#i am literally helping to mobilize the public

[kleyamarki]

hashtag depressed about the library again. i really love my job and my branch and the people i work with. even if i don’t get laid off i’ll probably get moved and put in a different position and i won’t get to do programming. this is all so fucked

[miku-earth]

miku.earth update: September 15

Hi all! This is a lil progress update for those interested. In a rush? Here's the cliff notes!

The map site at miku.earth is back: sorry for the delay in fixing it! Check it out: it has six hundred Mikus!

Including the hyuge ol' queue, we've collected over 3,100 mikus!

Representation is important! I've been using some fancy stats to avoid bias. To that end, please help make sure we have a Miku in every African country!

oh hey! you clicked 'keep reading!' well hi! here is your Miku Direct. . The map site, miku.earth, is back!

I ran into a kinda complex issue and it was a whole Thing. I was working on the site the whole time though! Sorry for the delay, and I hope you enjoy now it's back up and running.

This site has six hundred Mikus on the map, and more are added each week. It was recently rebuilt from scratch (fun fact! I am not a web developer) so I hope it is far zippier and less glitchy as before. A mobile-friendly version is coming soon too!

Also: check out the new search feature! In addition to the title, artist name and region(s), it can also search for the categories indigenous and historic!

cw: this video involves moving around a 2D map with some speed. on the site itself site, this only happens when you hit the Enter key.

We've reached more than 3,100 mikus!

Even at its Miku-per-hour speed, the queue will continue until 2025 at least! This is with thanks to an incredible number of contributions, including donations of literal thousands of links.

Thank you so much to @awnowimsad, @worldmikuposter @the-hatsune-miku-trend, @communist-hatsunemiku, @council-of-beetroot, L-A and a whole host of DMers and emailers for helping get this far.

Oh and by the way: over two thirds of the collection are tumblr posts! Given that this was originally a twitter trend… if you know any Twitter users who are into this trend, please reach out. Some napkin math tells me there are at least 10,000 works of art total out there, which is, by the way, surreal. Let's make sure not a single one is lost.

If you're super curious, the collection is public! I have some tools to auto-annotate (I do not want RSI), but be aware the backlog isn't vetted.

Representation is important!

Fun as this trend is, this project was always intended as a serious study into how people represent their own culture through artwork. I'm no anthropologist, but I feel it is important to make sure this collection is respectful and bias-free. If we're to represent the world, we have to avoid underrepresentation!

To that end I've used some fancy statistics to calculate a "representation value" for each country. Here's a table if you're into the stats of it! This info is handy to help me with the queue – especially with tweets as they're a lil more effort than a carefully-tagged reblog. Of course, Indigenous, hyperspecific and low-note Mikus get priority.

And, well, of course you can see on the site there are purple regions for countries still missing a Miku. In particular, please help me make sure every country in Africa is represented.

Thank you for reading!

Phew! That was a lot. If you're still curious, please check the behind-the-scenes and source code. I work in the open! Even if my code is probably messy.

And if you're a programmer, issues and pull requests are welcome! This is actually a static site, so it's purdy easy to develop.

[no2da]

i feel like vaguely talking about building community is not helpful at all but like concrete steps on how to do that. im not american and neither do have any significant following so i expect my contribution to be not helpful.

choose one cause, like. feminism, environment, anti-racism, idk. look up organisations or groups that work for that cause, like my body my choice, fridays for future, extinction rebellion, food not bombs, pantifa, free palestine, etc etc, see if they have a local chapter in your city or a city near you, mail them, go to their meetings. if theres nothing, get creative with google, facebook and insta and search for independent local groups. queer centres, refugee help centres, squats. these sort of depend on social media presence so you should be able to find something after a while. mail or dm them, show up to their events and meet ups. check black boards at community centers, at schools and universitys, librarys etc. get AGGRESSIVELY involved. turn your anger into action. you only need like 3 people, design freeware, a room to meet (can literally be your own living/bed room, or fucking zoom) and a little bit of local clout (see above) and you can mobilize people to do protests, readings, info tables or other types of actions. be persistent. do not allow yourself and your new comrades to get tired. consistently do something for key days, like international womens day, trans day of remembrence, or something. after two or three years, your community will have grown, you will notice that you in fact make a difference. there are people depending on you and you are depending on these people. even if you are socially awkward i promise

edit: if there is nothing in your city: start it yourself. grab a friend. create a facebook and insta page, make a post what your group is about and then. plan your first meetup. start with casual shit. monthly feminist brunch at the local cafe. monthly queer chat at the library. aggressively advertise. properly tag your city and your causes. do not be afraid to put up flyers/posters in public that you print at home. i am sure after a while someone will show up. involve them.

[breaking-binary-system]

So, especially with it being disability pride month, I've noticed something more and more: A lot of people, disabled and able-bodied, give a TON of hate to us ambulatory wheelchair users. So, I decided fuck it let me tell people a story about one.

There was this boy. He grew up with a disabled father and a mother who had a ton of chronic pain. He could see the effects. By the time this boy was 5, his father walked full time on a cane.

When he turned 11, he started suffering from severe debilitating leg pain. To the point he would miss school for days and would spend all day every day sobbing his eyes out from how severe it took, even after taking the max amount of ibuprofen and Tylenol he could. He eventually got into seeing a rheumatologist out of fear it was something rheumatology related.

For 6 years, the boy was constantly in pain and the most he would get told is "well your double jointed that's why you have this much pain, just go do physical therapy". That never helped him. When he turned 17, everything changed.

He went to go see a different doctor at this office, one he had to wait years for since she saw adults and, well, 17 was just close enough to be tolerated. She looked at his blood tests and did a physical and came to a realization.

"It's not that you're double jointed, you have rheumatoid arthritis. It's why your shoulders grind, they lack cartilage now from years of this disorder. Let's do our best to treat it"

That started a year's worth of trial and error before she finally decided to give the boy an immunosuppressant that had worked for his father who also had the disorder. He wasn't cured but, quickly, his symptoms started to go away more and more.

This boy, from the age of 15 on, had to use mobility aids frequently if not all the time. It started with a simple cane and while it helped, his hands couldn't take the pressure on his nerves. So, he tried a walker. And that helped too. Forearm crutches were best to get him still able to have some ability to walk. He found something that made his life a lot easier however.

His grandfather had a multitude of issues, many of which required him to have a wheelchair before he passed. So, his grandfather made it known that any mobility aids the boys father didn't use, the boy was more than welcome to have. So, he decided one day to try and use the wheelchair.

Suddenly things were so much easier. He couldn't walk all the time yes and he didn't need the chair 24/7 but it meant that when his POTS was acting up or he was in a arthritis flare up, he could use a wheelchair and still be mobile. It changed his life. However he wasn't free from shame and hate on how he shouldn't use one.

He was told repeatedly it wasn't that bad and he was being dramatic and was taking away from people who actually needed them. This boy was 18. He had a disorder that was seen as an "old person" disorder. His body was literally attacking itself. And here was a ton of people attacking him for needing a wheelchair or, if he was in a store with them, a mobility scooter.

This boy took months of steady therapy to be willing to even go in public with the wheelchair again. A lot of it took support from his boyfriend and his father who encouraged him and reminded him that it was OKAY to use a mobility aid, even if he didn't need it 24/7.

If you haven't caught on now don't worry, I'll just say it. I am that boy. I still need reminders from my boyfriend or my father that it's okay to need my wheelchair and I'm not stealing anything, my body has day's of different intensities. Take today.

I thought all I would need is forearm crutches and I'm typing this in my wheelchair and I feel a lot better now that I've used it since, due to the fact this chair is meant to be sat in for someone with a disability not just a regular every day chair, my legs are feeling a shit ton better.

My left knee has been in an awful flare up for about a month and a half at this point. Today it got unbearable so I just sat in the wheelchair my dad keeps at his job for me. I can move now without wanting to cry.

This is a really long post and I'm not entirely sure why i started it to be honest, blame the whole "oh yeah I have a CDD" and the fact that, well, I've been diagnosed with ADHD, specifically attention deficit part.

Something I wanna end this long post on. Don't think just because you saw someone walking yesterday or even 10 minutes ago and now they're in a wheelchair that they're faking or something. Shit can change in a matter of MINUTES.

[doberbutts]

Now y'all just taking things way out of context to be mad and start a hate train because my conflicting needs post was to @a-polite-melody and not at all to Morg, who I have not spoken to, because my posts as I have said repeatedly are about the ableist takes I'm seeing cross my dash BECAUSE THEY HURT ME, A PHYSICALLY DISABLED PERSON.

I have literally so many things wrong with my body and am even an occasional wheelchair user myself!!! And I am still going to protest when I see someone say "sensory is comfort and not need" and "people who have such extreme sensory problems that things like headphones and tinted glasses don't help are rare and don't go out in public"!!! That's ableist that's ableist that's ableist and it hurts ME a person with a BRAIN INJURY who still has to go out in public and work and do shit even though those types of devices only barely take the edge off and do not solve the problem!!! I am allowed to be mad that people are being ableist about my disability!!!

Also this person is white trying to lecture a black person about intersectionality while being hypocritical about who is allowed to talk about ableism in disability spaces. Take black theory out of your white mouth if you're only going to use it as a weapon to get noisy black people who's words you don't like to shut up.

ALSO my conflicting needs post was "both people should be accomodated" and "providing multiple options is always better" so talk about bad faith. Fucking Christ this is exactly why this shit pisses me off. It's LITERALLY on a post about how I gained access to a PHYSICAL THERAPIST OFFICE via wheelchair because I was PARALYZED DOWN MY RIGHT SIDE AND COULD NOT WALK and it was still not accessible to me because I also had a BRAIN INJURY that could not be easily accomodated and I could not ask for better because I COULDN'T TALK BECAUSE I HAD APHASIA FROM MY BRAIN INJURY. It was a space literally designed for mobility issues and there was still inadequate accessibility.

Or did you just skip over that part and go straight for the piece that you could take out of context?

[scam-alerts]

Introduction

Masterlist / Index of posts I've made

NOTICE: Please do not send me asks or DM's telling me you've found a 'scam/scammer' or ask me to look into blogs/posts that have gofundme's that also have PayPal links on them. I am not in any rightful position to validate or vet any blog that has a gofundme campaign that may also use PayPal. The use of PayPal along side a gofundme is usually so they can get funds quicker. This does not mean they are scamming or are a scammer.

Please read this post for more information on this. Thank you.

1, Purpose

This blog is to serve as public documentation to any and all tumblr users who visit to make them aware of known accounts that are running PayPal donation/aid scams and/or other scams that I can 100% verify are scams. I will be providing any and all documented evidence of how and why accounts listed here are scams.

2. Evidence

Evidence in calling out these scams will include things such as:

Username changes in an attempt to make others think that they are a different/new person.

Images of them changing their 'real name' repeatedly.

Alternate accounts running the same scam.

Alternate accounts running different scams. (but the same scammer)

PayPal.me names that are being used with these accounts. (this is information they list themselves. Nobody is being doxed)

3. Resources

With every post I will provide resources on how to avoid these scams. This information will be written and provided by fellow tumblr users.

Helpful guides on how to spot scams. (by @kyra45)

4. Ask Box / Submissions

My ask box is open to questions, concerns, or links to users you think may be scammers.

Again: Please do NOT submit questions via ask or DM' me asking me to look into a possible 'scam' related to blogs with gofundme's.

I am not someone who has the knowledge or ability to 'vet' these blogs and those asks will be deleted.

---- Current list of documented scammers: Part 3

Archived for reference: Part 1 and Part 2

Some notes from the blog owner below:

Hi everyone! @slenbee here.

First I'd like to note that:

This blog is not in any way affiliated with or run by tumblr staff.

I do not ask for money in any shape or form, nor would I ever. It would be nice, sure, but sadly I wouldn't feel right accepting money for something I feel should be public knowledge to begin with. Plus I don't want scammers knowing my personal information. :p

To give a small back story about myself:

I'm simply a user who joined tumblr in 2014 that's been into scams for the past 2-3 years. It started with watching the youtuber/streamer Kitboga who's known for the rather infamous 'DO NOT REDEEM' clip that was eventually born. (loud warning btw)

From him I learned about other youtubers that covered scams, so I also got into watching channels like ScammerPayback, TrilogyMedia, JimBrowning, TheTekkitRealm, and Tranium.

The last two being more for comedic purposes than more serious ones listed prior. :)

I wouldn't say my liking of scams has turned into any sort of obsession, but there is a few factors that sort of spurred me into wanting to make this blog and cover scams.

Here's some examples:

My grandma almost fell for a scam on the phone pretending to be her bank and I was able to explain to her how and why it was a scam and how it worked, and she was able to avoid it.

An older friend of mine on discord who plays a mobile game with me nearly fell for the Norton Lifelock email scam, and in mentioning offhand that they weren't sure if this 'email was legit', i was able to save them and let them know that emails like that were scams.

Another friend of mine nearly fell for the 'click this link and play our mobile game and we'll give you free in game credits for trying it!' scam, which ends up being a virus that steals your data.

And, well, there was the incident recently with Roblox and Youtube doing literally fuck all to ban a Free Robux scammer who was using a 3rd party website to literally phish information out of children and possibly install a virus on their computer. But y'know 'we can't do anything about stuff that happens off our website.' 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

And thus Bee's internal flame to document and bust scams was lit.🔥

I feel any and all information about scams should be public and available to anyone and everyone in an easily digestible manner that people can understand. It shouldn't be something that's tucked away in a private page you have to search for or go 5 pages deep into google to find because the first 3 pages are full of sponsor links or unhelpful FAQ pages that don't answer your questions at all.

And don't get me started on AI bots answering questions...

Useless if you ask me.

So thus, I made this blog! I try to document scams here the best I can, and if you can't find information here, you can find it under my scam tag on my main blog.

That's about all for now. If you have any questions or comments, my DM's are always open. :)

Take care and have a good day.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for telling my mom I would blow up her entire household and myself in a gas explosion if my parents built me a house to live in?

TW for descriptions of child abuse and suicide mention

I (22NB) cut off my abusive father (mid40M) and left home when I turned 18. I'm going to call him Harry (fake name) from now on because I'm going to have to talk about him a lot. When covid lockdowns started I had to leave home because I phsyically could not be in the same room as Harry without fully disassociating and would constantly have homicidal thoughts, suicidal thoughts and panic attacks just hearing him walk around the house or talk from locked away in my bedroom. Growing up Harry would phsyically and verbally abuse me, he's thrown me out of a window and locked me outside of the house, pinned me to the ground and stabbed me in the back of the neck with a pair chopsticks, slapped me, kicked me while I was curled up on the ground and so on. My mom (mid40F) would watch all these things and never did anything to stop the abuse, his abuse started ramping down when my little brother was born (12M) so most of these things happened to me from 6 years old to being 10. Harry has never been phsyically and verbally abusive towards my mom or my siblings I was his only victim at home.

I developed a slew of mental illness traits the main of which being diagnosed cPTSD from this abusive upbringing. I also ended up developing a phsyical disability that limits my mobility when I was turning 20, I live alone and the house I live in is extremely unaccessible and even dangerous for me to live in. Because of this I am still in regular contact with my mom getting her help with things I can't manage to do on my own due to my disability. Her and Harry are planning to move out to the countryside and have a house built there so I am aware I won't be able to rely on her for too many years longer. One day she mentions to me that apparently they had been planning to build me a small house tucked away at the back of their property for me to live in so she could keep taking care of me. I'd never heard of this plan before and never asked for anything like this.

First of all I found it incredibly demeaning to build a little doghouse out of sight to keep your traumatized disabled child like an unwanted pet only kept around out of pity and some sense of responsibility, my mom comes from a culture where its the norm to treat disabled people like this and make sure they are unseen but I did not appreciate it. Second of all this would literally be the most nightmarish scenario for me to live through possible, I can't drive I don't have a car and there is no public transport or delivery services for food and grocceries at all outside of the capital of my country. My mom doesn't drive either so she would put me in a scenario where literally every single aspect of my life would become completely dependent on my transphobic abuser that I still get full blown PTSD episodes even just thinking about. My house, my food, where I can go and getting to the doctor would all become completely at the mercy of Harry in this situation. This is when I told my mom if put in this situation I would blow up all of us in a gas explosion to escape it because that's how awful living through that would be.

She didn't really react to me saying I would blow all of them up if this happens because I use exaggerated violent language often, she just called me ungrateful. While it was mainly to express just how bad this situation would be for me it was also somewhat meant as a threat, due to my disability I've had other family members try to get me declared legally incompetent so they could get a government caregiver from me. My parents could absolutely use the law to force me into this housing situation even as an adult, it was partially a threat because I wanted it in their heads that it a bad idea for them to do this to me, realistically I would just commit suicide to escape it instead. My cPTSD makes me incapable of having grounded thoughts and reactions to the things that trigger it, I know my mental problems make me an asshole a lot of the time but I just want to live my shitty life as painlessly as possible for however long I've got left.

What are these acronyms?

[winn-schott-throughtheheart]

I am a truther of Winn with disabilities like hearing loss, POTS (reflecting onto him from myself hehe), chronic pain, uses mobility aids n stuff, stuff like that!!! Do u have any headcannons like that? :33

for continuity's sake i won't be including specifically autistic headcanons in here even though it is a disability, just cause I already answered an ask about autistic headcanons :33

(also I realised I misread the original ask so it took me a hot minute lmfao)

POTS:

• i think I put in the post this ask was about about him leaning on the solid mass of kara or mon whenever he feels faint or dizzy and just. yeah that's good stuff. monwinnara my beloveds

• he Will steal salt packets whenever he can. they're fucking everywhere. if you put your hand into any one of his pockets in any item of clothing, there will be a salt packet.

• which also works in warding kara off eating his food, and also anyone else in the break room

• he Will fall if he stands up too fast.

• Floor Time is a must. when he gets home it's Floor Time.

wheelchair/mobility aids:

• The way I imagine this one is the explosion at the funeral in 3x14 injuring his back. maybe it doesn't paralyse him fully, but he spends a lot of time in a lot of pain and it takes a long time for him to get around on his own.

• he uses crutches on good days, but can walk short distances without them, he's just a little wobbly because his legs are weaker

• he's just overcome with fresh hatred for his father, because he's spent literally his whole life doing things on his own and refusing help, and now he's constantly relying on other people just to move around, and he hates it.

• "do you know how pathetic this makes me feel?"

• it takes a long time for him to get used to it, but the anger he feels towards his father never really goes away.

• under no circumstances is anyone allowed to push him. at all. he needs to maintain some kind of control and independence

• James is awful at acknowledging this

• as he gets more used to it the more comfortable he gets using his wheelchair. he decorates it with stickers

• he mostly uses his crutches at home, since the distances are shorter and it's bulky and frustrating having to maneuver a wheelchair in his apartment

• he hides it well, but he's always in some kind of pain. it's worse when he pushes himself, even though he won't admit it, because winn schott is a stubborn bastard.

• it also very much impacts his autism- he's a lot more aware of everything now that he has to be so aware of his body, and he gets overstimulated (and melts down) a lot more easily as a result of that.

• maybe he has a cool cane too- it takes him a while to get round to using it, because it's a lot more obvious he's chronically disabled using a cane than using crutches

• a part of him hates all of it because he doesn't like drawing attention to himself especially in public (he will around the people he trusts, when he feels safe)

hearing loss:

• in my mind this might go hand in hand with the wheelchair one, the explosion at the funeral damaging his hearing

• maybe it takes him a while to notice. as an autistic person, I personally have SUCH a hard time recognising patterns in real time- stuff like taking medicine making me feel better, specific things causing allergic reactions, etc etc, so it might be similar for winn. takes him a while to notice that, no, this is wrong

• if it's enough for him to need hearing aids, once he's used to it, he'll just take them out whenever he needs a bit of peace and quiet like when he's working

• and then he'll get in the zone and won't notice people trying to get his attention, which makes him a hell of a lot more jumpy

service dog! :

• autism service dog? maybe pots? some kind of fainting spell service puppy? ptsd?

• kara is utterly enamoured immediately. it takes SO much of her energy not to distract the dog.

• mon-el had to have a very stern talking to about how to act around the dog because he'd never met a service dog before

• he was very understanding but it took a while before he felt comfortable petting her or anything when she was off duty just in case he hurt winn by distracting her

• man I want to come up with a cute name and everything.

• im gonna go with mable mable is cute

• with the amount of times the deo gets attacked on the regular, it does make winns anxiety spike at the thought of bringing her to work

• they manage to train her to run to a specific place when the alarms go off so it's easy to find her- this actually took a while because she was very reluctant to leave winns side in an emergency

• im imagining cat not being all that happy about having to have a dog in the office lol. of course she allows it without question, but she is pleasantly surprised/relieved at how she will just stay put and sleep under winns desk unless she's alerted to something

• i SO need to draw this

• it took a while for his cat to acclimatise to the dog. winn felt bad so he made sure to pay extra attention to him to make sure he didn't feel left out

Fibromyalgia/chronic pain:

recently learned that this can be caused by significant mental trauma, so thought it'd be interesting to explore for whump reasons

• like the hearing loss one, it takes him a long time to notice something is wrong

• maybe it starts to manifest after the events of 1x10- I mean the guy was kidnapped, drugged and bound by the person he despises most in the world, and then forced to almost kill someone, I would count that as significant mental trauma

• he thinks he's just tired and sore because he's overworking himself. he's struggling to sleep and the nightmares get worse because of it, making him reluctant to even try

• particularly because it hurts most in his neck, back and hips, he thinks it's because he's spent too long slouching over a screen

• he starts declining invitations to go out on the weekends because he just needs to rest and recover, literally just lying in bed or the couch for days. it's like this for months before he realises this is probably not normal

• the fatigue and the brain fog start impacting his work and the first time cat sends him home because of it is the wake up call

• eventually he learns to hide it, because it just isn't going away no matter what he does, so he's gonna have to learn to live with it

• when he moves to the deo and starts spending more time around j'onn, there's something that's about winns mental/physical signature that j'onn notices is different from every other agent

• it takes him a while to realise that it's pain, winn is just in pain all the time, and had he not been psychic he literally wouldn't have known, because winn just buckles down and gets on with the tasks he's assigned, usually going above and beyond, without so much as a sigh

• not that he was hard on him before, but j'onn goes easier on him after he realises this. when he notices winn rubbing/massaging his neck or trying to stretch his back more often than usual, he'll make up a task for him to go do that lets him relax for a little while

• sometimes he stops by and does some dishes or some laundry when winn physically can't bring himself to get out of bed and there's stuff that needs doing, which he is infinitely thankful for. winn schott x healthy father figure my BELOVED

anyway ill stop here for now, but please let me know if you want some more/specific conditions to project onto him ! i want to draw winn and mabel like as soon as humanly possible oh my god. also I feel I should clarify just in case this isn't meant to romanticise or sexualise or villainise disabilities!! this is only meant to explore different conditions using my fav blorbo as the test subject <3

[nothorses]

With the whole voting shit going on, I've felt incredibly conflicted about voting. But recently, the opinion I've landed on is similar to Kelly Hayes. I am roughly paraphrasing here, but she said that it's incredibly insensitive to ask Arab Americans and Palestinians, people who have outright LOST their family members due to the US's unrestricted military aid to israel and the genocide, to vote. That makes sense to me. I absolutely agree with that, and I don't think it makes sense to yell at these people to vote. BUT, Kelly then goes on to say that the argument that if you're voting, you're got blood on your hands, is just wrong. Because living in America, benefiting from the imperialistic violence, we always had blood on our hands, and no one's breaking solidarity with marginalized folks simply by voting. You break solidarity when you justify your politicians' horrible actions, such as police brutality, prison industrial complex, etc. But in this case, when someone acknowledges these politicans aren't gonna get the real important shit done, only direct action works, and you're voting to choose your opponent--I don't think that's breaking solidarity. Or throwing people under the bus. The truth is even if every leftist didn't engage with electoral politics at all, and spent it on mutual aid, community defense, these things--there would still be a president until we somehow destroy settler nation America. And that president will destroy public infrastructure and attack marginalized folks a lot quicker if he isn't a democrat, because the Republicans are literally just--fascist party.

I dislike people whose only engagement with politics is to vote shame. But I also think it's just a wrong take to act like people who vote, who aren't vote shaming, who do think it's harm reduction, are all idiotic liberals. As we try to mobilize against imperialism, it's crucial to try to pick our enemies when we can. I understand the fact our wealth, the fact we have these healthcare systems, this public ifnrastructure and government assistance even if it's nowhere near enough--it comes from blood of the Global South. And there is a real problem with liberals who care about these elections only to maintain their quality of life, don't care about imperialism and global oppression at all. These people exist, and if we do start dismantling imperialism ina meaningful fashion, USA quality of life will drop. But people voting Democrat because they don't want the Affordable Care Act dismantled, want to keep their food stamps, their schools funded--they're not inherently selfish and breaking solidarity with third world folks. There's nuance here, a lot of nuance. Which is why I like Kelly saying we can't let electoralism destroy our relationships., because we are going to need to build, build, build if we are going to survive. I'm going to vote because ultimately it won't take me much time, but I also won't judge the people who refuse to, choosing to invest their efforts in direct action.

I also think the people who say voting doesn't do anything...they also ignore the nuance. I get it. I get the frustration. But as I read various perspectives, I'm starting to realize the treachery of black-and-white thing. Before there's a revolution, it's more likely we are going to build new things out of the old system, incrementalism, before we make any foundational leap. Again, this shit has nuance.

Yeah, I think this resonates a lot for me. And I'm not really here to "vote shame" either! I think I do have a similar opinion on it to FD Signifier, though, who says he thinks of voting like washing your hands.

You can choose not to, it's not the end of the world. But like. Why? Who is this helping? I mean maybe it's not my business, maybe you have a good reason, whatever. It's just one of those things that, y'know, especially if it takes you 5 minutes to mail a ballot in... it's just good hygiene.

And I think a lot of people say, "put your energy towards these other things instead!" without any intent to actually do so, and without any follow through themselves. And do you really need to not vote in order to do those things? Like is voting the thing preventing you from Doing The Revolution? For real?

At the end of the day, I'm not going to shame anyone for not voting. I talk about it because I think some people are misguided about how all this works, and I think some of the opinions people put out there just, like, suck. But it's ultimately not up to me. 🤷‍♂️

[the-lincyclopedia]

I've seen a lot of people on the internet making assumptions that grocery shopping is easy, and/or that forcing yourself to go grocery shopping is important even if it's difficult. These posts have ranged from screeds about weaponized incompetence and how men pretend to struggle with grocery shopping even though obviously no adult could actually struggle with it, to exhortations to force yourself to do hard things such as grocery shopping because doing hard things is important. And, as a person who has struggled with grocery shopping for a variety of disability-related reasons, these posts really piss me off.

My parents started getting groceries delivered rather than going to the grocery store when I was six. I literally don't think I set foot in a grocery store again until I was 17. The grocery store I went to that first time was massive, brightly lit, crowded, and full of way too many smells. I had a panic attack in the store, partly because I couldn't find what I was looking for and partly due to sensory overwhelm.

One time that summer, I bought a cucumber instead of a zucchini, and my mom got really mad at me. Another time, I bought the expensive version of a spice rather than the cheap version, and my mom got mad again. The fear of getting the wrong ingredient and upsetting her yet again made it even harder to cope with the sensory overload of the store and find the items on my list without freaking out.

So I am well aware of some of the things that can make grocery shopping difficult. Here are some questions worth considering if you have trouble grocery shopping. Maybe none of these ideas will work for you or address the particular struggles you have, but maybe some of them will.

If mobility issues and/or chronic pain are making grocery shopping harder for you, is there a grocery store near you that has those motorized wheelchair/shopping cart things? If not, can you use your cart kind of like a mobility aid and let it take some of your weight?

If sensory overwhelm is making grocery shopping harder for you, are there ways to reduce it? I'm not sure how to lessen the effects of how many intense smells there are in grocery stores, and that's the worst part for me, but if the visual overwhelm is a problem, would sunglasses help? If the noise is a problem, would earplugs make that easier to handle? (I say earplugs rather than noise-canceling headphones because it's probably safer to be able to hear some amount of sound while you're moving around in public, but you're allowed to decide the trade-offs of using noise-canceling headphones are worth it.)

If you don't know how to shop for groceries, especially if that lack of knowledge is making you really anxious, can you ask a friend to help you learn the layout of your grocery store? If not, can you try to do your first grocery run on a day when you have lots of time, so at least you don't feel rushed? Can you find a smaller grocery store in your area, so that it will be easier to learn what's in each aisle?

If thinking about food makes you feel awful, and you get wrapped up in checking the nutrition facts on each package, you may have an eating disorder. Maybe you already know that about yourself, or maybe you think it's a ridiculous overstatement. If you can get treatment, that might help. If you can't afford treatment or don't think you need it, can you make a deal with yourself about how much you're allowed to look at nutrition labels per grocery run?

If grocery shopping is hard and stressful because you have food allergies and you need to know which foods are safe for you, I'm sorry about that! If you haven’t tried any apps to check your groceries for allergens, could you get advice on which apps to try from other people with food allergies? I don't have relevant experience here, but I hope we can find ways as a society to get better about this, and in the meantime I hope you can find ways to make grocery shopping easier, possibly including technological solutions like apps.

If you're afraid of forgetting something or buying the wrong thing, can you figure out what is giving you a low tolerance for error, and then see if you can increase your error tolerance? If you're on a tight budget and that's the reason you're scared of accidentally wasting money, can you check to see if there are any cheaper grocery stores in your area, or even see if you could get some food for free at a local food shelf? There's no shame in accessing safety net resources! If you know that your parent/roommate/partner will yell at you if you mess up, is there a way for you to split up your grocery shopping from theirs and/or stop living together at some point? Maybe not--this category is really hard to solve for!--but it might be worth trying.

If all of this fails, can you afford to get your groceries delivered, or can you manage curbside pickup? Obtaining food is a logistical necessity, and grocery shopping in a store tends to be the most common way to do that, but it's not morally better than using a delivery service, a food shelf, or some other alternative.

If you find grocery shopping hard, I hope one of these ideas is helpful, and regardless of whether you take my advice, I hope you find a way to make grocery shopping bearable. And if you DON'T find grocery shopping hard, I hope this post has helped you realize some of the many reasons why it might be hard for other people.

[fobdescribed]

2ourdust Venue Accessibility Guide

Just under the presale wire, here is an overview of the different accommodations available at the venues for the @falloutboy 2ourdust tour:

Fall Out Boy tourdust accessibility 

It’s not comprehensive or official, but hopefully this overview can help you find the info you need to make informed decisions about your concert experience!

It does include the following info where available: 

links to each venue’s accessibility info on their own site

ADA seating locations (and number of companion seats allowed) 

advance time requested for arranging ASL interpreters 

locations of accessible and single-occupancy restrooms

links to each venue’s KultureCity Social Story + other sensory tools

A few notes on using this document: 

I am not a representative of Fall Out Boy, any of these venues, or literally any company involved, so take this info with a grain of salt.

Please feel free to make your own copy and use as you see fit! 

This info is largely copy-pasted from the venue websites, so I cannot guarantee it is up-to-date or complete. 

For assistive listening devices, venues that explicitly list that they will ask for collateral (usually in the form of an ID or credit card) are noted, however that doesn’t mean other venues don’t require collateral. In all cases where collateral is required, you’ll usually leave your ID or credit card with the Guest Services desk and then receive it back when you return the ALD at the end of the night. You should not be charged for using the device. 

Accessible or ADA seating may refer to seating areas for wheelchair users or guests with other mobility impairments, OR it may refer to seating areas for guests who have requested an ASL interpreter. Contact to the venue to confirm your choice. 

More resources: 

Here is an article from Ticketmaster about purchasing accessible seats on their site

And here are some more nitty-gritty details on your rights as a concert-goer in a public space under the ADA

I am also trying to finish a rough sensory guide based on previous tourdust shows before the second leg! This will include notes on lighting and strobe, pyro, sound effects, and other parts of the show that may be helpful to know about ahead of time for other people with sensory sensitivities, PTSD, etc.. I have no specific date for when this will be completed because I have 4 jobs and severe ADHD, but I’ll reblog this post and share whenever that’s completed.

If you have any question or concerns about this info, or even want help contacting venues to arrange accommodations, please feel free to shoot me a message. It is your right to enjoy your concert experience just as much as anyone else there! 

[reginageorgesgirlfriend3020]

Amber freeman adores you! (Part 6)

She always calls you a cutie.

Will flirt with you in front of her friends literally

Intentionally wants to make Sam jealous of her because Amber knows Sam has a crush on you

She'll gently pull you close to her so you can feel safe

Will hold you in her arms so everyone knows you're hers

She'll wear the ghostface costume to help you face your fears of ghostface

One time you and Amber played madden mobile against each other

And amber looked at you with the mask on

"Dammit!" Amber said. "How are you so good at this game?!" She said.

You smiled. "I just am".

After the horrible events at Woodsborough Amber decided to turn Richie in

Because she realized she didnt wanna blow her chance with you

And Amber wants to marry you one day

So she turned Richie in to the police

And somehow Amber didnt face any jail time

During the first week Amber told you shes ghostface

She still held you while you slept

And after you punched Amber that one time she knows not to mess with you

Wont let anyone give you and her any weird looks while you and Amber

Makeout and cuddle in public

Because she'll pull out a knife out and cut people up in pieces

Amber loves to call you baby

You love when Amber calls you her beautiful thing

[aro-absol]

20! What do you feel about disability pride?

Thanks for the ask!

20. What do you feel about disability pride?

For me, disability pride means living my life happily. I know there's ableists who want me to basically just sit around and mope, and show symptoms of severe depression. (They don't actually want me to have depression, as that would mean having a chronic illness and requiring help, but I've met people who thought having no will to live would be just the natural state for someone as physically disabled as I am). I've literally met several people who told me it's "good that I leave the house" or that it's "good that I do something" upon learning that I go to uni (or something of similar, it's not that quick to explain). Unfortunately, I didn't say anything back then, but I should have. Something like, "A) You don't know if I have any other invisible symptoms on top of my visible mobility impairment that would make it hard/impossible for me to do uni/work, so don't act like others not doing these things is just being lazy or being sad about being disabled. B) I'm in my twenties. It's quite normal for people my age to do those things. If I wasn't disabled, you wouldn't comment on it like that and would judge me if I didn't work or go to uni. So why do you 'compliment' me for that just because I'm in a wheelchair? It just implies you think of my life as less worthy."

... I'm going off topic again. But what I meant to show is that ableist want you to not seem disabled at all. And when you are so severely and visibly disabled that they can't really deny you're disabled, they just expect you to act like it's a tragedy and like your life isn't worth living. We can't win in their eyes, no matter what we do. Disability pride means to me that I defy that expectation by living my life and by my unapologetically disabled self. That I go in public spaces and do stuff even if I'm visibly disabled. Even if people stare at me or think I shouldn't be there. Even if they think I'm a burden to them or society as a whole. I'm here, and I deserve to live. (Okay, I'm introverted and don't actually go to public spaces that much, but when I do, it almost feels like an act of resistance.)

I'm living my life and don't hide myself or confirm to arbitrary ableist standards of what people think my life should look like or how I should feel about my disability. I'm a real person, and my disability is a big part of who I am, but it's not all there is to me. This is the essence of what disability pride means to me.

Ask game

[thepowerisyouth]

Eh mental health is annoying. Buying & cooking cheap low-FODMAP diet is annoying. My best top note for now is I'm using this blog to practice writing. I need more practice in it. I only know business, accounting & economics stuff. Its stupid stuff. Theres too much actual fraud everywhere that its annoying

Also I use mobile so formatting sucks cause Nvidia GPUs, or Arch dont like tumblr site. Or tumblr site dont like tumbkr site

Also also I 100,000% support all my fellow ones-and-zeros and their identity. Everyone is welcome here.

Except transphobes/zionist/long list of others but you get it. I'll help harrass any of those types endlessly if someone wants to tag me, and bring me in on an argument like that friend you call for backup with fights

Im unhinged so who's to say exactly what will end up here but this is also a completely public blog to me friends, family, hell, even acquaintances i dont give a fuc.

Blog should be expected to be roughly as child-friendly as simpsons or bobs burgers. But also boring like a civics/economics lesson sometimes. Yay

--------

I (and my husband) am ex mormon. Its a weird thing. Look into it if you havent recently. Realllllyyyy look into. Takes time to figure it all out in this fuckin fucked up world.

I just moved a year ago. Didnt watch the US stock market as much as I normally do. Had my first snowstorm 10 weeks ago, that was.. fun to handle while ill prepared. About 6 weeks ago I was hopping back on the market and notice its a huge tech bubble about to pop and all the conditions Ive been warned about my whole career imply this is not good. Just took a little more thinking & digging and I'm a little too confident to stop talking about it now.

(Oh I'm also care-free as fuc so I dont really read or desire to change past posts more than lil-nitpicks. More informative for the reader & myself-in-the-future-reading that way)

And I'm not kidding I do love feedback & questions. Its a very public blog tho so I get that part for sure.

If you search "life story" in my tags I had that pinned for a min Im just moving shit around rn

Being poor sucks. Will write more on that later.

---------------

First of all-- the exact timeline of an "economic shock" is literal insanity. Dont worry about the exact timing of any of this-- just know its doomed to happen soon.

Here are some effects I predict of this upcoming economic downturn

If anyone comes across any sources for these events that support my arguments please feel free to add in comments, reblogs, etc.

This concise list is mainly for my own reference, but it would be great to add to it if any one has something to add!

0.5. US Stock market collapse-- I have no desire to try and predict this one exactly. Too many conspiracies are actually correct about this big guy. Lets just say 7 US Tech stocks are worth 25% of the entire worlds market, roughly. "Too big to fail"-- I believe is the phrase

1. Corporate (slightly later will be residential by extension) real estate crisis: currently way too overvalued. Most of the houses, land, & urban corporate property we see could stand to decrease by about 60-90% from its current price.

2. Bankruptcy crisis: similar to the after-effects of the 70s inflation-- we can expect to see a huge wave of bankruptcies affecting a variety of business: from the micro-self employed; to the small business with leased buildings; to the largest corporations who commit massive accounting fraud & hope to escape accountability in time

3. Bank runs-- there is an extremely high overreliance on the Federal Reserve, who does not have good control over this situation. Once it becomes clear that there is a crisis (we call this a catalyst event)-- bank runs for physical cash are a surety. Hard to say how long a crisis like this might last. I should ask my siblings who lived near the SVB bank crisis hotspot (but those were rich fucks they do their "bank runs" over the phone)

3.5. Global currency collapse, which takes effect in every single local, state, & national economy at slightly different times. This means prices lower. Much lower. But takes time

4. Whatever the fuck the geopolitics is gonna do???. Its weird. You got Russia wanting to invade Europe? (Look at global economic forum 2024) Trump wants to let them. Biden wants to be an establishment corporate ass. North Korea has changed its #1 public enemy to South Korea (dont remember my source but it was a couple months ago). USA is stationing more troops in Taiwan, but probably only because of semiconductor technology?

The scope of our global financial woes are larger than can be explained in any of our lifetimes. Its much, much closer to pre-revolution France or the late 1920s. Big change is coming. Itll be soon

5. More to come

[angelosearch]

Once you get this, you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly. Then you have to send this to ten of your favourite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool~) 🌈🌈

First off, thanks for this! ❤️ yaaaay an ask game!!!

Second... OH MY GOD five things Iike about myself?! This is going to be hard. But my therapist would be so happy to know I've been given this challenge, haha.

And of course, I have to provide details and addendums to these because I have to treat everything like a personal essay. Ugh.

I am a loud cringe nerd

I have fun facts for days, if not weeks

Music is my religion

I bet I can make you laugh

I understand my narrative

Longer answers under the cut.

I am not afraid to show enthusiasm/honesty and be loud. You know the part of your brain that tells you to not do embarrassing/cringe/over-the-top-thing before you do it? I am not going to try and diagnose it but that literally does not exist for me. I will sing along loudly to songs in public; I am the person at a wedding who never leaves the dancefloor; I dress in bright colors and wear the weirdest prints; I will laugh or cry uncontrollably if the moment calls for it. I am incapable of holding back positivity and excitement. I will gush about how great something or someone is. If I like your shoes, I am 100% going to tell you, no fear. All of this can make life really fun. It attracts people with good energy into my orbit. It makes me feel like the last thing I am is boring - but I also go home and regret every minute of it because of the second-hand embarrassment later. Somehow all these things are wrong to do in my head (even though I am never moved like this by negativity, fear, or hate), yet I cannot stop myself from doing them. I loathe that I am a book with a broken spine that cannot stay closed. I hate every inch of space I take up. I cannot stop being vulnerable which is great for therapy but not so great for being a normal, functioning adult. I fear sometimes that people think that I believe my thoughts are all-important because I share them all. Nope. I just literally have no choice in the matter. The thoughts and actions pop into my head and they must be heard/done.

I am an endless fountain of "fun" facts because I am interested in a lot of stuff and love to learn. I think "did you know that..." is my most used phase. If I have a fun fact on a subject, you will know (it's something else I feel I have no control over). My hand will be up if I don't just blurt it out. And I am always rolling them up in my Katamari-Ball brain, listening to podcasts, reading articles, watching documentaries, and other videos. I remember these weird fringe things but then I will forget your name and your job. Don't tell me what you're into because I AM going to do a deep dive and suddenly be an expert in it. Tbh it's a great skill for a writer, but I am pretty sure it annoys people around me. Especially when all the fun facts are related to whatever I am obsessed with at the moment. You'll never guess what I have way too many fun facts about right now.

I connect with music, so strongly it's almost spiritual. Singing and listening to music have always been my go-to coping skills. I learned to drive very late in life (at 30 - but that is a story for another day) and at first I was a horribly anxious driver. But once I realized my car could become my little mobile box of music where I could just belt it out 24/7, I learned to love driving. Lyrics help me understand the prism of my experience and others. I love when songs make me dance, or cry, or give me goosebumps. My shower is my favorite place in my new house because of the great acoustics; plus, there is enough space to pull off an entire shower concert, complete with choreography. Concerts and karaoke make me feel like I am connected to the universe and everyone in the venue. I love my taste in music, which sounds weird, but I am just so proud of my eclectic taste. Also! I am mad skilled at identifying songs and artists and samples, probably because I have listened to so. Much. Music. The downside to this one is that I emotionally connect so thoroughly with every song that I enjoy that a bad association will make the song/artist or even the genre unbearable to listen to (see: country music). Also, some people in my life don't understand why I prioritize concerts so highly and are very critical of me for it. I can't help that a concert is the closest thing I have to a church!

I have a great sense of humor (or at least I think so). If you have followed me for more than two seconds, you have probably figured out that I am constantly attempting (and hopefully succeeding?) to be funny. I try VERY HARD to make people laugh. If you were to talk to me in real life, you'd quickly discover that I would come up with puns in our conversation like we're having a funny rap battle. My favorite tools are wordplay and re-contextualization but I also have quote upon quote and will use physical humor, too. The good thing is that I can make myself laugh, for sure. Like I said yesterday, I embody Chrysippus. A lot of comedians claim their jokes are hiding pain. I've recently realized that I use my humor a little differently--since my social anxiety has convinced me that no one in the world wants anything to do with me at any given moment, I use my jokes as sort of a litmus test. If you're laughing, there is a very strong chance that you don't actively hate me at that very moment. I think this strategy probably annoys people and probably comes off at inappropriate. Don't bring me to a funeral.

I can contextualize my personal story. Somewhere between taking autobiography/memoir and essay classes in college and over a decade of therapy, I've become exquisitely good at taking an event in my life or facet of my personality and placing it in the context of my life. Does that make sense? Like in high school English class I took so much joy out of reading a novel and analyzing character motivations and author intent and "why is the wallpaper yellow." I am still very good at reading something and identifying symbolism, but now I mostly use this same skill to look back at the story of my life and find patterns and connections. I think this will help me as an Art Therapist, and, if my personal essays and posts are actually any good, then it is helping me as a writer as well. But this is a double-edged sword in therapy. It means I can sit in the chair and practically therapize myself. But lives are not novels. We are not characters. Sometimes the wallpaper is just yellow. My over-cerebral approach to my understanding of self makes me come off as "not sick enough" in some settings--I've been told by peers and staff many times while in treatment, "Why are you here? You seem fine!" Well, the truth is, just because you understand why the monster is in the book, you can't always outrun it. Sure, it can help to know where the monster came from and why he's chasing you, but if you get too caught up in that it may slow you down. Or you will run the wrong way because you are so sure you understand him. Or you will run so well that no one will notice you are running at all.

[youarebetterthanwaffles]

✨Rant incoming✨

I don’t really know how to feel about this but I am annoyed. Anyway, if you enter a public/ school bathroom or wherever and accidentally knock down someone’s walking stick/ mobility aid or see that it has fallen, please pick it up if you’re able to do so. You don’t need to joke about it, and give a commentary on how inconvenient it would be for you to have to help an “old” person. Aside from the fact that I am young, and obviously in the bathroom, how fucking inconsiderate can people be? Especially considering that I have a history of using a cane for my back issues, and I actually know the two of them, and they would’ve known it was me if they put their brain cells together for one second. (This behaviour isn’t acceptable in literally any circumstance???) Also, the point of my cane is that I need it to walk, so making me have to endure that ridiculous conversation and THEN bend down to pick it up (which was painful) is so mean??? I could continue talking about this, and the ableism I’ve experienced using a cane on and off for the past year and a half, for so long istgggg just let me live in peace!!! 🐄🐄🐄

(I did just see a post from another user about something similar where they expressed a different viewpoint. While I’d just prefer someone to pick up my cane, not all people would like this, so the best thing to do is just ask :))