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outlaw

@01fairytrap / 01fairytrap.tumblr.com

'97 / i got time but it's not for you, bro
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stuckinapril

Reminder that the US bombed Iraq a day ago. Reminder that this attack has killed 16 Iraqis, many of whom were civilians. Reminder that Iraq has already suffered enough at the hands of US imperialism, that to this day it’s recovering from the aftermath of being defamed to the world as terrorists, from its cities being destroyed under the guise of “exterminating ISIS” (an echo of Israel decimating Palestine to “exterminate Hamas,” interesting), that the US has so many ulterior motives to continue encroaching upon Iraq that have nothing to do with their seemingly noble rationale, and that it does all this while funding Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians (which are basically doing their dirty work of pushing further in on Arab territory). It’s jarring that this is all happening on a world stage & yet nothing is being done to stop it. Hands off Iraq. Free Palestine. Hands off Iraq. Free Palestine.

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librarycard

the jenny holzer truism "in a dream you saw a way to survive and you were full of joy" and the natalie wee quote "i kneel into a dream where i am good & loved. i am good. i am loved." does anyone understand

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I'm turning 30 this month, and for some reason have become suddenly interested in material possessions. like what if,,,,,,,,my couch was nice. what if my sheets were nice. is this what happens to you??

I think a couple of things combine: you now have enough experience in the persistence of material objects to understand that if they don’t actively fail, they continue to define the shape of your material existence. The four stainless steel forks you randomly bought for your first place are now the forks you might, conceivably, have for the rest of your life.

You also have experience of the world around you. You realize, by comparison with your friends who like nice things, that your forks are shit. Incidentally, you also realise that despite having made choices that were defined by being broke or frugal, you do not actually get points for having shitty thin-handled forks that are annoying to use. You don’t get respect or appreciation or comfort or pleasure. After ten years of use out of $5 cutlery, you have inarguably gotten your money’s worth. You will get nothing else from them. You only get, forever, the experience of using shitty forks.

You have probably lived on your own for a few years now, perhaps even for more than a decade. Some items have fallen behind and been lost, thrown away, broken or failed; both others are still your companions. Depending on how nice they are, this is a source of comfort and frustration. Love to the hiking boots that have lasted! Affection and allegiance to the 20 year old band t-shirt! Disgust to the t-shirt bought last year that is sent to recycling for being so shit. Increasing admiration to the grand-grandmother’s mixing bowl, especially compared to the 2016 purchase of a mixing bowl that couldn’t handle the fast-paced lifestyle. Annoyance, disappointment and sorrow to smartphone case number 241, what the fuck. Smug pride in oneself for having the foresight, in an earlier house move, to splash out on a decent new mattress. As these items persist, you cannot help but notice that quality of materials/items is now obvious and visible, because you’ve spent more time with them. A 22-year old newly in possession of two knives - a cheap shitty kitchen knife and a good one they inherited - will have spent the same amount of time with both objects; when you’re 30, you’ve worked for 8 years with the good knife, while the cheap one (if you even recall ever having it) was thrown out in a fit of annoyance six years ago.

You have, at this point, in addition to using them, also handled and cleaned most of your possessions several times. You have realized, very materially and fundamentally, that you must care for these items for the rest of your lifespan, or theirs.

You are (possibly) out of the early desperate scramble to suddenly, instantly furnish an entire independent life (sheets, mattresses, winter coat, forks) with no money. This naturally led to restrictions on what you chose.

You are (possibly) out of the eaves of how you were raised. Many people spend their early twenties reconciling how they were raised with how they want to live. Perhaps you were raised to feel guilty for wanting things, such as toys or attention, which you later dutifully applied to things like education or new forks. Over time, you will have surprised yourself with how you met, identified, addressed, and reconciled these tensions from your upbringing; through conflict and resolution with parents/teachers/church/internet/social media, you have now arrived at what you have. If you had big things to confront, like coming out as queer, you may have thought this work was done. Now you suddenly find yourself confronting the weird beliefs you have that “you don’t NEED new forks” or “it’s bourgeois to want things” or “NOBODY spend £200 on HIKING BOOTS, what are you, rich?” And you might find yourself feeling like, well, actually, I’m grown-up and I hike and eat, actually.

So yes, I think that when you are 30 you are in the danger zone of getting a new couch.

This has been posted to Reddit (fair in this case!), comments have a useful link to some subs like r/buyitforlife and other resources you may be interested in. https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/s/AKr18bV11n

Hey looking at the notes there’s a lot more “oh, I’ve been beating myself up over my materialistic impulses, maybe it’s … okay …? to own shoes?” responses than I like to see in you guys, whom I like! Boring long rant under the cut (sorry guys it’s what tumblr is for I guess)

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simplysnaps

As someone who originally thought she wanted to work in media broadcasting, I'm so relieved I grew out of it. I went to school for it, worked grueling jobs for five years just to be behind a camera, and suffered abuse, wage theft, and so much more in order to keep a job in the "field of my dreams."

Then one day I looked around a realized I actually hated media, didn't care for cameras in the slightest, and only kind of enjoyed editing video. I jumped industries to a "boring customer support" position and am making TWICE my old salary with actual benefits and free time to be happy.

If you feel like you're stuck in a field because it's what you dreamed about at the age of 14, I am giving you permission to ask yourself if you'd be happier with a desk job and a 401k. I think we romanticize weird and interesting jobs but honestly you can just work something tolerable all day and then put your passion into your hobbies.

For you folks who would actually rather die than leave your dream job, disregard this post. It's not for you and I am genuinely happy for you, it must be wild to have that kind of passion and commitment to something. I just think it's not as ubiquitous as we sometimes think.

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traycakes

I went to college to study computer science and was completely overwhelmed and miserable, wasting all my college savings and barely getting any credits before getting kicked out for low grades.

It ends up that I like using computers because I find online conversations less stressful and video games are a good source of dopamine. I actually have no interest in learning how computers work even if I use them a lot. I never stopped to consider what I was interested in learning.

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spnyuri

I don't think I've seen it mentioned on tumblr so I just wanted to direct some attention to Palestine Legal, a US-based organization that "protects the civil and constitutional rights of people in the U.S. who speak out for Palestinian freedom". If you or anyone you know has had their rights breached due to organizing for Palestine, they can help you get through it. Their work is in (free!) legal advice, policy advocacy, documentation of activist suppression, and education for activists.

If you are in the US, I highly recommend checking them out and supporting them, and keep them in mind if you run into any issues while standing for Palestine.

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I love it when people use "shrimp" to mean "beyond the human range". like "shrimp colors" but applied to other things. "shrimp emotions" "shrimp sounds" "shrimp morality", as if shrimp are living some kind of transcendent existence that humans can never comprehend

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