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Midnight Pals is a thing where horror writers gather and tell stories, but really it's a satirical Twitter feed.

Midnight Pals is a thing where horror writers gather and tell stories, but really it's a satirical Twitter feed.

Oh my god, I lost it when Mary Shelley showed up and pulled out a switchblade.

I don't feel like taking that risk. M thinks I'm being too fearful

I'll note that lots of parents are holding kids out from Matilda's HS for the last week and probably part of this week. There have been a few COVID exposures, but generally everybody is trying to lay low until the surge dies down. The school is fine with it.

I'd say Matilda's school is almost at half capacity (which also makes it safer for her to go school).

I don't know how she's dodged the virus [knock wood] but she is super conscientious about mask wearing and safe behavior. She gets her booster on Saturday and I feel like I've been holding my breath the whole time.

Recently we found that that JZ's cousin got COVID, lost her sense of smell, recovered it and then she got the weird side effect that everything smells like rotten meat. It sounds so horrible.

In other COVID news, the 4th booster shot they're giving in Israel is not having much effect in stopping Omicron infection (though still effective at preventing serious illness and hospitalization). So I think we're going to have to wait for an Omicron specific vax which would probably be May at the earliest. That's discouraging.

the 4th booster shot they're giving in Israel is not having much effect in stopping Omicron infection

I just read that! Are we getting the same email newsletter?

Boo omicron and holding kids out from school and delaying TB results but yes so much protection should not stop him from visiting dad! That sucks.

I had a couple over for dinner last night (local bffs, I am starving for company) and seeing them react to my new oculus (a lot of “holy shit! Holy shit!” was omg so heartwarming and adorable y’all. So cute!!

Recently we found that that JZ's cousin got COVID, lost her sense of smell, recovered it and then she got the weird side effect that everything smells like rotten meat. It sounds so horrible.

Wow this is exactly what happened a friend of mine! How awful.

Meara, I bought one of those Occulus things and still haven’t opened the box. I’ve been considering leaving all social media owned by FB for a while now, and hate that Occulus would be another tentacle. But it does sound fun.

Holy cow, the USPS driver just hurled a package from our lawn, over the porch railing, onto the porch, where it hit the screen door and bounced. I know this because I watched it happen. It was a light package, and unbreakable (maxipads), but they didn't know it was unbreakable. (And I feel like they should assume that a storm window on our fucking door MIGHT BE BREAKABLE.) Jesus, our USPS service is so goddamn lousy. I guess I should be grateful that they didn't light it on fire before they launched it onto the porch.

Ugh, Steph, that is a lot of weighing and dealing.

Can I go back to Joss for a second?

One thing that the Vulture article mentioned was that Buffy was considered feminist, but wasn't really. And, I think that claim suffers a bit from being made in 2022. When Buffy came out, I think it was pretty feminist for its milieu. But culturally we've moved past it. Which is a good thing, but cultural context does matter.

I totally agree with this. Here's a thing I tried to say to my mother last night, that she wasn't buying: I blame Bill Clinton for a lot of this, because we knew he was basically a garbage person, but we were weighing it against the good he could do and gave him a pass. I think that passed along to people like Joss as well, because we were used to it. The issue my mother had was that politicians can actually DO things for people, unlike media figures, but I think she is underestimating the impact of media figures.

I realize this is half-baked at best, but does that resonate for anyone?

There's something to that, Jesse. And just that general thing of how rules don't apply to auteurs or artists or geniuses or statesmen or whatever exceptional category any particular actually average but successful white guy can manage to wedge himself in to which did not START with Clinton but could have been beaten back more then and wasn't.

I hope Tim feels ok about visiting his dad. There are some weird guidelines about TB tests, it may just have been required because of the move. And damn, that's kind of impressive about the package! Wow.

And just that general thing of how rules don't apply to auteurs or artists or geniuses or statesmen or whatever exceptional category any particular actually average but successful white guy can manage to wedge himself in to which did not START with Clinton but could have been beaten back more then and wasn't.

Definitely. I guess what I'm getting at is that applies especially to the men "we" "like" for whatever reason.