You Do Not Have To Be Functional To Be Worthy Of Love And Existence As An Autistic Person. If You Need

And this is one of many reasons why Philomena Cunk is one of my favorite characters EVER

Please be patient with those of us with auditory processing disorder. We just need more time for the gears to turn in our heads.

I am always mesmerized by editors using a song for their edit that PERFECTLY matches a character's backstory. It's so satisfying.

Especially when I relate to the song, too. So then I relate to the character even more and AAAAAAAHHHHH-

Exhibit A, by one of my favorite TT editors:

I love going through situations that cause me to feel both angry and sad at the same time!

And I can't let it out completely because I am a volcano waiting to erupt, and once I erupt it creeps into everything (even to the point that I'm angry at work) because I have underdeveloped emotional regulation skills!!

It's so much fun!!!! [Sarcasm Intensifies]

😀🔪

Looking at certain sellout "punk" bands who shamelessly used AI for their most recent album cover art *cough* The Offspring *cough*

~ Art credit: hecreative ~

Being a "that movie looks cool, but I need to read the book first" type of person has caused me to be severely behind on pop culture.

Comparing the adaptation to the source material is cool and all, but alas. Lack of time and mental energy (read: Neurodivergent Adulthood)

There is one (1) exception to this rule, and that is me becoming hyper-fixated on the series.

Exhibit A: me re-watching the entirety of Avatar the Last Airbender. AND starting Legend of Korra. AND starting the ATLA comics.

At roughly the same time

Me at work (grocery stores are sensory hell)

Portal is a horror game.

It posits itself as this fun, quirky puzzle game, but that's so clearly not what it is even 5 minutes in. This supposedly bustling science facility is completely silent. No one is watching through the observation windows, the test chambers are visibly dirtied and worn, and the only voice you hear throughout the entire game is the "Pre-Recorded" GLaDOS, who is consistently glitching and saying things that are slightly ominous. This feeling is only amplified by Kelly Bailey's masterful soundtrack, which similarly to Half-Life 2, creates this feeling of loneliness and abandonment. It all comes to a head in Chamber 16 when you finally see Doug Rattman's writings for the first time and realize "Something is VERY wrong here." Afterwards, you learn more and more about how fucked Aperture really is, like how the water in the test chambers is actually a result of flooding, how the Turrets are very much NOT a testing element, and how the Iconic Cake is in fact, a lie. This all comes to a head in the final chamber when the illusion completely falls away and GLaDOS is revealed as a killer, leading into the game's final act. However, even after the Reveal, Portal still manages to keep its horror elements, as GLaDOS slowly hunts you throughout the facility. Stalking, waiting. It's still quiet, still lonely. But now the danger is real, and it's coming for you.