#for small creatures such as we

[metatheatre]

"Do you know Janis Joplin?" the driver asked.

Yes, of course, we said.

"That is what I like about America. In Sierra Leone, each village has its own songs. Here, everybody knows the same ones. Do you sing?"

I'm nasal and rhythmless. Jon less so, but no, we said, we don't sing.

"You must sing together!" The driver was emphatic, as though our marriage was lacking something as basic as communication or sex.

We're really terrible singers, we explained.

"It's no excuse," he insisted. "You still must sing. Any song, just sing! A-B-C-D..."

A beat passed. Jon and I acquiesced: "E-F-G?"

We continued from H, the three of us singing into the night, the car careening down Ninth Street. We made it to Z, miraculously alive, and invigorated.

"Once a week, you must sing together," the driver said. "Be playful and you will stay united."

We reached the restaurant, left the car, and asked each other, did that really happen? If I were a believer I would have thought this was divine intervention. But since I'm not, I think it was a very kind, very wise, slightly nosy stranger who we were lucky to meet by chance.

My parents raised me to see love as holy, and Jon and I have always thought of our love as a kind of religion. Not supernatural or preordained but something to trust in, something to honor, something to cherish - and not to take for granted.

Like any religion, our love has its hallowed origin story (the steamy night our friendship finally turned romantic) and annual holidays (the anniversaries of that first night, of the day we decided to be exclusive, of our wedding) and those occasional, rapturous moments of transcendence. But we'd been missing another crucial element: a weekly sacrament, a regular reaffirmation of the devotion and joy at the core of what we'd built together. The thing you are obliged to do regularly, at an appointed time, to remind you of your values even when you are grouchy, busy, or annoyed. Even when you really don't feel like it. And this cab driver, whose name I desperately wish I had gotten, gave us that.

A lot has changed since that cab ride. . . . Yet the alphabet song is immutable. We've sung it every weekend, almost always on Saturday morning, usually upon our first eye contact of the day. We take a deep breath and hold it a moment, a kind of signal, and then begin. We sing the alphabet when we're crazy in love, when we're mad at each other, when we're rushing to be somewhere. When we're apart, we sing it over the phone. . . .

The alphabet song, particularly, would not be the right thing for everyone. It’s incredibly silly. Almost too silly. But over the five years since that cab ride, it’s occurred to me that that’s kind of the point. It’s the silliness that brings down one’s defenses, that creates the bond, that makes it special, that makes you feel vulnerable. That is what’s essential to being part of anything bigger than yourself, like a marriage, or our whole wide universe.

-- Sasha Sagan, For Small Creatures Such As We

[worldanvil]

Solo Journaling RPGs

What are Solo RPGs? Janet sat down with game designer Anna Blackwell to discuss common elements of these fun journaling games, and how they can be a great way to keep playing - even when your gaming group's schedules are a nightmare.

[wysteria-clad]

Emi:

It's the equivalent of dads shaving their face, and their babies seeing it for the first time, freaking out and crying.

[owlsie-hoot]

They’re sort of married already. You can tell a lot of story just by holding hands.(x)

silent communication. saying things without needing words. It's something these two characters are extremely good at. Often words are not needed to get a message across. Moments like these can be found in every episode, the small microexpressions they exchange make all the difference.

[fyllophobia]

[myfandomistingling]

October has been very giving...

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 305

So. Uh. Danny feels like laughing hysterically, because? Ghostwriter was doing a thing, and one of Pandora’s curses escaped and erm, well, now the six of them are in a whole other dimension. At least this place has a lot of abandoned warehouses but still. And well, he guesses he’s no longer the only ‘monster’ now? 

But seriously they all need to find a way back home sooner rather than later, even if they might now be stuck in this world… Fuck.

[bowtiesarecool11]

"North pole veterinary service for wounded reindeer, how can I help"

I love Tristan so much

[catmemey]

as promised for @great-and-small (and also because I Need to share) the beginning of all my Florida birds and creatures: behold, a bird montage! I encountered 20 new species which is amazing, and this is a small sample of them (subsequent posts will have Special Guys!! including some herps). in order from top to bottom, left to right for each row: northern mockingbird; boat-tailed grackle; limpkin; wood storks; laughing gulls; white ibis; little blue heron; carolina wren; black vulture; anhinga.

the point and shoot canon I have proved to be pretty damn good with the zoom and exposure, with just a bit of touch ups afterwards :)

[stubz]

The younglings played. The younglings read. The younglings talked. The younglings laughed. The younglings paused as they noticed their teachers watching them.

Not their usual mindful gaze, not a glance, not a watch to let them know they are being watched...a different kind of watch.

It was not unsettling. It did not frighten the herbivores. It did not threaten the carnivores. It did not alert the omnivores.

It was a watch that was familiar in a way. Different but familiar.

"Stop staring at us!" they cried

"We're not staring. We're thinking." they replied back, their gaze deepening.

"Well stop thinking at us." the boldest ones said

"Your still staring." the smartest ones said

"What are you thinking about?" the curious ones said.

"Your so small."

"..." "..." "..."

"WE AREN'T SMALL!" the younglings protested. The oldest most offended. The middle most annoyed. The youngest most loud.

"We don't mean your size." one started.

"We mean you're so young." the other finished.

"I'm 8 years old!" "I'm 5!" "I'm 3 and a half!"

"And you have so much to experience." they smile

"You still have to experience taking the shuttle by yourself." they grin to the eldest ones.

"You still have to experience losing your first tooth." they beam to the middle ones.

"You still have to experience your first playdate." they whisper to the youngest.

The younglings pout and huff. The younglings protest being small. The younglings, the smartest ones, figure out what's so familiar with the watch.

It was the same watch they got from their parents. It was the same watch they got from when they told them about the new friend they made. It was the same watch they got when they learned how to make a snack by themselves. It was the same watch they got when they learned something new and exciting.

It was the same watch they would see from their teachers for days to come.

[yerdaftapeth]

🤞🏻

[screamingfr]

Mouthwashing doodles I did a few months ago and never finished lmaooo

Doing the lords work in killing the creature that is Jimbobmcrapeface

[owlsie-hoot]

hands ❤️

even though we never said it to each other - we knew

[starry-on-ao3]

All Creatures Great And Small (2020-) (1x7) The Night Before Christmas

"What's his name?" "Bob." "And has Bob been eating something he shouldn't?" "Mistletoe"

[titipounamu]

chocolate tube slime/Stemonitis sp • aotearoa

[itssoinevitable]

Audrey watching Siegfried & baby Jimmy All Creatures Great & Small (2020) Season 5, Episode 1