One of my favorite tropes is character with a nasty toxic personality who tries very hard to do the right thing anyway
I like my protagonists sad, tired, bitter, fully convinced they will never get the recognition they deserve, but they still gotta get up in the morning and be a good person
Sometimes you get a brief glimpse into the American worldview and decide that you don’t want to know.
I cannot stress enough that this meme is entirely literal. there’s no reference or subtext you don’t know. these are simply the objectively most popular works of art from each denomination.
i do think a lot of implausible medieval plot devices make more sense when considering the fact that these people simply did not have glasses
like the king arthur problem of how were these people always accidentally sleeping with the wrong person? well 1) no glasses 2) no lights and candles are so expensive 3) royal couples didn’t even sleep in the same bed a lot of the time anyway 4) arranged marriage how much do you really know your spouse anyway? maybe not very well a lot of the time 5) people are drinking a lot idk. maybe not as absurd as one might think
this post is brought to you by the one time i woke up at a sleepover and realized that without my glasses i could not distinguish one friend from the other. haunting. all of arthurian literature was unlocked to me at that moment
This very much applies to Shakespeare (I think we all underestimate how extremely dark it was in the past)
don’t infantilise yourself. you are not a child who needs an adult to make your decisions for you. you are a splendid and magnificent autocrat and you are consulting your trusted advisors. you are exercising great wisdom by inviting an expert to give their opinion before making your ruling. often the path of wisdom is to say “good morning, I’m trying to [perform task] and I have a question about [aspect], can you tell me who I should speak to for advice?” before you do it. sometimes the path of wisdom is to hire a plumber. there are times when you cannot do things for yourself but that doesn’t mean you are not an adult. you don’t need a grown-up. you need a specialist.
this has come up a couple of times so let me be really really clear:
the path of wisdom is sometimes to hire a plumber.
the path of wisdom is always to hire an electrician.
So recently I discovered that there is a historical recreation group that runs a local park. That park is a old abandoned quarry that a local man bought and then started rebuilding historic buildings in. Like, an old doctor’s office. An old farmhouse. A period blacksmith’s shop. That sort of thing. He did this for 50 years, puttering around on the property happily and indulging his special interest in re creating period accurate nails and horseshoes. We stan a local flourishing autistic king.
ANYWAY. He donated it to the local city when he died and now a local historical reenactment society runs it. IDK why I didn’t know about this because I got married there. The only recent revelation is that the reenactment society will accept, say, any local madwoman who messages them out of the blue going ‘hey u need someone who can spin on a period wheel?’
Long story short, yes. The previous lady who could hand spin was 87 and died recently. Peacefully, of being 87, and they’ve been going mad trying to find someone else who knows how the fuck to refurbish and work a spinning wheel. I’m eyeballing Frigga rn hardcore for that 'hey I should google that place’ thought.
HOWEVER. I encountered a reality check.
Namely, Liz, the lady who runs the group, texted me 'omg do you know how to work a loom?’
Me, who has been marinating in a bubble of fiber artists online for years; I mean not like super well? I’ve dabbled but I’ve not attempted anything more adventurous than a regular plain weave, fair warning.
Liz; what’s a plain weave
Me; …..
Me; Okay so like what kind of loom is it.
Liz; it’s a big one (sends a picture of an antique floor loom)
Me; oh shit six pedals, nice, well, the heddles look in good shape so…
Liz; what’s a heddle
Me;
Me; Yes I can clean it, set it up properly, and warp it. What do you want to weave.
Liz, after sending about 48 delighted emojis; rag rugs to sell in the gift shop omg omg thank you so much it’s so complicated looking all of us have been afraid to touch it
Me; this is that xckd relative familiarity comic isn’t it
With all my love Systlin, your discord chat is literally called “Fiber Hell”.
This point was made to me by about 28 of the feral fiber gremlins there yes
I KNOWWWWWW THIS THING IS A BEAST AND THEY WANT RAG RUGS
Bestie I will get the rag rug frame loom grandpa made out of my mom’s garage for you let me play with this beauty and a twill weave
I’m not sure what level of fiber hell this puts me on, but my initial reaction was “Oh yeah you can do rag rugs on a loom too I guess. I’m just used to the crochet ones.”
My most old-school internet opinion is bring back chunky scroll bars! I don’t want some scroll bar so discreet I can’t even find the fucking thing. I want a nice Windows 98-level of obviousness.
