#That costs a lot of money!

[janebonbon]

I'm not sure how many people can relate, but it is so funny reconnecting with your culture after so much has been Americanized. It is so funny how even though I never got the chance to meet the family that lived there, pieces of it still live on.

Of course learning language also means learning culture, it's hand in hand. But I look at customs and even just social norms that have lived on and make us odd individuals to the rest of where I live. I still remember going with my mother to deliver home baked cookies to our new neighbors as a welcoming gift and introducing ourselves... And people hardly even gave us the time of day! I remember how shocked we both were, because we were taught that way too. Even at parties with my mom's friends, bringing some kind of gift or extra food (other than the food we were asked to bring).

Isn't it funny and beautiful how those things persist? I think about that a lot.

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

[starryfictionalgirl]

Watcher announcing they’re leaving YouTube and putting all their new content behind a paywall via a new streaming service in a nutshell:

[hellenhighwater]

I'm debating starting a youtube. One of the things I love about learning how to do stuff is sharing the process and skills involved with people and that seems to be the preferred platform for that kind of thing; I find that with a lot of what I'm making it's so niche or weird that there's not easily findable tutorials on how to do what I want to do, so maybe it would help if I made them? Tiktok is okay as a quick and easy way to slap process videos together but I kind of hate it and I also don't like how unsearchable and short-lived content is there.

Youtube would be a lot of work, and I'm not convinced it would be worth the effort, but on the other hand, if I could get some traction there, it would be nice to have passive ad revenue to offset project costs without having to directly sell the random crap I'm making.

I dunno, guys. This site has been home for my art for a long time, and I don't see that changing, but it would be nice to have resources to put into some of the larger projects that aren't directly sellable.

[solipseismic]

if im ever acting weird u must udnerstand it is bc i am fighting the debilitating urge to buy $90 worth of smoked salmon online. at any given moment

[fragonreal]

you forgot about it didn't you

[kylejsugarman]

jesse’s natural instinct to be a caretaker is like. it’s something fundamentally Small, but to me it’s the best part of jesse’s character in how soft and subtle it is while still coloring every relationship he has. the way they integrate this aspect of his personality, this instinctive urge to Take Care of people even when they wrong him and even when he’s enacting violence against himself or others, into his character is one of the quietest things in the whole show while still being hugely influential. we get so much from those moments: from “i was the one who drove aunt ginny to her appointments and made her lunch”, from the mentioned interest in sports medicine, from the way he takes walt’s shoes off as he lays him down on the couch in “fly”, from the automatic grab for medical equipment when he realized the cartel doctors were going to prioritize gus over mike. he wants to take care of people, even if he doesn’t always go about it in a “good” way or loses himself along the way.

[jesus-said-chill]

People will shit on watcher just trying to make their company grow but turn around and support big corporations. 😭

[daftpatience]

one thing I have learned about being poor is that you cannot for a moment stop thinking about it

[gavisfanta]

sobbing

[deoidesign]

Ever think you’ll do a physical print of time and time again?

Yes! I'm actively working on it now that I'm on hiatus ^^ I have 2/4 books for season 1 ready to go!

I'm planning to launch a kickstarter early next year for the first four books! (The pirate arc, the summer camp arc, the ghost hunting arc, and the vampire hunting arc)

I'm planning for each book to be $25, and I'll ship them out over the course of a year. (shipping in the us will be about $7 per book, and internationally it'll be around $16 per book!)

Each book is 100-150 pages and 8.3x5.8 inches ^^

I've got some really cute and exciting things planned for it!

Consider this the official announcement and a warning that it'll be pretty pricey! I'll have themed merch bundles offered as well (partially pictured) so it can add up fast! If you want all 4 books, expect to spend about $150 including shipping!

[twilight-deviant]

Telling content creators it's wrong to explore artistic freedom and be independently funded by fans, and they should instead continue taking advertisement revenue from google* is

NOT

the anti-capitalism stance actually.

*(Yes, google owns youtube.)

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

[junkdyke]

things i wanna do this year that could be fun inspo if you're looking for things to do outside of the house

go to jazz lounges for live music and vibes, looking all cute and classy sipping wine with my friends

take classes and workshops! Ceramics, woodworking, my friend said he wants to take a voiceacting class, glasswork, welding, etc

go cruising around on my longboard, mainly at the beach along the bike path, looking at the ocean, listening to music, vibing

volunteer now that i have the time post-grad!! I'm hoping to give time to the LGBT center, women's shelter, and a general unhoused center or group

join a knitting/crochet group, go sit at the park and crochet

have more art-making days with my friends, painting or sewing or w/e together

join in on a mural painting

more live music in general, concerts, small local shows

go to some orchestras all fancy with my friends

go crystal hunting and collecting rocks in the desert

go camping, like proper camping

go fishing (on a boat!!!)

find some random, niche conventions to attend

i'm going to a metal show that's in a museum lmao

more community meetups, going to a black queer bonfire this month

start playing guitar again

my friend said he'd learn how to surf with me if i let him teach me how to snowboard

tabling and vending at more markets and conventions

keep an eye out for more small art galleries and popups

just music and vibes and checking out different kinds of events that aren't exactly the usual go-to clubs and events, maybe helping to organize more creative group outings :)

[pop-punklouis]

-

[a-gremlin-for-my-thoughts]

My cat had to do an ultrasound bc she ate a plastic strand and we were beyond scared she'd have a blockage. Luckily the strand passed the intestine without issues but now she looks like this:

A piglet

[lesbianphan]

Does anyone know any sneaky secret society to get dnp merch to countries they don't ship to??? kinda wanted the holding hands shirt, but idk how I could possibly get it to Brazil since they hate us and all

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!