I mean I get that’s it’s not the only contributing factor, but I’m curious exactly how much of the shelter dog over-population problem is actually due to poor dog ownership/management vs the housing crisis and economical stress. I’d be willing to bet by investing in social programs that give people the resources they need to care for their pets (cough cough affordable and free housing cough cough) that the amount of pets in shelters would dramatically drop. We can all sit here pointing fingers and screaming at each other until we are blue in the face, but if the owners basic needs are not being met, how can we hold them to a basic standard for their pets?
probably time for this story i guess but when i was a kid there was a summer that my brother was really into making smoothies and milkshakes. part of this was that we didn't have AC and couldn't afford to run fans all day so it was kind of important to get good at making Cool Down Concoctions.
we also had a patch of mint, and he had two impressionable little sisters who had the attitude of "fuck it, might as well."
at one point, for fun, this 16 year old boy with a dream in his eye and scientific fervor in heart just wanted to see how far one could push the idea of "vanilla mint smoothie". how much vanilla extract and how much mint can go into a blender before it truly is inedible.
the answer is 3 cups of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup milk alternative, and about 50 sprigs (not leaves, whole spring) of mint. add ice and the courage of a child. idk, it was summer and we were bored.
the word i would use to describe the feeling of drinking it would maybe be "violent" or perhaps, like. "triangular." my nose felt pristine. inhaling following the first sip was like trying to sculpt a new face. i was ensconced in a mesh of horror. it was something beyond taste. for years after, i assumed those commercials that said "this is how it feels to chew five gum" were referencing the exact experience of this singular viscous smoothie.
what's worse is that we knew our mother would hate that we wasted so much vanilla extract. so we had to make it worth it. we had to actually finish the drink. it wasn't "wasting" it if we actually drank it, right? we huddled around outside in the blistering sun, gagging and passing around a single green potion, shivering with disgust. each sip was transcendent, but in a sort of non-euclidean way. i think this is where i lost my binary gender. it eroded certain parts of me in an acidic gut ecology collapse.
here's the thing about love and trust: the next day my brother made a different shake, and i drank it without complaint. it's been like 15 years. he's now a genuinely skilled cook. sometimes one of the three of us will fuck up in the kitchen or find something horrible or make a terrible smoothie mistake and then we pass it to each other, single potion bottle, and we say try it it's delicious. it always smells disgusting. and then, cerimonious, we drink it together. because that's what family does.
im annoyed and a little pedantic so can i just say as a blanket statement
queerbaiting is when the promotion for a FICTIONAL STORY intentionally hints towards two characters having a romantic relationship, without any intention to follow through in the show, in order to get queer people watching without discouraging the homophobic enjoyers of the show
queerbaiting is NOT:
a celebrity who you think is queer because theyre gnc or they have a 'vibe'. that is a real person and they cannot queerbait
two friends of the same gender pretending to flirt with each other for fun. those are real people and they cannot queerbait
a show with two characters of the same gender who are canonically friends that YOU PERSONALLY think would be better in a relationship. that's not bating, that's shipping, and subject to opinion
there are more but those are the main examples of people misunderstanding what queerbaiting is and being mad at something that isn't actually a problem
Dani's obsession with travel also left her with a desire to know more about the places she couldn't travel to, like Krypton and Mars. Considering the vast majority of both those populations are dead, it was easy enough for her to befriend some ghost aliens. From them she learns about their culture and language.
At some point one of her new friends jokes that her ghost powers kind of function like a mix of Kryptonian and Martian biology. She laughs. It is just a joke.
At least till she is in danger. The GIW finally found her. She is scared and desperate and tells a lie. Dani screams out, "Superman, if you can hear me, I am Kryptonian too and they are trying to capture me. Please help."
She doesn't actually expect this plan to work. It was a last ditch hail Mary. She figured she would (fully) die here, but even if he was on the other side of the earth he hears her and comes to her rescue.
But see, actions have consequences and now that she is safe she needs to keep the lie going. It is a good thing her alien ghost friends are willing to help her create a fabricated story about how a Martin and a Kryptonian managed to get to earth, have a child, and for some reason aren't around anymore.
It is not an ideal situation, but being an alien is legal while being a ghost isn't, so what's a girl to do? If there is one thing a child who travels the world alone knows how to do, it is lie and bullshit their way through any situation.
Meanwhile, Clark and J'onn are thrilled and fighting each other for custody.
Wild Blue Yonder really emphasized the Doctor not knowing the answer, huh? He’s wrong about Donna 3/4 times, he doesn’t speak the alien language, he doesn’t know what the creatures are nor is he very familiar with the space they’ve landed in. Hell, he even has a line admitting he’s wrong often.
But you know what else this episode did? It emphasized Donna’s brilliance. She may think she’s stupid, but she’s sharp as hell. She’s the one who figures out the imposter after giving a Doctor-level tangential speech. She’s the one who’s able to clear her head. She asks the right questions— why are their doubles scaring them?
Her imposter thinks she’s dumb at first, but when no-thing Donna realizes the real one’s actually smart, that’s when she’s able to break through the salt spell. Unfortunately Donna being brilliant means her imposter must be too.
Anyway. Love the role reversal. But for it to come at a time when the Doctor is feeling lost and confused, when they’ve just discovered they don’t even know themselves— it probably stings. Because what are they if not the smart one? When you take away all they’ve learned of this universe, there’s nothing left.
things you can tell people if they ask you about the scars on your face:
- "large scale worm attack"
- "clowns tried to steal my skin but I got away"
- "nearly got overtaken by the evil fog"
- "cursed door incident"
- "the angles cut me when I try to think"
- "a cop bit me"
- "gym membership went horribly wrong"
- "rock concert went horribly wrong"
- "got stuck underground for eight months"
- "the last girl I kissed was reallyyyy hot. literally"
- "stared at the void (it stared back)"
- "got rid of the death vines but at what cost"
- "ask me again and I'll give you fucking vertigo"
- "I saw too much and now I bear the marks of my hubris"
- "the spiders. they want out ::::)"