#its been a long year

[jestroer]

Happy Birthday, Technoblade :) I miss you King

New banner time

[beastrambles]

Sometimes it doesn't matter how many times people try and drill it into your head, some things only click when you're scrambling around, frantically throwing together a protection jar to shake off a nasty curse that the ingredients don't matter.

Magic is Intent.

Sure, some things have become so deeply woven into common beliefs that it is difficult to remove those associations (salt=protection, pink/red=love, etc. etc.)

But in the end, it doesn't matter.

Humans like to have systems and guidelines to follow to make their work simpler, that's just what we do.

So it makes sense that we have assigned certain attributes/meanings/purposes to different things to make witchcraft, well, easier (see: crystal charts, spice/plant uses, color theory, and so forth).

One of my biggest gripes for the longest time was about how people seemed dead set on "ingredients" having specific/limited uses, and to use them otherwise was foolish. Which! Never made sense to me! But until recently, I lacked the right words to explain this frustration.

But honestly? I can't be mad about it any more. Fuck, sure, why not, salt is useful for preservation and keeping unwanted pests away, so yeah, it's good for protection.

It's much easier to do work with a few tokens of meaning than try and do everything with only mental effort (speaking for myself)- having physical objects to represent your intent can help tenfold. Doesn't matter if people don't have the same associations with those tokens as you- only your intent matters.

[viktormaru]

Ah! I almost forgot to post my year retrospective here!!

What a year.... i kept busy, learned a lot, failed a lot too.

Heres to many more years of art, and thank you everyone for the continuous support!

[1zashreena1]

I hope you're safe and out of the hurricane's path. <333

Thank you!! The predicted track has shifted and we're now out of the path, thankfully. I have cases of water and cat food, multiple fully charged powerbanks, and homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars. All completed under strict supervision, of course.

[hopepetal]

literally think abt your only human fic once a week at minimum i think it changed my life forever its been almost a year since i read it for the first time (out of many) and its still one of my favourite fics ive ever read, i love your writing sm <3

oh my gosh thank you so much ;~; this is so sweet of you, really made my day

I'm hoping to get back into hermitcraft/mcyt writing! my life was taken over by dnd but I at least want to get back into writing sky au.... maybe other things if I feel up to it

[flintyart]

I made this for me and only me don't @ me about it

[ponds-of-ink]

Hey, happy one year to the first time we bullied William Afton together

Happy one year to you, too! 🎉

..The only problem is, I can’t remember when was the first time. Was it the self-springlocking Drabble or am I forgetting something?

[mushtoons]

Lit a candle and sent some good intentions your way homie you got this

thank u!!!! very much appreciated 🥺 💖💕✨ /genuine

[buddygrouse]

it's my birthday so i drew my ocs in office space (1999)

[emberfaye]

2023 thoughts

What a year.

The start of this year I was emotionally broken, exhausted. I was in deep despair and i gave myself permission to do something i didnt think i was ever gonna allow:

I gave up.

Not on everything. Not in some ways.  But i gave up trying to improve things and let myself just drift. I let myself be a version of myself i didnt like: bitter. No ambition. Selfish. Day by day, no plans for the future. 

And by doing that i do think i saved my life. 

I focused on the most important things: parenting. Finances. The friends and family where i could. Myself.

 I did a lot of thinking about the future, but i couldnt see one. I thought about what i wanted, and i couldnt name anything. I did a lot of work, but it hadnt gone anywhere, was still going nowhere. I felt more lost and alone and angry and scared, more intensely and for a longer amount of time than i ever had before. 

And for most of the year, that was the undercurrent of every interaction i had, every moment i was awake. Even a lot of the times i was asleep, i would dream or have nightmares about it.

Healing and grieving are entertwined, to the point where you cant have life without them. I am a fundamentally changed person now. Aspects of myself i thought were immutable have been dissolved or scattered or shifted to the side.  

But. Im here. I came out the other side, and wow. 

Im happy?

Creatively, ive grown so much. I still suck at a lot of mediums, but im not paralyzed from starting it anymore. My understanding of art, if not my execution, has deepened and evolved. 

Writing wise, I do think ive done some of my best ever work, and ive been consistent all year. Ive reached milestones i didnt think would happen. 

I got a new job, and am excelling at it. 

Ive made so many memories with my kids. 

And the thing i was most afraid of when i gave myself permission to give up didnt happen. 

Instead of losing my friends, im closer to so many pf them now. Ive made so many new ones. Ive reconnected with older ones. 

None of them have ever once seen me the way i saw myself. I dont know if thats just because my soul hid it it from them with all the skill of a wounded cat, or if because i have always been harder on myself than i deserve. Maybe both, maybe none, but either way. 

Ive received tangible proof by my friends, my family, coworkers, acquaintances, and even freaking strangers that there is something bright in me that is worth continuing on. 

2024 is here, and i cannot wait to try something new.

[sunlaire]

this is the first year i've had spotify so i get to participate in the thing.

[dumbasshivemind]

so.... it is from 1993

Rool

[incredubious]

MODERN AU ACESAN !!!! first impressions with a guy who barely passes the No Shoes No Shirt No Service rule

[blueskittlesart]

Dear Big Brother

kind of a sequel to this comic

[kaciidubs]

🫧 About an hour and some change left until the new year and I'm feeling disgustingly emotional 🥺

[love-3-crimes]

not to sound cheesy or anything but i think the craziest part of the year for me is the fact that i would have never drawn again if i hadnt found cj. i hadnt drawn in literal months (maybe a year??) before listening to him