#gift shopping is so hard!

[ultimateaclrecovery]

I am trying to figure out what to get my bf for his birthday. And I am especially struggling because I feel like he got me something really nice for my birthday (a full purple stone dishware set that is like 135 dollars (I looked it up because I have no impulse control he did not leave the price tag on) which was sweet because I previously only had plastic plates and obviously everything I own needs to be purple). But the only things I can think of for him are like little cheap things. I want to get him something nice but like anything nice that he would enjoy I feel like he’d be better off getting himself. Like he knows more about nice cookware than me so I feel like I have no way to pick out something that he’d like and use. And than anything with clothes feels out because sizing is hard and I don’t understand mens fashion. I thought like maybe a nice a wallet? But he has one that seems fun and idk how to evaluate wallets anyway.

I am knitting him a hat that he’ll hopefully like because he does wear that style beanie while hiking and camping sometimes.

And then I am thinking of getting him the conjuring 2 dvd because we watched the first one together and the second is available for streaming. And I keep protesting that it’s too scary for me ( I would not watch it single but it’d be fine for his birthday)

And then I was thinking maybe some sort of Japanese cookbook since he likes to cook and is currently obsessed with japan since we’re going in three weeks. There’s a cookbook by jiro ono on sushi that we watched his documentary together, but I’m not sure if he’s already read it. And then there’s a studio ghibli book that would be cute since we watched a lot of the movies together and will probably go to museum in Japan. But I’m not sure how much he really likes them, or if it’s more he likes them fine and it’s the narrow overlap of movies we both like.

And even then it’s like I’m getting him a bunch of little things and it feels like I’m being cheap but I also just can’t think of anything better. He likes cooking and outdoor things and horror movies and currently Japan but generally all things Asian. He likes good art and books but none of those interests making for easy shopping ideas! He seem doesn’t have any horror based decor so I probably can’t even go that route

I also need to get my mom a birthday present but she is much less stressful to shop for. (I don’t know what to get her either but there’s zero danger of even worlds worst present damaging my relationship with my mom even the slightest)

[chocodile]

🖤💔BEST 🖤 ENEMIES 💔🖤

[the-real-couchrat]

Some super messy doodles of @frayedcircus’s monster falls interpretation

I hc that Mabel uses her spider silk to knit, but before she realized she could make silk, Mabel would shave Dipper for wool. Poor boy.

Sheep legs were just not working for me today, so dipper looks a little funky in every picture. If anyone’s wondering why there’s a bug burger there, it’s because I wanted to draw their diets, and while trying to find an appetizing bug meal for Mabel on google images, I found this

Also a close up of my bug burger bc I’m actually really proud of it

This thing took FOREVER

[bunnakit]

my stand in ep 4 thoughts, feelings, etc

WOW WA WE WAA THAT SURE WAS AN EPISODE HUH - happy to report i went back through the episode slowly this week and took notes and really tried to gather everything i wanted to say (but i will inevitably forget something)

🌸 ok disclaimers because i have a lot of them for this particular episode 🌸

i'm just a silly guy on the internet, i'm not an expert in mental health, psychology, body language, whatever. most days i can't even take care of myself. i'm just saying things recreationally.

PLEASE do not put novel spoilers in my replies, reblogs, or tags without a warning notice. i've got an itchy blocking finger for it these days.

i am treating ming and joe and everyone involved in this show as if they were real life human beings. ming was not born some mustache twirling villain sent from hell to make joe miserable. joe is not some pure angel descended from the clouds to do no wrong. everyone in this show exhibits very human behavior and that can be distressing under certain circumstances. i'm just going to comment on them as humans. i'm not interested in a round table discussion on why a character is irredeemable, the scum of the earth, etc. i'm just putting my thoughts out there and you can take them or leave them.

🌸 alright yucky disclaimer time over 🌸

the episode really just picks us back up where everything left off - and yet joe still made ming breakfast, and ming isn't stupid (well right now at least,) he knows something is off.

i am confused why tong needs to get married on this specific day. and like bro how fast are you getting married? relax. the whole thing is just unstoppable force (trajectory of this producers career) meets immovable object (tong's fuckass stubbornness) and the collateral damage is massive.

and then there's the question of did joe ever want to play a lead? or did he let his impulsiveness and hurt put a target on his back? (only emphasized by the fact that everyone assumed joe would turn down the role)

i DO apologize for all my doubt surrounding wut. he, ja, and may are the only people in this show with any god damn sense. maybe jojo and yim. we'll see.

getting into the confrontation at joe's work, i really don't think it's that surprising when we keep in mind ming genuinely has no fucking clue what is going on. all he knows is joe woke up, was acting weird, didn't come home, and then told him to pack up his shit and leave with ZERO explanation. like, joe's completely in the right, but i'd also be confused as fuck. (i wouldn't go to someone's work about it but, y'know, we know ming acts in extremes.)

and to me this is where it really became obvious that joe has always been able to overpower ming, to get away from him, as we have seen joe's physical prowess, we've seen what he's capable of, but he never uses his body to move ming away from him - that's not who joe is, he's not someone that would put his hands on another person like that. it's just another way ming and joe are the direct antithesis of each other.

it's my thought that the argument escalates because ming is used to getting everything he wants - except for tong, and now joe. when joe begins to push him away and deny him his substitution for tong i think ming lashes out in his hurt with a thought of "it's happening again, why doesn't anyone want me?"

i will say while i do believe sol has good intentions for the most part his white knighting is getting a little irksome. while convenient, it just shows how much he's still hovering and laying in wait for a chance with joe - he, too, is not respecting joe's wishes. no is a complete sentence, sol.

and then things continue back at home and joe finally, finally throws ming's words back at him: if i'm so terrible to be with, if you're so great, why are you wasting your time with me?

and ming doesn't have an answer. what ming DOES have is another back embrace, arms wrapped around joe as he asks "don't you love me anymore?" but is he asking joe or tong?

"although i'm not as good as tong" even now joe's rampant self worth issues are still at play but at least he finally knows he's worth more than whatever this is.

then the phone rings and to me, ming looks skittish. he looks shaken. he's never seen joe so angry and he's scared and as the call progresses that fear morphs into rage when sol calls joe. and the thing is, regardless of who played the main role, ming was never going to be happy. it was either going to be joe or tong playing opposite sol and neither of those things would have been acceptable.

and then i said, out loud, in my quiet office: OH! and promptly lost my shit in the group chat.

ming doesn't look wholly present after his act of violence. his face is vacant, like he isn't completely seeing or grasping what he's just done. i get the impression that ming isn't mentally well; stress and fear and anger have a way of making people do really fucking stupid things and as these things happen you risk falling into the sunk cost fallacy - you've already gone this far, you can't stop now - which all aligns with the obsessive behavior we've seen from ming in the past.

as joe wakes up and they talk once again joe doesn't blame ming, he blames himself for not seeing the writing on the walls even though it was written in invisible ink.

"all these times we were together did you ever love me?"

"you can't tell?"

again, so much of the blame and emotional responsibility of their situationship is put on joe and ming refuses to communicate any of his feelings, perhaps because he doesn't know how to after repressing everything for so long.

WE DIDN'T GET HOT KINKY CHAINED UP SEX THOUGH, WHY DOES GOD HATE ME SPECIFICALLY

but the way joe looks at ming as they linger there in the wake of joe's request looks like a goodbye, the way his eyes soak in every detail of ming's face. despite all of this and the nightmare it has turned into he did love ming, perhaps still does, and he does have some of those good memories he was so desperate to keep.

though like.. joe.... maybe we could consider a different career path??? instead of just jumping to risking our lives? like sure food service sucks, cashiering sucks, etc. but you aren't in danger of falling off any cliffs, you know? and let's be real, he could just go into modeling with those looks.

it's my impression that when ming calls joe he looks haggard, like he's lost numerous nights of sleep (and we really don't know how much time has passed) but either way it does seem like he's at least done some amount of reflecting. his voice comes across soft, subdued, and sincere.

and after everything, back in the present, we see ming. he's still in the apartment, desperately calling joe's name all these years later, still unable to sleep and waiting for joe to come home just like he asked him to years ago.

maybe ming never wanted to enter the entertainment industry before, but he has now. perhaps it was never for the attention or the money, maybe he chose to promote those watches because it was a reminder of the gift from joe. and maybe this job, in this specific industry, is the closest he can feel to joe now. and maybe with new influence and connections ming can find out why he was never able to tell joe he loved him before he lost him.

WHO KNOWS, NOT ME, CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT THO

[moeblob]

I'm sorry for the OC brain rot on main....

(the lines are from a post about "tag yourself: awkward/unflirty Sims edition" and honestly? all my OCs are awkward/unflirty so ... yeah...)

[napping-sapphic]

All the companies should step it up and make products that are worthy of my best friend

[doubledyke]

i bought my grandma a few packs of smokes for xmas and i feel like thats something eddy would do lmao

[novelconcepts]

Every year, I make straightforward lists of the books I want, and every year, multiple family members tell me I'm too hard to shop for because "I'm not just gonna buy you BOOKS." 😭

[guinevereslancelot]

starting to kind of date someone right before christmas is so stressful fr. do i get him a gift or what we've been on two dates but i'm seeing him tonight n it's christmas eve.....but what if he didn't get me anything then it will be weird.....

[blairwitchapologist]

gave boyfriend a christmas present early (a beautiful ceramic ashtray made by a girl i know) bc i didn’t realize living together makes keeping presents secret 1000% harder

and tonight he told me that when he came home this afternoon he just stopped and admired it on the coffee table because he loves it and thinks it’s so cool 🙂‍↕️

[housesunstone]

I always go through phases around my birthday and holidays where I feel very unloved and unseen by family and it fucking hurts

[risingsunresistance]

apparently twitter is fightng about whether or not alpharad is Literally Rich Like Actually 1% "Eat The Rich" Rich because of his last vlog and people are mad that he was nice to his friends and think he's just bragging about having a lot of money because they didnt care enough to watch the video and only went by the title and thumbnail

anyways have i told you how much i love alpharad that guy is awesome

[killerchickadee]

My dirty secret is we actually DO celebrate Christmas in my family. I'm Jewish, but I come from a mixed household so yeah. But that's part of what makes me hate it so much. Because there's SO MUCH emphasis on family, and that's all anyone talks about, and my family is... you know, not really in my life. And I know that's partly my fault because I moved so far away, but my mom, sister, and niece all spent the day together yesterday and my mom posted pictures on Instagram and I'm like. Cool, I did laundry. On Christmas eve my sister suggested we FaceTime on Christmas, and then I didn't hear from her at all (not even a thank you for the gift I sent). And on Christmas my mom was like, "Oh we should FaceTime. Except I'm about to go take a nap so maybe next time."

So I see pictures of people baking cookies and posing in front of the Christmas tree and whatever with their family, and it just makes me feel really shitty about my life. And I know there's people who ~have it worse~ but still. It feels shitty to be left out of all the fun times.

[kai-ninjago]

Expecting a plentiful haul

[flufflecat]

when my bill ouija board arrives im gonna take a roadtrip to the nearby definitely-not-a-cult spiritualist town and hire a tv psychic to pretend to talk to a ghost with it

[pumpkingeorge]

Rock Candy cuts my mouth up when I eat it, but I want some.