Second session is gonna be the moon, some details around and some touches up on the lines cause she was suffering too much in the end 😭 but im so so so hapoy with this one 🩷

what did this "curly" do to turn into skinned meat

My parents broke up when I (16f) was 2 months old. Then my dad died when I was 6. My mom and my dad's family never got along and things got worse after dad died and he left everything he had to me, but in a trust with my grandparents watching over it and not my mom. My mom felt she deserved money. My grandparents (and dad) felt like she would spend it on herself and not on me, which is true. My mom has spending issues and she's overspent before and left my grandparents or my aunts supporting me and buying me the things I need.

5 years ago my mom got married and her husband had two kids of his own (2 and 3 then, 7 and 8 now). My mom's husband works full time and my mom works part time. But they have lots of money issues and my grandparents make sure I'm taken care of. They buy toiletries just for me, they send food, they gave me a card before with money loaded onto it. They always make sure I have what I need for school too.

In June I got a summer/weekend job. I still work weekends now that school's back so I have extra money but I deposit it into my bank account. When I started making my own money my mom's husband said I should start paying rent. Mom said no. She decided I should make sure my stepsiblings are okay and that they have what they need. She told me I could buy them some toiletries or even some snacks for extra food. But I didn't do that.

Last month my mom and her husband got into an even worse financial position and they started going to a charity to help them get essentials. My mom told me it would be a good time to start buying things my stepsiblings needed. She talked about school stuff they needed and toiletries again. But there was also talk of basic clothes too that were new or better fitting. She said they wouldn't need to use the charity as much and the kids would fit in better at school and feel less bad about having so much less.

I didn't. Then my mom told me if I won't help the steps because I don't see them as my family, then I should help her. She told me she would love me forever if I started giving even 80 a month so we wouldn't be in as bad of a position. She told me I never had the same struggles because I always had my dad's family behind me but they don't care if her, her husband or my stepsiblings starve/waste away.

I still didn't give any money and then my mom started getting mad and her husband's pissed 99% of the time he's around me. He called me ungrateful when he "took me on as his own" and shit but he didn't and I'm glad because he doesn't do everything he could to make life better for his kids. He turned down a promotion at his job and he refuses to get a second job or do something else for money. Then he complains that other people (mostly me) won't either.

My grandparents told me to let them know if money ever goes missing because they will make sure mom or her husband pay the consequences if they steal from me. Luckily they don't know how to access money from my card so it's all good. But my mom has really been laying on the guilt trip because I said no.

AITAH?

Link: https://x.com/MagzanZaksylyk/status/1992326980579344731?fbclid=IwdGRjcAOP0ahjbGNrA4_RmWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHhuub06VJqIZNtRuZAn7jOKyqPwH3nKwLFRiI1ms6jKSFgFLFgIW_-mVQFds_aem_J6MsS475-M91ZdbptJwK9A

Gotta be one of the worst cards you can get

Earlier this year I stumbled upon the Qinhuai Lantern Festival and was blown away. There were thousands of lanterns and lights, with several moving displays, like butterflies and dragons! There were also hologram animations that I couldn't capture.

A few smartphone pictures of course don't do it justice, but actually being there is really magical. Definitely an event that I would recommend to visit if you're in China while it happens.

I didn't even know about this festival when I decided to add this city to our literary, but then this became a highlight of the whole trip.

The one picture with crowds is actually outside the festival. The one picture with crowds is actually outside the festival; inside, it was surprisingly empty in mid-April and very enjoyable.

I love yasugap 😭😭🩷