Parks and Recreation Supplemental Post: Leslie Knope

You know, I just realized I probably should have started with Leslie Knope, since she is the main character and all, but I kind of like bucking the expected, which I think Leslie would appreciate. Probably? Who knows, she's a fictional character.

Via After Ellen

New challenge coming up!

Via Meme Generator

Well, my friends, I'm gonna do something a bit different next month, kind of a "bringing in the new year" sort of deal. First, I'm doing a challenge in January (I'm placing the blame on Mel here, really, although she initially told me to do it in December which LOL), and second, instead of writing about other people's shit, I'll be focusing on my own: The Legion. I've been rewriting the series for the better part of the last six months, and it's about time I started prepping the world for its arrival.

So without further ado, here's what is comin' at yo face, starting January 1st:

Parks and Recreation Supplemental Post: Chris Traeger

Via Buzzfeed

Despite the fact that I don't really like Rob Lowe* as a person, I absolutely adore Chris Traeger and his character arc throughout the series. The writers could have just left him as this obnoxiously optimistic, health-obsessed dudebro without an ounce of self-awareness, which for a comedy probably would have worked, but Parks and Rec is not your normal comedy. It constantly challenged gender roles, and Chris is a perfect example of this.

So you wanna know what it's like to have a panic attack?

Last month, I experienced my first major panic attack in over half a year. I mean, sure, I'd had small ones in between, like when I couldn't find a place to live or when I saw my rapist on the sidewalk, both of which are completely justifiable, but because I'd had such success at handling my triggered anxiety, I complimented myself on a job well done.

Via MonsterGif

When you go from having at least one to two major panic attacks in a week to one or two minuscule (by comparison) events over a period of several months, I guess it's not inappropriate to pat yourself on the back, but in my case, it turned into complacency. I didn't see or feel the warning signs and found myself back in the clutches of my emotionally and mentally damaged psyche. 

Even in the midst of some of the most hectic moments of my recent life, I decided to do something. I grabbed a notebook and just started writing what I felt, what I thought, how I felt about what I thought, and I'm just going to type it out here, unedited*. I've also annotated in brackets for further clarification as best I could; it's kind of hard to remember exactly what was going on at the time. Just ... be prepared?

Also, panic attacks are different for everyone, and not everyone experiences - or even expresses - them like I do, so what I went through may not match how someone you know goes through. That is the fun part about the human body: every single person has a unique way of dealing with every single thing.

Alrighty, onto the panic attack ... 

Parks and Recreation Supplemental Post: Donna Meagle

Via Giphy

In Season Six's "Fluoride," April makes the observation that there is no dog in the world that could embody Donna's spirit because Donna is a cat. And you know what? It's true, and it's probably why I like her so much. I mean, don't get me wrong: I love dogs. Zola is one of the best things in my life, and in a few years, I'd even like to get another one. But cats? I love me some cats. I want all the cats. I would adopt three more if it wouldn't overwhelm my apartment and the three cats already living there.

Two

Eventually, I'll stop remembering this day as significant; it'll just be three days before my sister's birthday, the middle of the month, however many days before Thanksgiving, forty days before Christmas, a month and a half before the start of a new year. But for now? It's my anniversary.

Some good news for a change!

Via ScrubSmart

Say hello to your friendly neighborhood certified pharmacy technician! Yesterday, I finally took the exam to get certified and passed, and I swear, it was a weird feeling of "well, of course, I was going to" and also "OMG I passed?", so naturally, the boy and I went out and got cigars and the fixins for chicken salad.

I never thought it would be like this.

Because apparently November is Get All Your Shit Out There Month, here's a another post that goes a bit darker than usual. It's a bit jarring, I know, to go from happy Parks and Rec supplementals into trigger warning territory, and I promise I'm going to post some lighter material as the month progresses, but these past few months have been very Saturn-comes-back-around for me, which actually happened back in 2013, but I digress. 

Anyway, before I go dark, here's a picture of some puppies. 

Via Babble

Parks and Recreation Supplemental Post: Andy Dwyer

Via Odyssey

I don't think I've met a single person who does not like Andy Dwyer. Seriously. Go poll your friends, Leslie-style. I'll wait. Well, I won't, because I already wrote this, but this post will be here when you get back.

Parks and Recreation Supplemental Post: Ron Swanson

Via Gifrific

In Ben's post, I mentioned toxic masculinity because of course I did, and now I get to go into it a little bit deeper because it's Ron Fucking Swanson Day. It's quite appropriate that a certain excerpt from a Men's Health interview kept popping up on my Facebook feed, too, because it's so perfectly Nick Offerman but also a great opener to what I love about Ron Swanson:

I went to theatre school. I took two semesters of ballet. I'm the 'sissy' in my family. I cry with pretty great regularity. It's not entirely accurate to equate me with manliness. I stand for my principals and I work hard and I have good manners, but machismo is a double-sided coin. A lot of people think it requires behavior that can quickly veer into misogyny and things I consider indecent. We've been sold this weird John Wayne mentality that fistfights and violence are vital to being a man. I'd rather hug than punch. Crying at something that moves you to joy or sadness is just as 'manly' as chopping down a tree or punching out a bad guy ... If you live your life openly with your emotions, that's a more manly stance than burying them.

I highly recommend reading the entire interview, as it has classic Offerman wit and charm, but this quote in particular is so fucking important.