just a box of batsnbirds @snakily-snakes - Tumblr Blog

Well fancy seeing you here /lh

So this blog used to be t-m-ridd7e. It was an ask Tom Riddle anything blog and frequented Tomarry interactions. It’s been long overdue for a revamp; I’m far less active in the Tomarry fandom these days, and in the HP fandom in general.

I debated deleting old ask posts, because they’re not very true to anything I’ve currently got going on, but ultimately I’ve decided (at least for the moment) to leave them up as homage. It’s not like many people see them anyway, and this blog is likely to become more of a nest for my personal records.

This isn’t an ask me anything blog anymore, nor is it a Tomarry blog, so I’m mostly making this post for anyone that might have been following t-m-ridd7e for the ask me anything posts and tomarry content. Feel free to see yourself out if you want, or just the same, feel free to stick around.

Have a good one,

Tom

#oh and I’m actually Tom btw #actually plural #pro endo #endo safe #lol reading my old posts is so awkward #they were made back before I was fully here #we do not speak of them

ofools

not gonna say it again!!!!

a BOG is a wetland that is acidic

a FEN is a wetland that is alkaline

vampireapologist-archive-deacti

FINALLY someone said it!!!!!!!

quasi-normalcy

a SWAMP is a wetland whose vegetation consists of trees or other woody plants

a MARSH is a wetland with other forms of vegetation

lesbianshepard

#A LITTLE LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

villainessbian

a MANGAL is a swamp whose soil concentrates high amounts of salt and very low amounts of oxygen, supporting little else than mangrove trees

a PEATLAND is a wetland whose soil concentrates decaying organic matter, becoming peat

big-smiling-monkey

Oh yeah baby, keep coming at me with watery environmental states

cherryhatter-deactivated2015072

KICK THE CAN!

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.

To kick the can, reblog it. I wanna see how long this can go on for.

visibun

the oldest reblogs for this post that i can find are from january 2nd of 2013. this can has been getting kicked around tumblr for almost 13½ years now

drtanner

And yet somehow this is my first time kicking it!

chronicillnessresourcelibrary

ME/CFS Masterlist

This week is ME/CFS Awareness Week (at least for some of the world), so shout out to all the folks out there living with this condition and here is a masterlist of every resource I've found so far on myalgic encephalomyelitis...

🔹 General info:

It’s not just ‘chronic fatigue’: ME/CFS is much more than being tired

What is Post-Exertional Malaise?

🔹 Diagnosis:

Diagnosis of ME/CFS; What You Need to Know

ME/CFS and Blood Tests – an in-depth look at what blood tests should be done to ensure your diagnosis of ME/CFS is correct, what the results mean, and when blood tests should be repeated

🔹 Managing fatigue:

Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM) – What It Is and How To Avoid It

Pacing Tactics

Ideas for Managing Fatigue (Note: This piece is sponsored by CareCo Ltd and features affiliate links)

🔹 Other symptoms:

Strategies for Brain Fog – This article is aimed at people with long-COVID but the strategies suggested may work for anyone dealing with brain fog

Sleep Tips for New Spoonies – not specifically aimed at ME/CFS but many of the tips will apply

🔹 How to cope with ME/CFS:

Energy Conservation – a Tumblr post by @rthritis

Energy Conservation Techniques; Home Management – a Tumblr post by @rthritis

How to Keep House While Drowning: A gentle approach to cleaning and organising by KC Davis [📖 book recommendation]

11 Tips For Making Meal Prep Easier to Save Spoons

The Tray™ – how to feed yourself without preparing food [🎥 video]

Tips to make showering easier when you are physically disabled – a Tumblr thread not specifically aimed at ME/CFS but many of the tips will apply

The 7 Types of Rest & How to Use Them to Feel Better [🎥 video]

The Bedbound Activity Masterlist

🔹 Treatment, diet, and lifestyle:

All Current ME/CFS Treatments

The low histamine diet – a resource from Johns Hopkins' ME/CFS clinic

Dietary Supplementation for Fatigue Symptoms in ME/CFS – a journal article looking into supplements like L-carnitine and guanidinoacetic acid, oxaloacetate, CoQ10–selenium combination, NADH and NADH-CoQ10 combination [📃 research]

Fact Sheet: Food and ME/CFS – covers what foods are best to base your diet on plus some information about supplements, weight gain, weight loss, gastrointestinal symptoms, and when to see a dietitian; by The Association of UK Dietitians

🔹 Other:

Tips for Applying for Benefits with ME/CFS [🇬🇧 UK]

Please let me know what other resources you would like to see on ME/CFS; asks (including anons) are always open and you're welcome to reblog or comment to make a suggestion.

chirasul

we got a full redbox and now we're playing go fish with the redbox movies

chirasul

I would never pay money for a redbox. if you ask politely and are very very persistent (i.e. annoying) they will let you take it away

here's my dad and i taking it away

a redbox makes a wonderful addition to your patio

fishmech

for those wondering why they're free to take now, it's because the company that made those "chicken soup for the soul" books bought them a few years ago and then completely collapsed so bad they couldn't afford to dispose of or even take the blu rays and dvds out of their kiosks all over.

so any of them is free game because they're all located on other business' property and they usually don't want to have to pay to get rid of them either. so asking the store manager usually gets you the ok to pull it out and keep it.

chirasul

there was a period of time right after their bankruptcy where you could put in any debit or credit card and it would spit out movies without charging you. you could even put in like an expired or deactivated card, or a visa gift card with a $0 balance, didnt matter, they'd just start spitting discs out. a lotta people raided redboxes for movies for a couple months, with some people doing what me and my brother and my dad did here, taking the whole box and signs and marquees as well. because managers sure as hell don't want a big abandoned piece of trash on their sidewalk disappointing customers. BUT they're also often too cheap to pay someone to remove it. so they just sit there.

luckily there are no shortage of freaks like us who will just take them away on our own volition. we did it all "by the book", too: we set up cones and caution tape, disconnected electricity properly, used an angle grinder to grind down the bolts in the concrete so nobody would trip on them, then cleaned everything up afterward and sealed off the electrical panel so the store would know everything is safe and tidy. though they were hesitant when we were first contacting them, they were honestly very relieved and grateful when we finally took it away, especially once they saw that we "knew what we were doing" (we don't) and look like we've "done this before" (we haven't).

the fun part: the reason why this redbox, in particular, was completely full and unraided is because the computer hardware inside had failed some months before the bankruptcy, and a failing company sure as hell wasn't gonna send a tech out to our podunk dipshit city to fix it, so it was impossible to rent movies or take any discs out. plus, for who knows how long, people were returning old redbox discs to this machine and not taking any out, leading to a much higher variety of movies than your average redbox.

there is a thriving community of redbox hackers and modders out there, as well, creating open-source software for repurposing the machines and not letting their very interesting and robust disc-management hardware go to waste. this one belongs to my brother (who was very annoying persistent and did all the legwork of contacting managers and securing permission) who is a programmer by trade and will be hacking it into a family-access movie library, with whatever discs we want. i mean the machine is completely weatherproof and has a built-in AC unit, it would be such a waste to not try to turn it into something cool.

if we get another one, i'm gonna try to mod it into some sort of art or zine vending machine. the disc boxes are just the right size for small print art or stickers. would make a great "little free library" too.

remember: the rules are made up. act like you belong there and you can get away with anything. this applies to your own life

baba-fett

Reblog to bonk your mutuals on the head every time they start thinking negatively about themselves

paranormal-taters

specifically this kind of bonk.

humanityinahandbag

Reblonk

labelleizzy

Rebonk

foldingfittedsheets

teaboot

On of the less intuitive things about love, I've found, of any kind, is the importance of needing things.

I didn't realize it until recently, but I've always seen love as something requiring sacrifice, selflessness, patience, and generosity- to ask for nothing is to be the best person I can be, small and quiet and never in the way, always happy and helpful, self-sufficient and present when desired.

It's only as an adult, now, that I'm beginning to see the selfishness of wanting nothing.

I cut my friend's hair in my kitchen the other day. They wanted a trim and I had the skills, so I offered, and was genuinely excited when they stopped hesitating over "bothering me" and took me up on it. It was a peaceful afternoon, and we had tea and chatted for an hour or more.

My brother and I shared popcorn at the movies a while ago. When I came time to pay, I pulled my card out like a wild western sheriff and slapped it on the machine before he could fight me for it first. The satisfaction was delightful.

Someone called me crying on the phone the other day. Kept apologizing for disturbing me at work, talking about how they were bothering me on my lunch break. I was telling the truth when I told them that really, I was flattered and honored and relieved, knowing that if they were hurting I would know, that I didn't have to worry in silence. It felt good to hear them slowly come down, and to know that they knew it would be better soon, and to hear them laugh wetly on the other end. We're getting together for a visit next week.

It's hard to need things, if you've trained yourself not to. It's hard to want things, when you don't know how to want anymore. Trusting people is difficult, and so is relying on them, but I don't know where I'd be without the people who rely on me.

I've heard a lot of people say, "Nobody will love you unless you love yourself". I've had a lot of thoughts about it. It's not right, but it's not wrong, either, I think.

"Nobody will love you unless you love yourself"... I've always taken that to mean, "You will not be lovable until you develop a positive view of yourself as a person".

Now, I think it's sort of inside-out.

"Nobody will love you unless you love yourself"... because nobody can show their love to you in a way that you can accept until you treat yourself kindly, and learn what you need, and what you want, and how to ask for it, and then give that vulnerability away.

Love, for me, is someone I ask for a ride to the airport. Whether they end up doing this or not is irrelevant.

It's not needy, or selfish, or taking up energy. It's giving the gift of being wanted, and needed, and thought of. It's giving someone the security of being part of someone's life.

#hm

grungekitty-77

It's happening again, so just to remind everyone:

TUMBLR ADS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO AUTO-PLAY AUDIO! THAT IS A BUG AND YOU SHOULD REPORT IT!

"This ad is auto-playing audio" is literally on the drop down menu for reporting an ad. Tumblr isn't trying to implement this! Don't protest this "new policy", cause it's not one.

Report the broken ads.

Thank you.

lizardlicks

Hey, quick PSA for young or otherwise inexperienced fic writers:

"*****smut marked with asterisks so you can skip!*****""

Don't. Don't do this.

You let readers know what your fic contains through proper tagging and rating. Content warning notes at the top of the chatter are also great. You can even summarize key "this is the plot relevant stuff you missed of you're skipping this chapter" notes at the bottom too! This is a much smoother reading experience.

This is HELL on screen readers which is a disability access issue. Screen readers will read out every single asterisk you put, which I have seen done as entire page breaks. It's an awful reading experience. Please just don't.

Readers do not need their hands held through the reading experience. If they're enjoying the fic but don't care for smut, they can just skim until it gets interesting again. If they REALLY don't like smut, you warned them. There's a back button. You don't have to do a special song and dance isolating out the specific parts you think might be "icky". (If you think those bits are icky and don't like writing them, consider just don't! Fanfic is a hobby we do for fun and you don't have to write anything you don't find enjoyable. There's plenty of readers for gen fic and smut free ship fic).

If someone reads something they don't like then gets mad at you, block em. They need to be responsible for their own choices. It's not your job to please everyone. Your job as a fic writer of his to tell an entertaining and engaging story. (The reverse is true for a reader that demands smut or says it would "improve" the fic but that's not the story you're trying to tell. Block button is your friend!)

muffinlance

This is also super common in scene breaks.

Please, please don't try to span the entire page with whatever symbol you're using for your scene breaks. It takes an eternity for screen years to get through, and typically has me noping out of even the most interesting stores.

Instead, use just three (or fewer) make. Three is standard, and does the job without making your story unreadable.

In general: please, think of the screen readers.

vivaciouscynner

as a person whose only good trait is their eyes, this has eluded me until i was tasked to test websites with a screen reader.

It is hell

It is absolute hell

From navigation to listening to the voices

It's just awful

Since then I've tried to write with screen readers in mind because the number of websites that think about accessibility is SO SO SMALL

If you don't believe me, use NVDA which is a free accessibility tool. Otherwise you have to spend thousands of dollars for a slightly better one. Then try to navigate a website.

So yeah, listen to the above posts

notaloverof

Harry has exceptionally high mental resilience. Any portrayal of him as easily moldable and manipulated is inaccurate.

bookhermionegranger

like this is the guy who is allergic to the imperious curse what makes you think he’s going to be manipulated 😭😭

notaloverof

It's also the guy who kept his wits and inner strength despite daily dehumanization and abuse from the Dursleys and then constant surveillance and targeting since he got to Hogwarts. People only think he's normal because they're used to his pov, where he doesn't talk about himself like that.

#I don’t usually reblog HP stuff anymore but I agree so hard with this

singtiple

Plurality, as conceptualized in peer-reviewed research:

Plurality, often also called multiplicity, is "having more than one self in the mind and body" (Eve & Parry, 2021).

Plurality "is not a diagnosis" (Eve, et al., 2023) and is "a broader concept than DID" (Christensen, 2022).

Plurality is "a broad term, which encompasses a range of experiences" because "people have individual conceptualizations of what it means to be ‘more than one’" (Eve, et al., 2023).

Plurality is "a term coined to be more inclusive than only that of traumagenic multiplicity" (Christensen, 2022).

Not all people who experience plurality will identify as a 'plural' or 'multiple.' Plurality is a useful umbrella term for the experience of more-than-oneness "but not necessarily a term reflective of one's identity or self-expression" (Christensen, 2022).

"[N]ot everyone who identifies as multiple will want or require mental health intervention for the condition they experience" (Eve, et al., 2023).

The concept of non-traumagenic plurality does not hurt DID research. "[T]he research confirming DID as a trauma-based disorder is doing just that: confirming traumagenic DID, the disorder, not Plurality, the identity . . . Distinguishing between the two does not need to invalidate either" (Christensen, 2022).

The idea that plurality is inherently disordered is a product of Western culture. "Within Western linear frameworks . . . there has been an emphasis on the ‘healthy self’ being integrated and whole" (Eve & Parry, 2021). "In indigenous cultures, esp. shamanic societies, a polypsychism (i.e. many selves) prevails" (Scharfetter, 2008).

Fakeclaiming and anti-endo / anti-plural rhetoric is traumatizing. "[H]aving a condition such as multiplicity that is not generally validated and recognised in a community can be, in itself, traumatic. Even if trauma does not precede the development of multiplicity, trauma-informed care would still be appropriate for many young people who seek help for multiplicity" (Parry, et al., 2021).

lastoneout

I know this is a tiny part of the wider problems born of diet culture, fatphobia, classicism, and racism but like god the idea that "healthy" food must inherently taste bad has completely ruined us as a society.

lastoneout

Every time you feel bad for having coffee with cream and sugar or ranch on your salad or putting extra butter and salt on your veggies I want you to imagine the spirit of John Harvey Kellogg in front of you and then I want you to kill him with a real gun and eat your delicious food in peace.

flightsofwhimvy

In fairness to cereals: maybe they weren't meant to be eaten alone? Maybe -- now hear me out! -- maybe you're meant to put delicious fruits and such in with them. The cereal is just the base.

Alternate example of something that's been deemed unhealthy but maybe we (*cough* AMERICANS *cough*) are eating consistently wrong and could be healthy: ramen. The packet of ramen you get has the BASE ingredients of noodles and flavoring (msg is NOT bad for you, ffs), but you're meant to add things to it! Hard boil (or medium boil if you know how) some eggs, put some bean sprouts in, add a small bit of cooked salmon in, mushrooms... heck, one ramen bowl I had in Japan had some locally grown arugula-type lettuce in it. Get creative! It's meant to be eaten WITH other ingredients added, not just as noodles and broth. And it tastes good, and is healthy for you.

lastoneout

My point was that the categories of healthy and unhealthy are made up by the least qualified of us and should be ignored because they lead to people thinking putting ranch on their salad makes it bad for you.

The Kellogg joke was based on the fact that he was a weird dude who ran a quack health clinic that established a lot of nonsense that influenced our current ideas of health and healthy eating which are actually detrimental to your health. He is proof that what we consider healthy has very little basis in nutrition science or reality at all. You can trace a direct link between the way RFK is and the bullshit Kellogg taught. I love cereal, eat it all the time. I hate him for other reasons.

flythesail

You should automatically get time off work until the light returns to your eyes and you feel like a real person again

asteroidtroglodyte

“Ugh can’t stand babies they cry so much!”

That tiny Human spirit has shat himself 4 times today if you’d shat yourself 4 times by noon you’d be in hysterics too

asteroidtroglodyte

He fell asleep in his bed, at home, and woke up at the goddamn grocery store with an overhead light in his face if that happened to you you’d become The Joker

asteroidtroglodyte

Poor guy’s only been here for like a dozen weeks he doesn’t even have a favorite show to distract him yet he’s just raw-dogging reality unfiltered with no goddamn Blorbos to rotate whatsoever

scary-ivy

Baby's first rotating blorbos

asteroidtroglodyte

Y’all are great I love y’all

fudamnshi

”time heals all wounds” WRONG. it merely allows for infection.. it is Too late for me

canary-prince

Do yourselves a massive favor: practice asking for help BEFORE it's an emergency.

I am a social worker. I have worked in community mental health and in home-based healthcare. And it is much, much easier for me to help you when the situation you're in is not yet a full-blown crisis.

"I'm out of money and have been for a while and now I haven't eaten for three days." This is a crisis. A crisis where I'm likely going to have to put you in the car and take you to the nearest food bank--except food banks require appointments now, and the next opening is in four days, so you're staring down the barrel of a week with no food. That's obviously not going to work, so, let's call eight different food banks until we've found one that has an appointment the next day...except it's in the neighboring county and you can't drive. So now I'm calling your doctor to try and brow beat an emergency plan of care update out of him so I can come back the next day and drive you to the food bank. And we haven't even started on the "constantly broke" part of the problem.

"I don't think I have enough food to make it to my next paycheck. I have (xyz) in my house and that will only last until (date)." This is bad, but not a crisis. We have a few days. We make you an appointment at the food bank and contact your brother to make sure you have a ride there. Now we can spend our visit talking about what bills are causing you the most problems and make a jump on a long-term solution, like looping in a community action agency to cover your utilities and getting you an OTC card from Medicaid to cover some of your groceries every month.

"I'm ten months behind on rent, and my landlord said I have a week to get out, or the cops will throw me out. I don't have the money, and if I get evicted, I have nowhere to go." This is a crisis. Every single thing we do here is going to be some version of a Hail Mary. In Michigan, we have the state emergency relief fund for rent issues, but process time is well over one week. There are community action agencies that we can call to assist you with payment, but they are unlikely to have sufficient funds to cover nearly a year of back rent. We can contact legal aid clinics to try and prevent your landlord from evicting you, but they may look at your case and determine that too much "fault" lies with you. Most likely, I'm going to have to put you in touch with homeless shelters and the public housing office.

"I'm two months behind on rent and I don't think I'll be able to pay next month either." This is bad, but not a crisis. This is solvable. We have time to apply for SER, or put you in contact with community action agencies. We have time to review your finances and see if you qualify for a public housing wait list or other forms of ongoing rental assistance. We have time to talk about a million possible adjustments to try and ease the burden of your rent.

"I am the sole caregiver for my elderly parent who has dementia and is emotionally volatile and fully dependent on me. I have not slept through the night in weeks and I have not had an actual break for over a year. I am having screaming meltdowns multiple times a week and I am threatening self-harm unless someone comes to collect my parent and take over all caregiver duties." This is a crisis. This is a crisis where the ethical code of my profession demands that I call 911 and report the conversation to them. They will likely come to the house and interview you. If they determine your threats were serious, they will have you forcibly committed to a psych ward. Your parent will either be dumped into a random hospital or rehab center, or left in the house on their own. Upon release from your psych hold, you will be expected to resume caregiving duties as though nothing happened. Except, now, adult protective services is actively investigating you, because it was determined you may be an ongoing danger to your parent.

"I am the sole caregiver for my demented parent, and I have not had a break in a couple of weeks, and I feel angry and weepy most of the time." This is bad, but not a crisis. We can get you in touch with volunteer groups for respite, and apply for state funded programs to get more day-to-day help, and talk about long-term planning for when the dementia symptoms get worse. We can get you the phone numbers for crisis lines and enroll you in a support group.

Obviously, you can ask for help at any point. Don't use this an excuse to never ask for help. If you always wait until it's a crisis, fine, you have free will. But you are ALLOWED to ask for help BEFORE you're in a blind panic, and it is always easier to get help when you aren't screaming and sobbing because you think your life is over.

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just a box of batsnbirds