You are what you love, not who loves you.

I'm Abby. I'm 33. Anon hate makes me laugh and poor grammar makes me cry. If you like what I post then we should be friends.

[banchie]

i've been phasing the phrase 'google it' out of my vocabulary and going back to 'look it up'. fuck you youve lost your generic trademark privileges

[famylee83]

This man needs to be hunted for sport.

[biglawbear]

I finished reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time in my life. With all of *vague gesture at everything* this going on.

I Am Not Okay

[biglawbear]

You have to understand. I watched the movies maybe once as a kid when they came out twenty years ago. I've somehow avoided learning like anything about these books my entire life. Literally everything about these books was a complete unknown and surprise to me. Totally blank slate going on. I barely even knew how it ended.

Holy shit.

[biglawbear]

Frodo didn't complete his task. Sam literally carried him up Mount Doom. And when he got to the end, he couldn't throw the Ring away.

But for Gollum biting it off with his finger, it wouldn't have been destroyed.

So Frodo's journey saved the world nonetheless.

And it broke him.

It was too much for him to bear. He could no longer live in the Shire or live in Middle-Earth. He wasn't of the world anymore. He had to go to the Undying Lands.

He took on the task that no one else would. He saved the world. Everyone got a happy ending. Aragorn became King, Sam rebuilt the Shire, Merry and Pippin became heroes. They all lived in renown.

But Frodo had the hardest task of all. No one else would do it. A simple hobbit who came by the Ring by chance. Not a King, not an immortal. Not a wizard. No power save his will and his friends. And he did it and saved everyone.

And he never got to rest. He never got to remain in peace. The task destroyed him. It was too much.

But there was no other way. Nobody but a simple hobbit could bear the ring all the way to Mount Doom and resist its power so long. Not a man, not an elf, not a wizard; they would have succumbed. Gandalf knew this, which was why he chose the hobbits in all his designs.

It's amazing that one of the precedent setting works in the fantasy genre holds up so well because it subverts what ultimately became the genre's core tropes. The hero was not the King, or a chosen one. In fact, the hero not being the King was a key point that allowed Aragorn to distract Sauron and allow the task in the first place. The hero was someone unassuming but courageous, who did the thing because no one else would, even though it was just by chance he came upon it.

But Frodo couldn't resist the Ring completely. He wasn't superior to anyone else in that way. And in the end it left him broken. The burden crushed him. No one else could do it, and in the end, he couldn't either. He wasn't so special that he was invulnerable.

I'm not okay. Holy fuck you guys.

[biglawbear]

It's been a week and I'm still not over this, I'll never get over this.

Something that I've been thinking about, as I struggle with depression and anxiety and *another vague gesture at everything* is that LOTR does not criticize Frodo for being broken. It does not shame him or deny him what he needs.

The task was too much and it broke him and that's okay. His friends nonetheless take care of him and let him go with understanding. The book doesn't treat it as a bad thing.

This seems to be a theme throughout the books. The characters rest and heal. They spend time recovering in Rivendell, Fangorn, Lorien, Ithilien. It's treated as good and necessary. They don't heroically endure endless torment from the second they set out until they're done.

And in Gondor's march from Minas Tirith to Mordor, Aragorn recognizes that some of the very few men he's taking with him don't have the heart to go to battle against the Enemy. And he says that's okay. He gives them other tasks the they can do. They hold other strategic points. They aren't shamed for not going all the way, or kicked out, or told that they aren't manly or whatever. Their limitations are recognized and respected. The task was too big and it was okay that they couldn't do it.

I don't know man. I've held on through some absolutely crazy shit. White knuckled through mental health crises when my doctors were begging me to take a break, to go to the hospital before I hurt myself. My therapist has tried to slow me down and tell me that I've been going through it and it's understandable that I am feeling some kind of way. Even one of my colleagues remarked that I've had an absolutely fucking wild career and that I've seen more as a lawyer of seven years than she has as a lawyer of forty. But I've gotten it into my head that I have to be strong, I have to be independent.

Fuck me, man, I'm currently white knuckling through life and hanging on by a fucking thread. A few weeks ago I was about an hour away from checking myself in to a mental health facility until my best friends swooped in to help me. And then I went right back to work.

And then I read this book. This fucking brilliant and beautiful book written by a man who had seen the horrors of war and spilled it all over the page. And I read it for the first time as an adult with full understanding and experience of what it all means. And it hits me like a fucking truck.

And it says that you can't endure everything. That at some point you need to rest and heal. That if you take on too much you will break. And that all of that is okay.

How am I supposed to move on with my life after reading this?

[three--rings]

Certainly there are many messages within Lord of the Rings, but you have to think that Tolkien would have been happy that this message in particular was still being conveyed all these years later.

[literally-literate]

r/relationships

I (24F) got my FWB (20M) killed. How do I convince him to break up with me?

[yellowraincoat]

r/AITA

Am I the Asshole for destroying my childhood skeleton to get back at my dad?

I (20M, undead and undying) recently got into a fight with my bio dad and had my ghouls burn my old skeleton from when my dad killed me in a ritual sacrifice and it really upset him. Am I the asshole here? Is there a way past this? He’s been trying really hard to reconnect with me for the past few days.

[literally-literate]

r/AskMen

I ritually sacrificed my son (20M) hundreds of years ago and he's still sensitive about it. How do I get him to man up?

He's acting like a brat and wasting his time on a low value mortal woman (6/10 and I am being generous). Should I send him some Andrew Tate videos?

[inkskinned]

something about love makes you look at things differently. the really important part of this is that any love will work. if you love blue you will see it everywhere. if you love soft things you will note the cat and the thread count and the moss. you will find your best friend in ugly greeting cards and haunted dolls and terrible fanfics and since they remind you of her they will be beautiful.

so you will love the world differently for having loved someone else. you will love a certain cereal or pokemon because of your brother. you will hear your favorite band's song playing in a random store and the love of it will make the whole world a little more golden. you will read a poem so many times the words become their own creatures. you will find you cannot listen to certain music without thinking of your favorite show.

this velveteen rabbit transformation occurs. the love does not stop, it echoes.

[youre-only-gay-once]

happy pride!

[anartificialsatellite]

The older I get the more I admire people who are earnestly, genuinely into whatever their thing is. I know it sounds like an annoying cliche but unless you're being cruel or hurtful there is really no need to be normal about things. The dude with the bad fake accent at the renaissance faire is having the time of his life. The people having photoshoots with their fashion dolls are loving it. The old lady with a yard unreasonably full of tacky ass lawn ornaments is having a blast, HOA be damned.

Don't waste your time being too cool to have fun, y'know?

[only-cat-memes]

[thecolorofthegame]

[galasgamingcorner]

What Remains of Edith Finch | The Finch House

[rainyydoves]

edith finch notes/little details i thought were cool replaying

- if you approach the doggy door and turn back around in the beginning, edith has a line about hearing something moving around in the garage. this isnt ever elaborated on again

- the finches live on fireweed road and in or near seattle. despite having come from norway. do the geography there can someone else figure out why they did that

- when edith reaches the house it's morning or afternoon. when she finishes barbara's story, it's sunset. after she finishes walter's it's nighttime

- edie's room has the barn swallow nest from molly's flashback mounted on the wall. im fairly sure that's the exact same model

- and man they had a LOT of birds. like 20 birds. there's a shit ton of bird cage memorials in the corner and they're all variations of the same name. edie why are you so obsessed with memorials it's a budgie

- sven left his signature and the year 1937 in the corner of their room

- every finch kid has a hand impression hanging on their wall. the sizes are kinda silly but it's still sweet

- gregory's frog toy is next to the sink in the pink bathroom

- during molly's flashback you can turn back and see the house only partially built

- molly apparently really loved biology. she was dissecting a starfish the day she died and her bed has a jellyfish plushie

- barbara was preparing for a party when she died and contrary to the comic book i think she'd already moved on from being a child star. she also has a birthday cake open on the table that's somehow not rotting

- walter had a trash garbage pit near the hole that he made to escape from the bunker . this isnt lore i just think its funny. boy recycle those

- there's a newspaper in one of the passages between rooms that talks about early work on building a rail link and a couple working to turn the land into "a native haven." maybe it was just some rich guy's project abandoned when walter got run over?? given how worn down it is when edith gets there. i dunno im brainstorming here

- during calvin's flashback you can see sam taking a photo of him and while walking around their room you can see it on the wall

- when walking down to the beach after walter you can see several chairs blown into the trees and the totem pole that crushed gus on the sand. which is cool cause you don't actually find his story for a minute after that. and i think it was intentional because edith's line about letting everything die with her is hovering directly above it

- gerbils names: durpy. durpy jr. burpy. churpy. furpy. lurpy. zurpy. im seeing a theme here

- molly's fish christopher is also in the pet cemetery. he died the same year as her

- edie and walter both have memorials and death dates despite edie being the one in charge of the memorials and walter's being a secret. maybe just an oversight but it's still interesting

- lewis's grave has a little crown on top of it

- there's a box of sam's ex wife kay's stuff on the desk in his room and there's a picture of them at odin finch national park on the wall

- there's a bunch of ready to eat meals stacked in the room behind sam's bedroom

- "deepest sympathy" messages are nailed to the post next to gus's bed and dawn's mattress is gone from her bed

- there's a strict schedule on the chalkboard in their room with things like exercise routines. i dont think sam was a good dad. this one's my favorite though

- additionally there's an escape route map on the wall, house rules, a fire extinguisher, and lockers in their room. gregory has one with little toy letters on it despite being a year old lol

- there's a map of india in dawn's loft and post it notes of places to visit after graduation

- in the classroom there's flashcards of finch family members on the desks and "our family history: fact or fiction?" on the wall. i guess they did studies on it

- lewis's addiction problem is the reason he started doing therapy. there's weed, cigars, cigarettes, and pills in his room. good lord dude

- lewis's cannery hat in the cardboard box of his locker contents has blood splatter on it

- the advisor calico cat that shows up as lewis is about to accept his crown is molly, their family cat

- the name of lewis's therapist was emily nuth

- im sleepy im not continuing this rn

[azaablue]

the best fanfiction you've ever read was written by a woman in her 40s before she made dinner for her kids. it was written by a teenager after school when they should've been studying for a history test. and a barista came up with the idea while they cleaned the espresso machine and busser fact-checked it on their break and the post-doc edited between writing grant proposals and the nurse apologized for typos in the notes after a long shift and behind every drabble and one-shot and multi-chapter fic there is a person with a wonderful and interesting and chaotic life and it is such a privilege that we get to be apart of it because they decided to do this thing we all share, for fun.

[voidandradiance]

the most disorienting thing thats ever happened to me was when a linguistics major stopped in the middle of our conversation, looked me in the eye, and said, "you have a very interesting vernacular. were you on tumblr in 2014?" and i had to just stand there and process that one for a good ten seconds

[booksandchainmail]

#i was in a car with a linguist i had never met before the car trip and like half an hour in he looked at me#after i finished describing a geology thing that was happening out the window and asked if i'd ever spent much time on tumblr#the fuckor of it all#and then we spent six more hours driving#it sure does leave linguistic markers! i'm not sure i'm good with it (tags via @thoughtsformtheuniverse)

[issela-santina]

it is one thing to be a linguist and another to be a linguist who knows enough of 2010s Tumblr to spot one of its enjoyers

[lierdumoa]

Oh! @meret118 see above comment! The use of the word "enjoyers" instead of "users" or "bloggers" -> You left a comment a while back asking, "Does this just mean vocabulary words? Other than blorbo and sweet cinnamon roll etc, I can't think of what a Tumblr accent would be." I almost never see anyone use the word "enjoyer" anywhere outside of tumblr, but I see it on tumblr fairly frequently.

Another one is the verb "perceive" i.e. "don't perceive me" "I am perceiving" "I am being percieved." That's something that feels very specific to tumblr parlance.

There's the thing where people on tumblr have an emotional reaction to something and instead of, or in addition to telling you how they feel about it using emotion words, they will narrate a fictional action in the present progressive tense. "I am gnawing at the bars of my enclosure "I am kissing you on the mouth" "you are going into the soup" "you are getting all of the awards"

I once saw someone use that response format in ... I think it was a restaurant review, or a doordash review, or something like that. It was very unexpected seeing it outside of a tumblr post.

There are a lot of other tumblr linguistic quirks I can't currently remember off the top of my head, but I'll instantly recognize them if I see/hear them outside of tumblr. It's always a bit startling to see them out of context.

[pacificnorthwhore]

[i-wear-the-cheese]

when I was in university one of my modules was about internet slang and for our grades project we had to compile and analyse a small database of 100 words used by a specific community of our choice. I chose tumblr and that's how I stumbled across Gretchen McCulloch's research and discovered that yes not only did tumblr have its own vernacular and syntax (as @lierdumoa demonstrates), it was at the time a crucible of slang and memes probably unrivalled by any other part of the internet. and it's stayed that way! even the very title is McCulloch's book because internet is an example of this specific phraseology.

sadly my project is lost due to the website being wiped from the university database after graduation and my then laptop having a major hardware failure. backup your backups people! but the crux of the entire module was that the internet is full of communities using language not only as jargon for specific purpose but also to signal membership in said community. I even wrote a bit about non capitalisation and punctuation useage as a visual cue on tumblr and how including information in the reblog body or the tags indicated different levels of importance or intimacy of thought

I am holding the side of your face and looking deep in your eyes and telling you that love is stored in the syntax, and that we are rotating words together all at once as we all nod at their new and baffling meanings. if the devils sacrament be tumblr then the devils gospel is our collective voice. thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[ur-haruspis]

What Remains of Edith Finch (2017)

"A lot of this isn't going to make sense to you, and I'm sorry about that. I'm just going to start at the beginning, with the house."

[vampyremasquerade]

I think one of the things that caught my interest the most in the storytelling of WROEF is how at some point after Molly's pov we realize what is going on with every Finch, what we're actually "living" for them, so we just keep going through every event with the tension building up despite not actually knowing how it's going to happen, EXCEPT for Calvin's pov. I was swinging with a lump on my throat with that feeling in the back of my mind that I'm bringing him closer to the only thing I wish I could've change in all those povs. It's really really sad.

[outofcontextarthur]

[rylandsgrace]

Derry Girls (2018 - 2022) I 1.01

[tylrgalpins]

DERRY GIRLS | 2.05 - The Prom