#just fuzzy smol units

[thecapturedspy]

Junicorn Day 19 - Shetland Pony

[random-thought-depository]

The phrase “money is the unit of caring” really, really, really rubs me the wrong way.

Like much of libertarian thought, it elides the power dynamics that are actually going on, and by doing so it pretends capitalism is kinder and fairer than it actually is.

I can’t afford to buy a house. A rich person could easily afford to buy a house. Does this mean the rich person cares more about having a house than I do? If a poor person is starving to death and a rich person easily buys food, does that mean the rich person cares more about eating? Are rich people abounding in passion, while poor people are just apathetic to everything (except maybe desire for leisure)? There may be some libertarian/Objectivist types who believe that, but if so their perspective is so self-serving and/or detached from reality that I don’t see much point in engaging with it. Anyone who isn’t chugging right-wing economics Kool-Aid by the liter should be able to see that these logical consequences of “money is the unit of caring” are grotesque absurdities. Money can be a somewhat accurate unit of caring where everybody has about the same amount of it, but in a society like ours it clearly serves a rather different function.

“But that’s a strawman!” somebody might object “it means those rich people do something that people care about!” 1) A lot of the money rich people have comes from other rich people, that’s one of the consequences of high socioeconomic inequality, and it gets us back to what I just said. 2) This gets to the fact that “money is the unit of caring” really means “money is a unit of ability to fulfill desire,” which isn’t really any kind of groundbreaking insight, most people know this already. So what’s so interesting about saying “money is the unit of caring”?

This gets to a feature of this phrase that feels very viscerally scummy to me: it implicitly conflates “caring” in the “wanting something” sense and “caring” in the “I care for you” sense. When you rephrase it as “money is a unit of ability to fulfill desire” it becomes obvious that money is a basically amoral form of power. A money launderer buying blood diamonds to help a rich landowner finance a right-wing coup may be “caring” in the sense of wanting something, but that impulse certainly doesn’t deserve the warm fuzzy connotations that usually attach to “caring.” The use of “caring” creates a superficial warm fuzzy impression that distracts from the fact that we’re actually discussing a basically amoral form of power. It’s sophistic emotional manipulation.

Money isn’t a unit of caring. Money is a unit of power. That doesn’t make it inherently evil, but let’s be honest about what we’re talking about.

I guess one thing “money is the unit of caring” does well is exemplify much of what I don’t like about the “rationalist” community. It’s fundamentally an example of a familiar form of libertarian sophistry, but instead of gun-toting Gadsden flag types or affluent accountants who think corporations are people it appeals to nice affluent scrupulous liberal utilitarians who are compassionate but have a weakness for contrarian galaxy brain takes and a bias toward thinking all of society’s problems come from a failure to shut up and multiply. It’s Mitt Romney’s politics with a “uwu I’m a kind gentle soft smol bean and I believe this because I think it’s very enlightened and compassionate” face.

[hazel2468]

This post is going to be insufferably long, and I will put it under a cut. But I’ve been having a very salty, not so great day, and I figured that some of y’all might be interested in a list of every single plant I own. Also I want to make that list, and I know I sure as shit would want to read a post about every single plant someone else owns, because who doesn’t love plants?

Anyway. Under the cut. Every plant I own.

Living Room - Meg the Ponytail Palm- bought him off a guy in my building a while ago. Not doing too great, not sure why he isn’t happy. - Weird Peperomia- this thing looks like an alien. It’s also dying. Most of my Peps didn’t do too well this winter, and I’m thinking they just aren’t my type of plant. - Pearl Plant- A “tulista” apparently. Love this guy. I have no idea how to care for him and he’s still alive. - Portia, the Echeveria “pulidonis” (I think)- beautiful girl. Growing a second head. Love her. - Ghost, the Echeveria... Ghost- Beautiful. Still alive. Love her. - Tippy, the Echeveria “tippy”- One of my first succulents. Alive. Thriving. Plump. - Julien, the Echeverai I have no idea- Also a first. Small, had a rough time, but alive. - Anya, the Echeverai “agave”- Named after my friend. Lorge. Happy. Bedroom (AKA the plant room) -Calathea “Zebrina”- Fussy as hell, somehow putting out a new leaf every damn week. - Calathea “Pinstripe”- unhappy but alive. No new leaves, adjusting to a new pot. - Calathea “Vittata”- Adjusting still. New leaf coming in. Fussy. - Calathea “Orbifolia”- Newest addition. Lots of new leaves. Seems pleased. - Pilea peperomiodies- Unhappy. Might be sick. IDK what to do with it. - Jenna the Peperomia Obtusifolia variegated- First plant. Just repotted her. Adjusting but alive. Tall and beautiful. Named after Jenna Marbles. - Gilly the Moth Orchid- New addition. First orchid. Just repotted her. Love her already. - Avi the Avocado Tree- Experiment with a seed turned into a tree. - Ficus elastica “burgundy”- first rubber tree. Love him SO much. - Ficus elastica “rubi”- second rubber tree. SO pretty. - Big Julie the Peperomia “parallel”- Somehow alive. Lorge. Love her. - Peperomia “Golden Gate”- Dying. Almost dead really. Did NOT like winter. - Peperomia “Hope”- Leggy but living. Seems unhappy though. - Hoya wyetti variegated- Found this for 10 bucks. Growing like MAD. Love him. named him Narancia. - Tortellini the Hoya compacta variegated- also a bargain find. Not growing much, lil wrinkly. Love him anyway. - Fugo, the Hoya Obovata- Just put out his first new leaf and WOW is it pretty! - Trish, the Hoya Krimson Princess- First Hoya I got. Love her. beautiful. Stunning. - Hoya curtisii- new, smol. Found him at the farmer’s market and screamed like a plant nut. - Units 1 and 2, Hoya compacta- One plant split into two pots. Massive. One vine is almost 3 feet long and I love it. - Giorno, the Hoya brevialata- Growing like a gangstar. Bright green and so cute. - Hoya kerrii variegated- bought off of facebook over a year ago. JUST starting to put out new growth. Love those leaves. <3 - Burt the Hoya sp. aff burtoniae- Flower. power. So many blooms. Fuzzy leaves. Love him. Long. Trailing. BEAUTIFUL. - Bruno the Hoya Australis- Lorge boy. Massive. New leaf every five minutes. - Diavolo the Hoya Krimson Queen- Not growing but pretty. Alive. Wife got him for me. - Wrinkles the Hoya pubicalyx- Mister Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. More leaves than I can count. Splashy and beautiful. Overachiever of the bunch.

[chroma-imp]

Gimme top 5 Pokémon!!!

How dare you make me choose. This is the hardest question you coul’ve asked. Know that I am suffering at your hands. For all of these, I like all stages of the evolutions, I just picked my faves from them, but!! they’re all very good!!

5. Galvantula

Look at this baby go!!!! So fuzzy!!! So big! So adorable!! (I absolutely love that no Pokemon designer has ever realised that spiders do have 8 leggies...shhhh)

4. Lairon

My metal son...he is so good.. Look at how happy he is! I want like 50 of these please.

3. Grotle

what a delight!! look at his little cheeks! I wanna pinch them. He is an absolute unit, that’s for sure!!! Big baby, big.

2. Mudkip

How could you not love this little baby? This is what perfection looks like. Smol, wet baby.

1. Quagsire

A friend! Truly, peak character design. This boy’s skull is so thick, when he swims against rocks he doesn’t even notice (yes this is canon lore, I am not making this up). I would die for this boy.

[heywetotheotherworld]

Hecking good bees

Just finished a full hive check with a friend generously assisting me, and they're doing really well! Lower mite load than I feared, given that I was about a week late with the Hopguard, and plenty of brood and honey. So much good pollen, too. I think we may be able to pull a little honey this year, after all. They're establishing really well; I'm so proud of them.

Several very cute drones and newly hatched workers in the hive. Our drones are so big this year, the dictionary definition of absolute units. Baby workers remain very soft, very fuzzy, and prone to bumping into things.

We saw baby bunnies by the hives again today. I really appreciate them, those smol, shy, short-eared rascals.

[katrinawritesthings]

Jonghyun/Taemin; A Series of Lists (Part 21); PG

part 21: five times things were smol and cute

It’s his first time back since he told Jonghyun that he loves him and he wants to remind him with, like, kisses and nuzzles and shit.

ao3

masterlist

1 Taemin yawns as he struggles to pull a long sleeve shirt over his head. Running his fingers through his hair when he’s done, he shuffles out of his room and closes the door behind him. With a quick glance around the hallway, he notices someone backing out of a room near the staircase.

No, not a someone; a Jonghyun, and he’s not backing out, he’s rummaging in the room with his back to the hallway. Hmm. Must be a storage closet or something. Taemin heads over to him, happy that the first human he’s going to interact with today is going to be his boyfriend. It’s the group’s first time back to the motel since Taemin’s birthday. He’s a brand new adult and he’s been hoping for some extra kissies in appreciation for it.

He comes up behind Jonghyun and puts his hands gently on his waist, opening his mouth to say his usual quiet, “Hey.” Before he can get the word out, a lot of different things happen.

Jonghyun gasps loudly, jumps like a mile, turns halfway around, bumps his shoulder on the doorframe, turns the rest of the way around, hisses “Jesus fucking christ,” stumbles a lot of steps back, tumbles to his butt on the floor, curls his knees up, and laughs.

It’s a shaky breath of a laugh first, wide eyes blinking up at Taemin in relief, but as the seconds tick by, it turns louder, harder, heavier, until he’s leaning against a dusty shelf with his hands over his face and laughing so loud Taemin thinks he might wake up anyone that managed to sleep in even later than he did.

Taemin blinks down at him, very confused at that sequence of events.

“Oh,” he says, “um,” he says, “sorry,” he says. He fumbles to sit down on the carpet in front of Jonghyun awkwardly. “I wanted to say hi.” He didn’t mean for… this. To happen. Jonghyun keeps laughing, eyes all scrunched up, mouth wide, whole body curled up in a little ball. Taemin’s never seen him like this. It’s really fucking adorable, even if he doesn’t understand it at all.

With one hand, Jonghyun reaches out until he grabs Taemin’s wrist. He half crawls, half tugs Taemin forward, still giggling, until he clambers himself into Taemin’s lap and clings around his neck, face buried in Taemin’s shoulder. He shakes with laughter and now Taemin shakes too, arms loose around his waist. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say, and even if he did, Jonghyun is laughing too much to hear him.

Taemin just sits with him, with his giggly, bubbly, bright boyfriend, and rests his chin on Jonghyun’s shoulder. His eyes slide shut and he breathes slowly, such a contrast to Jonghyun’s quick irregular lungfuls of air. As far as sudden unexpected things that make no sense go, Taemin thinks this might be the first one that he actually likes.

Eventually, Jonghyun’s laughter dies down to just quiet little giggles and breaths against Taemin’s sweater. Eventually, he nuzzles Taemin and then pulls back, lifts one hand to Taemin’s cheek, and leans in for a kiss, confident and sure of himself without a shred of his usual anxiety. It’s warm and firm and more of a smile than anything else. Taemin blinks sleepily back at him when he gently breaks it off.

“Hi,” Jonghyun says, and kisses him again.

2 Taemin is conflicted when he follows Jinki into the lobby of the motel and sees Jonghyun behind the front desk. He’s happy, because Jonghyun is wonderful and he’s been wanting to see him all week, but he’s also dejected because if Jonghyun is working then he can’t snuggle right now. It’s his first time back since he told Jonghyun that he loves him and he wants to remind him with, like, kisses and nuzzles and shit. He also wants to do it far away from people that will watch and make him blush, because lately he can’t even fucking think about Jonghyun without heating up on the inside. He had to sit on his bike with his helmet on for a minute when they all first rolled up so he could control his fucking face.

For now, he settles for creeping his hand over the counter to sit next to Jonghyun’s right as he taps in everyone’s information with his left. There. That is a simple and inconspicuous display of affection that will let Jonghyun know that he’s ready to snuggle whenever.

Jonghyun glances at his hand, takes it gently, rubs his thumb over his knuckles, and throws him a little smile before he ducks down to pull out keys and passes from under the desk. Just those tiny, obvious actions send heat creeping up into Taemin’s face. He looks away before Jonghyun straightens up again, hiding his blush behind his hand.  He’s so fucking cute. Jinki cocks a brow at him and Amber nudges his side and Taemin huffs, grabbing a parking pass at random from the desk and shuffling back to join the others in the parking lot before his heartbeat goes through the roof. Fuck. He doesn't need this. Being in love and everyone knowing it is garbage. He hates having emotions and shit. No one even pretends to believe him when he’s pretending to be an asshole anymore.

Outside, he grumbles onto his bike, gripping the handles and closing his eyes. He breathes slow, deep breaths while everyone else goes into the garage ahead of him. By the time he starts his bike and putts it in himself, he’s evened his body out and kind of stopped caring. Jonghyun is sweet. And good. And adorable. And no one is going to remember that he had emotions next week anyway. It’s fine.

He does wish he could snuggle Jonghyun now though. He misses his warmth, his smell, his heartbeat.

And then, just like that, he’s having emotions again. God. This is so fucked up. He rubs his hands over his face before he turns his bike off and shuffles back to the front door with his bag over his shoulder. He’s gonna blush even more when he sees Jonghyun behind the counter. He knows it. All he wants to do is just scuttle through the lobby and fumble with the key to Jonghyun’s floor for like a minute like he always does and then lie on his couch and relax. He hopes Jonghyun doesn’t decide to take a break to see Taemin early or anything like that like he usually does.

Well, he does, because that would be really gay and wonderful, but also, he doesn’t, because he doesn’t think he can get any redder without just straight up evaporating.

As he passes the front desk in the lobby, Jonghyun gives him a shy little wave with a bitten smile. Taemin almost trips over his own two feet trying to get to the door before anyone else notices his red cheeks.

3 “Taemin… Taemin… Taemie….” A soft voice near his ear and a gentle hand shaking his shoulder brings Taemin out of a dream that he barely tries to remember. He scrunches his eyes, taking a deep breath and turning to smush his face into his pillow. It’s too early. He knows it is. He doesn’t even have to see the time to know that he would hate it. Jonghyun keeps jiggling his shoulder and there’s a grin in his voice when he speaks again.

“Taemie baby…. Sleepy Taemie baby boo--”

“What?” Taemin grumbles. He is not a baby. He’s a grown adult that just isn’t used to waking up at like five in the morning or whatever the fuck time it is that Jonghyun wakes up to get ready for work. Jonghyun laughs softly and pokes at where his right cheek isn’t pressed into the pillow. Taemin grumbles more and turns his face so it is, and then Jonghyun gently pets his hair.

“Can I look through your bag to steal one of your sweaters?” Jonghyun asks him. “I’m feeling really gay today.”

“Mmgh,” Taemin mumbles. He hugs his pillow close to himself and nods. That’s really fucking cute. Almost cute enough to justify being woken up early for. “Sure,” he says. Maybe later when he wakes up on his own and sees Jonghyun all snug and warm in his sweater he’ll be less grumpy about it. Jonghyun presses a kissie to his head with the quietest little “mwah” before Taemin feels him leave the bedside.

He hears him rummaging around in his bag a moment later as he’s counting his breaths to go back to sleep. Four seconds in, eight seconds out. Four seconds in, eight seconds out. Already he feels his mind slipping into nice, warm, peaceful blankness. It’s nice and cozy here under the blankies. His breath against the pillow warms him even further, making him feel all toasty and melty. Four seconds in, eight sec--

“Taemin,” Jonghyun pouts. Taemin scrunches up his face again.

“What,” he mumbles.

“Where’s all of your sweaters?” Jonghyun asks. “All you have is the ugly blue and white one.” A dip in the mattress tells Taemin that Jonghyun has sat down next to him and a soft pap on the cheek tells him that Jonghyun is wiggling the sweater sleeve by his face. He wiggles, curling up into a ball under the covers. Jonghyun pushes gently on his shoulder so he turns his face away from the pillow so he can speak clearly, but covers his eyes with his arm.

“Luna’s I guess?” he says. Where he keeps all of the clothes that he doesn’t take with him in his bag.

“What?” Jonghyun says. “Why?”

“Hot outside,” Taemin says. He’s not gonna carry all of his sweaters with him all the time if he’s not gonna wear them. “Also it’s not ugly,” he mumbles defensively. That sweater is a stripy fuzzy friend.

“It is,” Jonghyun tells him, and then, while he’s still frowning, “and I meant, why not Jinki’s?”

“God, no,” Taemin says. “I don’t wanna like. Talk to his rich stuffy family at all, are you kidding?” Jinki never even wants to see his family, so much that he considers renting his own storage unit every time he has to go pick something up from their house. Taemin definitely isn’t going to meet them just so he can dump some clothes there twice a year. Jonghyun doesn’t reply to that other than a quiet pout, a little whiny noise.

“No egg cloud sweater?” he asks. “No knitted black v-neck, no Homeboy, no Clarity, no skull smiley face, no ‘A lie can’t be covered with another lie?’”

Taemin hesitates, listening to Jonghyun list off all of these sweaters that he has. He knows exactly which ones Jonghyun is talking about. Finally he opens his eyes, blinking groggily up at his boyfriend as Jonghyun pouts down at him.

“Do you have, like, my whole wardrobe memorized?” he asks. Jonghyun looks down at him, then looks away, scratching the side of his head.

“I mean,” he says. “I guess?” He fiddles with the striped sweater in his lap as Taemin watches him. Then Taemin shrugs, closes his eyes, nuzzles back into his pillow. He’ll call Jonghyun cute and make him blush later.

“Just take my leather jacket,” he mumbles.

“Ooh,” Jonghyun says, a sharp hiss of excitement, and immediately gets up to grab it.

4 The sun is pleasantly warm through spotty patches of clouds overhead as Jonghyun lies on his back in the grass. It’s not even hot on his face or arm. He would almost appreciate its existence for once if he didn’t just dislike it on principle.

What he does appreciate is Taemin next to him, Taemin dozing off with his head on Jonghyun’s right bicep and his hands linked lazily on top of his stomach. Jonghyun can’t see much of his face from this angle, but he knows his cheeks are all soft and squishy and that’s what’s important. Closing his eyes against a ray of sun glaring at him from behind a cloud, Jonghyun reaches lazily for Taemin’s hands with his free one.

He finds Taemin’s left and gently picks it up, rubs his thumb over the back of it and holds it in his. This is nice. He���s been busier lately, training Taeyeon and doing his regular shifts and working on his music, and it’s nice to be able to lie outside in the grass and relax with his babe.

As he explores Taemin’s hand with his own, he comes upon a multitude of rings on his fingers. He stops at each one, feeling each of them out, remembering how they looked when Taemin first showed up with all of them. Two small grey rings sit around his pinky, one studded with fake diamonds. On his pointer finger is a thick silvery metal ring. His middle finger has three black rings with a little chain that connects them all to each other. Another black ring with a white line through it is around his thumb.

And on his ring finger, alone, is a simple black band with silver lines on each side.

Jonghyun smiles to himself as he plays with that one, twisting it gently back and forth. That’s the one that he gave Taemin. And when he gave Taemin that ring is when Taemin went out and bought all of his other rings.

Taemin’s hand moves in his, twists away from him for just a second so he can lace their fingers together instead. Jonghyun grins. For someone that’s supposed to be sleeping that wasn’t smooth. He lifts Taemin’s hand up to his mouth and kisses his ring finger gently--for half a second before Taemin inhales sharply and huffs “God, fuck,” and whips his hand away. Rolling over to his stomach next to him, Taemin nuzzles aggressively into his shoulder and squishes his hand between their bodies.

Jonghyun feels Taemin rubbing his fingers against each other for the next ten minutes.

5 There are a lot of people in here.

Jonghyun knew there would be; he knew that he called his friends and hired some people and told the bikers they were free to help him move in if they wanted to. He gladly accepted all of the help he could get, and here it all is, from the group of movers assembling his couch in front of the TV shelf to Kyuhyun and Changmin slowly carrying the TV in together while Kibum guides them in to everyone else helping unload the moving truck one thing at a time.

Taemin hovers awkwardly by the kitchen doorway, watching them all, and Jonghyun leans against the living room wall, watching him, amused and endeared. He’s cute. Flustered, overwhelmed, all clammed up around so many people, and cute.

Jonghyun slips outside after the TV gets in and grabs the box of all of his little knick knacks from the van. Carrying it back inside, he pulls a stepping stool up to the empty shelf by the hallway and sits himself down in front of it.

As he’s gently placing his little collection of model motorcycles on the middle shelf, arranging them up all neat and orderly, he catches Taemin shuffling to him out of the corner of his eye. Soon, Taemin slips his arms around Jonghyun’s waist and rests his chin on his head.

“Hey,” he mumbles, voice quiet and disinterested, sigh slow and bored. Jonghyun feels his heart thudding in that way it does when he’s closing himself up but hasn’t quite finished yet and smiles fondly.

“Hi,” he says back. “You okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Taemin mumbles. Jonghyun snorts. Alright then. Taemin’s fingers grip his shirt loosely. Jonghyun continues setting up his little motorcycles, all the ones he’s made over the years, from simple lego sets to complicated functional replicas. After another few minutes, Taemin takes in a deep, slow breath.

“Hmm,” he hums, and pulls away from Jonghyun. Jonghyun pats his tummy gently as he walks down the hall towards the bedroom. He can go be alone for a while if he wants to.

Or, for a minute, Jonghyun guesses, because soon Taemin comes right back. Jonghyun glances at him over his shoulder as he presses up against his back again. Taemin isn’t looking at him because Taemin is looking at what’s in his hand, which is a little baggie full of little motorcycles.

“Oh,” Jonghyun says, delighted, as Taemin fumbles the bag open and shakes them all out onto the shelf. They’re cheap little toys, all plastic and simple paint jobs. They’re adorable and Jonghyun never knew that Taemin had them. With one hand, Taemin picks each one up and arranges them neatly next to all of Jonghyun’s. His other hand sneaks around Jonghyun’s waist again. When he’s done, he trails his fingers along the shelf in front of them before slipping his other hand back around Jonghyun’s waist to complete the circle.

“They’re all girlfriends,” he mumbles, nodding lazily to the collection of motorcycles. He nuzzles against Jonghyun’s shoulder, lips pressing to his skin where his shirt collar dips wide. Jonghyun smiles, reaching up to gently nudge two closer together. They sure are.

[professional-benaddict]

Hi Raf! Awhile ago you made a post asking people what their favorite Little Patients chapters were, and I just wanted to tell you I love Ch 28 Neonatal Unit 🥰 baby!Peter is so adorable and reading about his daddies being super soft/tender with him is the sweetest 🥺💕 All of LP is wonderful but this is one of the chapters I keep coming back to - usually before I go to bed bc it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy ☺️ *smol voice* I wanna be babied by Stephen & Tony too, wahhh 🥺 Anyway, happy writing/blogging!

oH sweetheart oHhhh!!!😭😭💗💗

I’m so glad to hear you like widdle mini babey Peter so much🥺🥺💗💗 It’s one of my fave tropes in LP for sure!! And don’t we all wanna be babied by Stephen and Tony🥴🥴