#absolute minimum achieved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pentacass]

[calebwittebane]

so theyre not doing anything is what youre saying

[thegreatyin]

in honor of my birthday i have spent the night finishing act 2 of baldur's gate. and can i just say that astarion is the best companion not in terms of who he actually is but from a pure gameplay standpoint. that guy can do everything

[amygdalae]

me after finally posting 3 sentences of rambling bullshit to the mandatory class discussion on canvas

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Your wardrobe just isn't accessible. All of your recommendations are so expensive.

Hmmmm, what kind of reaction are you looking for, Anon? I am not your enemy.

You need to rethink what "accessible" means wrt clothing. (Especially bearing in mind you are on the blog of a guy who likes to wear vintage style suits, which puts us firmly in "luxury items" territory.)

We are currently living in an era where those who make clothing are criminally under compensated, with ever increasing demands to cut costs, yet produce faster. Fashion is both a sustainability and labor issue.

We are also living in an era where even the raw materials for clothing are undergoing enshitification and this has fucked with people's perceptions for how long clothes should last.

But I am determined to build a wardrobe where pieces last for 10+ years, if cared for properly. And I know I have some things that absolutely will outlive me.

For these reasons, I am not going to recommend $15 or even $50 dress shirts, especially given they will fall apart after a season or two.

My wardrobe is a 25+ year long project of discovering what I like, how to assess quality, and getting my finances in a place where I can buy good pieces. My closet is not meant to be achievable overnight or even within a few years, because it sure as hell didn't happen that way for me.

Trying to build a fashionable wardrobe (again, the word is *fashionable* because presumably that is why you are here) on a budget?

1) Thrifting and garment swaps are still options (be sustainable and get the quality of the past!), with more choices if you can get garments altered. Gem.app will always be high on my recommendations list for this reason.

2) Making relationships with sewists and tailors and working out fair compensation (be it money, trade, being a pattern tester, etc) is an option

3) Saving up where you only buy 1 or 2 new, quality pieces of clothing a year is an option and should actually be the norm for everyone - we all buy too many clothes (myself included) and need to reset our expectations for how big a wardrobe should be + how often to change clothes

4) Learning how to make garments on your own is an option (one I am taking), especially given free resources such as libraries, YouTube tutorials, the Internet Archive, etc.

Good clothing does and should cost money and time. Especially if you want to wear tailored garments made from nice fabrics, which is my style and presumably why you came across my blog. (It's important I reiterate this point.) Honestly, the fact I can find a 3-piece wool suit new, in a vintage cut that fits me off-the-rack for $1k feels like stealing.

I spent most of my adult life climbing the Old Navy > Gap > Banana Republic fashion ladder, not realizing that nearly all of that clothing is cheap crap, especially things made post-2005. Now that I can afford nice stuff, there is a world of difference between my $15 flannel shirts and the $90 ones. Vimes Boot Theory, but with the caveat that the $15 shirt should not even exist.

(I love Vimes Boot Theory, but it needs a companion theory from the perspective of the bootmaker.)

It may sound shocking to you, but nearly all my wardrobe recommendations sit on the low end of price vs quality. I still have to mend my clothes, fix poor workmanship, and alter things to fit.

If you want decent quality clothing ("decent" = lasting for years), you honestly should be expecting to pay at least $100 for a new dress shirt, $300 for new boots, $300 for new woolen trousers. And yeah, $1k for a suit. These are bare minimum fair prices for off-the-rack.

You have to get comfortable with the fact that you will be paying some combination of time + money if you want nice things. (Even inexpensive things that are good quality take time to learn about, find, and maintain!) But the outcome - longer lasting stuff that makes you feel good - is hopefully worth the investment.

Garment construction deserves fair compensation and if your current salary is locking you out where you cannot get a few good, new things a year, the problem is that your own labor isn't being fairly compensated. Scold your boss, not me.

Again, I am not your enemy. But you need to recalibrate your thinking about what our standards for clothing should really be, with all the labor involved to achieve those standards.

And one more time - you're also complaining that my luxury fashion wardrobe is a luxury. Please also learn how to prioritize your wants vs your needs.

[leemznho]

i hate to be dramatic but over the pass couple of days i’ve started to spiral into an identity crisis and i literally have no idea what the fuck i want to do with my life lmao

[soft-sunbird]

I'd like to tell you a story

One of my friends in high school was called Bailey (not her real name). She didn't have the easiest time, and she used to get in trouble a fair bit, and I really liked her and valued our friendship and wanted things to get better for her. Story + giveaway 👇🏼 (TL;DR)

We stayed friends on Facebook after we graduated high school, and I was so happy for her when she announced she was going to have a baby. She loved her baby so much and wanted to make sure he was healthy, happy, and safe. We didn't talk much, but I still cared about her just as much as ever - I bought her a mother/newborn skin care set, which came with a cuddly plush cow.

Bailey unfortunately continued to experience more than her fair share of trouble after little Leo was born (despite her best efforts), and I'm not active on Facebook any more, and I'm quite sure Leo must be a small child and well and truly not a baby any more by now. So unfortunately, I never got to give Bailey her present.

Now, many years later, I am friends with @hildanasr. Oh, how I wish Hilda had the luxury of being in a position where she could choose a skin care set instead of needing that money to survive. Literally.

Bailey made the decision to eat healthy to support her baby - Hilda has to eat whatever she can get her hands on, and is still trying to support the development of her own baby at the same time.

Bailey made plans to live somewhere safer and better for her - but she always slept in a warm bed. Hilda has suffered through a freezing, wet winter in a flimsy tent.

Bailey could turn on a tap and get a drink of water in the middle of the night if she needed to. I don't know what this is like for Hilda, but I have to assume it's long, complicated and dangerous.

Both women faced challenges. Bailey's challenge was complicated and real, for a person who has their basic needs met. I don't know how her story ended. Hilda's challenge is also complicated and real. She does not have her basic needs met. She needs our support to make it through this.

We have a chance to help

A person can care for a baby with the absolute minimum of essentials - breast milk, cloth nappies, a baby blanket - but they need food in order to produce milk, clean water in order to wash nappies, and money to purchase a baby blanket. If a child has nothing, at least let them have a small, soft blanket!

I've been trying to help Hilda eat properly for at least 8 months or more. It hasn't been enough. Giving birth should be something that a person can achieve for free at home if they are healthy enough to do so, but Hilda is not. She's been anaemic for months and can no longer have this baby safely at home.

She needs to go to hospital - where it is likely the hospital will be crammed with people, under-supplied, and under credible threat of danger from Israeli forces. Hospitals are running out of blood and "in the remaining hospitals across Gaza, there are not enough painkillers, anesthetics, antibiotics... or surgical instruments". (source). Hilda is among the one in four pregnant women in Gaza suffering from malnutrition. I am really, really worried about her baby.

Hilda has trusted me with her bank details, and I have successfully been able to send a little money directly to her Bank of Palestine account. If you're in Australia and you want to help, reach out to me. I can get it to her. If you're overseas, I have PayPal and of course, Hilda has her own GoFundMe. She needs our help.

If you've made a donation of $50 in AUD, CAD, NZD, USD or EUR, you can go into the draw to win a prize of basically your choice. What do you want? I've got a modded PSP with a Fluttershy skin, a PSX Mini, this sweet cow friend, and a number of valuable trading cards (MTG, MLP CCG). I can send you a book, some stickers - what's mine is yours. Send an email to [email protected] and let me know if you've made a donation, and I'll reply with your number.

Last but not least, the tags. If you've made it this far, then thank you so much for at least reading the fruits of my labour. I don't tag people often, so please take your inclusion in this cloud as a compliment and know that I won't make a habit of it. Please message me if you'd like to be removed. Round 1:

🐞 @oediex 💙 @a-shade-of-blue 🐈 @divinefeline28 🦇 @paparoach 🌊 @oceanaves 🍭 @guncottoncandy 👟 @punkrocklorax ☣️ @virovac 🦎 @lizardbytheriver 🤍 @argentleif 🥄 @onedollopofsourcream 🌥️ @qazastra 🐶 @sinn1230 💾 @murderbot 🍓 @razzberrydazz ✊🏼 @karlmarxmaybe 🎇 @tardisfireworks 🍲 @soupygremlin 🦭 @guldaastan 🍄 @myceliacrochet 🦈 @mako-bones

[rawme-price]

Hi Rommy, I'm trying to start writing again after a VERY long break. I feel like the chapters for the fic im working on are too short. What sort of min word count do you aim for when looking for/writing a multi part fic?

*grabs you and holds you by the face*

listen to me. listen. There is absolutely no minimum word count unless you want there to be. Your chapters can be 200 words for all I care. The purpose of a chapter is to achieve a goal of telling a story. If you can do that in 200 words good! If you need 15k, good!

I don't look for specific word counts when reading a fic, im more concerned about the actual contents of the story. Do what makes you comfortable and what you feel is needed for your story!!!!