Forget Meyers-Brigg, this is the real personality test:

"Design is my passion!"

Okay, I've mentioned this a few times, but let's talk about The Orange Alternative. It's Poland in the 80's and an art history student noticed that when someone would paint an anti-authoritarian message, it would very quickly get painted over by the government. He decided to paint a dwarf with an orange hat any time he'd see the white paint that covered these messages. Soon other people were doing the same. They embraced this kind of absurdism, what the government was doing was ridiculous, so they leaned into it. The paintings of dwarves soon became organized street parties. They would all wear orange pointy hats and walk through the streets with banners, chanting Dwarf Dwarf Dwarf! They would pool what little extra funds they had together and buy things that people needed like toliet paper and tampons, and would have street fairs with food and dancing, and hand them out. At Christmas, they would dress as Santas, and do the same. The police were flummoxed by what to do, if they arrested people for wearing hats and giving out tampons, they looked foolish and would be embarrassed, not sure what to do with these surreal forms of protest.

There is so much more to this, definitely read up on it, but it was an effective form of protest, creating community, spreading joy and absurdism, because authoritarian governments are absurd. Protests are going to look like a lot of different things, and this is just one of them.

In Russia, they have created Little Picketers, tiny rough clay figures holding banners, that they press into people's hands to remind them, that they aren't alone.

So, don't believe the propaganda, you aren't alone in caring, you aren't alone in wanting a different world, put on your goofiest hat, and let people know they aren't alone either.

Hubs: Why are you crying?!

Me: Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Hubs: What...

The poor know how to survive without the rich, the rich cannot survive without the poor.

99.9% of jobs do not require urgency of any kind, really they don't. We've all had a boss who acts like someone will die if we don't hit some made up deadline by people who don't even do the job. No one needs their meal 1 minute faster or the paperwork before tomorrow morning. Your time off actually doesn't need to wait. Sometimes I think about how legitimately bad most businesses are at time management and hiring, and I wonder how they manage to exist at all.

It still gets me the Bible Jesus is a homeless socialist with brown skin, hangs out with 12 dudes and a Prostitute, tells rich people to pay their taxes and give their wealth to the poor, tells the religious leaders that they need to love everyone equally, gets a whip and goes hog on people using religion to sell stuff, and then straight up gets murdered for these beliefs. Yet somehow churches act like he's some kind of Conservative Haircut in khakis and a button up, who would support cutting welfare programs, and would preach Prosperity Gospel.

Your suffering is not unique to you, whatever you're going through someone else has to. Feelings of depression, loneliness, isolation, or just feeling different are universal.

If you feel like people aren't understanding or empathizing it's either because you are not telling them about the real you, or they are choosing not to treat you like a complicated feeling person.

Mastodon at a protest:

Have you ever been in a toxic relationship, but you didn't realize how toxic it was until after you were out of it?

I came to Mastodon looking for a replacement for Twitter. Thankfully, I didn't find it. Instead, I found a community of beautiful weirdos like me, who give me genuine hope for a better future.

It is deeply irritating how much of life seems to be used up on appointments, phone calls, and paperwork, and the more vulnerable you are the more you have to do.

nostr:npub1xsymv0rcpcxj360a5274hx2l8d46lhfrz82w0ra3e0kneqkwkxysyxcevg That sounds awfully practical lol

Okay you have $100, but you have to spend it on something stupid instead of practical, what are you getting for yourself?

This is not the question to be noble on, I will poke you with a fork (just a little, but it will tickle). You've been warned!

nostr:npub12ldvu4tel5v6l4y3w6q6wx2566znz5hhyu4yv3letw6mtd9ss23qrhd8ag I love it! I was watching Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith last night and ended up researching melting point of metals lol

I love when inspirational posters say something like "LIVE FEARLESSLY!" Sounds cool, but how exactly? Also no fear at all sounds dangerous, pretty sure fear is an Evolutionary necessity. The poster should really say something like "LIVE WITH FEAR, BUT NOT SO MUCH THAT ANXIETY RULES YOUR LIFE AND YOU'RE NOT DOING THE THINGS YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO DO. BELOW ARE SEVERAL RESOURCE RECOMMENDATIONS!"

nostr:npub1gg8jda85zwydw5ejh3s87fdt4s377cusafhn2kf9gurk9xl5tt9sl4439g I did see they started putting out the cloudy cider and got a little thrill

Occasionally on Mastodon, I will have a run in with someone who still deals in Sexism, racism and homophobia. It just seems like it hits harder here, because I view this as a safe place to be myself. Sometimes the ugliness in the world overwhelms me, and the way I cope with it is by reminding myself of the beauty and kindness in the world.

So, if you feel like it, share something nice, could be a news story, a fact, a photo, or a personal story, anything positive or at least turned out positive.

Seriously, being able to share with all of you, and being so openly embraced by this community has been an unusual privilege in the world of social media. I hope we all keep striving to make this an equitable and fun place.

I know it's been a few months, but I'm still not over this! Imagine being so weak and fragile in your beliefs that you can't even let a woman speak about trans rights. It would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous. The future of politics are people who stand up in the face of ridiculous adversity and outright bullying, but keep standing up anyway.

nostr:npub1eeujhtd8lgaqey3jrw20mr0d90z0l635d4efltghe7qdc0fcurnqr7u43z Yeah it does that to me sometimes too, I think it just gets overloaded sometimes and I have to wait. I really enjoyed your kindness and optimism, the world needs more caring people like you.

A Pants On Fire Question!

What do you think about lying?

Is it ever okay?

How has lying turned out for you?

Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky are fucking heroes.

nostr:npub1fpr3egfa5xnfhvppkdnujqdftpsql2qfm0p3lzttefz4xggkastqcvlyph That is freaking gorgeous