drsachinsharma

[thefrankihanke]

As a small business owner and shopper, I'm familiar with the struggle of WANTING to support small and independent, but then struggling to find ACTUAL people and UNIQUE items even on platforms like Etsy, but Etsy is still a rich trove of amazing items. It just takes some work to find them lately.

So, I did the work!

I am constantly scoping for gifts and art, so I'm turning that into gift guides to help you this gifting season starting with a Home Chef or Casual Cook gifts Under $15! These would be perfect stocking stuffers or affordable gifts featuring a few of my own items, but many others from artists I admire (and one I've personally shopped with before - Croak & Bloom!)

I've saved all these items right into an Etsy collection so you can shop right on the same platform directly with all the artists. https://www.etsy.com/people/3je5urwc/favorites/gifts-under-15-for-home-chefs

Pssst! I might be able to help you shop too, who are you shopping for?

[canisalbus]

I tried to draw sheep Machete and goat Vasco (but I am not good at drawing goats, at all)

.

[wistfulwatcher]

[smokbeast]

hi uh I’m the lil frog spamming your blog I’m so fucking sorry but I’m obsessed with your dragon au… I uh… gifts this and runs away..

@chknbzkt these fellers belong to em,,,

[nichet-crochet]

CITIZENS OF NICHET NATION

OCTOBER 25, 2024 AT 4PM EST

My shop will go back in stock with BRAND NEW ITEMS!

Radioactive Glow in the Dark Rat:

MR. SHREDDED CHEESE (check out my YouTube channel to learn the LORE behind this fella!)

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT POSSUMS!!! I know many of you may hold the belief that it is TOO SOON to be talking about Christmas, but give this one thing a chance. Look at them! They go on your christmas tree, and they're big and round, and they are so cute. How could you resist that?

BLUE CHEF RAT (A.K.A., Remy from Ratatouille) and yes, he comes with the chef hat and the tiny wooden spoon, but only the FIRST FIVE ORDERS will receive the hat and spoon in their order!

Visit NichetCrochet.com to buy your VERY OWN PLUSHIE by Nichet Crochet

[brainrockets]

Today's episode of Breaking News was extra spicy and not just because of the donuts.

Erika, Becca, Aabria and Carolyn??

They better have had Aabria's money.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Syd is his everything. The naysayers use the word platonic or mentor student to dismiss Syds role in his life. To downplay it.

BTW, Tina asked Carmy for a signature at the wrong time. I would have loved to see Carmys face as syd opens the gift.

[anasunny]

In honour of @lennsart visiting me this week and pushing through the dreaded Chapter 13 of their fic A cave like a net (and a spilled secret), may I present to you

Mer Legend

This is a present for my dear friend ! Now you can look at the blorbo everyday ;)

Done with watercolours ^^ I hadn't painted nor drawn in a while, I'm so happy with how it turned out ! Although it was definitely a 'trust the process' kind of situation...

Legend's mer look is based on this illustration by @lennsart , and their (wonderful) fic that you can find here !

[mothfables]

@cripple-cat here he is! happy and healthy and healing!

[fuckmeyer]

Jasper as a character is so interesting because he ends up a Confederate because he can't actually empathise with the slaves and because he simply accepts cruelty around him, and then when he becomes a vampire he literally can't ignore others suffering because it hurts him, but even decades after he becomes a Vegetarian he still can't get a hang of it partially because he still can't see humans as *people*. Idk there's smth to be said about him becoming a vampire because of his own cruelty and then being eternally in horrific pain because of said cruelty that fucks.

Jasper's whole life is a curse & i love to see it

here we have a Confederate supposedly so empathetic that he acquired a "gift"... yet not so empathetic as to recognize he was fighting for the enslavement of an entire race. despite seeing the consequences of slavery literally every day. now, the man who spent his last human days denying the humanity in others is forced to spend his immortal life being slapped in the face with their emotions. forever. hueeueueueu-

yeah, i would call that "gift" a curse, actually.

if Twilight weren't a horror story, we might see a discussion between Jasper/Bella about how immortality forces you to confront the darker side of your nature (e.g. "there will come a day when the societal beliefs imbued unto you leaves you standing on the wrong side of history"), & Jasper's journey with finding love & humanity. OR, y'know, he could've just had ONE (1) line where he says "yeah i'm not proud of my service." simply, if Twilight weren't a horror, Jasper could see the error of his ways & change for the better.

HOWEVER. Twilight vampires are "mentally frozen" when they turn, so Jasper is likely still a racist who does not regret his service. no matter how many times he is confronted with his cruelty, he won't change. meaning whatever life he chooses, his gift dooms him.

wow! eternal curse!

we see evidence of this frozen mental state in his decision to go vegetarian. he doesn't switch bc he feels bad about killing humans:

"I could feel everything my prey was feeling. And I lived their emotions as I killed them. [...] You've experienced the way I can manipulate the emotions around myself, Bella, but I wonder if you realize how the feelings in a room affect me." (Eclipse, Ch 13)

note the dehumanizing term "prey" & the focus on himself. he laments not that the human lives he's taking have value but that their dying moments harsh his vibe.

the irony! trapped as an empath while never possessing the ability to be an empath! CURSE CURSE C-

herein lies a bigger, juicier curse: Jasper is, himself, (hot take) enslaved in the sense that he will never know freedom, philosophically speaking, due to the choices he made in life. the series tries to paint him as a master tactician & competent leader; fanon often paints him as a free-thinking amoral black sheep. in reality, he simply obeys the commands of higher authorities & abides by their worldview regardless of how toxic it is to himself or others.

in the beginning, he had María.

he entered the Southern Vampire Wars not by his own volition but stayed because he was content not having a choice. however one feels about María, the fact of the matter is 1) as a newborn he was stronger, bigger, & faster than her & could have run away or overpowered her, 2) had the "gift" to identify emotions & could KNOW when/if she was malicious or manipulating him, & 3) could have escaped by influencing her emotions to make her disinterested in him. at any time in the 100 years they were together, he could have left. he talks about never knowing a life outside the war & discovering "options I'd never dreamed I had." ok???? run 100 miles in any direction & you would have seen a life outside of war. BOI-

instead, he took comfort in being submissive & adopting someone else's ideology. not only did it remind him of his past, but it meant he had no need to reflect on his actions or beliefs. he prefers others dictate his worldview & order him around even if it means being unhappy. he only left because he was going to be assassinated, & even then, it wasn't until someone else told him another life was possible that he "realized" another life was possible.

notably, the period where he's most free— living with Peter & Charlotte— is his rock-bottom where "the depression got worse." but, again, not because he realized the value of human life: "I was so wearied by killing [...] even mere humans."

then he meets Alice.

Alice, who has visions of being vegetarian & converts him so they can live with the Cullens. Alice, who dictates how her family should live their lives to the point where she manipulates them. Alice, who goes so far as to dress the Cullens, who orders Jasper to wait in the car while she & Bella go shopping, who Jasper refers to as "truly [...] one frightening little monster" because for all his experience she can still beat him in combat.

his eternal soulmate is authority.

despite being unhappy with his vegetarian life, as it makes him feel weak & coddled & a liability to everyone around him, he follows the lifestyle because Alice tells him to.

then there's the Volturi, another authoritative body. "We owe the Volturi for our present way of life," says acclaimed bootlicker Jasper Hale, who in the same moment shudders at the atrocities they committed, yet strangely sees no other way for a governing body to keep the peace... so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

but, since Carlisle outranks the Volturi as an authoritative figure in that he more closely aligns with Jasper's new worldview, Jasper sees no problem deposing the vampiric governing body if it means his sister-in-law of like 2 months can keep her demonic spawn. so i guess we don't really owe the Volturi that much

to his credit, we see glimmers of him questioning his leaders: 1) his decision to leave Maria, 2) his considering switching diets to defeat Victoria, & 3) going against the Volturi. but, again, these decisions are all just a result of his self-preservation & submitting to the higher authority du jour.

in the end, he has the perfect storm of conditions that would allow him to escape the prison he's created, to find freedom & to love humanity unconditionally... but he won't. Jasper's ultimate curse is that regardless of whether he realizes the enslavement of his own self, he will never leave his cage because it's cozy & easy & allows him to never think for himself.

AAAANYWAY Jasper's life sucks & he's trapped in an eternal prison of his own making. lol

[thiamblogger]

[notbecauseofvictories]

I wish there were more restaurants with affordable prix fixe or tasting menus. I would love for nice but not ridiculously fancy restaurants to basically say "here is what we're sure is good today, you can eat that or maybe one or two other things. Otherwise come back in 2-3 days and see if that's more interesting."

[tamapalace]

Tamagotchi Uni Gift: Chef’s Hat

Order up! Bandai has just announced that they’ll be gifting all Tamagotchi Uni owners with a Chef’s Hat accessory! This is so cute and will make your Tamagotchi look like a professional in the kitchen! It’s super tall which is so cute and funny! It’ll be delivered to all Tamagotchi Uni owners on Wednesday, August 21st, 2024!

[regallibellbright]

So anyway I randomly made myself sad again thinking about an immortal dragon god who knows they’re going to outlive their mortal friends, and makes peace with it, but likewise makes peace with the idea that, when the time comes and the land needs rejuvenating, they’ll die and eventually a new dragon god will be born in their place.

Only then their best friend says “No. You’re not dying,” and agrees to be used as a component for a spell that will bind them to the land instead and, essentially, die. (Sure, there’s a chance someone in the future will figure out how to provide runes without this, and there’s a chance that the spell can be reversed and they’ll be awakened. Sure. This spell almost certainly was not tested, especially since it’s implied that part of what makes it work IS the Guardian’s friendship with Venti so you couldn’t just run a test case and then un-monster them to prove awakening is possible.)

This happens four times. Centuries apart. Time enough to grieve, and distance yourself from mortals, and be lured into the idea again because people are just so interesting, until inevitably your best friend disappears again, probably forever, and you know it was your fault.

Eight hundred years is such a long time, and that’s the LOWER estimate for Leon.

It’s really no wonder that dragon’s depressed.

[vaguely-concerned]

returnal did not cure my depression but it did give me a strangely healing new perspective that makes it all a bit easier to bear. that perspective being 'I may be having a rough time right now, but at least I'm not inside the head of returnal protagonist selene vassos'

[muckyschmuck]

wuh

IM ABOUT TO LOSE MY MARBLES (ALL OF THEM EVERY SINGLE ONE) !.!!!. THIS IS VERY COOL