Whimsical Madness @whimsicalmadness2013 - Tumblr Blog

Im enjoying the longevity of tumblrs recontextualization style of humor. a seemingly innocuous post followed by like "posts that a gnome would make" or like "are you a phone"

gorbling

hapalopus

More from the notes:

vexwerewolf

I love this post

karifaevt

The horse thinks as it scratches an itch

trashmouthkid

Is there a word for when you’re driving down the highway and start to approach you’re exit and you realize that you could just keep going? Like physically, you could just keep going. Nothing is stopping you. You don’t have money, but you have money to get you some place, for a moment. Even if it cost you someone’s worry, your own job, you could do it and besides, people have done worse. You could go and be forgiven. And there’s a hunger to it, fervent and demanding, because you’ve never wanted anything more than this. You are fed up with your life, sick of functioning under these conditions just so, of never taking the moment in between your mailbox and the apartment door to scream until your throat tears. You are already in your car. But then your exit comes and you take it, because somehow you have to. What’s the word for that?

warrioreowynofrohan

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

saviorified

sometimes people on here talk about "accountability" in a way that shows they think that the person they've decided is in the wrong can't actually do anything to redeem themselves other than like. suicide.

ace-aussie-asshole

Things Accountability IS:

Apologising for the harm that you've caused.

Trying to change your behaviour.

Accepting that not everyone will forgive you and they don't have to.

Things Accountability ISN'T:

Wallowing in your guilt until you think of yourself as nothing but bad.

Accepting an overly distressing punishment for your actions.

Twisting yourself into knots to make sure everyone knows how disgusted you are by yourself.

Other people can't move on if you never do.

insomniac-arrest

people talk all the time about “primal instincts” and it’s usually about violence or sexual temptations or something, but your humanity comes with a lot of different stuff that we do without really thinking about, that we do without being told to or prompted to

your average human comes pre-installed with instincts to:

Befriend

Tell story

Make Thing

Investigate

Share knowledge

Laugh

Sing

Dance

Empathize with

Create

we are chalk full of survival instincts that revolve around connecting to others (dog-shaped others, robot-shaped, sometimes even plant-shaped) and making things with our hands

your primal instincts are not bathed in blood- they are layered in people telling stories to each other around a fire over and over and putting devices together through trial and error over and over and reaching for someone and something every moment of the way

full-moon-phoenix

~“Your primal instincts are not bathed in blood.”

My god this is beautiful. Such a refreshing change of pace to the constant glorification of instinctual human violence.

thechekhov

Primal Human Instinct pack also includes bonus instincts such as:

imitating weird noises made by other animals

playing with water

the urge to eat anything brightly colored and jelly-like

touching things that look like they will move in a funny way

seeing faces in literally everything, including toast

jumping up to see if you can bap the top of that doorway

saying ‘ow’ when something unexpected happens, even if it doesn’t hurt

loveridden1999

i miss my ex bestfriend & everyone else that i have ever loved but don't want any of them back either

loveridden1999

what the fuck man

shadowgremlin

My wife’s idea of decompressing after the busy holiday was to rearrange every piece of furniture in our home is this an ADHD thing or just a her thing

I’m not complaining the way she’s done it is much better than it was it’s just like how is this your idea of a relaxing weekend

kaity--did

Listen I don't get to decide when the drunk elf that is my executive actually does the functioning but when he does we have a SMALL WINDOW OF TIME before he finds the schnapps again and we're done

honeysbunchesofoats

kaity--did

yes this exactly

luminouspica

So to me, there are spoons (general energy cost) and carnival tickets (specific energy cost).

Spoons can be used pretty much anywhere.

Carnival tickets are only good for the carnival, and it’s only in town for a limited amount of time.

So like, if I get “kitchen cleaning” carnival tickets, I can’t use that to clean my bedroom, that’s not where the carnival is.

lingonberry24

phrase added to permanent vocabulary

lemonomelette

fav grump with the most positive character development

meadow-mellow

so.... Asil and Ruby huh?

mercy-thompson-fanfiction

Ok things I don’t love:

- I know that the “well it was immediate” thing was in reference more to how Charles and Anna seemingly bonded immediately but Asil’s wolf takes to Ruby quickly snd even he seems confused by that? So that’s weird to me. It feels like Asil is momentarily self aware like “something strange is afoot.”

- She’s very blank slate. Even in Alpha & Omega, we got a feel for who Charles was compared to this. So I just don’t love the introduction. It felt rushed.

- Asil is too self aware to be dating anyone seriously. He literally says “this is a child” when meeting Kelly.

Things I joke that I care about but in (more than just) the Mercyverse makes sense:

- Age gaps. I know we all hate them and I have a particular dislike for specifically Bran/Blue Jay Woman, Bran/Leah, and (less so which I will explain) Charles/Anna because Blue Jay Woman, Anna, and Leah were not part of werewolves before the relationship. With exception to Anna who was a wolf but was just young. It is unrealistic, especially with the way Briggs creates her “minds go before body” reasoning for wolves not living long, that wolves as old as Asil are going to magically wind up with someone closer in age. The best you’re going to get is someone who knows and understands they’re dealing with someone much older than themselves. And I think the easiest way to place this in perspective is look at dating in the real world. Once you hit certain milestone birthdays, the age gaps aren’t all that odd. I also think it makes sense that Asil is the one noting it just because it’s probably not as weird, as a 100 year old immortal being, to consider dating something as ancient as Asil but the opposite is probably somehow stranger.

- Widowers remarry. People don’t need to be miserable all the time. One of my couples for photography had a really beautiful wedding. He’d been married before and lost his spouse to a tragic accident. They honored her at the wedding because that chapter doesn’t just stop existing. I think the ick people are getting is the parallel between someone who might genuinely be able to love and lose and love again vs Bran who claims he can’t. Which I think some of that just stems from Asil’s “yup it’s time to die” attitude vs Bran’s “nothing can stop me and so I must stop myself” whatever you want to call it.

Idk. I’m honestly so tired right now and I had to read the fucking cat story so many times to even grasp what was happening but Ruby just doesn’t feel fleshed out as a character. Shes reading more of a plot device of some sort.

meadow-mellow

I'm of the opinion that Briggs should've made Asil's human side fall first for whoever she'd throw at him. Using the instalove aspect has become a crutch at this point to not write bonds developing organically. And I'm not even touching on the fact that Sage and him were toeing around each other for Years before it ended the way it did. After that? I find it very hard to believe Asil would enter any kind of relationship seeing how the previous two ended. Sometimes its fine for a character to just not fall in love again. Even then Asil's story should be a slow burn, it is the only logical path for a character with such troubled history.

Mind you I don't have issues with age-gap, in fact I like them A Lot, what I do dislike is poorly explored romantic relationships as much as the next person. Briggs has some problematic portrayals or doesn't address certain issues other than on a superficial level and then proceeds to write on, which knowing when the first books were released I can understand since there wasn't as much awareness or public discussion as now but then we end up with an audience that has outgrown its reading material.

It ticks me off that all three couples have a large age gap with deeply traumatized women in a power imbalance relationship and that they end up having to resort to 'soft power' as only option for regaining a semblance of control instead of working against the stifling and misogynistic structure they are caged by (i.e werewolf hierarchy, older men unable to change because apparently treating women as anything other than lost lambs in need of guidance is too much to ask, etc). But then we have another issue cropping up which is the Alpha Bitch trope or Girlboss. Its like we cannot have nuance for female characters, they are forced into these roles. It shouldn't be too much to ask for an older, non-human woman to have her shit together, not be a hardass or a carpet to be walked all over.

If Briggs can manage to write all these millennia/centuries old immortal men with their nuances, their flaws and redemptive qualities she should be able to write the same for women no? Instead we end up with Bran's mom or some other evil immortal lady or she simply opts out on writing mothers, sisters, daughters in the same numbers by comparison.

Again there's a lot of stuff she does manage! I'm forever thankful we got Anna because its so rare to find abuse portrayed the way it is in such an empathetic way. I love Anna to bits, I grew up reading her story and she helped me through stuff of my own. I just wish the women in A&O and MT weren't made into the men's emotional crutches all the damn time. Which is why I dont mesh with Ruby at all. It's like sticking a band aid on Asil's trauma's and calling it a day. Its insulting to the character and to the readers.

xenosaurus

I turn 30 next month so here’s what I learned in my 20s:

—don’t work for startups, they’re always one ‘innovative idea’ away adding ‘sell your kidneys on the black market’ to your job description.

—keeping a collection of basic OTC medicine on you will save your life one day. I recommend Advil, Imodium, and TUMS.

—those little single-use glasses cleaning wipes are 1000% worth the money

—overly self-depreciating jokes just make people uncomfortable, wean yourself off of them

—you can buy dehydrated mini marshmallows in bulk online and they’re a godsend for hot cocoa

—people don’t care if you have fidget toys on your desk they just want to play with them

—try to go to bed BEFORE the existential ennui kicks in

thelittleblackfox

Also drink water and eat a plant

liz-squids

This is all GREAT. I turned 40 last week, so permit me to add what I learned in my 30s:

keep on not working for startups

sometimes there comes a point where the thing (fandom, hobby, friendship, romantic relationship) you loved no longer brings you joy. And that's okay. Try to mourn the loss, take joy in the memories, and don't burn any bridges in case ten years go by and you find yourself back in that fandom/hobby/relationship again

it turns out that (ugh) moderate regular exercise is (spit) good for you. The sooner you make it part of your life, the easier it'll be

related: if you throw yourself into a new exercise regime too hard and too fast, without stopping to rest or consider whether a particular move is good for you ... well, shoulder injuries are painful and consults with orthopedic surgeons are expensive

knees are bastards too

don't even get me started on ankles

there may come a time when your digestive system is too fragile for ibuprofin. I'm sorry

one day you're gonna wake up and realise you no longer give any fucks about some things that used to bother you

on the other hand, you might be alarmed to realise what you still give a fuck about

never get down on the floor without an exit strategy for getting back up

covington-shenanigans

I turn 50 this year. what I have learned in my 40s:

"loving yourself" is less of a feeling and more of an action. you can start doing it any time and it will make your life better and better as you go on

this will happen incrementally - be patient

along those lines, if you haven't started making an active effort to quit shit-talking yourself, suck it up and do it

no, shut up. do it. "but it's haaaaard!" don't care. do it.

whether you like it or not, you are mortal and you need to go to the doctor for an annual checkup

stretch regularly - your future self will thank you

at some point you will encounter people much younger than you arguing passionately and incorrectly about history you personally remember and experienced

this will be infuriating and annoying

otoh, most other things just... will not matter to you as much

at some point you will shift from wanting to go out to being like "eh" and deciding to stay in. this is okay.

you will have absolutely no idea what The Youth are talking about and you will not care

but if you keep your mind open to new ideas you'll never be irrelevant

your company still doesn't love you - don't give them more than they pay you for

get a fucking hobby, especially a hobby that involves physically creating/handling something and/or moving your body in physical space. it will do you more good than you can imagine

atlinmerrick

Just turned 60 and let me say:

Find joy, every kind, it's always worth it

I'm talking that massive, never-ending Discord chat with your bestie? The one that makes you giggle through the day? It's not a "waste of time," it's what time was made for

If that's fanfic for your favorite characters who never even met on screen celebrate that!

If that's building a tiny fleet of snake villagers for your snake town and they just cover your mantel hell yes!

If that's collecting pillows and making a fort of them every weekend I'll be right over

Feeling and sharing joy is the whole point