inlovewithaspiderguy

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

Post on my dash about medical debt reminded me of the time tumblr saved me two grand. I don't think I told y'all about it because I am out of the habit of posting everything I do on tumblr lol

So. Last December, I had a bad cavity filled, and about a week later, I woke up with half of my face paralyzed. Which, as I'm sure you can imagine, freaked me the fuck out. Fortunately I had some level-headed Discord friends who a) told me what Bell's palsy was so I could look it up and b) reminded me to call my dentist for an emergency appointment. Dentist was also pretty sure it was Bell's palsy, but urged me to go to the emergency room to get checked out, because one-sided facial paralysis is also a possible indicator of a stroke. And you don't fuck around with strokes.

Bell's palsy, if you, like me of 6 months ago, don't know, is a harmless paralysis/muscle weakness on one side of the face that can be caused by a variety of things. It usually goes away on its own after a few weeks but also you can speed up the process with steroids.

I was pretty sure I was not having a stroke, because I'm Red Cross first aid certified and I know the symptoms of a stroke, and while one-sided facial paralysis is one of them, I didn't have any of the others. Also, I had quit my shitty job in October, which meant I had a shiny new marketplace health insurance plan and hadn't even touched my deductible. But I called my parents from the car and they urged me to get checked out and promised to help me pay off the emergency room bill if I needed it, because they're good people and they love me even if they drive me crazy sometimes. So off I went to the nearest emergency room.

Emergency room staff also didn't think I was having a stroke, because I waited ALL AFTERNOON, periodically having a new person come up to me and ask me to smile, hold both arms out to the side, press down on their hands, and tell them what month and year it was. (They don't ask who the president is anymore. Hmm, I wonder why.) One guy had me drink a cup of water while he watched. I cannot stress enough that I did not have any medical tests other than a physical examination: no CT scans or MRIs, no IV drugs or blood draws, nothing.

I get diagnosed with Bell's palsy and given a prescription for Prednisone. And then they give me a phone number and tell me to talk to this person about administrative stuff. So I call, and the dude on the phone verifies my name and date of birth and insurance information, and then he says, "It looks like your copay today is going to be $2400. How would you like to pay?"

I am, to this day, kind of impressed that he didn't even stutter over that number, but I assume working in a medical call center drains your entire soul. At this point, it's about 7pm, and I've been in the hospital since 2pm, and I'm stressed because half my face doesn't work, and I know that I can't afford $2400 because I quit my shitty job with nothing lined up back in October. But, I still remember every tumblr post I've ever read about health insurance and the medical system and how you can negotiate down a bill. I am not looking forward to this process, it sounds like a pain in the ass, but the alternative is paying $2400, so I say the magic words: "Send me an itemized bill."

I kinda expected the guy to try and get me to pay up front, but he just says "Ok" and finishes up the process. I get discharged, go to the only open pharmacy at that time of night to get my Prednisone, have the pharmacist tell me the prescription isn't written right and he can't fill it, go home, and have a screaming sobbing meltdown because I have used up every single milligram of cope in my entire body. (I got my steroids eventually, and the Bell's palsy cleared up in a couple weeks.)

A few weeks later, I get the bill in the mail. I brace myself and open it...

$300.

Turns out, after going through insurance and processing and everything, they couldn't actually find $2400 worth of stuff to charge me for. Shocking! Who could have predicted!

I might have been able to argue it down even more, but I was fed up with entire thing, so I paid the $300 just to be fucking done with it. Sometimes the cheapest way to pay is with money.

What if I had paid that $2400 up front? Do I think they would have been like, "Oh, oops!" and refunded me $2k? Well, possibly, but I am not optimistic.

So, thank you to everyone who has ever posted about navigating the US healthcare system on tumblr. Because of you, I knew how to handle this situation even when I was tired and stressed.

Don't forget to ask for an itemized bill, folks.

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

Fucked up in sins of London and did not take the healed age but now I lost lots of sepulchral whisper points so I’m going to start the entire season over sigh

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

"with this remake project, now your favourite game from 15 years ago with strong art direction and style can look like an unreal engine asset flip with ray traced lighting"

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

i’m not saying a shower will solve all your problems. all i’m saying is that my life has certainly never seemed worse with clean hair

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

all quiet in a western font

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

(Spoken as someone who is in unfortunate possession of a lot of South Park knowledge from 2011) The whole South Park v. Trump thing is hilariously coherent, to me, both in it happening and in MAGA acting like this is a betrayal they could not possibly have seen coming.

The most important thing to understand about South Park is its identity does not align with any one political group. Its identity is a rabid hatred of censorship.

South Park, at the end of the day, wants to line up a bunch of idiots representing all sides and say Absolutely Anything about them. The show itself strikes a "Caring is Cringe" Enlightened Centrism by making sure you see that everyone who cares on either side is an idiot.

But. And this is important too: They do it in a way that can honeypot just about anyone into thinking they're the ones being agreed with.

This is because the bullet spray of mockery hits all targets. And you can, without much stretch, assign a character who is probably in the right, right? The show creators thought so too, right? This character is the least idiot.

So many plots are structured around Kyle (one of the main boys, the progressive one) taking some stance of compassion and anger over a social issue, to then be absolutely dicked around by Cartman (who needs no introduction.)

And it's actually so very easy to have two people watch the same episode and have one person conclude "Obviously Kyle was in the right. And he's getting dicked around by Cartman who sucks." while the other person concludes "Hahaha stupid Kyle with his bleeding-heart liberal BS. Cartman is so funny and awesome."

If Kyle says "I support the environment" and then spends the whole episode getting tormented for it: it's because this is righteous narrative comeuppance for a bleeding-heart idiot stance, or this is actually representing the tortured reality of being the only smart compassionate person in a world of cruel idiots. It's both. It's neither. It's clown nose honking.

Everyone is an idiot. Every side is full of idiots. So when an idiot character says, "I support gay rights", the audience can say either "South Park said gay rights!" or "South Park made fun of the idiot who said 'Gay rights'." with equal conviction.

Now--with no real political convictions and beliefs--South Park does have plenty of episodes that assign a winner. They will shoot down whoever they find most annoying. And they will shoot down whoever is trying to tell them what they can and cannot say.

And, while this is where my knowledge is about ~14 years out of date, I'm going to make the safe assumption that "You can't say that, because Woke" has been a constant target of the last maybe half-decade.

Okay, now with that context:

It is entirely unsurprising of me to think South Park has (or had) an enormous swath of alt-right, conservative, MAGA fans who think South Park is their show. They can watch every politically non-committal episode and say "Cartman is so cool and awesome. Kyle is a whiny little bitch." And they can watch every committal "We hate Woke for telling us what we can't say" episode, and happily conclude South Park is on their side.

But back to the thesis: South Park hates censorship. South Park hates censorship so much more than they could possibly care about any one political party.

And, the fact that Trump is lashing out with threats, blackmail, and every political cudgel he has to make people stop talking--that's already going to get you on South Park's shitlist.

But it got so much worse: because a sister-show on South Park's network (The Colbert Show) is being canceled as an appeasement to Trump. By the network hosting both IPs.

And Canceling a show for saying something politically unsavory is the worst possible offense, according to South Park.

There is no worse sin.

I hope South Park spends the entire season biting Trump's dick off.

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

Flaws and Quirks in Male Characters That I’m BEGGING Writers to Explore

✧ Dudes who are bad at sports. Yes, Chad, not every male character needs to throw a perfect spiral in high school. Let him get hit in the face with a dodgeball. Let him (please) suck.

✧ The “pretty boy” who's not vain, just vibing. Like he knows he looks like he walked out of a Renaissance painting but has the self-esteem of a lost ferret.

✧ Shy, awkward boys who don’t magically become suave by Chapter 6. No, he’s still weird at parties and says “you too” when the waiter says “enjoy your meal.”

✧ Flirtatious guys who are actually super respectful. He's flirty but not a walking lawsuit. Shocker. He’s playful, not predatory.

✧ Male friendships that aren't emotionally constipated. Yes, two guys can say “I love you, bro” and not immediately punch each other to cancel it out.

✧ The soft-spoken leader. He doesn’t need to scream orders or have a “gruff, commanding voice.” He just talks, and people shut up and listen because he’s competent.

✧ Dudes with weird hobbies. like, your guy MC collect antique spoons or have a YouTube channel rating old vacuums. Why not. It’s his passion.

✧ Guys who are clingy and insecure in relationships. Not abusive, just genuinely terrified of being left on read for too long. He's trying his best, ok?

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

Meanwhile no one is talking about how much Neil Gaiman's the Sadman is trending on Tumblr

Mr Sadman, man me a sad.

What do you want me to do about it? Why did you send this? Should I gather the mob?

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

We all know the online safety act and the two child policy but what are some lesser known laws you think should be repelled?

The Acts of Union 1707

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

bro

nightmare nightmare nightmare

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

In the 1700s, blood transfusion was used to treat psychosis. Oddly, sometimes it worked.

So a question for my followers: Give your best guess as to why this could have worked without looking it up.

I will answer tomorrow.

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

the most annoying people are people who don't understand storytelling. they be like "oooo how convenient that this thing happened to the main character in the very beginning". yeah no shit. that's why the story begins here

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

this needs to be framed and hung in tumblr hq

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

the people who hate the "mama" trend hate fun. take my hand...be silly with mama

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

body hair is hot, stretch marks are hot, big/ prominent noses are hot, crooked teeth are hot, tummies are hot. not in a 'you can have these things and be hot despite it' but in a these things make someone specifically extremely hot type of way. can anyone hear me. im going insane

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

Knightfuckers and robotfuckers actually have alot in common. for example:

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