#bear's note

[onbearfeet]

A puzzle for the Tumblr sleuths

So today (6/29/2023) I was handed this piece of paper and asked if I could read the penciled writing on the second page.

I can't. And it turns out to be a bit of a mystery.

So, context. The ink handwriting belongs to my paternal grandfather, who developed a very specific hand as a finance officer for the US Army. I can read that easily enough. It seems to be the lyrics for a hymn (the "city four-square" is presumably heaven) ... but it's not any hymn I've ever heard, nor one my dad could find in his giant internet hymn index (yeah, that's a thing). Originally we thought he'd written down the lyrics so he could sing them in church, but now it's looking more like he ... wrote his own hymn? He wasn't known to write music, but he was a deeply religious man who taught Sunday School for decades, so maybe? Weird that none of us ever heard about it, though.

(And hey, hi, before you dunk on the guy for his religiosity, this is the grandfather who made sure, after his son married a half-Jewish woman, that his very Jewish-looking granddaughter knew all about the Holocaust and that Nazis are to be FUCKED UP AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY, do not pass go, do not collect 200 Nazi dollars, especiallyif they were going after Jews. He's why I started that riot in the third grade. He also considered participating in the desegregation of the Army to be one of the greatest honors of his life. The man wasn't perfect, but for a dude born in 1918, he was TRYING. I get religious trauma, I HAVE religious trauma, but Granddad generally tried to be one of the less shitty ones.)

More context. This piece of paper was found in a box of old family photos and documents that Dad's sister sent us with the explanation that "your baby pictures are in there". Some of the images Dad recognizes; some contain people and places that ring absolutely no bells. (It happens when you're an Army brat raised all over the world, 70-odd years ago. He doesn't have any particular memory problems, but nobody remembers everything after 70 years.)

The pencil handwriting is NOT Granddad's, nor Grandma's. Dysgraphia kinda runs in the family, though, so it could be a relative. The only candidate we could think of was Granddad's sister, Alice, from whom we have no handwriting samples, but Granddad and Alice didn't get along AT ALL and I don't know why she'd have been writing on his piece of paper. They were hardly ever in the same physical space after about 1940.

Additional context: Granddad was in the Army from 1940 to 1960 and moved around A LOT, so very few things got kept from pre-1960. Thus, either this paper is post-1960, or it was really important, or both. Granddad died in 2000, and his arthritis fucked up his handwriting before that, so I would estimate the ink text was created no later than 1990. Going by the color and condition of the paper, I would guess it's significantly older than that.

I don't know who put it in the box with the photos; it might have been my aunt, or Alice (who was close with my aunt), or literally anyone else. We're hoping the pencil text will explain the ink.

Oh. And Granddad was absolutely privy to some wild shit in the Army, so there is a slim but nonzero chance this is bizarro spy nonsense. I know he turned down one job offer from the CIA, but that story always had the air of "they already knew me from that thing that time". I very much doubt this is spy shit, but you never exactly know. Every few years I find out something new and insane about my grandparents.

So, uh ... anyone know how I might get some help reading this thing?

P.S. If you need something to call him other than Granddad, feel free to use JB or his Army nickname--Bear. Yeah, I know. But dude was a GIGANTIC BEARLIKE HUMAN. The name fit.

[skylessknights]

Sydney & Luca + glances I can't stop thinking about

THE BEAR (2022—) 3.10 | Forever

[disney-is-mylife]

THIS IS NOT A COMPREHENSIVE LIST. I just wanted to highlight some beloved and underrated nostalgic classics.

I am NOT counting: Studio Ghibli, DC, Marvel, Scooby-Doo, sequels/prequels, and most other franchises. I made an exception with MLP and Care Bears because both films were produced at the beginning of their franchises, as opposed to the G.I. Joe series, Transformers, etc. There's a LOT to cover in the 80s-90s, hence why I split the two polls. This is basically Don Bluth's Era lol.

90's Poll

Happy voting! ❤

[wu-does-art]

coming out as a "Will snores obnoxiously loud" and "Nico breaths so quietly you can barely tell hes alive" truther

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I know those eyes.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[nikossasaki]

I think Carmy and I shucked probably ten million of these peas...day in, day out like robots.

THE BEAR | 3.10: FOREVER

[kinrdevan]

buck, tired and aching, after a- not bad, but long shift of back-to-back calls and wanting nothing more than to go home and cuddle his boyfriend, and fall asleep in his arms, but knowing that tommy started his own shift only a couple hours before, and resigning himself to a cold bed and a night of cuddling tommy's pillow, instead, hoping that it still smells like his boyfriend. it's been a rough few weeks of nothing but them being passing ships in the night, one of them flopping down into bed beside the other to soak up what little time they have together, or of quick hello's and quicker goodbyes and stolen kisses in between at the door, leaving them both a little more than grouchy and bruise eyed, because they've gotten so used to sleeping with the other that they struggle to sleep without them now, and honestly- buck's over it. he adores his job, and knows tommy loves his, too, knows neither of them would ever give them up unless forced to- would never want that, either, but. he does want more than five minutes of rushed affection with his boyfriend. wants to hold him, and be held in return, wants to fall asleep next to him and wake up next to him. wants soft, slow morning kisses, and sleep-warm morning cuddles. wants to make them both breakfast with tommy wrapped around his back, pressing kisses to his neck, and to his jaw, trying to distract him as he nicks pieces out of the pan. he just. wants his boyfriend.

he goes to tommy's house, because if he can't have his actual, living, breathing, hot, firefighter-pilot boyfriend, with his soft smiles and gentle touches and his cuddles, and care, and love for buck, then the house filled with all of the little pieces of him, of all the little reminders of him scattered around, seems like the next best thing. he kicks his shoes off at the door, slings his duffle bag to the side, and tells himself that he'll pick them both up in the morning. he doesn't bother to shower, doesn't have the energy, and makes his way straight into tommy's bedroom, intent on face planting into his boyfriend's pillow. he flicks on the lights and- stops dead in his tracks.

there's a stuffed bear; brown, and fuzzy, and wearing a little firefighter outfit sitting upright on top of what looks like one of tommy's folded, old hoodies, all placed neatly on top of buck's own pillow. his legs are moving before his brain even has the chance to command them to, and suddenly he's standing next to the bed, reaching out with gentle fingers to pick up the bear. the scent hits him before his fingers even have the chance to graze the soft fur, though, and the first thing he does is bring the teddy up to his face, breathing the familiar scent of tommy's aftershave in, before he clutches it to his chest, right over his heart, and then reaches out for the hoodie, too. it's soft, not in the just been washed, fresh out of the laundry way, but in the way clothes are only after they've been worn for a day or two, and when he brings it up to his face, it smells like tommy, too; not the strong, sharp smell of his aftershave, but the faint undertones of his natural scent, of everything that is uniquely tommy.

tears spring to his eyes, overwhelmed, because- tommy brought him a bear, and then sprayed it in his aftershave, and wore one his old, most cosy hoodies around all day, and probably slept in it, too, and then left them all on buck's pillow but at tommy's house because he somehow knew that buck would want to come here, even though he hadn't said that, and- he feels so loved, and cared for, and seen, in a way that he never has before, in a way that no one ever has for him before.

he puts the hoodie on, and climbs into bed. snuggles the teddy to his chest, taking a deep breath in, every now and then. he sleeps better than he has in weeks.

(he pretends not to notice his own missing hoodies from his laundry basket, or the way that tommy's side of the bed smells like his own aftershave whenever he's on an overnight shift after that. thinks he'll just have to get tommy his very own buck bear, too.)

[jichanxo]

okay i know they went to university basically never because plot, but i'm forever amused by the idea of strangers seeing these two together and being baffled/wildly wrong about them

[loveisalwaystheanswer]

how and why the fuck did we get from this

to this

[bocchidaily]

bocchi the snail

Day 76: *snail noises*

[professorllayton]

need him in a way that is unquantifiable and indescribable

[awesomehoggirl]

happy pride mnth!

[nikoisme]

Joy is stored in drawing older telemachus

[turtleblogatlast]

“Haven’t You Noticed (I’m a Star)” from Steven Universe works so ridiculously well for Leo

[chiimeramanticore]

NEW ROCKAFIRE EXPLOSION MUSIC!!! 💥

today at billycon, they played 7 new shows for us- all some level of lost media until now! if this interests you, I've put all my recordings of them onto this google drive folder- they'll be up on youtube soon, too! (along with all the other segments I recorded today. i might make a new channel for this so keep an eye out)

EDIT: they're up on youtube now! here's a post with a little more info, and here's a direct link to the playlist :]

EDIT 2: can't touch this is finally up on youtube!! check it out here!

song list under the cut:

in the order they played them (I think the folder is in alphabetical order):

fatz and beach bear- we didn't see a thing

mitzi- tears of a clown

billy bob- im into something good

beach bear- what it takes

mitzi- dancing in the street

dook- sweet soul music

fatz- can't touch this

[thatonechocogirl]

bers sleeping :)