I hope they turn up soon, Kate!

Ugh, apparently the fridge on the other side of the door badly needed cleaning out and the smell is wafting all the way over here. Making my eyes water. Bad day to not have my Vog mask!

Twitter tells me that Jussie Smollett's lawyer tells all of us that the charges against him have been dropped. With the caveat that this is third-hand Twitter info, WT everloving F.

Dana, CNN is saying the same thing. This is the strangest story ever.

Here's hoping M has dealt with them and knows where they are, Kate!

I am so so so not wanting to do work. We had an audit, over stuff I was not involved in. And I had to respond to stuff, which was both frustrating (because I didn't do it) and not too bad (because none of it was my fault). And now they've responded to our response and asked for more. And looking at what they want, I seriously thought "Or I could just quit". Jesus. I do not appreciate.

I have a weirdly schadenfreude-y piece of good news: the coworker who thinks I'm incompetent misinterpreted something I said to her and shared that misinterpretation Very Widely with Higher-Ups and Important People -- and she realizes that it was her fault! And not mine! That feels like some kind of breakthrough, but even if it's just this one thing, it's such a relief not to be the fuck-up in her eyes.

Yay, Jesse!

Ugh, meara.

I got the report and summary for my conference call that happens in (checks time) 75 minutes out! This month has been constant crises, y'all, I have had enough of it.

I am going to have a damn rage blackout, y'all.

On my neighborhood FB group, there have been several posts over the last week that there's a 20-something white* dude who has been roaming around the neighborhood, sometimes sitting and smoking, but generally following women who are walking alone. He's groped several women already (who have reported him to the police).

His stepmother posted to the FB group saying that he has severe mental illness but they can't afford another inpatient stay for him, and they can't force him to stay indoors.

The stepmother's post has brought out all the commenters who are saying shame on every single person who condemned this dude before, how can we be so cruel to someone with mental illness, prayers for him and his family, blah blah blah.

Y'ALL. You know how I feel about mental illness. I'm 100% on Team Support Those With Mental Illness. Which in no way takes away from the fact that I am ALSO 100% on Team The Dude Physically Assaulted Women And That Is Not Okay So Sorry But Mental Illness Doesn't Change That How About You Send Some Of Your Sorry-Ass Prayers To The Women Who He Assaulted.

Like. More than one thing can be true about this situation. I can think that it's terrible that people in his situation can't access adequate mental health care AND I can think that mental illness doesn't excuse assaulting women so he needs to be off the streets.

It's getting pretty heated in the neighborhood FB group between Team Prayers For The Mentally Ill and Team Hey I Really Don't Want To Be Assaulted Just Because I Want To Walk To The Park And It Doesn't Matter If The Perp Has A Mental Illness Or Not.

*(And let's be clear: if he were any color other than white, he'd already be in jail or shot by the police. No question.)

Hey, I take some of it back. Team Just Because He Has A Mental Illness Doesn't Excuse His Assaults seems to be hitting the keyboards. Okay. I feel a little better. I was starting to feel a little unsafe in my neighborhood (not from the dude himself, but from neighbors who are apparently just fine with women being assaulted if the perp has mental illness).

I'm sorry, Steph. For everyone! Not a good situation at all.

That sucks, Tep. Everything about it.