urbancatfitters:

i wonder how people describe me when they’re talking about me to someone who’s never met me

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rattus-armatus:

thedatingfeminist:

jean-luc-gohard:

That other post seems to be for people with money. But you don’t have money. So what do you actually need for your first apartment?

• A bed. Not an air mattress. Not a blanket fort. Not a mattress pad with a fitted sheet over it. An actual bed. You’re going to try to avoid it, especially if you live in a city where bed bugs mean not buying a mattress from Craigslist. Beds cost money (unless you can take the one from your childhood bedroom, in which case, do that and use the couch when you visit home). But fuck it, you need one. If you’re desperate, you might go with a futon, but the futon you can afford will break with the quickness. You might also go with a mattress on the floor, which seems like a good idea until it suddenly seems really dirty, which is because mattresses need air flow to stay dry and sanitary. If you don’t have a box spring and don’t want to drop the $40 on a cheap bed frame, you can use these guys to build a platform, and if you find plastic drawers the same height, you can even build some storage in there.
  
• A dresser. You will try to find a way around this. It will end up with your floor covered in clothes within a week. Just find a dresser on Craigslist or go to your local auction (a great place to find cheap furniture in general). And don’t buy a cheap dresser to build yourself from K-Mart or Wal-Mart, because it will break and it will likely be more expensive than a Craigslist/auction dresser anyway.
• A TV. It doesn’t have to be new or huge or advanced. But you want a TV. Don’t try to skip the TV for something more trivial. You’ll regret that quick.
• A couch. Specifically, an old, comfortable couch. One you don’t mind falling asleep on or letting guests sleep on. Don’t spend a lot of money. Couches will find you. Don’t overthink it. It’s your first apartment. Nobody expects you to have a perfectly curated adult home. Just get a comfy fucking couch. And if you get two, you can use cinder blocks to make stadium seating in your living room!
• A table. You will ruin it, so get a shitty one. Learn your lessons on something cheap and disposable.
• A full(ish) kitchen set. If these things don’t appear from your parents or your roommates’ parents, you need to buy a pot and pan set, silverware, a silverware organizer, at least one sharp knife (and let’s be honest, you’re gonna want a knife block and they’re only like $11), at least one mixing bowl, a colander, a cutting board, a couple of storage containers, plates, bowls, glasses, and mugs. You’ll figure out what else you need as you need it, based on your own kitchen habits. A lot of this can be picked up at the dollar store if you have one near you. And if you don’t bake often, disposable baking pans are your friend. 
• Hand soap, dish soap, wash-your-ass soap. Nobody likes poor hygiene. You also need toothpaste and floss. And deodorant.
• Flashlight and candles (nothing fancy). In case something goes wrong.
• A plunger. In case something goes really wrong.
• A toilet brush. Your momma probably never let the toilet form rings (or let you let that happen), so it might come as a shock how quickly and easily those shits form.
• A shower curtain and liner. Or even just the liner. Don’t get the floor wet.
• Sponges. You have no idea how many sponges you’ll need.

The rest, you’ll stack over time, but these are the things you need.

Thrift shops and charity shops may have silverware and pots and pans for cheap, as well as furniture, sheets, etc.

When buying used furniture: look in the cracks and under the edges for pin-sized brown/black spots. Bedbugs are tiny and they live in upholstery and any wood with enough crevices to allow it. You almost certainly won’t be able to see the bugs themselves, but they leave little spotted trails along seams and in places that don’t see a lot of light. You cannot get them out of furniture; it’s not worth the extreme measures it takes to do it.

Also, don’t forget laundry detergent and a rubbish bin and bin liners. Rubbish, laundry, and dirty dishes are 90% of the mess in a messy home and 99% of bad smells. Keep up with them and your home will always be at least clean-ish.

Oh, and bleach is a good cheap substitute if you can’t afford specific cleaners for your toilet, tub, vinyl counters/floor, etc., but test it on a small spot to make sure what you’re cleaning can handle it, dilute the fuck out of it, and never use it on wood or mixed with dish liquid. Use white vinegar or diluted Pine-sol for mirrors, glass, and sealed wood floors.

I never see these posts mention bedbugs, so thank. Those little fucks are so gross and almost impossible to get rid of once they take foot in your home. Be so careful when buying used furniture!!! AND NEVER TRASH PICK PLEASE, theres probably a damn good reason that new looking couch is being put to the curb and its either cat piss or bedbugs.

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gamegrrl:

Who here’s heard of someone being told, “You don’t look gay!”?

Now, who’s heard the comeback, “You can’t look gay”?

Now, I understand this train of thought completely. The idea here is, “gay people can look however they want, there’s no way to ‘look gay’”. Except the thing is, that’s actually only half true. Gay people can look however they want, that’s true. However, there is a way to “look gay”.

I’m going to be talking about queer men primarily here, because that’s what we have the most accessible information on, because of reasons of combined homophobia and misogyny. But anyways, back in the day (I’m talking 1900’s here) it was super dangerous (and illegal I’m pretty sure) to be gay. So, you couldn’t just go around proclaiming your sexuality. 

Because of this, gay men developed signals to alert other gay men of their sexuality. In the early 1900’s these were things like green suits, red ties, a feather in the hat, floral prints. In the 30’s, it was chinos, pennyloafers, etc. There were also manners of speech that were coded as gay, such as the feminized lisp we’re all so familiar with.

These things being coded as queer was not some straight-enforced-stereotype; it was a conscious association. The LGBT community, in all eras, has had certain appearances and ways of speech that are deliberately associated with the community, in order to help queer people find other queer people.

So, why does this matter? The main reason  is straight people are 100% not allowed to get mad for being mistaken for being queer if they’re engaging in queer fashions. Taking styles and symbols created in the LGBT community, and then acting as if they never had anything to do with gay culture is an act of erasure.

Things like pixie cuts and flannel on women, and slim-cut pants and patterned button-downs on men were intentionally coded as queer. Undercuts and fauxhawks and the like are deliberate messages to other queer people that you are part of the community. You cannot erase the history behind these looks, and you can’t pretend the connotations aren’t there.

TD;DR: Straight people, wear whatever the fuck you want, but if you’re a women with a pixie cut wearing joggers, doc martins, and flannel, or you’re a man with a pompadour wearing a floral button-down shirt and skinny jeans, don’t be surprised or offended when people assume that you might not be 100% straight.

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