The Once & Future Nerd

Art blog at @yourdailyjormy Everything is a social construct. Especially me.

[mangled-by-disuse]

having the worst pain day i have had in uhhhh A While (to the point that my partner, who knows me well enough to know that most pain is nbd, was like "hey uh do you need to go to the doctor?" at one point) and this is highly inconvenient bc 1. i have a lot of shit to do and 2. tomorrow i'm not only working i'm also meant to be doing a longsword display at a contra dance in the evening

i think i can probably survive one longsword dance but unless things change dramatically i am NOT going to be doing the actual contra. and given how i keep saying "man i should go to more of those" this is very deeply annoying

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i would honestly dip out of the whole thing if i could but unfortunately we only barely have a set for longsword as it is. so if any of us fail to show up then it doesn't happen. and i am NOT letting people down i REFUSE.

i may be back on my "pop the maximum safe dose of ibuprofen and paracetamol" bullshit for a couple of days though

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ok cool are we chilling out? it looks like maybe we're finally chilling out.

(i am, despite appearances, very happy that this is the post that blew up, and i'm happy i got to share Good Pride News with people, but also: i hate that i currently can't tell if anyone is interacting with any of my other posts because all activity is immediately swamped by hundreds of notes per hour on the durham miners' association and pride)

[mangled-by-disuse]

having the worst pain day i have had in uhhhh A While (to the point that my partner, who knows me well enough to know that most pain is nbd, was like "hey uh do you need to go to the doctor?" at one point) and this is highly inconvenient bc 1. i have a lot of shit to do and 2. tomorrow i'm not only working i'm also meant to be doing a longsword display at a contra dance in the evening

i think i can probably survive one longsword dance but unless things change dramatically i am NOT going to be doing the actual contra. and given how i keep saying "man i should go to more of those" this is very deeply annoying

[mangled-by-disuse]

It's 2:45am and I'm exhausted but I've just left bed bc literally NO position is comfortable. got me crying with frustration. figure even if I can't sleep I should at least let my partner sleep and not keep tossing and turning and making distressed noises while he's trying to rest

this is, as always, one of the most hellishly awful experiences imaginable.. LET ME SLEEP. I'M SO TIRED.

[mangled-by-disuse]

I do actually enjoy the film Pride (2014) but after 22,300+ notes primarily consisting of people going DID YOU KNOW THEY MADE A MOVIE ABOUT THIS it may be permanently ruined for me ngl

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I love these field names. All acreages and all totally inaccurate.

(sorry for the screen reflections on the photo, I'm doing this on my work computer so I can't screenshot)

[mangled-by-disuse]

in happier pride news i actually found this deeply heartwarming

that's solidarity baybeeee

[lgbtlaughs]

Further context: Durham city council (Reform UK) cut funding and support for Pride. The Durham Miner's Association and other trade unions raised enough money for Durham Pride 2026 to go ahead - a direct call back to when Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised money for mining communities when Margaret Thatcher seized union funding during the miner strikes of 1984-85.

At the 1985 Labour party meet, the motion to support LGBT rights as a party was passed due to a block vote from mining unions.

Stephen Guy, the chair of the Durham Miners’ Association, said that when it became apparent Durham Pride was under threat, he took it upon himself to “encourage the trade union movement to step up and do the right thing, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT+ community […] They not only raised funds for us, but came to our communities, uplifted our spirits when they were down, and showed their solidarity.”

[mangled-by-disuse]

#HELL YEAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!#i watched the movie that discussed this event and it was GREAT

sorry i just. i have to say something here

the movie is not about this event. i have seen a lot of reblogs tagged as "pride (2014)" or "watch the movie about this!" or similar, and while I totally get it (and Pride is a great movie) i just want to underline: this post is not about the events depicted in Pride (2014), although it is absolutely related

this is about Durham Pride 2026, which took place three days ago and which the Durham Miners Association funded to the tune of ten times its usual budget, in an act of resistance to the current right-wing politics of England.

and I totally understand why people love Pride and want to talk about it! but Pride is about events that took place 40 years ago, and while they are still very important (as you can see from their mention in the DMA's original post), I think it's really important that we keep this in its context as something that's happening now.

this is not queer history. this is current, of-the-moment solidarity at a time when many would say that the radical trade unions of the North-East died when the mines closed, and when the North-East has gone from being associated with radical labour politics to being associated with Brexit, Reform, and the swing to the nationalist right.

and while I can't police how people tag this post, and I don't mean to say people can't or shouldn't tag it as Pride (2014), it's happening enough that I just really need to say this. this is not (just) about what happened in 1985. this is about what is happening in 2026.

[mangled-by-disuse]

I do feel like the Durham Pride stuff really encapsulates my mixed feelings about where I come from.

bc, like. at the end of the day this was necessary because of the people of Durham - because they elected a Reform council, and because County Durham is kind of a hotbed for reactionary and right-wing ideas. like. I grew up pretty visibly queer in County Durham (albeit not the coalfields) and I am very conscious that Pride is absolutely necessary in the county. there are a lot of things that make me deeply uncomfortable when i go home to visit. lot of red flags and many of them are hung on lampposts, you know?

but also at the end of the day: Durham and the North-East have such a long, storied, and ongoing history of labour activism, left-wing organising, supportive communities, and solidarity. the Big Meeting and the DMA are one part of a community that often does step up to help people when they need it, including marginalised and socially othered people. and it's so easy to get tangled up in the bad, but there's also so much to love about County Durham.

[mangled-by-disuse]

mind you there's a big cultural difference between the industrial and agricultural parts of the county, and I will freely admit that my familiarity is almost entirely with the agricultural bits and, like, Darlington? which was always a distinct cultural entity from the parts with massive trade unions and labour movements, because the main trade in Darlington was the railways and their unions were much less community-based (because, you know, it's a transport union, it moves)

so it is also probably the case that I am most familiar with the most reactionary parts of County Durham. the upper Dales are not noted for their political radicalism.

[mangled-by-disuse]

in happier pride news i actually found this deeply heartwarming

that's solidarity baybeeee

[lgbtlaughs]

Further context: Durham city council (Reform UK) cut funding and support for Pride. The Durham Miner's Association and other trade unions raised enough money for Durham Pride 2026 to go ahead - a direct call back to when Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised money for mining communities when Margaret Thatcher seized union funding during the miner strikes of 1984-85.

At the 1985 Labour party meet, the motion to support LGBT rights as a party was passed due to a block vote from mining unions.

Stephen Guy, the chair of the Durham Miners’ Association, said that when it became apparent Durham Pride was under threat, he took it upon himself to “encourage the trade union movement to step up and do the right thing, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT+ community […] They not only raised funds for us, but came to our communities, uplifted our spirits when they were down, and showed their solidarity.”

[mangled-by-disuse]

tags from @emohorseboy:

#so beautiful it brings a tear to the eye#i think i'm right in saying they actually raised more than the previous years budget

According to reports like this one from the BBC, they raised ten times the usual council budget.

the council has funded Pride to the tune of £2,500 in the past. the DMA raised £25,000. this was the biggest Pride event Durham has ever seen, and I'm so proud of everyone involved.

[mangled-by-disuse]

Given how experienced and proficient I know you are, I think your main challenge is limiting the work you set yourself to what is achievable in the time and space available, which is why a plan of the text can be useful.

oh my research supervisor has my fucking number

(i have overshot so badly on what's achievable and i'm already a week and a half behind)

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noooooooooooooo

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i checked on tumblr stats and

ok so that one three-day-old post accounts for a quarter of the total notes on this blog

cool

[mangled-by-disuse]

noooooooooooooo

[mangled-by-disuse]

I do feel like the Durham Pride stuff really encapsulates my mixed feelings about where I come from.

bc, like. at the end of the day this was necessary because of the people of Durham - because they elected a Reform council, and because County Durham is kind of a hotbed for reactionary and right-wing ideas. like. I grew up pretty visibly queer in County Durham (albeit not the coalfields) and I am very conscious that Pride is absolutely necessary in the county. there are a lot of things that make me deeply uncomfortable when i go home to visit. lot of red flags and many of them are hung on lampposts, you know?

but also at the end of the day: Durham and the North-East have such a long, storied, and ongoing history of labour activism, left-wing organising, supportive communities, and solidarity. the Big Meeting and the DMA are one part of a community that often does step up to help people when they need it, including marginalised and socially othered people. and it's so easy to get tangled up in the bad, but there's also so much to love about County Durham.

[mangled-by-disuse]

also send help a popular blog reblogged my post and now my offhand reposting of the durham miners association facebook page is the third most popular post on my blog

[mangled-by-disuse]

woke up and it's at over 8,200 notes

if this becomes my first 10k post on this blog I'm going to... well okay actually I probably won't mind too much, at least nobody on this one is telling me smugly that pottery wheels exist

[mangled-by-disuse]

9,600 and climbing rapidly

oops

[mangled-by-disuse]

also send help a popular blog reblogged my post and now my offhand reposting of the durham miners association facebook page is the third most popular post on my blog

[mangled-by-disuse]

woke up and it's at over 8,200 notes

if this becomes my first 10k post on this blog I'm going to... well okay actually I probably won't mind too much, at least nobody on this one is telling me smugly that pottery wheels exist

[mangled-by-disuse]

did some midnight plastering because i am a joke and my life is spiralling out of control. gradually realising it's 1am and i need to go to bed and i can't plug my phone in by the bed because there's masking tape over the socket. oops.

[mangled-by-disuse]

you know what though for my first time doing this ("this" = plastering around switches and outlets, I've patched walls and plastered in shelves before) this could be a lot worse

especially this fucking bit

(electricians left an inch-wide hole in the wall between socket plates, is what you're looking at there)

[thedreadvampy]

there is this couple who bring their dog to my gym and it just like. wanders around trailing its lead while they work out.

and my trainer is always like OH YAY HELLO BABY and I'm like. ok. Is there a polite way to say I hate that your dog is here? because I hate that your dog is here.

he seems like a nice dog but unfortunately he's a nice friendly dog who likes to come and say hello to anyone whose head is on his level and I actually. don't want to come to the bottom of a deadlift or lie down to stretch and get a dog in my face.

today I was trying to return some weights to the rack and this dog was exactly in the place I would need to walk to not be at risk of being hit by the bar someone else was squatting. it's not a large gym. I have had several times where I've almost dropped weights on myself or the dog because I've been doing chest press and suddenly felt a cold nose or a breath on my shoulder. why is your fucking dog wandering unattended around the fucking gym where people are lifting and dropping and throwing heavy things around and doing the sorts of things that can injure them or your dog if done wrong?

like. leave your dog at home or find somewhere safe and secure for him to hang out while you work out and if you can't leave him on his own then I'm so sorry but you can't both go to the gym together??? like it's not one person and their dog it's a couple who come in with their dog. One of you could be looking after the dog Not In A Busy Gym.

like I do not like to be a cantankerous bitch. I do not like to think I Hate This Fucking Dog as soon as I see this perfectly nice friendly animal. but for the love of fuck just because your dog is a nice dog does not mean that Everyone In The World Is Comfortable With The Dog Interacting With Them In A Situation You Could Reasonably Assume To Be Dogless.

get him. off the gym floor. get his nose off my face. he does not know how to mind his space he does not understand what a gym is he's a dog. he's not in anyone's line of sight when they're carrying heavy things around because he's a dog. he's trailing a tripwire behind him because you're just leaving him to wander around with his lead attached. he wants to say hello and play with people because he's a dog but I'm NOT a dog and I'm trying to focus on LIFTING HEAVY THINGS WITHOUT INJURING MYSELF and I do NOT want to say hello or play.

why is your dog at the fucking gym

[thedreadvampy]

the thing is that a lot of dog owners seem genuinely incapable of imagining that anyone might NOT want to be interacting with their dog Unexpectedly At Any And All Times. and somehow you're the bitch if you say I Do Not Want To Interact With A Random Dog.