The Most Dysfunctional Fireteam Ever 1

for everyone who’s a bit sick of being stuck indoors

I know that feel. I’ve been in isolation for about four years due to illness. It was let’s say a very difficult life change. I crashed out of the world pretty hard and spent a few months in bed in constant pain wishing I was dead, while everyone thought I was just being incredibly rude. It sucked.

I’m saying this because I’m about to drop a few pieces of advice and I want you to know that they’re coming from a place of experience and empathy.

We are nowhere near the end of this crisis. We need to be ready for the long haul, because we still have months of isolation, restriction, and caution ahead of us. This is normal now. That’s a lot to deal with. This sucks.

And hey if you’re still enjoying the veg-out binging netflix in your pyjamas with a bucket of chicken phase, that’s great. You deserve to rest. Come back to this post later when you need it.

But if you’re realising there’s actually a limit to how long social media, TV, and video games can keep you civil? Let me help with that.

0. Thank you. I’m immunocompromised, so thank you for staying home, washing your hands, and following the guidelines to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the virus so I don’t die. I know it’s hard. Remember you’re doing a good thing.

1. Keep using the internet to stay in touch and communicate with people so you feel less lonely. Use social media to socialise, not as a news source. Learn new things, fall in a wikihole, tell someone something interesting you just found out. But logging off will do you a power of good.

2. You need to engage your other senses to stave off depression. Your body and your senses need to be kept occupied, not just your brain. Learn to cook from scratch, try new recipes, bake something, have a home spa day, light that fancy scented candle you’ve been holding on to for a special occasion.

3. Oh yeah, whatever you’ve been holding onto for a special occasion, bust that baby out now. The nice outfit, the posh food, the fancy soap, whatever little treats you have squirreled away. Instead of saving them for a special occasion, use them to create an occasion and make it special. If nothing else, it will help stop the days blurring into each other quite so horribly.

4. Don’t get drunk. A drink is ok, but a hangover will make everything feel worse.

5. Your round toit is here. Mend and repair those things, do a deep clean, rearrange that room, organise that stuff, do some arts and crafts, try a new hobby. Make and do something with your hands. BUT! Pace yourself. Spread things out a bit. Do a little bit of this and that each day, instead of doing one thing all day or everything in one day.

6. Don’t sleep in. Go to bed early, take naps, get your rest, but if you’re going to have to go back to work after this, you really don’t want to let your sleep pattern shift, and the best way to avoid that is by not sleeping in. Sorry. Really, I am so sorry.

7. You need to move your body, especially when you feel anxious. Anxiety is in the body, you can’t think your way out of it, you need to move. Yoga is uh fine I guess, pretty good for stress, but tai chi is actually a lot better for anxiety. Or do some bodyweight exercises, or pilates. Or come up with some choreography and rehearse it and then perform it in the street for your neighbours. Or just pace around the house like a zoo animal, and roar occasionally. Roaring helps too.

8. Mind your diet. I know it’s a hassle when you can’t go grocery shopping as often and you’re probably eating more tinned and frozen foods than usual, but do your best to vary your meals and eat a balanced diet. Don’t add nutritional deficiencies and the misery of food boredom to your problems. And stay hydrated.

9. Look after something living. If you don’t have a child or a pet or a garden or a houseplant, try growing some sprouts or microgreens, or start a sourdough mother or a ginger bug. Nurturing and caring for something alive (even yeast) is incredibly healing and stabilising. Also we’re starting to realise plants are super important for mental, emotional, and physical health. Humans need green time, so if you don’t have a houseplant maybe see about getting one.

10. Be thankful. I don’t mean in a stupid platitude way like “some people have it worse” or anything fake like that. You can still be angry, bored, outraged, frightened, disappointed, exhausted, dismayed. But to avoid falling into meaningless grey despair, set aside a few minutes each day and find things to be grateful about on purpose. It doesn’t have to be big. Your pet has been super affectionate? Favourite youtuber uploaded? Weather was kind of nice? New episode of that show you like? Chair comfy af? Tasty breakfast? Recognise it and be thankful for it. You don’t have to be thankful TO anyone or anything in particular, just be thankful FOR something in particular. Try for five things per day to start, but do more if you want.

11. Take some cosy time. I think this is maybe kind of like hygge? Spend some time each day doing something that makes you feel calm and cosy and safe. Build a blanket fort or snuggle up with a hot drink and a book, and just be cosy for an hour or so. This is a very stressful and frightening event we’re all going through so making a deliberate effort to cultivate feelings of warmth, contentment, and safety every day will help fend off trauma.

12. Speaking of books, reading a book engages your brain differently from watching a movie or listening to a podcast, and is very good for your brain and mood. If you have a to-read pile you’re probably already making a dent in it but if you don’t, or if you’ve reached the bottom of it, a lot of writers and publishers are offering free ebooks to help with isolation. You can read ebooks on your phone if you don’t have an ereader or tablet.

13. Balance your news intake. Restrict the amount of time you spend looking at news about the pandemic, and limit yourself to a few reliable sources. For every hour you spend reading the news and watching the scary numbers go up, spend an hour specifically looking for good news. Incompetent governments are failing their people, a minority of profiteers are trying to take advantage of the situation, and a lot of people are sick and dying, but that’s not the whole story. People can be SO GOOD. Did you hear about the medical drama shows donating their PPE to hospitals & fire departments? And the cosplayers and actors doing in-character birthday videos for kids who can’t have parties? People are helping each other, taking care of each other, there is so much good news so look for it, and then share it.

14. Get fresh air & sunshine. If you have a garden or a balcony, use it. Spend as much time there as the weather allows. Open your windows, weather permitting. Pull a chair up next to a window and read a book. Depending on your location, you may even be safe to shove your hands in your pockets and go for a walk–but keep at least 2m away from other people and if you’re in a hard lockdown or enforced quarantine, don’t flout it.

15. If you’re working from home, be able to close a door on your work space. When I worked remotely I had the computer set up in a wardrobe because I didn’t have a wholeass room for it, and I would unplug it and close the door on it at the end of my shift, it was a real sanity saver. Even if you don’t passionately hate your job, be able to close a door on it. Closing a physical door helps your brain to keep your work compartmentalised away from your home life, and helps you control work-related stress.

16. Do something for someone else. We’re a social species, we have a fundamental need to help others. It makes us feel connected, less isolated, and that’s something we all need right now. If you have a sewing machine, make masks for people who need them. If you have money, drop some of it on gofundme’s to help people who’ve lost their jobs make rent. If you bought too much toilet paper and you’re starting to realise that was a mistake, ask your neighbours if they need any. Live stream a cooking class. Teach someone how to use skype. There is something you can do to help someone else, so find it and do it. You will feel better for it.

17. The corollary to helping is: accept help from others. Helping others is one way we strengthen our social bonds, accepting help is another. Plus right now there’s a lot of ways that accepting help is also helping others. If someone offers to pick up groceries or a prescription for you while they’re getting their own, that’s helping everyone, the fewer people in the stores the better.

18. Avoid platitudes. They’re actually harmful, not helpful. Be sincere, both in expressing your own feelings and when other people share theirs with you. To be perfectly honest I’m pretty bad at this, it’s hard not to make jokes and deflect, but it’s so important right now to communicate authentically. I know how uncomfortable it can be but do your best. When we feel deeply heard and understood, we feel less alone. It’s still ok to be silly and goofy, just be honest and compassionate as well.

19. Mind your temper. Try not to lash out or get drawn into arguments, it won’t make you feel any better. You might get an easy rush and some attention out of it, but afterwards you’ll just feel more isolated than ever, and you risk permanently alienating people around you.

20. Everyone’s process is different. Don’t try to police other people’s emotions. Respect that we’re all processing this at different speeds and in different ways. We’re off the map, in an unprecedented situation, there’s no “right” way to feel about that. Invalidating other people’s feelings is a surefire way to push them away, and we all don’t need any of that right now.

21. Keep taking care of yourself. Keep cleaning your teeth, bathing, changing your clothes, brushing your hair, doing your laundry. Keep taking your meds, doing your exercises, getting enough sleep, eating on time. Not just to avoid a big personal crisis when it’s time to go outside again, but also because you deserve it.

Covid-19 is showing us what’s really important. After this is over, don’t forget about it. Remember service workers, warehouse workers, and other “unskilled” workers keeping the supermarkets running. Remember farmers and factory workers stepping up production to refill the shelves, and truckers hauling the goods. Remember doctors and nurses, orderlies and cleaners, working overtime, understaffed, underprepared, and under-equipped, to care for the sick and dying. Remember artists, writers, musicians, actors, performers, designers, and developers keeping you sane. Remember the garbage collectors and the street sweepers, and the folks who work at power, water, and sewage plants. Remember delivery drivers, couriers, and postal workers. Remember the disability and chronic illness communities reaching out to help you navigate your visit to our everyday reality. After this is over, be kind, and pay it forward. Tip generously, mind your manners, and don’t look down on anyone for their job or ability level. Fight for better wages and working conditions, better accommodations, and better social safety nets. Show up for the people who are showing up for you.

Keeping beat with crashes in the background

(to the tune of The Final Countdown) it’s a mental breakdown

Best tf moments cause g1 is absolute gold

- ‘she’s not so hot’ ‘she’s hot enough to replace you whenever I choose’

- the entire knight episode

- spike getting roasted by powerglides human girlfriend. ‘It’s not my fault your junk is all defective’

- Megatron pinwheeling out of the screen with his spike ball

- bumblebee conveniently and stupidly reversing back over a cliff and straight into the Decepticons

- Megatron and the Decepticons getting drunk

- ‘MEGATRON HAS FALLEN’

- the rust

- Megatron’s reactions to the rust

- Hound massaging Spike

- Bluestreak calling Hound glitched

- Optimus playing basketball and slam dunking mirage

- Optimus Primes evil clone

- Starscreams cage

- ‘say uncle or I’ll shove your nose in your afterburner’ ‘UNCLE UNCLE’

- Skyfire catching Sideswipe bridal style after Megatron hauled him by the ass

- Ironhide kicking Jazz and then bolting

- snow puns

- ‘easy, Cliffjumper’

- ‘what about my paint?’ ‘No one will notice, just make left turns’

- ‘must- sound- alarm’ ‘NOOOOO’

- Starscream shitting himself at the thought of Optimus Prime ambushing him

- ‘but we shall miss you, Ironhide, old friend.’ *sultry* ‘I miss you already’

- ‘I know what I’m doing’ *EXPLOSION*

-‘ as the earthlings say, fat chance fathead’

- bumblebees pink interior

- ‘PERSONALLY I don’t care what you need’

- Blaster riding Optimus and being completely terrified

- the bots watching soap operas and ballet

- Starscream and the snake

-Ultra Magnus and the hall of mirrors

- jazz watching Megatron beat the shit out of Mirage without helping

- grimlock biting Megatron’s ass

- Shockwave riding Starscreams alt mode like a horse

- ‘LOAD ME’

And probably the best G1 quote of all time:

- ‘amazing, a booby trap that actually catches boobies’

Destiny 2 in a Nutshell

Speaker: The City is the safest place in the Milky Way. Thanks to the Traveler nothing can hurt us!

Ghaul: Hold my beer…

Ghost says life is like a box of chocolates. You never know when your gonna get the nasty blue warlock filling.

RUUUUN HUNTER RUUUN!!!!!

So it turns out my laptop is capable of holding up an entire kitten who seems to give zero f@cks

I want! I want so much! Lucky lucky lucky person!

THEYRE HERE

39! WHOO HOO! And yes, I find certain yellows to be... just a little too much, too over the top. Still though, hard to believe some people only see 18 or so. Then again, as with all common little bonuses, we come to take them for granted and see them as such, common. It's kinda like how I focus on disliking my eye's poor eyesight (and it's pretty bad) when I should be grateful for how I see colors so well.

25% of the people have a 4th cone and see colors as they are

Given the sudden interest for the color of dresses and vision, here some of the fascinating findings we did recently.

The color nuances we see depend on the number and distribution of cones (=color receptors) in our eye. You can check this rainbow: how many color nuances do you count?

You see less than 20 color nuances: you are a dichromats, like dogs, which means you have 2 types of cones only. You are likely to wear black, beige, and blue. 25% of the population is dichromat.

You see between 20 and 32 color nuances: you are a trichromat, you have 3 types of cones (in the purple/blue, green and red area). You enjoy different colors as you can appreciate them. 50% of the population is trichromat.

You see between 33 and 39 colors: you are a tetrachromat, like bees, and have 4 types of cones (in the purple/blue, green, red plus yellow area). You are irritated by yellow, so this color will be nowhere to be found in your wardrobe. 25% of the population is tetrachromat.

You see more than 39 color nuances: come on, you are making up things! there are only 39 different colors in the test and probably only 35 are properly translated by your computer screen anyway :)

It is highly probable that people who have an additional 4th cone do not get tricked by blue/black or white/gold dresses, no matter the background light ;)

(x)

*Is a band nerd and hears new music after FINALLY getting new Destiny* *weeps majestic tears of beautiful epicness*

Yesssssss!

So I just found the most useful photo album in existence for tumblr arguments