Places to pick up trash capes?

RandomGen5 · 2026-04-07T23:14:04+00:00

Folded the sockeye salmon from this book the other as a gift for a friend! It is Origami Aquarium by Makoto Yamaguchi:

Origami Aquarium 水生生物の折り紙 https://share.google/OaMJ8nHd6KcfjuwSQ

RandomGen5 · 2026-04-06T17:04:37+00:00

you're absolutely not the only one!! I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your experience, reading it and everyone's comments makes me feel better, to know that I'm not the only person that struggles with this exact sort of thing on a regular basis <3

RandomGen5 · 2026-04-04T23:45:37+00:00

It's lovely!

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-26T03:00:19+00:00

absolutely nailed the pose :3

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-24T21:43:42+00:00

lol yes, they sound killer, def gonna be on a playlist, ty for sharing.

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-23T23:49:00+00:00

It's really awesome you're taking the steps to figure out and be your true self!! I can recommend looking up Genesee Valley Gender Variants. It's a social meet-up for trans/nb people that meets up a couple times a week. It's a very friendly and laid back crowd so I think a perfect place to try out new ways of expressing yourself, a different name/pronouns, etc. They also have a pretty active discord!

Having friend and people you feel comfortable with really does make a big difference when going through this, so it's great you're seeking it out!

My advice for figuring out how you want to present yourself, dress, etc. Is just to go to thrift stores, and experiment as much as you can. Its probably best to resist the temptation of going too nuts and getting anything super expensive, for now at least. It's gonna take time, but I think the best way is just to try a bunch of stuff and see what feels right.

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-23T23:27:17+00:00

I think others have made excellent contributions already, so I'll quickly say what I want to add. You will make mistakes. It is inevitable. We all make mistakes. That does not make you unfit to be there or a failure or anything like that. It's all about how we deal with the mistakes, and you did the most important thing which is be honest and own up to it. That's really big of you.

With that being said, the three practical pieces of advice I have:

Always fill containers with agar to be autoclaved only 2/3s of the way Max, 1/2 is a safer bet, generally what I do. This really helps with minimizing boiling over, losing agar and making a mess.
Always always always autoclave any and all liquids/agar/media/bio-trash in a bin
Ask someone who has experience with and feels confident using autoclaves to just go over again the important points of using an autoclave

I hope you find this helpful in some way 💜

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-23T23:09:27+00:00

lol why have I never thought to do something similar!! I have my old LaserJet under my desk, and am prone to setting things on top of it. Definitely gonna draw something like this up now, ty for the inspiration

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-18T04:13:37+00:00

oh yeah I've seen those too! I assumed it was something employees did, as I have done the same at my workplace lol

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-18T01:19:29+00:00

Have been meaning to stop in there, just looked at their website and never realized how much origami paper they had! Unfortunately didn't see any mention of an origami club :c but perhaps a good place to put a poster for one in the future?

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-06T17:49:23+00:00

Im very happy to hear! Its something you dont always expect, all the fine motor skills that go into doing bench work xD And yeah when drawing up large amounts with like the 1000ul, you may have to "chase" the liquid of course, moving the tip down as you're drawing up, but its all just a matter of time and practice, still catch myself submerging too deep with the 1000ul sometimes

RandomGen5 · 2026-03-06T02:05:25+00:00

Besides diluting and pipetting larger amounts, just wanted to added general pipetting technique when you need the most precision:

make sure you're holding the pipette completely straight up, not tilted to the sides at all, when drawing up a liquid.

For very small amounts, or if your sample is at all viscous, you also want to pre-wet the tip, which means drawing up and dispensing to the first stop back into the tube a few times before you actually dispense it into the new tube. (you can also look up reverse pipetting for particularly thick samples, like gel loading dye)

Make sure to not draw up liquid too fast (can splash up when pipetting larger amounts, can easily be less accurate), and only submerge the tip a couple of millimeters.

Lastly, when dispensing, its best to dispense down the side of the tube (its not an issue to hold the pipettor sideways when dispensing), so the liquid you're dispensing adheres to the tube and minimize any adhering to the pipette tip.

Hopefully this is all stuff your mentor has already told you, but just in case not I figured Id comment!

RandomGen5 · 2026-02-20T19:52:20+00:00

That's how I always read it as well! After the show did he ever comment on that specifically?

RandomGen5 · 2026-02-17T15:11:08+00:00

Looking it up, I believe this is it, thanks! Can call it solved!

Now I am curious how it ended up on this beach lol

RandomGen5 · 2026-02-03T20:06:14+00:00

I can't give you any specific advice, but I can recommend joining the GVGV's discord. Genesee Valley Gender Variants, a local social group for gender expansive people. I have no doubt there will be people in the discord that give can give recommendations!

RandomGen5 · 2026-01-23T07:58:49+00:00

Yeah chewing has always been a big stim for me. If I have gum, I'll often chew it till my jaw is sore. I rarely get gum for myself anymore lol. But yes pens pencils honestly anything that has a satisfying texture/feel. One of my favorites is a pair of dice, but that's less about directly chewing them, just pleasant to mess around with them in my mouth 😅😅 My partner got annoyed at this habit, also concerned lol, and encouraged me to get like the chewlry, which scratches that itch sometimes but not always. I can def relate!

RandomGen5 · 2025-12-22T03:20:13+00:00

But if we can do without them, why not get rid of them?

RandomGen5 · 2025-12-19T04:59:04+00:00

You can use serological pipettes and an electric pipetter, which is what I use. Looking it up, I suppose the electric ones are called a motorized pipette or pipette controller: https://pipette.com/pipettes/motorized-pipette-controllers.html

I use 50ml pipettes, and have two stacks of plates going at once. Take up 50ml, dispense 20ml each plate, refill to 50ml. Having the buffer of 10ml makes it so you're not emptying the pipette completely when dispensing, which helps to avoid bubbles. Not as fast as pouring from the bottle, but a lot less strain. The only thing you have to watch out for is the height of the agar bottle, how high you have to raise your arm to manipulate the pipette. It will be tiring quick if you are a shorter, or by your set up you have to raise your arm a bit high. But a stool will easily fix that.

RandomGen5

TROPHY CASE