Men willingly believe what they wish to be true.

Here's a blog that opens with a sales pitch.
I can have my tarot read for the low, low cost of 45 dollars!
WHAT A STEAL!
You know the ancient Greeks and Romans believed birds flying in their path were messages sent from the gods.
I can take an auspex for nothing on my ride to work.
Three crows flew over me yesterday.
WHAT DOES THIS PORTEND?
The reason tarot appears to predict the future is because it is easy to relate to the human condition.
I think using it as a fortune telling aide is bullshit because no man can predict the future but I believe properly applied to your own problems it can have a therapeutic effect.
That said all the snowflakes on Dreamwidth think it's magic.

 I am a ball of neurosis today. Whee.

I say this not to engender pity or anything, just documenting the feeling. Mostly because other than one small possible-trigger, I can't figure out where it's coming from.

I will unravel it eventually, it's just not fun in the meantime. 

TRIGGER WARNING

I am fuzzy-brained, so I can't thing well enough to process all the thinky panels I saw. But I learned SO MUCH. My brain feels like it stretched to accommodate all the learning. And, in some cases, clarifying of points. 

What the fuck does that even say?
What the fuck are words?

I finished ME2 day before yesterday, and I had planned on waiting until I got back from WisCon before starting ME3, but I needed something to cheer me up, and killing aliens and meeting "old friends" was just perfect.  

Mass Effect 2 came out like 4 years ago.
This post was made a month ago.
Mass Effect truly has been one of the most influential games in gaming but for all of the wrong reasons.

I completely understand the people who kept saying "just skip ME, start with ME2" now. ME2 is a great game, and I think I will start there from now on. But I wanted to be a completionist, and I am glad I did play ME. 

Meanwhile anyone with any goddamn sense tells you to play ME1 and skip the rest of that garbage.
Here's a great rule for life I'm learning:
if fanfiction-writing, Dreamwidth snowflakes tell you something just assume the opposite is true.
If one told me the sky was blue I'd probably suspect it was red somehow.

So, literally, one of the first things I saw upon waking was Angelina Jolie's awesome op-ed about her choice to have a double mastectomy after learning she carries the "faulty gene" that makes her chances of breast cancer exceedingly high. I was impressed by her willingness to shine the light on such a personal choice, and my respect for her climbed even higher. 

I respect her decision to excise any perceived weakness in her even if it's physically mutilating.
I suspect she'd understand my desire to gain cybernetic arms and eyes.

Unfortunately, she's a woman, so therefore the haters climbed out of the muck to shriek about this courageous choice.

People can't handle forward thinking like this.
No one wants to think of their own body as defective and in dire need for augmentation.
Except when Asian girls get their eyes widened.
There is no need for that nonsense.
I also don't see this as hypocrisy either because that serves no practical use.
Clearly Asian people evolved that trait for a good reason.

Between the assholes saying "poor Brad," and the people ranting about "how dare she," and "why is she even talking about this?" (maybe because people need to be educated about their options?!?!) I quickly reached my limit for asshattery today.

Yes.
This poor woman is having her entire chest cleaved off but meanwhile it's all about what you feel about it.
White women ahoy!

Fortunately, I have awesome friends. The Ferrett talks brilliantly about why no one should be saying 'poor Brad.' That says it all, really. As to the "how dare she" crowd, it's HER BODY. She gets to do whatever she wants. Go watch your Hackers gif if you're so in love with her "original boobs," as one individual put it. 

I thought she already had implants?
There's no way she doesn't already have implants.

My issue with her choice is that it's a choice made possible by her wealth. I could not afford the genetic testing that she's done, and I have what is considered *good* insurance. My insurance still does not cover that particular gene test, and while that may change, it'll take a lot of lobbying for the change to happen. 

What was she supposed to do?
Not have the test done because there are people who can't afford it?
So she doesn't have it and gets breast cancer and dies.
Or has her tits hacked off then and gets really sick on top of it.
Either way she's just out her tits or her life.
At no point is her not having these tests a bad idea.
People don't look at the end results of shit enough.
It's all "oh but her motivation wasn't pure".
Who gives a shit?
Same end results, really.

Her reconstruction, which she references, is also made possible by her privilege. Again, if such reconstruction was not covered by insurance, I would not be able to afford it even if I wanted it. And given her status, I am certain she had the best plastic surgeons in the world-- something, again, I could not afford! 

 She's framing this in "I couldn't afford this so it's wrong" implying if you could you would keep your mouth shut.
That's interesting to me.

What if you want to know, but you don't want to have a double mastectomy? That should be your choice, not a mandatory side effect of having a procedure.

I am glad she's speaking out about this, but to me, it only raises more questions and more frustration about the state of the world-as-I-know-it.

Progress is by definition unequal and unfair.
Get used to it, snowflake.

Kidney doc appointment done! My creatinine is still high, but it's only a little high now-- 1.5 versus the 3+ that I left the hospital with. So, he thinks following up with blood work in a few months is all that's required, and I can do that with my regular doc. So, yay!

He said to keep up with the liquids. My potassium levels were still a smidge low, too, so I'm going to keep up with the gatorade for another week or two as well. Other than that, once I'm out of this flare I'm going to return to my normal routine of exercise. Yay for a clean bill of health.

Stop.
How many millions of Africans can't afford to have their kidneys tested?
You should stop because clearly your wealth is affording you this test others can't afford.
Worse yet you mentioned in another post I'm not quoting that you're on Medicaid.
You are benefiting from wealth that isn't even yours.
See what I mean when I say you're a whiny bitch about the Angelina Jolie thing?

I am firmly ensconsed in a flare. Ow ow ow. 

...
Maybe don't sit on chemical fires?
Personally I'm wreathed in warp fire but that's the corruption of Chaos.

I haven't done anything today, thanks to the pain. I woke up at 9 in horrid pain, took meds, and slept all day. I am still in pain, but I'm going to attempt to be upright for a time, so I only took OTC pain meds.

Ugh. I hate flares. 

Oh this is like a pain flare.
Maybe specify.
Because I was thinking road flare this entire time.

I finished Mass Effect 1 last night, and stuck in 2 almost immediately. ME1 is all the things that made me love Bioware, smushed into Science Fiction-y goodness. And, IMHO, the fact that you can import your character and continue playing in ME2 makes it a better sequel than Dragon Age 2. 

>Dragon Age 2
>good

This game series and Dragon Age are why I am a huge Bioware fangirl. It doesn't even feel like a game, sometimes, it feels like an epic movie that you're influencing. *siiiigh* Looooove it. 

Heh.

The only reaction I ever have when I read women talking about Bioware games.
Anyway fuck blogs.