I Am Completely Serious

"Besides, our eyes are on the front of our faces so we can always face forward into the future!"

See, I haven't read much of Doraemon, but even I recognize that line. Is Monobear just quoting that series constantly, and I'm not noticing it? I wonder if the voice actress developed some pent-up frustration voicing that cat for so many years.

I didn't sleep much last night - my muscles were cramping from all the digging I did, and my stomach was upset. So when I got up I forgot I was taking a break and mixed the stuff into my breakfast like usual. I'm kind of impressed I managed to measure it out while in that state.

(On less than five hours of sleep I'm pretty much a zombie before breakfast; I bang into things, move my stuff around, and have conversations, then can't figure out later why my glasses are in the sink.)

Anyway, my muscle pain from all the digging I did yesterday started feeling better right away, so I'm calling it a win. Still pretty tired, though.

Nepeta, Karkat, Tavros, and Mindfang all use the word "love" in a romantic sense, which is an interesting combination. None of the kids use it until after meeting the humans, though, so I guess one could call it a loanword, if so inclined. Karkat appears to have given up on his hate/pity model at some point in between the beginning of Hivebent and witnessing Eridan's murder spree; the first time he uses it he's shouting at Eridan, and the second he's explaining Troll Nalini Singh to Dave.

Jake is the word's heaviest user, followed by John and Jane. Jake and John use it mainly in dialog, and Jane in her internal monologue, as is fitting.

This one's going to be even more TMI than usual. It will involve my reproductive organs. You've been warned.

( Read more... )

I was hassling the AO3 team about adding Google Analytics support, and they've made it into a feature request here. If you want to be able to see who's linking people/trolls to your fic, you should vote for this.

I've been trying out an herb called kratom as an antidepressant for the past week or so, out of frustration with the prescription drugs I've been put on. I was talking about the experiment under a lock, because I've been trying not to post too much in public about my personal gloom-and-doom, on the basis that most people are here for the nerd stuff.

But Tennessee is talking about banning the stuff, which is something of which I really disapprove. I live in Kentucky, so the legislators in question don't really have any reason to listen to me, but I thought I should make these posts public so that they're google-able for Tennesseans doing research. Also, obviously, in hopes of dissuading Kentucky from following suit.

I've read a lot of stories of people who can't afford prescription drugs using kratom to manage depression, chronic pain, and exhaustion - that's why I decided to try it in the first place. And I've also seen stories, like this one on Reddit, of people addicted to dangerous opiates like prescription painkillers and heroin, using it to taper off their use, because it acts like an opiate and helps them with withdrawal symptoms. Its own withdrawal symptoms are comparatively really mild, too.

This is a really big deal, because kratom seems to be nearly impossible to overdose on - as anyone who reads my blog knows, I'm pretty paranoid about taking even over-the-counter meds, so I did a lot of research before ordering the stuff. I really haven't found any stories of anyone hurting themselves with it; the only thing close is a news article about a guy ending up in the ER because he was vomiting. And that doesn't sound like an overdose to me. The stuff's well-known to cause nausea in high volumes.

If kratom is really as safe as it appears to be, and it helps people with addictions to drugs that can actually kill them, banning it would be unbelievably stupid. Opiate addiction, particularly prescription painkillers, is a terrible problem in Appalachia; I've dealt with a lot of addicts through work, and I've seen how hard it is to get off that stuff. Keeping people who genuinely want to get clean from accessing an inexpensive tool to help them would be really irresponsible.

And frankly, barring the stuff without having any good evidence that it's dangerous doesn't make any sense. Louisiana chose to deal with kratom by requiring that it not be sold to people under eighteen; that makes sense to me. A ban doesn't.

Okay, there's enough of me blogging at legislators who aren't reading this. ( Under the cut I'm going to talk a little about my medical history and explain why I've been doing this, as context for people who haven't read my depressing locked posts. )

I don't really get into internet arguments over the morality of murder, rape, domestic abuse, and so on. Not even when it happens in the relatively "safe" context of fictional narratives involving cake battles and clown hammers! And should you choose to "step to" me with regard to these topics, I am unlikely to respond.

Because, here's the thing. If I don't know you, you don't have a "right" to my time (or indeed to anyone's, of course) if you're defending things like that to me (or indeed ever, of course) and you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

(Or indeed, even if you do. But you probably don't, or you wouldn't be trying to debate the definition of "sexual assault" with a literally brain-damaged person ostensibly named "Snarp.")

This doesn't constitute cowardice on my part. The reason that I am not going to discuss this subject matter with you is twofold: First, you're probably an asshole.

Second,  I worked for two years at a law firm whose caseload was about half criminal defense work. This means that persons accused of having committed crimes paid us money to get them out of trouble. Some were innocent, but more were guilty. Real-life legal practice is not much like Phoenix Wright.

Now, I personally worked mainly on civil cases, but it was, on occasion, part of my actual job to think and write about violent crime, rape, and sexual assault! To communicate with dangerous people, sometimes in person! Though the best part was when I had to read through sexual predators' online communications, because I was the only one in the office who understood how email headers and IP addresses worked. This was sufficiently scarring to my libido that I think that I am now physically attracted only to "brainships."

What I'm trying to convey is that this job was emotionally tiring at best, and at worst legitimately frightening. At times people showed up in the office angry/intoxicated and apparently desirous of a physical altercation. Once a guy who'd come to beat up the secretary asked to borrow my scissors.

So, because debating the causes and consequences of human evil used to be an activity in which I had no choice but to engage, it's not something I always choose to do in my leisure time. And I am the one who gets to decide how I spend that time! Not you. So, instead of trying to engage me in a tussle about whether your favorite character is "legitimately" a rapist (or whatever it is you're going on about), I ask that you respect my boundaries, step away from the keyboard, and accept that you are just totally wrong.

(Tumblr Crosspost)

On the basis that, you know. He murdered her for breaking up with him.

The only manifestation of this ship that I deem acceptable is Feferi laying her eggs in his split abdomen, that her offspring may eat of his dead flesh, and grow strong.

(Tumblr crosspost tags: #erifef #is terrible #kanaya standing by and monitoring the process #all like I Hope I Bisected Him In A Convenient Location For This #karkat and sollux are nearby taking turns vomiting #rose just #takes notes)