starry pattern I did a while back. :o)

[ID: a painting of a starry night sky with many connected constellations. The stars are gold on a deep navy blue watercolor sky. End ID]

“John Wick Is So Tired” by Kyra Wilder in The Paris Review #243

Has to be one of the best passages of a book I’ve read in a long time

so boycott love

A beginner’s star-book, an easy guide to the stars and to the astronomical uses of the opera-glass, the field-glass and the telescope, 1912

one can instantly free oneself from the chains of identity discourse by simply conceiving of sexuality as something that is dialectical and not metaphysical

your sexuality does not exist within you, nor does it exist as an immutable wholly external ideal to be discovered. your sexuality is locatable only within your interaction with and relations to the world around you

uh hi so!

i wrote this webpage that walks u thru looking after yourself when you know a thought is making you spiral. deployed it publicly bc i wanted it on mobile and i thought other people might like it too

check it oot

You're a hero op

I don’t know if op is aware of this, but this is very similar to a method I know about from therapy. If you can’t pick out the flawed parts of the thought, you can say it in a ridiculous voice to make it seem less valid. It really works! (For me at least)

Separating yourself from the thought can also help. It’s sometimes easier to look critically at something when you’re not the one who said it. This also reminds of thinking traps, which have helped me tremendously with my social anxiety. 

(tip: be careful with number 2, ‘Emotional reasoning’. While just because you feel something doesn’t mean it’s true, simultaneously, your emotions are never wrong. They may come from thoughts not based in reality, but your emotions make sense from the thought that it stemmed from. I.e. “I forgot to submit my assignment on time. I am so dumb.”--> shame, anger. You are not dumb because you didn’t submit the assignment on time. AND it makes sense that you feel ashamed if you are telling yourself that you’re dumb.)

hello op here! yeah, this website came about because i wanted to put all of my skills from two years of therapy into one place, so i could access them easily when spiraling.

my therapist and i spent a session printing out pictures of ben shapiro and drawing speech bubbles where he would say the bad thoughts i have about myself. VERY funny in terms of situations to be in but very effective in terms of therapy.

i’m glad you recognise the skills in this and that it’s effective for you!

all the best mental health hacks are a bit cursed

true to my word here is the boy (2010) google drive featuring the film itself as well as a handful of articles/reviews, as much of the soundtrack as i could find online, and links to some of the video interviews i’ve found over the years that are all but lost to the youtube algorithm. also featuring two cars, one night (2004) because thematically they’re almost inseparable and each informs the other a huge amount. anyway, enjoy! its incredible, my favourite film of all time, and easily the best 84 minutes of any day i choose to watch it

Yvonne Jacquette, Night Wing: Metropolitan Area Composite II, 204.8 x 144.1 cm, 1993

i hate that trope of "you scientists might now all that scientific data about flowers or whatever but you don't appreciate its beauty" like i guarantee not only they do, not only in the common way but also in studying it which is not some cold emotionless endeavour and learning that stuff can be an appreciation of its beauty!!! but also they will find beauty in things you probably think are gross like worms and slime mold and stuff

I will never forget the day I saw my professor fall to her knees, a rapturous expression on her face. "Oh, it's so beautiful." she breathed, and I leaned closer to look at what she had found and

It was rust fungus.

It was a tiny brown spot of rust fungus on a piece of grass.

It's like a weird side effect of anti intellectualism. Like if you understand something you cannot possibly appreciate it, not the way we ignorant do. In fact, it's possibly the opposite. Knowing every detail, every step, every act borne of billions or years of evolution and sheer luck, must make The Thing so much more majestic.

oh hey it's my post. I'm still right about this and I'm still glad nobody pointed out i misspelled "know"

As a scientist: yes. Absolutely.

I also think it's worth mentioning, why do you think we entered our fields in the first place?

Do you think we like torturing ourselves with writing 20 page papers, straining our eyes because of looking through microscopes all day, or enduring all Mother Nature has to throw at us when in the field?

No, we do it for the love of our study subjects. I'm collecting scientific data on birds because I love birds.

You can't simplify it more than that.

This! Anyone in academia is clearly in it for the love of science and their field. Academia is brutal, you’re expected to study for 10 years, while being considered an early career scientist, 40+ hour weeks with little to no pay. Scrapping by on free morning tea and lunches at conferences and meetings. 

Constant work, endless deadlines, “publish or perish”, rejection after rejection, begging for funding and trying to fight 1000 other people for 1 job because there’s never enough job openings.

xkcd 877

“You need to believe in things that aren’t true. How else can they become” - Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

it’s seasonal lads

IT’S SEASONAL AGAIN LADS

INDEX: replies to asks

Replies to asks:

DIY Crochet Flower Patterns

Happy Patty Crochet on Etsy

Well, we didn’t know but now we know ‘nose’