Sam's Backup Page

Hi guys! Quickie post because I see people following me here -- this is an archive, not an active journal. You're welcome to follow, I certainly don't mind! But I want to make sure people know there will not be any updates here, this is a static archive of my LJ.

If you're looking for my active journal, that's copperbadge. :) Thanks all!

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

A NOTE TO ALL before we begin -- I will be traveling next Monday, and I'm not sure of how much access I will have or when I will have it. Radio Free Monday next week miiiiight be postponed to Tuesday. Thanks everyone!

Ways to Give:

Anon linked to a fundraiser for delaese, who is in the process of divorcing, moving, and setting up a new business, and needs funds to help with all three, as well as care for her animals. You can read more and help out here (and also look at fluffy pictures of baby chicks!).

brainwane linked to Con Or Bust, a nonprofit which helps fans of color get to conventions. They're starting up their annual auction fundraiser and would love to have people offer items to donate; you can read more about donating here. Deadline is April 23 so there's still lots of time!

liviconnor linked to Charity: Water, a charity which helps internatioanl communities get clean water, and one of their fundraising methods is to ask people to get donations for their birthdays instead of presents. The birthday person then gets a thank-you gift of pictures from the community their money went to. You can read more and help out here, and you can also donate to them through CharityMiles, which donates money for every mile you run.

Anon is fundraising for Families For Freedom, a human-rights organization by and for families and their loved ones who are facing deportation. They run a national hotline for those imprisoned in immigrant detention centers, and provide emotional and social support to families going through deportation proceedings, as well as raising community awareness of rights and abuses. You can read more and support FFF here.

rilee16 is still struggling to cover medical expenses after two head injuries last year, and hasn't been cleared to return to work, thus can't earn money to cover basic living costs, let alone the bills they've received, including a recent rent increase. They literally have no money left until their next worker's comp check comes, which means no gas money for their car, so they can't get anywhere to do odd jobs for bill money. You can read more and help out here.

Help For Free:

Since I managed to both put it in the wrong place and lose the link last week like a loser, a repost: kitrona is in her last semester of college before graduation, and for her capstone is researching the hypothesis that social support can ease mental health issues that trans* and nonbinary people face. She has a survey up and would appreciate trans* and nonbinary people participating; the survey doesn't collect any identifying information and she is happy to share the resulting paper with people if they're interested. She's planning to specialize in trans* issues, so this is not simply a class project but a foundation for future work in the field. You can take the survey here and please feel free to pass it on to people who could help contribute!

News to Know:

brainwane linked to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has updated its guide to protecting your private data when entering the United States, in response to recent events. You can read more and download the full guide here.

Housing:

tzikeh is looking for a new roommate to share a 2br/2ba condo in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, available May 1. You can read more and reblog here or check out the Craigslist post here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're not sure how to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help (or ask for help!). If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

I saw a book title this morning that I misread as “Sampire” (I think it was a really fancy “Empire”) and I thought, haha, yes I rise before dawn to prey on those still awake from the night before. I am the dark hipster, the sampire.

And then I thought, what would you call a hipster vampire, and it came to me, hot sauce dripping off its fangs: 

Sriracula.  

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I’m gonna write an updated comedy of manners about excel spreadsheets and webcomic artists in which Jack Worthington is a data analyst who has invented a fake free-spirited webcomic artist brother so he has an excuse to visit the city; his STEM mentee Cecily lives in the burbs and builds robots but dreams of going to the city to meet Jack’s romantic artist wastrel brother. Meanwhile Jack’s friend Algernon, who is a “startup entrepreneur” with no visible employment, has discovered Jack’s secret life and threatened to tell his girlfriend, hipster social justice activist Gwendolyn, who thinks Jack works for Algy’s startup because that’s way hipper than wrangling Excel spreadsheets all day. 

All is upset by Mrs. Bracknell, the imperious baby boomer who can never get the right coffee order or change from Dr. Frederica Chasuble, a barista who has an unmarketable PHD in feminist classical theology and a crush on Cecily’s college admissions coach Ms. Prism. Mrs. Bracknell doesn’t want Jack marrying Gwendolyn because due to a database error at the hospital when he was born, most institutions (banks, cellphone providers, insurance companies) think Jack is deceased. 

I will call it The Importance Of Saving Versions. 

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I have archived almost all the International Rescue Committee Fundraiser fanfics I did last month. They’re up on AO3! 

In addition to archiving them I made the post a “gift” post to anyone whose AO3 handle I could find. If you look at the IRC Fundraising Fics and your fic is there, but you don’t see your name gifted and want to be added, just shoot me an ask or comment with your AO3 handle and I’ll add you! And if you look at the links below and don’t see the fic I did for you, PLEASE let me know so I can find and add it.

The only one that hasn’t been archived is the Rescuing Baby Magneto fic, because I haven’t finished the follow-up and will be posting it independently. STAY TUNED FOR THAT ONE sometime in the next few weeks (hopefully). 

Most of the IRC Fanfics are at one big chaptered post here. (http://ift.tt/2mdGgs1)

The Leader of the Free World Codas are attached to the LOFW fic here. (http://ift.tt/2nbt1wW) 

The Photo Booth coda is here. (http://ift.tt/2mdwB4t)

I did one longfic that I posted separately, Looking After America (http://ift.tt/2nbm7Yu) 

Happy reading!

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Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

dreamwaffles linked to a fundraiser for Miranda, a close friend who is escaping an abusive home; yesterday morning she was assaulted by her father and is planning to live in her car until she can get her feet under her, but hoping she doesn't have to. You can read more and help her afford a safe living situation here.

guineapigwithaflamethrower recently had a really terrible day (the anniversary of her father's death) and spilled an entire glass of wine on her laptop, which now needs to be replaced; as a receptionist at a rape-crisis center she's not exactly wealthy. You can read more and donate at her youcaring; also if anyone has a line on a used macbook they'd be willing to sell, you can get in touch via tumblr. (I know her a bit and she's really good people; this is a suck thing to have happen on an already terrible day.)

rionsanura linked to a fundraiser for Tredici Bacci, an italian-cinema-soundtrack inspired band/chamber orchestra. They're trying to get to South By Southwest but will be playing without compensation, so they need travel funding. You can read more and give here; I think $10 for their entire discography in download form is a pretty good deal, having listened to some of their tunes. You can also check out the group on Band Camp here but warning the banner is a little NSFW (butts!).

rilee16 is still struggling to cover medical expenses after two head injuries last year, and hasn't been cleared to return to work, thus can't earn money to cover basic living costs, let alone the bills they've received, including a recent rent increase. They literally have no money left until their next worker's comp check comes, which means no gas money for their car, so they can't get anywhere to do odd jobs for bill money. You can read more and help out here.


Help For Free:

brainwane has a post up calling for volunteers with fluent written English to provide 90-minute online English tutoring sessions between now and April 3rd. This will be helping non-US students applying for (primarily tech) internships who are at a disadvantage because of undeveloped written English skills, who need some kind, nonjudgemental help with their written applications. You can read more and find out how to help here.


Activism:

Alma linked to Children Of A Different Sky, a forthcoming story anthology which is raising funds for refugee aid. You can read more and support the Indiegogo here.

I'm relinking this week to She's Running, a new podcast about women running for local, state, and federal office. The podcast interviews women about their inspirations, support systems, and challenges. You can listen to the first episode here or on iTunes -- and remember to rate and review if you do! (I really enjoyed episode one; I haven't listened to episode two yet but I'm looking forward to it.)


And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're not sure how to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help (or ask for help!). If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

I woke up this morning, messed around on the internet for a while, and then worked on the Neverending Jacket (it’s just a jacket that is taking me a Long Time to finish) and I hit that point where like…it’s so close to being done that all that’s left are some small fit adjustments and adding some decoration. You know the point, where the project is essentially finished but you gotta go to the store to get some last-minute odds and ends. 

So I’m like cool, I’ve been working on this for a few hours, the store’s probably open – 

And I look up and it’s 7:30 in the morning.

Apparently I got up at three and just started sewing. Because that’s sane and rational. And hey, I managed to attach two sleeves seam-inwards at 3:30am, which for me is quite the accomplishment. 

Anyway I guess I’m going to Jo-Ann’s…when it opens…in an hour…to get buttons and black thread. 

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I forgot it was Paczki Day today until Office Grandpa brought me a paczki from a box some blessed soul left in the kitchen. 

God bless the Polish, I mumble, covered in strawberry jam and powdered sugar with my mouth full of fried bread. 

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Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

inquisitorhotpants is raising money to keep a roof over her family's head while dealing with Portland's unforgiving rental housing market. You can read more and reblog at her tumblr, support the fundraiser at her YouCaring, or help out by subscribing to her Patreon.

casapazzo linked to a fundraiser for The Lit Bar, an indie bookstore and wine bar that hopes to fill a gap -- that there are no bookstores operating in the Bronx. Noelle Santos has been working on this for two years and is hoping to open the bookstore this year; you can read more and help out here.


Buy Stuff, Help Out:

alyyks is moving from Columbus, OH back to France, but because oil paints are a fire hazard to ship, she is selling her paints to fellow artists for a modest price. You have to be in Columbus or willing to drive there to pick them up, but you can read more and get in touch about them here.

marginaliana linked to the Angry Introverts shirt, for those who are introverted but still angry about what's going on in the US; this is the last week to buy the shirt, with proceeds going to the ACLU.


Activism:

Elaine linked to She's Running, a new podcast about women running for local, state, and federal office. The podcast interviews women about their inspirations, support systems, and challenges. You can listen to the first episode here or on iTunes -- and remember to rate and review if you do!


And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're not sure how to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help (or ask for help!). If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

Holy crap, so I went to the trigger-point reflexology place tonight for a cheapo half-hour head-and-feet massage to see if that would help the headache. It was great; IDK if trigger-point or reflexology actually work but a super hardcore focused massage definitely does something.

But he was about five minutes into the head massage when he pressed his thumbs down on my jaw and something on the left side of my face BURST. Like, that side’s been sore for a week, but he pressed on it and it was like there was a teeny tiny water balloon in there somewhere. We both felt it pop.

The rooms are not entirely private, because you don’t undress for the massage, so there were two other people also getting massage work done, which meant we had to keep quiet. But he froze, and then leaned over and whispered, “What just happened?” and I was like “I don’t know!” and he was like “Are you okay?” and I was like “I don’t know!” but I wasn’t bleeding or, like, leaking anywhere, so eventually he just kept going.

My headache isn’t gone, but it’s a lot better, and it has shifted around, so I guess there’s that. Also my nose is running like crazy. 

Maybe there was a poltergeist in my face. 

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