chaoticgoodthief

[chaoticgoodthief]

[chaoticgoodthief]

You know what since I’ve got a ton of new followers because my post on puberty blockers took off and people apparently want to see me rant, I’m gonna get up on my soapbox for a PSA for tumblr’s aging userbase.

Do not! Get! A Medicare Advantage plan!

Tell your parents not to get one. Tell your aunts and uncles not to get one. Tell your friends not to get one.

Why is that, you might say? Kouri, what is a Medicare Advantage plan, you might say?

tl;dr Medicare is the government healthcare plan for Americans of a certain age or with certain disabilities. It is owned, administered, and operated by the government. You are entitled, if you wish, to outsource your Medicare and have your policy run by a commercial group, such as United HealthCare, Cigna, Aetna, et cetera.

Here’s how it works: For everyone who signs up for, say, a plan that rhymes with Figna Medicare Advantage, Medicare gives Figna a certain amount of money and says ‘use this to take care of this patient’.

You can see where this is going, right? Figna says ‘sure boss! *wink nudge*’ and then shoves as much of that money into their own pockets as possible, and they do that by finding excuses to NOT pay for your medical care.

Medicare Advantage plans are pushed and marketed heavily. They’ll call you. They’ll set up stands in your PCP office to try to encourage you to buy in. They will say things like ‘with Medicare, you have to pay a 20% coinsurance, but with us you only have a 10% coinsurance’ and completely neglect to tell you that having a smaller coinsurance only matters if they approve the fucking care that you need, which often they won’t (while Medicare would have) and if your doctors are willing to accept it, which often they don’t (while they do accept Medicare).

Is Medicare perfect? Absolutely not! I've got my share of bones to pick with them. But simply put:

Medicare is government administered. It is a service. It costs the government money, which is why the GOP is always trying to cut funding to it. Medicare Advantage is corporately administered. It is supposed to make money. Which gives them incentives to deny your care and fuck you over that Medicare simply does not have.

Do not. Get. A Medicare Advantage Plan.

[chaoticgoodthief]

read this post as I was chugging ice coffee at a timmy's and was trying to figure out why I got emotional

it's a good post go check it out!

obviously this is a different reading of hid-and-seek but it inspired me to think about the game again haha

[chaoticgoodthief]

*chuckle softly* Thanks. I needed that.

[Here we go again]

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

...Nevermind! Just fooling around! Brain all messed up from waking up alone in the woods with no food or water! Don't mind me!

[Proceed to the cabin]

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

...Nevermind! Just fooling around! Brain all messed up from waking up alone in the woods with no food or water! Don't mind me!

[Proceed to the cabin]

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

*more nervous laughter* Not your fault. I guess I just needed a bit of a... distraction from the whole... you know.

[Take a step forward, and then stop] Hey. I know I've got no right to ask this from you but... if something starts happening can you... see if you can make it quick?

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

forget Resting Bitch Face, I have Resting Competent Face. People see me and think ah yes she can point me to the nearest train station. Fellow grocery shoppers ask if I know what kind of butter they should buy. If a strange man speaks to me on the street it is literally always an inquiry and never a catcall. Once someone randomly asked me what an equinox was and after I told her she nodded and said "you seemed like you'd know." why am I assigned oracle at random interaction

[chaoticgoodthief]

...I know it started out as a bit of a joke... and it was one! But I made a promise, and we can't just go back on our word, can we?

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

I thought today - the TV show I'd really like to see is one about a medieval monastery.

You could have all kinds of characters: the pious guy who joined because he wanted to serve God, the son born out of wedlock sent there to cover up his parents' shame, the geek who wanted to study Latin but couldn't afford to go into university, the former knight sick of violence and afraid for his soul... Plus monasteries were centres of pilgrimage and places where criminals could take refuge, so we can have a lot of characters who crop up for a few episodes and leave.

Some plotlines I thought of:

Our relics aren't bringing in the pilgrims the way they used to - what do we do?

A women fleeing an abusive marriage has taken shelter in the monastery - how will the brothers respond to having a women in their midst?

One of the monks wants to leave - will the abbot accept or not?

A murderer has taken refuge in the abbey, and the abbot decides to try and save his soul - what will happen?

People are coming to the monastery for food during the famine, but the monastery is itself short of food - how will this be dealt with?

War has broken out between two local lords, and the monks attempt to broker a treaty - will it work?

I've already mentioned some reasons why I think this setting would lend itself to television, but I'd also love to make it for two other reasons:

Get people to understand how weird medieval religion could get, but also that, within its own frame of reference, it was a reasonable and consistent belief system.

Show people that the Middle Ages consisted of more than just muddy people stabbing each other and burning scientists at the stake.

[chaoticgoodthief]

...Have you even been to a picnic? I mean, snacks are a crucial part of the pincic experience but... oh! I get it. You're just are saying that because I like them, aren't you?

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

Oh! A friend! Nice to meet you! May I... ask your opinions on picnics? 🙃

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

light was such a loser cuz he didnt just google the 100 richest people and start writing down names

[chaoticgoodthief]

[Start laughing slightly manically] WELL THAT SURE HAPPENED!!!

Well that was sure a happen that thinged! Time to begin again!

[You awaken. Again.]

[A distant voice calls to you.]

The Narrator: You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

The Narrator: You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

[You know the drill.]

[chaoticgoodthief]

Y’all are going to have to gag me because I am going to get even more fucking annoying on my DC bullshit.

He looks so good as Clark.

He’s got that nervous-bewildered look Christopher Reeves did so well while still looking like a walking refrigerator. I’m going to throw up. Please be good. Please. I’m on my knees. My Superman movie crops have been withering for so long...

ID: a TikTok from user @/guywithamoviecamera facing the camera who asks, “hey, do you guys mind watching Superman for a moment?” as he places the camera down in front of actor David Corenswet dressed as Clark Kent who looks at the camera in confusion and says, “sorry, watching who? Who are you supposed to be watching?” with increasing concern as he realizes his cover is blown. /end ID

[chaoticgoodthief]

Today at work we were unpacking a big box, and I looked at the box and thought, huh. That box looks much smaller than me sitting on the ground, but I bet if I really scrunched down I could fit most of my body inside the box. And I had one leg fully in the box before I realized:

I am not a cat

I am work

I am wearing a nice suit and might need to appear in court later

[chaoticgoodthief]

One of the things that’s really struck me while rereading the Lord of the Rings–knowing much more about Tolkien than I did the last time I read it–is how individual a story it is.

We tend to think of it as a genre story now, I think–because it’s so good, and so unprecedented, that Tolkien accidentally inspired a whole new fantasy culture, which is kind of hilarious. Wanting to “write like Tolkien,” I think, is generally seen as “writing an Epic Fantasy Universe with invented races and geography and history and languages, world-saving quests and dragons and kings.” But… But…

Here’s the thing. I don’t think those elements are at all what make The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so good. Because I’m realizing, as I did not realize when I was a kid, that Tolkien didn’t use those elements because they’re somehow inherently better than other things. He used them purely because they were what he liked and what he knew.

The Shire exists because he was an Englishman who partially grew up in, and loved, the British countryside, and Hobbits are born out of his very English, very traditionalist values. Tom Bombadil was one of his kids’ toys that he had already invented stories about and then incorporated into Middle-Earth. He wrote about elves and dwarves because he knew elves and dwarves from the old literature/mythology that he’d made his career. The Rohirrim are an expression of the ancient cultures he studied. There are a half-dozen invented languages in Middle-Earth because he was a linguist. The themes of war and loss and corruption were important to him, and were things he knew intimately, because of the point in history during which he lived; and all the morality of the stories, the grace and humility and hope-in-despair, was an expression of his Catholic faith. 

J. R. R. Tolkien created an incredible, beautiful, unparalleled world not specifically by writing about elves and dwarves and linguistics, but by embracing all of his strengths and loves and all the things he best understood, and writing about them with all of his skill and talent. The fact that those things happened to be elves and dwarves and linguistics is what makes Middle-Earth Middle-Earth; but it is not what makes Middle-Earth good.

What makes it good is that every element that went into it was an element J. R. R. Tolkien knew and loved and understood. He brought it out of his scholarship and hobbies and life experience and ideals, and he wrote the story no one else could have written… And did it so well that other people have been trying to write it ever since.

So… I think, if we really want to write like Tolkien (as I do), we shouldn’t specifically be trying to write like linguists, or historical experts, or veterans, or or or… We should try to write like people who’ve gathered all their favorite and most important things together, and are playing with the stuff those things are made of just for the joy of it. We need to write like ourselves.