#i mean the art itself obv takes work but I'm not making art specifically for redbubble id make art anyway without it

[bellshazes]

peter today I've been arguing on twitter and clearly it's a sign I'm not meeting my needs in terms of meaningful engagement in making the world a better place. I applied to get training as a peer support worker, but if I don't get accepted do you have any other suggestions? [preferably something that can lead to work as opposed to only volunteering, bc tuition obvs doesn't pay itself]

-self actualization anon andy

holy shit best of luck I am rooting for you so hard!!!!!! Peer support specialists are some of the best people on earth, seriously, I have never met one I didn't love with every cell in my body.

With looming layoffs at my company I've been thinking about other jobs a lot and I fell into mine accidentally. I went from restaurant manager to home & auto insurance and got lucky with that, and then looked for admin positions and got one with an insurance plan that I only understood served foster youth after getting hired. When I was a restaurant manager I wrote about local arts things on the side to keep me alive, and that writing helped get the auto insurance job. It didn't help pay bills, but it made life livable.

I think there's a lot of good a social worker can do but you could not pay me any amount of money on earth to get an advanced degree in it and not even just because of your point about tuition. A lot might depend on where you live - in my state (Kentucky) I might recommend the Family and Youth Resource Centers (FRYSCies) or community based organizations like The Book Works or KY-SPIN that do educational advocacy and offer peer support-adjacent services that don't require PSS cert. Managed care is my field, and it's not the most stable but something like a Community Health Worker might give you some useful searches whether it's with insurance or not. Centers for Independent Living can vary in name and quality, but if youre US your state will have some. I wish I had more jobs I knew were meaningful or how to get into them.

And I don't know if it's relevant but... I didn't feel like a real adult until I was 27, and I'm only 29 now. I can't believe I used to just cold email people to interview them about the arts in my community - I was so desperate at 23, 25. I cooked potluck dinners every week for friends for a few years, even if it didn't matter what we ate. But I think my biggest strength is finding something in my job to care about impacting people - my ch*potle regulars, one of whom is still a good friend and also was a PSS briefly; my home customers who I could explain things to, help them understand their policies; supporting my direct care co-workers, finding ways to make their jobs a tiny bit easier. When you are hungry for connection it is so hard to stay hungry, but the older I get the more firmly I believe that every little thing you do to make a difference for somebody matters.

I may not know you, but if you're looking for meaningful work in places like PSS certifications, I bet you have it in you to find ways of making that difference. And you never run out of chances, even if you're twice my age you still have years to go to keep making a meaningful difference. I hope this doesn't come across as trite, because it's what I lean on when I feel like nothing I do matters, which has been about half the time lately. If you have people you care about, let them take care of you too; if you feel like you don't have that and are isolated, it may not be much but I am rooting for you. I mean that. Happy to share my discord as well, if you ever wanna connect directly - I also could probably swing some more specific recs for some US states. But keep me updated anyway, my friend. Dreaming bigger is more than half the battle.

[ink-the-artist]

I know this is like... unsolicited advice but have you considered moving from Redbubble? Aren't their royalties/artist margins on things waaaaay lower than other print on demand services?

this is my first time hearing that🤔 I looked at society6's margins a while ago and I think I remember it being about the same as redbubbles, but i haven't checked out much else so i don't know. if anyone has recommendations for other places to sell I could just sell on more than one lol

[sinlizards]

which ee songs remind you of saito... please go into as much detail as possible cause i just got into the band and have no idea which songs to start on but i like saito he's silly

also i like your art the lighting and colors are very pretty and the compositions make my analysis brain go brr, i'm not really sure how to draw but your art is the kind that makes me want to learn how so i can make stuff like it

idk i'm not really sure how to end this but tldr your art makes the happy chemical and you have good music taste

ahh thank you so much!!! I am really happy you enjoy my work so much T _ T as far as the ee + saito I hope you know you are enabling me so so much here and i am thrilled about it

warning for this being way too fucking long and also aitsf spoilers under the cut !

I’ll say it up front that a lot of ee songs can be analyzed in many different directions so i tend to have multiple characters in mind for any given song! Obv I’ll just be sticking to saito but its worth mentioning if you have differing thoughts on these songs :] 

Hapsburg Lippp

the general tone of the song is VERY Saito, its violent and frantic in a way that really suits him. The song itself being all about nepotism and the corrupt nature of the wealthy ties in very well with how Saito used So’s status and money as a means of getting whatever he wanted. Also getting HUGE bonus points for the specific lines “If he's dead, he's not a deadbeat dad” and “I’m coming in cleaved in two” for lining up with So’s murder in the imaginary amv i got going in my head for it

Bad Friday

This song in my mind is like. Saito taunting Date throughout the course of the game starting from the initial body swap. I think the lyrics are self explanatory for why this is but the main bits are “you must have bust me out of my head/i’m wondering how did i get this blood all over me?” “shapeshifter coming for me” 

SUPERNORMAL

-Two reasons for supernormal as Saito! one is just directly the topic of the song itself: supernormal stimuli, a form of exaggerated stimulus which elicits a much stronger response than the natural stimulus which that response was evolved for. You can connect this to Saito’s desire for that intense dopamine/adrenaline rush that he is able to experience through violence

This also sorta ties into the second reason which is that this song is allll about excess and the aggressive & visceral imagery used to describe that really reminds me of how saito speaks especially

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Crisis Over: For sure more of a Date song but it gets its own special place here cuz i did use the line “I declare myself a god and cut off my head so” as the main inspo for this piece

Awe/Arc: By virtue of this song being about a car crash involving the president it makes me think about the car crash in Resolution route with Saito in Renju’s body, but also the line “Shock and awe, baby, just takes all of my time” which is a reference to excessive and grand displays of violence makes me think of Saito as well 

Final Form: Another one i think fits Date more (and even then its more on the abstract level since final form has a much different meaning) but I REALLY love the lines "Your first body, last body" & "And I've never been able to divide us" as like a Date Saito conflict thing

hope this helps!! if you do need a place to start with ee in general the way i and most other people i know started is by listening to Get to Heaven first then branching off towards their other albums :]