Damn That Tag Hits Too Hard

House intruders (don’t call the police)

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Adorable bat makes sounds while getting chin scritches.[source]

The thing I hate most about depression is that it tricks you into thinking you don’t have depression. It makes you think that nothing is wrong with you, that you just feel this way because you lack value as a person. Whether that’s in your relationships, your academics, or a view of yourself, it makes you think you aren’t good enough for any of that.

“It’s not the illness,” it says, “You feel this way because it’s who you are.”

Do you think Bella is a strong or a weak female protagonist?

You've hit my word vomit button/one of my pet peeves, anon, in that I utterly despise breaking down female characters by being "strong" or "weak".

Because almost always it breaks down to this idea that there's only a certain type of woman that's legitimate and, curiously enough, it's a woman who takes on traditionally male characteristics or bucks feminine trappings.

There has been a long run of female characters caring about boys, makeup, clothes, fashion, things that are "girly" are made fun of or seen as weaker or lesser.

See Lavender Brown and Parvati in Harry Potter, ruthlessly mocked in comparison to Hermione Granger our more masculine acting golden girl who cares about sensible things like her studies.

It's a lot of Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?

Where it really gets bad for me though is female characters described as weak are usually described as such for daring to be trapped in situations they cannot easily escape or having mental health issues difficult to cope with.

Cinderella is weak because she is abused by her relatives and lives in poverty and her one chance at escaping this is a dance. This is why we get modern interpretations of Cinderella where she tells us she can leave the house any time she pleases, because she's strong and independent, she just chooses not to for some reason. But the important thing is she could leave, because she's proactive!

Wendy from the film version of The Shining is weak because she's horrified at trying to hit her abusive and insane husband with a baseball bat in a truly terrifying situation.

In the case of Bella Swan, she despises herself entirely and a strong woman would never do that!

It's supposed to be empowering, but what it feels like instead is it's promoting the unintentional message that Strong Women (TM) would never get themselves into a bad situation where they feel trapped and or hopeless, they never have debilitating mental health conditions like depression or even suffer from low self-esteem.

To pull another Harry Potter reference, Dumbledore tells Harry that Merope is a weak woman, compared to his own mother Lily, for doing something as presumptuous as dying in childbirth. Because you see, only weak women do something as silly as die when having babies.

To make a long rant short: this isn't even an argument I subscribe to.

Can we please stop making scary shark movies? Sharks are pure sweet babies that don’t deserve this slander. They just have bad eyesight. Don’t be mean to them.

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

I don’t even know how or where to start…

I’ll never forget watching the series premiere of The Vampire Diaries back on September 10th, 2009 when I was just 19 years old. I’d heard about the show a few months before it aired and made sure to watch the first episode ever live on TV. And from the second the pilot ended with Elena inviting Stefan into her house with The Fray’s “Never Say Never” playing in the background, I was hooked. Obsessed. And that’s an understatement. I only had a couple hundred followers back then and most of those followers probably don’t even follow me anymore, or have forgotten my obsession with the show, but back then my blog used to be so much TVD it’s crazy. Just thinking back and even now going through my old tags from the show, I remember how much I used to love it. The Vampire Diaries was, in those days, 100% my favourite show on TV. Hands down.

I always thought Stelena was cute and I never hated on them. I get why people loved them, and their relationship was strong & sweet. But yes, I was a Delena shipper through-and-through, basically from day one. I think Damon and Elena were my first ever true “OTP”. Back then that term was so new, it was Tumblr that taught me the meaning of it, and Delena was absolutely my #1 OTP at the time.

The early seasons (1-3) of The Vampire Diaries were obviously the best, and in my opinion, iconic. There are so many epic, unforgettable moments from the earlier years that I wish I could just list off right now, like Katherine’s return to town, Caroline turning into a vampire, Delena’s first official kiss on Elena’s iconic front porch. There’s SO many more countless scenes, and I wish I could explain my love for them all.

I enjoyed Season 4 too, but I will never ever forget episode 4x15. For me, that was the turning point for the show. It was the saddest, darkest episode of television I’d ever watched at the time, and watching Elena’s house go up in flames was devastating. Who else remembers seeing the close-up shots of Elena’s converse shoes burning, and most importantly, seeing her infamous diary being destroyed by the flames? It almost felt like a series finale to me, and I think that’s where it all changed.

I started feeling a little less passionate in Seasons 5 & 6, and then when Nina left the show I just stopped watching it altogether. After she left I only downloaded the new episodes once in a while just to keep track of the general storylines, but TVD lost its magic, and I no longer felt the passion and obsession and love for it that I once did.

That being said though, it has always and will forever hold a special place in my heart. 

I don’t feel for the characters as much as I once did, and yeah that’s a little scary to me, but I guess we all grow up and we all move on. I’m 27 now, things have changed. A lot of things. It’s all in the past now, and it hurts. But no matter what, I will always, always love this show and will forever be grateful for it, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t perfect.

The series finale wasn’t the greatest, but I still am 100% satisfied with the ending overall. My general thoughts:

Damon and Elena’s reunion was anti-climactic to me, especially since they didn’t have any dialogue with one another. But I also am okay with that I think? Ian & Nina’s break-up obviously caused the show to go downhill (yeah I said it) so I didn’t necessarily need some lovey-dovey romantic speech from them. I’m not sure if it would have felt authentic enough. So I’m okay with just knowing that they ended up being ENDGAME (yaaaas) and living a long and happy life together. If this was 2010 I would have been SO passionate about them being endgame. The amount of times I discussed and debated Delena vs. Stelena back in the day, omfg. I’ve grown up and I don’t feel as passionate anymore about it, but my 20 year old self is still inside me jumping up and down that my ship was endgame (sorry haters). 

I feel like Katherine didn’t get enough air-time, her story and presence in the last episode felt more forced and rushed rather than cathartic, but I’m still just happy that I got to see her fierce crazy bitch ass one last time. (Even though I kind of always wanted her to end up with Stefan tbh…) 

Stefan dying was predictable but so depressing. Although tbh seeing him reunited in the afterlife with his bestie Lexi made everything okay.

Seeing that letter from Klaus to Caroline made me smile so fucking hard. I still ship it and I hope to god she eventually ends up on The Originals.

Bonnie Bennett is QUEEN of everything and all that matters is that she saved the day and got to live a long, happy life after all the bullshit the poor girl had to go through all these years. I’m so happy she’s safe and sound.

I loved how they incorporated the “ghosts” of all the characters who’ve died, it gave me so many feelings, especially seeing Sheriff Forbes.

The fact that at the end of his long life with Elena, Damon found his way back to Stefan in the afterlife makes me feel so happy and satisfied. But NOTHING compares to the happiness I felt seeing Elena turn towards her old house, to that iconic front porch, and her being reunited with Jenna and her parents. That’s honestly all I could have ever hoped for and more for the ending to this show.

I don’t think I can ever truly explain the love and passion I used to feel for The Vampire Diaries. It may sound stupid to a lot of people, but it meant so much to me and I’m not embarrassed to say it. It breaks my heart that I’ll never get the good old days back again. But I’ll never forget it, ever.

Thank you, The Vampire Diaries, for a bumpy but amazing ride. It’s been epic ;)

An aro princess who gets a spell put on her that can only be broken by true loves first kiss so she just spends the rest of her life turning into a fuckin dragon at night there are no downsides to this fairytale they all live happily ever after the end motherfuckers

Thanks for answering! 🥰

Yeah I think I would agree with that!

I've wanted to ask this for weeks and forgot time and time again, but after the ask about fire and now the one with the twins getting hurt I finally have to get it out:

Do you think the twins reactions to fire are different from each other? Does one hate it more? After your post about which one is more evil (which I still absolutely LOVE by the way) would maybe Jane for example get next to fire if Aro orders it, reluctantly probably, but she would do it, and Alec is refusing it completly? Does Jane maybe react more to the sight of fire and Alec hates the smell more?

Oooooo I love this!

See the thing is, there gifts manifested basically on what they wanted in that moment right? Jane was furious, she wanted to cause pain. For her, fire and flame are akin to fury, and she has plenty of it. She can be around fire quite easily given how its used to turn the enemies of her coven to ash. The only time she panics is when she is forced to be near fire. The heat emnating from the flames is too much for her and she will completely meltdown.

Alec is the one who completely wanted to be numb to it all, to forget it was happening. He cannot stand anything to do with fire, though he can somewhat control his reactions. Those who know him well will see the way be stiffens at the smell of smoke, see the way his nostrils flare and he hisses quietly when he sees it engulf a person. Enemy or no, he doesn't wish this fate on anyone. He adamantly refuses to be near fire. You'll see when Irina dies in breaking dawn, he remains on Demetri's left hand side, always keeping someone he trusts between him and the flames.

Sadly, I have been cut off from access to Breaking Dawn for the next few days so can’t find the bracelet mention yet, but I shall endeavour to find you it when I can! Your reaching out over it was very appreciated, thank you!

The final section of the book reads fastest (side characters galore! But sad Carlisle is a sad sight to see). Bella does a lot of standing around not saying much which in that bit works as we see lots of other characters interacting among themselves with minimal interference (for all that I’m shocked Bella is content to mostly watch, they must all have fascinating things to say even if they’re all serial murderers).

no worries! Its not urgent, was just thinking about this for a while and so your ask was very fitting

Honestly its in character for Bella, she at last didnt ask the Cullens stuff either...jejj sparkly husband, sparkly me and perfect daughter!