I love paint.

employee 1: sir, we’re putting in another female unit. what pose should we commission the artist? 

employee 2: oh you know. the Girl™ pose 

employee 1: the what? 

employee 2:

Mario looked out on the landscape that stretched far beyond him. Endless acres of trees, forests, greenery. It was truly a sight to behold. He glanced behind him, back at the unassuming mountain face he’d climbed to reach such a fantastic view. 

Mario slumped the gear on the ground, and it landed with a solid thump. He was carrying enough for two people, even though he made this journey alone. As he approached the edge, he pulled out a small scrap of paper from his overall pockets.

The paper showed a tall, gangly moustached man. His green cap and sincere grin almost made Mario well up. They both loved their exploring. Every mountain lead to something new to explore. every plateau held a fond memory. 

That fateful day one autumn evening never truly left Mario, as he clutched the paper tightly against his chest. He took a deep breath and spoke to the wind.

I just saw this on Reddit today and I wanted to share it here.

When you’re a parent, you have to realize that the child you brought into this world is going to be their own person and you’ll have to start getting into things you may not understand and have ZERO interest in.

However, you damn well better act like you are.

I can still remember the feeling as a kid getting Pokemon Red and it being something I loved so much, so I wanted to share that with my mom. I wanted to show her my team, tell her about the gym leaders I took down, and she just took a glance at the Game Boy color and went “mmhhhmm”.

She gave zero shits when I beat Banjo-Kazooie, a game which was INCREDIBLY hard for grade school me and you can make me have war flashbacks if you so much as say “Rusty Bucket Bay”.

My town in Animal Crossing? Catching rare fish? Who cares?

I liked a cartoon series so much that I wrote little stories about it? “No, I don’t want to read it.”

This type of stuff matters to kids so damn much and she’ll never realize how much it hurt our relationship. It might not seem like a big deal she never sat down and watched me play something like Luigi’s Mansion, but that’s how kids try and bond with their parents.

Please, keep in mind that even though she is free, she is still under the army, which means she can be back to prison for any petty reason such as writing/speaking something that the army does not particularly like.  

 She’ll remain on active duty, though unpaid, on what’s known as “voluntary excess leave.” That means that she’ll be required to abide by military rules – and if she breaks any of them, the military would have authority to punish her.

Also, she is still in the middle of her appeal to ultimately drop all the charges against her.

SHE WAS NOT PARDONED. Her sentence was commuted, so she is free, but still under the weight of her charges. So please keep an eye open.