#who needs a hobby

[inkskinned]

one of the things about having an unstable parent is that it can so easily ruin your future. you want to get out, but getting out takes having agency. it takes the resume and the grades and the stellar community service history.

but you have to choose your battles. you know if you sign up for an after-school activity, it'll be okay for a while, so long as the activity is parent-approved and god-fearing. over time, like all things, it will become an argument (i can't keep carting your ass to these things) or a weapon (talk to me like that again, see if you get to go to practice). sometimes, if you love the thing, it's worth it. but you also know better than to love something: that's how they get you. if you ever actually want something, it will always be the center of their attention. they will never stop threatening you with it. telling you of course i'm a good parent, i came to all of those stupid events.

you learn to balance yourself perfectly. you can either have a social life or you can have hobbies. both of these things will be under constant scrutiny. you spend too much time with her, you should be at home with family is equally paired with you're acting like this because you're addicted to what's on that goddamn screen. you cannot ever actually win, so everything falls within a barter system that you calculate before entering: do you want to learn how to drive? if so, you'll need to give up asking for a new laptop, even though yours died. maybe you can work on a computer at the library. of course, that would mean you'd be allowed to go to the library, which would mean something else has to bleed. nothing ever actually comes free.

and that bitter, horrible irony: you could be literally following their orders and it still isn't pretty. they tell you to get a job; they hate that your job keeps you late and gives you access to actual money. they tell you to do better in school; they say no child of mine needs a tutor. they want you to stop being so morose, don't you know there are people who are really suffering - but they revile the idea you might actually need therapy.

you didn't survive that fall the way other people would. you've seen other people scramble and get their way out, however they could. maybe you were made too-soft: the answer didn't come to you easily. it wasn't quick. it was brutal and nasty. some people even asked you why didn't you just work hard and escape during school? and you felt your head spinning. why didn't you? (they control your financial aid. they control your loan status. they love having that kind of thing). maybe in another life you got diagnosed sooner and got the meds you needed to actually focus and got attention from the right teachers who helped you clear hurdles to get up out of here - but for now? here?

the effort of trying. the effort of not-dying. that kind of effort was absolutely agonizing.

#writeblr #btw i got out #even though i felt this way #i was undiagnosed and was in a particularly fucked up situation #(it's complicated lol) #i had no money and no way out #no car no license . i still had a curfew at 22 years old #and still. i got out. #you can get out too. #i wasn't allowed to literally do anything after school we were pretty much only allowed 1 hobby #and STILL i got out. #it wasn't bc i was particularly smart or capable or clever. it's that 1. i got lucky & 2. #i knew there had to be The Rest of The World #and I wanted to at least VAGUELY get to the Rest of the World before i gave up trying #sometimes it's the spite that gets u thru it. that sense - fuck u #FUCK YOU ACTUALLY. #im gonna make my own life u stupid bitch. since u seem so convinced i could never REALLY do it. #whenever ppl are like <3 just cut out ur parents <3 im like <3 have u never been poor lol <3 #<3 i needed them to sign my loans <3 #<3 bestie not every person who is struggling is going to be able to make the grades and hero status to get a free ride. #and guess what baby!! we still deserve to get out and have a good life.

[midnightcrows]

His nose was broken, and his lips and chin were wet with gore. There was blood in his eyes and under his hair, and his expression was one of cold and perfect murder. It was as though losing the rapier had snapped some invisible shackle. He didn't even look angry; he looked like an ending given human form.

#I know the expression is angry but let’s pretend this is taking some of the coming off the coffin like the emperors wrath energy #after doing 4 of these I actually got to thinking about Hey what was Nonius like as a person I wonder #and now I need to do a nice normal piece of him like drinking tea or smth #who’s the man behind the myth like #did he have hobbies #did he ever have a collection of objects or plants #matthias nonius #fanart #harrow the ninth spoilers #harrow the ninth #the locked tomb #my art #tlt #tlt fanart #harrow the ninth fanart #cw blood #the locked tomb spoilers

[hellenhighwater]

Have you taken any pottery classes or were you entirely self taught? I REALLY want to get into it but classes are quite expensive

I took some sculpting in undergrad, but it was in the context of casting and mold-making, not ceramics. So I'm fairly comfortable with clay as a medium but not so much with clay as an end product--not being able to do armatures and having to think about firing is weird. (If I had the opportunity to do bronze casting again, though, I would, no hesitation.) That puts me in the minority of my current pottery peers, who are largely self-taught or only learned in our studio.

I do pottery now at a co-op studio space, and technically that means that I'm taking classes there--but the classes are more like guided lab time? There's not really assignments or anything, and there's only a couple other people who sculpt, none of whom are in my class. Mostly the class just means that the person in charge demonstrates a technique or two once a week and then lets us do our thing.

Personally I think that shared studio space is the absolute best way to go. You spend less in startup costs (kilns are EXPENSIVE, running kilns is expensive, glaze is expensive) and it plugs you directly in to a group of fellow artists who can help and support you at whatever skill level you're at. Yes, classes are expensive--my class is $250 per season. But for me that includes lab space, 50 lbs of clay per season, almost all of the glaze I use, kiln time, and other people doing all the maintenance and kiln loading/unloading etc. Very much money well spent.

Artist-run shared spaces are often not turning a profit on anything with studio fees, just covering operations costs, so while it's pricey, it generally is just...what it costs to do that hobby. And it is sooooo much easier to be motivated when you're going to what is, basically, Grown-Up Art Club.

But if costs are prohibitive for you to do pottery via classes, and you want to learn to sculpt, then get some polymer clay and see what you can do. It's a different game than actual clay, but form is form, and the medium is secondary to figuring out how to translate an idea into reality.

Polymer clay is relatively affordable and doesn't require nearly the infrastructure of ceramics. If you can't spend the money on classes or a shared studio, then polymer clay is a great way to develop technique and an eye so that when you're in a position to spend the money, you already have the skills to make it worth what you're spending.

#most people who have home pottery studios are either in a position to easily afford that #or are selling their work at a caliber to justify the expenses of making the studio space #which is not what will happen when you are starting out. #pottery is far and away my most expensive hobby and that means #that when it's done #the Minotaur series is going to get sold #probably for as much as I think i can get for it #and probably that means I am going to have to Find A Gallery and Submit Work To Gallery and be #in short #in hell. i have not had to think about doing gallery submissions in so long #and i am dreading it. #anyway if anyone knows a gallery in like. michigan or chicago and can hook me up #i have some sad cows that need homes #i kind of want to keep my sad cow mans forever but also where would i even put them? better to be treasured by someone else #and maybe i will make one extra sad cow. for me.

[coockie8]

There's no way any anti who throws the "go file your taxes" insult is actually an adult, right? 'Cause an adult would know you literally only file your taxes once a year and only at a like really specific time of year usually :/

#like if you're gonna tell me to ''go do X adult task'' at least make it an adult task I have to do every day #like dishes or some shit #so you don't come off like a toddler who doesn't understand how the adult world works #I mean that's still a weak as hell insult because the dishes take at most an hour if they're particularly dirty #but at least I do that every day so it kinda makes sense #taxes are a once a year event #it's not like they need to be filed every month :/ #''go take care of your children'' is wildly misogynistic so that one's not allowed either even if I had children #adults do in fact do things besides ''work taxes and make/care for babies'' #like >18 antis are in for a world of backlash when they hit 18 and realise their hobbies/interests didn't suddenly disintegrate #just anti things #anti bs #proshipper safe

[blakbonnet]

Ed learning how to sketch and doing these elaborate ones of Stede and getting frustrated when he can't get the nose right but trying to get it to look as much like Stede as he possibly can, and then eventually graduating to make full body sketches and the walls of the inn are littered with smudgy charcoal prints and sketches of Stede reading naked, Stede cooking naked, Stede fishing naked, and in every single one Stede's dick has a little smiley face drawn on it c:

#this went away from me but the idea of Ed pursuing new hobbies with the same single minded focus has me weeping #stede hangs all these pictures of the fridge they can barely open the door anymore #but it's okay #who needs milk and veggies anyways #meow speaks #ofmd

[volixia669]

OTW’s Legal Chair is Pro-AI and What That Means

traHoooooooo boy. Okay, so for those who don’t know, OTW shared in their little newsletter on May 6th an interview their legal chair did on AI.

Most people didn’t notice...Until a couple hours ago when I guess more high profile accounts caught wind and now every time I refresh the tweet that links the newsletter that’s another 10+ quote tweets.

The interview itself is short, was done in February, and...Has some gross stuff.

Essentially Betsy Rosenblatt agrees with Stability AI that its fair use, and believes that AI is “reading fanfic”.

To be EXTREMELY clear: Generative AI like ChatGPT is not sentient. No AI is sentient, and Generative AI are actually incredibly simple as far as AI goes. Generative AI cannot “read”, it cannot “comprehend” and it cannot “learn”.

In fact, all Generative AI can do is spit out an output created out of a dataset. Its output is reliant on there being variables for it to spit back out. Therefore, it cannot be separated from its dataset or its “training”.

Additionally, the techbros who make these things are profiting off them, are not actually transforming anything, and oh yeah, are stealing people’s private data in order to make these datasets.

All this to say: Betsy Rosenblatt does not actually understand AI, has presumably fallen for the marketing behind Generative AI, and is not fit to legally fight for fic writers.

So what does this mean? Well, don’t delete your accounts just yet. This is just one person, belonging to a nonprofit that supposedly listens to its users. There’s a huge backlash on social media right now because yeah, people are pissed. Which is good.

We should absolutely use social media to be clear about our stances. To tell @transformativeworks that we are not okay with tech bros profiting off our fanworks, and their legal team should be fighting back against those who have already scraped our fanworks rather than lauding a program for doing things its incapable of doing.

I have fanfic up on Ao3. I have fanfic I’m working on that I’d love to put there too. But I cannot if it turns out the one safe haven for ficwriters is A-Okay with random people stealing our work and profiting off of it.

#ao3 #otw #transformative works #otw discourse #fuck generative ai #everyone who thinks its okay to steal people's artwork and writing to make a quick buck can go fuck themselves #i already have to deal with this shit on a professional level i don't need it in my hobby too

[keets-writing-corner]

sooooooo

wasn't expecting that

#hazbin hotel #lucifer #lucifer morningstar #meme #can you blame me? #he's adorable #also I'm a sucker for characters who have been broken #he is so broken #someone get that man something that's not a rubber duck #seriously he needs to get out of that room more #my dude #I love you found a hobbie to cope #it is not healthy

[formerlyashkatom]

today was my first day back on ADHD meds after being off them for probably two years and it's amazing how much I attributed to being intractably broken that is in fact amazingly tractable. I'm surprised by this every time I go on and off meds because I'm god's most moronic soldier.

#guerrilla lifeblogging #for some reason I didn't need my Lunchtime Wilt Nap at work despite taking on more than usual! weird! #I'm able to engage in a hobby after work! truly wild! #who could have guessed this would happen! #not me after having it happen to me multiple times throughout my life surely!

[matoitech]

mr kohls cash. he probably goes by cash online so thats where his nicknames from. big dick problems

#my art #ocs #furry #anthro #tiger #nudity #i have no idea what he does for like his actual job. he also has more hobbies than gaming i just had to make jokes sorry heart emoji #i think him and cinder should get to meet and play sonic together #averi was the one who said pronouns gay/mer for him and i ws like god thats so good. i need to add that

[gerbits]

why are we locking sim stories behind paywalls now 😭😭😭

#say it with me #hobbies. don't. need. to. be. monetized!!!! #this community is beyond help #patreon is venom & it's killing any and all sense of community in the sims fandom #and as someone who has been posting & sharing their game since the sims 2 #it's really sad to watch #i almost feel bad for newcomers

[scuffler]

#coming from a woman who needs to stop smoking. #its too expensive of a hobby #and i am actually rotting #but here’s hot characters doing it! #leigh whannell #saw 2004 #david saw 0.5 #adam stanheight #scuffler

[deardarlingdevil]

Femmes and mlms: *simps over Raphael*

Some fuck: "B-but Raphael is bad at sex according to the literal sex demon in his house"

So are most men IRL, but at least with Raphael we get a handsome man with charisma. And he probably washes his ass.

#bg3 #raphael #bg3 fandom #i swear to god these chuds need a better hobby #they're so upset women like a fictional devil who's bad at sex more than they like “nice guys”

[waywardavatarenthusiast]

just so we’re on the same page, if azula isn’t redeemed and at peace by the time the aang movie rolls around, she better have her own slice of life.

you mean 12 years post war, aang and katara get to be engaged/married, zuko could have a kid on the way for all we know, and azula will still be zuko’s scheming little sister?

i swear if she’s a villain and doesn’t finish dinner and tuck her children into bed before heading to her lair, i’ll be done with atla.

#atla #azula #avatar studios #don’t you dare steal her time and youth bryke #i hope ursa tries to have a relationship with her grandkids and discovers she hasn’t earned that #i need zuko to be her side hobby at best #she needs a doting husband who doesn’t know what a girl like her is doing in his small village #and kids who don’t know that mommy is an enemy of the state

[merakiui]

i have come to a realization recently and i hope everyone can see my vision. orz

jade -> catboy.

floyd -> puppyboy.

#meraki mumbles #i will always spread catboy jade agenda #orz i need big scary eel-catboy who most definitely commits murder as a side hobby ^^;;;;; #and puppyboy floyd who is so sweet but always getting into mischief

[chillerhjemmesmiley]

who said you can’t celebrate fiction character’s birthdays?

GRATULERER MED DAGEN, EVEN!

#skam #skamedit #dailyskam #skamversedaily #even bech næsheim #skam season 3 #henrik holm #usertelevision #chewieblog #i don't know who to tag anymore but look!! my annual birthday post for them is here #i swear one day i will come back and finish the two skam rewatch series i started in 2020 lol but uni and life in general have been crazy #but i need to find a way to make giffing a hobby once again and i can maybe come back to this #also i miss skam. and i plan on making some uni papers about druck so maybe that will be coming too who knows hehe #ANYWAYS......... have this beautiful boy's face on his birthday #edits

[spearxwind]

Oof I'm kinda scared to ask... Why do you not want to be an artist professionally?

Its just like, incredibly miserable in my experience.

Everyone wants their dream job of being paid to draw whatever the hell they want but 99% of the time you are hired and tasked to draw things that you don't have a lot of interest in, professionally speaking, and constantly getting your artistic efforts undermined by the rest of the team (this is esp. true in the videogame industry) artists always try to push for better designs and get their takes watered down for the sake of general public pleasing. Also you don't have a security blanket unless you're under long term contract. Most freelancers live gig to gig with the fear of not being able to support themselves if they don't take a job to take a break. Videogame and movie jobs arent stable because companies never keep the art teams, they are laid off and rehired whenever there is a new project

During my major, I drew nonstop for 4 years for class. Not always things I enjoyed, but also not always things I didnt like. In fact I enjoyed my major immensely! It was so fun. But the burnout is very, very real, and the workload was similar (even inferior to) regular art jobs. What happens if you like to draw in your off time? You spend your days making and pumping out art nonstop for hours, and then on your free time breaks you draw some more? I personally couldn't do it. I just wanted to do other things

And like.... I spent the first three years being told by teachers (people with stable, contract based jobs) how cool of a job it is to do art, and then the last year getting grilled on how insanely hard it is to make it out there. If you don't have connections, money, an audience, a studio, it's actually impossible. You need to be your own lawyer, abide by the very strict self employment rules that take a severe chunk out of your earnings. Do all of your finance/schedule/marketing etc while on top of that constantly producing work (I know there's people who can do it but, personally, I cannot) I really admire the people who were able to build themselves up as artists from the ground like this (because its definitely possible, just insanely hard)

Also, making something you love into your job ends up being miserable too. I experienced this with patreon, which I posted to as like a chill thing and it just got increasingly hard to make content for it or just post in general, even drawing my own ocs and sharing stuff about them started to feel like a chore.

Maybe it's just me though, this has just been my personal experience but yeah in general I realized I am immensely happier just keeping art as a hobby or its gonna suck my soul out (Since I already experienced it)

I don't mean to discourage anyone, I think the world in general needs more artists. But for that we would need to actually be taken seriously and valued, which sadly we are not, at all. And if there's anyone reading that is considering art as a job: it is absolutely grueling. It's not an easy job. Even if you desperately love art it can suck the life out of you and the joy for what you do

(As an extra sidenote. Artists are usually exploited using this mentality as well. That they are supposed to love their job. So they expect you to work your wrists off "For the passion". Dont fall victim to it)

#ask #anon #genuinely i just wanna share my stories and content. see others stories in turn and make friends about it #the desperate need to monetize everything that makes you happy is such an insidious mentality. #people need to learn that you can have hobbies without needing to monetize them. your joy has inherent value and you dont need to sell it #like... i need people to stop being like 'oh you are so good at art/crochet/writing you should sell things : )' it fucking sucks #there is a lot of nuance to the topic of course but im talking like. in general #doing art out of ones heart is always good but having to pump out content under the crushing wheel of capitalism and need to survive is not #this is about my experience with drawn art but this goes for any other artistic discipline #music... writing... etc. we are all in the same boat #sorry for the long winded answer and tags i am just so passionate about this #and especially as someone whos skill wasnt taken seriously until i started making money from it........ fuck that so fucking much #you are allowed to create. in fact you should create. without feeling the need to put a price on it #not everything needs a price tag to be valuable. #especially not your joy.