#i have no perception of what i actually look like

[what-even-is-thiss]

Y’know, it’s odd, but your posts are actually helping me crowbar my deep-seated ‘absorbed through cultural osmosis’ weird as fuck perception of weight loss off my brain. It’s actually really helpful to see someone talking about weight loss in a context other than body image or aesthetics, while also discussing the culture around that. I was brought up to see “losing weight” as some transformative thing everyone does and works to make happen and celebrates all the time, to see thin as The Goal of everyone exercising ever, and I never realized how much it affected me until recently, so now I’m making a start on dismantling that. which. Yeah I had no idea how deep that went.

Anyway, your posts are helping me view weight loss as “a normal thing that’s needed sometimes for various reasons” instead of the do it or die necessity that I absorbed growing up. Which in a weird way is helping me be healthier. Because I can do shit for my own reasons now, and feel in control of it, and less like I’m submitting to diet culture by wanting to take walks more. So thank you.

(Sorry for submitting this on-anon, I’ve got. Anxieties.)

I’m glad for you that you’re starting to unpack all this stuff. I think almost all of us have internalized something along the line of losing weight good gaining weight bad but in reality that’s not necessarily the case. Out of people’s specific individual contexts, gaining and losing weight are both just natural responses your body has to certain things.

There’s this idea that we have to look a certain way but at some point you do have to ask yourself why that is. And if you don’t have to look a certain way, then why do you want to eat a certain way? To be healthy? To be happy? Just to keep your body going? To experience new things? Living how you want to live often becomes easier when you learn to divorce what you actually want from what is expected of you and it took me a long time to accept that.

[no1whippedcreamenjoyer]

Yandere smilk hcs?

SLAMS MY HANDS DOWN

THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING THIS

rambling below

Preface, My base HCs for Smilk are that he has BPD and CPTSD from the horrors

So as all who have read 'Never Left my Sight' know, my personal yandere Smilk went Batshit Insane from Isolation- and fell in love with Pure Vanilla solely through watching him through the souljam.

So this starts their relationship off REALLY BAD

Smilk's entire perception of PV is based on a parasocial relationship. It's never interracted with PV but expects him to react a certain way- as if they'd been friends for a long time

that's why at the end of 'never left my sight' his ass splits so hard on PV he wants to kill him

But let's talk yandere shit I think it's done before and after getting out of mind prison:

-It had a shitton of time, and nothing to do, and access to materials since the witches keep throwing garbage into the other side of the moon (HORRIFYING FAILED EXPERIMENTS)

So;

Throughout the Millenia it's been watching Pure Vanilla, it's been writing love poems, plays, songs, books, even sewing Pure Vanilla clothes

I had a scene planned where they're about to do the do and Smilk keeps trying to pick a Lingerie set for PV to wear

PV thinks this is so funny because when would it have taken the time to buy him so much lingerie while it's only had a body for like 6 months.

Shadow Milk comments that of course it didn't have time- it sewed the set he's wearing about a century ago.

Cue Pure Vanilla being fucking horrified that Shadow Milk has thought of him like THAT for at least over a century- taking a deep breath- forgiving it- and saying "I had no idea you were so good at fashion design!" (They'll talk about that LATER)

- My personal opinion for what happened in Chapter 8 with Shadow Milk realizing he wants Pure Vanilla, not just the souljam

is that, upon interracting with the Real Pure Vanilla, not the version in its head. It realized it loved the actual, genuine, flesh and blood Pure Vanilla so much more than the image watching him for a millenia put in its head

Pure Vanilla has reactions as TR that he's Never Had while Shadow Milk was watching him. It's unexpected, it's exciting, It's Incredibly Intimate to Shadow Milk that he can pull reactions from Pure Vanilla that no one else must have ever seen!

- Despite having actually risked PV crumbling a bunch of times, Shadow Milk is incredibly tender when it comes to intimacy.

Even if it wants to hurt PV, it wouldn't be any fun if PV weren't enjoying it- or was at least Into It!

- Shadow Milk watches Pure Vanilla sleep A LOT.

If it hasn't pulled Pure Vanilla into a nightmare, it's probably somewhere in his room. It loves taking in how vulnerable he looks- how that vulnerability is only its own to see.

- Shadow Milk genuinely loves Pure Vanilla, but it's never experienced anything like that before. It was Created to be a tool for the witches. It was never Supposed to be a real person. It doesn't know HOW to be normal. And witches forbid it ever Say anything to Pure Vanilla about that.

[sos717]

Bro I'm just very anxious and scared rn and overconsumed too. Atp idk what do I do. Basically here in my country an exam (jee main) result came out and I didn't scored well. There's a lot of family pressure I'm crying every day just feel horrible. What do I do now?

I have read almost every single manifestation post on tumblr and recently found nd through 4d barbie....and tried to understand what they are saying. I found this blog yesterday and spent all night scrolling and reading your posts. It's Been 6 years since I found this side of reality. Law of attraction -> law of assumption-> affirm and persist-> states and ed art-> nd.

Anyways I read your post and what I understood is... that whatever situation rn is happening, happening because I'm aware of it happening. Or I can say that It's not happening to me but I'm awareness, aware of a person "me" to which all of it is happening and that "me" is hating it and sending this ask. It all is because I'm aware of it. And my real nature or the real me is That/knowing/awareness " ". All is one. All is that/knowing/awareness. Now with this understanding I noticed or yk imagined a complete opposite situation where this person "me" cleared this exam with good grades and slept. And when I woke up nothing changed. Ikik I'm the one noticed/ being aware of the fact that nothing changed but still..I hope you're getting what I'm trying to say. Do I keep noticing what i want or give up and run away to some forest 🥲 helpp

Hello! First I wanna thank you for reaching out, I know how hard it can be when we’re going through these frustrations, it can take allot for us to even ask for help so thank you for trusting me 🫶🫶, alright let’s get into this.

I’m going to tell you my approach at this first and explain your options, etc.

People come up with fancy words like “revision” and will just tell you to revise it, okay, let me explain what revision is first , your not actually changing a past because the past is not a place, neither is it a moment that is taking place right now, in the same way that you don’t change the future, because it’s not a place, there is only the moment we exist in, and the experiences of now and here are quite literally, the perception of our own activity.

The idea of revision is only you activating something that you end up experiencing, there’s no past that you teleport to and experience, it’s all just moving forward.

What you are, is conciousness, knowing itself, to give you a better way to understand this I want you to imagine ALL THE DETAILS that you go on and on about , “my test scores are always perfect”, “my teeth never stain”, “my hairs so healthy”, “I think that guy likes me”, “I never have to worry about money”, like ALL OF IT, imagine that, but remove the senses. What’s left?

All of this is conscious activity, it’s the things that are know. The source for all that’s ever known is of course you, because nothing else ever activates these things does it? Of course not it’s always you. And knowing you exist never requires senses, it doesn’t matter what state/condition the body is in, because regardless, knowing remains the same, it’s not something done on purpose, it’s your identity.

No emotion, no situation, no feeling, person, scar, or physical aspect ever intrudes on your identity, it can’t, because conciousness/you, are present regardless, it’s the thing that experiences, but also what all experience COMES FROM.

Understanding what I wrote above, also Segway’s us into the next point, nothing can determine what conscious activity is, but you.

Imagine all details and aspects that you know about life, like the color of your teeth, how money is, how success looks like, and notice that you always arrive to know an idea. “Why do my teeth look white” this is what you, as concioicness, activate yourself as, this is it, this is what reality is, this grand idea of manifesting and altering the world is this damn simple.

Now do me a favor and conceptualize, “why do my teeth look white” through the filter of perception (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling), and what do we get?

Oh, a “world”.

What was at first, only known, and was concious activity, is then percieved by the very thing creating the idea in the first place.

That’s what the world is

You, perceiving, your own activity

The world is not a seperate entity, or space, it’s the RESULT, or the SIDE EFFECT, that occurs when reality perceives itself.

The part we get mixed up is, we think the world is something we are trying to change, but this makes no sense, it always us, at no point does it stop being us, so what is there to change but self??

Theres only this, here, now, creation doesn’t stop because it’s the natural state of reality. Creation is what’s being perceived. And here’s the part where people get confused. Reality does not begin with perception. This part just makes no sense but I get why people are so frustrated.

Ask yourself, if reality and knowing is dependent on what’s seen and heard and felt, why don’t our problems disappear when we don’t see them?

Why doesn’t let’s say, someone’s medical debt disappear when they aren’t looking at their bank account? Why are they capable of knowing that they have medical debt? Right because the source of “I have so much debt” doesn’t come from anything but source, and that’s you, it doesn’t matter if your were underwater or skydiving, it’s still you. If seeing was the giver of “I have medical debt” you should only be able to know this when you’re looking at your bank. And never at any other moment.

It’s not memory, it’s knowing, and it doesn’t stop, so you going to the same idea over and over again is only its continued creation, because that’s what you are.

For your situation, personally, Id leave what’s already happened off my mind and relieve myself of the stress, if you continued in a story that was favorable, that’s exactly what you’ll perceive, but I need you to understand that your not changing something, whatever you claim to be is exactly what reality is, and that’s exactly what will be percieved. The world is the byproduct of you perceiving what it is you know. It can only unfold and continue in that respect.

I would say, gain some confidence in this first, bring to attention random things that you don’t really care about like blue butterflies, angel numbers, a pink turtle, and just randomly whenever you remember this, just give it a little bit of attention, and watch how these things suddenly begin to “show up”.

I’m not telling you that you can’t experience exactly what it is you want, but it’s hard for us to be patient and objective about our knowledge when we have something so stressful on our mind when we first step into this side of reality.

Especially if you don’t have things you can reference back on as say “oh wait but I know I was thinking about green snakes, and that’s exactly what I saw” and it reinstates your confidence in the truth.

Take it easy on yourself, you don’t become creatjon at some point, it’s just the natural state of this entire experience, it’s what you always will be, continue forward knowing what you prefer and don’t worry about anything else, allow yourself to win by choosing what is is you like, instead of what you don’t like.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Madoka Magica Ship Analysis - KyouSaya

Based on these two polls [X] [X], I will write an analysis that'll also include how I feel about the ship (similarly to my Digimon shipping game analysis posts).

Disclaimer: I won't claim this to be a conclusive/definitive analysis of all of the ship's aspects. I have watched the original 12-episode-series and movies (including Rebellion), the Magia Record anime and I've read several manga series (the Original, The Different Story, Wraith Arc, Rebellion Story, Oriko Magica, Another Story, Mitakihara Anti-Materials). But I'm aware that I haven't seen/read all of what's out there and am also not thoroughly familiar with the games. Plus, oftentimes, ship dynamics vary depending on which series/timeline you are looking at. I'm fairly certain that thousands of words must have been written about this ship already, better and more elaborate than I probably ever could - so this is going to be my personal take on it.

(Disclaimer 2.0: I may have been a little critical of them by the end of it all, but I tried my best to phrase it all in diplomatic ways! I have no intention of discrediting the ship or anyone who enjoys it, but wanted to put my own perception, interpretation and preference into words.)

Whether canon provides input on them or not.

As one of the - if not the second - most prominent combinations in the entirety of the PMMM franchise, both in terms of canon and promotional/merchandise material, KyouSaya is a ship that should be familiar to the viewer. In the "main storyline", Sayaka Miki and Kyouko Sakura are basically set up as parallels, contrasts, opposing forces that are "actually more similar than they are/at least one of them is capable of admitting (at first)"... As with the majority of PMMM ships, there is a tragic sense of "missed opportunities", "we were so close/almost there" or "wrong place at the wrong time" when it comes to their compatibility - and, just like with HomuMado, it really depends on what "versions" of them you are referring to when estimating whether or not they make a good pair. But, once more, let's start at the beginning:

When they first meet in the main storyline, they immediately clash due to their opposing values, intentions and general approaches of being Magical Girls: Sayaka treats her duty with a sense of moral superiority, she sees herself as a soldier of justice who fights to save others and defeat Witches for the sake of doing "the right/good thing". Kyouko on the other hand appears to fight with selfish ignorance, carelessly stating that she doesn't mind causing human victims by letting familiars grow if it means defeating more Witches and gathering enough Grief Seeds to sustain herself. As she and her approach are being ridiculed by Kyouko, Sayaka's initial response is wrath, hatred - and so, their first encounter ends in a fight, with either of them being perfectly ready to kill the other...

The most tragic aspect of them meeting at this specific moment in time - and also in several other timelines as well - is the fact that their attitudes were shaped by their individual relationships and experiences with Mami AND their respective (outcomes of their) wishes. Sayaka - who had never witnessed Mami's own insecurities and feelings of loneliness - puts Mami on a pedestal of being the perfect Magical Girl. And, even if she was warned by her not to make a wish with the wrong intentions on behalf of someone else, Sayaka's intention is to be a worthy successor to the idealized version of Mami in her head, being "perfect" in her place. Kyouko, as we learn in The Different Story, used to be Mami's disciple, enthusiastic, willing to learn, believing in doing the right thing for the sake of others. But as she had to realize that her wish on behalf of her father (= wishing for people to listen to his preaching properly) turned out to be the downfall of her entire family, she decided to put up a front. Not only did she push her closest friend Mami away - whom she felt was only looking down on her as a weakling -, she also began to fight with reckless abandon and a mask of harshness, only for herself, never to let anyone get close again.

It's this version of Kyouko who sees her "former self" in Sayaka - watching her make the same mistake she used to make, believing in the idealized righteousness of being a Magical Girl, fighting for "good" like the hero in a fairy tale. However, this version of Kyouko - who grew hardened, bitter and ruthless by her experiences and who cannot stand seeing Sayaka like this - isn't capable of reaching through to Sayaka. Because her approach, as much as she may be able to understand her, isn't heard by this version of Sayaka. Whether it's Kyouko's (cruel) teasing or her actually opening up to her, offering her an "apple of wisdom" - Sayaka is bound to reject her, clinging to her unreachable ideal, which is slowly but steadily crumbling;

Because upon learning about what it means to be a Magical Girl, Sayaka continues to fall down the path of despair, losing faith in the world being worth saving; not only does she start to fight with reckless abandon herself (just like Kyouko did), she feels like a "zombie", an "idiot" who made her wish for the wrong, selfish reasons (= subconsciously wanting the appreciation and love from the person she liked in exchange for healing him). And now she doesn't even deem herself worthy of love anymore. Pushing away everyone herself now with hurtful words (just like Kyouko did), even her best friend Madoka, it's Kyouko who ends up as the one who keeps her company during her last moments of "being human". Kyouko, who, deep down inside, must have felt a sense of kinship, who related to Sayaka in ways she couldn't fully explain or convey properly at this point in time... Who ends up wishing to find a way to bring Sayaka back from her Witch state and restore her own faith in fairy tales, hoping to see good overcome evil one last time. In the end, all she can do is sacrifice herself - to make sure that neither Sayaka nor herself, who both isolated themselves from everyone they loved, would have to die all alone.

... And thus, it isn't really surprising that the version Sayaka who gained awareness of all of this - we shall call her LawOfCycles!Sayaka - feels a certain attraction towards Kyouko. Maybe even a sense of guilt - for not having listened to and actually having seen her, for having pushed her away and for not realizing how much they had in common. In Rebellion Story, the version of Kyouko we see had never encountered the Witch system and thus never went through the events described above with Sayaka - because this version of Kyouko came from the Wraith!universe created by Madokami. However, this Kyouko stated that she had been on the brink of "becoming friends with Sayaka" before she was "taken away" - and thus, LawOfCycles!Sayaka, who may or may not have been partly/fully aware of her mission and her previous "selves" for most of Rebellion, actually becomes close friends with WraithArc!Kyouko within Homura's idealized world inside of her Soul Gem.

Of course they are still clashing due to their opposing values in various aspects of life - but they do so in a playful, teasing and, most importantly, peaceful way. In an ideal world they are on good terms with, go to school, even live together, where blue and red aren't working against but with each other as the complementary colours they are. Really, nobody could have blamed Sayaka for wanting to maintain a universe like this, continuing to live her best life (after getting over Kyousuke and wishing him and Hitomi well), even though she knew she HAD TO fulfill her mission to rescue Homura. And so, one cannot help but feel like her confession towards Kyouko, saying she had "only one regret" to have "left her behind", does have a romantic subtext attached to it... Especially considering how devastated Kyouko appears at the idea of having to part ways again. With Homucifer then creating a new universe, serving as a fake happy place for everyone involved, she at least granted them another short period of bliss...

Long story short - just like the majority of the PMMM ships, KyouSaya are doomed by the narrative - and usually not meant to be happy together as their own selves in the same universe, it seems.

Whether I think why and how they’d work.

Without going all out on the subtext symbolism of Sayaka's arc, one REALLY cannot help but feel like it was always meant to be a metaphor for her overcoming her comp-het phase: Main story!Sayaka was failing due to committing to her (subtextual heteronormative) ideals (= clinging onto her wish to impress Kyousuke) and she could only overcome her doom as LawOfCycles!Sayaka, who gained awareness and worked hard to develop a bond with someone - a girl - she used to reject (= Kyouko).

However, as outlined above - this also means that Sayaka will not be compatible with Kyouko unless she gains the awareness of LawOfCycles!Sayaka. And that's where I, personally, have always had my issues with the ship from a romantic angle. Despite them fulfilling the typical blue/red ship tropes at first glance, consisting of two opposing forces (Sayaka's commitment to correctness vs. Kyouko's more easygoing attitude) who complement each other once they work together... Their underlying similarities would make it easy for them to relate to one another if they stopped hiding them from one another (Sayaka also having a side that would like to slack off more vs. Kyouko also having a very loyal, protective side).

There is a sense of competitive pride going on between them that, in my opinion, may make it difficult for them to allow romantic feelings to grow. Through the course of the main story, it becomes obvious that Kyouko develops a strong fondness and affection towards Sayaka in the end - but has issues putting those feelings into words in a non!Tsundere way, so Sayaka's can accept them. Whereas LawOfCycles!Sayaka, who witnessed all the effort Kyouko put into saving her, also grew more fond of Kyouko... But, as mentioned above, there also seems to be a lingering sense of guilt within her, so it's not entirely clear if she's aware of her true intentions yet again. These girls were heavily traumatized by what happened to them, both hardened by the experience - and weren't able to ever fully reconcile with each other in their own timelines. Sometimes they didn't get to know or even meet each other properly. And now, LawOfCycles!Sayaka can only reconcile with WraithArc!Kyouko in a playful, affectionate manner. NOW that she has seen it all.

Without elaborating on this much further, it's not even a question that all of the girls (no exceptions!!!) would need copious amounts of therapy - and the chance to actually become adults - to make healthy relationships work. A Sayaka who, even without the influence of being God's agent, gains an understanding of Kyouko's personality, might actually be able to put her pride aside and let her in. The same goes for Kyouko, who also has to drop the mask of ignorance and pride in order not to just casually joke and tease whenever Sayaka is in the same room - and instead, actually learn to be open, vulnerable and honest with Sayaka. As traumatized 14-year-olds, they may be too aggressive, too competitive to allow genuine romance to bloom, as they're not able to grasp and cater to the needs of the other. For instance, Sayaka couldn't reciprocate Kyouko's love language before (giving/accepting gifts, such as advice or, more importantly, food) and vice versa (acts of service in regards to fighting and protecting heroically). And thus, they may end up, even unintentionally, hurting each other instead.

My personal verdict is that they'd have an easier time opening up to other members of the Holy Quintet because of their personality structures. As complementary as they are, as much as opposites attract and as much as they genuinely value each other deep down inside - they may certainly give each other short-term comfort and have lots of fun, but are probably TOO similar to work out in the long run.

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship.

I didn't intend to sound too "negatively" about KyouSaya as a whole, since I can absolutely see and understand the romantic appeal many, many people see in this ship. Personally, the red/blue ships (as well as the "enemies/rivals to lovers" trope in general) are rarely my favourites in a series, there have to be specific circumstances for me to enjoy them - which is perfectly fine, since everyone has their preferences! With everything I have outlined above, I was never too fond of Sayaka and Kyouko as a romantic couple. Instead, I always enjoyed them most as each other's wing-women; bantering and teasing each other endlessly as acquaintances who would slowly but steadily become good, close friends, supporting and having each other's backs.

[ask-thearchivists]

so do you guys pick your genders? But also I guess this is waisted since the Compelor isn’t here but if it went by he/it then why did he purposely dress feminine? Why didn’t it just change pronouns?

The Coordinator: The mortal is presuming our aesthetic gender is based specifically off of their society's standards for gender presentation and identity. Is it just lucky for me that the pronouns I happen to use align with how I happen to like dressing? Many of us do not change it just for consistency and because it is not something we think about much, but many others change everything about their aesthetic gender when their preferred aesthetics change.

The Charmer: The mortals are so silly. Dear, you know that societies all over the cosmos have entirely different views on these things? Things considered by you to be feminine or masculine like an objective fact are actually subjective because everyone's thoughts on it are different. Animals of typical intelligence do not wear clothes and they don't speak language. Your pet will never know if you put them in the "wrong" outfit for what you think their gender is, and they will never know if you use the "wrong" pronoun. All of that is socially constructed by intelligent species who make their different sexes out to be opposing forces with imagined mythologies around gender's attachment to sex, never mind those that fall outside of those frameworks in any regard.

The Curator: Take that mortal over there for instance, that's Vwenellie. Vwenellie is from a society whose perception of gender is very different from your own, which do not actually have pronouns in any language from that planet. Vwenellie's species all cycle through five different sexes multiple times within the lifecycle, and so the views on gender there are just as abstract as that would imply. People there just dress however is desired, and are referred to exclusively by name in languages.

The Cartographer: Our species is sexless, and our society is genderless because of that. Some of us may get inspired to style and refer to ourselves one way based on a species we meet, but most of us just do whatever we want. We dress in the ways we like, either because we think it looks good on us or because it's comfortable or both. In our own languages the things you hear as "pronouns" and titles such as father or sister are just one of the words we use all the time, refashioned as a way to address ourselves, and for others to address us outside of our names. Nobody really knows how it aligns with the languages mortals hear what we say as, but at least it appears to be consistent, so no one really cares.

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

These people constitute the driving force behind what one could call softroadification, whereupon vehicles are raised from nominally to somewhat perceptibly and slathered in placebo cladding...

...or molded into a separate, more SUV-esque model outright...

...without gaining any meaningful off-road capability - or at least not needing to, since every road the owners will drive them through could be traversed by the base model, its performance version, and in most cases, with proper setup and skill, a NASCAR.

But that does not matter, because they speak to the worrisome layman like Ryan Gosling in Drive speaks to the socially inept. For the low price of thousands more than the base model and higher running costs forever, they can drive over a sprinkle of gravel with the self-confidence of someone wielding a tool Approved™ for the job.

But let's not pretend all soft-roader buyers are people who'll only buy the microfiber cloth whose box says 'Works with iPhone'. In fact, most of them don't care about their Vaguely Unpaved Road Approved seal, and are just swayed either by looks or by wanting to "sit high".

However, the latter doesn't seem to explain the recent boom, given it correlates to no sudden change neither in human ergonomics nor in pillow existence awareness. The looks, then? Well, as seen above, they're usually the same as the corresponding base model, just a bit more off-roadery. But the appearance of adventure is rather appealing to the modern sensibility - our clothes are made with holes in them to create the look of a life in which things happen.

But that's not really all there is to it. Because sure, the Hummer was sold to those eager to cosplay the brave soldiers that brought home the gas it guzzled...

...but that platform had another era-defining incarnation - the Cadillac Escalade.

And this celebration of classless luxury is so far off AdventureMobile I've seen people offroad it ironically - as you would, say, a Bentley, or a Rolls Royce.

Even the SUVs they now sell.

Because think about it - even footprint being equal, an SUV is far larger, far more imposing, far... more. Some annoying doom artist could assert that the wealthy turn the world into a place they'd rather not be in and justify it with what it affords them to purchase, and thus it's obvious why the paragon of luxury has become having the most sheer matter around you and being the furthest removed from the world outside. I pray to God no one takes that opportunity, lest my eyerolling tear my optic nerves.

Anyhow, that made SUVs more cool than an equivalent sedan rather than less so, as other roomier body styles, like station wagons and vans, tend to be perceived. (And really, who wanted to own the car they were driven to school with anyway?). They were status symbols: of lifestyle -I climb mountains, I go surfing, I blow up Middle Eastern kids- of wealth -look at all the car I can afford to get around in- or both.

And of course, as often happens, a status symbol for the few...

...becomes considered cool, and thus it trickles down to every market segment because coolness sells. Yet again, the market finds, or perhaps builds?, a myth and sells it to the plebe, says the most annoying person at the function. It markets those myths as happiness and itself as the only way to them, he adds, gently attempting to resist the crowd pushing him out the door. "Shop like a billionaire"! are the last words to squeeze past the closing door.

Thus, SUVs have become the hot new thing. And some people -many people- just want the hot new thing.

We've all at some point wanted to make a choice that would make us fit in, be it by not expressing ourselves or precisely by doing so - because sometimes, people who seem to be hiding their true selves are actually just really that bland. And that is fine! Who could feel justified in imposing contrarianism? No one we haven't kicked out, at least! And similarly, if they find SUVs cool, who are we -especially who am I- to argue that they should disregard what they like and buy the most rational vehicle regardless of their tastes?

But since our economic system has snatched decision power away from anyone who isn't comically money-hungry, tragically risk-averse and tragicomically uncreative, the literal only thing any large brand has been allowed to do is chase an upwards trend, I say, hiding my arm behind my back in hopes no one will notice the aforementioned guest's bite. And this compounds to make placebo SUVs the only form of car ever allowed into production. Thus, the desires to 'sit high' and 'feel safe' grows along with the average car to see around and bear the brunt of, triggering a vicious circle funneling money out of the pockets of car enthusiasts and into the bank accounts of Ben Affleck cigarette meme merch shops.

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question: if you liked this post, you might like those - or the blog’s Discord server, linked in the pinned post!

i rented this cabin for vacation and the owner had a note about the driveway, warning me that "cars without AWD are going to have trouble with it" and when i got there in my rental chevy malibu i saw it was like, your standard gravel driveway thats a bit steep and i was like, sir i grew up in the great lakes rust belt. i drove my shitbox late 90s chevy cavalier through road conditions that would make your range rover cry. i took that thing camping on worn out logging roads and never got stuck once

[snizzlecat]

An updated simself, except I WISH I looked like this irl LOL

[yaralulu]

in my head tamlin has been in his beast form for so long atp that lucien has genuinely started missing his face. like every time he’s in spring he finds tamlin in his beast form and he can’t help but be disappointed bc he just misses seeing his face. he misses his little expressions like that small smile he does when he’s nervous or the glint in his eyes when he’s laughing at something stupid Lucien said. he misses looking at tamlin and not seeing an animal. he probably misses talking to him too :(( like that’s literally his bsf can u imagine not being to talk to your bsf :((

[turtleblogatlast]

Shockingly underrated thing about Leo is that he’s legitimately charming when he wants to be?

He’s the Faceman! He’s persuasive! That’s not just some random title he gave himself with no backing to it. People will listen to him. Even if they think he’s being annoying or if they’re upset at him, people listen to him anyway! There’s a reason his bros push him out front to talk to people, and when this happens, that talking nearly always works.

Moreover, Leo knows people. He looks at them and takes into account how they act and what they’re like as he makes his way through the conversations. It’s easy to forget this aspect of Leo’s character because he only brings it out when he really needs (read: wants) to, but it really is a notable part of him that always love to see.

And I say charm in particular because he has a knack for not only getting people to pay attention, but for getting people to stay and listen to what he has to say.

[charliexclayton]

A change came over Dayn, sudden and barely perceptible. At least, it would have been missed if Charlie hadn’t spent the last few hours getting intimately familiar with the subtle physical changes of Dayn’s body, the tensing in pleasure, the sigh of relief, the balance of careful touch. One second he was there and the next something crossed his eyes and he was gone. She waited in his embrace, for that slow blink of return, when the light came back into his eyes. Her question had been loaded, that much she could tell but Charlie kept her finger there anyway, like the contact would answer it for the both of them. 

He dismissed her with humour and Charlie noted that she was starting to recognize a pattern, the armour of his good nature and light hearted digs, earlier when she had been nervous and now when he was nervous. He dissipated nerves with jokes. And Charlie had never wanted to make him feel like this. If she thought about it now she could recall the way that his back felt under her hands, taut muscles and unnatural grooves, had been too caught up in the throes of pleasure to acknowledge it at the time. She was too terrified of breaking this bubble to acknowledge it now. 

He would be easier to pin down if she could actually pin him down. She flattened her hand against his chest, used it to push herself up and then rotated her hips so that one of her legs flung over and she was effectively straddling him. The blanket that had been covering them bunched up at their joined waists and Charlie blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. She looked at him then, tried to ignore the urge to start something physical, intimately naked in this position, every bruise and scar on her body visible. Underneath the cream skin of her thigh she could see the jagged scar on his skin that she had been touching, angry against the softness of her skin. A breath, and she lifted her elbow to show him a tiny white scar on the end. 

“This was my first scar ever,” she started, voice hoarse. She cleared her throat and pressed on, dropping her arms back at her side.. “I was… six? I think? I was running down a gravel road with my shoelaces untied and biffed it. I had to get four stitches at the hospital. My dad told me it would probably leave a mark and I cried more at that than the pain, but then he said, ‘a scar is what gets left when you were stronger than hurt’.” She looked at him, eyes sad of her own hurt, and then bent down to press the ghost of a kiss to a scar nearer the top of his chest. 

“You don’t have to tell me anything, but none of it makes me think of you any less. If anything it just…” she trailed off then, the sudden stench of decay so strong in her nose. She looked up towards Dayn’s face through her eyelashes. What she saw caused her to sit back up abruptly and nearly lose her balance. Next to Dayn, Conor. Contorted over him in such an inhuman position, face next to his, looking at Charlie. Ashen grey against Dayn’s rosy skin. A warped smile, blackened bloody teeth. From over Dayn’s shoulders Conor ran his rotting hands over and down his chest, over his scars like Charlie had just done. A threat. 

Charlie scrambled to get off Dayn then. “Sorry, I need to…” she fought to keep the panic out of her voice as she started to gather up pieces of clothing in her arms: Her pants. Dayn’s shirt. Her jacket. Dayn’s socks. I need to get out of here. 

Where he'd normally balk at such prolonged exposure to another in such an intimate setting, Dayn had to at least admit to himself that he liked feeling Charlie's hands dance over his skin, in some capacity. Exploratory, but still gentle. Hesitant not in a way that lacked confidence, but as if to silently check in that touch was still okay. And when it traced lower, Dayn slid his hand across her stomach, to her hip and pulling her impossibly closer. "Oh, I most definitely can be persuaded," he laughed, kissing at her jaw.

Then the muscle under his hip contracted, his skin flinching outside of his control, at her fingers catching onto the ridge, the one that sat right over the bone. Dayn pulled away on instinct, ever so slightly, his face hovering over hers, and for the briefest of moments, he was somewhere else.

In the basement. A fragmented, but somehow crystal clear memory of being eleven years old. The basement was hot and stuffy, really the only indicator to him that it was summer besides the longer amount of light coming from that puny window high up near the ceiling, the one mostly covered by weeds Arthur made a point to never cut down. Hot tears streaking down his face, his own vulnerability on full display - he had stopped trying to hide those emotions long before. This was when daily meals replaced soft drinks with alcohol, blurring his young judgment. The glinting green glow of a Heineken bottle smashed against the concrete floor and Dayn's hands flew to his face for cover. He had just tried to kick him away and he saw the glass over him too late. Pain shot through his sliced skin and it was all he could do to focus on that instead for the next half hour. Trying to stop the bleeding, and nothing was working. The hopeless feeling of crying out to that man for help, scared at how much blood had spilled onto the sheets but that was his own fault, wasn't it, so why'd you fight back--

And in a blink, he was staring back at Charlie's inquisitive face. It had always been easy enough for him to lie about the circumstances of the many aged injuries on his body - bar fights I had to break up, when I used to fight in the street like a dog, an accident when I was trying to scale scaffolding - but it felt as if he swallowed his own tongue now. On one hand, facing the truth, as hard as it was, seemed like an inevitability here. He'd already had to revisit it with Joel a few nights before, after hearing that voice in his head, the eye through the slat in the boards (which his shirt was still stuffed between, he could see it from here). It didn't feel right to lie to Charlie. Then again, even if he gave a taste of the backstory behind it, that led to more about the other scars, and questions he didn't think he had the stomach to answer. Besides, how could she look at him the same? Dayn never subscribed to the "damaged goods" bullshit he'd heard before, but it wasn't that.

People, on the whole, tended to gravitate towards tragedy. Would he still be Dayn to her, or would he become something entirely else? A representative to horrors only the mind could come up with? He didn't want her to think of him like that. It was hard enough thinking that's the way Joel saw him.

"Just an old battle scar," he lied, his smile feeling heavy as his thumb traced a circle on her unmarred hip. But even he could feel that wasn't convincing enough, a lie without the usual ease that came with it when it left his lips. He sighed, trying again, slowing down and thinking hard about the next words. "Joel and I... led some pretty different lives." His back twitched then, as if the scars on his skin heard his words, and he wondered briefly how much Charlie had felt there, too.

[makiswirl]

can i just say. and this is probably a niche hill to die on. that i am so gobsmacked every time someone vaguely hints at the idea that jotaro doesn't care meaningfully for the other crusaders, usually particularly kakyoin and joseph, when those two actually tend to be the ones he reacts to being hurt the hardest

like he cares for his loved ones!!!! that literally plays into his character motives in every single part he shows up in!!! stop lying to me!!!!!!!

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

Broke (2016): BBC Sherlock is a phenomenal piece of media and anything that seems like a flaw just hasn't been fully explored yet

Woke (2020): BBC Sherlock is an incredibly flawed series run by an egotistical writer, it never deserved the hype and is actively bad on so many fronts (especially representation)

Bespoke (2024): BBC Sherlock is flawed and bogged down by increasingly poor writing, which many fans refused to see while it was airing, leading to hugely misplaced expectations (particularly for the final series), AND it has the seeds of some compelling characterizations and portrayals, some genuinely solid performances, and touches--albeit imperfectly--on complexities that are still being discussed today (particularly as it relates to the relationship between Sherlock and John). The huge cultural impact of the show has created a massive pendulum effect in its public perception, leading to most people today remembering a caricature of the show (whether positive or negative) rather than appreciating its nuanced merits and failings...that being said Season 4 sucked

[cent-scratchnsniff]

tie tying doodles w ramblings on it in tags

[dykedvonte]

My post about Anya is making like a little ruckus on Twitter and I think it’s crazy how many people like have a problem with it.

Like you don’t have to agree with how I characterize Anya and her actions but it’s more like, why are you focused on only one aspect of her character? Why are you removing nuance from the situation? I don’t see it as giving Curly the benefit of the doubt when it comes to doing better for Anya, but as exploring his character and hers relationship with a the very little authentic facts we get about them. In truth, there’s a lot more I wish Curly did, even if it wasn’t pragmatic but I realize the issue there.

The first psychological horror game in a while that’s real intricate in its storytelling and makes you need to really need to address the morality of intentions and its already getting torn asunder smh 😔

[familiariscanis]

not saying that you cant headcanon chuuya as an alcoholic but i think the reasons people have for this headcanon are usually kind of flawed? from what i've seen people tend to view him as alcoholic because he:

a. collects wine

b. drinks it sometimes

c. is a lightweight (so we've seen him behave drunkenly)

but none of these are traits that actually indicate alcoholism. honestly, they actually are more likely to indicate that he's not one and that he doesn't have a problem with alcohol at all. wine collecting is a very expensive hobby and chuuya has wines that are several thousand dollars a bottle. you don't get nice booze when you're an alcoholic: you're drinking to get drunk. the quality doesn't matter. the fact that he's a lightweight and gets drunk easily is also indicative of him not being a regular or heavy drinker, since your tolerance increases the more you drink.

this feels like such a common interpretation of his character and it's just a little odd to me since not only does it not have any canon basis, but the canon facts actually suggest he's more likely to be moderate about alcohol rather than abuse it.

tl;dr chuuya may have a wine collecting hobby but an alcoholic this does not make.

[perilegs]

i know astrology is fake but i'm not too keen on how a lot of people on this website seem to be clowning on it as a hobby a bit too hard. i swear the woman who thinks it's neat how she and her friends with the same sun sign are all similar isn't trying to say that you are who you are born as and there is nothing you can do to change it. it's a hobby. an interest. what happened to finding meaning and joy in the small things. does it affect you if someone enjoys tarot reading or crystals. does it make you upset someone has interests that they enjoy.