Senpai Says You’re Welcome

INFP's flaws

INFP's mother: Why can't you remember one single thing we ask you to do? Like watering the plants, rearrange your room? Is it that hard?

INFP: *YES MUM, IT'S HARD BECAUSE I'M ALWAYS THINKING AND BEATING MYSELF UP FOR MY 57348 FLAWS AND TRYING TO FIX THEM BUT AT THE SAME TIME, ALL WHILE EXHAUSTING MYSELF TO ACCOMPLISH MY GOALS AND AT THE SAME TIME HAVE A FUCKING LIFE DESPITE MY LIFE ACTUALLY HAVING TONS OF EVENTS, MY MIND BEING JUST FUCKING ALLERGIC TO PLANS AND SCHEDULES JUST STRESSING ME THE FUCK OUT BY THE SOLE THOUGHT OF THEM, AND PEOPLE JUST DON'T REALISE HOW HARD AND DRAINING IT IS TO HAVE A BRAIN WHERE EVERY BIT OF TIREDNESS, LOW SELF-ESTEEM AND ANXIETY FLY UNSTOPPINGLY BETWEEN A WEB OF DREAMS, PROJECTS AND OVERWHELMING RESPONSIBILITIES TO RESPECT. IT'S SO FUCKING HARD TO THINK ABOUT WATERING THE PLANTS WHEN THERE'S SUCH A HURRICANE WITH A MILLION TABS OPEN RAGING IN YOUR MIND FUCKING ALL DAY.*

INFP: Okay, I made a mistake.

You know, if I had to describe my experience as an aromantic in one word, I think I’d go with “alienating”. Let me explain:

Imagine you’re aro and watching TV. There some kind of SciFi show on and they are debating the personhood of an AI.

The AI shows curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. They have desires. They have strengths and weaknesses. None of this convinces the doubters.

The AI makes friends. They take up hobbies. They talk about their hopes and dreams for the future. Surely this is enough to relate to them as a person? It’s not.

The AI is shown to fall in love. This is framed as the ultimate proof, the one thing that must humanize them even to the staunchest denier of their personhood or else that person is irredeemable.

You change the channel.

There’s a children’s cartoon on. “What is this?!” the villain cries, pointing at a couple. Their inability to understand the romantic love between those two is framed as stemming from the fact that somebody so deeply evil simply cannot understand something as pure and good as romantic love.

You change the channel.

There’s a sitcom on. Two characters are discussing a third character. “He’s really not that weird,” says one character. “He hasn’t been in a relationship for [x] years!” the other refutes. Cue the laugh track. The implication is clear: If he’s not in a relationship, it must be because he’s too weird.

You change the channel.

There’s a Christmas movie on. The main character is a successful businesswoman. She’s shown talking to her friends and family regularly. “You need a man,” her mother says as they bake together. The daughter denies this. The rest of the movie is all about proving the mother right, as suddenly her career, her friends and her family are framed as not being enough for her to lead a fulfilling life.

You change the channel.

It’s some show aimed at young teens and tweens. “Ew,” one character comments as the idea of them having a significant other one day is brought up. This is treated as a sign of their immaturity.

You turn off the TV.

Your experiences aren’t enough to humanize a non-human character. You’re the villain. You’re a weirdo. Your life is incomplete. You’re immature.

You’re tired.

There’s a reason it was an aro who coined the term voidpunk.

~

Crowns of weary ancients

So, I was studying for my finals and reading the bit in Snorri’s Edda about Ragnarok and at one point a wolf swallows the moon and it says “og gerir sá og mikið ógagn”. Now, I understand that the meaning of the words have changed a bit over time and all that, but to a modern Icelandic speaker, this just sounds like “one of the wolves took the moon, which was unhelpful”

before we became legends / the place both of us began

"but you cant possibly [do traditionally romantic stuff] with your friends—"

oh, but i can, because im not a coward.

step up, nerds.

Some Norse news today: “Runor is a new digital research platform that makes approximately 7,000 runic inscriptions available, as well as reports and images from various databases, institutions and collections.”

You can explore the map without logging in, read transliterations and translations, and also search runic texts.

Check it out: https://app.raa.se/open/runor/search

“Ancient spirits roam the wilderness, their voices sound in the wind, as though they never left. We were merely lost souls ready to return to the Earth Giver, waiting, hoping. I could feel the cold ground beneath my paws, and I knew it was time.” Eunho, smilodon: died 14,983 BCE and resurrected during the Megafauna Awakening, 2073 CE

part 1