RISE UP

Finished comic inspired by this post! (I’ll link in replies or reblog, otherwise tumblr won’t let you see my posts!)

If you have an emergency and have to go to the hospital, you’ll owe the hospital a lot of money. (I got into a car wreck and broke my ankle and my arm. My hospital bill was around $20,000)

You’ll also owe the ambulance provider, if you need one. (My ambulance bill was about $800)

You may get separate bills from the anesthesiologist or surgeon. (My anesthesiologist bill was $1,700)

You may need follow-up appointments. (My orthopedic surgeon billed me for the appointments and his surgery together and it was about $1,000)

You’ve also got to pay for medical equipment you need afterward, like crutches or a walking boot. (Mine cost about $75)

Altogether, I ended up with almost $24,000 in medical debt from one car accident. That’s a really scary number for someone like me who makes $10/hr at a 12 hour a week job.

I got my debt down to $1075 by making some phone calls and submitting some paperwork.

The first thing I did was contact the hospital. They don’t make it easy to find, but many hospitals (perhaps most hospitals?) have financial assistance programs for people who can’t afford medical bills. I don’t make a lot of money, and I have bills to pay, so they were able to help me. I called the billing department and asked if they had any assistance programs for low income people who can’t pay their bills. I had to call multiple times, and I got transferred in circles by people who didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I got an appointment with someone in “Eligibility Services” (I don’t know what other hospitals call it, if it’s something different). I had to bring my pay stubs and copies of all of my bills. When I got to the hospital for the appointment, nobody knew what I was talking about so I had to wander a little to find where I needed to go. I spoke with the guy in Eligibility Services, and I waited for a decision on how much of the bill they would forgive. A month later, I got a call telling me it was totally forgiven.

I did the same thing for my ambulance bill and my anesthesiologist, but the process was a LOT easier. I just had to mail some paperwork and it was totally forgiven.

I didn’t bother with the medical equipment suppliers, since the bills came from separate companies and I didn’t feel like going through the process twice for $75. I was assured at the hospital that they had similar programs for debt forgiveness, so I could have probably avoided paying that too.

The only thing I couldn’t get taken care of was the surgeon/follow-up appointment cost, but they were able to put me on a no-interest payment plan.

WELL YOU CAN TELL BY THE WAY I USE MY WALK I’M A BARRIS BOY, NO TIME TO TALK

MODEST HOLDINGS, SECOND SON, I’VE BEEN KICKED AROUND SINCE I WAS BORN

AND NOW IT’S ALL RIGHT, IT’S OKAY, AND YOU MAY LOOK THE OTHER WAY WE CAN TRY TO UNDERSTAND RED LYRIUM’S EFFECT ON MAN

WHETHER YOU’RE A BROTHER OR WHETHER YOU’RE A MOTHER

my cats, crawling all over me and cuddling in for a nap: 

😂😂😂

Opals.

Is there a word for people whose ancestors are christian, who secularly practice christian holidays, and who live in countries that are either majority christian or have cultures that are what they are because the country used to be majority christian, but are atheists?

When I was younger I thought the word was “christian” but I’ve since learned that it Doesn’t Work That Way. I’ve been using “cultural christian” but I feel like that’s not the best either?

There’s not really a term for this already other than “atheist” because the other stuff is assumed bc characteristics of a dominant group are always default. But a) I don’t like that characteristics of dominant groups are always default, and b) I’m writing a story where Christians-and-the-type-of-person-described above aren’t the majority, and I don’t know what they would call themselves (I’m guessing the more assimilated ones would call themselves Christian, but what about the ones who know that’s incorrect terminology?)

The term that immediately came to mind for an individual brought up religious who fell away from their faith was Lapsed Catholic but I’m not sure if that has an equivalent for denominations other than Catholicism, and it also outright implies that they were baptised/raised Catholic but are now… not, so that’s not Exactly what you were referring to,

However, I know people whose parents/grandparents/etc were Christian but not really… religious and they’ve never really gone to Church but the family connection is the closest thing they have to a connection with religion, and they’re like:  “Oh, it’s what my family is/was i guess” “My family is [denomination]” “My family’s Christian but I don’t really believe in it, so.” 

Most of these people, if they didn’t believe in God, would self-identify as Athiests or Agnostics, though, ‘cause like, Christianity is about what you Believe, instead of what you do or who you are. If your parents are Christian but for some reason you weren’t baptised and you don’t believe in God, you’re…not one, ‘cause Christianity is an Orthodoxy. It’s a bit weird to tie yourself to a group that’s just connected via believing in the same thing, when you don’t believe in that thing. I think that’s more why they’d call themselves an Athiest or something.

There’s also those people who describe themselves as  “Yeah I don’t believe in Jesus or anything but I celebrate Christmas/Easter/ etc”

(”I celebrate [Christian Holidays]” can mean and be TOTALLY different things depending on whether you’re religious or not- for my family, the experience of going to Mass on Easter and singing certain Hymns and everything being Joyful again after the solemn experience of Lent and the Drama and Sadness of Holy Week the are What Easter Is, but I know plenty of people who aren’t religious and are just like- “Oh yeah. That’s the day when we get chocolate eggs.”) 

Neither of us like to be called atheist. For me at least thats because I feel like deep down I do believe, but thinking about and trying to practice faith is too painful (for personal/trauma reasons). I don't not believe, but I don't exactly believe either.

For the purpose of writing about a small population, I would agree with the idea that you can just make something up and it would be understandable for all of them to call themselves whatever it is, especially if you have some kind of reasoning for how it caught on.

BEKKATHYST SPRING 2018 GIVEAWAY

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Please read thoroughly before entering!

Hello lovely Tumblr folk! It’s that time again- I have a giveaway for you all. To celebrate some amazing new opportunities for our business, we are giving you guys the chance to win this amazing collection of items. 

All these items came from my shop.

What you get:

$50 credit that can be applied to anything in my shop.

a USB Himalayan salt rock lamp 

A collection of crystal marbles 

Several selenite items 

An amethyst stalactite cluster

An amethyst druzy kitty 

A flashy labradorite cabochons

A Larimar heart 

Random rough crystals (selenite, lepidolite, rose quartz) 

Crystal points (fluorite, golden healer quartz) 

And more! 

This has a retail value of $170 in addition to the $50 shop credit!

Rules:

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Each entry will be assigned a number and the winner will be chosen by a random number generator. 

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