Idris

Have you suddenly become a petty, hateful little gremlin who thinks people should face the firing squad for (checks notes) leaving teabags on the counter, breathing loudly, or daring to exist in the same space as you? Perhaps mundane and reasonable requests like ‘hey, we agreed to hang out now, let’s hang out’ make you want to scream and move to a yurt in the woods.

You. Are. Overstimulated.

People talk a lot about being overstimulated, and the physical/mental effects of it. What I haven’t seen is people talking about what it does emotionally, and it took me an embarassingly long time to link up those nitpicky, resentful emotions with the state of overstimulation/meltdown/shutdown.

These feelings do not mean that you’re a bad person! They probably aren’t how you actually feel about the people around you. They probably do mean that your nervous system is at its absolute limit and any request/demand/stimulus is Too Much and taking you into fight or flight territory.

Go lie down in a dark room for an hour, or find somewhere safe and familiar to stim for a bit. If it’s happening a lot, schedule yourself regular low-stimulation shutdown time

When I went before the judges for my disability hearing they asked why I had been teaching when I made so much more doing fast food work.  (Me: Because I loved teaching.)

Minimum wage needs to be higher.  Teacher pay needs to be higher.

to be higher. Teacher pay

needs to be higher.

They also made sure to back up their data. They made four copies of it, then when three copies were lost in the Imrim Wars they decided to make five more copies just in case. One copy was destroyed in a rebellion, another was partially damaged in an invasion, and Japan stole one copy during their occupation and moved it to Tokyo University, where it was mostly destroyed in the Kanto Earthquake (47 books remained and were returned to South Korea in 2006). Now the whole thing is digitized, free on the internet, and translated into modern Korean for all to see.

Get water into your body however you can.

Being dehydrated is bad. Being dehydrated and also sick is worse. If drinking straight water sucks for you, here are some suggestions from around the internet to help you out:

- Get a large reusable bottle with a straw. If you tend to be pretty stationary throughout the day, a large bottle of water with a straw is a really good choice. The straw allows you to drink without stopping whatever you're doing, which I find to be really useful when I'm doing something that requires my focus.

- Juice or milk. Milk is actually pretty hydrating. If chocolate or strawberry milk is something you crave often, it's ok to reach for it for hydration. Juice can be high in sugar, but if you pick one that doesn't have sugar added, it's really not that bad.

- Soda. Yes it does provide some water. Make sure to brush your teeth often if you're drinking a lot of soda because the carbonation can wear down on your teeth after a while.

- Fruit. Melons, especially watermelons, and citrus like oranges are high in water, but really any fruit will hydrate you a little. Veggies also provide some water, though less.

- Ice pops. On the track of eating your water instead of drinking it, ice pops have really helped me stay hydrated. They taste good, they're easy to eat, and they provide a decent amount of water.

- Soup or broth. Sweet things not really for you? Try something savory! Broth, especially low sodium broth, can be a great hydrater.

- Water additives like mio, kool aid, cocktail bitters, lemon slices, mint leaves, etc. Get creative! My dad drinks almost exclusively orange iced tea, made with an iced tea mio and a package of unsweetened orange kool aid. Mix and match some things until you find a drink you'll want to drink.

For the full breakdown of what’s been going on since November, read here.

January 20, 2023

It’s been over FIFTY days. The strike is still ongoing. Harper has yet to even speak to the union.

Union members are still scraping on their second and third hustles (which most entry-level publishing people have) and donations to the strike fund. The union has set up a hardship fund (here’s the post about it on their official Instagram, for verification) so no more fiddling with checks or Venmo.

If you can donate, please do.

The strikers are asking for three main things - better pay, a bigger commitment to diversity, and more security for the union. That they’ve been striking for this long and can’t even get that shows widespread problems in the traditional publishing industry.

For the full breakdown of what’s been going on since November, read here.

January 20, 2023

It’s been over FIFTY days. The strike is still ongoing. Harper has yet to even speak to the union.

Union members are still scraping on their second and third hustles (which most entry-level publishing people have) and donations to the strike fund. The union has set up a hardship fund (here’s the post about it on their official Instagram, for verification) so no more fiddling with checks or Venmo.

If you can donate, please do.

The strikers are asking for three main things - better pay, a bigger commitment to diversity, and more security for the union. That they’ve been striking for this long and can’t even get that shows widespread problems in the traditional publishing industry.