RandomItchyness

-reader -film appreciator -picture taker -food eater -t.v watcher -boardgame player -music listener

[celluloidbroomcloset]

OK, let’s say it, because we all know is it: Our Flag Means Death was cancelled because it’s gay.

It is a big gay show that eschews queer stereotypes and tropes, that doesn’t indulge in the straight cishet fantasy that being queer means being fundamentally unhappy, that refuses to queerbait or bury your gays, that doesn’t even glance at the idea that it would be better or easier to be straight.

It’s gay. It’s a gay show with a romance between two men as the main plot arc, and minor arcs about other romances. It shows queer people having fun and going on adventures and having complicated, rich lives in a fantasy world usually reserved for straight people. And it’s not a fantasy with hard-bodied twenty-somethings being cute and plastic and untouchable. It is people who look real, who look like folks in the neighborhood, who are middle-aged and BIPOC and disabled and fat and slender and short and tall. And they are gay.

If Max didn’t know how to market it, it’s because OFMD is gay. It’s not a workplace comedy or a buddy show or a pirate adventure that just happens to have queer characters - its queerness is baked into it. It is a critique of toxic masculinity and abuse and straight society, and it is gay. Super fucking gay. Stede Bonnet levels of gay.

They cancelled it because it’s gay and that should indeed worry anyone in any other fandom because the powers that be think that this is disposable, because much worse, much less successful shows where straight and white is the default just stride into another season without a pause.

And if you buy the narrative that this is anything other than real honest to fucking God homophobia, you are about to get hit with some real tough truths in the near future.

[izzy-hands]

Lucius and Black Pete being adorable

[architects-archive]

obsessed with this photo series about trans love by photographer landyn pan (source)

[wo2bzy1vl4-deactivated20220710]

the reason why other ppl with learning/developmental disabilities can't read like they did in middle school & high school was because books were the easiest way to access serotonin & dopamine since you weren't allowed to use your phone, & they also gave you something to hyperfocus on as a means of mental escape. entering college & the adult world means you can freely use your tech so you can access serotonin/dopamine faster, making books seem less "interesting" in comparison when in reality your mind is just used to the instant gratification, which isn't bad at all. it's like making your own dinner vs ordering out.

[noodles-07]

oh

[thesevenumbrellas]

Oh

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

I don’t think a lot of people understand that no matter how progressive or well-read you are, there are always going to be moments in your life where somebody pushes back against something that’s so culturally ingrained you never even considered it before. And you’ll say “Huh, it never occurred to me to challenge this but you’re right,” and that doesn’t mean you were “morally toxic” before, it means you’re a non-omniscient human capable of growth.

Also, some preferred terms for things will change and evolve, and terms we prefer now might eventually be considered gauche or even offensive, and that doesn’t mean you were a bigot at the time for using them. It means we evolved as a society and chose new terminology to reflect that change.

Nobody is a fully formed realisation of progressivism that can predict all shifts and modes of thought. The world will always change, and hopefully you will, too

[intangible-rice]

When I was 17 my appendix ruptured because I thought I was just having period cramps and didn’t go to the hospital so don’t tell me PMS symptoms are no big deal

[lingering-spirit]

this actually happened to me during my math final and i didn’t think anything of it and when i was later admitted to the hospital my math prof was asking me ‘you didn’t have to take the final! why didn’t you tell me it hurt?!?!’ and i told him i’ve had cramps worse.

he gave me 100

[kadenonio]

This is actually an extremely common occurrence simply because in sex ed they don’t teach you how to tell the difference between menstrual cramps and other more serious pains. The way to tell the difference between cramps and appendicitis is that while menstrual cramps are generalized toward the middle of the stomach below the belly button, pain from a swollen or burst appendix will start in the middle of the stomach and relocate to only the lower right side, even lower than menstrual cramps, and is a very localized pain. It also comes on extremely suddenly and will worsen over time or when you make a sudden movement, like a cough or a sneeze.

Basically, if you’re feeling any sort of pain, even if it’s menstrual cramps, don’t hesitate to tell the school nurse or a parent, or if you’re out of school and home even make a doctor’s appointment. Chances are if your cramps are that bad there’s something they can do to improve that as well.

[vandigo-deactivated20180131]

I am boosting the shit out of that reply, because I am twenty-fucking-five years old and did not know how to tell the two pains apart

[teacupdream]

Adding another diagnostic tool! This is something we use in the ER called the rebound test. Basically, appendicitis and cramps react differently to certain things. If you’re still not sure if you have cramps or appendicitis, take two fingers and press them into your abdomen where the pain is (try repeating this on the lower right quadrant of the abdomen just to be sure.)

When you press in firmly, it will probably hurt. Here’s the test: LET GO. Does it get better or get worse? Appendicitis will immediately hurt worse when you let go. Cramps will not. Go to the ER if the rebound test makes it worse!

[rainbowrowell]

THE REBOUND TEST IS REALLY IMPORTANT.

My husband got sent home from the ER with a rupturing appendix. When he came back and was rushed into surgery, the surgeon was super angry – “Why didn’t anyone do the rebound test?!”

[deinde-prandium]

All great info, but there is another lesson to be learned here: if you’re in major pain, it’s probably important - so don’t let anyone tell you it’s not. There is a documented pattern of women who go to the ER with complaints of pain being dismissed as overreacting…when in reality women have an incredibly high tolerance for pain, to the point that some don’t even realize exactly how serious their condition is. These stories only serve to illustrate this point.

[allthyvexations]

Reblog to literally save a life.

[tvylxrrr]

Every time I see this..

[loved-the-stars-too-fondly-deac]

Someone I knew who was a trained EMT says he heard during training “Men, whatever pain level a woman says she’s at, add two to imagine how bad it hurts you. If she says six it would feel like an eight to men.”

Cramps do a number on our concept of pain.

[papi-chulo-bucky]

REBLOGGING BECAUSE JESUS THIS IS LIFE ADVICE GUYS!!!

[percabethfangirl]

Reblogging because THIS IS IMPORTANT

[ash-mountain]

Read all the way down!!

[flavoracle]

Mental Crop Rotation

When farmers grow the same crop too many years in a row, it can leave their soil depleted of minerals and other nutrients that are vital to the health of their fields.

To avoid this, farmers will often alternate the crops that they grow because some plants will use up different minerals (such as nitrogen) while other plants replenish those minerals. This process is known as “crop rotation.”

So the next time you find that you need to step away from a project to work on something else for a while, don’t beat yourself up for “quitting” that project. Give yourself permission to practice “mental crop rotation” to maintain a healthy brain field.

Because I’ve found that when that unnecessary guilt and pressure are removed from the process, a good mental crop rotation can help you feel more energized and invigorated than ever once you’re ready to rotate back to that project.

[bomberqueen17]

: A crucial part of crop rotation is that the field is let fallow sometimes. You plant what’s called a “cover crop”, which is something you don’t expect to harvest– it’s there for its roots to hold the soil in place, and often it’ll be what’s called a nitrogen-fixer, i.e. a plant that can pull nitrogen out of the air and fix it into the soil with its roots (but sometimes it won’t, sometimes it’s really just there to shelter the soil surface), and then you’ll till in that cover crop, or let the frost kill it and the stalks lie as mulch, and then you’ll rotate productive crops back into that field the next season. 

It’s important, though, to understand that during the fallow period, no nutrients are removed from that ground, and nothing is expected of it. Whatever the land grows then, it keeps, and it gets tilled back in or decomposes in place, to return its energy to the earth.

We’re not allowed, in our current society, to just let our minds be fallow for a bit, to produce nothing for export, to make nothing that can be sold. But it’s part of good land stewardship, to give every field time when it doesn’t need to give you anything back. 

So yes, grow and produce different things from time to time, rotate them around your mind and exercise different mental muscles, take different things from your creative processes, yes– but also, give yourself a fallow spell now and again, and let the field of your mind grow things for itself to keep, to break down and save for later. 

[highvelocitysandwich]

Positive mental health AND agriculture??!?

*slams reblog button*

[s-n-arly]

This is brilliant! I’m so adding this to my future list of convention programming ideas. Thanks @flavoracle and @bomberqueen17!

[wholeheartedsuggestions]

you’re allowed to get up one day and just decide to change who you are. dress differently, speak up more, laugh out loud even though you’ve never liked your laugh, say what you want to, say hey to people you wouldn’t normally, get that confidence going. we don’t have to stay the way people see us out of the fear that they won’t like the us we want to be.

[transed-deactivated20210424]

i never see enough tips for trans women/transfem people so. here’s a video that came up about tucking :] (don’t worry she doesn’t use tape at all despite the thumbnail)

[fruitycherry-deactivated2020102]

TRANSCRIPT:

*rips tape*

“How to tuck for trans Male to Female, or if you’re just really curious.

First, take that fancy-dancy duct tape, that electrical tape, that athletic tape and... 

*throws it into a bin with an audible thud*

throw that shit in the trash!

It kinda works, but for the most part it frickin’ hurts, you gotta shave all the time and it’s really bad for your skin.

Instead, go to Walmart, get yourself a pair of high-waisted tights, and a pair of dr scholl's travel compression socks.

*tears packet for high-waisted tights*

Cut the waistband out of your tights, like so.

*tears sock pack with teeth*

You’re gonna take your socks, and cut to right about... here. Then you get this cool little cuff.

Feed waistband into said cuff.

Step into each loop of the cuff. Your thingy should lay nicely in the cuff. Pull up, put on a pair of cute panties and some shorts, and it’s like you never even had a penis!

[transed-deactivated20210424]

thank you so much for a transcript it completely slipped my mind :]

[artisticallygay]

Here's to all my trans women followers! Please be safe! 💖💖💖

[nevaehtyler]

For people who still don’t see anything wrong with cultural appropriation, who still call cornrows “boxer braids”, “Kim K braids” or whatever - our cornrows symbolize liberation and freedom, it’s not your trendy hairstyle, it actually does have a history.

Since slaves were never taught to write and drawing directions was dangerous, because they could lead to them being discovered, captured, sold again or even killed by their master.

To reduce the risk of being discovered, women started weaving the maps in their hair, carving out paths with their cornrows. Some of the patterns even had hidden messages!

Yes, braiding existed in Africa way before, but it got a whole new meaning when Europeans enslaved millions of people. So next time you decide to go for a “Kim K look”, do a little research before you end up disrespecting someone’s culture and just, in all honesty, looking silly.

#AppreciateDontAppropriate

[thecarvingwitch]

That’s the most fucking badass thing that i think I’ve ever read

[pridefulsuggestion]

if we could all stop pretending we are whole, and instead embrace our constant becoming…

[threshold-suggestion]

…perhaps we could begin to love the process of growth and change, rather than anxiously awaiting the final form.

[positive-mh-recovery]

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

why are birds so cursed

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

A Non-Comprehensive List of Birds That Piss Me Off

1. Dracula Parrot. This thing pisses me off like, a bunch

2. King Vulture. the felted craft project equivalent of a haunted ventriloquist dummy

i will never not resent this bird 

 3. Jacana Bird. This is the most unnecessary cursed nonsense. i deserve an apology for having to look at this. I can feel its fingers stroking my ears

No it does not have SIX FREAKING LIMBS. it’s carrying its stupid creepy spawn under its wings. A+ parents but still, piss off. even the normal 2 legged version isn’t much better

put those AWAY.

4. The Shoebill, which i’m sure we’re all sick of hearing about. this thing is the epitome of a crappy photorealistic cgi disney villainy. i despise this bird.

also this is what they look like standing up. i just feel like i shouldn’t have to deal with that, i really do.

5. Inca Tern. truly, hipsters ruin everything

6. Tragopan. it looks like a star wars species, which i dislike on principle 

7. The Secretary Bird. it wears yoga pants.

also i’m uncomfortable with the length of its eyelashes

8. finally, i really dislike this one specific parakeet

in conclusion, these birds exist to haunt me and this knowledge is a burden. birds exist to observe our sin; always watching, they are filled with malice. flee from them

[myrinthinks]

@elodieunderglass

[callmearcturus]

boost if able, re: minnesota protests

in case y’all didn’t see, the Minnesota Freedom Fund is actually good on donations after that massive fundraise yesterday and is directing people to donate to other causes, including Black Visions Collective, Reclaim The Block, and Northstar Health Collective.

MFF page for verification.

[freak-phone]

I get asked a lot for tips with coloring black people, so i put together a little tutorial! (and bumps my kofi if you found this helpful)

[art-res]

Don’t be silent and compliant!

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

“someone else could do it better than me” not relevant babe, no one else is gonna do it. You can’t do a mediocre job if you’re the only one doing it

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

“what if someone else does it better later?” Good!

Technically the Wright brothers built the worst airplanes in the world. If you do it first, you do it worst, and history will thank you for it.

[shadycottagewitchh]

This is big inspiration for me I was planning on not doing the ideas I had, but now all my excuses are gone

[deconsecration-deactivated20170]

i’m a good person i don’t deserve to be mistaken for a heterosexual