#thinking of replacing my old iPad as well

[arwenkenobi48]

I’ve finally moved into my new home and so far I love it! My housemates are all really friendly, I’ve got my own fridge and I’ve almost finished unpacking all my stuff.

I couldn’t move some of the boxes when I moved in yesterday but luckily that should be sorted out over the weekend. Really the only things I couldn’t manage to unbox were my books, DVDs and a few miscellaneous art supplies. But I’m planning on ordering a bookcase next week so that should make things a little easier.

What I’m most excited about, though, is being able to start decorating. Going to put up posters, tapestries, fairy lights, the whole works. Thinking of turning my desk into a little shrine area too. But first things first, I have to make sure all of my things are in one place. Shouldn’t take too long to arrange that and I’m getting paid next week.

Hopefully the fridge should be up and running by then (it’s only just been delivered and someone’s coming over to properly install it) so I can stock up on groceries. If I eat one more bowl of ramen, I shall look like one.

But yeah on the whole things are going really well and I’m immensely thankful for how things have been improving recently. Only thing that can top this is if I meet my irl soulmate in the near future. (Keeping my fingers crossed in that regard) 💖

[avisminutia]

“Don’t get old,” my grandpa tells me when I visit him. He is six feet tall, though he used to be six foot two. He has two knee replacements. Getting into the car is a struggle, painful, and physically exhausting. I feel for him.

And yet.

“What’s the alternative?” I ask him once he is settled into the car, rubbing his knees. “Should I die young?” 

It’s not what I want to say. It’s closer to what my mother would say if she spoke her mind on the matter. It upsets my mother when he says that, “don’t get old.” Because what is the alternative? And it is hard being old. Many of his friends are gone. Things change. There is loss. But that is not what he means.

He says it when he has to lie down after a short walk when he used to be able to walk miles. My grandpa is a traveler. First around the world, Alaska in February, Japan, Australia, and then, when his knees became too bad for airplane seats, around the states, lugging his overly large camera bag with him while my grandma shopped. He spends most of his time in the basement yelling at his computer, editing photos of places he knows he will never go again. And my mother thinks that he is sad that he will never go to those places again, but I know that’s not quite right.

I lay down after the walk as well. I need to rest if I want to have the energy to carry a conversation at dinner. My grandma sits at the kitchen table, playing on her iPad. I am tired. 

I used to enjoy commuting on the train. I would write longhand in a notebook, prose, poetry, journals. I’d sketch. I wrote an entire first draft of a book like that, commuting back and forth to college, an hour and a half each day, twice a week. Now, traveling is a hurdle, a drain. Exhausting.

“Don’t get old,” he says, when he stands up, groaning, and reaches for his cane. I left mine in my apartment. It is almost as difficult to travel with it and a suitcase as it is to travel without, and the anticipated explanation it would require tipped the decision one way. I am tired. We go to the nearby park to take photos of the same building he took photos of last week, and he tells me stories about climbing, about hiking, about woodworking, carrying camera lenses to far off places to take photos of new buildings, different buildings, buildings that are not this one. “Don’t get old.” My sketchbook has five drawings of the building across the street from the park one block from my apartment. I sit on the same bench every time. I am too tired to go much further without the cane most days, and I can’t draw when I am holding it. 

“Don’t get old,” he tells me after getting back from physical therapy. I ask him what exercises he is doing. They are the same one my physical therapist assigned me after telling me I was too young for the type of back pain that I was experiencing. The type that keeps me from going to museums, from volunteering at the bird rehab, from sitting through class. 

“Don’t get old,” he says. He has always been willful. He prides himself on his strength of mind, his stubbornness, his ability to power through. He will exercise but refuses to ice. He won’t take his painkillers. When I last visited, he fell between two desks and nearly hit his head. The way the office is arranged is cramped and difficult to maneuver, at the bottom of a steep staircase I was afraid to go down as a child. I helped him up. It took ten minutes, mostly because the fit was so tight. There was no panic in me, no adrenaline, though he shouted the entire time. We both lay down after, exhausted. When I visit next, the desks will not be rearranged. The computer will still be in the basement. 

“Just don’t get old,” he says, and what I really want to say is, “I already am.”

[merrigel]

the wenis video gives me such joy also what do you use to draw/animate you’re literally inspiring me to take up a new hobby lmao

OMG thank you so much, you're too kind!! And HELL YEAH JOIN ME IN THE DRAWING THE SAME THING 1000000 TIMES MINES 😂 (But truly!!)

I use all kinds of software for different things so I'll just make a little list:

RoughAnimator! For ipad, costs like 7 bucks to own forever. Super lightweight, super effective, genuinely where I do like 99% of my animating these days- if you have an ipad I couldn't recommend it enough

Procreate! 99% of my non-animating drawing happens here lmao, also for ipad, also really cost-effective

TVPaint! For PC/Mac- on the more expensive side, but I saved up and got it when I was in college for That Sweet Sweet Student Discount™️... Most of my like, Actual Job Animation has been done with this one!

After Effects! Kind of a bonus here, but it's where I do all my compositing; most camera moves, lots of the lighting and stuff, any layers on multiply/add/[insert blending mode], etc. Every day I wish I could replace it so I could stop paying adobe but here we are

If you're just starting out and you're working on a computer, I think Clip Studio Paint can do animation? And it's way cheaper than trying to grab TVPaint or anything adobe or An Entire Ipad, so it might be a cool place to start experimenting! (There's also Opentoonz, which I think might be free?? But also I will be real with you I opened it once and got overwhelmed and scared so I have no guidance there jksdklfsd) It's also good for drawing, but there's also Paint Tool SAI (my beloved companion thru all my years with a PC) and Krita for regular old drawing as well!

Whatever you end up using, GOOD LUCK!! You're gonna do great!!

[lildoodlenoodle]

First things first(spoilers for spiderverse/spidergeddon and comic noir storyline) this is a long post but you’ll have fun I promise. As always feel free to engage with the post, I’d love to hear different theories/opinions/conclusions on this in the tags or comments. Sorry it took so long!

Now I’m gonna say something morbid:

Spider Noir’s death in the comics was hilarious

Jarring, but hilarious. Like why’d he grab him like that. I physically had to shut off my iPad and go for a walk after this scene when I first read it.

But to my point, you know how some people say your birth mark is how you died in your last life?

Well post resurrection we might have A, B, and C:

(Now before anyone gets on me for, why would you do that/even think of this? In my defense, I couldn’t remember where he was grabbed, it’s been a while since I’ve read these. I thought it was gonna be on his back or shoulder and I’d give him a burned on handprint going all ‘gripped you tight and raised from perdition’ which is cool, fun, sexy, and conveniently hidden. Then I reread it and it’s basically a permanent face palm. Also pretend his face looks the same in every one. Couldn’t decide on hair either lol.)

Either way post resurrection Peter should have physical after effects of his resurrection. Either lines all over his body from having the life force sucked out of him or birth/burn marks on his face. I think this would be hilarious, angsty, and interesting. I also hate when people are just resurrected willynilly. LET THE TRAUMA OF DYING AND COMING BACK TAKE ITS TOLE. Especially if it’s multiple times.

In MK: Midnight Mission they, pretty recently, came up against this problem with the MK system being resurrected over and over again and facing really no visible consequences. But then we find out, there isn’t really a limit(ignoring the whole Khonshu imprisonment), but eventually mentally, there will be nothing left to resurrect. And the mindless mummy warrior creatures we meet from Khonshu’s ‘world’ were old avatars that wasted away from resurrections. It explains the alterations and perversions of the MK system’s mental conditions, because they are actively being altered and changed, to be brought back, by a multidimensional creature that doesn’t care about their mental health/state(that Khonshu takes advantage of, knowing what he’s doing). Sound familiar?

Now, time to get philosophical. Ship of Theseus.

What is it? Ship of Theseus is an ideological/philosophy problem about a king, Theseus, who saved the children of Athens from king Minos and the Minotaur and then sailed his ship to Delos. Then each year Athenians would sail that same ship from Athens to Delos in celebration of the myth. Over time they kept replacing parts of the ship for maintenance purposes, till every plank had been replaced, so they could still make the voyage. Now the question is, is it still the same ship? At what point did it stop becoming that original ship? And does it matter?

Applying this philosophical exercise to resurrection, with what we know above, we can get an interesting dialogue going. But, with that said, it’s important to keep in mind that the resurrection process in this context with these multidimensional gods isn’t explained with enough detail to really take it apart. Like what happens to the soul? Is the brain damage we know Marc has from repeatedly dying and his brain repeatedly going without oxygen or is it from just interacting with a multidimensional god? Is the spider god comparable to Khonshu? Is the spider god even real, if not what or how was Peter actually resurrected? And if it is real, what is its main goal? At least with Khonshu we know he has an agenda. What does it want, what’s its end game?

But let’s get into it anyways.

Now, you may be wondering, why do I keep saying multiple resurrections in regards to Spider noir? I am so glad you asked! I believe Peter's initial spider bite killed him. He had to go to the afterlife to actually see the spider god. That’s why we really only see them three times, at the initial power conception, Peter’s resurrection, and when Peter goes to the ‘underworld’ in the 2020 run. We see something similar with Khonshu in Midnight mission, while he’s in space jail, Marc can only see him during resurrections or while he’s dead. And while we’re comparing the MK system to spider noir, when Marc got his powers, he basically had to die first. That was implied to be his first resurrection. So this wouldn’t be a one off situation. We have some rules.

What we don’t see with Moonknight and Khonshu is visual physical change. Outside of the ghost bird skull armor the boys aren’t visually changing. Meanwhile, Peter has physically turned into a monster before and turned completely back. In #4/5 of the 2020 noir run the cicada stone/pink meteor turns people into monsters, but not everyone. Huma turns, Shocker turns, Peter turns, and all the resurrected villains(one guy just explodes). But Hu-Ri and Checkpoint Red don’t, until Hu-Ri touches the stone. Huma and Peter are both in close proximity to eldritch beings, them turning into inspired versions of those beings make sense. The Shocker turns because he spent so much time holding onto the stone, whereas Red hasn't. But notice Shocker and Hu-Ri don’t turn into an animal inspired version of themselves like Huma and Peter do, he becomes more of a hulk like creature, because he isn’t attached to an other-worldly being. And when Peter turned back he essentially said “that hurt like a bitch” and kept moving.

If we want to keep with the canon noir timeline and going with the idea that the Spider god is either continuously changing Peter, or just changing him during resurrections this would explain the webbing and mood/personality change from the 2009 comics to the 2020 comics. But that’s boring and too simple and I hate the time jump so fuck that shit.(again another post).

So let’s focus back on ‘Ship of Theseus’ in the context of resurrection. We have too many questions about the process of resurrection for spider noir to properly have this conversation, but I’m going to try anyways. Let’s hit what we know again: resurrection changes your brain chemistry/structure, the spider god is changing Peter throughout the series, Peter has possibly had three resurrections, the spider god resurrected Peter from a different dimension, which confirms this is a multidimensional being(if she exists but shhhh). So now that we’ve established that there are changes happening to Peter(one way or another) we know that the spider god is ‘repairing’ Peter throughout the series or ‘replacing his boards’ so to speak.

At what point is this no longer Peter? Is it when he is no longer recognizable as a human? Or is it when there is nothing left in his mind to resurrect? Or has this never been Peter, or rather not since his first resurrection when he got his powers? Is this change sudden or slow? Is it the resurrection that turns him into something else, is it slow build up like an Iodine Clock titration and one day he just wakes up no longer human, or is it a slow process of subtle changes? But if the latter, what’s the change that does it? What defines Peter’s humanity? Does it matter if he’s human or not? Does it change anything for him if he’s no longer human in body and mind?

Part of the answer may lie in the villains we see through the 2009 and 2020 runs. In the first run the main villains were the Goblin and the Vulture. Both who were implied to not be human or having physical inhuman qualities(but I’m partially ignoring the whole carney thing cause honestly it’s ableist and boring). In Eyes Without A Face, the second run, the main villains are the Crime Master and Dr. Octavious, both humans with no inhuman or supernatural qualities. For simplicity sake, let’s focus on Octavious and Goblin. In comparing the two I think most people would agree Octavious is the more heinous of the two. Goblin takes on the role of a mob boss. He runs a crime empire, exploiting the defenseless in New york. It’s nothing new and he’s even somewhat sympathetic ‘I’m finished with freakshows’, you can understand how he got where he is. This is not to say he isn’t a villain but he very much fits the ‘villain with a tragic backstory’. People look at him like he is a monster, we, the reader, start out the story knowing what he is.

Whereas Octavious is not even remotely sympathetic because there is no empathizing with how he ended up there and why he does what he does. He is not only othered by his actions but also by the narrative for his disability(it’s important to acknowledge the ableism in his story but that is another post). Ultimately his delusions and the acts he commits make him a much more sinister monster than Norman, despite Norman actually having stereotypical qualities of a monster.

Then we have Huma and Shocker from the 2020 run. Huma is the closest person we see who is in a similar situation to Peter in terms of the spider god. While we don’t know all the details, whether she is the same as Peter, bearing a curse of power, or the actual god. Either way she presents as human and is not treated differently than any other human woman. At the end of the series we realize how corrupt she is and that she’s been working with Nazi’s, not necessarily for the ideology but to achieve what she wants. Her transformation is the nail in her coffin of her monsterous perception. The question is did we need her to look like a monster to see her as one?

In general we are left with more questions and theories than answers.

But onto my subjective answers to the questions. My answers might change over time so don’t hold me to them.

Of course it matters if Peter has humanity. Peter Parker across the board is one of the characters who HAS to hold himself to a moral code or he falls apart and becomes the villain(well maybe not the villain but you know what I mean) of the story. He holds back during fights and has a no kill policy for a reason.(Good men don’t need rules, today is not the day to find out why I have so many.-dr.who) But noir Peter isn’t your typical Peter. He kills, he maims, he doesn’t hold back. With that said, he still is held together by his morality. It’s just different than what we are used to seeing from Peter, but don’t mistake that as a lack of morality. However, do I think it’s a very real possibility that this morality could be eroded over time especially considering his home world and the above circumstances? Absolutely. Peter is someone who historically needs someone to ground him and ‘make’ him human. This is normally May Parker, Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, occasionally Harry Osborn, Daredevil, Johnny Storm, and Flash Thompson, and the ghost of Ben Parker. Dude lives by a passing saying of a dead relative, he clearly doesn’t have a super solid moral compass. I think this is part of the reason the noir comics kept his relationship with May and Mary Jane(I disagree but whatever whatever), because he needs support to stay grounded.

Now, under what circumstances is Peter no longer Peter? I’m going with the Iodine Clock titration theory. Just drop after drop of ‘changes’ and morally questionable decisions that don’t seem to hold much weight, until he does something truly off the reservation. Like seeing himself do something truly horrific that a couple years ago he would have never done and shocking himself out of it. Or looks in the mirror and doesn’t see a person staring back. For either circumstance, because he’s appalled with himself or struck by the fact he doesn’t really care. This is not to say I don’t think he could come back from this but holy shit will it be a process.

But it brings us back to ‘If there is too much power then it is the responsibility of the people to take it away.’ Peter losing his humanity puts him in the Goblin’s place as the one with great power that cannot be trusted from the first comic. Whether it’s the resurrections, the spider god ‘replacing’ parts of him, or him just being pushed to the brink mentally that does it. Whether the change is physical, neurological, spiritual, or mental. This ‘Peter’ is not the Peter we first meet in 1932.

This is a different ship, and you can sail and stay on the same course in memory of, or under the false pretense of being, the original as many times as you want, but you cannot bring back the parts you replaced and undo the ‘improvements’ you made. But that doesn’t need to make Peter a monster.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Enshitternet

Going to Burning Man? Catch me on Tuesday at 2:40pm on the Center Camp Stage for a talk about enshittification and how to reverse it; on Wednesday at noon, I'm hosting Dr Patrick Ball at Liminal Labs (6:15/F) for a talk on using statistics to prove high-level culpability in the recruitment of child soldiers.

On September 6 at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

This week on my podcast, I read "Enshitternet: The old, good internet deserves a new, good internet," my recent Medium column about building a better internet:

https://doctorow.medium.com/enshitternet-c1d4252e5c6b

As John @hodgman is fond of reminding us, "nostalgia is a toxic impulse." It is easy for an old net.hand like me to fall into the trap of shaking his fist at the cloud. Having been on the other side of that dynamic, I can tell you it's no fun.

When I got on BBSes in the early 1980s, there was an omnipresent chorus of grumps insisting that the move from honest acoustic couplers to decadent modems was the end of the Golden Age of telecommunications:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler

When I got on Usenet shortly thereafter, the Unix Greybeard set never passed up an opportunity to tell us newcomers that the Fidonet-Usenet bridge allowed the barbarian hordes to overwhelm their Athenian marketplace of ideas:

https://technicshistory.com/2020/06/25/the-era-of-fragmentation-part-4-the-anarchists/

When I joined The WELL in the late 1980s, I was repeatedly assured that the good times were over, and that we would never see their like again:

https://www.well.com/

Now that I'm 52, I've learned to recognize this dynamic, from the Eternal September:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

to the moral panic over menuing systems replacing CLIs:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/02/gopher-when-adversarial-interoperability-burrowed-under-gatekeepers-fortresses

to the culture wars over what would happen when the net got a normie-friendly GUI:

https://www.dejavu.org/1993win.htm

And yeah, I've done it too, explaining "Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either)":

https://memex.craphound.com/2010/04/01/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either/

But there's a key difference between my own warnings about the enshittification that new "user friendly" technologies would engender and all those other AARP members' complaints: they were wrong, and I was right.

As Tom Eastman reminded us, the internet really was better, back before it became "five giant websites filled with screenshots of text of the other four":

https://twitter.com/tveastman/status/1069674780826071040

The underlying pathology of that enshittification wasn't the UI, or whether it involved an app store. As the Luddites knew, the important thing about a technology isn't what it does, but who it does it for and who it does it to:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

The problem wasn't which technology we used. There is nothing inherent about touchscreens that makes them into prisons that trap users, rather than walled gardens that protect them.

Likewise, the problem wasn't who made that technology. We didn't swap wise UUCP Monks for venal tech bros. The early tech world was full of public-spirited sysops, but it was also full of would-be monopolists who tried – and failed – to get us to "stop talking to each other and start buying things":

https://catvalente.substack.com/p/stop-talking-to-each-other-and-start

If it wasn't the technology that killed the old, good internet, and if it wasn't the people who killed the old, good internet, where did the enshitternet come from?

It wasn't the wrong tech, it wasn't the wrong people: it was the wrong rules. After all, the Apple ][+ went on sale the year Ronald Reagan hit the campaign trail. Consumer tech was the first industry born after antitrust was dismantled, and it created the modern monopoly playbook: buying and merging with competitors. The resulting unity of purpose and anticompetitive profit margins allowed tech to capture its regulators and secure favorable court and legislative outcomes.

The simultaneous drawdown of antitrust enforcement and growth of tech meant that tech's long-standing cycle of renewal was ended. Tech companies that owed their existence to their ability to reverse-engineer incumbent companies' products and make interoperable replacements and add-ons were able to ban anyone else from doing unto them as they did unto the giants that came before them:

https://doctorow.medium.com/let-the-platforms-burn-6fb3e6c0d980

The pirates became admirals, and set about creating a "felony contempt of business model":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/03/painful-burning-dribble/#law-of-intended-consequences

They changed the rules to ensure that they could "disrupt" anyone they chose, but could themselves mobilize the full might of the US government to prevent anyone from disrupting them:

https://locusmag.com/2019/01/cory-doctorow-disruption-for-thee-but-not-for-me/

The old, good internet was the internet we we able to make while tech was still realizing the new anticompetitive powers it had at its disposal, and it disappeared because every administration, R and D, from Reagan to Trump, yanked more and more Jenga blocks out of the antitrust tower.

In other words: the old, good internet was always doomed, because it was being frantically built in an ever-contracting zone of freedom to tinker, where technologies could be operated by and for the people who used them.

Today, the Biden administration has ushered in a new era of antitrust renewal, planting the seeds of a disenshittification movement that will tame corporate power rather than nurturing it:

https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

In other words, we are living in the first days of a better nation.

In other words, rather than restoring the old, good internet, we should build a new, good internet.

What is a new, good internet? It's an internet where it's legal to:

reverse-engineer the products and services you use, to add interoperability to them so you can leave a social network without leaving your friends:

https://www.eff.org/interoperablefacebook

jailbreak devices to remove antifeatures, like surveillance, ink-locking, or repair-blocking:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/17/have-you-tried-not-spying/#coppa

move your media files and apps from any platform to any device or service, even if the company that sold them to you objects:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate

A new, good internet gives powers to users, and takes power away from corporations:

https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6

On a new, good internet, companies can't practice algorithmic wage discrimination:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

They can't turn search into an auction between companies that match your query and companies that want to sell you fakes and knockoffs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

They can't charge rent to the people whose feeds you asked to read for the privilege of reaching you:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

In fact, a new, good internet is one where we euthanize rentiers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

On the new good internet, your boss can't use bossware to turn "work from home" into "live at work":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/24/gwb-rumsfeld-monsters/#bossware

And on top of that, you have the right to hack that bossware to undetectably disable it (and hackers have the right to sell or give you that hack):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/tech-rights-are-workers-rights-doordash-edition

On the new, good internet, we stop pretending that tech is stealing content from news companies, and focus on how tech steals money from the news, with app taxes, rigged ad markets, surveillance ads, and payola:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

The new, good internet is an internet where we seize the means of computation. It's an internet operated by and for the people who use it.

Hodgman is right. Nostalgia is a toxic impulse. The point of making a new, good internet isn't to revive the old, good internet. There were plenty of problems with the old, good internet. The point is to make a new, good internet that is the worthy successor to the old, good internet – and to consign the enshitternet to the scrapheap of history, an unfortunate transitional stage between one good internet and another.

Here's a link to the podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2023/08/21/enshitternet-the-old-good-internet-deserves-a-new-good-internet/

and here's a direct link to the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the Internet Archive; they'll host your stuff for free, forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_448/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_448_-_Enshitternet.mp3

and here's a link to my podcast's RSS feed:

https://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/22/the-new-good-internet/#the-old-good-internet

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[jamietarttsnorthernattitude]

Drabble prompt-

“You dumbass. Don’t do that. Ever again.”

I think I did it! I think I actually wrote a drabble. And crossed off another @badthingshappenbingo square!

UPDATE: I did not do it lmao

UPDATE2: Now on ao3 so I can have everything together.

Jamie Tartt was going to be the death of him.

“You dumbass. Don’t do that. Ever again.”

Roy pressed his thumb and index finger against the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply.

“What was I supposed to do?” Jamie scoffed.

“Not that!” Roy said, trying to keep his voice down but failing.

“You were going to fucking fall!”

“Your fucking point?” Roy asked, psychotic eyebrows shooting nearly to his hairline.

“Didn’t want you to get hurt,” Jamie pouted.

“So you got hurt instead?”

“Didn’t think that part through, did I?”

“No fucking shit.”

“Well, innit better me than you and your old man bones? They’re probably just dust in there held together by anger and stubbornness. My bones are young and strong.”

“Jamie your wrist is broken.”

“I told you I didn’t think it through, alright?”

Jamie adjusted the ice pack on his wrist. The pair had been having a similar conversation on and off since they arrived at A&E. All the trouble started on a bike ride. They were nearing the coffee shop by Keeley’s office, intent on bringing her and Barbara coffee and pastries while they worked on their latest campaign.

They were bike riding when Roy’s tire caught a divot. He started to tip and Jamie lept off his bike to try to catch Roy before he landed on his bad knee. And it worked. Roy didn’t land on his bad knee, unfortunately, all Roy’s weight landed on Jamie’s outstretched wrist instead. Ice packs and x-rays replaced coffees and scones.

So much for an uneventful off-season.

“Next time, maybe wrist guards, knee and elbow pads for everyone. And helmets. Definitely helmets,” Ruth said, pulling back the curtain where the pair sat waiting. “I’m afraid I have bad news.”

“Fuck.”

“That is my diagnosis. Yes.”

“Fucking professional. Is it really broken?”

Ruth turned her ipad to show the pair the x-ray and pointed. “Unfortunately, yes. You can see the break right there.”

“Fuuuuuuuuuck,” Roy and Jamie said simultaneously.

“Told you.”

“Fuck off.”

Ruth rolled her eyes. “There’s minor displacement, so I can reduce it and then we’ll get you in a cast and get you out of here a soon as we can.”

True to her word, Jamie and Roy are waiting for Ruth an hour later, Jamie’s broken wrist secured in a cast and sling.

“You’re such a dumbass,” Roy said again.

“Stop calling me that,” Jamie said and Roy began to feel badly.

The situation seemed to sink in for Jamie once the cast was applied. The nerve block meant he wasn’t in too much pain but that wouldn’t last and right now the lad just looked uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry. I just, I hate seeing you hurt and especially when it was my fault.”

“How was it your fault?” Jamie asked skeptically.

“You were trying to catch me. Did you hit your fucking head too?”

“It were an accident, Roy. If anyone’s to blame it’s the fucking pot hole you drove through. Thinking of writing a strongly worded letter to our boy Sadiq Khan about the maintenance of London’s roads.”

“I’m impressed you know who the Mayor is.”

“Fuck off. Met him at one of the England matches couple of weeks ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Roy said again then motioned vaguely at Jamie. ”About all this.”

“I told. you, it were an accident,” Jamie shrugged then winced as it jostled his injured wrist.

“Ready lads?” Ruth appeared holding a bag with pain medication she handed to Roy.

“We picking Phoebe up?” Jamie asked.

“I can drive you home first if you want?”

The bikes were abandoned after the incident and they’d taken a taxi to the hospital, thankful Ruth’s shift ended as they were ready to leave.

“Let’s get Phoebe and then Roy said he’d buy us all kebabs, didn’t you, Royo?”

“When the fuck did I say that?”

“You did. Felt bad on account of landing on me and all.”

“Right, yeah,” Roy said as he helped Jamie into Ruth’s Range Rover and buckled him in, careful of his sling. “But seriously, don’t do that again, yeah?”

“No promises, mate.”

One way or another, Jamie Tartt was going to be the death of him.

[ros3ybabe]

Daily Check-in September 11th and 12th, 2023 🎀

Did not have the time to make one yesterday as I didn't get home til almost 11 pm and was so tired that i immediately passed out. I had a really good day today(Tuesday), tho! I ordered a bunch of stationery off of Stationery Pal and Kawaii pen shop, and ahhhh, I love all of it, and they BOTH came in less than a week after I placed my order. The quality of everything is *chefs kiss* and I am so excited to start using all this stuff in my university academics as well as my self study goals! I might even switch back to paper notes because of all the stuff I bought, who knows.

Will not include What I Ate as I honestly don't remember, I am very tired at the moment(Tuesday night), having run most of today with 3 hours of sleep. This check in is going to be a bit more on the self care self compassion side as I had a rough two days honestly.

🩷 Personal Achievements -

Washed my hair

Made it to both classes on time

Organized my new stationery in my desk

Cooked steak *actually* good in my food fundamentals class

🩷 Academic Achievements -

Completed a PSYC writing assignment

Completed NUTR assignment

Completed pre lab quiz for my Anatomy Lab

Completed Osmosis lab report

Earned my Human Subjects Research Training certificate for my PSYC class

(I’m certified to use human subjects in research studies at my university for the next 3 years now, how cool!?)

Should I make a post about the stationery I got? Like a haul/review post? Let me know what you think! It’s all pretty aesthetic so I would love to share my opinions on the quality of the stuff I bought….and I bought a lot of stuff without realizing it!

🩷 As of today, Wednesday September 13th, here’s a little academic todo list for today:

Weekly Writing for my Food Fundamentals class

Take my Exam 1 for my NUTR class

Read Chapter 11 for my Personal Finance class + take notes on IPad

Complete my Nutrition Log for my Fitness for Health and Sport class

Study Japanese for 20+ minutes

🩷 And here’s a little personal to do list for today:

Change current fitted bed sheet to new one I just bought and washed, throw away old one

Take my bedroom trash out, throw out package box

Clean bathroom completely

Sweep bedroom

Organize desk more efficiently

Wash my current dirty laundry

Put away previous clean laundry

Change clear shower liner to my new one

Throw out old carpets and replace with new ones

Follow my skincare routine (my face is begging to be taken care of again)

Possibly hang up my string lights with clips behind my desk and attach BTS photos to clips 💜

Budget for paycheck tomorrow

This check in was definitely a little different than the others, especially cause I started it last night but had to save it as a draft cause I nearly fell asleep while typing it up. I will definitely post an update tonight to see how much of my to do lists I accomplished! Looking forward to having today to myself, as I didn’t go to class due to the extreme rain we’re having (I walk to my campus as I do not drive…at all) and I’m completely home alone today! Let the productivity begin!

Til next time, lovelies 🩷🤍

[raw-law]

thank you L for encouraging me to share my dramatic life i think i will occasionally save these stories as i remember them✨

starting off with "how the FUCK did no one catch on that i was autistic" a series of mini stories from like- elementary school.

so when i'm like 6, my mom got custody over me during the school year (we will get into when/why they weren't living together and got divorced in another story) and that meant i had to leave behind my old tiny small-town school where i spent kindergarten. a lot of schools have this like- open house thing where kids can see their new classrooms and such, and i was at this open house, sitting at a desk in my new classroom and not looking at the other things around the room. so obviously the teacher comes up and asks how i'm feeling, and i respond by looking at her VERY seriously and ststing that i was "very concerned" about the upcoming school year. small reminder, i was 6.

around 2nd grade was the time i got SUPER into pokemon. like i was utterly obsessed from the moment i watched a couple episodes on my mom's ipad before bed. i liked many pokemon, but if i had to pick one, i would have picked pikachu. my mom got me a small pikachu plushie as a tooth fairy prize (there's an interesting story there too, believe it or not) like about the size of a hamburger. i LOVED this pikachu plush (and still do) and carried it with me everywhere. i cuddled with it every night. i had a frantic meltdown any time i didn't know where he was. and that was my first comfort object. i kept carrying him with me up until like 6th grade, where i went to only taking him to things like therapy or doctor's appointments because those places are scary, yet i still need to know where he is to feel okay.

the second comfort object was this pikachu jacket my mom got me from target one day because i begged her to. as soon as i got home, i Immediately put it on and went to watch one of the pokemon movies with it zipped up, hood over my head, my knees to my chest. my mom still has a picture of me from that day. and good god, i wore that jacket EVERY day, carrying little figures around in the pockets, and NO ONE could get it off of me. even in the middle of midwest summer. and as such, it got super ratty and dirty, but i refused to let it get replaced until mom finally just had to do it because it was 'unsalvageable' as she put it. keep in mind, maybe somewhat odd but excuseable behavior for a young child, but i had this jacket up until 7th grade when my mom finally managed to wrestle it away from me and replace it.

i have more similar ones but this ask is getting godawful long, i'm cutting it off now lol.

-rainbow dash

L:

my god.. this is. very amusing.

i feel like any child with an oddly sophisticated vocabulary and an odd obsession with pikachu should automatically be suspected of having the autism™. it's just too on the nose at that point.

i guess i can use this as an excuse to relate and share some weird things i did as a child.

i think i brought up the mancala set i had before in another ask, but i don't know if i properly emphasized how much i really liked that game. because, i think when i was around 7, i met a girl who liked mancala as well, so we would only ever play that each time we saw each other. i wasn't good at talking to other kids my age, so playing together was the only way we could really have conversations. it was just easier to communicate through the game. but then one day, for a reason i can't remember, i got really mad at her halfway through a game, pulled the board to where she couldn't reach, and started playing the game by myself.

she then proceeded to stomp on my foot, say i was stupid, and she refused to play mancala with me ever again.

i'm not sure if that was proof i was autistic, but at the very least i knew it was when i realized i liked girls. so.

i suppose i haven't changed much.

Light:

Um.

I'm very sorry, but I can't relate...I'm very neurotypical, so.

But I did rather enjoy listening to both your life stories. RD, kudos to you for managing to weasel a little of Ryuzaki's back story out of him. I'm very proud of you for that.

And I'd love to hear more of your stories, RD! Feel free to share them anytime, or when you're comfortable too.

[whimsyprinx]

BESTIE NO I JUST LACK STORAGE SPACE THEYRE SO EXPENSIVE AHDJKFG

give me money

[victorluvsalice]

Merry Christmas Newt!

@dont-offend-the-bees Sooo, you had no specific prompts for me, which opened the floor for me to write something -- weird. Something that combined a couple of things I know you're interested in, because I've seen them on your tumblr. Something that, specifically, crossed over your new obsession with the Saw movies...with a certain British gameshow hosted by Greg Davies that I myself rather like. I actually came up with this idea a little while back and meant to message you about it, but forgot -- and I'm kind of glad I did, because that allowed me to write this ridiculous thing as a surprise. XD Hope you find it funny!

Tasksaw

“Well – we’re in a bit of a pickle, aren’t we?”

“I’d say it’s more than just a pickle,” Josh snapped back, tugging on the chain attaching his leg to the wall to test its strength. Depressingly, it seemed to be pretty damn well bolted in there. “Or do you get drugged and wake up in moldy old bathrooms with your leg manacled to the nearest wall often?”

“I can’t say I have,” the other fellow – who’d introduced himself as James – admitted, giving his leg a cursory kick. The chain attached to it rattled, snaking across the filthy floor. “Though I have been in my fair share of shitty bathrooms before.”

Josh squinted at him. “Was that an intentional pun, or. . . ?”

James just gave him a smirk – which was quickly replaced by a frown as he looked around the room again. “It is a very odd place, though. You have any idea why we’re here?”

“Not a bloody clue, mate,” Josh said, letting his chain slip from his hands. “I mean, obviously we pissed off somebody, but I don’t know who or why.”

“Yeah, me either. The guys in Pindrop weren’t that upset about us breaking up,” James muttered, scratching his head. “Which was actually a bit insulting, if you think about it – oh! Hang on!” He snapped his fingers, pointing frantically at Josh. “We need to check that our kidneys haven’t been stolen!”

“Our – our kidneys?” Josh repeated, baffled.

“Yeah! That’s the main reason people get kidnapped, isn’t it?” James said, rolling up the side of his shirt to stare at his abdomen. “To get their organs harvested? And I rather appreciate having my kidneys inside my body!”

“You’ve been reading too many conspiracy theory sites,” Josh said – though he did slip a hand under his shirt, just to feel for any new scars. “Besides, I think we should have woken up in a bathtub full of ice if that was the case.”

“Nobody said our kidnappers had to be good at harvesting organs.”

“Excuse me!”

Both men looked up as the door on the far wall, just out of reach of their chains, opened, admitting a rather awkward-looking man with a scruffy beard and gapped teeth, dressed in a smart black suit and carrying an iPad. “Hello,” he greeted them, with a smile that didn’t seem entirely natural. “Would you like to play a game?”

Josh stared for a moment, trying and failing to come up with an appropriate way to respond to this. “Um. . .”

“What game?” James said, rolling his shirt back down and giving the newcomer a suspicious look. “Who are you?”

“Right, right, let me just. . .”

The man did something on his iPad, then held it up, displaying an image of a rather portly and extremely tall late-middle-aged man in glasses, sat upon an ornate golden throne. “GREETINGS, PEONS!” a powerful voice rang out from the tinny speakers. “Allow me to introduce myself – I am THE TASKMASTER! Your one true love, your reason for getting up in the morning, your NEW GOD AND MASTER! Over the next few days, I shall set you a series of tasks, overseen by my admin and general puppet-man Little Alex Horne! I shall score these tasks according to my whims, and at the end of our time together, whoever scores the most points wins the most valuable prize of all – THEIR LIFE! The loser will be killed in an appropriately ironic fashion. So play well, and amuse me. Puppet-man, I leave things in your hands. DON’T SCREW THIS UP!”

The recording ended in a burst of simulated static. The man – Alex – immediately pulled a piece of paper, folded and sealed with a red wax bearing a “TM” logo, out of his jacket and delivered it to Josh. “If you could just read that aloud, please?”

Completely and utterly baffled, Josh broke the seal and unfolded the paper. “‘Clean your half of this bathroom,” he read out. “‘Cleanest bathroom half wins. You have one hour. Your time starts now.’” He blinked, then looked up at Alex. “Clean – what? How?”

“All the information’s on the task,” Alex replied calmly, starting up a timer on his iPad.

Josh facepalmed into the paper. “Seriously? You’re going to be like this?”

“Well well well – looks like we’re going head to head on this one, Josh!” James said, with perhaps more enthusiasm than the situation warranted. “And I plan to win – puppet-man! Get me a cabbage and a red dress.”

[brasideios]

A Random Valhalla Fanfic Snippet

A couple of years ago, I replaced my iPad mini with an iPad, and since then, I’ve not really looked in the notes app. And the thing is, I used to write all my fanfic there. The notes app was basically broken and refused to move things to the cloud, so I used to email them to myself. But there were things I never bothered to move.

Anyway, in the search for old login details today, I booted up ye olde iPad mini, and on a whim, peeped into my notes app. I really had forgotten the volume of writing I’d left behind.

The good news is the app & cloud decided to oblige me at last, and all my writing has now been moved from the local drive to the cloud - hooray!

It opened on a snippet of AC Valhalla fic that I have no recollection of writing. I have no idea where it was going. I don’t think I knew even in March of 2021.

But heck. I’m posting it here because I felt like I was visiting old friends for a moment, and maybe someone else might like to as well. Nostalgia: my besetting sin :)

8 Mar 21.

Petra was up before the rest of the village most days, and this morning was no different. It was just as the world began to tip from dark to light, while the seasons began to tip from light to dark - the beginning of autumn, the air redolent with smoke, and the soft drip of rain from the eves into thick leaves below.

As she slung her bow and quiver over her shoulder and ducked out the door, a breeze was blowing high in the landmark tree, flapping the green banners against the lightening sky, and she could just make out the shifting shapes of clouds - she thought it likely to rain again before midday.

She cut through the town, heading towards the western edge of the village down near the river; passing the bureau where she caught a glimpse of Hytham rubbing his eyes in candlelight, a scroll already in hand though not yet unrolled; then she passed the cartographers and Swanburrow’s home, and there the woods took over.

She could always breathe easier beyond the small community. Being in the forest, the quiet of the hunt - that was what she lived for.

It’d been difficult in the first years, when she and Eivor had briefly been seeing each other. She’d hoped for more, but the whole time knowing deep down that that was more than she could really hope for; so when it’d petered out, she hadn’t been surprised.

What she hadn’t expected was Ubba Ragnarsson. When he’d appeared in the village and taken up his place as Eivor’s consort, there’d been real bitterness. Seeing them together, so totally in love, was enough to make her sick. She was ashamed now of the times she had tried to persuade Wallace to leave the village. Fortunately, he’d only shaken his head and told her he’d warned her not to get involved, and she’d just have to learn to live with it.

They hadn’t talked for a time; but that too had passed. And she had learnt to live with it, though it was still not easy sometimes…

She pushed these thoughts aside as she reached the quiet rustle of the woods. Hunting required concentration. There was no time to dwell.

Hytham heard rather than saw Petra passing outside, and glanced out into the relative darkness to gauge how long it would be before the sun came up.

He’d agreed to meet with Olsen, the cartographer, early. He’d returned to Ravensthorpe from Lunden with a new map he promised Hytham he’d want to see. Hytham had suggested he show him it straight away - sleep, like everything else, could wait - but it’d been very late, and Olsen said laughingly that he wanted to bathe and get some rest.

Hytham didn’t understand this weakness to fatigue. He slept little and lightly himself, but he knew better than to press him. He’d learnt the hard way to bend to the needs of others...

There was the sudden clanging of the bell at the Jomsviking Hall, carried across the town on the wind. Eivor was awake then, he thought, preparing to go on a raid.

Hytham frowned. He didn’t understand their obsession with that particular activity at all; but he added with a sigh to himself, people in general were an enigma to him.

Vagn was woken by the bell. He stirred, but by his side Earys sat bolt upright.

‘That fucking bell,’ she said, and hastily stood to dress. ‘I swear I’m going to fling it in the river.’

‘You’ll do no such thing,’ Vagn said comfortably, smiling happily at her as she stormed towards the door. He loved to see her angry. At her infernal best.

She paused before going outside to blow him a kiss, then she was gone.

Vagn lingered lazily for a moment. He could hear both Eivor and Ubba talking outside with a cluster of keen Jomsvikingr in preparation for the raid.

He should get up. He would get up. Any moment now…

Eivor’s lieutenant, Varfeitr, saw Earys leaving Vagn’s hut and raised a hand in respectful greeting.

She nodded and passed on, and he turned to Eivor.

‘Rollo wants to come with us. He’s been petitioning me relentlessly.’

Eivor grinned.

‘Rollo! I thought he had his hands full?’

Tove, who’d been sleeping with him since Yule, had caught him making eyes and crude suggestions to Sunniva when he’d drunk too much ale. Sunniva had, of course, laughed in his face, and told him she had more than enough trouble with two lovers and a small daughter - but Tove had been wildly furious, no matter how many times he’d apologised.

Varfeitr smiled. ‘He does - I think that’s why he wants to come.’

Eivor considered this. ‘Alright. Take orders to the barracks. Tell him he can go. You’ll raid along the border of Snotinghamscire. There’s a letter that needs taking to Vili Hemmingson. Be sure you see it delivered.’

Ubba looked at Eivor from the side of his eye, lips pursed.

Varfeitr nodded. ‘You wish me to lead?’

‘It’s your decision. Finnr can do it if you’d rather come with us to the Exe.’

‘No - I’ll go north, make sure the letter reaches Hemsthorpe.’

Eivor rested a hand on his shoulder for a moment, and said ‘My thanks. Travel safely.’

‘You too, my jarl.’

Vagn had finally dragged himself from his bed. He emerged out of the hut just as the sun peeped over the hills and through the trees.

He said cheerfully, ‘You’re early and loud this morning.’

Eivor smiled. ‘Ravensthorpe is making you soft.’

Vagn chuckled, but didn’t deny it.

‘The Exe today you said?

‘Last raid of the season I think.’

He pondered the sky, as though the future days could be read there.

‘We might risk another yet - but we’ll see what the weather does.’

He went to oversee last minute preparations, and Eivor turned to Ubba.

‘You’ll be alright here, with Norna?’

‘Of course,’ he said, smiling, though feeling a little terse. He hated watching the raiders leave. That first day was always the worst. By tomorrow, he knew, he would have got over it.

Eivor studied his face a moment, then nodded, reassured.

‘Then I’ll see you in a few days.’

‘You will. Be safe.’

Eivor grinned. ‘Of course. Then he turned away - but he paused a moment to look back and say, ‘No jumping off the lookout this time.’

Ubba only grunted, but he couldn’t entirely repress the smile this roused. Eivor would never let him forget about the damn broken leg.

[eyetwitch]

Pickle’s Phone Number

My adoptive mother, as I have detailed in other little essays, is slowly flaking apart with senile dementia. Every day I talk to her and another few pieces of her memory and cognitive abilities gently disappear, honing her down to a person who remembers everything up to age 10 vividly and very little after that. What she’s losing in long-term memories is being replaced with weird little confabulations that stick, once they appear.

For instance, she just had gallbladder surgery. We went through months of her walking around with a drain sticking out of her side and a bag collecting bile that had to be pinned to her shirt. We met with surgeons, I researched alternative therapies for treatment, it was a whole production. We set the surgery date in advance a couple months ago, and I took her in last week to get it. She packed four bags for her overnight stay (I winnowed it down to a change of clothes). And yet if you ask her today about the surgery, she will say “They took my gallbladder out and didn’t even tell me they were going to do it!” I said, “Why do you think you were in the hospital, Mom?” “For my gallbladder.” “And do you remember meeting with the surgeon the morning they took it out?” “Yes but she didn’t even SAY she was going to do that! They could at least TELL you before they do something like that.” (The surgeon did tell her, multiple times. I was there.)

Anyway last night her old friend Carol called me to say that my mom seemed to have written her phone number down wrong and was calling all their other mutual friends to get it, over and over. I have programmed Carol’s number into my mom’s iPad and her phone, but she pulls out a tattered address book and uses Carol’s number from 20 years ago. I dutifully wrote down the correct number and called my mom to have her cross out every wrong number in the address book and put the new one in instead.

“I HAVE that number,” my mom said. I asked her to read it to me, and she did have it. “Well, please call that number instead, then,” I said. “I do but that’s the dog’s phone,” my mom said.

“..What” I said.

“It’s PICKLE’s phone number. It’s Carol’s DOG’s phone number,” she said. “He’s a POMERANIAN. Named PICKLES,” she added, helpfully filling in all the gaps in my knowledge.

I paused, considering what to say next. “….Mom, why do you think the dog has a phone,” I said. “Well I sure don’t know, it’s CAROL’S dog, ask her,” she said.

“No, I mean, do you really think that the dog has a cell phone,” I said. “Yes, that’s PICKLE’S phone number and Carol never calls me back from it,” she said.

“No but. But. Mom, why would a dog need a phone,” I said.

“Well, she takes him EVERYWHERE so he has a phone,” she said, with exasperation.

“I…do you…has Pickles ever called you,” I said. “No he’s a DOG.” “But he has a phone, you said.” “Yes, IT’S. PICKLE’S. PHONE,” she said, fed up.

“Well. Please call Pickles and ask to speak to Carol,” I said, feeling faint. “FINE. I don’t know why I always have to call the DOG but I’ll do it,” she said. ‘Ok. Say… I don’t know. Say hi to Pickles, I guess,” I said, and hung up.

[iamnathannah]

And noticing the very heavy decline in children's networks as instead of trying to come up with better things to entertain and enlighten kids, broadcasters and studios are just choosing to give up and let them all go to YouTube, Roblox and Fortnite, which is not what anyone should be wanting at all.

These days Nickelodeon is a death march of Paw Patrol, SpongeBob and bad sitcoms, Disney is shows from the 2000s and I am NOT even going to get into anything about Cartoon Network (because that fanbase is angry) except that Adult Swim shouldn't be starting at 6pm ET and the actual network that gives the network its name should not be airing for less than half the day. NBC is giving up on Universal Kids because when they did try to make fresh shows nobody watched.

Then there's broadcast 'educational/informational' programming (NOT PBS), which is hilariously bad and not even focused towards kids any longer. It's basically the most insipid content like 'baby animals for a half-hour, generic 'save the earth' programming we found insulting in the 90s, or bad reality shows for adults that had an 'educational expert' squeeze out a couple of generic 'being part of a team is fun!' and 'never question anyone with a uniform on or you will die' lessons. And all of them are surrounded by advertising for seniors, so it's very clear the actual target audience is 6-13 year old kids as it should be, but senior citizens stuck with nothing else to watch in a nursing home day room and toddlers who haven't had iPad exposure yet.

And you'd think the streamers would be trying to grab that audience, but David Zaslav strip-mined most kid's content from Max (including Sesame Street) because of his insane lust to not give out residuals and get tax benefits for not airing shows, Netflix had killed its own kids show budgets and even Disney+ doesn't create much for children on its own.

So it's off to YouTube and its hilariously ineffective kids app (whose passwords are easily figured out), but bad parents don't care and just give them a tablet with regular YouTube unfiltered...and thus my niece and nephew get exposed to things meant for teens like 5 Nights at Freddy's, Poppy Playtime, and the Amazing Digital Circus. My sister and brother-and-law can only do so much, and even though I have YouTube Premium, they always use it in guest mode; it's why I hated Sniperwolf well before she did sketchy stuff because of all the screaming that kept them entertained in a much sadder manner than me as a kid getting excited for a new Garfield and Friends or Super Mario Bros. Super Show (also a LOT of Saved by the Bell; I'm so a Jessie because she's like a more calm Paris Geller somehow outside the amphetamine abuse that one time oh I have to write that one time with Paris).

The web? Forget that! Distractions like Candystand where we played so many games in the 00s and all the network websites are gone, along with Flash, replaced with demands to download their tablet apps or streaming, because these days it's more about data collection rather than entertaining children and they don't want to develop new games. And it's so damned sad. Creativity is starved when artists can't create and show new things to children to entertain, and the spirit of the Nickelodeon I grew up with, where 'kids rule' was the network motto and they definitely did, has long been replaced. We don't even have the fun of the 2010s with Victorious (in furious spite of Dan Schnieder) any longer, replaced with a soulless and now somehow dark for some reason Henry Danger remake. It's all about content, not fun, learning and entertainment.

Thank God for PBS and actual children's entertainers like Ms. Rachel, because they're fighting the hardest battle against crap like Cocomelon and other literal brainrot while the FCC and FTC (at least until Monday, when they'll be impotent against anything except GOP slander) feebly throw them small fines that are just more expected operating expenses than actual punishment for not fulfilling their broadcast obligations.

I don’t have children so take this with a grain of salt but I hate when you can tell people like the concept of their children more than their well-being. Parents like the concept of an all-beige nursery that’s photogenic more than they care about the development of their kid’s brain. They like the concept of a cutely dressed kid in designer clothes more than they care about their comfort and personal desires. They like the concept of a child who never eats poorly more than they care about the happiness that can come from a child eating some candy now and then. People need to stop treating their kids like little dolls

[miumakio]

Update, commissions will be back open hopefully by the end of this week as I'm getting a new ipad

his is just me rambling past this point. You don't have to read. I just need to get this out of my system (pun not intended), and I need to vent some stuff out

So crazy update, the day I ordered a replacement apple pencil, I also had a migraine, so I asked my mother to order it for me

She got the wrong. One. My iPad is so old it doesn't have the magnetic charging thing on the side of it, so I had no choice but to use a first gen apple pencil, and my mother bought me a second gen (the one you can't plug into the iPad)

My mother's solution? New iPad. Shes been itching to replace my old one as I've had it for about 4 years now and it's seen some shit

So this Wednesday I'll be getting a new ipad??? And yea, I guess I should be excited because a newer iPad may run better than my very old, very buggy hand me down one, but I think part of me is a little too sentimental to wanna stop using it?

I've had this iPad for 4 years, and I got this iPad when my grandmother still lived with me in our house. She's been gone for 2 years now, but I think part of me feels like changing out my device sort of erases the history I had with it and my family. Which I know sounds really ridiculous, but I attach too much sentimental value to objects and that's. Exactly what I'm doing here, even if I don't mean to

Switching out this iPad for a brand new one oddly feels like I'm losing the memories I have with my old one (despite us not getting rid of it, my mom just wants to use it for her job after we wipe it) so I'm honestly not at all looking forward to this, even though I know I should be. If given the choice I'd keep using my old busted up iPad, even if I sometimes complain that it's buggy. Like yea it sort of sucks, but I used to sit in my living room with my grandmother and draw on that same iPad, and I'll never get to do that with my new one (or anything new I have)

Idk, I just need to get this out of my system cause I feel guilty that I'm not excited about this new thing. I know I'm lucky to be getting a new ipad, but after my weird dream last night where I got to say goodbye to my grandmother one last time, I'm coming to realize I'm not upset about replacing the device. I really think I'm just upset that the device has a history with not only me but someone I can't see anymore. Letting go of that's just really hard

Yea idk, I know this is really different from my usual posts, I'm just not doing to well emotionally today

If you read all this, ty for reading, as usual asks and dms are open, I love you <3

[jirainene]

NENE-CHAN NENE-CHAN!!! good morningggggg!! rise and shine!! i predict a good day today!! hopefully!!

i’m glad you had a good rest!! kyaaaaaaa ^_^

— @jiraiemu

i hope you rested well too emu-chan!! though i probably shouldve slept for a little longer,, the sun woke me up >< ill just take a nap later if im tired!

i think todays gonna be good too! maybe my mail will arrive early (i got an ipad for christmas to replace my old one that stopped working, but because my apple pencil is super old, i had to order an adapter so i can connect it.. so i cant draw on my ipad till it arrives T.T) or something

[yaminerua]

I miss selling at those smaller local cons I used to go to as well. I always hoped I’d gather the courage to sell at a bigger one some day but then the pandemic hit and then my laptop died and I couldn’t get any art drawn until literally this year when I was given an iPad bc I still haven’t managed to sort out a replacement laptop lmao but even then I haven’t done much since the initial burst when I first got given it ;;;

I wanted to make loads of charms and other things back when I sold at cons but I couldn’t afford them and just did badges and stickers and prints and now all my old stuff is years old and I never added new stuff to it rip

And I can’t seem to get back into the productivity flow I used to have and I wish I could. So much has fallen off between then and now and I’m still trying to crawl back to getting even little doodles done again;; I really miss when I was always able to draw whenever I sat down to

now I mostly sit thinking about drawing or writing and when I try to actually do it my brain shuts down