You should see the other guy (Steve Rogers) - (2024)

More Steve Rogers art in about a month away, for his birthday! 💗

how to start reading again

from someone who was a voracious reader until high school and is now getting back into it in her twenties.

start with an old favourite. even though it felt a little silly, i re-read the harry potter series one christmas and it wiped away my worry that i wasn't capable of reading anymore. they are long books, but i was still able to get completely immersed and to read just as fast as i had years and years ago.

don't be afraid of "easier" books. before high school i was reading the french existentialists, but when getting back into reading, i picked up lucinda riley and sally rooney. not my favourite authors by far, but easier to read while not being totally terrible. i needed to remind myself that only choosing classics would not make me a better or smarter person. if a book requires a slower pace of reading to be understood, it's easier to just drop it, which is exactly what i wanted to avoid at first.

go for essays and short stories. no need to explain this one: the shorter the whole, the less daunting it is. i definitely avoided all books over 350 pages at first and stuck to essay collections until i suddenly devoured donna tartt's goldfinch.

remember it's okay not to finish. i was one of those people who finished every book they started, but not anymore! if i pick up a book at the library and after a few chapters realise i'd rather not read it, i just return it. (another good reason to use your local library! no money spent on books you might end up disliking.)

analyse — or don't. some people enjoy reading more when they take notes or really stop to think about the contents. for me, at first, it was more important to build the habit of reading, and the thought of analysing what i read felt daunting. once i let go of that expectation, i realised i naturally analyse and process what i read anyway.

read when you would usually use your phone. just as i did when i was a child, i try to read when eating, in the bathroom, on public transport, right before sleeping. i even read when i walk, because that's normally a time i stare at my screen anyway. those few pages you read when you brush your teeth and wait for a friend very quickly stack up.

finish the chapter. if you have time, try to finish the part you're reading before closing the book. usually i find i actually don't want to stop reading once i get to the end of a chapter — and if i do, it feels like a good place to pick up again later.

try different languages. i was quickly approaching a reading slump towards the end of my exchange year, until i realised i had only had access to books in english and that, despite my fluency, i was tired of the language. so as soon as i got back home i started picking up books in my native tongue, which made reading feel much easier and more fun again! after some nine months, i'm starting to read in english again without it feeling like a huge task.

forget what's popular. i thought social media would be a fun way to find interesting books to read, but i quickly grew frustrated after hating every single book i picked up on some influencer's recommendation. it's certainly more time-consuming to find new books on your own, but this way i don't despise every novel i pick up.

remember it isn't about quantity. the online book community's endless posts about reading 150 books each year or 6 books in a single day easily make us feel like we're slow, bad readers, but here's the thing: it does not matter at all how many books you read or what your reading pace is. we all lead different lives, just be proud of yourself for reading at all!

stop stressing about it. we all know why reading is important, and since the pandemic reading has become an even more popular hobby than it was before (which is wonderful!). however, there's no need to force yourself to be "a reader". pick up a book every now and then and keep reading if you enjoy it, but not reading regularly doesn't make you any less of a good person. i find the pressure to become "a person who reads" or to rediscover my inner bookworm only distances me from the very act of reading.

this is super great advice, if you don't mind me adding one:

Figure out what you like and be okay with quitting what you don't! For me, what kept me from reading for a while was being halfway through a book I wasn't interested in reading and then not reading at all bc I didn't want to read all of it. Figure out what plots intrigue you, look for those, and then if a book isn't great? drop it. Move on to the next. give it a chance butt if you notice yourself not motivated to read it, then just move on.

A spoon's only objective in life is to make soup go upwards, and it knows this. That's why when you put one under a running tap it blasts the water way high. The spoon thinks there's suddenly TONS of soup to deal with and it freaks out.

*screams*

HAPPY FUCKING PRIDE

ASEXUAL AND AROMANTIC PEOPLE EXIST AND ARE PART OF THE COMMUNITY

NOW GO BE MENACES TO SOCIETY

HAPPY SECOND EVER INTERNATIONAL AROMANTIC VISIBILITY DAY

do not forget the patron saint of these weeks that we celebrate ourselves proudly and openly in the streets

her name was Marsha P Johnson, and we have her to thank for so much.

remember, the first Pride was a riot, and she was one of the brave souls who endured it to help carve the path which so many of us walk today. she helped found several activist groups regarding LGBT safety and wellbeing. and she was absolutely radiant, too.

thank you, Marsha. we remember you.

Castiel went from "You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in" to wearing a $1 cowboy hat and watching movies about guns and tuberculosis because that made his man happy and I have no choice but to stan

castiel | dean | sam

the gods have had mentally ill worshippers for as long as they’ve had worshippers.

the gods have had chronically ill worshippers for as long as they’ve had worshippers.

the gods have had neurodivergent worshippers for as long as they’ve had worshippers.

they won’t be offended or think less of you just because your devotion looks different to able-bodied neurotypical devotion. they understand.

Do you ever think about how if Steve Rogers was from a different state he’d be the ultimate Florida Man?

Think about it.

@white-wolf-actually @iwasmadetobeasoldier @buckybarnesoffical @sargent-james-barnes107th: discuss

This blanket is a monster. I had no idea how big it was going to turn out. This is it on a king sized bed. Not the best photo but I was so excited to finish it I just had to share. Tomorrow, assuming the weather is good for it, I'll get some better photos in the sun.

some of you guys didn’t grow up able to hear reruns of mash playing no matter what room of the house you were in and it really shows

Showed my work to family and the response was, well, let's just go with less than enthusiastic... Not unkind, but it left me feeling like a child seeking validation, which is stupid. I'm not, I'm just (apparently) really bad at reading people. I don't pick up on the subtleties so if someone says they like a thing, I share more of it, not realizing that maybe they were just being polite.

Take this blanket (pattern: cosmic cal by Helen Shrimpton), for example . A while back, I gifted it to my mother only for her to immediately give it away. If I'd realized she wouldn't value it, I'd have kept it for myself. And yet still, here I am, trying to share things with people who clearly are not interested. 😒 Am I a hopeful optimist, an idiot or just a slow learner?

Rhetorical question, by the way. This really is just a long winded way of venting into the void and saying, sod it. From now on I'm going to do this stuff for myself. My art. My enjoyment. The way I should have approached it from the start.

Edit: thank you to everyone here who has commented, liked or reblogged my work. It warms my dark and brittle soul to see that people *do* like what I do. I know I'm just bitching here about how the people close to me don't seem to care about it, but I know there are many, many other people who do and that matters to me. I appreciate you all. 💕

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16

I think this stuff is getting a little out of control

Tiny kitty that can be made with 2 pipe cleaners. If you care. If you even care.

I FOUND IT

A Short Witchy Gift Guide for Non-Witches

Hello! I'm a witch. I also have a partner who's... not a witch? Lol. Anyways, I was thinking about how awesome it would be if people who are supportive of their witchy partners had a guide to help them with buying gifts (and it may help some witches fill out their wishlist)!

The following information is subjective and it's going to take your knowledge of the other person's likes and dislikes to ultimately pick what they like!