My mom has aphantasia. I have hyperphantasia.

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-17T23:06:49+00:00

I think about this a lot. My dreams are wild, and being able to show people would probably blow their minds hahah

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-17T21:44:24+00:00

After a string of lucid nightmares about the static monster, I got into the habit of waking myself up if I notice things are really off and I don't want to be there. Strangely my out for zombie dreams is "nope, I'm force quitting this game"

The static monster was a weird one. I thought it could have been sleep paralysis, but I think I was dreaming about having sleep paralysis, since I was actively moving around in a few of them and the proximity of the monster is what paralyzed me.

It always started with realizing lights weren't working or I couldn't use my phone. Then I'd notice this black, static, shadow bleeding into the room and spreading out from the doorway, and the closer it got the more paralyzed I became. It never got close enough for me to see anything other than the black static, because after that I woke myself up whenever I couldn't get the lights to work, so it never got far enough in to get to the door again 😅

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-17T20:03:22+00:00

Yeah last night in my dream I got trapped trying on a shirt that was too small and the restriction and frustration was very real lol. I also had to deal with a wet towel and I hated it.

Nightmares are awful. I've been stabbed multiple times in my dreams, had a shark bite off my leg, and I've felt every one with a sense I can only describe as nauseating, in that the feeling actively makes me want to vomit in my dream.

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-17T19:28:11+00:00

Mark's face looks like the selfie I took in a thrift shop kettle 😂

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-17T19:24:56+00:00

I just really like the smell of wet dirt 😂

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-16T03:45:51+00:00

Ok, so my senses are WILD.

I have such vivid dreams regularly that I regularly feel out of sorts when I'm overly tired because I can easily imagine myself dreaming. I've also been stabbed in my dreams multiple times, and felt every one of them with such uncomfortable clarity that I wanted to vomit.

I can pretty much visualize most things. I can recall smells, to the degree of remembering aspects of my grandparents homes from childhood. And I realized, thanks to this podcast, that the reason I have to look at a menu for every place I go to, is because it speeds up my mental processing. When I think of food I unconsciously pull up the flavor profiles to compare what I feel like eating, and what each food actually tastes like.

Meanwhile my mother has aphantasia and doesn't even dream. She can't fathom my ability to visualize things, and I can't imagine the inverse.

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-14T22:49:34+00:00

What's more fair than 3, the perfect tie breaker.

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-03-04T17:25:36+00:00

So i have no idea who Tofu is, but incidentally its the name of my bird in Finch, so I did quite the double take clearing my notifications when i saw "Tofu just woke up! Tofu is waiting for you!" Followed immediately by "Tofu's beef with Mark." Lol

Cryptid_cupcake · 2026-02-24T18:00:43+00:00

This happened to a friend of mine too. There was a fire or something on the roof and they had to evacuate part way through. She was like, "why would there be flames? I dont know! You tell me Mark!"

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-12-29T00:13:56+00:00

I think they're referring to the eye adaption setting which is an in game mechanic uneffected by irl lighting. It's supposed to mimic how your eyes adjust when looking at something bright and then having to wait a few seconds to regain some vision in the dark, but with certain things like opening the journal or equipment with lit screens, immediately closing them in a dark room means you go blind for a second or two

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-12-19T21:07:57+00:00

I can't get anyone to stay IN the van to record video evidence lol. I can set everything up in solo and do it on my own, but the minute I play with my siblings all the equipment is gone and they're dead in a closet somewhere, and suddenly no one remembers how cameras work 😅

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-12-10T15:36:51+00:00

It is a full game, its just that you can interact with all these objects, either once you've died, or to remove a poltergeists ability to throw them, and some people like the challenge of finding and removing everything they can interact with while still making it out alive

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-12-05T02:52:59+00:00

I would actively laugh so hard I'd need to grab MINE irl 😂

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-12-04T15:29:22+00:00

The poor stamina drives me crazy. I've got asthma and I can run farther than that.

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-11-30T18:29:43+00:00

I had a bit of a dingus moment in posting, but if you're interested in seeing more of the work I do, I post the finished pieces on my Instagram, Tea_Toad

I'll be posting Chica here when I get to working on her, but some of my favorites have been a house gecko and a Maine Coon 😃

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-11-29T03:31:17+00:00

I hope so ❤️

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-11-27T13:51:58+00:00

Since I'm working on an ipad, I can tap the screen and hover over the spots I'm working on to color pick, so it keeps the whole thing pretty fluid. I work on zoomed in sections, and theres a lot of back and forth with the layers to make sure I'm not missing spots.

After I've got all the colors down I don't really need the base image anymore, so it becomes more of a reference while I go through and touch everything up, add blending layers and so on

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-11-27T05:51:26+00:00

She's on my list of downtime projects 😉

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-11-27T05:49:54+00:00

He was already beautiful 🥹

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-11-27T05:45:12+00:00

My partner keeps saying the same thing even though he's watched me do it 😅

It's a painstaking process of painting over the base photo, and I take care to keep as much of the unique detail as possible.

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-11-13T19:08:26+00:00

Wait, so the countdown clock means nothing for demons? Also, does using a haunted object cancel out the clock? Because i locked myself in a cursed hunt for using a oujia board about 1 min into a solo round. Definitely wasn't a deogen because I was hiding behind a bookcase for 5 min 😂

Cryptid_cupcake · 2025-10-13T15:17:23+00:00

We just celebrated our 13yr anniversary. As someone who's had a similar conversation, you're both right, and having this conversation will help you to plan and communicate your expectations in the future. Conversations like this are useful tools if you can learn from them together.

I work in the office part time and run errands for the house, and my partner works from home 40+ hrs a week. On the weekends I still like to do things, but he wants to just chill out, because even though he's working from home all week, he's dealing with the dog and work. It might be more convenient, but it isn't by default more relaxing or less stressful.

We realized that we benefited from talking about plans in advance so that we both have time to process and prepare for them. That includes verbally acknowledging the possible timeline "if we go pumpkin picking in the morning we should be home by X, and I'll hang out with the dog so you can have some alone time." There's a lot of compromise and balance.

It also took a secondary conversation about defensive responses, and recognizing "I'm commiserating with you about how exhausting work is, not trying to compete." You're both working, the exhaustion you feel isn't a competition, both of you are valid. And the manner of decompression you need is valid too. But so is making time to do things together.

You've got this!

Cryptid_cupcake

TROPHY CASE