zayvish

[zayvish]

My grandmother lived in a two bedroom apartment above a Chinese food restaurant in the middle of downtown. The restaurant used to be a laundromat, and before that was a convenience store, and before that a custom frame shop, and before that sold glass figurines smuggled into the country in hollowed-out Bibles. Her apartment smelled like a mixture of everything that had gone before, an aromatic shadow of the existences that had passed like waves beneath it, sesame oil and glue and fire and cleaning supplies and oregano.

(The smell of oregano was my grandmother’s.)

She had begun renting the apartment when she was first married to my grandfather, a stern man with a thick black beard who was always growling and reminding me of the rules and sneaking me butterscotch candies under the table before dinner. He was a good man, and she loved him, but he died when I was eight years old.

She kept the apartment when she had my mother, the eldest of her children, because, she said, it had two bedrooms, so why move?

She kept the apartment when she had my aunt Becca, the next child, because, she said, the room is big enough for two beds, and they are both girls, so why move?

She kept the apartment when she had my uncle Bastion, her next child, because, she said, there can be a curtain in the room to divide the boys and the girls, so why move?

She kept the apartment through the next five children. Eight in all were born and grew up in that stuffy little apartment that smelled like bleach and soy sauce. Eight children turned into teenagers in that tiny second bedroom, crammed into corners and bunkbeds, climbing over each other to get up in the mornings and to go to bed at night. Eventually the boys moved out and made a camp in the corner of the living room and lived there, and still, my grandmother wouldn’t move.

She said it was because it was rent controlled and there was no way she would ever get a deal that good in downtown if she left.

I was forty-two years old, with grown children of my own, when I discovered the extra room.

Keep reading the fantasy short story “The Slide” http://akbutlerwrites.com/2015/03/23/the-slide/

#writing #reading #fantasy #short story #short stories

[zayvish]

I went to Ikea today and after about ten minutes of sensory overload I literally forgot what a table was and what a chair was and I stared at one for like three minutes before I remembered it was a thing you sit in and then I just wandered around staring at colors until my husband grabbed me and pulled me back into the aisle.

#aspergers #aspergirl

[zayvish]

It hurts us.

[zayvish]

I teach high school and I'm pretty sure my life would be over if any of my students ever found this Tumblr. Good thing I've disguised my username as an obscure reference to a book no one's read. And also that I have like three and a half followers.

[zayvish]

As a high school English teacher, I can confirm the edit.

Oh, babies. We don't think you're nearly as smart as you think we think.

[zayvish]

i want to be skinny but not as badly as i want to eat the rest of this bacon

[zayvish]

So the guy who came to fix the internet was this big black guy. And I had JUST finished picking up some dog poop. And I hadn't washed my hands. I mean it's not like I touched dog poop but still. Ew. So he reached out to shake my hand and I said I FUCKING SAID OH MY GOD I SAID "I CANT. IT'S DIRTY." OH MY FUCKING NAGEJEBNDJDHDDKENHAISKSNXNDJDJD

[zayvish]

I’m not sorry

[zayvish]

I thought this was going to be a much more dramatic and heartbreaking scene than it turned out to be.

[zayvish]

Conversation I just had with my six-year-old daughter

Her: Mommy, when girls are grown-up girls, can they sometimes decide to turn into grown-up boys?

Me: Yes. They have to go to a doctor for a very long time, and then they can turn into boys.

Her: Why?

Me: Because sometimes girls really, really want to be boys, and boys really, really want to be girls. And not for pretend or for a little while, but forever and ever. Do you want to be a girl or a boy?

Her: Girl!

Me: But if you really, really wanted to be a boy, you could go to a doctor for a very long time and then become a boy.

Girl: Oh.

Girl: ...

Girl: ...

Girl: ...

Girl: I just really hope those girls don't have to get a lot of shots!

That was it. That was her only issue with the concept of transgender. They have to get shots.

#transgender #lgbtqia #lgbt rights #so proud right now

[zayvish]

I would like to please be knowing what the fuck.

[zayvish]

My son (4) told me he was putting on his lipstick. I said, "Well, that's chapstick. Lipstick makes your lips different colors. Chapstick makes them feel better when they hurt." My mom piped up. "Also, boys can wear chapstick. Boys can't wear lipstick." I leaned down to my son's ear and whispered very loudly, "BOYS CAN WEAR WHATEVER THEY WANT." My mom stared daggers at me as my son repeated, "NONNI, BOYS CAN WEAR WHATEVER THEY WANT."

[zayvish]

Do not fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums, and parks, and monuments, and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave you will finally understand, why storms are named after people.

Katrina, M.K., & Unknown (via astudyinobjection)

[zayvish]

Monday

[zayvish]

There is nothing worse than hearing people attempt to sound intelligent by using lengthy words and MISUSING THEM

[zayvish]

Two bullets were fired in His Last Vow.

The first one for very selfish reasons, the second one for quite the opposite.

[zayvish]

Nintendo’s sales haven’t been what they hoped for or expected, so all the executives got together and made the decision to cut their salaries in half to ensure their employees still get paid. They say it’s the fault of the executives that the products aren’t selling well, not their employees, so it isn’t fair for the employees to have to take the hits for that.

Why are there people who don’t like or respect Nintendo again?