One Of My Friends And I Are Divided Because Of Obi-Wan And Maul.

This hit me so hard.

As someone who is autistic.

As someone who never had a hometown.

As someone who is first generation Mexican American.

As someone who is half first generation Mexican American.

I’ve never felt like I belonged anywhere or with any group. Because I wasn’t neurotypical enough. Because I hadn’t lived there long enough. Because I wasn’t American enough. Because I wasn’t Mexican enough. Because I was too different.

And finally, it hits me - I don’t “belong”. And that’s okay - great, even. Because that is my Strength.

Thank you, Xiran Jay Zhao, for writing these beautiful words. They mean more to me than I could ever express.

Artist Pet Peeve

I hate it when there’s a group of artists (in shows or a class) and they’re given a clear set of rules/expectations, BUT, there’s one arrogant twit who gets high marks/gets to stay in the competition despite NOT following the brief. Simply because they’re talented/showcase cool skills.

I’m sorry, but if I was a client and had commissioned someone for a particular piece, but they gave me something that was the result of their own tastes, I’d fire them and demand a refund, or at least have them do it over!

Giving these artists a pass isn’t going to help them grow, and it certainly isn’t going to prepare them for the real world.

(This rant was the result of me watching Blown Away season 2 and remembering several art classes I took in college - that eventually caused me to switch majors because the teachers were terrible at teaching).

Tagged by @a-lighthouse-a-man-a-city

(The first one that came up wasn’t in English so I cheated and did the second one lol)

Song: Love the Fall by Michael Paynter

Lyrics: What if I live like there's nothing to lose /Just to die on my knees? / At least I'll know / I walked the dark / I took the scars / I risked it all / And learned to love the fall

i was tagged by @tiana <3

rules: shuffle your playlist and tell what song plays, then give your favorite lyric from said song

song: two strangers by bryce xavier

lyrics: some truth's so hard to swallow / life sucks when you feel hollow / i think I'm going under

tagging anyone who wants to join <3

Good Changes?

So for the longest time, one of the main characters of my current writing project has kept the same coloring since the day I created her. And normally I don't tend to give any of my characters makeovers because I can see them so clearly in my head.

But when I was having my beta readers review my story, a lot of comments came up about the skin tone of my main girl, which I think normally wouldn't have been mentioned except I'm making a fantasy world based on Ancient Egyptian and Middle Eastern cultures so they thought it might be taken the wrong way that I've got the girl who is the chosen of the world's greatest goddess as having super pale skin.

And the reason I did that was that as a Latina who has caucasian pale skin, I've always felt out of place among my relatives. Growing up, people didn't believe me when I said I was a first-generation Mexican, and even more so when I showed them pictures of my Papi (I was even asked if I was adopted). Making my girl super pale among people who are tan and dark-skinned was something very near and dear to me, because I know I can't be the only pale-skinned minority who feels like an outcast among my own culture.

I can see how making a super pale person so powerful among darker-skinned people could be construed as white supremacy (which is not what I meant at all!), so I've been playing around with the idea of changing her.

But again, I don't want to change her because I'd be afraid of people making the wrong assumptions and missing the message I'm trying to convey. I don't want to be one of those creators who bows to the masses, makes everything PC, and makes characters who look more like stereotypical minorities just to check off some boxes.

Yes, getting more representation is important! I would love to see more Latinx characters in fiction!

But I think people forget about the minorities among the minorities, people like me who have trouble fitting into their own families simply because our genes decided to be atypical.

So should I stick to how she's always been? Change her appearence? Or is there a happy medium?

Probably comes as no surprise @a-lighthouse-a-man-a-city lol!

A friend sent me this! Seems peachy fun~!

Tagging: @moonstrider9904, @crazyghostdongbom, @batmanthegreatorphan, @byzzii, @notsoskinnyfriend, @drinkforindigestion, and @- anyone who happens to read this and wants to try! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

I’ve been re-watching Steven Universe (from start to finish) the past couple of days, and all the new little nuances of the foreshadowing, references, and Gem culture are starting to stand out more the second time around. And it’s really sparked some ideas and theories that I hadn’t considered before the most recent seasons came out.

One of the more significant ones is the “My Diamond” phrase, or rather, Rose’s “My Pearl” line that she says in episode 45: Rose’s Scabbard.

Before the introduction of the Diamonds, that line didn’t really have any deeper meaning than the usual term of endearment. But with the Homeworld Gems referring to the significant leaders as ‘Their Diamonds’ (and when they don’t: such as Jasper referring to Yellow Diamond by her name, which we find out why later - because her TRUE Diamond is Pink Diamond), the phrasing Rose uses in that instance could have a far deeper meaning.

To call Pearl “My Pearl”, could not only be a term of endearment, but also that of high respect and loyalty. For Rose to say that to Pearl, who basically was made to be a pretty walking/talking purse, I think it was incredible and overwhelming. It’s no wonder that Pearl was so dedicated to Rose.

I think this is further proved in the episode ‘Sworn to the Sword’. When Connie asks Pearl “Did Rose make you feel like you were nothing?” and when Pearl answers: “Rose made me feel like I was everything.”

That statement makes so much more sense to me if my theory about the “My (Gem)” phrase is correct. When a Gem says “My Diamond”, I think it’s like they are reaffirming their devotion to the Diamond. They are saying “I am loyal to you. I live to serve you. You are the source of my existence.” (or something like that).

So when Rose goes and falls in love with Greg, I can see how terribly hurt Pearl would be by it. The Gem she thought was loyal to her - valued her more than anyone, decides to suddenly chose someone else, after all Pearl has done for Rose, and after thinking that she had Rose’s highest esteem…

It must have been truly devastating.

Now I wonder if Sapphire and Ruby go around saying that to each other ;)

After re-watching the Prince of Persia on Disney+, I’d like to think for their honeymoon, Dastan took Tamina to The Valley of the Slaves to watch the ostrich races and hear about the Ngbaka ❤️

https://forest-mt.seekrtech.com/

forest-mt.seekrtech.com

Planta tu flor personal

Prueba tu concentración Tipo X, encuentra tu flor personal

Was tagged by @a-lighthouse-a-man-a-city .

And sadly I have to admit getting this result didn’t happen on the first try. But in my defense, a lot of the questions had multiple answers I would have chosen. Thus, I kept getting results that didn’t sound like me at all (the first one I got said I was a born leader. HA! Anyone who knows me well is aware of how much I hate taking charge)

But I didn’t finally get one that sounded the most like me; and it has my favorite flower to boot!

Artist Peeve...

Don't know if anyone else has to go through this, but it happens to me a lot.

And that is when I tell someone I write fiction/draw illustrations, they assume those skills transfer and/or that automatically means I'd want to do a COMPLETLY DIFFERENT MEDIUM FOR THEIR RANDOM PROJECT.

Just because I write fiction, that doesn't mean I'd be any good at writing articles. Just because I do illustrations doesn't mean that I can take photographs any better than the average person.

And did it even occur to the people asking-SAYING I should volunteer to do these other skills/activates that if I didn't mention (and show no evidence of participating in), that maybe, JUST MAYBE, they're not skills I have or activities I enjoy, and I most certainly don't want to do with my time, free or otherwise?

AND CERTAINLY NOT FOR FREE!

3 Quotes of Mine (that pretty much sum up everything you really need to know about me)

“I would say Akhenaten is one of my least favorite Pharaohs.”

“I thought a ‘Vote of no Confidence’ was just a Star Wars thing.”

“I’ll put the bullets underneath the zebra cakes.”

(And yes, I have actually said all of these out loud in conversations with other people)