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Okay you guys.

IF YOU PRIMARILY DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH reply with what you mentally call it, if you have a nickname for it or something

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I think I may never be sad ever again. There is a statue entitled "Farewell to Orpheus" on my college campus. It's been there since 1968, created by a Prof. Frederic Littman that use to work at the university. It sits in the middle of a fountain, and the fountain is often full of litter. I have taken it upon myself to clean the litter out when I see it (the skimmers only come by once a week at max). But because of my style of dress, this means that bystanders see a twenty-something on their hands and knees at the edge of the fountain, sleeves rolled up, trying not to splash dirty water on their slacks while their briefcase and suit coat sit nearby. This is fine, usually. But today was Saturday Market, which means the twenty or so people in the area suddenly became hundreds. So, obviously, somebody stopped to ask what I was doing. "This," I gestured at the statue, "is Eurydice. She was the wife of Orpheus, the greatest storyteller in Greece. And this litter is disrespectful." Then, on a whim, I squinted up at them. "Do you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?" "No," they replied, shifting slightly to sit.

"Would you like to?"

"Sure!"

So I told them. I told them the story as I know it- and I've had a bit of practice. Orpheus, child of a wishing star, favorite of the messenger god, who had a hard-working, wonderful wife, Eurydice; his harp that could lull beasts to passivity, coax song from nymphs, and move mountains before him; and the men who, while he dreamed and composed, came to steal Eurydice away. I told of how she ran, and the water splashed up on my clothes. But I didn't care. I told of how the adder in the field bit her heel, and she died. I told of the Underworld- how Orpheus charmed the riverman, pacified Cerberus with a lullaby, and melted the hearts of the wise judges. I laughed as I remarked how lucky he was that it was winter- for Persephone was moved by his song where Hades was not. She convinced Hades to let Orpheus prove he was worthy of taking Eurydice. I tugged my coat back on, and said how Orpheus had to play and sing all the way out of the Underworld, without ever looking back to see if his beloved wife followed. And I told how, when he stopped for breath, he thought he heard her stumble and fall, and turned to help her up- but it was too late. I told the story four times after that, to four different groups, each larger than the last. And I must have cast a glance at the statue, something that said "I'm sorry, I miss you--" because when I finished my second to last retelling, a young boy piped up, perhaps seven or eight, and asked me a question that has made my day, and potentially my life: "Are you Orpheus?" I told the tale of the grieving bard so well, so convincingly, that in the eyes of a child I was telling not a story, but a memory. And while I laughed in the moment, with everyone else, I wept with gratitude and joy when I came home. This is more than I deserve, and I think I may never be sad again.

Here is the aforementioned statue, by the way.

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Bebe pepper inside a pepper…🫑²

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I'm so here for the Donkey Kong adoptive dad arc

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Hello everyone, I am making another one of these posts in case anyone would like to buy a print from me, or subscribe to my patreon, or just send in a tip. My whole life has recently been thrown in a loop. The kind of situation where it's like. "it only takes one medical emergency."

I spent my birthday at the hospital. Some of the darkest days of my life. Ti-rads 4 giant goiter that needed to be removed, awake intubation. Blessedly, my biopsy was benign, and I don't remember anything from the surgery. anesthesiologists said my airways almost collapsed. In some medical debt. But I am so happy I am alive. On a battalion of meds. I only just now started being able to move around as normal. I need all the help I can get from community. I had no income the two months I was sick. My mother is unable to move independently. My father has kidney failure, and my sister is pretty much my kid. She is autistic with a very low frustration threshold. I am the only person in my family who works, and I have three jobs, but all of which are unstable. I need to take thyroid h*rm*ne replacement for the rest of my life as maintenance medicine; as all of the funds I received from my gofundme was poured into surgeon fees. I'm penniless with a calcium deficiency, legit nothing to eat with a family of four to take care of ): please help me recover, help me buy calcium supplements and my thyroid maintenance medicine as I am essentially someone with hypothyroidism, and meds to treat my diabetes (sitaglipin and metformin). I only have around 6 days left of medicine before I run out. I am so grateful to still be alive, and I owe it all to you guys, and I am hoping everyone can still be generous to help me rebuild what is my new life as someone disabled with no support system irl. Thank you so so much.

I have around *412*!! Exclusive drawings on patreon, it's only a dollar a month.

I have plenty of goodies on my inprnt as well, it's 10% off rn

Inprnt takes 15 days to process payment and 15 days to release money, and I get paid by patreon at the end of the month. If you'd like to directly send me tips, If you've ever liked my thoughts, book recs or art, everything you send here either goes to my teet repair which is now emptied because of my thyroid surgery, or my maintenance meds. Thank you so so much;

Direct tipping jar:

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You know, with all the trouble over the live action Snow White remake and how long it's actually taken to make it, it would have been the perfect opportunity for another studio to make a film about Adriana Caselotti, who voiced Snow White but wasn't even told she was working on a full length film and only realised it at the premiere, was paid only $970 (roughly $21,217 in 2024) for the job, wasn't credited for the role and basically had her career in films ruined before it even started, because dear old Walt Disney refused to let her take other roles: 'I'm sorry, but that voice can't be used anywhere. I don't want to spoil the illusion of Snow White.'

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So if yall didn’t know, in The Hobbit book, Thranduil had the Dwarves locked up for approximately weeks, and Bilbo was just invisible and wandering in the palace the entire time, vibing miserably.

My headcanon, therefore, is that the Mirkwood Elves now have a local legend about a ghost haunting Thranduil’s palace, never seen but generally thought to be harmless. Thranduil scoffs at the idea, but has been seen glancing around at the dark corners of rooms. Legolas fully believes in it and is known to say hello out loud when he enters an empty room, in case the ghost is nearby.

It’s not until Legolas joins the Fellowship that he figures out that the supposed ghost was actually an invisible Bilbo the whole time. He never tells Thranduil, because he thinks it’s funny to see his regal father unnerved by the idea of a ghost.

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same old story...

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echoes of wisdom zelda, my beloved

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I think more academic programs should let you write a novel as your thesis project, particularly outside the fine arts. Just imagine the kind of bullshit that would result if they let you write a novel for your master's degree in computer science.

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stop being silly in front of me

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The problem with having a child with an attorney that has spoken to the child like an adult since birth is that she's 4 years old and she's negotiating the order in which we're going to complete tasks as a family to best suit her idea of an ideal day.

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Okay, another little lesson for fic writers since I see it come up sometimes in fics: wine in restaurants.

When you buy a bottle of wine in a (nicer) restaurant, generally (please note my emphasis there, this is a generalization for most restaurants, but not all restaurants, especially non-US ones) you may see a waiter do a few things when they bring you the bottle.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it

The waiter uncorks the bottle in order to serve it

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle

The waiter pours a small portion of the wine (barely a splash) and waits for the person who ordered it to taste it

The waiter then pours glasses for everyone else at the table, and then returns to fill up the initial taster's glass

Now, you might be thinking -- that's all pretty obvious, right? They're bringing you what you ordered, making sure you liked it, and then pouring it for the group. Wrong. It's actually a little bit more complicated than that.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it so that they can inspect the label and vintage and make sure it's the bottle they actually ordered off the menu

The waiter uncorks the bottle so that the table can see it was unopened before this moment (i.e., not another wine they poured into an empty bottle) and well-sealed

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle so that they can inspect the label on the cork and determine if it matches up; they can also smell/feel the cork to see if there is any dergradation or mold that might impact the wine itself

The waiter pours a small portion for the person who ordered to taste NOT to see if they liked it -- that's a common misconception. Yes, sometimes when house wine is served by the glass, waiters will pour a portion for people to taste and agree to. But when you order a bottle, the taste isn't for approval -- you've already bought the bottle at this point! You don't get to refuse it if you don't like it. Rather, the tasting is to determine if the wine is "corked", a term that refers to when a wine is contaminated by TCA, a chemical compound that causes a specific taste/flavor. TCA can be caused by mold in corks, and is one of the only reasons you can (generally) refuse a bottle of wine you have already purchased. Most people can taste or smell TCA if they are trained for it; other people might drink the wine for a few minutes before noticing a damp, basement-like smell on the aftertaste. Once you've tasted it, you'll remember it. That first sip is your opportunity to take one for the table and save them from a possibly corked bottle of wine, which is absolutely no fun.

If you've sipped the wine (I generally smell it, I've found it's easier to smell than taste) and determined that it is safe, you then nod to your waiter. The waiter will then pour glasses for everyone else at the table. If the wine is corked, you would refuse the bottle and ask the waiter for a new bottle. If there is no new bottle, you'll either get a refund or they'll ask you to choose another option on their wine list. A good restaurant will understand that corked bottles happen randomly, and will leap at the opportunity to replace it; a bad restaurant or a restaurant with poor training will sometimes try to argue with you about whether or not it's corked. Again, it can be a subtle, subjective taste, so proceed carefully.

In restaurants, this process can happen very quickly! It's elegant and practiced. The waiter will generally uncork the bottle without setting the bottle down or bracing it against themselves. They will remove the cork without breaking it, and they will pour the wine without dripping it down the label or on the table.

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My good friends are making fun of me bc I spent several dozen hours building a Spanish mosque in the community Minecraft server