darkstarnovaphoenix

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

kink shaming is dead. I respect people with foot fetishes more than the president of the united states of America

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

So I was at SDCC this year, and I passed a stall in the ladies' and heard someone sobbing inside. Just bawling, fully melting down. My-dog-just-died levels of crying. And I've spent a lot of time in therapy trying to learn better boundaries around helping people, but I'm not made of stone, so I stopped outside the stall door and asked, "Are you okay?"

The woman's breath caught, and she said, "Yeah, I'm fine," in the least fine voice I have ever heard.

So I walked away. Made it all the way to the sinks. Washed my hands. And turned around and went back because nope, not fine, not okay.

"Look, I don't want to be a dick, and you don't have to tell me what's going on, but is there anything that would help? I've got water, ibuprofen, and safety pins, and I could find other stuff."

"No, no, it's fine. I have those too."

"...okay."

I made it to the sinks again. She went back to sobbing like her heart was being torn out one strand of muscle at a time.

An older woman sidled up to me. "Did she tell you anything?"

"Nope. I offered her water and ibuprofen, too."

"Oh! I've got snacks. Maybe that'll help."

"Worth a shot. Oh, hey, I think I have some of my business cards for my Etsy shop in here—I could write my number on one if she needs help later."

"I've got a pen!"

We hurried back to the stall, offered the snacks, and were rebuffed. Finally we slid the card and the pen under the stall door, explained that we were both mom friends/teachers/etc. and trying to help-not-creep, and reluctantly fucked off. I personally felt like shit about it, but I had places to be and I felt like I was close to overstepping the crying woman's boundaries if I hadn't already done so. And if I'd made her feel unsafe, well, she could toss the card.

The following morning, I got a text from an unknown number.

She identified herself as "Rose from the bathroom" and explained that she'd had a hell of a day, with multiple people being cruel to her, seemingly for no good reason. She'd hit her breaking point and fled to the bathroom to cry it out ... at which point two strangers had rocked up, checked on her multiple times, and generally done the dance of most social mammals when a member of their group is in unexplained distress. The two of us had, more or less accidentally, restored her faith in humanity by being worried apes at her. 18 hours later, she was having a much better time, and a lot of it was due to the two of us shoving things under her door.

Anyway, turns out we live about 20 minutes apart, and we're going to meet up for tea after we've recovered from con exhaustion.

So if you ever feel like humans in general and/or fandom humans in particular are irredeemable shits, remember that sometimes the same species who'll ruin your con day will try to slide trail mix and ibuprofen under your stall door in case it helps.

I still don't know what Rose looks like, btw (although apparently she knows what I look like—I mentioned I was in cosplay and she said she'd seen me around). I don't know whether she's cis or trans. So next time you hear someone bitching about trans women in the ladies', feel free to tell them that it never once crossed anybody's mind to ask. If you're crying in the bathroom, you're my sister.

Maybe take the trail mix, though. We apes worry about one another.

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

so it's come to my attention that a lot of people just don't know how to optimize their computer experience - whether they're scared of screwing things up irreparably or just unaware the options exist! I work in tech support so here are my basics (mainly Windows):

you got a new computer: great! first thing you're gonna do is look at your pre-installed programs to remove or replace

norton antivirus - replace: this is technically speaking an antivirus but in my experience it's utterly useless in doing anything except popping up at inconvenient times and blocking you from downloading other antivirus applications (I personally tend to refer to it as preinstalled malware), uninstall it and replace it with avast antivirus

microsoft edge/internet explorer - replace: you can't delete this one without going into regedit but you CAN turn it off in the control panel via "turn Windows features on or off" microsoft edge and internet explorer both are notoriously slow and very very good at attracting malware and viruses, I suggest replacing this one with firefox (when it asks, click the button that makes firefox or whatever you choose your default browser)

cortana/copilot or other ai assistant - remove: this one is trickier and requires going into regedit to remove entirely but they are preinstalled spyware so here is a link to steps on how to disable these

in addition to removing and replacing the above listed I also suggest installing ccleaner to ensure your computer doesn't get cluttered with temporary files and runs more smoothly

congratulations! you're ready to use your computer! <3333

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

Big fan of characters realizing they don't get to die. They have to live. And grow. And be a person. And deal with shit they thought they'd never have to. And be fucked up about it. I would like more of this. Enough dying for honor or as redemption. It ain't. You're just a corpse. There is no moral value in dirt time.

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

reminder to take care of your loser human body

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

Hey tumblr friends, in case I haven't told you lately, I have no idea what the FUCK half of you are on about and I WISH I didn't know what the rest of you are on about. Great work. Keep it up.

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

minor tumblr user's carrd: over 25 dni!!

25 year old who was going to prey on this minor: oh damn 😔 here I was planning to groom them but i can't because of their dni 😔 what a shame 😔😔😔😔😔

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

every major structural social problem right now is basically "we don't have enough skilled workers on the ground" and the reason is always "well we've been intentionally underpaying and understaffng them for decades to increase corporate profits" and somehow the news always just mentions the "shortage" without digging into the cause

air travel is a mess? shortage of air traffic controllers - for some mysterious reason

logistics a mess? shortage of truck drivers - for some mysterious reason

public transit can't meet demand? shortage of bus drivers - for some mysterious reason

We even mysteriously have shortages of doctors, nurses, teachers... FOR SOME MYSTERIOUS REASON

FUCKING PAY PEOPLE AND HIRE ENOUGH STAFF

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

This user supports AO3

This user is anti-censorship

This user believes in “don’t like, don’t read”

This user believes in “ship and let ship”

This user believes that fiction tastes and preferences do not dictate moral character

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

i feel like we as a digital society have forgotten the important rules of the internet

Don't feed the trolls

Never give out personal information

Anonymity is the best defense

Don't click suspicious links

Don't click popups and ads

Just because it's written doesn't mean it's true

You are responsible for your own experience

There is porn of everything, act accordingly

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

Hunting Sword with Scabbard, possibly Munich. Circa 1740

[darkstarnovaphoenix]

Donald Trump gets attacked by an eagle.

This eagle truly represents America. What a majestic symbol.