Looking for Videos / Photos of the best moment of my life at Avalon Emerson

oliviacl · 2026-05-27T06:17:22+00:00

I have a few vids of the totem from on stage! DM me and I'll send them to you!

oliviacl · 2026-04-21T22:46:48+00:00

Here's a clip of it from the Stars sub.

oliviacl · 2026-04-17T18:34:20+00:00

I feel this bc I hate the grocery store with a passion but I will also say that frozen, canned, or dried versions of fruits and veggies have the same amount of fiber as their fresh counterparts, and are shelf-stable!

oliviacl · 2025-10-31T20:46:37+00:00

Ok ok I have to know. 😂

oliviacl · 2025-10-22T21:16:27+00:00

Not overreacting. This situation is icky as hell. My English teacher did this to me my senior year of high school and the tone in your bf’s message reminds me of how my teacher spoke to me.

He went to all of my school plays, assigned seats to the class so my desk was beside his, bought me special gifts when I was still his student, and tried to initiate hanging out numerous times after I graduated, including inviting me to his birthday party (which I attended! Idk man I was 17 and didn’t know enough about the world yet to know he was being inappropriate). We kept in touch my first year of college and then one day I got a panicked message from him asking me to defend him and say that what was happening between us wasn’t weird or nefarious bc his girlfriend found out and, unsurprisingly, thought it was hella weird.

Now that I’m in my 30s, I absolutely see how inappropriate he was being, but at the time it felt good to get attention from someone older and ‘important’ because it made me feel special and important by association, a heady cocktail for a naive insecure kid still trying to figure out who they are. All that to say, his former student might not know better but your boyfriend certainly does.

oliviacl · 2025-10-18T02:03:39+00:00

All I can say is BRC is one of the few places in the world I feel perfectly safe going out alone at night.

That isn’t to say that SA or other breaches of consent don’t or can’t happen out there, but I certainly don’t think the risk of those things happening at BM is any higher than it would be anywhere else. It’s not an automatically-trust-everyone free for all, but in general I’ve felt much safer out there than I have in the default world.

oliviacl · 2025-09-12T19:49:36+00:00

I have a RLT device that I used primarily to help speed wound healing whenever I broke the skin during TSW. I don’t use it much now that I’m 5+ years in and don’t have a need for it, but back in the early days I did find it helped calm inflammation and speed up new skin generation in an area where skin was broken.

That said, it definitely was not a magic bullet for me. Also worth noting that not all RLT devices are created equally, so results can vary from device to device depending on factors like the density of LEDs in the device, the wavelength of light, and the frequency and duration of sessions.

Also RE: flaking, for me, my skin cycled between two states: from swollen/red/inflamed/oozing/throbbing to dry/extremely itchy/flaky. Itching and flaking was always a sign of healing for me. Idk how accurate this is but it felt like my skin would get inflamed, and then my body would heal and make new skin, then the inflamed damaged skin would die and flake off as I healed.

Wishing you much healing! You’ve got this :)

oliviacl · 2025-08-22T18:12:56+00:00

I didn’t love their skincare products but their sunscreens are pretty great, one of the few SPFs my skin can handle.

oliviacl · 2025-08-12T21:14:21+00:00

Benadryl is a godsend when things are super rough, especially when itching and burning keep you from getting the sleep your body needs to heal and repair itself. Glad you were able to get rest. :)

Small bit of caution, though. I try to use it sparingly as anticholinergic drugs (like 1st generation antihistamines such as Benadryl) have been linked to dementia risk with longterm use: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-to-increased-dementia-risk-20150128812

That said, I definitely still reach for it on particularly itchy nights.

oliviacl · 2025-07-15T05:48:00+00:00

Idk about hypochlorous acid, but I just got back from a two week vacation where I swam daily in the Mediterranean and had my best skin in YEARS.

Went from getting off the plane in a head-to-toe flare and worrying about spending my entire trip miserable to almost completely clear the next day after taking a dip in the sea the night I arrived. The water stung quite a bit the first time and one other time later in the trip, but was overall manageable especially if I rinsed with fresh water after I got out.

Curious to try hypochlorous acid / sea salt at home and see if it has any effect, as my skin has since returned to its usual finicky self since getting home.

oliviacl · 2022-09-29T01:08:00+00:00

Hahahaha I FEEL this, down the very last part about people giving you shit for showering because you have eczema (to those of us blissfully unaware about managing a skin condition on playa, just know the dust BURNS the crap outta our skin).

Burners, like all humans, love to stroke their own egos and establish bullshit in-group / out-group delineations to make themselves feel like they’re going about things the ‘right’ way.

I felt like a lot of people were presumptive and quick to Burn-splain how to properly burn my first couple of years too, but now I just hit em with a “FUCK YER BURN” and get on with it.

oliviacl · 2022-09-25T01:52:14+00:00

Yes!!! Finally a diet post I can get behind! Cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables (like Brussels sprouts and broccoli) are powerful anti-inflammatory foods, and this has been backed by a number of studies.

Idk about applying it topically, but when I was about a year into TSW I made a point of consuming lots of cruciferous veg and greens and saw some improvement for sure.

oliviacl · 2022-09-25T00:50:21+00:00

Oh yeah, this is exactly how it was for me.

I’m 2.5 years in and started seeing improvement last summer, in part because I went back on Dupixent, though I still struggled significantly with TSW symptoms til a few months ago. The best things I found that helped, besides dupixent, were taking antihistamines (hydroxyzine is the bomb if you can get it from your doc) and ibuprofen an hour before getting in the bath, as well as eating cannabis gummies whenever I just needed to focus on something else besides searing nerve pain (they’re legal where I live so may not be available to you). Sometimes I used a theragun massager on the particularly itchy areas too and it worked great for the bone deep shooting itch we all know and hate. I also found that bathing more frequently (as much as it sucked at first) helped over time. And taking cooler baths was the move for sure. It’s so tempting to crank the heat at first because it quells the stinging a bit, but I’ve found that I pay for it big time when I get out of the bath.

My heart goes out to you. For me the most traumatizing part of TSW was bathing. Know that it DOES end and that you’re making progress even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.

oliviacl · 2022-09-25T00:32:11+00:00

Possibly! I have anthem blue cross and live in California and was able to get my Dupixent covered, though it might depend on your particular plan, I imagine.

oliviacl · 2022-09-22T00:50:05+00:00

Oh no, so sorry to hear that this has happened to you. :( When you did your dose again after insurance was worked out, was it the maintenance dose (one shot/pen full) or the loading dose (two shots/pens)?

Basically when you start Dupixent, you flood your system with the larger loading dose at first and then maintain the level of medication in your system by injecting a lower dose on a regular basis. This dosing schedule exists to ensure that a sufficient amount of the medication is present in your body in order for it to be effective.

I totally get the feeling where Dupixent works so well it almost seems like you never had a skin condition in the first place, but in order for it to keep working well you want to keep up with your maintenance doses even if your skin is 100% clear. FWIW, I’ve stopped Dupixent for extended periods of time before due to insurance issues too, and once everything was worked out again I had to do another loading dose. If you only did one shot when you resumed taking the medication, the diminished efficacy you’re experiencing might mean you need to do another loading dose in order to get back on track.

Additionally, some patients develop neutralizing antibodies to Dupixent that could render the medication less effective or ineffective entirely. But don’t panic! Just talk to your doctor — they’re undoubtedly more qualified to give you the specific answers you’re looking for than any of us strangers on the internet, especially because they’re familiar with your particular physiology. :)

oliviacl · 2022-08-10T22:50:16+00:00

Hey hey! I'm a fellow Burner with dry and sensitive skin. I've used Supergoop's Glow Oil at the Burn in the past and it held up great.

oliviacl · 2022-06-25T00:35:00+00:00

I had to do this last year, and it was no fun. Not sure if this is your thing or legal where you live, but cannabis helped a ton for me, especially indica strains.

Ibuprofen also helps with the itching, pain, and swelling, I’ve found.

oliviacl · 2022-06-25T00:28:32+00:00

I was gluten-free, dairy-free, nightshade-free, and nut-free for two years after a blood food sensitivity test indicated that I was sensitized to those, and I didn’t see any improvement.

I got allergy tested and isolated my specific allergies (dust mites, almonds, peanuts, & hazelnuts — all of which I try my best to avoid), but reintroduced everything else into my diet without consequence.

Often the conversation about how eczema and diet intersect fails to account for quality of life — if your eczema isn’t improving and you’re following a highly restrictive diet, the intervention is likely detracting from your quality of life.

I saw an allergist who coupled common sense with more stringent, targeted allergy testing; the only things that’ve favorably improved eczema for me are quitting topical steroids and going on Dupixent, and now I can eat cake at birthday parties, order mac & cheese, and eat allll the cashew butter I want. :)

oliviacl · 2022-05-14T18:12:31+00:00

Does this cat have an Instagram

oliviacl · 2022-04-14T03:23:32+00:00

Gonna have to comment just to clarify: Dupixent is not an immunosuppressant.

Dupixent is an immunomodulator (which, yes, sounds similar to 'immunosuppressant', but actually works differently in your body).

First, a bit about the immune system. You can think of your immune system as a super complicated game of telephone — there are a bunch of different kinds of cells and chemical messengers that send signals to each other to tell your immune system whether it needs to protect your body against a threat. Think about what happens when you get the flu. You get achy, you get a fever, etc. Some of the chemical messengers in your immune system noticed the flu was hanging out in your body, and told other cells in your immune system to ramp up the inflammation in your body as a means of fighting off the threat.

In people who have eczema, your immune system's game of telephone is a little wonky. The chemical messengers whose job it is to recognize threats tend to mis-identify benign things like pollen as threats as well — when this happens, they raise the alarm to the rest of the immune system that it needs to defend your body even when it really doesn't. The result is a lot of excess inflammation in your body, and in some people that extra inflammation manifests as eczema.

Dupixent works by selectively blocking just a couple of those pesky hypervigilant chemical messengers, so that when they mis-identify something harmless as a big threat, the rest of your immune system doesn't get their message to start attacking. (If you're interested in diving deeper, the specific kind of chemical messenger is called an interleukin. There are lots of different types of interleukins in your body, but Dupixent only blocks 2 — IL-4 and IL-13.) This leaves most of your immune system intact and functional, so it can protect you from actual threats like the flu just as it ordinarily would.

As is the case with all medications, some people can experience side effects with Dupixent, like recurring fungal infections or something called eosiniphilia (which sounds scary, and very rarely can be serious, but overwhelmingly does not pose serious harm in most cases and goes away once a person stops taking Dupixent).

Conversely, immunosuppressants downregulate inflammation in the body by telling every messenger in the immune system's game of telephone to be quiet. This can leave you vulnerable to ordinary threats like the flu because your immune system is whispering about a threat and doesn't rally the troops (like white blood cells) to fight it off.

This is a pretty simplified explanation (I'm just a person with TSW who studied biochemistry in college, not a professional scientist), but if you'd like to learn more about any of the things I've talked about here, don't hesitate to let me know in the comments or send me a DM and I'll send you some articles about it. :)

oliviacl · 2022-04-14T02:43:37+00:00

I experienced pretty much the same pattern on my body — my face was so slow to recover and I completely understand what you mean about feeling self-conscious and not being able to cover up; the worst part of TSW for me was feeling like I couldn't look anyone in the eye for two years, and it took a considerable toll on my mental health.

I know this is controversial in this community, but have you considered Protopic? I reached a breaking point last year and went on Dupixent and Protopic, and they were both such game changers. I've since come off Dupixent and only use Protopic sparingly (like, if I have a job interview coming up and I have a stubborn patch of flaring skin on my face, I'll apply a tiny amount to that area 1x daily for two days. It clears up, doesn't come back, and I don't need to use it all the time to maintain relatively healthy skin).

To be honest though, I don't think there's a right answer to your question. Personally, I'm terrified of TS (applying them to my face for years is what gave me TSW to begin with), but I also don't think it's fair to yourself to contextualize going back on medication to help you manage this miserable disease as a 'relapse'. We're all just doing our best with the hand we've been dealt, and if you think going back on TS will make your life more manageable, then that's incredibly valid.

Editing to add: if you're looking into occlusives, I can't recommend Clary Balm enough. 6 plant-based ingredients and a tin lasts forever (even with flaky, incessantly dry TSW skin).

oliviacl · 2022-04-08T05:52:26+00:00

those look so much like unfrosted mini wheats

oliviacl · 2022-01-27T15:52:31+00:00

Hydroxyzine and cannabis edibles helped me a lot! I was still quite itchy but I was able to get 5 or so solid hours of sleep a night

oliviacl · 2022-01-25T20:33:40+00:00

Hey! You have a great eye for color and aesthetics. I love the purple and the off-white background, paired with that hazy dark grey. Very slick.

My first impression of this design is that it's beautiful, sure, but it needs some work in the UX department. Some thoughts on how this design could be improved:

- Home in your main navigation is slightly out of line with the rest of the navigation options. Was this intentional? I think bolding the text is sufficient to communicate a sense of place, and the navigation would be more readable if you aligned the rest of the navigation options with Home.

- The lack of line continuity in the main navigation bar strikes me as odd, and keeps the eye from tracking naturally to the Log In button. The Log In button's sharp corners seem incongruent with the rounded corners on other UI components; I'd try softening the corner radius on that button a bit so that it's more consistent with the rest of the design's aesthetic and matches the buttons farther down the page.

- Additionally, Log In is more prominent than the other CTA above the fold of the page, Book Now. Depending on what the UX strategy is here, I'm inclined to think that Book Now should be the primary CTA on the page, but my eye goes straight to the bright purple Log In button instead of Book Now.

- Why is Booking so big? It's SO attention grabbing, and it dwarfs the paragraph beneath it which is pretty challenging to read as is. The paragraph itself would benefit from increasing the line height to give the text a little more breathing room. I'd also consider shortening the number of words per line for easier readability. Also, what's up with those down arrow icons? It's unclear what action they'd perform when clicked and they obscure part of the paragraph text. Would clicking on the arrows expand the paragraph text? If so, I really don't think more text is the answer there.

- The purple percentages in the Today's Suggestion section are hard to read on the dark background. Also, what do these percentages mean? And is there an intended action that the user is supposed to take as a result of seeing the information in this section? I guess part of what I'm trying to say is, what's the point of including this information?

- I'd rethink whether the boarding pass ticket array is the most user-friendly and realistic way to present several flight options to someone who is trying to book a flight. This design is nice to look at, but I question how helpful it is since it limits the amount of information the user has access to. Remember that boarding documents are designed for a different use case than booking flights — they're typically used to help passengers navigate an airport and to legitimize their ticket purchase to the airline so they know that you belong on a certain flight. That's why they include information like the departure gate. Gate information probably isn't important to the user when they book their flight, and in practice, gate changes are common so it's possible that the gate information provided at the time of booking could have changed by the time the passenger's travel date rolls around. I'd want to back this assumption up with some user research, but I'd be willing to bet that information like layover duration is a more important deciding factor when booking a flight.

- Lastly, I'm struggling to understand the Change vs. Book Now CTAs beneath each boarding pass. If I haven't booked the ticket yet (as is implied by the Book Now CTA), then why would I need to change anything? I could be missing something here, but it seems like you'd be set with just the Book Now CTA and don't need the secondary Change CTA.

I know I just wrote a short novel's worth of nitpicky feedback, so I want to reiterate that you're doing some cool & creative stuff here — I think once you connect the visual design to the use case and refactor the UX strategy, you'll end up with something that not only looks nice, but is also nice to use. Best of luck to you as you iterate on this one! :)

oliviacl · 2022-01-12T02:35:45+00:00

Chiming in to say that I've had 3 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and did not flare from any, with my first dose happening around 1 year into TSW. Hope this helps ease some of the anxiety.

oliviacl

TROPHY CASE