conundrumrespeculis

[conundrumrespeculis]

Hello all! As you are probably aware, my husband’s health has been quite rocky for a few years now. We’re working on getting him proper diagnoses for as many issues as possible. Unfortunately, it turns out many of these issues are chronic - lupus and POTs have already been confirmed. Despite working with his doctors and plenty of meds, his flare ups make it hard for him to maintain or even regulate his energy from day to day. As you could imagine, this is incredibly frustrating for him to manage, and going anywhere for very long is not possible for him right now without days or weeks of recovery time.

So, here’s where all this is going- we’ve created a gofundme to help secure my husband (aka @approachthebench ) the mobility aids he needs to navigate daily life. The majority of it will cover the costs of a wheelchair.

I know this is a hard time for everyone, so please don’t feel obligated to give if you’ve not got your bills covered. Anything at all helps though! And we’d really appreciate anyone sharing it around!

Thank you so much for reading/listening 🖤

$1,975/$3,000 as of August 24th 2025

[conundrumrespeculis]

actually, you know what, as a fan of transgressive art, tabletop rpgs as an artistic medium, and transgressive tabletop rpgs, I'm gonna say this up front: DrivethruRPG's willingness to host basically anything legal - no matter how graphic, tasteless or bizarre - is a good thing, and should be celebrated.

[conundrumrespeculis]

physically go to your local library at least once. seriously.

look around. find a random book with a cover that catches your attention. read the description. read the first page. if you like the sounds of it, borrow it and take it home to read. borrow a handful of books even.

if a book loses your interest, drop it. if a book grips onto you, ride that wave.

i've struggled to read recreationally for years despite having read so much as a kid. a lot of us are frozen by the seemingly infinite choices. even when we buy books to take home, we don't read them because which book is worth reading first? we don't have to decide, we have it right here in our bookshelves, we have an eternity of never deciding.

in this past month, i have read five books, most of them i've never heard of when i spotted their cover at the library. most of them, i've ended up loving. the due date of library books maintains the ability to read a book so i can return them to the library and leave the library with more books. an even better incentive than borrowing ebooks, because i actually have to leave the house and not be a hermit.

so if you used to enjoy reading but struggle with it now, ignore the book recs you hear. go to the library, come across a book that piques your interest, and read one page after another until you either lose interest or finish the book.

then it's onto the next one.

[conundrumrespeculis]

compilation of every time eobard does his shitty little laugh in his debut issue. the wiggly typeface sustains me while i wait for the next issue in reading order to come.

[conundrumrespeculis]

truly the end goal is not "my close friends aren't annoyed by me and it's all in my head, they're my friends and they love me", it's "sometimes I do annoy my close friends, just as the people I love most will also annoy me sometimes, because this is normal, and we will continue to stay friends, and they're not going to want to immediately cut me out of their life if I do something annoying once in a while"

[conundrumrespeculis]

anybody else feel that being human is like being a long-time syndicated cartoon character watching the world get more complex while your own design stays the same until youre incongruous with the reality around you??

[conundrumrespeculis]

Quote of the day

[conundrumrespeculis]

I'm immune to any and all video game discourse because I'm old enough to remember when "hey, instead of expecting the player to spend an hour level-grinding on random encounters outside of the first town before doing the first dungeon, let's just have them start at level 3" was a controversial stance.

[conundrumrespeculis]

being sick & miserable objectively sucks, but it has become significantly easier to cope with since learning that “sickness behavior” is a well documented part of the body’s immune response

feeling not only physically but also emotionally like fucking garbage is unfortunately an extremely effective way to force your body to prioritize fighting infection & keeping you alive. i don’t have to like it, but knowing why i get weepy & pathetic when sick does help at least a little

[conundrumrespeculis]

RPG-style video game where if you keep any item in your inventory for too long it spontaneously moves over to the "Key Items" tab and can never be used, sold or discarded again because the player character has attachment issues.

[conundrumrespeculis]

[conundrumrespeculis]

Don't say when, say "if".

Instead of telling a little girl "When get a boyfriend when you're older", tell her, "If you get a boyfriend when you're older."

Don't tell a boy "When you want to date later in life", tell him, "If you want to date later in life."

Instead of telling a teen "When you start experimenting with things in college", them, "If you start experimenting with things in college."

Don't tell your preteen "When you start having sex as an adult", tell them, "If you start having sex as an adult."

Don't tell them when. Don't pressure them to go on a predefined path.

Tell them 'if'.

reblog to share this around . please .

[conundrumrespeculis]

If you live in the USA and you're pleading for donations to pay your rent, bills, or get food then dial 211! Please dial 211 before the last minute!

It's a toll free service with people who will help you find programs in your community to pay those bills, find food, and find housing! They will give you numbers to call so you can get help.

It is not 100% foolproof. Their job is to direct you to a program they believe will help your current issue, but it's still a step up from praying random strangers online will give you enough cash before a deadline! The added benefit of these community programs, which get funded by the local government most of the time, is if there are more people using them then they can get more money to help more people.

You're not taking resources from other people if you use your community services. Your taxes pay for them. Use them.

Dial 211 first to see if they can help, and if for some reason they can't, then make your donation posts!

https://www.211.org/

[conundrumrespeculis]

Steven Universe ended on a great note, but now I just really want a spinoff series about Steven travelling across America and inflicting his own brand of weirdness on people

“So this guy walks into the diner. I say ‘guy’ because I had no idea how old he was, he was either a very tall child or a babyfaced grandpa. He’s wearing a bright pink varsity jacket and flip-flops, and when he’s done breakfast he gives me a fifty-dollar tip on a five dollar breakfast. So now I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I gotta know more about this guy,’ and I ask him what he does for work.

“And this guy looks at me, and he looks like the oldest man in the world, and he says, and I quote, ‘I used to run a school but I retired because the stress was killing me,’ and walks out. I think about him maybe once a week.”

[conundrumrespeculis]

writing tip: searching "[place of origin]ish names" will get you a lot of stuff and nonsense made up by baby bloggers.

searching "[place] census [year]" will get you lists of real names of real people who lived in that place.

[conundrumrespeculis]

Does archery really require top surgery?

Probably not (unless you’re into that!)