Mana Shay

Rolling and exposing belly- attacks you when touched Does not mean: Give belly rubs! - haha I tricked you!  Actually means: I’m playful! If you reach for my belly I’ll grab your arm and bite it because I think we’re playfighting! 

Lazily exposing belly - still attacks when touched Does not mean: tricked you again! Actually means: I’m showing you my belly because I trust you. Please don’t break that trust by invading my personal space. I might accept a belly rub if I’m not ticklish and I know you well. Snapping at you while being pet Does not mean: I suddenly decided I dislike you! Actually means: You’re petting me in a way that gives me too much restless energy. Please focus on petting my head and shoulders instead of stroking the full length of my back next time.

Staring and blinking slowly Does not mean: I’m smug and think I am smarter than you. Actually means: I like you! But I don’t need to get up in your face to show it.  I can just sit over here and blow kisses at you to show you I am glad you are around!

Yes, the legends are true. Cats headbutt you to show their trust and affection. They also do it to show “hey look I see you as family.” Lions do it with members of their pride to say the same. It’s not just because they want food.

Cats nibbling is indeed literally cats grooming you. It’s what mom cats do to their kittens. If a cat is gently biting and/or licking you, they’re now your mom.

Meowing can simply be for the mere fact they want to say hello, want to play or be pet. Again, not just for food.

They barely meow at other cats (except for kittens, they meow at mom cat), mostly just humans. There are exceptions but overall, meowing is almost always for us.

Cats squinting/slow blinking is indeed basically the equivalent of us smiling and/or kissing.

Cats, like humans, prefer to get things without having to work for it- which isn’t very common within other animals.

Cat massages or making biscuits is because they happy! Kneading is another way of saying “hey I like this moment here I enjoy you and my life.”

Cats recognize us by smell, sound, taste, and touch. They recognize us after years as their long term memory is extremely good. This is why abused or neglected cats are so easily scared or hard to connect with. If your scent changes over the years or just in the day, your voice will them it’s really you. Also, they will only remember you if you had impact on their life. If you just existed in the same house, they obviously won’t care.

And yes, they know our patterns in the day. You notice it when it’s beneficial to them (feeding time!). They will often wait for you to come home as well.

To remember: cats think we are interesting as hell. They watch us do everything because we’re fascinating!!!

notice how when you’re unfamiliar but nonthreatening, they might loaf facing you and sorta halfway watch you. you’re not fully trusted, but you’re ok by them.

when you’re familiar and liked, they’ll often sit near you facing the same way. imitation of poses is a weird little way cats show solidarity. they do it to each other too. check out these bff’s:

they are doing this on purpose. it’s a buddy thing. so if you’re watching tv and a cat sits next to you and pretends to watch tv too, they are basically calling you bro and declaring friendship.

and if they really love and trust you, they’ll turn their back on you and go to sleep. they’ll sleep facing a wall in your presence, or lounge where they can’t see the room. this isn’t a snub, folks, this is true kitty love. they’re saying, “i feel safe when you’re around. i know nothing’s going to sneak up on me, because you’re here. i feel so safe i can stick my head under a pillow and snore with my butt pointed at you.”

Who da hell do you think manages the Archive of Our Own? Who created it; who does the coding; who WENT TO CONGRESS three times to argue for our constitutionally-protected right to show Kirk boinking Spock?

Hint: it wasn’t people under 20.

Who do you think makes the content on AO3? Sure, lots of teens… but lots and lots and LOTS of not-teens. The OTW′s been around for almost 10 years - the people who put up the first content sure as hell weren’t 10 and under at the time. (Or is there the assumption that the teenagers of 10 years ago wandered away and are no longer participating in fic fandom?)

Best places to find reference photos:

Body types, poses, and anatomy:

http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en

https://www.posemaniacs.com/

https://quickposes.com/en

https://www.characterdesigns.com/#home-section

https://www.adorkastock.com/sketch/

https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/

https://www.proko.com/browse/tools?af=242

Giant anatomy reference tutorials Pinterest board:

https://www.pinterest.com/deedee1232/body-reference/

General:

https://unsplash.com/

https://pixabay.com/

https://www.pexels.com/

https://stocksnap.io/

https://www.freeimages.com/

https://kaboompics.com/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

https://morguefile.com/

https://www.flickr.com/

https://www.dreamstime.com/

https://pmp-art.com/

https://www.freepik.com/

https://photobash.co/

https://picjumbo.com/

https://burst.shopify.com/

https://magdeleine.co/

https://wordpress.org/openverse/

Historical:

Additional context on Voter ID

This is being rolled out for future elections and is purely a form of voter suppression.

The poorest in society are unlikely to have the required ID and at the same time are unlikely to vote for the Conservatives.

A similarity can be seen with age brackets… and why they have designed some forms of youth ID to be unacceptable but OAP ID… FOR THE SAME THING… is a-ok.

Magic is supposed to be a boon, but if you still have people hand milking cows who?? Is receiving the boon here?? Automated milking and pasteurisation spells please!! A quicker and less dangerous way, for both person and animal, to dock lambs than having to hold them under one arm and take a sharp knife to their tails with the other! Or even spells to remove the necessity of docking at all, if you insist it’s cruel and not good hygiene practice! A way to check eggs for blood in the yolk before cracking them both because yuck and because it’s prohibited in certain dietary practices! Venting mechanisms for industrial pipe work to prevent bursts! Safe disposal of waste!! WATER FILTRATION SYSTEMS IN URBAN CENTRES!! HOW INHUMANE TO NOT HAVE YOUR SEWAGE SYSTEM MANAGED BY MAGIC IF THAT IS WITHIN YOUR POWER!!

“My boy Spatula bunking down for a snowy night” 

Because my comics have gone around the internet, many people have asked if I’ve “gotten better yet”. The answer is a firm NO because that’s not how post-viral illness triggered by an infection that causes organ and brain damage works. Please consider your behavior and who you are leaving behind.

Check out the People’s CDC here where they provide weekly updates on the COVID situation in the U.S.

ID in alt text and below!

Lunar New Year is a perfectly acceptable and accurate term for Asian New Year celebrations. Lunar New Year is used to refer to East Asian celebrations which fall on the first new moon of the Lunar calendar.

The Hebrew Calendar is lunar, correct. But our New Year - Rosh Hashanah - falls on 1st Tishrei (around September/October on the Gregorian calendar) and is celebrated as the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

While our New Year is technically a Lunar New Year in so far as it's "a New Year celebrated on the Lunar Calendar", I can guarantee you that when you say Lunar New Year, there is not a single Jew that thinks you're talking about Rosh Hashanah.

Stop trying to use me as a weapon against asian folks. I see you and I'm mad about it.

Muslims refer to our lunar calendar as the Hijri calendar. We have never referred to it as a lunar calendar. And we refer to our new year as the Hijri New Year.

Asians using the term "lunar new year" does not erase us or invalidate us either because that's simply a term we (Muslims) do not use!