Thanks @almayver for this beatdown

Damn. This show really tied these dots together.

I have been thinking a lot about what a cancer diagnosis used to mean. How in the ‘80s and ‘90s, when someone was diagnosed, my parents would gently prepare me for their death. That chemo and radiation and surgery just bought time, and over the age of fifty people would sometimes just. Skip it. For cost reasons, and for quality of life reasons. My grandmother was diagnosed in her early seventies and went directly into hospice for just under a year — palliative care only. And often, after diagnosis people and their families would go away — they’d cash out retirement or sell the house and go live on a beach for six months. Or they’d pay a charlatan all their savings to buy hope. People would get diagnosed, get very sick, leave, and then we’d hear that they died.

And then, at some point, the people who left started coming back.

It was the children first. The March of Dimes and Saint Jude set up programs and my town would do spaghetti fundraisers and raffles and meal trains to support the family and send the child and one parent to a hospital in the city — and the children came home. Their hair grew back. They went back to school. We were all trained to think of them as the angelic lost and they were turning into asshole teens right in front of our eyes. What a miracle, what a gift, how lucky we are that the odds for several children are in our favor!

Adults started leaving for a specific program to treat their specific cancer at a specific hospital or a specific research group. They’d stay in that city for 6-12 months and then they’d come home. We fully expected that they were still dying — or they’d gotten one of the good cancers. What a gift this year is for them, we’d think. How lucky they are to be strong enough to ski and swim and run. And then they didn’t stop — two decades later they haven’t stopped. Not all of them, but most of them.

We bought those extra hours and months and years. We paid for time with our taxes. Scientists found ways for treatment to be less terrible, less poisonous, and a thousand times more effective.

And now, when a friend was diagnosed, the five year survival odds were 95%. My friend is alive, nearly five years later. Those kids who miraculously survived are alive. The adults who beat the odds are still alive. I grew up in a place small enough that you can see the losses. And now, the hospital in my tiny hometown can effectively treat many cancers. Most people don’t have to go away for treatment. They said we could never cure cancer, as it were, but we can cure a lot of cancers. We can diagnose a lot of cancers early enough to treat them with minor interventions. We can prevent a lot of cancers.

We could keep doing that. We could continue to fund research into other heartbreaks — into Long Covid and MCAS and psych meds with fewer side effects and dementia treatments. We could buy months and years, alleviate the suffering of our neighbors. That is what funding health research buys: time and ease.

Anyway, I’m preaching to the choir here. But it is a quiet miracle what’s happened in my lifetime.

Same.

Nazi propaganda and Trump propaganda are the same thing. Republicans are too busy licking boots to say anything.

If one day you think I'm a burden to you, just tell me you want to break up. No need for any reason. Maybe it's you who thinks I'm a burden.

See your Love (2024-2025) dir. Chiang Ping Chen

The boys, concocting the world's stupidest workout routine

And the girls, judging them

Chapter 8 of SMS My Heart

SMS My Heart by DLanaDHZ

Rating: T

Fandoms: เขา...ไม่ใช่ผม | Not Me (TV 2021)

Relationships: Sean/White (Not Me TV 2021), Black/Gram (Not Me TV 2021), Dan/Yok (Not Me TV 2021)

Characters:

Namo (Not Me TV 2021), Eugene (Not Me TV 2021), Sean (Not Me TV 2021), White (Not Me TV 2021), Black (Not Me TV 2021), Gram (Not Me TV 2021), Dan Danai Ratchapakdee, Yok (Not Me TV 2021), Gumpa (Not Me TV 2021) ​

Additional Tags:

SMS, Texting, Mistaken Identity, Twins, Alternate Universe - College/University, Social Justice, Graffiti, Attempted Kidnapping, Minor Violence

Words: 23,404 | Chapters: 8/? | Language: English

Story Summary:

Sean is all about cooperation among the faculties, except when it comes to his nemesis – Black. That’s all about to change, because the university has assigned the heads of each faculty to work together on a big school festival and fundraiser. Sean and Black still don’t get along during meetings, but the weirdest thing is happening to Sean. He texts Black for information about a meeting and suddenly he and Black are being friendly? On the phone, Black is like a totally different person, a person Sean kind of… likes. Which is fine, except Black is still an asshole in person, and Sean is getting emotional whiplash. What in the hell is going on?

Chapter Summary: Sean and White grow closer, which inspires Sean to start composing again, but he gets an unexpected visitor to the music room.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57089545/chapters/164095477

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57089545/chapters/164310169

Chapter 9 is up!

Chapter summary: The festival is only a few days away, and Sean is very busy. A special gift leads to a new relationship.

Yeeting Chapter 10

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57089545/chapters/164490478

Title: SMS My Heart Author: DLanaDHZ Fandom: Not Me Pairing: Sean/White, Dan/Yok, Gram/Black Characters: Sean, White, Black, Gram, Dan Danai Ratchapakdee, Yok, Namo, Eugene, Gumpa Warnings: Attempted Kidnapping. Minor Violence Chapter Summary: On the day of the festival, Sean and White make a date of it. Black expresses worries about what White is doing. And Sean finishes composing his song, but is it the right time to show it to White? Fic Length: 29,697

spark like flowers in the sky

Old Fashion Cupcake (2022) dir. Kato Ayaka

hey when you make posts, i just want you to know, thou/thee/thy/thine/ye are like he/you(object)/your/yours/you(subject) okay? "thou art wearing shoes," "i will wear shoes for thee," okay?

you say thine if the next word starts with a vowel and thy if the next word starts with a consonant and they both mean "your" so "thine own shoes," "thy shoes," okay?

and ye means you and refers to the subject of a sentence, "ye members of the brotherhood of shoes," okay? you need this information to create better knight yaoi. i'm personally more interested in nun yuri but we are a community

Chapter 8 of SMS My Heart

SMS My Heart by DLanaDHZ

Rating: T

Fandoms: เขา...ไม่ใช่ผม | Not Me (TV 2021)

Relationships: Sean/White (Not Me TV 2021), Black/Gram (Not Me TV 2021), Dan/Yok (Not Me TV 2021)

Characters:

Namo (Not Me TV 2021), Eugene (Not Me TV 2021), Sean (Not Me TV 2021), White (Not Me TV 2021), Black (Not Me TV 2021), Gram (Not Me TV 2021), Dan Danai Ratchapakdee, Yok (Not Me TV 2021), Gumpa (Not Me TV 2021) ​

Additional Tags:

SMS, Texting, Mistaken Identity, Twins, Alternate Universe - College/University, Social Justice, Graffiti, Attempted Kidnapping, Minor Violence

Words: 23,404 | Chapters: 8/? | Language: English

Story Summary:

Sean is all about cooperation among the faculties, except when it comes to his nemesis – Black. That’s all about to change, because the university has assigned the heads of each faculty to work together on a big school festival and fundraiser. Sean and Black still don’t get along during meetings, but the weirdest thing is happening to Sean. He texts Black for information about a meeting and suddenly he and Black are being friendly? On the phone, Black is like a totally different person, a person Sean kind of… likes. Which is fine, except Black is still an asshole in person, and Sean is getting emotional whiplash. What in the hell is going on?

Chapter Summary: Sean and White grow closer, which inspires Sean to start composing again, but he gets an unexpected visitor to the music room.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57089545/chapters/164095477

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57089545/chapters/164310169

Chapter 9 is up!

Chapter summary: The festival is only a few days away, and Sean is very busy. A special gift leads to a new relationship.