An Experiment In Being A Better, Whole Person

I'm just trying to keep focused and motivated to live a better life and be a better person. Cat/coffee/lifting enthusiast, linguistics lover, intersectional feminist, HP nerd.

[mysharona1987]

[twofingerswhiskey]

Don't forget psoriasis!

[mischief-pending]

Beyond discouraged. Can't even bring myself to step on the scale, knowing I'm heavier than I've ever been. Watching my mother suffer because of her weight, struggling to help my grandfather recover from a massive stroke. Unable to give my partner enough time and attention. Feeling like a failure at everything. Almost a year on Lexapro and I don't even know if it's worth it. My room is a depression nest.

But I get up everyday and try to function, try to do my best. I want to get better. Everything is just hard and heavy.

But I'm here and I'm trying.

[naonic-blog-deactivated20230221]

John Oliver Buys $15M of Medical Debt for $60K and Forgives It All, Because He Could

Once again John Oliver proves that you can do anything with money and lawyers

[partisan-by-default]

Oliver then proceeded to detail how with $50 and knowledge of the law he was able to successfully apply online to create a debt buying company named “Central Asset Recovery Professionals,” or as Oliver put it, “CARP” named after “a bottom-feeding fish.”

After setting up a rudimentary website for CARP, the satirical, but still real company was offered a $15 million package of medical debt for $60,000.

Oliver explained that the debt was out of statute, which means it is the kind of debt that a collector can only continue to collect, but not sue the debtor for.

Then, instead of chasing down the 9,000 debtors in the debt package as a normal collection agency would, Oliver decided to stage the largest one-time giveaway in television history and work with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt to forgive the $15 million with no consequences for the debtors.

[helloquirks]

Okay but now I know what I want to do of I get rich?

[beabaseball]

You dont have to be rich to do a bit of this actually

RIP Medical Debt is a charity (and therefore takes donations). They buy the rights to medical debt and then forgive them. So far they’ve forgiven over 1B in medical debt.

So a little ray of hope for someone out there today.

[shayvaalski]

Donating $10 buys $1,000 of medical debt. This is real, it works, and we’ve done it ourselves. You can too.

[weavemama]

DO NOT SUPPORT SALVATION ARMY 

[jackharknessday]

I can back this up. It isn’t only their shelters.

I have a family friend who worked at our local Salvation Army headquarters as a a secretary. This particular office took all the Christmas donations for children in need, put them in a warehouse, and on a designated day the staff and their friends picked through them all, taking whatever they wanted. She saw people hauling away bikes donated for specific families. Some local children had hundreds of dollars of gifts donated in their name, and on Christmas they received three cheap things, items likely not even from the person who sponsored them.

My friend quit, and I’ve not given them a dime of my money since then.

Do not give to the Salvation Army.

[gayfeatherfiend]

Do Not. Give. To. Salvation. Army

[rab-it-deactivated20231030]

My turn.

I’m a wildfire and disaster logistics specialist.

I deal with a lot of agencies who provide disaster relief.

I used to say the Salvation Army’s disaster services were the one (literally the ONE) good thing they did.

They would come in, set up a canteen trailer, make and pass out hot coffee and donated food in a disaster, usually being one of the first agencies to get there and the last to leave.

Then I found out.

Every time they did this, regardless of if they were actually invited or deployed by the agency in charge (usually FEMA, sometimes others) they would SELF-DEPLOY. Meanjng they would just show up. Ok. That’s not TOO bad, sometimes agencies have to take initiative and get there before the red tape is sorted out. BUT. They, after they left at the end of the incident, they would send FEMA or the host agency a BILL. They used one or two paid employees (usually the driver of the truck and a supervisor); and many VOLUNTEERS, but they would bill for EVERYONE’s Labor at standard federal rates. They would bill for the food they distributed even though it was all donated by another agency or private parties. They would bill for the coffee they made and the supplies. Except they would use electricity from the shelter location, water from donations or from the shelter, and in many cases, they would get the coffee and industrial filters DONATED, but bill for them at retail prices.

Don’t FUCKING give to the Salvation Army.

[knight-of-vengeance-deactivated]

The Salvation Army is also ass to the workers. A good number of people join it, naively thinking that it’s doing good, and end up leaving cynical and beaten down. The management is hostile, if not outright abusive, and demand some ridiculous hours of it lower to mid-level staff. Don’t support these people.

[fisharescary802]

Unsettling update

[oldearthaccretionist]

Find better local charities and shelters and give to them instead!

[moonybyte]

Also just for even more horrific context on the original twitter thread?

Salvation Army reached out to Milknmuffins and asked what shelter she’s at with the promise to address the abuse in it. She…ended up saying where she was. She was thrown out onto the street. It’s also all on Twitter.

They invited her to a personal talk so she could explain the situation in person.

And then they threatened her with a screenshot of a rape-threat made supposedly by her:

And then threw her out into the street while claiming she broke house rules that

So yeah, the Salvation Army is a bunch of entitled assholes that will treat the most vulnerable like shit if they dare try to do anything that makes them look bad

[supernovafirefly]

The “Fuck Salvation Army” posts are making the rounds again, so conisder this your reminder: Do. Not. Give. These. Assholes. A. Single. Fucking. Penny.

Do not support them in any way, shape, or form.

[eagletrekkie]

‘Tis the season to say FUCK the Salvation Army.

[porterr-robinson]

[mischief-pending]

3:48pm *have severe emotional breakdown in the bathroom*

3:50pm *brush teeth and splash water on face to hide redness and disguise soaking wet hand towel*

4pm *tend to family and get ready to leave for second job*

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

[miseducatedmelanicmuse]

Great advice right here.

[msmcmagemuffin]

Conversely, being self-critical without self love is just actively self-destructive.

Be critical of what you say, think, and do, but never forget the difference between improvement and punishment is where your desire to change comes from.

Life is all about finding a balance that works for you.

Change from love is evolution. Change without love is self-erasure and flagellation.

[thenatsdorf]

(via)

[jaubaius]

This is *peak* Internet

[iris-collects]

I’m begging you to turn the sound on!! 🤣🤣🤣

[thisiswhymomworries]

when u have period cramps but u haven’t actually started yet like ur uterus is legit just humming the fucken Jaws theme song

[anxietyproblem]

[whitepeopletwitter]

[slfcare]

nobody is irrelevant. nobody is invisible. your neighbors know your name and see you set off to school or work or the backyard everyday, sometimes with a spring in your step and sometimes with hunched over shoulders. there was this one time some stranger pointed you out to their friends and said “that’s the haircut I want” or “I have that shirt, too” or “they go to my school”. someone has admired the way you carry yourself or gave a presentation or even the way you’re so polite when you first meet a person. you’ve made comments or jokes that have stuck in minds of overhearers and eavesdroppers. when old classmates of yours think back to kindergarten or fourth grade or sophomore year they remember you and have an opinion of you. you’ve made recommendations of songs and restaurants and even cookie brands and actually introduced people to their all-time favorites. the cashier at the grocery store knows exactly what laundry detergent your household uses, or even if you don’t do your laundry at all.

you can never be irrelevant. there’s pieces of you everywhere, in a dozen lives, in a hundred dreams, in a million memories. maybe it’s true that you don’t have any friends, and you have a sucky relationship with your family or no family at all and no-one ever checks up on you, and you’re really very lonely, but that doesn’t determine your worth. you do. and so do the billions of small attributions you’ve already made to the world, both long-term and short-term. so thank you.

[catasters]

[lemonsharks]

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

I pay more taxes than The Manchurian Cantaloupe!

[thebibliosphere]

Tfw you’re a disabled, self-employed creator who has spent the last 6 years living hand to mouth and you still pay more in taxes than the Evil Cheeto.

[intothecostumeroom]

If you need Plan B, here’s a printable $10 off coupon. 

[thephotogfeminist-deactivated20]

It doesn’t expire either! It’s a continual offer

[oxytocindolorosa]

Always reblog the plan-b coupon. If you don’t want a baby, stop it before it happens.

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

A lot of people are genuinely terrified about what will happen if Donald Trump wins reelection and it's really weird how some of y'all are acting like everyone begging you to vote for Biden is some privileged, rich, out of touch, neo-liberal when a lot of them are just vulnerable people who don't want to like...die in a brutal civil war or watch all their remaining rights get stripped away by an increasingly authoritarian Republican Party.

I do not know how to express to you how much worse it can get.

[bundibird]

NonAmerican perspective here, but like....... do some of you really not see how bad it already is? Look back at 2016 and picture what you thought Trump's America would look like, four years into the future.

Did the 2020 that you predicted back in 2016 look like 197 thousand Americans dead of a virus that your leader deliberately downplayed the severity of for months? Did it look like your entire eastern coast in flames, the air across half the country unbreathable, the skies a hazy orange from the smoke and the glow of the fires, and your president saying "climate change has nothing to do with this"? Did it look like over two thousand missing children, who were taken from their parents by "the authorities" and then lost by those same authorities? Two thousand children in the care of a government agency have gone missing, and has your bossman even commented on it, or has he just continued extolling the dangers of immigrants?

Did the 2020 you imagined look like months of civil unrest, because police murdered yet another black man, and instead of condemning the act, your leader said "the answer to this problem is worse police violence, and to beat the protestors into submission."

Like, fuck me. Do you not see how bad it already is? This is what's happened under Trump in four years, and some of you are really out there going "hm yeah but Biden has weak policies tho." Would Biden take a global pandemic seriously? I suspect he would. Would Biden be open to working to stop climate change? He's already said loads about what he'll do to combat climate change. Would Biden completely fail to address the fact that women are being forcibly sterilised in ICE and children are being assaulted and going missing? I would be really surprised if he did nothing about that. Would Biden react to public outrage over cops murdering a civilian by sending in the national guard to attack peaceful protesters, assault journalists, permanently blind innocent civilians, and pepperspray children in the face? I really doubt it.

But Trump has done all that shit; is still actively doing all that shit, right at this very fucking moment. And some of you won't vote for Biden because you're not really a fan of his????

"Oh, Biden's too moderate for me" BIDEN IS TOO MODERATE, SO YOULL GO WITH DONALD "THERES NO VIRUS," "ITS BECAUSE THEY DIDNT MANAGE THE FORESTS WELL ENOUGH," "IMMIGRANTS ARE CRIMINALS," "SEND IN THE TROOPS" TRUMP INSTEAD?? You wanna let that guy win by default, to get another four fucking years, when he's already done this much damage?? WHAT THE FUCK, GUYS

[commandtower-solring-go]

This is genuinely what I don’t understand. How do you have such a fucking warped perspective on the world that you think not voting is somehow better than voting for Biden. Like, its actually boggles the mind.

Actually, you know what, I know what it is. Its fucking privilege. Its the privilege of every fucking middle class white person on here who thinks they somehow are taking the high horse because, well, both sides are really as as bad as one another. I mean, Biden is 100% a sexual predatory. 

Like this is some fucking cult of personality. Like this is some contest about whose side is the most morally high. Maybe y’all are too fucking close to the issue to see the impact Trump has had, so let me spell it out for you.

Trump has opened genuine concentration camps, which have left babies alone in cells for days and forcibly castrated people.

The Trump administration has openly admitted to collusion and tampering with the previous election with no negative side effect. 

There has been a steep rise in the number of Nazi/White Nationalist movements in the last four years, to the point where its actually normalised.

The Trump administration has had bleed on effects into other countries such as Australia whose government seems to revere Trump and, by extension, enabled a number of alt-right movements.

The murdock press has had almost unrestrained freedom to tear apart anyone they want because extreme right winged beliefs are now so normal

People are simultaneously doubting the press more than ever, and yet believing it more than ever

Flat Earth and QAnon conspiracy theories exist as a directly result of Trump. WTF. 

There are more extreme cases of police brutality, egged on by self righteous cops who feel empowered by Trump and the rise of the alt-right.

Trump defunding the CDC, completely bungling COVID, resulting in America remaining the largest country effected by COVID and, as other countries are coming down from it, America is still in full force resulting in the highest death toll so far

That’s also ignoring all the people who feel as though they can justify this decision on the grounds that the economy would suffer a bit or the belief that people dying isn’t so bad, as long as its not the worst thing killing people (re: COVID & Flu Deathtoll). 

The fucking wall. 

The continuation of the belief that unemployment is good regardless of whether or not the money provided is enough to live on. By extension, he introduced a new tax cut, promises to help the middle/lower class. It didnt, and actually made their tax worse while cutting it for the upper class.

He just fucking lies, constantly. not even shitty politician lies, but outright, fabrications with no weight behind him.

He’s taken more leave than any other American president in history

Trump ought to have been kicked out several times over and still hasn’t been

He has used his presidency to promote and sell products

He has used his presidency to avoid conviction. In fact, two weeks after his election he settled three fraud lawsuits related to his university. And that’s among many, many others

He called African countries ‘shitholes’, Mexican people ‘Racists’, and Nazis ‘Very fine people’.

He’s paid people off

He’s incited violence against several groups

Nepotism

And that’s, legit, not everything because his reign of hot fucking nonsense is so thick that we beginning to mistake it for the air we breath. 

I actually don’t care why you don’t like Biden. I don’t care if you think that Obama isn’t actually that good because he was directly involved in the killing of hundred of people during the Iraq War. I don’t care if you think voting means being an active agent in choosing. Trump is among the worst presidents the world has ever faced. Such to the point where the world is beginning to believe his BS, and the only way to cope is to turn a blind eye to it. But fuck that, and fuck you. I’m pulling you out of your ignorance to tell you this. Passivity is a privilege that those who are directly affected by his actions can’t afford to that, and by not voting you are putting lives in danger. 

Get off your thumb, and go fucking vote. Vote because your life depends on it.