cptappleobservation
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Latest Posts by cptappleobservation
Sparking Chemistry Between Characters #1
⇢ Emotional Timing ( When One Opens Up and the Other Isn’t Ready, Yet)
There’s something so devastatingly real about when characters miss each other, not physically, but emotionally. One’s finally ready to be honest, to be seen… and the other? Still hiding. Still pretending. That emotional dissonance creates a whole different kind of electricity: one rooted in vulnerability, silence, and the ache of almost.
“I trust you,” she said, voice low, eyes steady. He looked at her, and for a second, he almost said it back. But then his smile cracked, soft and sad, and he looked away like the words were burning holes in his throat.
This isn’t the moment they fall into each other’s arms. This is the moment they could have. And those moments still haunt.
Use this when:
You want slow burn that hurts a little
Your characters are stubborn, scared, or emotionally constipated (bless them)
The closeness builds from not-quite-connecting, until one of them finally breaks
⇢ Silent Support ( When They Don’t Say It, But They Show It)
Sometimes the most romantic thing a character can do is just… be there. No speeches. No dramatic gestures. Just showing up, quiet, consistent, unwavering. The kind of person who notices when your laugh sounds tired.
He didn’t say anything when he found her curled up on the kitchen floor. He just sat next to her, their shoulders barely touching, and slid his hoodie off without a word. A minute later, she was wearing it. Five minutes later, she was breathing again.
This isn’t about grand declarations. It’s about the kind of love that doesn’t demand to be acknowledged. The kind that waits. That steadies. That speaks fluent silence.
Use this when:
You want to show love without “I love you”
You’re building intimacy through actions, not words
Your characters aren’t the touchy-feely, talk-it-out types
⇢ Emotional Whiplash (When Conflict Turns Intimate Too Fast)
This is the classic “We were fighting five seconds ago and now I want to kiss you” moment. Because nothing stirs up feelings like frustration mixed with closeness. When characters clash, especially if there’s emotional history or denial involved, it creates heat. They’re already fired up. Already in each other’s space. Now throw in a little vulnerability and BAM, you’ve got magnetic chaos.
“Why do you care what I do?” she snapped, stepping closer. “Because I...” He bit the word back, jaw tight. His fists clenched at his sides. She stared, breath caught in her throat. “Because I do,” he said finally, quieter this time. “More than I should.”
Enemies to lovers. Friends to what even are we. That line-blurring, heart-pounding tension where the air is thick and the truth almost slips out, that’s where this trope lives (I Love It).
Use this when:
You want chaos, angst, and chemistry all at once
Your characters are in denial and one good argument away from kissing
You want something to break open and then immediately regret it
can we get a post going of environmental/conservation progress lately (especially outside of the USA). it can feel so defeating and it’s easy to burn out when you’re surrounded by all the negatives
Solarpunk library!
Folks, there’s so much wonderful stuff on the Fediverse. Case in point, I found this:
thanks to this toot: https://writing.exchange/@alxd/114422322330256560
Give-away shops
I'd like to tell you all the story of Jan's give-away shop.
The story:
Jan was a guy who lived in my hometown. Financially speaking, he was well-off: he owned the house in which he lived alone, and had gathered a lot of stuff throughout the years.
One day, Jan realised all of this stuff wasn't making him happy. He decided to move to a small apartment and to get rid of most of his possessions.
Jan also realised the privileged life he led: he owned much more than he needed, and was able to move on the fly just because he felt like it.
All of this made Jan decide to open up a give-away shop. He moved everything he didn't need to his living room, simply opened up his front door, and told everyone they could come and pick up whatever they wanted for free.
His friends declared him an idiot: humans are selfish, they said, and would just take his valuables and sell everything they'd gotten from him. They were wrong. Sure, some people did this, but they were only a small part of those who came.
Those who had less than Jan (including yours truly) came by and found things they needed but had been postponing to buy because they couldn't afford to. Others came to pick up things they could use for their charities, or for the classrooms they had to teach on a too low budget.
The biggest surprise was how Jan never ran out of things to give away: rather than taking things, a lot of people started donating items they didn't need anymore!
Objects weren't the only thing people donated: Jan quickly amassed a team of dedicated volunteers to run the shop for him whenever he was absent.
And that's the story of how my town got its first give-away shop. Unfortunately, the shop doesn't exist anymore: they closed down after about five years because Jan eventually had to sell his house.
His shop has left an important impact on my town: inspired by his shop, we now have a thriving freecycle community, town hall frequently hosts give-away markets (flee markets where everything's free), and individuals have been putting up give-away cabinets, fridges, and libraries all over where people can leave their unused goods, leftover food, and unread books for others to enjoy.
The take-away:
Not all of us are as privileged as Jan: if we were, we wouldn't have much need for projects like these. However, we can still learn from his story!
If you've got an unused cabinet lying around, why not turn it into your own give-away corner? If you work in event planning, maybe consider hosting a give-away market some time. Do you work at a library or a community centre? Those are the perfect spots to put a give-away library or a leftovers fridge: just make sure to keep an eye on anything food-related and to clean out expired goods when necessary.
Another popular variation on this idea are plant cuttings corners and seed banks. These are a great way to share native plants with fellow gardeners to improve the biodiversity in your neighbourhood.
If this post has inspired you, try petitioning your town for projects like these: they're often welcomed because they don't cost much to set up and can have a big positive impact on both your community and the environment.
(Image source) [ID: a small outdoors wooden construction with a see-through plastic roof containing a cupboard with toys, cookwares, and shoes, a hanging rail with clothes, a shelf with books, a bulletin board, and a box and a bag. The text "Give Box: sharing is caring" is painted at the top of the shed, and purple flowers and red hearts are painted on its sides.]
"The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.
Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.
With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.
In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.
To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.
Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:
One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.
Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.
A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.
The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.
Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.
Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).
The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.
Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.
“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”
She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’"
-via Good News Network, May 10, 2025
Need to plant more tennis ball trees
Perfect fit
Truly I hate to do this to you all but; you can watch all the videos and read all the blogs in the world but you cannot learn to sew without at some point picking up a piece of fabric and fucking it up. No tutorial exists that will stop you at some point ruining this poor piece of cloth. The visceral act of holding a project and wondering where you went wrong is the only way to learn sewing; you cannot escape it. I’m sorry
Joseph Ducreux (1735–1802) was a French artist known for his expressive and unconventional self-portraits. Unlike many portraitists of his time, who adhered to strict formal conventions, Ducreux infused his works with humor, exaggerated expressions, and an almost modern sense of personality.
people will always love people
When I was 3 years old I went to a preschool that had this little green crocheted crocodile finger puppet that was my absolute favorite toy to play with of all time. I named her Chelsea, because Chelsea starts with C and crocodile starts with C and more often than not wild animals in fiction aimed at kids have names that start with the same first letter as their species. I played with Chelsea every day, because she was my favorite toy, and because the other kids weren't really interested in her, and also because I eventually started to hide her in a special secret spot in the room so no one else would find her before I did. She was so beloved by me that when I graduated from preschool, my teachers gave Chelsea to me permanently, because it was clear no one else would ever love that little crochet crocodile as much as me anyway (in part because I hid her). They waited a few weeks after I graduated before doing it, too, and sent Chelsea with some post cards as if the crocodile had been on a whirlwind "travel the world" vacation before deciding to come live with me.
And Chelsea remained my favorite toy all through my childhood. There were others I loved nearly as much, like my Imperial Godzilla and the big red T.rex from the first Jurassic Park toy line and my tiny knockoff plush Charmander, but Chelsea always held the place of honor in my heart. She was my absolute favorite toy.
I kept a lot of my favorite toys through adolescence, even if social pressure eventually got me to give away a lot of them (and some, y'know, broke). That's obviously not surprising to you if you've followed my blog, since I still collect toys into my adulthood. But it's important to note because while I know I made a conscious effort to never throw out Chelsea every time I pared down my collection... at some point, she went missing.
I became aware of it when I graduated from high school. I was feeling really emotional about leaving that stage of my life and, y'know, becoming an adult and shit, and in that state I decided to find Chelsea to reassure myself that I hadn't entirely left childhood behind. But Chelsea wasn't there. No matter how hard I looked, I could not find Chelsea anyway.
And that was, like, devastating, because the only explanation was that somehow, at some point, I had accidentally tossed her out with some other "childhood junk" while trying to grow up and be responsible in my teen years. I had literally thrown away my childhood in a careless attempt to be more grown up.
Of course I knew she was just a toy - nothing more than some yarn twisted together in the loose shape of a crocodile, lifeless and soul-less and more or less worthless in the objective light of day. But she was also Chelsea, my best friend since i was three, my stalwart little pal, a source of comfort for most of my life at that point, and I had just... tossed her out! Like garbage! What kind of person was I becoming if I could do that to my best friend?
I was very visibly distraught, and my mom noticed. Being very crafty, she tried to find the pattern for Chelsea so she could knit me a new one. The problem is, she had no idea where to find said pattern. She checked all her books of crochet patterns, and when that failed she tried the internet, but no matter how hard she looked, she found nothing.
So my mom found the next best thing.
The original Chelsea was a tiny finger puppet, and I had "met" her when I was three. Well, I was eighteen now - shouldn't Chelsea have grown too? And as has been established, this crocodile was fond of whirlwind vacations. My mom found a pattern that looked as much like Chelsea as possible while also being a much bigger crocodile, and gifted her to me before I left for college - to show that while we can't stop the flow of time or how it changes us, that doesn't mean we have to leave it behind.
And yeah, I decided to believe it. That's Chelsea now. Yeah, I know that in reality it's a completely different set of yarn made by my mom rather than... whoever it was that crocheted the original Chelsea, but then, Chelsea was never really the yarn. She was the feelings I put into the yarn, you know? So that's Chelsea, all grown up, and still my most prized toy.
...
Flash forward... Jesus, eighteen years, holy shit. A few weeks ago I saw a post trying to identify a different crochet crocodile pattern, and thinking it was cute, I decided to try and look for it on ebay and etsy, just to see if maybe I could find it. I didn't, but do you know what I found instead?
A very familiar crochet crocodile finger puppet. An intensely familiar one, you might say. Of course I bought it. And of course I asked the seller if, perhaps, they might have the pattern for it or know where it came from (they did not, alas). And after a few days, she showed up at my house.
She's not Chelsea, obviously. For one thing, she's far too clean and fresh looking - Chelsea was very well loved, and looked the part, while this crocodile finger puppet has definitely not endured years upon years of a child's affection. And, more importantly, she's not Chelsea because we've already established that Chelsea grew up into a bigger crochet crocodile. This has to be Chelsea's younger sister, Cici.
And if I could find another of Chelsea's kind after all these years, then maybe, with a bit of luck, I might find the pattern for her, and be able to make more of them. Fill the world with Chelseas.
the contrabass saxophone is such an absurd instrument
Hey i’m a fashion design student so i have tons and tons of pdfs and docs with basic sewing techniques, pattern how-tos, and resources for fabric and trims. I’ve compiled it all into a shareable folder for anyone who wants to look into sewing and making their own clothing. I’ll be adding to this folder whenever i come across new resources
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16uhmMb8kE4P_vOSycr6XSa9zpmDijZSd?usp=sharing
art will save you, being unreasonably passionate about something niche will save you, letting past sources of joy show you the way back to yourself will save you, earnestness over composure will save you, the natural world will save you, caring for something bigger than yourself will save you, daring to be seen will save you, kindness not as a whim but a principle will save you, appreciation as a practice will save you, daring to try something new will save you, grounding will save you, love will save you, one good nights sleep will save you
the man who owns and runs the thai restaurant in my town knows me by name. he is one of the kindest and most thoughtful men i know. i started ordering from his place back in january, which was when i got my fibromyalgia diagnosis. back then i was using a walker, had limited mobility in my entire body but especially my hands, and was very visibly in pain. i always ordered the same thing: yellow curry with no meat, potatoes and carrots only (i have texture and other dietary issues). he always made it a point to make sure i could get out the door and carry the food safely. he had his workers package the food so that it was easier for me to open. as i kept coming back and i told him a little bit about my health status, he would always encourage me to keep going. he told me about how the spices he used were good for inflammation and began to edit the recipe just for me so that spices that were even better for fighting inflammation were used. he’d give me extra portions and despite the fact that i would tip every time, i realized later that he never charged my card for them. as time went on and my condition began to get better, especially with the help of a physical therapist, he would make encouraging remarks and tell me how happy he was for me. the day i came in without my walker, he practically jumped for joy, and despite my insistence, he gave me my meal for free that day. i continue to make progress with my conditions and i continue to go to the thai place. this man who does not know me personally and who i hardly know anything about is one of my favorite people. it’s interactions with humans like these that make loving life easier. and his curry really does help my chronic condition. it’s comfort food taken to the next level.
started watching this japanese show where they take in requests and they try to help out with whatever the request is. and in this one the guy says that when he was in middle school, he always heard the girl across the street playing her piano, and although he only met her in person a few times, listening to her play her usual song was a great comfort to him growing up, especially getting to hear her slowly get better at playing.
the guy now was an adult and taking a break from college, and began to feel really lost in life, and he kept thinking back to when he was in middle school and hearing her play the piano every day. so his request was to hear her play it again. and he and the show's crew literally go back to his old place, and miraculously the girl still lives in that same house across the street, and even more miraculously the people who currently live where he used to allow him to go back to his old room where he used to listen to her play. and they all agree to recreate his middle school memory for him.
the girl comes home from her part-time job and she plays the piano, although she tells them it's been 4 years since she's ever played and is worried she won't sound good, and the guy sits by the window, and he just listens. and like. just imagining reliving that moment when you were younger, listening to a near-stranger play a song across the street every day, feeling a little less lost because of it, and returning to that as an adult when you need it most and everyone being kind enough to let you savor it again even just for a moment... i wanted to start bawling i wont lie. this is the song she played. im going to go lie down about the humanity of it all
When Everything Everywhere All at Once said “The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind, especially when we don’t know what’s going on"
When the Good Place said “Why choose to be good every day when there is no guaranteed reward now or in the afterlife… I argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people and our innate desire to treat them with dignity. Simply put, we are not in this alone.”
When Jean-Paul Sartre said ”‘Hell is other people’ is only one side of the coin. The other side, which no one seems to mention, is also ‘Heaven is each other’. Hell is separateness, uncommunicability, self-centeredness, lust for power, for riches, for fame. Heaven on the other hand is very simple, and very hard: caring about your fellow beings.“
I’m at a sociology conference and just attended a memorial for one of the giants of our field, and one of the panelists told this story…he was at a meeting with this guy, who he got his PhD under and had a long standing relationship with, and he was bemoaning the current state of the world, and he asked this old professor, “how can you be so optimistic? I can’t ever be anything but a pessimist.”
and the old professor said, “you little fucker, I’m going to make a statement and then I’m going to take you out to the parking lot and beat your ass. What good does your pessimism do?”
and that really struck me. not the least because I also knew this old professor and he very rarely swore, so I know this was something he was really worked up about. what good does your pessimism do? What GOOD does your pessimism DO. I’ll be thinking about that for awhile.
There is so much we don't understand. Springtime, out in the meadow. Everybody all over the dandelions--- flies, ants, tiny bees, even tinier bees so minuscule they're like black and jewel-colored particles without a closer look.
Get down on hands and knees--- you start to see the world. The tiny bees, a glittering blue-green color, slide down between the pollen-coated anthers of the dandelions into the crevices of the petals like miners sliding down into narrow shafts. The big bees make it look so simple. For the tiniest bees, a dandelion is a place more than it is a food. The bee's body is sleek like a suit of armor, and solidly shiny blue-green instead of having the distinctive stripes of many other bees.
Can I learn the name of this bee? To see the bee and to know it, you have to look very silly lying on the ground among the dandelions, looking closely at the things too small to be important. It is a mere particle, just a Bug, rather than a stereotypical fluffy yellow and black bee. It is complex and beautiful; its metallic and glittering exoskeleton, its transparent wings, its articulated and sensitive antennae.
"We have to save the bees, they are important," people say, but if we don't look closely, who is to say what is a bee and what isn't? And when we do look closely, isn't everything important?
Oh to be a gardener robot with a pet cat living in a solarpunk world and taking care of little plants... ☀️🌿
[My piece for the #WeekAndArt2024 event, a French online art contest]
Oh train blog. What are we to do now.
Live, like we always have, and always will
i like working at plant store. sometimes you ring up someone and there's a slug on their plant and so you're like "Oh haha you've got a friend there let me get that for you" and you put the slug on your hand for safekeeping but then its really busy and you dont have time to take the slug outside before the next customer in line so you just have a slug chilling on your hand for 15 minutes. really makes you feel at peace with nature. also it means sometimes i get to say my favorite line which is "would you like this free slug with your purchase"
🦌 ym.nara_mislin on IG
"A newly formed group of women is creating a map of community fridges and neighborhood pantries across Baltimore, the Bmore Community Fridge Network.
"I am one of four women," said Elizabeth Miller, one of the network organizers. "We are career women, and we just want to see Baltimore do well."
They hope to highlight neighbors looking to serve others, hoping residents living nearby can get connected to the free food being offered to them. Miller said sometimes it can be hard for some residents to travel to local food pantries.
"Some people who are struggling with food insecurity have a lot going on, and it's really hard to get to a pantry on the days that they're open, on the days of the giveaway, navigating bus lines and bringing that food back home with them," Miller said. "Some people simply don't drive."
Miller said the group has connected with about four community fridges and has put them on the network map. However, the group plans to add more locations to the map. They will be at organizations already serving the community.
"...we will provide food for you."
"We provide resources, therapy, and outpatient services," said Nikki Smith, the CEO of The Journey Mental Health and Wellness.
"I don't care who you are, where you are," Smith said. "If you ring the doorbell and you're hungry, we will provide food for you."
The Bmore Community Fridge Network secured a donated refrigerator, which will sit outside of Smith's center, adding it to the community fridge map. Smith adds that other organizations are looking to chip in with donations to keep the fridge stocked.
"I'm hoping that everyone will pay it forward and they will understand that 'Hey wait, there's somebody here that's helping. Maybe I can help too," she said.
The Food Project will also receive a donated refrigerator, which will sit outside of their center.
"I think it's wonderful to have this additional access to food," said The Food Project Executive Director Michelle Suavo. "At the end of the day, we have a pop-up market three times a week, and it's still not enough...Throughout the night, there are so many people coming through that this is really going to help to service that additional need."
As the network grows, they are reminding families of the many neighbors across the city who truly care.
"There's no real rules about how much you can take," Miller said. "Take what you need. You never know what mouths are waiting at home."
Miller said the Bmore Community Fridge Network is trying to get more fridges and searching for more locations to house them.
She encourages everyone to donate to these community fridges by dropping off what you can to a fridge.
"It's spring," she said. "Go through your closet. Do you have canned goods or shelf-stable items that you can donate to one of these pantries? Do you have extra items in your freezer?"
Food insecurity in Baltimore
Maryland Food Bank data shows more than 90,000 city residents are food insecure. The Food Bank said 1 in 3 Marylanders face food insecurity.
The Baltimore Area Survey (BAS) found 28% of Baltimore area residents experienced food insecurity in 2024, down from 36% in 2023.
However, the survey showed the region's rate of food insecurity remained nearly twice as high as the national average.
If you or anyone you know are struggling with food insecurity, click here for an additional resource."
-via CBS News, March 28, 2025