I Don't Think You Understand

Mom: Just be yourself :]

Me: You try being a radioactive dog shoved into a human body and see if it gets you anywhere >:

Sometimes I look at my partner and remember she's actually this ancient ethereal being made up of stars and magic and I can see her horn and her hooves. She's so beautiful I'm rendered speechless.

Then other times I look at them and see this stinky cat. They're still beautiful ofc just being stinky.

I love my girlfriend. She follows no rules and does what she wants.

I'm Caroline from Gaza. Am sorry for sending you this request without your permission. My house was destroyed in the war, and my family lost everything. We've been displaced multiple times, but there's no safe place here. I'm battling Type 1 Diabetes and can't afford insulin, and my mother needs treatment for kidney failure outside Gaza. Any donation, no matter how small, can help us survive and get my mother the care she needs. A friend outside Gaza is helping with the donation program. Please reach out if you need more details.

^^^

Me when mm cold.

When you live in a normally hot climate, but the weather is starting to noticeably get cooler

If you can't tell, I'm having a grand time

Since it's national dog day I'll be expecting 5 dollars or a pat on the head from everyone. Only business, I got tuition to pay.

This is me btw

I love my job. I work with kids from 6 months old to 13. The vibes are insane.

I love when kids come in and they're just as much of a nerd as I was at their age. Then they mention something like Undertale and freak out when I know what it is.

Kid. Not only did I live in that house, I helped fucking build it.

I put on old Minecraft parodies, and they lose their minds. Introduced a kid to CaptainSparklez a while back, that's special.

I'm out here showing them how to defeat the Ender Dragon and Asgore while also keeping another kid from beating up his friend. Shit is crazy.

I'm so normal about Chalk Tablet Towers by Gorillaz. I'm so completely normal about how if you switch the perspective, you can turn it into a story about the original narrator's loved one trying to reassure them in rehab to not give in to self destructive tendencies.

Or if you want it to be even more depressing, the loved one reminiscing on what they should have said to prevent the narrator from dying.

I love the original lyrics and how well the isolation of the song is written. At the same time, I think there's something so painfully beautiful about the idea of the narrator feeling shame and like they have to isolate themself for being in rehab. Then, the loved ones' perspective works as a response to this.

No, the narrator doesn't actually want to hurt themself. They want to come home. If they leave, they aren't just hurting themself. No, the narrator does not need to worry about everyone abandoning them. The loved one still cares for them regardless of their mental state, and they say this in a way where the loved one feels it should be obvious how much they care.

So many times in media and writing, characters struggling are often depicted as all alone and only able to help themselves. While it is true that it is ultimately up to the person struggling to make the choice to save themself, I think the reminder that there are still people there to support them is important. It gives some hope.

I love call and response songs (To Binge and Souk Eye or the English and Spanish versions of Latin Simone for example), and I love the idea that even if two characters aren't communicating face to face, they're still trying to speak to one another, which is what I feel when switching the perspective on Chalk Tablet Towers.

I'll attach the og lyrics with my own response lyrics below here. There really isn't much change, but I feel like the differences in how the narrators feel is important.

My own:

Chalk tablet towers like drawing shadows

Chemical distraction, you are not with me

You departed in the spring to a distant star

But you could not get back, you had gone too far (oh-oh-oh-oh)

You wanna get drunk?

You wanna get stoned?

You wanna give up?

You wanna come ho-o-o-ome.

Watching rockets take off

From the parting sea

How will I ever touch you

If you are not with me? (oh-oh-oh-oh, out here)

There's only silence (out there)

No form of contact (out here)

You am dreaming

Looking into the darkness (oh-oh-oh-oh)

Home (Home)

Home (Home)

Home (Homе)

Home (Home)

Home (Homе)

Home (Home)

Home (Home)

Home (Home)

You say you won't be back 'til the end of summer

Y'know I'll still be here.

I won't give up on you, darling

You know that I care

I don't need no trophies

No cell with a view

There's nothing I wouldn't give

One minute with you, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh

You, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh

You, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh

Original:

Chalk tablet towers like drawing shadows

Chemical distraction, you are not with me

I departed in the spring to a distant star

But I could not get back, I had gone too far (oh-oh-oh-oh)

I wanna get drunk

I wanna get stoned

I wanna give up

I wanna go ho-o-o-ome

Watching rockets take off

From the parting sea

How will I ever touch you

If you are not with me? (oh-oh-oh-oh, out here)

There's only silence (out here)

No form of contact (out here)

I am dreaming

Looking into the darkness (oh-oh-oh-oh)

Home (Home)

Home (Home)

Home (Homе)

Home (Home)

Home (Homе)

Home (Home)

Home (Home)

Home (Home)

I won't be back 'til the end of summer

Will you still be there?

I won't give up on you, darling

Just tell me that you care

I don't need no trophies

No cell with a view

There's nothing I wouldn't give

One minute with you, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh

You, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh

You, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh.

Alright, thanks for coming to my not so eloquently written Ted talk.

!ALERT! ALERT!

HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE CANINE SPECIMEN (me) HAS BREACHED CONTAINMENT TO NEARBY WOODLANDS (has gone camping)

BE ON HIGH ALERT FOR THE CREATURE (pls bring me and my gf more mallows for smores :3)

A character I wrote in my short story Cowboys, Pau, is specifically only listening to bluegrass whenever music plays around him. Pau helps his community by doing odd jobs around town and cares deeply for those around him. Pau went to jail for punching a cop because he was out of line.

He's a badass cowboy of a man.