The Warrior Inside

PSA: Amazon Sidewalk

Sat, 29 May 2021 23:54:39 GMT

Please pass this to everyone you know.

Ars Technica: Amazon Sidewalk shares your Internet with your neighbors

TURN THIS OFF. RIGHT NOW. This is a privacy and security nightmare that can make up to 500 Mb a month available to your neighbors. Amazon claims it's encrypted, and it doesn't know whose network you're using.

I call bullshit. This is exploitable as fuck and it puts unknown devices with unknown security measures and unknown applications on your network without your knowledge and consent, and it is being quietly turned on on all Alexa, Ring, and Echo devices without notifying you.

If you have Amazon Alexa, Ring video doorbells, or an Echo smart speaker, TURN AMAZON SIDEWALK OFF. RIGHT NOW. Search "turn Amazon Sidewalk off" on any search engine and you'll find plenty of tutorials.

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Sun, 25 Apr 2021 18:56:01 GMT

If you are reading this, can you reply to me? I'd like to know who is and is not still out there and reading this. I know I haven't written in forever, and I want to start again.

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New Project: People Shaming!

Sun, 03 Mar 2019 12:32:38 GMT

I'm declaring an intent here. I'm going to begin a new project, although I'm not sure if I'm going to do it here or on Wordpress. I might even do it on both. :) I've started this before, only to fall off.

I firmly believe that a good many of the issues that we have in American society are directly related to the lack of respect we show ourselves and others. The problem is that we're also so thin-skinned and sensitive that nobody can tell us anything, and any attempt to correct or criticize anything is met with self-righteous wailing.

Enter shaming. The Internet has countless pictures of shaming: dice shaming, dog shaming, cat shaming. People behave worse than dice, cats, or dogs ever will, so why aren't we shaming them?

But ... just shaming doesn't help, because a lot of people are oblivious enough that they have no idea how what they're doing affects other people. Shaming alone won't help - I have to teach as well, by explaining how this behavior negatively affects those around them, and explain a better way.

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Breaking the Dependency Cycle

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:28:35 GMT

The more I introspect and try to figure out why I am stressing and what is really bothering me, and the more digging I do, the clearer my situation becomes. As the situation gets clearer, so too does what I have to do about it.

Basically what's happening is that I have become figurative mommy to most of a social group. I don't like people being dependent on me. I never wanted this. Unfortunately, my good heart and drive to do what is expected of me (a.k.a "the right thing") sort of dragged me into it. S didn't think and got herself into a pickle she couldn't get out of, so she dragged me into it to help her deal with it.

For a while there, I lost my own identity. I stopped doing the things that I wanted and the things that I enjoy, because there was always stuff that I was supposed to be doing or that someone else wanted me to do. I was conditioned very early to give other people their way and not argue. (How that happened is another story.) I ended up having no idea who I was, because I was so busy being what other people wanted.

And I couldn't deal. I couldn't carry on like that.

Over the last year and change, I have been gradually working back from that very dark time in my life. I've been establishing interests and pursuits that my social circle doesn't know about. I've started reading again, I've gotten into community theater, and I'm starting to write a political blog that I hope eventually, with time and care and feeding, get my voice out there on the blog scene. I'm not always at their beck and call.

Things aren't perfect. I still spend way too much time fixing these people's messes and catering to their needs. It's a process, and one that is hindered by the fact that S is living with me. I've only just begun to re-establish myself, my voice, and my boundaries, and because I'm dealing with a lot of childishness and a fair amount of emotional dependency, I'm wary of upsetting the apple cart where an HSP/ADHD/anxious kid is involved. Once she's on her own and safely out of the way (that happens this October), I'll be able to drop the hammer and start kicking some butts.

So here's the breakdown of the social circle in question.

K: My dad. He's the only person who isn't dependent on me, and he has been my leaning post. He's very much like me and is if anything more tired of the bullshit than I am.
S: My at-the-moment SO. She thinks she loves me. What she really is is emotionally dependent on me, and she's right in the middle of and struggling with her dissertation. Now isn't the time to upset that apple cart. I'll deal with her once the dissertation is done and put up with her in the meantime. That gives me time to gird myself for that fight. Very controlling and emotionally unstable.
A: A is 17, will be 18 in October. She is the HSP/anxious/ADHD kid I referred to above. My job between now and October is to make sure she has what she needs to cut herself loose from her mom come her 18th birthday. She's already living with K for reasons I'll discuss in another blog post, and since that happened, the girl has positively blossomed. She is the reason I don't tell B and H to go play in traffic, because she's a good kid with a work ethic who simply needs to be shown a better way.
H: A's younger half-sister is 15, is high-functioning ASD, and is the apple of her mama's eye. She is at the same time neglected and spoiled rotten (by virtue of being largely ignored unless her mama wants to buy her things). She's a very cosseted young lady who doesn't do much of anything aside from stare at her phone and expect A to hop to and fulfill her every demand.
B: B is A & H's mother and S's roommate, except that S has fled the place to live with me instead. S pays their rent. B is herself ASD/ADHD and has a number of mental and physical issues, of which the upshot is that physically she's about 50 and mentally about 15-16. She often asks A to do H's work for her, because she doesn't want to deal with H's whining and sandbagging and just wants the work done.

I have already decided that when A hits legal majority, I'm going to cut off all time/energy/money assistance to B & H. I can't help H until B starts actually paying attention to and disciplining the girl, and that she isn't likely to do because she's so wrapped up on herself. Not my circus, not my monkeys. S is the one who keeps trying to get me to do for them, because she's signed a lease and can't get them to maintain a livable place. I'll do it until A is old enough to be on her own, and then I'll drop the tent on that circus.

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Discipline your child, or I will help you not.

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 13:47:23 GMT

About two years ago, H's estranged father contacted her mother. He wanted to send her a smartphone, which same H had been desperately, desperately wanting for herself. K and I said "oh my is that a bad idea. She will (a) ignore the rest of us; (b) ignore her homework and the things she is supposed to be doing; and (c) cost her parents a fortune in deductibles to replace broken phones because she breaks everything she touches."

Predictably, we got ignored. Why? Because her mom liked the idea of knowing where H was at all times. I personally think that this behavior shows lack of trust and encourages dependency, but it's her kid and her choice. *shrug*

So H has apparently been on her phone instead of doing classwork, and on her phone most of the time in the evenings instead of doing chores or schoolwork. Her grades are in the toilet. If we're all sitting at the dinner table, she has her nose two inches from her screen and is ignoring the rest of us. Aaaaand she's had five phones in two years.

Told you, B.

I can't make B do anything. In the eyes of the law and in her eyes, she's a grown woman. (Mentally, she's about fifteen, but I digress.) However, H is in desperate need of less cosseting and catering and more discipline, and that discipline starts with taking that phone from her and making her pay attention to what she is supposed to be paying attention to.

Here's the thing, H looks for the most lenient voice in her life and follows that. Just like any other teen, right? Well, that voice is her mom. I am not the most lenient voice in her life, so she ignores me whenever she can, which is anytime she's not in my house. So, because she goes with her mom's upbringing because it's the most permissive, I can't really teach her much. Anything I say goes in one ear and out the other, and therefore anything I try to give her or teach her becomes me wasting my time, money, and energy trying to teach the pig to sing.

I'm done with that. I have my own pursuits and my own goals, wants, and needs, and I'm done spinning my wheels catering to a spoiled little brat in order to make her mama happy and maintain peace. Discipline your child, or I will not waste any more time or energy on her.

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OMG OMG OMG OMG!

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 17:40:06 GMT

OMG Laurel Mill is doing Jekyll and Hyde OMG OMG OMG OMG *runs around in circles*

Where's my audition music?

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Ghosting Isn't Cool

Sat, 26 Jan 2019 12:26:24 GMT

I was thinking just this morning about all the times in my life when people have disappeared on me after one real-life meeting, for no apparent reason, leaving me wondering what rule of courtesy I broke or whether I'm a horrific person to be around. Wondering if I'd ever have a normal friendship with people who aren't completely broken or dependent on me or want something from me.

And then I come across this article in Pocket. I don't normally give much shrift to the New York Times -- it's one of these rags that wants you to think they're politically neutral and they are so not. But, credit where credit is due -- this one was a good one. And it absolutely nails why ghosting is bad for relationships.

Ghosting absolutely does say more about the person doing the ghosting than it does about the ghosted. It's a chickensh*t move that says that you don't have the guts to tell someone that you didn't feel a connection with them. Do I feel rejected, confused, wondering what I did wrong? Absolutely, and I'll never know if I did something wrong, so if I made a social mistake, I'm likely to make it again. Not very helpful for anyone.

Sometimes, I do know what I did. When I do, it's always that I told them something they didn't want to hear and they couldn't handle, so they kicked me off the island. In that case, good, you at least told me up front that you're not the kind of person I want to be friends with. I believe that a real friend will tell you the truth whether you want to hear it or not, and if it's a sycophant you want, I'm not it.

Other times, I haven't a clue. This pretty much has always happened with people I've met on the Internet, where I meet them once and they ghost me. On thinking about it, this might tie back to my nature. I can be difficult to get to know, because I've been hurt enough times that I don't open easily. My interests and my points of connection are deeper than most people's. I'm also still working on not becoming emotional in debates (a bad habit of mine). I don't consume a huge amount of media, because somehow every time I do I lose more respect for the human race. I'm sure that a lot of people who know me from the Internet might think that I don't have any interests with which to find something in common, and it's true that I need more hobbies. I wonder if my not opening easily means that they find no instant connection and walk away. If that's true, I suppose that I'll find the people worth connecting with in real life.

So, seriously. Don't ghost people unless they're threatening you, online or in real life. It's gutless and it doesn't give them any chance to change or understand what happened.

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Religion and Philosophy

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 15:01:39 GMT

I'm blowing two holidays before the end of the fiscal year, so I took yesterday and today off, giving me a lovely five-day weekend with which to do as I please. Some of that please is what I need to do, and I'm okay with that. Welcome to adulting. It is what it is, and as long as you don't pour your whole life into it, responsibility is good.

But it also gives me some extra time to slow down and think. When I think, I sometimes journal, and this particular topic is worth noting down for the ages. This particular topic came out of a breakfast conversation with my dad yesterday morning. He is agnostic, and although I have dabbled in various religions, I adhere to none of them and come back to agnosticism.

Why?

( Read on! )

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sigh

Sun, 23 Dec 2018 12:16:09 GMT

I am so fucking done with being told who and what I should be, think, do, and believe. Most people who tell you these kinds of things have their own agenda, and while most of those agendas are understandable and many are harmless, what other people want doesn't always serve your best interests.

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Christmas protest idea!

Sun, 25 Nov 2018 20:55:46 GMT

I had an idea pop into my head. (Everybody run.)

I want to show up at a Christmas party wearing a Halloween costume. The scariest one I can think of.

Because dammit, if they can put Christmas in my Halloween in the stores, I can put Halloween in their Christmas and see how THEY like it.

If you like the idea, feel free to steal/boost signal.

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One of the secrets to life, by me.

Sun, 29 Apr 2018 12:24:02 GMT

(Thanks to the people who responded to my previous post. I didn't respond, but I appreciated and tried to take the advice. It does help.)

I finally got a WHOLE WEEKEND ALL TO MYSELF this weekend. This was an amazing thing and something sorely needed. I knew, somehow, that I had to let myself be bored the first day, in order to understand what I needed to do next. It worked, and sort of culminated in a point of wisdom for myself to remember. If it helps you as well, awesome. Take it for what it is -- a personal thought, not a direction for you.

Everyone thinks they know best how to run your life for you. The well-meaning health nuts. The church ladies in the grocery store. Your doctor. Your financial adviser. The guy on the street corner who yells at you because he doesn't like your bag. (Yes, that really happened to me once.) Whether it's out of a desire for validation or a desire for control of their own world doesn't really matter. All of these things are simply opinions. Some are more informed than others, but in the end, they're only opinions.

A life that is 100% healthy, safe, sane, and sensible is a life not worth living. It's a life lived in someone else's box of expectations, ruled by fear. When you live in that box, you're just another cog in the machine. You can't make history or find your raison d'être by following all the rules. When you drop the fear, take your chances with disappointing people, and break out of the box, you'll find who you are and your purpose for being.

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one and most of them stink. They have a perfect right to state them and think what they want. Let them judge. Let them hate. Their hatred and their judgment is a commentary on them, not on you. If you want and can afford the Mercedes, get the damned Mercedes. Eat the cake, if you want the cake. The point of life is not to arrive safely in a perfectly-preserved body. Respect your body, and let it be a tool that helps you be your best you, whatever that best you is by your estimation. Beyond that, it's only a shell.

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I need to make changes.

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 19:09:37 GMT

Honestly? I don't treat myself with enough respect. I don't value myself, my needs, my wants, my time enough. I hate saying no to people because I honestly think that my wants and needs aren't as important as other people's, and that if I can do something, I should do it. If I don't, I'm a selfish jerk. If I don't put up with a neverending stream of griping and drama and bullshit and neediness, I'm somehow mean and uncaring.

I have no idea who I am anymore, because I spend so much time catering to the needs of others. I'm starting to get some glimmer, though, of who I am and who I want to be. And ... it's not who I am to other people.

A big part of my discontent right now is that I do not and never have wanted to be Mommy. I don't want to spend my life catering to other people's needs. I've been talked into it through a combination of persuasion and emotional manipulation, and now I'm carrying everyone's burdens for them, because I pride myself on being strong enough and sane enough to do it without breaking. Yes, I am ... but does that mean I should have to? No.

So. Now I have to figure out how to respect myself enough to not fall into the guilt trap any time I try to say no.

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A little bit of Christmas fun(?)

Fri, 22 Dec 2017 16:26:07 GMT

So my car's been in the body shop for the last week and a half, after S borrowed my car to go grocery shopping and oh so helpfully backed into my neighbor. The body shop have been nothing but lovely to work with, and I have a rental that isn't costing me a mint. I'm not unhappy, although I did mentally smack S over the head a few dozen times. Thank God for the seven year rule.

I was supposed to get it yesterday -- they called yesterday and said it'd be done late yesterday or today and I should pick it up today. So I get a call today from the owner -- apparently something red hit the car after it was completed and in the parking lot, damaged the bumper, and left the grill in pieces all over the parking lot. They're fixing it at their expense -- good, honest people, thank you! Not much to be done, I have the rental handled through Tuesday, so it's all good.

But still ... something red hit my car in the body shop, hit and run, the weekend before Christmas.

Stupid reindeer.

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...

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 23:08:05 GMT

...is anyone actually reading?

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Dinner And a Show

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:11:12 GMT

Man, I don't do the dinner-and-a-show thing nearly often enough. I'm not into movies, but last night my dad, A, S, and I hit Morton's for dinner and then went to see Jackie Evancho live.

Getting S to wear anything other than T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers, all too tight, and a sports bra practically requires a cattleprod. Normally, I don't mind -- everyone has the right to do their thing most of the time -- but come on. An opera house is a high-class venue, and so is Morton's. Dress like it, dammit.

I had my timeline for getting ready so carefully planned. Get home no later than 1:30, be ready by 2:30-2:45 so that we could meet up at 3 and leave at 3:15 for our reservations at 4. I had mistimed our reservations, since the concert started at 6, but 4 was when they opened, and the same would be true of any high-end place on a weekend, so there's just not much to be done about it there. It all started out perfect. I was home by 1:30. All was well. Clothes were laid out and ready to go.

And then I fell asleep. I had intended to power-nap for half an hour and get up at 2 to get ready. Uh, NOPE. I woke at 2:20. We were meeting at 3 PM. CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP. ZOOM through the shower and hair dryer. Makeup. Where's my makeup bag. Uh. Makeup bag. WHERE THE FUCK IS MY MAKEUP BAG? Find the OTHER bag, the one I wasn't looking for. God dammit. It'll have to do. Oh good, this one has the correct color base ... and YES the color eyeliner I wanted to go with the blouse. Eyeshadow isn't right but oh hey, I do have that one I forgot about. FINE. It'll do. Stab self in eyes three times with eyeliner. OW FUCK FUCK OW. That's what I get for trying to do this shit fast. Finally get it right and get the eyeliner out of my eye.

It's about this time that I realize I forgot the oil control primer I use under my base because I have shine issues. AUGH. It's SITTING RIGHT FUCKING THERE. I HATE BEING RUSHED. *grr* No time now. Finish up...oh, and clean the excess base you got on the sink. GAH. OK, done. Thank $DEITY I laid out my clothes. Jewelry. Necklace: FIND. Earrings ... AWOL. Fuck it, grab three pairs that match and go. (Did locate earrings later, downstairs. After the concert.)

Get downstairs, people are here. Oy, HATE that. S is wearing sneakers. SERIOUSLY WOMAN? Hand her the loafers that are forgotten in my closet ... and she's wearing white socks. *facepalm* Too bad, we gotta go.

Can you tell I don't deal well when I'm running late? Fortunately, I had built an extra few minutes into the schedule for Baltimore traffic, and good thing too, because Ravens game. Oh boy. We got there in good time, thank $DEITY for the extra few minutes I'd built in. We parked in the same parking garage.

Dinner was divine. Expensive, but divine. Steak and shrimp and creme brûlée. It's nice to do that now and then, but now and then is the watchword. Certainly won't do that every day, plus they added our parking to the check and we didn't have to pay game day prices. WIN. Off to the opera house. Found it! Parking: FIND. We're late, though. I hate being late to theater shows, it really is kinda rude. Sorry, people around me.

If it's your thing, Jackie Evancho really is an incredible performer, and I LOVED her dress for the second half. I'm not a fan of trumpet style skirts, but if I could have that skirt off the hips, I'd go for it ... and fit through no door ever. XD I love long poofy skirts, though. She did some of her classics and some Christmas stuff, and her rendition of O Holy Night is something I will never forget. She really is a once-in-a-generation talent, and i wish I could sing like that. I truly enjoyed the concert. No recording, so I don't have photo or video for you, and some doorknob tried it and promptly got nailed by security. It's a theater, dumbass. PUT THAT THING AWAY.

Getting out was amusing. It took us 40m to get out of the garage, because the gates wouldn't open. Cops finally got called and they forced the gates open to let us all out -- for free of course. More parking WIN but lots of amusement from fellow waiting patrons.

A worthwhile and fun evening, all told. I do not handle well being late or rushing. It really is rude to be late to a show, and I feel a little bad, but I suppose it goes to show that none of us is perfect.

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Social Media - Iz haetz it.

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 10:48:14 GMT

I have a confession to make.

I really don't like social media at all, for a host of reasons.

Somehow, the combination of anonymity and an audience gives the inner asshole that everyone has room to run, and run it does. This concept is clearly and beautifully captured in the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory from Penny Arcade, and it does nothing for my opinion of humanity as a whole.
Seriously? People read this garbage? People care about this garbage?
Instead of being a platform for everyone to express what they think, it's become the world's greatest groupthink platform.
The great and beautiful things that humanity does happen in real life -- in the hospitals, family homes, animal shelters, and care homes of the world. You don't see as much of that online, because good stuff doesn't get the clicks. Somehow, it's the insipid bullshit and the horrors that get the clicks.
Twitter and Facebook are so buried in advertising and sponsored crap and revenue-generating space on the page that it chokes out anything I might actually care about or want to read.

If people wonder why I don't do the Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat/Facebook thing, that's why. Oh, I have them (the only one of those I don't have is Snapchat). But ... I don't read them hardly at all, and I don't post a lot either, and I find that my human experience is a whole lot better when I don't.

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Cluttered House, Cluttered Mind

Sun, 19 Nov 2017 22:15:53 GMT

Today confirmed for me something that I have long guessed at -- that I am one of those people who is clean when I'm cool and a mess when I have something on my mind. Clear the clutter in my mind and I promptly have the urge to clean ALL THE THINGS.

Not a bad way to be, really -- I at least have a clear indicator of when there's something in my brain trying to worm its way out.

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Hobbies, ugh.

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 13:42:41 GMT

I am slowly coming to realize that I have spent too much of my young life on a computer. Having moved off and away from the computer as entertainment, I'm finding myself at loose ends and in need of new non-computer hobbies. Certification work, sure, that still needs doing (and I need to get back to it), and I find myself immensely entertained by the process of world-building. But -- both are sedentary activities, and I spend too much time with my rear end in a chair as it is.

I'm thinking it might be healthy for me to disconnect from the Internet for a period each day, and I don't mean watching television. I wonder if it'd be fun to invest in a good pair of hiking boots and go walk the trail near my house. Relearn to identify birds and flowers. Rediscover the art of trail marking that I learned as a kid. Maybe start going camping again and cooking over a campfire. We all need to disconnect now and then, and too much of anything is destructive.

Maybe get back to learning to play guitar. I've never been a great instrument person, but I should learn to accompany myself well enough for a fireside.

Also, randomly and not at all related: I made myself an Instagram account last night. I doubt I will use it much, no more than I use Twitter or Facebook, but it's there if anyone wants to follow me.

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Cookie has gone home!

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 12:58:21 GMT

I have sent Cookie on to his forever home. My dad claimed him, and even picked up a companion who can keep up with the little crazypants. His big sister is a four-month old torbie named Karyn, and he has a big brother as well who is confined due to incontinence issues but is named Gadget. Word is the two of them are playing like wild things and having the best of fun.

So, that story has a happy ending at least for now. Now, to clean my place. It needs it like a big hairy dog. Gah.

So much to do, and I still owe those pictures of Northern Europe.

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Karaoke Singing and Slurs

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 13:50:45 GMT

I haven't talked about it on here too much, but I love to sing and I'm told I'm good at it. I should really get into community theater of some kind but AAAAAAH THAT LEVEL OF TIME COMMITMENT YIKES. Plus ... I'm really self-conscious. I'm absolutely convinced that I suck at acting. I can sing, or so I've been told, but I can't dance to save my mortal soul (seriously, it's pathetically funny when I try) and I'm not a great actor.

So I sing karaoke instead. I've got a place that I sing at as often as I can. Great crowd, very safe and fun people. It's an older crowd but a family atmosphere and they do allow kids as long as they're not in the bar area. Periodically, I work on something new to sing, and the latest one I'm working on is a duet with one of the regulars, "Fairytale of New York". Great song but yikes the lyrics. Not safe for public consumption. Still, I sing them anyway, because there's a cultural context for the slurs and epithets in the lyrics.

See, I'm not a believer in censoring history and pretending that such words were never used, because to sweep the past under the rug and pretend that it never happened, instead of remembering what once was and why we don't do things like that, is a sure path to having such things happen again. Instead, let's remember how people used to treat one another, note that we don't do that anymore, and why, and move forward. Don't censor the past. Remember it in the history books -- and let it stay in the history books where it belongs.

I have more to say on the topic of giving and taking offense and its effect on societal discourse, but I'll write that later when I'm not at work and have time to really explore the topic.

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Fostering ... a little better.

Mon, 06 Nov 2017 13:38:40 GMT

So I made a point this weekend to spend lots of time with Clio and give her lots of love -- and keep her away from little Cookie as much as possible. It seems to have done the trick; she ate a little over the weekend and cleaned her plate this morning. I think I'll change up the non-diabetic kitty gooshy food too. Sorry, Pumpkin, you get what you get and it is what it is, but you're doing well on it, so that makes me happy at least. Everyone else can have gravy now and then. :)

I believe I have a home for Cookie. He has a thing or two to learn about big cat boundaries before he's ready for Karin, my dad's new cat that he got last weekend as a companion for him. They play, but I don't know her well enough to be sure she won't hurt him or send him cowering. In the meantime, Fizzgig has turned out to be an awesome kitty foster dad and plays with him, pins him down and grooms him like a mama cat, and is just generally cool with the little dude. This is a thing that is amazing when you see it in cats and is very much a behavior to be encouraged. To get them acquainted, I will bring Cookie over for playdates every so often until they're cool, then let him live there full time.

I still think that I will not foster until Clio and Pumpkin at least are over the Bridge. Pumpkin's too old for this shit and Clio's too high-strung. We'll see at that time. :) I'm still inclined to do it but the circumstances aren't quite right yet.

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Fostering NOPE

Sat, 04 Nov 2017 13:22:16 GMT

Looks like me doing kitty fostering will have to wait a while. Clio, who is exceptionally high-strung, isn't handling Cookie's presence well and didn't eat yesterday evening at all and only a little this morning. I think it started when I moved him to my office, which she haunts a lot. It's time to send little man on to his forever home and end the idea of fostering until some of my monster farm have gone over the Bridge. With any luck, that'll be a good few years yet.

It saddens me, but I made a commitment to my monkeys and they have to come first.

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Cookie-monster is growing up!

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 17:47:42 GMT

Cookie continues to do well and grow like a weed. He bounces all over the place, and I have got to get a video of the way he runs at top speed. His back half goes faster than his front half, so he ends up running sideways and it's completely hilarious. I've moved him to my office, which is considerably bigger than the bathroom, and I have purchased with the help of a friend working at a baby store a baby gate to let him run around the upstairs without assistance from the big cats, several of whom do not like the little man. I let him run for several hours a day, then tuck him up and spend some time with him, then go out and spend time with the permanent residents. Seems to work as a method.

I am soooooo looking forward to Sunday morning. Sleep in.

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Vaguejournal is aimed vaguejournal.

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:26:34 GMT

the_onion_girl ... Imma smack you. <3 You know I'm here for you. You do know that, right? Here I was thinking I was boring and uninteresting and wondering what I did to piss you off. Call me.

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Coffee and the Holidays

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 13:49:26 GMT

I look forward to Starbucks' holiday lattes every year. Yes, I've heard all the complaints and comments about how they burn their beans and their coffee is crap and and and and ... and you know what? I couldn't care less. I'm no coffee snob. I drink Folger's just fine, and while I like the lighter roasts, I also like my coffee brewed on the strong side. Caffeine, baby. And yes, I like espresso, I'm just cautious about needing to peel myself off the ceiling after ordering a doppio and I do like some sugar... :)

I'm already thinking about holiday cards and holiday shopping. I have no interest in running around on Christmas Eve. I have a good idea of what I have to spend this year for Christmas, and if I can take my time and find the deals, I can do a really nice Christmas with that. I'm not hosting Thanksgiving this year, thank goodness, although I will help to cook. I'm thinking to do a letter instead of cards, since I have not sent cards in years.

Early? Maybe a little, but I find that starting early = less stress = more fun.

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The Warrior Inside

PSA: Amazon Sidewalk

New Project: People Shaming!

Breaking the Dependency Cycle

Discipline your child, or I will help you not.

OMG OMG OMG OMG!

Ghosting Isn't Cool

Religion and Philosophy

*sigh*

Christmas protest idea!

One of the secrets to life, by me.

I need to make changes.

A little bit of Christmas fun(?)

...

Dinner And a Show

Social Media - Iz haetz it.

Cluttered House, Cluttered Mind

Hobbies, ugh.

Cookie has gone home!

Karaoke Singing and Slurs

Fostering ... a little better.

Fostering NOPE

Cookie-monster is growing up!

Vaguejournal is aimed vaguejournal.

Coffee and the Holidays

sigh