#i really do use tumblr as my personal personal journal

[chocolaytte]

밤 (night) - i

[astranauticus]

todays orv mood: standing at the water dispenser under my dorm building waiting for my instant noodles to cook just pacing in circles and swearing

[howls-memeing-castle]

Besties look at the Beverage I was sippin on all morning

Its got black tea with rosemary oat cream and a spiced plum syrup. They smoke the cup with pine needles (which I was certainly nibbling on) and they brulee an umeboshi plum

And the cool cool barista had a Big Big Torch to set the bits on fire

I love this ridiculous little cafe and talking with the ridiculous people who work there and hang around there

And when I got home I organized my closet and (mostly) did all my laundry and cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen (mostly) and my bedroom isn’t a total disaster zone anymore

It’s been a good nice very lovely day

[solradguy]

I know exactly how to write code doesn't work in HTML and CSS through the power of over 1000 Neocities page edits

[purinflora]

◜ ✿ ◞ weekend reset 🍡

because sometimes you really need it

— ✦ O1. : tidy up your space

open up your curtains

wipe / dust off surfaces + shelves

clean mirrors and windows

wash sheets, clean out underneath bed

vacuum / mop floors

do your laundry, fold any you have out now

if you have a whiteboard, clean it

organize your closet, donate clothes you no longer want, throw out tarnished ones

organize self care stuff / cosmetics, clean makeup brushes, throw out anything expired

— ✦ O2. : everything shower

leave in hair oil / dry brush pre-shower

exfoliate

apply shave oil / cream, shave legs, underarms, etc.

soap up

wash hair

anything else you'd usually do

ps: you can swap for a relaxing bubble bath 🎀

— ✦ O3. : out of shower

apply glycolic toner to areas you shave (can only be used on the skin, do NOT apply to facial or bikini area)

moisturize

apply body oil / perfume

dry hair (you can blow dry it / air dry)

brush your teeth, floss, use mouth wash or oil pulling mouth rinse

do your skin care

wear a cute face mask + under eye patches if wanted

— ✦ O2. : relaxation station

light some relaxing scented candles / incense if you have some

put on some pajamas (i personally prefer nightgowns and silk matching sets)

the time is now yours! you can do whatever feels right, but some things i like to do include: making myself a small snack and putting a movie / show on, journaling my thoughts and feelings, playing video games, or reading a good book

— ✦ O5. : digital cleanse

if you're gonna be on your phone, might as well get something done!

clean out your camera roll

go through your apps, delete anything taking up space or not benefiting you

for social media, go through your followings, unfollow anyone who makes you sad / uncomfortable

organize playlists, pinterest boards, tumblr blogs, insta stories, etc.

if you're in the mood for re-decorating, you can fix up your layout / homepage or revamp your social media accounts

✷ heαder creds @ unknown !

[aces-and-angels]

DONATE TO SHAHED'S FAMILY

dear moots/lovely lurkers:

if you've been online for these last few weeks- you may have noticed how often i've been pushing shahed's gfm. her campaign has been verified (source -> no. 224 on el-shab-hussein/nabulsi's sheet of vetted campaigns). and if y'all haven't had the chance to become acquainted, this is shahed:

shahed is a 21 year old who used to be a student at al-azhar university before the genocide began. with both her parents having taken ill, she is the sole provider for her family right now, including her five siblings, youngest of whom is just a baby. before the war, shahed used to take/share the most beautiful photos. this is one of them (taken from her tumblr @shahednhall | shahed's instagram

with the generous support of friends/strangers alike, shahed has been able to reach over $40K USD, enough to begin evacuating some of her family members (her younger siblings + her father) who are in desperate need of medical care

however, our work is far from over

shahed + her family are 17 strong and they all deserve a chance to live a life worth living. the situation in gaza is beyond catastrophic and grows more dangerous with each passing day. i have been in communication with shahed and would like to share her most recent message to me:

shahed: I have been displaced from my area, my circumstances are very difficult. I can't open the Internet for long periods, so I want you to help me more in publishing my campaign. I want to have reached a very difficult stage. I want to complete the campaign as soon as possible. I want to rest, I feel that I really survived. I don't want my campaign to stop halfway.

just yesterday, shahed shared that she narrowly escaped death while trying to get food/water for her family. the attacks/bombings at her campsite have forced her to move yet again

every displacement puts both a physical and emotional strain on these families. more often than not, there is little warning before they have to move- and when the time comes- they have to act quickly, leaving behind whatever they can't carry on their backs/can't afford to take with them <- yes, it costs money for them to be able to move.

every message i receive fills me with a mixture of relief and heartbreak-- i do not wish to know what i'll feel if i were to stop getting messages from shahed. i can't. not when i know there's a path to get her family to safety

that is why i am starting this donation match for her campaign. i don't have very much to offer, but i know that if enough people contribute a little, it can amount to a lot 🖤

for those able, please consider matching my donation of $5 USD (proof of donation below cut). shahed has a long way to go before she can achieve her goal of $80K. even if you cannot match me at this time (which is totally okay)- please share this post so others may have a chance to help

IMPT NOTE: @journalsforpalestine is raffling a set of beautiful journals. 4 winners will be chosen on August 31st. for anyone interested in entering -> please read the rules here for the first person to reblog & match my donation (and wants to enter in this raffle) i will give you my entry, so you will be entered to win twice* *(every entry= $5, so if you donate more, you will be entered accordingly).

current stats: $42,726 raised of $80,000 goal

tags for reach (sorry yall- please let me know if you wish to be removed from this list- no hard feelings, truly 🖤)

@timetravellingkitty @meaganfoster @briarhips @mazzikah @mahoushojoe 

@rhubarbspring @schoolhater @pcktknife @transmutationisms @sawasawako 

@feluka @terroristiraqi @irhabiya @commissions4aid-international @wellwaterhysteria 

@deepspaceboytoy @post-brahminism @junglejim4322 @kibumkim @neechees 

@mangocheesecakes @kyra45 @marnota @7bitter @tortiefrancis 

@toiletpotato @fromjannah @omegaversereloaded @vague-humanoid @criptochecca 

@aristotels @komsomolka @neptunerings @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @heritageposts 

@ot3 @amygdalae @ankle-beez @communistchilchuck @dykesbat 

@watermotif @stuckinapril @violentrevolution @mavigator @lacecap 

@socalgal @chilewithcarnage @ghelgheli @sayruq @northgazaupdates

@parsnipjunction @mintmoth @mrfluffyturtle @colombinna @tinygalaxykid

@br-eddrolls @0luna123 @block-swing-perry @eflatminorseven @mothtral

@charlie-charlie @bitterlyromantic @pseudonymousposting @divineclouds

@interact-if

@agnesandhilda @frostbitefae @dove-tears @soljierpg @assad-zaman

@claudeleine @error-core-animations @kengi-bengi-alt @juneybug @kodigobacktosleep

@apocalyptic-dancehall @imnotthepersonyouseek @toonirl @kingofthebookcase

@kazehita @yonch @ayoedebiris @pinkdreamscape1 @king-dail 

@caseys-soup-corner @shoogachi @killy @missusmousse @j0ckhead

@whoopsiedaisy20 @squidie-tittie @dreamingamongthestars @trexpel @mischief16

@aria-ashryver @mydemonsdrivealimo @cadybear420 @thosehallowedhalls @ascindio

[wishful-seeker]

I think some people don't realize some of us HAVE to be chronically online unfortunately, especially if we are bedridden or housebound due to illness. Obviously this isn't great for many reasons, and I've definitely fallen into the habit of rotting my brain with 7 second reels or ending up in really petty online arguments because i have nothing else to do. Just try to take care of yourselves, maybe you have to be chronically online, but maybe you can look out a window for a few minutes, or actively not read comments you know will upset you, or maybe make an effort to take a break from watching reels or tiktoks every few hours. Its incredibly difficult to have an occupied life when you're stuck in bed or at home. Personally I've found eating or being on my phone while also outside helps, writing/journaling in the notes on your phone, rewatching a loved tv show instead of interacting on online discourse or watching mind numbing dopamine hit reels over and over. Anyways, i know its difficult and you aren't bad for being chronically online especially when you really don't have much of a choice, just try to be gentle with how you treat yourself and consume media these days. I frequently take breaks from Instagram and tiktok, i think i haven't used them in about 2 weeks right now. Its also helpful to find safe spaces online. I consider tumblr a much more tame and healthier media for myself to consume because there isn't much fighting and just more wholesome random info everywhere. It also helps to text/call friends, reconnect with them online, ect. I hope my fellow chronically online people have a nice internet day.

[synticity]

Can you please, pretty-please do a "3 linguistics papers to read" about neopronouns? I'd love to get some academic perspectives on them! :)

Ooh, yes, I can do this!

Three papers to read about neopronouns

The first one I'm linking is by Em Miltersen from 2016, which I am highlighting because the data comes specifically from tumblr!

Miltersen, E. H. (2016). Nounself pronouns: 3rd person personal pronouns as identity expression. Journal of Language Works-Sprogvidenskabeligt Studentertidsskrift, 1(1), 37-62. Open access to the paper here

Next, a very short paper by Rose et al., 2023, which is just looking at whether people even find neopronouns acceptable / grammatical:

Rose, E., Winig, M., Nash, J., Roepke, K., & Conrod, K. (2023). Variation in acceptability of neologistic English pronouns. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 8(1), 5526-5526. Open access paper is here

And then finally, I'd recommend this super cool paper by Laura Hekanaho, 2022, looking at the metalinguistic commentary and ways people talk about neopronouns - overlaps a bit with Rose et al.'s paper, but goes into much greater depth:

Hekanaho, L. (2022). A thematic analysis of attitudes towards English nonbinary pronouns. Journal of language and sexuality, 11(2), 190-216. Author's copy of the paper here

One thing about neopronouns is that there's comparatively little linguistics research published about them, and what does exist is very focused on English. Part of this is because the ways neopronouns are cropping up in English speech communities (especially online) are different than in other language communities, and the other part of the reason is that they're just super rare -- best estimates of how many people use neopronouns are very very low (the US Trans Census and the Gender Census report numbers <10%, and that's out of only trans people), and their appearance in every day language appears to be very rare.

What this means (frustratingly! and I hope this is changing!) is that at best neopronouns are mentioned in footnotes of linguistics articles and books about other stuff. There's also Dennis Baron's 2020 book, What's Your Pronoun, which is a really thorough documentation of historical attempts to coin gender-neutral pronouns in English... but Baron kind of comes to the conclusion that singular 'they' has 'won' the competition, and that none of the neopronouns he tracks have become mainstream.

Anyways, my personal opinion as a linguist is that I get frustrated with linguists who dismiss neopronouns because they're rare. Just because something's rare doesn't mean it's not a part of the language, and therefore a real part of the phenomenon we've decided to study! Devil's hole pupfish of english, tbh.

(Previous "3 papers to read" post was "3 papers to read about singular 'they'." If you like these posts, you can request a topic in linguistics and I'll do my best to recommend 3 open-access published papers to read!)

[thestalkerbunny]

So truly as his song proclaimed, on one sunny day (A heat index of literally 97 degrees and climbing) I once again met with our old friend Bill Cipher by purchasing The Book of Bill.

And I gotta say.

It was like a WAVE of nostalgia.

I had forgotten how GOOD and WITTY Gravity falls had been. Not to mention the book in itself is SMART. We as a community were ENTHRALLED with the evil tortilla chip-an absurd thing to vote Tumblr's most sexy man 2013-and the book knew that and was like 'here is more of the chip man.' Like obviously there's codes and treats and what have youse for the smarter folks. But just the energy of the whole book, the fake ADS, the amazing design work, the missing pages, GATSBY, the LORE Bill gives that fills in so many blanks for us while callously poking more holes with a pencil at the same time. You read it perpetually bouncing back and forth questioning how reliable a narrator Bill is and more importantly, how much of it do you REALLY want to believe in?

It's a narrative that explores Bill as a person-at least how Bill Perceives it and with missing journal pages from Ford, how FORD perceived Bill.

The whole book in itself is a BREAK UP story, between a Man and the Monster who he unknowingly let into his life. A monster that pushes him to the brink, that makes the possession trope EXCITING AND NEW to me as he is horribly aware and actively communicating with the monster who is actively threatening his very LIFE if not given obedience and compliance. And it's not one sided yelling into the void convos-they can actually communicate and it makes the disregard so much more terrifying. It both makes you empathize with our favorite villain while not cheapening it so much to redeem him.

Reading this book validates the mania we see Ford with when we get the flash back episode of the Portal Incident. The sick sort of Paranoia that he's developed because every waking moment of his life has been ruined by someone he let in, trusted and opened up to.

The Book of Bill doesn't pull punches. There are parts in this book that go from 'comical horror' that jacks it up to 'Jesus fucking christ'

The Book of Bill does what the original show was not allowed to do-which is go further with how DAMAGING a relationship Ford had with Bill. How it was an addiction, feeding off each other. Ford in finally having someone who could in essence-REFLECT his own intellect back at him and Bill, a creature that demanded an audience to be witnessed by constantly.

Regardless, this was a FASINATING read. 110/10 totally work the trip in the 97 degree heat I made to 3 towns over JUST to get the Barnes and Noble EXCLUSIVE Copy that will now sit very proudly on my shelf. Go Buy it, Go Read it, It is WORTH it.

[shmisky]

I’ve mentioned this on Twitter, too, but the blessing of Tumblr is that I can freely yap about something without a character limit haunting my ass.

This is my attempt to answer some controversial questions about Ford’s personality, such as: was Ford, at any point of his life, truly a detached hero who prioritized the greater good of the universe? Would he have done the same for Stan, were their roles reserved (aka Reverse Portal AU)? And did he, despite his obvious suffering, choose the greater good over his brother when he agreed to erase Stan’s memories to destroy Bill?

Short answer: it’s complicated, but Ford is more unhinged about his loved ones than many people seem to think. No matter Ford’s choice in a Reverse Portal AU, Ford has always loved Stan just as much as Stan loved him.

Long answer:

One common misconception about Ford’s character—not only Ford, but many, many fictional characters I had the pleasure of considering blorbos—is that people take his facade at face value and judge him based off that. You’re falling for his bullshit. You’re looking at Ford and seeing exactly the man he wants you to see, instead of the man he is.

Ford demonstrated being hypocritical many, many times through the show, the comics, his journal, and even TBoB. I would go so far as to say it’s a Known Personality Trait of his. He chews Stan’s ass for being selfish, reckless, a criminal. Then proceeds to be: selfish and completely unaware of it, ten times more reckless, and a much more dangerous kind of criminal.

(No, I don’t believe even for a second that simply stealing pieces for a weapon was what made him a dangerous outlaw in multiple dimensions. Stan might be banned from most places in the United States; states inside a country inside a continent inside Earth inside the solar system inside our galaxy inside our dimension, theoretically. Now compare this with the fact Ford was banned from whole, often entirely magical, dimensions, and described as “armed and dangerous.”)

In a recent interview that I’ve just linked here, Alex commented that initially he couldn’t reconcile the idea of a Ford who was supposedly so responsible and preached responsibility left & right with the idea of a Ford who would keep an extremely dangerous and volatile object such as the infinity sided die inside a cheap plastic case. With Rob Renzetti’s help (co-author of J3 and the closest thing we have of an irl Ford), he came to understand that Ford can bring himself to do anything he can effectively rationalize.

That’s logical, says baby Ford in the comics, under the assumption the Sibling Brothers really were dead because, you know, he and his twin had killed them (to be fair, only Stan, but as I’ve talked before in another analysis, Ford had a tendency to think of himself as part of an unit with his brother; if Stan 1 was a killer, so was Stan 2), and completely indifferent to that fact. Or to the fact they would be stealing clothes of their corpses to impersonate them. (When you remove the layer of humor and comic relief, you notice how wild the lore of Gravity Falls is, hahah.) That was Ford as a child! But my crimes had a noble purpose, says old Ford in Journal 3, about being an intergalactic outlaw. But it was all in the name of science, says old Ford in the comics, also justifying his crimes. In the name of science, Ford? I thought you were stealing pieces to build a weapon and destroy Bill. You know, for the greater good of universe, not science...? A bit inconsistent with the excuses here, buddy.

(If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking of how much this can be used as ship fuel or as morally ambiguous!Ford fuel and I agree. Delicious implications.)

But alright, we have already established Ford as hypocritical. Now what? Would he have done the same for Stan or not?

You see, I actually have no doubt that Ford loved Stan just as much as Stan loved him, even at his worst. (I might make a post about that if anyone is interested.) The difference is that he was just very bad at loving Stan. I also have no doubt that Stan was, and still is—they’re alive in some sort of Sea Grunkles limbo in my mind, so excuse the present tense—way more important than the greater good for him. The real question is: would Ford, known zero emotional intelligence haver, possess the self-awareness necessary to recognize that deep truth about himself? Or would he attempt to repress his feelings for Stan to prioritize his noble mission?

The thing about Ford is that he’s insanely good at repressing, so we mustn’t underestimate him. I think this is left pretty clear when he attempted to teach Dipper to just not feel fear as if it were the easiest task in the world. Hilarious, but also worrying.

In the same interview I’ve just referenced, Alex said that Ford is not only distant from Stan or other people, Ford is distant from himself. And if he’s not honest with himself, if he ignores his own feelings, how can we expect him to make the “right” decision (that is, the decision that aligns with what his heart truly wants instead of a decision he’ll bitterly regret for the rest of his life) when it comes to Stan in this specific Reverse Portal scenario?

We can’t. But we can hope! TBoB made me lean towards the more charitable “he has at least a modicum of self-awareness” interpretation of him. He has, after all, not only admitted he missed Stan in a casual manner without need for a life & death situation looming over his head (using their secret bro code, but still), but also considered reaching out (to supposedly lecture Stan, but again, this is Ford we’re talking about, so of course that was just an excuse), before Bill changed his mind.

Imo, one thing that weighs a lot here is how dangerous he knows Bill to be, given that TBoB!Bill abused Ford even more horrifically than I had previously thought. An impossibly dangerous, sadistic, and unpredictable being—capital E Evil, and as such, a threat he is guaranteed to take seriously. TBoB seems to imply Ford thought Stan was doing just fine. (A shameless con artist who could be doing a thousand better things with his life, sure, but still, just fine.) There’s no way he could convince himself Stan would be fine, Stan would be alright, et cetera, if Stan ended up in Bill’s hands. Death is one of the tamest things Bill could inflict upon Stan, especially considering Stan is Ford’s beloved twin brother (yes, beloved, since Bill had access to Ford’s innermost thoughts and feelings, and was for some reason insanely jealous of Stan in TBoB), which brings us to another thing: the overwhelming and haunting guilt Ford would feel if something happened to Stan because of him.

Another thing I consider worthy of notice is how Ford’s first impulse whenever Stan is in any kind of danger in canon is to rescue him, naturally, thoughtlessly. In J3, he tells us about his dream of Stan being squeezed to death by a giant six-fingered hand and his attempt to run to help him; the fact his feet were somehow frozen in place was the climax of the nightmare. In the comics, he doesn’t hesitate to reunite everyone to go and save Stan, without complaining even once. The funniest thing is that the same can’t even be said about Stan! [gestures to Stan’s reactions to Ford being captured by Probabilitor the Annoying and Bill in Weirdmaggedon] Not that Stan have his reasons to be furious at Ford! He had, of course. But not my point here.

But perhaps you’re not convinced by that and you still think Ford wouldn’t have it in himself to save Stan. That’s a valid interpretation, too. What I love about Ford is that he is so complex and layered that sometimes you can’t answer questions about him with the same certainty you would other characters. At least one thing I’m sure of: if he chose not to save Stan, he would regret it. It’s simply not the kind of person he is. An AU in which Ford clowns and chooses the greater good could be a pool of delicious angst if you’re into that, especially if Stan somehow comes back and doesn’t forgive him. He would slowly, oh so slowly, come to realize he made the “wrong” (again, the one that didn’t align with his self) choice.

Now, the last point of this wall of text: Ford and the erasing of Stan’s memories. That one is quite simple to me. Ford erased Stan’s memories because he had literally no other choice. This is what Ford said to him, you guys: “He’ll be able to take over the galaxy and maybe even worse, but at least he might let the kids free.” And of course, the following, “We need to take his deal. It’s the only way he’ll agree to save you and the kids.” Before, Ford was referring to Bill’s immediate threat to the kids’ lives—Bill had, after all, ran after Dipper and Mabel with a terrifying threat of disassembling their molecules as their grunkles were forced to watch inside their cage, powerless to stop him. After mulling it over, Ford included Stan’s safety in the deal, too, now more certain than ever about his decision to sacrifice not only himself but, in his own words, “the galaxy” (and later, “the universe,” as he was pretending to be Stan) to perhaps save three (3) people.

Emphasis on the perhaps, here. Ford had literally no guarantee Bill would follow through with his words. Given Bill’s track record, it was way, way more likely that he wouldn’t. Bill is a liar and a manipulator through and through, one who takes great enjoyment in people’s suffering. Ford’s suffering, specifically, above all, since TBoB painted Bill as this toxic and possessive ex obsessed with his pet scientist. What were the chances? Even if Bill, through some miracle, did end up keeping his word, we saw Bill’s plans for Earth in his daydream fantasies: taking a bite off the planet, drawing a smiley face on its surface as millions died... What a guy, that Bill! If the Earth was wrecked beyond repair, where would Stan and the kids live? How would they survive among all the chaos and destruction of the literal apocalypse? With nightmarish creatures lurking in every corner? With what food, what water, what shelter? Answer: they likely wouldn’t. The probability of human survival would be abysmally low.

I think Ford knew this very well, deep down. And he was still willing to take the chance, because he was already despairing. Because it was the only visible way out for his family, no matter what happened to him. A fellow shipper once pointed out that it could be Ford’s Martyr Complex rearing its head again, but a) to choose the universe over three people is arguably the “nobler,” less selfish option that would better align with his view of himself as a classic, tragic hero, and b) to surrender to Bill, his archenemy whom he now hated, and admit defeat like that would be beyond humiliating. The blow to the image of himself he insisted on clinging to would be gigantic, and I don’t think the irony of his hypocrisy (of criticizing Stan for merely risking the planet for one person and then objectively and irreversibly selling the whole galaxy, or whole universe, for a small chance of saving three) would be lost on him.

It’s fascinating, too, that Bill didn’t think that was out of character for Ford to accept his absurd deal. Again, the one being who knew younger Ford’s innermost thoughts and feelings, but was unable to access old Ford’s mind, which leads us to the conclusion he very likely based his knowledge of old Ford off younger Ford. (I think this is important to point out due to the fact younger Ford would be the one dealing with the Reverse Portal AU situation.)

Stan, pretending to be him, says, “My only condition is that you let my brother and the kids go!” and Bill believes him easily. Just a word, “Fine,” and that’s it. No questions, no teasing, even though he was mocking the Stan twins for not being able to get along just a second before—he knew that no matter how much Ford bickered with Stan, his love for his twin ran much deeper than that. (Ford might not have liked Stan, for a while, but he still loved Stan. Two different things in this case.)

I imagine that when Stan proposed the twin switch solution, he was the only light amid overwhelming darkness for a Ford who had already surrendered to despair and lost all hope. The water for a man dying of thirst. Not ironically, Ford must have seen a halo around his heroic, noble brother’s head. Finally, something that could work! Stan saves them all! From something that was Ford’s fault, at that! No wonder Ford worships him as the most selfless man he has ever met. The whole thing must have left a strong impression on him. Stan created a solution when there was none, and what a heartbreaking solution it was...

If he didn’t erase Stan’s memories to save the universe, the kids and Stan himself would likely meet their death anyway—a very, very literal, very permanent, kind of death, not just a metaphorical one.

My conclusion is: say what you want about Ford—he is egocentric, arrogant, hypocritical, entitled, and overall an asshole to almost every person who ever loved him—but this man did love his family, fiercely so, and in an intensity that was in no way inferior to Stan’s. He is just incapable of acting normal about it, the poor thing.

[altern1a]

With cohost closing, do you have any ideas of where alterhumans (particularly adults frankly) even meet up/find each other? or is it just discord servers and accidentally finding someone is althu in passing. Sucks that it's so hard to find community.

Alterhumans are everywhere, you just have to be willing to put yourself out there! It's so easy to miss each other when we can't recognize each other.

I will deeply, dearly miss cohost. It was unique and beautiful for how safe and easy it was to be openly alterhuman. But it was never my main platform for meeting people.

You mentioned discord servers, and yes, those are really really good for socializing! You will naturally be limited on who you can find but it's fantastic for forming bonds with whoever you do find. (May I plug Alterdirect for finding servers?)

Here on Tumblr, there are active tags you can follow to find a lot more of us. #alterhuman is a good place to start, of course. I recommend following the tags for any identity you want to meet people with. For example, I currently follow #alterhuman #otherkin #therian #fictionkin #fictionfolk and quite a few more specific ones.

If you're fictionfolk and looking for sourcemates, another thing you can do here on Tumblr is submit a canoncall to any relevant blog that accepts them. There are a lot of general canoncall blogs and some sources have "kin help" blogs that do source-specific canoncalls and some other things. Results definitely vary with canoncalls; if someone has made a discord server for fictionfolk from your source that's usually a bit better, but since not everyone is on discord you can always do both.

Something that's really started taking off in the last few years is online conventions! Tons of alterhumans that are otherwise quiet and hard to find will show up to these. @otherconvention is the biggest one and the one I personally recommend the most, but it is no longer the only option so look around! If you have trouble finding other conventions, they often advertise in the off season server for Othercon.

There is also tons of alterhuman activity outside of big centralized platforms. Older ways of connecting never really fell out of favor with the community and there's also been a big resurgence due to The Everything. Forums are a really good alternative to discord if you're good with the slower pace and lack of a dedicated app. The biggest alterhuman forum I'm familiar with is Nonhuman National Park and smaller forums advertise there so it's definitely where I recommend starting. There are also many, many personal websites, and even more going up post-cohost. A good place to start finding those is the Alterhuman Summoning Circle webring.

The larger alterhuman community is evasive and tries to stay off the radar, for obvious reasons. But once you've gotten into it, it's surprisingly well interconnected. We really like being able to find each other!

I also have a dedicated resource I'm working on to help those who aren't as enmeshed (and even those who are!) find the living alterhuman communities where they can actually meet each other. I'm not as good about keeping it up to date as I'd like to be but you can find it here: The Alterhuman Web

Thank you for reaching out to me about this, it's one of my favorite topics! It's not right for us to feel alone when there are really so many of us. We are stronger together!

I'm also going to loop in @who-is-page and @a-dragons-journal in case they have anything they want to add that I forgot about! Lemme know if you don't wanna be tagged in stuff like this. Also, anyone else who wants to can add their thoughts too, obviously.

[dreamlifebunny]

bunny's ✨digital detox✨ + manifestation challenge!

hi friends! i've decided to do a little "dopamine detox" so that i can become more present in my day-to-day, connect with myself and my passions, and apply the law. instead of leaving you without any posts, i thought i would turn this short absence of mine into a challenge so that you can join me if you're interested! this is going to be a very simple challenge that mostly focuses on regaining joy in your life, but i hope it can bring you inspiration and peace.

purpose of challenge: to help your brain enjoy simple things again and fill your life with more joy, to get off of social media and apply the law, and to manifest anything you desire. as you can see, this is mostly a challenge to reconnect with ourselves and what brings us joy, but manifestation is the added bonus of this challenge!

step one:

delete or hide apps on your phone or laptop that involve mindless stimulation. for me, this includes tumblr, social media, checking things that give me notifications like my email, etc. normally, tumblr wouldn't be included in this because i use it for learning about the law, but part of this challenge is about getting offline and actually applying the law, so for now i will be deleting it.

step two:

make a list of activities that bring you joy that don't involve mindless stimulation. here are some ideas of things that i like to do if you're having trouble coming up with your own list:

scripting my dream life and coming up with cute scenarios in my head

writing a letter to a friend and decorating it with my own art or stickers

reading a fiction book and getting lost in the story

reading a non-fiction book to learn things about my passions and interests

singing and playing instruments

journaling or filling out writing prompts

going for bike rides or long walks with music

playing fun video games, but not for hours on end like i normally would heh

step three:

decide what you are going to manifest and choose your favourite methods to fulfill yourself! remember, this challenge is about connecting with yourself and what you love, so pick the methods that make you smile. i really enjoy daydreaming about my desires and feeling every emotion in my body that comes up and knowing that my desire is real.

REMEMBER: this challenge is primarily about doing a digital detox to give our brains more happiness. the main goal isn't to manifest, but it is SO much easier to manifest when our brains aren't constantly stimulated and consuming information. our desires manifesting is an added bonus for this challenge!

step four:

as you engage with your life and connect with awareness (who you are at your core) and as you enjoy activities that bring you joy, remind yourself in whatever way feels best to you that you have all of your desires, and that this extra space you're giving your brain is allowing more space for your lovely desires to show up in your life

step five:

report back during the end of any three-day period from when you start this challenge with your results! results could include how you feel, what you learned about yourself, what you manifested or realized about your manifestation, how your days looked without constantly stimulation, or anything you wish to share!

important note:

detoxing from constant stimulation is a HARD THING TO DO! they design apps to make us addicted, and your need for constant stimulation is not your fault. if at any point this challenge brings up feelings of shame or struggle due to the addiction of constant stimulation, make sure you are compassionate and loving to yourself; you're doing a wonderful thing as a gift to yourself and are a good person who is doing something very tricky, and you should be proud that you are even giving it a try. you are strong and badass and deserve the world and all of your desires! if at any point you need to dip out of this challenge, make sure to pat yourself on the back and thank yourself for trying it and know that you can always do it again in the future if you want to c:

love you friends! i am so excited to see the results of this challenge. i am proud of you, i am inspired by you, and i can't wait to see you all soon! ���

lots of love, bunny 💕

[draconym]

About Draconym

Hey tumblr, I’m Mel. I’m an old millennial who works in public parks. In the past I’ve been a ranger and a technician. Sometimes I post pictures of the animals that I get to work with. I also post art, comics, and weird dreams. Here's some FAQ.

Common Tags

art, comic, dreams, nature center, park ranger, poll, ripley parrot, snake, cockatiel, video, me, music, bug, bird, dragon

Links

Website: cyaneus.com

Redbubble: tillery

Patreon: cyaneus

Art Reblogs/Inspiration: @insectivus

Fanfiction: @ironbeaks-journal

Mastodon: art.vulture, social.cyaneus

Featured Creatures

Ripley, 15 year old African grey parrot. Dinosaur toddler and menace to household objects.

Enyo: 20 year old cockatiel. Grumpy old man.

Cheese: ??? year old cockatiel. Weird little guy.

Mousetrap: Eastern rat snake rescued from a glue trap in 2016. Frequent animal ambassador at park programs.

Galaga: Western hognose. Less skilled at being an animal ambassador due to being kind of an asshole.

Elvira: Curly hair tarantula.

Content Warnings

I try to tag for common phobias such as snakes, spiders, bugs, and animal death.

Art Usage

If you’d like to use my art as an icon or a blog header, I’m honored, and please do! Please credit either my blog (this one, @draconym) or my website (cyaneus.com). Please don’t edit my art except to crop or resize it for icons. I don’t mind if you share my tumblr posts to non-tumblr social media as long as you link back to me, but within tumblr please reblog instead of reposting my content. Don’t use my art for any commercial purpose.

Donation Reblog Requests

I get a lot of requests to reblog donation posts. I don’t mind if you privately send me a link to a fundraiser, though I don’t always have the means to donate. I only reblog fundraisers for people I know personally.

Askbox

Usually open. Messages welcome, though I don't usually answer them quickly. Not really available for commissions at the moment.

[sgiandubh]

Machiavelli took a day off

... when the Telegraph article was written in great haste, by someone blatantly given a last minute task, who had no fucking idea to whom she was talking and what exactly meant the PR vetted or even prompted questions.

Instead of a line-by-line analysis, we'll take things differently, on this page, using the '5 W rule of journalism' (or even non-fiction writing, in general, if you ask me):

Who? SRH, EP of the OL series and one of the two male leads of the TCND series, which will be shortly broadcast by Channel 4, in the UK and IE only (and Movistar in ES). The rest of the world is not concerned.

What? A promotional article, focused on the actor's personality, CV and projects.

When? At a particular moment in time, just after the SAG-AFTRA strike and before shooting OL's eighth and last season.

Where? Crucial to place it in LHR (to imply he is 'just visiting') and God forbid it would be in GLA, which (for some curious reasons) seems to be off-limits.

Why? An actor with solid credentials hopes to keep agents and employers interested, after above OL project is done, which is rather sooner than later. Also addressing (as per the actor's PR agent specific requirements) three particular issues: the Palestine letter, the Bond project and his 'private life'.

Onwards to the three issues at stake, which probably prompted the article. In chronological order, this time. And no, I am not going to address the Scottish independence mention, because this is a sincere, well-known position of his and this page never bitches about people's convictions - also because I educated myself on it and I agree with S.

Palestine:

It was important, for obvious reasons, to push damage control a tad further. Also, strictly from a hypothetical POV, I would be very curious to read your compare and discuss thoughts with regard to this particular post on this page:

A sort of answer came in the Telegraph paper, too. Not only to me (I am less than nobody), but to all the people (of which we were many) who thought he should not get involved in this type of debate:

This is not the first time he uses this specific talking point. Last time known to me was on the day the Queen died, on X (I looked for that post, but can't find it, because I am just a filthy lurker, like that: but it is there).

The really interesting question, therefore, is: does he/somebody monitor what is being said on Tumblr? The answer is, I think, yes, and it shows. Will it stop me talking in here? Nope, as I trust my discerning abilities, for the moment. Other than that, his damage control op does not bring anything new to the table.

Bond:

What can I say, Sir? While there's life, there's apparently hope. But that doesn't translate well, given the context of your interview. That spells desperate and it's not a great picture. Also, let us keep a pious moment of silence in fond memory of a 25 year old who had a dream and the dream went to Daniel Craig (who I detested as Bond, because every girl has her Bond and mine is Pierce Brosnan, amen).

I know people still speculate about it. I have very high reservations and I cannot, for the life of me, seriously consider even thinking about the possibility. He could do it with flying colors, no doubt. Does he stand a chance? I prefer to have zero expectations on it and be floored if it happens. If he naively still yearns/pushes for it, this interview could very well be as abysmal as C's VF tantrum.

'Private life':

Ugh. Slippery when wet. I have already touched the subject in a reactive re-blog of @samheughanswife's post about it and I will not get back to what I said even without reading the article.

Some more extraordinary wording, in here: 'there might even be space for a personal life' - begs the question 'when?' In general? (in general, all men are created equal, too - it's practice that kills the theory) Now? (it is my staunch belief the answer is yes). After OL? (then and now and after Hiroshima, too). Can you program these things? (nope, stars simply aligned) Heh. Enough said. Also, 'might' spells cheap insinuation to me. But that's just me, a blonde voice in the audience.

Now, onwards to the daughter thing. I believe this specifically addresses the cheap, abundant clickbait content on You Tube, hence the vague 'online' reference (not Tumblr, not fans, not blogs - he is not C, he kept it clean). Such as this very recent one (last 'clip' on the topic was five days ago):

The two I chose to share here, which are very conspicuous FAKES, are originating from the same 'source', an account that seems obsessed with S&C and has no problem changing its narrative three times a week, if needed. My opinion? PR induced shite, to prod numbers/interest and see what sticks.

No newborn daughter? I hear no lies.

As for OL leaving 'no time for relationships', ahem. *urv will be thrilled to read that, I bet the farm. As will Flukenzie Floozy, at least her - damn, she was persistent! Also, hello, back to 2014-2016 playbook, aren't we?

No new relationships? Whatever for, when IYKYK? I hear no lies.

'I want a cat' ('because she's great', says my shipper brain on autopilot), 'but I am too scared even for that'. Humph. A very poor lie. But admitting you wanted and got a Ca(i)t scares the bejesus out of you, since 2016. I hear no lies. Yes, I am being tongue in cheek and damn the consequences.

Morality of it?

The easiest solution is never to take personal questions in interviews or panels. Why These Two still do it completely mystifies me.

[mixtapedoh]

vernon as highschool crush pls for lonely boy 🧍‍♀️

vernon my bestie beloved bastard ♡ you really are requesting for the people, lindsay.

;༊ — lonely boy

pairing: hansol vernon chwe x gn!reader genre: fluff, high school au word count: ~3.3k warnings: language, mild threats among friends, a lack of originality (but perhaps ameliorated by an understanding of the conventions of trope?)

olive's notes: firstly, hahaha.......... pretend like this wasn't something you sent me actual months ago.... and pretend like i gave the prompt the justice it deserves....... shhhhhh, i answer things in a timely manner and can still be considered a tumblr writer. secondly, this is quite glaringly based off of and colored by my memories of high school, so expect United States education system nonsense <3.

☄. *. ⋆ hansol vernon chwe x high school crush.

— the hardest thing about crushing on this fucker is that he's everywhere

simultaneously the biggest cryptid in the whole student body (if you had a nickel for every time your journalism teacher asked: "has anyone seen hansol this week?" to absolute crickets you'd be able to pay for at least 2 years of college) and also the most social person to ever grace your high school halls, hansol was everywhere all at once, and contradictorily, nowhere when you sought him out.

you wanted to avoid seeing him because of something embarrassing you were sure he had noticed? bam. right there beside you, sitting on the same row of auditorium seats for the assembly.

you wanted to catch a glimpse of him while the both of you were assigned to photograph the basketball game? viola. gone, nowhere to be seen; and yet your friend will tell you later that he was there the whole time, snapping the best photos of boo seungkwan's legendary 3-pointers (which you certainly hadn't missed, so where had he been??).

— yes, having a crush on hansol vernon chwe was exhausting. there was no way to save face — trust hansol to be there at your worst hours (like that chemistry presentation where the color palette you used for your PowerPoint was too light for the old projector screen to show properly, and so you half of your graphics were unreadable, inspiring your professor to dock 10 points, despite that fact that when you pulled it up on a computer screen - or any other device that wasn't an old ass projector at least 15 years out of date - the graphics were just fine and the detail above required). it didn't matter the specifics of the occasion, it was simple fact you'd always somehow manage, in your darkest moment, to look out and see hansol — always a kind smile, with something encouraging in his eye, despite, but still horribly, embarrassingly, and irrevocably present.

— and then, as it if weren't bad enough, hansol vernon chwe had the absolute gall to be unbothered, unfazed, unable to be rattled or shaken in any way, by comparison.

oh sure, you'd seen him cringe before at him friend's (mostly kwon soonyoung's) antics; you were familiar with the way vernon expressed any and all emotion with the whole of him — his every muscle tensing and twisting in a way so visceral and real, you could feel embarrassed, too, by just looking at him — but the envy was this: it was never at his expense that such feelings would arise. vernon was never embarrassed because of something he did or caused or felt. his life was far too chill and unbothered for that. others could be embarrassing around him, but all of his actions flowed so smoothly — rolled over the shoulders of everyone else.

the closest he'd ever get was doing something explicitly stupid just for the enjoyment of others. but, the catch was this: they enjoyed it !!!! it was funny and not cringe worthy !!!!! the net effect was positive.

it was infuriating. sometimes you weren't sure if you wanted to kiss hansol or strangle him with your bare hands.

— but let's take things back to journalism.

— because of course he took journalism.

not exactly the most exalted of the journalism students or anything, hansol was mostly known for his opinion piece articles and, of course, availability and willingness to go to any school event to take pictures and help fill in the blanks of the article anyone was writing.

he had friends in any and all school functions and events. from sports to musicals, science fairs to choir recitals, you could say, "is anyone going to this very obscure and random FBLA presentation?" or "did you know that the coding club is going to be attending an event at another high school this saturday?" and hansol would immediately perk up, pull out one of his headphones and go, "yeah, i'm gonna check it out. did you need a ride?"

— and it was because of that — his being everywhere, inescapable and offhandedly thoughtful, open and so easily warm — that these pesky feelings even started, in the first place.

— just when it happened is perhaps inconsequential (in all actuality, it likely started before your journalism daily exposure, just slowly, more of an itch at the back of your mind than the brash insistence it was, now) but it was definitely the fault of journalism. maybe that band and orchestra festival in 11th grade where you went with hansol to do a write up on all the high schools attending (placing undue emphasis on your high school's multi-talented band leader, lee jihoon, who could play half the instruments in the room), or maybe that series of debate tournaments you both covered in 11th grade, or when the two of you took over the baseball column that same year and when the heatwave spiked early, vernon would attend each game in sleeveless tops, always with an extra ball cap in tow since you would (conveniently, perhaps?) forget one of your own and the sun made it impossible to see what was happening, beyond.

yes, just when it hit was neither here nor there, because at the end of the day, the problem remained: you were hopelessly down bad for one hansol vernon chwe. fuck.

— and you couldn't escape him if you tried.

and trust me, at one point, try, you had.

— after all, at the beginning of your senior year, you somehow ended up being in the same spanish class as him and his friend joshua, and after a whole year (and subsequent summer break, when your journalism teacher found an opportunity to have a section of the city newspaper be dedicated to "the youth of journalism," and weekly, your journalism club was able to publish in the city newspaper) of crushing on hansol with a vehemence perhaps concerning, you knew you couldn't handle having to have embarrassing debates, conversations, and role play scenarios with him.

in perhaps two weeks you were in the counselor's office, exploring alternate class blocks. in the end, you were stuck in a ceramics course instead of your preferred electives, but at least when the unit on "la familia, el amor y todo lo interpersonal" came up, you were role playing as a couple alongside jeon jungkook, who couldn't stop making you wheeze with laughter from his overextention of the r at every available chance, rather than your crush, hansol.

(all it would have taken was one "te extraño" from hansol through your fake hand phones to absolutely floor you. someone call the school nurse, you're fallen and perhaps can never get back up again.)

— so you avoided him there, and even before that, during your junior year, you had mostly eaten off campus on your second schedule days when you and hansol had the same lunch hour and the risk of running into him at a time potentially embarrassing was at an all time high, seeing as nowhere was safe — the social butterfly he was, hansol managed to have business in every hallway of the school. not a single area was risk free.

yeah, junior year really had just been a mess of emotions you hadn't wanted to name, and so instead, elected to pointedly ignore. you were glad to say that while spending your hard earned money to eat out 2-3 times a week was a bit of a low, you had solidly moved out of that phase of your life by spring that year, and could stomach the risk of Being Seen by someone who had captured your attention so strongly.

and yeah, even though you had a bit of a backslide when changing spanish classes senior year (which could be chalked up to self-preservation, truly), you had solidly moved past that whole Avoidance Stage of your Crippling Crush on One Hansol Vernon Chwe.

— so hansol couldn't be avoided. that much was abundantly clear. and you had to interact with him in journalism and (god willing) be normal while doing so, and luckily, while all that exposure didn't exactly desensitize you to his overwhelming charm, admirable confidence, infectious smile, endearing jokes, comfortable aura, and oh so beautiful eyes, it had forced you to just,,,,,,, accept some things.

— accept that you had a raging crush on hansol, but that it could be managed... so long as none of your mutual friends found out.

— you were pretty sure that wonwoo knew, but at least he was ✨subtle✨ and generally checked out of things like that. genuinely, he could not care less, and so he made it no one's problem. you could probably tell him your most rancid, vulgar thoughts, and he would just file it away in his mind as: "nasty shit i can never unhear" and go about his day. compare that to your other mutual acquaintance, seungkwan, and well...

— but for the most part, it seemed that senior year was inching away, another year with a crush on hansol, and another year where you didn't say a damn thing and refused to leave anything close to a hint for him to pick up on.

— but mercy didn't exactly exist for you, now did it.

— the horrible series of Epic Fumblings and Incriminating Moments began in october, when hansol and joshua decided to make a podcast to convince the school that an AV club could be a fun addition to the roster of School Sanctioned Clubs (an idea they really should have had back in august

— the horrible series of Epic Fumblings and Incriminating Moments began in october, when hansol and joshua decided to make a podcast to convince the school that an AV club could be a fun addition to the roster of School Sanctioned Clubs (an idea they really should have had back in august — you know, when clubs were first getting registered and students were accosted in the hallways with club information slapped on astrobrights with strong ~graphic design is my passion~ presentation)

they had needed someone tech savvy enough to get them the podcast equipment and teach them how to use it (and just,,, do all the technical aspects for them 🥺👉👈 pwetty pwease 🥺👉👈 we're just silly boys who want to talk about random shit but are trying to pass it off as being Constructive in Some Sense so that it looks good on college applications) and so obviously their search had sent them in the way of wonwoo, who only seemed to have free time on the exact day and time you two would joint study for your college level government and politics course.

so of course he asked if the two of you could move your study sessions to a different location (he swore he could multitask? okay overacheiver) so that he could both study with you and help the stupidly handsome hansol and joshua with their brilliant podcast idea.

and of course, you'd forget the first time and wonwoo would conveniently not answer his texts for 20 minutes, allowing for the most embarrassing stage of him finally picking up his phone (on speaker?) to you yelling "jeon wonwoo, i will personally castrate you and throw it in the ocean so you can be eaten alive by the creatures birthed from the subsequent sea foam if you don't come to the library to study right now. i have been waiting for 20. minutes. where are you?" and hansol and joshua would hear you. and have the gall to laugh.

and of course wonwoo wouldn't even give you the grace of not having to show up to his house (your new study location) to study for the day. in fact, hansol gave him the brilliant idea of threatening to train an eagle to peck at your liver daily - not eating it fully, just put in it's beak and twist the flesh. since you can't grow another liver overnight, of course. don't you just love mythological punishment.

(and that wouldn't be the end of the embarrassing podcast adventures, either. the time shua cajoled you into being a special guest????? truly, you dodged a bullet not being in spanish with that fool. he's impossible to refuse and the worst of it was that he knew it.)

— or what about the december gift exchange in journalism?? that was certainly not your finest moment, trying to get chaewon to change names with you so that you could gift something to hansol (something lady luck had never granted you despite all the blood, sweat, and tears you sunk into this journalism group of yours), and he heard you, mid-conversation.

seungkwan had told you hansol had been talking about it later, and you quite literally saw him connect the dots in slow-motion as he recounted the story. "y/n, do you have a crush on hansol????" it would have been bad enough that he practically yelled the accusation in the stands of the football field, but then he had the gall to triumphantly gasp and break into hysterical laughter upon your clear embarrassment at being caught. it was during lunch! you're shared lunch break with hansol! who knew where that fucker was! he probably saw the whole exchange!

(in the end, chaewon didn't change names with you (she traded with some other journalism traitor so she could gift to sakura) and even though hansol didn't have your name, he got you something regardless, saying it was thanks for putting up with he and shua stealing wonwoo during your (once peaceful) study sessions. you had decided against getting him a gift regardless, and so you had to awkwardly seek him out during winter break to shove a poorly wrapped box in his hands, with a mumbled apology for your tardiness in gifting, something he pushed away cooly, as expected (but were those red ears of his from just the cold, alone?).)

— and then, well, once everyone came back from winter break and seungkwan knew of your crush on hansol... school became less a Place of Learning and more a Viscous Time Loop of Shutting Seungkwan Up Before He Spilled The Beans.

kicking him under the table. threatening his livelihood. slapping a hand over his mouth on one occasion because seungkwan couldn't take a joke and his retaliation of choice was calling over hansol right there and then and forcing you both to awkwardly sit in the bitter soup of Revelation.

— and then there was february. oh, february. how easy it is to loathe february.

— it was already hard enough getting through the embarrassment of valentine's day themed fundraising — every year, your literature teacher (who oversaw the student body officers — that first exposure to the cruel reality of rigged elections, a popularity win if there ever was one) offered extra credit for students who volunteered time to help the sbo's with their silly little business venture of "roses for $3, sugar cookies with shocking pink frosting for $2, heart suckers for $1, sonnets written by the creative writing and theatre kids for $7.

every year you volunteered for some reason or another - maybe your grade needed it, maybe you were doing sbo president seungcheol a favor because no one signed up, maybe you were following the stupid advice of seokmin and were doing it for the plot (code for: please don't leave me alone at the stand, i will buy you all the sugar cookies you'd like, just don't consign me to spending my lunch break in this particular layer of hell in solitude). this year was no different in you signing up to do time, but seungkwan sure was different, asking you every day if you managed to see if vernon sent anyone something (he had — soonyoung had convinced him to pitch in to send jihoon 16 sonnets, to be read aloud in the middle of class). if he had sent you something (he hadn't).

but when you got an anonymous rose sent to your 2nd class of the day, with a cryptic note attached, your friends wouldn't let you live it down all week. (who had sent it, though? they would have had to be very strategic as to when they placed the order — you had certainly never seen one for yourself in your daily exchange of goods, and seokmin was suspiciously tight lipped about the whole thing (very uncharacteristic of him — who had the ability to buy dk's silence, and better yet, how had they done it???)).

— yes, valentine's day was bad enough. but to add to the mix was always hansol's birthday. last year you'd gotten him a gift since you had worked quite a lot together during that month, and it just felt... normal. comfortable. something kind to do that wasn't weird in anyway. but these days, facing hansol was almost as embarrassing as it had been during junior year when you avoided the mere sight of him like seeing him smile would end in you contracting the plague.

as the day inched ever closer, you were seriously considering missing the day entirely. taking the day off. pretending to be sick. but that wouldn't get you out of seeing him the day after. and the day after that.

perhaps fleeing the country would be a totally normal reaction and solid plan.

— and then joshua invited you to hansol's surprise birthday party.

well. at least that cleared up whether you should get him a gift or not.

— to say that, at that moment and for the subsequent days afterward, were overthinking the whole thing would be to extremely understate reality.

you were about to pop a blood vessel over this shit.

wonwoo was invited, too (how charitable of them. making sure there'd be someone there to scrape you off the floor when you inevitably discovered the power of self combustion) and it was rather comical to see the two of you: cool and calm wonwoo, and you with the internal dialogue of WHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHA

all holding a cute little gift between you.

— and the surprise birthday party really was a Legitimate, 5-Star, Genuine Quality, Surprise Bona Fide™ - a success by all measures. a shock in more ways than one: a surprise for hansol who had no idea the party was happening in the first place, getting called over for what he expected was a casual videogame night; a surprise for lee chan, somehow, when he saw that shua got you to come 15 minutes before show time to help blow up balloons - a shock so big he started to say something with a wild grin and was immediately dogpiled by mingyu, junhui, and hoshi; a surprise for all the friends amassed when you proved to be quite adept at party games like their incredibly convoluted version of mafia; and a surprise for you, later that night, when hansol offered to take you home

— the two you decided to stop at an empty playground before parting ways and see who could jump farther off of the swings. he won by a wide margin, but you had the skinned knees to prove your effort and the memory of hansol laughing so hard he could barely breathe — his smile so wide it could've filled you completely, banish any longing from your chest for a moment of unique closeness and bliss — and perhaps that was a consolation prize, enough.

but then you and hansol were on the swings again, seeing who could tighten the swing chain the most and spin the longest, and between the motion blur, you heard hansol admit defeat and when the swing stopped, his face was all too close to yours to shrug off as friendly, and his hands were holding the swing chain on either side, and when he spoke soft and low to crown you the victor, you kissed him.

and the biggest surprise of the night was when he kissed you back.

☄. *. ⋆

blog home

[somewhere-at-the-burrow]

Your blog is such a breath of fresh air. Experienced shifters have been deactivating their blogs left and right lately (mainly reasons relating to the tumblr community becoming too negative), the community is still mostly filled with people who are still learning so I hardly hear about successes (if ever), and when it comes to those who are successful, so few people share their experiences in such detail nowadays. Not that they have to of course. I do feel shifting is a personal and private thing and people are entitled to their privacy, but I can't tell you the last time I've seen someone share such specific, mundane details about their other lives. I just wanted to thank you so much for covering details so many people flat out don't get into when it comes to talking about their DRs. It really helps hammer it home that this is indeed real to those still questioning it.

thank you for the kind words.. it really means so much to me that people find solace in my stories and ramblings!

when I first shifted in 2020, I immediately knew I wanted to share my experiences and provide help, especially since many people were skeptical and discovering shifting. I used to share a lot of methods and stories over on tiktok, but I have to admit that I also thought the community got overwhelmingly negative with the rise of shiftok, and that lead to me leaving my account.

I instead told my family about shifting, and they were surprisingly supportive! it definitely took them a while to accept that this was something I do, but my family is pretty eclectic and they even had some experiences themselves! I know that is not common at all, but my mom loves to hear my stories and she knows about my old account / used to watch it. so, one day we were talking about my first shift to the burrow, and she said she thought it was a mistake that I left my account because my stories make me so passionate and she can see that!!

that is where this blog was born! I usually just use this to ramble about the random things, but I've heard that those are the most motivating and I have to agree. I always loved reading the little mundane details, and those helped me most on my journey to validate that this experience felt like real life.

if I can help any shifters, I will be so glad! shifting changed the direction of my life so much, and I can't ever imagine stopping bc it is so important to me! for now, I love to document as much as I can and use this blog as a personal journal, but one day I would love to maybe aid in research about shifting or write a book or something?? my mom always says that she would love to see me get a brain scan while I shift, but I dunno if that would actually do anything with it being consciousness and all! but I am so glad my passion is reflecting in my blog and you all enjoy it!!

I am open to try and answer any questions! this blog is also so motivating for me as well when I feel myself in a shifting slump, and answering these questions just makes my heart swell with happiness

thank you for sticking around! good luck shifting everyone!!

DAPHNE