#I had it as my cover photo on fb for years

[songbirdsandsugar-moved]

Oh my god!!! Look what else I found!

This was my most favorite picture of me for the longest time.

[createyourownnarrative]

Usually I try not to post too much about Long Covid on my regular FB feed. I’ve learned to just not do it. It’s best I save those posts for my support groups where I can get the support I need from people going through the same struggle.

But I need to get this off my chest.

I always knew I wanted to be an artist. I dabbled in many mediums over the years, photography, music, painting, film/media, writing, I’ve made sculptures. I truly enjoy expressing myself through various art forms, and connecting with others through that.

In 2010-2011, after years of working job after job trying to find my passion (when most of my friends were already college graduates with direction) and feeling a little lost, in the retail industry, I put my foot down, went back to school and chose a medium, & decided to pursue THAT. One medium I truly always loved: Photography. In 2012, I exhibited my work for the first time. In 2020 I opened up my first photo studio. A creative space where I can share and make memories. 1 month later, a global pandemic overturns our worlds and realities. I never would have imagined, that, in our lifetime. You just don’t think it could happen to you (to us). But it did. It’s still so surreal to me.

I got sick with Covid twice. I knew some people who had covid over 4-8 times. I had it twice. It only took that first bout with the virus to completely change my life. My body. My mind. My worries. My perspective. My whole world. And my future. I thought I almost had it figured out, my path, my plans, my goals. What I wanted to do, and where I wanted to go. Who I wanted to be. Now i’m grateful that I make it through my day, without collapsing. (which has happened and was very scary). My last two photography jobs, I couldn’t feel my hands. It’s why I’ve been so inactive, since I got sick. Whats going to happen when I can’t take pictures anymore?

When I tested positive for the first time, I cried in the cab ride home. I was beyond terrified. What will this mean? Will I survive this? What is going to happen. I thought if I can get through the virus and live, that’s all I could want. Some months before, I had lost a high school friend, a fellow musician, to Coronavirus. He was only 32 years old. We didn’t know what would happen. Who was at risk of death. After 9 or 10 days, with the virus. I tested negative, and returned to work. Feeling good, that I survived. Especially after day 4, when I woke up gasping for air in the night. I feared I wouldn’t wake up. I got blamed for testing positive by people around me. It was “my fault”. For “not being careful”. I felt so alienated. After I returned to work, I was preparing to move, packing, organizing, purging. One day, I could not get out of bed. And strange heavy symptoms. I thought I had Covid again. Of course the test came back negative.

But I would never be the same again. I never fully recovered from getting sick. Stuck back in 2020.

Do you know what it’s like? I see the world moving on. Almost like it never happened. Our government lying and covering up facts/truth. We are still sick. Still here. 18 million people in America are still sick with Post Covid syndrome. I’m left to feel like it’s my fault..I’m to blame. Because I “didn’t take care of myself.” Would you say that to someone with cancer? Or fibromyalgia? Or heart problems? Or Alzheimer’s? Or diabetes? Or any other illness? The stigma I’m (and we are) facing is unreal. People don’t believe me when I say “I still can’t taste and smell” and that I’m chronically ill now. “You don’t look sick”. “It’s because you party too much”. “you’re getting older” “it’s all those long nights you work on your feet”. I’ve heard it all. “But I see you at the bar working”. I have to work. There is no disability, go fund me, or assistance. I have to pay my rent. On my own. So I need to work. But just because you see me, at work, doesn’t mean I’m well. It just means I’m pushing myself to stay alive. It’s been true torture working through all this. I mourn and grieve for weeks and months at a time. It hasn’t stopped. It took me a long time, to accept that this is not going away anytime soon.

And my heart is broken. I feel left out in the rain. By our leaders, scientists, doctors, friends I thought I had. There is no community support. Even if someone believes you’re sick. No funding/fundraisers for LC. There is no cure, no pill, no treatment, no progress in finding treatment or biomarkers in the body to be able to even test for LC. The unpredictability of it. The symptoms. It’s really been torturous. Torture. A true nightmare. Having to sit in the shower so I don’t fall. Or hit my head (again) Doubling heart rate just upon standing. I get winded just talking and singing karaoke. I forget everything now. I slur my speech, sober. Tremors like Parkinsonism. My memory loss and constant issues feel like dementia-brain fog. I forget how to spell now. my hands turn purple red and blue when I step out of the shower. Migraines that last for months. Months. I take Tylenol like it’s medication. Neuropathy, nerve pain, nerve itches, tingling and numbness. My body temperature can’t regulate, so I often am cold and hot simultaneously. How do you remedy that? The discomfort and distress I feel is unbearable. Loosing clumps of hair. My hair is greying more and more rapidly post covid. Brittle nails. Skin issues. Digestive issues. Eye problems. Cognitive difficulties. Joint pain. Muscle pain. Muscle atrophy. Weakness. Severe severe fatigue. Almost like you worked out at the gym, full body then took a benadryl. Every. Fucking. Day. I’m tired of being so fucking tired. Before Covid, people would always have to tell me to slow down. Working full time, school, internships, photography, going to the gym full time. I always took on so much. I had so much energy and drive. It was a fire in me.

Now it’s gone. A piece of me has died, undoubtedly. And I question everything now. Most days I’m afraid to leave my house. And don’t. Unless it’s to work. If I do leave my house, it’s because I’m pushing myself, and I’m not well. My anxiety and depression are much worse. Chronic illness has also taken its toll on my mental health. It’s been draining trying to keep up with the world. I feel left behind. I’m not only mourning my health, and my abilities, but my passion in life, the one thing I worked so hard for. My future. And Photography. What do I do, if I can’t create anymore? What purpose do I have?

No one believes me, or think LC exists. And if I don’t “show up”, it’s because “she’s a flake”. I’m in such a dark place you may never understand. How do I navigate this life? Being sick every day.

[rederiswrites]

I said I'd had some good fortune on FB marketplace, and now I've got the photos to prove it. Finally, after 17 years of having a porch and three of having a deck, I have outdoor furniture. That I could afford.

Didn't think I'd actually be able to buy a tile table, and then the table of my dreams, in my beloved blue and white, appeared. The chairs are even the comfy springy kind, and I dislike most outdoor chairs. The (plastic) wicker is also exactly my style and really comfy.

Table needs regrouting, but I know just enough about that to not be worried. I'm sure I'll manage.

P.S. the piece of plywood on the deck under the one chair is covering the hole where the Boy put his foot through a rotten board. haahhaha we'll get to that someday.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

some delights:

-my partner and i found the lady who fostered our cats on fb and so we can send her update photos and tell her how grateful we are that she socialized them sooo well.

-it SNOWED and STUCK and i had work super early this morning so i got to see morning sunlight on the snow covered trees :)

-i made a new online friend who i vibe incredibly well with and have a ton of common niche interests with!

-i got to give a different friend their first haircut in 2 years and shave (most of) their head!

wait all of this is so cool but oh my god finding your cats' foster mom... that's so sweet that's like their grandma

[cafalla]

Fruits Basket Sticker Collection (2008) Scans

Fruits Basket (FB) is one of my all time favorite shoujo manga, and I was so excited to get my hands on an unused copy of this sticker book from 2008!

This main trio makes me so nostalgic. And the Tokyopop logo is SO iconic.

I've always been more of a digital consumer of manga, so I initially read Fruits Basket entirely online from fan-made and fan-translated scans.

I have very fond memories of coming home from school every night and logging onto the family computer to binge as many chapters of FB as I could before dinner. One day my dad gave me his old laptop, since I was the one mostly hogging the family computer.

I was SO excited.

I immediately made my background Shigure themed.

I liked Shigure a lot since he was the year of the dog, just like me.

And you bet I spent all my free time on my clunky early 2000s hand-me-down laptop binging the FB manga, watching the FB anime (in three parts on YouTube, of course), and consuming every FB fanfic and fanart I could find online.

All that to say, this manga holds a special place in my heart. I find myself going back every couple of years and re-reading it.

It truly is such a quintessential y2k shoujo experience.

。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°

Even though this book is titled as a sticker book, it contains more than stickers. As seen in the tagline on the front page, this book also includes pin-ups and temporary tattoos.

Not sure why they only have stickers in the title, I guess that's just more of an attention grabber than pin-ups or temporary tattoos would be.

This book has a hard cover and spiral-bound pages. Because of this, it was actually a bit tricky to scan.

I was able to crop out the spiral for most of the pages, as it wouldn't interfere with the overall image of the page, but I did keep it visible on the title page scan.

Every time I tried cropping it for this page, I felt it took too much away from Kyo's portrait.

So I just let it be.

The first part of the book consists of "pin-ups" of Tohru and the Sohma family.

I will say, pin-up is a bit of an odd word to use. I think something like 'mini posters' would've worked as a better descriptor for what is actually inside the book.

I think most Western audiences associate the word "pin-up" with the image of a sexualized or risqué photo.

But in this case, I think it's meant innocently as a picture that can be "pinned up" on a wall...even though that's basically the same reason for the name behind the the sexualized photos...

Either way, it's a bit funny when it's brought up in a PG setting.

Anyways, the pin-up photos in the book are all loose inside clear paper protector sheets. I think it's a neat, thoughtful way to make the pictures safe and accessible.

Ignore the cafalla.com watermark - that was from when I had a .com blog! But it is still me, and this is still my photo lol.

It's a bit hard to tell from the photo, but these pictures are in plastic sheet protectors, and you can slide the paper in and out from the side.

If you wanted to take a specific picture out, you needn't worry about ripping or ruining them while trying to remove them from the book.

So I really appreciate that detail.

Because of this, scanning these pages was an easy experience. The front page of the "pin-up" depicts art of the character from the manga, and the back of the page has a little bio about the character.

Here is Tohru's front and back page.

As for the Sohma family, they are the same, except they also show a little drawing of their animal form on the back.

Here are Yuki and Kyo's pages.

The book continues with pages for each member of the Sohma family, plus Akito.

I'm surprised Tohru's friends Arisa and Saki weren't included, as they are also pretty frequently appearing characters...more so than some of the family members.

I'm looking at you, Ritsu.

。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°

I really adore that the manga art was used for this whole book. The original anime has that early 2000s charm, but I much prefer the manga artwork for this series.

We're going to see a lot of it with the stickers and temporary tattoos, which follow the pin-up photos.

I'm not sure why, but all the sticker and temporary tattoo pages have a similar layout (which you will see), with the exception of this one sticker page.

Not sure why this one page has a cell phone theme and TONS of tiny stickers, but it's cute!

Again, this was a page where it was hard to cut out the spiral without cutting off parts of the stickers located close to it. So I left it in the scan.

Here are the other sticker sheets!

And here are the temporary tattoo sheets!

So cute!!

And like I said, I love that this is all artwork from the manga.

My favorite is the group sticker on the green sheet, where Tohru is wearing the red plaid skirt.

I vividly remember that chapter spread because I adored her outfit. Black, red, and plaid aren't really colors/patterns Tohru wears, and I think they compliment her so much. I also adored how all the boys' outfits matched the same color scheme and aesthetic.

。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°

There we have it, the Fruits Basket sticker (and pin-up...and temporary tattoo) collection!

The whole book is scanned and available for viewing on my Internet Archive account! So please go check it out if you want to see more.

I've also uploaded just the photo scans on my photoblog: nostalgiahime. So if you like to reblog just the photos, please go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

[freakingoutthesquares]

PULP. 'His -n- Hers' album photo.

The Worx Studios. King’s Cross. London.

Shot: October 5, 1993.

Contact for print sales : kjwestenberg@hotmail.com

All Photos: ©Kevin Westenberg. All Rights Reserved.

From Kevin Westenberg's FB: HERE

PULP. Cover shot for ‘His-n-Hers’ album. Finally got around to creating a master version of this photograph. Back in 1993 in the heat and general chaos of the moment, there would have been one print made as part of all the original photo print choices made by the band and management. At that time, there was no way to have known that this image would be the one chosen to be illustrated for the cover of their upcoming album. This hero version all came about because Jarvis contacted me to ask if it can be used as part of their background visuals for the current tour, which is a great honour. Looking forward to seeing the now reformed PULP play all the hits at Finsbury Park for the first time in 25 years this Saturday July 1, 2023. Will be a great moment to remember as opposed to the drunken 90’s! This time I’ll be clean and sober.

The backstory: In the spirit of those times during the London of the 1990’s, I felt compelled to post a hot shot from one of my early photo sessions with Pulp. The story goes that this particular shoot was mainly for press. Out of the blue some months later I was told one of the shots was going to be used as the cover for the ‘His-n-Hers’ album. To be an Illustrated version by Philip Castle. The album was released on 18 April 1994 by Island Records. It proved to be the band's breakthrough album, reaching number nine on the UK Albums Chart, and was nominated for the 1994 Mercury Music Prize. In 1998, Q Magazine readers voted it the seventieth greatest album of all time, while it was placed at number 110 in the book Virgin All-Time Top 1000 Albums. Of course when the photos were taken, we all had no idea what a brilliant success the album would be so it’s a tad embarrassing in hindsight how primitive my contribution was. Technically, it’s just above beginner lighting. Hard light which was all I knew back then. Fortunately most everyone was young then so it kind of worked. The other reality of every situation in those inkie days was that speed was the main driving force of success. Keep it moving at any cost! It was only when that process went wrong, and it did spectacularly, that everything eventually changed for the better. The PR firm Savage & Best were behind both this commission and my initial shoot for ‘Intro-The Gift Recordings’, released in October of 1993 right about the time of this shoot. Between them, the press and all the bands of the era we all made a great team somehow, which burned brightly for just a short period and then flamed out. R.I.P. Steve Mackey. Photo: ©Kevin Westenberg.

[e-l-i-s-s-a]

Part 1:

I explain how I met my ex and the dynamic

Part 2:

More on how I originally met my stalker, ( if any of you have been approached to play a virtual game of big brother you need to message me ASAP)

I talk about my tumblr background and how I ended up in this position

I discuss being approached by multiple accounts over the years (that ended up being him, including the “stalker” nightmare account I referred to in my original post) and show a screenshot of random xpressions and I having a personal conversation where he literally tells me he’s writing poetry about me

I also info detail how I knew he was doing this to multiple women from the start- one of them being that poor girl that is defending them publicly right now. But I know she has years of an online report with these accounts. He really has a hold on her and I hope her perceptions evolve soon to see everything he was telling you was just taken from one of my videos or lives.

Part 3

I go into my background with the random xpressions account, explain what a stat counter is and how I became aware he uses one.

I also address why the accounts look credible ( spoiler alert it’s because my ex is PROFICIENT in AI / photoshop and a professional web developer. He builds websites, he worked for Disney doing animation. He was doing things that are being discovered today YEARS AGO. )

I address how the original romanric sir comes into the story, the conversations we had, and then begin to reflect on how I began connecting all of the dots that all of the accounts are the same.

Part 4:

I go into detail about being approached my some spiritual mentor on Reddit ( yep, also him ) as well as how this person had the EXACT same background story as original romantic sir

I begin to suspect the Reddit dude is actually random xpressions ( because he’s followed me to other social media before to “ encourage me” on my journey)

I show screenshots of random xpressions posts that were very synchronistic to personal convos I have having with said mentor, and detail how I asked the Reddit dude to send me a selfie with my name written down and he did.

Part 5

I detail how I confront both the Reddit account and random xpressions on being the same person

I detail how I made a side account to respond directly to randoms sporadic posts without telling anyone, so only someone with my IP would know this account even existed. I also talk about how I began to realize original romantic sir was involved, too.

I reflect on some synchronicity that made me reach out to my ex (the actual person behind the accounts but I was not aware at this time) I believed I was being sex trafficked and was terrified and looking for support. It just so happened that 8 years prior I made my fb cover photo a screenshot from our messages where he told me to expect to have stalkers because I was beautiful.

Around the 5:45 mark, I begin to tie into how it clicks original romantic sir is involved FOR SURE. I genuinely believe at this point and for the next few days that I’m being directly targeted by a trafficking ring.

Part 6

I go into more connection between original romantic sir and random xpressions with screenshots

I reflect how ALL of these accounts that tried to contact / befriend / romance me have tried to convert me to their religious beliefs

I also discuss how I confided in my ex about how terrified I was and how the poet account started writing poetry about PHONE CONVERSATIONS I was having with my ex and how my ex and I “baited” him with key words to see if he’d write about it

I share screenshots between private convos with my ex and random xpressions posts

Part 7

I just kind of reflect on all of the signs and synchronicity. I’m really going through it here. This is more of just a vlog and you can skip it although I do note here that this is when I suspect my ex has hacked my WiFi.

Part 8

This was the OG video I shared- it goes into the beginning of random xpressions archives and compares those posts with my trip when I traveled to meet my ex in 2017.

Part 9

Lots and lots of screenshots connecting random xpressions to my ex with timestamps 💋

This is just like a part 2 to that but this one also connects unoriginalromanticsir

Tumblr only allows a certain number of video links.

There is a part 2 to this post for parts 10, 11, 12, & 13.

Regardless of what you believe, it does not hurt to use a VPN on this app. People are able to track your ip with an invisible stat counter which means any website or app you visit is known. Be safe and protect yourselves.

[addisonacres]

That's a wrap.

2023 is on its death bed and I'm both happy and sad about that. Personally, this year has sucked on so many levels and for so many of my loved ones. But four months ago I published my first title under Addison Acres and so my foray into the world of M/M publishing began.

It has not been easy. It was a hell of a learning curve, and I still feel out of my depth some days. It's hard bloody work. I work full-time and I also study part-time so it's not like I can sit and write all day (as much as I wish I could). I needed to take the leap though because if I kept on saying 'I just don't have the time' then it was never going to happen.

I've published 2 shorts and a novella on Smashwords and I think I've done okay with them. To date I've sold 768 copies. Yes, some of them have been freebies (Draft2Digital counts those in total books sold) but hey, I'm pretty happy with those numbers. Have I made millions of dollars? Pfft, no. Have I made thousands? Yeah, nah. But I've made a about $700USD so far.

Yeah, I don't have a problem talking about stuff like this. I know a lot of people are very hush hush about money but one thing I've discovered coming into this gig is that there's very little data to measure against. Who knows if this means I've been successful? I fucking don't! But maybe another indie author will see this and go 'Hey, that's similar to what I managed' or 'I made more than that so I'm doing really well!'. So yeah, I'm happy to throw out my figures if it'll help someone else. I'm not raking in the cash, and I haven't had my first title become a crazy best-seller and I'm suddenly playing with the big kids. I'm still very much a baby in this industry, finding my way.

Ultimately, yes I got into this publishing gig to make a few extra bucks. The cost of living has sky-rocketed and my job does not pay well. I adore it though so I needed to do something to supplement what I make. This isn't going to pay off my mortgage but it's paid for a new water pump for our rainwater tank and a delivery of hay for the alpacas. I've also re-invested some of my royalties into my writing. I've purchased the Atticus software and I got a bundle of photos from Depositphotos to use for book covers.

There's still a lot I need to do. I have yet to set up a newsletter, which is much to my detriment. I feel like I need to have a NL magnet first (which is the term used for a free story readers get when they sign up for your newsletter). I feel like no one will sign up for nothing so I've not set one up yet, but I have no idea what to write for the magnet...

I've been doing a lot of promo work on FB with joining release parties and giveaways but it's hard work. The marketing side of things takes up a lot of time, which yeah, I don't have a lot of. I did set up an Instagram account but I've hardly used it as it's very, very full on and I haven't really had the spoons. I know I need to invest more time in that, and I will try in the New Year but we'll see how full the cutlery drawer is first.

I also made the choice to do Tumblr instead of Tik Tok. Probably a very stupid choice since BookTok is huge and people get a lot of exposure on there. Why didn't I? Well, firstly, I'm really not very good at making videos and editing them. It's so very time consuming. Secondly, I like Tumblr. Is it a dumpster fire? Yes. Am I a bin chicken masquerading as a human? You betcha. So, yeah, I feel comfortable here. But I know I need to invest in more time here also.

Anyway, next year is a new year. I am currently working on a project that I've told no one about because I feel if I do, I will jinx myself and my motivation will fuck off to the moon. So, there is something in the works for publishing maybe in February. I'll be looking for beta readers once I've gotten it finished so if you're interested, hit me up.

I've also created a new logo because I haven't really done that and I figured I really should. I've made 4 variations to use for different situations and I really like it. It's pretty.

Anyway, I've rambled enough. Just wanted to do a little wrap up for the year and to prove that I'm not dead lol

Enjoy the final days of 2023 and I shall catch you all on the flip side.

[thesecretattic]

Last message in HINDI before dying: “Mazaak udaaya na tune mere dreams ka be it the book (find all the covers designed on my own on Threads app @cashmerevanilla.co_) or these dreams (read the whole pic whats written here) THE EXACT SAME man with the moustache from that old pic where Jimmit, Preet, Aditya everyone was sitting which was there when u had added me & you were asking me out, that Beer Bonger pic the one in a White Kurti & Moustache with that butterfly wall hanger and A.C. on top (where Jimmit was thin and young and Aditya K. was thinner, the same Preet’s werewolf photos from Anubis post on FB jab tu bhi jawan tha) that same man who was sitting there in that White Kurti & Moustache that man that exact same man will take me on Bike Rides in Navsari and teach me Gujarati & also say terms of endearment in Gujju, and TAKE ME TO THOSE RESTAURANTS I MENTIONED here which the DEVIL knew and showed me, read why READ WHICH TYPE ppl were klld to show that… along with all the unfairness of 10 years. She didn’t want all that, find & read Difference post also, she didn’t have all these dreams which I did as a kid SPECIFIC ones which only the Devil knew such as even recently he left my birthdate along with 9 out of 69 her 26th Mar n my 29th Mar she is the Beast he left it on a pic which had a scene similar to the one in my book where I have put the devil and it is clad in snow cuz he even remembered what i had forgotten - my life’s first wish as a kid, for 3 years i kept wishing to play in the snow ❄️ he remembered it so well and even now I have several things for journalling with Snow theme. He knew the moustache reason and everything else pls find Dea—th Note it has my SPECIFIC prefs (Soulmate post) and the matching Swiggy/Tomar sign screenshot which was equally shocking, the 7up post both parts 1 & 2. Harsh wud say he’s instigating saale mera soulmate hoke uski gaandh mein ek baar ghusa kya nikla hi nahi foreigners ke bu-m ki photos dekh she will say soulmate issue are u JEALOUS? Have some self respect & leave… she was made for Mishkat I have seen their signs, pls read Why the Dead are angry post. It has a lot more than their signs one more below in the same note with proof but pls read. After dying that same man will take me there to these restaurants the typical ones I have mentioned below (haven’t left my house since 2017 more stylish than her better clothes even in this budget thanks to my luck and coupons but they are still with tags never got to dress up or go out) he will take me there and on bikes rides in Navsari and say loving things in Gujju after I die now his real soul will in that white kurti (which I am sure in Heaven) I was born with straight silky hair n everyone wud say I was like a Gujju then he ruined them, my mother wud yank pull them from the crowning area and abuse me a lot and then he came to make things worse, Aneri has curly hair common hairstyle + she is maha tacky

These places read - these Harsh (Jayesh) Rajput - People were klld 5+ ppl to show me all the unfairness from the past 10+ yrs since I was 18 where I kept preserving through all the pain, thrashings the entire ordeal in the chronic pain illness he gave me while he was being UNFAITHFUL from behind. All the small LOW BUDGET hole in the wall quaint restaurants I’d imagined all that with him he showed it WITH HER That too she wasn't even wearing anything matching it wasn't even Co-ordinated I HAD THE MATCHING corduroy jacket in the same fabric & colour he was wearing cuz i'm his SOULMATE. I deserved to be there. Those small fancy low budget restaurants it was MY DREAM u won't understand it. Those cosy small places & two wheeler rides - Zara Sauleh

[laurapausinifinland]

What happened to LP Finland in Facebook?

I've been the sole author and administrator of the Facebook page: Laura Pausini Finland for 9 years.

One of my best "general" covers for my FB site.

Before that a LP fan for 20 years. Creating the page had been my long time dream where I could share and scream all my LP related hopes, dreams and fears to my fellow LP fans out there.

A special plus was perhaps to advertise Laura's work in FINNISH which no one in social media etc. was doing at the moment or is doing to be honest even today.

Advertising Laura's work in 2022 on my FB site.

I loved to post about Laura almost every day. Share stories, favourites, unknown facts or duets. I know that 2000 followers (or almost) is not much in social media in 9 years but I appreciated every like and follow I managed to receive in those years. Particularly I was proud of the international follower base I had (besides FIN lots of mexicans, brasilians, italians - people from the States and Baltic Countries joined as well).

When I was a child, being a LP fan wasn't something that the other kids did in Finland so I learned to keep my fanity as a secret. This is what I continued to do with the Facebook page. I loved not only the sharing part of my Facebook page but to carefully plan how, when and what I would share. My work has been super organized and dedicated - others might call it crazy. But this is the singer whose music is the soundtrack of my life.

One of my best loved lyric translate videos for "Non é detto".

Along the years I expanded here in Tumblr (which has been less active I admit at the times) and Youtube + Spotify. In 9 years I want to believe that I did manage to create a brand and community.

However, in the last mid September Facebook closed my site as due to "not following their guidelines". I argued back in all the ways I knew how (FB doesn't have customer service) and tried to investigate what was it that I had done wrong. There was no warning for the closure either so I was in the state of shock.

Every year I always try to promote Laura's Xmas album during the holidays.

24h, 48h, one week passed and no feedback arrived from Facebook and my site remained closed. I was unable to like, comment to do absolutely anything to reach out my followers that the site is down and not by my own choice. I was devastated of the work of 9 years going wasted - followers, posts, everything was lost.

Which added my agony was that this took place in the middle of a very special year: Laura's 30th anniversary and just when she was releasing the news of her new single and album. Next year was also gonna be my 10th anniversary for having my own FB site.

Promoting Laura's Grammy nomination in 2017.

So I created the new page (after a few tech issues) and started over. Luckily most of the materials were saved elsewhere so I can try to add them little by little to the new site. I was very careful when creating the page as I didn't know what went wrong with the other one (apparently it could have been the Finland reference in the name, using official photos as profile pics).

However, when changing the profile pic last night Facebook informed me that my new site was also closed due "not following their guidelines". I literally didn't know what to do anymore as I knew that once closed in FB will probably always be closed. I complained again however and 15 min later FB reopened the site. I don't know whether it was the new title having Fan Site or what was it that made a difference to original site complaint.

Promoting Fatti Sentire vol II in 2019.

What horrified me when googling this was how many actual professional sites FB or other social media platforms can close because checking the sites, profiles is automatic and not human operated work for them. Sites that might have not broken any rule in the end are lost for good. At least I didn't lose my income here.

What was comforting to notice that long time followers, the ones that are most active ones have found my new site rather quickly. Friends have given support. Allow me share my thanks here to all of you (you know who you are!). I also hope sharing my experience here helps the fellow fan sites in a similar situation.

What I learned from this experience was to have backups, other social media platforms (even though I prefer FB because of its diversity) and keep the profiles active to get your message across when one platform is down. I've been thinking of IG a lot but I know that is also Meta owned and algorithm is as painful as it is in FB.

Laura's new album is coming out this October 27th!

Where would you wanna follow LP news in Finnish and English?

[bloggercookie]

Trust is blind! #12

Talking about how we have to trust people blindly on day to day life to get going... #tbt #trust #blog

There was a time when I had this fb cover pic, a photo of a paper having written ” Trust ” on it and torn in the middle. Perhaps I was in 2nd year,college at that time. Still I hadn’t experienced any major heart break or any incident that had shattered my belief in people. Maybe then it seemed cool to me. But then life happened. Everything changed. Now when I’m actually heart broken, feeling…

[sleuthingwithchloe]

Fire in Adlerstein (Day 3)

WARNING, THIS GAMEPLAY CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE GAME "FIRE IN ADLERSTIN". READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION !!!

Day 3 (June 2nd 2022)

So, let's go on the website shall we. So, I entered his wedding anniversary date, which is May 24th (2405), and we are in my dudes. 

The translation of the website reads :

"This content is protected by password. To access it, enter the for digits password :"

Then, the only thing that pops up is this :

Wtf is this now?

So, Bremer insured his home on May 26th, possibly because he was scared something was going to happen to him? So it says, the insurance contract is automatically renewed for one year, yaddi yaddi yadda, the insurance covers for fire, flood, storm, hail, breaking in, burglary and vandalism; and he's insured for 400'000 €. Interesting, but what does it all mean? Did he get home insurances to have the money to pay back the Fischer brothers? Did he set his own house on fire and it went horribly wrong? WTF BREMER!?! XD I added this to my important events.

Now, I'm not very sure as to why we have this, considering we already know about Sivers' prescription in the 1st place. So I'm not going to pay much attention to it for the moment.

We have a page of a young girl's journal. It's not from Mitzy, because the person writing mentioned her, so I'm assuming it's her sister. Bruna probably? Most likely.

Now, I just realized, and yes, this is a bit off topic but whatever, the mother in Mitzy's drawing has a shirt with stars and a striped skirt, just like the woman in the camera footage at the hotel. So, Mitzy's and Bruna's mother is the one with Katz.

Anyways, in her journal, Bruna mentions her parents getting in a fight and they then went to their grandmothers. She also says she left her Harry Potter book at her grandmother's house. So, the 2 people from the hotel probably named each other Ron Weasley and Hermine Granger because of the book.

Bruna says that her mother came back in the middle of the night smelling like gasoline. I'm really getting confused right now. XD There's to many things tying to many people to the fire. It's almost as if EVERYONE was in on it, but I know that's not it lol.

There's a letter addressed to Frida Bremer. Bremer's wife or ex-wife?

The letter is from Alma Preuss and it goes like this :

"Dear Frida,

One day you slept with a married man and you destroyed his family, right?

Honestly, did you really think he'd stay loyal to you forever?

We both had fun, you know. We really had a blast.

But I don't need him anymore, so take him back and go fuck yourself!

I have a small favor to ask of you. The last time Joseph came to see me, he forgot the bracelet you gave him at house.

Could you give it back to him? Thanks in advance.

Cordially.

Alma"

Sooo, that means Frida is Bremer's actual wife and mother of Mitzy and Bruna. That means the woman from the hotel with Katz is Frida. I'm very confusion. XD Anyways, I added the letter to my important events on May 27th.

Here we have a piece of a bracelet, probably the one mentioned in Alma's letter to Frida. So, this belonged to Joseph. There's nothing else to see about it, other than it's a freakin piece of bracelet. 😬 NEXT!!

There's a match box from the Adlersking club and on its back, there's Lukas Bremer's Facebook. 😮 Let's go take a look at it.

So, we have a bunch of pictures of Lukas Bremer at the Adlersking club. 2 of which are on the night of the fire, the earliest one is at 11:30 pm and the latest is 11:50 pm. The fire started around 11:50 pm so, does that leave him enough time from Bremer's property to the club, which he arrived at 11:30 pm? Erg, I'm getting annoyed at all of this lol.

Then if we go on the Adlersking club FB, there's pictures of them from 11:42 pm to 00:02 am (Yes, the times are freakin hidden with the other photos, my bad -_-" But I can assure you the latest one is at 00:02 am 😮).

On Mark Newman's FB, one of Lukas' friends who was there with him, there's 1 photo at 00:02 am. The same 00:02 am photo from the Adlersking club (Hehe, told you).

And now, if we go on Micha Frank's FB, another one of Luka's friends who was there with him, there's 1 photo at 11:40 pm.

SO, that means they got there at at least 11:30 pm and left, at least after 00:02 am. I don't know if that leaves them time to start a fire and get to the club, all tho it is sus that they are partying on the night of his father's death, after saying he was gonna burn his ass lol.

And it does say it's a "fire party" on one of his photos. 🤔 I'm confusioooooooooooooon!!

We have a newspaper (😖 I hate newspapers) and there's a couple of articles that are circled in it.

This one is about a riot on may 24th I think. About how they started a fire blablabla, and there's the 2 Fischer brothers name's in the article.

I don't see how this is news, considering we already know the Fischers are ass holes and that this happened on the 24th. Maybe to show us that they are indeed criminals, but yeah, no shit! 🙄

But then I continue reading, something my dumbass as trouble doing x), and it says all the culprits from the article were put in jail for 15 days.

SO, that means that if they were put in jail on the 24th and spent 15 days in, they would of came out only on June 8th. SOOOOOO, the Fischer brothers are NOT our culprits. NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE FFS !!! 😤 XD

The 2nd circled article is about a show from what seems like Boy George but it's not XD and it's being cancelled. Let me read this one carefully now. XD

It says that after their show of May 29th at Palma de Majorque, the May 30th show of this band was put off, due flights being cancelled because of a storm and they could only be back on June 1st.

Palma de Majorque is where Alma Preuss was on her trip. She left on May 24th and was supposed to come back on the 30th, but that means she couldn't of, because the flights got cancelled until June 1st. SOOOOO, Alma Preuss is NOT our culprit either! 

Then we have an article about Carl Notebeck, the journalist, saying he broke into the zoo the night of the 30th, opened the chimpanzee cage and released them.

He intended to shoot a video on location to sell it to media. The police arrested later that night.

So, I don't know if it all happened before the fire or after. BUT, Carl did leave us a little note which begs the question, why though ?

The note's translation says :

"I'm not hiding anything, you may have read this article, it was me, I let the monkeys escape from the zoo while I was working on a video report. But I'm not an arsonist nor a murderer, I beg of you, you have to believe me !"

So, considering this happened on the night of the fire and he was arrested, I wouldn't of suspected him anymore BUT, because of his stupid note, I'm questioning that thought. Plus, he was at the scene of the crime to take pictures, thus why police suspected him.

[To be continued...]

Our timeline so far :

May 14th :

• 2pm : Walter Sivers started taking anti-stress medication by IV.

May 20th : 

• Bremer lost 100'000$ playing cards with the Fischer brothers.

Night of 20th to 21th May :

• The Fischer brothers gave Bremer 10 days to pay them back. They then destroyed Bremer's car to force him to pay them back within those 10 days, or else.

May 23rd :

• Joseph Bremerand Alma Preuss booked 2 plane tickets.

• 08:56 pm to 09:09 pm :

• Alma Preuss and Joseph Bremer had an altercation by text. Alma threatened Bremer.

May 24th :

• Bremer's ticket was cancelled by Alma Preuss.

• The Fischer brothers were sent to jail for 15 days for vandalism.

May 26th :

• Bremer got home insurance for 400'000 €.

May 27th :

• Alma sent a letter to Frida, telling her Bremer cheated on her.

May 28th :

• Bremer refused to compensate Katz for firing him.

May 29th :

• Lukas Bremer told Magdelena Witt he was going to set his father on fire as a prank.

May 30th :

• 8:29 pm to 8:32 pm : Heinrich Katz was seen at a gas station, filling up a tank.

• 11:35 pm : 2 people signed as "Ron Weasley" (Heinrich Katz) and "Hermine Granger" (Frida Bremer) at an hotel.

• 11:41 pm : "Ron Weasley" (Heinrich Katz) and "Hermine Granger" (Frida Bremer) were caught on camera going to their room (room 11)

• 11:50 pm : Photo evidence shows fire started around 11:50 pm

May 31st :

• 00:04 am to 00:07 am : Carl Notebeck was stopped near the scene of the fire to take pictures.

• 00:15 am : Witness Heinrich Keein alerted fire department about Bremer's home on fire (Adlerstein Hohmann Str. 19)

• 00:22 am : Fire department arrived on scene.

• 01:45 am : Fire department left scene.

• 06:45 am : "Ron Weasley" (Heinrich Katz) and "Hermine Granger" (Frida Bremer) left the hotel.

June 8th :

• The Fischer brothers were released from jail.

[mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea]

Tarot and Rune Readings

Let me preface this by saying that the job hunt is a lousy and stressful thing, leading to many sleepless nights and nauseated and crying mornings. I put out at least 10-15 applications a day, and with a BA in English and MFA in Creative Writing, I should've had non-scam bites by employers by now. This has been going on for months. I wanted to move to NC this year and get the hell out of Texas, which is becoming more and more dangerous to live in by the day. I never know when I leave my house if I'm going to be shot for being bisexual, genderfluid, pagan, a uterus owner, wearing a mask in a world that isn't done with the pandemic yet (despite what anyone says), or just for existing in a space that a cis white straight conservative Christian man (or woman) is in where they just don't like my face that day. The lack of a job and incoming funds has made my sister, with whom I live and hoped to move to NC with before the end of the year, hesitant to move because it will be expensive to move across country, find a place, and live without it, but the jobs are just not coming, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm terrified of what will happen if we stay here.

I've got 30 years experience in reading Tarot and probably roughly 20 reading runes. I also have 22 years using psychometry, which comes in the form of symbols and ideas that mean something to the owner of the object. I've been doing dream interpretation even back into my teens (I'm almost 50 now, if that helps). I've worked dozens of psychic fairs when I still lived in South Texas and there was a shop there that held them four or five times a year. I'm good at what I do, and I'm prompt at getting back to someone who requests and pays for a reading. Only if I'm away from my computer on errands am I just not available at that moment but will make myself available as soon as I can.

I'm not going to lie. I need to get some financial security under me so that I can pay my bills, help cover rent, groceries, and to push for the move out of the rapidly growing more dangerous state that I live in. I'm willing to work for the money, and I'm not going to give half-assed replies to questions. I've got PayPal and Venmo and a selection of Tarot and Divination Cards to choose from as well as runes. If you're interested, I sure would like to talk and pull cards for you - in helping you, you'd be helping me, and it would be a great cycle of exchanged energy that would make things positive for the both of us.

My prices are:

$30 for 3-5 tarot cards

$50 for a full spread, 30 minute reading

$75 for for full spread, 1 hour readings

$25 Dream Interpretation

$35 Rune reading

Readings done online over IM chat (I have FB Messenger and Discord and can be persuaded to get back on Skype if preferred). I'm still learning Zoom but can probably work that out as well. I will provide a write up and photo of the reading, with the exception of Dream Interpretation, which will just have a write-up. Payment up front and readings to follow immediately.

I have also set up a secondary Tumblr for tarot/dreams where I may compile interesting topics from time to time as life permits. Please feel free to follow this blog, too, and messaging me there will also message me on my main Tumblr.

Mimir's Well.

Message me on Tumblr for further communication.

Thank you!

[vinceaddams]

obvs feel free to keep this private, but I got recommended the UFH channel by a friend of mine, haven't gotten around to watching anything from it. I trust your judgement on the content, but my friend considers it her main resource 🙃 of course, since you only watched a few videos you might not be able to answer this, but was there any specific really bad/unacademic approaches I should keep my eye out for that my friend might have adopted? we work on a historical festival together so im concern

(I was going to answer this privately but then it got really long and turned into a post I want to post.)

Oh dear! Well, It appears that the lady behind that channel only cares about the 20th century, so maaybe she’s got good stuff on the 20th century at least? I don’t know, but the 2 videos that I saw were so incredibly awful that I’m highly suspicious of all her stuff. 

The first bad thing about her channel is that her videos all have a one or two sentence caption and nothing else. (I clicked on a few more just to check) No sources listed, no links of any kind except to her merch store. I don’t recall her mentioning any particular sources for any of the things she said in the videos either, she just declared them very matter of factly. 

Good historians cite sources! Bernadette Banners’ video on the history of PPE has so many source links she ran out of room in the description box and had to put the rest of them on a page on her website.  (Oh poo, now I feel a bit bad because I love Karolina Zebrowska but she really needs to do better with leaving source links. But she does talk about doing research, talk in a more nuanced way, and doesn’t present herself as an expert or academic, unlike the UFH lady.)

Good historians also embrace nuance, and aren’t afraid to say “I don’t know” or “I was wrong”. Presenting things in a “this person did this one big thing, and then this happened, and that caused this” kind of way isn’t good because history is more like “all these things happened and as far as we can tell it appears to have influenced this, which was also connected to this other stuff that we don’t know all that much about”. History is foggy and complicated, no matter how much the general public wants it to be simple.

Her description of herself also seems a bit... misleading? In her about page on youtube it says “Amanda Hallay, a college professor specializing in fashion, costume, and cultural history.” but if you look at the CV linked on her website the only degrees she has are in creative writing and art history. I’m not saying a person can’t be really knowledgable about something without a degree, but her whole online presence is about being a “professor” who teaches this stuff so I find it weird.

And if the 1850′s-60s video is anything to go by, she presents things in a shockingly unprofessional way. She starts off by saying she thinks these fashions are ugly and ridiculous and that she has some “theories of her own” on them. @marzipanandminutiae has a post with a lot more about what was wrong with that video, and a few others I haven’t seen. She claims that hoop skirts were oppressive cages when in reality they were a liberating garment that allowed women to achieve full skirts without the heavy layered petticoats they wore previously. 

She posts a photo of a naked lady and says “Now lets start with a beautiful naked lady and cover her up with ugly and unflattering clothes. Now this sexy naked lady isn’t so sexy” I wish I was making this up but that’s almost word for word what she said. Along with a whole lot of untrue or exaggerated stuff about Victorian modesty. She says dresses with layered flounces were called “pagoda dresses”, which isn’t a term that anyone has ever used for those dresses. She says this is cut down from a longer video she uses for teaching class, and I find the thought of this being presented in a classroom quite appalling.

After spending about 95% of the video talking about womens fashion in an extremely condescending and disdainful tone of voice, she posts what appear to be the 5 biggest and most extreme examples of 19th century moustaches she could find, presenting them as if they were what every man looked like.

This part really grinds my gears, because she says “I haven’t said anything about menswear because there’s really not much to say.” She posts photos of suits from 5 different decades and says they’re basically all the same, and also basically the same as a modern suit. Excuse you, there is A LOT of difference between menswear of the 1850′s and the 1890′s. Yes the changes over the decades are more subtle, and the colours are often more subdued than in centuries past, but it is absolutely not (as she claims) “the century when men stopped doing fashion”.   I personally am not hugely interested in 19th century mens fashion, and can tentatively date things in the first few decades but after the middle of the century I can’t. But people who are interested and who study that era can tell the decades apart. Because they’re different. And there is SO MUCH to talk about! Suits for different levels of formality, accessories, waistcoats, sportswear, sleepwear, knitwear, swimsuits, loungewear, underwear, etc. are all extremely different from their modern equivalents. 

It’s perfectly fine to only study womens fashion if that’s what you’re interested in, but it is not okay to then declare that the history of mens fashion is worthless and nonexistent. Simply not being interested in a thing is no excuse for publicly shitting all over it. (I’ve seen people do this more than once. We already have so few men who do historical fashion stuff! Stop putting off newcomers who might be interested!!)

The fact that her online presence is so closed off is also highly unusual. Comments are turned off for her videos, and the only social media link she has is to a private facebook group. (There is also a link to a fb page, but it appears to have been deleted.) Turning off comments is of course the personal choice of the one posting the videos, but the fashion history side of youtube usually tends towards pretty decent comment threads, and people often have nice little discussions and learn stuff in them. Here it looks like she doesn’t want discussion, doesn’t want to be contradicted or asked for sources, doesn’t want to learn new things.

I had never even heard of this channel until I saw @marzipanandminutiae mention it, nor have I ever heard any of the many historical costumers/youtubers I follow mention it, yet somehow it has 55k followers? I don’t know the demographics that watch it (especially not with the comments turned off!) but I’d wager that videos like the 1850′s-60′s one I suffered through are mainly watched by people who like hearing things trash talked, rather than people who actually want to learn about fashion history. The same sort of people who loved that Beau Brummell twitter thread, which was also full of lies and unsourced garbage. People like to believe the past was way worse and grosser than it was because it makes them feel like we’re smarter and better now.

Lastly, the whole premise of the channel is just bad. Calling any one thing “The Ultimate Fashion History” is a bad idea. Her channel trailer says “Youtube’s number one channel for original fashion history content” “we’ve got it all, fifty thousand years of fashion history”. You can’t have one channel that’s the ultimate resource for ALL of fashion history! It’s a huge, HUGE subject, and even if she did do actual good research she’d barely be able to scratch the surface of fifty thousand years. That’s like saying one channel is the ultimate source for all of science, or all of music, or all of cooking. No one thing can come close to covering all of it. I will deign to admit that she’s at least right to call it “original”, because she has some very original lies I haven’t found anywhere else. 

Most people who study fashion history/historical sewing have one or several eras they like best and find most interesting, perhaps with occasional jaunts into other eras. This way we can focus and get a much better understanding of the eras that we find most interesting, rather than just a vague notion of everything. 

For example: I’m most interested in 18th century menswear, and so far have mainly researched and sewn 1785-95 stuff, and more recently some 1730′s. I usually focus on fashionable civilian clothing, so I don’t know as much about working class clothes, and next to nothing about military and other occupational dress. Even with this narrow area of interest, which I’ve been obsessed with for many years, I still have so much to learn! I could never make anything claiming to be the ultimate source for 18th century menswear, because I’m just one person focusing on some aspects, and there are other people out there who research other aspects of it and their work is just as important. It’s all so big and so much, even if you narrow it down to one era.

Amanda Hallay is basically holding up a bucket of saltwater and calling it the ocean.

I haven’t watched any of her 20th century videos, so maybe they’re better than the older ones I watched. I don’t know. (But even if they’re actually good they still don’t have source links.) Edit: okay, nope, turns out they’re just as bad! They appear to make up the vast majority of her videos, so if she’s most interested in the 20th century then maybe she should just... make her channel more clearly 20th century focused instead of trying to paint it as a channel for all eras?

TL;DR, the main bad things about that channel are:

Lying and making ridiculous claims, not citing ANY sources. Spouting easily debunked myths.

Stating things matter of factly without any nuance, even though history is foggy and complicated.

Being extremely judgemental about historical fashions and talking about how much she hates them and thinks they’re ugly, which really isn’t appropriate for a fashion history teacher. You can hear the disgust in her voice and it’s awful and I hate it.

Comments turned off on all her videos, leaving no way to communicate or have public discussions. Unknowing viewers are left to accept her statements as fact without any outside opinions.

Claiming one channel is the ultimate channel for an incalculably enormous subject. Says it covers 50,000 years of fashion history when it’s mostly just the 20th century.

I would like to add that I am not what I would consider an expert either, and have no formal education in fashion history beyond the one college class that was part of my 2 year sewing course. I have learned mainly from books and the internet, and as I said earlier I still have a huge amount to learn. I’m sure a more knowledgable historian could put things better than I have. 

But I’m confident in stating that primary sources are needed to back up a claim! Sometimes even widely accepted beliefs turn out to be entirely unfounded myths, like that one about doctors using vibrators to treat “hysteria”. Total nonsense someone made up in 1999.

Wow this post got way longer than intended. Anyways, yes, I do not like condescending slideshow lady.

[h50europe]

Robert Nauck Sr. July 01. 2021 on FB I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware. 'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.' 'Oh, you're such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive through downtown?' 'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly.. 'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice. I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice..'The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. 'What route would you like me to take?' I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired.Let's go now'. We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. 'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse. 'Nothing,' I said 'You have to make a living,' she answered. 'There are other passengers,' I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug.She held onto me tightly. 'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.' I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut.It was the sound of the closing of a life.. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day,I could hardly talk.What if that woman had gotten an angry driver,or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one. PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL. At the bottom of this great story was a request to forward this - I deleted that request because if you have read to this point, you won't have to be asked to pass it along you just will... Thank you, my friend... Life may not be the party

we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance. 092120

[fbwzoo]

My hermit crab mansion (for my 18 hermit crabs) is completed! This is a 125g base tank with two 36x18x18 Exo Terra tanks on top - the ETs had the top screen removed and were turned upside down and velcroed to the base tank with industrial strength velcro. Right side is forest/jungle, and left side is beach. Took a pic of lights off & lights on. The beach side has UVB light, though I need to change the bulb out still. That’s why I moved that light strip up to the top, so they can choose to climb up for exposure if they want it. 

(Note: the crabs haven’t been moved into the tank yet, as I’ll have to wait for the humidity to build up to a high enough level to be safe for them.)

Close up pics and tour of the tank below the cut! This is very long, tumblr apparently changed the photo limit for posts, so they’re all on this post. I hope you enjoy! :)

Corner shower basket on the left front of forest tank has a mix of leaves, dried moss, lichens, and bark.

Background is the fake background that came with the Exo Terra, covered in coconut fiber. Cork bark rounds and pieces were siliconed in for hides & climbing on. The corner basket on the right front has damp sphagnum moss in it. There’s a bridge connecting the two shower baskets across the front of the tank. And a strand of fake pothos around the top edges of the background - this is attached to plastic wall corner guards that had holes drilled in them & were siliconed to the walls. Great for hanging things!

Here’s a close up of the hanging climber that I made - it’s a poseable fake jungle vine, wrapped in sisal rope (secured with zipties). I made it into a corkscrew shape and tied another fake pothos vine to it, then hung this from a wall corner guard that’s attached to the ceiling of the topper tank. It hangs down almost to the substrate & is secured to another corner guard at the front of the base tank, to hep support the shape. It can be access from the foraging dish, the second story of pot condos, and up top, from the bridge and one of the cork rounds.

This “shelf” is a pane of glass that’s part of the base aquarium - there’s thick panes on either side of the center support strut. I covered the glass with coconut mat (siliconed to stay) to help protect it from falling crabbies. Fake rock planter has moss in it, soaked to help raise the humidity level right now. You can also see the chunk of driftwood that leads from the top of the pot condos to the shelf, as the other way for the crabs to access the topper.

8″ Comfort Wheel hanging at the front left, I siliconed coconut mat to both the inside and outside of the wheel for better grip. Hanging coconut hide behind that, with moss in it.

You can see most of the pot condos here. I used spray foam to secure the pots for each level together - three for the lower level, two for upper. The two levels are secured to each other with industrial velcro, so they can be separated if needed. I covered the exposed foam with coconut mat siliconed on. I also siliconed pieces of cholla wood in between each of the pots on both levels for easier climbing (you can see one strip in pic below). The pots have a strip of bark leaning against both sides & across the top.

You can also see the foraging dish here, discussed below.

Straight on view of the base tank on the left forest side. The thing with yellow flowers on the right of this picture is their foraging dish - a flower pot stand that has a clay flower pot base in it. I ziptied fake flower and leaf vines to the stand & they like to hide under it. I put a mix of leaves, flowers, bark, mushrooms, seeds, and other things in the dish. This thing has been a favorite of both mine & the crabs’ for a few years now.

Full view of the forest side!

Front view of the middle of the tank. You can just see another coconut hide behind the blue flowers, with moss in it. The big wood piece is a hollow grape wood log.

Beach side now! There’s the other pane of glass “shelf”, covered with coconut mat. Above that is the cholla wall - I put spray foam on a plastic cross stitch mat, then stuck the pieces of cholla wood into it. Siliconed some additional pieces to cover open spots of foam. 

First picture of the rock wall - spray foam on a piece of pink insulation foam board. I used pieces of foam board to make the caves & ledges, so I wouldn’t use as much spray foam. Then trimmed down as needed and siliconed black lava rocks to it. This cave turned out the most cave-like, I’m rather pleased with it!

The other cave didn’t turn out quite like I wanted because I ran out of spray foam & called it quits (that stuff is hard as hell to find in store). So the walls are a bit short to really be a cave, but oh well! There’s also a corner shelf to make a nice resting platform.

Hung a sea grass corner mat in the front right, it overlaps a bit with the rock corner shelf, above it. My thought was to try & make it a little harder for the crabs to fall all the way from the top of the topper, with the pools below - if they crack the pools, it’ll be a HUGE problem for them and me, so let’s not, okay crabs!!

Two bridges connected to each other to connect the sea grass mat to the cholla wall, and another bridge from the mat to the back of the tank above the rock wall. And one more bridge that goes from the front bridges down to the climbing branches that lead from the base tank up to this topper. The branch here is a Zilla forest branch, it’s ziptied to the fake branch climber below.

Pools! They’re 5g glass aquariums. The back one is fresh water, and the front is salt water. I have small air-powered filters for each, underneath the ramps. The ramps are made of egg crate light diffuser. The water is very murky for both pools right now because I’d just added the water & there’s sand in both pools (live ocean sand for the salt water pool). The ramps are ziptied to each other in one spot to help keep them in place. I’d like to make the area between the pools & rock wall look nicer at some point, but I was just out of energy & supplies (& money) at this point.

This is a resin/plastic wood branch reptile decoration which is their access point to climb up to the beach topper. The forest branch is ziptied to it, which you can just see on the right side.

And front view of the base tank beach side. I’ll be getting a wider container to put shells in next to the pools, as I’d like to have a little more space for shells, and something that will do better at catching water when swimming crabs come out of the pools. But this works for now. These are the larger shells, and I have another container at the back of the base tank in the middle (not visible in any of the pics) with smaller shells. I don’t have a ton of shells in because at this point most of my crabs are pretty comfortable with what they have on & don’t do much shell shopping/swapping, and I plan to switch shells out more often (every week or every other) to save space, help keep them cleaner & so the crabs get to see “different” shells more often instead of all the shells all the time. And the yellow thing in front of the shell dish is a big piece of natural sea sponge. You don’t want sea sponges in the water pools because they’ll collect bacteria. But they’re fine to put in dry & the crabs love to eat them. I haven’t given them sponge before, so I hope they like it. 

This concludes the tour of the new crab tank! Please feel free to ask questions if you’re wondering about how I made anything or where I got things from. :) Most things came from Chewy, hardware stores, and New England Herpetoculture, but I got some things from people on my main FB crab group, and some stuff I already had on hand. I’m so relieved this thing is finally done, and I really hope the crabs like it (and don’t destroy it too fast)!