#try to fight addiction

[clairethecutepup]

Social Media Won't Fix Your Loneliness and Other Problems...

Social media, something we essentially can't separate from our offline lives these days-- whether we want them so or not. However, for all its benefits it may offer, very rarely can it ever be used as a problem solver... Case in point, it won't solve your personal issues of invalidity or loneliness-- despite the "social" aspect that allows engagement with others, including in "validating" manners. If anything, it can worsen those very problems or simply be enough to ruin your day. I know, it's nonsensical to lecture, "Don't do this!" or "Don't do that!" and leave it at that. So, I won't and actually tell you how to lessen it's hold on you, even if not completely. After all, I figured out my own way for my personal vices: loneliness from "stir-craziness," and a desire for peoples' attention and praise.

In fact, I'm starting to think that's exactly why I had some odd, emotional issues stemming from something like Corn Kidz 64: it hits a nostalgic nerve, taking me back to earlier days. When I was younger, I'd generally have school be my only time of having others to engage with-- if I didn't bother them-- or instead play with the younger children my mom took care of and had to focus on. When middle school came and I was old enough to be left home alone, it'd essentially just be me most of the time. Think of yourself repeating the pandemic's "stay at home" order every Summer, since you can't really leave the house and all that. Naturally, and being of age, social media would become a habit.

Likewise, it was around the time my creative desires were at an all-time high, and now I finally had the chance to share things I made. Unfortunately, being a beginner and eager kid, it wasn't the warmest reception. It wouldn't be until my first ever Deviantart account, around half a year later, that people would be a tad more supportive and friendlier (this was the early 2010's). Of course, not everyone was suddenly nice to me, I still got "called out" for making content of terrible quality. 

Naturally as a result, it led to developing my first social media vice: the need for validation, even all these years later. After all, you "gotta prove them wrong" and "prove I'm talented," prove that you can make your dreams of creating beloved content that's spread far and wide come true. Even though, you'll forever be resentful of your past self for not starting out as well and costing yourself a "head start" in achieving that goal, regardless of if achieved or not. Given how nostalgic CK64 is and how it generally feels like a game I would've also enjoyed in school, and even make content of back then, it’s no wonder it hits such a strong nerve. Honestly, thank goodness Bogosoft never went through with Final Freekend's 2011 release (the "prototype"), I would've probably subjected the goats and Ally to inclusion in less quality-filled content.

So yeah, again CK64 fandom (if any of you are reading this), I'm sorry for the past decree of disinterest in working on further content related to the game. If you're wondering what my discouragement problem was, it was probably that: being mentally transported back to days where I had to prove I could make good stuff, too, and feared possible annoyance at me for simply sharing what may not be "good enough" or I’m doing something to make me unappealing. I mean, I found out it was the truth with some people, but who honestly should care? It doesn't undo the past nor is it still the past, and it won't fix my vices to suddenly have everyone declare me their favorite person and that I make their favorite content.

No, only I can fix that-- just like you can, too, with whatever vice causes you to seek out social media. I can fix the loneliness, by spending less time within the room I rely on for digital work; I can fix the need for validation and all, by focusing less on completing things and more on making the process of completion fun or relaxing. I try to curb the habit of staying home as often as possible, learning to make myself go out there and actually feel ready to stay home for the day; I try to stay away from my phone and wane myself away from checking notifications.

True, there is no "cure" for such vices and we'll all still feel their emotional effects upon us, but we can weaken its hold. You also might not be able to have the solutions I do, like it being safe enough nor simply possible to just sit outside of your living space. But, you always have a solution that doesn't have to be a permanent escape from whatever mental, psychological or other type of torment your social media vices cause. If you can't go outside, you can instead use the internet to educate yourself, hone your skills-- things more enriching than "how many people 'appreciate' me and care?" They also have special spaces online dedicated to just chatting, if you find yourself strongly needing social interaction and the web is your only option. I believe Silverline has an online service as much as a phone one...? Or, you could always look up: "chatting spaces to avoid loneliness." There's also "offline" solutions, like traditional artwork or a good book. 

It may be hard at first, avoiding your "doom-scrolling" or need to see if ol' Claire here had "redeemed" herself, but it's not impossible. You only need to find the solution that works for YOU, and it can be whatever YOU want-- no matter how "pathetic" or otherwise it could seem to others, don't be afraid to do what makes you feel most comfortable and less likely to feel pushed into behaving drastically. 

Remember, don't make social media your world nor solution, only keep it as a means of enjoying what others share and especially enjoy sharing what you want to. Unfortunately, I'll be limiting my own "enjoying" of others' things, at least for the time being; but one day, when I get my issues fully sorted out, I'll be back to enjoying others' CK64 and other independent forms of fan-content and otherwise.

Good luck to you guys, too.

[bluehairedspidey]

"boone would hate gannon because he talks too much lol"

boone:

[sirherni]

"My Dress is on Fire"

-Blossoms by the amazing Devil

[mythological-mayhem]

The four Tezcatlipocas have an insane family dynamic just think about it:

-Huitzilopochtli is the serious kingly leader that tries just a smidge too hard to be funny

-Quetzalcoatl is the nice one that can probably turn on a dime if you piss him off bad enough

-Tezcatlipoca is the one who commits destruction of property for shits and giggles and he gets away with it all the time, because why wouldn't he he's a god

-Xipe Totec is the usually gentle tactical one that's also on the last strand of his sanity trying to keep his family intact (I feel bad for him if he thinks they'll ever be normal)

-And then there's Coyolxauhqui, Huitzilopochtli's sister that isn't part of the four Tezcatlipocas and whom we never talk about like ever.

[stressedjester]

Hey if anyone needs a good reason to stay off alcohol:

When you're an alcoholic you literally feel pain in your liver and kidneys. It's not something that just suddenly accumulates all one day and kills you by shutting your liver and kidneys down. It literally feels like you have 2 big bruises in your body where those organs are and it continually feels worse the more you drink (at least with my experience)

And this ends up leading to other issues like thinner blood (leading to easy bruising and bleeding becomes more dangerous), heart problems (I have mild heart pains from drinking heavily. Iirc it can lead to heart attacks as well), and constant bladder issues like UTIs and kidney stones (thankfully I only deal with the former currently at my stage, but even then UTIs are dangerous and generally uncomfortable at best and dangerous at worst)

Plus you genuinely start to feel tired and sick all the time. You get headaches constantly. You get body aches. It's not worth it in the long run. It really does wreck your body

[winepresswrath]

what louis did to lestat and what louis did to armand are connected and that's important to the story but also. it is simply not the same. nothing louis did excuses armand's behaviour, that's not how anything works, but he did not "cross a line" or "poke at armand," he weaponized armand's history of abuse to belittle and demean him. nothing armand said to louis came close- the equivalent would have been "oooh, i'm such a stupid bitch that my husband can beat me half to death and i'll keep crawling back for more even when it endangers my daughter!" it's retraumatizing and deeply destabilizing to hear that shit from your partner. and in response armand should have been like "well this man sucks when he's high and he's high all the time, so i'm bouncing" but if he'd done that we wouldn't have a story, would we?

edit: i've come back to give armand credit for "claudia didn't love you like we did/do. ps. u used her to distract from your own hurt feelings" that shit does hit in a similar way. however "the ways someone hurt you have left you contemptible and weak. they scrawled 'dirty and annoying' all over your soul in red ink and it's never coming off" is just outstanding work. timeless

[justarandomhelluvablog]

having thoughts about how Husk actually has very little left to redeem bc he started his journey of self-change before even coming to work at the hotel, but at the same time redemption isn't even his goal- he ain't even aiming for heaven, he just wanted to be a better person and maybe now with friends and especially Angel, who he supports so much and wants to see succeed, maybe now he has a reason to be a better person

[the-blossica-fan]

Greetings!

Yeah i remember that Sonetto and Schneider swap art, probably could find it later.

Yk what would be a funnier combo? Lilya and Vertin swapping, or really anyone swapping with Lilya.

Literally the both of them suffering withdrawal; Vertin suffering in Lilya's body with alcohol withdrawals because ofc shes not drinking, and Lilya in Vertin's suffering picrasma withdrawal because she HATES the stuff probably.

Horropedia and Blonney swapping? Idk anything but the pure chaos in it happening, Jessica would IMMEDIATELY know they have swapped but idk the rest? Up to you!

You always give me the best stuff to put my brain to work, I love this!!

Allow me to use my beloved overworked brain for this.

Lilya in Vertin's body would not be able to hold onto the primal need to eat Picrasma Candy. Her mouth feels empty and waters taste like some sugary substance (I believe this happens when you eat too much sugar), her (Vertin's) body NEEDS Picrasma, but oh Lord Lilya is NOT eating that shit.

Drinking Vodka has a wrong reaction as well, she ends up on the floor 5 seconds before throwing up. She can't drink, nor does she want to eat Picrasma, she's in mental pain.

Meanwhile, Vertin can't eat Picrasma candy because of not drinking alcoholic beverages. Lilya's body is used to a certain quantity of alcohol, so even if she drinks something light, her (Lilya's) body NEEDS vodka, and Vertin is not Lilya and it tastes like shit so she's having terrible withdrawal symptoms.

She can't even nap it out nor concentrate on her work, her body demands alcohol and the nausea is way too much. She had to drink way too much low alcohol drink in order to get it to hold on for a while. She was drunk.

Horropedia and Blonney, my Lord...

Blonney HATES it. She feels so sweaty and she can't see shit every time she takes off his glasses. She definitely took off that sweater and wore something more comfortable on his skin, she's also complaining so much about his skin. He sleeps well, that's for sure, but my Lord is he greasy. He eats junk and she eats healthy.

Horropedia Is definitely more curious on this change from an investigative perspective. Blonney's chest is big so... He's experiencing the pain of women with big breasts and he doesn't like it

"Blondie, how can you live with this?! This is, really painful. I can't lie on my stomach!"

"Could you PLEASE stop mentioning this?"

They have so many troubles regarding each other's bodies but that's because of the gender of each person, and Horropedia's lack of skin care which Blonney will fix. Horropedia doesn't hate the body but he definitely wasn't made for it.

And Blonney is such a lesbian she can't hold onto this body any longer.

Jessica definitely has a dilemma. She loves Blonney and the softness of her body... Blonney's body is Horropedia. What is she going to do?! She throws a couple punches at Horropedia though

"Oh, finally, you don't smell like sweat and dust!"

"Hey! How dare you? I don't smell like that!"

"You're right, it's worse."

She definitely hangs out with Blonney more but, in her mind, she's probably like "I miss Blonney's soft body 😞", but she's not hugging Horropedia.

Mmmm, as for a couple extra body swaps... Matilda and J.

Matilda would be so proud in J's body, definitely happier to be taller and presuming her (his) muscles. She also loves his style so she's not changing anything.

J is quite in pain. He is now small and in the body of a silly girl, he has fun being small and the fact Matilda is pretty strong even with her body type fascinates him. He's working out in her body to have some muscles since Matilda had a lot of work and doesn't exercise outside of work.

"Hah, I can finally understand why you never appear in photos. You're so small you can't even see the camera"

"Consider your next words carefully! The great Matilda is in care of YOUR body and isn't afraid to damage it!"

And maybe Isolde and Marcus! You would think it's Isolde and Kakania, oh Lord no I'm not THAT cruel 😞

Marcus can't breathe in Isolde's body, she still wears corsets, and they're very, very tight. Marcus is actually pretty worried for her safety but it seems she's used it, meanwhile Marcus is suffering. Yeah Isolde's lungs are used to it, but Marcus' brain is not and Lord does it hurt to breathe. She did take Hoffman's coat from Isolde and ended up wearing it over Isolde's nightgown as the only clothing that's comfortable for her.

Isolde didn't find any issue with Marcus' body, not like she has any complaints to make. Without the coat, it just feels so comfortable and calming. She feels like she could be peaceful forever. She can't sing and can't hear the ghost's voices so she's quite peaceful. Drinking tea by the window, equally as gloomy as ever but you can feel more comfortable.

Oh, by the way, Marcus is having a fistfight with Heinrich's ghost while she's in Isolde's body.

[unlikelyjapan]

Finales for Michael + Claire

Yo - someone has already broken down that the last/second-last images in each season finale were basically the same, right?

At any rate, I'm going do it again, because my tiny brain only mashed these two things together today. Apologies for the lack of stills.

We have flashback Mikey looking at Carmen reverently in sunlight-sepia hues at the close of season 1, then a big smile, hot on the heels of Carmy genuinely connecting with everyone at family meal - it lets Mikey's belief in his brother linger over the finale, a sense of continuation and partial closure.

The quixotic part of Radiohead's Letdown blasts us off to the credits. IMO, it was one of the most hopeful and tenderhearted moments in TV history.

In the season 2 finale we have flashback Claire, sepia-hued with her coy smile immediately cutting to a dejected Carmy in the walk-in as the welder creates "fireworks" akin to what we see behind them in Pop. There's a sense of continuation, but no closure - it just tells the audience to settle in for more regression in S3, just as we thought we were out of the woods with that experiment.

Michael Stipe walks us out with "Go it alone and haul it along" before it cuts to Syd, proud and abandoned, the song progressing into the credits.

I always felt like that last, longing look from Claire was the biggest crotch-kick from the Storer universe - it felt like an erasure of all the progress and connecting-of-dots that Carmy was working out throughout the latter half of the season, and I guess that's the material point of it all.

Maybe we have to watch this man chase familial myths and phantoms for another season, to the detriment of The Bear, his happiness, his earnest relationship with Syd, and everyone else around him. I'm not sure if he'll actually try to repair things with Claire in a fit of desperation/self-doubt, but it seems like she'll haunt him through his inevitable breakdown at a minimum.

I'm curious about how the writers engineer this without the audience feeling perpetually flogged. I also wonder how they will manage to empower Syd until Carmy starts putting shit together again.

I wish I had more endearing sydcarmy parallels to offer here tonight, but this was eating at me and now someone in the fandom needs to talk me off a ledge.

[roukabi]

Happy 20th, Monster Hunter! After 200 hours into MH: Generations, I finally beat HR:8 Nakarkos! A healing-based Prowler is by no means the best play style, especially solo... but it still works!

[wishchip106]

gawd damn i need me some hard liquor (apple juice) rn

life got me stressing

[icharchivist]

Summertime textposts

[troublcmakcrs]

//gonna be real, arcane s2 pretty much sucked (expected, but some of the ways in which it sucked were decidedly less expected), but i do be thinking about arcane verses for the boys......

[fatuismooches]

I still haven’t gotten over that dialogue involving Nahida and Dottore.

Nahida: “Why were you trying to make an artificial new god?”

Dottore: “Well… To see if it was possible, and if I could”

Nahida: “… You’re really crazy. What would you do if you ended up with a real god in the end, though?”

Dottore: “That would be up to the future me in that situation to deal with”

Nahida: “…”

He creates problems with no consideration of possible future consequences. What a chaotic man ❤️

Oh i COMPLETELY understand anon... I have honestly rewatched that cutscene on youtube an unhealthy amount of times. Like, it is such a good conversation, really goes into Dottore's perception of the world and Nahida's reaction to it only drives home the point of how crazy confident and self-driven he is (which just makes his character so good) I hope he does something similar eventually. I want him to make more problems 🥰 Ugh it's literally one of my favorite cutscenes in the game.

And remember. He is first and foremost a scholar 🙏

[fleabagdiaz]

911 bottle episode….save me…. save me 911 bottle episode…..

[shhh-secret-time]

I'm gonna be real with you guys. I did my boy Stanson dirty with his Soulmate AU pic. I was not happy with how that came out! Buuuuuut we don't take those Ls lying down.

I have seen the light. I now subscribe to longer haired, cleft chin Stan.

You can pry sober Stan from my cold dead hands though!