Bits and Pieces

30s - she/her 🌸 - Leo 🦁 - Canadian 🇨🇦 in the Bay Area. No core aesthetic here, I post whatever I like~

[were--ralph]

Fun trivia about me the first music cd I purchased was Every Time We Touch by Cascada

[were--ralph]

do you remember the first CD you bought or.....whatever kids these days buy was?

[waterbugsanonymous]

hi, this is your gentle reminder and PSA: there are ELECTIONS happening in November 4th. PLEASE GO VOTE. Trump is the most unpopular he has ever been, but does that mean your average independent, or republican will vote for a dem this time around-likely no- they probably will just skip the process entirely if they don’t have a candidate they feel strongly about. this is why i’m asking YOU SPECIFICALLY to make sure to go vote. and i don’t wanna hear any doomerism shit about how voting is a waste of time bc of whatever, guys voting is the last of anything we have it is clear most of these people who represent us do not actually care, HOWEVER trump currently has the house, senate and courts and making it even slightly harder to do anything or having a large enough group to speak out against what he’s doing will help hundreds of thousands of people in the US. now more than ever is it important to make sure that they know that we do not stand for this

[mikkeneko]

If you're looking for something to do between now and November 4th to feel like you're making some progress, might I suggest checking out Vote Forward's letter campaigns?

Vote Forward

Vote Forward volunteers send heartfelt handwritten letters to unregistered and low-propensity voters encouraging them to participate in our

They've currently got two campaigns active, one for the PA Supreme Court and one for the CA special redistricting election. For the latter one, I can tell you that this is a weird proposition historically and many Californians don't really know what to make of it; it might be one where messages sent to voters could really help make up voters' minds.

You can sign up for as few as five letters to send out. Campaigns run through October 28th!

[anistarrose]

OP didn't specify which elections are happening this November 4th of 2025, so to be as clear as possible:

The elections this November aren't for the U.S. House, or the Senate, or any other branch of the federal government.

The elections this November are actually more important than the elections for the federal government.

They are a mix of state and local elections.

To break it down further: we have statewide elections in the following states:

New Jersey: Governor, State House.

Virginia: Governor, Attorney General, State House.

Pennsylvania: a retention election for the State Supreme Court. Three incumbent Democratic justices are up for retention votes, where a "yes" vote means they stay on the court, and "no" means they must be replaced (potentially with a Republican). Republicans are attempting to take back control of the court by unseating two or more Democratic justices, which could compromise the fairness of elections in this state in 2026 and 2028. There are also retention votes for several lower courts.

California: Prop. 50 aims to counter Republican gerrymandering in Texas by gerrymandering an equal number of U.S. House seats in CA, contingent on the TX map staying standing in court. If passed, the new CA map would last from 2026 to 2030 (inclusive).

Colorado: Funding free meals for kids in schools, including mechanisms to help counteract the federal SNAP cuts! (Essentially, a recent change to the ballot measure made it so any leftover money from the meal program could go to SNAP.) This is via Proposition LL and Proposition MM.

Maine: Two propositions. The first is a dangerous voter disenfranchisement proposal, which would decimate access to absentee voting and require photo ID to be shown at polls. Proponents of the measure tried to sue to stop the summary on the ballot from actually saying what it would do to absentee voting (they lost their case, luckily), so you know it's bad.

The second Maine proposition asks whether to implement extreme risk protection orders (red flag laws). For context, Maine currently has a weaker "yellow flag law."

Washington State: Proposition to allow the state to fund its upcoming, public long-term care insurance program, WA Cares, with stock market investments reminiscent of how the state can already handle pensions. This would arguably/ideally keep premiums lower; I won't claim to be an expert on this one but it's definitely worth reading more about.

Texas: Too many propositions to list. (Literally, there's 17). Luckily, Ballotpedia has already listed them for us.

There are also too many municipal (a.k.a. town-wide, city-wide, or county-wide) elections to list! These elections affect your community the most directly!

Most people know NYC is voting for mayor (don't let Cuomo make a comeback!), but don't let him distract you from city council elections, either. Wikipedia has a long list of the largest cities with municipal elections in 2025 (Atlanta, Minneapolis, and New Orleans are some examples), but if you live in a smaller town, be sure to google "[your town name] elections" to see if you have anything this November.

Lastly, there is a special election in Tennessee's 7th Congressional district that's happening after election day, on December 2nd. This district is Republican leaning, but a large enough Democratic over-performance could flip it — and constitute one of the only chances to whittle down the Republican House majority before 2026.

No reblog-guilting here, I'm not gonna judge anyone for not wanting to reblog a long politics post, but I'm sure it would help a lot of people make their plans if enough folks shared this list of what elections are happening this November (and this December).

[thequeer26]

A Tip from a Domesticated Queer: Brush your teeth

Brush your teeth. Wash your face. Take a shower. Eat food. 

Sometimes life is absolute and utter shit. Sometimes it’s hard to get out of bed. I get it, I’ve been there. With that said, still try, as hard as possible to brush your teeth, wash your face, take a shower, and eat food. Depression doesn’t have to lead to other health problems, and getting out of bed and taking care of yourself will help you feel better anyway. Taking care of yourself means you are surviving, and you can continue to survive despite depression.

So. 

Brush your teeth.

Wash your face.

Take a shower.

Eat food.

<3

[betrachtung]

my god, there is never any time to recover from the world

[cobble-stone]

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

If I were super wealthy my #1 "selfish" purchase (something I'd do that wasn't for benefiting society or other people) would be endless takeout. I'd order food brought to my house every day if I could afford it. Fuck it, if I were wealthy enough I'd employ a personal chef to just come by twice per week and make me a few days' worth of healthy meals. That would be so amazing.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I'm not even into expensive food, I want like. Takeout burritos and club sandwiches and stuff. But imagine having (relatively) fresh average food every day and never having to cook it. And the person making it knows how to make tasty and nutritionally balanced food. Fuck buying fancy cars or wristwatches or whatever I'd pay a salary to Guy Who Can Make Seven Tasty Salad Sandwiches And Seven Delicious Well-Rounded Dinners Per Week.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Or failing that. Coles. Sell me nutritionally balanced dim sims. Sell me a dim sim that I can eat every night for the rest of my life. I'm certain we have the technology. It's a tiny pastry with meat and vegetables in there. The right vegetable combo has to exist. Give Me My Perfect Nutrition Freezer Meals.

[notusuallyprepared]

I regularly order freezer meals from those meal delivery companies and now I'm wondering. Why are dim sims not on any of their menus.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

They're the perfect food! Little pastry pockets of just the right size and firmness to conveniently deliver deliciousness into your mouth. There are similar pastry foods of course -- the spring roll, or those little triangle things -- but none have the perfect shape, internal volume and portion size of the humble dim sim.

[tomboy014]

You know you can buy dim sum and dumplings by the bag from Asian groceries, right?

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I've never seen dim sims served as dim sum, though it wouldn't surprise me if some places do it. But even if they do I bet I can get them cheaper by the bag from Coles, which will deliver frozen food to my house for two dollars, something that I very much doubt that any Asian groceries I might find here can do.

The issue is not the availability of dim sims. The issue is the nutritional value of dim sims. Which is very much in the "fine to include in the average diet but don't make this your primary calorie intake unless you want to end up in the hospital with a nutritional deficiency that belongs in the eighteen hundreds" range.

[tomboy014]

And the advantage of the Asian grocery is the variety of dim sum options

Plenty of dumplings, bao, gyoza and more with lots of veggies in them

My friend and I really love the pork and shepherds purse bao

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Unfortunately I am very picky about food texture (autism) and can't really get into dumplings. They can be okay if fried well enough to be properly crunchy (boiled or steamed are a big no from me, horrible texture), but I'm pretty sure you could make dim sims with different vegetable middles and not compromise the texture, or possibly even improve it (not a fan of spongy fillings, standard dim sims would be too spongy if it weren't for their thick crunchy pastry compensating).

[tomboy014]

I don't think we're on the same page here

Dim sum is an umbrella term for small, snacky, usually bite sized foods typically consisting of dumplings, buns and rolls, but can also include things like chicken feet, egg tarts, sesame balls, etc

What, specifically, are you thinking of when you say dim sum? Because I don't know one that has a wrapper that is thick and crunchy

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I didn't say dim sum, except to point out that dim sims aren't usually served as part of it.

[tiredsapphicbookwitch]

the miscommunication is because an Australian Dim Sim is a dumpling unique to Australia developed by Cantonese immigrants/miners during the gold rush that has been adopted into just general Australian cuisine. It’s not actually a dim sum dumpling.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

But you can also, separately, get dim sum foods here. We have a pretty high Chinese immigrant (and Chinese-descendant) population.

[da-manta-ray]

Interesting, TIL about dim sim!

I think because “dim sim” and “dim sum” are only off by one letter (and those letters are right beside each other on the keyboard), my brain just automatically corrected it to dim sum so I was pretty confused until someone else pointed it out.

[omtai]

Hate how lighting a candle does wonders to my mood. Like wowwww. Grug like fire? Grug not sad anymore because Fire in Cave? Wow. Real predictable of Grug.

[asteroidtroglodyte]

Why disparage base nature. Caveman love Fire. Just because Cave square not make you not Caveman. Plus now Fire come with own vessel; Cute little house for Pet Fire! Many wonders! Attack not self. Objective Beauty deserve wonder.

[hussyknee]

[sparrrorow-art]

the shimp got too much attention and now there are transphobes in my notes, this is a transgender blog run by a transgender dyke. fuckers.

[fleshengine]

Reblog this loby when they least expect it.

[roomwithavoid]

will you reblog for sample size

yes

no

Voting ended onJul 26, 2025

[heavymachinebun]

I'm finally starting to get into some more substantial practice now, here's some attempts at drawing action manga style running. My old Splatoon comics were dialogue heavy so I never practiced this stuff. Again, trying to express different OC personalities in their movements where possible.

[heavymachinebun]

Made some more designs for my magical girl concept. Half the fun of magical girls is that you have to come up with their untransformed looks, too.

Anna's not even magic but working adults have their own kind of transformation if you think about it

[heavymachinebun]

Now that I've got a couple of OC designs to work with I'm gonna do some art practice with them. I still have a lot of problems with foreshortening so I wanted to practiced some poses in perspective. I also wanna flesh out the general vibes of my OC's while I practice.

[carolinaknowswhy]

gen z has to reckon with its radicalization problem. you are not a morally pure and superior generation of youth come to save the world, your men and boys are radicalized at an unprecedented level and you ignore it because it’s too hard to address but you have to. these boys are in your classes, they date your friends, you know them and you cannot continue to pretend this is an “old white guy” problem

[carolinaknowswhy]

girls are contributing, too. the coquette aesthetic, the “i don’t want to girlboss i want a man to pay my bills”, girlmath girljob girlmoney. it’s a joke, it’s clothes, it’s whatever, i get it but it is driving a mentality of traditional gender roles and you know you’re joking but your boyfriend doesn’t. your kid brother doesn’t. you have to stop this shit it is a contributing factor

[coelii]

reblog to give your headache to elon musk instead

[kinkykinard]

[eyesonjupiter]

Found that over at mastodon

[theanishimori]

Source: [X]

TL;DR – Twitter thread by a library worker on a news article about a woman who pulled hundreds of books out of a library dumpster and donated them to an underserved school. THOSE BOOKS WERE THROWN OUT FOR A REASON. Like outdated science, racism, and misogyny. #ContextMatters 

[bitchwhoyoukiddin]

*drops head in hands* I hadn’t seen she’d fished ‘em out of a library dumpster. Like. Ok. If it wasn’t in the book sale, passed on to another institution, or sold to a reseller, there’s a reason it’s in the dumpster.

[kamataros]

bestie A LIBRARY of all people/institutions does NOT just “throw out” books for no reason