#release the balloons

[sincerelyang3l]

In honor of me FINALLY starting some writing on an idea I’ve had cooking up for awhile, here’s a few paragraphs from the epilogue I wrote today 🤭..

Hope you enjoy! 💕

My first day on the job, I thought the hardest part would be the isolation, but it turns out the forest has a weird way of keeping you company.

It was a simple enough life. Wake up, drive 45 minutes to work every morning, sit up in that watch tower until 5 pm, and then drive 45 minutes back home every night. I liked the routine, though it eventually all started to blur together. One day was no different from the next as there, of course, were never any fires.

Though I liked the thrill of not knowing, maybe that's what drew me to take the job. I relished the idea of that long drive with nothing to hear except “Rawe Feed Radio with Michael Precise, the white trash heartthrob,” and the sparkling thought that maybe, just maybe, I’d see a fire today. Not that I ever wanted the forest to burn down, of course. I didn’t want that. But I wanted to feel useful. I wanted someone to rely on me, for someone to say “Hey! That’s the guy who stopped Emerald Ridge National Park from burning down!” Maybe that’s egotistical, maybe I let my hero complex get the better of me, but it’s the truth nonetheless.

Either way, my job, and my life were pretty straightforward. My schedule rarely changed. I spent whatever time I wasn’t working at home, doing chores or meal prepping. There was a certain comfort in the predictability of it all, one that, if you asked me today, I couldn’t explain, but back then I would’ve defended with my life.

(That’s all for now, maybe more updates as it goes along and keep in mind this is a very rough draft, so I apologize for any typos.)

(Gross I’m starting to sound like a wattpad writer…)

[great-and-small]

Extremely rare Florida W

[blmpff]

A Balloon's Landing official trailer (eng sub)

starring: Fandy Fan and Terrance Lau, in cinemas May 10th

(1m39s) 08.04.24

[moonkhao]

#boun is such a mood 😭

[a-flickering-soul]

this will sustain me for another decade

[gifs-of-puppets]

Happy 35th Anniversary to the Dog City episode of The Jim Henson Hour!

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Really, this should be banned. They do have biodegradable ones, but they cost more.

[pilotstreets]

been thinking about this ever since the balloon bit at the beginning of the stream

[creep-girl]

ii16 spoilers

i sent this text to my friend 3 days before ii16 released And i technically Wasnt wrong.

[ukagakadreamteam]

Etc. Jam 2024 has concluded, and here are the results!

Before we get into it, just a reminder that Etc. Jam will be moving to the start of the year, and will take place before Ghost Jam. That means we'll be hosting another one in a few months, so keep an eye out if you'd like to participate!

This year's event was announced at the last minute, so there wasn't as much participation as last year. Even so, there were 8 projects by 7 participants!

Of those projects, 3 of them were balloons, and there was one shell, freeshell, calendar skin, guide, and plugin.

3 projects were completed in just 24 hours, completing the 24 hour challenge, and 3 users completed the variety challenge by creating at least 2 projects of different types!

Congratulations to everyone who participated!

And without further ado, see below for the list of projects!

Sheet Cat, a freeshell by SmokyCinnamonRoll

[Download]

Gingham Balloon Pack, a balloon pack by Auden

(Server exclusive, only available to download in our Discord server at this time!)

Ghost Balloon, a balloon by Galla and Zichqec

[Download]

Bloodbag, a shell for Hydrate by vita/yuyudev

[Download]

Ghost Pumpkin, a balloon by SmokyCinnamonRoll

[Download]

Spookylendar, a calendar skin by Teacup is battling horrors

[Download]

How to make a SSTP‐Compatible .LRC File for SSP, a guide by idk

[Read]

Spectre, a plugin by Galla and Zichqec

[Download]

[flowerakatsuka]

started thinking about the okipara museum artwork and i just realized what flower 18!kara is holding in it.

those are alstroemeria, which can mean perseverance and yearning for the future in hanakotoba....

[sincerelyang3l]

me when I think it’s gonna be a bad week but then I remember the new episode of Alux Rising comes out this Friday

[ducktracy]

i've gone on an hours long bender consisting of ogling at every balloon flown in the Macy's Parade and need everyone to look at this 1938 photograph of the Ferdinand the Bull balloon. doesn't it make you so at ease.

[thebreakfastgenie]

18 years ago I read this at a funeral and I have basically no memory of it whatsoever. I have been told I was too short to reach the podium and someone had to get me a box to stand on.

[raceydays-hopelesshaze]

Son boy :)

[blogforbloggingblogstuff]

The reason why many people view men wearing women's clothes as perverse or weird or wrong is misogyny, btw.

They think that it's unnatural for a man to give up the privilege of presenting as masculine because on some level, consciously or otherwise, they think femininity is inferior. They think it is 'normal' for a woman to wear pants because there are advantages to wearing pants, and the historical association with masculinity is a positive. They think it is 'abnormal' for a man to wear skirts and dresses because they think the historical association (in Western culture) with femininity is a negative. Muting this and never checking the notes but I think some people need to realize where their bias comes from.