The very strangest of shrimps

prokopetz:

I feel like Lovecraft’s “Cool Air” gets a bad rap as the iconic example of the author’s weird anxieties informing his work, both because “my upstairs neighbour has a bizarre obsession with air conditioning and forcibly recruits me to help him install a series of increasingly powerful AC systems, to the point that portions of his apartment are literally freezing over, and in the end it turns out that he was undead and using AC to prevent his body from decaying” is a fairly solid premise for a Twilight Zone episode, and also because there are Lovecraft stories where the inciting anxiety is objectively much dumber.

(via downtroddendeity)

tossawary:

I enjoy “cooking is an art, baking is a science” type jokes well enough, but every now and again I meet people who apparently sincerely believe baking / making desserts is much harder and beyond their capabilities. “I could NEVER do this!” is my least favorite compliment. The idea that it’s not just physical limitations or time constraints or a genuine lack of interest, but that curious people are intimidating themselves away from a potential joy via self-depreciation and misconceptions alarms me.

Cooking and baking are not actually significantly different things. And not all recipes are made equal in either field. Some baking recipes are incredibly easy and forgiving, and some cooking recipes are mind-bogglingly difficult and precise.

These are skills that can be learned. There are guides that can be followed. Following directions without fully understanding what your actions are doing feels awkward. You WILL fuck up in the process sometimes, especially the first time you do something, but most things are still edible even if you make a mistake. It’s fine. It’s fine even if it’s not edible! Throw it out! You tried!

Basically no one on this planet, even the most decorated professionals, can rightfully claim to be an expert in all forms of cuisine worldwide. You’re allowed to suck at something at first. You will improve with practice, but you’re also under no obligation to get better at a hobby. I offer you the permission of a stranger to be kind of bad at something forever.

Start with a box recipe. Pretend you’re a goblin who has never tasted human food before, if giving yourself permission to make silly mistakes helps you get started. Check out a recipe book oriented towards children from the library if that one seems the most inviting to you, invent a fake child whom you’re helping with a school bake sale (unlike your fake deadbeat ex!) even though the librarian almost certainly will not ask and doesn’t care. Librarians are more likely to help you find that good starting book or online resources or local classes! Search up the most common baking mistakes so you know what NOT to do and be assured that bigger idiots than you have eventually done it too.

If you want to try, then please, PLEASE, let yourself try, rather than let yourself believe that fresh focaccia bread or chocolate chip cookies are somehow beyond you.

(via texside)

nicnacsnonsense:

I hate when people ask me how long it took me to crochet something I’ve made. Frankly, that’s none of my business. I put the yarn on the hook and worked on it whenever the spirit happened to take me to and then one day it was done. How long that process took is between the yarn and god; I want no part of it.

(via riskygamble)

chaumas-deactivated20240115:

chaumas-deactivated20240115:

chaumas-deactivated20240115:

chaumas-deactivated20240115:

dubiously friendly reminder that you need to own a first aid kit. yes even you.

and a fire extinguisher yeah.

many fire departments will provide free or subsidized fire extinguishers year round or through outreach programs. just call or email them and ask.

Get these things first:

-Fire extinguisher and/or fire blanket, then put them somewhere unobstructed

-Sterile packing gauze

-A tourniquet - prioritize attending a Stop the Bleed course so you can learn how to use it. I’ll put the brands that were recommended at my most recent course in July under the cut.

-Take a CPR/first aid class. Learn CPR and the signs of strokes and heart attacks. If nothing else, watch YouTube videos.

Bandaids and ointments are great and important for basic quality of life but they’re not emergency tools—infections can be treated later. A life-threatening bleeding wound or cardiac arrest can kill in minutes, before any ambulance or professional can arrive. Also get chewable aspirin and maybe liquid Benedryl.

Sterile gloves and CPR masks are good to have on hand but when every second counts and the bleeding is life-threatening you’re just going to get covered in blood anyway.

Keep reading

undertheinfluencex1:

(via aroihkin)

burning-cathedrals-deactivated2:

When I was a (unmedicated, undiagnosed ADHD) kid, like, under 12, my room was a mess all the time. Not shocking.

I struggled keeping it clean.

I struggled getting it clean.

I would sincerely put in quite a bit of effort and be really proud of the progress I made. Then one of my parents would come check and see how I was doing.

“Well, you’ve still got a long way to go.”

That sentence. I was like, 11 when my parents were saying that to me. It was crushing. All my pride and satisfaction with my work was completely gone. All my effort was worthless to them. All they saw what everything I didn’t do.

At the age of ELEVEN, I knew that wasn’t right. That wasn’t fair. I swore to myself I would never invalidate someone’s work like that.

Now, at 30, I catch myself thinking ‘I cleaned up, but my apartment is still so messy.’ and I flashback to standing in my bedroom as a child, hearing those fucking words from my parents.

'No. I wouldn’t invalidate someone else’s work. I’m not going to invalidate my own. I did good. I made progress.’ and I’ll list the things that I DID get done to myself.

You deserve credit for all the progress you make.

You deserve credit for all the work you do.

It doesn’t matter how much work you have left.

What you accomplish, no matter how small, counts. Even when what you accomplished was taking a day to rest and recharge and give yourself a break.

Never let anyone invalidate your work. Not even you.

(via riskygamble)

its-funnytwittertweets:

(via aroihkin)

stjohnstarling:

We really have lost the plot when it comes to pulp (by which I mean fiction that prioritizes the pleasure and enjoyment of the reader above all else.) It feels like a lot of modern books can’t decide whether they are pulp or not, and that really limits them, because they get tangled up in anxiety about the nature of what they’re doing and its moral or artistic value. To write great pulp, sublime pulp, you can have no illusions that your goal is pleasure - and we need pulp! It serves an essential social purpose - to give us space to explore our drives and desires that would be dangerous or impossible to live out in reality. It’s psychologically essential.

(via phantomdoodler)

herpsandbirds:

Red Avadavat aka Red Munia aka Strawberry Finch (Amandava amandava), male, family Estrildidae, order Passeriformes, India

photograph by Ashok Someshwar

(via phantomdoodler)