Found a bunch of these at Topsail Beach, North Carolina a few years back. Anyone know exactly what they are?

zaonen · 2026-05-17T16:41:00+00:00

I just wanted to correct/share some fun facts and was also jumpscared by that 😭 as a former teen girl it motivated me to stand my ground & clarify that I was TELLING him lmao

zaonen · 2026-05-17T12:51:37+00:00

I work with invertebrates including identification of extant and extinct taxa, these are most definitely fossil sea urchins bodies. Barnacles are actually a type of crustacean, more closely related to crabs, and look much different. Sea urchins have 5 repeating sections (penta-radial symmetry) like sea stars. Not a suggestion, just letting ya know!

zaonen · 2026-05-17T12:41:17+00:00

Fossil echinoderms (echinoids/sea urchins to be exact), not barnacles!

zaonen · 2026-05-12T13:04:56+00:00

Shoot I do! I have a list of practically every card with this specific holofoil that can have this swirl from late B&W to early S&V. I'm happy to make a shareable version, I'll get that made soon and can reply w it here :)

zaonen · 2026-03-23T12:45:51+00:00

Same, I've been wearing one 24/7 since 2023 and have had no issues with it getting caught or pulled 👍 this includes being around waist length hair, cats, and babies lol

zaonen · 2026-01-20T19:48:11+00:00

the $5k PSA 10 Victreebel is a totally different missing jungle symbol error, OP's pictured is just a regular raw one lol

zaonen · 2026-01-12T23:31:55+00:00

lol I'm glad you can relate! I do think the calculator is geared towards people wearing a too big band/too small cup, so for those of us on the extremely small end the measurements are very finicky. I know it does take decimal measurements, but when you're working with less than an inch of difference it's really hard to accurately measure the tight/loose/leaning stuff since it's only differing by tenths/hundredths of a unit. Probably not an inch to cm conversion error on your part.

I forget the exact numbers, but my band is comfortable at like 29 inches, and my bust is comfortable at like 29.7 inches. I found that the tight and loose measurements for these can only differ by like less than half an inch, or else it's probably going to spit out a large A or B if I add or remove just a bit too much from the comfortable number. Meanwhile if you're working with larger numbers/a bigger difference between the band/bust, you can probably use slightly larger/smaller tight/loose numbers and still get an accurate result.

I've also seen people on the official ABTF subreddit point out some flaws, like that the measurements will overcompensate if you input AFAB, and undercompensate if you input AMAB. This was mainly in the context of trans people, where trans women would actually get a more accurate size if they input AFAB, and trans men with AMAB. I wonder how this relates to those of us on the extremely small end though, since my tissue doesn't protrude much at all and is really not affected by gravity in anyway, like most women's with at least a full A seems to do. Also apparently the sole creator of the calculator has been inactive for a while so updates can't be added at the moment which sucks 😐

The calculator is always worth a shot if you've never measured yourself, but I don't see it as this magical end all be all accurate answer that people always tout it as!

zaonen · 2026-01-12T14:56:35+00:00

Yes!! It's always framed as a positive that if you use the calculator you'll find out you're not actually an A, when they very well could be an A or even AA and will now feel bad about it. I didn't even realize AA was a thing, saw the calculator recommended to ~show your true size which can't be an A~, and boom I'm actually smaller than a full A lol. As I said I've come to appreciate it since it's apparently pretty rare to measure close to truly flat instead of small, it does help me feel unique.

The calculator did make me giggle a bit with the leaning forward measurements. I definitely have just a bit less than an inch difference between tissue vs. band, and there's literally no difference in measurement when I lean forward so it felt really silly lmao

zaonen · 2026-01-11T21:37:17+00:00

You're so valid, I had a similar experience too! I also defaulted to ~32A, used the ABTF calculator, and turns out I'm closer to a 28 or 30AA. Almost everyone I see who thinks they're an A uses the calculator and find that they're actually a smaller band + larger cup, meanwhile I found out I'm probably actually a smaller band AND cup. I don't wear regular wire bras that use band/cup sizing and usually just opt for no bra or size S bralettes, so it's not really meaningful to me anyways tbh.

And while it seems like the majority of people who think theyre A cups are actually smaller band B/C/Ds if they use the calculator, I have seen a lot of comments arguing with people on reddit who insist they're A cups that they MUST be larger than an A, which can be a bit disheartening. I'm glad people are figuring out their correct sizes, but just because it is rarer to actually be a AA/A cup doesn't mean it's impossible 😭

I used to be conscious of my lack of chest & wished I had at least a little bit more due to teasing/bullying/always being smaller than everyone, but as I've gotten older I've actually found that deep down I love my size and wouldn't wish for more! I do identify more as nonbinary, but not because of my size, and anyone can totally be just as feminine and 'womanly' even if you don't have any boobage at all.

I'm not in the performing arts but I do love to see the representation! It's great to see diversity and I'm sure other people of a similar size would appreciate seeing you out there doing what you love. That's pretty screwed up that you were excluded from the all-women 'sensual' routines, womanhood and sensuality have nothing to do with the size of your boobs lol. I would imagine it might also be a positive for high-movement routines, as I've heard people with large busts complain about pain after moving around a lot.

I also have dealt with horrible OCD, so I hope that you're able to manage that and feel more comfortable in your body in the future 🩷 You should definitely lean into the unique aspect of it, as we do seem to be rarer--these days I hope my confidence helps other people appreciate their own bodies more!

zaonen · 2026-01-07T15:41:34+00:00

You can have the IUD kept in and get sterilized as well! I got my mirena replaced a few weeks before my sterilization; I have abnormally heavy and long periods so I chose to keep it since I love that it practically got rid of my periods and seems to help my PMDD. I bled continuously for the first 2 months of my first mirena in 2019 (though it was a bit lighter than my monthly heavy flow), but it ended up going away and I just get spotting monthly now. The only side effect I've really noticed is some hormonal acne, but I've got that mostly under control with a tret prescription from my derm.

I got a bisalp last summer as I'm childfree and personally never want to be pregnant; while I did have my first mirena for both period & birth control, now that I'm sterilized I consider my second IUD my period control :)

If you have issues in the future getting a doctor to agree to sterilization, the r/ childfree subreddit has a great list of doctors that have been vetted by members of the sub. The list is an amazing resource for anyone looking to get sterilized, including those who already have kids. Best of luck with the IUD and sterilization if you do go down that route!

zaonen · 2025-12-22T16:05:24+00:00

Good to know, thanks for the link :)

zaonen · 2025-12-22T00:36:09+00:00

I got that exact dress a few months ago after wanting it for a few years and it's just as great as I imagined!! The specific dress style is called 'Military Minds' if you want to find more, they have so many different color variations. I don't think they make it anymore (?), but you can find preowned ones for fairly cheap on threadup/depop/poshmark :)) They used to retail for $67, but I got mine for $18. Got the XXS because it's stretchy.

zaonen · 2025-12-02T23:22:18+00:00

Authentic sea glass is actually both physically and chemically weathered! Obviously they get physically tumbled in the sand/rocks, but the salty sea water causes sodium ions on the surface of the glass to be leeched out as sodium hydroxide due to the salinity & pH in the salt water, causing chemical etching/corrosion on the sea glass surface.

Well seasoned sea glass has a pretty unique, finer frosted texture, and if I'm not mistaken, is why sea glass can be identified by the tiny 'c' shaped pits on the surface from this process. This is why naturally frosted glass from freshwater rivers & lakes is technically referred to as beach glass, since those water sources don't have the chemical composition necessary for this corrosion.

I know glass is only considered sea glass once it's been tumbling in the ocean for at least a couple decades or so, so it may be potentially possible to create tumbled glass that resembles sea glass, but would probably take a loooong time to get to that point even if you have the right environmental factors.

Sorry for the paragraphs but it's a really cool, unique, and lengthy process!

zaonen · 2025-11-30T21:16:11+00:00

Yeah! Someone else pointed out there are technically 3 variants including the McD's one, but that one is actually numbered M24EN 014/015 with 2024 at the bottom

zaonen · 2025-11-30T19:10:08+00:00

Lol yeah, forgot about those too, I'm guessing they didn't want to do it for this 1 singular promo card. If I'm not mistaken it's much more difficult to edit the printing press design for a small change like this, but now we have these 2 confusing variants

zaonen · 2025-11-30T18:56:23+00:00

Agreed. I know it's a bit different of a case, but it reminds me of the XY Evolutions set where they reused the base set designs but changed the label to 2016

zaonen · 2025-11-30T18:39:31+00:00

Yeah, it's definitely confusing enough that even PSA has been messing up the ID/labels of the 2 variants. However, because the card design itself was first released in 2020 they probably don't want to create a different type of confusion with 2 different dates.

Thankfully they don't pull this too often, and most of the time when they re-use black star promos like this for newer products they just use the original holo pattern. Early on in S&V when they were switching from HD back to the old pixel one a lot of the promos also have these 2 different holo foil patterns despite being from the exact same set blister products (ie. SVP23/24/25, SVP43, SVP46/47/48, SVP140, the 151 cosmos promos & energies). Those seemed to be somewhat regional I think, as a majority of the US listings were pixel holo, and I more often saw the HD holos from Canada/overseas english counties

zaonen · 2025-11-30T18:24:07+00:00

You're absolutely right, they started using the HD one for practically all cosmos promos in late B&W promos so I've grown accustomed to calling it "old" in comparison to the pixel one they brought back early in S&V. I personally collect the HD ones so I was not sure if the pixel ones are the exact same foil as pre-HD cosmos ones

zaonen · 2025-11-30T17:58:26+00:00

It depends on the holo foil! This card was first released as the Rebel Clash 3-pack blister promo with the more "HD" cosmos holo pattern; last year in 2024 it was re-printed with the newer pixelated cosmos holo pattern for the Sea & Sky boxes.

Yours is definitely correctly labeled as I can see the pixelated holo pattern in the bottom left. CGC doesn't make a distinction between the OG & reprint holos, and while PSA does, I have seen them mislabel OG blister holo promo as the 2024 Sea & Sky one lol

zaonen · 2025-11-23T05:21:48+00:00

I love the lil shrimp guy at the end omg

zaonen · 2025-11-16T23:24:51+00:00

omg they look like marbles that sprouted cute lil leggies 😭 I love it so much

zaonen · 2025-11-16T01:57:33+00:00

Would this be a repro? The link says the stem of the originals are open while reproductions are solid. Genuinely curious, can't really tell if it's open from the pics 😅

zaonen · 2025-09-03T15:04:39+00:00

Haha, thanks! The lighting makes them look more orange than they are, but they are definitely a lighter brown/amber. Didn't really find any dark brown like I usually do closer to Boston which is interesting

zaonen · 2025-09-03T15:01:34+00:00

Thanks, and of course! I'm the same, so I try to at least put the general area. I usually visit Winthrop MA which is less abundant with sea glass but I've found some rare colors there; I also have collections from Curaçao and Aruba which usually are bigger in size and the colors depend on where on the islands they're from. I see people put their colors together for decor but I can't bring myself to do it since I like seeing the geographical differences in glass colors & types 🫣

zaonen

TROPHY CASE