faranae - Tumblr blog

[faranae]

Trying to remember how to draw and attacking random Skids in the Sky server's screenshot channel lol

[faranae]

Spud is here!

For a week!!

[faranae]

Rant incoming

I love when I talk about my own identity and what I settled on after years of uncertainty and insecurity only to have internet randos constantly yelling about not forcing identities onto folks who don't want them. That's some boogeyman shit.

I... Didn't? Like, it should be a given from any decent human being that I'm not sitting here forcing my identity onto others just by claiming it myself. That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works, actually, and it's the same logic the bigots and TERFs use if you take more than 10 seconds to think about it.

If Susan says she identifies as a butch lesbian, she is not calling for all of lesbian-kind to adopt butchdom. Maxille calls themselves the King Fruit? Surprisingly not a crusade to force that title on others, though an uprising or two may be due because I don't remember voting for them.

If I say I identify as queer and ask folks to respect that, I am not saying "everyone in the LGBTQ2S+ communities needs to accept being called queer" because that would be fucking stupid.

I am, quite literally, begging here: Leave queer folks alone. You don't have to use our umbrella. We are not threatening you by fighting for our right to just stand here, holy fuck.

We are allowed to point out literal campaigns designed to vilify us. We are allowed to point out that we reclaimed queer decades ago and that there are groups fighting--recently!--to undo that. We are allowed to draw attention to the hitlists and harassment, even if you don't want to see it.

We are not forcing you to listen, but a modicum of respect would be nice. If you can't stomach treating a queer person like a human being with feelings, perhaps you can manage the bare minimum and just leave us the fuck alone in our own spaces.

And on that note: Maybe, just maybe, you can block and move on if one of our posts breaches containment and hits your feed instead of jumping in and shitting on everyone just trying to connect with their peers and find a sense of belonging.

I am so tired.

/endrant

[faranae]

What the hell is this?

My Amazon package today came in a box that cannot be reused.

Literally. The box is designed that you have to rip it in half to open it.

It's reduce, reuse, recycle, PRIORITIZED IN THAT ORDER. They just straight-up deleted the middle step. What in the consumerist hell?

ToT

[faranae]

Despite residing in a similarly-shaped tube my facial cleanser is not, in fact, toothpaste!

[faranae]

For the love of Frick, if you compute in a dark/dim room please hook up a light to illuminate the wall behind your screen. It doesn't have to be the sun! Just a fraction of your screen's brightness, really.

If you want to be very fancy you can refer to it as "bias lighting" but that's going to bring up a lot of expensive specialty products and buzzwords and tech specs if you look it up. A $2 USB light from the dollar store can do just fine; Just look for anything that disperses/softens the light instead of shining a harsh beam.

The reason for this: Eye fatigue!

When you only have dark surroundings and a bright screen in front of you, your eyes have to do a lot of extra work adjusting all the time to such a harsh contrast. Adding even a dim light against the wall makes it easier on them, adding a step in the middle.

(Visual artists: You know how it's easier on your eyes to work for longer periods on a grey canvas instead of white? Similar concept!)

Before I go, one more tip!

The 20/20/20 trick is worth remembering to prevent and ease eye strain: Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

(That's about 6 meters for those of us who measure things in Normal, but "20/6/20 trick" really isn't all that catchy now, is it?)

[faranae]

"Hey, the laptop feels weird."

So, Sander's lid isn't closing flush. On closer inspection, the touchpad sure is popping up out of the keyboard by about the same amount as that gap you see in the above picture, so roughly 1/8".

"Ah, fuck." I think to myself. "That's probably a spicy pillow."

So, I flip Sander over and break out my handy-dandy T5 Torx bit to take the bottom of the case off. I ease my way in by working at all of the screws at once. I am careful. I am cautious...

... And I jump 3 feet out of my skin when the plate suddenly releases with a resounding CRACK:

That 1/4" gap you see there? That's not the lid. That's the bottom plate of the laptop, pushed up by the swollen chunk of chemical oh-no underneath it now that there are no screws to keep the delinquent battery subdued. Normally there are sets of clips along the inner edge of the chassis that hold the plate on, but they were no match for the Spicy Pillow.

There he is! Sander Cohen's undoing in all its glory. If you've ever wondered what a 50Wh 3-cell lithium-polymer battery looks like once it's going spicy, now you've seen it! :D

A few hours later and he's now recovering from surgery and doing quite well, though he will forever be tethered to the wall AC now that he's got no cell in there. I'm glad, because I'd just finished wiping the machine clean and setting him up for BabyCat to use for her schoolwork and some games. @_@; Her phone recently shattered (wasn't her fault either, the poor thing) and this was a way of cheering her up, and it almost went so horribly wrong.

[faranae]

I love Reddit sometimes.

[faranae]

Y'ALL I ALMOST FORGOT TO POST A PIC NOW THAT THE KIDDO HAS THE NEW HEATING PACK

They're a stuffy "shell" around a microwavable clay-based hot pack. I'm not making any product endorsements here as she hasn't *used* it yet but I have to admit this lil them is cute as hell.

Bonus points for the "olotl" wordplay on the tag. (sounds like "a lotta", or "a lot of")

So I was on the phone with my mother earlier. She wanted to confirm that my kid would enjoy/use an item she wanted to buy for the holidays. You know those stuffed animals with the removable heating packs you can put in the microwave? One of those things for assisting with her newly-discovered monthly agonies.

I confirmed and she continued, chattering about which one to get, and asked if we're still into pokemon (we are) and started rattling off a few colors to choose from in the design she'd picked.

Now, considering she had in that same conversation mentioned both stuffed animals and pokemon, I was curious what pokemon she'd found heating pads of that had multiple color choices?

Folks.

I do, on most levels, love my mother. I swear I do. But I had to convince this 50-whatever adult woman that axolotls are not a pokemon and are, in fact, a real animal.

At first she tried to double down when I corrected her.

Y ' a l l . . .

[faranae]

Trying to remember how to draw D&D!Sam

[faranae]

(or it would be if it wasn't 24h maint day. goddammit.)

I think it's an FFXIV and laundry kind of day.

[faranae]

I think it's an FFXIV and laundry kind of day.

[faranae]

To my fellow pretzel-sleepers and desk-users:

If you experience regular or rare

tingling and/or

numbness and/or

weakness and/or

weird-feeling movement

in your pinky finger and the closest edge of the finger next to it, you're who I'm aiming for here. It doesn't have to be consistent; Even if it only happens when tired or gaming, it still counts.

Do yourself a very big favor and start finding ways to keep your arm straighter, and to avoid leaning or putting pressure on your elbows.

Turns out those "computer posture" graphics that tell you to keep your elbows at a 90 degree angle are mostly bullshit. Therapists suggest making sure your elbows are at a wider angle instead. Move your chair back or keyboard forward if you have to.

Your elbows should always be above the height of your desk when sitting at your chair! Get a phone boooooook--nobody has phone books anymore uhhhh--cushion or something to lift you up if they're too low.

Have arm rests? Try to avoid putting weight on your elbows while at your desk, or adding a bit of padding to the armrest if it's unavoidable. When idle at your desk, letting your arm hang limp at your side instead of on the desk or armrest can also help to give a small break.

Thankfully, I already do most of that and my cause isn't computer related! Which brings me to the bedroom: My sleeping position appears to be the major deciding factor in how bad my symptoms are the next day. Turns out crumpling into a ball with a death grip on a pillow/stuffed animal/partner isn't very good for some of our human bits and pieces.

To my fellow pretzels, find a way to force yourself to sleep with your elbow unbent for the night. This is magic. Holy fuck. Like it was a little stiff for a minute but WOW.

I'm not going anywhere with this, I was just really happy that I woke up in less pain. I've needed to take naproxen all week it was that bad, but sleeping with my elbow straightened I woke up with about the same level of relief as with the pain meds! And, unlike with the pain meds, I also have a little bit of strength back in that finger. That part was starting to get scary...

Verdict is in on the hand/wrist issue!

Cubital Tunnel Syndrome!

(fuck.)

[faranae]

Verdict is in on the hand/wrist issue!

Cubital Tunnel Syndrome!

(fuck.)

[faranae]

So you know that big ass storm hitting North America right now? Lol yeah I've got no power for the next while. Woo hoo!

Phone time I guess! Hope everyone is staying safe, whether you're snowed in or just chilling elsewhere in the world.

(Great time to learn all our candles are scented and even being mostly recovered they set off my nausea baaaad. Even without the scent thing, the flickering bouncing off walls is also triggering my nausea. OTL)

[faranae]

My hero of the day: The receptionist at my doctor's office who saw the 2022 expiry on my health card and glanced at the "If your card is expired we will charge you $$ for your visit" sign but didn't say anything. Thank you ma'am I love and appreciate you.

[faranae]

Friends, would it make me an asshole to down-rate this Uber driver for having a tablet attached to his headrest running ads and a gambling app that "pays your driver the more you play"?