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Mon, Oct 27, 2025

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Are You Listening???

by Charlie ~

Rated: GC · Book · Emotional · #2181458

A journey of self-improvement - or not.

Sup? I'm Char.
You may know me from timeless classics such as

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and

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I blog for things like

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FORUM

30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS

(13+)
WDC's Longest Running Blog Competition - Hiatus
#1786069 by FivetricksterTreats

FORUM

JAFBG

(XGC)
Because real life isn't always roses and sunshine...
#2094931 by Elisa, Stik-or-Treat

[Embed For Use By Upgraded+]
Believin' all the lies that they're tellin' ya
Buyin' all the products that they're sellin' ya
They say jump and ya say "how high?"
Ya braindead, ya got a fuckin' bullet in ya head

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

👀intu the Darkness

Jul 22, 2023 at 8:05am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Hey Char, It's been a while since I've touched base with you. I'm so sorry for your loss. The last thing people should say is everyone loses their grandparents eventually, or it will get better with time. It's the last thing you want to hear when you're hurting. Death sucks, long-lasting illness sucks! Having to decide to let the person go to keep them from suffering REALLY SUCKS! I think the only ones who can understand truly just how much are those who have had to make that decision. My heart breaks for you.

I'm not religious, but I do have a strong faith in God. I call myself spiritual because I don't agree with all the rules and regulations of religion. I do know I will see my family and friends again, and this is a great comfort. I can only imagine how much more painful the death of loved ones is without this belief. But you're right, it can't be faked. But it is a beautiful thing.

Having mental health issues during times like this makes it even harder to go through. I know what you mean about seeing things that aren't there. I'd walk into a room, and say, "Where's Star?" and she would be sitting right in front of me. When I looked, I swear I saw an empty chair. The mind is crazy. It gives new meaning to a mind of its own

Some time has passed since you wrote this. I don't know when you'll see this but know that you are in my thoughts and prayers, and I'm sending good energy your way. I hope you're doing better. I look forward to hearing from you.

Aiva Raine

Mar 28, 2023 at 9:40pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I'm sorry for your loss. I know they are shitty sounding words that don't even attempt to fill or fix, but they're meant in sincerity.

Having lost several people the best advice I was ever given was when life gets too hard- take it at your own pace. If a day is too much- cope with an hour at a time. If that's too much, take it ten minutes at a time. If that's too much- then you deal with one minute at a time. Work through life and grief at your pace. And don't ever feel guilty because you feel sad. And if you can- find one positive in each chunk of time- even if it's something as little as the beauty of sunlight on a leaf or the softness of your shirt. And ask for help if you need it.

Elle

Mar 7, 2023 at 3:29pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Aw, Charlie, I'm so sorry. It's a shit thing to go through whether it's sudden or not. And just because everyone goes through it, doesn't make it easier. It also doesn't take into account that you were closer to them than your parents. Nobody says 'Oh, everyone loses their parents eventually' do they? Surely not. And that's what's happened here really. I'm actually glad you've got an appointment with a professional tomorrow, because they might be able to help you with getting through that initial devastation.

When my dad lost his mother, he really struggled with his own lack of religion. As you say, there is some comfort in believing they've gone to a better place, been reunited with loved ones, that you'll see them again, and so on. For most of my life, Dad would say 'Religion is a crutch for the weak', but I definitely saw him struggle with the finality of it when he lost his mother, the person he was probably closest to.

My thoughts are with you.

1 Like

~Minja~

Mar 7, 2023 at 3:21pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Crazy stuff, grief. If you want to talk about it, message me always.

1 Like

QPdoll

Mar 7, 2023 at 6:21am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I understand what you mean about wanting to tell your grandmother something. I did the same thing after my grandmother passed. I was at home and the first thing I thought was to call grandma. I picked up the phone and realized that she wouldn't answer. It's so tough losing your grandparents, especially as close as you were. I don't have any magic words, but take care of yourself. It's what they would want.

1 Like

Waltz in the Lonesome October

Mar 6, 2023 at 10:31pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Take care of yourself during this difficult time.

1 Like

Anni Pumpkin

Mar 6, 2023 at 9:06pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I know it doesn't help any, but I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine much worse than losing a parent or parental figure. They represent stability and safety, you grew up with them, and you've relied on them for most, if not all, of your life. You're right, the initial devastation will fade and things won't feel so fresh. But, as you know, grief never really goes away. It just becomes a permanent part of you.

It's horrible that you only got a couple days worth of bereavement! That's not even long enough for the shock to wear off enough to START grieving. I hope you have the support of someone else in your life to help you through this dark time. Take it easy on yourself in the mean time, that's all you really can do. Taking care of your physical self, eating and sleeping, is critical. Sleep deprivation and hunger will make things feel a million times worse than they actually are (which, for the record, is already pretty bad).

1 Like

Cinn

Feb 20, 2023 at 9:34pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I actually pretty much love this one. Nice, man...

Cinn

Feb 19, 2023 at 11:07am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I'd say that more freedom for participants would attract more people. One obvious example that I've never understood is fiction vs poetry. If it's an activity, not a contest, why not allow people to explore whatever the theme of your activity is with whatever type of writing that want to do?

I've actually written for countless contests/activities over the years but never entered... because they inspired me, but I don't fit within the guidelines. Max rating too low, items required (book entries only over here), no poetry accepted, etc.

I know well why people restrict writers' freedom, but they're also restricting the number of participants they'll get. I still just take the inspiration where I can get it.

Elisa, Stik-or-Treat

Feb 19, 2023 at 10:26am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I've had decent participation with Journalistic Intentions (even though I know my prompts are sometimes considered "difficult"). I do think that there's been a bit of a shift in regards to contests and activities, where people have been more open to admitting they find some setups too restricting or that they feel intimidated by contests. I would love to be in discussions to address those issues, but so far I haven't been invited.

May 15, 2019 at 12:00am

#958985

I’m about to blow your mind!

Artist: Tool
Song: Schism
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+]

Prompt via "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" :
Share an instance when something blew your mind.

Maybe I'm just easy, but I get my mind blown regularly.

I don't know why that felt so sexual to type. ^^^

I have a friend who hits me up with random facts all the time because he reads way too much random bullshit. Every time I see him he's like, "Hey, did you know..." at least 5 different times. Probably because I'm a good audience for that.

[Embed For Use By Upgraded+]

Here's a list of some random mindblowing* facts

*May only be mindblowing if you're easily amused.

When you look at the stars, you're looking back in time. Because of the finite speed of light, anything you can see in the sky today looks as it did in the past. For example, the Big Dipper

is 60-125 light years away, so when you see it, you're likely seeing something from before you born. Scientists have also said that, theoretically, if an alien was 65 million light years away and looked at earth through a strong enough telescope, they could see dinosaurs.

There is a species of jellyfish that is biologically immortal. The Turritopsis dohrnii

jellyfish can actually convert itself completely back into the early stages of its life cycle through a cell development process called transdifferentiation.

95% of the ocean is unexplored. I think I talked about exploring the ocean and space in an earlier entry this month, but knowing that we've explored less than 95% of the world's oceans is scary af! Like, there could be anything down there and we wouldn't even know about it.

When you're dreaming, your brain is telling itself a story. Someone described dreams to me as a story your brain is telling itself and I've never thought of dreams the same way again.

Krakatoa's eruption could be heard from 3000 miles away. When the volcano erupted in Indonesia in 1883, it killed over 36,000 people

and was so loud that it could be clearly heard 3000 miles away. For the US folks, that's the equivalent of standing in Orlando, Florida and hearing a sound from Seattle, Washington. It's insane!

Aluminum used to be more valuable than gold. While aluminum was very common, it was also difficult to isolate

in a pure form. It went from $12 a pound in 1880 to $0.20 a pound in 1930. Before a refinement process was discovered, pure aluminum was rare and expensive. Napoleon even set his tables with aluminum cutlery over gold cutlery because it was so valuable.

There are over 250 corpses on Mt. Everest and... they're (( WARNING: bodies shown in this link >>>)) used as guideposts

Here is a source that shows no photos

. This is legit the most bizarre thing to me. I know it's nearly impossible to retrieve the bodies at that altitude and it's viewed as a warning sign to hikers, but there's just something so wrong and creepy about it to me.

Excedrin Migraine and Excedrin Extra Strength have the same ingredients. This is a personal one.

I get migraines frequently and people always told me to take Excedrin Migraine for it. But then I found out that the Extra Strength and the Migraine one are the exact same thing.

And what's worse is that a lot of places charge more for Excedrin Migraine because you have a migraine and you're like, "omg, this hurts, I need migraine meds, extra strength won't do!"

So anyway, I got really annoyed when I found this out like a year after my migraines started and I was ranting about it liberally, and someone told me that it's more expensive because of the inactive ingredients. They said that the inactive ingredients in the migraine one release the meds faster so they'll work faster for you if you're having a migraine. And then I looked at the inactive ingredients AND THEY'RE THE SAME FUCKING THING STILL. You see, this annoys me because they're tricking people who have migraines, are in pain, and probably aren't thinking straight.

That's all I've got for you today. Hopefully at least one of those things was mildly amusing or you got a kick out of the mini rant at the very least.

There was a time that the pieces fit, but I watched them fall away

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