yknow theres a lot of pressure to be successful, particularly on artsy kids whose professions are seen as useless unless theyre famous, but life is fucking hard and sometimes things dont turn out
but i think thats not bad. my dad has wanted to be a musician forever, and hes rly pretty good. but then he joined the military to get away from an abusive family, and then he got married, and then he got divorced, and a lot of horrible shit HAPPENED. he has ptsd and severe anxiety and he could never really get back on the horse. and he never made it as a musician, and now hes 53
but i grew up in a house full of instruments, and he can play all of them, and some of my earliest memories are of him playing guitar on the front porch and me thinking there wasnt a better musician in the world. so. even if you dont get to the stars, exactly, what you do isnt worthless. its not a waste of time if life is difficult and you cant make it, or if you arent famous, or if your work doesn’t influence thousands of people. it will influence someone
there are a million ways to be happy and a million ways to be a successful artist. we create what we do to enhance the human experience and relate to each other and improve ourselves. theres something to be said for just doing that,,,for the sake of doing it, yknow
This is the most comforting, warm and important piece of text I have ever read, and it is so true. No life is wasted that is spent sharing and loving.
Me: I don’t know if I ever want to be pregnant, I’d rather adopt a kid or two that are a bit older
Someone: Are you SURE? Older adoptees present UNIQUE CHALLENGES
Me: We are discussing human beings not digital pets
Literally every child every born and/or parented presents unique challenges. It’s like people are unique individuals…..or something………….
An amazing and revolutionary concept
When people ask me, “Why do you want to adopt teenagers?” I always answer, “Because you asked like that.”
I’m real over it.If I become a foster mom to a 17 year old kid and I get the privilege of the option to adopt them? You better believe I am legally making that kid mine.
“They’ll be a legal adult in no time, why spend the money to adopt? They’ll be aged out of the system.”
There’s no aging out of family, Marvin.
“They might be rebellious or smoke or do drugs or steal things! What if they won’t listen to you?”
Then I guess I’ll have to step up and do some fruxking parenting, Stanley.
“You want to adopt problem children then?”
All. Children. Are. Problem. Children. If you’re not prepared to deal with the fact that at some point, any child ever, whether you birthed them yourself or adopted them at any age, could become a problem? Then you are NOT ready to have children, and should really just step off and let the people who actually want to be parents live in peace with their kids.
Fic idea I was struck with the other day and keep thinking about: a Vulcan adopts a cat.
Still thinking about this, even though I’m not writing the fic!
This Vulcan, I’m calling her T’Pen, goes to a shelter and gets a cat, and the shelter employees are like, a bit weirded out? But obviously they’re going to give her a cat, I mean, she’s a Vulcan, she’s Super Responsible, she takes all the pamphlets and listens attentively to all the advice the shelter employees give her, even though it is obvious she researched a lot on her own.
Then T’Pen asks the shelter folks what she should name the cat and runs into That Thing Humans Do Where They Confound a Vulcan With Their Weird Ways
Shelter Employee 1: oh, you can name a cat anything! That’s what’s great! People names, common nouns, whole phrases.
Shelter Employee 2: yeah, nothing sounds weird on a cat. Everything from Chad to Cupboard is fair game.
SE 1: yeah, I mean, you can’t call a dog Chad, that would be weird
SE 2: I wouldn’t fuckin’ trust anyone who named their dog Chad
SE 1: oh word
T’Pen:….
T’Pen: ….fascinating.
Later, in the interest of furthering her anthropological study of Earth, T’Pen has a houseparty and she invites her coworkers, many of whom are human, but others which are aliens, and are fascinated by T’Pen’s cat
Vulcan Co-worker: T’Pen, what have you named this small Earth feline?
T’Pen: I have named him Marmalade.
Vucan co-worker: Is that not the name of a type of Terran fruit preserve? I do not understand the logic behind this choice.
T’Pen: the logic is self-evident to a human.
Human Co-worker: T’Pen, omg, you have a cat! What’s his name?
T’Pen: thank you for your inquiry. His name is Marmalade
Human Co-worker: oooh! yeah, that makes sense, because he’s orange and sweet! lmao, great name
the thing folks living in Christian dominant cultures gotta realize is that even if you’re not Christian, your basic understanding of religion and spirituality and morality is still being filtered through a Christian lens. your very concept of what religion is and does is filtered through that lens.
This is what I call cultural Christianity, for those who are still confused
“But everyone celebrates christmas.”
No. No we don’t.
“Religion is based on complete blind submission and not asking any questions ever”
No. That’s Christianity.
“Religion is totally focused on the afterlife and getting into heaven and avoiding hell”
Nope. Christianity again.
“Religion is about pushing your beliefs on others and trying to get them to convert”
Still Christianity.
Actually that’s even more specific - that’s Calvinism, which predominates in America. America isn’t just culturally Christian,it’s culturally Calvinist, which very specifically focuses on submission, the fear of damnation, and conversion. It’s also not just any old Calvinism, but a very rigidly puritanical variety thanks to our roots.
There are other culturally Christian countries, which are of other denominations and therefore have a slightly different bent. England is culturally Anglican, Germany is culturally Lutheran, Italy and Spain are culturally Catholic, Russia is culturally Orthodox, etc. However, even the cultural Catholicism of Italy is different from, say, the cultural Catholicism of Ireland.
So even here, we need to be careful not to filter other cultures’ Christianities through what is a very Americanized (via @queertilly) Christianity, and vice versa with other countries. Speaking as an American, even our concept of what Christianity is has been Americanised.
character in fight scene: *pins down the opponent and leans in close to whisper in their ear*
me:
character in fight scene: *restrains the opponent by twisting their arm/s behind their back and pinning them to the wall chest first with their own chest pressing against the opponents back*
Character in fighting scene: *restrains opponents arms in a lock hold with their own, entangling their arms together forcing their bodies to be pressed together and faces in close proximity*
thereâs nothing purer or better than how much kids enjoy being picked up and then hurled at soft surfaces
anyone whoâs ever been around kids for ay meaningful amount of time should know exactly how much kids long to be hefted up and then just fuckin tossed! itâs so good! theyâre so excited to get fucking tossed around like a sack of potatoes itâs so pure
Why do kids love it so much? Like I remember when I was a kid at diving practice during the summer, the best part was when one if the coaches would toss you into the deep end. And in gymnastics coaches would toss us into the foam pit. Do kids just have a evolutionary urge to die?
âVestibular sense provides information about where the body is in relation to its surroundings. This is the sense that helps you understand balance, and it connects with all the other senses.
When the vestibular system does not develop properly all other senses will struggle to function properly. Without a strong vestibular sense, kids will have no choice but to fidget, get frustrated, experience more falls and aggression, get too close to people when talking, and struggle with focusing and listening. Because they literally cannot help it.â
âHere are a few ways to support your childâs vestibular sense:
Spinning in circles.
Using a Merry-Go-Round.
Rolling down a hill.
Spinning on a swing.
Going upside down.
Climbing trees.
Rocking.
Jumping rope.
Summersaults or cartwheels.
Using monkey bars.
Skating.
Going backwards.
Swimming.
Dancing.
Wheel-barrel walks.â
Yeeting kids, spinning them, flipping them upside down, tossing them in the air, and otherwise disrupting their balance temporarily, is Important For Their Development, specifically for their vestibular sense.
Kids love this because they NEED it.
In other words: Donât forget to calibrate your childâs GPS!
YEET THE CHILD FOR THEIR HEALTH
Hi! Paediatric Occupational Therapist here who yeets children into pillows for a living. Itâs actually more than the vestibular system! Itâs also giving them proprioception, which is the feeling of your joints and muscles / where your body is in space!Â
We all seek proprioceptive input, leaning against walls, pushing against the steering wheel when driving, giving your body a squeeze to wake yourself up, the list goes on! When we âcrashâ kids into soft things like pillows or beds, weâre waking their bodies up AND calming their bodies down! In other words, getting them into this super nice zone of âjust rightâ regulation.Â
When I see a child who is bouncing off the walls and canât seem to stand still for more than a few seconds? I start wrestling with them, crashing them into pillows, giving their body the right amount of input they need to feel good and organised. And suddenly, this kid is able to sit and play attentively or do their handwriting practice. Itâs amazing! If you want to know more about why the vestibular and proprioceptive systems are awesome at making your body feel good, google those two words (and sensory processing) and read through some occupational therapy websites!Â
Side note: As adults, does your body ever feel jittering/jiggly/wiggly/like it needs to move or calm down but you just canât figure out why? Thatâs your sensory system saying Hey! I need to feel differently in order to function better! Hereâs what you can do:
Jump up and down (vestibular and proprioception)
Give yourself big squeezes (proprioception)
Place your hands on a wall and do push ups (proprioception)
Do cartwheels (vestibular and proprioception)
Get someone to give you the biggest bear hug for at least 10 seconds (proprioception and social connection, also proven to help regulate your sensory system into just right zone!)
Get a drink of water and drink it through a straw OR blow bubbles into the water (way more fun!) (oral motor input and respiration)
Have a shower or a bath (tactile)
Stretch and do exercise (vestibular and proprioception)
Eat something crunchy or chewy (like chips or gum) (oral motor input)
Listen to some music that suits your mood (auditory)
etc etc etc! Iâm sure you already have a strategy that your body has figured out works for you. I personally like to chew gum when I feel like i need to eat something but Iâm not actually hungry and just need that chewing sensation in my jaw.Â
Long story short, everyone has a sensory system and we all use regulation strategies like the ones listed above to help make our body feel better. So if you ever see someone (especially kids!) fidgeting and having a hard time focusing, maybe suggest something from the list above!
If you didn’t know you had color blindness but the “normal vision” one on top looks exactly like one of the others… congrats, you’ve just found an initial diagnosis.
Musician, writer, teacher, feminist, nerdfighter. Lover of all things that make me laugh! :) My blog is a healthy mix of social commentary, fandoms, and cute cat gifs. Hope you enjoy!
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Anonymous
Musician, writer, teacher, feminist, nerdfighter. Lover of all things that make me laugh! :) My blog is a healthy mix of social commentary, fandoms, and cute cat gifs. Hope you enjoy!