Alright guys, sit down, I have to tell you all something very important. It's something you already know, but you NEED to hear this again.

You only get ONE life.

You only get one shot at this. You only get one lifetime to live it to your definition of the fullest, be that skydiving, entrepreneurship, or a quiet marriage. You only get one shot to tell people the things you need to tell them. You only get ONE shot to make yourself happy.

Yes, we have many, many, MANY years and many, MANY, MANY opportunities to start any of these! But... do you really want to do that on your deathbed? After you can look back and decide if you were happy with your life or not? When it's too late to change it?

I phrased this as doom and gloom on purpose, so allow me to elaborate and bring this back down a notch.

This post is about love. Straight-up. You only get ONE life, and I want you to take a moment right now and ask yourself if you're satisfied with how you view the world. Forget your living situation or your mental state for just a moment! How do you like your view of the world?

Is it a dark, disgusting thing, filled with smog, hatred, and fire? Is it a bright, beautiful thing filled with Good Vibes™ and sunshine? Or is it somewhere in the middle? Don't take these words literally. If you were to tell me if you think Earth is a good place to live, what would your honest answer be?

Now, let's go smaller. What is your honest opinion of your own world. Not fictional, real. Your circle of friends. the news you see. You personally. Now, how do you view the world? Did your answer change?

Now, let's ask this: what can you do to improve your opinion of the world?

Your personal sphere is the more important example, here, but this does apply to overall as well. If you're not happy in your own sphere, then you NEED to make a change. Stop reading bad news. Take a breath and leave arguments. Go watch that show you've been putting off. Your Steam library needs dusting.

You only get to live one life. So why are you letting yourself be miserable?

Dogs are real. Cats are real. Music is real. Soft, huggable plushies are real. The sun, fluffy clouds, your friends, potential friends you've never met yet, and you. You are real.

Take a breath. Breathe it in. You are real.

You have the capability to make your own choices.

You have the capability to choose when to hold on or let go of a thing or person.

You have the capability to say no to someone.

You have the capability to do the things you want to do, no matter how bleak your situation looks right now.

And doesn't that sound amazing?

Why do we hold on to hatred? Is hating someone really making you happy, or is it putting words in your mouth?

You don't have to like everyone. Far from it. If you don't like someone, we live in a day and age where avoiding them has never been easier. Block, report, drive away, walk. Anything works.

But you don't have to hate, either.

I'm almost done, I promise, but I want to tell you one more important thing. You probably already know this one, too, but you need to hear it anyway.

Hatred comes from love.

That seems really weird, right? Contradictory? Well, it is!

Hatred of a person could start because someone you love got hurt, or someone you love said bad things about someone else. Hatred could come from witnessing someone you love get hurt by an entire group, or one person. Or, it could come from watching a clip on the news. It could come from listening to your family talk about how much they hate a group, and then you'll hate that group, too, because you love your family.

That's all it is.

Any form of hatred can be broken down in this way. We hate because we feel that something or someone we love is violated, and we want to protect them. This can be from things like lions, tigers, plagues, and oceans, but it could also be from race, sexuality, bodily autonomy, countries, or your very own neighbors

But... is that hatred justifiable?

Can you really hate the entire ocean because your friend almost drowned there? Can you really hate a lion for needing to eat? Can you really hate someone who just wants to feel right in this world?

Cuz guess what?

You only have ONE SHOT at life.

But so do they.

Every creature needs to eat, no matter what your relationship with their prey is. The ocean isn't even alive, your fellow man was just unprepared to face it, and that's no one's fault. And that trans person wants to live their life to the fullest, too, whatever their definition of fullest is.

Now that I have the transphobes' attention, is hating this group making you happy?

I'd bet the majority of you say yes, right? But stop and think about this. Really, really think about this. What is something you've always wanted to do? Paint? Fly? Study? It can be anything.

Now, is hating a group of people in any way getting you closer to that dream?

...

No, right?

So why are you wasting the energy?

This goes about any group, too. Jewish people, people of color, gay people, muslims, disabled people, ect. Is hating this group of people who also only get ONE shot really making you happy? Helping you achieve your dreams?

No, right?

So why are you wasting the energy?

Now, if a group IS getting in the way (or trying to get in the way) of you trying to achieve those dreams? Great! I hate fascism, too! But now you know why.

You only get ONE shot at life. The choices you're making now are building up to a grander whole, a tapestry you will see as you lay on your death bed. Did you live a good life?

Yes, we struggle. There are times when it's fucking unfair. The world seems out to get us sometimes, but that's not your fault. Your responsibility then becomes what you choose to do with those struggles. Crumple under them, or push through? It's easy to fall apart, but so, so worth it in the end to get that 1st place ribbon you've always wanted.

So, how can you improve your worldview today?

seeing ppl go "lol jonathan why are you admitting you found them hot what will mina think of you when she reads it!!!" has me go "*shakes you* you are going against the thesis of the book!!!"

I know some of why is dependent on knowledge of future events, and so people new to Dracula Daily won't be aware of it. But to be honest, Jonathan admitting his attraction to the vampire ladies is so, so important to me. On several different character levels, even outside of the entire book proving over and over again that sharing knowledge is absolutely vital (and is also an expression of deep love/trust/support).

Let's just stick the quote in here for reference:

There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain; but it is the truth.

Firstly - he needs to keep an accurate record. This is his only place to speak freely, his only opportunity to be precise about what he is going through. It is vitally important for him to keep his sanity intact that he be clear and try to remain logical in this diary. We see him fact-checking again and again. We can extrapolate from other statements that he doesn't always mention everything he suspects unless he feels it relevant or possible to prove. For example, repeatedly noting Dracula himself doing things before ever getting around to voicing the theory that the Count has no servants (he collected evidence first, didn't speak his suspicions until they were proven). Or putting the crucifix above his bed and taking the opportunity to sleep elsewhere, thus pointing to feeling unsafe and possibly experiencing bad dreams in his own room (he mentioned what he does about it, but not the feeling on its own or whatever nightmares he may be having). Jonathan works very hard to keep his diary focused on a few things above all: what the Count/ladies are, what everyone does, what Jonathan observes or learns, his actionable plans. He of course expresses his fears and emotions at times in his diary, more than he can out loud, but never going all the way down the rabbithole of fear, hopelessness, etc. He tries to calm himself by sticking to facts (all the harder when something strange is happening), which is in itself a soothing process for him so that's helpful too. His goal is to make this diary useful to himself and to others, if he ever gets the chance to share it. There is a goal here.

And what that means, is that the things Jonathan writes in great detail are things that feel relevant to him. The entire encounter with the vampire ladies was extremely important. It revealed a ton of new information to him, as well as being a truly horrifying and traumatic thing to go through. Jonathan's feelings are as relevant as his observations/actions here, because both are directly affected by the presence of the vampire women. Jonathan can't move. He feels dreamy. He feels attracted to them. He cannot resist and in the moment a large part of him didn't even want to. These are all effects they are causing, at least to some extent. I know mileage can vary a lot on how much of Jonathan's attraction is just coming from him, but honestly, I can't agree with any version that doesn't have a natural attraction at the very least being exacerbated by supernatural vampire abilities somehow. If not caused or called forth by them in the first place. The way he narrates, with so much obvious fear and revulsion mixed in with the desire, makes that clear to me. He sounds like he doesn't fully understand his own feelings at the time, at least where they all came from or why they were so strong. It goes along with all the other symptoms he is experiencing, and the other abilities they demonstrate. And so, to keep his record accurate - it has to go in. He cannot leave it out. It might become very relevant later.

Secondly - Jonathan is honest with Mina, specifically. I love this about their relationship. I don't think it's so much 'I noticed they were attractive' that he fears might hurt her, because Mina isn't particularly shy herself about noticing both women and men as good-looking, and even admiring their looks while on a date with Jonathan (poor Pretty Girl in Piccadilly). He also called local women pretty in his first entry as well (though he did say "except when you got near them" so it felt a bit backhanded to me), so again it's not the noticing that's an issue either way. It's more that he felt actual desire to act on an attraction, or rather for them to act. This is unusual, this is a separate matter from noticing people are hot, this is something that comes much closer to cheating or at least wanting to, and he feels very guilty about it. There's no real sense that he is worried Mina will be angry at him, and there's no sense that he will ever outside of that one moment ever want to act on any attraction he feels for someone other than Mina (or someone Mina also approves of, varying depending on your polycula headcanons). I personally do kind of tend to view Jonathan as some form of demisexual so how much he even tends to feel attraction to other people is often a little wibbly to me, but that's kind of irrelevant for the point of this. We can also set aside the shared language of "kiss" between Jonathan and the vampire ladies, and how this may point to a desire to become available for being drunk from, rather than necessarily sexual desire specifically, even if that's the type of language used. With regards to Mina: he's not worried about being caught, because he is choosing not to hide. He feels bad talking about the attraction because it might hurt her feelings, but he'll admit to it regardless because it's more important to him to be honest with her. Jonathan hates hiding things from Mina. This actually becomes plot-relevant later on. Even when she herself expressly forbids him from telling her stuff, he feels anguished about it and is certain to ensure that records are kept which she can read later. He trusts her completely. Embarrassment, shame, bad behavior, or whatever else - he will still share that with her. The only times he doesn't confide in Mina are when he's trying to repress everything because he thinks he was crazy (and possibly may even have some PTSD-related memory loss as well), or when he and the other men are trying to make sure she isn't exposed to danger (which is wrong in several ways but this post isn't about that so I won't get into it), and of course when she tells him not to. Every single time he feels upset about it. So yeah, he's going to regret that she may feel hurt, but deliberately hiding things from her would be worse.

Thirdly - Jonathan admitting his attraction here is a huge comfort to Mina later on. I truly believe this. I've talked about it before actually, but let me try to rephrase a bit to keep it on the same post. By being open about his own attraction and experience with nearly being drunk from, he provides precedent for Mina's October 3rd trauma. It makes it easier (though obviously still not easy) for her to admit to the same kind of desire:

"I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did not want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that such is, when his touch is on his victim."

Mina never blamed Jonathan for expressing such thoughts. She wasn't concerned about the issue being another woman when she came to him in the hospital, and when she read his diary she never mentioned any hesitations or misgivings about this scene at all. But even if she had secretly felt upset before (I personally don't see her thinking that way at all, but for the sake of argument), I think that experiencing something similar would make her grateful for Jonathan's candor. In a moment when she's already feeling deeply unclean and complicit, Jonathan's earlier honesty here relieves her from a little bit of the guilt she is feeling. It lets her recognize her own lack of desire to stop Dracula as something he did to her, just like Jonathan experienced with the vampire ladies when he couldn't/didn't want to move away. It's possible even that Mina felt more explicit desire for Dracula's 'red lips to kiss her' but didn't feel comfortable saying quite that much - even if so, again Jonathan's account would be a comfort.

And having that account written down long ago means she has already internalized this. If Jonathan had kept it hidden only to try and ease her mind later, well... first off, Mina too might have kept her reaction hidden out of guilt. And even if she didn't or he told her then, a confession at that time wouldn't mean nearly as much or carry the same kind of weight, I don't think. It would feel like he's making excuses for her, like he didn't trust her enough to tell her earlier, just... bad stuff mixed in, which are all avoided by having Jonathan be truthful from the start.

what do you think about the theory that arya will mercy-kill lady stoneheart? sorry if you have already answered this

So I have actually already discussed this but I'm always down to talk about Lady Stoneheart. I think this is one of the few theories surrounding Arya that's actually rooted in canon but...it's not the way I'd personally like their reunion to play out. Lady Stoneheart isn't really "Catelyn" anymore, but she still has her memories and emotions; There are more interesting ways for her character to be utilized than being brought back only to be put down again because she's "too far gone". I fully expect her to die but there are more meaningful ways to go about it, like her dying while getting to save one of her children. The idea that Arya needs to learn not to be obsessed with revenge from her also falls flat because Arya...simply isn't obsessed with getting revenge. LS was warped by being violently killed and brought back to life, so Arya isn't in danger of following her path. I like to imagine that by the time Arya returns to Westeros, she'll have communicated with Bran and be able to tell LS that Rickon and Bran are still alive. Reuniting with Arya and learning that her sons are alive could give her some level of peace and she could ask Arya for mercy but...that just feels a little lackluster to me. After all that she's done in the Riverlands it's hard to imagine that she'd go out so quietly.

Unga bunga these take 3 hrs to make

The Sol Dimension can't save you from scam calls.

A little celebrity endorsement(?) from Quake the Elephant (my OC from the 1st @/sonic-oc-showdown) who definitely thinks Thistle's the worst person she's ever talked to.

Flickergate makes me want to tear my hair out bc it's a cute hc sure! It makes absolutely no sense. The established rules of the universe in-show DO NOT allow for flickergate. They even had the older teens stuck in the Wheeler house and hearing conversations that are happening CURRENTLY. time runs parallel in the upside down but nothing is moving forward because there is nobody there to progress anything. The upside down is NOT "stuck" in the past. It is a world without a society, if there's nobody there to turn the calendar to the next page then is time really moving? In the REAL WORLD. IT IS.

they should invent a prescription that you can actually access

Ghiaccio's White Album is probably a really convenient Stand to have around with Grateful Dead. I imagine he could keep the rest of the group from aging so it can specifically kill the target while keeping the members of La Squadra safe from harm's way. (I kinda wonder what the Grateful Dead fight would've looked like with Ghiaccio there or what missions would look like with him and Prosciutto paired up instead. There would be no need for the freakout over losing ice cubes and Bruno's group would probably try to use the freezing ability as refuge only for Ghiaccio to go "Ha! No, sucker!" and reverse the effect or just start freezing them to death or something)

Next week I'm doing a dinner i found on tiktok where you meet with strangers and some guy guides the conversation and you're supposed 2 make friends. and then get invited to other meetups. it sounds like a good experience from a accounts ive seen and i am also brave

if I ever get a time machine I'm going back to 2010 with as much proof as possible and a powerpoint presentation on how badly new52 screwed up sales at dc to try to avert them from their course, instead suggesting they take advantage of knowing there will be an initial sales spike by introducing new52 as an alternate universe ala marvel ultimates with simplified backstories and timelines they can pull from for future movie and TV projects, and maybe a crossover event with the main universe they can use as a jumping-in point for new readers, leaving the main post-crisis timeline without alterations so they won't lose current readership even if the sales spike doesn't translate into long-term overall sales improvements

i will then close my eyes, fully at peace, as our own timeline changes and I dissolve into non-existence

Damn, I was already very unsure about continuing to use Twitter now, but God Emperor Elon's tweets immediately convinced me to nope out. I am generally opposed to deleting my history, so I haven't deleted my accounts, but y i k e s.

Rosa: So today, my teacher(Cheren) pointed at me with a ruler.

Shauna: So?

Rosa: He said, “there’s an idiot at the end of this ruler.”

Shauna: Awww, Rosa, he called you an idiot?

Rosa: No, I got detention for asking, "which end?”

those two posts on protacile/deafblindness i gotta say i love that style of writting. idk what its called. easy trend to id of it like. of the call to be an accomplice [which you might imagine comes up in other subjects of which i have interest]. but more wholly just. complete attutitude as the world as explainable systems. and how to fuck them up. extremely invigorating u know?

Can someone please please tell me why I (F21) am having to be the go between for my sister (F18) and this guy (M29) who likes her.

Love the fact that Diluc and Kaeya were described to be “like twins” bc I get thinkings of them eerily having like. Smth of twin esp, and it just confusing the HECK outta Crepus endlessly bc only ONE of his boys is his biological son, and yet without a doubt, they were just so attuned to each other, that no matter where they happened to be, o matter how much older they got, they’d IMMEDIATELY beeline for each other if there ever was a shift in mood

might just be because i was skimming the "nerd boys getting angry that denji didn't do a complete 180 on his characterization regarding relationships between part 1 and part 2 while also being justifiably put off that his brain does seem to be running at a not-so-great 20% this whole part -which makes sense in context (being a single father whose never really had an independent life before actually attending school for the first time would eat up ANYBODY) but can feel like he's backsliding into "silly dumbass comic relief" what with all the other narrative changes" sections of the we-are-criticizing-that-manga-we-really-like crowd but this fucking chapter felt like splashing my face with cold water (positive).