Image description: [pale purple and yellow background with dark text] This April, don’t support an organization that harms autistic people. [crossed out logo for Autism Speaks] Support one built by autistic people, for autistic people. [logos for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Autism Women’s Network]
•buy toys/dolls/crayons
•play with Legos
•play old videogames/dress up games
•weave friendship bracelets
•watch cartoons
•use stickers
•draw pics of your favorite characters
If it makes you feel nice, do it.
Don’t even worry about what other people think, because it doesn’t matter–if it brings you happiness, it’s not “ridiculous”, or “immature”.
You deserve to enjoy yourself.
Let me share with you what I consider to be the most important less I’ve learned in my adult life:
“Growing up doesn’t mean you can’t have Zebra Cakes. Growing up simply means that, if you want to have Zebra Cakes, you buy them for yourself.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Bear?” Well, let me explain. For those of you who live outside of the US, this is a Zebra Cake:
It’s a little pre-packaged snack cake that is horribly cheap and junky and really not that great, but it is like manna from heaven to me. I fucking love these things. When I was a little kid growing up, my mom bought Zebra Cakes but once in a blue moon. They were intended to be put in mine and my siblings’ school lunches, but my brother and I would eat them whenever we wanted, so Mom just didn’t see the point. (They also used to be kind of expensive, at least for our family’s budget.) Needless to say, the coveted Zebra Cakes were a luxury for me, and were one of the tastes of my childhood.
Fast forward to my college years. I was living in an apartment with three other people, doing my own shopping and cooking. I was in the grocery store, picking up some stuff, and I happened to walk past a display of snack cakes. Among them were several boxes of Zebra Cakes.
I paused at this, chuckling to myself. Oh man. Zebra Cakes. I haven’t had those in years. I loved those when I was a kid. I reminisced happily and thought about how much I missed the taste of Zebra Cakes, then started to walk away.
And then I stopped dead.
Because I had realized that there was literally nothing stopping me from buying a box of Zebra Cakes. There was nothing stopping me from buying ten boxes of Zebra Cakes. If I wanted Zebra Cakes, I could have goddamn Zebra Cakes, because it was my money and my decision to make.
I put two boxes in my cart (they were 2 for $5) and never looked back.
Here’s the secret I learned that day: The idea of something being “just for kids” is, by and large, bullshit. What you do on your own adult free time with your own adult money is, by its very nature, adult stuff. It’s like comedian Eddie Izzard (who frequently performed his routines in drag) once said when someone asked about him wearing ‘women’s clothes’: “They’re not women’s clothes. They’re my clothes. I bought them.”
I am 25 years old, and yesterday I bought myself a shark lunchbox. Look at it. Look at how awesome my lunchbox is.
Was this lunchbox intended to by bought for and used by a child? Yes. The tag said it was for ages 3 and up. But it was bought by and will be used by an adult, and anyone who thinks that’s wrong is probably just jealous that they don’t have the self-confidence to rock a shark lunchbox at 25.
So like. Being “mature” and “an adult” doesn’t mean you have to completely abandon the things that made you happy when you were younger. It just means that you may have to approach them in a different way.
Pay attention, there’s a lesson here
I hesitated reblogging this, and I am not entirely sure why.
LEGO. I just turned 42 and I have LEGO sets allllll over my house. Why? Because I wanted them, and because it is my money and I will spend it how I like, MOTHER.
As long as you aren’t bankrupting yourself, buy the things you *want* to buy, the things that bring you JOY.
you are missing out on so much if you just stick to “adult things”
Zebra cakes make an excellent “the secret to happiness” metaphor.
My wedding cake will just be hundreds of zebra cakes stacked together
A new study released by the Entertainment
Software Association has revealed that adult women now occupy the
largest demographic in the gaming industry. Women over 18 made up a
whopping 36 percent of the gaming population, followed by adult men at
35 percent.
Teenage boys, who are often stereotyped as the biggest gamers, now lag
far behind their older female counterparts, making up just 17 percent of
the gaming demographic. (x)
Look at how dramatic these nerds are. Dean is literally and deliberately out of view behind a woman who at that moment is returning Castiel’s good will.
‘Good luck’
And Cas needs it because about a second later. Dean practically appears out of nowhere. That dramatic shit of appearing out of nowhere used to be Cas’ thing. Dean’s all pleased with himself for surprising Cas, and Cas is literally taken aback and speechless
IKR!
And then just after this sudden surprising reappearance by Dean, wham bam suddenly Cas himself becomes a target for the Angel who’s been in the area specifically targeting people with a broken heart.
Dean kicked Cas out of what he thought was his home and away from those he thought cared for him, giving him no valid reason and leaving him homeless and living in a GasnSip cupboard. Then he turns up with a grin and acts like everything is all fine?
In the words of one of the heartbroken victims, the one who just got dumped *ahem*, “who does that?!!”
I’m sure there’s a reason for Cas being targeted by the Angel just after Dean turns up, I just can’t….quite….put 2 and 2 together….
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