#unnecessarily long post

[kingdomheartist]

trains. my dreams are SO FREQUENTLY about trains and train stations, and especially about missing trains, probably because it happened to me so frequently thanks to me repying on them to get to school and having detention so frequently.

Usually it goes like this:

- I get to a train station (theres lots of other people there and they always look roughly the same)

- I got to the wee train station shop to get an energy drink (i did this everu day in highschool)

- I see the train rolling into the station and need to run to get it (either through the strairs/tunnels that connect the platforms or across the rails)

- One of two things happen

-> I get to the train and mash the button, but it starts rolling away

-> I get to the train and people are still getting on so I can get on (I will find a place to sit yes but it's always a really weird one and i need to walk ages to get to it)

And then there's the variables that make every dream slightly different, like:

- the reason i got onto the train (trying to get home/visit my parents/need to get to another part of the city)

- if i got onto the wrong train (if yes, 90% of the time the train doesn't stop until i wake up, or i somehow end up getting a flight to where i need to go (i never get to where i need to go)

- do i have my child with me (if yes, he is most likely an infant in a baby carrier or in a buggy, even though irl he's 3 now and doesn't use either)

- is it an intracity or cross country train (the story outside of the train-stuff will change accordingly)

- what kinda train station am i at (modern, think glasgow train station but more underground and smaller or urban small city)

- can i afford the train

sometimes the train dream expands to include other forms of transport, specifically planes and buses

- in case of planes, i'll board the plane usually with my dad, sometimes also with my mum and sister (never with my brothers)

- in case of buses, usually i

-> almost miss it

-> get dropped off at the wrong bit and either go to a shop just before closing time (i never have anough money) or have to walk a massive trek to my home (the walk always ends up being oddly spiritually significant?)

-> once again sometimes i'm by myself, sometimes i have my kid with me

-> i got a cat a week and a half ago and he was in one of those dreams lmao

everyone has dreams about being lost at school, late to work, cant find bathroom etc but whats yalls most common Uncommon stress dream. ill always have dreams about having various problems with my fish tank

[kmesons]

the tgwdlm soundtrack: a visual summary

[21stc3nturyd1gitalb0y]

a lot of you got a kick out of my service dog’s battle jacket, so i thought i’d share some more pictures of the man himself.

i know people have a lot of stereotypes about what service dogs and their handlers are “supposed” to look like, and it confuses people to see a young, seemingly able bodied punk rocker with a service dog.

but i share this to say, that if you as a disabled person don’t see a life for yourself, you can create one. when i started to realize i was disabled almost 10 years ago, i certainly didn’t imagine this is where i’d be now. in fact, i didn’t even plan to making it to this point.

but a diagnosis doesn’t have to mean the end of the world. sometimes your world is just beginning. some people are of the belief that everything happens for a reason. me, not so much. i’ll never be grateful for the suffering i experienced in this world, but i will always, always be glad i chose to stay in it.

[mlobsters]

supernatural underwear

[priveetru]

America is exceptional... exceptionally racist!

...Gottem

I think America is in a unique place on the global stage and people shouldn't fight over the 'American exceptionalism' label so much. There are differences between America and other countries. There are ways in which America is unique.

As for the content of this post, the OP is simply wanting to point out a problem in America. The response, if I'm understanding, is just saying Japan also has problems. No one even disagrees, so I don't know how this post is so long.

You point out that the US has more police violence and higher incarceration rates and higher violent crime rates than practically all other comparably developed countries and people are like oh but you can’t just compare the US to Europe and Japan. We’re fundamentally different from the rest of the world for reasons that no one can explain but which I am still very confident about. Don’t you know that nothing good can ever happen here, says the patriot

[dandp]

I'm watching through the early Phil younows for the first time and boy, we understandably harp on Dan the most for the 2012 era denial/overcompensating but Phil's contributions are fascinating. So far my highlights include:

"Dan and I don't do everything together because then we would get sick of each other...as friends" ok no one was reading into it as if you weren't friends

Him willingly reading out "would you rather marry Dan or lick a hobo" and having an extended moment of silence that lasts way too long to be casual as he fights for his life trying to figure out what to say before saying hobo and quickly trying to move on. Then Dan joins later on and he unprompted tells Dan about this. Also should be noted shortly after he answered he was like "huh weird my chat is suddenly being slow and there's nothing for me to read out" which seems a little too convenient to me

[waitineedaname]

shoes in FMA rated on how comfortable they'd be to fight in

Edward Elric

considering Ed's uhhh very distinct taste in aesthetics, these could be a lot worse. they look relatively comfortable and don't seem like they'd be difficult to move around in. they are platforms though, which I imagine makes things more difficult. I'll be generous and give these a 7/10

Most of the Amestrian military

pretty much everyone in uniform wears the same shoes, so I'm lumping them all together. these are Roy's, if that matters. they look fine. I imagine that because it is part of a military uniform, it's designed to be moved around in and worn for hours on end, so ideally they're relatively comfortable. it doesn't look like there's much traction, but they're usually fighting on flat surfaces so whatever. 8/10

Fu and Lan Fan

these shoes fucking rule. the picture I've included is Lan Fan's, but they wear p much the same shoes. I fucking love these things. they have spikes. Edward Elric fucking wishes. considering this seems to be part of the bodyguard uniform, I'd imagine they're as easy to run around in as the military shoes, if not better since they're expected to be doing martial arts in them. but most importantly, they have spikes. 10/10, no notes.

Ling and Mei

on the topic of doing martial arts, both Ling and Mei wear these.... I'm not sure what they are. flats? slippers? it's unclear. (EDIT: they are apparently Kung Fu shoes!) they seem relatively easy to move around in I guess since they're not very cumbersome and both Ling and Mei rely on being very nimble. they look like they have absolutely no support in the soles though, which is gonna get painful after a certain point. also depending on what fabric they're made of, they could definitely start chafing. I've worn flats. I know that hell. 7/10 for the potential blisters, but at least they're designed specifically for martial arts

Greedling and Bradley

it's hard to get a good shot in this scene because neither of them stop moving, but I swear to god, they're fighting in dress shoes. I cannot stand them. this CANNOT be comfortable. I know Greed prioritizes aesthetics over function so this was probably a compromise between his and Ling's tastes but ohhh my god. he was probably wasting so much of the philosopher's stone just passively healing the million blisters on his feet from running around in these things. there's a chance Bradley is wearing the military uniform shoes but I think he was in more formal dress when he got blown the fuck up, so I don't think so. no wonder he complains about being sore, quit running around in dress shoes you fucking moron. 4/10.

Greed

THESE FUCKING THIIIIIIIINGS. WHY ARE THEY POINTY AT THE END. WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE SOMEONE HIT HIS FOOT WITH A MALLET AND FLATTENED THEM. he's so dumb. I love him. looking at these things tells me he would probably wear goth cowboy boots if he could, and tbh that would probably look better. 3/10 for Greed's overall silly as hell fashion sense

Lust

okay. the heels make sense considering her whole vibe. however. these are part of her fucking BODY. when she gets incinerated, they grow back. can she even take them off???? I'm scared to ask. I guess if theyre part of her body, she doesn't have to worry about adjusting to balancing in them like you would normally with heels, but oh my god. she can never wear normal shoes. I would also be murderous if I had to wear heels all the time. 4/10.

Father and Izumi

guys. these are sandals. it has been four hundred years and Father is still wearing the same outfit he was wearing in the damn desert. find a new outfit man. Izumi is apparently wearing bathroom slippers (hence the WC) so idk why she's even wearing those out of the house. Father gets 0/10 and Izumi gets 1/10 because she still manages to kick everyone's asses while wearing these, so respect

Envy

PUT YOUR FUCKING TOES AWAY. -10000000/10

[mephoj]

nickel and balloon would be so much more interesting if people explored the way nickel became everything awful that balloon used to be but so much worse ironically all in the name of "protecting" everyone from that history repeating. and not softboy tsundere yaoi or whatever is going on in those tags rn

[infiniteglitterfall]

It's been incredibly difficult to hear from Palestinians in Gaza, not to mention center their experiences and platform their voices. Because ever since Hamas violently kicked the Palestinian government out of Gaza in 2007, it's denied Palestinians the right to free speech.

(Here's Palestinian human rights activist Hamza Howidy sarcastically wondering why Hamas isn't stopping the theft of humanitarian aid when it had the power to arrest him for a social media post within 4 hours.)

I'm working on a series of posts of Palestinians to platform. I came across this thread from someone who used Snapchat to talk to people in Gaza, so I thought I'd post it here in the meantime.

I've seen videos of Palestinians talking about not being able to evacuate because "Hamas has closed all the roads," a video of a Palestinian telling the IDF that Hamas has a car blocking the Salah-al-Din road (the evacuation route) and is pointing guns at people and telling them to turn around. But even as someone searching for Palestinian voices and looking for information about this, I hadn't heard that Hamas had been killing civilians trying to evacuate. (And probably reporting their deaths as part of the daily total.)

I mean, just the fact that the Gaza Strip is run as a separate country from the rest of Palestine is a huge barrier for Palestinians. It's hard to be accepted as a full member of the UN when your country functionally has two or three different governments.

(Confusingly, the PLO is considered the government of Palestine internationally. Abbas is the president of both PLO and the Palestinian Authority, so it sort of works as long as nobody has an election. But the fact that Palestinians have been denied an election for 18+ years, because Abbas keeps cancelling elections and Hamas is Hamas, is also a pretty big fucking problem.)

But it's also true that a huge number of the people in the Gaza Strip, while obviously having a big problem with the Israeli government, have at least as big of a problem with Hamas.

And for all of our decades of talk about Free Palestine, in the progressive movement, we pay shockingly little attention to that.

[kritzenkriegen]

Evening Dust

I've got a dozen Heavy / Medic SFM wips lined up, but I wanted my first posted render to be a tribute to the ship I was obsessed with when I got into TF2 6 years ago <3

Alt Shots, process, and sources here

[hecatesbroom]

One of the things that really gets me about Hardy and Miller's relationship in Broadchurch is how much the respect they have for each other shows in how they physically interact. Even when they're not particularly pleased with each other/the situation.

I mean, I think the fact that they don't sleep together even though there was plenty of incentive for the showwriters to add that in (the drama!!) says something already, but that's not what I'm talking about.

It's the little things. It's the fact that they barely touch at all even though Ellie seems to be pretty comfortable with physical contact -- whether it's meant to be affectionate or comforting or both. But Hardy isn't, and because Ellie's a pretty intuitive person she never attempts to touch him the way she would others.

And we see Hardy, in his turn, go out of his way to attempt to physically comfort her when he sees she needs support. The careful hand he puts on her shoulder when she finds out about Joe and the way he lingers a bit after that to see if she needs a shoulder to lean on.

Or the time he asks her if she wants a hug after the trial, because he knows she's the type of person to want a hug while going through something like that, but she declines because she knows he's not the type of person to go around offering hugs. That's the scene that really shows how much they've come to understand each other, I think: Hardy is willing to step outside his own comfort zone if he thinks it'll make her feel better -- he's willing to adapt for her because at this point they respect each other enough that things like this don't feel like an obstacle he can't overcome -- and she's unwilling to accept his offer, because it's not an olive branch or him warming up, but rather than that he's offering up a piece of his own comfort to make her feel better. And Ellie, who is generally too nice to allow people to do that, respects him too much to let him do so. Besides, I'm sure she'd just feel weird about it at this point.

Then at the end of season 2, when Hardy leaves and Ellie is there to say goodbye, it seems almost inevitable that they loop back to episode 1 and do hug this time. But instead Ellie extends a hand, and Hardy is almost surprised she doesn't hug him, maybe he's even a little disappointed (because that's what people do in these situations, right? Hug to say goodbye?). And in a sense we get an exact replay of the first episode, only now Ellie is offering Alec what she thinks he needs, whereas first he offered her what he thought she needed.

And maybe they were both a bit wrong, but only because they've come to respect each other's boundaries enough to make that careful miscalculation. And maybe they wouldn't have been wrong, maybe Ellie did want that hug and Alec did prefer the handshake, but only because the other was kind enough to offer exactly that to them, did they want the alternative -- to show their gratitude by shaping the situation to another's comfort, instead.

[putterphubase]

Ai, you're too obsessed with this. He's definitely coming.

I SAW YOU IN MY DREAM (2024)

[springypaws]

Oh no the archivist is archiving (more versions & ID’s under the cut)

ID: It’s a drawing of Johnathan Sims from the Magnus Archives, sat legs-crossed, with one arm loosely held on his legs and loosely holding his glasses, and the other propped onto an invisible surface. The propped arm’s hand is raised to Jon’s eye, stretched out, but with his index finger creating an opening with the rest to display his overshadowed eye, still easily visible due to it being outlined by bright green lines. The style the eye is drawn is similar to the style of the bright green eyes haloed to the side of his head, and the large, less opaque, large one in the background of the drawing. The middle finger of this hand is lightly pulling down his bottom lid, making the eye more visible. Jon is colored in a grey-scale manner, the dull color ever-so-slightly hinted blue. He is half outlined in the same bright green as the eyes, half outlined in a bright red. This bright red is also present as cartoonish exclamation symbols around him, and in the pupil of his bright-green eye. His other eye’s pupil is also colored brightly, but with the green, rather than the red, interrupting the greyscale of the rest of the area. Jon’s expression is neutral, although he looks exhausted, with deep dark circles under his eyes and a slightly furrowed brow. He is wearing a dark overcoat with lighter patches on the elbows and shoulders, and, under this, is wearing a lighter vest. Under the vest is yet another layer, being a semi-visible white button-up shirt. He is wearing darker dress pants and black, professional, and simple shoes. His hair is long and unkept, decorated with white streaks and put back into a loose half-bun.

Plus some filter-playing fun:

ID’s: The first filter makes the drawing look almost like it’s behind the screen of an old electrical device, more similar to that of an older model of computer. The colors are dulled ever-so-slightly, and the edges of the drawing are darkened with shadow.

The second filter has made the image completely greyscale, muting the bright and dull colors both.

The last filter has made the colors all a bit more blue, giving the drawing more color than it had originally.

And the sketch too cause I think I might like it better (as always)

ID: A colored and shaded sketch of the drawing. It looks very similar to the final product, except less cleaned-up and covered in guidance lines and coloring that goes out of the lines.

[claitea]

i was working on something else and out of nowhere i thought about zero, got Really annoyed about his outfit which i've always disliked, and couldnt work on the first thing without doing this alteration first. pay no attention to the top right side nothing is there its just infi

[liebelesbe]

my job should be sea glass collector. or just picking up cool stuff on the beach that came from the ocean. to make art with or just to keep and look at. and I could also pick up the trash there as well if I'm already there.

@ beaches please hire me. will be sending my application via message in a bottle

[deathskrang]

i think about zim and the tallest and their inherently, nearly parasitic relationship to each other a lot.

i think about how all of them are, objectively, mostly blind to this fact as well, zim blinded by the swift and stark obedience that he performs under the delusion that he is doing something for the good of his leaders and his empire, and the tallest blinded by their total arrogance and rage over the fact that zim cannot read any of their cues that he is a nuisance. still, it is so obvious that the back and forth is there.

i know that this particular example probably wasn't purposeful in florpus and was mostly just so the audience could see dib's point and the narrative similarities between zim and him, but i think a lot about zim's silence when dib says, "you know, my dad doesn't appreciate what i do, either" after zim explains how the tallest are not coming to bring him back home. i think a lot about that. the impact and the implications behind one simple sentence from dib. i imagine, to zim, this sort of felt like a slap in the face. the first word besides "my tallest" that's ever explained how zim wants them, how zim, in his own way, almost loves them. and it's a word from earth. it's a word that implies a built in, unconditional caring between human beings. it's a word that zim had just said in a mocking tone of voice to dib moments ago in reference to his plan to replace his real dad. and, suddenly, in a single instance, the weight of the word has seemed to hit him.

i think the saddest part of this parallel is that dib has the understanding that because he and his dad are biologically related, unconditional love is the expected thing, it's the supposed natural progression of things. zim and the tallest, though—they don't have any of that. you could argue that they're barely even acquaintances. there is no understanding of what is supposed to happen with them. there is no built in hope of having them step up to the plate the way dib hopes with his dad. i don't think zim truly understands this, though. as if zim can completely comprehend isolation. isn't that apart of an invader's duty? isn't that what he was trained to do? and isn't zim an invader? isn't he?

after all of this, after all of florpus, long after dib had first used that word, dad, in relation to the tallest, how dib said his dad doesn't appreciate what he does, one of the last things zim asks the tallest as he is witnessing their last moments across that transmission is: does this please you? in other words, do you appreciate what i have done for you?

dialogue wise, this is emotionally wrecking enough, but i think, visually, it is equally if not more disarming and depressing. i really, really, really love the imagery of the scene right before it cuts to the tallest burning in their puppet florpus flames. because it's a silly visual gag, yes, two flailing tallest puppets—but zim talking to two distorted tallest silhouettes, not noticing (or, rather, caring about) the difference between this and their usual way of appearing when they're in a transmission—zim talking to a literal representation of how the tallest have always existed in his head, as two distorted silhouettes, as delusions—that is insanely succinct in describing the true detriment of zim and the tallest's relationship to each other, at least to me.

this is, in my opinion, the most fucked up imagery in florpus, maybe even the entire series to me—and, most likely, none of the invader zim crew meant it to come across quite like that. zim's performance of normalcy in the face of what he is unaware is the tallest's last living moments. the delayed video feed in the transmission, shortly followed by complete and utter panic from the tallest, who were possibly oblivious to the fact that zim had even contacted them amongst their chaos. zim almost seeming as if he is staring at his own reflection in the screen rather than right at the tallest. a physical representation of what their entire relationship has been built on since the beginning—a blurry idea, a vague delusion of a bond that is in actuality no more than a fatal, life long misunderstanding on each end. it's the most palpably gut wrenching thing in the whole film for me, and i don't care that none of it was probably meant to pack that type of punch. it's always hit me hard.