so it's been a while, huh
o my flist it's been like a million years. i'm fine, just... full of slack. since i was last here we've been through:
halloween season (unreasonably cold but there were still a lot of people altho only two barbies! and one of them was an adult! lots of oppenheimers tho, and a lot of annas and elsas and minecraft characters and a marty mcfly and a doc brown altho not together and a bunch of kids in those blow-up costumes that make it look like you're riding a t-rex only they were all riding different animals and a kid in a blow-up shark costume walking around with a friend/brother who was taking candy for him because, you know, sharks don't have hands and an adult in a blow-up panda costume who told me bending over was kind of a problem. also a bernese mountain dog dressed as bernie sanders, or he would have been if his wig didn't keep coming off. the houses at the end of the street that group decorate were barbie themed. one of them had a grill out front - a barbie-cue - and i asked one of the guys (homeowner? resident? dude standing on the lawn, anyway) "i know this is awful but it's halloween and i have to ask - is the barbecue people?" he laughed and said no. i mean, it was movie barbie and not horror barbie, but still, halloween. you never know! someday the bbq could be people!)
us off-year election season (locally there were twenty-six people running for city council which was a lot of platforms to read up on in a hurry. republican ohio voted in favor of a constitutional right to abortion, rhode island elected its first black congressperson (why did it take them so long??), philly elected its first female mayor, and the virginia state house went solidly democratic which will be fun for the state's republican governor.)
veteran's day season (because i had the day off and it was also national cupcake day i met tamalinn and friend a for cupcakes.)
birthday season (celebrated twice! once with brunch with mom and my sister and cousin p from mom's side of the family - we went out for greek for brunch and it was SO GOOD - and once on the actual day because i invited mom and sister over for dinner and they brought me a carrot cake because it is my favorite. and i got a birthday email from the dentist's office wishing me a happy and letting me know they approved the day's cake. so cute but so weird to get birthday wishes from the dentist.)
thanksgiving season (went to cousin j&m's and stuffed my face with them, their kids, j's brother, their mom, j&m's friend, his kids, my mom, and my sister. and the dog. they bought a smoked turkey which nicely juicy but a bit salty and honestly i prefer the traditional roast bird. everything else was yummy tho. i made a pecan pie and everyone loved it even tho it was a tch overbaked. mom was up for like a week and a half and in that time we went to the mapparium (highly recommended), watched a bunch of tv (the crown which is weird to watch when it's about events i remember, the big short which i liked altho a lot of the finance went over my head, and ghosted which was fun and silly and super cute), went out to eat, played cards, she and my sister met me at work for lunch and i gave them a partial tour of the ugly building where i work, and they went black friday shopping and i came over later with bagels. my cousin with the twins had as much family as possible over for brunch and ALL THE KIDS WERE THERE HOLY SHIT. i mean, the kids in college were home for thanksgiving and none of the kids who are out of college went very far and there's still one in high school but at the same time, HOLY SHIT. they're almost like real adults! it's fun to talk to them and of course it's always nice to see the cousins who are my generation.)
nano season (validated at 52k and only got about halfway through the story. >.< i took the scenic route, let's say. we could also say i take a long time to get to the point.)
holiday party season (yesterday was the admin holiday lunch and yankee swap which was the last one. there were three - count 'em - last week altho i didn't go to the one on tuesday because i worked from home. i love holiday party season but wow is there a lot of food. oh, i got a frank lloyd wright puzzle at the yankee swap. perfect. :D )
and now we're smack in the middle of curling season. in the past, uh, month and a half? we lost by a lot, lost by not a lot, i missed two (one for cousins brunch and one because i caught a cold >.< ), and we lost by so much we called it after an hour. and i had to skip a game! which i have never done before. the other team was very patient and the other skip was very helpful and it wasn't a terrible experience - that's the game we lost by not a lot and i think the other team went easy on us which is honestly fine with me - but at the same time i'm not sure i want to do it again.
in other news, if anyone out there read the dead boy detectives comics (or remembers them from sandman) it's going to be a miniseries on netflix next year. could be good, could be bad, definitely worth checking out at least the first episode.
some of my links are, uh, old.
usda pomological watercolors - fruit! nuts! illustrated for usda reports and bulletins and whatever. so cool.
a history of "the most charming skyscraper in america". that would be the chrysler building. :D
the nightmare before christmas pumpkin mosaic, by which i mean a mosaic made entirely of pumpkins. (see? an old link. but so fun.)
what was it like being a flight attendant during the golden age of air travel?
and in that vein, what happens to babies born on planes? for one thing, american babies' birthplaces are listed as either "at sea" (if they're over international waters when it happens) or "in the air" (if they're over unclaimed territory).
a species of bat was discovered to reproduce without penetration. which doesn't sound like quite as much fun, but maybe the bats enjoy it.
i love this shit - a group of silicon valley billionaires want to build a city in california (called... california forever) but there's some resistance. and by "some" i mean "locals are less than enthused". said billionaires are kind of light on details, like what the city will look like and how it will be laid out and what kind of infrastructure it will have and what kind of housing etc etc. i really want to know the sticky details but i don't think there are any, and if there are no one is sharing.
miniatures are apparently a trend in the us now. neat!
you can now get doritos flavored alcohol. what - and i cannot stress this enough - the fuck.
and finally, the usps is releasing dungeons & dragons stamps next year. as good a reason as any to visit your local post office.
halloween season (unreasonably cold but there were still a lot of people altho only two barbies! and one of them was an adult! lots of oppenheimers tho, and a lot of annas and elsas and minecraft characters and a marty mcfly and a doc brown altho not together and a bunch of kids in those blow-up costumes that make it look like you're riding a t-rex only they were all riding different animals and a kid in a blow-up shark costume walking around with a friend/brother who was taking candy for him because, you know, sharks don't have hands and an adult in a blow-up panda costume who told me bending over was kind of a problem. also a bernese mountain dog dressed as bernie sanders, or he would have been if his wig didn't keep coming off. the houses at the end of the street that group decorate were barbie themed. one of them had a grill out front - a barbie-cue - and i asked one of the guys (homeowner? resident? dude standing on the lawn, anyway) "i know this is awful but it's halloween and i have to ask - is the barbecue people?" he laughed and said no. i mean, it was movie barbie and not horror barbie, but still, halloween. you never know! someday the bbq could be people!)
us off-year election season (locally there were twenty-six people running for city council which was a lot of platforms to read up on in a hurry. republican ohio voted in favor of a constitutional right to abortion, rhode island elected its first black congressperson (why did it take them so long??), philly elected its first female mayor, and the virginia state house went solidly democratic which will be fun for the state's republican governor.)
veteran's day season (because i had the day off and it was also national cupcake day i met tamalinn and friend a for cupcakes.)
birthday season (celebrated twice! once with brunch with mom and my sister and cousin p from mom's side of the family - we went out for greek for brunch and it was SO GOOD - and once on the actual day because i invited mom and sister over for dinner and they brought me a carrot cake because it is my favorite. and i got a birthday email from the dentist's office wishing me a happy and letting me know they approved the day's cake. so cute but so weird to get birthday wishes from the dentist.)
thanksgiving season (went to cousin j&m's and stuffed my face with them, their kids, j's brother, their mom, j&m's friend, his kids, my mom, and my sister. and the dog. they bought a smoked turkey which nicely juicy but a bit salty and honestly i prefer the traditional roast bird. everything else was yummy tho. i made a pecan pie and everyone loved it even tho it was a tch overbaked. mom was up for like a week and a half and in that time we went to the mapparium (highly recommended), watched a bunch of tv (the crown which is weird to watch when it's about events i remember, the big short which i liked altho a lot of the finance went over my head, and ghosted which was fun and silly and super cute), went out to eat, played cards, she and my sister met me at work for lunch and i gave them a partial tour of the ugly building where i work, and they went black friday shopping and i came over later with bagels. my cousin with the twins had as much family as possible over for brunch and ALL THE KIDS WERE THERE HOLY SHIT. i mean, the kids in college were home for thanksgiving and none of the kids who are out of college went very far and there's still one in high school but at the same time, HOLY SHIT. they're almost like real adults! it's fun to talk to them and of course it's always nice to see the cousins who are my generation.)
nano season (validated at 52k and only got about halfway through the story. >.< i took the scenic route, let's say. we could also say i take a long time to get to the point.)
holiday party season (yesterday was the admin holiday lunch and yankee swap which was the last one. there were three - count 'em - last week altho i didn't go to the one on tuesday because i worked from home. i love holiday party season but wow is there a lot of food. oh, i got a frank lloyd wright puzzle at the yankee swap. perfect. :D )
and now we're smack in the middle of curling season. in the past, uh, month and a half? we lost by a lot, lost by not a lot, i missed two (one for cousins brunch and one because i caught a cold >.< ), and we lost by so much we called it after an hour. and i had to skip a game! which i have never done before. the other team was very patient and the other skip was very helpful and it wasn't a terrible experience - that's the game we lost by not a lot and i think the other team went easy on us which is honestly fine with me - but at the same time i'm not sure i want to do it again.
in other news, if anyone out there read the dead boy detectives comics (or remembers them from sandman) it's going to be a miniseries on netflix next year. could be good, could be bad, definitely worth checking out at least the first episode.
some of my links are, uh, old.
usda pomological watercolors - fruit! nuts! illustrated for usda reports and bulletins and whatever. so cool.
a history of "the most charming skyscraper in america". that would be the chrysler building. :D
the nightmare before christmas pumpkin mosaic, by which i mean a mosaic made entirely of pumpkins. (see? an old link. but so fun.)
what was it like being a flight attendant during the golden age of air travel?
and in that vein, what happens to babies born on planes? for one thing, american babies' birthplaces are listed as either "at sea" (if they're over international waters when it happens) or "in the air" (if they're over unclaimed territory).
a species of bat was discovered to reproduce without penetration. which doesn't sound like quite as much fun, but maybe the bats enjoy it.
i love this shit - a group of silicon valley billionaires want to build a city in california (called... california forever) but there's some resistance. and by "some" i mean "locals are less than enthused". said billionaires are kind of light on details, like what the city will look like and how it will be laid out and what kind of infrastructure it will have and what kind of housing etc etc. i really want to know the sticky details but i don't think there are any, and if there are no one is sharing.
miniatures are apparently a trend in the us now. neat!
you can now get doritos flavored alcohol. what - and i cannot stress this enough - the fuck.
and finally, the usps is releasing dungeons & dragons stamps next year. as good a reason as any to visit your local post office.