#i’m not a wallpaper blog but i make a lot of these for myself so i might as well share them 🤷🏽‍♀️

[oftlunarialmoon]

Ciao lovelies! I have written before on the topic of Age Regression many times, from explaining what Age Regression is, to Age Regression Self-Care, to Age Regression Journaling. I never explicitly said before now, but I, myself, am an age regressor to cope with stress (and some other mental health reasons). The reason why I have officially decided to come forward and say so is because I feel that I want to keep writing posts on the topic of age regression, some with personal experience perhaps, so I want to be open with you all and let you know why I continue to write on this topic. I’ve also noticed some of this blog’s audience is made up of age regressors like myself, and I want to provide you all with some content from a safe, welcoming, and open-minded source. All that being said, today I’ve decided to write down 101 activity ideas for Age Regressors/ Things to Do When Bored, Age Regression edition. Please be sure to let me know in the comments (yes, you can even comment anonymously!) if you like these ideas, please be sure to tell me your favorite!

101 ACTIVITIES FOR AGE REGRESSORS

Outside Activities for Summer

1.       Play on a swing-set!

2.       Play hopscotch!

3.       Color with chalk!

4.       Build Fairy houses with materials you find outside!

5.       Take pictures of your toys in nature! This works especially well for dinosaur toys, animal toys, et, because they look like they’re meant to be in nature!

6.       Jump rope!

7.       Go swimming!

8.       Go fishing with a net and play catch and release!

9.       Go to a beach and find cool seashells!

10.   Read a book outside in the sun!

11.   Go for an ice cream!

Outside Activities for Fall

12.   Find leaves and flowers and press them into a journal. You can also do Leaf rubbings, where you put a piece of paper over a leaf and use a crayon to rub over it to get the imprint of the leaf on the paper!

13.   Carve a pumpkin!

14.   Go to a pumpkin patch and take lots of pics among the pumpkins! You can even pick out one to take home and make into a Jack-O-Lantern (like #12)!

15.   Collect cool leaves and make a leaf arrangement/wreath!

Outside Activities for Winter

16.   Build a snowman!

17.   Build a snow-fort!

18.   Have a snowball fight!

19.   Try to catch snowflakes on your tongue!

20.   Make snow angels!

21.   Play hide and seek in the snow!

Outside Activities for Spring

22.   Collect flowers and make bouquets!

23.   Make flower crowns!

24.   Play tag with some friends!

25.   Weave grass into cool shapes!

26.   Collect cool rocks/gemstones…You can even pretend to be a dragon who’s collecting rocks for their hoard!

Indoor Activities for Any Season

27.   Redecorate your room!

28.   Clean your room! (I know, bleh, but if you clean then you’ll have a clean slate for #27!)

29.   Change your phone’s wallpaper/lockscreen (check out our Instagram Highlight for some of ours!)

30.   Play with makeup!

31.   Try out new hairstyles!

32.   Play dress up!

33.   Play with some dolls!

34.   Play pretend! You could pretend to be a teacher for your dolls/toys, or even have your stuffies go on super cool adventures with you!

35.   Craft! You can make accessories, décor, toys, clothes, anything! Check out our DIY tag for lots of fun crafts!

36.   Read some kid books!

37.   Stim! I like crinkles when I’m small, and I also like slime and flappy hands!

38.   Play with squishies!

39.   Walk around a store and look at all the toys and kid stuff!

40.   Go on a Dollar Store shopping spree! You can get a lot of stuff at a dollar store for under like $20!

41.   Color in some cool pictures!

42.   Design a new OC (Original Character) 

43.   Draw some comics! They can be of yourself or of your OC’s!

44.   Cosplay your OC’s/any character you like!

45.   Do a photoshoot!

46.   Make a sensory bottle!

47.   Set up a dollhouse!

48.   Make beaded bracelets!

49.   Make yourself a snack!

50.   Or a meal!

51.   Bake some cookies (just be careful with the hot oven, okay?)

52.   Have a dance party with your stuffies!

53.   Make a playlist to regress to!

54.   Find new regression YouTubers!

55.   Play some video games! I love Slime Rancher , Animal Crossing, and more!

56.   Play with some phone apps! I love Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Pastel Girl, and Pokémon Go!

57.   Try to mix your own perfume!

58.   Design a picture using glitter!

59.   Draw some fashion designs!

60.   Start an age regression journal! 

61.   Practice some age regression self-care!

62.   Make a self-care box!

63.   Make figures from modeling clay!

64.   Paint your nails!

65.   Give your stuffies/dolls a makeover!

66.   Find cute regression music! 

67.   Make posters for your room!

68.   Make gifts for your friends!

69.   Find a new penpal!

70.   Write letters to your pen-pal!

71.   Start a sticker scrapbook!

72.   Open some blind-bags!

73.   Watch some toy youtubers. Our YouTube Channel has some toy videos, my other favorites are Cookie Swirl C and My Froggy Stuff!

74.   Make your own YouTube Channel!

75.   Create a mystery to solve with your stuffies!

76.   Solve a Crossword Puzzle!

77.   Solve a Wordsearch!

78.   Finish a puzzle!

79.   Design your own puzzle!

80.   Make an escape room for your toys!

81.   Paint something!

82.   Watch cute anime like Himouto Umaru Chan!

83.   Watch cute shows on Netflix like Twelve Forever or Hilda!

84.   Watch fun shows on Hulu like Gravity Falls!

85.   Go to the library!

86.   Play chess or checkers!

87.   Watch a movie! I like Welcome to Monster High!

88.   Go see a movie in theatres!

89.   Make temporary tattoos using food coloring!

90.   Make your own T-shirt using a blank T-shirt and fabric paints!

91.   Take a little nap!

92.   Put on a play with or for your stuffies!

93.   Make clothes and accessories for your stuffies!

94.   Make clothes and accessories for your dolls!

95.   Make furniture for your dolls!

96.   Make your own blindbags for a friend!

97.   Upcycle your old clothes and jewelry by designing them into something new!

98.   Visit a thrift store!

99.   Go to a museum!

100. Go to the mall!

101.  Visit an Arcade!

WHEW! I hope that is enough ideas for you bored little ones out there. Have a great day!

[chorusfm]

Liner Notes (January 11th, 2025)

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2025. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here. If you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox each week (it’s free and available to everyone), you can sign up here. A Few Things * We launched our Best of 2024 feature this week, and I’m super happy with how it turned out. It highlights the diversity of musical tastes across our contributors, and I love that it doesn’t look like all the other music publications’ end-of-the-year lists. If you haven’t checked it out yet, there is some excellent stuff on there. * My list (that also goes through movies, TV shows, and books I enjoyed in 2024) is also posted on my blog. I really enjoyed 2024 as a music year, and it’s one with quite a few albums that that will stay in permanent rotation. * I am always on the lookout for cool new iPhone or desktop wallpapers, and I recently came across this website. It’s one of the better collections online I’ve found for nerdy (Star Wars, superhero) wallpapers. I grabbed quite a few for my rotating collection. * Since this is is the first newsletter of the new year, I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. Ours was relatively calm. Lots of family time, and it was nice to get to experience the first holidays in our new home. * Hannah got me (along with new band hoodies and records) a hot air popcorn maker this year, and I’m a big fan. This, plus some coconut oil and sea salt, has made the best homemade popcorn I’ve ever had—big shoutout to whoever recommended the coconut oil to me. I’m sorry I forgot who it was, but it’s a real game-changer for home-popped popcorn. * I updated My Archive to link to new pages that automatically update each week with my favorite albums, movies, and TV shows. This was a holiday week coding project that I had on my list to want to do for a while. My next “for fun” project has gotten, admittedly, a little out of hand. What started as wanting to build a companion app for my Now Playing device to make it respond immediately to changes in songs has now become a full-on Mac app that also scrobbles to Last.fm. It’s my first attempt at Mac programming, and it’s been a fun little evening project I’ve been experimenting with. I want something that can work with my Now Playing device, but I also want something that I have more control over for how it scrobbles and interacts with Last.fm. Neptunes is great, but it’s also overkill for what I need and doesn’t scrobble how I prefer. (I like how Marvis queues a track and then scrobbles and how it handles paused tracks, I’ve found far fewer duplicates with Marvis than with Neptunes, so I want to mimic that.) I also want to build in a few features I’ve wanted for myself: the ability to immediately scrobble a track and skip to the next one, better sync loved/favorited tracks between Last.fm and Apple Music, and the big one, the ability to keep a local backup of scrobbled/played tracks in text files. I love Last.fm, but I’m also terrified of it one day going away. I want to have a way to recreate my Last.fm history if I need it, and I want to be prepared with something that can keep my music listening history going forward as well. It’s ridiculously overkill. But, it’s a fun project to work on and it lets me play with some programming muscles that I don’t get to stretch much these days. And I’ve never actually built an app before. So that’s fun to learn too. I have no idea if it will ever get to a place where I’ll share this, but for myself, I’m having a blast learning. In Case You Missed It * Chorus. fm’s Top 30 Albums of 2024 * Jason Tate’s Top Albums of 2024 * Craig Manning’s Top Albums of 2024 * Adam Grundy’s Top Albums of 2024 * Mark O’Connell Announces Departure From Taking Back Sunday * Interpunk Shuts Down * Mayday Parade Announce New Album * Tom DeLonge Teases Spring Shows * Albums in Stores – Jan 10th, 2025 Music Thoughts * One of my favorite parts of publishing our end-of-the-year feature is diving into… https://chorus.fm/features/articles/liner-notes-january-11th-2025/

[grimkeepher]

my new wallpaper (: y’all wanna see mi widgets too when i finish them??? i like to do matching themes

free to use! if you do use it please give me a rebloob

[currywaifu]

NEW PINNED POST

[ OLD BLOG NAVIGATION - Writing & Edit Masterlists ] [ GOOGLE DRIVE FOR MY A3! PHONE WALLPAPERS* ] * currently incomplete since i have some more saved on a different laptop, but there should be around 100 there in the drive... so at least more than half of what I've made

Hello! I think it's already obvious I've long quit creating content for this blog. If you're curious about why's and where i am now, as well as what'll happen to this blog feel free to read under the cut. Otherwise, thank you for having followed me 💗

Q: Are you quitting creating content for A3! for good?

A: Most probably. I have plans to edit my older works as I find myself dissatisfied with the writing style, as well as now having a better idea as to how to make my writings more gender neutral and POC inclusive.

I also have some unfinished works I want to finish, although I feel I don’t know these characters as well anymore (specifically if they’ve gone through more character development, knowing a3 they probably have) so I’m delaying due to not wanting them to be OOC

I plan on posting some unposted edits though when I… find where I hid them omg...

Q: Why did you quit creating content for A3!?

A: The number one reason was probably staying away from social media in general? Specifically content creation and posting on social media about it (I was still on SocMed, just not creating anything). I was in a bad place mentally and physically so I distanced myself from fandom and some online friends. I also had to focus on university. 

I won’t go in depth since it’s personal, but old mutuals can feel free to ask through DMs/Discord.

I also just lost interest in A3! in general. It mostly had to do with me starting university (around 2020) and not having the time to read any of the stories or do events, so the less I was caught up the more it discouraged me from playing. Mutuals being less interested in A3! and A3! EN servers being taken down probably contributed.

The last part is just... really being unhappy with the stuff I was putting out, unfortunately :(

If I were to give a TLDR it was a combination of health reasons, school reasons, and dissatisfaction. It feels sad to say this but I’m not very happy with most of my A3! writings.

Q: Are you deactivating your blog?

A: No, she can stay, though I have no plans of logging in anymore unless it’s to post something.

Q: You’re going to edit your older works?

A: Yes, it's my goal. When I have the time + get myself familiarized with the characters again. I look back at my old writings and it hurts a bit to read. So much I could have done better. I wish I did these characters more justice. It sounds like I’m being hard on myself but that’s just how I see it. The more we write, or do things in general, the more likely we are to improve.

I also just feel a lot of regret over how I treated writing. I’m obviously the only one to blame but I should have written things more for myself. I wish I could finish the rest of the requests I had left over even though I know a lot of people probably don’t even care about it anymore, but it sucks how I just up and left honestly.

I’m more likely to edit straight to AO3, though I’ll try to log-in when I can on currywaifu.

Q: Can I use your wallpapers/edits as profile pictures/banners/etc. on (insert social media here)?

A: Yes. You do not need my permission, and feel free to use it even without credit. For the record, I'm very glad that a lot of people still enjoy them. I feel like, same with my writing, my skills with editing have gotten better but I feel a little nostalgic looking at them.

Q: Can I find you on social media elsewhere?

A: You can. You can ask for my Discord if you want. I also have a new Tumblr. If you know, you know. If you can find it, you can find it :) 

Kidding. My new tumblr is @zgvlt. Feel free to bother me there, even if it's just to say hi and not to stick around or anything.

[captainaikus]

If you make an another account will you be posting it? You know so I can immediately follow and all 😁. And same I’ve always been a loner too. There have been a few exceptions though. But the past year taught me a lot about friendships so I’m just working on myself this year. It’s kind of lonely but at the same time really peaceful? I think I’m happier now than I’ve been in a long time. Yeah the lack of friends and companions makes things lonely but it’s not something that I’ll let break me anymore. I know I’m stronger than that now. Someone’s I think online people are easier to interact with because there’s no attachments?? Like if they left me I can assume something happened or they decided to go offline but I know for sure (mostly) it’s not my fault you know? And people online are just so much kinder in general. Not that I interact a bunch of people online, just a few, but that’s just my experience so far. Didn’t mean to go off on a rant there my bad 😅.

And don’t apologize for closing the chat box!! It’s completely understandable. As kind as people can be online there are still a bunch of creeps out here 🤢. So pls stay safe!!

YOUR SCREENSAVER?!??! ASDGKKGFFGG MY BABY HE LOOKS SO PRETTY. Also I’ve only recently gotten a Haitani brothers brainrot so like that’s a big factor atm 💀💀. OH there’s this one artist that posts her drawings in insta and tiktok abt TR and they look amazing and are so freaking funny I end up clutching my stomach every time 💀😭😂.

Here’s one of them

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRCVqAnf/

I’ve posted a few things on my blog but only drabbles really. I’ve been wanting to start doing analysis’s for a long time but I never got around to it. Just like character analysis’s and relationship analysis’s and story arcs and all that jazz. I love all of it. And in my opinion the best stories are the ones where the characters are what drive the plot of the story. TR did an amazing job of doing this and it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with the story in the first place almost immediately.

That one illuminati ask was…. something 💀.

Comfort fics are my favorite and the ones that explore real experiences and feelings and aren’t just a colt bf paste of the same words really do it for me.

Thank youuuu ☺️!!! Yeah my blogs a mess but I have so much fun with it. I haven’t posted anything in a while tho and I’m thinking about starting character analysis’s posts first. I’ll probably brainstorm over winter break. Which cant come soon enough btw. I have so many ideas for stories (besides fics I mean) and I wanna warm up and practice with tumblr.

Emperor! Izana ehhhh 👀👀?? Don’t worry I can wait. I can be patient when I want to be 😌. And the 30+ WIPS?? I felt that 😭😭. I don’t even wanna look at all the almost blank documents where I speed typed like 30 words at 3 am and when back to sleep 💀💀.

REOOOOOO!!! See like Nagi is also very adorable. And Barou has been growing on me lately 👀. See what I’m doing with blue lock now is just being spoiled left and right. I gave up trying to avoid spoilers (my lack of patience really shined through here) so now I see a post abt a match point or a duo breaking up in the manga and I’m like WAIT WHAT and then just don’t read the manga 💀💀. I WILL (eventually) soon but after the first season ends.

I love love love analyzing people and hearing their stories and learning things through experience. Which is really rich cause Im not good with talking to people and I never leave the house 💀💀. You can see my problem 😭😭.

How’s reading TR going? 👀👀

Ohhh I’ll check out those recs.

What did you think of the new episode of Chainsaw Man? Shit really hit the fan after the first 5 minutes 💀💀.

You should’ve told the guy where you found the picture so that he could save it as his wallpaper if he liked it so much 😌🙄.

Also can I mention how much I love the headers you put at the end of each ask? Like they’re so adorable and cute and thoughtful. I just wanted to say I really appreciate them!!! You’re so sweet ❤️❤️.

As for me, I’m currently in the library waiting for my next class to start. I took a tumblr break after eating lunch. My professor just made a big essay optional and extra credit because he wants us to review for our last unit test and midterm throughly. SO LIKE HECK YEAH!!! But also I already have an outline for it so I’m debating if the 10 point extra credit on our midterm is worth the extra work or not.

How’s your day going? Papers are rough but you got this 😤😤!!! Don’t forget to take breaks and eat something and drink water today okay??? *sends many virtual hugs*

- ✨ anon

Kinda want to announce it so that I don’t seem sus - but I also wanna be discreet abt it so that I can interact with people who wanna message me (in priv) and not people who want a part 2 of something from me ૮ ◞ ﻌ ◟ ა (please I get that you guys don’t wanna be left on a cliffhanger - but. I have a life outside tumblr and left with less hours to write. And if you want quality, you’re gonna have to wait. Pushing me isn’t gonna work cause you’re gonna be disappointed with the end result and so will I) you’ll be able to tell it’s me cause I will say this - it’s a TR username - I have two of them in mind and I can’t figure which one I want more cause the one I got represents me in whole and the other is a guy who’s high (ikyk)

Yeah, it gets lonely here- but at least it’s peaceful; I follow a few blogs - mostly art + JJBA updates (and I’m super excited to check out the new eps of stone ocean) interaction wise... i have tried it out before, but none of them lasted long. what hurt me the most was when i was trying to be genuine abt something and writers here (not all but some) are really closed off yk? like they're fine interacting with friends but are really selective with new people? cause of that i just gave up interacting with them altogether and after my ideas got taken and neither was anything being reciprocated back on my blog by them despite us following each other- cause it goes both ways and if its just me, i wont do it anymore. my experience online hasn't been that great except with the upload of fics... and the only interaction i would get was comments or going through tags that was included by the person who reblogged it- but with recent developments, a lot of that has changed and i'm comfortable talking to people now ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

Oh yea definitely. Safety is super important to me - that's why i never reveal too much about myself just small things cause you can't be completely safe on the internet- like when i was still a small time writer i got followed by a spanking account (istg the way my eyes widened when i saw it; and it wasn't even the kinky variety- it was traditional method of disciplining someone) - won't go much into detail about it but yeah i ended up blocking him. And now that i think abt it he must've read my hanma fic - but still (T.T)

Rindou is so pretty- i. he looked at me on the train (ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ.ﾟ

Unfortunately, I don't use tiktok. I used to be there - but i realized that i wasted a lot of time with endless scrolling, some of the content had received a lot of likes despite there not being enough effort? not to mention my ex's friends came to troll me through that app. I deleted my account and as i got older, i decided to never go back - so now i just stick to pinterest, twitter and instagram with the latter two being purely for uni reasons. so yeah i'm not much of a social media kinda person - and yeah i live under a rock and i'm ancient (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

Oh yeah when characters take the drive and the plot goes ahead is a different thing altogether - and i agree. like even in tr, i was really surprised to see the turn of events and character development - especially Kazutora and yeah i saw the drabbles (didn't get to read them cause i haven't watched one piece but maybe i should soon) - glad to know that you're a woman of culture for liking ace cause i like him as well - despite not watching the anime (is a zoro fan as well) and now i wanna change the theme of my blog as well- thinking if i should go with beige, sage green or blue- gonna see how this pans out

that illuminati ask had me dead- and i was just laughing from confusion and saying that idk who was a part of project and conspiracies- it's gonna be an inside joke on the blog 😂

Oh yeah emperor Izana - very fitting for his image tbh; and literally- when its time to write, it is time to write and lately i've been feeling the word "cold" a lot which added to True north Aiku's part (yes i will talk abt my husband- and apparently he's set a standard for me in men too shaggy hair with a mullet minus the side shave + scruff/ 5 o clock shadow) I haven't watched the latest of bllk - i read the new chapter though - not much action but Isagi's development; and you found out abt a duo breaking up- ૮₍•᷄ ࡇ •᷅₎ა dw tho - there are more pairings that come in and you'll get to see Barou with his hair down- p hot ngl .What i really really pray for is aiku getting animated (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ) i wanna see him touch him feel him (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

TR reading - might start uploading manga panels soon and i still like Senju/ Senjuu - she's like me (๑>ᴗ<๑) (although i know some ppl would disagree- i'm curious to see what character would you relate me to tho)

And i forgot to add that i read philosophy as well - i'm all over the place tbh - one of my favs is tuesdays with morrie. Its a sad book but totally worth the read.

I haven't watched chainsaw man just read the manga- but i think i should start watching that cause mappa did a good job with it and honestly- the animation looks very different than their usual (i was roped into re-watching aot - likes reiner and porco )

Ty fur liking the headers- (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ) i'm gonna put them for every ask - might start putting webtoon ones too

Oof good luck on the review!

So, i wrote the review and the prof liked it a lot- i got summoned to the archival section of the library - the books there are so old and dusty and i'm working on a research paper with my prof (had to wash my hand three times to get the dust off and i'm thinking of carrying surgical gloves for this-)

I hope your say is going well too, starry!

I do not regret sending cursed images I found on Pinterest

[selfshipseaside]

Woop woop promo time!

My name is Carolyn/Star, my new selfshipping blog is @myspecialstarlight! I love writing and I’ve seen so many awesome selfship-writing blogs (including you, Seaside. You are not safe from my love,) so I really wanted to open one myself!

I take requests for f/o dating headcanons, drabbles, and imagines, as well as selfship moodboards, wallpapers, and playlists! All my rules for requesting are on my pinned promo post (it’s really not a lot lol)

As for myself; I’m 17, bisexual, and my pronouns are she/they! I have a decent list of platonic and familial f/os, but my only real romantic f/o rn is Moondrop, (aka Daycare Attendant,) from FNAF SB. I’m not really comfortable sharing lmao, so if you ship with him, please go enjoy your selfshipping somewhere else!

Honestly selfshipping is still really embarrassing for me, so I’m just here to try and make some friends and write for people for fun. I hope I can be of service in whatever selfshipping endeavours you may have 😌

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad, congratulations!! Go check them out everyone!

[thepropertylovers]

My Goals and Intentions for the New Year

The air is different at the beach in the winter.

It’s still unseasonably warmer than it is back home, but it’s extra breezy and cooler, like a warm embrace or a light sweater wrapped around your shoulders. I never thought I would want to spend any amount of time in January at the beach, mostly because I’m still in cozy hygge mode and want to live in turtlenecks and cardigans all day instead of sun, shorts, and t-shirts. But nonetheless, we had to come down so PJ can set things up to finish the renovation of the beach shack so that we can hopefully stay in it this summer, so here we are!

Starting the new year off at the beach somehow feels right, weirdly enough. It feels like a breath of fresh air and I’m taking it all in one big gulp at a time. The kids of course love it down here, and though PJ and I were both hesitant about how we would feel once we finally got down here (he, too, was still in complete winter mode), we’re so happy we came. It feels great to get out of the house and spend a little time in one of our favorite places, no matter that it’s 70 degrees in January.

At the start of every new year, I find myself filled with so much gratitude for having made it another year on this planet. Equally so, I feel so thankful that my family is here, safe and healthy for another 365 days. I am very big on New Year’s Resolutions and we do our “words of the year” on the chalkboard wall in our kitchen, but I wanted to leave it here while it’s still fresh in my mind what my goals are for 2023, starting with my mantra or motto for the year:

Choose kindness

I know. Cliche and you’ve probably heard it a million times, but I’m embracing the cheesiness of it all and jumping in head first. I want to choose kindness in everything I do this year: With my family, my friends, myself. I want to put others first while being mindful of myself in the process. I want to do tasks for the ones I love and help them in any way that I can, while also helping myself. I want to give others grace and cut everyone a little slack, much more so than I would have in the past, while also giving myself some grace when I make mistakes.

Along with choosing kindness this year, the below is what I also want to focus on for the next 12 months:

Read more. Books, magazines, columns, blogs. I love reading and want to get back to how I used to read when I was little, which was, in short, a lot more than I do now.

Write more. I plan to write in the blog as much as I can and really work on my writing abilities because I enjoy it so much, and who knows? Maybe there will be a book sometime in the future (a dream!!).

Drink less. I am starting this ASAP with Dry January!

Do something I’ve never done before. Wallpaper a room in our house by myself? Start writing a book? The possibilities are endless!

Get more involved with helping refugees. We have worked with USA for UNHCR for 3 years now, but I would love to take our work with them to the next level. I love everything they stand for in helping the most vulnerable and I am looking forward to continuing working with them this year.

Not worrying so much about what people think. As much as I hate to admit it, I do care, to a certain extent, what those online think about me. I mean, we all do at times, right? Social media is our job but I have never been very comfortable talking directly to the camera on IG Stories, so I am going to work on this year just documenting whatever is happening and not worrying about what people are going to think of what’s coming out of my mouth or if I look dumb. Somehow just writing that down already just feels so much better.

Not caring so much about social media. Along with the above, I also want to stop worrying so much about numbers and statistics and analytics. I will always have to, to a certain extent, because, again, it’s our job and how we make al living, but the last few years I have been so in my head about it all. I want to spend more time focusing on what’s happening in real life, because that’s truly the stuff that matters in the end.

Remember that it’s more about wholeness, not necessarily happiness. Life has so many ups and downs. The only consistent thing is that it’s never consistent, no matter how much we wish it were. I will do my best to remember that all of life’s mishaps only had to the wholeness of my life, which in turn, helps create a much more full, well-rounded life experience.

If I think of any other ones, I will be sure to update them here. I am so excited about all the possibilities the new year brings and I can’t wait to see where 2023 takes our family!! Hope your 2023 is off to a good start!

[mcmansionhell]

The McMansion Hell Yearbook: 1973

Howdy, folks! I come to you with a special salve to soothe the ache of social isolation and general societal turmoil: a particularly cursed house. Our 1973 house comes to us from Jackson County, Michigan, and, frankly, if you put the term “1973″ into an ugly house generator, this is most certainly what would come out: 

What we have here is a classic “Mansard” style house, named for exaggerated form of the type of roof (the mansard), a variation of hipped roof characterized by a steep slope punctured by dormer windows extending into or forming another story. This subgenre of house was popular in the 1960s and 70s, especially so in the Pacific Northwest and in vacation towns around the country.  This lovely estate is currently on the market for around $800,000, and boasts a remarkable 6 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. 

Lawyer Foyer

This house is what is colloquially referred to as a “time capsule” house in that it literally has not been touched since 1973, the year it was built. There are several interesting 70s motifs here, including the wallpaper and carpeting. We have an early example of a fully-formed “lawyer foyer” - a full two-story entryway featuring a curved or otherwise showy staircase and a chandelier that can be seen from the outside via a transom window larger than the door above which it sits. The furnishings are original; note the intricate, heavy front door featuring Orientalist motifs that were particularly popular in the 1970s. That being said, it’s ugly. 

Dining Room?

During the 1970s, Colonial Revival furnishings and architectural motifs were especially popular due to the influence of the American Bicentennial, which was apparently a huge deal. In general, there was a lot of brown furniture that was very heavy because people wanted to buy one piece of furniture that would last until they died. This was because Ikea was not yet a thing. (In all seriousness, there is a great Collector’s Weekly article about this.) 

Kitchen

Honestly, this is probably one of the better kitchens on this website, and it’s interesting to see such a modern-styled decor in a house that, despite its contemporary exterior is otherwise rife with traditionalist decor. 

Wet Bar

As far as McMansion wine bars go, at least this one somewhat approaches a weird architectural metaphor for, like, deconstructivist philosophy or something else people in graduate school study. 

Master Bedroom

One has to applaud the photographer for their artistic decision to make every room in this house look as cursed as possible. Also: apparently the sunroom later on in this post is what’s behind the bed, which is very, very strange. 

Master Bathroom

My question is: how is this room simultaneously grey, brown, and beige all at the same time. Scholars around the world are baffled. 

Sunroom (behind bed for some reason)

I don’t know what one does in a space like this? It’s behind the wall of the master bedroom, so it’s not a public-facing space. There are no plants or books or other activities. There is just brown furniture, weighing heavy on my isolation-addled brain. 

Basement Bar

Ok, so these folks really enjoyed drinking. We all used to laugh at people who had bars in their house but now that all the bars are closed, who is laughing now?? (It’s me, I’m still laughing.) 

That does it for the interior - now, our favorite part:

Rear Exterior

Personally, as ugly as elements of this house are, I definitely see it as one of the most fascinating to ever end up on this blog. I kind of have a soft spot for houses like this, simply because they are so strange. Anyways, speaking of strange architecture, stay tuned for another installment of the Brutalism Post coming soon! Stay safe and be well! 

I know that these are economically uncertain times, but many creators including myself depend on Patreon for most of their income, so if you have a minimum of $12/year to spare and are into bonus content, then do I have some good news for you:

If you like this post, and want to see more like it, consider supporting me on Patreon!

There is a whole new slate of Patreon rewards, including: good house of the month, an exclusive Discord server, monthly livestreams, a reading group, free merch at certain tiers and more!

Not into recurring donations but still want to show support? Consider the tip jar!

Or, Check out the McMansion Hell Store! Proceeds from the store help protect great buildings from the wrecking ball.

[ilovekazuhaa]

i've analyzed your blog and i've been following you for quite a time now and i've come to a possible conclusion that would make lots of sense...

you are gay

BYE BRUH i’ve actually been thinking abt that lately like i’m so serious. today i was watching a movie in class and i saw jennifer aniston and i couldn’t help thinking about how hot she was😭 like the same thing with carolina gaitan and sofia vergara LIKE THEYRE SO FINE ASHEKAB. like i find carolina so attractive i have a pic of her at the oscars as my wallpaper. if you look at my recently followed on instagram it’s literally all women that are hot i swear. im literally exposing myself rn but oh well that’s the impact of women. but yeah i feel like i could be bi tho but i’ll still end up with a man in the end💀💀 that conclusion of yours though makes a lot of sense🤔

[bts-trans]

210726 Big Hit’s Tweet

[네이버 포스트] 이게 무슨 일이얌..?? 아미��의 월요병을 치료해 줄 방림이가 왔다는 게 사실이얌?! 😮  (@ https://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.naver?volumeNo=32044579&memberNo=51325039…) 

#BTS #방탄소년단

[Naver Post] What is going on..??* Has Bangbell actually come to cure ARMYs’ Monday blues?! 😮

(T/N: *Said cutely. Said in the same way as J-hope’s recent Weverse moments following Billboard Hot 100 announcements. )

Naver Post Translation

Keep reading for a plain text version of the blog post! For a picture edit version, please check out our twitter post!

Title: [BTS] 방탄(소년단+배경) 화면? 왕 많으니까 왕 예쁘고 왕 좋단 말이얌

Title: [BTS] Bangtan(boys + background) pictures? There's SO many of them they're SO pretty it's SO great

아-하! (찡긋) (뻔뻔)

Hi-A! (wink) (shameless)


(T/N: Stands for ‘Hi ARMY’, which is how Bangbell always starts these posts.)

아미 : ??? 아미 : 어리둥절

ARMY: ??? ARMY: Confused

그렇다. 빠르게 온다던 방림이는 한 달이나 늦어버린 것이었다..

Okay. Bangbell, who is usually really fast, is now a month late..

방림이는,,, 또 바빴다,,, (대충 FESTA,, Butter.. MUSTER,, Permission to Dance,, ETC,,)

I was,,,busy,,, (Pretty much FESTA,, Butter.. MUSTER,, Permission to Dance,, ETC,,)

그렇다. 방림이도 일요일에서 월요일이 넘어가는 게 슬픈 현대사회인 어쩌고… (이하 생략)

Okay. I am also part of this modern life where going from Sunday to Monday is a sad thing, it can’t be helped… (omitted the rest)

하지만

But

방림이가 아미들을 위해 선물을 가득 가져왔다면? 늦어도 꽤나 당당한 이유가 있다면?

What if I had brought heaps of presents for ARMYs?  What if I had good reason to be pretty confident even though I was late?

아미들의 휴대폰 배경화면을 하루에 14번씩 바꾸게 해줄 수 있다면? 용서 가능?

What if I could make ARMYs change their phone wallpapers 14 times a day? Could you forgive me?

사진 폭탄 시작하겠읍니다..

Let the explosion of photos begin..

(시작)

(start)

#이제부터진짜시작 #가보자고  #휴대폰용량비우자고

#BeginningForRealNow #LetsGo #ClearOutYourPhoneStorage

아미들.. 저 뒤에 Moon 보여요....?  MOON득 생각해 너도 날 지금 보고 있을까 (과몰입)

ARMYs.. Can you see that Moon at the back....? I wonder all of a sudden, are you also looking at me right now?* (in too deep)

(T/N:* Lyrics to ‘Moon’. Bangbell made a pun here by writing the Korean word for ‘sudden’, ‘문득/moon-deuk’  as ‘MOON득’.)

아미들의 사진 저장 + 감상 타임을 방해하지 않기 위해  최대한 멘트를 생략하였습니다. (진지) (궁서체)

I did my best to cut out my comments so as to not disturb ARMYs’ picture saving + appreciating time. (serious) (totally serious)

~ 아미들 쉬는 시간 타임 ~ (아직 안 끝났다는 뜻)

~ Time for ARMYs to rest ~ (i.e. It’s not over yet)

방탄화면 너무 좋지만.. 일코가 필요한 아미들도 있잖아요?  Smooth 하지만 갬-성있게, 느낌 있게, 일코 할 수 있는 방탄화면 어때요..?

Bangtan wallpapers are great but.. there are ARMYs that need to be subtle about it too, right?  Smooth but with a lil something to it, something with feel, that can help you go undetected, how about that kind of BTS wallpaper..?

오~.. ㅋ... i*s*a 좀 꽤 할 줄 아는 녀석인가?ㅋ #감성 #일코 #MOOD #감성-0=방림

Oh~.. ha...this dude over here really knows how the cool kids do it, huh?lol #Vibes #SubtleARMY #MOOD #Vibes-0=Bangbell

이 정도면 제법 당당하게 아미들에게 배 내밀어도 되는 부분인가? 아미들! 배경화면 예쁘게 바꿔서 인증해 주실 거죠?! (기대) (궁금)

When I’m this good, would it be fair for me to confidently puff my chest out in pride in front of ARMYs? ARMYs! You’re going to be nice and change your wallpapers so that I can feel validated, right? (eager) (curious)

그렇게 아미들의 휴대폰은 식을 틈이 없었다고 한다.

And so ARMYs’  phones had no time to rest.

역시 방탄소년단은 단체사진으로 마무리해야 킹정

Of course, when it comes to BTS, you’ve got to end with a group picture for it to count

(소곤소곤) 저 뒤에 살짝 보이는 달까지 정말 정말 예쁘지 않나요? (주책)  찍고 나서 혼자 만족하고 자화자찬하며 박수친 방림이 (얼른 아미들에게 보여주고 싶어서 드릉드릉…)

(Whisper whisper) Isn’t it so, so pretty, right down to the moon peeking out slightly at the back? (silly) After taking the picture I was so pleased with myself I was showering myself with praises and clapping my hands (All excited because I wanted to show them to ARMYs...)

아 무 튼

A ny way

아직도 아미들에게 주고 싶은 게 많은 방림이는 재빠르게 다음 주에도 방림이가 월요병 요리사 아 아니, 치료사!로 돌아오겠습니다.

I have lots more I’d like to show to ARMYs so I’ll hurry and come back next week again as your Monday blues chef—oh wait, no, doctor!

(의미심장)

(Very meaningful)

아-뿅!

A-Poof!*

(T/N: *Short for “Bye ARMY! Poof!”, which is how Bangbell always ends these posts.)

[Note]

본 포스트는 BIGHIT MUSIC에서 직접 운영하는 포스트입니다.

This Naver Post account is personally run by BIGHIT MUSIC.

[End Note]

Trans cr; Aditi & Faith Typeset cr; Laura @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

[proship-moodboards]

Uhh.. hello, hello?

Hello everyone! I’m super excited to be here! 

I’m Mod Sun! I go by Vae/Vaer pronouns (ask for aux) and other neos, I’m a 20 year old non-binary man

You can find me over at @proship-sun, and I have my own moodboard blog that I wont link because it’s semi-stealth and we all know what a chore antis are where you don’t want them, but I think parts of my style are pretty noticeable so if you find me, you find me!

What I can do:

Moodboards! 

I can do phone wallpapers, but I’m not the best at it, I’ve only tried it once or twice before but I’m pretty confident about fitting a moodboard into wallpaper dimensions if that’s what you’re into!

Playlists! I love music so so much, and I love fitting songs to characters and ships, it’ll be pretty strictly only for fandoms I’m in, because it’s a lot of energy to learn enough about a character from a source I don’t know to get the right vibes for a playlist.

Dividers! You can see an example on the carrd for my main blog, because I made those myself, if you give me a theme and the colors you want I can make you a themed divider or set to go in a carrd or post or wherever you’re gonna use it! (It would also help to tell me whether it’s going on a dark or light background so I can adjust the colors accordingly)

Profile pictures! I’m very confident on profile pictures, so long as I have an idea of what you want for the background. I have and will go through the effort of making an image cleanly transparent to go on a pfp!

Blog headers! If you give me a theme and maybe a color scheme if necessary I can make you a header for your blog! I would usually put the url of the blog in the header but I can understand not wanting to put your blog url here, especially if you’re stealth

Banners! DNI banners, general post banners, etc.

Fandoms I’m in/sources I know:

Danganronpa (Except UDG)

Arcane

Popular Disney movies (Encanto, Turning Red, etc)

FNAF

Dream SMP (I’m also comfortable doing requests for CC’s)

Analog horror (the walten files, mandela catalogue, gemini home entertainment, etc. Including older creepypasta/slenderverse stuff like EMH and tribetwelve!)

Creepypasta in general

Most older cartoon network shows (SU, Adventure Time, etc)

South Park

Musical theater (The big ones like hamilton, heathers, be more chill, dear even hansen, etc. plus some movie musicals like repo! the genetic opera and little shop of horrors, plus Starkid musicals)

Undertale/Deltarune

Degrees of Lewdity

The Umbrella Academy

The Boys

Baldurs Gate II

Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss

[alterrune]

To the ColorStreak Battalion, Charles, and General Galeforce, this is Aaron Schaffer. This about my son Laurence. He still thinks you all hate him for what he did back when he was with The Trinity. He thinks you don’t trust him anymore, he’s even avoiding you guys all together. When Lily died, and he joined The Trinity, he wasn’t getting a lot of mental support. This added with the notes you guys were sending him after operations to locking him up with telling me really took a toll on his mental health. Is it alright if you all speak to him? When I tried speaking to him, all he said was, “I don’t want to kill anyone anymore”. He’s in his therapy space right now. I’m just worried that he’s still suicidal even after I reconciled with him. Please, for my sons sake, because I want to give closure to this internal conflict he has with himself.

Unfortunately, the others are too distracted right now, but I'm not. In fact, he's outside the temple right now. I'll go talk to him. I've been intending on doing that for a while, actually.

(I walk outside, where Laurence is sitting outside, looking at the stars.)

Hey, Laurence...? You busy?

Go away, Kyle. I don't want to talk to anyone, especially you.

Laurence, listen. I don't want you take this question the wrong way, but...you haven't been thinking of offing yourself, have you?

No...I mean, I've actually tried, but I never go through with it. I don't want to die.

Hey, listen. If have anything you don't want me telling anyone about, my lips are sealed.

What you just said is what the problem is. If I had a nickel for every time someone has said that to me and literally blabbed it to everyone they knew, I'd be a millionare.

(Laurence then glares at me, before eventually giving a defeated sigh.)

I have trust issues. Like I said, I've told secrets to people and their loose lips sunk those ships like they were all the fucking Titanic.

And even though I know I have so much to live for, there have been numerous times when I've just ran away instead of fighting back. I know that kicking my own bucket is bad, and even the idea of causing my own self-harm makes me sick, but that doesn't change the fact that I still feel so alone. I've had so many knives sunk into my back that I could pass as a porcupine, and I feel like the only person I can trust is myself.

You're not the only one who feels alone. I have the same problem.

Oh, fuck off with that. You have your ColorStreak Battalion.

Laurence, I'm not referring to friends in the game world, I'm talking about my friends in the real world. I'm the only person here that isn't a part of the game. And even though I have my friends here, that doesn't mean I don't feel homesick every now and then.

...I can't argue with that. How do you deal with it, though?

By reminding myself one thing: I'm not alone. My room at the GEOGRAM base has wallpaper consisting of the icons of some people from the other side of the monitor who've sent asks to the Tumblr blog before. People who have proven time and time again that I'm not alone. And Laurence, you aren't alone, either. You've got the CSB, Aaron, Gomez...and me. So I'll give you a choice.

(I hold my hand out to him.)

Just take my hand and I'll help you up and prove to you that you aren't alone, Laurence. If you don't want to, you don't have to.

(Laurence hesitates for a second before grabbing my hand firmly.)

You're right, Kyle. For the first time in god knows how long, I don't feel alone. I feel like I finally have a family again.

(I help Laurence up, and he gives me a bear hug.)

I finally feel like I have a group of people that I can wholeheartedly trust. Thank you, Kyle.

Anytime, Laurence.

(We walk back into the temple, and Laurence js finally feeling like he's got a home at last.)

NEW ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED!

One Year Older - ADDED TO NEW "ANNIVERSARY EVENTS" ACHIEVEMENT SET

Never Alone - ADDED TO "THICKER THAN WATER" SET

[jekyllhyden]

Art trade for/from Shinji.

I know that re-posting people’s artwork on my blog is rude.

I already asked the original artist (Shinji) for permission and she granted it, but I will remove it from here if it is:

Causing harm to her

Taking advantage of her

Illegal

When she posted in her blog (I will re-blog from her or link her blog instead)

How should I start this story...

We don’t give each other a specific theme. Cute Bert and Sweet Marco should be considered as the theme?

P1 - "Cute Bertholdt" is a gift from her. (Beautiful, right?)

P2 and P3 - "Sweet Marco", to her, by me. P3 is the original idea when I started but I was dissed by my sister so funnily messed up and come out with another concept, that's P2, also messed up in the end.

I would consider P3 as WIP and I will try to complete it when I’m capable. But for the moment, it can be used as PFP by her.

The art she gifted me setting in modern AU, the photo in the frame gives me the sense of participation, something personal and it makes it so special! 

I just love how she draws Bert. Her Bert looks a little shy, dorky and cute.

And I returned her a Baby Marco in the woods reading to wild animals.

I do enjoy drawing this.

In the end, I realized I gave him too many rodents and I would consider him to smell like peanut butter.

Well, he is such a lovely, gentle sweet boy, everyone loves him!

How I should say about my art style... 

To be honest, I am not an artist and I made my every drawing like something from kindergarten kids.

I mean, I can’t express feeling via art, and my coloring always very dull and childish.

That’s all I guess? 

Now please allow me to express myself.

Back to P1...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

ASDSGFHETHJYT 

THIS IS BEAUTIFUL! THANKYOU SHINJI!!!!!!

 SHE PUTS A LOT OF EFFORT INTO THIS!!!!

I LOVE IT! I DO!

I SAID I WANT CUTE BERT YET SHE INCLUDED REINER AND ANNIE FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DON'T EVEN THANKED HER PROPERLY IN TWITTER OR IN DM!!!

I DON’T DESERVE HER GIFT!!!!!!!

I'M STILL OVERWHELMED BY THIS SWEET MASTERPIECE UNTIL TODAY, AND FOREVER!!

THIS IS TOO BEAUTIFUL!!!

I DON'T DESERVE THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF ART FOR FREE!!

THE COLORING! THE FEELS! THE COMPLETENESS!!!

IT MUST BE VERY EXPENSIVE IF IT IS A COMMISSION BUT YET SHE GAVE IT TO ME FOR FREE!!!

IT IS BEAUTIFUL, I SET IT AS MY LAPTOP WALLPAPER AND I CAN LOOK AT IT FOR HOURS!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[joshjacksons]

Joshua Jackson interview with “Irish Independent”

It was during a childhood visit to his granny’s house in Dublin’s Ballyfermot that Joshua Jackson smoked his first cigarette.

“My memories of those visits to Ballyfermot are quite sweet really,” the Dawson’s Creek actor recalls. “I was always running around with the neighbourhood kids, getting into trouble. Not bad trouble, just little-kid trouble. Although, technically it’s where I smoked my first cigarette, so that in itself isn’t the sweetest memory.”

Jackson’s handsome face surges with deep laughter lines and quiet dimples at the mention of mum Fiona’s home turf. “She might prefer I’d say she was from Chapelizod”, he jokes, before proudly pinning his mum’s allegiance to “Ballyer”.

Was the young Canadian treated like a shiny, exotic object by the local kids? “I was a bit, but I became less exotic the older I got. Culturally, I was so far away from an Irish kid but in a little pack of children, everyone finds their level. It also helped that I had my own cousins, my own blood, around with us. I had that family connection so I never felt too exoticised.”

An entry on his IMDb profile suggests his late grandparents Rosemary and Patrick were opera singers in Dublin, indicating that performance runs in the genes. The actor seems unaware. “Mum tells me they used to sing to each other a lot. My grandparents lived in council housing with a little kitchen out the back, garden right outside, and they would sing to each other through the window as he was out pottering about while she was cooking.

“But he was known more as a snooker shark around Ballyfermot. And my grandmother, she was known as a sainted mother of seven.”

Having welcomed his first child, Janie, with his wife, the actor Jodie Turner-Smith, last year, it’s obvious family is paramount for 43-year-old Jackson, as he Zoom-calls from a rich hotel suite with dark wallpaper and plump cushions in the background. It stems from an evident bond with his mum, whose presence lovingly peppers our conversation. Just 16 when she left Dublin, Fiona Jackson travelled through Paris, Amsterdam and Geneva before embracing the vibrancy of London’s Swinging Sixties and ultimately making for Vancouver in her early twenties.

In an entry on her blog, she speaks of falling for “the spectacular beauty of snow-capped mountains and the Pacific Ocean” and ultimately scoring an entry-level position at a Canadian talent agency. It led to a career as a successful casting agent, working on film classics including Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson and McCabe & Mrs Miller with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.

She met and married Joshua’s father, John Carter, and the young family moved to Los Angeles. Sister Aisleagh was born shortly before John walked out on the family, leaving a profound effect.

“My father, unfortunately, was not a good father or husband and exited the scene,” the actor disclosed last year, before adding it’s something he “will never get over”.

Young infants in tow, Fiona returned to Vancouver and, having found early success in casting, helped contribute to the foundation of the burgeoning “Hollywood North” industry on the Canadian west coast.

Accompanying his mum on set, young Joshua’s interests were piqued. “She introduced me to this world and saw from a young age that I enjoyed performing in a way that kids do. She allowed me the opportunity to step into her work world, but it was also very clear that it was work.”

He appeared as an extra on MacGyver and as a child actor’s double in The Fly II, and Fiona could see her son’s talent and genuine desire to impress. So she allowed him to audition. However, permission came with strict caveats.

“I don’t think my mum would have ever put me anywhere near the entertainment industry if I didn’t have something to offer to it. And not just for myself; she’s a prideful woman and didn’t want to be embarrassed by her kid.”

Casting 1991 melodrama Crooked Hearts with ER’s Noah Wyle, Fiona gave Joshua a chance to shine. Impressing the filmmakers, the then-12-year-old secured the part, setting him not only on a path to stardom but away from the troubles of his teen years.

“My mother gave me the guard rails I needed at that time and also recognised, being a working single mum and with me a young boy, transitioning into a teenager, I needed structure in my life. I needed something that I was passionate about and had a respect for, because I was kind of a typical teenage disaster.

“I look back on those times in my life and the two parallel tracks I was running on. On the one hand, getting into all sorts of trouble and, on the other hand, my professional life, where I showed up and learned my lines and did my job in order to be respected by the adults I was around. If I hadn’t had that professional side of my life, the other side would have taken over, and Mum saw that. Who knows where I would have ended up?”

So Jackson was a full-on teen delinquent? “Yeah, I was, to a certain extent. It was relatively innocent — nobody died — but I was a teenage boy who didn’t have a father in the home, didn’t have a man to be scared of, frankly, and as a teenage boy, I think that helps. My mum had to work and she wasn’t always in the house so I learned to get into more and more trouble. I got into just enough trouble to have a good time and learn some lessons but if I hadn’t had my work life, I might have tipped over into the kind of trouble that you don’t come back from.”

Three decades in and Jackson remains one of the hardest-working, most recognisable actors in the game. Hitting pay dirt at 18 as Dawson’s Creek’s Pacey Witter — the wisecracking, teacher-bedding antithesis to James Van Der Beek’s beleaguered titular drip — the actor was a revelation: the soul and bite of a seasoned character performer in the guise of relatable poster-boy idol.

Teens swooned, so did the industry, and alongside Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams and Katie Holmes, Jackson had Hollywood at his feet.

A string of popcorn offerings followed — Cruel Intentions, Gossip, Shutter, Cursed — some quality, others derivative, with the small screen ultimately best utilising his skills. A five-season run on sci-fi series Fringe was followed by an outstanding turn on Showtime’s The Affair. Last year, he maintained a brooding presence opposite Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington in Little Fires Everywhere. And this year, he takes on arguably his darkest work yet in Dr Death.

The new miniseries is based on the non-fiction podcast of the same name, and Jackson portrays Christopher Duntsch, a former spinal surgeon who maimed 33 patients owing to gross malpractice while operating in hospitals in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Two of these patients lost their lives. Convicted in 2017, Duntsch is currently in prison and serving life imprisonment. He still maintains his innocence, with his defence arguing that he was merely a bad surgeon, not a criminal.

Exuding a simmering malevolence, the actor showcases Duntsch’s disturbing complexities and terrifying behaviour as a narcissist and sociopath with a keen insight. Did Jackson meet with Duntsch? “I wanted to, but that was going to be really difficult because he’s appealing his case and his lawyers would’ve advised against it. And as I got deeper into the materials and podcast, and got a better understanding of the man, I don’t think it would’ve helped because he still really believes he’s the victim of his own patients, and the lawyers and the legal system. I’m not sure asking a liar for the truth gets you any closer to the truth.”

When it came to the victims, Jackson wanted to maintain a respectful distance. “I didn’t need to drag them through those awful memories again and I’m always a little dubious about asking people to delve into the worst moments of their life just to satisfy my curiosity. The questions had already been asked thanks to the podcast.”

Dr Death came at the right time in the actor’s life. New baby daughter Janie offered a crucial respite from the intense, and often dark, six-month foray into Duntsch’s malignant psyche.

“Inhabiting Mr Duntsch was an ugly space to live in for six months. If I’d been coming home to an empty house every night, it would have been a pretty bleak existence. It was so much better to come back to a loving home. My one-year-old doesn’t give a damn what I was doing that day. She just wants to be loved and hugged and cuddled, and it was the perfect antidote when some days were particularly heavy.”

Recently Jackson confessed that the Dawson’s Creek cast won’t be returning for a retrospective reunion like the Friends stars did earlier this year. “If you put our mid-forties selves together on a couch now, with our creaking backs, it might shock people.”

Quizzed on an actual reboot of the drama, Joshua reckons he’s simply too old to replicate the iconic rapid exchanges of dialogue between the garrulous young characters. “We were like The West Wing for teenagers,” he laughs, referencing Aaron Sorkin’s hit political TV series, also infamous for speedy script delivery. “My 43-year-old brain couldn’t do a show at that pace. Back then, we were doing seven, 10 pages a day and, to deliver dialogue at that speed, you have to have a certain mental capacity for that, and I don’t have it anymore. That’s the real reason why we’re not doing a reunion — I’ve become too dumb to keep up with that script.”

He remains in touch with his DC co-stars, including Holmes, his one-time girlfriend of two years. There’s even a text chain. “It goes through spurts every once in a while. I’ll have a bunch of messages on it and then it’ll go dormant. We’re like college friends — there are moments we’re all in contact and then long, fallow periods as we get on with our lives.”

While maintaining a busy slate, Jackson’s overwhelming purpose continues to circle the women in his life. Turner-Smith is currently shooting a new movie with Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, so he’s assuming full-time dad duties. It’s an equitable arrangement given the flexible needs of their individual commitments, and one he appears content with.

[acespec-ed]

A Crush Without Aesthetic

I’ve talked about a crush that was purely aesthetic attraction. Now get ready to hear about a crush that’s everything but aesthetic attraction!

It recently occurred to me that I might not be aesthetically attracted to my current crush. All these experiences I’ve been posting on this blog involving attraction have been... making me think more about the nuances in attraction. In other words, I’ve been having fun dissecting the exact feelings I have for this guy. Instead of, you know, actually fantasizing about him like a normal person. (Though I do a bit of that too.)

This is going to sound absolutely bizarre, but I am fine with not looking at him. Reflecting upon most of my past crushes, I wanted to look at them constantly. With celebrity crushes, I would straight up make collages of them in Photoshop to use as my desktop wallpaper. So I could look at them. I would watch movies or whatever they were in, and get annoyed when the camera wasn’t on them. I can’t remember much of IRL crushes, because until this year, I hadn’t had one in over 10 years. But I’m pretty sure I wanted to look at them a lot too.

And, God, compared to my aesthetic crush I already wrote about... we have a complete difference here. Conveniently, they are both UPS drivers who come to my work. I interact with them because I am a shipper, and delivery drivers show up every afternoon to pick up everything I am shipping out. Basically, these two men play(ed) the exact same role in my life which makes the comparison piss easy to see.

The aesthetic crush:

I wanted to look at him constantly. As soon as his truck would back up into our shipping dock, I made myself comfortable among the boxes for immediate viewing purposes. (It’s actually not as creepy as it sounds- I have to be there anyway to push the boxes forward so he can grab them to put in his truck.) I had my eyes glued to him, only looking away when he’d look in my direction. Anyone or anything that got between me and my eye candy would be cursed out mentally. 

The not-aesthetic crush:

I feel no need to look at him. When he arrives, my butt remains in my chair until my assistance is actually needed. I don’t feel compelled to stare at him. Sometimes I’ll take a good look when he’s looking away from me. Mostly to try and gauge my feelings. And when I do, I start feeling the typical crush-like feelings. The ache in the chest. The weak knees. The desire for him to take me in his arms (and in other ways). 

The only difference between looking at the aesthetic crush, and looking at this current one, is the desire. I still feel the same, physical sensations. The only difference is, I didn’t feel any urge to do anything with the aesthetic crush. I only wanted to look. This seems to be the opposite case with the current one. I want to do everything but look!

I enjoy being around the not-aesthetic crush. He's friendly, and there’s a niceness to him that comes off as sincere. (He legit once asked me if I was doing okay and how the company was treating me- because apparently me and my coworker had both been looking tired and overworked. And interestingly enough, a few days after that, I became sexually attracted to him.) Just being near him makes me happy, whether or not I’m looking at him.

Of course, I also liked being around the aesthetic crush. He was also friendly, and nice enough. But that alone wasn’t what made me happy. It added to it for sure, but it was the looks that drew me in. I’d be happy catching a glimpse of him driving by. My brain would go, “God, he’s beautiful!” Whenever I get a glimpse of the not-aesthetic crush driving by, I just get an “Aww, it’s him” sort of reaction.

I always thought the not-aesthetic crush was “kinda cute.” But I still feel like he’s just “kinda cute” when I think about his actual looks. Meanwhile, the aesthetic crush started out as “kinda cute.” And over time, grew to be downright gorgeous to the point where sexual attraction kicked in.

And this is so weird. I’m legit DTF the not-aesthetic crush. That is a rare phenomenon. And yet I don’t find him “sexy” at all. Like, ??????? Maybe this is what people are talking about when they say they’re sexually attracted to a personality. Or maybe I just like the attention he gives me (that he also gives to everyone else- I’m not that special it’s just the kind of person he is). I don’t know. All I know is, I want to be around him. I want to do certain... things with him. But I have no real interest in looking at him.

There aren’t even any physical traits I pick out and admire in particular. Most of my other crushes, I focus in on how beautiful their eyes are. Or their hair. Or facial features in general. For him? I guess I like looking at his chest but I don’t know if I find his chest attractive or if I just want to rest my head there. He does have long hair, and I have a strong preference for long-haired men. But that’s probably where my “he’s kinda cute” thoughts come into play. I like long-haired men. He is a long-haired man. Therefore, he is “kinda cute” to me.

I don’t know. If anyone was wondering what it’s like to have a crush with no aesthetic attraction, there’s your answer.

[tundrainafrica]

I just find it so unfortunate that some aggressive shippers ruin a ship and a character for so many people. A popular Erwin x Levi artist got hate comments by some Levihan shippers and so many people are bashing it now on twitter because of that. Its just so sad considering LH was one of the most beautiful and fun dynamics in such a depressing story. Even Hange is getting hated because LH is pretty much the default ship involving them and it just breaks my heart :(

Twitter has some great content and I actually hang around AOT twt for some quick content. It’s like every time I’m feeling fast food I just hang there, like a few tweets, read a few soc med AUs etc etc. 

But god. It’s a mess man. Last year I was constantly on twitter to be honest and it left me in a bad mood everyday because people are just being assholes for little to no reason really but just to put themselves in what they believe is a morally higher ground from their peers. And people just like fighting and the funny part is no opinions are actually heard, no views are actually exchanged. It’s just “you dont agree with me so you’re a bad person.” 

Ad hominem attacks are just everywhere.

So I like staying in my small little hole and just talking to myself there and just liking the content of the Levihan people I actually follow. I see stuff I don’t agree with but I’ve kinda accepted that a lot of people there are just there to push an agenda because really if people were that open minded, I don’t think lynching and call out culture would have gotten this far.  

I’ve used this same analogy so many times but I feel like in Twitter, people are just scrambling for some sort of moral high ground. Because of that, it is completely useless to engage in discourse there because one thing I noticed is most people who are vocal there already have a set stance on something and the fact that they’re ready to just bully anyone who stands in the way of their agenda, just makes convincing them out of the agenda impossible and a complete waste of time. And there are two issues in particular among the LH community which are really unsettling for me: the ship wars and within the LH community, the gender war. 

Ship wars

I find the ship wars unnecessary because really what makes a superior ship? 

Probability of being canon? How much fuel they were given in canon? Healthiness of the relationship?

The truth is people ship for many reasons. But really, who are we to judge how a person goes about the way they decide to participate in the fandom and ship? As long as it is something they keep within personal spaces and do it responsibly, I don’t think it’s our business to judge someone or lynch them. The important thing is people are able to not be an asshole about it. People can ship the most questionable shit, create the most dubious content, as long as that person is respecting boundaries and putting the right tags and trigger warnings, who are we to call them out right?

Of course I prefer LH over other Levi ships personally but is there really a need to attack other people’s ships about it? I probably do poke fun at Ereri because until now I still do not get why people enjoy Ereri in the first place but why destroy the fandom experience for people just because we don’t agree with them.

My general intention behind shipping Levihan is because above anything I value the healthiness in the relationship and the things people can learn about love and relationships by analyzing Levihan’s dynamics and headcanoning them. I love Levi and Hange’s dynamics to death and I like digging deeper into them and pulling out lessons from it about love, life and relationships and just sharing them with people which is my whole point for participating in this fandom in the first place. 

But in the end, ships are just preferences. Some people like getting a kick out of dubious pairings and toxic relationships. As long as they consume these responsibly and don’t emulate them in real life, I see no problem in it. 

The toxic ones are the ones who actively crucify people for preferences. 

The Gender War

One really disturbing thing I found about twitter is that deciding to use ‘she’ to refer to Hange can get you lynched. I found a few accounts that would reblog tweets where someone says something like “Yes, Hange, Queen” which gets retweeted by some NB Hange folk who say stuff like “Unfollow this transphobe now.” 

Because apparently deciding to headcanon Hange as a woman or just preferring to use ‘she’ makes people a transphobe. Which is personally just... really disturbing. I don’t believe words like homophobic, transphobic, racist should be so easily thrown around unless there is hard evidence to believe that someone is really one of the epithets above like for example: 

There are things I find completely assholish like of course, refusing to use someone’s preferred pronouns if they ask you. 

But Hange is fictional and Hange is a gift to the fandom.And I don’t even think the issue about Hange’s gender should have ever reached this far. The only thing Yams ever said was that Hange is just not the type to be tied down to a single gender. 

And policing Hange’s gender and saying NOPE SHE’S NON BINARY USE THEY Is just counterintuitive to the whole idea that she’s a free spirit. In the end, Hange as a character wouldn’t have given a fuck whether people called her a they, she or even a he. 

And yeah, it’s frustrating really that these two issues I just discussed above are ruining Hange as a character for a lot of people and consequently, ruining Levi x Hange as a ship. 

Apparently, a lot of people are closet LxH shippers or closet Hange stans because the moment they tweet something about Hange, there are people who will attack them. If people refer to Hange as they, they get attacked. If people refer to Hange as she, they get attacked. There are so many antis apparently to the LxH ship, some apparently are jealous because ‘it’s the closest to canon’ while others just apparently deem it a toxic ship because of our own internal gender war.  

There’s no winning really. And to be honest, there’s nothing I can do either and I don’t want to engage in any arguments in twitter if at the end of it, I’m just gonna end up wasting my time listening to ad hominem attacks directed at me just for not agreeing with someone in a fandom related matter. . 

I’ve said my piece about the Hange gender issue so many times. There are NBs who use she. There are those who use they. Being female and being NB aren’t mutually exclusive. You can be both at the same time.

But yeah, we still have people being assholes about this and pushing factually wrong agendas. I love research and I have been writing research papers and metas for a lot of things even before I started this blog in the first place. And I eventually learned that the world is so complex that no opinion is completely and absolutely correct. 

And ideally, opinions shouldn’t be made so easily. 

Don’t get me wrong. I believe everyone is entitled to a preference and when I say preference I mean the type of food they like, the type of wallpaper they like. 

But no one is entitled to a moral judgement or opinion just for existing and when I say opinion I mean questions on morals, on what’s right or what isn’t, what is or what should be. Every single person has the responsibility to research, hear both sides of a discourse and understanding them before deciding for themselves what’s right. And this is why hearing accusations that someone is ‘transphobic,’ ‘homophobic’ blah blah over how we hc a character just really does not sit well with me. 

Passing moral judgement on someone requires discernment, deep thought and lots and lots of evidence. But yeah this is a philosophical question and a political question so I ain’t going to delve into it here.

Because, in the end, fandoms are preferences. The way we choose to participate in a fandom and create content are preferences more than anything.

So what? (Btw, if you reached all the way here, thank you for listening to me ramble lol and sorry if you weren’t expecting this type of ramble)

I know I’ve just been rambling a lot up there for a lot of reasons but really what message do I wanna give? 

Fandoms are preferences more than anything so I don’t even believe that there should be a discussion on moral judgement here. People can have the weirdest kinks, the most questionable preferences but as long as they aren’t going around romanticizing abuse, beating up people in real life, killing them and lying in real life, who are we to judge?

Even if someone says they have a rape kink and abuse kink when it comes to fics, as long as they acknowledge it’s something they shouldn’t emulate in real life, as long as they can keep an adult conversation about it, I think these people are generally kinder and more pleasant overall than people who force their healthy canon ship and lynch everyone for having more questionable preferences. 

Ship and let ship. Live and let live. Headcanon and let headcanon. If a person has a differing opinion, listen. (Or really, if you just don’t want to deal with listening to differing opinions coz you’re just gonna get stressed, don’t lynch? Don’t send hate? And just ignore it?)

Ask yourself. Does the person acknowledge that it isn’t right in real life? Do they acknowledge if they emulate it in real life it has the potential to be harmful?

Honestly, all I wanna do is just let people stan Levi and Hange however they want to. There are obviously hcs I dont agree with. But in the LH community we just all love Levihan, let’s not ruin the fandom experience for anyone. In the AOT community, we all just love AOT, let’s not ruin it for anyone. Let’s not hurt anyone, attack them etc. 

If someone doesn’t agree and they can hold an adult conversation about it and they don’t emulate these toxic opinions in real life and they recognize that there is the option to just agree to disagree, why don’t we just listen and engage in this discourse to learn more about other people and to build more perspectives?

Because really it isn’t the questionable hcs or the multiple genders which leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. It’s the people who just go straight to attacking instead of actually considering that there’s potential for discourse and there’s potential to ‘agree to disagree’ because in the end, fandom discourse is a question of preference more than moral judgement. 

It’s easier said than done really. But personally for me, I just try to keep my fandom experience as non toxic as possible while at the same time as mentally fulfilling as possible. I enjoy discourse, I like hearing differing opinions and I really believe with something as light and as inconsequential as fandoms as our common ground, we can learn to peacefully co-exist despite differing opinions on what the best ship is or what Hange’s gender is. 

Note: I won’t delve too much on the Hange gender issue here because I have pending asks about those which I’ll answer in one go, but I really believe that both they and she are valid pronouns for Hange. 

I have a general preference for ‘she’ because it’s just easier to read. But personally I don’t think too much about the gender identity issue because it’s really just too complex for me and i like spending my time thinking of other headcanons about Hange than gender and people who push the Hange is nb agenda and people who push the Hange is a female agenda and just insult each other and lynch each other are both equally unsettling.