#passport renewal appointment

[lemonine]

ive been trying to convince myself that im a very capable adult who can do anything i want but at the same time it also seems like the anxiety monster has reappeared again 💀

[stickers-on-a-laptop]

i do not wish to adult in this particular society, no

[what-even-is-sleep]

Can’t wait for my drivers license to arrive so I can be driving legally again for the first time in 1.5 years!

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

I'm compiling some safety tips here for people in the US here that I found online. Some things you may want to do before January: 

Make an appointment with your doctor to talk about a long-term birth control plan, such as an IUD or vasectomy. 

Make an appointment with your doctor to make sure your vaccinations are up to date and to get a Covid booster. 

Check in, and stay in contact with, your queer friends. There’s strength in numbers. Community is important. 

Consider renewing your passport if necessary. 

Consider stocking up on fluoride toothpaste, pregnancy tests or other health products you worry about not (safely) having access to in the future. 

Rest up. Hydrate. Eat. Take care of yourself. The best act of rebellion is staying alive. You don’t need to feel strong or brave or even optimistic, just be kind to yourself. 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

[sovamurka]

Can't believe I'm saying it but... GOSUSLUGI, my beloved <3

[so-i-did-this-thing]

FLORIDA BANS GENDER MARKER CHANGES ON DRIVERS LICENSES

From Esqueer_ on Twitter:

"BREAKING: Florida has taken unilateral administrative action and banned gender marker changes on drivers licenses. Any trans person who has had theirs changed is potentially subject to suspension. Anyone attempting to change it after could be criminally prosecuted for "fraud."

If the language used in this directive is taken at face value, any trans person driving with a changed gender marker on their drivers license could be criminally charged with fraud.

This interpretation could potentially apply to anyone driving in the state, including tourists.

Any out trans person could have their license revoked or suspended at any time under this policy and unlikely to be able to be renewed with the current gender marker.

This is a massive and intrusive change erasing legal recognition and criminalizing trans people in the state."

Source:

-------

It should be clear by now that those of us who are currently in "legal" limbo waiting for our birth certificate ammendments are SOL.

Trans Floridians and trans folks driving through Florida, please be very, very careful. Trans Floridians about to change your gender marker - unfortunately, I suggest cancelling your DMV appointment, in the event an overzealous clerk wants to charge you with fraud. Don't even bother with the birth certificate -- it will be a waste of time and money and potentially put you on some sort of List. :/

Again, I urge all trans Americans, regardless of state of residency, to get their passports asap. Not only to flee the country in an emergency, but as a form of ID that still has your proper gender on it.

[senruthmartinsbob]

The policeman who did my passport yesterday was such a raging cunt like i wish i could have a job where i could literally sit and do whatever all day and nobody fucks with me not in the slightest.

[tshifty]

actually yk what im going to just make a running list of things ive been thinking about and others may also want to over the coming weeks and months, and ill just keep updating this so it's shared:

if you are transitioning or are hoping to, make a plan to talk to your local abortion funds and radical queer orgs about how they are going to maintain access to T and other hormones etc.

if you take birth control, start thinking through ways to maintain your access. they will be coming for birth control and likely other forms of contraception too.

make sure you know who your local abortion funds are, and/or abortion funds in states surrounding where you live. they will be stockpiling plan B, you also can do that it has a 4 year shelf life.

if your passport expires anytime in the next 4 years I would encourage going ahead and getting it renewed. it will last 10 years.

know who your neighbors are. talk to your neighbors. im so serious. online communities are great but we need people in our real daily lives. join a club or an organization if you aren't part of one. find your people. community will be our grounding point.

does your area have a community garden? find where! know where your food pantries are. start thinking through ways to look out not only for yourself but for your neighbors and communities, for those who already are struggling and whose circumstances will get increasingly worse.

look into tap water filtration and air purifiers. if and when they gut governmental institutions it will start impacting our air and water, particularly if you live in a major city. yall saw what the wildfire smoke did across the northern US last year, that will happen again.

start to slowly stock up on covid tests. many city libraries give out free covid tests-- don't go grab a ton all at once, but just make sure you have a few boxes on hand for yourself and your friends/family. make sure you're keeping a pulse on the expiration dates, but they typically last quite a while and many are good even beyond the originally listed expiration date.

are you up to date on your vaccines? if not, make sure to get that done at your next doctor's appointment.

[qqueenofhades]

I'm sure you have enough politics asks in your inbox to last you a lifetime so I'm gonna ask something only tangentially related. What have you been doing to give yourself a break from *gestures wildly* all of this? Personally, I've been bouncing between watching all of Jenna Marbles' old videos while also channeling my inner King Tut Kid and watching back to back Ancient Egyptian documentaries.

Ahaha. Well. Something like the following:

Talked to friends and family and told them that I love them and will help them get through this if I can;

Forced myself to get out of bed and answer work emails, even while it's snowing like crazy so I haven't actually gone into work, and am stuck in my essentially unheated apartment while writing angry emails to the leasing office;

(They sent maintenance today; once again, this did not fix the problem but I have been theoretically promised they will at some point actually do so);

(To which I say Ha and also We'll See About That);

Sat in my bedroom with the door closed and the space heater on and trying to remember to eat;

Forced myself not to look at any news or headlines (I fail at this occasionally, but deactivated my Bird App account so I won't be tempted to doomscroll; also fuck Elon Musk);

Tried to provide some scraps of comfort to people on This Here Ye Olde Tumblr Website;

Ordered a new Lego set because what the hell, nothing matters;

Also took apart an old Lego set so I can rebuild it;

Ordered a tripod for my phone so I can take a proper photo and renew my passport online, as I also suggest you do just in case;

Made flu/Covid/hepatitis B/MMR booster/tetanus booster vaccine appointments for tomorrow (even if I have to trudge out in the snow, ugh) because fuck RFK Jr. and we need to protect ourselves and others before public health becomes a shitshow;

Spent today finishing the design, manuscript formatting, and uploading for The Empire of Bones, my Big Fat Queer Epic Historical Fantasy Novel About Which I am Excited;

So as soon as it is approved, hopefully by tomorrow, you and/or my other followers will be able to purchase a copy and get to readin'. Yeeeee. Productivity. Or something.

[echodrops]

Sometimes the events of my life are truly so comedic that I have to assume some supernatural being(s) are watching me like their favorite evening sitcom and just dying with laughter.

Peep this Shakespearean level comedy of errors:

Go out with coworkers for a celebration because our project trip to Puerto Rico was approved.

Coworker brings up travel requirements to Puerto Rico. Only a driver's license is required, but you need the "Real I.D." symbol.

Pull out my driver's license to check, only to discover that my driver's license is expiring in FIVE DAYS. Thanks for even the slightest notification, Department of Public Safety???

Try to renew online, can't. No explanation for why is provided. Go to the DPS Office. "Oh, you used your passport to renew last time, and now your passport is expired. You can get a new passport though and then renew."

"Ma'am... do you know how long getting a passport takes?"

"I think it only takes a couple months now?" ... "And what is the expiration date of my license???"

"We can use a birth certificate instead. You can get it at the court house and come right back. We should be able to finish the renewal today."

"Ma'am... I was born in LA..." Lady tells me the next available DPS appointment isn't even until October 17th, eight days after driver's license expiration. Make the appointment.

Go to the California birth certificate website. Have to pay $60 for them to print and ship the birth certificate to me. Only after paying do they reveal there is a back-order on birth certificates and it may take up to 35 days for my birthday certificate to arrive.

Cancel the October 17th DPS appointment in abject disappointment.

Driving on an expired license because what else can I do? I can't bum rides off coworkers for 35 DAYS.

ONE DAY after my license officially expires, a college kid texting and driving veers into my lane and hits my car. (Thankfully no injuries, just a lot of cosmetic damage.)

The other driver doesn't have insurance. I DON'T HAVE A VALID LICENSE so I can't even go through MY insurance.

We agree to get estimates from body shops and for her to pay for the damage out of pocket. I get one official estimate--$1000 in dent hammering and repainting.

She texts me later that her mom "knows someone who repairs cars." Is this guy licensed? "Oh yeah definitely."

"Okay, give me the address and I'll take the car to their shop for an estimate."

"Ummm, maybe you could just bring the car to my mom's house and she can take it to the mechanic?"

"With all due respect dear, are you out of your mind?"

She finally gives me the address of the mechanic. It's one block from Mexico. It's a house. There are six dogs running loose in the front yard. There's something that might have ONCE UPON A TIME been a body shop next door to the house but now is a pile of barely standing timbers.

"Mechanic" comes out. I ask to see his license. He shows me a piece of paper that looks two steps above "I printed this direct from a Google images search."

I have a moment of despair, and then I realize: My car is 11 years old and has 100,000 miles on it.

If my car ends up chopped up for parts or sold across the border to Mexico, I can report it as stolen.

THIS IS HOW ECHO GETS A NEW CAR.

I am zen. All is well. I hope the worst case scenario comes true. I agree to bring the car to the "mechanic" on Monday.

Get back in the car, head home for the day.

Get a call from boss.

Puerto Rico project trip cancelled.

You can't make this shit up.

[power-chords]

I have nothing on my calendar for next week except sleep, therapy, and trying to get myself to and from the office in one piece. Might do something extravagant like book a massage appointment/aromatherapy for the weekend. And then the week of the 12th I have to renew my driver’s license and passport and continue making progress on household tidying/repairs. But I’m so fucking fried right now I can’t even think about that stuff until next Sunday.

[madfantasy]

New 3 things that happened:

*I got my new ID, my id expired and to renew it I had to get photographed, and since I just opened my bank account a year ago it depends on it so already I was giving up on the idea to keep the account but by miracle a photographer agreed to picture us at home, and it turned to us cuz I wanted all my sibs to have theirs taken with me too and because I had to argue first time to get my ID forever, so i didn't have the energy to keep doing it for the rest of my sibs so now it was the chance. The day of the photographer coming I was shaking with fear and I thought I would never leave the bathroom gotten ill. I fear seeing people more than dyin so I don't know how I held it together, I literally don't remember how it went or how I did, but I recall my sibs looking the same as I felt but it was finally done. parents too taken their shoots and because one needed their passport renewed to renew their id, them alone costing 1k$ and the appointment was set 6 months ahead, we R now close to it anyway, and the thought of how we have to pay to exist some more costly made me think of my worthlessness and helplessness even more, making me ashamed of still living.

The thing that blinded me, me the first to be tested on lo

*my eye is better, I still see a dark spot looking in a certain direction, getting an eye mask surprisingly helped keeping my eyes less dry cuz they be the most when I wake up and I had the driest time before it got infected and swelled, and already I'm used to the spot and can ignore it..

*I'm still drawing, literally it's making me live love and laugh, I don't care about improving or drawing my best constantly, ai can get poisoned for all I care as it continues to dehumanise the whole point of art-- keeping humanity alive ( btw use glazing ❤️🖤)

I realised that I don't have any physical collection of my art & since I can't look at the screens forever just to browse, nd printing all my stuff isn't feasible, then I came across those mini albums Nd I got the idea to just print one sheet = 9 pics! They look good too for trashy quality, I love it 8' and yes, purple and silver is the 10% obsession to my 90% red and black pallets, thanks to remembering Freeza c'x

But as usual posting my drawings never cease to eat me alive with anxiety, but I think I'm slowly becoming indifferent to it, even if the thought of that no one actually sees my art but me, which is the main case cuz I am living in isolation and being drawing in secret till few recent years because of my conservative surroundings, I feel much calmer when I'm not seen and maybe it's self destructive in a way cuz to stay posting I need to be commissioned cuz net bill, but it became irrelevant cuz I accepted that i can't have the mental capacity to be a social media person or chase anything that I already knew I can't maintain, I had an art block for a year I almost believed that was it for my art drive and me cuz it my sanity— cuz burning out so bad. If my post has a description it was in my drafts for months cuz I plan for every piece I share, but if can't form words I allow myself to let it be captionless, I draw faster than I form words and that's why art is important to me on a personal level, it's my first way of express even if its indirect, the only bit of human Mani left to live in me to put through lines and paint splodges. Even if no one sees it, and to be honest with myself, have very weak chances of being seen on a level that benefits me financially, I'm on the other side of the world, never seen the sky beyond my schooling days, nonverbal irl and know that I can get taken advantage of easily in social manner because it either I don't get the social cues or can't say no..

I'm grateful that at least I got the chance to experience being in a loving nurturing fandom like Sev's that made me experience genuine human goodness and care I never thought possible, made me have some self worth, personality beyond a made for marriage caretaker, and allowed me to get art tools and clothing that I was never allowed or could afford, and many first time small life pleasures like perfumes, food and toys, even if I only recognise 5 or 10 of you dears now, by DP liking my posts- (I suck at remembering names sorry)

I'm also grateful to have a room after endless years of couch and house movings, I have a safe space to still be able to draw and be cool under an AC in this 50° weather..

I think realistically that's the best it can get having spent all my life trying to get anywhere but isolated, and nothing working. At least I'm indifferent and fine of being the caretaker of my disabled guardians and siblings, I need them as much as they need me, even if it caused me the same cycle of mental anguish and earth leavings hehe

Wish U all the ease and peace and yummy peas 🫶🏽

4 am, sleep deprived

[quinloki]

Chat are we cooked??

Looking at the election rn….what is going on??

I tend to avoid talking politics on this blog - I have other spaces and places where I do get into it - and people need places to just

exist

and decompress.

It's just as important as keeping informed.

That said, I'll get into things below the cut. It's gonna suck, but more than ANYTHING else, giving up right now is the Worst Possible Choice to make.

Mourn today. Feel your feelings, and get those tears out. At the very least the act of being in those emotions might help you sleep better tonight because you'll physically tire yourself out.

Tomorrow: Make dr. appointments if you can. Get your vaccinations up to date, and see if your doctor will give you anything you could qualify for in the next four years.

Renew your passport, make sure your birth certificate and other documents are easily within reach, and if not, make steps to get copies.

Reconnect to your communities and find strength in numbers where you can. Your immediate networks are going to be really important in the next four years.

After 2025: Tune in as much as you can. Watch local legislation, vote on ANYTHING you can vote on. Sign petitions. If you can call and write your reps, do so.

FIRST AND FOREMOST KEEP YOURSELF SAFE AND ALIVE.

You absolutely cannot do anything for anyone else if you're not on your own two feet first. Surviving the day is priority #1.

Mind your words - threats against the President can, and often are taken seriously. Doesn't mean if you meant it as a joke, doesn't matter if it was a meme, you're running risks you can't afford, back off for your own safety.

Changes won't happen overnight, but deciding that it's done and there's nothing you can do about it is only going to help the people who want to make it even worse. Don't let the despair of this result stop you from fighting for your fellow Americans.

"I don't talk politics." Is a valid response in professional settings. (Remember, first and foremost keep yourself safe and alive).

News is going to come out in the following weeks about how much Twit and FB influenced voters. News is going to come out in the following weeks about how outside powers will have influenced votes. New is going to come out in the following weeks and talk about how people who wrote-in protest votes, and fell for outside influences were doing so with the best of intentions, but were just as duped as the other groups, and those people are going to be REALLY nihilist and full of doomsday.

The news doesn't change what you do next.

Good luck out there.

[mariacallous]

The presidential election called for January 2025 in Belarus will be the “reappointment of Lukashenko by Lukashenko himself,” exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said during a panel at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday. 

Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has led Belarus for the last 30 years, announced plans to seek a seventh presidential term back in February. Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenko during the last presidential election in 2020, sparking the biggest anti-government protest movement in the country’s history. The government responded with a large-scale crackdown on dissent that forced tens of thousands of Belarusians to flee abroad, including Tsikhanouskaya herself.

Commenting on the upcoming vote in Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya underscored that this will only be an election in name. “We all understand that in dictatorships, this ‘event’ dictators are holding is a circus, it’s imitation, it’s ritual, but it has nothing in common with elections. In our case, it will be the reappointment of Lukashenko by Lukashenko himself,” she said. 

Of the six nominal opposition candidates registered ahead of the 2025 vote, two have already dropped out of the race and publicly endorsed Lukashenko. Commenting on the lack of genuine challengers on the ballot, Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who moderated the panel in Halifax, said Lukashenko “learned his lesson” after allowing Tsikhanouskaya to run in 2020. 

Tsikhanouskaya also warned that the Belarusian authorities are trying “to destroy” any remnants of dissent inside the country ahead of the vote. “The repressions we’ve been going through for four years have intensified. We see how the KGB [the Belarusian security services] and the OMON [riot police] are already practicing how to suppress any uprising,” Tsikhanouskaya said, adding that Lukashenko’s recent threat to shut down the Internet in order to prevent protests is “a sign that he feels very fragile.”

“Lukashenko is still afraid because he sees that Belarusian people are not giving up,” Tsikhanouskaya said, pointing to the organizational efforts of those living in exile. “We restored our media, we restored our civil society [abroad], and we have many networks of volunteers inside the country who provide us with information. [There are] people inside Lukashenko’s system who are leaking insight for us, so he is afraid of being betrayed constantly.” 

At the same time, Tsikhanouskaya acknowledged that people inside Belarus are unlikely to protest the 2025 vote openly, given the regime’s preparedness to suppress dissent. “I don’t want people to sacrifice in vain,” she said.

These so-called elections will not change anything politically for the Belarusian people. Lukashenko will not become legitimate in the eyes of Belarusians and I see consensus among our democratic partners that they will not recognize him [as president], that they will not return to business as usual. But we have to create more pressure. 

Tsikhanouskaya expressed concerns that the plight of political prisoners and ongoing repression in Belarus have become normalized on the international stage. “We have to remind the world that these things are happening and that it’s not normal,” she said. 

Belarusian citizens living abroad are still under threat of transnational repressions, ranging from physical threats to problems renewing their documents, Tsikhanouskaya added. “We can’t renew our passports because embassies are blocked from doing their job. And very soon we will have at least half a million stateless [Belarusian] people,” she warned.

Asked her advice for voters inside Belarus, Tsikhanouskaya urged those who are forced to take part to vote “against all” (a ballot option Russian voters “haven’t had in years,” Kara-Murza pointed out). “The regime forcefully makes people go to the polling stations, so we’re asking people to [vote] against all candidates,” she explained. “If people want to boycott — boycott. Because nobody is going to count people, nobody is going to count votes, so it’s senseless.”

Tsikhanouskaya also urged democratic countries to back Lithuania’s recent request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed by Lukashenko’s government. “I’m really waiting for big, powerful countries to support small Lithuania in this case; to show that you’re not looking to see what Putin or other dictators will say,” she said. “Don’t let dictators feel impunity.”

[zhongrin]

it's hackathon week next week and there are so many things i need to do (passport renewal, accommodation stuff, dental appointments, packing for flight, chores, etc), so i apologize if i'm kind of inactive or off in this blog or discord!!

[1000-directions]

good stuff 6-12-24

i only worked a half day today!!! and i don't work tomorrow!!!! i love not working!!!!!! and today i worked from home so i picked up delicious coffee and breakfast sandwich and got to eat it in my pajamas at my desk!!!!!

after work i had an appointment to get my passport renewed, which i have been putting off for like actual decades. but i would kinda like to be able to leave this country actually! so i wanted to make sure i got it done, and i finally went and did it.

i worked a short day because my partner and i took their daughter to her first concert. it was a lil rough, she is young and didn't know the music and got bored, but i did a really good job of like taking her for walks to go on adventures, and i found a place for her to get earplugs when it was too loud for her, and i bought her snacks and concessions, and i took cute pics of her and my partner together to commemorate the day, and my partner was really grateful and i was glad that i was there to help :))