I hate that so much of life's ugliness is piling in on people here. I wish I had a magic wand to wave and make everything better.

Steph said exactly what I would have said, Tom.

And I totally relate to the feeling of ' how is it that everyone seems so much more connected than me?' No matter how much I contribute to my communities, I still stand alone. Most of the time, that is a good thing, but in times of stress, it can weigh heavy.

It is a great thing that you can combine your coping mechanism with such amazing talent.

Not that you need to care, but I honestly think your 'eye' on the world, through your photos, could help others cope with their own sense lonliness. You always find such beauty in your surroundings.

Consuela, that pooch snoot is curative too!

I think this is something that several might be interested in. A school library needs books: [link]

I tried to be as supportive as I could, but really wasn't a whole lot.

Oh, Tom. If nothing else, I bet that support was a lot.

In lighter news, a guy on the bus this morning mansplained to me! It really is such a distinctive thing.

That pain in the ass author who I had to call? He received a typeset proof to review, and he told the coordinator that one sentence was still incorrect. So she asked how it should be worded, and instead of just answering (it was -- seriously -- just deleting TWO WORDS), he replied "Contact the editor that I spoke with. She knows how it needs to appear.)

First, that is arrogant bullshit. Second, it was more work to type that than it was to type "Delete 'alternative approaches'." WHAT THE FUCK, SIR. WHAT THE FUCK.

(The coordinator's email to me said "Apparently he will not tell me how the sentence should read...please don't follow his example!")

In mildly better news, I just got an email that my employer (one of the largest in the city) is instituting gender neutral bathrooms in every building (there are dozens of them). A big FU to NC's HB2. Sometimes my instance of The Man does all right.

Also, check out how many people have already sent books to that school! [link]

Man, it sounds like yesterday was rough for a lot of people. Sorry, guys.

What Dana said.

Ugh, bigoted aunt just posted a picture of the American flag on FB with the statement "After the terrorist attack in France, Facebook was filled with French flags. I haven't seen one American flag yet, so I'm starting it. If you oppose terrorism, you'll share this!"

I've been choosing to not reply to the bigoted/ignorant shit other people have been posting on their own FB walls, because they are not commenting on my posts with bigoted shit. But ISTG, this flag post has gotten on my last nerve and I really want to tell her that the reason she hasn't seen American flags is because everyone is posting Pride flags what the fuck is even wrong with you you bigoted awful harridan?

...but I think I've hit the tipping point where I need to just hide all her posts instead. (I also unfriended Tim's nephew yesterday. He posted a picture of a bunch of assault rifles with the text "If you are in favor of restricting Americans' legal access to these, just unfriend me now." So I did. Hey, I can follow directions, and I'm tired of reading his posts badmouthing women yet lamenting why he's single.)

Woo, I am RILED UP today.