my problem as a writer and as a roleplayer is that I always want characters to do that thing where you hold your hand out, palm to the ground, and kind of tilt it quickly left and right to express uncertainty or a "kinda-sorta"/"yes and no" vibe. but I don't know an official term for this so I always just call it the Noncommittal Hand Waggle

somebody appears to have responded to this post... via the contact form on bandcamp, using the burner email "fake@fake.fake"

It is the sign of the scales. The scales have not settled and they waggle back and forth. Like this like that.

and you know what. I never thought about that before but it's probably right. why the fuck would you tell me this via the bandcamp contact form of all things, and why would you phrase it like you're writing an esoteric treatise encoded via metaphor

Wow

Stygiomedusa gigantea, commonly known as the giant phantom jelly is a part of the monotypic genus of deep sea jellyfish, Stygiomedusa. This is in the Ulmaridae family. It can't actually sting you as its—30-foot-long—”mouth arms” are just there to trap prey rather than sting them.

This ghostly giant is a rare sight.

MBARI's ROVs have logged thousands of dives, yet we have only seen this spectacular species nine times. The first specimen of the giant phantom jelly was collected in 1899, but it was not until 60 years later that scientists recognized this as a new species.

Had to add this on for perspective.

Source

Source

But it's just not going to feel like mine unless I'm standing on my own two feet. That's the only way I'm gonna know it's real.

Maddie & Evan Buckley in 9-1-1
↪ Stuck 2.04

So at a party it is socially acceptable to just silently join a circle of people talking and contribute to the conversation when you feel like it as if you already know everyone in the circle, btw.

If you want to know people’s names at some point saying “Sorry, did I catch your name?” or “Sorry, what was your name again?” like you’ve briefly been introduced before is a good move.

Conversation openers for starting a conversation with a random person next to you:

• What’s the punch taste like?
• What are you drinking?
• How do you know the host?
• Hey, nice shoes!
• Did you bring this drink/food/decoration/etc.?
• Hey, what’s your costume?
• Are you from (place where a lot of people at the party work or are from)?
• Hi! Did you come with (mutual friend)?

Fr? On god? Just like that?

Yeah, just act like you’ve been there the whole time.

I have social anxiety and discovered this by trial and error despite my fears. I took on this burden for all of you so you don’t have to. Trust me. Just stand in the gap in the circle. It’s waiting for you. It’s an event where people are expecting to meet other people. It’s not creepy or weird. They’re there to talk to strangers and friends alike. Just step into the circle.

Simple enjoyment

Bassem using dark humor to express what we all know and how we feel about what has been going on in Palestine for years.

Full interview:

Israel's pummeling of Gaza was never about revenge or avenging the Israelis killed by Hamas. It was about massacring Palestinians with complete impunity. At the time of writing, almost 4, 000 Palestinians have been killed in almost two weeks. To put this into perspective, this is double the amount of Palestinians killed in Israel's 2014 assault on Gaza, which lasted around six weeks.

songs used to have a bridge and a third chorus

let’s get you to bed grandma