#okay time for me to touch grass

[theoldandnewfirm]

I saw a post condemning the use of food/minerals to describe shades of brown/black skin and I'm just--

Okay, so. I tell you my character Mary has brown skin. What's the first thing you think of?

This?

Or this?

"But ONF," you might say, "That's not fair. If you're telling me a character is brown, then OBVIOUSLY I'm going to think of a brown person and not a brown object."

Which, hey, totally fair. Let's try that again. I tell you Mary is brown. Do you picture this?

Or this?

"But ONF," you say, "that's not fair. That's what adjectives are for. You could say 'Mary has light brown skin,' or 'Mary has medium brown skin,' and then we, the reader, would know what you meant."

Would you though? Would you?

Let's say Mary has medium brown skin.

This is medium brown.

So is this.

But surprise! I was thinking of this:

Which brings me to my next point: undertones. The way brown skin looks is heavily dependent on the person's undertone. Thinking that every light/medium/dark brown person is the same shade of light/medium/dark brown is why you see drugstore makeup brands that have fifteen shades of pale yellow/pink on the shelf and three dark brown ones. But I promise you, it's not true.

But how do you capture the richness and variety of brown skin tones in writing?

Wait for it...

...Food and minerals! That's right, folks! What better way to quickly and accurately convey color than to compare it to a pre-existing thing almost everyone in your reading audience will have seen or interacted with?

"Mary's medium-brown skin glistened in the light." BORING.

"Mary's ochre skin glistened in the light." HOT.

Now, this won't apply 100% of the time, especially if you established earlier in the story what shade of brown the character's skin resembles. I don't need to be reminded every instance that 'Sean's skin is the cool brown of dark chocolate.' You can just say 'dark skin' after that, that's fine.

Be mindful of your character's mindset, too, when choosing how to describe brown (or really any skin tone in general). What brown things are likely to be top of mind for them? Ex: a farmer might think of fresh tilled soil or an Ayrshire, a business person might think of his oxfords.

Or maybe your character really doesn't care much for the other person/isn't super observant/isn't terribly imaginative and they really would just say "Bob had brown skin."

That's fine too! But for the love of god, don't feel like you need to limit yourself to bland-ass descriptors because someone on Tumblr told you to.

(TBH feeling like you need validation from strangers on Tumblr before you make decisions in your personal/creative life is THE WORST way to exist, but that's a topic for another rant.)

-Signed me, an Actual Black Person™ (Nars Macao or MAC NC50 for reference)

(But friendly reminder black/brown people aren't a monolith (for that matter NO people are a monolith) so if you ever see someone claiming to speak for ALL black/brown people they're full of shit)

#writing #writeblr #poc #long post #rant #ah #got that out of my system #normally I'm content to let the nonsense I see on this site pass me by #but that post REALLY irritated me #okay time for me to touch grass

[bakudekublogblog]

it never stops being funny to me that people are bkdk antis in the year 2024 like “katsuki bullied izuku!! how dare you ship izuku with him” ??? take it up with izuku he’s is the one pining his ass off for him. I can’t make izuku not yearn for katsuki ??? I’m sorry I have observational skills?? izuku is just like that you think I can stop him??

#bakudeku #bkdk #izuku thinks he’s so blessed to even have an almost normal convo with him and gets all misty eyed thinking about it #izuku stares at katsuki like he’s the light of his life his hero #izuku swoons into his arms and has a pure rage form for whenever something bad happens to him #kacchan v deku pt 2 was him being like I FUCKING LOVED YOU OKAY I ADORED YOU YOU SHINE SO BRIGHTLY I LOVED YOU #like he’s just in love with him he was his first love and then they got divorced #and then they’re slowly coming back together and izuku falls even harder this is simply the plot of the manga #also how dare you be like Stop Shipping and tag the ship like who… are yiu?? #some raggedy ass bitch thinks they can tell me what to do with my precious little free time uhhh #maybe go outside and touch grass

[stevethehairington]

really fucking sick and tired of people who really fucking love the eddie book jumping on people who don't like or are even remotely critical of it's posts and like crusading their opinions around from the top of their high horses and shoving it down our throats.

if you like the book, great! that's awesome! love that for you! i am genuinely glad that you were able to find good in it and enjoy it!!

but not everyone did, and not everyone is going to agree with you. so, instead of going on some grand crusade where you find every single post that includes anything even remotely negative or negative adjacent or even neutrally critical and spending ALL this time and effort trying to provide unwanted rebuttals to every single thing, maybe you should just stay in your lane and find people who DO like the book and chat about it with them.

because i can PROMISE YOU, none of us appreciate it when you come onto our posts and start accusing us of "hating on" the author or "being rude" about her and her work and RIDICULOUS shit like that.

being critical of something and pointing out it's flaws is NOT inherently hating on it. i, frankly, do not know where people got that notion, but it's not fucking true so can we fucking quit assuming it is? and, critiquing something is also NOT the same as saying this is shit and it sucks and the author is a piece of garbage. again, where the fuck that came from is beyond me. you can be critical of something and still enjoy it. as soooo many of you love to point out, it's not perfect, why should it be perfect? so D U H. of course that means criticism can and should arise???

also. hot take (by which i mean ice fucking cold because it's NOT a fucking hot take), but going around toting FALSE facts as part of your "defense" does not make you or your argument look good. you, like the author, should maybe do a basic fact check first. 🙃

tldr, if you like the book, that's genuinely great, but stay in your fucking lane and stop seeking out posts from people who didn't like it to start shit in the notes.

#flight of icarus #stranger things #this has happened to me and to so many of my friends and im fucking SICK of it #i didn't even hate the book either!! i thought it was just okay #and yet i STILL get all these book lovers jumping down my throat about things i say about the book #things that - HONESTLY are not even like that scathing!!!!! #like god damn all im asking for is a little BASIC effort from the author and they all think thats me asking for her head on a platter #its NOT #i have no problem with the author #she's whatever to me honestly just a vessel through which the book was given to us #ALSO she is some nebulous blob way outside my orbit. AS IN any critiques i have of her and her work are NOT direct assaults on her??? #like i dont fucking KNOW her #im not saying any of this to her face #she is a published writer she should KNOW the risks she is taking when she publishes her writing #not everyone is going to like it! there are going to be people who are critical of it! there are going to be people who hate it! #critiques and pointing out mistakes and wishing for things to have been different is not a fucking direct attack #those things are actually pretty fucking common responses to ANYTHING #and a lot of times theyre actually meant as useful helpful things geared towards improvement and not something to tear someone down with #some people on the internet need to go touch grass and learn how to CRITICALLY THINK again #the world is not as black and white as you think #n e ways. rant over. if you stuck around through all of that kudos to you. i am just. at the end of my rope with this bullshit.

[claudtrait]

bro is beautiful...

#okay time for me to touch grass bye guys #ts4 #simblr #sims 4 #sims #the sims 4 #sims 4 screenshots #ts4 screenshots #sims 4 cas #ts4 cas #travis scott #bff household #townie makeover

[hella1975]

ive never felt more rural than i have in the past few weeks since hanging out with a lad who has only ever lived in cities. what do you MEAN YOU'VE NEVER DONE A MORRIS DANCE

#he didn't even know what morris dancers WERE i said some shit like 'you know it's summer when the morris dancers come out' #and he was like 'the what now' I FEEL LIKE IM GOING CRAZY. HE'S FUCKING WITH ME SURELY #AND THIS HAPPENS SO OFTEN ABOUT THINGS I JUST ASSUMED WERE BASICS #'harvest festival 🤨' PARDON. YOU ARE JOKING #and also the CONCEPT of a village is baffling to him. i said there's probably about 100 people in my entire village #and we don't have a pub or a single shop the closest ones are in the NEXT village over which is a 3 mile walk #and this boy was HORRIFIED. we are both in a constant state of thinking the other is taking the piss #and now every time i think/do something abundantly rural im SO self-aware 😭 #my mum told me the farmers are gonna do a xmas tractor run through our village this year #(they usually miss our village bc even by village standards it's tiny) #and she was like 'shame you'll miss it! i'll send you a video!' and im there already picturing this boy's face when i show it him #like sigh. yeah. yeah okay maybe the rural england is ingrained deeper than i feared. never escaping the allegations etc #had a conversation with him the other day that concluded with me 100% genuinely being like 'you need to touch grass' #i literally said 'i think it would fix you. like actually go and touch some grass what the fuck' #bc at this point he's so far removed from nature that it's INSANE TO ME. i didnt realise how much i took growing up rurally for granted #THESE PEOPLE DONT EVEN GET DRUNK IN FIELDS. THEY HAVE NO FIELDS. I HAD TO EXPLAIN TO HIM WHAT A CAMP OUT WAS

[trans-xianxian]

I think we gotta start recognizing that "things accepted online/in leftist spaces" and "things accepted by the general public in the real world" are two very different things. like no actually gnc men are Not suddenly seen as okay because there are drag queens on tiktok. men are still beaten and harassed and ostracized and Killed for being feminine. in the us. in my very liberal city full of ppl with blue hair and pronouns I am made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome for being a gnc guy. the tiktok comments on videos of men wearing make up are not indicative of the beliefs of most people

#idk its just very weird to see ppl imply that gnc men are accepted actually #like what world are you living in that thats true #strangers make weird comments to me all the time and I see a noticable difference between how I am treated and how gc ppl are treated #I am misgendered on purpose All The Time by randos #like absolutely point out that gnc women are treated worse/have not been accepted in spaces where gnc men have/etc #but you cannot be saying that being a feminine man is now seen as okay that is so wildly untrue in like the real actual world #this goes for a lot of other things as well #like when a woman is a creep and ppl are like 'well if the roles were reversed yall would say its bad' #and its like yeah maybe online or in your liberal friend group #ppl who call men out for things don't call out women for the same stuff #and that should be discussed #but for most of the public no one is calling out men for creepy behavior #like notoriously #also even online ppl are very hateful??? like all the time #the top 5 comments on a video of a man wearing a dress may be telling him that he hashtag slays #put I promise you for every compliment there are dozens of people calling him slurs #anyway please please please touch some grass engage in social issues outside of instagram I'm begging #ghost posts #text

[kathrynmjaneway]

.

#get yourself a gamer boyfriend 10/10 can recommend #i spent the entire weekend with him #what did we do? #he watched me play elden ring for i think a total of 18 hours over 2 days #first time playing it for me and i knew basically nothing about it #and he has like close to 700hrs in that game #and i wanted to try it #so he let me and coached me through it #best backseat gaming 🫶🏻 #i beat margit???? on my first try and it was very very exciting for me but i think. my boyfriend was even more excited about it than me #it was honestly such a cool moment the way he reacted #very sweet #we've dubbed finding graces with 'touch grass' #on that note i am a nintendo girl ive played on Nintendo consoles my entire life #but im playing on an xbox controller on his pc and its driving me insane WHY DID TGEY SWITCH THE ABXY BUTTONS AROUND #the amount of time i accidentally healed myself by pressing the x button when i wanted to press the y button is INSANE and a bit hilarious #anyway #i was like is this okay you just watching me play and he was like oh yes hes invested now #and i think the plan is for me to play through the entire game until june #and then to play the dlc together #very exciting #i am obsessed with this man #elden ring #personal #we've dubbed the FP dring thingy blue juice and every time i run out of FP and dont notice he just says blue juice #its been a fun weekend #also i once accidentally perfectly parried an attack with my shield and did some cool combo with my sword and he was so impressed #but i didnt even really notice i just accidentally pressed the wrong button and was trying to switch from my staff to my sword and trying to #block #i play as an astrologer for those who care lmao

[lelianaslefthand]

anytime i post about That Elf i feel so annoying as if he's not my pfp like literally "likely place for him to be" scenario imagine being normal

#i just typed up the most unhinged rant/vent thing TWICE and deleted it it was so sick 😭 #when you take people hating on a character you like personally bc you projected and are insane #did the same thing with anders and gale a bit too like ohh okay so you hate me too okay alright like can i be normal PLEEK #i almost brought up succession again im in the trenches #this is so touch grass like i swear i touch grass i was just reminded that my birthday is next week so im having a kendall roy moment #(being crazy) #ITS FINE im fine its fine this is the oversharing and being crazy website its fine #i feel so wired tonight idk whats going on im usually very low this time of the month i feel like im about to crash and burn spectacularly #stay tuned for that im sure ill live blog it #.txt #gonna go watch succession out of context videos to calm down

[nilla-bear]

talking to someone who is so much smarter than you and saying things you don’t have a response to because you don’t know enough on the subject and then they say some shit like “that’s okay,” in a genuinely reassuring tone, and/or dumb the question down for you while also explaining the subject matter and giving examples so you understand better and not just making you feel dumb?? I appreciate you very much. (I am going to suck the soul out of you.)

#I cannot be normal about men who baby me in even the slightest ways #like I’m trying to come up with a response but I’m not able to finish a complete thought and/or stuttering and you say ITS OKAY??? #patronize me but in a loving way #are we feeling the daddy issues in the vibe here #telling my therapist about him this week #and to do this MULTIPLE times throughout the conversation and not getting annoyed once??? oh my god I need to touch grass dude #excuse my insane run on sentence my brain is mush

[eryanlainfa]

Im going to stare at Aiden and Hugo making out. Its gonna make me feel better.

#i dont touch grass. i look at my oc x (not really) canon. it rewires my brain the same. its fine its okay trust me #eryanbles #gonna feel better in no time!

[gmaybe666]

girl help I can’t stop thinking about the tragedy of the roy family and how succession is a shakespearean capitalist horror story

#okay okay I’m normal #I’m actually going on a day trip and gonna have a little holiday and me time #so that’ll take my mind off my FEELINGS about this fucking show #self care is getting on a train and going somewhere touching grass #succession

[47-protons]

i need to kill the creature in my brain i think

#gripping it and shaking it and slamming it to the ground #sometimes it is small and little. like a hamster or perhaps a domesticated rat. it is managable #i can hold it and cuddle it close to my chest and go hey. Hey. you're okay. promise. you've misinterpreted something #and here is what is actually happening. #and other times. it is just a giant hulking mass of dark fuzzy goop and if it touches you you lose time and everything is fuzzy and muted #and you are beating it off with a broom or a stick or your bare hands or a childhood book you grabbed off the shelf #and it's larger than the room you're in and it's all encompasing and it's so so so so so fucking Mean to you. #and i can't ever kill it. but sometimes if i take a nap. or cry it out. it at least gets smaller. maybe down to a Particularly irate #large dog. and then from there. when we have both calmed down. i can see that this dog just has a thorn or a sticker in its paw or something #and i can help it. and we can both calm down. and we are both so so so tired. and it will go back to being a hamster. and i can hold it. #and this cycle will always repeat #you pick out the hurt and you look at it and you go Well. seeing it helps. and i at least Know now. what hurt me so bad #but it doesn't necessarily stop you from stepping in the sticker patch again y'know?? #especially when sometimes i think my parents will toss whole sticker bushes at me and not realize it #and i feel lowkey like i'm sitting in the middle of the elementary school baseball diamond again. surrounded by stickers and goatheads. #none of this makes sense but i am Very bad with emotion words. i have sad and happy and a few other specific ones #but for the most part beyond that?? every feeling i feel is not Words it is Situations And The Feelings Attached To It #loving my dog is like being taken to an ice cream shop on your birthday as a young child #loving my best friend is like standing in the grass with your shoes wet from the dew watching the sunrise and the specific rose-pink #that the clouds turn in mid-august.

[pizzabookbuying]

there are so many ‘best’ AUs and the ones I label as they best definitely change according to my mood but right now the BEST kind is the kind where the AU reveals that in different circumstances the two characters end up in completely opposite roles in their dynamic because the SOULMATISM of it all—the realization that these people respond EXACTLY the same way to things—THATS EVERYTHING TO ME RIGHT NOW

#OKAY YEAH THIS IS FUELED BY ME GETTING OBSESSED WITH THE PREMISE OF MY OWN WIP blablablah self obsorbed blablablah touch grass #DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE #the prev post about enemies who make each other who they are—YEAH I MEANT IT WHEN I SAID IT IMPACTED ME #BECAUSE THAT DYNAMIC IS SO GOOD #I’m obsessed with the character everyone sees as the darker one being CANONICALLY hopeful to a fault #being SO DRIVEN by the need to do good that it perhaps morally corrupts him beyond any return #and I’m OBSESSED with his counterpart being the OPPOSITE she said ‘yes I’m cynical what about it’ AND SHES SO RIGHT FOR THAT #and I’m OBSESSED with moving their interactions to a time BEFORE his hope was corrupted. BECause the thing is she can actually be #the very thing that turns his hope into reality. She just needs to STOP BEING SO CYNICAL #AND I LOVE THAT #Aleksander: canonically is fueled by his hope to build a sanctuary for those unprotected by society and those literally hunted for their #existence (canonicaly spends hundreds of years doing this) #Alina: canonically assumes the worst (yes she’s valid I’m not saying she’s not. she’s also just very oh no looky here another FUCKING THING #TO DEAL WITH) (at SEVENTEEN YEARS OF AGE) #and yes I know these two people are actually terrible for each other (specifically uhh aleksander is terrible for Alina) but the IDEA that #in different circumstances they wouldn’t be— #LET ME HAVE IT OKAY LET ME HAVE JT #it’s just funny that aleksander is like that because of the hundreds of years he spent learning that loss is inevitable and it might as well #serve a purpose #and Alina is like that because she’s had enough shit by age seventeen that she’s just gonna fuck shit up if one more thing goes wrong #also no in this Alina does not become a despot that’s not the point the point is she becomes incredibly world weary and apathetic while #aleksander is the one who is doing his damndest to help the world

[lfcrobbo]

will ALSO say it's fascinating to me how much some people care about what other people have to say about their fav drivers. maybe i'm just too old for in-fandom fighting, but do you realize that you can just? ignore these people? and have fun in your own little bubble?

#this is not specific to f1 fandom obviously. every fandom is like this to an extent i just think that in sports fandom it's extra noticeable #bc of the nature of SPORTS #it is just UNFATHOMABLE TO ME why you would spend your time in fandom being angry about what other fans are saying. this is all fake bro #yes i know the drivers are ''real'' but also they're really not. hate to break it to you guys but the people we're blogging about #are nothing but public portrayals of the real people. yes they're real but the version of them that we get to see is just a fraction of that #and THEN the rest of it is us fandomizing them. fictionalizing them in a way #and that goes even when you're ignoring the rpf of it all too. we're creating ideas of these people inside of our head but we don't KNOW #the real them #nd blah blah this is obvious and i'm sure on a superficial level most people are aware of this but i do think it's important to remind #one self about it from time to time #okay this got away from me!!!! in conclusion. touch grass maybe once in a while #there is so much more i could say about this..... #the complexities of online fandom experiences!!! #on one hand. you dont have to expose yourself to hate from people u disagree with. #on the other hand you should try and understand where ''the other side'' is coming from just bc it's good to break out of your echo chamber #okay that is ENOUGH pseudo-sociological talk from me TODAY #will go back to pretending like discourse doesn't exist now #gold star to anyone who read all of this lol🌟 also i am ALWAYS open to discussing things like this!!! #inbox/dms are OPEN all i ask is a) be open and b) please sensor any driver names/etc. in asks so it doesnt show up in any tags lololol #marth.txt

[is-trump-dead]

6/12/2022

no :(

#now you may be wondering where i have gone #the answer is that every time i don't feel okay i just go outside and touch grass and dont go on the internet for awhile #and it works #also i have a severe vitamin d deficiency and i was feeling like crap and kinda fell into a coma #not a literal one tho #spiritually and mentally i fell into one #tho i am now a senior in highschool and now have way more hours at work so i have progressed into the world #also i went off my meds like two months ago and just didn't tell anyone #eventually i told my doctor and she was like okay maybe dont go cold turkey and tell me if you no longer want to take them #so maybe part of my issue was withdrawal symptoms #i also have a caffeine addiction now #fuck trump #anti trump #trump hate #it's the final countdown

[anonymous-dentist]

some rando on tiktok said that dsmp lore and the dsmp in general should be gatekept from anyone that started watching after like spring 2021 and lowkey i wanna just 

Apparently it’s “disrespectful to actual fans” to try and talk about old lore even if you went back and watched those streams or videos, and I’m legitimately a little confused. Doesn’t that take away any kind of sense of community in this, well, community? What’s the use of keeping content from people if they want to talk about it or, God forbid, consume it? I understand not wanting people to talk about stuff they don’t know about, but I should be allowed to say “C!Phil was a bitch for killing his son” without getting some random TikToker in my dms threatening to doxx me

#lol okay so fuck me ig if i wanna actually watch old streams trying to learn shit #only old stream i've actually watched is techno's doomsday and like two el rapids #blocked them and moved on with my day cause i don't have time to deal with angry children #legit terrifying? but also jesus christ go touch some grass kid #maybe i'm just stupid #actually no i am stupid for putting a supernatural gif in a dsmp fandom post ooooooooo #i'm so old and disrespectful! take me away officer!