Obsessivemuch - ShhhShShshsh

Something that really fucks me up is this scene where Robin says she wants to die and how Luffy makes this face

And upon reading this for the first time, I felt a huge wave of emotion over his expression because it just felt to me like when he heard that, he was seeing something else. Almost like a memory that we weren't being shown.

And then later when Ace and Luffy's backstory plays out, this is revealed;

That Ace was suicidal. Feeling like it was wrong for him to have even been born and to live. Feeling hurt, angry, alone and unwanted.

And that the only reason he felt like he had the strength to keep living was because Luffy told him that he didn't want him to die.

Ace never directly told Luffy that he wanted to kill himself. But with the way he carried himself and the obvious disregard he had for his life, it was easy to see for someone as empathetic and intuitive as Luffy. And so Luffy stayed close to Ace desperately until he felt strong enough to stand on his own.

Luffy has had so many suicidal people in his life since such a young age and he always saves them in such a seemingly effortless way just by saying

"I'll be there with you. I'll stay."

But what alot of people don't understand is that in spite of Luffy's endless empathy, compassion and love that's deeper than the ocean, when somebody he loves wants to die it always hurts him so bad and it shows so much on his face at even a hint of it.

He bounces back with a smile so often and kicks so much ass that it's so easy to forget sometimes that he's just this 17-19 year old kid...

Who, at his core, is still always crying and begging the people he loves not to leave him because he doesn't want to be alone anymore, either.

You’ve heard of the Eugene earrings poll now get ready for..

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

*crawls out of my cave and hands you gway images i've been collecting then scurries back into the cave never to be heard from again*

Another case of "you never know what's going on inside a house." This 1957 ranch style home in Lakewood, CO has 4bds, 2.5ba, 2,494 sq ft. It started out at $895k and during the course of 204 days on the market, was reduced to $850k. When it didn't sell, the owners just let the listing contract run out. In all that time, the listing received only 5 "Favorites" and 3 shares. Maybe we can determine what is turning buyers off.

Entering the front door directly into the living room, the first thing we see is that the owners did some DIY decorating. Wow, that's a big framed ceiling medallion without a chandelier. Then, we have some wallpaper, back trim, and blue tile.

Across the way there's a dining area with a tract of lighting on the ceiling that appears to be connected to a black power box. On the accent wall there's gold tile.

I'm confused by all the random ceiling medallions.

In the kitchen, the formerly dated oak cabinetry was treated to, not only a gray paint job, new knobs, and counters, but they also embellished the upper doors with decorative wood appliques. The walls are covered in tile and there's another ceiling medallion w/o a light fixture.

Tract lighting illuminates the focal point of the room, a mirror-mosaic skinny steer head. Plus, more medallions and some metal ribbon molding.

In the hall there's wood, tile, wallpaper, and medallions.

The bath was nicely remodeled.

This home is a sensory experience of texture. In this room there are 2 different tiles plus wallpaper.

The primary bedroom also has the tiles and wallpaper, plus a dinky little fan and another steer head.

Even this smaller bedroom features tile and wallpaper plus a hypnotic clock and a very modern light fixture.

Bath #2 is a very nice shower room remodel.

Stairs leading down to the finished basement.

In the basement we find many different textures. This looks like a den.

And, then there's a bar with a rec room area. (Note the ceiling medallion.)

Nice place to entertain.

This must be some sort of plastic stick-on wall. It would look great in a mid-century modern setting. Quite a large spare room that's either an extra bedroom or a guest space.

Also down here, there's a guest powder room.

In the back of the house there's a large covered patio.

A yard, garden, and a cute little shed on an 8,930 Sq Ft Lot.

https://www.homes.com/property/105-dudley-st-lakewood-co/wp79knfegw6r6/

1913-1914 Evening dress by unknown

silk, linen, glass, metal

(National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo)

hey! you!

do you love yuri? gorgeous art styles? sick ass action scenes with unbelievably stupid stakes? a solid mostly female main cast of characters that play off of each other really well and are also funny as fuck?

Introducing "Love Bullet", the GL manga about cupids! with GUNS!

The series isn't officially localized in english yet, but luckily fan translators are hard at work on a real-time english translation (I won't share a link here, but you can find it easily enough)

*flowey voice* huh? why am i doing all this? because love bullet is at risk of being cancelled!

the author's said she already has the entire story planned out, but due to bad marketing and a lack of official english translations, the sales for volume one have been pretty low, and the story risks being discontinued

the chapters out so far aren't many, they're a relatively quick read, and really entertaining all the same. i am DYING to see more of these characters, they're loads of fun and there's some genuinely interesting hypotheticals about love, romance (and lack thereof) the series could get into... but only if it stays running!!

so please, give this story a shot (lol) and if you like it, consider supporting the original mangaka. other fans of LB have been resourceful enough to put together a way for you to do that, even as a western fan, so it's the least i can do to spread the word.

do it for yuri... and also insane women and heart grenade launchers

★