On the Cusp

On June 1st, calls for a boycott against Dolls Kill went out after the owner of the company allegedly posted in support of the police after the murder of George Floyd. It isn't the first time they've been accused of racism, so folks have put together a list of alternative brands to support. I would much rather give my business to Black-owned fashion brands and those that are anti-racist. If you are of the same mind as I am, here are a few brands worth supporting:


Punk Clothing/Alternative
Sinister Sisters
Sinister Sisters only have three items on their Etsy shop right now and none of those sexy crop t-shirts would look out of place at a death metal gig. Make sure to stop back in regularly to check for new items, I know that I definitely will be!
Nasty Gem
Independently owned, every item in this shop is hand-made, processed, packaged and shipped by the owner. Spiky bags and collars, deadly earrings, and chunky steel accessories are the mainstay motifs of Nasty Gem, but you can fin…

A week ago, the world witnessed the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police. In the days to follow, the Twin Cities would erupt into protests and riots demanding justice and change. Some of those riots became violent when police escalated. Some of us watched as our favorite shops and restaurants burned to their foundation.

But lives are always more important than property and merchandise. These businesses can rebuild, with help from their communities, and they will. But those killed by police brutality and systemic racism will not rise from the ashes, and it is this injustice that we must all stand firmly against.

I know that most of you reading this are white. And here's my message to you: fellow white person, we need to get our shit together and learn how to truly be anti-racist. It's not enough to sit idly by and claim that we aren't racist because we've never dropped the n-word or crossed the street to avoid a Black man. It's not e…

~It's official - I've run out of things to watch on Netflix.

And if you're anything like me, you're so over Tiger King and Disney+ just isn't releasing the second season of The Mandalorian fast enough. Thankfully, there is always a plethora of new content on Youtube to keep us entertained. So without further adieu:
10 Youtube Channels to Subscribe to Right Now
Glam&Gore
Come for the glam (and jokes about gingers and invisible eyebrows) but stay for the gore. Glam&Gore is the perfect channel if you want to mindlessly binge full transformation videos - think kid's birthday party appropriate Disney Princesses → what would really happen if Cinderella took a tumble down the stairs. Glass is sharp, after all.  
Mykie is hilariously funny and provides a lot of fun tips and tricks on getting your latex wounds or foam prosthetics to play nice. You'll learn more than you ever wanted about the merits of scab blood and why scar wax is the devil. 
Anthony Padilla
…

Typically, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. 
And that was certainly the case for me when I applied as a freelance writer for the International Association of Professional Writers and Editors (IAPWE). It sounded good at the time; I was looking for remote writing work and this Craigslist ad seemed just the ticket.

(Note to self: don't job hunt on Craigslist unless you want to be a delivery driver - there are too many scams out there.)

The application process was easy. In hindsight, it was a little too easy and that honestly should have tipped me off. As I recall they didn't even ask for my resume, just my name and email. To prove myself as a writer, they also wanted a sample of my work - which I was all too happy to pass along.

And then I didn't hear anything for a month. Usually, one can assume that the hiring company decided to pass on your application for more experienced candidates and that's what I assumed had happened. Until I received an em…

Sometimes you get tired of the same old reality TV and crime documentaries. Broaden your horizons a bit with these Korean Dramas - available on Netflix. Watching foreign dramas is a great way to inspire interest in travel and learning new languages!
 Park Saeroyi has a rough start to life. First, he's expelled from high school after hitting a wealthy bully. When that same bully ends up killing Saeroyi's father in a car accident, he tries to get revenge - which lands him in prison.

Follow Saeroyi after his release as he goes on to befriend (and employ) a unique cast of characters and fulfill his father's dream of owning a pub, all while taking down the wealthy bully and his conglomerate family.


Former slave Eugene Choi returns to Korea after many years as a U.S. Marine. There, he finds himself entangled with a noble woman fighting for her country and they team up to overthrow a ploy by foreign forces to colonize Korea.

A gritty and gothic take on the classic period drama, …

40 Beauty Questions Answered
SKINCARE
-How many times do you wash your face daily? Morning and night - in the a.m. I use a duo-acid cleanser and at night I scrub everything off with a green tea enzyme powder wash. 
-What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo) Definitely combination, but it veers to the oily side during the summer months.
-What is your current facial wash? Both of my facial cleansers are from Wishtrend.
-Do you exfoliate? About one or twice a week I use chemical exfoliant serums.
-What brand do you use? My favorite is from a Korean company called dear Klairs. 
-What moisturizer do you use? I used a combination moisturizer and SPF cream from dear Klairs.
-Do you have freckles? None that I can detect with my naked eye.
-Do you use eye cream? The dark circles under my eyes are both a result of poor sleep and genetics, so I use an eye serum and an eye butter combo from Wishtrend. Both have caffeine to wake up the eyes.
-Do you or did you have acne prone skin? Not really. I do get the one of…

This pandemic and its subsequent consequences (social distancing, quarantines, stay-at-home orders) has thrown into the spotlight how woefully unprepared a lot of businesses are to offering their employees remote work opportunities, but a lot of them are adapting fast. I really wish I could say the same for my employer... But I'm a week into officially working from home and I'm still struggling with getting the technology to cooperate.

First, it's my hand-me-down laptop that crashed in the middle of hosting a company webinar on Monday. Thankfully, my boss was a co-host for that event and things progressed as smoothly as could be expected for a first attempt.

Second, I found that I was suddenly unable to remote into my work machine and had to actually go to the office, unhook it all and bring it home, only to find that I still need to remote into the servers back at the office (because they aren't WiFi compatible...)

Hopefully that'll be resolved tomorrow.

I feel v…

I started working from home today.

All of the elements came together at the right time, I suppose. The governor finally issued an order to stay at home, the buses had all but stopped running, and I found a convenient way to access my work computer in case I need to pull anything off the server while crafting emergency COVID-19 related content from the discomfort of my kitchen table.

It was getting eerie going into downtown Saint Paul in the morning to see few bodies and even fewer cars on streets that are usually bustling. The quiet unease at the bus stop while waiting with a group of fellow travelers - some masked, most not - lent an aura of imminent danger to just being outside.

It's bad enough to feel like we're on the tipping point of the end of days, which is a very Twilight Zone sensation, I'm also fielding phone calls every other day from the hospital as the ICU staff struggles to determine the best course of action for treating my mom...who has no developed a bacte…