twilicat24

[twilicat24]

the doomed lovers ever

[twilicat24]

New zine that's free for anyone to print and distribute! Read the whole thing at newlevant.com/COVIDzine or in the rest of this post.

UPDATE 4/11/2023:

I swapped out the colloidal silver nasal spray info for xylitol nasal spray info. I originally included colloidal silver spray because of the linked study and recommendation from RTHM, but I don't want to be pointing people toward something with notable health risks. Xylitol spray (Xlear) is also cheaper and more widely available!

[twilicat24]

This explains a lot about my lack of asking for help when I clearly need it

[twilicat24]

saw a tiktok by a male elementary school teacher about how he's realized one issue w/gen alpha boys saying all these awful things is they aren't facing social consequences for it. so much of "boys will be boys" approaches and appeasement have created this. I think one of the reasons my younger brother never engaged in this sort of behavior is because of me rejecting peer pressure and choosing to distance myself from my dad. the worst thing you can do is stay quiet. the fact that teachers are having to come on social media and say "perhaps tell your students it's WRONG to joke about toddlers being raped" or whatever is fucking insane. call me crazy but I do NOT remember it being this bad when I was younger. there was edgy humor yes (for example the r slur was way more normalized) but the type of humor discussed in this post is something i'd typically associate with like, frat guys. I do remember when I was maybe around 6 years old I stumbled across pedobear and thought it was hilarious, problem is the teacher lectured me without even telling me what the fuck the meme is implying or why it's bad. so in part over-sanitizing topics makes things harder as well.

anyway, one teacher mentioned he's been asking the boys why the jokes are funny. this is actually somewhat similar to what I do with my adult coworkers when they say something awful as a joke; I pretend I didn't understand the joke and ask them to explain it. they go quiet and get uncomfortable every time.

cognitive empathy is learned and not born, so speak up whenever you can encourage it, with adults or children.

[twilicat24]

Since the holiday toy drive post is circulating again, I figured this would also be helpful! Food insecurity is such a massive problem in America, in general, and if you have the means to help feed others, I think you should take that opportunity. Here are some other tips:

1. If you’re planning on donating items from your own pantry, please check the expiration dates on the packaging. Think of your donations as gifts to bestow, not castoffs to be rid of. It’s awful to think of people feeling like they got scraps someone else just didn’t want. Everyone deserves dignity with their meals.

2. If you’d rather give money to a food bank, that’s also great since they buy food in bulk and know what items are most wanted/needed!

3. Not everyone has access to appliances like stoves or microwaves or hot plates so if you can donate items that don’t need to be heated up, that would also be greatly appreciated!

🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

[twilicat24]

whenever i'm discussing baby names with a weird woman i always make sure to try and sow the seeds of tragedy. 'isn't eridan a cute name for a boy? it's greek.' this is the pseudointellectual's noblesse oblige.

[twilicat24]

I was walking through the toy aisle at Target when I found this thing and had a VIOLENT AND IMMEDIATE FLASHBACK to when JP first came out and they had a bunch of REALLY COOL T Rex toys that I would have sold one of my scrawny small-child limbs for but my mother wouldn’t get me one because they were “too violent and also ate people” :(

[twilicat24]

even if there is fearmongering and inacurrate studies about negative impacts of young children relying too much on ipads for stimulation you'd have to be insane to say it actually has no negative impact whatsoever. you do know a child's brain in early stages of development is not in fact the same as yours, right? help it's so dark in here...

[twilicat24]

[twilicat24]

garden snail eating ritz cracker time lapse

[twilicat24]

My wife's favorite sleep noise app is the kind that lets you mix different noises, one of which is a snoring shih tzu, and she loves to create soundscapes that imply the dog is in imminent danger

[twilicat24]

not to worry mutuals, I’ve recruited a halfling to detect any and all spike traps on your dashboard, just make sure not to scroll too fast so he has time to find them

[twilicat24]

if life isn't worth living how come they invented beautiful transfems with messy hair whose laughs warm your heart? checkmate nihilists

[twilicat24]

FBI show 🛸

[twilicat24]

Dem collapse among Arab voters is precisely what the party has incessantly made clear it deserves this year

[twilicat24]

actually speaking of that "everything i love causes carpal tunnel" shirt i know! a muscle that causes carpal tunnel-like symptoms!

the bad news is that it's the underside of the shoulder blade, but the good news is that once you figure out how to reach it, it's quite easy to release!

anyways meet the subcapularis

(all images taken from Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction (3rd Edition) by Travell et al)

the subcapularis helps pull the shoulder forward and rotate it inwards, meaning it's involved in many activities which cause the much dreaded carpal tunnel--yes, even though it's nowhere near the wrist. the anatomy of the shoulder makes it easy for nerves and vessels to get compressed, causing all sorts of fun symptoms like pain, tingling, and cold fingers.

this is the referred symptom zone:

obligatory i am not a doctor, just very autistic about musculoskeletal pain, and can't guarantee this massage will help your carpal tunnel symptoms, but I will say that uhhh every time I do this for myself i can feel all blood and sensation rush back into my arm, and it's always best to try massage before more invasive stuff like surgery

--

1. Find a spot where you can sit, feet planted on the ground, and lean forward and rest your head on something with your arm hanging down between your legs. This will slide the shoulder blade to the side of the ribs, where you can reach the underside.

2. Above is what the subcapularis looks like with the surrounding muscles. Using your fingertips (you might wanna cut your nails) or your thumb if preferred, find the bony edge of the shoulder blade, and start poking around the underside.

3. You'll most likely only be able to reach the edge of the muscle, but that's enough! When you press into it, you will probably feel like you're reproducing your symptoms. Don't worry; you aren't hurting yourself and in fact this means you're in the right spot! Massage it gently, enough to feel it but not enough to wince, until you can't find anymore painful spots (or until you feel better, sometimes you can't get it all in one session).

3.5. If your pain increases overall, don't do it. Though pressure should elicit symptoms, this type of massage should provide pretty immediate relief, and if it doesn't then either some other muscle(s) is involved or it's not muscle related at all.

4. Finish up by rolling your shoulder back, like you're stretching out your chest/reaching behind you, a few times. It's normal to hear clicking--good, actually, that's the sound of your body realigning.

5. I recommend doing this at least daily, even after the symptoms have eased, until it's no longer sensitive to massage. Keep in mind that this muscle has been overused, and that the muscles that oppose it have weakened. It will keep trying to tighten up again until the weakened muscles have recovered, so you need to actively treat it and keep an eye out for habits that cause you to roll the shoulder forward.

And that's it! If you intend to resume carpal tunnel inducing activities ASAP, see if you can take a moment every 30 minutes or so to do a quick shoulder stretch. This helps prevent the muscle from tightening, and you only need to spend moments to do so. Quick breaks like this actually go a long way towards preventing injury, and help you keep working without interrupting the flow to go do some body maintenance :P