wlw blogs are basically just a blogger saying “women” and dropping the mic and the crowd absolutely losing their shit over how much they agree and I think that’s beautiful
I started Hebrew, which is why I’ve been dead on this blog, but I don’t think I can ever properly convey to you guys the sheer cultural whiplash of spending years learning Japanese from Japanese teachers and then trying to learn Hebrew from an Israeli
Japanese: you walk into class already apologizing for being alive Hebrew: you walk into class, the teacher insults you and you are expected to insult her back
Japanese: conjugates every single verb based on degree of intended politeness, nevermind keigo and honorifics Hebrew: Someone asked my teacher how to say “excuse me” and she laughed for several seconds before saying we shouldn’t worry about remembering that since we’ll never need to say it
Japanese: if you get one stroke wrong the entire kanji is incomprehensible Hebrew: cursive? script? fuck it do whatever you want, you don’t even have to write the vowels out unless you feel like it
Japanese: the closest thing there is to ‘bastard’ is an excessively direct ‘you’ pronoun Hebrew: ‘bitch’ translates directly
Fun fact: Israel has possibly the lowest power-distance metric of any culture in the world, while Japan has one of the highest. I didn’t realize that the CTO of my company was the CTO until somebody else told me, because everybody called him by his first name and engaged in mutual shit-talking/playful insults with him.
In Japan, even calling your boss by the wrong honorific is liable to get you in trouble.
And apparently there’s some sciencey cooperative venture going on between Israel and Japan in an official diplomatic capacity. I want to be a fly on the wall when Japanese and Israeli scientists work together.
me, every single month without fail: huh weird I feel kind of bloated and lethargic but also very hungry??? and I’m breaking out??? and my back hurts??? this is so strange I have never experienced this before in my whole entire life… what could this be
me a few days later, every single month without fail: oh
yall ever get physically mad at yourself for how much you love homestuck like you’ll just be sitting somewhere minding your business and your brain busts in like “have you considered that every time anyone visits roxy they have to probably wade through 4,000 cats and jake teases her constantly about getting a dog and dirk stands there statue still while kittens climb his pant legs pretending their claws don’t hurt and dave just walks in and lays on the floor and is immediately sat upon by 6 individual cat breads while karkat scoffs nearby about how earth meowbeasts don’t actually care about anyone and appealing to soft human emotion is just an evolutionary mechanism they’ve developed to great effect while simultaneously sneaking a kitten into his pocket”
and you just have to be like I have work to do you piece of shit shut the fuck up let me live can I not think about homestuck for like one second please but it’s too late because you’re already smiling as you imagine rose lalonde sneaking food from her plate to a multitude of cats under the table with a perfectly straight face while dave dials up terezi to ask how to formally prosecute her for blatant cat bribery and wanton feline corruption
If you don’t like the fandom, consider the fact that things tend to become popular and generate large fandoms because something about them is good! Harry Potter, The Original Star Wars trilogy, Game of Thrones, Portal… all aren’t to the tastes of everyone but they are generally accepted to outstanding examples of their respective mediums, which can be used to showcase how to do certain things right. Homestuck is the same way.
If you don’t know if it’s your thing, it’s worth checking out if you like:
Strong well-written characters and possibly the best example of character voice I’ve ever seen
well done time travel
stories with an excellent balance of seriousness and humor
good world building and lore
an interesting story that manages to be complex and yet easy to read
an inclusive cast
a story where the lesbians get married instead of dying at the end
video games
the internet
stories that make you think in an enjoyable way
fourth wall breaking (that somehow manages not to actually disrupt the story)
have I mentioned the characters? Because they’re really good
Reasons not to
you don’t like any of the above things
You just can’t stand anything that’s not non-fiction as a personal preference
You also may be annoyed at hearing it recommended a lot and think it’s worth denying yourself an amazing experience just to stick it to the people who can’t shut up about it (ironically giving them power over what you experience and why.) If so, it’s your choice, but I personally don’t find it the best way of experiencing things!
Lastly, the beginning can be weird/confusing and seem like it’s not for you. It sort of jumps into things, and you may think “I don’t like this, this is clearly something that was designed for reader submissions and I won’t get much out of it reading it after the submissions were already chosen.” I can guess these thoughts, because they were mine, and why it took me so many years to read it. Let me just say its a lot more than it appears, and those factors disappear by the end. Think of it as a conversation going on that adds another level to things.
Did I miss any reasons? Are those reasons not enough?
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