#I'm from rural ohio so this is normal

[motorclit]

Have any of you reading this ever been stuck in a rut be it due to depression, stress, Autistic burnout (or even regular burnout) and no matter what you did, nothing helped? And then you decide to go through your subscriptions on YT and a punk rock historian covers an era/genre of music you still adore, and mentions modern/newer bands inspired by such a sound/movement and you check out one of them and discover the ONE SONG that SOMEHOW through GOD/DESS-LIKE INTERVENTION is like injecting life into your veins and you suddenly wanna do shit again? And then you hyperfocus on the song and play it over and over irl and in your head and now you can't wait to get your hands on some supplies and start DIY'ing shit again?

That's me right now. With this song listed above.

The song is "Womanarchist" by Bad Cop/Bad Cop and I now have life in my body again.

And I don't know how or why I didn't think to look this up earlier, but my brain finally realized that I can look up tutorials on how to DIY your own patches effectively without the need for acrylic paint, which means I can make quality patches for myself, including ones of bands I adore but can't find patches (or shirts!) anywhere on the internet.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some jeans to bleach and dye and some supplies to (eventually.. money's tight for about a week) get so I can make shit again! (I'll probably post pics of my political pants in the near-future, just note that they're not done yet because I'm a picky shit).

[shion-yu]

Popsicle

Just a fluffy little Al/Theo drabble. 1,385 words. TW: Emeto, mention of past character suicide. Cool article about historic CF treatment here.

One of the first pictures Al has of himself is in the mist tent. He doesn't remember much about it - they were already going out of style when he was born and quickly fizzled out as an effective treatment for cystic fibrosis in the early 80s. Good thing, given they were better breeding grounds for pseudemonas than anything, but the snapshot remains among Al's many baby pictures. There's so many, his mom explains to him, because they didn't think he'd live past childhood. Everything felt unknown back then. Now, Al thinks, so much is different. Kids are diagnosed within 24 hours of being born thanks to mandatory newborn screenings. There are medications and treatments that extend life expectancy for some CFers almost to normal. Very little existed on that snow-stormy night in 1979 when Al was born.

When Theo sees the picture of Al in that plastic nighttime prison, the gigantic compressor next to his crib that easily weighed a hundred times more than he did, his jaw drops. "This can't be real," he says in disbelief. "This looks more like the 1930s. 1960s, tops."

"What, you think my parents put me in there for fun?" Al smirks. "But you're right. It looks crazy. But rural Ohio, ya know, it was a bit behind on the times."

Al's mom also regales him with tales of disassembling and sanitizing the entire contraption plus changing the bed every morning, the sheets often soaking wet by then. He doesn't envy her at all. It's just another reason Al respects his mother endlessly, even though he knows he doesn't call her enough. He should call her more often.

They stopped talking every day after Al moved to New York. It was gradual but intentional, and often because Al hadn't wanted to admit to her when she asked how his day was that he'd gotten into another fight with Ollie. She loved Ollie, but she had never thought they were ready to marry or move in together. Ollie had only tried to kill himself last year, she told him. What were they going to do in a big city, in another state, without a clear plan for their future? Couldn't they just move to Columbus and try there?

It was a big fight. Al ended up going, and after that he felt too ashamed to tell his mother that maybe she had been right. After Ollie died Al was scared to talk to her about it. He was already so broken, he didn't need to be told what he did wrong. But when they finally did talk about it, she just hugged him and told him she was there for whatever he needed. He should have trusted her more, he thought as he sobbed in her arms just like he was a boy again.

She's supposed to be visiting sometime soon. It was going to be this week, but both Al and Theo woke up yesterday with a stomach virus from hell and had spent most of the last twenty-four hours vomiting in tandem. Theo has it worse than Al though and Al's doing his best to keep Theo as hydrated as possible. It seemed like everything he's offered Theo comes right back up, though.

"I'm fucking dying," Theo groans loudly after yet another round of violent gagging. He's lying on the bathroom rug, naked other than a pair of boxers and shivering despite most of the blankets in the apartment being piled on top of him.

Al's in his own nest in the bathtub with the rest of the remaining blankets that they possess. He stopped vomiting a few hours ago and now just feels vaguely nauseous and exhausted, but doesn’t want to leave Theo’s side. “You’re going to be fine,” Al tells him, although Theo does look on death’s doorstep if he’s being honest. “Drink some more Gatorade.”

“Ugh. Don’t even say that,” Theo says. He’s been alternatively sipping on and puking up Gatorade ever since this started and he doesn't think he ever wants to taste that shit again.

"Do you want to go to the hospital?" Al asks him.

"Shut the fuck up," Theo mutters, which causes Al to laugh.

"You're fine enough to complain," Al says. He detangles himself from his blanket cacoon and climbs out of the tub to rub Theo's back. Theo quivers in response to being touched, but after the initial discomfort it feels good. Al tries to remember what else he can do to help someone with the stomach flu, but he can only ever remember having it once before when he was quite young. What had his mom done to make him feel better? "How about a popsicle? It'll get that taste out of your mouth."

Theo seems to consider it very seriously before he says, "In ten minutes."

"Got it," Al says with a tired smile. His partner is exceedingly logical as always and Al knows he was weighing the pros and cons of a popsicle now versus in ten minutes versus never. Al waits ten minutes before dragging himself to the kitchen to grab a popsicle and calls to update his mom.

"Hi baby," she says when she picks up. "How're you two holding up?"

Al tells her that he's fine now, but Theo's still going through it. "Any ideas? I'm about to give him a popsicle."

"That's a good idea," she tells him. "Hmm... Got any of those ginger candies?" Al considers it. He thinks maybe he has some burried among all the crap in his med cabinet. "What about pepto bismol?"

"Ew, the pink stuff?" Al cringes. It never worked well for him personally, but it seems the zofran he's been giving Theo hasn't really worked so maybe it's worth a try.

"I'll order you some," she says. Ever since she discovered the magic of grocery delivery she seems to find some excuse to send him something every week. He doesn't bother arguing this time, since it's for Theo's benefit and he knows it makes her feel better to help. "What's Theo's favorite flavor of popsicles?"

"Green," Al says.

"Lime, dear," his mother corrects him. Al doesn't say anything. It's not worth fighting about.

"Thanks mom," Al says. "Love you. I'll call later."

"Let me know when you're feeling better," she responds, "And I'll re-book my flight."

Al knows she'll rebook it within an hour, so he'd better wait until they're feeling entirely better. Theo is fond of Al's mother, but he doesn't need her nagging and taking over the apartment while he's still not feeling well. Al tells her he loves her again and hangs up. Then he goes back to Theo's side where he finds his boyfriend yet again retching fruitlessly into the toilet. His heart clenches with pity.

"Poor Theo," he hums sympathetically, "You're okay. Deep breaths."

"Nothing's coming up," Theo groans.

"I know," Al says. "Let's get you to bed, okay? I want you to try eating this."

"What if I throw up in bed?" Theo mumbles feverishly.

"Then you throw up in bed. It'll be okay," Al soothes him, wrapping one of Theo's arms around his shoulders and hoisting him to his feet. They make it to the bedroom where Al deposits Theo onto the bed and presses the popsicle to his lips. "Suck on this. Just a little," Al coaxes him. "I know you don't want to but I can't let you get dehydrated."

"Fine," Theo obeys reluctantly. He gags a little but manages a decent amount before he pushes it into Al's hands. "I'm done," he pleads.

"Good job," Al says gently, running a hand through Theo's hair. He kisses Theo's forehead and puts the remaining popsicle into an empty water cup on his bedside table, so when it melts it won't make a mess. Then he brings a wet washcloth from the bathroom and washes Theo's sweaty, sticky face for him.

"Do you think you can sleep?" Al asks Theo. "Just for a bit."

"Maybe," Theo says. His pale, greyish complexion makes him look older than he is. "Will you stay with me?"

"Of course," Al says. He wants to nap too, anyways. "I'll be right here, don't worry."

"Love you," Theo mumbles.

Al smiles a little and kisses Theo again. "I love you too. Now rest."

Not sure if we actually have to write something for the "Free Space" in @hurtcomfort-bingo but if so, I'll count this one for my Free Space!

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[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I've been informed that early April in Ohio is basically still winter and very likely to be clouded over, so I'm gonna have to rethink my plans for the eclipse.

From where I'm at in Florida it is the exact same distance to my original destination in Wapakoneta, Ohio as it is to Dallas, Texas, 1300 miles on the dot. That said, there's no guarantee that the south will be any clearer than the north, we're 8½ out, any weather predictions are impossible, but I need to pick something. I can't just wait until April and wing it, I need to decide now where I'm going because I need to book hotel rooms for the journey out, the day of, and the journey back, not to mention all the stops I would make along the way. I wanted to hit up as many amusement parks as possible, but most places up north are closed for winter. The eclipse is right around opening day for a lot of them, so they're guaranteed to be packed with tourists. My college roommates drove up to the Carolinas to view the 2017 eclipse and what would have normally been a 6 or 7 hour drive took them over 12, so I know for a fact that every road leading in and out of the path of totality is going to be crammed with bumper to bumper traffic as far as the eye can see.

My gut tells me to avoid cities like Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, and Cleveland because they'll be the most congested, but I can't be the only person thinking ahead like this, so the rural areas inbetween are just as likely to be packed. There really are no safe spots along the path, everywhere is going to be crowded, so that's yet another uncertainty I need to decide on. Oh, and it's right in the middle of the presidential election, just a few weeks after Super Tuesday, so there will be nazis all up and down the eclipse path proudly flying their colors and making themselves everyone else's problem. I'm gonna feel uncomfortable and unwelcome no matter where I go.

There are no really desirable options...

[quierd-kitten]

I really liked your addition to my post. there was a huge neo nazi march in ohio (where i attended college) and the news buried it twenty feet deep.

my mom was from ohio and it makes me so fucking sad that there are whole new parts of my country that I can't feel safe in. it used to be "don't go to alabama" if you are obviously jewish. now it's "alabama is ok actually, just don't go out at night. avoid all the midwest unless you have a cross necklace that you can use as cover."

I just wanted to let you know that i appreciate that you pointed it out and didn't give me bs about how the news is being totally normal or that the news is not treating jews any different than any other group. even if you are jewish, it made me feel better.

Thank you, I was going back and forth a lot on whether adding that would be okay or not so I'm really glad! That rally was in Columbus so I'm not surprised in the least there were others here in Ohio, that was just the first one I'd seen in the news personally.

I'm not jewish (yet? very early stages of the conversion process), but it's something I learned to keep an eye on years before I even considered converting, and I know a good few other people in my circles who aren't jewish and do watch and spread news when they find it. Even my mom, who's very thoroughly christian and sometimes concerns me politically, was horrified by it and quick to agree with me that the way the news is handling antisemitism is really concerning and skewed. So I hope that also helps, there's definitely other people noticing and talking and recognizing this as a problem even out in rural midwest nowhere.

[beckleysbooks]

We're Better Off Now, Right?

Now that our Labor Day holiday weekend is over, we can set our calendars and sights on the next celebration or three-day weekend. Hopefully, you had a relaxing and fun weekend or both. I labored - in the heat - but I'm not complaining.

It was a very rare thing back in the 19th century to experience a three-day holiday weekend. First up, there was no such thing as a "weekend". As I describe in my book, "Oh! Susannah", folks back then worked six days a week and rested on the Sabbath, as the Good Book says. By the late 1800's, men were "given" half of their Saturday off, but their pay was docked because of it. It took labor laws and a huge pivot of mindset in the 20th century to get people's heads around the idea of a "weekend". And now we're talking about three-day weekends?

Same goes for general celebratory events in the 19th century, ones we take for granted, like our birthday. I had a lot of fun writing Chapter 15 - "An Occasion To Celebrate". It was Susannah's 30th birthday - June 30, 1861. This day fell on a Sunday. The Sunday before Independence Day, which was a "holiday" few back then celebrated either, only activists pushing their particular cause. I chose this day to be a special one for Susannah. All the family gathered to celebrate her birthday and acknowledge our country's anniversary of independence. Susannah's cherished friend, Druscilla, ditches the Mother Hubbard outfit that Susannah normally wore, in exchange for a get up nothing short of what Cinderella would've been proud to be seen in at the ball.

For a moment, think of all the "holidays" we observe throughout the year. Isn't nearly every other day a "National _____ (fill in the blank) Day" here in the United States? And, days when we are not expected at work, are in addition to the ones we spend on vacation. Needless to say, "vacation" for those in rural 19th century Ohio was a totally foreign concept that would've drawn blank stares from those whom you would've been trying to explain it to. It wasn't that people back then had no time off for leisure or pleasure. I specifically chose to highlight celebrations like a 'barn raising", the annual agricultural fair, and the occasions when the circus came to town, in my historical fiction to offset the people's otherwise dour existence. And, I'm really looking forward to addressing the Lion Club members in Massillon, Ohio next week with a presentation on how people did celebrate these few "holidays" back then.

So, we're better off now, right?

Let's think about how casual we have become with all of the leisure time afforded us today. How many Americans can tell you why we even have "Labor Day" as a holiday? Personally, I'm learning that with less there is more; less purchases - more room to move about the house/basement/garage, less busy-ness equals more quality time, less stress - more peace. Which brings me to the question, how precious would our leisure and pleasure time be to us if we could only choose three occasions throughout a year to celebrate them?

I'm not advocating the removal of our three-day weekends, just asking questions of how thankful are we for them?

Let me know your thoughts and opinions. I'd love to hear what you think on this topic and for more about my book, "Oh! Susannah", visit www.beckleysbooks.com

[lmsr-lilitu-sephiroth]

In this world, as it is, people are too obsessed with how others look when compared with each other. How we appear is extremely important. I'm not going to deny that our bodies are important to who we are. If we didn't have them, well, we'd be some form of energy and not be up to all our human stuff.

I only wish we didn't focus so much on how different we are, because we're not, really. But because much of society is so obsessed with being a certain way and looking a certain way, anyone who doesn't fit the narrow range of what is supposed to be normal is treated as less.

Like even though I'm a white American, I don't actually look ‘normal’ and was always weird. So I was bullied and used as a joke in school. Early on, I was the gross kid because I kept scratching and digging at the pain in half my face. Or later, it was all the scars and my eccentricities I couldn't be bullied out of in school. And my speech because I couldn't fully open my mouth and my left vocal cord was definitely paralyzed by then.

And I didn't really get that racism was alive and well until later. I grew up in largely white neighborhoods, had too much in my own life that hurt, and honestly was sheltered from seeing the bulk of racism in the present day for a long time. I was raised so rurally until high school that the place I have mostly considered my home‘town’ isn't even any kind of town at all. It wasn't until my junior year, when I started I started my culinary class at my vocational school in Ohio, and had classmates from other parts of the region that I started to notice much. The bus that picked up students from my school and our rival school was... enlightening. I heard students saying shit things about other people. And it was horrifying. I hated it all. My parents raised me to be to be polite to people and not an ass. My traumatizing childhood made me despise bigots and those who sit on their hands doing nothing when they could have helped. I am now essentially incapable of just ignoring the wrongs in the world.

I will give Farcebook credit for bringing me that realization via a wider range of information. And at one point, Patheos writers (until my mental health tanked again). I kept seeing things were bad for some groups of people more often than others. And I basically already had a bone to pick with various authority groups.

Anyway, regarding the original post: I wrote it on the road back west. I'd already started getting all emotional about it.

My trip to Baltimore was for a special dinner event. And the thing is, even though I knew logically that things in the big city weren't that different, it took seeing it with my own two eyes to really get it. Saturday night, we were all people who have seen the bottom for one reason or another. I have been very emotional since getting home Sunday. I have started to cry several times now. And it's not because of pain or distress. It's because I finally feel connected to there in a much deeper way than I expected.

I always thought I'd be an nervous wreck staying in a big city like Baltimore. I remember being nervous in San Antonio over a one-week summer break vacation in high school. I mean it was amazing, but yeah. I prefer to have plenty of nature around. But I wasn't nervous this weekend. I was extremely jittery, but that was mostly from excitement.

To be fair, my first few days alive were spent in a hospital there, because Mom was visiting her older sister. But we went back to western Maryland once we were released from observation. So in the end, it really felt like another home I didn't realize was waiting for me.

And that's just the thing. Back in high school, I thought rural and urban people were really, really different. But that's just not true. Yes, we tend to stick to people similar to ourselves. The familiar being safer than the unknown kind of logic. But we shouldn't let what differences do exist divide us.

This whole mess of a post is a part of me trying to articulate all of what has been on my mind and adding to the voices saying we're not so different after all. It's messy and emotional because that's where I'm at. I'm still processing all the new experiences.

I also want to open up more. I'm always so reticent to share because I'm afraid of being hurt again, at least half because of my own lack of social skills. It's actually a vicious cycle I want to end. And I mean it is my blog, I shouldn't be afraid of talking on it if I want to.

I traveled to Baltimore this weekend. I live in a pretty small city. I saw the same kinds of things I see at home, just at a much larger scale.

We're not different for being urban versus rural.

All political borders are made up by people, whether they're based on natural geography or not.

Looking a little bit different from each other shouldn't mean a damn thing.

Living life in somewhat different ways shouldn't mean a damn thing.

We're not hurting each other by simply existing. Why the hell does it matter?

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[dhaaruni]

See, I think that's where the mainstream liberal philosophy differs from reality. The typical American - especially the typical rural American - isn't interested in material gains so much as he is in keeping material gains *away* from those he deems inferior (nonwhites, non-straights, women, etc.). That's why all-encompassing welfare proposals spur them into voting for the GOP so often. (They sang a different tune on pre-60s welfare because it mostly excluded minorities.)

I don't get your point because non-college white people being conservative doesn't mean that Democrats don't need to win more of them over. Like, we need to do something to stop losing rural counties 75-25 and lose them by 65-35 because right now, with that 75-25 split, it's basically impossible for Democrats to keep the Senate and win the electoral college. 2024 will be an absolute bloodbath in terms of the Senate, and I don't think that people grasp just how much so. Any or all of those Midwestern senators (Baldwin, Casey, Stabenow, Brown) + Manchin and Tester are at risk of losing their seats because Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania are all going to be won by less than 5%, and Biden will lose Montana and West Virginia and most likely Ohio by double digits.

I keep emphasizing this but Biden was less than 43,000 votes across WI/AZ/GA from losing the election and that's after Trump killed a half million Americans in a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. And, the only way to give us more of an electoral cushion is to do better in the rurals, and that means winning over white people. There simply aren't enough Native American reservations and Black rural farmers in the southern Black belt to make up for our cratering with white people in the rurals, like we need to do better with them.

Also like, re: talking about race, Steve Bullock was on point in that op-ed. This is what he said:

"It’s in the void of inaction and failure to solve problems real people face that racially tinged cultural fights, like we saw in Virginia, take hold. My children are in high school and have never heard of critical race theory — nor have their teachers. What voters want to know is that Democrats will fight for racial justice and to improve the lives of rural Americans, no matter the color of their skin. After all, that’s what we’ve always done."

I'm genuinely confused at how people are calling that statement dogwhistling like that's literally how normal people talk, and Democrats pretending otherwise is causing us to get demolished in the rurals in a way that's flat out not sustainable.

I'm not talking about all this stuff in a normative way either, I'm talking about it in a positive way, the numbers are against us right now, and we can either change our tactics and maybe make up the margins enough to win, or we can lose and hurtle into single-party Republican rule for the next few decades. I recommend that we stop doing things like making videos of equity vs. equality, never utter the word "birthing" ever again, and emphasize how we're all Americans who want the same things and how Democratic policies will help everybody and not just select demographics.

[coldasyou]

I'm *still* quite confused about the electoral college? Like.... the popular vote votes for the people who make up for the electoral college, who vote for the president? But then why would a democrat electoral college member vote for Trump? Or how did he possible win if Hilary won the popular vote? Idk, maybe none of this is accurate, I'm still so confused (also, I'm not US) (also, I have tried to google it but I need someone to explain it to me like I'm 5)

anon I’m american, practically have my BA in history, and I still don’t fully understand it! it is...insanely confusing and I hate it but I’ll try and do my best to explain it. 

when the united states founders were first framing the constitution (yes we have to go back this far for context) there was a lot of disagreement over the role of big states vs small states. you can see this with the debate over whether or not states representation in congress should be equal across the board (the new jeresey plan) or based on the population (virginia plan). a compromise was reached and that’s why in the US we have two branches in congress; the senate (where each state gets two senators no matter the size) and the house of representatives (where the number of reps a state has is determined by population). 

that same anxiety surrounding how much power big states would have is one of the reasons we have the electoral college. another reason is a lot of the founders just genuinely didn’t trust average citizens to be smart enough to vote (remember, originally only white, property owning men could vote) and didn’t want a pure popular vote to decide a winner but we don’t like to talk about that in this country! so the electoral college is basically a process that works like this: each state gets a certain number of electors, determined by their total representation in congress (the number of reps + the two senators. for example, ohio has 18 votes, 16 for our representatives, 2 for our senators. DC also gets 3 electoral votes despite not actually being a state.). there are currently 538 electors in total and a candidate needs 270 to win. what qualifies a person to be an elector varies by state (bc this process needs to be MORE convoluted) but in general it’s high ranking members of the specific candidates political party. when you vote for a specific candidate, you’re actually voting for their electors (either democrat, or republican).to take 2016 as an example, both trump and clinton had their own set of electors chosen by their respective parties, but the only ones who actually got to vote where the electors of the party that won the state (so in california, the democratic electors picked clinton bc she won the most votes, in texas, the republican electors picked trump bc he won the most votes). every state besides maine and nebraska has a “winner take all” system, where whichever candidate gets the most votes in the state gets all of the electors. this is supposed to be kind of an “honor code thing.” technically, an elector could vote for whoever they want (and some do, they’re called faithless electors) but like 99% of electors vote for their parties candidate.  (source, source)

normally, the electoral college matches up with what the popular vote was (so the candidate with the most electors also got the most votes) but there have been five elections in US history where a candidate who got the MOST votes lost bc they still didn’t get the MOST electors. the first 3 were in the 19th century but it has happened twice in the past 20 years already; bush vs gore in 2000 and trump vs clinton in 2016. this can happen bc of the winner take all system: to quote pew research, “This mismatch between the electoral and popular votes came about because Trump won several large states (such as Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) by very narrow margins, gaining all their electoral votes in the process, even as Clinton claimed other large states (such as California, Illinois and New York) by much wider margins.” (source) and to quote the times: “Today, in every state except Nebraska and Maine, whichever candidate wins the most votes in a state wins all the electors from that state, no matter what the margin of victory. Just look at the impact this system had on the 2016 race: Donald Trump won Pennsylvania and Florida by a combined margin of about 200,000 votes to earn 49 electoral votes. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, won Massachusetts by almost a million votes but earned only 11 electoral votes.” (source). on average, states with a high population and high urban density (where democrats are more popular) are underrepresented in the electoral college, while more rural states with a lower population  (where republicans are more popular) are over represented in the electoral college, and that’s why we’ve seen two democrats win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote in the past two decades.

swing states (states that historically have gone both republican and democrat) also come in to play. they can change based on political trends, but generally include most of the midwest as well as flordia, nevada, pennsylvania, and virginia. one of the reasons trump was able to win the electoral college is he did REALLY well in swing states, particularly in the midwest and rust belt, and he was able to grab a lot of electors from there. 

confusing? yes. personally, I am very anti electoral college for reasons that are summarized a lot better here and here and also bc I LIVE in a swing state and the constant political attack ads are horrible. 

finally, here’s a graphic that really helps me understand how the divide between popular and electoral vote can occur. (source)

[xboxdudett]

Ok, just to add on that this is the case not just in Ohio, but also down here in North Carolina as well. Small town idiots are apparently a nation wide issue, as I've observed the exact same thing.

I live between a larger city and a small little rural town, so it's pretty much a 50/50 of which I go to, normally just depending on what I need. Every where you go in the city, people are observing social distancing, they're all wearing masks, and some of my faith in humanity is actually restored a little.

Now, God help you if you need anything from the little rural town. Not a mask in sight, people come right up next to you and ignore all the tape on the ground like they're actually blind to it. Last time I had to go and get chicken feed I came upon a gaggle of 4 people all huddled together discussing how, "the rise in gun sales and the shortage of ammunition at the local gun store were the real pandemics that were happening right now."

..........ladies and gentlemen, I can't even make that shit up. In fact, I'm still reeling from it and haven't recovered, over a week later.

Needless to say I've been buying all of my necessities from the city since. 😂

I’m dental assistant and sometimes answer calls since we’re cutting staff. One lady called in, complaining about pain and how our emergency policy applies to her. It took me 30mins to get what tooth was bothering her. It was... not even a tooth. She said without whitening her teeth, her confidence is hurting. I- 👁👄👁 I just-.... our emergency policy is for patients with pain and even then we have to put them down in schedule and some have to wait a weak in pain 😔 man Im exhausted 🤣

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Woof. Man. I am SO sorry that you have to deal with that, but also I am SO GLAD that I get to laugh at it 😂😂😂

Like, lady. Ma'am. Karen. Times are tough. These times are uncertain, as both Uber and Burger King will tell you. We're all feeling it. My eyebrows currently bear a striking similarity to those wild boar that were running pell-mell down the streets of Florence. I'm pretty sure I've begun to sprout roots into my desk chair. My skin is breaking out even though I haven't worn makeup in 2 months, and my hair has reached peak Snape.

I get it. You want, nay, need something to make you feel like you, like this won't last forever.

That's a you problem, Karen.

There are whitening kits that you can buy online, and give yourself a spa day, Just like there are fancy scissors that can be bought to give yourself that horrible haircut, and gel nail polish kits that come with little lights to give yourself that mani you've been missing. Your desire to feel normal does not give you the right to put other people in danger.

It blows my mind that this is the kind of stuff that needs saying. On a normal circumstances I work in the city and I shop after work. Everyone in the city I am from is wearing masks. There's nowhere You can go that people aren't wearing masks.

Out here in the bumfuck country town I moved to, however, it's a different story. To borrow a title from my hilarious friend, Randy redneck is under the impression It is his constitutional right to cough unencumbered in my face, the 6 ft marking tape on the ground be dammed. I only leave the house once a week, and every single time I do I come back saying the same thing. "We're all going to die." 🙃

Tl;dr: stay the fuck home, Karen! Your confidence pain is not an emergency nor is your vanity essential.

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