You can't catch me, I'm already a butterfly

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

Therapist: you need to celebrate your small victories.

Me: i don't have any victories.

Therapist: you have a job.

Me: well, duh? How do I live if I don't have a job?

Therapist: the majority of 4s that I know do not have a job.

Me: ...that...sounds scary. That's downright terrifying. I wouldn't know what to DO with myself without a job! I was unemployed for 5 months once, and I HATED IT. I was SO BORED.

Therapist: see, your family was very poor, so it makes sense to you that you need a job. But a lot of 4s i know will let their parents or partners take care of them financially their whole lives and never get a job. So that's a small victory you should celebrate.

Me: but I don't have anyone in my life that is willing to take care of me like that, so me having a job is less a victory and more of an obvious solution.

Therapist: you're doing it again. You're thinking of reasons to discredit yourself instead of celebrating. Stop putting yourself down. Small victories are still victories. You accomplished something that not everyone can do. That means you are improving. That is worth celebrating.

[dogspouse]

people love to say "your cat is just being cuddly because it's cold out and he likes the warmth" like that detracts from it somehow. this weird little creature lives in my home and his paws and the tip of his nose are cold and his solution to this is to go to the big weird hairless ape who feeds him, and curl up on its stomach and fall asleep there bc it's nice and warm. that too is love!!!!

[greelin]

the devil went DOWN to georgia. always keep that in mind

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

does that mean the devil was originally in DC?

[fandom-trash-goblin]

we've got a life to love living.

[thememedaddy]

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

i'm allergic to lettuce, so...yeah....

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

17yo niece: I'm completely normal about cats, I promise.

Me: I'm not.

17yo niece: they BREATHE, and I'm like, "SO CUUUUTE!"

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

Therapist: you need to let people do things for you.

Me: people don't want to do things for me.

Therapist : are you you sure about that? Or do you not LET people do things for you?

Me: oh, look, im bleeding.

[penandinkprincess]

my balcony blocks my view of the playground, but I heard one child yell "I FOUND A FROG" with a great deal of excitement and now there is screaming, so I'm filling in some blanks

[penandinkprincess]

situational update: a little girl screamed "LEAVE HIM ALONE" and now there's noises that sound suspiciously like a child getting wailed on by a wiffle ball bat

[penandinkprincess]

further update: parent has been called to the scene. distribution of fault is underway. bat appears to have been confiscated.

[penandinkprincess]

bat has been returned under the promise of not deploying it once more against brothers. the pause and "but tell him to leave the frog alone" tells me it will likely come back into play shortly.

[penandinkprincess]

as expected, frog was bothered again and frog warrior took up her weapon once more. all children are being collected to leave on charges of acting "like y'all have NO sense"

personally I stand with frog defender on this issue

#justiceforfroggirl

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

When i have multiple bad guys in my stories, I like to have a theme that connects them.

But having ONE theme is too predictable and boring. So i like having multiple themes, but not all the bad guys fit each theme. And of course, innocent people will also fit certain themes, just to make things interesting, lol.

For example:

Theme 1: all the bad guys' names start with the same letter. Except one or two of them.

Theme 2: they all have the same eye color. Except one or two of them.

Theme 3: they're all men. Except one or two of them.

The exceptions to each theme is never the same as the exception to another theme, so the bad guys will ALWAYS fit at least one theme (usually more, depending on how many themes there are). Then when all the bad guys are revealed, the reader will be able to look back and be like, "ohhhhh, I should have seen that." OR, they'll be able to give a half-strangled scream of, "I KNEW IT!"

As a writer, I accept both reactions to my work.

[thememedaddy]

[afronerdism]

Please do not let debt collectors play in your face.

[afronerdism]

I am super busy so I honestly don’t even know if I should be taking the time to write this, but hopefully this will help those of you who may find yourself in a similar situation.

Earlier this year I received a letter of notice from a debt collector stating that they had acquired a debt supposedly belonging to me and that, per law, I have 30 days to dispute the debt. I immediately drafted a letter and sent it to both disputing the debt and request validation of the debt as well as possible settlement arrangements had they actually been able to validate said debt

I sent this letter via certified mail. Always certified mail.

About a week after the 30 day period for them to respond expired, I received a Phone call very specifically crafted in a way to invoke urgency and panic and suggest legal action. So, naturally, I called this number only to discover this was a different company that had only just recently acquired said supposed debt. I reiterated to them that I was disputing this debt and required validation in writing.

The initial conversation went smoothly, they then called me back the next day and became aggressive. They accused me of lying and did everything under the sun to try and trick me into validating this debt as mine so that they would not have to legally send me that validation. I, knowing my rights, insisted that I was disputing the debt and that they were required to send me validation despite them claiming that they were not and that they already had and many other number of lies. I refused to continue the conversation until someone had sent me validation to which they continually responded that they would be forwarding this to their legal department and blah blah blah blah blah.

Surprise surprise, I get a phone call today from yet another company, this one claiming to be in the process of forwarding my account to the county clerks office. That was an immediate red flag as the county clerk does not handle debt disputes. They would have to hire a lawyer in my state to handle this case. I asked what company this was as they had not stated initially, and when they told me I realized this was now another company who had purchased said alleged debt and we’re trying to collect on it. this one outright illegally threatening to take me to court knowing they weren’t.

Beyond that, he tried to lie to me and tell me that a debt validation was not what I thought it was and that a validation was actually just a notice that they had purchased a debt so when I received a letter stating that they had purchased this debt that would be a validation.

That is not true! Debt companies are legally required to send you notice of an allegedly acquired debt in writing and you have 30 days to dispute and request that validation. The company then has 30 days themselves to respond and validate your debt or the debt is forfeit. This man tried to lie to me and tell me that a notice was the same thing as a dead validation in order to trick me into paying a debt that he cannot validate that I am actively disputing.

This is now the fourth company that has attempted to collect on a debt they cannot validate. They know they cannot validate this debt and instead have relied on trying to trick me into paying it. These tactics would absolutely work if I did not have a sales background and or know my rights.

And this ladies and gentlemen is why you always always always dispute a debt. The last debt I disputed was immediately pulled from collections and that allowed me to get back in contact with the original creditor and work out a payment plan so that it would never hit my credit and keep my account with them current. This debt is invalid and therefore they cannot hit my credit with it nor can I collect on it or I will sue them.

If you guys have any questions about dealing with that collectors please ask me.

[le-dreadmau5]

I'm not surprised they gave you the long ass run around on this.

For anyone that has a debt sold to a Collections Agency do exactly what OP did and request debt validation (Google-able). Most of the time, the Original company you owed debt to did not give them your Social Security Number or your date of birth; just a good phone number and address. In order to be held legally responsible for it and to be on your credit score, they need your SSN or DOB to prove it's yours.

Usually, they're initial call will say "Hey so before we can discuss your debt of $Xxxx, we need you to verify your SSN and DOB." They're lying. That means they want you to confirm it so they can legally pin that debt to you. If you send a Debt Validation letter VIA CERTIFIED MAIL, that Collections Agency has 30 days to prove you owe the debt and that it does in fact tie to you. Since in most cases they can't, they'll send a letter saying "We don't have the necessary information to collect on this debt. It is now null and void." Send copies of that to the credit bureaus, and they wipe it from your credit report.

With OP, they did the shadiest thing possible by constantly re-selling the debt, thus starting over that 30 day response period.

Never pay a debt unless you're certain that you owe it. Especially if it's for a deceased relative. Debt collection companies are especially predatory during the grieving period asking you to "Pay down the debt" or "Clear their good name". Unless you (co)signed, don't give them anything. The debt will get written off on their taxes. If you do pay, you're locked in on that debt. You basically showed "willingness and ability to pay" which is all they need.

[ravynfyre]

I gotta say... even if you *are * "certain you owe it", get it validated. If someone forgot to make sure to dot all the i's and cross all the t's and didn't connect the DOB and SSN and everything... That isn't your fault. This whole capitalistic hellscape is fucking broken. don't pay *anything* that you legally can't be compelled to.

[lytefoot]

#an extremely good rule of thumb also is 'never give someone who called you your ssn/sin'#scammers also will ask you to 'confirm' it to deal with a debt or a legal issue or a tax thing#and it should not be on you to provide your ssn/sin over the phone.#if they're legitimate and they know who you are they will have that information. you should not provide it

This is so important.

Do not give your ssn on the phone to anyone who has called you, ever, no matter what the caller ID shows. If you are doing something for which you should be providing your ssn (e.g. applying for a loan), look up the appropriate phone number for the organization you should give it to you, and you call them. If it's at all practical, find a way you can give your ssn to the organization in person at their offices instead, or by a form sent to you via paper mail. (If they're committing fraud by paper mail, that's mail fraud, the feds actually take that seriously.)

Anyone who needs to confirm your identity based on your ssn will tell you the last four digits of your ssn (not the whole thing).

Never, ever give your ssn to someone that has called you. Any reputable organization that you want to do business with will respond to "I don't feel comfortable providing that information over the phone" by giving you an alternative.

[stevviefox]

Good advice. ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️

[iggymogo]

“Get a rat and put it in a cage and give it two water bottles. One is just water, and one is water laced with either heroin or cocaine. If you do that, the rat will almost always prefer the drugged water and almost always kill itself very quickly, right, within a couple of weeks. So there you go. It’s our theory of addiction. Bruce comes along in the ‘70s and said, “Well, hang on a minute. We’re putting the rat in an empty cage. It’s got nothing to do. Let’s try this a little bit differently.” So Bruce built Rat Park, and Rat Park is like heaven for rats. Everything your rat about town could want, it’s got in Rat Park. It’s got lovely food. It’s got sex. It’s got loads of other rats to be friends with. It’s got loads of colored balls. Everything your rat could want. And they’ve got both the water bottles. They’ve got the drugged water and the normal water. But here’s the fascinating thing. In Rat Park, they don’t like the drugged water. They hardly use any of it. None of them ever overdose. None of them ever use in a way that looks like compulsion or addiction. There’s a really interesting human example I’ll tell you about in a minute, but what Bruce says is that shows that both the right-wing and left-wing theories of addiction are wrong. So the right-wing theory is it’s a moral failing, you’re a hedonist, you party too hard. The left-wing theory is it takes you over, your brain is hijacked. Bruce says it’s not your morality, it’s not your brain; it’s your cage. Addiction is largely an adaptation to your environment. […] We’ve created a society where significant numbers of our fellow citizens cannot bear to be present in their lives without being drugged, right? We’ve created a hyperconsumerist, hyperindividualist, isolated world that is, for a lot of people, much more like that first cage than it is like the bonded, connected cages that we need. The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection. And our whole society, the engine of our society, is geared towards making us connect with things. If you are not a good consumer capitalist citizen, if you’re spending your time bonding with the people around you and not buying stuff—in fact, we are trained from a very young age to focus our hopes and our dreams and our ambitions on things we can buy and consume. And drug addiction is really a subset of that.”

— Johann Hari, Does Capitalism Drive Drug Addiction?

[thememedaddy]

[beardedmrbean]

Next up someone is going to claim that the Narnia series isn't kids books.

Kids books is probably not the best way to word it, you can enjoy them at every age, including your childhood, as you get older you may find new truths in them, but they're still good for any age.

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

Harry Potter was written for 3rd and 4th graders. I read The Chronicles of Narnia in 2nd grade. The Hobbit was told as a bedtime story for Tolkien' son when he was little.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE MORE THAN 20 PAGES.

[vibrantstarfire]

i just don’t get it. where are all the women. where are all the women in your fanfictions. are they all out of town? did they all go on vacation together? do they all have a dentist appointment at the same time?

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

they went to the bathroom together. Obviously.

[amaraqwolf]

Good news: if you’re currently laying around and not producing anything, you are a credit to your species.

[willow-wanderings]

It’s recently been found that even hive insects rest. Bees will play with colorful toys. Ants sleep for about 1 minute but they do it so frequently it amounts to a few hours per day. Even trees take breaks.

The only things that work without rest are machines; literally everything that lives requires rest.

EVERYTHING THAT LIVES REQUIRES REST. STOP JUDGING YOURSELF FOR NOT BEING A ROBOT.

[roach-works]

robots require very frequent breaks! welding machines generally have it programmed in that they can’t run so long they melt themselves. ive overseen two different manufacturing robots now and each of them were fragile, finicky idiots that require constant maintenance and repair. they pause in between moves, in between jobs. you’re always keeping an eye on programming errors, on coolant levels, on heat. you’re always pulling bits of scrap out of joints, sweeping up debris, washing off nozzles and untangling hoses. and even then it snaps a chain and takes a whole morning’s vacation.

even robots need downtime.

[dont-read-this-im-dead]

my new mantra.

[luckyladylily]

So the thing is boobs really do be jiggling. If having breasts has taught me anything it is that the ladies frolic. I don't even have that large of boobs but every time I go down some stairs all I can think about is that stupid quote about boobing breastily down the stairs or whatever it is because God Damn.

But anime and video game boob jiggling is like. The most uncanny valley shit I've ever seen nine times out of ten. You would think people this horny about tits would have actually looked at some but I guess not.

What we really need is some pervert to compile the ultimate visual guide to boob bouncing physics that's just like 500 hours of meticulously organized videos of breasts of different size and shape and under different fabrics bouncing around from a wide variety of physical movements so horny game devs can finally get it right and I don't have to be creeped out by women who appear to have surgically implanted softballs in their chest under skin made of rubber bands.