You do well to flee, townspeople! I will pillage your lands and dwellings! I will burn your crops and make merry sport with your more attractive daughters! Ha ha ha! Mark my words! Ooh! Ale! I smell delicious ale!

Olaf the Troll ,'Showtime'


Natter 73: Chuck Norris only wishes he could Natter  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


DavidS - Feb 18, 2015 3:00:12 pm PST #19719 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

My parents gave me Everything You Always Wanted to Know About sex to answer my questions at age 9. I snuck their copies of The Sensuous Man and The Sensuous Woman at age 10. The only damage that resulted from this was my belief that everybody should make an effort to become technically proficient and generous with oral sex.


Jessica - Feb 18, 2015 3:27:19 pm PST #19720 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Like the time she meant to rent Empire of the Sun and came home with The Last Emperor.

I went to a sleepover where this exact thing happened! And I still haven't seen Empire of the Sun.


Sophia Brooks - Feb 18, 2015 3:32:50 pm PST #19721 of 30000
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

Is Empire of the Sun the one with a young Christian Bale?


msbelle - Feb 18, 2015 3:54:28 pm PST #19722 of 30000
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

I have basically nothing left to take away from mac (that is not totally true, I could take away everything superficial from his room) and getting him to do work is STILL a fight. He knows he will not get back anything until he is doing schoolwork, and yet he still does not do what is needed and also lies about it. I am at a loss.

Today he "missed the bus" and "walked home" which means he missed tutoring. I don't believe him. He had his phone and did not call me. Furthermore there was a call to a friend on the phone it was only 26 seconds so I do not think they talked, but seriously WTF. There is zero trust right now.


Dana - Feb 18, 2015 3:59:21 pm PST #19723 of 30000
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

Why is it that the times you most need a new job are the times you feel least able to deal with all the work involved in getting a new job?


Susan W. - Feb 18, 2015 4:01:35 pm PST #19724 of 30000
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights

Susan, we should grab coffee and commiserate. I swear.

We totally should.

Overall Annabel is much less interested in anything romantic/sexy than I was at her age. At 10 I hadn't run across anything explicit yet, but my Empire Strikes Back movie tie-in novel fell open to the Han/Leia scenes, and I was MADLY in love with Han. While at one point I did think Annabel might be developing a John Barrowman crush (and I approved her good taste), I ultimately decided Captain Jack amused her rather than made her all swoony.

That said, she's very fandom-savvy. We went to GeekGirlCon together, and King County Library System had a booth with various questions for attendees to answer. One of them was "Who do you ship?" I wrote "Ichabbie," and she took the marker from me and wrote two dragons from the Dragonet Prophecy book series. I commented that I didn't know people shipped those books. She gave me this LOOK and said, "All fandoms ship."

When she tells me about her story ideas, she asks which characters I think her readers will ship, and when we watch TV together she'll nod sagely at various Ichabbie or Korrasami moments and say, "The shippers are going to be all over that." But when it comes to actual established pairs kissing, that's still watch from the hall for her.


Burrell - Feb 18, 2015 4:12:20 pm PST #19725 of 30000
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!

Susan, my kids love those books! Franny started a fan page on Instagram and got a scary-zillion followers. We should get the girls in contact.

Franny's shipping is all very innocent at this stage, but, well,... I know how things go. But hey, I kinda think exploring her sexuality via books and fic is way less stressful on me than other forms of sexual exploration.

I was raised by parents who were mostly okay with us reading sexy books, but I do recall being scandalized by The Happy Hooker when I was in 5th or 6th grade.


Susan W. - Feb 18, 2015 4:19:29 pm PST #19726 of 30000
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights

Does Franny read the Warriors series, too? I bet Annabel would talk her ear off, given the chance.

My mom didn't really police my reading, but if she knew I was reading something explicit, I'd get lectures on the Importance of Waiting Till You're Married. So I'd sneak the books into the house and hide them in the back of my bookshelf just to avoid the lectures.


Katerina Bee - Feb 18, 2015 4:32:46 pm PST #19727 of 30000
Herding cats for fun

I remember getting hold of a copy of "Coffee, Tea or Me?" that scandalous stewardess paperback. We were puzzled more than traumatized.


SuziQ - Feb 18, 2015 4:55:32 pm PST #19728 of 30000
Back tattoos of the mother is that you are absolutely right - Ame

Silly flight victory. I've gotten in the habit of just asking for a seat belt extender when I board instead of chancing it not fitting or having an attendent pointing out that I need one. It was a hit to my pride but if I ask first I feel less embarassed.

A few minutes ago, I boarded, asked for one and she said she would bring me one. So I get to my seat and give it a try. It clicked with room to tighten. Not like I've lost weight, just random luck. But I'll take it.