#you don't have to 'earn' a right to live you just do

[kumeko]

There's a lot of "but they have to earn my vote, so just blame X politicians" messaging going around right now and it's just...no. That's not how that works.

Yes, a candidate has to earn your vote. They certainly should be spreading their messages and going door to door and more.

No, that doesn't absolve you if you don't vote at all. You have to put in the effort too--learn policies, candidates, etc. You're still living in your country. You are still impacted by the policies of the winner. You are still dealing with the election results regardless. You're not living behind a magic wall, incapable of doing your own research.

It is called civic duty for a reason.

If you don't want to have a voice in it, then fine. Don't vote. But don't act like that erases your part in the process and whoever wins. Because by not voting at all, you automatically vote for the winner. And you'd better hope others aren't so apathetic that you get someone you hate.

"I don't want to see anyone blaming abstaining voters for this!"

Of course you don't. The entire idea of abstaining was that you could pretend this didn't involve you. Not getting blamed was more important to you than doing any kind of damage control, more important than protecting any of the people you said you wanted to protect. And in this moment, I don't really care what you want. Of course, this isn't entirely your fault. Of course other people made this worse. But if you're going to pretend you had nothing to do with this, forgive me if I ignore you.

[frogs-crackcorner]

(for this story, pretend your dad is a piece of garbage. Or maybe you don't have to pretend)

Simon Riley takes a shaky breath and knocks on the door. Why was he so nervous? He's never nervous. Until it comes to you. You're his whole world now and he's not prepared to give that up. He'd crawl to the ends of the earth if it meant he could hold you.

The door opens, interrupting his thoughts. A kind older woman answers the door. She gives him a large smile. "Oh, hello Simon! We didn't know you guys were coming to visit today," your grandma beams.

"Just me today ma'am. Hope it's okay I stopped by," he gulped, stepping into the warm house. Your grandma closed the door behind him, leading him farther into the house.

"Of course! We love to have you over. Would you like some cider?" she asks.

"No thank you ma'am. Is your husband here? I needed to speak with him," Simon rushes. He needs to hurry and speak with your grandfather before he loses his courage.

"He's in the living room." Your grandma points down the hall and turns toward the kitchen, leaving Simon on his own. Simon moves down the hall. His hands shake as he walks.

"Sir? I was wondering if you had a moment to talk," Simon calls as he enters the living room. Your grandpa looks up from his book.

"Hmm? Yeah, come have a seat." Your grandpa sets his book down and looks over at Simon who is now sitting on the couch feeling very small. This is a first for him. He never imagined another man could make him feel small but your grandfather had a way of doing just that. Your grandfather wasn't exceptionally tall but he was wise and carried himself with a well earned confidence. He reminded Simon of Captain Price.

"Well sir, as you know, your granddaughter and I have been dating for a few years now. And I love her in a way I never thought possible. I would go to hell and back if it meant that she was happy. I can't bear the thought of losing her. And so sir, I was hoping to get your blessing. I want to make your granddaughter the happiest girl in the world and I will do everything in my power to make sure she has the life she deserves," Simon blurts, stumbling a little.

He looks over at your grandfather, who simply nods and leans back in his chair. Simon is sweating. He can practically feel his world crashing down. This was a bad idea. He should have taken you to the courthouse and just eloped. No asking necessary. But he had wanted to do it right. He wanted your family's permission. Now he's sitting on an uncomfortably small couch regretting his decision. Finally, after what seems to be an eternity, your grandpa seems to have made his decision.

That night, Simon Riley is lying on his bed like a teenage girl, giggling lightly at his phone as he designs your perfect ring. Not that this was hard, he's had plans for this ring since the day he met you.

(this is extremely self indulgent but I couldn't get it out of my head. Edit: You guys actually like it?! Thank you!)

[batwynn]

no matter how bad things get: stay safe, okay? don't do anything to hurt yourself. i've been seeing mutuals saying ominous goodbyes and deleting their blogs leaving their fate unknown. stay safe. there are people who care.

I wish I could give you promises, anon, but I can’t. And to be honest, I don’t think I owe the internet my continued suffering and eventual murder for other’s comfort. I think maybe I’m allowed some peace before the end. I’m sorry.

I am already being actively killed by the american medical system as it is right now. I’m being failed right now, and they won’t even allow me to join the death with dignity program because they just ‘don’t think it’s that bad.’ I am really, really sick. My body is rotting away at this very moment. I can’t go anywhere because I’m immunocompromised and masking is already earning me threats of violence. I can’t eat anything because I’m constantly having a reaction to EVERYTHING. I can’t eat anything 100% reliably anyway, because nothing has any fucking quality control and asshole companies keep oopsie poopsie putting listeria in it. Which will not just give me the shits, but actually fucking kill me.

The second he removes the ACA my medical insurance will vanish. I’m only on the state insurance because of the ACA expansion. I’m not recognized as disabled by the government right now. Half of my household income is my mother’s disability benefits which will also be gone. I don’t even have hot water or a shower. I’m in thousands of dollars worth of debt because I didn’t have a fucking heat source last year so I had to buy one on credit and install it myfuckingself.

I’m also trans. I’ve been openly trans for years now. It’s everywhere. It’s a big red flag I can’t erase. All my medical records have it. Even the fucking police records have it written down. There is no clearing up my internet footprint and pretending I’m cis. People can tell I’m trans when they fucking meet me. I’m not surviving this even if I wasn’t already actively suffering and dying.

So, no, anon. No promises can be made. I’m sorry. I really am. I liked being here, at least for a while. I will live as much as I can until I can’t anymore. That’s all I can do, and that’s all I can give anymore.

I’m tired. I’m tired of constantly fighting to survive. I’m tired.

[oshinohoshi]

Oshi no Ko Chapter 165 thoughts

At this point we're just suffering.

I cannot get on board with Hikaru as a villainous mastermind. The fuck were we doing for the entire movie arc where he was shown in a sympathetic light? Why in ch 155 did he supposedly have a change of heart only for a plot twist to wreck everything?

It's not that Hikaru would have been absolved of responsibility for Yura's murder because he was abused. It's just that before the stupid Nino twist he wasn't an undeniable monster

Akasaka created someone more interesting, human, and who was flawed in a way that wasn't over the top, and then yanked it away

You're telling me that sad boy Hikaru who blamed himself for Ai leaving him began to manipulate Ryosuke and Nino mere months after the breakup? Please

Anyway... grief is terrible. This chapter was miserable to read

Some people are using this as an opportunity to shit on Kana which is ridiculous. Is slapping a corpse in front of his family not great? Yeah. Does she have every damn reason to? I'd say so

Heartbreak is not just a phrase. It actually hurts. It can cause chest pain, headaches, shortness of breath. There's something called broken heart syndrome which can be caused by grief or stress. It affects the heart's ability to pump blood effectively

Point being that grief is physically and emotionally painful and a breakdown is totally normal

I agree with Gotanda's reasoning about releasing 15 YRL, however the film is now inextricably tied to Aqua's death

Where is Ai in all this? Why isn't she on this poster??? I thought this was a film about her life

Her name may very well never be mentioned again despite being the backbone of this story

This is why cult leader Hikaru is the best character. He's the only person who has remembered her since ch 155

Judging by her white stars, Ruby is probably going to pull through. While I don't want a nihilistic end, we have ONE chapter left. Can this really be earned?

And can it be done in a way that doesn't accidentally portray Aqua's murder-suicide in a positive light in the sense that Ruby living on and achieving her dreams reinforces what Aqua died for?

Next chapter: So here we are, very nearly at the end of all things. I am glad you are here with me, OnK fan community. It's been a journey.

Send your good vibes to marillust, a super talented fanartist, who is really sad about losing Aqua. They're cycling between depression and denial and I really get that.

I feel like I have to defend my dislike of this ending by talking about previously established themes, bad twists, etc. in order to not be shouted down by the "what did you expect? This was always a tragedy" crowd, but I'm just gonna say it.

I wanted Aqua to move on and be happy! I wanted Ai's wish for her kids to grow up healthy to be fulfilled. I wanted Aqua to call both his mothers "mom." I wanted him to value his life and see that the people around him loved him and needed him.

I didn't want Ai's death to be meaningless. I didn't want Ruby to lose her most important person. I didn't want Miyako to lose her son, Kana to never get to say "I love you," and Akane to never rebuild her relationship with Aqua.

I wish we'd gotten this and this and a spinoff manga about this.

All right, it's fine. Deep breaths. Time to stare at Ai art until I feel better. Here's a sketch Mengo did of her riding a dragon. Isn't that cute?

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Some people can't get their heads around the idea that there are people who are basically kind, considerate and compassionate who are without an ulterior motive. No one's perfect but Catherine is a middle class person who married into the BRF. A lot of people who only started taking notice of the royals around 2018 don't realize that the royals aren't celebs. A couple of ex-royals decided they wanted to be celebs and we all saw how that turned out.

If Catherine had never met William I doubt we'd know who she was. She worked in fashion after uni and has a normal "boring" family. We don't know her outside her work but I think her private life would've been the same regardless of who she married. She probably would've married someone from her own/similar background and have a family living in the countryside.

Also, life married to a random rich man is a lot more enticing than being married to a future king where every aspect of you and your life in inspected so if Catherine had just wanted a cushy life she wouldn't have married William.

Exactly. Yet another way that Kate reflects the general public more than her naysayers think - most people are like Kate in that we don't have sordid skeletons or dirty secrets buried in our closets that could ruin our lives. It's not a conspiracy. It's not strategy. It's not a scheme. There's nothing to hide.

It is a plain, simple fact that most of us are good people from boring backgrounds with ordinary experiences like Kate.

And lastly, I can't let go of the anon who said that because Kate lives a taxpayer-funded life, it means that people have the right to be suspicious of her. That anon doesn't understand what using taxpayer funds means. It means that your actions while you're using taxpayer funds is under scrutiny. Your actions when you were not using taxpayer funding doesn't count.

As a federal employee, my salary is paid by taxpayer funds. Meaning that all Americans have the right to know what I am doing to earn that salary and how I spend my time on the clock for that salary. But once that clock ticks 4pm and once that money goes into my pocket, it's not your time and it's not your money anymore. It's mine. You don't get to know what I do with it or how I spend it. The only thing that you, the taxpayer, have a right to know about my personal spending and my personal time is that I'm not using government or taxpayer funds to support my own lifestyle - meaning I'm not using a government purchase card or a federal grant to get Eras Tour tickets or eat the Cheesecake Factory and that I'm actually on leave/non-work status when I go on vacation and not fraudulently claiming to be in the office.

So applying that to Kate: if she wasn't using taxpayer funds and she wasn't on the clock (as she was not from 2001 when she met William to 2010 when she became engaged to William, with some exceptions), then it's not your business what she did, where she went, how she spent her time, what she thought. It's off-limits. She was a private citizen then. A taxpayer doesn't have any right to Kate's personal history, her personal background, or her personal activities. They have a right to William's personal history, his personal background, and his personal activities since he was taxpayer-funded.

Kate didn't qualify for taxpayer scrutiny until October 2010 when she became engaged to William and began utilizing royal services/support. So scrutinize her life, her decisions, her behaviors, her actions from thence. Make conspiracy theories about ulterior motives from 2011, and sure - I'll play along with you. But everything before April 28, 2011, again with some exceptions, is off-limits.

[randomnameless]

Thinking about muhritocracy again or as our Supreme Leader puts it, "rising and falling by your own merit" -

Isn't Cyril basically the poster child of this ideal sucking?

Both in Almyra and during his spiritual retreat in House Goneril, Cyril mentions that he had to "work hard", it's implied he had to work hard to earn whatever keep he could have (food, but even then that was not common).

Cyril embracing muhritocracy also wants to work "real hard" to repay Rhea, otherwise he feels like he cannot remain in Garreg Mach.

We know the Nabs would never kick him out for this reason (hell Hilda was enrolled and Manu is still a teacher) and both Seteth and Rhea (the latter only did so off-screen and it's basically mentionned in his S support with Billy bcs Rhea can't have screentime I guess) tell him that while repaying a debt is admirable, he needs to start on living now.

Aka, Cyril is allowed to "exist" and "live" even without overworking himself to the bone to have the "right to exist".

Now, FE Fodlan being what it is, the angle of GM being a safehaven/place where old people, children and basically people who cannot "rise due to their own merits" live is completely ignored bar that off-handed comment in Cyril's support with Claude that Rhea basically wants to make a place for people without status/who are vulnerable.

And that place is Garreg Mach.

CS introduces the Abyss that is basically GM+Asylum for people seeking it, even if Aelfric paints it with a Rhea BaD veneer, it's here to offer a shelter to those who are "persecuted" on the "surface" like Dagdans and Almyrans, the poor, the sick, etc etc - basically a "place for those who have nowhere to go".

Constance's family was demoted to nothing by Ionius because they failed to defend Adrestia against Dagda? Her house "fell" by its own "lack of muhrit"... so GM offers her a place to be, even if she (her house, but Adrestia always deals with Houses and not with people!) failed once.

Tldr : GM is the place that completely pissed on Muhritocracy, and where people who have no "muhrit"/status are supported/receive help by the Church.

Cyril works very hard to "earn" the right to remain in GM, but he has yet to understand (only with his supports with the Nabateans!) that he doesn't need to "earn" any right to be and live in Garreg Mach, it's just that kind of place.

[lightbulb-warning]

so has anyone figured out WHY there is the Need To Share our Artworks™ or is it just the vibes and our Soul apparently

[imgonnagetyoubacktv]

spending my whole life trying and trying and trying and trying to be good enough for people who don't give a fuck about me

[mcalhenwrites]

I'm not going to pretend it doesn't make me angry that I spend months and years trying to peddle my work to make ends meet, that I spend so much time mentioning my books and comms and everything, and people ignore that consisently... But the moment I finally break under the hopelessness - when it's obvious that it's fucking futile, that almost no one deems my work good enough to share with anyone else - suddenly they're concerned and scolding me. I'm working several jobs, bathing, generally keeping things clean, and I do this with several health problems including chronic pain. I found out that one of my cysts is growing and I may need to have it surgically removed. Which means potentially missing work to recover. Which means more money I lose. I spend so much time crawling out of the hole and it goes ignored, but the moment I just give up bc I don't have any strength left, suddenly that's my fault and I'm mentally sick. And that kind of makes me wish my entire situation upon people, and when they whine that it's hard, well fuck you, you thought I could ace it so surely you can, babe! I hate being angry about this, but it's just so exhausting to tell people who accuse me of not trying that I HAVE I HAVE SO FUCKING HARD AND YOU DID NOT PAY ATTENTION THEN Or you know you're attempting to gaslight me by claiming I didn't try despite that I obviously have worked my ass off trying, and that's so much fucking worse

[horce-divorce]

Find jobs that work remotely online

lmfao i literally already do that, you jackanapes. i'm a freelance transcriptionist and I have been for YEARS!!!!! i'm GOOD at it, too! having a remote job doesn't mean there's any work in the queue, and it certainly doesn't mean they're PAYING me to do it. a few years ago (like 2016-2018) it was actually possible for me to work from home and earn, like, almost minimum wage. but at least it was consistent. Like, if you knew when the peak times to avoid were, you could always snag work from the queue. I earned anywhere between $8-15 an hour doing that for a few years, and I still never broke more than about $2,000 per year.

the thing about this one is, it's like, the PERFECT setup, in theory. i can come and go as I please, no minimum or maximum amount of work, my insanely fast typing skills ensured I could actually pick files worth my time (my average is 130wpm but I've hit 200. if you even care). being able to stop in the middle of a file and walk away when I was having symptoms, or even just when it was pissing me off, is IDEAL. as long it's done correctly and submitted on time, it doesn't matter what your workflow looks like. i LOVE!!!!! this. yes, please, for the love of god leave me alone and let me do my thing. i work SO much better this way.

as of the last few years, companies like Rev.com have done nothing in the intervening time but increasingly replace their skilled workers (me) with AI auto-captions and having us proofread those instead, all while jacking up their prices for consumers and paying us less and less per file. plus, there's more competition than ever since the pandemic hit, and everyone and their brother think they can just pick up a job like transcription as a side gig or whatever. anyway, since they started becoming worse, I've barely managed to keep up $10 an hour, and there's barely any work in the queue. I check constantly. I'm lucky if i can make a few dollars per week doing that now.

but hey, I actually never gave up. you know what else is a "work remotely online" job? running your own art business. which i also do. I may be conventionally unemployed, but I DO still have multiple jobs! and you people see that and go, "no, that doesn't count. what if you just had MORE jobs? surely this would fix all of your problems?" wow, genius, fucking sensational, THAT WOULD HAVE NEVER OCCURRED TO ME WITHOUT YOUR SAGE WISDOM, ANON. WOW.

YES, I also do market research panels and all that garbage. YES, i have done data entry. I did sigtrack for a while, but I wasn't very good at it, reading people's handwriting is a lot harder for me than parsing speech. I even did Amazon Mechanical Turk back in the day, holy shit, do not do that, 0/10. Any of those shit articles from the penny hoarder youre about to send me? I've done it, and possibly still do from time to time!

Anyway, if that's still not good enough for you, presumably you know a company that hires remotely that you can refer me to? Why don't you hire me yourself, if you're so concerned? You got a podcast or something that needs captions? Hmu anon! That's literally what I do!!! My rate is $1.25 per audio minute!!!! I'll wait!!!!! :)))))))

[sherlock-is-ace]

.

[fox-bright]

hi any life advice for 21yo

Don't date thirty-year-olds until you are at least 25.

Having a glass of water for every glass of alcohol will give you a 50% reduction in hangover viciousness.

Bad people will use your willingness to be quiet as a weapon against you. If someone's being awful to you and trusting you'll be quiet to keep from making waves, surprise them.

There is no physical object in the world that is worth as much as your honor.

Honor is not the same as dignity. Retaining one sometimes means leaving the other aside.

Don't have any sex you don't want to have; have as much as you want of the sex that you do, whether that's a lot, a little, or none at all. Nothing you can do to your own body is immoral, unless you're doing it as an act of self-punishment.

Food is morally neutral. You do not have to earn the right to eat calories. Fat and sugar keep your brain from eating itself.

Learning to sit still and breathe--in, in, in, hold, hold, hold, out, out, out, out, out, out--can give you five feet of clear space around yourself in a maelstrom.

Find out how to make three good meals: A comfort meal you can make for just yourself relatively easily, a fancy meal you can use to wow a date, and a meal you can feed a bunch of people. All the other cooking can come later, but you can build a community on those three meals.

If you ever get to the point that things are so bleak you can see no other way forward but to die, make any other choice. If that means leaving everything you own and being a beach bum, or quitting your career, or taking up or leaving a religion, or deciding to bicycle across the country, so be it; living means more chances, dying means everything stops and you don't get to see any more interesting things. As you have not yet seen all the things that can interest you, it is better to live.

[irisbaggins]

Guess what, I've worked what probably amounts to half of my total hours, in one fucking month. My store is resting on my shoulders, it seems, and boy do I feel that. I have not had a moment's rest since my vacation, and uh, it's probably not sustainable? Maybe?

Anyway. Guess who's going to be travelling for hours on end and then arrive just a day before a mandatory University lecture? It's me!

[beggars-opera]

On the road leading into the center of Concord, Massachusetts, there sits a house.

It is a plain, colonial-style house, of which there are many along this road. It has sea green and buff paint, a historical plaque, and one of the most multi-layered stories I have ever encountered to showcase that history is continuous, complicated, and most importantly, fragmentary, unless you know where to look.

So, where to start? The plaque.

There's some usual information here: Benjamin Barron built the house in 1716, and years later it was a "witness house" to the start of the American Revolution. And then, something unusual: a note about an enslaved man named John Jack whose epitaph is "world famous."

Where is this epitaph? Right around the corner in the town center.

It reads:

God wills us free; man wills us slaves. I will as God wills; God’s will be done. Here lies the body of JOHN JACK a native of Africa who died March 1773 aged about 60 years Tho’ born in a land of slavery, He was born free. Tho’ he lived in a land of liberty, He lived a slave. Till by his honest, tho’ stolen labors, He acquired the source of slavery, Which gave him his freedom; Tho’ not long before Death, the grand tyrant Gave him his final emancipation, And set him on a footing with kings. Tho’ a slave to vice, He practised those virtues Without which kings are but slaves.

We don't know precisely when the man first known only as Jack was purchased by Benjamin Barron. We do know that he, along with an enslaved woman named Violet, were listed in Barron's estate upon his death in 1754. Assuming his gravestone is accurate, at that time Jack would have been about 40 and had apparently learned the shoemaking trade from his enslaver. With his "honest, though stolen labors" he was then able to earn enough money to eventually purchase his freedom from the remaining Barron family and change his name to John, keeping Jack as a last name rather than using his enslaver's.

John Jack died, poor but free, in 1773, just two years before the Revolutionary War started. Presumably as part of setting up his own estate, he became a client of local lawyer Daniel Bliss, brother-in-law to the minister, William Emerson. Bliss and Emerson were in a massive family feud that spilled into the rest of the town, as Bliss was notoriously loyal to the crown, eventually letting British soldiers stay in his home and giving them information about Patriot activities.

Daniel Bliss also had abolitionist leanings. And after hearing John's story, he was angry.

Here was a man who had been kidnapped from his home country, dragged across the ocean, and treated as an animal for decades. Countless others were being brutalized in the same way, in the same town that claimed to love liberty and freedom. Reverend Emerson railed against the British government from the pulpit, and he himself was an enslaver.

It wouldn't do. John Jack deserved so much more. So, when he died, Bliss personally paid for a large gravestone and wrote its epitaph to blast the town's hypocrisy from the top of Burial Hill. When the British soldiers trudged through the cemetery on April 19th, 1775, they were so struck that they wrote the words down and published them in the British newspapers, and that hypocrisy passed around Europe as well. And the stone is still there today.

You know whose stone doesn't survive in the burial ground?

Benjamin Barron's.

Or any of his family that I know of. Which is absolutely astonishing, because this story is about to get even more complicated.

Benjamin Barron was a middle-class shoemaker in a suburb that wouldn't become famous until decades after his death. He lived a simple life only made possible by chattel slavery, and he will never show up in a U.S. history textbook.

But he had a wife, and a family. His widow, Betty Barron, from whom John purchased his freedom, whose name does not appear on her home's plaque or anywhere else in town, does appear either by name or in passing in every single one of those textbooks.

Terrible colonial spelling of all names in their marriage record aside, you may have heard her maiden name before:

Betty Parris was born into a slaveholding family in 1683, in a time when it was fairly common for not only Black, but also Indigenous people to be enslaved. It was also a time of war, religious extremism, and severe paranoia in a pre-scientific frontier. And so it was that at the age of nine, Betty pointed a finger at the Arawak woman enslaved in her Salem home, named Titibe, and accused her of witchcraft.

Yes, that Betty Parris.

Her accusations may have started the Salem Witch trials, but unlike her peers, she did not stay in the action for long. As a minor, she was not allowed to testify at court, and as the minister's daughter, she was too high-profile to be allowed near the courtroom circus. Betty's parents sent her to live with relatives during the proceedings, at which point her "bewitchment" was cured, though we're still unsure if she had psychosomatic problems solved by being away from stress, if she stopped because the public stopped listening, or if she stopped because she no longer had adults prompting her.

Following the witch hysteria, the Parrises moved several times as her infamous father struggled to hold down a job and deal with his family's reputation. Eventually they landed in Concord, where Betty met Benjamin and married him at the age of 26, presumably having had no more encounters with Satan in the preceding seventeen years. She lived an undocumented life and died, obscure and forgotten, in 1760, just five years before the Stamp Act crisis plunged America into a revolution, a living bridge between the old world and the new.

I often wonder how much Betty's story followed her throughout her life. People must have talked. Did they whisper in the town square, "Do you know what she did when she was a girl?" Did John Jack hear the stories of how she had previously treated the enslaved people in her life? Did that hasten his desperation to get out? And what of Daniel Bliss; did he know this history as well, seeing the double indignity of it all? Did he stop and think about how much in the world had changed in less than a century since his neighbor was born?

We'll never know.

All that's left is a gravestone, and a house with an insufficient plaque.

[discoreptile]

Shellycoat

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for getting upset when my mom insists on clipping my nails?

I (adult male) still live with my mother because of finances/personal situations that make me unable to earn my own living. For the most part, this is fine. However, there's one thing that bugs me: she insists on trimming my nails for me.

I know it sounds weird, and it is. She's been trimming my nails since I was little, and I've always hated it. But now I'm an adult, and I don't need her to trim my nails for me, but every two weeks or so, she insists on doing it anyway. I'll admit that I have coordination issues that make things like that difficult for me to accomplish on my own, and hygiene isn't my strong suit either. But I don't need (or want) her to keep trimming my nails for me. How do I tell her to stop?

I've tried to explain it to her, but it's like I'm speaking another language or something. I've tried more direct methods, like pulling my hand away when she tries to bring out the clippers, but then she just says I'm being childish and it'll be over faster if I just let her do it, and that her dogs (she has two, they both hate me) are more well-behaved than I am. And then she trims my nails anyway, no matter how many times I tell her I hate it!

So yesterday, I finally got fed up. And right as she grabbed my hand and tried to come in with the clippers, I pulled my hand away and jabbed her with my quills! And then I curled up in a ball, so she couldn't get to my paws at all. She tried to reach for my paws, but I just poked her again.

My mom got annoyed, and said we'll have to try again tomorrow since clearly I'm in a bad mood. She seemed upset, and I feel a little bad for poking her so much since usually we have a good relationship. So tumblr, am I the asshole?

Pic of me so you can see that I'm a grown man that doesn't need his nails trimmed!

What are these acronyms?