Back On My Bullshit

No escape from this hellsite :)

[coughloop]

10 or 11 little ducks have been spotted crossing the dash board

[fearthefuzzybear]

[sandersstudies]

I’m 25 and sometimes it still hits me that I can do whatever I want.

[sandersstudies]

Me: man I wish I could go to the zoo.

Me:

Me: …wait.

[madlori]

please go to the zoo if you want I’m a zoo docent and I love talking to grownups who are visiting the animals and want to know all about them.

[captainclickycat]

You can buy yourself stuff in the gift shop too, if you have the money. Don’t need to ask a grownup or anything. If you want that toy gorilla it’s yours.

[crying-over-really-dumb-things]

@prince-of-moths

[solisaureus]

came home drunk last night and got way too excited to see my cat

[whitmanic]

Literally such a funny concept

[trans-shepard]

This is better than all Black mirrors combined.

[girlfriemd]

Happy martin birthday

[ani-tolaat-bli-toelet]

10/10 would watch

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

[papprekakinga-deactivated202407]

Always reblog

[writerlywriting-deactivated2019]

As a former zookeeper we would hear this a lot. “If you don’t study hard you’ll end up cleaning poop for a living.” It’s the one time we’re allowed to go off on the visitors. I once heard my boss rant for five minutes at a lady, in front of her kids, about how he had a Master’s degree, how people literally worked there for free, and how dare she judge people without bothering to know anything about them. Later that day his boss came by and said, roughly, “She told us what happened. Thanks for not throwing anything this time.”

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

I can count on one hand the amount of times I have gone off on people, but employment snobbery gives me the rage. I was showing the new kid how to use the fry scoop at McDonald’s “.. like this, and then just sort of hold it perpendicular and give it one tap..”

And the new kid sniggered “isn’t perpendicular a bit of a big word for McDonald’s?”

Something in me was just so annoyed by this 16yr old who was learning to work right next to me and somehow felt above us? Fuck that shit. I pointed at the people just on the floor and went off, “she’s a 4th year law student, she’s the primary career for her terminally ill daughter, he raises 100,000 for charity every year, she manages 3 stores and more than £16mil in turnover a year. What the fuck do you do?”

He just sort of mumbled “I didn’t know”

“you shouldn’t have to know, you’re not better than us. So. You tap it once and then move it here to release…”

[jaylacucu]

“I didn’t know.”

“You shouldn’t have to know,”

[radmenace]

yes to all this because workers can be educated and intelligent, but also, even if workers are formally uneducated or dont know big words that doesnt mean they arent equally deserving of respect

[smarter-than-the-republicans]

Zookeepers bust their asses shoveling shit and feeding apex predators so you can stare at an elephant without flying to Asia or Africa.

Fast food workers bust their asses surrounded by hot ovens and boiling oil so you can get food quickly without having to make it yourself or even learn how.

Janitors bust their asses cleaning up the most vile things humans can do to a public room so you don’t have to tiptoe around human waste everywhere you go.

Mail carriers bust their asses going door to door in near-fatal heat/cold and have to deal with the possibility of getting attacked by your poorly-trained pets so you don’t have to drive to the post office every single day.

Warehouse workers bust their asses making sure YOUR latest Amazon crap doesn’t just disappear into thin air.

And retail workers bust their asses coddling and picking up after you like your parents because none of you know how to read a price tag or stop deliberately miss-shelving things you never wanted.

But sure, go ahead and act like you wouldn’t be dead in a week without these people.

[angelsaxis]

I love when information revealed at the end of a story recontextualizes something said or done at the beginning. Like yes queen make the story a loop let the story keep developing even though the book is closed and the credits are rolling. The story never ends it just starts over.

[telltaletypist]

everryone knows about walter white turning down his friend's offer for a cushy executive job that would've solved all his problems and meant he wouldn't have to cook meth but i feel like less people talk about the fact that he did that AFTER he had to strangle a man to death with a bike chain and liquify his body in acid. like that did not deter him in the slightest that's how set he was on cooking meth

[karliahs]

i often see people say they can't go to the library because they lost/never returned/dropped some library books in a bath or something, and now view themselves as heinous library criminals who would be yelled at and/or hit with a huge bill if they ever went back

and obvs i can't make promises unless you came into my specific library and were served by me but here are 10 reasons i think if you went in and politely explained the situation to a member of staff it'd probably be fine:

consider this from the library's perspective. those books are probably never coming back regardless. that value (having the books back), which is probably the reason the library has a fines system to begin with, is not gonna happen. the value of retaining you as a customer though is right there in front of them

if you explain that a fine is too high for you to pay and that that is keeping you from coming back to the library, what you've basically said is that there is an impediment to your library access. part of the job of anyone who works in a library is to remove that impediment

library computer systems will vary hugely and if it's been a long time there is a significant chance there isn't even a record of your lost books anymore

the pandemic affected library access significantly and a lot of libraries will have had amnesties once they reopened to get people over the hump of oh god oh god i've had these books FOREVER i can never show my face again. even if that amnesty is officially over, the fact that there was one helps the person in front of you justify waiving the fee (which, if they're like me and you aren't being cruel, they are probably looking for a reason to do!)

a lot of libraries have reduced or no fines for children, so if you lost books as a kid there's even more of a chance there won't be a fine

the person you speak to at the front desk at a library is probably not an accredited Librarian TM but a nice underpaid person who has to deal with a lot of difficult customers going off on them for no reason (also accredited librarian tms are also pretty nice usually). i would take 100 people politely explaining that they've lost books and are very embarrassed over one person whose purpose that day is to belittle me, a captive audience who has to be nice no matter what. library assistant jobs are often not that different from customer service jobs! a lot of library assistant jobs now explicitly are customer service jobs! it is so so likely that that person wants nothing less than to have an adversarial conversation with you

if you haven't been to a library since you were a lot younger, it is almost certainly no longer what you're picturing. most modern libraries are actively trying to move away from the image of severe quiet building where you will be shhhhed and sternly told to look after your books or else. we're trying to be vibrant community hubs full of friendly people who will do their best to help you

library employees, bizarrely enough, probably don't think of each individual book as being that valuable compared to other readers. if you own a book and keep it forever and read it maybe twice, barring any crazy accidents it'll probably last decades. if a book is on the shelves of a public library and is regularly borrowed, it'll last...3-5 years, maybe. a busy library will discard large volumes of stock every year because that's just how it works. you lose that sense of the sanctity of every copy of every book pretty fast in these kinds of jobs

libraries need people to use them! a huge huge part of getting library funding is demonstrating how many people use and value your service. you and the library staff are on the same side: they also want you to be able to use the library again

a public library has witnessed behaviours the likes of which you cannot imagine. people have shoved books down our toilets. people have looked at porn on library computers in full view of everyone around them. people have thrown chairs out of the window. losing books happens all the time and is so unlikely to phase staff who are probs a little bit dead inside

tldr: come back to the library, we need you visiting and using the service more than we need the books you accidentally lost, also if the person you talk to is anything like me they're probably just glad you aren't yelling at them

[catadromously]

reasons.

[stainlessteelwaterbottle]

youre telling me a ham fisted this metaphor??

[victoriankeysmash]

[shadowthehedgehogmovie]

[gin-juice-tonic]

to be continued

(next)

[bisexualwario]

big fan of tags being visible in notes because when your posts blow up they can turn into petri dishes filled with some truly deranged shit

[dailycupofcreativitea]

So my coworker (lab mate?) is partially deaf and was given a sign language interpreter by the university (so he doesn’t pay for anything) and also got one at his new job, which is really cool.

I didn’t realize just how hard sign language interpreters work until I started interacting with his interpreter.

Any time I need a Zoom call from my coworker to get him to explain some machine learning stuff to me, his interpreter joins the Zoom call.

During 2 hour lab meetings, he has 2 interpreters that constantly switch so they don’t get tired, and when there’s only one, we have to take a break in the middle so she can rest.

Both his interpreters spent a lot of time reading complex scientific journal articles in machine learning in order to agree on what language to use during the lab meetings.

We went out for a lab lunch and everyone ordered all this delicious food…and the interpreter couldn’t eat anything, because she had to work (my coworker said it’s part of their job but still!).

She would constantly ask me what the group on the other side of the table was talking about so she could keep my coworker “in the loop” of the “office chatter” instead of only interpreting when someone spoke directly to him.

Having to struggle with words from other languages (I’m bilingual and when I mixed in some Urdu words, the interpreter asked me to translate so she could sign them). Also having to interpret conversations where everyone is interrupting each other.

Just…it’s such an important job and I didn’t realize how much work goes into it. Sign language interpreters are amazing and really do their part to not only “translate” for deaf people, but to make them feel included in all of the conversation.

[kla1991]

If you’re interacting with someone and their interpreter, there are things you can do to make that communication easier!

1) If either of the people don’t know you well, or if it’s a busy video or phone call, say your name before you speak! This makes it easier to track who’s saying what and helps the deaf person and the interpreter get to know you better.

2) Try your best to not speak over/interrupt others or make side comments while someone else is speaking. It’s really hard! If you manage to do it, though, everyone will follow the conversation better, not just the deaf person and their interpreter.

3) If you’re using an acronym, a non-English word, a slang term, or a technical term that the interpreter might not know, define and/or spell it politely and as briefly as possible. Use the full term, then say the acronym. Take a second to clarify words that might sound a lot like other words. If you can fingerspell, that can be helpful, too! You, the deaf person, and the interpreter will eventually build a rhythm that makes this easier to do and get a sense of what does or doesn’t need to be defined

4) Don’t engage the interpreter in conversation. It can feel weird, but the interpreter is working and needs to pay attention to things that are not you. If they’re on a break and want to chat, they’ll approach you.

5) Most importantly, remember to look at the deaf person, NOT the interpreter, while speaking with the deaf person! Unless you’re making one of those brief explanations to help the interpreter out, you should look at the person you’re speaking to. You should also look at the deaf person while the interpreter speaks, because the deaf person is who you’re actually listening to. It can feel really weird to basically ignore a person, especially someone whose hands are moving and catching your attention, but that’s what’s polite.

5.1) If you, like me, need to be looking at a person to understand what they’re saying, tell the deaf person that so they know you’re doing what you need to to communicate with them, not ignoring them in favor of the interpreter, which is rude. This is also helpful information for the interpreter, who will then know to keep eye contact with you while interpreting whenever possible. Make sure to give this info to the deaf person first and foremost, though.

(These tips can also be helpful for talking with folks who are hard of hearing but not using an interpreter, especially on video or phone calls. Don’t interrupt, don’t start side conversations, and turn your face toward the hard of hearing person while speaking as much as possible!)

[calocera]

knights of the round table

[modogoblin]

[star-anise]

When I was younger and more abled, I was so fucking on board with the fantasy genre’s subversion of traditional femininity. We weren’t just fainting maidens locked up in towers; we could do anything men could do, be as strong or as physical or as violent. I got into western martial arts and learned to fight with a rapier, fell in love with the longsword.

But since I’ve gotten too disabled to fight anymore, I… find myself coming back to that maiden in a tower. It’s that funny thing, where subverting femininity is powerful for the people who have always been forced into it… but for the people who have always been excluded, the powerful thing can be embracing it.

As I’m disabled, as I say to groups of friends, “I can’t walk that far,” as I’m in too much pain to keep partying, I find myself worrying: I’m boring, too quiet, too stationary, irrelevant. The message sent to the disabled is: You’re out of the narrative, you’re secondary, you’re a burden.

The remarkable thing about the maiden in her tower is not her immobility; it’s common for disabled people to be abandoned, set adrift, waiting at bus stops or watching out the windows, forgotten in institutions or stranded in our houses. The remarkable thing is that she’s like a beacon, turning her tower into a lighthouse; people want to come to her, she’s important, she inspires through her appearance and words and craftwork.  In medieval romances she gives gifts, write letters, sends messengers, and summons lovers; she plays chess, commissions ballads, composes music, commands knights. She is her household’s moral centre in a castle under siege. She is a castle unto herself, and the integrity of her body matters.

That can be so revolutionary to those of us stuck in our towers who fall prey to thinking: Nobody would want to visit; nobody would want to listen; nobody would want to stay.

[shieldmaidenofsherwood]

#it’s so so important to remember that representation is not one-size-fits-all#what is empowering to one person might be exhausting and oppressive to someone else#some people need stories about having the strength to save themselves#some people need stories about being considered worthy of being saved#some people need inspiration for their independence while others need validation that they don’t have to be able to do everything themselves#before you lash out against something PLEASE stop to consider:#is this inadequate and/or damaging representation?#or is it just something I don’t personally relate to? [X]

[star-anise]

It’s been half a decade and I still haven’t found an articulation of the complexity of “representation” as concisely and precisely mindblowing as @hungrylikethewolfie’s here.

[millennial-review-deactivated20]

[fuckblast]

No one's posted this yet somehow