#but i will keep trying

[eddievedders]

GOOD OMENS — Chapter 5: The Ball.

[myenterpriseisparked]

⭐ :)

heheh thanks friend!

Something in my fics I have been wanting to commentate on:

Okay, so my fic, "And Still, The Sea is Salt," kinda orbits around an untitled poem by A.E. Houseman. I have the poem, in full, at the end of my fic, and each other chapter titles (as well as the title of the fic itself) are taken from this poem.

Stars, I have seen them fall, But when they drop and die No star is lost at all From all the star-sown sky. The toil of all that be Helps not the primal fault; It rains into the sea, And still the sea is salt.

The poem was originally intended to show the meaninglessness of life. Fresh water rains into the sea and, yet, the sea is no less salty. We are each insignificant and unable to change the nature of what is around us.

I, however, was at a pivotal moment in my life and took an entirely different meaning from these lines.

Every day, we each come face-to-face with a world that thrives on individualism and apathy and, in the face of that, we each can be countercultural. We have the ability to care, to form community, to reach out and touch others. The saltlessness of the world does not have to make you less salty.

The poem also talks about how stars "fall" and, yet, none of the stars are really gone. This reminded me of the lasting nature of humanity and how we each carry pieces of people that we have interacted with and how they all carry pieces of us. I pronounce "J.C. Penny" like "Jaques Pen-yay" because that is how my grandmother always says it. I slap my knee when something's really funny because that is something my best friend does. I drink Mountain Dew because my dad always had one in his hand when I was growing up. On the flip side, my best friend calls animals "kiddos" because that's what I do. My ex-boyfriend's little brother still goes by the weird nickname I gave him even though we haven't spoken in years. My college professor still uses a paper I wrote as an example for one of his assignments. We all linger in each other's lives, even as we drift together and apart and, eventually, leave the world behind.

We endure within one another. We carry the stories and memories of many, many people in our flesh, our mouths, our minds, even if we don't realize it.

And so, my fic "And Still, The Sea is Salt" isn't so much a pikeuna fic as much as it's my narrative essay on how people's presences linger in each other's lives. No stars are lost at all. You leave pieces of yourself everywhere you go, and those pieces will outlive you, even if you don't realize it. And I find that to be a very comforting thought.

[dyrewrites]

Is it too much to want a story to frighten, to horrify, to titillate and also to break the reader into itty bitty bits of sopping wet sadness that forces questions of who they are and what being human means to them?

[bumblehaven]

Stress causes some of my worst coping mechanisms to rear their heads. Tonight, binge eating and lying to my family came hand in hand...I corrected the lie quickly, but I'm still feeling very ashamed. Eating disorders, lack of self esteem, and extreme shame sensitivity do not do me any favors...

[septembermonologues]

maybe the little "life doesnt end at [x age]" trend is a little corny or played out but this summer i drove my own car out to see my best friend at her own house to take her bridesmaids dress shopping for our friend from high school's wedding and we decided to go to a children's museum even though we're 22 and 23 and then right after we went to an art museum with only 3 hours until it closed thinking it would just be a silly chaser to the day but ended up sitting watching just one exhibit for almost an hour and found ourselves in awe of being surrounded by art and giddy with the joy of the whole day even though we were tired and our legs hurt and we've been steeping in the stress of graduating college in the spring and not seeing each other as often as we would like. i struggled a lot in my tweens and teens and could never picture a life for myself after high school but that singular day showed me what my life can be. its big and scary and i don't know what to do about a lot of it but i do know that i can choose to make it filled with some art i help make and an abundance that others have made and time with my friends and, while we aren't high school best friend anymore, we are still girls together in all the ways that matter and have so much laughter and quite, heavy conversations about what it all means on seemingly insignificant days ahead of us. and that's enough for me.

[peterlorres21stcentury]

I was trying to draw an actual good character sketch of Torg for a change and I realized it's surprisingly difficult to draw Peter Lorre with an absolutely blank, stupid expression. Even when he played characters who were not very bright, there was always a spark of humor or brilliance in each of them. Like this is probably the closest ref photo I could find in terms of the vacant, vaguely wall-eyed neutral expression I imagine in Torg, and even then he appears to be thinking some deeper thoughts here. He just has such an expressive face it's hard to make him look blank. 🖤

[askmommysherman]

too bad you broke Anne’s heart and that’s why she doesn’t want you back, no? but we both know that you only liked her for one particular reason. i’ve spoken to her and she’s even apologized to me, something not even you have managed to do. 💜

I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to break her heart. I never wanted to hurt her. She got me out of the facility- she- she saved me. Oh Anne... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything.

I loved Anne because she's a remarkable woman inside and out. I don't appreciate what you're implying.

I'm sorry to you- for hurting you too. But hurting me now and humiliating me isn't going to make anyone feel better, nor is it going to make me want to mend things with you.

[joleneghoul]

i read a novel i really like to the point i try to start a new novel and i miss the writing of the other one and i check and its the ONLY novel the author has so far. man.

[mrtequilasunset]

Listen man, you guys can't be like "you guys need to be normal about asexuality" and then turn around and get weirdly judgemental when you find out someone doesn't have sex by choice. Like that's weird that some of you do that.

[laughingcatwrites]

As a reminder that good exists out there, a coworker recently confessed to me that he found out his child is questioning their identity (kid's gender redacted for this post). The kid is keeping it from him, so he can't say anything to them or show that he knows, but he's doing his best to get mentally prepared and educated so that he'll be ready whenever his kid does feel comfortable enough come to him.

For context, this guy is a big, bulky middle aged dude who loves sports and typical outdoor "manly" activities. As his coworker and friend, I know he's a kind and sweet teddy bear of a person, but his kid probably views him as a stern, authoritarian figure, the way most teenagers view their parents. His family lives in a conservative area, so I'm sure between that, their dad's looks and interests, and the fact that their dad is a Figure of Authority, the kid is worried that they won't be accepted.

But you know what? When he found out about his kid, the first thing he did was reach out to his closest queer friend and ask for resources for parents of questioning children. His biggest fears are that his kid will be bullied or discriminated against and won't feel comfortable enough to be themself. His second action was to find himself a mentor in another parent who went the same situation (kid coming out in a conservative town). The other person is preparing him for some of the struggles his kid may face and the fights he may need to take on as a parent to make sure his kid is safe and treated well.

Something I want to emphasize for people focused on language as the primary method of allyship is that when we spoke, he used some outdated terms and thoughts about gender and sexuality. That does not make him bad. These were the terms and thinking used about questioning teenagers when he was growing up and he never needed to learn more current ones. But now that he does have that need, he's throwing himself in head first because that's his kid and he's darn well going to make sure that his kid feels welcomed and has a safe place to be themselves even if they never come out to him.

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

[queerasflux]

man I wish people understood how much it sucks ass to be neurodivergent and trying to find the middle ground where people like/tolerate you. like, I'm either "boring" (trying to wait my turn in conversations, holding space for other people, taking a back seat to let others get some spotlight) or "too much" (too loud/talking too much, getting excited to share, trying to participate in group conversations/activities). No one really talks about how much of being neurodivergent is just sort of trying to make yourself palatable.

I feel like so much of my life has been spent trying to find this effortless sort of middle ground everyone else seems to automatically already know, and I'm always swinging too far one way or the other. I'm lucky to have neurodivergent friends who grok me, but goddamn I wish that I could just like, exist without the constant background script in my brain that's like "you're being too loud. You're not talking enough. you're being self-centered. you're being boring. you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong." I feel like I'm back in high school trying to make friends but stuck as the eternal "weird kid"

it's just... lonely and sucks bad.

[absolutelybatty]

Horror movie fans are so funny because you'll bring up the biggest actor who's in 10,000 iconic roles, and they'll go, "Oh, the guy from Blood Burger 4: Keep Flipping." and that's the only thing on their filmography that they've seen.

[sluttypatrickstar]

i cannot fucking believe i am wheeling this out again

[feluka]

i can't even begin to imagine how wael al-dahdouh feels this is worse than death this is the most painful fate imaginable!! just watching all his family and loved ones die one after another how can they be so cruel?!!

[suniix]

going insane trying to grow a rambutan tree