#I will tag this as

[sugajimin]

alexa play angel baby by troye sivan, please.

bonus:

[slavicafire]

I apologize if this is not something I should ask you but do you have any advice for new users? I still don’t quite know how to work this site.

oh goodness. no need to apologise, of course, but I doubt I can give any meaningful advice here - especially given that I've never really been a user of any other social media site and so most things about tumblr seem very obvious to me, like asking a native speaker of a language for tips to learn it - but I've seen plenty of useful posts going around, many of which can be found under the new users tag.

still, some things that I haven't seen mentioned all that much that might be useful for following and/or interacting with a blog like mine:

while there are some blogs (especially sideblogs) with very specific and consistent content, most users will have things that are Their Thing... and then a lot of other stuff thrown in there as well. using me as an example: I have my sideblogs which function as sort of e-shrines, devotional spaces, and these will have very specific and uniform sort of content pertaining to their very theme. now, my main blog - so the one you've sent this ask to - is mostly Slavic Paganism and Folklore related, but of course, as you can see, there's just... everything else I like here as well. it often will lie somewhere close to that Slavic and Folk domain but sometimes will go in such different or opposite directions that it might be surprising for someone used to really uniform spaces.

many blogs will have specific personal tags which are used as labels to categorise posts on the blog, be able to get back to them, signal a very specific sort of content, or allow followers to blacklist it. for example, I have the tag #żmija gada which is a tag I use for my personal posts where I talk about things. I have tags like #folklore which allow me to have some order to my blog but will also show up for users searching tumblr for that content in general, and then I also have tags like, for example, #bad luck confessions, which is a tag related to a very specific ask thread I have with people interacting with my blog and that makes very little sense outside of my blog.

even if you follow someone and like 99% of their content, don't be afraid to blacklist the 1% you don't like. sometimes this balance will even shift in the other direction and that's also alright: I follow users I really like but block like 80% of their content because I don't care for it. blacklisting/blocking tags is encouraged and not seen as a bad thing at all.

building a dashboard you will enjoy - observing or interacting with - will take time. while you can, of course, follow 100 recommended Big Blogs or Specific Content Blogs right away, chances are that you will experience much more enjoyment once you organically start finding new blogs you might like. if you like the content of a given blog, don't be afraid to check the blogs that person reblogs from or the blogs they interact with - and follow those, or look through them to find other blogs. community building works a bit different on tumblr and it takes time to learn it organically. there is no rush, don't worry.

don't be afraid to unfollow if you realise you don't like the content. it's okay, and it's much better than seeing something that bothers you all the time - or, gods forbid, messaging the user to ask them to change what they post.

if you want to ask someone something, sending an ask is much better than a submission (if they have them open) - submissions have to be posted instead of answered and it's a whole mess. also, not everyone will want to interact through DMs - sometimes they're really broken, and are, after all, direct messages, and not everyone wants to just start talking to strangers as if they're friends already.

honestly, take it easy. it's just a silly website, you can't commit some sort of grave social blunder that will haunt you forever - just take your time, find content you like, and have some patience with how the technical part of the experience works.

[trashcan-in-space]

i love breaded things #yum

[forgotten-daydreamer]

i'm going to work hard from today until the 7th to fix my relationship with my sister. try to. she doesn't seem eager to try but alright.

[paintpanic]

my hand slipped

[liliesandparchment]

hiiiiiii sooooo ik theres been a lot of bridgerton panic on this blog buttttttt its the 14th and hotd s2 drops soon for me like less than 72 hrs likeeee y’all know where im going w this 👉👈 you’ve seen me unhinged for kanthony and feral for polin its time to see me get horny for dragons and politics and even more morally gray characters amen buddies

[ante--meridiem]

I am sworn off all nighters in the same way I'm vegetarian: unless it's inconvenient or I really want to break the rule.

[havendance]

I was going to do a whole comics roundup post since I finally went out to the comics store, but I'm lazy and I really don't actually have that many opinions on this weeks birds of prey anyway. (I like the old artist better. I think this week's artist was doing some neat things and was nicely dynamic, but also I don't like the way that they draw faces and I miss how solid all the characters were when Romero drew them. The moments between Sin and Dinah were nice. Still figuring out how I feel about mageara.)

So what this post is really about is the comic I polled out of the dollar bin which I have much more opinions on!

Vertigo: Winter's Edge #1

This is the Vertigo holiday special which, while a little late to be truly seasonal (and also contains no santa appearences), I thought I'd do a write up on anyway.

This is a solid 96 pages of Vertigo stories and you can tell! Compared to the superhero side of DC/more modern holiday specials, this is much denser and well, filled with the funky little strange stories that DC created Vertigo to tell. There's no christmas carol retellings here! Just about every story here is filled with verbose, introspective monologues (at least that's what it felt like).

(Also, I have no idea who half these people are.)

The framing story here is that a bunch of Rain's (the girl who lives in the house of secrets I believe) friends show up for the holidays and she goes up to a room in the house to find a gift, finding a room with a man who shows her a bunch of paintings which connect to our stories.

The Flowers of Romance -- a Sandman story, featuring a horny satyr who is dying alongside the rest of his island from being forgotten or whatever. Desire shows up and uses their powers to have it so a young couple comes to the island on the night before Christmas eve so that the satyr can have one last night of pleasure before he dies.

I'd actually read this one before as it was collected in one of my Sandman Omnibuses. Honestly I thought it was one of the weaker stories in this (though far from the worse *sideyes the Invisibles story*). It just felt like it could use something more. It feels like Gaiman cut out down story that could've been an entire issue and it suffered for it. (Also the story itself is kind of eh to me. I don't really have sympathy for the dying horny satyr.)

Mazel Tov, Leo -- A story for some comic called The Minx which I have not heard of. Tom, boyfriend of the Minx, goes to meet her family (who's jewish) for the holidays.

I can't say I recommend this one if you (like me) have no idea what's going on in The Minx because I certainly felt lost.

Spirit of the Season -- A Wesley Dodds Sandman mystery! This was one was really good. Wesley goes to a synagogue to remember his dead mother for the holidays and stops some young hooligans from robbing the place.

Deck the Halls -- A story for the dreaming. The closest thing to light hearted we really get in this. Able is really into celebrating christmas and Cain is not. And since this is about them, while no actual murder happens during the story, it's certainly alluded to and implied!

Tell Me -- Our Hellblazer story. Constantine takes a break from spending the holidays with his current girlfriend's family to visit a bar, where the man sitting next to him tells the story of couple. The man disappears after telling it and it turns out he was actually the ghost of the man from the story (he'd died at the end.) Constantine passes on a message to his widow who just walked through the door.

I also recommend this one. It was touching.

Piss on Earth -- The holiday story for a comic called Nevada which I had never heard of before. This one features a irreverant, las-vegas themed nativity story retelling dream sequence.

It was much more approachable if you haven't read the comic than the Minx one. It also did fun stuff with the panel layouts during the dream sequence.

Thanks for Nothing -- A Books of Magic story. This one's a little matchgirl inspired only instead of selling matches our girl is selling acid (or maybe not). Also her father might be winter and he can only visit his kids while they're about to freeze to death? Anyway, I did enjoy his one, but also there's quite a few things that are ambigous about it. But that's what makes it Vertigo.

And We're All Police Men -- I am not even going to try to explain what happens in here because I have no idea. This is by Grant Morrison for The Invisibles and this story in no way motivates me to go check it out. It feels like Morrison is just stringing words and phrases together and occasionally they're even ones that make a coherent sentence. I started reading their Animal Man comics and those told a compelling story. This was not that.

Look, here's a sample:

(I'm sorry, I'm not going to transcribe this, but the whole story goes on like this for 8 whole tedious pages) Worst story of the bunch imo hands down.

[needleclanclangen]

Current Clan Cats!

I will try to update this with every post. no promises, though.

LEADER:

Finchstar - An unusually spotted dark brown she-cat with golden eyes. Warrior Traits: Adventurous, Smart. MENTORING: GRAYPAW

DEPUTY:

Riverflight - A black and white she-cat with a pale blue eye and an emerald eye. Kit Trait: Sweet. Apprentice Trait: Thoughtful. Warrior Traits: Cold, Excellent Fighter. MENTORING: LARKPAW

MEDICINE CAT:

Speckleback - A long-furred dappled black tom with golden eyes. Medicine Cat Traits: Righteous, Fantastic Teacher

MEDICINE CAT APPRENTICE:

Boughpaw - A brown tabby and white she-cat with heather blue eyes. Kit Trait: Troublesome. Apprentice Trait: Careful. Has a bad eye!

WARRIORS:

Daisyshadow - A dorsal-striped cream she-cat with hazel eyes. Warrior Traits: Vengeful, Good Speaker. MENTORING: GOLDPAW

Lichentooth - A long-furred dorsal-striped brown she-cat with amber eyes. Apprentice Trait: Calm. Warrior Traits: Nervous, Extremely Smart. MENTORING: BATPAW

Hollyspike - A long-furred unusually dappled pale gray tom with amber eyes. Apprentice Trait: Strict. Warrior Traits: Fierce, Fantastic Hunter. MENTORING: BUZZARDPAW, TRICKLEPAW

Currentdash - An unusually spotted pale tom with copper eyes. Kit Trait: Inquisitive. Apprentice Trait: Playful. Warrior Trait: Careful, Excellent Speaker. MENTORING: BOGPAW, RINDLEPAW

APPRENTICES:

Goldpaw - a long-furred speckled brown tom with green-yellow eyes. Kit Trait: insecure. Apprentice Trait: Calm. MENTORED BY: DAISYSHADOW

Batpaw - A speckled silver tom with sage eyes. Kit Trait: Troublesome. Apprentice Trait: Vengeful. MENTORED BY: LICHENTOOTH

Larkpaw - A tortie she-cat with hazel eyes. Kit Trait: Charming. Apprentice Trait: Shameless. MENTORED BY: RIVERFLIGHT

Graypaw - A dorsal-striped gray tom with silver eyes. Kit Trait: Polite. Apprentice Trait: Lonesome. MENTORED BY: FINCHSTAR

Bogpaw - A dorsal-striped cream cat with bronze eyes. Kit Trait: Polite. Apprentice Trait: Loving. MENTORED BY: CURRENTDASH

Buzzardpaw - a dorsal-striped ginger tom with hazel eyes. Kit Trait: Insecure. Apprentice Trait: Loyal. MENTORED BY: HOLLYSPIKE

Tricklepaw - A red and black tortie she-cat with white paws and gray eyes. Kit Trait: Daring. Apprentice Trait: Fierce. MENTORED BY: HOLLYSPIKE.

Rindlekit - A pale ticked and white she-cat with bronze eyes. Kit Trait: Nervous. Apprentice Trait: Wise. MENTORED BY: CURRENTDASH

KITS:

N/A

ELDERS:

nope. none to be found.

[circular-bircular]

this may be a slightly dumb question but, how are you supposed to know if your system is built off trauma or not? what specifically indicates that it was from that specific trauma? is there any easier way to tell?

For me, as someone who regularly really struggles with remembering I experienced trauma: it’s the confusing reactions. For instance, using a real example from my life:

I am in the kitchen with my partner. I am cooking. I accidentally stir too hard and I get a bit of food on the stove.

I suddenly start hyperventilating. I have no idea why! It just happens. My partner notices I’m panicking, and asks what’s wrong. This makes it worse. I have to leave the room.

Once I’m away from the situation, I’m puzzled, frustrated, and angry at myself. It was just a bit of food - why did I panic? Why did I get so freaked out?

Turns out, I have intense trauma surrounding my childhood kitchen. I associate small mistakes with intense anger or frustration, which sends me into an immediate panic. In those moments, I have a distinct trauma response - freeze or flight, depending on the day. I had no idea that I had trauma surrounding that, and I still can’t label “specific traumas” that happened in the kitchen. But I do know I have frequently had panic attacks in the kitchen, usually caused by mistakes, and the responses I have correlate to the 4 big trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, and fawn).

If you are having a trauma response - you probably have trauma.

(Note: don’t go digging for the why! I may never know a specific reason why I panic so badly over this, but it’s not really important for the time being. What matters now is managing the trauma responses by dismantling the beliefs I have surrounding it.)

[heitahei]

Can’t spell Impregnable without mpreg! 

[everoutoftouch]

If you have Spotify reblog this and tag what your number one song on your “on repeat” playlist is.

[pyroinfusedtiger]

Posting this everywhere til im not obsessed with it anymore

[sunriseovergotham]

characters have to be a little bit awful in ways that you cant defend. its good for the ecosystem. your honor he did do that. He did in fact do that

[hellishqueer]

we ask that the defense not say "me when i lie" while the witness testifies

[evidently-endless]

i think we should remind musicians they can absolutely make up little stories for their songs btw. it doesn’t have to be about them at all. you can invent a guy and put him in situations to music. time honoured tradition in fact.