#mind ink

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

[ink-n-shadow]

currently having the softest thoughts about dad!simon :’))

like the way he’s stripping off his Henley t-shirt at the hospital right after you give birth because he “read somethin’ about how bein’ skin to skin is better fer ‘em,” not wasting any time in letting your newborn child rest on his tattooed chest while you take a small break.

or how he would gently push you back into bed when the baby starts crying in the middle of the night (especially in those first couple of days), answering your mumbled annoyance with a smeared kiss to your forehead and pulling the comforter up higher around your body. “haven’t ‘ad good sleep in nine months, lovie—i’ll take care of the bug, ‘lright? tha’s it, go back to bed sweetheart.” takes care of the baby while he watches footy and rugby, one arm cradling the swaddled up little one against his chest as the other nurses half a beer (the other half having been poured into soap’s cup of whiskey, “fer added flavor”).

the boys actually enjoy having to transition from nights out to the bar to nights crowded in yours and simon’s basement. they all take turns cradling your newborn gently, snapping at each other when they get a bit too rowdy and more than happy to give you a break from the baby whenever you needed it.

[thehopefulquotes]

I know what it’s like to be afraid of your own mind.

Dr Reid’s/ Criminal Minds

[thoughts-left-unspoke]

[fl00mie]

"what are your flags?"

errhghh

mayhaps

swap sans by popcornpr1nce dream sans by @/jokublog ink sans by @/comyet

[steelsartcorner]

BG3 Comic: An Unwelcome Surprise

(Be forewarned: Dark Urge Act 3 Spoilers. Post is tagged. Click “read more” for the full comic.)

I always find myself wondering about the side conversations that must happen between the other characters while your PC is busy talking to the plot point givers.

[juniemunie]

[Abandoned by the Lightners, his heart became cracked with hatred.]

Hitting a lil' too close to home?

[cyberchangeliing]

It fuckin wimdy

[y2kaee]

[illustratedvixens]

[blanchebees]

Day 10 - Hands

Tip jar

Prompt by @kroas-adtam

[beccawise7]

Life is short ... Live passionately.

~beccawise7💜🖤

[perfectquote]

I know what it’s like to be afraid of your own mind.

Dr Reid’s/ Criminal Minds

[inspero]

Keep going.

[fl00mie]

day 3 (in day 4): coffee

[iambrillyant]

“your discernment will take you further than anyones opinions or ideas could ever take you. intuition has always been your compass.”

— iambrillyant