Literary Rambles

Supposedly I write and make art sometimes (but med school disagrees)

[literary-rambles]

mooshrooms

[lacetulle]

Teuta Matoshi | Spring/Summer 2021

[literary-rambles]

I LITERALLY bought my wedding dress last weekend, and i love it and it makes me look like a forest fae queen

but of all the times that I choose to randomly go on tumblr and find THIS ABSOLUTE IDEAL FOREST FAE DRESS

For the same freaking price

This is seriously offensive

[literary-rambles]

hi just popped on tumblr dot com for my annual five minute scroll

bye til next year

*returns to hermit cave*

[literary-rambles]

it’s that time again for 2021′s 5min tumblr scroll

[nasa]

Why do scientists think there could have been life on Mars?

[supergiraffes-archive-blog]

what you need to do if i have a convulsive seizure

I was just complaining to my friend that my oldest sister didn’t know what to do the last time I had a convulsive seizure, and I ended up injured because of it. And my friend said that actually, they don’t know what to do when they see someone have a convulsive seizure, either.

So I thought I’d explain it to you.  I’m not a doctor, and I have no medical training and not everything here will apply to everyone who has convulsive seizures, these are just the things that apply to me, and when in doubt, call an ambulance. 

Here’s what you do:

Look around. Am I lying in the middle of a busy street or on the railroad tracks, or somewhere else dangerous, like in the bathtub? If yes, drag me to somewhere where I am not in imminent danger of being hit by a truck or drowning. 

Am I somewhere safe, but lying near dangerous things like fire or knives or broken glass or pans of boiling water or anything that can hurt me? Move the dangerous things away from me.

My body will be convulsing. That means my head and my arms and my legs are rapidly hitting the ground. Put something soft underneath my head. If there’s a cushion right there, perfect. If not, wad up your coat or shove your shopping bag under my head. If there’s nothing immediately to hand that would take you more than a few seconds to grab, stick your feet underneath my head, it’ll work.

Am I wearing anything around my neck, like a tight collar, or a necktie, or a choker? Loosen it, so my airway is clear.

Don’t restrict my movements - don’t try to hold my arms and legs down. You’ve already moved all the dangerous things away from me, and cushioned my head, so don’t hold me down, unless it is necessary to keep me from doing serious harm.

Don’t put anything in my mouth. A lot of people think you need to stick your fingers or a spoon or something into the person’s mouth to prevent them choking on their tongue.  Don’t do this. 

Try to make a note of the time the seizure first started. If the seizure lasts for longer than five minutes, call an ambulance.

When the convulsing/jerking has stopped, roll me onto my side. If you know what the recovery position is, put me in the recovery position, if you don’t, just roll me onto my side, and check my airway. If I’m not breathing, or I’m having trouble breathing, call an ambulance.

It seems to be instinctive to help someone get back to their feet as soon as the seizure is over. Don’t do this with me. After a seizure, I’m in something called a post-ictal state. It makes me very, very confused, and lying on the ground or sitting somewhere soft is the safest place for me. If you pull me to my feet while I’m still this confused, I will walk directly into traffic or put my hand on a hot stove because I won’t know where I am, or what’s happening, and often I won’t be able to see at all for a few minutes. Keep me somewhere safe until I’ve fully recovered.

If I have another seizure before I’ve fully recovered from the earlier one, call an ambulance.

If you think I might be hurt, or you’re confused or not sure about what to do, call an ambulance.

That’s all there is to it. Make sure I’m not in immediate physical danger; cushion my head (but don’t restrain it); when the jerking stops, roll me onto my side and check my airway; keep me somewhere safe until I’m fully recovered, and if the seizure lasts a long time, or I have a second one, or you aren’t sure what to do or you think I might be hurt, call an ambulance. That’s it. It’s not hard, and I promise you can do this.

[part-time-pessimist]

THIS THIS THIS The last time I had a convulsive seizure in public, somebody held my arms down and both shoulders dislocated

[romythe]

Also it’s a myth that peope can swallow their tongues. 

[drbibliophile]

I am a doctor and I approve this message. 

[onamountaintop]

[roane72]

Best trick I ever picked up. Seriously.

[catastrophe-jones]

I have also learned this is great for [PICK A COOL NAME FOR A SHIP] and [LOOK UP THE FACTS ABOUT OXYGEN LEVELS] and [WHAT’S THE WORD] and [DOUBLECHECK CHARACTER’S EYE COLOR] and ALL KINDS OF THINGS.

Anything that isn’t critical in the moment, and could be filled in later while I’m currently trying to burn through writing pages that will be lost if I don’t get them out right now? Brackets.

[betweentimeand42]

This is seriously the best advice, and it really helps put it into perspective that the first draft is just that- a draft. There’s no reason to agonize over a particularly tricky bit of writing when you could just leave it in brackets and skip to the good parts, the parts you’ve visualized. I also use brackets for [fact-check this], [use a stronger verb], [is this in character?] and other notes as I write, just so I don’t forget what I want to work on when I go back and edit. 

[lucyaudley]

This works for academic writing too. If you know where you’re going just leave yourself notes to fill in later. I do this all the time,

[weaver-z]

Every DnD game that starts out with a serious “Lord of the Rings” type of tone turns into a Monty Python sketch and every DnD game that starts out like a Monty Python sketch turns into Lord of the Rings

[weaver-z]

DnD game with characters named Kua the Brave, Enoch Bluehelm, and Hallow Greaves: Our current mission is to save the kingdom from the Dark Queen Ravenbone but we fucked up a charisma roll and now Kua and Ravenbone are dating and the king of Fendale was turned into a frog

DnD game with characters named Bunny Wabbit, Ford Trukk, and Dildo Baggins: Our current mission is to find a birthday present for a spoiled prince but in the process we found a lich planning to devour the life force of everyone in the land and Dildo gave his life to stop him in a scene so moving it won the Newberry Medal

[theaustinstollhaus]

If you give your players room to do whatever they want, including be silly, they will most often choose to express themselves. And you'd be amazed how much you'll start to care about characters once people have attached little pieces if their soul to them.

If you try to enforce a "serious" tone, it just makes the gags funnier, and your players will treat you with the same casual blasphemy orangutans show to God.

[a-humble-waffle]

"the same casual blasphemy orangutans show to God" WHAT THE FUCK I'M DECEASED

[6thlovelanguage-deactivated2020]

dark green is a nice color. underrated

[spoonie-living]

[Image: Tweet by Emily Mullin (@EmilyLMullin) and tweet by Isobelle Winter (@IsobelleWinter), both about the dangers of Facebook’s new preventative health screening tool. Images have been modified for visual ease but information has not been changed.]

Something to know about Facebook’s new “screening tool,” and advice/info that can most certainly be used outside of this specific situation.

For spoonies, the biggest deal is how this data, if leaked, could affect you in professional and insurance spheres.

Here’s Emily’s full thread, which discusses the details of the tool, and here’s Isobelle’s full thread, which extrapolates on specific dangers.

In the end? It’s another data grab. Data is worth money; don’t give yours away, especially not to Facebook.

[marithlizard]

Yeah, please don’t use this thing.  When you let companies have your personal information, they will use it against you.  You might not realize it until years later, when you get a big medical bill and insurance refuses to cover it because you once told Facebook you might have ADHD (or something) and that counts as a pre-existing condition.  

[strengthins0lidarity]

Yeah DONT DO THIS.

[whatbigotspost]

Spread the word

[officialromaniantranslatiuni]

http://www.bihorcouture.com

[vrabia]

hey friends, if you care about cultural appropriation and the damage it causes, please check out this awesome project!

in 2017 dior copied the design of a traditional romanian coat from the county of bihor and sold it for 30,000 euro, giving no credit to the local artisans. in response, romanian fashion magazine beau monde helped the community create their own brand, bihor couture, which sells the original coat, handmade to order, for 500 euro a piece. they also sell other traditional clothing and jewelry for much more accessible prices (5-45 euro). they’ve been hugely successful so far, and currently have enough pre-orders to cover 4.5 years of work, with 100% of the profits returning to the community. 

it’s surprisingly common for big name fashion designers like dior, gaultier, tom ford and altuzarra to copy traditional romanian clothing and sell it for ridiculous prices, with minimal original input, while giving nothing back to the community where these designs originated. it’s completely unfair that a big name designer can just steal so much hard work and misuse it to make huge profits. 

please support bihor couture, if not by ordering one of their products, then by spreading the news around. it’s really awesome to see a small community fight back against cultural appropriation so successfully. i hope they carry on for a long time!

[chandra-telescope]

you’ve heard of existential dread and existential horror, now get ready for existential peace, which is that feeling when you stare up at the nightsky and think, “huh. i exist. that’s pretty neat.”

[literary-rambles]

All this quarantining means I finally had time to finish this! It’s inspired by Erin Morgenstern‘s book, #TheStarlessSea, which I absolutely LOVED. Definitely one of my favorite reads in 2019. Highly recommend! Also this was quite the learning experience in digital art. I’m using GIMP which is NOT the most user friendly, but free, and I am cheap. I think I’m slowly getting the hang of it! [get this as a print and more at https://www.redbubble.com/people/sophiaantonia/works/46032976-stag-with-candles?asc=u]

[yesterdaysprint]

Chicago Tribune, Illinois, April 26, 1935

[literary-rambles]

i m p o r t a n t

[literary-rambles]

All this quarantining means I finally had time to finish this! It’s inspired by Erin Morgenstern‘s book, #TheStarlessSea, which I absolutely LOVED. Definitely one of my favorite reads in 2019. Highly recommend! Also this was quite the learning experience in digital art. I’m using GIMP which is NOT the most user friendly, but free, and I am cheap. I think I’m slowly getting the hang of it! [get this as a print and more at https://www.redbubble.com/people/sophiaantonia/works/46032976-stag-with-candles?asc=u]

[bookwormmads-deactivated2020062]

Medical and Science side of Tumblr, I have a question.

Can you get sick (catch a cold, fever, flu, whatever) from exhaustion?

If you work too much, can your imune system be weakened to the point of not being able to protect you from catching a flu?

I got a nasty cold and spent the past two days in bed, sleeping it off. I took the appropriate medication, of course. But after almost 24 (if not more) hours of sleep, I feel fine.

I’m wondering, if I had been well rested and less stressed, would I be less prone to getting sick?

[literary-rambles]

Yes this is definitely true!! Stress can deplete your immune system and make it more susceptible to illnesses. One reason why is because when you’re stressed you release a hormone called cortisol, and one of the things it does is decreases energy from making new white blood cells (so that energy can go elsewhere and keep you going through stressful situations). But the white blood cells are what fight off infection so you become more susceptible to getting sick! 

Similarly with sleep. When you aren’t sleeping, your body is working hard to push through things that, if you were rested, wouldn’t take a lot of effort. That leaves less energy for fighting off infection. 

Ultimately, no, you can’t CATCH an illness from exhaustion. That comes from someone sneezing on you/you eating infected food/you touching an infected surface/etc. But your body is just going to be worse at fighting it off if you aren’t sleeping enough and are constantly stressed. 

[literary-rambles]

Oh also adding: if you are chronically stressed, your body just gets used to being in that state, and gets used to producing high levels of cortisol - which ultimately just puts your immune system in a bad state. So take breaks for self care so your body can get itself back to baseline!

[bookwormmads-deactivated2020062]

Medical and Science side of Tumblr, I have a question.

Can you get sick (catch a cold, fever, flu, whatever) from exhaustion?

If you work too much, can your imune system be weakened to the point of not being able to protect you from catching a flu?

I got a nasty cold and spent the past two days in bed, sleeping it off. I took the appropriate medication, of course. But after almost 24 (if not more) hours of sleep, I feel fine.

I’m wondering, if I had been well rested and less stressed, would I be less prone to getting sick?

[literary-rambles]

Yes this is definitely true!! Stress can deplete your immune system and make it more susceptible to illnesses. One reason why is because when you’re stressed you release a hormone called cortisol, and one of the things it does is decreases energy from making new white blood cells (so that energy can go elsewhere and keep you going through stressful situations). But the white blood cells are what fight off infection so you become more susceptible to getting sick! 

Similarly with sleep. When you aren’t sleeping, your body is working hard to push through things that, if you were rested, wouldn’t take a lot of effort. That leaves less energy for fighting off infection. 

Ultimately, no, you can’t CATCH an illness from exhaustion. That comes from someone sneezing on you/you eating infected food/you touching an infected surface/etc. But your body is just going to be worse at fighting it off if you aren’t sleeping enough and are constantly stressed. 

[literary-rambles]

hi just popped on tumblr dot com for my annual five minute scroll

bye til next year

*returns to hermit cave*