then there are blackbirds

UPS just added an extra layer of fuckery to my phone replacement headache: today they sent me an email claiming that I had to pay them C$174.50 in import fees, more than 30% of the phone price! Being suspicious, I of course turned to google, and it turns out UPS has been trying to scam people into paying exorbitant brokerage charges since at least 2010. After calling UPS, who denied that there were any fees included beyond duty and taxes, I went to the local Canadian customs office to check for myself. Turns out there ARE no duty fees for shipping a smartphone, and the provincial taxes that I'm actually supposed to pay are approximately $80. That's a ~$90 brokerage fee of dubious legality that they tried to pretend didn't exist! If you see suspicious charges for UPS or another private shipping company, heads up: it's definitely possible (if bloody inconvenient) to clear the package with customs yourself and not have to pay the broker fees. At least this is the case for Canada; I'm not sure about the rules/procedures in other international shipping contexts. >:|

In happier news:

1. The lady at the customs office was also disgusted, and spent a long time on the phone with UPS trying to help me resolve paperwork so I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of rejecting the package, getting it sent back to the warehouse, and coming back to customs to pay the taxes. UPS hung up on her, so I'll still have to do it, but I appreciated all the time and trouble she went to to give it a shot.

2. Swung by Chinatown on the way home and picked up bakery treats, baozi, fan tuan, and a few grocery items. :9

3. Practice with S tonight! Probably we'll be reviewing the choreo instead of finishing it, but hey, either way I get to dance off my frustrations.

+ I've been avoiding Rachel Dolezal bullshit beyond headlines and friends' snarky commentary. It makes my head explode, and right now I don't have the energy to deal with rage or the processing power for comments beyond "wow, dat entitlement doe." Thankfully, life has been full of shiny and emotionally restorative distractions lately!

+ Had an awesome weekend in sort-of-upstate NY with dance friends, cooking, exploring rivers and waterfalls, and generally relaxing. ♥ I need more of this kind of time this summer.

+ Loving the music video for The New International Sound Pt. II by GENER8ION and M.I.A.! ( cut for embed )

+ Upcoming dance weekend!! *\o/* So excited to see everyone from out of town again, hooray :D

+ Also planning to take a day or two (sometime next week or so?) for a mini writing blitz- I miss writing fic. Toss me some prompts, please? Any fandom is fine, though I'm feeling a bit biased towards A:TLA and HP at the moment and I can't guarantee that I'll fill everything.

There is no justice without justice for ALL of us.

A couple of action items that scrolled by on fb:
+ Trayvon Martin Organizing Committee
+ Petition for civil rights case against Zimmerman

A couple of other links:
+ Stand Your Ground increases racial bias in justifiable homicide trials
+ White Supremacy Acquits George Zimmerman

Yesterday my mom informed me that old (white) men are GROSS. ( cut for those who don't want to deal with yellow fever today )

Clearly if this goes on, I will end up KEEPING A LIST. OF SHUN. To be circulated not only immediately, but for the rest of my life.

[in order of stumble-upon, not importance]

» synecdochic's IP logging, internet privacy, geolocation, and you: facts to consider is a scary useful post.

» boundbooks also has links re: a bill in Congress that would make streaming copyrighted material a felony.

» Proposed Law to Revoke Visas Without Court Oversight Threatens Americans and their Families. I can't even. Maybe someday I'll be able to compartmentalize enough, or control/deal with blank rage well enough, to read the news on a regular basis? I'm not sure I ought to look forward to that day though. :x

» Potluck #2: Comfort Food is up! I do apologize for my disorganized state; I dropped the ball in terms of wider promotions, & I will make sure I have things more together for next time. *shakes fists* In the meantime, we are still looking for volunteers to host the next issue, so please do poke me/yiduiqie if you're interested!

» marina's posted chewy meta and links to X-Men: First Class reviews! :3

» Have posted this elsewhere, but Amina, who blogs at A Gay Girl in Damascus, is currently missing. I can't help but notice who is questioning her existence, how quickly and easily the lives of POC & LGBTQ people in general, but particularly outside of Europe & the United States, are dismissed as fictional, how acknowledgment requires a sufficient body of proof. How ironic that we are called imaginary when the western world can hardly imagine us.

» Via twitter/tumblr, “A darkness was ripped from my eyes”, or, How can anyone like Mary Oliver’s “Singapore”? SIGH, SADFACE, FROWNYFACE. I really like other stuff of hers that I've encountered, but that poem...!

» & finally, thanks to everybody who commented on my rice-love post! It made my life about 1000% better, you should all go and check out the threads because DELICIOUS COMMENTS ARE DELICIOUS. AND WARM. &hearts (Though perhaps it is best to avoid it until you've eaten, ahaha!)

1. Tonight's Nikita: most interesting plotline thus far? It's up there in my book, but then again that's not exactly saying much (and also, I'm rather easy to please when there is Maggie Q with a gun to distract me. In case you hadn't noticed. >.>). ( spoilers )

2. NBC's canceling Undercovers?!?! It's not like I wasn't half-expecting/half-dreading this since I first heard it was going to air but FUCK YOUUUUUUUU NBC, SO MUCH NO. This may be a fluffy capery show, okay, but I notice White Collar and Leverage are both still alive and kicking. Obviously fluffy capery shows with TWO POC LEADS and ZERO WHITE MANPAIN have to get the boot before the first season's even finished airing, eh? Make all the excuses you want; they all sound like "know your place" to me. >:||||||

3. effex has made JANELLE MONAE ICONS OF WIN! &hearts &hearts All that joyful gorgeousness is guaranteed to make you feel better; go have a look.

things white people do: unacceptable "social"/"flirtation" behaviors
[note for anyone wondering if these examples are hypothetical: THEY ARE NOT]

( cut for head-explosion; possibly triggering for racism & harassment )

In conclusion: HOME TRAINING, GET YOU SOME. >:E

I tried to separate these out but got overwhelmed by categorization; therefore, another haphazard mess! Trigger warnings apply to some of the following. ( cut for A LOT )

+ Via yeats & angry asian man, Ahmed Sharif and his family are in need of help.

+ dhobikikutti and kairia have kicked off a combined-challenge over at eid_ka_chand to support the Pakistan relief efforts here.

+ Via yifu, 30 mosques. &hearts

+ Via angry asian man: the API/A love letter project.

Also: due to the crosspost-comment-fuckery, I am turning off comments on my LJ again starting today (I am hostile towards facebook and have zero interest in twitter; please do not crosspost your comments on my entries!). I know there are scripts and such to deal with it, but frankly, LJ has been a pain in my ass for a long time now and if it weren't for all the lovely people still on it, I would already have jumped ship entirely. My DW invite codes are listed here for anybody who's been thinking about moving their stuff (just let me know if you've grabbed one so I can cross it off!), but if you don't plan to do so you can still comment on my journal using OpenID. People who primarily use LJ, let me know if you have trouble with access- I've done a bit of access/subscription revamping and so might have changed some things.