DefiantBidet

Schlimazel v Schlemiel oh my

48 here... i used to be able to read the freaking copyright date on those eye charts ... once i hit mid 40s i need glasses.

I print figurines, busts, and diorama scenery for my son and I to paint. Sure I've got my share of functional prints but most my print time is spent so I can spend creative time with my son. So very much worth it for me.

Yes, but do you have a flag?

Ever since YouTube started this nonsense I moved to invidious and haven't looked back

Wait till they find out which 2 countries tax expats (Russia and US).... Leaving is still gonna cost ya.

Cnotbush streams himself sculpting clay figures and statues daily on twitch

Ace of Clay, Dr Garuda, Art Chong, North of the Border, Sculpture Geek, etc all post sculpting vids on YouTube.

Some use a polymer clay you bake to harden, some use plasticine based clay that never dries. Depends on the artists preference and needs.

When I was in high school - ages ago - one of the substitute teachers of my art class was sanding/polishing their marble bust they were working on. It was neat to see the process but it's really just a lot of wet sanding once past large removal / chipping.

The shadow acts as the wedding band. Accepted.

Dune books are great if you're more into the political landscape and how that affects the characters over action.

The 80s movie is great if you like shitty over ambitious directing with enough voice overs to last you a lifetime. Oh and Sting.

The new movies were more aligned with the story of the books not exact but more true to the stroy. Better than the David Lynch variant for sure. These movies and the 90s/2000s? Miniseries are the video adaptations that are not really Bad - imo

Eta: there's a George R. R. Martin quote about what inspired A Song of Ice and Fire - he is talking about Tolkien and the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series... He mentioned how he was more interested in the politics after the war. Where did the orcs go etc... This is kinda the vein of Dune imo. The main character is Arrakhis IMHO. The stroy is one of politics.

That thing is me of the year again? The pre summer, heat is here, hurricanes aren't yet but Texas wants to secede time of year that stops once a cat4 pops up?

OK this is gonna be a long one. And it's not even mine. The original point of what I'm about to post was about losing loved ones to death, but in my lowest parts of dealing with my divorce I found these words very helpful. One of the few good things to come out of reddit. Credit to reddit user GSnow. Here goes.

Alright, here goes. I'm old. What that means is that I've survived (so far) and a lot of people I've known and loved did not. I've lost friends, best friends, acquaintances, co-workers, grandparents, mom, relatives, teachers, mentors, students, neighbors, and a host of other folks. I have no children, and I can't imagine the pain it must be to lose a child. But here's my two cents.

I wish I could say you get used to people dying. I never did. I don't want to. It tears a hole through me whenever somebody I love dies, no matter the circumstances. But I don't want it to "not matter". I don't want it to be something that just passes. My scars are a testament to the love and the relationship that I had for and with that person. And if the scar is deep, so was the love. So be it. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are a testament that I can love deeply and live deeply and be cut, or even gouged, and that I can heal and continue to live and continue to love. And the scar tissue is stronger than the original flesh ever was. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are only ugly to people who can't see.

As for grief, you'll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you're drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it's some physical thing. Maybe it's a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it's a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.

In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don't even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you'll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what's going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything...and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.

Somewhere down the line, and it's different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O'Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you'll come out.

Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don't really want them to. But you learn that you'll survive them. And other waves will come. And you'll survive them too. If you're lucky, you'll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks.

• /u/GSnow