I hated editing people's fiction, because I was never sure where the line was between authorial voice and coherence.

Yeah, I'm not sure I'd want to edit fiction. STEM editing is so wonderfully clear, because its goal is: present the data as precisely as possible.

For those of us missing Cute Overload:

[link]

Ah, one of the freelance coordinators gave me a template for an icily polite letter that basically says "No, we're the fucking AMA, and we WILL edit your article, but obviously if we change the meaning, we need to know so we can change it back. Don't come for me, bro."

Just because someone else gets angry doesn't mean their anger is your problem. I have very little interest, for instance, in mending fences with the six people who twitter-teamed me about bathroom laws, and they were totally angry at me, probably because it's a strain for six people to have one brain.( I understand, and sympathize, with it being harder when it's a relationship that you do care about, but I find it hard to believe that you are always the one that's wrong.) For the record, that's why I get in fights in twitter, for principle, but also to remind myself that I don't die if people don't like me or call me some stupid name.

Because, basically, special-education prepared me to live on Sesame Street and that's about all. Or in one of those movies when we were kids where somebody loved the dork after she showed what was inside.

On the plus side of things, I just had some really damn good pizza.

For those of us missing Cute Overload:

I've become rather fond of WeRateDogs.

Just because someone else gets angry doesn't mean their anger is your problem. I have very little interest, for instance, in mending fences with the six people who twitter-teamed me about bathroom laws, and they were totally angry at me, probably because it's a strain for six people to have one brain.

The internet bums me out a little because it does away with the best piece of advice I heard from an old boss. She used to run a group home for people with brain injuries, so there were a lot of interpersonal conflicts. She would tell residents, if one person gives you a piece of feedback, it could be their issue, not yours. Even if two people give you the same piece of feedback. But when three people tell you the same thing, you should seriously consider if it is something to work on. I still hold on to that!

On the minus side, I ate too much pizza.

The whole thing where Trump tried to convince the world that he's sacrificed things got me thinking about the meaning of the word, in kind of a modern context. Obviously, the military and their families probably make the most obvious sacrifice for the country.

But what else is a sacrifice? Can we say that politicians make sacrifices? They get paid, but so do members of the military.

Parents sacrifice things for their children, and family members for each other. They go without so that the other person can get something -- food, money, clothes, entertainment, a whole range of things. And the higher up the income ladder you go, the degree of sacrifice probably gets less and less.

So that gets you to Trump. What about someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or Mark Zuckerberg, who've pledged huge amounts of their wealth to charity? It still leaves them with enough to live in plenty of luxury, so is it really a sacrifice?

Anyway, I was thinking that as a childless person who's been incredibly lucky and always financially secure, I'm not sure I've ever done anything you could call a sacrifice.