Bespectacled Bibliophile

I think about stuff sometimes . . . I like writing it down places . . . Pretty pictures are cool too.

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

Do you ever have a strong desire to go back to a situation and do something different just to see how it would have turned out? Not in an “I wish I wouldn't have done that” way, but an “I'm curious how that person would have responded” way. What would have happened if I made that joke or asked that personal question? Ya know?

[infpisme]

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

What if natural talents just come from a skill that we have perfected in a past life?

 If we have an innate ability to keep time with any music, even though we have never taken a music lesson, it means we were a great musician in a past life. and if someone is considered a “jack of all trades” or has a strange ability to just do well at most things right away, it means they have an old soul and have perfected many skills. They aren't amazing at any of their talents because they only have fragments of all their past lives left but they have many talents to choose from.    

[thepersonalquotes]

https://www.instagram.com/thepersonalquotes/

[txmriddlx]

Can you please reblog if your blog is a safe place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual, aromantic, pansexual, non binary, demisexual or any other kind of queer or questioning people? Because mine is.

[m-lemann]

my dream looks exactly like that

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

So my little brother got me a princess coloring book and a Spiderman card for my birthday . . . I almost cried.

[swing-like-a-fistfight]

My take on Generation X's bullshit

Keep reading

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

agreed...

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

gen x and the environment

It absolutely astonishes me how little consideration my parent's generation has for the environment and nature in general. They all have this attitude of “this thing I do all the time is bad for the environment...oh well, haha, it’s fine.” I just don't understand how a person can know that something they do every day is harmful to something else, and not change it. The generation before my parent’s, however, has the utmost respect for nature. On so many occasions I've had conversations with people in their 60s/70s about how beautiful that view was or how much they just love lavender flowers.

 I have so much respect for nature that every time I see a flower it brings a smile to my face, and every weed or herb I see I wonder what I could use that for. But my parents are very the opposite. They have no moral issues with cutting down a perfectly healthy, thriving, beautiful, giant willow tree that my brother and I have grown up with just because “ the leaves make a mess in the spring”. And no matter how many times we talk about how we need to help the bee’s they still cut the dandelions in spring. They talk a lot about environmental and moral issues but seem to take no action whatsoever. I haven't met one single person from their generation that can see pure beauty in nature or that can look at a flower and feel overwhelmed with optimism. If there’s a patch of wildflowers growing in the middle of the yard, nobody thinks twice about mowing right over it with the lawnmower. 

 We can not force nature to conform to what we find most convenient. we are the keepers of this earth and we must bend and twist to do what nature finds most convenient.     

[quotemadness]

You never come back, not all the way. Always there is an odd distance between you and the people you love and the people you meet, a barrier thin as the glass of a mirror, you never come all the way out of the mirror; you stand, for the rest of your life, with one foot in this world and one in another, where everything is upside down and backward and sad.

Marya Hornbacher (via quotemadness)

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

School sucks sometimes

School’s got to the point where I don’t even live for the weekends anymore. I live for the long weekends. Because that one extra day gives me just enough time to take care of myself and do at least one thing I want while still doing all the other things that I’m expected to do. It’s almost as if nobody expects us to actually take care of ourselves ever unless we have extra time. It should be the other way around. We should be expected to take care of ourselves first and then take care of everything else if we have extra time. Teen’s own standard for their quality of life shouldn't have to be so low. We shouldn't have to live a life where as long as we get good grades we must be doing fine. No, the only reason I get good grades is that I don't spend my time doing things I actually want to do or am interested in. Ghaaaaa I just want to make a pretty cake and plant a herb garden but no let’s do this monstrous amount of homework that's all due tomorrow instead. 

[griefxaddict]

“i. We’re all on an endless search to explain the way we’re feeling. Our mouths make shapes at each other, and we’re expected to find some meaning…. ii. I fed you crumbs and cookie cutter poems because pretending to be profound has proved pointless. I’ve said too much too many times, now the words mean nothing at all. I found a voice and squandered it, and learned to simply remould the old gods into something new and relevant. I’ve forged imitation idols out of cheap metals. I’ve invented sides of me that should never have existed. I’m a twisted rotten molar waiting for extraction. I’m a wistful forgotten sailor praying for protection. I wrote my burdens into books for you to burn at the altar. I invited you in to worship the worst of me, the doors were wide open, but the words were empty. iii. Briefly some bowed before me on broken knees, as I scraped together scraps and called it poetry. I started with a spark of hope that turned to heresy, and dreams that became dark and deadly, again. I’m sick of singing the songs of broken men. iv. I shouted loud songs at myself, and lowered the tone to something timid and harmless. I’ve been heartless too long. I did everything I could to prove myself wrong, even when I was right. I made a hostage of my heart and sacrificed my health. I tied the ropes too tight and shackled myself to the moment between honesty and artistry, and I never even managed to make my point. I never manage to wake before the nightmares start, the hungry teeth, ceaseless in the dark. v. There’s a silence between the whispers, where the prayers fall through the cracks. There’s a softness to the simple things. There’s desolation in the songs we sing. We find only gloom where we once found grace. Words are just the shapes our mouths make.”

— giraffevader - Iconoclast

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

Happiness is elusive. 

One minute it’s there, the next it’s gone.

And you haven't the slightest idea why it was there in the first place

And you haven’t the slightest idea what made it go away. 

[bespectacled-bibliophile]

Personal Pet Peeve

when someone says “I told you that you should have done . . .  instead” when you never even disagreed with them in the first place. Not everything is an argument, OK. 

[germanyinusa]

Ten German Baked Goods You Have To Try

Our diplomats spend much of their year away from Germany. Away from family, away from outstanding public transport, and most dramatically—away from German baked goods. If you have not yet visited Germany, your sweet tooth would like you to. With bakeries abound, in train stations and around the corner, you are never much more than an arm’s reach from a sugar high.

But don’t get us wrong! The best part about German baked goods are their subtlety. Slightly sweet but not overly so is the way of the German baker. So before we drool all over our desk writing this, we’ll share with you the ten items you must eat from a bakery in Germany!

Brötchen

We’re gonna ease you into the world of German baked goods with the staple of a German breakfast/Abendbrot/snack/anything—Brötchen. Loosely translated this a “roll” but gosh that just does not capture it fully. These are often fetched fresh from the bakery, in varieties with seeds and salt and all sorts of add-ins, sliced in half, and decorated with meats, cheeses, and spreads. It is essentially a delicious vehicle for more food. Warning: DO NOT cut this thing in half vertically. Horizontal or bust people.

Streuselschnecke

“Streusel” are on all sorts of cakes. They are crumbly round balls of sugary dough. A “Schnecke” is a snail, and refers to the curling backside, like in a cinnamon bun. These have zero nutritional value but oodles of mental health benefits.

Mohnkuchen

Here we’re getting a little adventurous for American palates. Mohnkuchen is poppy seed cake. Though bagels and muffins seem to have cornered the poppy seed market here, it’s more often found as a sweet filling in baked goods in Germany.

Bretzel

You just have to love a Bretzel. Originally a lent dish, and intricately shaped. So simple, goes with everything. What else can we say?

Bienenstich

The “bee sting” may have a fear-inducing name but is made with nothing but love. It is a softer cake with almond slices on top and whipped filling in the middle.

Marzipan

Also not a familiar treat in the U.S., marzipan is a thick paste of ground almonds, sugar, and egg whites. But Germans take it to like…next level. Sometimes marzipan is shaped in such realistic forms of fruit and animals it is hard to tell that you are supposed to eat it.

Käsekuchen

Vorsichtig friends. When Germans say cheese cake they mean kind of actually cheese tasting. If you are used to the sugary cream cheese American version, it’s German cousin may give you pause.

Berliner

I am a jelly donut. Made famous to Americans by one JFK, the Berliner is typically eaten for New Year’s Eve and Karneval in Germany but are hardly a staple of German breakfasts. People in Berlin call it Pfannkuchen.

Vollkornbrot

Hope you have an appetite. As Omi would say, the dense and hardy Vollkornbrot sticks to your bones and a loaf weighs that of a small child.

Stollen

We will leave you with a traditional German sweet to add your must-try list. Stollen is a fruit-cake like bread, often with Marzipan, eaten at Christmas time.

[kristensnotebook]

[adventureovereverything]

Making our way down