#it just feels very psychologically *real*

[bloggingboutburgers]

It feels like you're being kind of self infantilizing when you draw yourself all small and cute and then talk about how you don't kiss your partner with tongue. I don't know. It just feels weird and almosy creepy. We're not children. Why do we have to act like such children when it comes to intimacy and how we represent ourselves?

Well, that definitely isn't the goal. I always draw all of my characters on the small side, and it's kinda accidental but I ended up drawing myself short because my partner is on the short side, and it just turned out to be a body type that I associate with nice things, so it just... Happened when I was looking for a character to draw myself as. Didn't even hit me it was out of me liking how my partner looks and that I basically "stole" their looks til like... Months later somehow. I'm lucky it doesn't upset them 🙈

Also uh... Sorry I don't wanna stick my tongue in someone's mouth and that it took me a while to be comfortable with kissing on the mouth at all? ...Nah, wait, actually I'm not sorry, that's just who I am and that's my experience, just like other aces are down to tongue-kiss. Everyone has different experiences and everyone's deserves to be seen and heard for what it is, not what it should represent. And each of them are valid, needless to say.

Lastly, I'm pretty freaking open when it comes to me being over 30. I have "very old" in my bio because it feels like that's how that age range is perceived online, and I've drawn several comics about how I don't like to be infantilized, and how it's important that I'm open about my age because it shows orientation isn't a "phase". So... Yeah. Obviously. We're not children. But I of all people don't need to be told that, thanks.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

wanna ask how you feel about the eridan bpd headcanon/theory(?? not sure what to call it!) you're so good at your character analysis and i'd love to see your outlook on it

Since I don't have a degree or any formal training in psychology, I feel deeply uncomfortable diagnosing characters. I've made an autism joke before but only because I'm on the spectrum. He's definitely traumatized and anxious, but I mean those as descriptors of his behavior rather than capital-D Diagnoses. I try to focus on those when I can - the cause and effect of cognition, self-image, and behavior - and those factors may very well match up with DSM criteria, but I try not to touch an actual diagnosis with a ten foot pole unless the author has explicitly stated that X character has Y condition.

[thetardisisnotourdivision]

Hey did I ever tell y'all about the time I dreamed that I had a baby daughter called Ellie that began with my finding out I was pregnant and ended on like her third birthday?

I legitimately woke up thinking "I should go check on Ellie" and then realised she was never real and when I tell you I SOBBED. I've been haunted by an implacable sense of loss ever since. Did I travel to another dimension? Wtf happened because that was insane.

[saints-who-never-existed]

"Richard Henry Dana [author of the 1840 memoir 'Two Years Before the Mast'] experienced firsthand how the morale of a ship's crew could deteriorate to the extent that even the slightest incident might be perceived as a horrendous, unbearable injustice:

"A thousand little things, daily and almost hourly occurring, which no one who has not himself been on a long and tedious voyage can conceive of or properly appreciate - little wars and rumors of wars,- reports of things said in the cabin,- misunderstanding of words and looks,- apparent abuses,- brought us into a state in which everything seemed to go wrong."

- In the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

it’s so wild how there’s still people who say c!dream wasn’t obsessed with c!tommy like. like you do realise that’s fundamentally just saying c!dream isn’t abusive with extra steps right. like abuse isn’t just a Bad Person Thing that people do for no reason it is in fact part of a mindset. abuse comes from entitlement and possessiveness like abusers feel like they're owed whatever they want from their victims whenever they want it and any time they’re not being actively controlled is theft of something that rightfully belongs to them. that’s like the fundamental thing that Makes an abuser. and that counts as obsession in my fucking books. like either you’re saying c!dream isn’t an abuser in a convoluted way or you’re arguing he did it for literally no reason which is like. that is worse. you know that causing pain onto people when you believe they don’t deserve it and know you’re causing severe psychological damage is in fact even more one note evil villain than the psychology of abusers that exists In Real Life right.

[dockaspbrak]

i think the stock market in its entirety is such a flop....back to grain markets.

[potofbees]

Smiles at you, devilishly. This but with the guy who starts with a A and wakes up or whatever.

youuu..... wheng i GET you

this makes me realize i really am a sucker for characters that have lots and lots of problems. my favs always end up being freaks that i would write entire dissertations on for a psychology class and this man is no different. they could make entire psychology courses devoted to the mind of this 1 guy and the many horrible decisions he has made. i am captivated by him and he deserves so much better but he also deserves the torture labyrinth just a little bit. u know how it is. hes just some guy but also hes a metaphor for mental illness but also hes a metaphor for artists block but also hes a metaphor for addiction but also hes a metaphor for how capitalism corrupts art but also none of that matters cause hes kind of a loser. every time i think about this guy i feel compelled to write an essay. freak behavior. he is an extremely well written and fascinating character but never in a million years would i ever want to meet this guy in real life. i got my own problems to deal with hope he gets to talk to a therapist in the third game or whatever but thats not MY problem.

hope this helps :thumbs_up: (im normal)

[perilegs]

it's funny that now that i don't really have much about my body to be dysphoric about my brain makes up psychological dysphoria and it's so dumb

[viktortittiforov]

the 2010s sure were a time in my life

[gillianthecat]

Unfortunately. I have Opinions about how teachers teach. I've never really been a teacher myself but I still think You're Doing it Wrong.

[mxcottonsocks]

To celebrate the beginning of @dickensdaily, a substack which sends out Dickens Novels in line with their original serialisation schedule, beginning with Great Expectations (serialised December 1860 to August 1861), here's:

Reasons to read Great Expectations

I've done my best to keep this spoiler-free, so you should be able to read without ruining anything for yourself.

The characters

PIP: a Perfectly Imperfect Protagonist

Himbo With A Hammer

Local Woman Knows How To Hold A Grudge

Out Of Your League

Cinnamon Roll with Fruit (slightly squashed)

...and more...

Queer Themes

Obviously this is very much a matter of interpretation, but Great Expectations has room for readings around:

Homosociality / homoromanticism / homoeroticism

Compulsory (hetro-)sexuality

Non-traditional families and domestic arrangements

Other Themes

Social class (especially: "What makes a gentleman?")

Trauma

Child and domestic abuse (physical and emotional)

The law (criminality, punishment, money, property, etc)

...and more...

Genres

Great Expectations fits into several genres. [Descriptions below drawn from wikipedia.]

'Coming of Age' story / Bildungsroman (a genre that focuses on the psychological and/or moral growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood)

Sensation novel (a genre which reached peak popularity in the 1860-70s, and which 'has been variously defined as a "novel-with-a-secret" and which combines "romance and realism"')

elements of the social novel (a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel".)

elements of the Gothic (a 'loose literary genre of fear and haunting', often including 'the intrusion of the past upon the present')

One of Dickens' best novels

Great Expectations was Dickens' second-to-last completed novel, so he was at the top of his game at this point.

According to wikipedia, "in the 21st century, the novel retains good ratings among literary critics."

It's also popular with the general public. In 2003, the BBC surveyed 750,000 people in 'The Big Read' to find the UK's "best-loved novel", and Great Expectations ranked 17th.

The first Dickens novel I read, it remains my favourite Dickens, both as a story and as a work of art.

One of his most accessible novels

If you haven't read any Dickens before (or have, but struggled), Great Expectations may be the place to start.

It's one of his shorter novels, so less intimidating and easier to finish than many other Dickens books.

It's also in first person which mitigates some of the things people often struggle with in Dickens' writing:

With some Dickens novels, it can be difficult to tell what the 'main story' is because there are so many intersecting plotlines. In Great Expectations, we're essentially reading Pip's memoirs from his childhood to his young-adulthood, so we can understand all the other stories through Pip's story.

Likewise, we meet all the other characters through Pip, so the feeling of "who are all these people???" I often get from Dickens novels is reduced. We know characters through their relationship to Pip.

Dicken's minor characters are often caricatures, with features of their personality, appearance or manner exaggerated to create a comic or grotesque effect. Dickens likely did this to help readers more easily recall characters over the stretched-out timeframe of serial publication, but it can be jarring to modern readers. Because Great Expectations is from Pip's point of view, his subjectivity frames the caricatures; it feels natural that they lack complexity because Pip doesn't know the inner world of everyone he passes on the street any more than you or I do.

Dickens can often go on tangents/'rants' about society and social injustice at the time he was writing. This was a force for social change at the time, but can be baffling and/or boring to modern readers. Because Great Expectations is in the first person, when these 'rants' appear they feel more like 'my friend Pip grumbles about things that affect his life and the people around him' so are easier to engage with.

Bonus: a Choice of Endings...

Dickens originally wrote one ending for the novel, and then - following conversation with another novelist - changed it ahead of publication. This means that there are two endings of the novel to choose from, which is an interest interactive element.

[mars-ipan]

sometimes it’s hard to remove myself from school and remember that i’ve always loved to learn

[astrxealis]

lowkey just got a therapy session from my philosophy teacher ohmy

[star-anise]

For the record, I don't think it's useful or wise for people to start individually targeting or harassing @libertineangel or any of the tankies around this post. I said what I said to illustrate my point and hopefully educate members of the audience who might not have considered the material realities of whether a revolution was even possible before. I did not expect to change @libertineangel's mind, nor will I engage with them further for the time being.

Hey bro/ster I'm super sorry to have to be the one to break this to you, but uh sometimes being a socialist means, you know, putting your dreams of terrorism down for a minute and talking about public policy and how your proposed form of government would like, uhhhhh................ work.

[the-adas]

my life feels like a sitcom sometimes

[bredforloyalty]

i had a good day i like having things to do but unfortunately i have just remembered i am insane</3