was too late, Lily and Gloria were murdered and the man was running away from the scene.

This broke Prezzy mentally and emotionally, causing him to have a breakdown, a nightguard came out and saw the scene, also scared and decided to call the owners, the police and an ambulance.

They investigated the footage and saw the murderer and are willing to try and find him whilst Prezzy was just sitting down on the stage in silence whilst gently holding Daisy(the plushie) and meanwhile, the other animatronics tried to comfort him.

Two weeks have passed and Prezzy wasn't really doing well(grief is a real bitch), often mumbling to himself, standing by himself in darkness all the while holding the plushie in his hand. At some points, he'd either act manic under pressure or just sit there listening to random music boxes(mostly Lily's favorite song which was "Daisy Bell").

One night when it was around midnight, Pumpkin Rabbit was wondering around when he heard a strange noise in Parts and Service, he wandered in curiously when the door shut and barricaded behind him, startling him. The same man(Richard) from the incident from two weeks ago approached Pumpkin and then he set the rabbit ablaze. Pumpkin Rabbit was freaking out, gasping for air and straight up afraid whilst the man stood there and watched with a sinister grin. Willow heard the commotion and rushed over to Parts and Service and tried to open the door, calling out to Pumpkin, clearly fearing for him and eventually, she managed to open the door and when she saw the scene, she screamed in horror, grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the flames.

She sat on the floor and held Pumpkin whose face was now melted(he's alive though, don't worry) and looked up at the man with horror and disgust.

The next day came and the employees were shocked and what made matters worse was that they ran out of the materials for Pumpkin's face and couldn't afford it but a employee made a mask(think of the one Pumpkin Rabbit had in the OG vid) and gave it to him but it just wasn't the same.

Pumpkin Rabbit had breathing problems and pyrophobia as a result of the incident. One day, the place was shut down which devastated folks especially since one of the owners who was the creator of the characters(in universe) was gravely ill and then died days later.

This left the employees unemployed and the animatronics pretty much have to live in the now abandoned restaurant. The incident with the fire and the creator's death was the final straw for Prezzy, these incidents made him go mad and hungry for revenge.

Three months have passed since the place closed, the animatronics end up gaining supernatural abilities(I'll think of an origin for that).

Prezzy decided to change his name to Mortality(he's still ok with being referred to as Prezzy from time to time).

As far as that plushie, Daisy is concerned, she's possessed by the spirits of Lily and Gloria(think of Rocket with Ed and Molly).

Lily's older cousin, James, who was also an employee at the restaurant, heard about the news and he was pissed and also vows revenge.

That's pretty much what I have so far.

(Boy, that was a long one.)

If you have any questions at all, don't be hesitant to pop into my asks about the AU.

[oifaaa]

can we please have more haunted asylum house stories please

The funniest thing about the asylum is that it's not even the spookiest place I've stayed at tho it does get those extra points bc I had to live there for a year also we didn't know it used to be an asylum when we moved in we had to find out via history book about historical buildings in our county and the picture they used was the front of the house with two 1800s kids standing in front which I'm pretty sure just is the start of a horror movie but yeah the asylum was your basic creepy place at one point I heard horses in the stables despite us not having horses when we lived at that house at one point I was in the house alone and the tap started running and the dog we had at the time refused to go upstairs you know classic stuff

[weaselle]

i mean. It IS the comments section. Sends me into a rage too. And yeah, there's a lot of that sentiment all over the country. But not as much as you might assume if the comments section is your main sample. Also, california is... mostly conservative, by area. And disturbingly close by population. California voted for Reagan. Look at this

the only thing that makes california blue is that more people live in the blue areas, so those areas have more votes, and more of the people in the heavily populated places vote blue. But by population we're still only something like a 55/45 split percentage wise, so single issues like prison labor don't take a lot of people to swing it the other way.

And even for a very liberal voter, there's always like 10 or 15 things on the ballot that will raise taxes to do, and very few people are going to vote yes on all of them even though they are all incredibly worthwhile.

Because we already pay almost 45% of our income in total tax, plus one of the highest sales taxes of any state keeping our grocery bill high, and our housing prices are one of the worst in the country, and most people are already struggling financially, and i can tell you from experience you check yes on about 3 or 4 propositions that will raise taxes even more and you start to feel like you're at about the limit of what you can afford because you're already broke and you're voting to be broker.

Personally, I still voted yes to end prison labor in this state, but i didn't vote on a few things i believe in because... i used up all the yes votes i think i can afford. Plus a couple, actually, because i will absolutely vote to be even more poor to get some worthy things done. But then, I don't have kids or a mortgage or a sick spouse or anything either.

And prison labor isn't on the general population's radar in a big enough way. I know it's not, because when i get off the internet and i tell real people to their face that california uses prisoners for an amount of firefighting that would cost the state 100 million dollars if we actually paid people to do it instead of using prisoners, they never know that.

They also don't know just how much prison labor the US really uses, and they aren't aware of how, for example, the georgia governor's house (like the white house but for the state governor instead of the country's president) is a re-purposed slave plantation and the grounds keeping and cooking and housecleaning and everything is done on that ex-plantation by (mostly black) prison labor. So the main way it's a different facility now is that it produces legislation instead of cotton.

Me, i am very passionate about ending prison labor but there isn't enough public awareness (which i try my best to address with the people around me) and there isn't enough public agreement on priorities.

People sit with their voting guide every year trying to choose between prisoners, school kids, wildlife, air-quality, funding for battered women, environmental chemical regulation, the homeless, mental health services, raising minimum wage and a bunch more programs it feels shameful to vote "no" on... but i can only agree to be so much poorer next year before i have a panic attack about the possibility of winding up homeless again myself.

And there's chaff that gets in the way of the public having a clear cut decision. Because prison work programs are actually SUPER beneficial to incarcerated people (for example, gaining them an employable skill for when they get out, often with an employer who might actually hire them as an ex-con because they've already been working there as a convict. Incarcerated people go back to prison far less often if they have access to these kinds of programs). It's just, you can't tie it to any entity's profit margin or it becomes slave labor. It has to be a program that exists 100% for the benefit of the prisoners, which is always going to cost money and be a harder sell to the public. And the more complex an issue is, the harder it is to get the public to be educated about it, or have agreeing opinions.

Anyway, I don't really know anyone irl that feels the way the comments section feels, but i do think a lot of people vote yes on about half the things they wish they could afford. I don't think it lost because most people have "fuck those prisoners" feelings and voted no on it, i think it lost because a lot of people who would instantly agree to it if it was explained well to them and totally free, voted yes on other stuff and then left that one blank because it didn't make their top 5 list.

There's too many holes in the dike, and we already feel like we're out of fingers. And "prisoners" is a demographic that the public does not tend to have as much empathy for without unlearning a lot of internalized biases. It's starting from behind and it's competing with a lot of things competing for voter's hearts and minds... and wallets.

I suspect the people you've had conversations with who are aghast about the results are probably not in touch with this part of the way things are, or else they think the issue they are most passionate about should automatically be the issue everyone else is most passionate about too.

I hate it, I HATE that abolishing prison labor wasn't passed, but i get how that happens. There's ten drowning people and i only have three life vests and all the choices are tragic. And there's a hole in the bottom of the lifeboat i managed to get in.

i've been seeing a lot of californians aghast at the proposition to abolish prisoners being used as slave labour getting voted down and i have no idea how to fix this on a societal scale but after having enough conversations with people you really do start to realise that a massive percentage of the population sees prisoners as subhuman and therefore believes that once someone is in prison for any reason then everything bad that's done to them is simply their just desserts

[ningningkittie]

[seilon]

genuinely it is so depressing to spend money drinking just to end up doing nothing interesting and just sitting around

[onyxisnotuniqueenough]

guys you can't read fanfic about spider-punk or listen to the clash, the ramones or whoever and be sad that you can't buy stuff from boycotted brands this is you using your consumer powers to make a change DON'T SUCCUMB TO NEEDS SOCIETY CONVINCED YOU HAD!! TO CRAVINGS THEY TRICKED YOU INTO GETTING!!!! MAKE THAT FUCKING BURGER YOURSELF!!!! MAKE THAT DRINK YOURSELF!!!! GET THAT FUCKING IPHONE ON FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE OR SOMETHING!!!! LEARN TO MAKE YOUR OWN DEODORANT AND SHAMPOO FROM SCRATCH!!!!!! GROW VEGETABLES ON YOUR FUCKING WINDOW SILL!!!!!!!

IT'S BY CHIPPING AWAY AT IT THAT WE'LL TEAR DOWN CAPITALISM!!!

[bootyful-seventeen]

hey y'all, anyone have any good stress relief tehniques or habits they'd like to share cuz I've been more stressed in the last 3 weeks then I was in the last 6 months

[rainingincale]

Bro no joke, forgetting that not everyone hates capitalism and then having to try have a reasonable conversation with someone about buying things... *eye twitch*

[cryolyst]

-

[fazcinatingblog]

Had a really nice sleep, it was like 30 minutes sleep dreaming that I was going to the grand final, wake up, check bank balance hmm no I'm not, sleep for 30 minutes dreaming I got a ticket, wake up check bank balance yeah no sorry, sleep for 30 minutes RINSE AND REPEAT THE ENTIRE NIGHT

[medicinemane]

"DIY tiny home you can build in weeks", ok... now lets see the cost

...seven and a half minutes later, the answer is $75k... so when you include land and all the rest of it, so basically nothing right?

This is my problem with tiny homes stuff, it's for rich people

[fakeoutbf]

.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

with the recent like self-analytical framework of [putting hand on own shoulder] "are you looking for the external validation of value in this which would never be guaranteed, and you don't even think it should be contingent on this anyways" it's like, that also speaks more to like "yeah i did really enjoy live performance / theatre-adjacent and -overlapping stuff"

like i have my sense of how much i loved things and none of that involves any memories of having enjoyed it b/c of any feedback i got, from peers or instructors or anything. memories of curtain calls don't stand out much. like fun Specific Feedback was a kind older (relative to me) performer with the central role telling me that my literal leaping onstage (dance performance. grande jete entrance) despite a technical difficulty that would have to be improvised around was Inspirational/Motivating lol. i stopped having any particular stage fright (although is that when you're onstage? more like, anxiety beforehand about messing up. being onstage was the easier, enjoyable part) thanks to just having to yolo through those technical difficulties lol....anyways and then that same show actually, some relative to me younger audience member's dad was like "she's your (role's) biggest fan" and we nervously take a pic together lol. these things were fun & standout but Not Even It; not at all like "this is what makes it all worth it" like this is largely beside the point but a fun little bonus outlier event or two

like there was also no "i loved it b/c of Being In A Cast" nor b/c of any particular like, hanging out having fun Social Element. i loved rehearsing, though. loved being backstage (or in green rooms, or dressing rooms) but not because of any particular company or goings on. loved waiting & practicing / warming up & getting things together like your own costuming & being summoned to backstage & whatall. loved all the technical elements of getting a show together, when things were being assembled / worked out, though i didn't get to have much of any active hand b/c i'm like this twelve year old just learning the part, but it was fun to witness. none of my sense of what contributed to having a great time entailed any particular praise or anything; there was some implicitness in how all at once i graduated from [ensemble performance, back row for tall people] to [roles with solos] and the like, but there was just like, being busy, doing things well enough that it just wasn't Impeding anything lol, and in other arenas where i might've gotten more comments about being like, an outlier per whatever measure of success, it was definitely like, it's all just [successfully avoided negative attention] and ofc people think good grades are good but i'm not particularly moved by the awareness that that in turn is what's good or impressive about me, or something. or that i have to have anything like that for [successfully avoided negative attention]

and i wouldn't have like, done a monologue to an empty room and been like wow magical. i'd do my thing for rehearsal, and then for an audience, but you can't really see the audience and you're like ten doing local ten year old recreational stuff so it's like, the curtain calls you don't remember much (by you i mean me) and then you're done, and for me it was the fun of just like Everything Before. no like classic memories montage of great times socializing, it was me sitting in the green room equivalent, me warming up in the hallway, enjoying being in an auditorium for like 7 hrs of rehearsal, etc, we didn't do any like social events like high school performance afterparties or anything; i wasn't like Friends w/even the occasional person i also knew from school, and that didn't matter or diminish things in the least. performing A Show and for whatever Audience and that abstract is completely good enough. any of my parents' involvement, unavoidable b/c i couldn't even get places without being driven, was a major downside; i didn't like any like post performance [congrats] from them b/c that stuff was just its own unconstructive Performance that you, by which i mean me, were required to be sufficiently like Oh Wow about when it's like, the focused attention from you here means i want to leave; being left all amongst other adults during rehearsals was the good shit, while it also wasn't the case i needed like support or hype from any of those adults either.

there was Some tradition of like, older students in some program who'd take a trip to nyc / do some performance or other, and that seemed exciting but it stopped existing before it could be relevant to me lol. also for the first like, show that was like "audition for parts" vs "class recitals" they gave us like a relevant keepsake for it, and that was a nice surprise, since i had a great experience and all. and one of my main [not dance, with lines and everything] experiences being this fourth grade english class scenes from julius caesar, auditioned again, i'm like hell yeah that this has to be nongendered b/c it's all a bunch of guys, so i play a guy, and an antagonist yippee who doesn't die midway through and sounds easy-peasy to be like [be the dictator assassin] lol. it's funny how already i Cared about like, wish we had Effects instead of awkward silence for the drama of that assassination. wish i like, knew fuckall about acting. but the teacher just focused on telling us all to talk louder b/c nobody could be individually mic'd, and in the end you really couldn't hear fuckall of other performances so that was a win. and we got to do it twice b/c some people's parents got stuck in traffic. all i remember of my parents' presence was being like "omg yes i get to stop being here talking to you b/c we get to do that Again hell yeah"

like it's social but in a Parallel way. i'm contributing my part, i know my role, you know yours, i'm fondly remembering sitting in some school lobby having mini muffins with hours to go before our performance, amongst other people but not at all hyped abt interactions with them or at all disappointed abt the absence of any. i enjoyed it all being in front of people, others involved in the show, or the audience, but i wasn't there for any specific feedback, just being Part of that group constructed experience there. truly this case of like....loved all of that exactly as it happened, was on my own shit, did not need any external validation, didn't need a specific kind of Socializing that's supposed to look like having individual interactions with personal friends, had this passion for it that i also was having a perfectly good time exploring on my own, whilest also enjoying working with / learning from whatever instruction i got. like sure wishing i knew fuckall about acting but that it turns out no not everyone necessarily all loves stage acting as The Peak like that, and this comfort and interest with it that comes from like, you have all the practice of Having to perform and mask and act in life against your supposed incorrect abnormalities, but here's this constructive and creative and expansive edition of that art and science. good enough for doing it all through like fourteen

[whoknowsyourfuture]

This, but also

Water

How much water do you think it takes to turn desert into lawn

It takes A Lot

I'm not saying that if we shut down every golf course in drought ridden areas it would solve the drought, bc there are lots of ways water is being wasted (primarily for Rich People Reasons) but it would help significantly

Also, those pretty uniform green lawns? Think about how much herbicide/pesticide it takes to maintain that uniformity.

I'm not saying it's bad to have green spaces, but if we focused more on designing them around the natural environment of a location instead of this eurocentric ideal embodied by golf courses, it would be an improvement for both native species and the education of people using those spaces.

(there was a guy who was at my college, not the same degree path, but had to take a bio class for his major requirements when I was a lab assistant and when the professor was talking about desert ecosystems this mfer asked 'if cactuses take up so much water, why don't we cut them down?' I don't remember her response bc I blue screened so hard)

Plus, it would be funny to watch rich white dudes have to get their golf balls out of a patch of cactus. I know they'd avoid it if all possible, and idk golf rules, but I'm pretty sure there's one where if you hit it into the rough or whatever you have to hit it back out.