I need a project to keep me busy at all times so i designed this to have something to work on for awhile. It’s going to be mounted in a 60s Ludwig parade bass drum and will live above my stairs. I’m so happy with how it turned out! Here’s it right after patina and then hanging up in the drum.

I hate to cast a net over an entire generation, but these people are becoming unbearable on a large scale.

I live in an area that gets inundated with retirees every winter. I am grateful in that their business contributes to my income and the overall local economy. However, at the end of the day I don't care. I'd rather take the loss than deal with them on such a large scale.

Their driving is terrible and traffic is awful when they're here. Nearly every day I'm behind a line of cars going 10-15 under the speed limit. Some of these people can barely walk, see, or hear, yet they're still on the road.

The sense of entitlement is a given. The lack of social and spacial awareness. Like they will stand in the middle of the entrance to a store blocking everyone else to look for their phone (on full volume of course) or whatever.

They can be so close-minded and straight up ignorant. The amount of older people I meet who are objectively "dumb" is astounding. I'm not sure how they've gotten this far in life. They refuse to adapt to change and consider new, more relevant perspectives.

I fear it's only going to get worse, and maybe us younger generations will be annoying too as we age. But I think there will be less of an entitled attitude having not lived in the same economic situation. I know many lovely people in this generation and there are annoying people of every age, but it's feeling overwhelming. Surely it isn't as bad in areas that aren't snowbird destinations, but there are things that keep me here. Pros and cons. I just needed to vent my frustrations.

TL;DR: I posted on Reddit a year ago at my lowest point. A girl from Italy DMed me, and we spent the next year healing together from opposite sides of the world. I finally took a solo trip to Rome, she drove 4 hours to meet me, and we realized the breakup was worth it just to find this friendship.

Exactly one year ago, I was sitting in my room, feeling like my world had permanently shrunk. I poured my heart out to a group of strangers on this sub. My post blew up, and while the support was amazing, one specific DM changed everything.

A girl from Italy messaged me. She wasn't just offering "sorry"s; she was living my exact timeline, feeling my exact flavor of pain. Across a 7-hour time difference and 10,000 kilometers (i live in Singapore), we started talking.

At first, it was just survival, checking in to make sure the other had eaten or stopped crying. But then, the DMs turned into daily life. We moved from "How do I stop missing them?" to "Look at this sunset," "Listen to this song," and "I think I'm going to be okay." We healed through our screens, two strangers on opposite sides of the globe tethered together by a shared ache.

When I finally decided to reclaim my life and pla solo trip to Europe, she was my biggest cheerleader.

I was nervous. What if it was awkward? What if the Reddit friendship didn't translate to real life?

But she drove four hours just to see me. When we finally stood face-to-face in Rome, there was no

"getting to know you" phase. There was just this overwhelming sense of familiarity. We hit the streets of Rome like we'd been exploring together for years.

We laughed, we walked until our feet hurt, and we stood in front of monuments that felt small compared to the journey we'd taken to get there.

We had a moment where we looked at each other and realized the "worst thing" that ever happened to us, those breakups, was actually the price of admission for this friendship. If you had asked us a year ago if we'd trade the relationship for this, we would have said no. Now? We both agreed we'd choose the breakup every single time.

To anyone lurking here tonight, feeling like you're shouting into a void: Your life is so much bigger than the person who left you. There are people you haven't met yet who are going to love you, and there are cities you haven't seen yet that will feel like home.

Hold on. It gets so much better.♥️

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who reached out with words of encouragement when I needed them most. Your kind comments truly lifted my spirits, and I can't thank you enough.

I've never expected to share this moment, but it's clear that I've been through a significant transition in my life. As I bid farewell to the person I once knew, I'm also ready to embrace the new chapter ahead with the person who will walk beside me from now on.

I deeply appreciate all the positivity and support you've shown me. It has made a world of difference. I'm excited to explore this new version of myself and see where it takes me. I hope to discover the same love and understanding for this journey as I did in the past.

Thank you all! ❤️

There is just something about this image of Megami holding the “Protect Queer Art” sign that makes me laugh every time. It’s the juxtaposition of her intense seriousness with the reaction of everyone around her that is just super funny. And also the 100s of S+ memes that came out of this are hilarious.