my aunt used to be a beauty pageant kid. had long, beautiful red hair with a curl pattern that made hairdressers jealous. her mother would pay people lots of money to spend hours styling my aunt’s hair
predictably, as a young adult, my aunt cut all of her hair off. buzzed down to the scalp. she still keeps it pretty short- long enough for curls to develop, but only on the top of her head. she says she can’t stand the feeling of her hair touching her ears or neck.
recently she’s started collecting and styling wigs. she’ll even wear them, occasionally, to a fancy event or if she just doesn’t want to be bothered by distant family when she goes shopping. and she spends hours styling these wigs, even though she doesn’t use them all that often.
i asked her about it. she said that sometimes, growth looks a lot like regression with a twist. that she’s reclaiming something she enjoyed as a kid, and could have enjoyed more. she said she’s practicing having agency, and that it’s a skill that doesn’t come very naturally for her. having agency, i mean. she’s really good at styling wigs.
i hate australian people they need a dumb fucking nickname for every single word. can’t even get in a car accident without some australian asshole coming up to you and saying “oh gotcha self in a carblammy there aintcha mate” kill yourself and go to hell
People will really think being a Dad is boring like my guy there is a Kreacher roaming my halls possessing of my intellect but devoid of my morals getting into mischief and the only real weapon I really have at my disposal is the fact that his desire for my Approval is tremendous.
and the kreacher has never heard any of the jokes in the world, not even the bad ones, they are an entirely blank slate for all that humour has to offer
They don’t even know how most stuff works! You can show em a fucking flashlight and be like “here this woulda dazzled your Ancestors I bet you’ll like it too”
water! dirt! peanut butter! it’s all new!
Plus, the Kreacher is fun sized! I cannot just hoist most of my friends up into the air on a whim! The Kreacher will perch on my shoulder like some sort of great ape and I can just carry him over Rough Terrain! Trying to get most folks to keep up with me on a good hike usually requires a great deal of persuasion and perhaps some light bribery but this dude’s like “lizards! Bunnies! Rocks! Dirt!” He’s got the right idea proper hiking buddy this one
Only downside is that with all the rock throwing we’ve done he can now nail me between the eyes with a Lego from 10 yards so I gotta remember not to sass him too much
I think non-Americans need to calm down on the ‘respect the dead health insurance CEO’ policing of Americans who are forced to live in a system where they have to pay for healthcare.
Like there’s always going to be a bit of a “Violence is never the answer” throwaway line, but that’s not really true, is it?
Very fun that people think I’m writing this as an American citizen.
As if its not just a universal truth that when you push people past the point of sheer desperation that they then think they have nothing to lose and start hitting back however they see fit.
I’m going to call it now: When they catch the shooter (and they eventually will; he shot a very rich person) it’ll turn out that his wife or child (or both) died because UHC denied care…but then billed him a zillion dollars anyway.
This is easy to predict because it’s their entire business model and they have an army of lawyers and lobbyists to make sure they’re never, ever held accountable for it. So the guy fell back on the only thing America can’t give up: Cheap and easy access to guns.
And we’re going to see copycats.
This is in fact so predictable that we had an entire long-range (5 seasons, plus a spinoff with three seasons) where one of the main characters is driven to crime BECAUSE he was an exec at a major insurance company and they denied coverage for his son, who had cancer. It’s called Leverage.
Thankfully no one was killed however this is a horrific attack that could lead to copycats and or an escalation of hate crimes against Jewish Australians. I am in no way qualified to talk on how to handle such an event as a non-Jewish person. I cannot begin to think of the many Jewish Australians who are now fearful of their life in public, in their place of worship and in their home. I can only provide you some resources that may help ease you.
Here are some helplines that are catered to Jewish people and for anyone else impacted by the attack to call or use;
JewishHouse: 24/7 service offering support for those experiencing a crisis. ➡️ 1300 544 357
JewishCare: 9am to 5pm service offering counselling. ➡️ 1300 133 660
HeadSpace: provides online counselling and telephone support for young people aged 12 to 25. ➡️ 1800 650 890
Kids Helpline: 24/7 telephone and online counselling service for young people aged 5 to 25. ➡️ 1800 55 1800
Mental Health Line: 24 hour mental health telephone access service for adults and children. ➡️ 1800 011 511
Please don’t hesitate to reach out for support or to connect with the people in your community. I believe that as people we can always find comfort and strength in one another to get through tough times.
amhrancas 