#I know the internet is full of these weirdos

[steakout-05]

eeuuaghh i would like everyone to know that i apologise if i have not responded to your reblogs/mentions/posts on tumblr, i have really terrible social anxiety and for some reason people talking to me makes my nervous system think i'm being hunted for sport by a resident evil boss. sorry if i havent responded i'm not being rude i'm just having a panic attack :P

additionally: social anxiety is actually the reason why a lot of my old posts from late 2022 had weird spacing and spelling mistakes. i was too anxious to type properly

[hidefdoritos]

today at work I found out that my work bestie teases her boyfriend (who's also a coworker) about leaving him for me. and she's kinda serious about it. and she would date me if I wasn't straight. which. uh. wow!

[yakourinka]

every other day I'm mildly surprised by how similar this website has become to 4chins in its heyday. and, surprisingly, I don't mean it in a bad way

[ladyshinga]

I keep being told to "adapt" to this new AI world.

Okay.

Well first of all, I've been training myself more and more how to spot fake images. I've been reading every article with a more critical eye to see if it's full of ChatGPT's nonsense. I've been ignoring half the comments on stuff just assuming it's now mostly bots trying to make people angry enough to comment.

When it comes to the news and social issues, I've started to focus on and look for specific journalists and essayists whose work I trust. I've been working on getting better at double-checking and verifying things.

I have been working on the biggest part, and this one is a hurdle: PEOPLE. People whose names and faces I actually know. TALKING to people. Being USED to talking to people. Actual conversations with give and take that a chat bot can't emulate even if their creators insist they can.

All of this combined is helping me survive an AI-poisoned internet, because here's what's been on my mind:

What if the internet was this poisoned in 2020?

Would we have protested after George Floyd?

A HUGE number of people followed updates about it via places like Twitter and Tiktok. Twitter is now a bot-hell filled with nazis and owned by a petulant anti-facts weirdo, and Tiktok is embracing AI so hard that it gave up music so that its users can create deepfakes of each other.

Would information have traveled as well as it did? Now?

The answer is no. Half the people would have called the video of Floyd's death a deepfake, AI versions of it would be everywhere to sew doubt about the original, bots would be pushing hard for people to do nothing about it, half the articles written about it would be useless ChatGPT garbage, and the protests themselves… might just NOT have happened. Or at least, they'd be smaller - AND more dangerous when it comes to showing your face in a photo or video - because NOW what can people DO with that photo and video? The things I mentioned earlier will help going forward. Discernment. Studying how the images look, how the fake audio sounds, how the articles often talk in circles and litter in contradictory misinformation. and PEOPLE.

PEOPLE is the biggest one here, because if another 2020-level event happens where we want to be protesting on the streets by the thousands, our ONLY recourse right now is to actually connect with people. Carefully of course, it's still a protest, don't use Discord or something, they'll turn your chats over to cops.

But what USED to theoretically be "simple" when it came to leftist organizing ("well my tweet about it went viral, I helped!") is just going to require more WORK now, and actual personal communication and connection and community. I know if you're reading this and you're American, you barely know what that feels like and I get it. We're deprived of it very much on purpose, but the internet is becoming more and more hostile to humanity itself. When it comes to connecting to other humans… we now have to REALLY connect to other humans

I'm sorry. This all sucks. But adapting usually does.

[birdy-babe]

A reenactment of my average daily adventures in the post-full moon helluva boss fandom

Me on the internet: The Full Moon was CRAZY! We saw so much of how both Stolas and Blitzo feel. I feel so bad for Blitzo, he’s finally not running but he’s getting his perspective ignored-

Some weirdo: YEAH! Stolas is HORRIBLE to him!!! Not listening to Blitzo at all, and then throwing the blame on him - he’s manipulating the situation! What he did was absolutely unfair!

Me: oh well no that’s not really- Stolas has his own faults, sure, he could learn to listen to Blitzo more- but he’s also hurting so much. Blitzo hasn’t been very mindful of Stolas’ feelings lately- that plus the fact that he’s not very good at communicating. Stolas has his own traumas with the yelling-

Some other weirdos: YEAH I HATE BLITZO! He’s TERRIBLE! I’ve always hated him! He’s always so mean to Stolas and Stolas does NOTHING but just LOVE HIM ALL THE TIME my poor baby bird boy-

Me: Okay so- um, well that’s not entirely true. Yeah, Blitzo’s been mean but it’s because he’s guarded and scared- not because he actually wants to hurt anyone. Also, Stolas hasn’t been a saint either. A lot of his early actions were belittling- which reinforced Blitzo’s insecurities and established an uneven power dynamic—

The weirdos from before: oh you mean how Stolas FORCED Blitzo to do sex work against his will!!!!

Me: no- no no that’s not-

The other weirdos from before: Don’t you remember how Blitzo verbally ABUSED Stolas-

Me: NO that’s not- that didn’t-

Both of the weirdos: *screaming and fighting*

Me: they… they both— they both have their faults- and their shit to work through— they both-

Me: *sigh* you know what never mind

[lavendermoonlitskies]

I wanna talk about why I think Dead Boy Detectives means so much to so many people after only 1 season

So, we’re all angry and sad and confused right now and I think Netflix needs to understand why canceling this specific show was so upsetting to so many people, myself included.

First of all, they’ve made this a habit. The list of shows that they cancel after only one or two seasons is growing longer and longer, and there doesn’t seem to be any conceivable reason as to why. They hardly advertise their own show, they ignore its impact on the audience showcasing itself right in front of their eyes all over the internet via trending hashtags and campaigns to binge the show so Netflix doesn’t cancel it, and then they cancel it anyway.

The main question is why. Why do they keep canceling these shows that are so well received and manage to grow a passionate audience so soon in its run? The shows aren’t all necessarily similar to each other in the writing, casting, mood and what-have-you, but they do seem to have one thing in common: the audience is full of queer people. Regardless of how society has progressed in the way of LGBTQ+ acceptance, big corporations still have no interest in adding to that if it will hinder their financial gain in any way.

Whoever’s in charge over at Netflix HQ is not interested in taking risks. They seem to have forgotten that a show is rarely going to have record breaking numbers after one season, and if the show doesn’t specifically cater to a cishet audience, that’s all the more reason to pull the plug. That’s why shows like Riverdale go on for so long, that’s why Stranger Things hasn’t been cancelled yet (yes I know there is one single openly gay character in that show, but they’re not actually going to do anything with that and you know it), and that’s why there are countless shows with interesting and entirely unique plots and characters and settings who only get 8-12 episodes in total. Shows that cater to a cishet audience are safe, and despite the fact that Netflix is a multi-billion dollar corporation that can absolutely afford to risk having faith in something that diverts from the norm and attracts the weirdos of this world who just want to watch something that makes them feel seen, they just won’t do it.

I can’t really speak for a lot of these other shows, but Dead Boy Detectives was one of the most unapologetically queer shows I’ve ever seen. In just one season, it left us with some profound commentary on the horrors of hate crime against minorities and how when it occurs, it is all-too-often swiped under the rug and justice never comes. Edwin and Charles were victimized for being different and it is a very real-world issue to see kids like them simply ignored until it’s too late. Do you know how many queer kids saw themselves in Charles as we learned about his abusive father and all around terrible home life? Or how many saw themselves in Edwin when we learned what happened to him? That’s basically a tale as old as time but Netflix must’ve decided that it’s too uncomfortable to bring up to a cishet audience, once again deciding that going with what’s safe for them is better than giving an audience who needs it something to make them feel seen and heard.

It’s even more insane when you realize that the very first Netflix original series was Orange Is The New Black, because now it’s as if they’re going backwards.

[stevenbasic]

Growing into the Job, Post 367: That was Then, This is Now, Epilogue

Amelia Eklund was making bank. Who knew a girl could earn so much money being a casual, relatively disinterested cam girl? So far she was doing it through one of these new companies that took a little cut but handled it all. She heard the money went to the Movement so yeah, whatever, great. These services were getting super popular, with a bigger and bigger stable of girls that did this every day. And not just the slutty ones that used to be on like Streammate or Twitch or whatever, but regular girls who let internet guys look at them for a couple minutes here and there. It was a good way to make some extra cash and exploit these dorkey losers, which had an appeal in and of itself. You didn't even have to take clothes off, really. It was still half an unspoken secret, but men were becoming so submissive; they’d stare at a girl's foot for an hour, or a bra tag, and pay big shit for it. It wasn't just the few weirdos ethier, it was like all of them. It seemed every guy was becoming crippled with these similar fetishes, couldn’t help themselves. Tons of guys, now, would spend much of their day just surfing around from girl to girl, dropping dollars just to watch a pretty girl put on her makeup. So, women were making money on it all over the place, casually. It was just one of the ways the bulk of the nation’s wealth was slowly being transferred, changing hands from male to female. The men seemed helpless to stop it, and girls like Amelia were taking full advantage. Every day there were more and more guys on Amelia’s morning stream.

Like, this morning, Tuesday. Amelia had - after only like twenty seconds - more than 300 viewers, each paying $10 just to see her OOTD. Granted, her popularity had skyrocketed - as had his lololol - after she’d streamed her boss getting swarmed on Melissa’s couch, beat off to a whimpering mess under a sea of them and then watching all the girls surrounding him grow, right on camera. He’d been in a daze, didn’t remember the moment, but the world fucking loved it. Who knew, right? Everyone was jonesing these days for big women and short, weak, pathetic little guys,  man-children. And watching one of these twerps actually make girls grow? A goldmine. The Tiktok video, with all the shares or reblogs or re-posts or whatever by others, onto all the different platforms, had already collected more than thirty million views since Saturday. As many women watched as men. Maybe there were more women, actually.

Amelia got tons of DMs from girls: who WAS that guy?? Can I have a piece haha? So vulni!! The hilarious thing was he didn’t even know about it yet, that he was internet-famous after, like, one minute of being on camera. And yeah it helped Amelia’s cam-girl career start to really take off.  

Honestly - and she’d never admit this outloud, but the thrill she got wasn’t just from the money she was raking in; it was from seeing those viewer numbers go up. It was more than a thrill, actually, there was something darkly electric about it. Like, every new viewer seemed to bring her more energy, and that energy made her tingle and buzz. And besides soaking her panties, she could tell it was all going somewhere, like it was being collected and channeled into something. The bigger those numbers were, the more simpy little men that signed on to her stream, the bigger that buzz became. She would only find out later that it was all going to Melissa. 

So, yeah. Amelia looked at her live viewer count. She was bored already but the numbers helped. She’d make a couple grand this morning before work by giving the simps what they wanted for a minute and taking their cash. She knew she could call them ‘good boys’ for ‘looking at mommy’ and watch the tips explode. But not today, nah. She didn’t really feel like talking. Everyone wanted big mommy, all the time; this morning they'd have to settle for this.

The comments came in a rush:

omigod look at her put her hands behind her head like that. 

she’s bigger than she was yesterday. 

that sweater can’t contain her

Her simps loved to fill her chat box, just talking about her. Sometimes they tried to get her attention. 

goddess please smile for us

you are so beautiful

please tell us your bra size again

how can I send you more money?

Every once in a while there’d be someone interesting, someone with something to say. Sometimes they were rebellious jerks, but most of the time they were just confused twerps trying to figure this all out. She rarely had the patience for them, and most of the time she could quiet them down by just filling their screens with her tits. 

why does she look taller whats happening

LOG OFF NOW SHES PART OF THE CONSPRCY

remember back in the day when camgirls would just do what you told them?

That last comment caught Amelia’s eye, and it actually brought not just a chuckle out of her, but a response. Quickly, right before logging off, she smiled crookedly into the camera and typed out a reply to that misguided cretin:

That was then, assholes. This is now. 

======================================

more more more:

[eisforeidolon]

Don’t know if relevant but found it incredibly funny. Noticed a gifset of this weekend is going around and hellers screaming cockles, where misha basically asked jensen to sit closer to him as he does with Jared, and Jensen came closer, made some jokes to allure the audience and went back to his space (I don’t know if he sat closer after that though). It is such a lol moment for me, and seeing hellers excited for this is hillourious. It feels to me like Misha and his minnions are so adamant to take the place of Jared in Jensen's life. They push for the things which comes most normally between jared and jensen.

I am always amazed at the extent to which tinhatters are able to convince themselves that actors doing things they're being paid to do means they're ~*in lurve*~. OMG, I paid them to hold hands in a photo op and THEY DID! OMG, they're being paid to banter together on stage and THEY DID! Like do you seriously not understand the concept of actors, or ...

I think full videos of the panels went up earlier this evening, but I saw clips previously which included the section of the panel you're talking about and it was so obviously a bit? Part of the reason it's so funny with J2 is that while sometimes they do pointedly do it as a joke, they can make it come off spontaneously. Not only that, but there's also a large portion of the time they don't even seem to notice they're doing it.

This was so painfully staged to warm up the audience at the beginning of the panel that it's embarrassing to compare the two. It was actually Jensen moving closer to Misha after asking why he was sitting so far away IIRC, and then them both exaggeratedly scooting across the stage. Then Jensen moves his chair back as far away as it started with such a blank look, very, 'Okay, checked that off the list, on to talking about the city'. Twue lurve!

I have pointedly said before that I don't think Jensen needs to treat Misha like he has a communicable disease just because some nutcases on the internet are going to fantasize every second they breathe the same air into an epic romance. I would also be very surprised if Jensen has heard even a fraction of the queerbait-y objectifying shit Misha has said and continues saying behind his back. It's also relevant that they're being paid to perform for an audience who are likely mostly GA fans who want to believe the whole cast are super close besties and want to see them goofing around - like they do on the gag reels!

Meanwhile, the cockless weirdos desperately want believe Jensen performing during panels with Misha means that Misha will oh-so-easily take Jared's place - and beyond! The problem is, if you compare the onstage dynamics between the three of them? I haven't ever seen a truly awkward panel between Jensen and Jared or Jared and Misha. But Jensen and Misha? Oof. It's not always terrible. But Jensen is the most reserved and least open while Misha is constantly flippant, raunchy, and overshares. It's not just that Jared is more adaptable, it's that they're genuinely an awkward personality match. Then you add the whole known issue of belligerent overstepping D/C shippers who may try to slip in an awkward bomb of a question on top of it. So in the same way that I assume you don't know what a romance actually looks like if you think D/C is one at all, let alone an epic one? If you're insisting Jensen and Misha are the ones that must be fucking given their onstage chemistry, I assume that you also don't understand chemistry is more than who you personally get off on imagining having sex.

[arienai]

You've heard the Miyazawa memes, now it's time to

Read Otherside Picnic

A post by me

What is it? Otherside Picnic is a book series by Japanese author Iori Miyazawa. They are often called light novels for marketing purposes, but are technically considered "full" science fiction novels. The series is loosely based off of Soviet science fiction novel Roadside Picnic, which itself inspired the film Stalker as well as the video game STALKER.

What is it about? At its core, Otherside Picnic is about two girls who stumble into a weird alternate universe filled with creatures from Japanese internet myths and creepypastas. They go into that world frequently to explore it.

It is primarily a series of novels as I mentioned, however, there are also anime and manga adaptations.

Otherside Picnic is yuri (F/F), explicitly so, however, only the novels have reached this point in the story. If you want canon lesbians, you want to read the novels. I cannot stress this enough.

Okay but what about the characters, are they good? I'm super biased but honestly these are some of the most tumblrina characters I've seen in a while and I'm shocked they aren't more popular.

Sorawo Kamikoshi had a deeply traumatic childhood (though she likes to deny it) and today is a self professed "grumpy otaku" at university who is extremely into spooky shit and creepypastas, which she tends to infodump about. She is very bad at making friends and before discovering the Otherside she often spent her time watching Dark Souls Let's Plays and Minecraft build videos. No, like, canonically. She is a huge loser and I love her so much.

Toriko Nishina was born and raised in Canada with her two lesbian moms but now she's going to university in Japan. She is extremely gay and knows it but is also a complete disaster about it. She has an outgoing personality but struggles to make friends unless she's attaching herself to a new cute girl. I don't want to get too far into spoiler territory but she has a violent streak and has some hot and extremely badass Tiktok Lesbian With an Axe moments.

There are a lot of other great characters too, but you'll have to read to meet them!

And it's explicitly gay, you say? YES, this is a lesbian romance story. Girls hold hands. Girls kiss (with tongue!) Girls ogle other girls' boobs. Apparently the latest volume (not yet available in English) amps it up even more 😳

You're telling me it's literally gay despite being written by the meme "yuri is two wild beasts/a field/etc." Guy? Yes.

Where did the memes come from then? They come from a couple of interviews with Miyazawa where he compared various abstract concepts to yuri. Some of this can be seen in his work, but for the most part it is a straightforward and easy to read lesbian story.

Okay! Where do I read it!: Since they are novels you can find them at many bookstores! You can also buy the ebooks for relatively cheap and read them on your phone.

I hate reading, can't I do the manga/anime? You can if you want but the anime doesn't really go beyond flirty territory with the two girls and the manga is still ongoing and hasn't hit the gay stuff yet. So it's up to you.

Is the series finished? No, it's ongoing. There are currently seven volumes available in English. But we have an extremely dedicated fanbase. Join ussssss you know you want to. Look at these two cuties

Anyway I have so many good things to say about this series, I love the way the main characters are outcasts who come together and help each other learn to love themselves. I love the spooky setting, I love the side characters and of course I love how gay it is, I feel like most weirdo disaster gays on here will find something here to like. And the characters are in their 20's!!! That's still relatively young but it's so nice to read gay stuff about people who are old enough to drink (which they do a lot of).

So yes in closing

Read Otherside Picnic

[kk-k-kk]

Godless (18+ MDNI)

Summary: The thriving streets with booming businesses have come to a stand still. Curfews and police raids every few hours to seize any whiff of narcotics terrorised every person, regardless of involvement. The Upper Side lies unfaltering in their picket fences. In this induced borderline dystopia, in your cardboard box apartment you have found a strange joy in watching the actions of a tangerine-stealing thug.

pairing: suga/yoongi/agust d x fem!reader

part warning(s): drug trafficking

a/n: this is still very fun

PROLOGUE

The air smelled of nothing. Every inch of the hall was so clean that the novices took their time with every breath, inhaling the rare fresh air, filling their stomach with it and trying to hold it in as long as they could. 

"I will now begin to present the details of the latest report of seized narcotics from LB-Z*. The entire block has been sealed for now. But our sources tell us that this block was the latest den of Suga-"

"Suga, again?"

"Is he real? I thought that was just for the news?"

"What kind of a name is that?"

The Commissioner cleared his throat, immediately shutting up the murmurs inside the hall. He was old but when he spoke, he sounded another ten years older. He croaked, "No face to the name still?"

The presenter nervously looked towards her superior before stuttering out some vague excuses.

"Do we even know if it is one person or a gang?"

Silence spread through the hall. Every breath could be counted. No one could really understand how this kept happening. Ever since the Complete Narcotics Seize* began in 2025, the nation watched as the reputation of the Korean National Police only flew higher and higher. Drug trafficking cases that were unsolved for years were being closed one after another and just when the international eye fell on the Republic of Korea, Suga appeared. 

The Busan LBs*, which had been quietened, were suddenly posing a huge obstruction to the nation's falling crime rate. The tensions were high as the stakes were higher. Large scale meetings and conferences were being held and Busan Metropolitan Police suddenly became the most searched on the internet. 

It was obvious that a hall full of officers of every rank couldn't understand why suddenly their well put efforts were failing. The murmurs floated from inside the hall to the building, gently spreading through the city until the internet's most searched topic became Suga. 

—

"Are these fresh?"

The shopkeeper eyed the man before him, finding it funny how a grown man was drooling over some tangerines. 

"Yes. Just brought them in. How many?"

"Four."

The shopkeeper nodded, packing it in a polythene and tying a neat knot before handing it over. The crisp notes he received felt unreal, almost like they were just printed. 

"Are you coming from the bank-"

The man was gone by then. Elated, skipping steps with his dear tangerines swinging in the polythene in sync with his unruly hair. 

"What a weirdo!"

LB-Z: Busan which has become the hub of the drug trafficking business has been segregated into categorical regions by the police.

The Upper Blocks and the Lower Blocks comprise Busan. The Upper Blocks are further classified into smaller blocks named, UB-A, UB-B. These blocks are further subdivided into UB-A1 and so on till UB-B1. The basis of the categorization is not disclosed to the public.

The Lower Blocks are divided the same way with LB-A, subdivided into LB-A1 and so on till LB-B1.

LB-Z is a whole block; the very last block at the very edge of the city. It is particularly known to have the worst crimes and cheapest real estate.

Complete Narcotics Seize: Launched in May of 2025 as a 'cleansing operation' by the Korean National Police. The operation focuses on the thorough investigation of all cases related to narcotics. It began with the reopening of closed cases and proceeded to take the entirety of the Republic of Korea by storm. While not officially disclosed, it is rumoured that the operation was launched right before the raid of the offices of Eco-blue, an eco friendly clothing chain, owned by the son of a Presidential Candidate.

Busan LBs: Busan Lower Blocks

[hockpock]

Glasses Review - Firmoo

Hello vision impaired friends, I bring you the gospel of Ordering Your Damn Glasses Online

I have previously ordered from EyeBuyDirect (luxotica/lenscrafters'/America's Best in disguise, sorry.) and Zenni Optical ( most well known online provider, A+ would recommend) and have seen lots of ads for free pairs from a competitor, Firmoo. I have too much prescription for the free pair offers to ever work out from ANY provider, but their fun designs put them on my list.

When my current glasses broke, I was dinking around and saw their current promotion is Buy One Get One Free PLUS 20% off lenses and as lenses are the real $$$ I jumped on that like tigger on crack. I am VERY nearsighted with astigmatism and the average pair of glasses from lenscrafters used to cost me $300 minimum.

After much deliberation with a million tabs open and a poll I ignored the results of for Reasons, I ordered a pair of clear frames and a pair of purple steampunk-y wireframes . Two pairs of HIGH PRESCRIPTION glasses for $87 shipped. I could cry, y'all.

Note: I have an up to date prescription and a nifty app that measures Pupillary Distance or 'PD'. you will need both these things accurate to have the best experience buying your glasses online.

I ordered them 9/22, they shipped 9/25, I received them 9/29 with regular shipping. They came well packed - each pair was in a bag made of cleaning cloth material inside a sturdy plastic case and they come in a foil bubble mailer.

Both pairs feel well made, with lots of attention to detail-

however I did not pay attention to detail or pay extra money for the Re-he-heaaallly thin lenses. So the clear ones are slightly too big and I hate the way the nose pieces sit, while the purple ones are a wee bit small across the temple and heavy to boot. I haven't had dents in my nose like this since I was 12.

the website lists their exchange policy as 30 days, the pamphlet that came with the glasses says 60. Either way it was pretty painless to go into my order history and select "exchange". The form I filled out with my reasons for dissatisfaction promised me I would be contacted within 24 hours.

My 'personal Firmoo consultant', 'Karen', emailed me with a code for the full price before discount of both pairs + standard shipping, as well as the usual customer service canned answers about checking the sizing information and did I know I could upgrade the lenses?

Also I could keep the failed pairs 'FOR NOW', here are some places that accept glasses as donations. (mixed messages, Karen, but sweet!)

New friends are April006, round anodized wireframes with a cute dingly gem thing, and Sandy020 , literal tortoiseshell cat eye frames.

This time I used the site's search terms to cut the temple width and earpiece length options down and double checked the weight of the base frames. (14g vs 24g for the round wireframes before my coke-bottle lenses. RIP my nose. )

New order was placed 10/5 and they arrived 10/17 . (last time I checked the tracking estimated arrival had creeped from the 19th up to the 23rd so grain of salt. This may be a tactic to make the order feel like it got here faster or legit delays. In my case there was a federal holiday involved.)

Complete disclosure I'm gonna grab a pair of pliers and take the little dangly off the wireframes. It makes a noise when I move my head and if I don't fold the frames in the right order when I take them off it'll scratch up the lenses. I ain't gonna remember to avoid that, so off it goes.

The Good:

Large selection, Good Quality, Good Communication. Lots of Off the Beaten Path options for internet weirdos. Firmoo p much always has a promotion going.

My wallet is so happy. SO HAPPY. Frames run $20-30ish to start. lenses will vary with your prescription and options.

If y'all want 50% off your first frames and to give me a $10 credit they have a referral program and my code is T4Z8I2. BOGO20 is a better value but it expires 11/01/23.

The Bad:

Not flexible about lens options- you go down one track and pick your options within that. If there was a way to put tinting on a pair of glasses other than blue light blocking I couldn't find it. (in contrast I believe Zenni lets you choose a range of colors and tint depth on any pair, designed as sunnies or not)

You Will Get Emails. Firmoo REALLY wants you to buy more glasses and post about it and tell your friends and HERE THIS CODE IS ONLY GOOD FOR 3 DAYS, GO BUY NEW GLASSES. They are marketing themselves to fashionable young influencers who change styles every month. Unsubscribe with impunity.

like Zenni, this is a company with the majority of it's functionality based overseas. It's cheaper because you're ordering directly from a factory and not paying Luxotica's markups to itself. Customer service is mostly English as Second Language speakers and there may be delays.

Not For Emergencies. I was able to coast on a pair of glasses from a prescription or 2 ago but it's gonna take time for your order to be made and shipped.

Overall I'm very happy with them and will probably order again.

Next time I have spare money I'm aiming at Wherelight because y'all. they are next down on the list of reputable to shady AF but they have the most amazing WTF designs.

[linddzz]

(with every disclaimer that Harris/Walz is far from perfect and while I feel better voting for this ticket than Biden, there's still more I want to see from them on several things but especially Gaza)

One thing that I keep feeling but am like....scared??? to say out loud after 2016 (and how close 2020 was lbr) is that there aren't just the happier vibes of a Dem ticket finally learning how to go on the offense, it almost feels like a total flip of where it's been since hell...2014???

The "you're being a fuckin gross weirdo" has been picking up in leftist spaces for a bit (I want to make a tally of how many commentators have joked that they should get royalties for saying it before Walz) but I never would have expected it to reach mainstream Dem messaging and for that to explosively flip the culture war vibes (so far. Man does it say a lot that I keep feeling the need to add caution into everything lmaooooo).

Harris/Walz seem to have managed the thing Democrats have struggled with since even the Obama years: messaging. And it's wild??? They figured out how to smack down culture war shit without ignoring it and without validating it with a full argument. You're being weird. Mind your own damn business.

And with that, now the wider social framing feels like the social progressives from the center to the left are on the offense. Now it's THEM who have internet brain rot weirdo vibes. Now the reactionaries are crying and being sensitive and throwing tantrums. They were before! But it feels like it's finally not being taken seriously. Now the center to left is making memes launching their ticket based on Vibes! Do you know how wild it is for the meme-vibes ticket to not be the other guy???

The backlash to the backlash feels like it's starting and I'm under no illusions that "oh sweet we won lmao we are so back" but man it feels nice to be on the side pointing and going "y'all are being fuckin weirdos."

(Knowing how to deflate a bully is definitely something Walz picked up from being a coach and teacher, but the "you're weird" and "mind your own business" are so word-for-word from how I've seen trans rights activists starting to hit back that I do wonder if he's gotten tips from his GenZ kids. He has said before that his stances on gun control changed bc his daughter talked to him and he's mentioned before that he listens to his kids a lot. So....I do wonder.)

[piratefishmama]

Crossing The Line | Part 4

“What the fuck is that?” Was Robins immediate question as Steve donned a pair of sunglasses and a cap just before disembarking the plane.

“My disguise.”

“Your disguise?”

“Yeah, y’know. Fans an stuff.”

“...Steve. Steven. I’m always here to keep you humble, you know this, so I say this with an immense amount of—”

“Robin do you remember the JFK incident? Not the president don’t be a shit, I mean the airport and you know it.” The JFK incident being a single fan who got ONE photo of him walking through the terminal and boom, paparazzi everywhere, it was as though they’d just emerged from the walls.

‘What are you doing in New York?’

‘Are you visiting anyone special this Christmas?’

‘When are you releasing new music?’

‘Will you be attending any events here in the city?’

‘Who are you wearing right now?’

‘STEVE SIGN MY TI—’

It was always chaos. “Yeah yeah you got to sign an impressive set of double D’s, woe is you. I can see your moles Steve, that isn’t going to fool anyone with eyes.” Sure his signature head of hair was covered but the moles were as good a sign as any when it came to eagle eyed Airport celeb spotters.

“Sign an impressive— my ass was grabbed more times than I could count! I had hand sized bruises Robin!” He bruised like a peach and people in crowds were grabby. “I lost my favourite sunglasses.” The cheap pair he’d grabbed from the gas station after his first real paycheque cleared. “These cover my hair and my eyes, I can’t cover anything else.” He didn’t have the resources to pull a full face of SFX to hide himself.

“Aww poor baby, okay. At least put this on.” She pulled the scarf from her neck and wrapped it around his, it wouldn’t do much, but it’d cover the vampire bite moles he’d shown off on one of his early album covers.

“Great I look like a twenty-ten hipster.” It wasn’t even scarf weather. “All I need is a bullshit moustache.”

“Better than the local weirdo at a kids playground.”

“Oh my god, is that Steve Harrington?!”

“Shit.”

“Rest in pieces, sis”

“Robin get back here!”

There was a subtle art in getting away from paparazzi and fans alike, an art cultivated from being chased by them since he was nine. It involved fake plants, bathrooms, and Robins impressive gallery of ‘fake fan photos’. All it took was a photo whizzed over the internet through Robins ‘fan’ account, an account which used one of their regular makeup girls photos as a cover (agreed to, of course) to act as a ‘fan’ of Steve Harrington.

“How come nobody TOLD ME Steve Harrington was going to be flying out of Indy today?!” Captioned above a photo from two years prior that Robin took from a distance at that very airport for that very reason.

It took all of five minutes for the hoard to dispel, hurrying as fast as they could to as far as the airport staff would allow them to go, but Robin and Steve were once again free to get their asses out of that airport and into an Uber before anyone else could spot them.

“Okay, battle plan. I got us a twin room at the—"

“Don’t say Conrad.”

“What’s wrong with the Conrad?”

“It’s… bougee. It’s like the only five star in Indy, he already probably thinks I’m the worst, a nice four star would be fine, and a twin room? Robin how the hell am I supposed to woo a guy and bring him back to the hotel if we’re sharing a room?”

“First of all, I think you’re super overestimating your level of game right now to think that you’d just be able to go from wooing to the hotel room in one sweep this guy seems like highkey mom’s basement dwelling virgin, dude probably scampers, second, we don’t even know if he enjoys the male form, and third... honestly I’m expecting you to strike out so we can have a sleepover with facemasks and chocolates. But fine, fine, what hotel would you like?” Robin passed him her phone with the booking app already loaded.

“Your faith in me is truly what gets me through my days, Robin.” He was choosing to ignore the panic inducing idea of what if he isn’t even into guys?!

“I aim to please.”

“What about an apartment? See there’s one here, two double bedrooms, four star rating, we can book now and grab the keys at reception.”

“Fine, fine, you’re making all the food though, since you’ve robbed me of my five star room service.”

“I’m cool with that.” A few buttons pressed, details auto filled, booking complete. Indianapolis, here they come!

Part 6

[zivazivc]

I'm gonna take some time to digest and think about that comic before I come to a decision. The decision being whether to continue to support you or just leave you be.

If I decide to leave you be, just know that there are no hard feelings, okay?

You are on anon so I don't know if this is someone who I've talked to before, but either way, yes, no hard feelings. I completely understand. It's the internet, anyone can unfollow anyone for any reason, but also I know this is an uncomfortable topic and even triggering to some, and some people are just not here for that. I was contemplating posting it for a while for this reason.

I do kinda want to point out that the purpose was/is not to fetishize a relationship with a minor and I will never fetishize or glorify that ever. It's wrong and unhealthy even if there's no malicious intent present. (am pointing it out because I got a bunch of asks about it and I'm 🧍) But this is fiction, and I portrayed the scenes the way that I did mainly because I made the comic from Floyd's perspective and I wanted to get in his head and show what exactly he was feeling in that moment. If the end result makes you feel uncomfortable or "flustered" (I don't think I'm using the right English word) in a certain icky way, that was kind of the point and I believe should be a normal reaction from an adult.

I spent my high school years (normally 15-19yo, but it was more like 14-22+) living in a dorm in the country's capitol and I attended a vocational school for visual arts that is pretty notorious for having a drug problem (I'm talking about mostly weed) and being full of weirdos (students free and comfortable expressing themselves and experimenting with expressing themselves but weirdos is the used term lol). The dorm is also located very near the city's subcultural center (look up Ljubljana Metelkova if you want, it's kind of what I imagine the underground scenes the bandmates visit looking like) which is like a hangout place for subcultures like punks and metalheads and the lgbtq. Anyway coming from living my whole life in a rural village where I still played with toys to somewhere like that was an insane shock to me. I sometimes felt like a toddler around young adults in a big city. And it was whiplash for many other teens too, some of whom quickly fell into bad crowds and spiraled, often those who came from bad home situations or controlling parents (heck some even came from elementary schools already doing problematic things). The amount of rumors of things happening in that dorm and school (drugs, sex, messing around with older teens/adults, whatever)... (I'm not saying it was like a concerning percentage of students but it was happening) Some of these people who made some bad choices were and some still are my friends, some of whom still struggle with some things today and it's heartbreaking.

Anyway where I was going with this is that in high school I was always kind of the anti all of that (to the point it had the opposite effect on me where I didn't even try out the normal teenage things) and just thinking "what the fuck is wrong with these people?" And recently, when my headcanons for Floyd started going in the direction that they have, I started wondering the same thing. Just not in a judgemental way this time. More like I want to dissect this situation carefully and understand it from everyone's perspective and see what lead up to it. I've always been very fascinated by morally gray and dark fiction for this reason and this is right up that alley.

So yeah, this isn't for everyone, and I can't hold a grudge if anyone unfollows me for it. But what I'm doing here is inspired a lot by real life situations and my weird deep dives into articles about trauma and its effects (also pretty sure I'm also processing some of my own personal emotions through these blorbos but I am not going into that), and I feel like I'm taking a pretty realistic approach to it (if you ignore the fact that this is fucking Trolls). I'm just slowly exploring how a relationship between a teen who comes from a sheltered almost cultish upbringing (pop trolls live in a concentration camp and are dealing with the horrors by singing and enjoying every minute of their every day like life is a ticking time bomb) and a young adult who never got a chance to grow up because he never experienced a childhood and is suddenly being liked by someone for the first time in his life (I'll talk more about Les some other time), would develop into hopefully something okay for both of them. Because I do want them to both be okay in the end. And I'm sharing some of my brainworms online for anyone who's interested. I just can't share ALL of my brain worms and sometimes I forget that people don't have a view of what's going on in my head. Yeah... This answer became long for no other reason except that I can't sleep because I posted that comic, damn. That's what I get for dropping that bombshell on top of what was mostly fun "comedic" posts about the AU so far.

[meanbossart]

Asks about VaM, art advice, and miscellaneous stuffs

HI! Real quick please refrain from referring to Sad Sack as S/S for the uh... Obviously reasons LOL We call it "sads" for short!

If what you're asking for are recommendations for a website to host that kind of thing, Neocities, Twitter, Itchio and as you mentioned AO3 are all perfectly good options! Patreon too (depending on how gnarly you're planning on getting) but I'd suggest keeping that as a secondary host option because I don't think it lends itself super well for getting your work circulating. I believe Bluesky allows that kind of thing too, but I'm not too sure since I don't use it.

Now, If you're asking about public reaction rather than guidelines, anywhere you go you might find people that don't jive with the work you do 🤷 just be upfront about the type of content you're making right off the bat to avoid having anyone stumble upon it by accident to the best of your abilities, otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much. I know we're constantly exposed to examples of overwhelming harassment and "dogpilling" happening to others but... Truth be told, most of us won't ever get to the size/internet level of fame where we experience that. I think the threat is a little bit... Overstated, nowadays. Not to mention that most of the time people are getting harassment for things that have nothing to do with their work, and rather relating to their behavior and attitudes. Play smart, be responsible, and be honest! Whatever comes next is in god's hands LOL

Thank you for the ask! Not sure I was of much help 😅 but frankly when you're just starting out it's best to focus on getting the work done first and just throwing it out there, wherever it may be. You can worry about technicalities like that later!

I GOT YOU MAN the full sketch is now up on my patreon!

YES AND YES WHETHER IT BE STORIES OR ART OF DU DROW AND YOUR CHARACTERS SLAMMING PINTS TOGETHER BE MY GUEST PLEASE

I love seeing everyone's take on my weirdo so much, anything is honestly welcomed!

AW DUDE thank you so much! Especially for suffering through the mammoth of a story that ANE turned into - writing has never been my strongest point so I'm always shocked to hear from people that enjoy it 🥲

About the booze question, honestly I'm not picky at all, I usually go by price and by that I mean whatever is cheapest LOL but I prefer a dry white as far as types go.

You only have to pay for it once! You get a code that unlocks the software and all of it's features and you're free to cancel your subscription after that. At some point the code might change or there might be an update that requires subscribing again - but that seems like a very rare occurrence so I wouldn't worry about it.

OH NO I HAVE DEFINITELY TRACED MY OWN REFERENCE BEFORE, but not entire poses! When something is challenging I'll make a point of drawing it out the usual way.

I can remember a couple of instances from Nick and mine's comic where I traced pictures I took of myself, just as a time saving measure. Again like I said in the post, there are several ways to employ tracing your own material that is perfectly acceptable. I have also traced bare-bones 3D backgrounds that I made for the same reasons.

I know you specifically asked about tracing when something's complicated, but I still wanted to be upfront to demystify the practice under different circumstances. The rule of thumb is to never use it when you know it would be inhibiting your skill development!

Happy to hear you wanted to pick up the skill! I definitely understand the urge too LOL since playing BG3 and becoming so invested in the stories and characters my art has improved a ton, simply from forcing me out of my usual style and making me want to capture different moods and scenarios - finding something you're passionate to draw is, frankly a great damn start.

I replied to a bunch of asks asking for pointers and advice a while back, one of the questions was very similar to yours and I still stand behind the advice I gave then. Hopefully you can find something helpful here! https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/740543514692173824/some-art-advice-asks-ive-been-meaning-to-reply

HMMM I don't usually think of myself as the best teacher/tutorial guy, but funnily enough I can think of a few things about this topic that I could elaborate on lol. If I do that in the near future, I'll put it up on my patreon (for free as with everything else.)

If there are any specific things about it that you (and anyone else who would be interested in it, for that matter) find challenging and would like for me to focus on, let me know!

---

That's all for now folks, and as usual thank you so much to everyone who's left a nice compliment, word of encouragement or funny tidbit in my inbox as well! I can't reply to you all individually, but I see and read all the messages I get c:

HAVE A LOVELY REST OF YOUR WEEK

[transmasc-advice-blog]

hey :)

how did you know you were trans

i’m questioning and trying to figure myself out and like i know i’m not cis but like I cant figure out if i feel like i’m a guy or not

so

yeah

how did you know(and/or how do i know)

also i’m sorry if you answered/posted this question or a similar one before i (very) briefly scrolled through and didn't see anything about it

IM SO SORRY FOR HOW LATE THIS IS

oki doki so when I was like 7 I was told (by a teacher) that no, just because I was born a girl does not mean that I must be a girl forever. (this was super progressive! looking back I'm honestly so surprised that this happened). this blew my mind. I never felt connected to girlhood. I never fit in with the girls. yk. but at that point, I didn't feel like a boy either. because in my little tiny circle (my elementary school was pretty small) the boys, the athletic ones playing sports all recess that I desperately tried to be friends with, did not like me (to them, I was a lil weirdo) and I did not fit in with the boys either. my friends were both weirdo girls and weirdo boys and my little tiny brain was like. damn. I'm not stereotypically a "girl" or a "boy". I must be something else! so I went and I told my mom that I wasn't a boy or a girl and she said "no. you're a girl" and that was that and I pushed down any gender thoughts for years after that until I got access to the Internet. I also was going to a bigger school, and my whole world wasn't just school anymore. for a bit I thought I was non binary, I went by they/them, eventually I thought I was demiboy and used they/he then he/they but then I realized I hated being referred to with they/them so boom. he/him. full boy. I remember having a little epiphany while "watching tv" (I was not paying attention) and being like... wow... I can just be boy... I can do that.. but yeah. the pronoun realization came before this and I thought well since I love he/him and I don't vibe with girl or any enby labels (I had been searching and searching for "the perfect label" and eventually I just realized I didn't care anymore. lol) so why don't a I just be a boy. guy. dude. yk. (ik pronouns don't equal gender but it does for me). so yeah. that's my story.