[Moved]

| An artist who runs on tea and animal facts. | Lover of Rats | (Moved to @ratologist)

[ratologist]

Here I am!

(You’ve reached the start of the blog.)

[mel-the-rat]

^^^

[mel-the-rat]

Moving!

Hello! Due to technical errors I’m moving urls to: @ratologist

Though I’ll miss this url I’ve certainly grown since I first joined Tumblr, and hopefully moving will give me a chance to be much more organized and active.

Thanks to those of you who’ve stuck around this far!

[asexyfaeriefate]

One thing that's kind of weird that being asexual has taught me.

NO 👏 MEANS 👏 NO 👏 MEANS 👏 NO 👏

Seems kind of obvious, right? Normally when people talk about "No means no" they're talking about sex.

However, being asexual (and trying to be an aromantic advocate) has taught me that "No means no" applies to all boundaries.

Don't want to be touched? No means no.

Don't want to go out for coffee wth the buds? No means no.

Don't want to go to dinner with the family? No means no.

As a kid (myself being a introverted and shy child) parents just assume you shove kids out of their boundaries even if they don't want to. They'll thank you later, right?

Then again in high school and college being the introvert with many health issues, I frequently declined events for varying reasons, and people stopped inviting me because they assumed I didn't want to hang out with them.

It really taught me "you have to say yes even if you don't want to".

Thanks to the help of the asexual and aro communities, I'm starting to learn, you can just say no.

This is generally applied to mean, "If I say no to a hug, it doesn't mean I don't like you. It just means I don't like hugs." In the ace and aro communities. However, this can apply to any situation. "If I say no to your party, it doesn't mean I don't want to hang with you. It just means I don't like large social gatherings."

Still working on applying it. A lot of people feel the need to pressure you when you say no. I say no to a dinner with friends because it's a pandemic, and I don't want to risk the health of my family, and they're all "Aww, come on! It's a closed room. Clean linens. Just remember to wash your hands!"

No.

The answer is no.

I don't owe you an explanation, but I already gave you one. No means no.

Sorry. Seems kind of off topic, but I thought I'd share some things I learn from the ace and aro communities that we should all know.

[gaycism]

[schloomshroom]

@mel-the-rat

[mel-the-rat]

I can neither confirm nor deny-

[sprachtraeume]

rb to make a trans person feel loved 💕

[ithelpstodream]

[glitterz]

Omg rly ??

[ithelpstodream]

yes! really!

translifeline.org

US: [phone]

CANADA: [phone]

Pacific time: 8am to 2am

Mountain time: 9am to 3am

Central time: 10am to 4am

Eastern time: 11am to 5am

Alaska time: 7am to 1am

Hawaii time: 6am to 12am

[aaliyahbreaux]

Okay so I just got off the phone with them. I talked to a trans girl named Aurora & she was super helpful! She gave me a few doctors to talk to & encouraged me to seek therapy instead of just rushing to get my pills. She literally found a trans friendly therapist in my town & I would definitely recommend giving them a call!

[nothappy-nonbinary-forpositivity]

GUYS COME SEE THIS!!!!!! I didn’t know about this, come look!!!!!!

[suriandtaal]

it literally would not be right to ever not reblog this

[podcastgalore]

For any trans followers I have. Stay safe and know you are loved

[cocaineteas]

This is why it’s so important for parents to support their trans kids.

[sushinfood]

[caterpolarisii]

If I don’t reblog this, then I’m dead.

[antignocchiphase]

I’m probably gonna use this video when I come out.

[madd-nez]

june is approaching and so are the insufferable exclusionists trying to make aros and aces seem inherently homophobic cringy people.

so, as an aspec lesbian who would like to enjoy pride for once in her damn life i have a request to non-exclusionists:

-when you see a post made by an ‘ace’ person that is so Obviously Bad and awful and Homophobic and all in all problematic in every way, maybe it’s because it wasn’t made by an asexual person but instead a piece of shit trying to demonize asexual people. if there’s a comment that says ‘this is why everyone hates asexuals’ ding! ding! aphobic asshole detected! please don’t reblog the post.

-if a post talks about how aces are better than allos and think we’re purer or whatever, that’s a troll. almost none of us think like this.

-if an ‘ace’ person refers to themselves as ‘acey’ or ‘asexy’ that’s probably a troll. while they were words we used to use exclusionists took them and user them to mock us and call us cringy. most of us don’t like using them because of this.

-if an ‘ace’ person calls allos ‘dirty allos'or ‘dirty sex havers’ that’s a troll baby! exclusionists refuse to understand the definition of asexuality, or that a lot of us enjoy sex.

-if you see a post made by an ‘ace’ or ‘aro'person that’s complaining about pda in pride, that’s a troll! if an aro or ace person feels uncomfortable we’ll just leave. we don’t go around yelling at people about pda. a lot of us like it in fact.

so in conclusion if you see a post made by an aro or ace person that’s too bad to be true, it probably is. please don’t put these people in my dash, it ruins pride month for me.

[scarlettablack]

Also most of these posts made by “““cringy aceys””” have the url aphobe[name] or stinkyallogay or something. If you see that, it’s most definitely a person who is trying to make asexual ppl look bad. Please stop falling for it.

[renardtrickster]

And as others in the comments said, if you encounter a bigoted/”cringe” post made by an asexual and it actually isn’t a troll post, then chances are the person who made it is young and dumb and doesn’t fully realize the implications of what they’re saying. Or it could be the 10% of any group that’s composed entirely of buttholes. In either case, the proper response is to educate the former and block/ignore the latter, not to pass judgement on the entire damn demographic and assume they’re all like that.

[crtter]

In every level including physical I’m the IKEA Gosig Råtta plush toy

[ratlicker1917]

[thechekhov]

As an artist, do you ever get pain in your hands? If so, do you have any tips on managing it?

[listenforthesteel-deactivated20]

Some assholes have been putting nails in cheese and treats in dog parks in Chicago and Massachusetts. Also adding antifreeze to water bowls.

Please watch out for your dogs. And if you find out the address of someone doing this, give me the address and tell no one. I will disembowel them.

[paigeflip]

Antifreeze is fucking deadly as shit. Whilst my mom worked in the vets office the neighbor of a cat owner had become sick of his neighbors tom spraying by his house so he left antifreeze out for the cat. Animals are weirdly attracted to the smell and will drink it.

The cat was given to the vets and for 2 days it’s insides were slowly dissolved by the acids and it bled from his nose, mouth and even eyes.  

On the second day, the vet not being able to help and refusing to let the cat suffer any longer put the cat down. The neighbor who did not deny his crimes didn’t even offer to pay the woman’s vet bill.

SO THE BIGGEST FUCKING SIGNAL BOOST TO THIS POST.

Fuck who ever is doing this. They can fucking burn.

[skullshivers]

my friend had a cat and it drank antifreeze that was puddled in the driveway and one day they were knitting and it just vomited up all of its internal organs and fell over dead on her lap.

[morenamagia]

The perpetrators of all of this will burn in Hell. 

[gailsimone]

A neighbor of mine threw a ball of hamburger full of rat poison pellets over our fence for my son’s dog. He survived, barely, but has had nerve damage ever since.

[kingfisherfaker-deactivated2014]

Okay, listen up, if your pet drinks antifreeze, do you know what the cure is? Alcohol. That’s right. To save your furry little friend you have to get them drunk out of their faces. Antifreeze is an inhibitor and stops your enzymes from working, but luckily alcohol stops that from happening. I learned this from my A Level Biology lessons, but here’s a source anyway http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2617997.stm

[coughedfeathers]

Shit this is important SIGNAL BOOST THIS THANK YOU ALICE

[chipthepunk-deactivated20200405]

BOOST. FUCKING BOOST.

[teenagerposts]

ALWAYS REBLOG

[probablyspacerpgideas]

not blog related, but I’m not an asshole

[constantlyonfirerpgideas]

S I G N A L

B O O S T

[undying-sentinel]

keep your animal friends safe.

[definitelybeholderrpgideas]

Even a Beholder wouldn’t do this. Signal Boost

[probablychaoticgoodrpgideas]

I would not hesitate to drop anyone who would do this into the earth, s i g n a l b o o s t

[eggplantusiv]

Signal boost

[kylehasatumblr]

This applies to humans, too.

The first choice is fomepizole, but a lot of vets don’t keep it in stock.

Barring that, clear alcohols like vodka or everclear are a standard treatment for methanol or ethylene glycol poisoning

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

:(

keep your smol and furry friends safe <3

[thechaoticginger]

Keep our sweet innocent babies safe from these types of fuckers!!

[whatsaconsequence]

Why would anyone do that? Like…how can you be so cruel?? They will burn in hell

[bisexualcrabking-deactivated202]

Anyone who does this shit to innocent animals should choke on a fucking cactus while getting shat on by a cow

[anti-pedo-patrol]

What kind of sick fuck would want to harm innocent animals

[wishingforserendipity]

signal. boost.

[this-account-is-a-mistake]

i nearly cried reading this omg

[tech--romancer]

BOOST

[mel-the-rat]

Recently started playing Stardew Valley with the gang, and encountering the Haunted Skull outside the quarry mine sparked some serious inspiration.

[felitomkinson]

my friends r so talented. rb if ur friends are talented

[sexceptionul]

I’ve seen a lot of posts on my dash tonight about users who are threatening suicide, with other Tumblr members posting in effort to try to get ahold of them. I think you all should see this:

IF THERE IS EVER A TUMBLR USER WHO HAS POSTED A GOOD-BYE MESSAGE, SUICIDE NOTE, VIDEO, OR ANYTHING OF THE SORT, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS POST.

1. Scroll to the top of your dashboard.

2. See the circular question mark icon at the top? It’s the third one over from your home symbol. Click on that, and a screen similar to the one in the picture will come up.

3. Where you can type in questions, the box with the magnifying glass at the top, type in the word “suicide.”

4. Click on the first link that shows up. It should say, “Pass the URL of the blog on to us.”

5. Type in the user’s URL and tell Tumblr admin that the user is contemplating suicide and has posted a message indicating that they are going through with it or will be attempting. Hit send! Tumblr administration will perform a number of actions to contact the user and take the necessary steps to prevent the suicide.

TUMBLR: THIS COULD SAVE A USER’S LIFE. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE SUICIDE THREATS.

Reblog this to keep other users aware. Suicide isn’t a joke, and neither is someone’s life. If you didn’t know this, someone else may not, either. Pass it on.

[thedanliest]

why on earth doesn’t this have more notes

[outtelligent]

I actually had to do this once. She lived.

[faeirytale]

if you scroll past this on your dash you are absolutely heartless.

[natalie-as-herself]

Reblog this!! This can save somebody’s life!

[aika-chan01]

reblog.

help.

do not scroll down.

[nonextistentttttt-deactivated20]

I SWEAR TO GOD IF ANYONE SCROLLS PAST THIS WITHOUT REBLOGGING I WILL LITTERALLY FIND THEM AND GIVE THEM A LECTURE

[danqueray-deactivated20200703]

may I just update this?

see the little thing that says help?

[josephdreemuur-moved]

Don’t ever scroll past this post. FUCKING NEVER SCROLL PAST!!!

[xcassidy]

🌸🌸🌸

[undiagnosed-autism-things]

Anyone know where it is on mobile ???

[i-am-a-moron-deactivated2020051]

You report the user, choose “something else”, scroll down and choose “suicide or self harm”

[femur-theif]

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN

REBLOG TO LITERALLY SAVE A LIVE

[skythewriter]

Repost to save a life

[blackstar]

i don’t think people really get how little feedback fanfic authors actually get? like the effort to reaction ratio is so abysmally skewed here that a fic nearly 50,000 words long takes an entire year to amass like. 16 comments. someone reblogged a fic i wrote at 4 am and tagged it with a 5-word compliment and i can’t stop thinking about it, not because it was so nice but because half the time you post a fic you’re going to hear nothing and anything feels like so much

fandom culture is so, so good about giving artists the credit they’re due, but we gotta start doing that for writers too. you’ve got no idea how much people put into their stories and get maybe a handful of reblogs and a dozen-odd kudos. that’s not enough. writing is an endurance sport and y’all need to start giving fic writers a reason to endure it and improve their craft. encourage writers like you encourage artists. reblog fics, leave tags, leave comments, acknowledge that these stories do not just spring into being for your entertainment. 

every single damn writer i know feels like half of their readers see them as a machine. that’s gotta change. 

[blackstar]

the number of people tagging this post as “this is why i stopped writing” is so deeply upsetting to me but at the same time it is really, really strong evidence that there is a real problem here

it is hard to create fanfic when you feel like you’re writing for ghosts. i recognize that anxiety disorders and various complications make it goddamn difficult to comment on a fic, but there needs to be more way, way more verbal support of writers than there currently is. 

leaving kudos is great, liking posts is great (in fact, way more people should be doing the former; so many tags on this post mention only getting one kudos for every 10-20 hits), but ultimately if all you receive is silence you’re going to feel like no one cares about that story you’ve sunk countless weekends into creating. 

there’s a really common misconception that fanfic authors write only for themselves and/or for love of a series, and while both of those things are true, that’s far from the whole scope of things. fanfic authors write for their for their stories to be read and for the readers to get something out of it, even if that something is just ‘damn, that was hot.’ we’re not shouting into a void here. we’re hoping to hear something back, and right now all we’re getting is echoes. 

the lack of tangible support and encouragement for authors is a problem, and you can go through the tags on this post if you don’t believe me on that. 

[bouncyirwin]

Very, very important.

[barbarosabee]

If I wrote just for myself I wouldn’t post anything!

[sensicalabsurdities]

I have trouble expressing myself in fic comments, but I always leave a “I enjoyed this so much, thank you!” If It’s true, or a “I laughed / I cried,” if I did. Even if you can’t figure out how to express the individual parts you liked, you can still say that you liked it, and it’s better than nothing.

Also, regarding kudos - I read once that a good rule of thumb is, if you make it to the end of a fic? Kudos. If it held your attention enough for you to make it to the kudos button, then it deserves a kudos. 

[whatafuckinnerd]

True shit, sometimes it feels like 90% of the reason I still write is because of one single person who takes the time to always tell me how much they enjoyed my stuff, even if it’s just a quick “!!!!!! i love!” and at this point, they’re the only one who gets to see my writing anymore because they’re the only one who ever engages with my writing. Why should I bother posting when I can just send the stuff directly to the only person who’s going to show/tell me that they liked it anyway? I want to finish/write more for the few fics I have up SO bad, but feeling like I’m only writing for myself makes me think there’s no real point in trying to continue writing the story. I’ll just write the occasional scene and yeet it into the void that keeps all my works if I’m just doing it for myself.

[fumadoresdememes]

[teaboot]

Is he aware that we physically fucking can’t

[sonicrainbooms]

? physically cant what?

[starswallowingsea]

Bend our ankles like that

[sonicrainbooms]

Like what???

[starswallowingsea]

At steep angles! Bones fuse and prevent that if you don’t do it regularly as a kid. It’s the same reason we don’t climb trees like monkeys, whose ankles don’t have the same restrictions we do

Human ankles don’t normally work like that!

[waral]

Iirc someone did an anatomical study and people of slavic descent have shallower hip sockets that allow that movement more easily as well.

[starswallowingsea]

Yes! This was something we talked about in my physical anthropology class, that like, some people physically cannot slav squat just because of their bones and skeletal structure.

[headspace-hotel]

Look until this post started going around I had no idea some people couldn’t do this???

[sensicalabsurdities]

Reblog and tag with whether you can slav squat or not.

[deactivated334879-deactivated20]

and on April 13th, 2006, niel banged out the tunes, and it was good