You guys, the FACE on Chris Hemsworth's baby! [link]

So I got invited to this party, and it’s kind of freaking me out whether or not I should go:

It gives me great pleasure to extend an invitation to you for our 2nd Annual East Coast All-Participatory Talent Show/BBQ/Birthday Celebration!

Or, 2AECAPTSBBQBC.

The 2AECAPTSBBQBC is so great because it is truly ALL-PARTICIPATORY. If you show up, you MUST share a talent.

Your talent need not be performance based; for example, cooking, crafting and child-rearing are all excellent talents. Cooking works out especially well, given the BBQ nature of the 2AECAPTSBBQBC.

The all-participatory nature of the party allows those less extroverted among us to take a turn in the spotlight. Show us how far you can spit a watermelon seed. Give a tarot reading. Mix us a drink. Bring pictures of a treehouse you built. Read to us. Present a powerpoint on the nature of the Higgs boson particle. For the West Coasters included in this invite, post something online and we'll show it at the party!

If you don't mind, talents presented at the 2AECAPTSBBQBC should be kept to around five minutes.

You should definitely go, and bring photos of pets you've taken and then you will build that as a business.

I've been meaning to note, Tep, that Emmett used some of his hard-earned money to buy his own foam roller. He LOVES it to work out his sore muscle after doing cross-fit. We bought it from a medical supply place so presumably it will last.

Oh, even the less-sturdy Target one I bought has helped a great deal, so I'm on board with the heavy-duty one.

Also -- cross-fit is HARD CORE. Jesus.

I was just watching an unspecified show which seemed to hinge on a particular kind of swinging. But they stated it like This Is How You Swing. No men admitted without women--it's all about their comfort. However, the scenario is cuckolding, but a really weak kind--the husband chooses his "replacement", and he steps in at the last minute to prevent actual swinging being swung.

What is that, even? I mean, I'm not looking to prime time TV to accurately represent any sort of kink, but this seemed even more broken than, say, CSI and adult babies. If for nothing else than presenting it as the way it's done, not a way it's done.

I most emphatically Do Not Swing, because I don't even like most people I know to hug me. But there's a decent amount of crossover between the BDSM and swing communities, so (anecdatally) of the people I know who do swing, what that TV show described doesn't sound common at all. The point of swinging (as far as I've been exposed to it) is for everyone to get their freak on with someone else.

That said, of the swing clubs I know about, they do have some pretty strict rules about admitting men by themselves (i.e., not as part of a couple) -- they charge WAY more of a door fee for men by themselves than they do for couples or single women. The reason they give for that is that single dudes have gained a reputation of being really predatory at swing clubs.

Remember, all my swinging knowledge is secondhand, so take it with an enormous grain of salt.

CSI and adult babies

I have a suspicion that CSI came across the fetish map. When they have an episode on Toy Boats, we will know the truth.

Tom - Jesse has a good idea.

Or if you aren't sure about that, just say your talent is photography and you'll be taking pictures and people can see them on your blog/flickr. Do you have a business card with the your blog and flickr url? Then you could just hand them out.

Chris Hemsworth's little girl is adorable, love her little mohawk. The look on his face when he's looking down at her is so sweet.

I think secondhand seems to be closer than these writers got. My friend with the snake in his bed was an enormous swinger, and regaled me with tales all the time. He was also the sort of swinger that travelled in a pack of (predatory) males, so there's that perspective too.

Scola, why would you be afeared of that party? You're already sharing a talent every time you put up a photograph on tumblr, so it's not like you're not warmed up.

The "accommodation" work is making for me is that I tell them at the start of the week which days I'll need to work from home. Which is precisely not how my problem goes, but I couldn't work anything else out with them. So I have to decide what this week will feel like based on today.

Ayup, I'm a magician as well as a (differently abled) business analyst. Lord have mercy.

I’ve got a bad case of impostor syndrome. (I’m not fishing for complements here, seriously. It doesn’t help, anyway)

That imposter is a hell of a photographer.

When they have an episode on Toy Boats, we will know the truth.

I live for that day.