#this is all i can afford

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

#spilled ink #warm up #“why did u tag it warm up” bc i wrote it off the cuff while drinkin coffee lol #btw the 30 dollar buy in for the dog walking is bc they pay the organizer a small pittance so she can #run fb ads and stuff and like she does put in a lot of work i don't mind paying her #but that's exactly what im fucking talking about like. #ppl can't afford to volunteer their time anymore and we all understand it!!! everything costs money for everyone! #like we didn't have to use to say ''do you mind paying me back for the stuff we ate'' #we used to be able to afford to feed our friends once in a while!!!

[theywontletmebeprincipal]

* “go-to” doesn’t mean “only”! there’s a bunch of situational signoffs I haven’t put here, this is more about what you use by default

#sanders pollshit #mine is ‘au revior’ #technically translates to ‘until we meet again’ but is also so intrinsically linked to melodramatic french romance films that all my emails #read just a bit like I’m trying to seduce somebody #which to be clear is my goal #my job is being silly so I can afford to get a little silly with it

[winged-fool]

Oof imagine hyping up this big announcement all week only for everyone to react by saying it's the worst idea ever. A swing and a miss, my guys.

#watcher #watcher entertainment #I love you all #But there's no way you will keep most of your fanbase #We can't afford to pay for yet another streaming subscription service when some of us can barely afford groceries

[jazzyjesse]

working at a grocery store has only made me even angrier about inflation and how food, water, and shelter isnt free

like just looking at groceries (not water or shelter) i see just a few bags (maybe around 5 or so) of food costing over $125 USD regularly. I've seen orders upwards of $600. and sure those have been bigger orders but no food should cost that much.

my coworkers and i shouldn't be complaining about the price of food when we get employee discounts.

a single bag of food for myself (usually containing some small pizzas, crackers, milk, and cereal) regularly costs between $50-60. minimum wage in my state is 15/HR. thats about four hours of work for one bag of food

a coworker who works on the front end of our store prides herself on being able to catch theives. everyone says how good she is at it. and sometimes it makes sense, sometimes people are just stealing to steal. but how do you ever know?

when the card reader we take outside is broken we are supposed to have the customers come inside to pay for their groceries if they're paying with EBT. there's a woman who's a regular who has a few small children and when she comes to pick up groceries they're usually asleep in the car.

am i supposed to make her choose between leaving her children alone in the car or waking them up and taking them inside?

four hours of work for one bag of groceries. is this not also theft?

four hours of work. let that sink in. four hours for one small bag of groceries.

we aren't supposed to accept tips but if we don't accept tips then how else are we supposed to afford our groceries?

i haven't seen a single person stealing food. you cannot steal whats already stolen.

although im no longer a christian, the teachings of my childhood have stuck with me, and in the bible it says "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you."

society has reaped right up the the very edge and beyond of its fields, so it's up to us to reap what we can

four hours of work for one bag of food

#kitty talks #idk what to tag this as #im just so fucking mad #no one can afford to eat anymore #all of our money is going towards constant genocides #food should be free #water should be free #shelter should be free #i dont even know if this post is coherent im just *angry* #no one should have to beg for basic necessities #there's a poem in this somewhere #theres a poem in the woman with the few months old baby who had to come in to take stuff off her order #because WIC didnt cover it all

[paralien]

not to sympathy grab but, I literally just had the worst 24th birthday ever so does anyone want to send me some fun and or sweet birthday asks?

#fanya.txt #my dad yelled at me until i cried in front of my entire family at my own borthday party and no one defended me haha #despite what he yelled abt eas the pipes in my apartment breaking bc of old age and he wants me to move out #but refuses to help me economically w anything like my guy #this is all i can afford #also like. only two of my irl friends wishes me a happy birthday today and that kinda sucked #ngl but im actually really upset and sad about it #i feel forgotten and like i dont really matter as a friend haha

[littlebigmouse]

"Reigen was extorting free labor from Mob", "Mob working at spirits and such is child labor"

I mean yes kinda but also that is so not the point.

Reigen and Mob first met when Mob was ten. Mob asked if he could come back. Mob needed companionship and life advice and a safe space to hang out, all of which Reigen provided. Mob gets paid in pocket change and food and snacks at the office. In return, Reigen gets to not die a horrible and gruesome death once a week.

It's a mentoring relationship. They're friends.

Mob doesn't need money. Mob isn't at the office to get money. If Mob genuinely needed and wanted a part time job, then yeah, 300 yen an hour is bullshit and he should book it out of there. But the two just needed an excuse for Mob to hang out and Mob meeting spirits and going to excorcisms was probably helping a lot with feeling in control of his powers in the first place.

Is it always the healthiest friendship? Absolutely not. It's explicitly adressed that Reigen has come to rely on Mob a little too much sometimes and increasingly doesn't respect his boundaries. That's also what made Mob bail in five seconds flat and he only came back when Reigen apologized. Not because Mob wanted the 300 yen give or take a bowl of ramen and some plant seeds back. But because these were friends having a conflict and they talked it out and wanted to hang out again.

Do you think Mob has a work contract? Set work hours? Do you think either of them care?

They are friends, your honour, who cares about the pocket change.

#also reigen is too poor to pay him more lmao #i have no idea how reigen can afford serizawa #by all accounts #it doesn't make sense #anyway #mob psycho 100 #mp100 #it annoys me sometimes when people make reigen out to be a terrible person for underpaying mob #i'd bring up all the free therapy reigen is giving out but the crux of the matter is that these are two loners who became unlikely friends #they are just chilling #reigen arataka #shigeo kageyama

[pponk]

still really burnt out n all ✌️

#sponk art #monster high #i am so tired of drawing with my fingers like :( #but my fingers r all i can afford anyway so </3 #anywayyy #i still love frankleo hello #franleo... clankie.... idk man theyre all the same #more edgier aesthetic tho ✌️ just to try it out

[froggtogs]

gone fishing

#been a while since i’ve actually posted anything lu related #so i thought i’d include everyone #it’s not rendered or anything but it’s sure there #anyways #i ate at a restaurant today!! it was super delicious #my job over break definitely was a good idea if i can now afford occasional meals like that #aaaaanyways #i’ve had the phrase cuneiform tablets stuck in my head c #all day #idk why #anyways have a great day :) #art #fanart #froggtogs #linked universe #linked universe fanart #legend of zelda #linkeduniverse #lu four #lu twilight #lu wild #lu wind #lu sky #lu time #lu warriors #lu legend

[hejee]

couple goals 🫶

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #solavellan #lavellan #solas dragon age #alt title: doom upon all the world #but i figured out that couple goals is the better title #i miss them sm #i was gonna do the tarot thing but nah i don’t think my back can afford that effort rn #hey it’s my art

[kvothes]

someone tweeted abt this is how you lose the time war and made it the #1 bestseller on amazon…and now as a result the paperback is on sale for only $8…if you’ve been wanting to read now is the time, it’s gorgeous sci-fi, pls go get it

#listen: in general fuck amazon #if you can actually afford to get it from an indie bookstore pls do #BUT this is a great sale & enough people are buying that the author is actually getting something out of it #so let’s goooooo #this is how you lose the time war #the author in all seriousness tweeting ‘i am so grateful to bigolas dickolas’ 😂😂😂

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

#writeblr #warm up #this is longer than i wanted i really considered removing that part about myself and what i went thru #but i think it really fucking bothers me that EVERY time i talk about being an artist #ppl assume i just like. had the skill and ability to drop everything and pay for grad school. #like sir i grew up poor. my house wasn't a safe space. i gave up a FREE RIDE TO LAW SCHOOL. for THIS. bc i chose it. #was it fucking hard? was i choosing the hard thing?? yes. #but we need to stop seeing artists as lazy layabouts that can ''afford'' to just ''sit around and create'' #when MANY - if not MOST - of us are NOT like that. we have to work our fucking ASSES off. hard work. long and hard work #part of valuing artists is recognizing the amount we sacrifice to make our art. bc it doesn't just #like HAPPEN to us. also btw it rarely has anything to do with true talent. #speaking as someone with a chronic condition i hate when ppl are like u have it easy. like actively as i'm writing this my hands r #ACTIVELY hurting me. i haven't been posting bc my left hand was curled in a claw for the last week #this isn't fucking luck. after a certain point it's not even TALENT. it's dedication & sacrifice. #''u get to flounce around and do nothing with ur life'' is a narrative that is a direct result of capitalism #imagine if we said that about literally any other profession. #''oh so u give up 10 yrs of ur life to be a doctor? u sacrifice having a social life and u get SUPER in debt? #u need to work countless hours and it will often be thankless? well i wish i was that lucky'' #we should be applying that logic to landlords ONLY #''oh ur mom and dad gave u the money to buy a house? and all u did was paint it white and rent it? huh.''

[swampthingking]

one question: how rich is jeremy’s ass

follow up question: is he going to try and buy jean’s freedom from the moriyamas

#“a blank check is a dangerous thing to offer” #“try me. i can afford it.” #like his family already does not fw him #maybe this is more an idea for a fic but #but #what if #that would be #that would be so #that would be INSANITY #tsc spoilers #tsc #the sunshine court #jerejean #jean moreau #jean yves moreau #jeremy knox #aftg #all for the game

[nerdy-hyperfixations]

I just want to remind everyone that Wallace is canonically the worse one to sleep in the same bed with.

Scott can be a bad roommate in every other aspect but GUYS Wallace is the one that canonically snores and kicks in his sleep.

Scott sleeps like a princess with his back against the sheet lying perfectly straight (and also taking all the covers) and Wallace sleeps semi-on-his-side and apparently just fucking punting Scott in the leg every so often (not to mention he talked in his sleep too) and I don’t know why this is important to me but it is.

Because when people draw them cuddling in their sleep it’s always Wallace being normal and Scott turning and snoring and shit but you’re missing out on sleepy-cuddly Wallace turning and snoring on Scott. Let that cringe-fail 25 year old be annoying. Istg.

I’m talking to the Mobillace people too btw. Not that I’ve seen anyone draw them cuddling in bed (which is a CRIME btw. Draw that. For me.) but like imagine how funny it would be: Mobile stays the night for the first time and the hot-weirdo is a bed-menace, snoring and kicking and tossing and turning and suction cupping for warmth and Mobile is like “I want him to be my boyfriend” THATS FUNNY! LIKE-

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim vs the world #scollace #scott x wallace #scott pilgrim takes off #wallace wells #mobillace #mobile x wallace #mobile scott pilgrim #I’m sick of the cringe-fail erasure of Wallace #he might be more mature than Scott but that fucker ain’t mature #(however yes generally he is the voice of reason for Scott but anyone can be a voice of reason to Scott. Scott has no internal reasoning /h #I made an analysis post at one point about how I believe the primary reason Wallace manages to do half the shit he does #is because it’s easier to get the motivation to do them if he’s telling off Scott for not doing them #we know DAMN WELL that he is scared of their landlord #considering he got plastered the night before they had to go #(he seems to drink when he’s anxious) #and because of how uncharacteristically timid he was in his office #(and can I mention he said the line ‘it’s not our fault we can’t afford rent’ and like. I don’t know it feels important to point out lol) #but he tells Scott that they *have* to go and there landlord is all bark and no bite #despite being visibly nervous around him #so. the reason he dragged Scott to see him with him is because it would make him feel less nervous to see their landlord #if he focused on dragging Scott to see him instead of his own worries #but I never posted that analysis lol #but all this to say #um #i don’t know #but I’m saying something for sure!

[phleb0tomist]

one thing no one tells u about being a wheelchair user is that if you’re anything like me you will probably need like 3 wheelchairs. and yes that means triple the expense, triple the storage, triple the hassle. my best chair is my powerchair, and in my ideal world i’d take it everywhere but it can’t manage slopes steeper than 7 degrees, or rainy weather, or kerbs. so on rainy days or at places with sloped driveways, i have to take my manual wheelchair instead, which is annoying because someone else has to push me, but hey, at least it can tolerate rain and slopes. HOWEVER! the manual chair can’t manage nature. so if i go anywhere that has grass or dirt paths, i have to bring my outdoor manual chair, which is much tougher - but! the outdoor chair is bulky and can’t fit through a lot of doorways.

i only leave my room for a couple of hours a week and yet i still need 3 wheelchairs to cover all variables. this is wild to me. why isn’t there a chair that just works. maybe ive got my head in the clouds

other variables - you can get tougher powerchairs which can do outdoor terrain, BUT, those types of chairs are never foldable and they often weigh over 100lbs. my powerchair needs to be foldable and VERY light (under 50lbs) because it has to be possible for my carer to lift it into our car by hand bc we don’t own an accessible van - yet another variable. unless your chair is foldable and liftable, you will need a modified vehicle. you can’t have a strong chair and a normal car. it never ends bro

#Is anyone else. driven bananas by this #ALSO! i am lucky that i’ve been able to afford 3 chairs over the years. plenty of people can barely afford 1 #and that 1 chair that they can afford will probably not meet all their practical needs #even if it suits their disability there are other areas of life it may not suit #txt #ok to rb #disability #disability awareness #wheelchairs

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

watched Grease the other night with my buddy and. well. obviously i Had To

#this was a good warm up i think. kinda low quality cause its Small and Not Much Effort Went Into It #but i think the fuzziness adds to the charm. or something like that #ive always loved greasers as a concept and general Thing #anyway now im Thinking about what everyone's 'roles' would be #i think the little greaser group would be wally / sally / barnaby #except theyre the most unconventional greasers ever #sally is all bark and no bite. barnaby is no bark and no bite. wally is just there to look pretty #i think theyd fold frank into the group eventually due to Witnessing His Knack For Violence #i can picture them mostly hanging around a diner #where they all share the single milkshake they can collectively afford #scribble garnish #welcome home #in middle school i absolutely adored the outsiders #we even did a thing for the class where we were assigned 'greaser' or 'soc' and i was So Fucking Delighted to get greaser #assigned greaser by 8th grade english class #got to dress up and everything. i had a blast. so gender. #during that time i would even sit there in class thinking 'i was born in the wrong generation'. delusional? yes #one of my ocs is even a fuckin. universe-hopping assassin greaser #their vibe.... 50s punk... #loved the movie btw. made next to no sense. very charming

[columboscreens]

#columbo #season 4 #negative reaction #i love how he sticks in one more act of complete oafery at the last second #hands down this is one of columbo's hammiest bimbo episodes. he knows galesko is so dumb that he can afford to go all in #if this went on any longer he wouldve shown up with his shoes on the wrong feet and galesko wouldve fucking exploded