Ok so my kid had an ear infection, right? As kids often do.
The doctor scraped out a bit of earwax to have a better look inside.
I was sent a bill for $200 PER EAR for this 5 second procedure which I did not give permission for them to do.
That was key- they did not ASK me if they could do this "procedure". And, as I OWN a medical practice (it's me. The medical practice is me, sitting in my house on video calls) I knew to call them when this bill came in to be like "You did not obtain informed consent for this procedure, and it was not en emergency procedure. You had full ability to gain my consent and didn't. I'm not paying."
And the massive hospital who owned the bill said "yuh-huh you do have to pay."
And I said "I own a practice. I know these laws. I do not owe you money for this."
And they conducted an "internal review" and SURPRISE! Decided I totally owed them money and they had never done anything wrong ever.
And so I called my state's Attorney General office, and explained the situation because, as I mentioned, I know the law. The AG got in touch within a couple days to say they were taking the case and would send the massive hospital conglomerate a knock it off, guys letter.
Lo and Behold, today I have a letter where said hospital graciously has agreed to forfeit the payment.
"How not to get screwed over by companies" should be part of civics class.
Know your rights and know who to call when they're infringed on. This whole process cost me $0 and honestly less effort than I would have expected.
May this knowledge find its way to someone else who can use it.
List of random Headcanons/Ideas!
Post-Sonic Frontiers edition!
Starting off with Sonic:
After Sonic Frontiers I don’t think much will change for Sonic. He’s still gonna live life free as the wind, stop Eggman’s plans, and enjoy a nice chilidog after a hard days work.
I like to think Sonic will take over guarding the Master Emerald while Knuckles is out adventuring and treasure hunting. He doesn’t stay on the island 24/7, but at the end of the day he always makes sure he’s on Angel Island.
Sonic does, in fact, become the ultimate chao dad while staying on Angel Island.
He keeps in contact with his traveling friends through letters. Amy consistently writes weekly, Tails writes every other week, and Knuckles is completely inconsistent with his letters.
Sonic and Rouge have a bit of a truce going on so she won’t steal the Master Emerald. All she asks in return is to be allowed to hold onto the chaos emerald until Sonic needs them.
Sonic finds himself spending more time with his other friends, which he enjoys.
When he finds out Eggman restored Sage he starts relentlessly teasing him about being a dad. Eggman once retorted by mentioning Sonics lack of a father. Sonic no longer teases Eggman about being a dad.
Moving onto Tails:
As soon as he can, Tails sets off on his journey/adventure. At first he is very nervous, and is not used to not having someone to fall back on.
Tails ends up having his own enemy, one that isn’t Eggman. I like to think it would be a villain that uses magic, like Witch Cart. Why a magic villain? Well it would provide a nice contrast in their dynamic, technology vs magic, similar to Eggman and Sonic’s dynamic, Technology vs Nature- jk I just want an excuse for Tails to learn magic.
The first time Tails see’s himself on a newspaper with the header “Sonics sidekick turned hero?!” He immediately buys one and sends it to Sonic.
Tails took the Tornado in the divorce-
On one singular occasion Tails has to go to his home island to continue to fight his villain. He definitely got funny looks, but he didn’t let them get to him. He would later write a very long letter to Sonic about the experience.
Tails doesn’t realize how much he’s grown during his adventure until he meets back up with everyone after a few years have passed. Having to look down to see Sonic was a jarring experience.
There was an instance during one of his adventures where he crossed paths with Knuckles. They got brunch and chatted a bit. Knuckles offered to help Tails with his adventure but Tails declined the offer.
Give Tails a solo game Sega please I beg of you-
Knock knock its Knuckles:
Knuckles was very hesitant to leave Angel Island and the Master Emerald in Sonics hands at first. Sonic had to practically throw him off the island for him to get going.
One of the first souvenirs Knuckles needs to get on his travels is his hat. I don’t make the rules it just be like that.
Knuckles is pretty well know across the world thanks to his role as leader of the Resistance back in Sonic Forces. It’s always a fun surprise when he comes across an old rookie.
Knuckles doesn’t start off treasure hunting right away, he actually starts off as a simple traveler searching for and explore ancient ruins. It’s the maps and clues he finds in the ruins that leads him down the path of a treasure hunter.
Maybe Knuckles can meet/reunite with Mighty and Ray 👉👈
With Knuckles spending most of his time traveling in nature he doesn’t get to send letters to Sonic as consistently as he’d like, but when he does he makes sure to make the letter as details as he can.
Anytime he hears news of Eggman attacking he’ll check it out, just to make sure the Master Emerald isn’t involved.
Last but not least, Amy Rose!
Amy, all packed up with Sticks and Cream, head out on their road trip around the world. Their goal, to spread their love with the world!
With Amy’s trip all planned out she’s able to consistently write to Sonic weekly to tell him all about her doings.
Amy does a lot during her trip, organizing fundraisers, stopping some troublemakers, and doing tarot card readings (Give us Sonic themed tarot cards Sega please-)
She would definitely start small operations where she cooks big meals and anyone is welcome to come by to eat.
I feel like Amy would, similarly to Knuckles, be pretty well known worldwide because of her role in the resistance.
I think out of everyone she could come across in her travels, she’d end up meeting up with Shadow. Since the Twitter Takeovers are canon to me and you can’t tell me otherwise, I think he would join her little road-trip and bring up the whole “cat orphanage for all the stray cats of the world” idea. She would absolutely love the idea.
Yes Amy would most definitely play matchmaker a few times while on her road trip. She’ll say she only did it two or three times; Sticks, Cream, and Shadow will say she’s done it at least thirty times.
Here's a WIP on another animation thingy I'm working on.
This is now the only correct reading of that acronym
As a non-American, it feels like that while not voting is probably not the right move, this conversation happens every four years, y'know?
"Yeah both parties suck, but go with the lesser of two evils!" can only be said so many times every four years before you need to start having a plan. Like, what's the plan to fix America's voting system?
If the Democrats are objectively polling really poorly right now for their foreign policy decisions, but they can afford not to care at all because they're campaigning on "hey, the other guys will suck domestically, too" then like...
What's the plan? Not in a smug, "heh, bet you don't even have a plan" way, but in a genuine "if you explain what the plan is, people will probably be more willing to swallow their guts and vote for the lesser evil".
Australia has a preferential voting system. Our politics aren't some leftist utopia, but it helps avoid this two-party, lesser of two evils lock-out. When our right wing government comes into power they're often actually a coalition ticket between two smaller parties.
"Here are our plans for electoral reform in America, comprising [xyz]. Vote for the less terrible option now, and then between elections we'll contact our representatives and make the case for [blah blah blah]" is a much more compelling, convincing way to get undecideds to vote than arguing about if not voting counts as praxis or defeatism.
Because otherwise this conversation is just going to happen again in four years time.
I feel so vindicated right now for my newly formed gut instinct to doubt the shitty rage-baiting news headline
Please don’t pay for his music.
THIS. I always liked to imagine that Fist Bump in particular was sung by Sonic as a new adult
Another favorite headcanon, Sonic writes, composes, and sings the songs we hear in the games. The general idea occurs to him while he's going through any adventure, and when he's back home he gets to write it down and toy around with his guitar. This way he decompresses and processes/ lets out his feelings in regards what he's just gone through.
And he definitely asks his friends for voices/writes for them.
there is something horrifically grim to it, but illustrations for gaza and palestinians tend to catch more mass attention that actual photos of people. this made me feel incredibly helpless for a long while, seeing both how people would rather look at a neat drawing of red black green and white than look a human in the eyes, and how online platforms would rather push a viral drawing while suppressing those begging for help at the same time.
a way to cope with this feeling has been taking advantage of it to directly guide people to helping palestinians.
if art gets better traction, then there’s an incredible amount of good that can be done by creating art that immediately links to fundraisers. creating art of the many images of those who are asking for help.
within hours of posting my drawing, there has been jumps in the thousands for bashar from gaza’s fundraiser. it’s a small effort in the grand scheme of things. it’s not a fix it. but it’s something good. please take care of each other and do what you can. i think this could help a lot of people if a lot of people did it.
here is bashar. i’ve drawn him, spoken to him, and known him now for a few months. any shares help, any art helps. draw who you see, draw what you see. thanks all
the yiga clan have notoriously murdered hundreds of people, are willing to lure innocent people into danger to get their way, know how to build zonai constructs without ultrahand, can mimic anyone including the princess herself, have learned how to mimic objects, have copied the exact elements of a legendary heirloom to the point that it operates in the exact same fashion, have taught themselves how to traverse the depths, and pinpointed ganondorf’s nearly exact location beneath hyrule castle, and yet they’re still portrayed as comic relief, and this isn’t a complaint that’s the exact reason why I love them so fucking much
Gentle reminder: “bear witness” means “learn about what’s happening, so you can talk about it, agitate for change, and help where you can”
Not “you must watch X number of snuff films and look at X number of dead children, in order to be a good person”