On the Search for Bugs and Rocks

A Star Wars Fiend | Nature Enthusiast | Novel Genetic Phenotype

[navalnu-art]

I love this whimsical old man. Sadly we’ll have to wait for season 2 to see him animated but I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.

But yeah I adore how Shirahama writes disabled characters, Bel in particular. He’s so precious to me.

Anyway. I drew. After a gazillion years. So, pat on the back.

[hrygth1138]

Waaah that's so cool!!!!

[disabilityaidpositivity]

This Minecraft wheelchair mod!

https://modrinth.com/mod/wheelchairs/version/2.0

It adds wheelchairs, walkers, rollators, crutches, canes and more! They are all customisible and easy to acquire early game!

There is even a way to put a sword in your cane, and extra storage in your wheelchair! The latter reminds us of our backpack on our actual chair! And you can add a floating or diving upgrade to your chair, so exploration is easier! You can lock dismount too, so you can actually crouch while using the wheelchair!

And the models are so pretty! We got a wheelchair with copper wheels, a teal seat and a spruce frame, and a spruce cane with a copper handle!

We highly recommend it to any disabled Minecraft players!

Very cool! We love mobility aid representation in gaming!

[hrygth1138]

AH THIS RULES!!!!

[stargazingdustbunny]

So, as a person with health issues, I've been thinking a lot about how Murderbot would deal with a client who was chronically ill.

With all the fancy future med tech, I don't know how many of the chronic illnesses we currently have would still be an issue, but I feel like the human body is too good at malfunctioning for any amount of tech to completely eliminate chronic illness and disability.

Imagine Murderbot having to deal with a human who is constantly in danger from something it can't fight. A threat internal to the human that Murderbot can't help with.

Murderbot seems to have some ability to detect health information about the humans around it, as it often mentions when a human has an increase in pulse rate. And small changes in human posture and bodily function trigger threat assessment.

So as a Pots syndrome haver, I imagine I would be a slightly nerve-racking client for Murderbot, because like

Me: *Stands up*

My pulse: *spikes*

Murderbot: *why did the client's heart rate just do that? Is something wrong? I didn't sense any threats or anything in the conversation. *

And that's not to mention the actual problematic symptoms like dizziness, fainting, etc.

Just. Murderbot having to deal with a problem that can't be fixed by violence, hacking, or documentary production.

And also chronic illness rep because if I have to deal with it so do my characters

[hrygth1138]

Aaaaa I love this. Now I too will be imagining some self insert stories where Murderbot has to deal with me and all my issues.

[thewanderingemporium]

Gamification and spoonie pacing - can it work?

First, what is gamification?

Gamification is the idea of bringing game mechanics into your daily life - such as completing quests, levelling up a character, and so on.

Why should I care?

Because gamification can be particularly helpful when you want to build a habit. Let's be honest: one of the biggest reasons we stop building habits is because they are boring.

I don't know if this is even more true for all neurodivergent spoonies - but it certainly is true for me.

Feeling that way isn't a weakness - it's just a fact.

A lot of habits genuinely are boring, but necessary for our health and wellbeing.

We can try to habit stack (adding new habits to existing ones), but sometimes it's just not possible.

However - gamifying our habits can help beat the boredom - after all, we're on a quest (and not just trying to remember to change our bed every week).

But, can this work for spoonies? Especially those of us who need to pace - who have varying levels of energy and ability due to our health?

Because traditional gamification has one major flaw for us spoonies: the requirement of creating a streak.

For me, as a neurodivergent spoonie, I have always found that if I break a streak, my brain says I have failed. And then it throws a complete temper tantrum and refuses to try again - because I have "failed."

Life, and those distant streaks, became a lot harder after I developed CRPS. Not only did I have to contend with a brain that tried to avoid any idea of failure like the plague, I now live with ongoing chronic pain and brain fog to match.

Streaks, which were already a pipe dream, became almost impossible to create (and maintain). And if that is true for me, I am sure others may have hit the same wall.

So, I developed an alternative.

The Adventure Journal - you can check it out here .

The Adventure Journal takes gamification and applies it to physical care habits (like eating your veg or brushing your teeth), mental care habits (like getting outside or contacting a friend), and hobbies.

And it removes the idea of streaks completely.

Instead, the journal is designed to be filled in only when you are able. No punishment. No streak breaks.

Just slow and steady progress towards building those habits, as your body and health allow.

But - remember to work within your energy limits—this is about gentle progress, not pressure.

This journal actually started me on the path to creating the Wandering Emporium, and launching my business.

At this point, I've been working on the design and mechanics for over two years, and honestly (although I shouldn't), this is hands down my favourite journal design so far.

If you decide to check it out, I'd love to hear your feedback and any ideas for improvement!

It's taken a lot of work to get to this point (and I'm sure you'll spot some illustrations I've already shared here), and I hope you love it too!

Sending spoonie hugs

[hrygth1138]

Ah this is so cool, I am excited to check it out!

[planstransamanacanalpanema]

Important note from a future nurse: if you are chronically ill, on a lot of medications, even managing conditions on your own, buy a drug guide. Davis's Drug Guide is what they had us buy for nursing school, and I've looked up every single medication I take in it. It helps you understand what the drug is doing to you, helps you understand side effects, reasons why you shouldn't take a medication, things to monitor for while you're taking a medication. It's not perfect by any means, but the thing I've found is that it's helped me guide conversations with providers, nurses, pharmacists, it's helped me figure out what questions to ask. When I've heard people talk about what they didnt know about their meds, what they wish they knew about their meds, it's often in a drug guide.

Out of everything I've learned in nursing school, it is the biggest thing I'd advocate for having in any home, period.

[nebulaowls]

Me: I don't know what I was complaining about I just wasn't trying hard enough :)

Me during a pain flare: 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

[captaindibbzy]

Thinking about how PinLee takes medication. It's a throw away like but she has medication with her in Exit Strategy. In a future world of augmentation, where they can practically rebuild Murderbot after combat, and where they can do amazing things, PinLee takes medication for something. Because disabled people are still there. Medical problems still happen. It could be mental or physical. It could be ADHD or something that doesn't have a pill today. But on Perseverance I am in that future.

[jettkuso]

Real observations since I started wearing a wizard hat daily:

- Brim is so wide that I stay BONE DRY taking walks in the rain

- Brim can be positioned to block the sun from ever getting in my eyes AND keeping it off the back of my neck

- The pointed top part creates an air pocket, keeping my head from getting hot or squishing my hair as it might in a ball cap

- Hat can easily be pulled down over the tips of my ears without looking dumb, protecting them from wind chill

- Strangers say they like my hat, giving me the chance to tell them that I am a wizard

- When you’re wearing a wizard hat, ALL OTHER FASHION CHOICES become secondary, allowing you to branch out with style

Embrace ego death. Stay protected from all elements. Wear a wizard hat.

[flavoracle]

Mental Crop Rotation

When farmers grow the same crop too many years in a row, it can leave their soil depleted of minerals and other nutrients that are vital to the health of their fields.

To avoid this, farmers will often alternate the crops that they grow because some plants will use up different minerals (such as nitrogen) while other plants replenish those minerals. This process is known as “crop rotation.”

So the next time you find that you need to step away from a project to work on something else for a while, don’t beat yourself up for “quitting” that project. Give yourself permission to practice “mental crop rotation” to maintain a healthy brain field.

Because I’ve found that when that unnecessary guilt and pressure are removed from the process, a good mental crop rotation can help you feel more energized and invigorated than ever once you’re ready to rotate back to that project.

[bomberqueen17]

: A crucial part of crop rotation is that the field is let fallow sometimes. You plant what’s called a “cover crop”, which is something you don’t expect to harvest– it’s there for its roots to hold the soil in place, and often it’ll be what’s called a nitrogen-fixer, i.e. a plant that can pull nitrogen out of the air and fix it into the soil with its roots (but sometimes it won’t, sometimes it’s really just there to shelter the soil surface), and then you’ll till in that cover crop, or let the frost kill it and the stalks lie as mulch, and then you’ll rotate productive crops back into that field the next season. 

It’s important, though, to understand that during the fallow period, no nutrients are removed from that ground, and nothing is expected of it. Whatever the land grows then, it keeps, and it gets tilled back in or decomposes in place, to return its energy to the earth.

We’re not allowed, in our current society, to just let our minds be fallow for a bit, to produce nothing for export, to make nothing that can be sold. But it’s part of good land stewardship, to give every field time when it doesn’t need to give you anything back. 

So yes, grow and produce different things from time to time, rotate them around your mind and exercise different mental muscles, take different things from your creative processes, yes– but also, give yourself a fallow spell now and again, and let the field of your mind grow things for itself to keep, to break down and save for later. 

[highvelocitysandwich]

Positive mental health AND agriculture??!?

*slams reblog button*

[melr2025]

Sometimes it do be that way.

[glowcowboy]

they should invent a way to have chronic pain that is neither chronic nor painful

[cassolotl]

Survey time (TV and movies edition)

That poll about Star Trek, Star Wars and shirts has inspired a cunning scheme by me and @averixus. To that end, could everyone please fill in our preliminary pilot survey, which will inform further (currently secret) Tumblr-based research?

Click here to participate

It's open until at least Sunday 1st March 2026 at 12pm noon. If it's still open your response will be counted.

Thank you!

Edit: Spreadsheet of incoming real-time public response information can be found here.

[cassolotl]

25 responses so far, and 54 fandoms are represented.

I do wonder if people are just entering their favourite fandoms, or if they were really thinking about how trustworthy a fandom shirt would make a person feel to them based on the fandom's vibes etc?

Anyway I know it's a challenging question but if you all could please have about 10,000 responses for me to wake up to tomorrow morning (it's just past midnight here) I'd appreciate it. Sharing with people off Tumblr as well as reblogging is also very helpful.

Thank you, everyone. <3 I am looking forward to announcing the top secret plan, it should be fun and educational and very loosely scientific, I hope??

[carnage-cathedral]

my partner said something that kinda rocked my world

[hrygth1138]

This is especially important for those with progressive disease that WILL continue to get worse over time. So hearing that people you love understand that and verbalize that they are ready to ride it out with you is incredibly powerful.

[pellucid-prose]

An original Murderhelion valentine, courtesy of ART (Accidentally Romantic Transport) #murderbot

[sanctuaryrin]

murderhelion valentines for the weird undefinable situationship in your life (no pun intended;)

[hrygth1138]

Saving these to use forever and ever. Thank you, sanctuaryrin.

[perihelion-with-hat]

This hat

[hrygth1138]

Iconic

[softgritspoonie]

@spoonie-living

[hrygth1138]

adding this to the way I communicate pain now *scribble scribbles on notepad*