#just for the record i'm trying to do a post of some positive news daily bc god knows we need it rn

[six-owls-in-a-trenchcoat]

Daily dose of positivity: On October 16th, a critically endangered Eastern Mountain Bongo calf was born at a Safari park in England. This is the first bongo calf born at the park in over 10 years, and there are fewer than 100 Eastern Mountain Bongos left, making them the world's most endangered species of antelope, which means that this little guy is a very important baby.

Source: Good News Network

[snovaness]

A dream

Was it embarrassing? Possibly but right now you didn't care. There he was in a simple oversized white t-shirt and blue flannel. The t-shirt's neckline showed off his beautiful collarbones you'd be lying if you said it wasn't driving you insane. He looked ethereal while you were in your stained work clothes from the café. You are positive that he could tell that you were flustered by the sight of him. "Han, we're closed what are you doing here?" the man standing before you was practically a daily regular with a few of his friends. The two of you weren't exactly friends, but you were friendly enough that your conversations went beyond typical barista and customer formalities.

"Yeah, I know but I... I remember that you said you hated closing alone and I just was on my way to my friend's place and wanted to make sure you were okay." You felt your face heat up. "Yeah, I'm good! I'm just about to lock up and head home. I appreciate the thought... it's very sweet of you." he stood behind you as you made sure the doors of the front of the café were bolted shut. "How about I walk you home? I imagine you don't live that far from here?" he asks. "I live a few blocks north from here. I can walk alone if that's out of your way. I'm used to it by now" He shakes his head "No really I'd love to. I have to head that way anyway." you nod and he motions for you to take the lead.

"So work on any new songs lately?" you ask casually. He told you last week that he makes music with a couple of his friends and posts them on YouTube and Spotify under their group name 3racha. You can see him smile brightly from the corner of your eye. "yeah! I finished my 4th song this week. I'm actually on my way to record some demos with Chan and Changbin. You remember them right?" you nod "yeah! they come with you often. Not nearly as often as Felix and Lee know though. Oh and can you tell Felix I did try his banana bread recipe and it was really good."

"I can always just give you his number if you want it," he says quietly. you shake your head "No that's okay. I wouldn't say we are that close. If I'm being honest I think your friends only talk to me so much because you come to the café so often. Not that I mind I really enjoy you guys. Don't tell anyone but you are my favorite regular." a blush creeps up to his cheeks and his ears turn a light shade of pink. "well you are my favorite barista." you laugh "Your order is the same every time you come in. You don't exactly change things up which makes things very easy for me." a comfortable silence falls between the two of you. Seeing your apartment in the distance you feel a strange wave of sadness that your walk with Han is about to end. Your thoughts land on the teasing of your co-workers who have grown to notice the crush you have on Han. Was it that obvious? Did he know? It was just a silly crush it wasn't like you planned to confess to him that would be insane.

"Well, this is the building I live in." you motion your hand to the apartment complex about 100 feet in front of the two of you. He laughs "This is crazy but my friend actually lives in that apartment building right there." he points to a gray building across the street. "Oh wow, how close! Funny that we have never run into each other around here then. Well... I hope I get to see you soon. Min will be there tomorrow if you stop by the café." he looks at you through the lid of his cap "Will you be there tomorrow?" you shake your head "I have the next two days off actually! I'm pretty excited even though all I'll probably do is sleep and catch up on some chores." he smiles at your excitement over your uninteresting plans. "well if your free tomorrow night there's this new horror movie out. I remember you said your favorite genre was horror... would you like to watch it together?" you watch him shove his hands in his pockets as the question processes through your brain. He bites his lower lip as he waits for your response. "I'd love to" At this point your cheeks are so hot you are sure he can feel the heat radiate off of you. You truly cannot fathom the fact that Han of all people has just asked you on a date.

"Really? Great! I will pick you up at 5 if that works with you. Can I have your number? I have actually been wanting to ask you for a while but wasn't sure if it was appropriate." you laugh as you type your number into his phone. How sweet you think to yourself. "gosh you're so cute" Your eyes widen when you realize that you said that out loud. "I think you're cute too," he says as he adjusts his cap. "Thanks for walking me home. I look forward to our date tomorrow" you place a kiss on his cheek and head inside your building. A deep breath escapes your mouth. As you unlock your apartment door you realize that you just kissed Han on the cheek. After he just asked you on a date.

You raise your hands towards your face and smile widely. This felt like a dream. You start to convince yourself that you've created this whole situation in your head. That was until your phone started buzzing in your pocket. Your smile widens as you read the message "I'll pick you up at 5 tomorrow." a chuckle escapes your mouth when another message comes in. "This is Han btw".

[burninface]

🍾Weekly Tag Wednesday Friday🎉

FINALLY, after overtime work for three days straight, I can leave work on time and have time to finish all the interesting tag games 😇 it's a 3 in 1 post so:

first thaaaanks for tagging me ling @lingy910y , Al🧊 @spookygingerr, dean @transsexual-dandelions , deanna @deedala , sarah @atthedugouts 💖

name: face

age: it’s year of loong🐉 and 🐉 is my animal sign

location: bed

what is your dj name? well… hddnd, pronounce upside-down puppy

if you were a genre of music, what would it be? Fusion, a little bit of this, a little bit of that

what would you title your biography? Random Dream Generator

what are the first three things you'd do if you were invisible? It sounds boring and nerdy����: 1)test out the how invisible I am, will all my metabolic substances also be invisible. 2)test what will happen if I intake some drink or food, or use skincare. 3)find out how would I look like in mirror/camera/photos

what subject do you wish was taught in every school? adulting classes and death education, maybe sex education and mental health too.

when was the last time you tried something for the first time and what was it? I tried osmanthus cheese ice cream today (I just picked out the box from my trash bin to check the English title lol), it tastes… meh😌

what is the most underrated city you have ever visited? I don't know? I never check much negative comments about a city before I go there...?

what day in your life would you like to relive? If I can relive it as my recent self, then maybe the day I birthed. if I can only relive it as my past self, then none of them.

if you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be and why? Picking up my hair all around my home😩

how long would you last in a zombie apocalypse? Depends, if it’s bite-you-and-you-die kind of zombie, about a week I guess (with all my skill learnt from zombie games lol). If it’s bite-you-and-you-become-zombie kind, at first day I’ll be bitten (out of curious) and I’ll try my best to write down how it felt like to become a zombie.

what would be the most surprising scientific discovery imaginable? I’m actually living in my dream and my dreams are my real lives neuron regeneration/ braindance (physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts recording technic in cyberpunk2077, but ethically it may won’t be achieved)

if you could have any view out your office window, what would you choose? As far as it’s natural scenery, I’m ok with it

🎊pinterest tag game🎊

thank you Al, deanna, nosho @creepkinginc , julia @blue-disco-lights , tee @mickeym4ndy for tagging me💕

rules: search up fashion, pantone, mood, and food on pinterest and then save the first picture that comes up.

that outfit looks like smth I'll be interested in enough to try out in the shop but then never choose to buy. and that pantone pic is just…… so me. and I got the same mood pic with tee! the last one, not a fan of green onion😬

🍦positivity tag game🍟

thank you Al🧊, ling and keely @thepupperino for tagging me do this💝

rules: list 3 things you’re excited about for today.

1 after overtime work for three days straight, I finally can leave work on time! 2 I finally left work on time! 3 I LEFT WORK ON TIME!

Ok, just kidding 😗

1 after overtime work for three days straight, I finally can leave work on time! 2 ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree released today! 3 Adam Lambert has a new song cvnty released on today too!

No tagging anyone since I'm late but just go ahead if you want to do any of these games!

[avaguenotion]

01.01.2024 - Monday January 1st 2024

 ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ Today marks the start of a new year. Whatever that truly means ( complete revolution around the sun as far as I know ). I wanted to make a post here in the "A Vague Notion" public blog rather than do another "daily txt session." I'm not about to make some hard and fast resolutions. However, I do feel like this year really is going to be defined as a year of major transition. As in rather than looking at 2024 to be a year where major milestones or goals are reached it's more of a preparation for 2025 and 2026. Things on my mind include: - more systematic study of the Quran and Arabic - dealing with the end of this court situation and solidifying my medication mixture - exercise. point blank period. walking, running, biking, weight lifting. Anything and everything. Just fucking do it. - Work inshallah. Like finding a job that I really can just chill and groove with, ya'know? And if it turns out that I really truly can't handle a job then pushing the disability application process to it's end. - minimizing my consumption of music... Yea. For the record: the start of December 2023 was when I began considering giving up listening to and creating music. I had a good few days but I couldn't keep it up. It somehow managed to come back up closer towards the middle and end of the month. So we could almost say that December was a false start. I'm not saying this is going to be easy or perfect. However, there is something very compelling about the idea of a life with more silence. When I listen to music now - for instance last night my mom and I were at Disney Springs and there were various performance stages - I can't help but get this feeling that there really is truth to it being haram. It seems like this kind of mesmerizing vain and futile thing. clapping and banging and endless repetition....

I could just be trying to justify the position. Whatever it all comes down to I am certain that this is line of inquiry is not going to close any time soon. I have been immersed in music most of my life and I also have pretty deep experience creating it. Whatever Allah wills will be. And there is a kind of covenant or prayer between me and Allah that he knows best regarding my involvement with music. All I can say for sure is I am trying to reduce the amount I consume. That is about as definitive a statement as I can say. I also want a bike.

[mysticsparklewings]

OhuHueVember Week 1 💛

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Featuring Johanna Basford’s 30 Days Of Flowers 💐

In case you thought I forgot about this challenge: Nope! I decided early on it would be best for me to only do the *posts* once a week since that’s the part that really wore me out during October. 😵‍💫

…I also wanted to post this yesterday, but suffice to say this past week was a wild ride so it just wasn’t possible. 😅 

Same as always: Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk a bit more about my general thoughts/process. ✨

Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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Featured Ohuhu Colors:

Day 1: GY6 Anise

Day 2: Y3 Barium Yellow

Day 3: Y1 Pastel Yellow

Day 4: YR2 Marigold

Day 5: YR4 Salmon Pink

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Did any of you Sparklers question if I just posted the prompt list for OhuHueVember and then forgot all about it? 😆

If you read my epic-length write-up when I posted the list, probably not, but for those who saw that wall of text and understandably said, "no thank you," this post itself should make it pretty obvious: Nope, I didn't forget!

At the tail end of the super long write-up, I disclosed that while I would be doing OhuHueVember daily, I would only be making posts once a week since it was the daily posting that wore me out the most during Inktober.

...And for the record, I wanted to make this post yesterday, the true "end" of OhuHueVember Week 1 (at least the way I laid the days out) but, naturally, this past week was one heck of a wild ride in my offline life (and not for the reasons you'd assume if you're from the US) and so I begrudgingly came to the difficult conclusion that "waiting one more day to post won't hurt."

That's also why this post is considerably later in the evening than I had hoped—I thought doing them once a week would mean I could at least get the weekly posts out around lunch time!—and I was also unable to post at least two other things I was hoping to have finished this week. 🫠

With those things in mind, I hope you Sparklers will understand that I'm going to handle the rest of this description as briefly as I can manage so that I can go ahead and get this posted and go about the rest of my evening—So if I seem to be jumping around a bit more than usual, that's why. Hopefully, next week will be a bit of a different story (in a positive way).

As also stated towards the end of my super-long OhuHueVember write up: "I've been wanting to get back into just coloring in Adult Coloring books (or single pages made for that audience) occasionally, as I've unintentionally moved away from that hobby for a few years when I used to do it all the time. When I first started, the hobby was still pretty new and niche, and sharing finished pages felt "wrong" to try and mix in with my regular art posts, but things have noticeably changed since then.

And in particular, using Ohuhu markers in adult coloring books has actually become pretty common.

So that's part of what I'm going to do to try and scale this challenge back...I've printed out Johanna Basford's 30 Days of Flowers on small, 2.5" x 3.5" cuts of my favorite mixed media paper—Artist Trading Card size!—and those are what I'm going to color for the month." I did try to find some information on what each of these 30 flowers is supposed to be so that I could better match the OhuHueVember colors to the appropriate ones, but I couldn't find anything definitive for every single one and I didn't have the patience (or time, for that matter, considering I was running way behind on prep for the challenge as it was) to try and manually research each one. So I ended up using what finished colorings Johanna had posted as a starting reference, then made adjustments and filled in the blanks based on a combination of feelings and what I thought would work best for the marker colors. (Which as you'll see later in the month proved to be a bit of a challenge for the greens, but I'm getting way ahead of myself.) You'll notice though that I didn't use just the single Color of the Day. I used the light/dark blends that I also listed in the Spreadsheet for the challenge, plus I'm using my old 72 set of Schpirerr Farben pencils for any additional color beyond the three markers for each day. I meant it when I said you could use as many other colors as you want for the challenge, because I knew I myself wouldn't be able to resist the temptation! 🤭

And in case anyone cares, I'm going with the Schpirerr Farben instead of my true favorite Prismacolor partly because I just want to use them more—they are my third favorite behind Prismacolor and the Brutfuner Macarons (which you Sparklers have yet to hear me talk about, but I promise it is on the to-do list!) afterall—but also because the 72 selection is more limited and therefore a tiny bit more challenging than the Prismas would be. And I semi-recently set them up in a zipper case so they're easier to reach for than they used to be.

Believe it or not, the backgrounds were actually the most difficult thing to decide. And I'm still not 100% sure they'll stay exactly as they are. 😅

I thought about either using the Color of the Day itself, or maybe during the Weekly Colors for each flower for that week, but both of those had trivial problems I couldn't think my way around when I did some experiments on a test sheet.

And I did not want to spend a whole lot of time or color on the backgrounds outside of those options either way because I didn't want to take any more attention away from whatever the Color of the Day would be than necessary.

So ultimately, this soft cool gray with a gel pen outline was where I landed. But I'm still debating if I want to go back and add stars/sparkles with the white gel pen to each one too, as I did that a lot in my smaller tests to try and jazz things up a little. I've held off for now because once I got these actual cards done with just the white outline, I liked them more without the stars than I expected...But I'm just not ready to fully close the door on the star idea yet. So at the end of the month, if you see some stars have magically appeared on these, you'll know why!

Oh: And if you couldn't tell, one more way I'm attempting to limit how difficult this challenge is for me is by just photographing each week's 5 flower cards together instead of trying to scan and then color-correct each one. The photos still need some slight tweaks—especially on days like today where it was gloomy overcast and I couldn't photograph in natural light—but it's an order of magnitude less work than trying to scan, crop, and correction each one would be.

I might bother to scan them all at the end of the month for optimal preservation, but I make no promises.

Beyond all that, I'm trying to just handle each day in whatever way I think gives the Color of the Day a chance to shine while still making the final look something I like. Which is a relevant thing to say because YR2/Day 4 and YR4/Day 5 here are not typically colors I would pick for coloring flowers; I was really worried about how both of them would turn out, but YR4 might actually be my favorite of this batch! YR2 is probably still my least favorite just because it's so earthy, but if I pretend the earthiness of the color doesn't bother me, I do still think it turned out nice.

And if you're wondering what happened with the leaves for Y1/Day 3, I was trying to switch things up a bit with a more jewel-tone dark teal and some pink like what I now know are called Caladium plants. It's weird and not really what I had in mind, but I actually still like the results quite a bit.

I think until we hit the actual green colors on the list, that's going to be one of the trickier parts of choosing to handle this challenge with flower illustrations—Figuring out how to keep the stems and leaves from all looking the same. 🤔

But hey, I feel like I managed decently enough here, so maybe I'm anticipating a bigger problem than I should be. Only one way to find out...!

One last thing I will say: As I sort of expected, for as chaotic as everything else in life has been, yeah being able to sit down and just worry about putting colors together in a way that looks nice has tended to be a welcome little reprieve each day. And also expected, not having to worry about posting every day has been kind of a relief, even though I've still had plenty of other stuff on my plate—See what I mentioned before about not having at least two other things done and posted by now that I wanted to. 😅

So now it's that time again for me to leave you Sparklers to chew on what I've laid out here while I move onto cross-posting. I may only be doing it once a week this month, but that doesn't really change how involved the process itself is when the time comes.

Either way, whether you've chosen to join me on this colorful adventure in some way or not, I hope we've all started the month off as strongly as we can and that if nothing else, we can all look forward to some more forthcoming colorful flowers. 💐

I'll see you all again definitely next week, but with any luck, hopefully a little sooner than that! 👋

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See the Prompt List

Coloring/Photo by MysticSparkleWings (me)

Linework from Johanna Basford's 30 Days of Flowers

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[bonnymori]

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲

Word count: 2760+ (i'll try to keep bigger lengths such as this one!)

Synopsis: You meet a new classmate who's working along Nanami, you think he's fun to be around, it stands the same to him about you. Later, feelings unravel.

Contents/Warnings: (1) Itadori Yuuji x gn!reader (2) FLUFF, TONS OF FLUFF - and some comfort (3) With the small participation of... Ino Takuma!! I really like him too, that's why <33333 (4) This is pretty platonic, but also not? (5) Ending turned sorta cliché... but I liked it u.u

A/N: This boy made me run rampant... to fhe point it's not single attraction anymore I just wish him happiness (smh if only my parents knew...) also next post will be Toji's fic pt. 2! Y'all see the first part is almost reaching 100 kudos????? I'M SO HAPPY EHSODJWKDKSJD- thanks for all the new followers and the support!! <33

Ever since his fake death, Itadori has been training alone with the help of Gojo - and now, he works along a freshly new face, who belongs to a senior, founds out ex-salaryman named Nanami Kento. He's far a thousand times more strict than Gojo. Itadori doesn't really likes the change, because Nanami is a person he can't get along. This whole guy's appearance scream "work 4 life"; he has proved different, now he screams "work is shit - but I gotta do it because others won't".

They've just finished cleansing the outside of a movie theater off a few curses, when Itadori hears shouting from far behind them. Two figures approach, waving excessively. He quickly picks on Nanami's tired sigh beside him.

"Nanami! We figured out you'd be here! Our mission has been finished and we wanted to catch up to have lunch together!" A male clad in a full black outfit shouts, he has brown hair and a beanie on top of his head, looking quite content.

The other person simply trots next to him in silence, approaching with a friendly smile. They notice Itadori faster than the male, smile widening and quickly waving hello, suddenly eager to reach up to them. The gesture makes the pink haired boy perk up, curious to why the other person looked so joyful. His question is easily answered, when they tug on the man's sleeve and motion to him.

"Ino, we have a third buddy!" The dude looks at him with widened eyes. "So nice to meet you, I'm Y/N L/N! It's great to see new faces around!"

Itadori smiles at your energy, knowing already he would click with you very well.

"I'm Ino Takuma, sorry for not noticing you before! Your uniform looks cool." Itadori exchanges a few compliments with Ino, before the man turns to talk with Nanami, leaving him and you together.

"Yes! I'm Sukuna's vessel, Itadori Yuuji-desu! My type of woman is Jenn-"

You turn to him. "So, are you a first year?"

"Geh? Weren't you dead though?!"

"I was!- I am!- Please keep secret."

"Okay!"

"Ahem." Nanami coughs, drawing attention. "I requested you two to not come after me today. Itadori here is the reason why."

"That's no problem, we're very capable of keeping secrets." You threw your arm over Itadori's shoulder, him nodding along with you.

"Oh really, then remember to keep quiet about it. I'll let this slide." The group of students nervously at Nanami's intimidating tone. "But, I'll get to have my break alone."

"Gah!" Ino exclaimed, watching Nanami walk away; he also left the responsability of taking care of Itadori for you two, leaving without a word. "It really had to be today, when Nanami would take us to his favorite bakery..."

"Crybaby." You teased. "Itadori here can't go outside where anyone can see him, he's dead. So, we were to order food either way because he shouldn't be left out."

"Augh okay, it would be unfair."

"So, where are you staying Itadori?"

"At Gojo's state!"

"Whoa, I've never been there before." Ino commented, waiting as you sent a message to Ijichi to pick them up.

"He's my teacher, a very cool one!"

"I imagine! Ooookay, once we get there I'll get the food."

Itadori felt as his chest would burst of excitement, finally there was people around him again, he couldn't be less happy about it.

"Sharing is caring!"

Itadori laughed as you wrestled with Takuma for some fries, netflix long forgotten in the background, as watching the banter was way more entertaining. Most of the time, Ino rambled a lot about Nanami, while he rambled a lot about Gojo. The guy even showed him the cool scar under his beanie. He felt kinda upset after explaining the exchange was just temporary, his stay under Nanami's wing wasn't decisive, and therefore, he was more like a classmate than a partner.

Itadori also learned a lot about you. He was surprised to find out that you, although energetic, was the one to speak the lesser in conversations. His surprisement grew even bigger when you told him you're a exchange student from Kyoto, arriving Tokyo about the same month as him - thankfully, you were to say for good.

Conversations flowed easily in the air, until a voice from the doorway barged in.

"Yuuji-kun! Don't forget about your lessons! Hi kids! Bye kids!" Gojo said playfully, throwing the familiar punching bear to Itadori before leaving.

"What's this thing?" Ino asked.

"It's to help me control my cursed energy. So while I watch the movies, if I don't charge it with cursed energy it punches me square in the face. I thought I had mastered this thing already, but he insist I keep training with it." Itadori grumbles.

"At least it's cute." You commented, taking a sip of your drink.

"Until it punches you in your face without warning!" The pink haired boy barks.

The talks died down, the three of you eating quietly when another movie is played on the screen. Itadori didn't bother reading the title, it was a plain one about a zombie apocalypse that got him extremely bored, yet he kept watching still so the plushie didn't punch him in the face again; he's been keeping a record since all his last cursed energy training lessons were a sucess to this day. When his head started nodding and eyelids dropping Itadori can't remember well, about fourty five minutes of movie perhaps? Make it fifty, the second slumber took over his body completely.

When he awoke once again, it was near midnight, the clock on the wall told him so. He also noticed a soft and warm surface supporting his head, figures, it's your shoulder he's resting into, he feels an arm around his own shoulders and your cheek placed upon his hair.

"Hey, it's late." You immediately notices he's awake, calling out softly. "You should sleep on your room, or something, better to your spine."

He chuckles when you poke his side. "But I'm comfortable here."

"I'm surprised, you just met me today, and now is sleeping on my shoulder."

"I'm not, that happens often to me."

"Sleeping on people's shoulders?"

"No! Making friends quickly." Itadori likes your gentle warmth, your hug, everything makes him feel at home. "I met two more people before you for two weeks, but they can't see me, because I'm dead."

"So I'll keep you company, that's my new mission."

His eyes widen at that, a oh so little blush covering the tip of his ears.

"For how many time I slept anyway?" He asks.

"About two- no, three hours. You missed two movies, and this one is about to end."

"And you stayed here the whole time?" He motions to your shoulder.

"Yep. That reminds me I gotta pee."

Itadori grumbles, but quickly lifts himself off you, respecting your needs. That gives him some time to look around, he notices Ino is gone, and the plushie sits quietly at the other side of the couch, unmoving.

"Y/N! How did you manage to make it quiet down?" He's beyond bafflet.

"...que."

"What!"

"I said!" You arrive quickly at the doorframe, hands still wet from when you washed them. "I used my innate technique."

"Oh! How is it like?"

"It's kinda funny, gimme a moment." You left to wipe off your hands, coming back in a second. "So, just like Shoko, I produce reverse curse energy, but it's quite different than hers, I can't heal people. That's why we often call it positive energy instead. I can use it to soothe off negative energy, so the bear has no cursed energy right now."

"How does it works on people?" He felt very curious about everything, asking away like a kid.

"Since everyone has negative energy, it just makes you sleepy really. But when it comes to curses it's really practical, I can either weaken it or, if the curse is like grade three or four, I can slap them off existence completely by wiping all their energy." You were naturally proud of having a such versatile power, your own energy swirling with pride around you.

"That sounds amazing! Is it why I fell asleep though?"

"Nah, only if I did it on purpose. I guess you were just tired, hope you don't mind I decided to let you rest today."

"No way, it was a good nap."

You nodded. "By the way, Ino left to attend to a drinking party, he paid for our food."

"Drinking? Is he old?"

"Yeah, he's twenty." You chuckled, already expecting that kind of reaction.

"No way! He looks young just like us!"

"That's totally my reaction after I learned he's twenty!"

After that day, you started visiting Itadori weekly to daily, after exchanging numbers he made a little group with you and Ino, naming it the "Nanami trio". But really, he exchanges more texts with you in private, be them memes, cool images he wish to share, etcetera. Although, Ino wasn't left excluded, he ofter brough his xbox to connect to Itadori's tv room and you all would spend hours playing together; he just didn't spend much time with both of you as much. And that was okay.

For a few days, your connection with Itadori died down when he didn't reply to your texts. They would remain unread for some time, the longest being half a day, until he would spam apologies then move on with the topic. That became a routine until one day when you came over to check on Itadori unnanounced, needin to ease off your worries about the boy, only to find him sobbing in the middle of a hallway, staring ahead and beyond, his back to you.

"Ita-?"

"Egh!" Startled, he scrambled to wipe his eyes, turning to you. "H-hey, um, hi."

"What happened?"

"I- he-" His eyes didn't met yours, knuckles white in a death grip. You notice he has a few bandages thrown over his face and arms. The way his shoulders are drawn, as if he wants to shrink into himself is something you've experienced before.

"Something hard to talk about?"

He nods almost immediately, head still facing down.

"It's alright, come with me." You reach for his hands, grimacing slightly when his forceful grip is now on your hand, yet you don't comment on it. He follows you through the state wordlessly.

You two stop on the same tv room, sitting down on the couch. You then guide his head to your shoulder, gently massaging his scalp with the free hand.

"It's alright."

Those two words are chanted like a prayer for the next half hour, at some point, Itadori twisted his body towards yours and unknowingly caged you between him and the sofa arm. He embraced you with a force you didn't have in you, like he didn't want to lose one another. Painful or not, not a muscle moved on your body. He needed a shoulder to cry on.

Thirty minutes passed like seconds, you peered down only to find the boy confortably napping against your bosom; at some point you just became the cold side of the pillow to him. That's alright. It brings you joy to be the mom friend anyways. So you decided to join the sleepland aswell, arms still secured around his shoulders and the back of his head.

It feels like the nap hasn't been long, though, because you can feel Itadori's grip loosening and therefore, you're awake.

"Sorry if I broke any bones, in advance."

"Wow, and you only warn me now."

He laughs at your comeback, hands still secured around your waist.

"I'm surprised you let me uh, cuddle you for comfort - and sleep. I don't understand it? You just make me sleepy." He rambled, keeping eye contact with you while his head still rests on your chest.

"That's a piece of cake when you have younger siblings who seek for you every night they get a nightmare."

"Does that mean I can come to you again if I have a nightmare?" There it is, his togepi-kirby cutesy face.

"Are you four?"

"That's mean!" Itadori blushed, squeezing you on his arms. "I like the contact. It puts me at ease."

"Mm, do you want to talk about it?"

He gulped. "No, not really."

Your peach haired friend remained silent, and so did you. It seems he doesn't intend in letting you go soon, or he just really forgot to mention it. It gives them time to think, your younger sisted used to do that sometimes, back in Kyoto.

"Y/N, wanna watch anything?"

"Sure, have you watched Parasyte before?"

"No, let's give it a try then!" Itadori glances at the remote, then back at you - making you confused over his hesitation to move. He notices you noticed it, chuckling nervously. "To be honest, I don't wanna let go."

"It's hurting my back."

"SORRY I'M SORRY!" He jumped away from you like a cat would jolt away from a cucumber, making you snicker.

"It's okay, I just wanted to change positions."

And to tease you, but he didn't need to know that part.

He glared at you with a small pout, typing the initials of Parasyte on the search bar. Outside his line of vision, you were grinning like a idiot, his sweeteness took a tow on you. All the people of Tokyo you met really held a way different spirit from your classmates in Kyoto, Itadori being the nicest of all. It's surprising him being Sukuna's vessel to begin with; being honest, you felt drawn by it.

"Y/N, it's startiiiiing." He cut your daydreaming short, slumping on your side and propping his head on your shoulder.

"This again?" You throw an arm around his shoulders, very much like the first time he cuddled himself on you.

"Don't blame me, you're the one who wanted to change positions. Guess I'll just make some alterations since I'm awake this time!" One of his arms went behind your back and circled your waist, hand resting at your hip.

"It's definely different, since the other time you drooled on me."

"Hhgh, okay okay! Let me enjoy this." For perhaps the actual first time, you're able to watch without exchanging words with one another.

And this time, it's you who's head loll to the side, nose buried on his soft rose perfumed hair. Itadori doesn't comment on it yet, his free hand moves under your legs to lift your whole body up efortlessly when he senses you have fallen asleep.

"I remember you said it's bad for my spine, I wouldn't mind it... yours however."

The boy makes a beeline to the guest room, he sighs when there is no choice but open the door with his foot. Inside, he places you carefully in the soft bed.

Before he could leave, a hand reaches up for his sleeve.

"Itadori," He turned, looking at you. "Make me company?"

He giggles softly - you think it sounds like a highschool girl. "You should start calling me by my first name!" Itadori rambles as he climbs on the bed, arms wrapping around your waist in a motion you're familiar with.

"Yuuji, I'm tired, let me sleep."

"But I wanna talk more..." He pouts. "Also, are we, um, dating?"

You wriggle around, bringing his head down to peck on his forehead, teasing. "Correction, I want to date you."

"Uh, oh." A blush coats his face so quickly, you'd say someone dumped a bucket of red paint on his face.

"Is that a no?"

"No!"

"So it is a no."

"Christ, will you stop teasing for a second, I'm trying to talk here." He makes an angry version of his togepi-kirby face, you can't help but grin.

"You amuse me, but okay. I'll do it for you."

"Thanks." He blinks, the blush slowly fading away. "You know, I lied, not about the contact, I like the contact nonetheless-"

His hand moves to play with yours, such as tapping his tips against yours, or meassuring the palms.

"-it's you who brings me comfort."

It's also your turn to blush, that line was seriously charming.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, we're dating now." You respond, a little eagerly. "Can I kiss you?"

"Please."

This is the best person I could ask for, Itadori thinks, keeping his eyes open as yours shut during the kiss, whom I won't change for anything else in this world.

When you both separate, Itadori feels drowsy and sleepy. His face fits perfectly on your shoulder as always.

"Goodnight, my favorite person."

[elliemuze]

I'm about to yell into the void here. I recently made these remarks on someone else's post, but I feel the visceral need to air them aloud and pound it into some heads until it sticks.

To those of you who immediately jump in to break immersion and hijack every post that involves Pedro Pascal in regards to physical performance?

1. You must be really fun at parties.

2. You have zero authority on the matter of who is or isn't in the suit, and possess no insider knowledge whatsoever. All the "research" in the world is factually worthless, because Hollywood will move heaven and earth to conceal set presence. Photos have literally been planted on social media in the past for just such reasons, across millions of productions, for decades. Flights and hotel bookings are staged. False names are given. Character names are changed on daily script sides. I know you think you're the new Delphi, or some godsent arbiter of tracking celebrities, but you don't know jack shit. No one does. That's the point. Especially when Disney is involved, good god.

3. Just knock it off. Seriously. No one cares. Find another hobby.

Every single one of the Mando doubles deserve proper credit and applause for their outstanding work. That's indisputable. But Jesus Christ. You never saw this type of behavior when it came to RDJ being in the Iron Man suit - or literally any other double on any other production.

What is it about trying to discredit Pedro Pascal that just makes some people positively feral to "WeLL aKsHuALLy" on every single fucking post that so much as mentions him in regards to the suit? Even if he was never in the suit, which we know is not the case, your behavior and needless assertions are a huge disrespect to voice actors everywhere.

So quit tarnishing other's experience. Let people enjoy things. Your bizarre need to wave a flag around on other people's lawn while you yell at clouds for being clouds is fucking weird and frankly intolerable.

Like any piece of film, actors require doubles if they're unavailable or if something is contractually too dangerous to perform. Every production in the fucking world does this. Tom Cruise had to find a legal loophole and that's why he produces and funds all his movies himself now, otherwise he would never be allowed to partake in the stunts he puts himself through.

Every single Mando double has spoken openly about their discussions with Pascal on how the character should move, behave, carry himself, all his little tics, etc. They've praised him up and down for the dedication he's shown - both to the character Din Djarin and to his overall performance. Pascal's performance informs theirs, and has from the very start. That's fact.

People who are so desperate to make unsolicited comments or belittle Pascal's involvement have literally no proof one way or the other when it comes to who's in the suit. They can argue and stamp their feet all they want and keep trying to shoehorn themselves into relevance, but they don't know. The only factual evidence we will ever have is when the doubles, crew, or Pascal himself provide insight - which has been freely shared throughout past and present, with due respect to all involved.

Just to reiterate here in case any of this is zipping over your heads: you. have. no. authority.

This set remains no different than any other production. Yet, for some reason, an obnoxious minority of this fandom are determined to shit on everyone's cereal. "And everyone clapped," yeah, yeah, we get it, you have literally nothing else to do but wedge your opinion where it's not wanted. Quit making that everyone else's problem and figure your shit out.

Bottom line is that, no matter who is portraying the character at any given time, it's MANDO. All performances, shared as they may be, are credited to Pascal himself. This is according to the doubles' own accounts, and is a matter of public record. In turn, Pascal himself has shown his doubles nothing but deep respect and the highest esteem. Each testimony has been available on social media platforms, interviews, and behind the scenes featurettes since the first season aired in 2019.

Pedro Pascal is the Mandalorian. He was hand-fucking-picked by Jon Favreau himself, and every other person of real authority involved with the series has made it just as perfectly clear. So take your raincloud and go home.

(If any of you walking wet blankets try to pull your shit on this post, you're just getting blocked. I've said all that needs to be said, and I'm not wasting my time arguing over something so stupid and obvious. If for whatever reason you don't like the character or don't like Pascal, that's fine. Not my business. But quit projecting that shit where it doesn't belong.)

[akookminsupporter]

you surely can't go around accepting the hate that bts is built off of and being okay with wanting it for other fandoms and artists when they were never ever ever treated the same. they were literally ridiculed and mocked and now you all want them to serve platter to the same fans who thought that they'd never be in the same position supporting their faves? that's what's funny bc yall were not here when it happened and some of us can definitely see it.

Fuck off. Seriously, fuck off.

I've had enough with old fans who always bring up the "you weren't here..." argument when someone new doesn't align to their opinions; no anon, I wasn't here, it's a sad fact that I became a BTS fan in 2020 and not 2013, that's true but that doesn't mean I don't know everything the kpop world said about them. That doesn't mean I don't know what they still say about them.

Fuck you for even implying that I don't care about the hate BTS gets, fuck you for saying I'm fine with it.

I DON'T CARE ABOUT OTHER FUCKING FANDOMS.

But how stupid that you and everyone who thinks like you think BTS is the only idol group that can achieve great things. GROW UP. GET OUT AND BREATHE SOME FRESH AIR.

You guys are really dumb, this is not about fans, I don't care about them, I don't care about other idols! But I'm not going to say I hope they never achieve anything because I want BTS to be the only one.

I don't care about haters or kpoppies because BTS keeps winning and will keep winning. Because BTS is still breaking records, filling stadiums. Because BTS will probably travel to Las Vegas next week to perform 4 sold-out concerts. Because they will attend the Grammys because they will perform at the Grammys because they are the ones who have the chance to win a Grammy today.

The best response to a hater is not to respond to them, it's to show them why you are better than them and BTS HAS ALWAYS DONE IT. So why should I waste my time responding to a hater?

Now I ask you, is your problem with kpoppies or with other idols? Is your hatred so great that you don't want a group to succeed just so their fandom won't be happy? Damn, what a miserable people you are.

You can't imagine the amount of hate I get in my ask box almost daily. I get homophobic, racist, sexist, stupid etc. asks, and you know what I do with them? I block them and go on with my life. Why? Because giving attention to a hater is just feeding their ego and that's what you guys do with your fan wars. Yes, sometimes I answer one or two, I'm human after all and I like to yell at people but answering hate with hate is never the answer and you know, that makes you a worse person because you know what it feels like and you still decide to do it to others.

BTS didn't make it look easy, they made it look possible and if other groups want to try, let them try! That doesn't affect BTS at all. They have proven that they are unique, that they are talented, that they came from day one to stay.

The haters are going to hate and I know that during all that time BTS will keep winning. That's the best answer they can give them.

This is the end of this conversation on my blog. Do not send any more questions to agree or disagree with this topic, I will not post them. I'm tired of this. Everyone can think and act as they want. I will do the same.

[tatyana-dreaming]

How’s Germany???

Hi!!! I haven't meant to neglect any of your asks, here I am finally responding to this one since I know you're not alone in wondering what the actual heck is going on over here!

I thought I'd make a little overview/summary post while the New Year's spirit ... uh... inspires me (also y'all enjoy Fledermaus, I will be alternating between the bubbliness of Elisir and Traviata Act 1 only of course) :,D

So, I've been in Germany for 5 months now. It feels like it's been a year already, because it's just been so intense. After 1.5 years in pandemic isolation and working at home, basically living in my room, and then suddenly being thrown into quasi-normal social and academic situations, traveling between two towns on a daily basis, and then seriously injuring myself...and THEN moving entirely across the country again (NOT my choice for the record! I wanted to stay in the South!) --- it was a lot to take in mentally and physically. Now it's just a really isolating and lonely time again (couldn't escape the pandemic by moving across the world, but I knew that when I decided to go through with the program I'm with), and I'm just trying my best to stay positive and connected to my community here, in the US, and online as best as I can.

Germany has been great re: pandemic measures (that is, having any at all sldfjaplskdfj;aslkfj sometimes I'll say something like "ffp2 mask" [or even "mask requirement" at all :')] or "free rapid tests at test centers all around town" or "2G+" or "they check your vaccination status" and my US friends ask me to explain what I mean"). That does not mean that it has felt like "back to normal" at all, although in the summer I got to be a lot more social since we could be outside a lot more. Now it's pretty isolating again and also I moved and making new friends and community is ChaLleNgiNg seeing as... events are just not a thing. I definitely need to find a hiking club or something when it is no longer frozen or dangerously muddy around here!!!

The food is wonderful*, if sacrilegiously low on spice (but it is NOT tasteless! I will have to travel to the UK one day to test the "don't call german food bland until you've eaten traditional english food" saying). I ate some red pepper hummus the other day and had to acquire milk because it was so spicy to me, which truly, deeply injured my ego :) god knows what will happen to me when I get to eat tacos again! I can't believe I have lost spice tolerance

* I have eaten out... a grand total of 5 times in the last five months. I do not feel very comfortable in indoor spaces. But I DO love grocery shopping and cooking so es geht. Plus bakeries :)

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!!! what more can I say although where I am, the bike lanes/sidewalks are an absolute mess. I'm talking, one sidewalk for both directions of both pedestrian and bike traffic. (haha I could say "feels like home" but there is actually TRAFFIC on the sidewalks so it actually is a problem, vs back home...uh....the sidewalk is not really a high traffic area).

Even though it's been very challenging here (I dreadfully underestimated the toll on mental health that all these different factors could and would take) I have been so lucky and have really enjoyed meeting new people, learning so much German, and exploring places I would never have seen if I had decided to stay home.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but feel free to ask questions if there's anything particular y'all are curious about. I might think of some anecdotes to share... meanwhile, up next: photos!!

[taeslovehandles]

I never meant to target you and I'm sorry you felt that way. You properly tag everything and adhere to the "don't like, don't read" rule. I don't follow you nor you follow, because we simply don't vibe together and that's okay.

But there are posts that are on the more "innocent" side that do represent fat people as a joke and it's like they don't even realize it because it's something so well ingrained in our fatphobic society.

For example, all the characters are having fun except the fat one or referring to someone as "twice his size" (like... If they want to say he's huge, they should just say it, not imply that there's a "right size" for someone to be).

I don't think authors should censor themselves, just acknowledge the role they play in how fat characters are perceived by the community they write for.

-🍓

First of all, since you obviously haven’t blocked me, you could have come to me via direct message. This is not a topic that needs to be brought out into the public eye even more than it already is. I have worked with anons before, I would have been the last person to reveal who you are. You could have made a trash account to message me in dm’s, but since you didn’t, I will reply to you here.

I want to make one thing clear. This will be my last response on the topic. If you do not like me as a member of the community please use the block button and filter me out, because I will stay. I have many friends here, and know that many people enjoy my content. Just because a small handful of people don’t appreciate dark themes in fiction, the contents of which they can easily protect themselves from, won’t make me falter.

Now, I want to debunk this ask because your ‘apology’ actually made me very upset.

I know you don’t mean it when you say you are sorry because you’re backpedaling on what you’ve told your friends and it really rubs me the wrong way. You could have owned up to your mistakes and apologized sincerely like others had but you continue to play victim and excuse your behaviour with tales of your own trauma, projecting your own insecurities onto my blog and thus hating me.

I know for a fact that you despise my blog, especially my writing, because you do not like how “obviously skinny people write about weight gain.”

Honey.

I couldn’t be any further from skinny.

I don’t mind sharing my actual weight, which has actually gotten worse due to COVID. I weigh 490lbs. I am morbidly obese. I have always been morbidly obese. For you to come and be “nitpicky” about a genre you don’t even enjoy? Why are you even reading my fics then?

The way I write about obese people, their struggles with literally everything… that comes from real life experience. I write this to share embarrassing and exhausting daily life tasks I personally struggle with.

A skinny person would never write some of the stuff I do, because they simply don’t know. They don’t know how scary it is to hear the line “we are going to a restaurant.” They don’t know how scary it is to go into that new restaurant, scan the chairs and think “Shit, am I gonna fit? Is the chair gonna creak? Is there enough space for the next table? What if I won’t fit?” A thin person doesn’t have to think this way.

And, let me tell you something else. Yes, I agree. The world is fatphobic.

In one of my recent posts I talked about movies and shows where they make fun of fat people because I hate it. Because it is REAL LIFE. And I am all for the body positivity movement and I do believe that all bodies are beautiful, because they are.

You do not know me personally.

And that leads to my next point. If you personally have issues with the phrase “twice my size”, then that is on you. And guess what? I cannot count how often I’ve heard lines like that my whole life.

“Oh wow two people would fit in one of your pant legs.”

“Wow, you are so fat, I could use your pants as a tent.”

So trust me, I know. I KNOW. But anon, this is the important part for me. Everyone processes trauma differently.

Inked ch3? Or literally any story I have written with a fat character being forced, insulted and talked down to like they’re dumb? That’s what I have been living with my entire life. Most of these stories, some obviously more extreme than how I had experienced them since it’s fiction, have been recordings of trauma I have went through.

My own dad force fed me. Forced me to eat food and gain weight. My first boyfriend was a feeder that manipulated me into gaining more weight and took measurements. Called me pig names and abused me. Hit me, manipulated me into having s** with him and then let all of his fantasies out on me.

I don’t make this shit up. I hate my brain for being so twisted now, that I actually find it hot and arousing. It’s weird. I know, but that’s how it is.

I’ve also never had friends in school. Not even kindergarten. Why? Because my “fat incased body could spread like a virus.” I was being bullied like JK was in Pondus.

I had hot water thrown at me, got glue put on my seats and hair, had my hair ripped out and even got a cigarette burn mark on my arm. Just because I was fat. Just because of how my body was shaped.

I was strangled and locked into a small locker for a night. I was almost killed for running away from my abusive dad from his car and had to listen to things like, “You are going to die when you are 30. No one will ever love you and your body.” That I have trust issues now and am paranoid about everything and everyone.

Those dark stories. I use those dark stories to try to work through my trauma. And yes, it may be absurd to you. It may disgust you, what I write. But sadly, most of it? Most of it really happened to me. To me and other people I’ve talked to as a friend or seen online. Most of what I write will be dark because the human species is made up of terrible creatures.

Fatphobia is an important topic, and I am happy the media has been slowly getting better about it, that people accept us more. But my writing is how I work with my trauma. If I can make fictional characters feel the same things I had to feel, that makes me feel better.

And I’m not hurting anyone with it. So how is it wrong?

I do not support any of this behaviour in real life. I never bullied anyone, I always try to speak up for my friends and tell people if they are being assholes. Because I hate them too and it makes me angry when good people get shit when they do nothing but breathe.

And how @pudgecuddles already said. I don't need you to advocate for body positivity and all that shit when you go out of your way to bully someone that may have experienced the same shit you have. I do not know you or what you went through in your life, but I am sorry. I’m sorry you feel like my stories aren’t okay to write, but this is how I work on my trauma and I need you to respect that.

I’ve said this before. We don’t have to be friends, or even talk to each other.

Just be neutral.

Block me. Filter me out. Pretend I don't exist. But, whatever you do, don’t make posts that call me out while making it obvious you’re talking about me, with the cover that you are advocating against fatphobia. That’s got a name. Cyber-bullying.

Have you hurt me with those posts? Yes you have, but I’ve never wanted bad blood. As you may have noticed, it wasn’t me that made a post. It was my good friend. Because I told her how exhausting it was and she knew about the posts back then.

I have a good idea of who you are.

I remember you.

But I kept my mouth shut. Because this community is my home and the last thing I wanted was for the people who like both of our types of content to feel like they have to choose sides.

In the end, we all rub one out to fat gay boys in a band. No user is better than the rest, and if there are topics you do not enjoy, there is a button for it. No need to drag everyone into it with posts. It’s exhausting and irritating.

Now, I do not accept your apology because you lied to me and I also do not feel like you meant it sincerely knowing what I know now after reading some dm’s. But I also won’t sit here and start shit.

This is my last post about this.

Please block me and enjoy the content you do like.

Nonetheless, I hope you have a nice day and a lovely weekend. Whatever you are experiencing or going through, I hope it gets better. Because even if you hate me personally for creating content you do not support, I’d say that I am a really friendly and nice person.

I do not believe that anyone deserves to be bullied like that and talked down in official posts. It happened before with a friend of mine and you probably remember that I did speak up about it.... But apparently no one learned from it. I really hope this time you do.

Insult me and shit talk me all you want in dm’s, but don’t do it publicly. No one deserves that kind of hate or passive aggressiveness. No one. Since you sound like someone that went through a lot of shit too, you should know better. You should know how it feels to be bullied and what damage it can cause.

I’m already depressed enough and I have bad lows. Let me write my erotica and just enjoy it? That’s all I want? I am a part of this community just like you were. You leaving because you did not like my content, is not my problem. If you cannot block me or ignore it and go so far as to read them and then rant about them negatively, what do you want me to do? I won’t leave the scene just because you don’t like me.

So, you either trash talk me in dm’s from now on so that I do not see it, or you block me. The latter of which would be the more mature thing to do. The more humane thing to do. Because talking behind someone’s back is just as bad.

Again, I don’t know why you felt like it was necessary to send me an ask with lies in it when I got screenshot proof of something else you have said/issues with, so don’t backpedal on me. I know Hun. I know already.

At least stick to what you said and actually apologize or, if you can’t, just block me.

But this ask? This ask just upset me.

Have a nice day.

p.s: The fact that this even needs to be talked about is so absurd and ridiculous to me. The whole thing is a petty party in my eyes that isn't even worth anyone's time? Do people on here really not have any other issues right now or am I in the wrong movie?

[yukipri]

hello. i read your goodbye message post and most of it feels like i wrote it myself. my account was terminated 3 days ago and i'm feeling exactly the same as you did. dead. spending a ridiculous amount of time and effort, pouring my heart and soul into it, only for all of that to be taken away. my blog kept me sane and it's the reason i stay alive. i truly hope i wouldn't have to wait for months to receive a reply because i don't know how much longer i can take this.

I’m so, SO incredibly sorry this happened to you, it’s not something I want anyone to experience (and JFC are terminations still happening orz). I understand how you feel. I’m so sorry. *HUGS*

I don’t know if I can offer much comfort because again, it DID take me two months to get my blog back, and 2 months of nonstop emailing and determination to keep emailing. I DID manage to get my blog back. I know tons of other people who didn’t. I don’t know if the difference is perseverance, or if it was something on my blog (or more specifically NOT on my blog) that made me a special exception, or anything else.

Still, here’s some advice on possible things you can try. I don’t know if any of these things contributed to getting my blog back, but if it feels better to be doing something rather than just waiting, here are some things that I tried.

-Send emails consistently, but not too much. I don’t know if they blacklist emails/blogs that contact support too much, but I was wary of it, and other than the first week, kept my emails to once a week.

-KEEP SENDING EMAILS. I don’t know if there’s something in their system sorta like the Tumblr inbox that doesn’t let some of their messages through, or if they simply skip/ignore some. The message they finally responded to was something like the 4th email I sent. They never responded to my earlier ones.

-In addition to sending new support requests, REPLY to the first email you sent. I didn’t notice this the first two times, but that automated “We’ve received your request!” email that doesn’t even have a copy of your message? Well, if you read carefully it tells you to reply to it to keep your place in the queue. Idk if it helps, but it was after my second reply to an older email that they finally got back to me (though not, ironically, on the email I replied to LOL).

-Make your case for why your blog shouldn’t have been terminated as clearly and politely as possible. It’s easy to get emotional, and I know I did a few times, but the vast majority of my emails were borderline groveling. It increased my bitterness, but I could swallow my pride if it meant getting my blog back. Quote their guidelines back at them. Be super, SUPER polite and always thanks staff for their time.

-Try sending a support request in a category other than “blog termination.” There’s a chance it’ll just get deleted/moved to the correct category, but if they take too long getting back to you, then whelp, politeness and trying to make things easy for them be damned. Fact is, they often respond in MINUTES to things like improperly flagged posts. THEY HAVE PEOPLE. Just maybe not people looking at your termination review request.

-Try adding an attachment. Follower sent me a post that gave advice, saying they have a bot scanning for messages with attachments and prioritize those. Idk if it did anything, since staff never responded to any of my emails with attachments, but better to cover all your bases. I made a simple jpg infographic on Tumblr, with my blog url, icon, date blog was created, approximate follower count, date of termination, and very simple bullets why my blog shouldn’t have been terminated.

-SAVE all of your messages before you hit send! Because when you get that automated email, they don’t give you a record of what you sent, which sucks and is stupid. I have a text file that I saved all my lengthy ass emails to, along with the date I sent them. Near the end, I sent staff a huge ass email compiled of all previous emails, saying “Hey, I sent all of these on these dates.”

-Maybe have friends/followers also send emails on your behalf? I don’t know if this did anything for me, and I know everyone who got a response got a copy-paste answer that I needed to be the one to contact them. But, people WERE sending emails for me (thank y’all so much ;A;), so that’s one more possibility.

I hope some of this information may be helpful to you or others in our situation >.

This is such a painful, unbearable situation. Blogs aren’t just disposable things to so many people, and it’s extremely irresponsible of staff and the entire company that this keeps on happening. And if it gets to be too much, there’s no shame in realizing you need to move on for yourself, and find alternatives.

Even I’m trying not to be too dependent anymore, and to make sure I have no regrets, even if I’m terminated again tomorrow. It could very well happen again. I’ll never be able to use Tumblr the same way again because now I always feel that blade against my neck.

Best of luck, and all the support and positive energy I can send you.

-Kazu

~~

My goodbye post, explaining what I went through, in case people missed it.

Daily reminder that you can find me on Twitter, Patreon, and now AO3 in case my blog gets terminated again.

[kochlandhomestead]

2/22/22

I been slacking on the accountability post so heres a (late) 50 days into the year update

My sleep has actually been very, very good.vI know im writing this at 2am but still..... I have slept more sound hours these last few weeks then in years and been keeping a pretty normal schedule.

I've been doing good at keeping up with my record keeping and tracking expenses and income. Keeping a ledger and keeping it current has made all the difference.

Meeting my daily calorie goal has been a struggle. Im under 10% of days I hit 3000. Honestly I just cant cram that amount of calories in especially with my food Budget. But I wont stop trying.

Wrestling is about to take off. If everything works out I could be out the next 4 weekends. Hoping to continue it through the spring.

Been doing much better at keeping up with the TV Wrestling. Trying to do watch threads in the SMA group has been a big help. Theres still way too much but I don't feel like im missing everything anymore.

With the much warmer weather in February I have begun to catch up with work outside and slowly started getting ready for spring. Once I can stop spending so much time cutting firewood I'll be much better off. Spend a little bit time in the garage tonight sortting things out and getting ready. Things usually really pick up in March around here.

With Dad getting a new car I have taken over the Blazer full time. I will miss the Deathtrap Racecar but its time for a more reliable ride. Of course along with that comes a whole another set of responsibilities and expenses.

Getting my very first paid social media management position today was a huge gift. I've been taking classes and working at this for the last 3 years and finally feel like it's paying off just a little bit is awesome. With this on my resume maybe a few more doors will open.

I also have a few other friends coming up and I'm always looking for more!

Everything else is just plugging along as always. Somedays more, some less. I've been feeling a excitement in the air and that scares me and thrills me all together. One more week in my least favorite month then into March and the beginning of my 45th year.

[withnive]

210804 니브(NIve)_'bollywoodhungama' Interview

EXCLUSIVE: Korean singer-songwriter NIve on piecing together debut EP Broken Kaleidoscope, navigating through tough times and producing for biggest artists In a crowded space of Korean music, every year you come across new musicians trying to leave a mark with their artistry. This year, more artists have taken the plunge to unveil music and one of them is multi-hyphenate NIve. Known primarily for his emotional and sentimental sound in his music and vocals, the musician has challenged himself with a rougher approach to both, laying down the foundation for a new sonic identity and ensuring that he presents a record that is resonating. After releasing his debut international single ‘Getaway’ in 2018, NIve received much global attention spurring his Korean debut with ‘Like a Fool’ featuring R&B singer-songwriter Sam Kim in 2020. NIve capped off 2020 with the smooth and emotional single ‘2easy’, which featured Korean R&B star Heize and marked the beginning of NIve’s full-fledged Korean promotional activities. In addition, NIve marked his debut as a producer and songwriter after composing ‘Beautiful Goodbye’ for EXO member Chen’s solo debut. NIve also has producing and songwriting credits with some of K-Pop’s brightest stars, including NCT U, Super Junior, SF9, CRAVITY, BTS’ V, and more. After a long 7 months since his last single ‘2easy’ feat. Heize in November 2020, NIve is determined to navigate through turbulent times through his debut EP Broken Kaleidoscope and build a soundscape that presents his story. "With this album, I really want people to listen to this album. This album is for people who are feeling things, but not sure if it's only them who are feeling it or if others are feeling the same thing. This is the album that talks about 'Hey, you're not alone!' Some people are feeling similar things’," NIve tells Bollywood Hungama. Befitting of his title as a rising artist and producer, NIve plays with multiple genres in the album including UK hybrid pop-rock, pop-rock, and adds a human element to the storytelling. The raw emotions of the EP bring a sense of relatability. Post the release of the album, NIve sits down with Bollywood Hungama on a beautiful afternoon to talk about it. Dressed in casuals and zooming from his office in South Korea, a happy NIve discusses at length about his EP, what made him pour his heart into it, how he battled some of the most challenging moments in life and how writing music has been his biggest escape. Congratulations on Broken Kaleidoscope. What's the response like from the fans?  Well, thank you first. So far, I'm getting a lot of like, support, and love from all the fans, who was the video they think is very different from what I've been doing. But then they liked it, which I was kind of like scared for, like, scared and worried about if my friends were going to be able to kind of get used to my new image, and the style. But it seems like it's playing along pretty well. So I'd say things are going pretty fine. There is this presumption that you make sentimental music. This debut EP Broken Kaleidoscope is a complete genre jump in that perspective. What was the process like to curate this album?  As you mentioned, I think of my five tracks in the album. And each song except for track number one ‘Escape’, track number three, they share like all songs are different, like genre-wise and message-wise, but then they play along the top bar. But most important importantly, when I started working on this album, I didn't think about making an album so it was kind of intuitive. ‘Escape’ was the very first song that I wrote for this album, but when I was writing it, I wasn't thinking about the album. I was writing it just to express myself. So, we had no plan to work on the album. I had a lot going on in my mind and heart. I just had the feeling that I needed to express myself. I got like nine to 11 songs and then I selected a few that spoke about my heart the best. So that's how the song list for this album was selected because I was like I wanted the songs that express my heart at best.

While I was working on this album, I kind of figured out that I was always talking about the big messages like the messages that heal people. But I thought to myself except for that, I haven't really shared what's going on with me at a certain point. So this album is really about me at a certain point in my life. So it's very kind of like an intuitive album. What is the significance of this album title in your life right now?  Well, the title for this album Broken Kaleidoscope actually, the concept of the idea started back in 2020, March, end of March.  I started a series to express myself; I kind of started writing diaries. I named it to be my Broken Kaleidoscope. From day-to-day, I have tried my best to keep up with my feeling since 2020 March, and I've been writing stuff that I wanted to hear daily. I've been uploading that stuff on Instagram stories. I wasn't going to continue with the idea. But then I got lots of messages via DMs, telling me that they can relate to what I was saying. Since then I felt kind of like some more responsibility. I felt responsible for not keeping up with expressing myself. So I kept going. When I wrote those five songs, and then my team and I decided ‘Hey, we're going to put this into an album’, we had to come up with the title right. Naturally, my team suggested and I thought too that we like the concept that I've been doing since 2020 – Broken Kaleidoscope to my broken kaleidoscope. So we were like ‘Why don't we name our album Broken Kaleidoscope because these are the songs that really talked about myself.’ So that's how the title came to be. I started the concept because I felt that it described me and expressed me in the best way, in my opinion. We felt that naming the album Broken Kaleidoscope will resonate with what I've been doing so far, which is expressing me to the fullest. In the opening credits of the, ‘I'm Alive’ music video, you hold a gun to your head waiting to pull the trigger. The tagline reads “It was only after getting a taste of death that I could feel alive.” The concluding credits end with you pulling the trigger but we never see if you did that or not. Cut to the last scene, you see a cake with ‘I'm Alive’ written on it. What was the idea behind the music video concept - do you reflect on your dark past and see a light and not pull the trigger? What does the storyline signify?  Well, you pick the right point because, in the music video, I get the gun in my head, and then you guys can never tell if I pull the trigger on that, well, whether I pull the trigger or not, I wanted to give out the concept that it's the way I am trying to express liberation. What does it mean to be alive? What if, you are not able to embrace yourself, and live your daily life? I thought that, is it being alive? Is it like staying alive without embracing yourself? Can you really tell you're alive? I felt we need some kind of liberation. So the gun in the music video is just like one of the tools that indicate death. Apart from the gun, I run, I drive, I sing in the hotel, I can express a lot, right? Like my anger, or like stress, and all those gestures. The fact that there are emotions that we have to go through to carry on with our lives, and to stay, and truly be alive, I felt that we are dismissing all those negative thoughts and negative feelings on purpose because we think it's just not like good to feel in a certain way - in a negative way. While you're alive, it's inevitable for you to feel the uncertainty and chaotic feelings. I felt that you have to go through those emotions and then be able to embrace those for you to be alive and liberated. So I purposely made sure that you guys cannot tell if I pulled a trigger or not. When do you feel alive? Well, I mean, I can give you the cliche answer. I feel alive when I'm writing. And when I'm driving, recently, I got into the habit of driving. So you can tell from the music video that I did for I'm alive. Your track ‘Escape’ has a hybrid rock vibe but the music video has a lot of angst and rage. What are, were or are you escaping

from? From myself. When I was working on the song ‘Escape’, I was in a position mentally that I felt like I couldn't feel anything whether it was positive or negative. I felt I was at my limit; feeling anything was just too much for me. I felt like I need to escape from myself thinking in this way. The only way for me to be able to pull that off was to write about it. So, to simply answer your question, I'm trying to escape from myself, my feelings. Since you worked on many songs for the EP, how did you put together these five tracks that only showcase your singing skills but also shone a light on producing and writing skills as well? For this album, especially when I was selecting songs, as I mentioned before, I was really just trying to select messages more so than the song itself. I can write a song about basically anything, but then, for me to make sure the album is the album I set out to make, I had to set a good theme. I was just doing my best to select songs that fit the bigger theme that I set. So while I was trying, and doing that, I think the songs just came to be. I felt that when I selected the songs, for example, when I selected ‘Escape’, I thought it's perfect for the beginning of the album because I started the idea with the feeling of escaping – the feeling like wanting to escape from myself. The second track, ‘Maybe I Will Die’ – it’s really not about death itself. But then, felt that you really have to go through those kinds of thoughts in order for you to really learn and know about how precious it is for you to want to live. With ‘I’m Alive’; I felt this song is perfect for this album because it talks about staying alive. I think this song has the most straightforward message out of all the songs on the album. ‘Perfect Dancer’ – I think one of them is the brightest song out of the album. I also talk about how I am preparing myself to treat the world with my own attitude because even if I'm imperfect, I will carry through. That is how I felt and ‘Perfect Dancer’ is a song that talked about it the best. Lastly, ‘To My Dear Friend’, is a song that punctuates this album. It really is a song that talks about the final thoughts of my agony, magnetized thoughts, and like the journey of my emotional elevator like an emotional rollercoaster, I think it’s a song that really puts an end to all the emotions that I was feeling. The songs had stories, and I felt I can align those five songs and put them into a story, then I had confidence that people will be able to walk through my thought process with me. When did you start working on this EP? Did the pandemic change the way you shaped it? I think it was around mid-February that we decided that we were going to make this into an album. This year, mid-February, and I've been writing about those songs since I think, maybe last year, December. A lot was going on in my life. At that time, career-wise, my personal life, all my relationships, personal relationships, and everything just jumbled together and led me to kinda explode. I just felt like, I don't know if I can continue, and the only way again, for me was to write. So I guess, since then I just started writing to really literally survive spiritually, and mentally. You mentioned you weren't in a good space, mentally. So, what helped you in terms of your mental health? To write about it? I mean, what did I feel and I tried to keep up with my thoughts, and the only way for me to keep myself safe is to write about it, express it. I'm not best at cooking or dancing; so I think I'm better at music than most of the things that I can express myself. I picked music to be my tool to deliver and write about my thoughts. So that's how I kept my mind and spirit safe. Is it difficult to pen your thoughts that are, basically, your diaries in a way? Now that it is out in the open, people are listening to your diary, does it get overwhelming?  Oh, yeah! It's scary. It's a scary experience because you are emotionally getting naked and now it is out in the world. It's a diary, it is supposed to be your thoughts like written

in the book. You don't normally share your diary with anyone unless it's your lover, but even if it's your lover, it's very rare for somebody to share their diary with anyone, even with their parents. For me, I'm literally doing it with the world. So it's a very scary experience. I don't know how people are gonna react to it. In some way, it's pretty liberating. But then, that feeling didn't really last for too long for me as the album release date got closer. I felt like 'Should I do this? I don't know if I can do this.' Like, I felt very scared. While making this album, did you learn something about yourself?  Yeah, I learned about myself, way more. I learned that I'm not perfect. I learned that I'm not that strong. While I was writing songs about this album, especially because I had to reveal my weakness, I felt like 'Wow, I had this side in me, and I was vulnerable.' I'm not as strong as I know, how I thought that I'd be. It's just, it was fascinating. But now I learned that I'm not perfect. So I write this album that's what I learned. After releasing this album, I also learned that I'm not alone. So that's also what I've been learning that you're not alone in this - it's like a journey. You grew up in many places, not just in South Korea. So who were your musical influences growing up? Well, all the countries that I've been around, it's not too many. However, I've indeed been living a nomad lifestyle. I was born in Korea, went to elementary school in Korea, and then I moved to Australia, went to middle school there. I moved to New Jersey, United States, and then I went to college in New York City. All while I was doing that, I got personal musical experiences from everyone in the country, so I cannot pinpoint who influenced me or what influenced me. I think all those countries, all my life experiences, I think everything was just like mixed, together. By the time that I decided - 'Hey, maybe I should start writing a song' - all those experiences became my inspiration. Now, to that inspiration, I'm adding my heart to it. So everything is mixed. I think that's how the music that you guys are hearing from me came to be. Was 'Beautiful Goodbye' by Chen of EXO, a turning point in your career?  Well, definitely! It's the song that started my career as a producer and songwriter. It indeed helped me in the artist aspect and career as well. Thankfully, the company themselves contacted my company, but I think, really working with different artists gave me not only the recognition, but it gave the experience that not many artists can have. It's very hard. I know that people may think that artists have this, like, huge community, and then they talk to themselves, like from day to day, it really doesn't happen that way. It's just the same as our society, if we don't have a connection together, workwise or conversation-wise, the connections don't happen. But for me, it happened through my songwriting, so I had to learn and experience fairly different things from what a lot of it was like which artists may not encounter. Is it true that before you started becoming a songwriter and producer, you were about to become a clarinet player? I majored in classical clarinet in my college, I went there for a year. So yeah, it is true that I tried my career to be a scientist, or, or a professor, teacher, like to be exact. And then I went to college for a year, and I decided, maybe I want to take a year off from college. Because if I continued going to college, I felt like I would end up, I will not have my way out from clarinet. And I wouldn't be able to have more opportunities to do different things. So I felt like at least let's take a year off from college, and then do whatever I want to do, musically. And since then I'm here. Well, life happens. How long did it take for you to reach where you are today?  I think it took me 10 years to be where I am right now - a little more than 10 years to be exact, like 13 years, but then I'll exclude those three years because I was young and didn't know what I was doing. Professionally, I think

10 years for me to reach where I am right now. I cannot say that I like fully succeeded as a musician. To become where I am right now mentally and spiritually. I think it really just took me 10 years to get here. Is it difficult to produce and write for yourself compared to produce and write for other artists? It is equally hard because there are two different things. When I am writing for myself. I listen to myself, my story and that takes effort. When I'm writing for others, I'm listening to them and try to figure out their stories in the right for them. So that's like a different style of writing from the other. So those are equally hard. Those are very, not easy. Broken Kaleidoscope EP is out now. What is next for you? What kind of journey would you like to take now? Well, I take my journey to another broken kaleidoscope. Yeah, another Broken Kaleidoscope, which means I will not know, actually, to correct myself. I will keep up with my writing my heart out daily, what I feel the emotions. They're very different from not too different than they're slightly different. And so I will be writing my diaries about what I'm feeling like these days and the next album will be another broken class. Go with a different theme. So I'll be working on that. You said that it's a 10-year journey, anything looking at the day when you started writing versus now? How do you see your journey? Where do you think in the next 10 years, you would be? If I'm still alive, in 10 years, I think I'm gonna be doing the exact same thing that I'm doing right now. With all their face. Same thing, same thing, just no work on my craft to be a good producer, myself, and for the others, and just continue to express and I will never stop with the music. Maybe I tried to do different things from here to there. But then music within myself will not change. So which means that I myself won't change. So I'll be doing the same thing. Do you have any set goals for yourself? I don't think I will ever reach a point where I'm satisfied, but at the same time, which means my only dream is to continue with what I'm doing. And right now I'm doing it. So I guess I'm living my dream out.

[deadmomjokes]

Hi there! I hope I'm not bothering you, but I wanted to know how to work at an animal shelter? What are the requirements? What does it entail? What is it like? What sort of jobs are there? Hope you have a nice day!

Not bothering at all!

It’s going to be different at every shelter, and it also depends on how the shelter is run. Some are run as a charity (501 c3), some are contracted NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), and some partner with city/county animal control to replace the ‘pound’ system that puts down unclaimed dogs. I work at the last kind, which I think is super great! It helps with the funding issue shelters often have, by having the county take care of things like the electric and water bills, some of the supplies, vet costs, etc. It doesn’t solve all of that, and we still love and rely on donations, but it helps us take in more animals. Plus, it keeps animals from getting put down just because nobody came to claim them. Instead, they go up for adoption! :)

I can’t speak on every point for all shelters, but I can speak for the one I work at, and so that’s how I’ll base my answers. There are a few constants in all shelters, and I’ll go over those too. This is gonna be a long post, so sorry to ramble on at ya, but I love my job and love talking about it!

Experience Necessary/ Requirements

For my interview, we went over my experience working with animals. For me, I’d volunteered with a shelter in the past, so it helped my credibility. I’ve also trained animals, and owned animals all my life. I have some minor experience in animal grooming and wound care, so that helps too. But the only official requirements for the position were: Willing to/able to clean lots of stuff (I’ve worked custodial in the past, so that helped), willing/able to lift up to 40lbs (tho I use this rarely), not afraid of animals (mainly cats and dogs, but also reptiles, birds, etc), some experience with pet animals, clean criminal check, and no allergies to pet animals.

In most shelters, those are going to be the main requirements. Some shelters may not have the criminal record thing, but due to our shelter working with the police system indirectly, and dealing with peoples’ information (to get your dog out, you have to show id), we have to have that requirement. But the necessities in a shelter environment are moderate physical strength, not fearing pet animals, not being allergic (you’d pretty much die if you are allergic), and being willing to get dirty. People with physical or mobility issues may be able to work the front desk, or work to help people coming through, but most shelter positions are very physical, as you may have to deal with dangerous animals.

Shelter positions/duties

Most of my position involves cleaning, and most shelter positions are going to be essentially cleaning jobs with animal interactions and other duties sprinkled in. Animals take a lot of cleaning when they’re kept in high numbers, and especially when kept indoors! Our cat kennels are made of stainless steel, and we have a vet-grade cleaner we use to eliminate the ammonia from the urine, and kill germs so they don’t get sick. They get their kennels cleaned every single day, and they get newspaper put in the bottom, a litter box, a blanket, a food dish, and a water dish. These also get cleaned or replaced daily.

Dogs stay in kennels with heated floors (so they don’t need a blanket; many dogs will shred blankets and/or eat them, so we just forgo the need except in cases of very small or old dogs). They are basically divided fences, giving the dog enough space to move and gently play. Our kennels have drains that  run down the middle of the kennel and have covers so you can hose the poops right down the drain instead of having to go at it with a poop scooper. Some shelters use the poop scoop method, but the hose method is a lot quicker, safer, and more sanitary. There are sliding dividers in the kennels so you can put the dog on one side and hose down the empty area, then switch sides and do it again, this way the dog doesn’t chase the hose or get soaked. Dog kennels get cleaned with a disinfectant and detergent to make sure germs don’t grow or spread.

Then there’s dishes. We have to wash all food, water, and litter dishes, and it piles up fast. Then you have laundry--cat beds and cleaning rags, mostly, but also some towels or the occasional doggy bed. Sweeping, mopping, dusting, and disinfecting various surfaces are also involved. Lots and lots and lots of cleaning.

It’s not just cleaning, tho. Me and my coworkers who are also animal care attendants (that’s our official position title) feed and water all the animals when we clean the areas, and we watch for any signs of sickness. In cats, you’re looking for sneezing, coughing, nasal or eye discharge, vomiting, or drooling. In dogs it’s sneezing, coughing, runny/bloody stool, or repeated vomiting. We also give vaccines to all incoming animals (kennel cough for dogs, and a combo for cats), and our shelter is authorized for doing rabies vaccines at redemption or adoption. This is only done at a few shelters, as rabies vaccination is highly legally controlled, so it probably won’t be at many shelters. We also do pre-adoption checks on all animals getting adoption, where we check health markers to make sure they’re not visibly sick. We intake animals (do their basic paperwork, which varies by shelter, set up their kennel, feed them, take their picture, scan them for microchip, sex check them, etc). We also walk through the people looking for a lost pet. That last one will be unique to shelters like mine that replace the pound system.

There are other positions at our shelter. We have the front desk staff, who do all the paperwork, licensing, adoptions, and so on. They help with some cleaning and animal care, but that’s mostly on the animal care staff. The front desk staff deal with people mostly. They also do temperament testing on the animals to make sure they’re safe for adoption

Every shelter has their own positions and duties, but most shelters will need cleaning/feeding staff and desk staff, and that’s where most of the jobs are. Some, however, need communications/PR people, advertising people, community liasons, etc. (Our shelter combines those duties with the front desk people. We just don’t have the funding to separate the duties.) Every shelter is unique, so check descriptions carefully, and if you get an interview, ask questions!!!

What it’s like

There are great things about working in a shelter, and not so great things. The not so great things are probably obvious--lots of animals who are lost and sad and waiting for a forever home. (***VERY SAD ANIMAL THINGS CW, IF YOU DON’T WANNA READ ABOUT SAD ANIMAL THINGS SKIP TO THE NEXT “***”) It can drain you emotionally, especially when the same animals keep getting passed up for adoption and just stay there for ages. Sometimes animals don’t make it. As hard as we try to keep them all healthy, some animals get really sick while at the shelter--stress wrecks the immune system, not just in humans. Cats in particular are really vulnerable (which is why cat-cuddling volunteers are so vital!) They also refuse to eat or drink when very sick. So sometimes animals pass, and sometimes it takes a while and they start to suffer. It’s really hard to see that especially when you can’t do anything about it. Sometimes animals come in and they’re injured, and the vet can only do so much, or your funding for the month has run out and you can’t take him to the vet so you just do what you can. Sometimes people surrender their pets to you for many reasons, and it hurts to see them do it. Sometimes (for our shelter), animal control officers bring you animals that were killed, and you have to store the body for an owner to identify. Taking them back to id the body is the hardest part. Another really, really hard one is when (at our shelter) dangerous or suffering animals have to be euthanized. Not all shelters do that. Some are in areas where ‘rehab’ rescues come collect the dangerous ones and work to get them people-safe. Some just keep the animals forever, which is neither safe nor good for the animal. Our shelter is in an area without a rehab, so the dangerous ones have to be humanely euthanized. But the fact that it’s humane doesn’t make it any easier. I don’t do it, tho, so that’s good. It takes a lot of authorization, so none of us animal care staff are allowed to, and I’m glad for that. But it’s still really hard knowing.

(***SAD THINGS OVER***)

There are also great things. Seeing people find their pets is amazing! Seeing animals get adopted is the best! You also sometimes have time to cuddle kitties and walk a dog or two. And as you clean, you get to kind of play with the animals, sort of. But it’s amazing just knowing that you’re helping animals that would otherwise be living or getting hurt out on the street. It’s wonderful when you get to see an animal’s journey from coming in as a dirty, injured stray to a happy, clean, healthy animal going to a new forever home.

Note that I made that ‘not so great’ section longer than the great section. That doesn’t mean it’s more sad than not. I just want people considering shelter work to be prepared for the hard things that are involved, because they are very taxing, especially if you don’t know what you’re in for at first. You have to be prepared for awful things, or sad things will knock you down really hard.

Some other considerations: you’ll be dealing with scared, sometimes aggressive animals, so you have to be able to keep your cool. You have to follow your shelter protocols, or you or the animals might get hurt. You can’t skimp on regulations, or you risk injury or an outbreak of major disease among the animals. Shelters are a delicate balance, and one missed hand-washing could cause a whole row of cats to come down with feline distemper. You have to be willing to be meticulous.

How to land a shelter job

The first thing is knowing what shelters are in your area. Look them up, and get their contact information. Find out if they take volunteers. If they do, do it!! Volunteering with a shelter is an amazing way to get to know if it’s a good fit for you, and also to get an in with the shelter. It also looks great on a resume for if you move but still want to get into shelter business.

Don’t be afraid to ask where they would post if they ever have job openings. That’s your best way to find out if they’re hiring, or when they will be hiring. You can ask those questions! I stumbled upon my job by checking city/county job boards. Just keep an eye out.

I’m sorry that was such a long answer, it’s just something I’m super passionate about! If you have more or follow-up questions, let me know, and I’ll try to be more brief next time. :)

[windycityparrot]

I need a powder coated bird cage - but I'm not sure why

This question that came in recently is a reminder that we as a company should assume nothing. "I have a dark colored copper cage that is about 25 years old. I am having a new cage bottom made. I would like to paint it with a powder coated paint. Do you have any products that would help me or do you know where I may purchase them"? Regards - Mark editors note - heard on the street: “I want a powder coated cage” “everyone is selling powder coated bird cages” “I don’t know what a powder coated cage is but I think my bird should have one” Hi Mark Having managed a small family run powder coat facility back in the last century I am intimately familiar with Electrostatic Powder Coating. Your question also makes an important point. The majority of people let alone caged bird keepes have an opaque view of powder coating. File under setting the record straight. A bird’s cage is the single most important apparatus he or she has. To that point we'll be assisting you in raising your caged bird keeping knowledge-base and will augment written information found here on our blog with our new “cage cam” videos. That’s right. We going to bring the camera inside the cage to help you see what your bird sees (although they see much better than we do). Going where no smart phone has gone before.  Yes, I know we’re awesome - thank you. Do you have a cage cam video? Send one our way and we'll send you $5 in birdie bucks. Time to hit the on ramp. From Wikipedia - Powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing, dry powder. The main difference between a conventional liquid paint and a powder coating is that the powder coating does not require a solvent to keep the binder and filler parts in a liquid suspension form. The coating is typically applied electrostatically and is then cured under heat to allow it to flow and form a "skin". The powder may be a thermoplastic or a thermoset polymer. It is usually used to create a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint. Your cage bottom Mark, has to be sandblasted to create a rough surface guaranteeing adhesion by the powder which is applied by special electrostatic "guns" that charge the particles positively causing them to cling to the now grounded negatively charged - your cage bottom held by a frame designed for this purpose. Catch tune - huh? I couldn’t find any bird cage manufacturing videos. If you happen to be bumming around China or Vietnam and pass a cage manufacturing facility we'd be grateful if you were to knock on the door and ask if you take some pictures and a little video for the friends back home. In the meantime I found that video example of mass-produced powder coating facility. Just picture those posts as say, birdcage legs. This also drives home the point that powder coating is everywhere you look. It's seen a lot today in outdoor furniture for consumers and at the commercial level. You'll find it on commercial hand rails, mail boxes and more.  Based upon my experience Mark, I can relate to you that your cage bottom has to be suspended and/or run through an oven at approximately 400°F for eight or 10 minutes (depending on the powder used). If you are truly motivated to DIY, it’s important to note that preparation of the surface is probably 3/4 of the process. It’s best to have a portable sandblaster from a company like Harbor Freight for surface preparation.  This fellow does a very good job of explaining the powder coat process in his video.   Paint on the other hand is readily available in cans: information on selecting the proper paint for birdcages can be found here mitchr This where we take a slice of a holistic view of your captive bird's environment. Editor’s note: we give our birds far less credit than they deserve for their ability to adapt

Bird flocks in the wild tend to reside in the same general area in the same set of trees as long as the area proves to be "safe haven". When birds are on the move looking for food, foraging, meaning they are flying a mile or two and landing somewhere. In most cases it will be on a tree that they never landed on - an arbitrary rock. This is why birds have few nerves in their feet. It makes adjusting “on a dime” to a rough new area - an everyday fact of life for a bird in its natural environment.   We also know that birds have no muscles in their feet. Their legs and feet are controlled by an eloquent pulley system made of two tendons in each leg. Thus when they clamp their feet fully around anything including cage bars, it is with the full force of their legs and feet.

DYK there are feral lovebirds living in Arizona cactus? barbed wire and catus teach us never to under estimate our bird's abilities to adapt This includes climbing up and down their cage. Something we encourage because the more they do it the more exercise they have and it helps maintain overall strength. When birds climb up and down ON their cage (we are leaving the discussion of perches and letters for another time) they are assisting their ascent or descent with their beak which is for razor blades having the potential strength of almost 300 psi. They are also "squeezing" cold hard metal - cage bars which stress your bird's feet out Which brings us to (FINALLY) to why we want our cages to be powder coated. and I really liked this powder coat DIY video because it's a really low cost system using a house hold oven. (You can not cook food in an oven once it has been used for powder coating  When you paint anything, you are coating the "substrate” ie; the cage metal, dry wall, the restored piece of furniture” The “powder” In the term powder coating on the other hand chemically bonds to the metal substrate aka bird cage parts. As noted preparation of the surface is probably 3/4 of the process. While at Shelf-Kote everybody had to spend time in the sandblast booth. This is what we wore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LNJqQiCgo Always hoping that somebody remembered to replace the air filter in the oxygen line before you were racing to meet a deadline. Powder coating done right will withstand a parrots abusive feet and beak due to this unique marriage of particle and metal united in the church heat but all powder coating is not the same. Improper surface preparation Can lead to premature flaking of the coating. We hear on occasion from people who say their bird is chewing the coating off the cage. To which we ask “how many toys are in the cage?” And the reply usually goes something like “he really likes that bell.” sigh btw: A bird cages natural enemy is water. Although the powder coating is impervious to liquid, the square tubular components usually forming the corner of larger right I am bird cages are hollow. When the interior of this metal gets wet it is slow to dry and accelerates rust. This happens a lot when you drag your bird cage out to the driveway the moment the snow has melted. This is your day in the sun to try new new 2580 psi pressure washer on your cockatoos cage that has gotten, well - soiled - over the winter. Kemosabe - Put the wand down and step away from the power washer. There will be a puddle of water inside each of the four corners with the casters that attach to the metal tubes. If it’s a really good fit with the plastic fittings there could be a small puddle of water at the bottom of each of your cage's is feet for weeks. The deck will be there when the snow clears. Keep the cage where it is. Place something like an office chair mat or a scrap piece of vinyl flooring under the bird cage protect your floor and have an easy to clean surface. Get a hand held steam cleaner. If we could find one to sell you that we can make a buck on without ripping you off you would see the CTA (call to action) button here - to buy one now. You’re on your own for finding one grasshopper but it will solve not only the cleaning of the cage but the cleaning of the accessories with in the cage while sanitizing everything without the use of chemicals. Take that, environmentalists. Cagescaping tip: Before installing anything new into the cage, It’s important that you've observed your birds movement throughout the cage and are aware of its "poop trajectories". This will save time in daily cleaning and maintenance and make for a healthier environment. When poop is on accessories like ladders, Your bird later will groom its own feet - nuff said. You are a caged Bird keeper, which is why you are reading this. Your bird is a captive bird. If you took your cage outside with your bird in it and open the door your bird would eventually fly out never to be seen again. With this whole powder coat metal bird feet tendon beak thing in the background, I hope you can begin to see why although a cage is useful for your bird to navigate you can put undue stress on its feet. Your bird's beak attacking it daily certainly is not prolonging the life of said birdcage. Rather than fighting the cage, use the cage as support system for multiple thoroughfares and gateways inside and outside of the cage. Booda soft rope perches are one of the most effective birdcage accessories for this purpose.  I hope you found this brief journey into the mysteries of birdcage manufacturing, interesting. At least more so than knowing what the numbers on the side wall of your car tires mean. The two-digit number after the slash mark in a tire size is the aspect ratio. For example, in a size P215/65 R15 tire, the 65 means that the height is equal to 65% of the tire's width. The bigger the aspect ratio, the bigger the tire's sidewall will be. written by mitch rezman approved by catherine tobsing Your Zygodactyl footnote  I provide foster care for Oasis Sanctuary parrots in need of medical care. I currently have 18 of the nearly 800 Oasis parrots in my care. I ordered your full spectrum light bulbs and they arrived today. I want to thank you for the competitive price for the bulbs. All 6 are now in use. One is over a plucked Vos Eclectus female's cage where it will assist in breaking down bilirubin and aid in vitamin D production and calcium absorption. This parrot has liver disease and chronically low serum calcium despite daily calcium supplements.  The second bulb is in use for a Scarlet Macaw who 21 years ago broke her back. She has many health problems now and the bulb will supply UVA & UVB light rays to help her. The third bulb is in a light to provide general lighting to the area where the macaw & eclectus spend their days with 2 other parrots. The last 3 bulbs are installed in the "Chat Room." This is a bedroom housing sleeping quarters for 13 parrots and it is the daytime play area for 7 of the birds. Their medical needs range from old age to recovery from surgery. I just wanted you to know the use I put the bulbs to in case anyone asks what they are "good for." Ruth Ann La Rue - The Oasis Sanctuary - Business Manager & Foster Care Provider Customer Dear Ruth Ann Thank you for telling us about your use of the bulbs. It sounds like they are doing the best they can for the birds. We are thrilled to hear this. I hope the birds "feel better" for them being there. Thank you very much - Catherine Click to Post

[moosterrecords]

JOHN LYDON

TO RELEASE

'MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK'

--CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF SONGWRITING ACROSS THE SEX PISTOLS AND PUBLIC IMAGE LTD (PiL)--

MARCH 31, 2017

  Photo credit: © Paul Heartfield 2012.

In celebration of 40 years of songwriting across both the SEX PISTOLS and PUBLIC IMAGE LTD (PiL) eras, JOHN LYDON is delighted to announce the personal and truly exclusive publication of MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK. Due out March 31, 2017 and limited to 1000 copies, MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK is available to pre-order now via: https://mrrottenssongbook.concertlive.com. ***See the Q&A with JOHN LYDON below.

Presented in glorious, luxury large format (370x290mm portrait), MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK features never before seen artwork as well as annotated song lyric sheets spanning LYDON's entire career all written in his own hand. As the book unfolds, each album is featured with an exclusive introduction to the songs from JOHN as well as the original cover and hand-drawn artwork from LYDON to beautifully bind the lyrics to their meanings. MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK gives fresh insight into the purpose behind the words that have shaped over four decades of his songwriting career. Every one of the book's three-hundred, handcrafted pages reflect JOHN working night and day over the final six months of 2016. Each book is hand signed by the man himself and individually numbered.

   MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK: Cover and original artwork by John Lydon. 

Always outspoken, controversial and sincere, JOHN LYDON, formerly Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols and then lead singer in Public Image Ltd (PiL),John Lydon has secured a prime position as one of the most recognizable icons in the annals of music history. As Johnny Rotten, he was the lead singer of the Sex Pistols--the world's most notorious band--who shot to fame in the mid-1970s with singles such as 'Anarchy in the UK' and 'God Save the Queen.' So revolutionary was his influence, he was even discussed in the Houses of Parliament, under the Traitors and Treasons Act, which still carries the death penalty. Via his music and invective, he spearheaded a generation of young people across the world who were clamoring for change--and found it in the style and attitude of this most unlikely figurehead. With his next band, Public Image Ltd (PiL), Lydon expressed an equally urgent impulse in his make-up--the constant need to reinvent himself, to keep moving. From their beginnings in 1978, he set the groundbreaking template for a band that continues to challenge and thrive in the 2010s. He also found time to collaborate on new dance records with the likes of Afrika Bambaataa and Leftfield. From his beginnings as a sickly child of immigrant Irish parents who grew up in post-war London, to his present status as a vibrant, alternative national hero, Lydon has remained a compelling and dynamic figure--both as a musician, and, thanks to his outspoken, controversial, yet always heartfelt and honest statements, as a cultural commentator.

Q&A with JOHN LYDON:

What led to the creation of MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK?

I've written many songs over the years and I've always wanted to combine it all in one picturesque way. When I write songs, I think in pictures so it's the most appropriate thing I could do and looking at all the images together led to MR ROTTEN'S SONGBOOK.

In your recent biography, Anger Is An Energy, you mention that "words count" versus just "throwing around bricks as the voice of rebellion." Can you talk about this a bit?

Comedy is the root to the truth. If you take a thing too seriously, you kind of miss the point of what human nature really is. It's a hilarious romp through existence.  You can learn a lot, firstly, by learning to laugh at yourself. Only then, can you begin to laugh at others and this is why when I draw and paint, I like to do it a cartoon-y way because I think it opens up the personality of the entire event--rather than some serious still-life which says nothing and gets us no-where... 

Is there any piece of artwork in the book that is standing out to you or surprised you?

On most of the pieces, I don't sit down with a specific idea other than the actual songs. I'm quite amazed at what comes out of me. But the character on the front of the book, he's the biggest surprise of all because I was thinking how can I encapsulate what this book is supposed to unravel to the reader? That character just appeared on the page. I don't know what makes me draw these things.

                                                                                        What comes first? Art or music?

I just love drawing. I love the scratch of the pen on the page and the characters come out of that. To be fair to myself, that's what goes on in my head daily, all the time, 24/7. Every now and again, I manage to draw it onto paper. I use oils, pencil, and sometimes I just cut up bits of magazines and use different colors and blend them. Any medium suites me, but the more risky, the better and the more difficult the work involved, the more I enjoy it. This book was very hard to put together--getting the details to be absolutely perfect. Writing out the words, you might think that's easy. Bloody hell, if you don't know the song, no one does. When you're actually writing it, it's amazing how confused you could become inside your own songs. It's that Robin Williams in me that keeps going off into other subjects. I keep ping-pong ball around ideas and things ending up very, very confused. I had to learn how to focus which strangely enough I haven't done up until now. I gave myself the task and I had to stand by it.

Is the art process similar to writing songs?

Yes, but songwriting is a thought process that goes on for months, sometimes even years. Suddenly, while I'm drinking a cup of tea or eating baked beans, I'll just sit down and quickly write it out. It's almost like not thinking and it's like it's already been processed for me. Songwriting is like me explaining myself to me. I'm still in there as the confused little boy stuck in the hospital not knowing who he was from age 7 to 8. I didn't really know who I was until around 11 since all the memories returned very slowly. So there it is. While you're guessing who you are, this is what you're creating inside your head. I've been given a golden opportunity through music which I never planned on--it happened incidentally and that's when all the pieces started to fall into place. Now I'm looking at it at it like a big jigsaw puzzle of my life and slowly, but surely making it clear, not only to me but, to others. There's no evil intent in me at all...of course I could be lying.

What would you like people to take away from this book? Is there an overarching theme as a whole?

Well, if it's in the library, please don't take it away without returning it. I've been in the public spotlight since the 70s, that's a lot of pressure, but I've been able to cope with it and still maintain some kind of integrity. That's what I'm trying to get across here. You may be very confused, but as I say it's all little pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that I've haven't been able to put together myself, yet. But then again I don't know anyone who has walked into my life at any point absolutely picture-perfect. So I'm on the same trial as everybody else but I, at least, have found a way of expressing it. 

Do you feel that writing songs comes easier than creating art? 

No, it's just the same thing. Except, I'm very wary of the word "art" because the idea of interpreting thought into imagery has been corrupted so much. Even the title "Famous Artist" just comes on with some horrendous fake snobbery and institutional-ism.  To put it simply, I look at the Sistine Chapel and wonder why they've all got little willies. Even the censorship in that is rampant, so everything is still being controlled and that's no good to any of us. 

So art and music for you is the ultimate form of free expression?

Yeah, no boundaries, no rules, no regulations. Do as thy will because you're not doing any of it to hurt anybody. For me, a much more appropriate world would be one of complete open-mindedness. I don't care what language the man next to me uses. A clear message is what I want in life, transparency. I look into the thoughts behind the process, so I can write songs and now I discover that I can draw. I'm not making any issue out of it, but it's damn rewarding. I'll probably be publicly condemned.

What made you decide now is the right time to share the songbook?

Well, if you're gonna go to trial you might as well tell everyone! That would be the philosophy. 

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