my life in a blog ♡

my name is mary, and welcome to where i speak my mind and truth.

[only-cat-memes]

[nneilperry]

no offense but i do not have time for ppl that have no emotional depth and don’t even attempt to understand themselves or others

[heedra]

unsung benefit i think a lot of ppl are sleeping on with using the public library is that i think its a great replacement for the dopamine hit some ppl get from online shopping. it kind of fills that niche of reserving something that you then get to anticipate the arrival of and enjoy when it arrives, but without like, the waste and the money.

[nonimaginaryfriend]

bonus it ALSO fills that dopamine hit of in-person shopping. “oh I didn’t go in looking for this but hmm, I’m tempted… I can’t resist… oh ho ho I have made some irresponsible decisions at the library today [carrying my stack of ten random books]” and then it doesn’t even matter if you don’t like them because a) free b) you’re gonna give them back anyway

[grumpy-cardigan]

Librarian here! Please please please please PLEASE do this! We don’t have any way to know if you read them, and we don’t care! We’re happy to see those books go out because that helps our stats. And that affects how much money we can get.

So grab that silly paperback romance, and maybe this new YA fantasy, oh and check for the new movies too! And don’t forget to check Libby and hoopla for music and ebooks and e-audio.

[dailycatsblog]

[lucidloving]

Georges Batailles, My Mother, Madame Edwarda, The Dead Man (tr. Austryn Wainhouse) // Vance Joy—Mess is Mine // Shee Liu, 'Kiss' // @/thediscretion on ig // @lucidloving, "Kingmaker" // Trista Mateer // Gene Gregorio, 'Downpour' // @flintcoded // Elliott Smith—Alphabet Town // Neil Hilborn, "A Place Where Someone Loves You"

[bifrosted-flakes]

Is anyone else suspicious of the growing trend of women blaming everything on their hormones like making them irrational and emotional and men aren’t like this at all because they don’t have hysterical lady hormones? And for some reason every emotion you have is linked to your uterus? Can anyone hear me it’s scary out here

[riickgrimes]

Have you ever been in love? Have you? I asked you first. Okay, then, yes. How many times? Once. Like how in love? On a scale of 1 to 10. You can't put being in love on a scale, either you are or you aren't. Okay, but if you had to. 10.

THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY (2022-2025) 3.01 | Last Season

[sloanegabe]

"I see the way he looks at you."

[dramaism]

Belly, which one of us is a better kisser, me or him?

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

#They're So Proud Of Each Others Accomplishments

[m0untainslut]

Anything that’s out of your control is teaching you acceptance. Set yourself free

[itsclydebitches]

Something I don't think we talk enough about in discussions surrounding AI is the loss of perseverance.

I have a friend who works in education and he told me about how he was working with a small group of HS students to develop a new school sports chant. This was a very daunting task for the group, in large part because many had learning disabilities related to reading and writing, so coming up with a catchy, hard-hitting, probably rhyming, poetry-esque piece of collaborative writing felt like something outside of their skill range. But it wasn't! I knew that, he knew that, and he worked damn hard to convince the kids of that too. Even if the end result was terrible (by someone else's standards), we knew they had it in them to complete the piece and feel super proud of their creation.

Fast-forward a few days and he reports back that yes they have a chant now... but it's 99% AI. It was made by Chat-GPT. Once the kids realized they could just ask the bot to do the hard thing for them - and do it "better" than they (supposedly) ever could - that's the only route they were willing to take. It was either use Chat-GPT or don't do it at all. And I was just so devastated to hear this because Jesus Christ, struggling is important. Of course most 14-18 year olds aren't going to see the merit of that, let alone understand why that process (attempting something new and challenging) is more valuable than the end result (a "good" chant), but as adults we all have a responsibility to coach them through that messy process. Except that's become damn near impossible with an Instantly Do The Thing app in everyone's pocket. Yes, AI is fucking awful because of plagiarism and misinformation and the environmental impact, but it's also keeping people - particularly young people - from developing perseverance. It's not just important that you learn to write your own stuff because of intellectual agency, but because writing is hard and it's crucial that you learn how to persevere through doing hard things.

Write a shitty poem. Write an essay where half the textual 'evidence' doesn't track. Write an awkward as fuck email with an equally embarrassing typo. Every time you do you're not just developing that particular skill, you're also learning that you did something badly and the world didn't end. You can get through things! You can get through challenging things! Not everything in life has to be perfect but you know what? You'll only improve at the challenging stuff if you do a whole lot of it badly first. The ability to say, "I didn't think I could do that but I did it anyway. It's not great, but I did it," is SO IMPORTANT for developing confidence across the board, not just in these specific tasks.

Idk I'm just really worried about kids having to grow up in a world where (for a variety of reasons beyond just AI) they're not given the chance to struggle through new and challenging things like we used to.

[fixyourwritinghabits]

I think this is an incredibly important post for a lot of reasons. You have to write a bad book in order to learn how to do something. You have to suck at playing an instrument before you can improve.

Struggling is part of the process, and I've had a lot of people argue with me that it shouldn't be who fail to see the point. When you replace an composer with an AI music generator, an artist with an AI-generated image, or an author with an AI-generated fanfic, you are missing out on the critical, fundamental experiences humans need to learn and grow. You are robbing yourself of essential skills you need as a person.

AI is not like a calculator, or a synthesizer, or a prompt generator. It's not a tool to aid in your process of understanding or creating something. It is replacing your ability to learn things, and that is going to do so much damage if you let it.

[kosmogrl]

very few things will make you feel as free as going on walks at night

[kosmogrl]

unfortunately there are the horrors (men)

[homunculus-argument]

Things cats were right about all along:

Fuck staying hydrated by drinking enough water - eat! more! wet! food! (watermelon, cucumbers, SOUP!)

Feels great to be really high up in your house where you can see the whole place (loft bed loft bed loft bed loft bed!)

Express yourself as clearly as possible when people are touching you and you don't want them to.

Optional, but you can also express yourself clearly when your people are not touching you and you want them to.

Sometimes it's important to just go "hmm. actually, I don't care" and wander off.

You don't have to be the strongest or toughest to defend yourself, it's enough to just be difficult enough to not be worth the trouble.

Ghosts will eventually leave if you stare at them for long enough.

[swords-n-spindles]

8. Make sure to get lots of exercise and play, but also sleep as much as you can

[becauseheartsgetbroken-hs]

Better Homes & Gardens | Details

[fairycosmos]

ping ponging back and forth between seeing immense beauty everywhere and feeling deeply like i am in hell

[kosmogrl]