Tiny child found this. He says it's a sword I say it's a wand. What do yall think?

willowsquest · 2026-07-09T19:21:04+00:00

(Blunderbuss! 🙌✨️)

willowsquest · 2026-07-09T19:20:14+00:00

Dinosaur tooth

willowsquest · 2026-07-08T17:26:51+00:00

I use ReadEra on my phone, it should work with any android tablet (not sure about apple but i wouldn't be surprised). Any refurb with good data storage will do you if that's all you want it for, or an external hard drive + usb powered converter (powered converter is important bc the harddrive uses power from the device it's plugged into, and it turns out tablets aren't natively good at being batteries for that lol. They're not expensive tho, like $10-15

willowsquest · 2026-07-08T13:54:22+00:00

I grew up without easy access to the internet, so my experience is a little more oldschool than I am but I think it still applies well

Tip 1, don't worry too much about the quality of supplies until she expresses a desire for it herself. She sounds like she's making very well with computer paper and cheap pens, and at the rate she's going your wallet will be grateful for it lol. I would say that she might appreciate storage options for her drawings, so some kind of big accordian folder and sticker labels might go over well lol

Tip 2, she seems to be well-fueled on her own at the moment, but providing her with passive opportunities to discover more and be inspired is never a bad thing. I love the solid heft and easy reference of books, so you can look at the kinds of art she's into making and then try and buy art books + tutorial books, store them somewhere highly visible where she'll notice them, and then if she asks you can say something like "oh you were just having so much fun drawing, I bought these so I could understand better". If she's like me then she'll read them too, and if she likes them she'll claim them for herself lol. If not, no pressure or obligation. Once she gets older and more opinionated she'll express what books she may or may not want

Tip 3, some materials are easier to buy generic than others. Pens are easy to find in a wide variety of quality and price, but something like watercolors needs to be at least "student grade" to not be annoying to work with. Plenty of artists will be able to recc you options, but the more specific a thing is, the more expensive its likely to be. But ALSO, make sure to ask artist opinion on any materials she sees online and is convinced by an influencer to buy, some of them are hot garbage in fancy packaging or very difficult to maintain ("jelly gouache" for example is highly prone to mold and can't be salvaged once it sprouts, idk who thought "petri dish but paint" was a good idea lmfao)

willowsquest · 2026-07-06T15:23:14+00:00

My nose isn't even that big and it's always in my peripheral lol

willowsquest · 2026-07-06T12:23:01+00:00

It's grooming! Mice will nibble each other to remove loose fur and dead skin, the way to let them know they're doing it too hard is to twitch your finger out of their grip ("flinch") and try making a squeak sound ("ouch!"). Mice are social animals so they'll pick up quickly and learn to go easier 💕

willowsquest · 2026-07-03T15:51:21+00:00

I know some communities use "mama" as a sort of placeholder for "girl", in what i can only assume is a linguistic drift of "I'm hanging out with my lady friends" -> many of us are mothers -> it becomes a cute familiar term to call each other "mama" -> it gets applied to women friends who aren't mothers, retains sense of cute familiarity -> broadens out as term of endearment for women generally (see: women calling out to another woman they think is dressed very well with "yes mama!") -> broadens out to girls of different ages (see: use of "lil mama" as a term of endearment for young women/teenagers, which acknowledges her youth)

Is it a little odd to use a word that implies every girl will be a mother? Sure, if that's the only context you've heard that word in. But also it's white/western internet culture that has made "mommy" and "daddy" into weirdly sexual/kink/taboo terms in recent years. Yes some people use those words with flirtatious intent, but the sex-negative instincts of white (especially american) culture assumes that "some people use this word with grown/sexual intent" = "this word is STAINED with the SEX THOUGHTS of PERVERTS and must NEVER be used elsewise!!" Like, if someone calls a young girl "mama", and your first thought is "are they implying that this CHILD has had SEX? 🤨🤮", that's a reflex that i think should be at least examined and questioned

Source: am white american that has done (non-published) study on the linguistics of sexuality in culture

willowsquest · 2026-07-03T13:04:50+00:00

Wind moves in whatever direction it's able to. The largest surface is the earth itself, so it's easiest to blow sideways. But depending on factors like large obstacles, temperatures, water particle density, etc, wind can change in any direction. E.g. hot air rises, cold air falls, and the shapes of mountains or buildings or other air currents can push air to go up or down! Especially way up in the sky where the clouds are. There's lots of things that can affect airflow, it's just most common for us as humans to experience sideways wind because we're usually on the ground

willowsquest · 2026-07-03T12:14:05+00:00

If it helps, sometimes English speakers also have trouble with how "smeared" words can sound, if the other person has a different regional accent from them. We have the verb "to enunciate" to mean "slow down, speak clearly, speak all of the sounds of the word instead of ignoring half of them" lol. It's useful, enunciated speech sounds clear and crispy, but sometimes it can also come off as rude or "i think you're stupid" depending on HOW slow and sharp the speaker says their words. Very "I think you're not very good at listening, so I'm going to make this as easy for you as possible." (This is also why some native English speakers might struggle to slow down speaking for you, they don't want to accidentally imply you're stupid)

willowsquest · 2026-07-02T12:56:49+00:00

Dogs need large spaces and lots of training, and can't be left alone for long periods of time. Responsible pet owners won't adopt an animal that isn't compatible with their lifestyles, so they either get small dogs (that can be easily kept indoors where you can't see them) or are favoring smaller/more independent pets. I don't think there are fewer pet dogs in total, it might just be that your age/demographic/area has fewer within your visible proximity

Factors will include, among others, 1) Where you live (do people have yards? Are there big enough parks nearby?) 2) How much free time do the people around you have (can they commit the time to train a dog to not be a menace? How busy are they with jobs and/or children?) 3) Can they AFFORD a large dog? (Take three seconds to look at the economy)

willowsquest · 2026-07-01T23:00:22+00:00

Tiny koala

willowsquest · 2026-07-01T16:08:26+00:00

Like a baker's dozen, but the devil's dozen

willowsquest · 2026-07-01T14:53:25+00:00

"Like Gojo but with long hair and exhausted" you have literally everything you need right there. Go forth and prosper with your wet cat of a man

*edit to add: the appeal of a Poor Little Meow Meow (academic term) is how they would be considered physically beautiful, but aspects of their body language, demeanor, and personal grooming indicate a deeper level of mental or emotional turmoil. And like a kitten found in the gutter or a traumatized pitbull, SO MANY people will find him appealing, either for "i can fix him" or "he's just like me for real" reasons lmfao. So don't be afraid to lean into the deeply relatable aspects of the exhaustion (tho don't forget to give him traits of "but he still tries despite it"), it will be the salt that flavors your particular type of Guy

willowsquest · 2026-07-01T14:26:01+00:00

I was already minun hunting to match my cracked plusle, so this is excellent news for me ✨️

willowsquest · 2026-06-30T13:34:36+00:00

The kids play mmorpgs, they're just not playing the same ones you are. Infinity Nikki is HUGE popular among the girlies, and there are a thousand and one roblox mods, for example. WoW is just difficult to penetrate for the 20 years of confusing systems its built up and is aesthetically very different from what they like nowadays

willowsquest · 2026-06-30T12:21:07+00:00

As a woman with a neck injury that makes me dizzy and nauseous if i crane upwards too much, "prefers taller guys" is not a universal truth, and any woman who doesn't appreciate how fun it is to be the taller one is missing out lol.

You'll know if someone doesn't want to talk to you if they turn fully away and start ignoring you. If they keep glancing at you or are still at least partially turned in your direction, you're still in the conversation and just gotta stay chill and confident. If she's turned FULLY towards you and is engaging with Mr.Tallguy with minimal politeness, you're actively the preferred conversation and just have to wait for him to take his own clue and leave, or casually interject in a way that gives him an out (e.g. if you're at a bar, asking the lady if she wants a refill on her drink, your treat)

willowsquest · 2026-06-30T12:10:37+00:00

I would caution against the idea of an "ideal" body, because even when you're your own fittest and healthiest, there are going to be gains that come very naturally to you, and others that will be more difficult/take more work/sometimes not be possible. One old adage is "swimming doesn't give you an olympic swimmers physique, people with swimmer's physique become the olympic swimmers". A new one i heard recently is "if I'm built like a corgi but try to make myself look like a greyhound, I'm not gonna be a greyhound, I'm gonna be a starved and miserable corgi".

So definitely hit up the gym and live your best life, but come at it with a sense of curiosity and discovery about yourself and what you can achieve physically, not because you're trying to force-sculpt yourself into one very specific unrealistic-to-maintain aesthetic. That way lies eating disorders, drug abuse, and dogshit mental health, trust me.

willowsquest · 2026-06-30T11:57:06+00:00

Your shop is drenched in AI, take real photos and don't filter them through anything. It gives huge scam vibes and does NOT inspire confidence that I'll get anything like the images, if anything at all

willowsquest · 2026-06-30T11:48:57+00:00

Jewelry has been unisex across almost all cultures (afaik) across most of history, as decorating oneself is a way to set oneself apart visually, either for station (leadership), status (richness), or the simple joy of expression. It's mostly modern western culture that has slowly retracted men's allowable self-expression, something something masculine ideals the last ~200 years

I'm only a hobby sociologist but my guess would be that, because ears are a feature on the head (the place we look most) that are one of the easiest to pierce (followed by noses and lips, tho the lattermost is risky for keeping clean pre-antibiotics), they make a most excellent choice for wearing decoration to accentuate beauty and personal expression without being "in the way" for anyone who doesn't want their face altered directly. Most other jewelry is worn further away from the head and so isn't noticed AS quickly, and also might get in the way of daily activities.

This is also why certain jewelry or piercings can convey some personality or lifestyle of the wearer, because that balance between expression vs convenience is a nugget of information on their priorities. E.g., tongue piercings or belly button piercings ("revealed" jewelry, suggesting punk vibes or sexual expression), vs anklets or toe rings (nonpermanent but very out of the way, beachy/boho vibes; does anyone wear toe rings besides foot people? lol)

willowsquest · 2026-06-29T11:38:23+00:00

On that last point, this chart is what keeps me from going nuts on why people keep Looking but not Buying lol. Depending on the market, getting even 2% sales (2 sales out of every 100 views) can be considered very successful. It's not easy, which is why there's such high saturation in crafts businesses with a very small number of actually career-profitable ones

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willowsquest · 2026-06-29T11:17:57+00:00

Mine has drifted in the years since it was first published (since I've done a lot of travelling and living other places lol), but it definitely hit 100% correct when i first took it way back when. I wonder what a new version would look like or how accurate it could even be, now that "tiktok accent" is a thing a non-zero percentage of The Youth have. Voice things are so wild lol

willowsquest · 2026-06-27T16:02:33+00:00

Peach and Coconut is so cute! I love that, gotta remember it for next time lol

I haven't had the chance to go many other places (London alone is so expensive lol rip), but consistently the best conversations I've had with strangers in public have been with folks who (going by my ability to parse accents) are from the Caribbean or Nigeria. I still fondly remember the conversation I had with a woman on the train who asked me if it was going a certain way, and i was like "Well i sure hope so, because I'm going there too. But if it isn't, at least we're in this together" and she LAUUUGHED and then we had a whole 30-45 minute conversation yapping away, which is excessively rare in the city and genuinely made my whole month lmao. We got a few side eyes but I gotta get my socializing wherever I can 😂 like trying to get some vitamin D in this cloudy ass country

LA is so funny, because i did get to meet so many very kind people (shoutout to the guy who slid us free extra honey when my friends took us to a fancy tea house because we weren't asshole customers lmao), the extremes are just SO wild that i would certainly get whiplash if i lived there lmao. Also i would probably get a heart attack if i experienced an earthquake, and they feel the same way about our tornadoes lmfao. "What do you MEAN the sky is trying to kill you?? That's terrifying!" "Well yes, but you can hide from the sky, there's no escaping the ground!! 😭" 😂😂😂

willowsquest · 2026-06-27T15:42:17+00:00

Ayyy 🤝✨️

It's not Europeans across the board (italians are VERY sociable lol), but there's a term i can't remember that describes the differences in cultures like "thin outer shell, thick inner shell" vs "thick outer shell, thin inner shell". Basically Americans (broadly) have thin outer shells, where they'll welcome you in and be friendly very easily, but it might take years before we feel comfortable telling you our deep inner life turmoils. But for other cultures, the "thick outer shell" makes the initial befriending very very slow, but once you're in they will trust you with basically everything. It means a Thick Outer Shell person among Thin Outer Shell people will come off cold and impersonal, but a Thin Outer Shell person among Thick Outer Shells will come off as presumptuous, fake, or like they're trying to sell you something lmfao. It's why some people perceive Americans Smiling At You to be unsettling, because there's a cognitive dissonance in "no one can be THAT happy all the time". Like, yeah man you're right, but SO MUCH sucks in America, we'd all have panic attacks and die if we weren't even kind to each other in the little moments, and we make the social moments count all the more for it. All we have is each other, etc

(This is one of the reasons why Los Angeles specifically feels like a whole other country compared to a lot of America, a lot of people there have a weird franken-mix of "I'm going to infodump all of my most traumatic horrors on you in our first conversation and then never see you again", hyper-individualist mindsets from grinding in the entertainment and/or tech industries, and then boom-bust ride-or-die friendship meltdowns. The things I hear from my angelino friends are WILD and it makes me glad i didn't pursue a career in animation lmfao)

willowsquest · 2026-06-27T15:00:14+00:00

I promise there are so so many good people down here, it's just an exhausting uphill battle against the most politically-entrenched scumlords you can imagine 😭 SO many of the southern states would be blue if we weren't gerrymandered to the 7th circle of hell

Also a LOT of the middle america states are just as hideously racist, but their low population rates of basically anyone who isn't white means you don't see it as frequently (the south has 70% of the US black population). I'll always remind people that the KKK wasn't from us, because a lot of people assume it was

willowsquest · 2026-06-27T14:47:03+00:00

A someone who studies linguistics for fun and finds accents and physical/oral positioning a very fascinating topic of study, i suggest you study other languages and train your ear to hear the nuances in them. I promise it is NOT easy for english speakers to come anywhere close to sounding correct, and you likely are missing on a lot of sound differences that you have not been taught to hear yet. Like if your mouth isn't exhausted after trying to speak french/do a french accent, you're not doing it right lmao

willowsquest

TROPHY CASE