i want things to be genuine. i hate shein i hate overconsumption i hate instant gratification i hate the proliferation of corporatespeak & therapyspeak i wish things were grittier and as a result more beautiful more charming more attractive interesting meaningful and honest!!!!!!
literally though if you feel like your life is slipping through your fingers and every day goes too fast… try doing hard things, not just taking the easy route, like reading and making art and exercising and cooking a meal from scratch and journaling, doing these things without distraction, without being absorbed on a screen… the time will stretch and you’ll be reminded that life is long and beautiful if you make it so.
there is a demon in your house named CARBON MONOXIDE. he enchants your mind with confusion and your body with exhaustion. you need to call a powerful exorcist named HVAC TECHNICIAN
“It’s often unhealthy to hyper-analyze your sexuality to the point where how you experience it changes where you belong. This is why the idea that broader terms are somehow more restrictive is baffling. Continuously breaking labels down and creating terminology for each facet of one’s identity shrinks communities until it’s just one person convinced that they’re the only one who relates to their experiences. It isolates people and ignores the importance of individuality within a collective identity.”
We have a high concentration of goth, occult, horror, weird science, fantasy and vulture culture businesses! Some of the most famous are:
Paxton Gate, a store with two locations that specializes in biological specimens, ethically sourced as they essentially “rescue” and rehabilitate unwanted taxidermy, laboratory surplus and decommissioned museum specimens. It’s basically a museum itself, just one where technically everything is for sale:
The Skeleton Key, a store that’s also museum-like and also sells some bones and strange taxidermy but also strange vintage toys and local gothic art, apparently it just moved to a bigger location and became even more of a museum style attraction:
The Peculiarium is a gallery of artwork and a handful of jokey exhibits like Grunkle Stan’s Mystery Shack
The Fernie Brae is an all fairy-themed shop and art gallery, which also displays some props and production materials from Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal:
We’ve still never been to the Portland Puppet Museum because of its odd hours, I think for years you had to actually call and schedule a visit but they might have regular opening times now:
And the Insectarium which has both preserved specimens and a whole live arthropod zoo
Have I shown you my single favorite mascot for a local business. Look at this guy. He is both adorable and exactly what someone would make a children’s mascot horror game out of, and people would say “that’s a little too weird and eerie for a believable mascot, isn’t it?”
He is also HUGE eyes in their window, but there’s no sign of his arm. It could be hiding anywhere.
It just narrowly beats my second favorite mascot for another different local business, who has the same vibe of feeling made up to be spooky:
He was honestly more menacing before someone added the pupils and the top hat, but the top hat does feel very natural.
While I’m at it here’s the most benign non-menacing one, the mascot for a sandwich shop with only one location:
I think she probably goes out at night to stop the various crimes of those other two (peeping and graverobbing, respectively)
