Winding and Roving

reblog if its friday and you made it

Reblog to give prev a fucking break holy shit y’all

“Some years ago, I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving. The bus was filled with cold, tired people who were deeply irritated—with one another; with the rainy, sleety weather; with the world itself. Two men barked at each other about a shove that might or might not have been intentional. A pregnant woman got on, and nobody offered her a seat. Rage was in the air; no mercy would be found here.

But as the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the driver got on the intercom. “Folks,” he said, “I know you’ve had a rough day and you’re frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here’s what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight—just leave ‘em with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I’ll open the window and throw your troubles in the water. Sound good?”

It was as if a spell had lifted. Everyone burst out laughing. Faces gleamed with surprised delight. People who’d been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other’s existence were suddenly grinning at each other like, is this guy serious?

Oh, he was serious.

At the next stop—just as promised—the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up—but everyone did it. The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop, too. And the next. All the way to the river.

We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it’s extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years. You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news, and you become fearful and withdrawn. There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness. You long for the light but don’t know where to find it.

But what if you are the light? What if you’re the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?

That’s what this bus driver taught me—that anyone can be the light, at any moment. This guy wasn’t some big power player. He wasn’t a spiritual leader. He wasn’t some media-savvy “influencer.” He was a bus driver—one of society’s most invisible workers. But he possessed real power, and he used it beautifully for our benefit.

When life feels especially grim, or when I feel particularly powerless in the face of the world’s troubles, I think of this man and ask myself, What can I do, right now, to be the light? Of course, I can’t personally end all wars, or solve global warming, or transform vexing people into entirely different creatures. I definitely can’t control traffic. But I do have some influence on everyone I brush up against, even if we never speak or learn each other’s name. How we behave matters because within human society everything is contagious—sadness and anger, yes, but also patience and generosity. Which means we all have more influence than we realize.

No matter who you are, or where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, I believe you can illuminate your world. In fact, I believe this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated—one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.“

–Elizabeth Gilbert

I think it’s time this got another airing.

This is my preferred, best form of activism. I try to be like that driver, every day I’m out in the world.

RIP Lydia Bennet you would’ve loved watching tik toks at full volume in public

here have this grond meme that my partner made

Found on a friend's FB.

Favorite comment:

"Also, John is so Gen X that he's narrating his slow descent into madness by insistently and continuously making Pop culture references for literal aliens."

Aha, the original post is this one by @nonasuch!

[image description: a photo of the main characters of Farscape on an earth-like planet in front of a blue sky with white clouds. Below that, a screenshot of a tumblr post with the username missing reads:

for the record, if you have never watched Farscape: it is a show about an American astronaut who gets stranded in space with a bunch of aliens. this description is technically accurate but tells you nothing about the actual experience of watching the show.

if it helps any, please consider that the main characters are, in no particular order:

a jock who’s very good at math and surprisingly good at feelings

an ex-space cop who combines the fighting-for-her-life aptitude of Ellen Ripley with the understanding-her-own-emotions aptitude of Seven of Nine

Space Javert

a big weird puppet friend with like 12 arms. you will want to hug him.

Fun Worf

“wow i wonder how she got so calm and centered, she seems very wise” “oh yeah i used to be an EXTREMELY violent anarchist and I’m holding onto my chill by my fingernails at all times”

like, what if Yoda had 0 wisdom to impart and was just a horrible little bastard man who only wanted to do crimes

alien girl on Space Rumspringa except she’s never going back because on her home planet feelings are illegal

/ID]

I reblogged that one once I learned. I love that it came out of Tumblr.

The jock who is good at math is also terrible at fights. He's the lost US Astronaut and also despite knowing next to nothing about massively advanced alien tech beyond his ken is also, notably, the only one good at math.

Also everyone is so very horny. So, so horny.

Don't forget Space Rumspringa also tries to steal anything not bolted down and some things that are. And while she definitely ties to fuck her way out of trouble it feels like it would be less violent if she just killed a guy.

All trauma all the time for everyone also, you all have so much PTSD they introduced a character to the crew who was the physical manifestation of the trauma of death for the entire universe.

Dick joke, dick joke, dick joke, hey did we mention how we were all horrifically ripped from our homes and loved ones and then thrown into a place of unending torment with no hope for escape hahaha, dick joke, dick joke

If You Meet A God You Should Immediately Start Shouting At Them

Also don't forget Unfrozen Caveman Space Archeologist from ancient advanced civilization who hates violence and wants you all to know you are all so stupid, and Space Witch who is basically a drug dealer or maybe biological warfare engineer, I'm not sure.

That show was many people's pansexual and monsterfucker awakening. Nerds kick ass. Geeks are full of anarchist wisdom. The Jim Henson Company answering "what can you do with this" with "hell yes"

It's a good show.

Also there's comics.

Everyone at each other all the time: "You would not last ten seconds on my planet," except at the human where at one point they directly ask him how such a pathetic species is still alive.

You know all those “Humans are Space Australians” jokes?

They made it a show.

Every Farscape episode can be boiled down to:

1) A failed Get Rich Quick scheme, often involving either sex or drugs

2) Space shenanigans make everyone high. I CANNOT overstate how often this comes up. Sometimes it's actual drugs, sometimes it's silly lights, alien parasites, or a random visiting alien whose species Is Just Like That.

3) Holy shit, the cops found us, everybody run!

4) The crew gets conned by yet another alien grifter because THEY are all convinced that THEY are the best grifters out there.

5) Monster of the week but its sole purpose is to create character growth or reveal some hidden reason why one of the characters isn't a completely irredeemable shithead.

The crew of Moya have exactly three collective brain cells in any given episode, and generally Pilot has at least one of them. Unsurprisingly, nobody ever listens to Pilot.

There is an entire episode where a character sustains head trauma and hallucinates himself into Looney Toons. It involves the line "Lock up your daughters and hide the fried chicken!"

None of the characters have any sense of personal space.

It is a frelling PHENOMENAL show and everyone should watch it.

"You are tampering with vast forces beyond your comprehension."

"LEROYYYYYY JENKINS!!!"

huh! did not realize that post had escaped containment.

anyway go watch Farscape! It’s audaciously weird and heartbreaking and clever and never met a status quo it couldn’t blow to smithereens. Also there are Muppets.

I remember catching a few episodes on TV when it was airing, but now I really want to watch the series properly.

It's on Tubi!

and youtube

enjoy it with snacks and beverages.

If you want to watch there are some live streams on youtube. Including one in English, one in Spanish, and one in german all on the official YouTube page.

the secret to life is always having something to look forward to

to anyone saying there's nothing to look forward to, I'm not saying it has to be anything spectacular or huge. it could just be a song or a book that will release in a few days, a tv show, anything!! no matter how small it seems it can keep us going

Quick! Put in the tags what you’re looking forward to right now!

I’ll go first: Im gonna go out to try a new restaurant this week with a friend!!

I've been seeing a lot of posts about piracy lately and in light of this i do need to say something because I've been seeing a lot of misinformation.

anti-viruses, vpns, ad-blockers- none of these are going to help you here.

the first thing you're going to need is a good solid boat (preferably oak wood). you will also want some cannons and a plank depending on the sort of shenanigans you plan on getting into.

Also! Not once have i seen any of you talking about the importance of citrus fruits and vitamin C. antivirus doesn't prevent scurvy. come on you should know this by now.

this sort of misinformation is wildly dangerous and irresponsible.

very big fan of when shows put wigs on actors and say ‘yeah. That’s him when he was younger fuck you’. No anti aging ai, no teen actor hired. Just. The same guy with a fuckass wig

If you see someone with a really bad fandom take, I’m begging you to open your emails and write a strongly worded missive to your local government official about something bad happening in your community or country.

If you’re in Canada you could email a rep about concerns about Elon musk interfering in our next federal election.

If you’re in the US the list is endless.

If you’re in the UK you could email about trans health care.

If you’re in Australia, what about dental care in Medicare?

If you’re in Europe, look into some EU initiatives of particular concern. Perhaps something to do with nature and biodiversity? Idk

Just today I emailed my local mla about coal mining in the Rocky Mountains and tomorrow I’m going to pick something else and do it again

Don’t get me wrong I love a fandom wank as much as anyone but perhaps you can take an iota of the energy you’re spending on that and put it towards making sure your elected representatives hear from you on a regular basis

Honestly this seems like a legit mental health emotional de-escalation strategy. New grounding technique just dropped and it's going to revolutionize the world at the rate I see bad takes as a regular tag scroller

The best part of waking up

"Richard Nixon" is now my new favorite swear that isnt a swear

Hey remember how leverage had one historical flashback episode with Parker and Hardison as the couple, and then another historical flashback episode with Parker and Eliot as the couple. Hey. Hey remember that.

#i am still gunning for that hardison/eliot historical flashback episode #<- they should be cowboys or something #<- prev tags OMG COWBOYS YEEEEEEEES #after all #cowboys are frequently secretly etc etc 😉 (@happybean17)

Iceland's sky broke the colour spectrum. The magical stratospheric cloud ❤️✨️😍