😳🥵

I don't want to scare people, but if you are able to get pregnant and you live in a red or purple state in the US, you need to start making an emergency contingency plan for a complete ban on abortion in your state now. It is increasingly likely that Roe v. Wade will be nullified this summer when the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health is announced, allowing states to set their own laws on abortion. If/when this happens, 23 states have the legislature in place to ban abortion and 29 total are hostile/lean hostile towards abortion and are likely to ban or heavily restrict it, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Only 16 are confidently pro-choice.

If you live in a state that is likely to repeal, are able to conceive, and especially if you are sexually active, you need to have a plan for avoiding pregnancy and a plan for if that plan fails, and the time to make it is now, not this summer when everyone around you is panicking.

Birth control access shouldn't be affected by this decision, but look into longer acting and more effective methods, like IUDs (99.995% effectiveness typical and perfect use) and subdermal implants (99.995% typical and perfect) over things like the pill (99+% perfect, 91% typical) or condoms alone (98% perfect, 82% typical) that are less effective and easier to lose access to, and use both a barrier method like a condom and a hormonal method if you can. Planned Parenthood has a list of methods sorted by effectiveness here. Plan B lasts about a year, and is considered effective for 72 hours after sex but drops exponentially in effectiveness as time passes: if you don't reliably have a spare $50 and access to a pharmacy that stocks Plan B or ellaOne, buy a back up Plan B when you're able to to ensure you can take emergency contraceptives as soon as possible for the best results.

Start tracking your cycle now: medication abortions are the only ones that can be self managed and are only possible up to 11 weeks after the start of your last period. Not after conception, after the first day of your last period. The effectiveness of medication abortion drops after 8 weeks pregnant, and some sources will say it's only effective up to week 10. If your next period is late and there's even a miniscule possibility you could be pregnant, take a pregnancy test immediately (the dollar store ones are the same as the expensive pharmacy tests). Don't wait to see if it shows up a couple weeks late or if next month's comes: by the time you reach your first missed period, you're already considered 4 weeks pregnant, and you need as much time as possible to coordinate an out of state abortion or a self managed abortion. Waiting for two missed periods puts you at 8 weeks pregnant, almost at the point where you need to start altering dosages for medication abortion to be effective. Don't cut it that close: it's better to waste a dollar on a test than have to seek out a second trimester abortion.

Have a plan for how you will get an abortion, both within the first 10 weeks and after. For early abortions, you will be able to self manage. Plan C, Aid Access, medicationabortion.com, Women on Web, and Women Help Women can all help you obtain the medications you need or information about how to use them, either by mailing them directly or by connecting you to resources: bookmark these.

For abortions past 10 or 11 weeks, things are more complicated, but they are not hopeless. You need to have a plan, though. Do you know where the nearest abortion clinic in a pro choice state is? Do you know how much that abortion will cost and how you will get that money, both for the clinic costs and the cost of travel, accommodations, and two to four days of lost wages? Do you know if they do in-clinic abortions (the only option after 10 weeks) or just medication abortions? What's the latest they can go? Look into local abortion funds or access support organizations. More will emerge as need increases, but scoping them out now will save valuable time and give you peace of mind. Some of the resources linked in the last paragraph may be able to help connect you as well.

Again, I'm not trying to incite panic here, but things are not looking good when it comes to abortion access in the United States, and you need to be prepared. Time is of the essence when it comes to abortions, even without restrictive bans, and having information and a plan before you lose access and especially before you get pregnant buys you time.

“THAT MAN IS PLAYING GALAGA”

game time!

every time you see this post you have to reblog with a different marvel quote (no repeats)

i’ll start: “i’m a god you dull creature!”

The fact that Tolkien realized he’d created inconsistency for LotR with the first published version of The Hobbit and then retconned it with the in universe explanation of “Bilbo is a liar,” is never going to stop being both equal parts brilliant and funny.

I don’t think enough of us are taking into account the opportunity we are afforded by being able to romance/sleep with many companions in baldurs gate 3:

Mamma Mia BG3

Whose the dad? Halsin? Gale? Wyll? Astarion? The drow from Sharess’ Caress?

There are possibilities here people!!!

(Plus you know the companion guys would absolutely follow the same logic of “well we’re all the child’s father now JUST like Mamma Mia)

Ladynoir

Reasons to Keep Writing Even When You Want to Give Up For Good

1) Sometimes you don’t really want to give up forever. You just need to take a break, step back, and do something else for a few months.

2) There are stories inside you that only you can tell. There are poems inside you that only you can write. Nobody else can write them for you. Nobody else can say exactly what you can say.

3) Writing is an act of creation. No matter how good or bad you think your work is, you have created something that didn’t exist before. This is important. This is good. 

4) You do not write for anybody else. The only person you write for is you. Nobody else’s opinion should hinder your ability to write for yourself. 

5) Everybody fails. Really. Even the most accomplished writers mess up. This is okay. From every misstep, you learn and you grow. I’ve always found this article very soothing: Falling Short: Seven Writers Reflecting On Failure (my personal favourite section is Anne Enright’s section.)

6) Writer’s block is an opportunity to try new things. Have new life experiences. Experiment with new styles. Writer’s block is that pause you need to reflect on your thoughts and ideas, see which ones work and which ones don’t. Writer’s block isn’t the end of your writing capabilities. It’s downtime that allows you to attempt new techniques. Which leads me to (because I think both are connected):

7) In my experience, much of writer’s block comes from fear or boredom. Why are you afraid of writing? Why does it bore you? Is there a disconnect between your idea and your passion to write? Why? There are reasons for everything. Try to figure out the reason behind this too.

8) You know those vain articles and comments accomplished writers make about “bad” or “amateur” writers? That’s all it is: vanity. It is a reflection on them. Do not let their words get to you. They are giants looking down on us. They’ve forgotten the struggle they themselves have been through. Writing is hard and deeply personal. ‘Making it’ is viciously difficult. That doesn’t mean you do not try. 

9) You will regret it if you throw in the towel now. Write because the future you deserves to know that when things were hard, you kept going! The future you deserves to be proud of the present you. The future you is counting on you to continue. Don’t let them down.

10) Write because you wouldn’t have read through this entire post unless you were looking for a reason to write, even in your darkest and most hopeless hours. Write because this shows you’re passionate about it, shows that no matter how hard it seems, you want to keep writing. That’s really the big secret: you just keep writing. 

Sorry to everyone who’s enjoyed the last 130 years of science and culture journalism, but Disney needs the money to fund Toy Story 9

hopping on the miku in different cultures trend with anishinaabe (ojibwe) miku

Ok so, mob boss skin in particular is so johnny cage coded

Confession: i'm gonna be real with y'all, i came into the game at first expecting to end up being an astarion girlie but it SO did not pan out that way. i took one look at REDACTED and was like *squidward voice* "oh no, he's hot!". he just !!! he hits so many fucking bases for me! like, he's tall, he's kind, he's connected to nature, and he's built like a brick fucking house. he hits every single little quality that my brain thinks is hot and it's driving me nuts! how the fuck am i supposed to live my life knowing he's just like, out there, a pile of pixels, being THAT fucking attractive? who the fuck is it that i have to sue for emotional (horny) damages??? oh my god.