#gifts for those we love

[lymphomalass]

"Find yourself joy in giving!

To my mind there's nothing quite like the joy of that "gotcha!" moment when you've found and given someone a truly great gift and you can see they really love it!

I remember when my brother gotcha'd me one big 0 birthday, giving me an album of carefully selected old family photos he'd scanned and had printed up. I was entranced and delighted by the photos of him looking in my crib, of us playing cowboys in the back garden and then sailing together. No pretence was needed. I just loved the gift and everyone could see it!

A few years earlier for his big 0 birthday I'd asked a really lovely fellow artist to paint an oil painting, of my brother helming his sailboat to victory in a race. My brother had not been sure he could top that, but he did!

My brother likes games that double as ornaments, and so for one Christmas I made a little embroidery of playing cards, set it in the top of a hand made wooden cards box, and added a couple of rather nice card sets. Another year I won him a beautifully hand-carved soapstone chess set in a little church raffle, by buying more than 50% of the tickets. I then wrapped each piece individually.... because I am the little blister! I remember my mother rescued him from all the unwrapping...

Obviously, some years it's just not on the cards. Time's too short or an idea just doesn't come, however hard we try, and then expressions of politely simulated pleasure may be the result. It can take months of looking around for ideas and preparation, but by really listening and thinking from the other person's point of view, it is sometimes possible to think of that special gift that'll be treasured for decades, and that's just magical!

One of my lovely customers picked up a commission today, which she asked me to paint as a Christmas present. She'd thought of it more than a couple of months in advance, and I think that painting may also turn out to be a gotcha gift! Well, I'm hoping!

I'll not say more as I'm keeping that piece secret till after Christmas Day, so the art I'm using today is of a pumpkin farm that my husband and I visited last year. Now, that was a lovely day too!

The art (without the text) is available printed on all kinds of lovely things at: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/129079869

Thanks!

Sam aka LymphomaLass xx

[inkskinned]

it is all chaos and entropy. the thing is that the chaos and entropy make it beautiful and lovely.

yes, it's true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is terrifying. i have lived through some of the unfairness - i got born like this, with my body caving into itself, with this ironic love of dance when i sometimes can't stand up for longer than 15 minutes. i am a poet with hands that are slowly shutting down - i can't hold a pen some days. recently i found a dead bird on our front porch. she had no visible injuries. she had just died, the way things die sometimes.

it is also true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is wonderful. the sheer happenstance that makes rain turn into a rainbow. the impossible coincidence of finding your best friend. i have made so many mistakes and i have let myself down and i have harmed other people by accident. nature moves anyway. on the worst day of my life she delivers me an orange juice sunset, as if she is saying try again tomorrow.

how vast and unknowing the universe! how small we are! isn't that lovely. the universe has given us flowers and harp strings and the shape of clouds. how massive our lives are in comparison to a grasshopper. the world so bright, still undiscovered. even after 30 years of being on this earth, i learned about a new type of animal today: the dhole.

chance echoing in my life like a harmony between two people talking. do you think you and i, living in different worlds but connected through the internet - do you think we've ever seen the same butterfly? they migrate thousands of miles. it's possible, right?

how beautiful the ways we fill the vastness of space. i love that when large amounts of people are applauding in a room, they all start clapping at the same time. i love that the ocean reminds us of our mother's heartbeat. i love that out of all the colors, chlorophyll chose green. i love the coincidences. i love the places where science says i don't know, but it just happens.

"the universe doesn't care about you!" oh, i know. that's okay. i care about the universe. i will put my big stupid heart out into it and watch the universe feast on it. it is not painful. it is strange - the more love you pour into the unfeeling world, the more it feels the world loves you in return. i know it's confirmation bias. i think i'm okay if my proof of kindness is just my own body and my own spirit.

i buried the bird from our porch deep in the woods. that same day, an old friend reaches out to me and says i miss you. wherever you go, no matter how bad it gets - you try to do good.

[canisalbus]

The little Courage the cowardly dog-esque paws on this drawing just sent me for some reason I'm so sorry I just had to quickly doodle a little Machete the cowardly dog XD

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[moeblob]

A lil guy !

[karleksmumskladdkaka]

RukiYui (+Mukami fam) scans from the Vandead Carnival Official Fanbook (*´ω｀)♡

Spoilers for Ruki's route below!

[doodleodds]

Happy Valentines, Akira. Happy Valentines, Asshole.

If you can’t read what Akechi’s secondary inner-dialogue says cause I obscured it too much behind his regular dialogue, here’s a transcription in panel order: Hello, you fucking- Ah- Hello, Akira! Fuck off, why should I tell you- Just a soda- there’s a new flavor.

I don’t want your shitty gift. Oh- haha! You’re so sweet.

I hope I choke. They’re lovely, thank you.

Like hell. Likewise. There’s no way it’s just a coincidence. Still though, it’s a funny coincidence.

[ask-the-totally-real-peppino]

Hey hey it's ok! It's just us!

*holds out a hand knuckles first to let him sniff it!*

Pep: "...Sdneirf..."

[tricoufamily]

give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

“because he never accepts that it's never been about righteousness--it's about repentance.” except javert killing himself IS repentance.

well, it’s like 12 different things, because bro had gone days without sleeping and very little food and water and he already had low self-worth and kept asking the amis to kill him and just assumed he was going to die AND THEN valjean upended his understanding of the world and morality. he was really going through it & there are a lot of overlapping reasons for why he jumps into the seine.

but javert is like Number One Most Responsible guy in the whole story. taking responsibility is his Thing (forever bitter the musical doesn’t include the punish me monsieur le maire scene). how else, in his derailment, could he atone for his conceived misdeeds other than by handing in his resignation to god? in the brick he had already left a note urging his superiors to treat convicts at toulon better, which is another step in his repentance (and another crime the musical commits by not including it). jumping into the seine was another step.

honestly a lot of ppl who like the book think the musical was dead wrong to exclude him from the big heaven group sing, because it COMPLETELY undermines the themes of forgiveness and compassion threaded throughout les mis. like the musical was simply wrong lol.

This is helpful context! I am still finishing the brick, although I have fully read the abridged version, and that detail about the letter wasn't included, so I didn't know that occurred! (And thank you for the message--this is a long response but I'd love to hear more of your thoughts!)

I agree that Javert is certainly deeply distraught and remorseful; like you mentioned, his worldview is literally falling apart, and his actions reflect his mental state. But his death isn't really repentance--in the sense that it's not what God would have wanted. To me it reads like a Judas situation: a desperate realization of a huge mistake, and doing the only thing you think can make it right, namely, ending it all. That's the just punishment for someone so wrong, isn't it?

But true repentance, meaning the repentance that the Lord desires, is about changing your ways, not "paying a price." Had Javert really understood the beauty of Valjean's mercy (an image of Christ's, just as the bishop's undeserved mercy was to Valjean himself), rather than killing himself, he would have lived to also become "an honest man"--in heart. One who could forgive and understand forgiveness, for himself as well as others. One who could recognize that he is not The Law, that he can fall, but that he can also be "brought to the light." One who could accept that men like Valjean, and men like himself, CAN change, and be changed.

It's tragic to me because so much of "Stars," and his character in the book as well as the musical, is about wanting to be righteous, to rise above his birth and the sinfulness he associates it with. It's about wanting to please the Lord by his actions. But in his end, he shows he never understood what God really wanted from him, and that's where my original phrase comes in: not righteousness, but repentance. To live, and face the man you were, knowing it's no longer the man you are. That it's never been about what you've done or can do, but about what's been done for you. That's the Gospel that he could never fully accept.

To use another example you mentioned, that misunderstanding drives why he asks the Mayor (Valjean) to punish him--in his worldview, mercy is unjust, or at the very least, unfair. Evil must be punished; "those who fall like Lucifer fell" receive "the sword." But "as it is written," God "desires mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). God would have wanted Javert to live, and Javert couldn't see that, and that's why it's devastating to me. In his misunderstanding of the heart of God, he misses what would have set him free from the chains of sin he's always been trying to escape.

That's why he's contrasted with Valjean, who (though he carries guilt about his past till the end of his life) is eventually able to face it and confess what he had done to those he loves. He knew there was mercy to be found, if only it was asked for. Javert was too blinded by pride and shame to realize it, and so, while broken, he never was able to truly repent.

For that, you must go on.

[cienie-isengardu]

Shadow warriors need love too.

[syn0vial]

also, thinking now about how boba’s relationship with mirta is practically the polar opposite of the one jango had with him him. like,

jango with boba: you are my heir, you are an extension of myself, you are everything i could have been, and i will do everything in my power to make you a perfect and uncompromising carrier of this legacy.

boba with mirta, gripping her shoulders: our bloodline is fucking cursed and i will do everything in my power, including literally actually dying, to prevent it from dragging you down with us

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

Sebastian: COMPANY IS COMING! I WANT THIS PLACE LOOKING LIKE DISNEY ON ICE IN ONE MINUTE! Sebastian: DAZAI-SAN IF YOU HAVEN'T MADE YOUR BED THROW IT AWAY IT'S TOO LATE TO MAKE IT NOW! Sebastian: GET RID OF THE COUCHES, WE CAN'T LET PEOPLE KNOW WE S I T !

[ladybeug]

MAN THE MUSICAL NUMBERS CAUGHT ME SO OFF GUARD I HAD TO PAUSE AND STARE FROWNING okok!!! so the thing was that one time agessss ago you said liking ml fanfics is just wanting to read the same story over and over again and after that textbook 2016 post reveal final kiss that sentence just flashed in my mind and everything that happened in the movie (the ladynoir patrol fighting in the rooftops, the adrien snapping at his dad, gabriel being actually decent) just shifted in context for me and the realization of how fanfic coded the movie is and how that directly related to my enjoyment was so clear i couldnt stop laughing hdhshsjs

WOW ACTUALLY

i remember saying that and its STILL TRUE!! And honestly you're putting it in perspective for me, thats why i liked the things i liked about the movie. like the ladynoir patrol fighting on the roofs also did lowkey make my dreams come true they could have done whatever they wanted in the rest of the movie, that scene is what i live for.

And that last scene really did feel like it was out of a fanfic, A 2016 FANFIC, its OLD FANDOM VIBES. back when we were still chewing up the concept of a reveal and not picking apart the bones of adrien's identity like mad scientists.

I remember thinking im sure ive read this scene somewhere. idk where but i have. all of it in different pieces a million times.

Anyways thank you for sharing this i love it?? good take

[shannonsketches]

lays on the floor do you guys ever think about how in ResF Bulma falls for Vegeta's fake-out with Freeza and both she and Yamcha are worried about Vegeta's villain fake-out strategy in Champa and Beerus' mini tournament and how it's only been a couple of years since the Buu saga and how Vegeta straight up stopped using that strategy after that tournament

[munchkinmarauder]

Just noticed a fun little detail in Uncanny Avengers 2017 - Pietro and Wanda's matching necklaces

I don't recall if this was ever touched on in story. Maybe it was a cute little detail the artists added and I love it. In South Asian cultures parents who can do so gift their children matching jewelry, my siblings and I have matching necklaces with our birthstones from our parents. I can't speak for Romani culture and @scarlet--wiccan can speak on that better than me (apologies scarlet wiccan for making assumptions and if I'm wrong)

I also think it's interesting that Pietro always tucks the necklace under his clothes and the one panel it's out he's clutching it (hiding any pendant if there is any) - it's practical while running but like he's keeping his emotions close to his chest which fits as he's the more close off twin whereas Wanda wears hers over her clothes showing she's more approachable and it sparkles when she uses her powers haha.

If your thiking about how they approach their relationships with Jericho and Emily in this run as well it also fits as Wanda goes for it and makes the first move, while Pietro struggles to admit his feelings.

[tomurakii]

Every time the game jokes about Gale being pathetic it actually makes me so sad. Don't SAY that about him >:(((