A miserable little pile of cords!

so then I thought “man, I need to draw Zexion with some meteors, that’d be cool…”

then I remembered that in kingdom hearts as a whole, meteor showers are signs that a world’s borders have fallen, and it's become more susceptible to heartless, which, in kh1 at least, meant it was only a matter of time before the world's heart was devoured and it fell into darkness completely.

and then what Ansem says in Secret Report #2... (emphasis mine) "Spurred on by my youngest apprentice, Ienzo, I constructed a massive laboratory in the basement of my castle"...

Here's the thing: I'm not a naturally hopeful person.

I'm not running a good news blog because I've always naturally gravitated toward good news. I'm not running a blog titled "reasons for hope" because hope is something that comes easily to me

It's actually the complete opposite. Teenage me was a giant cynic and a sarcastic pessimist and probably regarded as a killjoy, tbh. Picture a young, bespectacled, well-informed raincloud, maybe, idk. I could find a negative point to undermine just about anything

Nowadays, I'm one of the most hopeful people I know when it comes to the future - especially among people who actually follow the news

So, if you're feeling hopeless or depressed or anxious or despairing - or all and more - about the state of the world, and you're tired of feeling that way, I want you to know that you absolutely do not have to be a naturally hopeful or optimistic person in order to find hope

I got here because I struggled and clawed my way to hope, deliberately, because I needed it desperately. And the start of that path was bookmarking good news websites and checking them every day - which is why I built this blog

Here's the thing: the news, social media, and the human brain itself are all very biased toward negativity. The human brain is wired this way to help us survive things like tiger attacks - and since people are biased toward negative information, they click on it more, so negativity generates way more clicks and makes way more money.

It's a sucky, vicious cycle. But it doesn't accurately reflect reality - that's the whole point of bias.

It's actually kinda irritating that it's true, imho, but your focus really does determine (a lot of) your reality

If you want to have hope, sometimes you need to build it yourself. Even when it's so hard you don't know if you ever can. And then you need to keep building it, because the world isn't static and neither does your brain. Hope needs maintenance, just like everything else

So it's lucky, then, that human beings and the world are both generally better than we think - and certainly better than news or social media is willing to tell us

switching to clean energy means less air pollution and significantly less deaths associated with fossil fuel extraction

green, localized, and walkable neighborhoods with accessible transport is good for physical, mental, social, and emotional health

cutting down the beef and dairy industries and eating more plant based (for those who can) is better for health of individuals

fighting for unionized labor in good, clean jobs means less stress in people's daily lives which leads to less stress-related illness and injury

And the answer is, we don't.

The unhoused people who come here seeking refuge 99% of the time understand that they will be kicked out if they misbehave.

The people you have to watch out for are Jessica, who only came because the kid she didn't want had to visit for a homework assignment and she just *needs* to yell at her child for asking to borrow two books or stay an extra five minutes, or Michael, who came in to look at porn on our computers for whatever fucking reason, or Karen who just wanted to come by to throw a fit that the particular book she wanted was checked out and harrass our staff about our collection being too limited.

And we did what we could to help. He was incredibly kind and patient despite his obvious anxiety and stress, more than most able bodied, housed patrons are to us under much less dire conditions. I liked knowing that we were the first place he came.

We have so many people like this who come in everyday. Many are quiet and keep to themselves, but sometimes they talk to us.

They tell us about how they're taking a few courses on a scholarship they applied for from our library's computer at the local community college to get their diploma. Or ask about a manga or dvd or book we might have to help them pass the time.

One woman, who comes in daily with her tattered walker always says hello to me and likes to work on the new jigsaw puzzle with me when we set one out.

So like, treat unhoused people like people. Treat disabled people like people. I don't want my library to feel like the only safe space in the world, but I'm glad it can be one of them.

Characters co-owned w @_magic.stardust_ on IG 😌✨ (a couple more comics abt this on my account already)

I'm not a very positive person, i have a LOT of doomer tendencies. I feel everything like it's cranked up to the max, and as you can imagine it doesn't feel great. Every day throws more atrocious things in my face, and i can't ignore it 🥲

I see other people feeling the same way. We dissociate and numb ourselves by watching, playing, buying stuff. Hateful movements are gaining traction and climate change has its foot in the door

And it's all happening either way, to some degree. I feel like shit, and i'm sick of that. I might as well have a little bit of hope, otherwise i'll go bonkers 😭 Do we continue doomering our way through life or ignoring things altogether, or do we choose to hope a little?

That's why i'm looking into Solarpunk and am thinking of taking any readers (and myself) on a little journey through a better world, and how it might work, through a series of mini-comics I'm posting here. I don't have all the answers (no one person ever does), and i don't hold any pretenses that this kind of world is going to be our future. But i often hear "You love critiquing the status quo, but what do you propose instead?" I'd like to find out too. Here's to something we can hope for, no matter how slim the chances are! Because as I said, i might just lose my mind otherwise ☠️

P.S for new peeps: this is an AU with me and my friend's OCs, so all characters are genderless and go by they/them. It's not identical to our world in that regard, but other than this fact we try to keep it more or less realistic 🤙

“So this guy walks into the diner. I say ‘guy’ because I had no idea how old he was, he was either a very tall child or a babyfaced grandpa. He’s wearing a bright pink varsity jacket and flip-flops, and when he’s done breakfast he gives me a fifty-dollar tip on a five dollar breakfast. So now I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I gotta know more about this guy,’ and I ask him what he does for work.

So we start talking about CBF. It felt real good to talk about something that you thought only you cared about with someobdy else and we really got along. And the kid used to be a superfan, used to make reaction videos and fanart and roleplayed with his breakfast, even made breakfast OCs. The last thing he didn’t really want to talk about, because he got real quiet all of sudden. How can breakfast hurt you that bad? But I managed to cheer him up by saying I’m gonna make more CBF pins and would send him some. He was super grateful and told me to send it to the beach of his city. I wanted a real address but he said the postwoman there would know what it meant.

And just as he leaves he say “My therapist said I should reconnect with the things that make me happy to combat my PTSD and existential dread, so thanks, you really saved me here” boy you’re 16, ur welcome but what the hell?

UPDATE: I found his tubetube account and yeah, there’s all the reaction videos but also he apparently used to be part of SADIE KILLER AND THE SUSPECTS like he played a bit of guitar with them and documented their sessions and uploaded them AND HIS DAD WAS THE MANAGER THAT LAUNCHED THEM BECAUSE HE ASKED HIM TO DO IT wat? I have so many questions. Like did the rockstar life give him PTSD before they even got big? Does he have a dad and two moms? was his dad his mom? is this a trans thing? who is that sweet boy?

SECOND UPDATE: Apparently his dad is an underground rock legend and a millionaire cause his song appeared in a sprite commercial. I’m done. How are people real”

Person filming: Can you again ask me what you just asked me? What was that question? I don't think... Daddy didn't hear you.

Child offscreen: When can we have lesbian?

Dad: Mhmm. Okay. Maybe I did hear you right. Um, I don't know what that is, Sweetie, I don't know what you mean. Child, emphatically: Lesbian!

Dad: No, I know-- I know what you said, but I don't think that word means what you think it means, okay?

Child: It's like... spaghetti.

Dad: [Clears throat] Oh, excuse me. [Audibly restraining laughter] Do you mean lasagna?

Child: Yep!

Dad: Okay. Um, yeah, [high pitched with amusement] I'm sure we can have-- [serious] I'm sure we can have lasagna really soon, okay? We'll-- We'll try to... Yeah, we'll make sure that we can-- we can eat that soon, okay? Does that sound-- does that sound good?

Child: Yeah!

Dad: Okay, alright. Thank y--