It was very fortunate for my parents that we were all avid readers.

Books are one of the easiest things to buy used, & it rarely makes any difference at all.

Of course, my wishlist is mostly for 2 people: my father-in-law & sister-in-law, who would like to buy me nice presents. Providing a list is largely a courtesy to them.

I enjoy gifts but it's not like acquiring piles of new stuff every year is aspirational for me.

Spouse & I usually agree on our main "Christmas gifts" together rather than a surprise, & then my mother sends me whatever random things she thinks I will enjoy (& after 34 years, you best believe she's good at it).

I guess growing up how I did gives me a different attitude about used gifts.

I think the idea of buying a gift for someone that is used (maybe even noticeably) horrifies some people, but when I was a kid, I was not going to complain that a nice gift wasn't still in its packaging.

My mom worked her butt off to make Christmas lovely for us, & that included being a savvy & dedicated thrift store shopper.

So yeah, I'm not even exactly certain how to convince people "no, really, used is great!"

I also have a note at the top of my list asking people to buy secondhand/used if they wish to prevent waste.

I enjoy gifts as much as the next person, but I don't care if my gift belonged to someone else before I got it. I'm very content with used books & the like, even when they are slightly worn around the edges.

So far no one but my mother has taken me up on purchasing my gifts used, but again, that's not in my control (also it's easier to do with some things than others).

Gift-giving holidays are approaching. Here's a suggestion: if you are using an online wishlist, don't use Amazon.

I use Things To Get Me (dot com). Yes, I have to enter information myself, but it's worth it not to be directly telling people to buy from Amazon.

(& yes, Things to Get Me has an Amazon affiliate deal, but that only applies if the item is linked to Amazon)

I can't stop people if that's where they want to purchase stuff, but I'm not going to encourage it.

I'm especially excited for a giant screen since we're getting Ghidorah too.

Two giant monsters!

Skreeonk, indeed!

"How do you know you don't care about IMAX if you've never seen it?"

I'm an ornery bitch. I'm basically committed ideologically on this. I don't think movies should be exclusive experiences that require a premium format. I hate the very idea of catering a movie primarily to those with access to some kind of premium format. Gross.

But again, I have to admit that when it comes to the King of Monsters, I'd like to see him as big as possible.

I mean, come on. It's Godzilla.

Seeing a movie in IMAX for the first time today.

I usually think of IMAX as a bit of a gimmick, like, if your movie isn't great on a normal screen, I don't care what it looks like in IMAX. I'm just not really interested in "premium experiences". I don't think a movie should have to fill up your entire field of vision to be incredible to watch.

But when it's Godzilla, it's supposedly Japan's first movie shot for IMAX, & *let me repeat* it's GODZILLA, I want this experience.

Skreeonk!

But if I stop making things, the ideas stop flowing. The only way to get the ideas to come back is to start making again.

It's not just okay to make art when you don't know what you are doing & don't have any clear ideas. It is essential.

That's my personal perspective anyway. Creativity flows when you are being creative.

I used to think I couldn't visualize anything in my head, but I CAN now visualize design concepts. I still can't picture my own mother's face, but paper crafts are a different story, apparently.

I think it takes about 5 days or so for me.

5 days from "I'm going to work on making something every day whether I feel inspired/excited or not" is when my brain starts to fill with images & ideas.

If you don't have any ideas of what to make, get a blank page & start making marks. Do whatever you feel like.

It may turn out cool, but even if it doesn't, you will have woken your brain up.

If you "don't have any ideas", then do random stuff. Try things. Mess around.

Exercise your creativity.

Don't wait for inspiration. Inspire yourself.

At least for me, nothing fills my brain with artistic ideas in the same way that dedicating time to making things even when I "don't have ideas" does.

I haven't been making art as consistently, & I thought it was because my ideas had dried up.

That's backwards. My ideas dried up because I wasn't making anything.

Make stuff even when you don't feel inspired. Where do you think inspiration comes from?

Advice for anyone who wants to make art:

Make art.

I've been focused on paper quilling for a few days & new ideas for designs keep popping into my head. I close my eyes & see swirling paper.

This is what happens when I consistently do creative work. I go from having no ideas to having too many.

When I sit down & start working on something at random without knowing what I want to make or what it could look like, it gets my brain in gear, & THEN the ideas come. To make art, you gotta make art.

So if my dad is not ignoring calls from him (& I know he is not), then how could my dad be "not talking to him"?

Well, it occurs to me that maybe my parents have been in the habit of calling Bro2 to catch up & chat, & perhaps my dad is no longer doing that.

Here's the thing: my parents don't call any of the rest of us. WE call THEM when WE want to talk. That's been true at least since I went to college. They will always pick up, they'll talk as long as you want, but it's entirely on our terms.

My brother has been saying he doesn't feel supported by family, & one of the reasons he gives is "I think Dad isn't talking to me," & I've never quite gotten a straight answer on what that means, but I think maybe I've figured it out.

There's no way that my dad would not pick up the phone when my brother calls.

Bro2 is constantly teetering on the edge of crisis, & my dad is our crisis line (call Mom for chatting & catching up; call Dad if you need help NOW).

Like, my dude, queer people experience more violence because we are more vulnerable in this society.

Some of it is directly because we're queer, & some of it is because we're more likely to be in poverty & other factors like that.

Either way, we experience violence because we live in a society that makes it possible for people to commit violence against us & get away with it.

Here's another fun one: apparently (according to my ex-SIL) my brother uses the statistics about the higher level of violence that queer people experience as evidence that queer people are extremely violent to other queer people.

I suppose the assumption is that we never have contact with anyone but each other?

Conclusion: Ed Sheeran is a class traitor so fuck him very much.

Like, we see who you obey, Ed. See how much those rich fucks will still like you if you lose audiences & don't generate as much profit, though...

Big movie stars, pop stars & the like don't live in the same world as us.

They really don't. At least not without significant effort on their part.

Oligarchs want their glitz & glamor to spice up their parties & they want the biggest voices in our culture to either speak for them or at very least go silent on anything that matters.

This has always been the case, but with the deepening class divide, this becomes much more glaringly obvious. I doubt Sheeran fully understood what he was doing.