Look, you got a little stabbed the other day. That's bound to make anyone a mite ornery.

Mal ,'Ariel'


Natter 78: I might need to watch some Buffy for inspiration

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.


erikaj - Jul 08, 2026 11:18:34 am PDT #13257 of 13302
"Somewhere in this building is our talent." Toby Ziegler, my spirit animal

SO many knuckleheads think Disability Pride is the same as Gay Pride.(I mean, as groups I think we should work together more, since we are all, even leaving aside the whole "less straight than I thought I was" thing, a big "Psych!" to our parents. Right?) But that still doesn't make it less confusing to answer "How many of the millions of disabled people in the United States are in the "Pride Community?" Like, which one, Jeff? Gay people? Disability activists? Gay, bi, trans, or other that are also disability activists? They can be different groups, which also makes some disabled people try to distance from gay people. Which bothers me, even though I can't say that I'm immersed in either crip-activist culture, (Which I think still disappoints my boss) or queer culture, either. Or whatever it is that makes some straight people look at a baby and say things like "THIS one's gonna break some hearts,"(Which is what I think of when "throwing it in our faces" comes up.


Jessica - Jul 09, 2026 2:14:23 pm PDT #13258 of 13302
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

What a sleepy thread this week!

I've been busy & exhausted this week working out of the Costa Rica office, but the weather has been SPECTACULAR and the it's been well worth it to visit this team in person. Tomorrow I leave at 5:45 am (no problem I've been regularly waking up at 4:30, thanks so much perimenopause and jet lag you guys make a great team) for a two-day guided tour of Tortuguero National Park, where I will get to see GREEN SEA TURTLES and SLOTHS. Everyone send no-rain vibes please.


DavidS - Jul 09, 2026 3:11:42 pm PDT #13259 of 13302
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I've been busy this week and finally landed on a slack afternoon.

Yesterday my friend Rachael came over and we excavated my nerdhole. Took about 4 hours and it's a small room so that gives some sense of the pile up in there.

It's in good shape now and we have achieved Step 1 to reclaiming it as a working office, though I do have the very Buffista problem of Too Many Books.

It's so much easier doing shit like this when you've got a fun friend to plow through it with.

Cleaning the nerdhole is consistent with this year's plan of Making Things Less Janky which also included fixing the garage door and putting in a new door to the garden. My downstairs neighbor, Jamille, said we were Beautifying the house. I said that was a bar too high and Less Janky was an achievable goal.

Matilda and I cleaned out the Guinea Pig cage this morning too so I really just need a whack at the dishes and vacuum to get the house in order.


Laura - Jul 09, 2026 4:40:09 pm PDT #13260 of 13302
Our wings are not tired.

Been a busy week here too. DH trying to do a month's worth of house projects in his week here. Prepping to build a new shed because we had to get rid of the old one when we built the back porch. Prepped for the tree guy to come and take out some trees that need to go. We also had to move the carport canopies, which was super easy with 6 of my neighbors lending a hand. What 8 can do in a few minutes it would have taken 2 all day.

But I did manage to go and get my nails done! Bye to my cute Pride nails and now I have hot pink toes and matching french tips.

Nail tech was born and raised up here, and being about 78% red here I always figured probably Republican. Part of our chatting was the insane immigration policies. She knows lots of people who have had issues. Last summer she encountered a road block checking people (near Canadian border) and she had to have her mother bring her birth certificate because they wouldn't accept her social security card and driver license as proof. They held her until mom came. She is Italian and thinks maybe her dark summer tan and black hair made them target her, or they just were being asses to everyone. At any rate, she was very upset about all of it including the TPS situation while pointing out we all are immigrants. Anyway, since this is a solidly red area it was nice to hear.


lisah - Jul 09, 2026 6:03:12 pm PDT #13261 of 13302
Punishingly Intricate

I loved Costa Rica the one time we went and would love to go back!!

I’m going to visit a local hospital and get a new knee tomorrow which is good in its own way but not as nice as Costa Rica.


Steph L. - Jul 09, 2026 6:19:26 pm PDT #13262 of 13302
That which does not kill you should RUN

I’m going to visit a local hospital and get a new knee tomorrow which is good in its own way but not as nice as Costa Rica.

Lisa, do you have an ice/cold therapy machine for recovery at home? Apparently they're way better than using ice packs. Also, hooray new knee!

two-day guided tour of Tortuguero National Park, where I will get to see GREEN SEA TURTLES and SLOTHS.

That sounds so incredible!


lisah - Jul 09, 2026 7:35:09 pm PDT #13263 of 13302
Punishingly Intricate

I’m supposed to get an ice machine delivered tomorrow! (Fingers crossed)


Steph L. - Jul 09, 2026 7:55:21 pm PDT #13264 of 13302
That which does not kill you should RUN

I’m supposed to get an ice machine delivered tomorrow! (Fingers crossed)

Excellent! Let us know how everything goes -- knee~ma sent your way!


DavidS - Jul 09, 2026 9:02:23 pm PDT #13265 of 13302
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I’m going to visit a local hospital and get a new knee tomorrow which is good in its own way but not as nice as Costa Rica.

I hope it comes with the sound effects from the Six Million Dollar Man when he jumped in slow motion on his cybernetic legs: [link]


meara - Jul 09, 2026 9:07:09 pm PDT #13266 of 13302

Sloths and turtles sound awesome! New knee sounds awful but hopefully eventually awesome??

I am so tired today. Work is involving more and more things where someone says “I need to know what documents are required for X” or “I need to know how long Y takes on average” and expects me to know and I don’t and I don’t even know where to get the answers and it is driving me nuts. (My job changed a year ago to include a new part of the process, and I’m just now hitting where I need to actually do it, but we did not get good training on it, we used to have specialists in that part of the process and now I’m supposed to be the specialist? Ugh)