Maya Ben David
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Rat on a fainting couch
🕑 Added 2025-02-04 15:54:03 +0000 UTCWhy was Pegasus born from the slain Medusa‘s body? It doesn’t seem fair. Why does magic always exact such a high cost? I’ve been ill all of January and February with insane migraines. I’ve also drawn so many pictures of Scrump Runts.
Here’s how: I have gone off all screens. That means no movies, TV, social media, or news. Every day, I dutifully teach my comic book class, then lie on my fainting couch, listening to classical music on my radio, and Victorian literature audiobooks, and I draw scrumps. It’s all I can do.
I’m writing this post with a voice-to-text app on my fainting couch. Scrumps always come to me in times of needed rest and I love them for that. In fact, I think I have enough to make a video which I’m gonna get a friend to help me with. I don’t need pity because I feel what I actually get from all of you is the feeling of community. I am more interested in your thoughts. I want to talk about ways to persist with something you’re passionate about in moments of pain or extreme difficulty. Also, how do you deal with the “why me?” angst?
For me, I try to draw instinctively and not make hard drawing decisions. If my first instinct is that the scrump should be pink, then pink she is. No debate. I also try to minimize anything standing in my way of making tiny contributions every day.
Lend me your ideas and I'll know it will also be from your heart. If it takes me a while to respond, it's because I need to be very conservative with my screen use, but I already had someone read me your comment.
P.S. All the boys in my comic book classes are obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog and only hand in pictures of Sonic to me. Why is Sonic so cool?
-your Victorian rat
Comments
Maya Ben David
Gwen! I think the last part of your message cut off. Do you still suffer from them? It sounds like it's been so rough for you I'm so sorry. I'm sure you have tried so many remedies. I got nerve blockers yesterday and it was really scary. Have you tried that?
Gwenivere the Ponderous
I hate to hear you're suffering with migraines, I suffered from them all my life. It was the worst when I was very little around the age of 4-10, I would get them so awfully that I'd throw up from the pain. I actually remember vividly the first time I got a migraine and didn't throw up, that's how frequent it was. I was 5 and it was at my grandmother's house, and I think it was late summer. I use a similar sort of method to soothe my migraines as the method I use to soothe the congestion in my thought processes: look for refreshment. If I'm having a headache, I like to take a cold shower or drink a nice big glass of something cold and delicious. If I'm stuck on an idea or I can't order my thoughts correctly, I usually go get a snack or do some pleasant maintenance like moisturize, file my nails, brush my hair, etc. It's always good for my brain to do something useful that is also pleasant. As for the sense of "why me", I'll tell you if I ever find a way to get around that. For now I usually only get around it by distracting myself with something that requires a lot of my focus. Sonic though, I know all about him. He is the embodiment of autism in my mind. But not the kind of autism that exhausted parents of children with special needs talk about. No, Sonic is in many ways the platonic ideal of what it means to be an autistic person. He certainly wasn't meant to represent that when he was created, but his continued popularity is thanks in part mostly to the artistic and obsessive energy of his fans who see in him an ideal of immaculate proportions. Growing up autistic is hard. Sometimes it feels like everyone is out to get you, and sometimes it feels like you're the smartest person in the room who can see through the fabric of reality. Sonic has no enemies except those who are unjust to the helpless, it's easy to see why an autistic person who has a rough history of advocating for their own specific needs would see value in that. Sonic is also super-abled, there is no feasible obstacle for him that he can't break through with shear perseverance. He is without context, his design is simply that which is fascinating and eye-catching. Hedgehogs aren't even particularly quick, but it doesn't matter because this one is. And he's the fastest, and he's blue, and he has a bunch of friends with very clearly defined personalities upon which you can project yourself and all the people you care about. He is quite literally designed to be beloved, because he is everything lovable. He is the best at what he does, he is friends with everyone, and he has no code except to do what is right and protects those who can't protect themselves. Of course that's why he's loved by all sorts of people, not just autistic people, but he has always been there for anyone who is looking for a devoted fanbase of full of likeminded people who wish they were as cool as him.
Maya Ben David
I’ve literally never done this but I just did and it was incredibly wholesome and fun
Sean Richer
Have you ever attempted to Google search: [insert name] the hedgehog? It turns out there is a hedgehog for almost every name.
