I love getting unaccompanied minors (kids flying alone) who so clearly just. Don’t want to be here lol. Sometimes I get to know a little of their story, like their parents are divorced, or a family member died and they’re heading to the funeral, but usually they just don’t want to talk about it and that’s fine. But I always treat the flight like it’s a challenge to make them smile. I offer them snacks and soda but that’s never enough, that’s whatever, they could get those from an airport vending machine. Chump change. So then I tell the worst jokes. Just the most embarrassing, kindergarten teacher, annoying dad jokes you can think of. And those always get a groan, or a “Seriously??” And that’s my in! Now I can say “Why, what’s your idea of a good joke? No, come on hotshot, make your best joke, let’s see it.” And they hem and they haw but of course they eventually tell me their very best joke because kids are little competitive comedy goldmines. And it’s always super funny, so I laugh, and that’s where they slip up. Because you know what you almost always do when your joke successfully makes someone laugh? You smile. And I’m like. Gotcha. Rookie move. Now you’re going to end up having a good time in spite of yourself. I win.
Did this with an 11yo u.m. today and he said “What did the ghost say to the other ghost?” And I said “What?” “Nothing. Ghosts aren’t real.”
I’m literally a flight attendant, offering snacks and drinks is my job
Some people on this website learnt the word “trope” and let it settle comfortably into the vocabulary space that should have been occupied by the word “cliché”.
“Trope” is a neutral word. If a particular trope is overused ad nauseam, it becomes a cliché. Saying you hate tropes does not make any sense.
“I hate recurring themes and motifs”
Well, good luck finding fictional content you can safely consume
You can hate particular tropes. You can be violently opposed to reading any YA book where the female protagonist has to choose between a Mysterious Bad Boy and Her Childhood Friend, you can avoid Enemies To Lovers like the plague.
But looking for a work of literature without tropes is like looking for a food recipe without ingredients.
trans guy 1: dude how did you grow an adam’s apple
trans guy 2: sheer force of will
this was from my freshman year of college, shortly after I came out, when someone sent me to hang out with these two (somehwat) older trans guys to show me that it was gonna be okay
one of them told me about how he got his gender marker changed before it was technically allowed. what he did was he waited until he grew a beard, and then he walked into the dmv and pointed at the f on his liscense and said “there’s been a mistake” and they were like “oh sorry about that sir”
He wasn’t born with them, but that didn’t stop this mad lad from having balls of steel
I recently came out to my mother's side of the family who are majority conservative christians and it went much better than I expected. Like, they were weirdly supportive. I only got one comment insinuating that I might possibly be going to hell but it came from my aunt and she's dying soon anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyway, I'm telling them how shocked I am and that I honestly thought that they'd have more of a problem with it when my grandma is like "Well you know we've been through this before with your uncle Nicky" and I'm like "what" and so it turns out that my uncle Nick was born a Natalie, came out as a boy at 19, and my great grandma proceeded to pay for his top surgery and hormone therapy. In 1974. And I just had to process for a bit because my entire life no one has referred to him as anything other than he/him and his chosen name. I ask why no one ever thought to mention this and they're just like "tbh we forgot. It's been so long that he's been a man" This man is married. He has a wife and three kids. I ask my relatives how they went about having kids, whether through adoption or sperm donor or what and none of them know. Apparently he just told everyone that they were gonna be parents and then one day showed up at my grandma's house with a baby. No questions were asked. Just. He and his wife had a baby now and that was that. Three times. Weeks later when I finally talk to my aunt Sarah (Nick's wife) all she tells me is that neither of them have ever been pregnant and, I quote, "sometimes you just come into children". She phrased it like people use the phrase "come into money". Like children are something that just happens to you. I ask my relatives if any of them had a problem with Nick being trans at the time, saying I'd understand if they had negative feelings about it, as it was the 1970s after all. They were like "nope" and i was just like "you didn't think anything of it?" And my grandfather was like "these things happen" while the other adults nodded sagely. So I guess the moral here is that if my conservative christian relatives could accept my uncle as trans in the 1970s then there really isn't any excuse for anyone. And also my family needs to ask more questions because I'm fairly sure my aunt and uncle stole their kids.
I’m laughing my ass off at that last sentence- But I’m so glad your coming out went well! That’s one heck of a way to find out you have LGBT relatives.
100 good questions to ask your friends at 4:02 am when you can’t sleep (can also function as an asks list)
Are you bothered by your cosmic insignificance?
Do you mourn for a place or person you’ve never known?
Do you really think there is somebody for everybody?
Do you place any value in gender roles?
Do you have to be related to be family?
Are your platonic relationships just as valuable as romantic or family ones?
Are you in love? Do you want to be?
Do you think you can put love into categories (family, platonic, romantic, etc.) or is it just one general sensation?
Would you be happy with a life without romance?
Are you always going to be a little in love with somebody?
Would you change your appearance if you could?
Do you have the feeling you’ve lost something you might have had in another life - whether it be a person, a place, a world, a language, etc.?
Do you believe in reincarnation?
Would you want to be reincarnated?
Do you think you’re special, or just another person amongst billions? Can you be both?
Do theoretical ethical debates have any value? Is it important people discuss ethical dilemmas, e.g. the trolley problem?
Did you have imaginary friends? Do you still have them?
Are you religious? Do you think your religion is ‘correct’?
If you aren’t religious, do you wish you were? Why?
Do you want a grand adventure?
Do you have somebody, whether it be a friend or stranger, who you think you could have loved if the circumstances were different?
How long does it take you to fall in love with somebody?Is the sensation of ‘falling in love’ or ‘being in love’ better?
Is love about convenience or something more? Can it be about both?
Do you think you really understand your gender and sexuality?
How fluid is your concept of gender and sexuality?
What’s the most life-changing choice you’ve made so far?
Are you afraid of growing old?
Would you want to live forever? How about for a billion years, a million, a millennium, a century?
Do you believe in some form of god/s?
Are your choices fated or of your own free will?
Do you have a hunch about how you’re going to die?
Do you believe in star signs?
How old do you have to be to be considered an adult?
Was your childhood happy?
What are you missing from your life?
Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along?
Do opposites attract?
Is your life what you expected it would be five years ago?
Do you know what you want out of life?
What makes a person ‘good’? Are you a ‘good person’?
What fundamentally matters do you?
Is freewill an illusion?
Do you create art? How do you define art?
How often do you lie? Is all lying inherently bad? Are you generally truthful?
Do you want to be remembered after your death? What for?
Is true world peace ever possible?
Do you have to suffer to truly understand the human condition? What is the human condition? How can you really experience it?
Are you free? Will you ever be? Can anyone be truly free?
Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others?
What do you expect from a friend or partner?
What question could you ask to find out the most about a person?
Do you justify all your beliefs or have you just inherited/absorbed some?
Which beliefs do you have that is most likely to be wrong?
Can human really understand the complete nature of the universe, space and time?
Is a conscious what makes someone a person?
What do you think about artificial intelligence?
Do you thinks humans are obsessed with escapism (books, video games, movies, etc.)? Are you looking for an escape? Do you think that’s a bad thing?
Are we eventually going to ‘run out’ of new combinations for music, art, language, etc.? Is there a limit to human creativity?
What do you think the next era of music will be like?
What do you think the next era of fashion will be like?
Do we live in tumultuous times, or do they just seem so strange because we’re living in them?
Would you want to meet a clone of yourself? Would you like them?
How confident are you, really?
How consistent is your perception of time?
What age should people be allowed to vote? Should children and teenagers be allowed to vote?
How do you feel about the idea ‘an eye for an eye’?
What’s the worse thing a person can be?
How do you feel about monogamy?
Can you be in love with someone and still fall in love with someone else?
What’s the tragedy of your life?
Would your life make a good play?
Should people be prosecuted for crimes that weren’t considered crimes at the time?
Would you fight for your country? Do you feel a sense of loyalty to your nation?
Do you believe in gender equality in every aspect?
Do we have a moral obligation to care for others? To what extent?
Do you crave approval and/or praise?
Is there comedy in all tragedy and tragedy in all comedy?
Are you ever going to be satisfied?
When you are sad, do you listen to music that conveys your emotions or music that makes you happy?
Is your music organised by mood or sensation or do you just listen to everything at any time?
Would you marry a friend if they needed you to (e.g. for citizenship)?
Are you a deep person?
Given the chance to live your life on Mars, with no hope of returning to Earth but with the promise of scientific discovery and glory, would you take it?
Are you who people think you are?
Do you think you would be happier if you had been born a different gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality or religion?
What’s your toxic trait? Are you trying to improve yourself and fix it?
Do you anger easily?
Are you a jealous person?
If you lost all your memories, would you have the same personality?
Given the chance to reset your life (with none of the knowledge you currently have), would you take it?
Is hate as strong as love? Who do you hate?
Do you speak multiple languages? Which do you dream in? What language would you want to learn?
Do you draw meaning from your dreams, or do you disregard them?
How would you describe yourself when you love? Do you love forcefully, unconditionally, gently, quietly, desperately?
Is unrequited love real love?
Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you?
Are you overly analytical?
Do you ever feel that you are really a terrible person, and only act good out of societal or some other obligation?
Do you believe in magic? Are you superstitious?
What belief do you have that isn’t logically grounded, but you still firmly believe in?
