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osleyakomwonkru · 4 years

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The Octavia Blake Guide to Surviving Lockdown (and What Comes Next)

So it’s been six weeks in isolation. I think? Time has long since become irrelevant. The world is stressed. I’m stressed. Not so much about the coronavirus itself, but everything else surrounding the situation. The isolation. The uncertainty. Society losing its shit. What the world will look like when it is all over, because everything will change whether we want it to or not.

You know, all that fun stuff our favourite characters on The 100 deal with each episode.

Which brings me to this post. What Would Octavia Blake Do?

I mean, she’s got the experience. Sixteen years of isolation in a single room, followed by a year of isolation in another room, then about six months on the ground, followed by six years locked under the ground... she knows better than anyone how to survive these sorts of trying times.

So here we have it - famous Octavia quotes and how to apply them to our current situation. Mostly serious, part irreverent, all of it a homage to the fact that stories matter and can help us figure out how to deal with this messy thing called life.

“A warrior doesn’t worry about what she can’t control.”

This is a mantra I repeat to myself many times a day. Sometimes I believe it. It’s hard. But it really is the only way to keep yourself sane these days. The world has turned upside down, but you can’t control it. You can only control yourself.

I can’t control that 75% of my income earning potential vanished overnight. I can control how I budget the remaining 25%, credit cards and looking into new income streams.

I can’t control that I’m stuck in a country I was supposed to leave this week for however long this continues to go on. I can try and learn to love it again, because we’re going to be spending more time together.

So what else can I do to keep myself healthy and sane? Let’s look at what Octavia does.

Train. One of the first things I started doing as soon as the lockdown started in mid-March was set up an exercise plan. Now, I don’t typically “exercise” in my normal life. I just walk everywhere I need to go and call that good enough. But now that I’m not really doing that, I have to find a way to do so indoors. I started out with three half-hour Zumba sessions per day, and now I’ve worked my way into more specific and targeted workout sessions. YouTube is a godsend. Every type of exercise you could think of, in any time length you want, you can find there. I’m doing abs, arms, more squats than I’ve ever done in my life, kickboxing, etc.

Read. See all those books on your shelves collecting dust? Yeah, read them now. I haven’t been following this advice as much as I should, but I’m making an effort to get better. I have so many unread books and I really should read them. If you’re one of those strange people who don’t have unread books, embrace the opportunities that sites like Project Gutenberg provide and read all the classics online for free. Octavia loves the classics.

Eat healthy. I hadn’t eaten at home for six months before this all started, so I had to refill my pantry and remember how to cook. Keeping your body healthy is important. Get your fruits and vegetables. Also ensure a protein source. Don’t go full on prepper, don’t hoard, but if shit hits the fan and you want to avoid the Dark Year happening in real life, make sure you have a few jars of peanut butter and/or a few packs of beef jerky stashed away for a rainy day. Your neighbours will thank you.

“Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim.” (Get knocked down, get back up)

At the beginning of this year, no one could have predicted what the state of the world is right now. People made plans. People started putting their plans into action.

Enter coronavirus.

Everything changes.

I actually had a plan for this year. I was going to leave here this week, go back to Canada for six months, then move to Spain. Well... I don’t know what’s going to happen now. And because of the uncertainty, I can’t know. This has made me so mad, because for the first time in years I had a strategy for the changes I wanted to make in my life, and now they’d all been shot to sunshine.

Some days you have to just scream. (Or cry and spend the day eating quesadillas in a blanket fort. True story.) But then after that happens, you have to brush yourself off, get up again and keep going.

Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim.

I’m not making any plans further than today. I know that’s an exercise in futility right now. All I can do is focus on what I can control (see above point) and continue to focus on that and what I can do for myself until there are things that I can do in the world again.

Moral of the story: Yes, there are going to be shitty days. You’ve probably already had a bunch of them. But you have to pick yourself up again and keep going when they’re over. You might feel like you want to give up. Heaven knows Octavia’s felt like that a lot of times. But she still kept going. If she stubbornly fought through a cliff dive with a stab wound and a quicksand pool of Orbeez, we can handle some uncertainty and delayed life plans.

“The sword doesn’t care what you meant, it just cuts.”

Time to step onto a soapbox for a bit.

Some world leaders and governments have done admirably with dealing with this crisis. Some have done okay. Some have done so fucking awful at their jobs and continue to spout nonsense from their podiums that it is going to cause real people to die. (Not naming any names, but I’m sure you know what I mean.)

Octavia is the only character on this show who understands that when you’re in a tough situation, what your intentions are doesn’t matter, it is only the results that do. This is applicable to our situation today in a twofold manner.

Point One: We can only control our own actions. That means being a responsible citizen, following public health guidelines. Stay home. If you have to go out, practice social distancing and any other recommendations set out by your public health authority. You might say you’re young and healthy, you’re not concerned about if you get the virus, but it is not about you. You could be asymptomatic and not know it. You might not mean to get someone else sick - someone who is more vulnerable - but it could still happen if you don’t behave responsibly. So take ownership of your actions and do what you can to minimize the spread.

Which brings us to Point Two: You can’t control other’s actions, but you can hold them accountable for them. Which in this situation mostly means your country’s leaders. Do not forget how they responded to this crisis. Remember. Remember when it is time to vote. Did they do a good job or did they do a bad job? How many people lived or died because of what they said? Did they follow the advice of medical experts? And so on. This isn’t a time for party politics, this is a time for “can we rely on this leader to do what’s right for the people of this country when we’re in a crisis?” If the answer is no, vote for somebody else.

The same applies to non-governmental leaders - leaders of business and charities and everything else that you can think of. Remember who stepped up and helped people when and how they needed it. Remember who didn’t. Remember who actively made lives worse. Budget your money accordingly.

“Kom folau oso na gyon op.” (From the ashes we will rise)

This will pass.

When, we don’t know. How, we don’t know. But all we can do is work on ourselves and make ourselves as strong as we can for whatever the future brings us.

Some people are optimists, believing that this will usher in a new world where more people understand the challenges that others have always faced with things like mental health or physical disabilities and issues of accessibility and so on. Where more people will be aware of the dangers of climate change. Where people who are now coming together online and building hope and change will continue to do so in person when we can leave our homes and meet up with others again.

Some people are pessimists, believing the world will collapse and we’ll enter into a post-apocalyptic scenario like The 100 or any of the other dozens of post-apocalyptic media offerings out there. Where it’ll be every person for themselves and panic and destruction will reign supreme.

You don’t have to speculate on the different scenarios. That’s not helpful right now. All you can do is work on yourself and make yourself ready for whatever the future will throw at us, and do your part in making a positive one.

This could be the point of lockdown where you’re starting to move out of the panic phase of ensuring survival, and are able to move into higher-level brain function again. If you’re not, that’s okay, it could still take some time. If you’re struggling, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are people out there who can help. Just remember that this is a process, a process of so many different emotions, sometimes on a loop, sometimes all at once in a flurry of chaos, and that’s okay.

Take care of yourself. Survive. Find a new normal.

Octavia’s journey in season six was about shedding the pain and trauma of her old life, and finding a new one to believe in. Until she did that, she didn’t have to worry about the greater plot nonsense that was going on. That’s our journey now too. The world is changing. How, we don’t know yet. But take this time to make yourself strong for whatever is to come, because whichever scenario wins out, a strong you will always be beneficial.

Ste yuj. (Stay strong.) Because humanity is resilient. And from the ashes, we will rise.

#the 100 #coronavirus #covid-19 #octavia blake #kali talks real world shit #fandom matters #stories help you relate to the world and make sense of it #that's why stories exist

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feral-crow · 5 years

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hewwo it’s hoard time!!!

(very long post. warning for bones/taxidermy)

disclaimer- while most of my hoard was found, gifted, or thrifted, there are some exceptions. i collect some jewelry to help remember important events/trips, as i have memory problems, and taxidermy items are hard to make/find unless you know what you’re doing.

also. this isn’t my full hoard, just some of my favorite shinnies.

necklaces/bracelets!!!! i wear the winged bracelet full-time, and switch between the resin golden alexander, blue goldstone, pocket watch, and chewy necklaces based on the day.

i only wear maybe three of these rings at a time, but i do have quite a collection

bones, fur, and bugs! all the fur was bought second-hand or from places that would otherwise throw them away. the cat mandibles and bugs i found, and the coyote skull was purchased from a small business that processes roadkill.

found stuff/travel hoard, i keep this in a little pencil case and take it with me to school, and whenever i find something shiny i just toss it in

witchy shit + mandatory dagger. needs sharpen. neighbors do NOT like knife sharpening after dark :(

naturey stuff! charcoal does not taste good. also; more blue goldstone because it looks like space.

jars full of sparkly water/cotton (look like sky!), some orbeez, rose petals, and a shitload of pine needles (those do taste good!!!)

some stuffies and figurines + a tablet with baybayin written on it

other random shit i really like

#crowcore #goblincore #dragoncore #hoard #feel free to ask questions about hoard #i can infodump for days #my hoard #knives tw

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dromswell · 3 years

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*fills those clear platform boots with orbeez like im a grandma filling a glass jar full of decorative fruit & botulism*

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stimtoybox · 7 years

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hi i stim because of ocd, to calm me down and stop self destructive compulsions, but i've run into a problem with a lot of stims that have repetitive movements become compulsions (which kinda defeats the purpose of using them) so i wants wondering if you had any suggestions for stims that aren't repetitive? sorry for bothering you

Anon, you’re not bothering me at all. This is a tough question, but I am so very glad you asked it. Truly, thank you so very much for this ask. This is absolutely a conversation I think we the community need to have. I know I have my own pain-related issues with repetitive movements, and it’s important that we examine and discuss all the reasons for which repetitive movements might be an issue so that all stimmers are included in the conversation. So I very much appreciate asks like this that broaden my own horizons on problems stimmers might face, even if I can’t solve them.

The truth is, and it’s something I run up against a lot, is that most stim toys inherently involve repetitive movement. Sometimes these movements are broader or can be varied somewhat (think twisting a Tangle and tossing a bean bag) but sometimes there is absolutely no variation in how one can use it (spinners, fidget cubes). Most toys are designed to give sensory awareness without being a distraction, and part of how they do that is in repetitive movement: doing the same movements over and over gives sensory feedback without becoming the primary focus of our actions. This is everything from stroking a plush toy over and over to squeezing a make up sponge!

Please note that I do not have OCD, just some pain-related aversion to repetitive movement, so everything here is offered by someone trying to think outside their own experience. Suggestions made by stimmers with OCD will be more than welcome because you can do a far better job of helping our anon than I can.

So. How do we get that sensory feedback with a minimum of repetition?

My first thought: kinetic sand. Especially if you get yourself a tray and tools with which to play with it - moulds, cookie cutters, pottery tools. This isn’t about replicating sand cutting videos; this is just about playing with the sand, more akin to how children approach it. Because you can do many things with the sand (shaping, dribbling, cutting, moulding) my hope is that you can alternate these things enough that none of them get repetitive. I know that kinetic sand, for this reason, is my absolute go-to stim for when my pain is severe.

Similarly, playdough and dough. The object here isn’t to sit with a ball in your hands and squish it over and over; the object here is to actively play with it. Build houses, animals, shapes. Look up images of things online and see if you can reproduce them. Approach it more like a craft than a stim - that the making is relaxing (I know I find crafting very good for getting out of my own head) and engrossing, but also something you can vary each time.

Since it crossed my mind that you could play with scented doughs, as a way to make these even more stimmy, I also want to highlight scented things in general for stimming. In your own space, or with the permission of those around you, you can burn essential oils in an oil burner, or put a couple of drops of oil on a scarf/clothing/blanket/plush toy. This might help you relax and calm without introducing any repetitive movements at all. I find most oils moderately relaxing, but lavender is very good for this, and can be blended well with many other oils (lavender and sweet orange is a favourite combination of mine). I’m always running a candle burner while at my desk.

You might also turn this into pressure stimming with weighted items, namely weighted blankets and lap pads. There’s nothing much here with which to fidget, but the pressure/weight of the item might calm and relax you. It doesn’t work for everyone, which is why I recommend trying a DIY lap weight first (a pillowcase stuffed with rice) but it does work for many stimmers. These things can all be scented, too, with essential oils or (if you’re not planning to wash the item) dried lavender heads and other dried, aromatic herbs stuffed inside the pad/blanket.

Candles made me think that I used to light a candle at my desk and have it burn while I’m working, just for the sight of the flickering flame. Humans have a long history with fire - our ancestors gathered around the campfire at night to work and tell stories - and I think there’s something in our collective unconscious attracted positively to light and movement in this way. So, light-up stim toys. I’m thinking colour-changing lights or lava lamps (professional or DIY) as they don’t require any repetitive movements at all, but if you can handle shaking a jar a few times, you might like to also consider glitter jars and balls. Glitter batons require a lot of twisting back and forth, so I wouldn’t try these, but a jar might work. I made the DIY Orbeez lamp using a flickering LED candle - the flickering did bother me, but you might really like it!

(This is outside the scope of this blog - we’re about toys, and I don’t pursue non-toy stims because of GIFs, games and videos triggering seizures and sensory overload - but Tumblr is full of visual and auditory stimming videos, GIFs, games and clips. You might find these a better alternative for you than toys if the clicking/scrolling of a mouse isn’t a problem. There’s a directory for stim blogs here, most of them covering visual stims. Please note that I recognise at least one stim-discourser on that list, although their blog is marked as containing discourse, so I’m not sure how safe that directory is for ace and aro stimmers who are tired of having their validity debated in stim spaces.)

If anyone has better suggestions (especially if you’re a stimmer with OCD) please comment away and I will gladly update this post. I’m going to have a think myself, anon, over the next few days, and pay attention to the toys I use and how I use them. So I’m not quite done with this one yet; I want to look at the fidget toys I use and see which ones are least repetitive and how they’re repetitive, and see if I can glean any useful observations from that.

I hope some of this helps you, anon, but thank you, so much, for this ask. I think this is a really important thing to talk about.

- Mod K.A.

@thedreamer001 says,

Personally I really like brush-like items for stimming, such as the Tactile Tiger Brush (by Sensory University) and the silicone sponge (available at cooking stores and on amazon). There a multiple ways to play with them, and you can get a lot of tactile feedback without much movement.

Thank you for your comment, truly, but thank you even more for letting me know that brush exists. Something meant for chewing and brushing! Want!

#stim toy #stim toys #alternative stims #ask #text #link #resource list #light up toys #essential oils #fragrance oils #kinetic sand #long post #anon #mod K.A.#category: non repetitive

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stimtoybox · 7 years

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Image Descriptions

I’ve got two asks by anons on the same theme, so I’ll combine them into one post to save a few spoons:

Hi! I was wondering if you had a guide for writing image descriptions? Something outlining how much detailed is needed and what should and should no be included, any tips really. Thanks!

hi! i had a couple of questions about image descriptions; do you have/have a link to a guide on how to write them properly (eg. amount of detail, how to write multiple image descriptions on one post and still be clear etc)? and if we dont have the spoons for a full description, would a simple/basic desc (eg: "a jar of blue orbeez on a wooden desk" w/ no more detail) help by giving the mods a starting point to edit from rather than writing from scratch or would it be a hindrance?

This is actually a hard question for me to answer, because it asks me to do something I do without thinking - convert non-word information into words. In all honesty, my first response was well, just describe it which is so not helpful to anyone. For me, this is like asking someone to explain how they fall asleep - it’s an automatic process that doesn’t involve a lot of conscious decision-making.

So I let both asks lie fallow for a few days until I got past the not helpful first response and figured out what it is I actually do when I describe.

I’ll also observe that while I do need image descriptions myself (for GIFs and videos) I am not the primary target for them, so there might be needs I have forgotten or overlooked. I’m in the position of needing descriptions but still having full access to reading the text, so there’s probably a lot of issues folks who use screen readers face that I haven’t included. Please correct me if so.

First: any description is better than no description.

If you only have spoons for one line, do it and call it done, seriously. Yes, a more detailed description is preferable, but when you look at the vast amount of undescribed posts on Tumblr alone, if even a brief descriptive line makes those posts more accessible, we’re better off. We need to make Tumblr a more accessible place for everyone, so every little bit makes a difference.

(Speaking for my needs here at @stimtoybox, I can always add a description line if there’s something I think needed that the OP has left out, and I have done this in the past. That’s still less work than my having to do it myself, and I’m pretty sure the other mods will agree. Anything that means less work for us means more posts for everyone else. Right now, I have the posts to go up to posting five or six times a day easily, but we can’t format them fast enough to do so.)

I’ve tucked everything else behind a read-more cut. This is a long post and is probably best read when one has time and spoons on hand:

Second: you do not and should not describe every tiny detail in an image.

Look at an image long enough and you’ll see a chapter’s worth of detail you can describe, but nobody wants to read through or listen to a whole chapter just to know what’s in the image. To be blunt, nobody cares about the fine grain detail of the table on which your stress ball is sitting. They’re more interested in the pattern on the stress ball.

We need to describe in more detail the relevant information and in less detail the incidental information. This is all the more important for describers with limited spoons, like most of us, but it’s also important for folks who need the descriptions but don’t have the spoons to read a paragraph for one relevant sentence.

To figure out what’s description-worthy, as in what the majority of your description should focus on, you might want to ask yourself these questions:

- Who is the image for?

- What is the image about?

Take any photo on this blog as an example: this photo is for stimmers, about a given stim toy, and its purpose is to show people what this toy looks like and, often, how it might be used. That tells you immediately what your focus is. Often, it’s the central object in the image, as we have a long history of indicating importance by putting something in the centre of a composition. However, it could also be several stim toys or people; chances are high that any single image is actually about a few different things at once.

Next, we move on to details we think people are going to want to know:

- What do the subjects of the image look like?

This can be broken down into a few different categories:

- Colour: what colour or colours is the subject?

- Shape: is it rounded? Angular? Cube, rectangular, circular? How many different shapes comprise it?

- Texture: is it soft? Hard? Fuzzy? Prickling? Protruding?

- Size: how much bigger, longer or wider is the subject compared to any other items in the photograph?

(Stim toy review shots often have the toy beside a coin or credit-card-sized card for scale, so describe the difference between that item and the toy.)

- Text: is there any text in the image, particularly on labels, signs or packaging? Include this, especially if it conveys meaningful information!

- Material: plastic? Wool? Wood? Metal? How many different materials comprise it? How is it put together?

- Expression: does it look happy? Sad? Indifferent?

Less relevant for stim toys, more relevant for animals/people. I don’t just mean facial expression here, but body language as well. The difference between a dog growling and a dog lying on its side sunbaking is something people will want to know.

Next,

- Is there anything in the background that impacts the subject?

For stim toys, this often isn’t the case. You can write a short line referencing the background or, if you need to save spoons, exclude it. This is where you don’t need to go full-on detail, because it isn’t necessary to the information the image is trying to impart. A reference is good, as it goes some way to giving the reader the whole visual experience, but this shouldn’t be the focus of your description if it has nothing or little to do with the subject. Contrarily, for a landscape shot of mountains, the background is as much the subject if not the subject, so it should be described with more detail.

- Is there anything in your description irrelevant to the subject?

For example, glare, flash, an out-of-focus shot, two sentences describing the wood grain of the table on which the Tangle is sitting. If your description is already tending to the long (more than a paragraph), these are the sorts of things that are first to be cut because they don’t aid in conveying meaning. If you do include these things in your description, keep them to brief mentions: they should not be the focus.

- Is my description too long to be readable?

The general rule is this: the longer the description, the more incidental/extraneous detail you need to cut (and the more formatting it will need, see below). The more photos in one post, like a long photoset, the more you need to cut detail that isn’t absolutely relevant, since nobody is going to read or listen to ten paragraphs of description about said photoset.

This is why I dislike information posts here on Tumblr that contain upwards of say ten images: they’re difficult to describe properly without creating an essay-length description that even folks who need that description won’t bother accessing. Conversely, the amount of information needed to be cut to make the description readable means the folks who need those descriptions just aren’t getting enough information. The very format of these posts makes them impossible to make fully accessible.

(It’s different on other websites, especially for things like tutorials and essays, where you can put the description as alt text and it’s broken up by the body text itself. When you’re forced to put image descriptions as one separate section of text, as here on Tumblr, it is a problem.)

If you want your post to convey information and be accessible to the majority of people, consider the amount of images in your post. This post is an example of why a large amount of images render the post, when described, absolutely inaccessible. You’re better off to make a few smaller posts, that can be described with readable/listenable descriptions, than one massive post, even if you tuck the descriptions under a read more.

Lastly,

- What is the image trying to convey to its audience?

This is less relevant for stim toys, more relevant for photos of animals/people, comics, anything where the image is doing more than conveying factual information. When an image is telling a story, check if the factual descriptions do communicate that story. Your description should be doing, as much as possible, the job of the image, which means conveying information or telling a story.

When describing, keep asking yourself: if I couldn’t see this image, what would I want to know? A description that answers that question without becoming an essay is a good description.

Third: formatting is important.

Paragraphing: in most cases, anything more than ten lines a paragraph will result in nobody reading it. Humans have short attention spans, even more so for non-fiction/non-creative/informative writing, like web writing. Not to mention that many disabilities make processing slabs of text difficult if not impossible. If your description runs longer than ten lines, break it up somewhere. Also, if you need to break up your paragraph, that’s a good sign that your description might be long enough to go under a read more cut.

Make sure you’ve got a line space between each paragraph. Anyone who reads your description (me, for example, if you’ve described a GIF) is used to the standard online formatting of a line space between paragraphs, and just starting a new line throws off the brain’s ability to realise you’ve paragraphed. It will still look like an unreadable block of text, and I can promise you that I won’t read it (can’t read it, in fact). Which is a waste of your time, sadly, since you mean the best, but that’s how much formatting does matter.

(Tumblr mostly adds line spaces between paragraphs automatically for you if you’re typing in rich text mode; you’ll need to add the HTML for paragraphs if you’re in HTML mode. Just add <p> to the start and </p> to the end of each paragraph.)

Indicating: use some indication (usually the words “image description” and brackets) that the description is not the body text, as that signals to sighted readers that they can skip past it. I use squared brackets [] because they’re not in common use in prose/non-mathematical text. I dislike the use of rounded brackets () because they’re in common use, so my brain thinks the description is body text. I realise it a few seconds later, but if we can tell the brain immediately that the text is optional, it’s easier on the reader, especially if they have limited spoons for text processing.

This one is subtle editing; I know most people don’t think about how much text formatting guides and alerts the reader, but there’s a reason we stick to some norms in English. The brain gets very used to certain styles and punctuation conveying meaning, and folks with developmental disorders in particular might find it hard to understand meaning without these cues or have to work harder to get that meaning. Speaking from personal experience!

Numbering: in most cases for multi-image posts, you’ll need to mentally assign a number to the post (left to right, top to bottom) and describe those pictures in order. This is for folks who can see images but need the text to help with processing; if they’re not in order, it’s ridiculously confusing. Start each description with the number of that photo and break each description up into a new paragraph. Here’s an example on my sensory room post.

The exception for this is when there’s only a few images or those images aren’t very different from each other. Then, to save spoons (as I have few myself) I’ll describe the subject of the image and then how it differs in each photo, often in a single paragraph. Here’s an example on a slime post. I admit that this is a less-clear way of describing, but it saves a few spoons!

I’m sure there’s something I’ve forgotten, anons, but this has taken me quite a few spoons. If there’s something confusing or there’s a question I haven’t properly answered, ask and I’ll do my best to answer/answer properly.

Likewise, if folks who use screen readers want to add corrections or changes, please do so!

- Mod K.A.

#ask #text #not a toy #off topic #discussion post #accessibility discussion #long post #very long post #mod K.A.

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stimtoybox · 7 years

Photo

[image description: five photos of water beads. The first image shows a bowl full of large water beads in pinks, orange, black and yellow, about the size of a plum. The second image shows two clear bowls, one full of ordinary sized water beads, one containing five large beads. Third image shows the same bowls, the regular water beads a third hydrated, the large beads just beginning to swell. Fourth image shows the regular beads half hydrated, the large beads slightly hydrated and wrinkly. A cross-section shows one large water pink bead, wrinkled such that it resembles a clear pinkish brain. Fifth photo shows the beads in two glass jars with brass screw tops.]

Two weeks ago I happened across water beads (orbeez) at the Belmont Market.

I haven’t seen much written on the process of hydrating the large beads, and because of this I was thoroughly taken aback at the process. These things take a long time to hydrate. Mine took thirty-six to forty-eight hours (in contrast to the regular water beads, which were done overnight). They took so long that at several points I thought they weren’t going to hydrate and I’d be stuck with $5 AUD worth of weird shriveled plastic brains.

Because that’s exactly what they look and feel like when partially hydrated: shriveled plastic brains. I don’t know why they bulge out like that but it is ... weird to touch. Very weird.

Thankfully, if you leave them in the bowl for long enough, they look like what happens if someone makes a plum out of jelly. They feel like jelly, all wobbly, soft and squishy. They’re as fragile as jelly, too: you can slice them open with a fingernail. (I know because I had the compulsion to try it. The inside feels like the inedible child of a grape and jelly.) The vendor advised me that the giant ones are more fragile than the regular ones, and he’s right: several of mine had chips and nicks just from sitting in the bowl.

But they are so much fun to touch. It’s a ball of jelly you can play with. You can bounce it. You can toss it. You can shove your hand in the jar and watch water beads bounce all over your carpet. (I believe there’s still a few stuck behind my desk.) You can squish it gently if you want the bead to survive and you can squish it hard if you want to mush it up into bits. They are wet, so I don’t recommend them for stimming if you don’t like wet skin, but they don’t smell and they feel silky-smooth to touch. If you ever wanted to squish jelly in your hands without worrying about sugary stickiness, this is how you do it.

They also look pretty fabulous in the screw-top jars I bought from K-Mart.

(I don’t know how long they’ll last, but I’m taking them out, washing them and topping up the jars with fresh water every week or so.)

The downside is that the colours of the large beads aren’t vibrant when hydrated. My black bead is a pale grey (unlike regular black water beads, which are really black). The yellow, orange and red ones are the only ones with real colour; I’ve got pale pink and green beads in the bowl in the first photo and they look almost clear.

I found the giant ones at this ebay listing, another ebay listing and at an Aussie wholesaler for those who want to give them a shot. I really like them!

(And the little ones are fun, too. Oh, if only they’d been around when I was a kid and we had our paddling pool! Can you imagine?)

#stim toy #stim toys #belmont market #ebay #wholesale water beads #australia #uk #USA #photo #link #water beads #orbeez #review #stimtoybox #long post #trypophobia #eyestrain #mod k.a.

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