Open Bar: Drinks are on the Supreme Court

[altered]

I made the executive decision at 2AM that I’m gonna bite the bullet and sometime in the next two months I’m going to get my name and gender marker changed on everything but my birth certificate (which isn’t from Massachusetts and so is a hell of a lot harder).

This process involves all of two things: going to Fenway Health, and spending around 300 dollars.

Okay, I’m glossing over a lot of paperwork and visiting various offices, but those are the two MAIN things.

I intend to be fucking up badly coded database software throughout the state real soon.

[Cain]

Good luck for both of you with your transitions, seriously. I know a little about it, it seems like a daunting prospect at the best of times (and these are clearly not that).

I'm looking into the freelance copywriting and content creation industry. Plus: setting my own hours, working from home, I'm a fast enough writer that I can output 1500 words a day on subjects I know nothing about, no problem. Negatives: convincing myself to write things instead of trolling politicians all day on Twitter. Some of the sites in question are also in America, which can only mean good things given the current exchange rate.

[altered]

Good luck for both of you with your transitions, seriously. I know a little about it, it seems like a daunting prospect at the best of times (and these are clearly not that).

I'm looking into the freelance copywriting and content creation industry. Plus: setting my own hours, working from home, I'm a fast enough writer that I can output 1500 words a day on subjects I know nothing about, no problem. Negatives: convincing myself to write things instead of trolling politicians all day on Twitter. Some of the sites in question are also in America, which can only mean good things given the current exchange rate.

I appreciate the thought, but I at least am in Massachusetts. I wasn’t joking about the effort required being low: I need only find a trans friendly doctor to vigorously nod when prompted regarding my treatment being sufficient to transition legally. And the name change is just a paperwork thing and a court fee.

Yeah, I need to publish it in a local paper, but I don’t care too much about that. And I can choose my paper. Maybe I’ll pick the local queer newspaper. Or maybe the local old people newspaper, for kicks.

After that’s done, the same documents used for name and ID gender marker change fix my social security card too. So it’s basically just taking things to offices and waving them at bureaucrats, after the initial court thing. I’ve had more difficult website signups.

[chaotic neutral observer]

I intend to be fucking up badly coded database software throughout the state real soon.

You are doing the Goddess's work.

[altered]

I intend to be fucking up badly coded database software throughout the state real soon.

You are doing the Goddess's work.

But of course!

If your website, database, or other data input software cannot handle LASTNAME=“Null” then you don’t deserve to have it. Also, it’s my religious duty to scare up all of the bugs and garbage that surround me in day to day life so I can point at them and go “WOW! Look at that! It’s super neat! I bet it will be my friend!” while everyone else screams and runs away in pants-shitting terror.

[Doktor Howl]

Every day, I learn things at this new gig that horrify me.

Friday's topic:  "When dealing with a mob, the number one rule is to eliminate the agitators before the mob starts to move."

[Junkenstein]

More, please. Sounds like good prep material to appropriately adjust from the strange times to the horrible times.

[Doktor Howl]

More, please. Sounds like good prep material to appropriately adjust from the strange times to the horrible times.

It's all intuitive, just not things a reasonable person thinks about.

"If the mob does begin to move, target the ones who allow the crowd to pass them by."

"Whichever side can escalate violence *faster* wins.  Momentum is based on escalation, not capability."

"If someone is pulled out of the line, you forget them and reform the line."

[Doktor Howl]

What's fucked up is that these work no matter which side of the line you are on.

[Fujikoma]

"If the mob does begin to move, target the ones who allow the crowd to pass them by."

Hmmm, so I should find a new tactic.

[Al Qədic]

Good luck for both of you with your transitions, seriously. I know a little about it, it seems like a daunting prospect at the best of times (and these are clearly not that).

I'm looking into the freelance copywriting and content creation industry. Plus: setting my own hours, working from home, I'm a fast enough writer that I can output 1500 words a day on subjects I know nothing about, no problem. Negatives: convincing myself to write things instead of trolling politicians all day on Twitter. Some of the sites in question are also in America, which can only mean good things given the current exchange rate.

Luck is appreciated. We'll see what good it does in the face of the American healthcare system, but at least I'm lucky enough to have been born in California.

[altered]

I always assume malice in the face of telecommunications companies and healthcare providers. They are incompetent, greed driven, assume user stupidity, and will outright lie to you to get you to go away without changing anything.

And if I need to go to them I do the same thing to both types of company: I repeat myself over and over again until the problem is resolved, and accept no answer other than “one moment while I fix that” followed by resolution of the problem.

They are not on your side.

[Trivial]

Heard a funny one from an acquaintance, he noticed that his birth certificate had the wrong gender on it, so he went in to the parish clerk (I think ?)to have it corrected.  They said they'd send in an official copy.

He gets a photocopy showing the F crossed out with M written in sharpie. 

He said he wondered what they'd do if he were transgender.

[Doktor Howl]

Rick Ocasek died. 

[altered]

It’s a really fucking strange feeling to be able to plan ahead a week. It’s been years of having to make decisions on the basis of immediate needs and not being able to think about tomorrow, let alone next week.

Finally, I have the capability of budgeting, not as a personal ability thing (I’ve always had that) but as a “there is money I don’t need right this second to not die or go mad” thing. I can actually exercise this capability I have of planning ahead and making decisions.

Even accounting for bad decisions (some quite intentional), I’ve got 270 dollars in a “savings account” (since all my banking is through PayPal, this is actually just an Acorns investment account and I use it simply because it integrates nicely to PayPal and the money is explicitly not immediately available to me: it takes time and effort to access it) and I’ve built up a sizeable chunk that hasn’t migrated that direction quite yet out of sheer nervousness about maybe needing it.

It’s weird.

Edit:

Having taken several Tucson calls here now, I can confirm for those outside the gravity well that Tucson is indeed just Like That.

Highlights:
“I’m sorry; normally we’d continue to troubleshoot for a temporary fix but your system is possessed by demons.”
“I’m not sure whether to ask you to call the installers again or to pray to your deity of choice: both seem appropriate. Can I offer you two free months?”
“We have an IP address, we have a connection, but your SIM card is suspended and will not reactivate. It’s probably a visual thing, but if your system magically stops working please call us so we can replace it.”