#and they emailed me back which is great

[arthur-r]

!!!!

#i emailed them when i woke up pretty much and then i was distracted and busy but they got back to me!! #basically i emailed asking if i could conduct email interviews with any interested staff members #where i could learn about what they did for college what they do on a typical day and stuff like that!! #cause im still trying really hard to figure out what kind of degree i want to be a museum person #and like. if i get a masters in public history and library science would it actually apply to somewhere like mia? #and what kind of job within a museum would best fit my personal skills and limitations and just. stuff like that #and they emailed me back which is great #anyway hi world it’s been a minute i’ve been sequestering myself inside of my mind and disintegrating on the daily #because my dad is terrible at single parenting and my mom is missing in action (she’s on a planned trip don’t worry) but im not good at #taking care of myself my dad thinks cooking is womens work (unless it’s grilling which he has loads of books on and sometimes does) and i #don’t care enough about my own well being to make myself food half the time. so i just haven’t been eating haven’t been getting out of bed #but as of today i just had a shower i have laundry in the laundry machine things are looking up a little #and my sisters murder mystery party is later today i have to dress up as a victorian lady named starr dangerfield #im going to wear my own clothes mostly so there shouldn’t be too much dysphoria. but i will be putting my hair in tiny pigtails #which is something i did every day when i was a cisgender high school freshman. my current hair is like my old pigtails hair but just erase #the pigtail part from existence. like the reason i always had those pigtails was so that most of my hair would be what im actually #comfortable with which is what i have now. but even my short hair is still capable of the smallest little pigtails. and thats what i will do #idk i might be able to get by having my regular hair. that would be very much preferable #my sister is going to give me some crazy dramatic makeup though too. wish me luck :( #oh but the cool thing about starr dangerfield is that she’s the curator of the carnivals wax museum!! which. i don’t like wax figures but #as evidenced by the email exchange that’s going on right now i do love museums and curating so!! that’s good stuff #anyway i have to go see if my laundry is moveable. but just. yeah. mini life update #me. my post. mine. #delete later

[hua-fei-hua]

at church reading the hymn lyrics like "hey i learned that word from genshin!" and "hey i learned that word from genshin!" and "hey i learned that word from translating song lyrics so that i could write genshin fic!" and "hey i learned that word from genshin!" and finally "omg i learned that word from the king's avatar"

#花話 #it's funny bc i Objectively know more cn than the last time i was here seven years ago which is great #bc the last time i learned any cn in a classroom was seven years ago lol #and i think that's probably a combination of Very Much Not Wanting To Lose What Skills I Have +gnshn n similar giving me occasional practice #but yeah of the words i Remember where i learned them it's like 85% gnshn 14% lyric translation n 1% king's avatar lmao #been trying to connect my laptop to the mobile hotspot i have here and Suffering(tm)... pain and agonie #i mentioned this on main but apparently i just Cannot have a line acct for w/e reason #(i suspect it's bc i made an acct in america on my phone number but temp sim card --> diff phone number here) #(and since i didn't expect this i didn't tie the acct to an email --> i am unable to have line) #however my mother and i have graduated past emails and are now just using regular texting to communicate it seems #ANYWAY i get to see the jade cabbage today. i hope. and other things i also hope!! #i was going somewhere w/the line thing OH it's bc on the way home from church my mom saw a sign that said 元氣 and was like 'genki desu!' #it is always kind of a surprise to hear my mom speak jp bc it sounds simultaneously clumsy and full of confidence #she has friends in japan (college roommate + old pen pal + i have no idea she's lived Quite a life i feel) n i once found her old letters #and was kind of surprised bc they were like entirely in jp so obviously she could read n understand a lot #but anyway my mom went on to talk abt how taiwan continues to have significant japanese influence to this day n i was like yes... weebs c': #it's also interesting bc we'll go sightseeing n she'll be like “ye that's from american/jp occupation times but they gave back the land' #'so now it's xyz' n i'll be like. almost 'tails.jpg A Colonialism.'

[arsonist-chicken]

Alright sorry can I just---

Alright thanks.

#don't mind me i'm just venting #i miss my friends so much i want to cry but none have time for me this weekend when i have to go home #which means i'll be at my parents' even more which means even more time for them to question whatever i do and for me to try to weasle #my way out of answering because once again i haven't done a whole bunch of stuff i should have done long ago #and i havent done anything all day today again and i dont get how people jist sit down and just do stuff #do you not have to fight tooth and nail to get yourself to do something even if you'd enjoy it? how. please i want to cry again #i am overwhelmed with uni stuff and unemployment stuff and lonely from missing my friends #hehe. lonely. i saw lonely spring with a friend last week that was great 🥺 almost a whole day with a friend plus concert? please take me #back there 🥺 #anyway i'm overhelmed and lonely and i miss my friends and my cats and i'm angry at our politicians for not giving a shit about the people #so. arson. or very carefully worded but angry emails. #also i'm craving. something. to eat but idk what. i'm not even hungry. #ah yes me ft. disordered eating habits approaching again aren't they #okay i'm done venting i'll sit down and see if another try will get my brain to work this time. send help if you have advice #mine #upset vent noises

[ilikedetectives]

.

#i think the interview went quite well #but it'll take 30-90 days to find out the result #so I'm excited to start my new job and learn more things (~￣³￣)~ #if I turn out to be the finalist 3 mo from now - great #my new job exp will help me negotiate higher pay #but if I'm not the finalist #not a huge deal either way I love my new title aaaaa #oh and everyone I interacted w seem so nice and friendly #which is what I need when the job is building a system/process from the ground up (*´▽`*) #the technical manager emailed me after the interview #saying how impressed she and her bosses were #and that I should hear back 'if I'm interested' #like is my ID ready for pickup yet (≧▽≦)

[waugh-bao]

*

#I’m a stupid stupid stupid person #last week when I went to Southampton (all curses be upon that place and its horrid uni) I saw in the papers of the amateur historian I was #looking at that he had the exact dates for the opening and closing of one my merchant figure’s account at the Bank of England #the BofE Archives have a really primitive search mechanism #so you have to contact one of the archivists to actually see if they have the material #and because I’m an antisocial nocturnal cave creature (ie a historian) I’d rather die than have to interact with another human #thus I put off emailing them until today when I was in the BL waiting for a request to be fulfilled #and they got back to me a few hours later to say that they do have what I want #and that there are open spots to work there from the 18th of July #which would be great #if I weren’t in Taiwan from the 13th #so I wrote back and explained that I’m traveling/researching/working for the rest of the summer and going back to my PhD program in Sept #the absolute angel of an archivist who I will love for all time told me that there was a cancellation for the 3rd-4th he would give me #and that he would ‘flex’ the 15 documents per day rule so I could look at everything #the 3rd is going to be a mess because I’m coming back from Bulgaria late that morning #but I will somehow get myself from Gatwick to Central London and make it work #(just praying they allow photography) #I guess the life lesson of this extremely long and boring story is that procrastination pays ??? #me stuff #not the stones

[justinefrischmanngf]

HELP MY OLD HISTORY TEACHER IS SO FUNNY I LOVE HER

#she was not a great teacher but i liked her as a person + sent her an email when i got my results being like hey hi this is what i got #and she's come back 2 me and basically said that the school was underfunded and had shit resources <3 which is true but also aslmnjdkfhg

[krismatic]

I am gonna kill someone

#minor inconvenience in my life today #basically I’m required to have 40 hours of volunteer service in order to graduate. #i applied to volunteer at a thrift store place did the training and got an email asking about what schedule works for me #great! cool! i replied to it saying which hours work best for me #2 weeks pass. #i email the manager asking what’s going on #turns out the email never sent. to her I’ve just been silent for two weeks after doing the training and everything. great. #and I’ve missed out on a lot of shifts I could have done. #god. damn it. #this is just pain #hogogooooihhhh why is this even a graduation requirement I hate this fr #I’m sure I’ll look back on this in the future and be like ‘oh how funny’ but AAGAGHHHH #even if I think I do everything right it all goes wrong :( #should I even post this. sure why not #I’ll delete it later anyways

[silverislander]

i can't be trusted to take breaks bc i'm now on day 4-5 of "doing no school work at all" since it's the winter semester break and i said i'd take monday off for myself. i have the second section of my essay technically due tomorrow and i'm absolutely not going to be done on time. fuck me man

#the problem is im not doing awesome rn. im gonna be ok but yk its february it happens #so i said 'ill take a day off see if that helps. no work for one day and then back at it tomorrow' #but i didnt get back at it. bc my stupid fucking adhd ass brain hears 'do no work' and will then refuse to turn back on #i NEEDED a break genuinely. but i cant turn my attention/focus on and off like everyone else so now its fucking. broken #i have shit i need to get done!! #and make it worse bc i wasnt doing great to begin with now that im not doing anything i feel guilty for that which makes me feel worse #and makes it harder to do anything at all #the only options for me are working until i drop which is bad for me or taking a break and getting completely off track #levi.txt #vent tw #its not even that i dont WANT to work bc i like what im doing. i just cant make myself fucking do it #doesnt help that bc im on break my routine is all fucked up. i always start to work idly during class between taking notes #it helps me focus and not get bored and then i can work up to full focus hard work after class in the library #and since im not going to class this week... i dont start work #whoever came up w the idea that school breaks were for finishing/catching up on work: youre fucking evil #what do you think a BREAK means #companies arent allowed to make me work on my lunch so why are you giving us a 'break' and forcing us to work through that #anyway. im going to try to finish a paragraph of my essay today and email my supervisor to tell him itll be in late #fucking sucks but yk. im really not making this deadline. id have to get like 10pgs done today plus major revisions

[indythefandomhoarder]

I'm gonna start screaming tbh.

[Explanation in tags]

#i ordered stuff from CloakBrand about 2 or 3 months ago #and every so often i would check the status and it always said the same thing #“your order has been placed” #and it was kind of suspicious bc like i know it takes them a while to send stuff but this was getting out of hand! #so i emailed them which btw theyre great theyre super nice but sometimes theyre a little clueless #and i was like yo whats going on with my order #and wonderful Geraldine- whom ive spoken to over email on other cloakbrand orders due to different issues- #said she also didnt know why the order hadnt sent out and would check with their team. #so i wait a few days and she gets back to me and tells me- whoopsies your items are sold out- which duh i knew because it had been months #and she offered a regular refund for the items or a cloakbrand credit refund. but that doesnt work bc although i paid for the items #i paid for them with a cloakbrand shop credit already and if they gave me a refund then i wouldnt get any of the items i ordered #AND i wouldnt get the proper refund (because a previous order was also f*cky wucky and they gave me a $64 credit to make up for it) #[side note: dont buy cloakbrand sweatshirts if youre allergic to fabric softener or any kind of adhesive bc it comes in sticky and the only #solution they gave me was to wash it with fabric softener so like... i cant do that bae.] #anyways #i asked if they could just yk swap out the items for two items of similar style bc they were items that i really wanted and when she emailed #she told me that they could only offer me items from the Static Collection (my least fav collection!!) and i was like #“at least ill get items but this sucks bc i literally hate this collection” and i sent off an email saying like whatever send whatever idc #and now they fast tracked the shipment bc im getting my stuff within the week and normally it doesnt ship out so soon #but im gonna scream bc i ordered the stuff i bought really quick and it was lowkey expensive and in return #i get the least sold collection that- the last time it was up for sale- it was SO cheap and also its like lowkey highkey ugly. #its not for sale rn but i think ill go on the Cloakbrand discord and sell it so I can buy a sweatshirt (which is what i was GOING to get) #all of this to say that im gonna cry and scream and not buy from cloakbrand anymore. #as much as i love Sean and Mark- this isnt worth all the migraines bc i spent way too much money for me to get screwed over like that

[exopelagic]

I’m almost done complaining abt supervisors I swear

#I’m just >:(((( #it’s all so incredibly frustrating and I should’ve had this done earlier I had all of December but I didn’t #I gotta write a dumb little statement abt why I wanna do their projects/work with them #and it’s dumb!! it’s not that hard!!! #I’m just driving myself insane with the social implications bc people are very competitive abt it and yknow what I kinda am too #bc I only actually wanna do one of my 3 and if I can’t do that I’m gonna be okay with but kinda disappointed by my second choice #and my third choice is more interesting than the second in theory but in practice it’s conservation focused which I don’t want #and involves spending a month in the woods in Scotland #which I admit sounds pretty fucking cool! but would suck in practice I’m not made for that #and I’ve also put off asking whether we’d be Camping™ (I couldn’t deal with it) or staying somewhere (would be manageable) #I am fairly sure it’s of the camping variety and even if it’s not we’d be travelling through the highlands constantly #it’s just a really long time doing stuff which is kinda cool but isn’t what I wanted and with someone I dont particularly think I’d get on w #with. I should email her but the project isn’t what I want to do however cool it would be to go back to the highlands and be there a while #I’m pretty sure I’d be kinda miserable. I’m really really hoping she doesn’t pick me bc there were only 3 people interested anyway #which would be great if I wanted to do it but as it stands it’s terrifying pls god let someone else have picked her #I’ve never been so glad I was awkward as hell in an important meeting #but the problem is that if I don’t pick that one and DO get my third choice I would be miserable for an entire year instead #bc my backup option is fucking satellite imagery and machine learning for more conservation this time in the ocean #and I don’t wanna do coding and GIS!!! I did that over summer and it sucked!!!! I hated it and I never wanted to do it again!!!! #so I think ultimately the scotland one is the lesser of two evils even though it’s very much an evil #the options I had reeeaaally sucked this time #god genuinely after the island thing last summer I really can’t do long fieldwork I want to be able to shower and go home #maybe I could one day but I’m not that guy yet #I really have to write these things I just wanna cry bc they suck so incredibly bad and I gotta make out like I’m super interested #and not so tired and frustrated by the whole thing #I hate this department and this uni and this city and I really can’t wait to be somewhere else #yknow what it’s 10:30 and I gotta be up early again I might just leave it tonight #today has been so long already and I don’t think I’ll gain anything by torturing myself abt it anymore #>:/ #luke.txt

[autismserenity]

know someone who enjoys horror stories? share this one! it's true!

hahahahahahahahahaha aarrggghhhhhhhhhh 3,000,000 deaths due to COVID-19 last year. Globally. Three million. Case rates higher than 90% of the rest of the pandemic. The reason people are still worried about COVID is because it has a way of quietly fucking up your body. And the risk is cumulative.

I'm going to say that again: the risk is cumulative.

It's not just that a lot of people get bad long-term effects from it. One in seven or so? Enough that it's kind of the Russian Roulette of diseases. It's also that the more times you get it, the higher that risk becomes. Like if each time you survived Russian Roulette, the empty chamber was removed from the gun entirely. The worst part is that, psychologically, we have the absolute opposite reaction. If we survive something with no ill effects, we assume it's pretty safe. It is really, really hard to override that sense of, "Ok, well, I got it and now I probably have a lot of immunity and also it wasn't that bad." It is not a respiratory disease. Airborne, yes. Respiratory disease, no: not a cold, not a flu, not RSV.

Like measles (or maybe chickenpox?), it starts with respiratory symptoms. And then it moves to other parts of your body. It seems to target the lungs, the digestive system, the heart, and the brain the most.

It also hits the immune system really hard - a lot of people are suddenly more susceptible to completely unrelated viruses. People get brain fog, migraines, forget things they used to know.

(I really, really hate that it can cross the blood-brain barrier. NOTHING SHOULD EVER CROSS THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER IT IS THERE FOR A REASON.) Anecdotal examples of this shit are horrifying. I've seen people talk about coworkers who've had COVID five or more times, and now their work... just often doesn't make sense? They send emails that say things like, "Sorry, I didn't mean Los Angeles, I meant Los Angeles."

Or they insist they've never heard of some project that they were actually in charge of a year or two before.

Or their work is just kind of falling apart, and they don't seem to be aware of it.

People talk about how they don't want to get the person in trouble, so their team just works around it. Or they describe neighbors and relatives who had COVID repeatedly, were nearly hospitalized, talked about how incredibly sick they felt at the time... and now swear they've only had it once and it wasn't bad, they barely even noticed it.

(As someone who lived with severe dissociation for most of my life, this is a genuinely terrifying idea to me. I've already spent my whole life being like, "but what if I told them that already? but what if I did do that? what if that did happen to me and I just don't remember?") One of its known effects in the brain is to increase impulsivity and risk-taking, which is real fucking convenient honestly. What a fantastic fucking mutation. So happy for it on that one. Yes, please make it seem less important to wear a mask and get vaccinated. I'm not screaming internally at all now.

I saw a tweet from someone last year whose family hadn't had COVID yet, who were still masking in public, including school.

She said that her son was no kind of an athlete. Solidly bottom middle of the pack in gym.

And suddenly, this year, he was absolutely blowing past all the other kids who had to run the mile. He wasn't running any faster. His times weren't fantastic or anything. It's just that the rest of the kids were worse than him now. For some reason. I think about that a lot. (Like my incredibly active six-year-old getting a cold, and suddenly developing post-viral asthma that looked like pneumonia.

He went back to school the day before yesterday, after being home for a month and using preventative inhalers for almost week.

He told me that it was GREAT - except that he couldn't run as much at recess, because he immediately got really tired. Like how I went outside with him to do some yard work and felt like my body couldn't figure out how to increase breathing and heart rate.

I wasn't physically out of breath, but I felt like I was out of breath. That COVID feeling people describe, of "I'm not getting enough air." Except that I didn't have that problem when I had COVID.) Some people don't observe any long (or medium) term side effects after they have it.

But researchers have found viral reservoirs of COVID-19 in everyone they've studied who had it.

It just seems to hang out, dormant, for... well, longer than we've had an opportunity to observe it, so far.

(I definitely watched that literal horror movie. I think that's an entire genre. The alien dormant under ice in the Arctic.)

(oh hey I don't like that either!!!!!!!!!) All of which is to explain why we should still care about avoiding it, and how it manages to still cause excess deaths. Measuring excess deaths has been a standard tool in public health for a long time.

We know how many people usually die from all different causes, every year. So we can tell if, for example, deaths from heart disease have gone way up in the past three years, and look for reasons. Those are excess deaths: deaths that, four years ago, would not have happened. During the pandemic, excess death rates have been a really important tool. For all sorts of reasons. Like, sometimes people die from COVID without ever getting tested, and the official cause is listed as something else because nobody knows they had COVID. But also, people are dying from cardiovascular illness much younger now.

People are having strokes and heart attacks younger, and more often, than they did before the pandemic started. COVID causes a lot of problems. And some of those problems kill people. And some of them make it easier for other things to kill us. Lung damage from COVID leading to lungs collapsing, or to pneumonia, or to a pulmonary embolism, for example. The Economist built a machine-learning model with a 95% confidence interval that gauges excess death statistics around the world, to tell them what the true toll of the ongoing COVID pandemic has been so far.

Total excess deaths globally in 2023: Three million.

3,000,000.

Official COVID-19 deaths globally so far: Seven million. 7,000,000. Total excess deaths during COVID so far: Thirty-five point two million. 35,200,000.

Five times as many.

That's bad. I don't like that at all. I'm glad last year was less than a tenth of that. I'm not particularly confident about that continuing, though, because last year we started a period of really high COVID transmission. Case rates higher than 90% of the rest of the pandemic. Here's their data, and charts you can play with, and links to detailed information on how they did all of this:

Here's a non-paywalled link to it:

https://archive.vn/2024.01.26-012536/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates

Oh: here's a link to where you can buy comfy, effective N95 masks in all sizes:

Those ones are about a buck each after shipping - about $30 for a box of 30. They also have sample packs for a dollar, so you can try a couple of different sizes and styles.

You can wear an N95 mask for about 40 total hours before the effectiveness really drops, so that's like a dollar for a week of wear.

They're also family-owned and have cat-shaped masks and I really love them. These ones are cuter and in a much wider range of colors, prints, and styles, but they're also more expensive; they range from $1.80 to $3 for a mask. ($18-$30 for a box of ten.)

#covid isn't over #covid 19 #disability rights #disability advocacy #wear a mask #covid conscious #covid cautious #mask up #wall of words #public health #health care

[drawbudd]

i need to like desperately loose internet connection or something my ass is NOT getting any shit done

#wow actually me talking #even then #ibis paint works without internet #curse you technological efficiency!!! #anyways a completely unrelated event #i have no adhd meds anymore because the place that does em only has one doctor that does the meds #and i think he's fizzled out of existence or something because he is not replying to ANY emails #which is Not Great! #hoping i can get them by next week since in two weeks i gotta get back to work again #(i technically already have to tomorrow but its less urgent because its holiday)

[nope-body]

.

tw- mentions of animal death (dog, cat) and death of a member of my extended family

#I feel like I am surrounded with death and it’s sort of overwhelming just because of how much in the past few days #like unrelated to world events #first my friend’s dog died while I was staying at their house for break (on the last day we were there) #then I get back from break and finish unpacking (so the day after their dog died) and I get a call from my mom saying #my great aunt Susan has died and that there probably won’t be a ceremony/funeral but that in a couple weeks there’ll be a family gathering #at a restaurant to share stories about her life (as is our tradition but usually we also do a burial and funeral) #and today I get an email from my Black English and Voice professor saying that tomorrow’s class is going to be over zoom because her cat #(who we knew wasn’t doing so well and was older) has died/is going to be put down very soon #I met this dog twice (but for extended periods of time both times- I was staying over) #and while he was very stinky he was also very sweet and somehow happy despite having multiple tumors and different kinds of cancers #and having to have an eye removed and I think a bunch of other health issues #still a very happy and cuddly dog! also built like a brick. I think people could tell that his time was coming #my friend actually said a few days before he died that he wasn’t allowed to die while they were there #(they didn’t want to have to deal with everyone around them being sad which is understandable) #and their mom responded that ‘I don’t think Louie will die before Saturday’ but he did. he died on Friday #apparently my great aunt Susan was moved into hospice care a week ago and my mom just didn’t tell me because she didn’t want to ruin break #but also that means that being told she died hit really hard and unexpectedly #I didn’t know her all that well but she’s family #she’s family that I care about regardless of how close I was to her #and anyway by the end she didn’t want to see many people anyway #at the end of the school year last year I went to visit her in the hospital while I was in new york for my great aunt June’s funeral #(she’s actually a cousin of some sort but I’ve always called her great aunt June) #and she was willing to see my mom but was too tired to see anyone else so I never actually saw her then #and now she’s gone #that was a late night call that I got yesterday #and today is the email about my professor’s cat Tea Cake #I know my professor. I don’t know her cat. but it’s still another death that I don’t have many degrees of separation from #my professor would talk about her cat before class started sometimes so it’s also not this abstract entity. it’s one I know about #it’s just. a lot? #and it doesn’t feel like it should be as overwhelming as it is

[racefortheironthrone]

Hi- er, this is my first-ever writer's strike, how does one not cross a picket line in this context? I know how not to do it with things like Amazon and IRL strikes, but how does it apply to media/streaming?

Hi, this is a great question, because it allows me to write about the difference between honoring a picket line and a boycott. (This is reminding me of the labor history podcast project that's lain fallow in my drafts folder for some time now...) In its simplest formulation, the difference between a picket line and a boycott is that a picket line targets an employer at the point of production (which involves us as workers), whereas a boycott targets an employer at the point of consumption (which involves us as consumers).

So in the case of the WGA strike, this means that at any company that is being struck by the WGA - I've seen Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery, NBC, Paramount, and Sony mentioned, but there may be more (check the WGA website and social media for a comprehensive list) - you do not cross a picket line, whether physical or virtual. This means you do not take a meeting with them, even if its a pre-existing project, you do not take phone calls or texts or emails or Slacks from their executives, you do not pitch them on a spec script you've written, and most of all you do not answer any job application.

Because if this strike is like any strike since the dawn of time, you will see the employers put out ads for short-term contracts that will be very lucrative, generally above union scale - because what they're paying for in addition to your labor is you breaking the picket line and damaging the strike - to anyone willing to scab against their fellow workers. GIven that one of the main issues of the WGA are the proliferation of short-term "mini rooms" whereby employers are hiring teams of writers to work overtime for a very short period, to the point where they can only really do the basics (a series outline, some "broken stories," and some scripts) and then have the showrunner redo everything on their lonesome, while not paying writers long-term pay and benefits, I would imagine we're going to see a lot of scab contracts being offered for these mini rooms.

But for most of us, unless we're actively working as writers in Hollywood, most of that isn't going to be particularly relevant to our day-to-day working lives. If you're not a professional or aspiring Hollywood writer, the important thing to remember honoring the picket line doesn't mean the same thing as a boycott. WGA West hasn't called on anyone to stop going to the movies or watching tv/streaming or to cancel their streaming subscriptions or anything like that. If and when that happens, WGA will go to some lengths to publicize that ask - and you should absolutely honor it if you can - so there will be little in the way of ambiguity as to what's going on.

That being said, one of the things that has happened in the past in other strikes is that well-intentioned people get it into their heads to essentially declare wildcat (i.e, unofficial and unsanctioned) boycotts. This kind of stuff comes from a good place, someone wanting to do more to support the cause and wanting to avoid morally contaminating themselves by associating with a struck company, but it can have negative effects on the workers and their unions. Wildcat boycotts can harm workers by reducing back-end pay and benefits they get from shows if that stuff is tied to the show's performance, and wildcat boycotts can hurt unions by damaging negotiations with employers that may or may not be going on.

The important thing to remember with all of this is that the strike is about them, not us. Part of being a good ally is remembering to let the workers' voices be heard first and prioritizing being a good listener and following their lead, rather than prioritizing our feelings.

#labor #unions #wga strike #labor history #labor 101 #boycotts

[idkimoutofideas]

Having a weird one this week

#I’m house sitting for my dad while he’s away for a few months (yay for independence and freedom and feeling like an adult) #but it’s also the same week I’m starting a day treatment program for [redacted] #which isn’t ideal timing. at all. #I was supposed to start the program last week but they wouldn’t fucking answer my emails so it got pushed a week #and tbh I think it would’ve been helpful if I had a week of still living with someone before starting the program #but I don’t want to give up my freedom and move back in w my mom #bc I do genuinely think being more independent is going to help with [redacted] #but the depression is having a field day with my isolation and it’s only day 3 #doesn’t help that I’m tired all of the goddamn time and have routinely been taking 3 hr naps even before living alone #but I’m still tired #ugh #it’s just. a lot. and the timing isn’t great. #I think having the normalcy of something like work would be helpful for maintaining a schedule and not feeling useless #however I cannot at the moment do treatment and work #tho I’m working on getting adjusted hours #however that would also make me even MORE tired #so idk anymore #m speaks #personal #just ignore me I’m rambling

[applejarjar]

To quote a friend,

'damnation!'

#These past few days just keep on giving #Sent out some very nicely worded emails to the interviewer and who would be my future boss if I got the job #Never got a response back #Find out via my current boss that she's got everyone except one person convinced to take a chance on me #Get news that my great grandma passed away after passing up the opportunity to videochat her #Cry in class because I'm stressed to shit and the 'realize how fucked ur life is' section of the program is exceedingly poorly timed #Get personally called out during class in front of guest speakers for not having a job #Get told that I have a zero percent chance of being hired at my dream plant #Which kills any hope I got from being told the previous week that my dream is within reach #Also was betrayed during class twice because I got paired up with arguably the most soul-less and uncaring person in our class #To do activities with #Killed literally any joy I couldn't gotten out of said activities #Plus I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on my job application as it still shows as 'in progress' #The emotional turmoil is so much rn #And I'm not excited about the job prospects. Not even because the first few didn't pan out. But cause there's nothing open rn that I want #Which means my boss's boss is going to have to clear a path for me to get a job in a plant I could make do with #Increasing the animosity that I would already face from the get go because participants in our program are seen as entitled babies #That get everything handed to us on a silver platter #And having a job be forced open only makes the mounting animosity that much worse #So I'll likely have no allies on my side upon entering my new job and it probably won't even be a job I'd be suited for #Plus my boss's boss really wants me to go to a plant that needs a LOT of help because there's a bigger opportunity for upward mobility #But like I just want a decent house and standard of living man #I don't need to be the big boss. And NONE of the other students have a spot there #Plus I'm fairly certain that one of the other students already tried to get a position opened up there and failed #Which is ridiculous because they're the only one in our program with a masters degree #There's two others who might be able to get a job in the same sector but one wants to stay in this state and feels obligated to take a job #While the other is really struggling to find placement and might end up at the opposite plant as me #I have one confirmed ally if I go to the 'laid back' plant and they really want me to work there with them #But they'd be in a role where I wouldn't be able to see them all that often #And as I said before I don't think I'll do well in whatever job they scrounge up for me