EmilyGB2023

EmilyGB2023, 8 days ago

@RickiTarr

Oh, I think it's worse than that. It's not just the "this is time critical/sensitive" to everything -- most of which isn't -- they understaff TOO.

"Oh, we need this done by X, no excuses. And you'll do with with 70% of the staff you need"

And then they cancel bonuses, give anemic raises, half or more of the positions are OT exempt and they're all "we can't authorize even 4 to 1 comp time".

So they end up with massive profits to the CEOs, as our salary effectively drops (as we're working 60+ hours on a salary meant for 40), trading out stress for their third vacation home.

And it works because they have so much of the money that we're all hand to mouth, and can't afford to walk away and spend months looking for a job. (Don't get me started on interviews these days)

And the whole time, you're dealing with coworkers who think union is a slur, and not the thing that would help get decent working hours, fair pay, and safer workplaces.

EmilyGB2023, 8 days ago

@RickiTarr That's because they can say "this is an emergency" to force more work out of people. It's emotional manipulation.

Same thing done to, say, teachers when they ask for more pay or more help. It's a constant drumbeat of "Well what about the kids who will get worse education if you leave?". Or nurses -- "Oh, so you're in it for the MONEY not HELPING PEOPLE?"

It's all rah-rah capitalism except the part where they pay people.

2008 and the meltdowns over jingle mail. If a homeowner says "Well, the contract we BOTH agreed to was 'If I stop paying, you take the collateral I put up' and says "This isn't worth paying anymore, take the collateral I'm walking" it's some deep moral failure.

If I business does that? It's a savvy, praise worthy move.

EmilyGB2023, 8 days ago

@RickiTarr

Vader. Vader wouldn't care about me. And if he did decide I was dead weight, it's not like I personally failed him or anything. I'd have a chance at survival, and any death would likely be pretty quick.

Vader is mostly pretty efficient and straightforward rather than sadistic. He didn't really go into torture for funsies (he'd do it for information of course). He'd do whatever was most expedient or efficient.

The Alien Queen is absolutely 100% gonna kill me, and none of the ways she'd do it are pleasant.

EmilyGB2023, 14 days ago

@rooster

Hell yeah it is. And enjoy your new tattoo!

I've got, um, three more big pieces planned and some smaller pieces I might fit in.

I love the changed body, the colorful skin, the colorful hair. I like customizing ME.

I really wanted to end with "Just call me [something]" but I'm blanking on a neat cyberpunk appellation that would fit this.

SomethingCool Emily? Emily SomethingCool?

Something like that. Pretend it was awesome.

EmilyGB2023, 21 days ago

@sashag @kelidanovus @Impossible_PhD

I want an EV quite badly, but first I'm not in a "car buying unless I absolutely have to" position, and secondly if I want to charge it at home, I'd have to do some considerable electrical upgrades as I have an older house -- new box in addition to new wiring to support decent charging rates.

I've been nursing my Prius along since 2009. Almost 200k miles on it, and it has been an incredibly reliable car. Pity they're lagging so far behind in EVs.

So it's most likely I'd end up buying another hybrid if I have to replace it anytime soon, just due to cost -- it's a lot easier to find a used hybrid than an EV right now, and I wouldn't have to spend another 5k or so to add a charge point.

EmilyGB2023, 21 days ago

@JoscelynTransient

Well, down here in Texas?

Hearts and barbed wire together tends to be popular. Often with a bit of a quote from something.

Of course they're also deeply fond of Americana-- the decent ones are tend to be stylized pinup/Rockabilly stuff. (We're ignoring the literal tons of Confederate iconography)

Maybe take a classic and subvert it a bit? Barbed wire in the shape of an estrogen molecule?

EmilyGB2023, 21 days ago

@rooster Have you tried Transbian?

The install seems to take forever, and a lot of people add some custom mods.

The end result is really really gorgeous and satisfying.

EmilyGB2023, 23 days ago

@Impossible_PhD at 20 months into HRT this was exactly what I needed to read today.

I mean I already knew it - - I've also moaned about the short and tiny studies and paucity of data (I can't even find good information on trans breast development and tanner staging) - - but I needed to hear it again today.

Now it can just find a good paper to convince my endo that progesterone is worthwhile (she feels she ethically can't prescribe it, given the lack of data, but will help you find an endo that will, and she is happy to continue your care and accommodate your progesterone program) as I want to start sometime in my third year of hrt.

EmilyGB2023, 27 days ago

@Dani

Apparently that is "not a long term solution" and "suboptimal" and "stressful" and a bunch o9f other silly therapist words that can be safely ignored!

EmilyGB2023, 29 days ago

@Lazarou @Mary625 @RickiTarr

They are, at heart, conspiracy theorists. And they progress along the same path as a conspiracy theorist.

They are faced with a conflict between their fundamental assumptions about reality and the reality they're perceiving.

Trans folks existing is a direct contradiction to their fundamental, core belief in a strict gender binary (it's interesting to see how they accommodate intersex people versus trans folks. Mostly by ignoring the former). And they resolve the contradiction by coming up with increasingly complex explanations of how reality fits into their assumptions rather than reexamining their priors.

So when faced with trans folks? Well, we can't exist. Which means they have to explain why we're faking it. Invent imaginary motives and reasonings to explain why we "pretend", why we go through the difficulties of transition.

And then they have to explain why medical and mental health therapists support us, why we seem happier...

EmilyGB2023, 29 days ago

@Lazarou @Mary625 @RickiTarr

Just like flat earthers have to constantly keep coming up with increasingly elaborate descriptions of the world to explain things like, you know, sunsets and horizons and air travel, and satellites and the moon landing....

TERFs fall down the same rabbit hole. Like the "moon landings are a hoax" folks, they have to come up with these elaborate conspiracies of powerful, shadowy figures pursuing frankly insane goals with the aid of thousands or tens of thousands of folks, faking every single thing in order to "gain power" in some sort of nebulous way.

And as those who "see the truth", they will take contradictions as proof of the conspiracy, view themselves as victims and "targets"' and, well, their fanfiction has gotten REALLY convoluted.

But that's it. They're just conspiracy theorists. They won't let go of some "perceived and absolute truth" no matter what, so they've invented vast and intricate conspiracies to explain the world.

EmilyGB2023, 1 month ago

@WrenArcher I did my first two weeks ago (one hour) and my second session (Saturday) is two.

It's not fun, but you'll get through it! It wasn't as bad as I feared.

EMLA cream and earbuds were the best advice I received. The electrologist also pushed hydration heavily as well as some skin care recommendations.

I hate not shaving for several days.

EmilyGB2023, 1 month ago

@JoscelynTransient @WrenArcher

I did thermolysis. It's fast and the least painful, but a larger % of the hairs have to be redone (not many, though).

And with the numbing cream, about half the hairs I didn't feel, about 2/3ds of what I did feel the plucking them out hurt more than the thermolysis, and the rest the thermolysis was a bit worse than the hair pull. (Keep in mind the hair pull is also numbed, so it's not as bad as you'd think).

I also started with my jaw line, and like a tattoo the less fat the more the zap, you know?

EmilyGB2023, 1 month ago

@WhiteCatTamer @RickiTarr

I've never eaten at a Michelin Star place (my spouse has, and enjoyed it every time -- but there aren't any in Texas) but that sounds like someone was trying to do molecular gastronomy poorly.

I've had AMAZING molecular gastronomy. (Houston is really, really, really good for food. Authentic anything you care to name, some amazing fusion restaurants -- if I get the hell out of Texas, the only thing I'll miss is the wide array of culinary options in Houston)

EmilyGB2023, 1 month ago

@nyquildotorg @RickiTarr

Eh, I'm okay with them defining that in terms of "what it means here" because, well, I've met people.

And I cannot at all blame a steak place for going, basically, "I know SOME OF YOU are going to say "medium rare" and then when it shows up be all mad because your idea of medium rare is rare or well done, so we're just gonna tell you what color it is so everyone is aware that if we GIVE you steak cooked like that, and you send it back, it's because you fucked up not us"

Because I've seen people do that -- and if it's cooked medium rare like they ASKED and they really wanted rare, they can't uncook it a bit.

EmilyGB2023, 1 month ago

@WhiteCatTamer @RickiTarr

I mean in the end, it's a full meal. Every time I've tried molecular gastronomy it's been that way. Although it was more like 2 hours not 4.5

But I also kind of view that as dinner and a show, as they do a lot of plating and fun stuff in front of you, so you're watching them do fun sciency stuff to food. And generally with the head chef talking you through the dish, what's in it, how it was made, often with stories about why.

Last time I went, for instance, the chef had to explain how to eat this tiny little..sea thing. It was something he'd had in this tiny seaside town in Spain and wasn't common outside it. He loved it on a visit, and has been regularly importing some since.

Stuff like that is half the reason to do long long dinners like that.

The difference though is, well, I had an amazing time and amazing food that was just the right amount of food and time. And this Michelin Star place apparently sucks at most of that...

EmilyGB2023, 1 month ago

@RickiTarr @stevegis_ssg

The process of discovering who you are, has to have some cringe because you can only do it through trial and error.

I'm watching my nephew do it now. I'm so glad he has more room to explore than my brother and I had at that age. That he's more free to work things out now than we were.

But goodness, he IS gonna cringe at some of his current style choices.

Not that I have room to judge -- I'm just shy of fifty and my style seems to be drifting to Doc Martens (well, Solovair these days), fishnets, and plaid skirts.

The 90s never quite leaves a girl...

EmilyGB2023, 1 month ago

His primary question wasn't what to do or not do -- the seizure was over by the the time he contacted me.

His question was "Does this person need to go to the ER or just make a doctor's appointment".

And here is the answer: If this person does NOT have a prior history of seizures, they always need to go to the ER. You should call paramedics as soon as you can/

They need a full neurological workup and monitoring.

Seizures can be either the problem itself (seizure disorder, in which your seizure threshold is just very low) -- or a symptom of a different problem. Stroke, for instance, or a bad drug interaction. Or a tumor. Or a million other things, some trivial and some not, and some -- like a stroke -- where speed is off the essence.

EmilyGB2023, 5 months ago

@foolishowl @RickiTarr

Ah yes, metrosexual -- the ridiculous idea that a man might take some care in his appearance and some joy in his life.

I think the screaming was part and parcel of the outsourcing of labor from men to women, and the keen desire by many men to keep it that way.

"Looking good is HER job, but it's also her job to make sure I look good, and to tell me when that is, and also to do the dishes, laundry, raise the child, vacuum, cook, support me in all things...."

"Metrosexuals" were men doing "women's work" by being fully capable of competently handling their own styling and grooming, and by merely existing it showed men who relied on the women in their lives to nag them into clean clothes and regular haircuts were just being lazy.

And so of course the long-running joke about metrosexuals is that they were gay. Both because it was "feminine" to be able to handle that, but also because obviously only men who didn't have women in their lives would need to.