Tales of Luna's Misadventures

Luna. 28. agender afab. they/them. aro-ace. USA. cajun, kalderash roma, atakapa ishak. disabled. spoonie. religious. bookworm. fandom. STEM student.

[luna-lebleu]

@amazinglyamy​ @nuuwave​ @fit-lakeitha2000​ @ame-liaa​ @flyingdyingphoenix​ @taravstheworld​ @theboldandthebootyful​ @zyd49485-blog​ @thisismywhoniverse​ @roman-noodls-blog​ @wendywander​ @academydiscplumbing​ @nhowledqu​ @busyeahdesertbus​ @bookg33kgirl​ @the-prettiest-octopus​ @ohmarvel-comics​ @vivbeacaroline-blog​ @allmythoughtson​ @johnnywhistler​ @chrishemms-blog​ @cuddlybookblog​ @afriendlygh0st​ @communicatingchronicpain​ @cooolbooks-blog​ @readingstrategist-blog​ @fangirl1994ccc-blog​ @valeriedouglas64-blog​ @rexwebseries​ @bands-and-tvshows-blog​ @ohillleavewithyourheadsire​ @cupcakes-and-bookplates​ @fizzybluesoda​ @faithtrustandbixbydust​ @superjewbagelstein​ @thelibrariansdaughter​ @funnybartendersstuff​ @unokins​ @exvibsubno​ @mykaelanicole​ @thegamblingdotnet-blog​ @tomatosouperwholocked​ @angellaseger​ @chronicallyhilarious​ @elevatedfibers​ @blacksheephologram​ @daddysbooger-blog​ @kaylaemalie​ @ilaughinthefaceofdeath-haha​ @zebraforlifey​ @brwneyedgirl79-blog​ @briefbananapuppy​ @dharasana​ @pochiconda​ @haphy​ @caodhanthecelt​ @zebraing​ @sapphire-eyes​ @nopantsinbuckingham​ @dollopheadedmerlin​ @greyrook28​ @lynlynbehre​ @crzyazfk​ @mystrawberryballoons​ @smithsonian3d​ @erikatriestofly​ @ehlersdanlossupport​ @risefromtheashes77-blog​ @nerdy825hipster-blog-blog​ @m-simplicity​ @larrysfallenangel​ @thebarexpert​ @rossbartender​ @the-world-throughmyeyes​ @bernaculous​ @cruel--wickedthing​ @ali-the-reader​ @anti-slumber​ @miss-cheivious​ @dentedpenguin​ @obsoleteryan​ @ticklethebeast​ @iamenoughexactlyasiam​ @grenadewithcurls​ @jirafavoladora​ @bukwrm​ @vaterlangebeine​ @basically-borked-blog​ @bendibionica​ @mrskrause​ @oldfacebook​ @rustryu​ @prettyperil​ @definitiveambiguity​ @clanspia-blog​ @dangersuntold​ @teaandcider​ @lookingupatallthestars​ @au-nte​ @holzerpunk-blog​ @demiboy-wonder​ @entitynumber5​ @llcnsnnts​ @bananaantics​ @victorian-madness​

[we-are-the-reckless-youthhhh]

[explanatorypower-deactivated201]

i dont understand this at all and america scares the fuck out of me

[free-market-pluralist-deactivat]

This is the america they don’t want you to see

[robloxgf-deactivated20190515]

i love america

[dalaisa-katili-deactivated20170]

This is what you call Waffle House at 2 am when the bars close and everyone is drunk and hungry

[rasec-wizzlbang-blog]

*group of people having fun* this site: wtf this is so scary

[wilfulwayfarer-deactivated20220]

People having safe fun at a waffle house is scary for most Tumblr bloggers, reports say.

[inkandcayenne]

Some context for those not familiar with Waffle House Culture: 

Waffle House is one of the few chains in America that’s open 24/7/365, and where you can get both breakfast and lunch/dinner options at any time (I have had so many Breakfast Cheeseburgers at Waffle Houses). The food is really good, and people eat there at all times of the day or night, but it’s particularly popular as a late-night post-drinking spot because it’s all that’s open and it’s the kind of food that tastes especially good when you’re hammered.

Part of Waffle House Protocol is that all the servers and cooks greet every single customer as they come through the door. It sounds lame, but I’ve never been to a Waffle House where that greeting didn’t feel completely heartfelt. My mom is a health nut who could barely find anything on the menu she was willing to eat and yet she describes the Christmas Day lunch we had there one year as one of the nicest meals she’s ever had because everyone was so warm and welcoming. That sense of camaraderie gets turned up to 11, of course, at 2 a.m. when everyone’s shitfaced.

The jukeboxes have Waffle-House-themed songs on them (once you have heard “Raisins in my Toast” you will be earwormed forever) and there is an arcane system of hash brown ordering: scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, topped, diced, peppered, and/or capped. The hot sauce bottles say “Casa de Waffle.” 

Once, in Oxford (UK), my husband and I walked past a kebab van very late one night and he said “why do I smell Waffle House”

The location of most Waffle Houses means there’s some… classism that tends to get tied up with Anti-Waffle House Discourse, which is probably lending itself, in part, to this being such a fraught topic. (I’m looking at a map and apparently I was born and raised right in the middle of the Peak Waffle House Density Zone)

It is, in the words of chef Anthony Bourdain, “indeed marvelous— an irony-free zone where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts; where everybody regardless of race, creed, color or degree of inebriation is welcomed.”

[postmarxed]

We’re not even gonna mention FEMA’s Waffle House Index where they determine how bad a natural disaster is by calling the local Waffle House to see if they’re open?

[darringtonshorthalt]

that last bit isn’t a joke

[robomartyr]

This is the funniest thing I have ever seen. If I were a professor I would pin this to my office door.

[zanabism-deactivated20200529]

LMAO

[nitewrighter]

There were like 30 seconds where I was like, “Ah the joke is that Orcas are technically the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family–this is a joke about the whale making false claims about its whale heritage on an admissions form, hence why its lawyer is also a dolphin.” And then I realized, “Oh. KILLER whale.”

[golvio]

So the joke works on two levels? Awesome!

[luna-lebleu]

He and his family are some of my closest friends and have always supported and loved me when I needed help when I was struggling with my disability, with my orientation, and with my own depression. If you can spare even a few dollars to help support his 2 year old son and wife I know it would bring them immense relief. If you can't, please consider reblogging this so someone else who may have a bit of spare cash can possibly see it and feel so inclined to donate. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[booksyrup]

FRIENDS. I need fantasy/high fantasy recommendations!

I’ve read Harry Potter, Throne of Glass, the Kingkiller chronicles, etc. I’m looking for some fantasy and/or high fantasy that perhaps isn’t on everyone’s radar that you find really good! Let me know in the answers!

So, any recommendations?

[dustyandcluttereddesk]

A Wizard of Earthsea is probably my favorite fantasy novel. I’ll recommend that one.

[ourladyofcatsweaters]

Girl of Fire and Thorns series is great!

[tenthousandand]

I recommend Time and The Gods and The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany for classic fantasy, and the Prospero’s Daugther trilogy (Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell and Prospero Regained) by L. Jagi Lamplighter for fun urban fantasy.

[booksyrup]

Ahh so many recs! I love it! Thank you guys so much! Here are the fantasy series I’ve read so far, as well as some I have on my shelves but haven’t read yet:

-Harry Potter (read) -Throne of Glass (read) -ACOTAR series (currently reading) -A Song of Ice and Fire (read) -Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (read) -Kingkiller Chronicles (read) -Mortal Instruments (read) -Infernal Devices (currently reading) -Inkheart trilogy (read) -Grisha trilogy (read)

-Graceling (not read) -Eon (not read) -The Demon King (not read) -The Hobbit/LOTR (not read) -Assasin’s Apprentice (not read) -Twelve Kings in Sharakhai (not read) -The Summer Dragon (not read) -Mistborn (not read)

Any of these I should jump on?? Or anything else I should add?? I’ve really been on a fantasy/high fantasy kick lately 😯

[bibliophilicwitch-archive]

THE DEMON KING SERIES! Or Mistborn. Seriously.

[sonoflove222]

THE KING OF ELFLAND’S DAUGHTER IS BEAUTIFUL AND UNDERRATED PLEASE READ IT.

[samwellwinchesterthebrave]

The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher, basically anything by David Eddings especially The Redemption of Althalus, Mercedes Lackey, Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman especially the Death Gate Cycle, The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (tho that has elements of sci-fi too but it was amazing), The Silmarillion by Tolkien (takes place in Middle Earth and talks about the Gods and the forming of the place)

[morganlefae-blog]

Dragonspell and definitely jump on Graceling though I would read its prequel Fire first 

[snarkystenonychosaurus]

Jhereg and Taltos by Stephen Brust gave me my name and I love them dearly. Great high fantasy adventure featuring dragons, imperial nut jobs, a Warlock Merc with a Mouth named Vlad and his sassy dragon like familiar named Loiosh. PLEASE READ!!! @booksyrup!!!

[booksyrup]

Ahhh so many great recommendations!!! Thank you everyone! I’m so glad everyone’s coming out in full force to recommend fantasy! I love it!! Definitely going to be looking into all of these ASAP!

[luna-lebleu]

Everything by Tamora Pierce And The Warrior Heir series by Chima And the Ranger's Apprentice series is really good

And on a not quitr as related note, you might like the Pendragon series or Percy Jackson if you haven't done them.

[luna-lebleu]

I legit need a trans friend I can make sure would slap me if something I say or think is overwhelming "good intentions cis"

[busyeahdesertbus]

T - 30 mins

https://www.desertbus.org

[babustyles]

First look: See Eddie Redmayne as Newt in ‘Fantastic Beasts’

[spicyshimmy-blog]

how is it possible to love fictional characters this much and also have people always been this way?

like, did queen elizabeth lie in bed late sometimes thinking ‘VERILY I CANNOT EVEN FOR MERCUTIO HATH SLAIN ME WITH FEELS’ 

was caesar like ‘ET TU ODYSSEUS’ 

sometimes i wonder

[anglofile]

[preciouscauliflower]

oh my GOD

[dressthesavage]

the answer is yes they did. there’s a lot of research about the highly emotional reactions to the first novels widely available in print. 

here’s a thing; the printing press was invented in 1450 and whilst it was revolutionary it wasn’t very good. but then it got better over time and by the 16th century there were publications, novels, scientific journals, folios, pamphlets and newspapers all over Europe. at first most were educational or theological, or reprints of classical works.

however, novels gained in popularity, as basically what most people wanted was to read for pleasure. they became salacious, extremely dramatic, with tragic heroines and doomed love and flawed heroes (see classical literature, only more extreme.) books in the form of letters were common. sensationalism was par the course and apparently used to teach moral lessons. there was also a lot of erotica floating around. 

but here’s the thing: due to the greater availability of literature and the rise of comfy furniture (i shit you not this is an actual historical fact, the 16th and 17th century was when beds and chairs got comfy) people started reading novels for pleasure, women especially. as these novels were highly emotional, they too became…highly emotional. there are loads of contemporary reports of young women especially fainting, having hysterics, or crying fits lasting for days due to the death of a character or their otp’s doomed love. they became insensible over books and characters, and were very vocal about it. men weren’t immune-there’s a long letter a middle-aged man wrote to the author of his favourite work basically saying that the novel is too sad, he can’t handle all his feels, if they don’t get together he won’t be able to go on, and his heart is already broken at the heroine’s tragic state (IIRC ehh). 

conservatives at the time were seriously worried about the effects of literature on people’s mental health, and thought it damaging to both morals and society. so basically yes it is exactly like what happens on tumblr when we cry over attractive British men, only my historical theory (get me) is that their emotions were even more intense, as they hadn’t had a life of sensationalist media to numb the pain for them beforehand in the same way we do, nor did they have the giant group therapy session that is tumblr. 

(don’t even get me started on the classical/early medieval dudes and their boners for the Iliad i will be here all week. suffice to say, the members of the Byzantine court used Homeric puns instead of talking normally to each other if someone who hand’t studied the classics was in the room. they had dickish fandom in-jokes. boom.) 

[sonneillonv-deactivated20220218]

I needed to know this.

[heidi8]

See, we’re all just the current steps in a time-honored tradition! (And this post is good to read along with Affectingly’s post this week about old-school-fandom-and-history-and-stuff.

[aporeticelenchus]

Ancient Iliad fandom is intense

Alexander the Great and and his boyfriend totally RPed Achilles and Patroclus. Alexander shipped that hard. (It’s possible that this story is apocryphal, but that would just mean that ancient historians were writing RPS about Alexander and Hephaestion RPing Iliad slash and honestly that’s just as good).

And then there’s this gem from Plato:

“Very different was the reward of the true love of Achilles towards his lover Patroclus - his lover and not his love (the notion that Patroclus was the beloved one is a foolish error into which Aeschylus has fallen, for Achilles was surely the fairer of the two, fairer also than all the other heroes; and, as Homer informs us, he was still beardless, and younger far)” - Symposium

That’s right: 4th Century BCE arguments about who topped. Nihil novi sub sole my friends.

[emberkeelty]

More on this glorious subject from people who know way more than I do

[cobaltzosia]

Man I love this post.

And to add my personal favourite story: after reading Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa in the 18th century, Elizabeth Echlin decided that she was NOT HAPPY with the ending and basically wrote her own fix-it fic. No-one dies and Lovelace (the villain) was totally reformed and became a super nice guy. It’s completely OOC and incredibly poorly written and it’s beautiful. 

Also, so many women fell in love with the villain, Lovelace, and wrote to Richardson about it, that he kept adding new bits with each edition to highlight what a hideous person Lovelace was. So it’s almost unsurprising that reading novels in this period was actually considered dangerous because it gave women unrealistic ideas about men and made them easier prey for rakes. 

Basically, “I want my own Christian Grey” has been a thing for hundreds of years. 

[rapacityinblue]

Also a thing with fix-it/everyone lives AUs: at various points in time but especially in the mid 1800s-early 1900s (aka roughly Victorian though there were periods of this earlier as well) a huge thing was to “fix” Shakespeare (as well as most theater/novels) to be in line with current morality. Good characters live, bad characters are terribly punished – but not, you know, grusomely, because what would the ladies think? So you have like, productions of King Lear where Cordelia lives and so do Regan and Goneril, but they’re VERY SORRY.

Aka all your problematic faves are redeemed and Everyone Lives! AUs for every protag.

[mademoisellesansa]

Slightly tangential but I wanted to add my own favorite account of Chinese fandom to this~ I don’t know how many people here have heard of the Chinese novel A Dream of Red Mansions (红楼梦), but it is, arguably, the most famous Chinese novel ever written (There are four Chinese novel classics and A Dream of Red Mansions is considered the top of that list). It was written during the Qing dynasty by 曹雪芹, but became a banned book due to its critique of societal institutions and pro-democracy themes. As a result, the original ending of the book was lost and only the first 80 chapters remained. There are quite a few versions of how the current ending of the book came to be, but one of them is basically about how He Shen, one of Emperor Qian Long’s most powerful advisers, was such a super-fan of the book, he hired two writers to archive and reform the novel from the few remaining manuscripts there were. In order to convince the Emperor to remove the ban on the book, he had the writers essentially write a fanfiction ending to the book that would mitigate the anti-establishment themes. However, He Shen thought that the first version of the ending was too tragic (even though the whole book is basically a tragedy) so he had the writers go back and write a happier ending for him (the current final 40 chapters). He then presented the book to the Emperor and successfully convinced him to remove the ban on the book.

According to incomplete estimates, A Dream of Red Mansions spawned over 20 spin offs, retellings, and alternate versions (in the form of operas, plays, etc.) during the Qing Dynasty alone. 

In 1979, fans (albeit academic ones) started publishing a bi-monthly journal dedicated to analysis (read: meta) on A Dream of Red Mansions. In fact, the novel’s fandom is so vast and qualified and rooted in academics of Chinese literature that there is an entire field of study (beginning in the Qing dynasty) of just this one novel, called 红学. Think of it as Shakespearean studies, but only on one play. This field of study has schools of thought and specific specializations (as in: Psych analyses, Economics analyses, Historical analyses, etc.) that span pretty much every academic field anyone can think of. 

(That being said, I’ve read A Dream of Red Mansions and can honestly say that I’ve never read its peer in either English or Chinese. If for nothing else, read it because you would never otherwise believe that a man from the Qing dynasty could write such a heart-breakingly feminist novel with such a diverse cast of female characters given all the bitching and moaning we hear from male content-creators nowadays)

[jhameia]

the beauty of archival research *sigh*

[ogress]

i went to a building that is a “fan recreation” of one of the buildings from Hongloumeng and my like bitter, angry, never smiled once 78yo male teacher was like squeeing and giggling and kept sitting down and fanning himself and posed dramatically for photos

this guy was like the voldemort of staff, a man of legendary terror-inspiring mien. swooning.

[teashoesandhair]

A more recent example of fandom in history is the original Sherlock Holmes fan base! It’s one of the earliest coherent models we have that closely represents the fandoms of modern media. 

Arthur Conan Doyle’s first two Sherlock Holmes novels weren’t hugely popular, but when he began to write stories for The Strand magazine involving Sherlock Holmes, the public basically went absolutely mental. He used to get fan mail - predominantly from women, apparently - addressed directly to Sherlock Holmes, some women even offering to be his housekeeper. 

He eventually got so fed up of writing stories about a character he didn’t really like (he considered Sherlock Holmes to be an irritating distraction from his ambition to write historical fiction, once saying “he takes my mind from better things”) that he took measures to end the series once and for all. First, he raised his fee for writing the stories to an extortionate amount, hoping that the magazine would refuse to pay it and fire him. However, there was such a demand for new Sherlock Holmes stories that the magazine just agreed to pay his ridiculous fee. So, he killed off Sherlock Holmes in 1893 in the Reichenbach Falls, and when he did that, shit hit the fan. People reportedly placed Sherlock Holmes obituaries in newspapers. Many of them cancelled their subscription to The Strand, and wrote angry letters to Arthur Conan Doyle explaining how he’d broken their heart. To fill the gap left by the death of their bb, some people wrote fan fiction and shared it in literary groups and book clubs. 

Conan Doyle caved to pressure in 1901 and wrote Hound of the Baskervilles, partly because the fan fervour never really died down, and partly because cash dollah. You know how fans lobbied for the return of Firefly, and ended up getting Serenity made? The original Sherlock Holmes fans totally got there first.

[ladycat777]

Fandom: we have always existed.

[luna-lebleu]

Me: *goes on vacation*

Me: *brings $450 camera*

Me: *takes shit ton of photos with phone

Me: The fuck is wrong with me?

[slecnaztemnot]

Video games vs disability

I think many people don’t actually realize how inaccessible video games are for disabled people.

I can’t speak for people with other disabilities, but I can certainly share what things I have to deal with as a deaf individual:

- Plenty of games aren’t captioned at all. It’s pretty hard to play a game when you don’t have a clue what’s going on. And you can’t enjoy the story if you don’t understand what’s being said. I know I couldn’t play first Assasin’s Creed, because it lacked subtitles.

- Those games that feature subtitles often caption only certain things. For example in RPG, your character is often saying things like “trap detected” or “not sufficient skill” or “companion has low health”. These are not captioned and sometimes, there are not even any visual clues.

- Some games feature sounds that make you know that loot is near/rune is on the wall/there is something hidden, etc. Again, with no additional visual clues.

- Lot of games announce arrival of a boss or a difficult enemy by changing the music

- Some games (especially horror ones) are basically based on hearing the enemy coming from behind/from some place you can’t see

- I can’t play multiplayer games where communication is via mic (and there are lot of those)

- and this isn’t even a final list… 

And you know, this makes video games harder, sometimes even impossible to play. And yeah, I got told: “Why don’t you watch Let’s play videos instead?”

For one, I want to actually play the game, not just watch somebody play the game. And secondly, you know… LET’S PLAY VIDEOS ARE ALMOST NEVER CAPTIONED. (automatic captions don’t count, because they don’t make any sense) Same goes for lot of video guides and walkthroughs.

And I have to think - when deafness affects playing video games to this degree, what about visual disabilities? Motoric disabilities? Basically any disabilities?

Let’s make our voices heard. What is your experience with video games and disability?

[luna-lebleu]

IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PLEASE LOOK AT ABLE GAMERS! They are a great charity that work to promote quality of life for all disabilities through video games. They help people who can’t get specially adapted controllers, they help developers make their games more inclusive and they help uneducated gamers know how to help assist their disabled gaming friends in games that aren’t as inclusive. They are genuinely awesome and an all around great organization. I found out about them at PAXEast2015 and their whole purpose for being there was to provide a safe space for anyone who needed it from stress or disability or just feeling overwhelmed from the crowds (I went in cause someone yelled at me after he put his hand under the wheel of my chair) and they were so accepting of everyone and did everything to help and educate. This is their website: http://www.ablegamers.com/

[just-shower-thoughts]

I would be a lot more willing to go to Mars if Elon Musk didn’t sound like the name of a super villain.

[just-shower-thoughts]

Elon Musk wants to send one million people to Mars for $500,000 each. I LOVE this guy: he created a master plan to get rid of the 1% AND the morons who didn’t think to let someone else try it first. All in one sweeping motion.

[luna-lebleu]

Pity the Trump supporter, they have clearly had their souls stolen. Not sure if demons or gingers are the culprit.

[lightinthebox]

[luna-lebleu]

Me: Definitely things to not say about your child "yeah I'd tap that."

Boyfriend: Yeah I'd double tap that guy.

[both-seeker-and-sought]

There is a place called ‘heaven’ where the good here unfinished is completed; and where the stories unwritten, and the hopes unfulfilled, are continued. We shall laugh together yet.

J.R.R. Tolkien, in a letter to his son, Michael (via rosentradgard)