Big Cat and Big Dude, BFFs
An open thread for personal stuff, continuing from here.
As usual for these threads: no trolls, no MRAs, no I’m-not-really-an-MRA-buts, don’t be mean.
Posted on September 4, 2014, in off topic, open thread. Bookmark the permalink. 887 Comments.
" ... a delirious and incisive page against misogyny." -- El Pais, via Google translate
WHTM, written and edited by David Futrelle, tracks and mocks the New Misogyny online, focusing especially on Men's Rights, Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), and Pickup Artist (PUA) sites.
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Just wanted to leave this here because the link is to a beautful blog plus next time an MRA goes on about women have been privileged princesses since the dawn of time, I’ll be thinking of this and how wrong MRAs are. :-)
http://bjws.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20Pissarro
Not going to link MRAs to the blog ‘cos that would be a horrible thing to do to the blogger.
First comment and I cant think of anything to say…I’m making some chicken right now..it smells good.
Giant kittieeeeeeee <3
I worked some on my cross stitch, but didn’t get as much done this month as I’d wanted.
http://imgur com/d8px098
(I broke the link so hopefully WP won’t embed, just insert a . where the space is)
Not that I think anyone was super-interested, but I am perpetually excited about it. :D
The non-embedding works!
That’s coming along so well. The colours and shading are stunning. I sure want progress reports, and I’m not surprised you’re perpetually excited, it’s a beautiful piece, and damn, so much work!
I was going to do heaps of knitting today but ended up doing zilch till we watched telly tonight. So much for finishing the back of this jacket by Saturday! Not that I’ve any reason to, I just fancied the idea.
We found a ton of black mold AND mice in our house so we’re going to be pulling off an emergency move to a townhome style apartment… I’m already so short on spoons this is damn near going to kill me. Our place that we’re in now – the house – is rent to own and our landlord keeps insisting the mold is OUR problem and won’t lift a finger to help us, but it’s all over. :/
Thank you! I wanted to get more done but I’ve had a lot going on.
LOL! Some evenings the only way I can pick up my cross-stitch is by declaring that I’m going to get at least 1 thread done. I almost always get more than 1 thread, but if I plan to do bunches, I wind up not doing any. It’s weird how my brain tricks me and sabotages me.
Oh, wow. That’s horrible! Is there a housing advocate in your area that you can consult? If in the US it would be a nonprofit organization (not sure about outside the US). You can usually get at least a consult to be apprised of your legal rights.
Johanna, eww, that sucks. Bloody landlord … Cyber hugs if they’re welcome.
PoM, ha, my brain doesn’t even bother tricking me, it just goes into Total Lazyarse mode.
Evenings are about the only time I can rely on getting knitting done. I listen to a dvd rather than watch it (they’re all repeats anyway). Doing it during the day means I either doze off or get bored and come back to reading emails and WHTM. Temptresses, the lot of you. Dudes included.
I’ve been wrapping the boards for my next iteration of the book project in decorative paper, after cooking up some wheat paste.
https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10622798_750273778351960_6221555352342323682_n.jpg?oh=38d9b4f919f6e47c1e8a5354f4c8bd8b&oe=547792C2
@Madness – Yep, we’re looking in to that. A friend already sent me a bunch of links basically stating flat out that despite what that twit thinks the mold and everything here (leaks leaks and more leaks) are still his responsibility. That we don’t own the house until it’s refinanced in our name in April and we’re LOL NOPING out of here so fast.
@kittehserf – Thanks for the hugs. They’re always welcome.
I’m in high anxiety mode what with our annual End of Summer Party coming up on Saturday. Every year I say to myself, “Why do I put myself through this??” and every year–AFTER the party–I reflect on how much I love my friends and love a bit of ceremony to bid the summer goodbye.
@Policy and Nequam – Nice!
My gravatar is a X-stitch I did a bit over a decade back, called Devotion. Despite all the nice curves it was done in full cross-stitch only, and used only 6 colours! As soon as I saw it in the catalogue, i knew I had to sew it. (even if it took 2-3 years and was dragged along to tabletop RPG and SCA events)
After a few false starts I’ve got about 19 rows of my lace shawl done and I’m getting back into the habit of dpn knitting. Of course, the wool just broke, but it left enough to (hopefully) reattach fairly easily. What I hadn’t noticed until I started working with it, is that the wool is fairly unspun, with a thin thread wound round to bind it together. Looks great, feels beautiful and soft, but not the easiest to work with. Especially when the thin thread snaps (as it just did) letting the wool just drift apart there. Fun, fun, FUN! :P
My 29th birthday is in November and I’m feeling surprisingly okay about it, but I have no party ideas whatsoever. Anyone have any memorable birthdays I can copy? XD
@Policy of Madness
I cross-stitch too! My current uber-project is Teresa Wentzler’s Celestial Dragon (images easy to find on Google), which is well over a year in the making and still not close to done.
@ Johanna – sorry to hear about your troubles. The good news is that your friend is almost certainly right. The whole point of renting is that it’s the landlord’s job to do repairs. And since the mold is a significant health hazard, you can bring some serious trouble down on his head if he keeps stringing you along.
He’d have to be pretty delusional to not know that, so I’m going to guess that he’s just not used to people fighting back.
Btw, did I already mention here that I have a new self-published book out? I don’t want to get repetitive.
I’m in a good mood. I’m having some landlord stress, one or two relationship issues, and I’ve just had a super bad cold, but this all seems so much more manageable because I am coming *out* of a massive period of depression. Finally! I think it’s the worst it has ever been in terms of changing my personality, how I feel about myself and my whole outlook on life…I didn’t even notice! But now I’m looking back like “jesus christ who was that pessimistic, self-hating, dazed hermit?” You know when your emotions are so bad that you don’t allow yourself to feel at all and you are basically in this numb, confused state all the time? I can’t even describe how awful I felt but I had forgotten I ever felt differently.
But now I do!
My mum recently gave up dieting after yo-yoing since I was a toddler. She’s discovered anti-diet and fat-positive movements and she is so much happier already, so I thought…yeah. Yeah, you’re right. What has dieting ever got me? Even the best diets I’ve been on, it was a constant battle against shaming myself for slip-ups and spiralling out of control. And I’m fatter than ever. I’m just going to eat the food I want and love the body I have. So far, so good.
I got some new, cheap but pretty clothes. I’ve started taking photos of myself again for the first time in years. And smiling in them, for the first time ever. I’m dressing up around the house just because, and treating myself to body lotions and face masks and hair treatments. I’m taking video of myself 360-ing in my new outfits and liking myself from every angle. Have you seen my calves? I have really nice calves. And my fat arms, they actually look pretty fucking good.
OH! And I adopted a cat! She is a fucking nightmare! She is 1, tabby and brown, she was a pregnant stray and I got her from Cats’ Protection. She is the most energetic, curious cat I’ve ever had. She’s also really affectionate and likes to sleep on my head. Last night she found a toilet roll holder and chased it around for half an hour, doing the crab-walk-glide thing…you know, like a wonky bug-eyed hump-backed sideways moonwalk. She gets along pretty well with the dog although she gets annoyed when she is innocently savaging his tail/ear/paw while he sleeps and he has the temerity to move.
And OH again! I am hosting an asylum seeker next week while she waits for the result of her housing application! I’m pretty nervous and excited.
If any of you use tumblr and would be interested in my depression recovery/self-esteem discovery journey plus cat stuff plus feminist rants and other social justice stuff, I’m trying to kinda establish my account so, follow me or message me or reblog me or whatever. I’m new: http://goonst.tumblr.com/
I’m glad you’re feeling better K and congratulations on your kitty!
Molly Ren,
I had a 1920’s themed party for my 30th to celebrate my own 20’s. That was fun.
Has anyone ever taken Abilify? It’s day 3 for me and it makes me feel positively rotten. Like I took a sleeping pill and drank a red bull. I want to jump out of my skin, and I’m really irritated easily. And slightly nauseated. Advice? :(
I’m starting a sound engineering diploma course next week! And K; glad things are coming together nicely! I’ll follow you on Tumblr. I like talking depression recovery. I have a tumblr too if anyone wants to follow. Similar theme but sometimes I just lose it, choose a cute animal and post as many pics as I can of it. http://cantwontserve.tumblr.com
Good for you, K! Depression is awful. My late sister and I used to have these discussions: “Which do you think is worse: anxiety or depression?” Trouble was we would have both at once. But that black pit of depression is horrible. (By the way, depression did not kill my sister–it was something else entirely. She turned out to be quite a survivor.) Glad you are feeling good about yourself and happy for you re: new kitty!
@seraph: congrats on the book!
My one year contract is now going to be a 6-month contract because they’re outsourcing our department. Aside from the financial security, I think what I’ll miss the most is my purple hair. Fucking job hunting interfering with my style.
Good to hear about things being on an upswing, K
JR – landlords are teh debbil. Sending good vibes.
Molly – for my 31st birthday I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my 21st birthday and dressed appropriately. This year it was the 14th anniversary of my 19th birthday and I celebrated like it was 1999/2000.
@K glad to hear you’re feeling better! I followed you (and you, nonserviam). Can you guess what my tumblr is? You got me, its deniseeliza.tumblr.com. Also feminist, plus some TV that I like :)
*shifty eyes*
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*mashes Follow button*
@ kittehserf: Oh, another knitter in residence (though I’m a lurker)! I’m mostly a lace and fair isle knitter hat knitter. I love to knit complicated hateful lace. I love to knit fair isle hats with way too many colors. One of my cats loves to tongue felt my woolies.
All the new followers! Excellent.
Knitting?? OMG KNITTING!
I’m working on the most bat-wingy of bat-wing jumpers right now. I love the yarn – it’s a thick tweedy green. I’ve never tried lace but it looks both both frustrating and addictive. I might have to give it a go!
I love to knit lace! I’m knitting a giant, bright blue lace sock at the moment, and crocheting some squares because it takes a bit less focus. I also love knitting cable. So engrossing, so satisfying. I need an actual project though because mainly I’ve just been practicing patterns, but we’ll see how my sock turns out. It’s my first attempt.
Have you see traditional Turkish-knit socks? I would love to make some of them. Once I have a few essential projects out of the way, I might have to try a pattern. They usually have a lot of color work and they’re pretty sturdy.
Thanks estraven!
@gilshalos
Six colors? LOL I don’t think I’ve ever done on with less than 15. The dragonfly uses ~25 and most of them are shades of blue. LOL I would definitely try a 6-color pattern that looks that nice!
@Karalora
Holy cow. I looked it up and that looks AMAZING. I would put it onto my list, except I already have another project lined up, and this one is going to take me probably multiple years as it is.
@K
You look great and your cat is adorable.
@Nitram
I’ve never taken Abilify, but I’ve taken loads of other drugs and my advice would be: call your doctor immediately and let your doctor know that the side-effects are intolerable. You aren’t obligated to give a drug a “fair run.” If it’s making you feel terrible, make arrangements with your doctor to stop taking it.
USicans: there’s another nationwide fast food workers’ strike today to demand a decent wage. Follow along here if that’s your thing.
So, does anyone know of a high-SPF sunblock that has no scent (not just no added scent, but no smell at all) and ideally doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? I am spending more time in the sun than I prefer (i.e. more than zero) and my sunscreen is kind of stinky, and I’m tired of it.
I’ve gotten bored and sick of my town to the point I’ve got massive writer’s block and I’m bugging people I know online and I honestly don’t trust my judgement in internet discourse anymore.
And I have this horrible feeling that I’ve got nothing to show for the last two years.
@ Nitram abilify is known for causing agitation, particularly on startup. Call doc.
@ K depression is evil
@ Johanna- I honestly think mold in a building is more a consequence of bad design than anything. This makes fixing the problem so it does not return a nightmare, and you are best advised to get out.
I cannot stop looking at the picture of the giant kitty and pondering captions, like I MADE YOU A COOKIE BUT NOW I’LL EAT YOU or perhaps YOU SAY THIS IS CALLED THE BUNNY HOP?
@Lea I like the idea of a 20s themed party… I’ll turn 50 next year, so maybe a 40s themed party! Swing dance all round!
Policy of Madness, I love Neutrogena sunscreen. It goes on with a faint sweet smell that doesn’t linger or get in your clothes and I believe you can get it up to SPF 75. I think the lowest they make is SPF 55.
Mr. S and I are in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland right now. We were in Paris for 5 days, and next we’ll be in Munich and then Venice, Cinque Terre, and Rome before we fly home. We’re celebrating our 25th anniversary. We couldn’t afford much of a honeymoon back then, but we’re making up for it now.
Hi there, I’ve only started commenting recently after more than a year and half of dedicated reading, so I thought I would provide slightly more detail about myself.
I’m a straight white cis male living somewhere in the USA, and I work as a technical writer during the day, and an SF/fantasy writer at night (no, you haven’t heard of me and the chances you’ve stumbled across anything I’ve had published are remote). I have chronic depression and panic attack disorder, although I currently have the latter under control. My geek-interests are mostly literary plus obscure genre movies, and “gaming” to me means tabletop RPGs, although I haven’t actively played any in a while. I live with black cat who has high demands on the amount of play time she receives.
Congrats to those with happy news, and condolences/internet hugs to those with troubles!
I just found out a project I worked on is going to be turned into a museum exhibit, with a shiny exhibit catalog and everything. I’m super excited.
@serrana
Hum hum! I bet Neutrogena is hypoallergenic, too. I will check it out! Thank you!
Hi there Cassie’s Major Domo! Have you received the welcome package yet? Here it is: http://artistryforfeminismandkittens.wordpress.com/the-official-man-boobz-complimentary-welcome-package/
@Policy of Madness The low number of colours was helped by the fact it’s a x-stitch of a statue head. All shades of cream to brown done on a black aida :)
This is not personal, but… I’m so tense about the upcoming election here in Sweden. We’ve had this terrible right-wing government for eight years now, but it looks as if that’s about to change. There is even a slight chance of the left-wing parties gaining majority in the parliament. It’s gonna be a super tense election night…
@gilshalos
I could see that being very difficult, in its own way. Was it?
May I also compliment you on your nick? I love her writing. Dragonsbane is one of my all-time favorite books.
Dvärghundspossen, my fingers are crossed for your election.
@Zolnier, I recently stumbled across http://www.hillaryrettig.com and got her 7 Secrets productivity book. It’s not for everyone, but the way she deals with writers block, procrastination, and just not working is just the way I need to hear it.
So today in Blue Collar Nerd’s “Adventures in Toxic Masculinity” I was working on a precast pier cap of a future bridge (Blue Collar Nerd is a Reinforcing Iron-worker) and I was ordered to get some steel bands from a neighboring pier cap, 20 feet off of the ground, with no fall protection, with an active highway on one side and a concrete floor on the other.
Blue Collar Nerd was not impressed with his foreman’s order to risk his only whole skin or his foreman’s taunting when I demanded proper safety gear for such an operation. It really irked me the way my manhood was called into question because I was unwilling to risk my life for a bag of steel bands so I sent some photos to my Union President and business manager and all of a sudden low and behold the safety gear I needed just appeared!
Here is the pic of the bag of bands, it looks minor but falling from there would have been life or career ending, and I plan on retiring one day, not dying because people expect me to be “man enough” to needlessly risk my health.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t34.0-12/10643173_10204502700277653_1426590754_n.jpg?oh=f0bb0d3c3e79841e6c534c48156b9ec9&oe=540A6FE9&__gda__=1409983812_f124b287e0139ee26123837e6c5f396b
Thanks, Serrana!
Just learned that comedian Joan Rivers died. She had been very ill. I know she had many fans and started out in comedy when women really were not encouraged to be comedians. She was had a certain type of sarcastic wit but she did put a lot smiles on peoples faces. Rest in Peace Joan.
@Dvärghundspossen, When is election night? Please keep us posted! It would be so cool to toss the right-wingers out on their asses!
I figure this is a good thread for a sick kitty update; The vets still haven’t made a conclusive diagnosis, but Penny’s steadily getting better, so either the antibiotics did the trick or it wasn’t anything serious and she’s recovering on her own. She’s not entirely back to her old self; she still spends all day lying in one spot, but she’s grooming herself, eating like a horse, and rolling on her back for belly rubs. She’s also getting better at spitting out her pills, though, but last night she ate cat food that had the pill contents mixed in, so hopefully we can just do that from now on.
@PoM
I love the Darwath trilogy and Silicon Mage books. They were some of my earliest (post-Tolkien) fantasy reading.
The main issue was the initial separating the threads into the colours. Three of them were a single shade apart, and it took a lot of comparing under various lights and counting to sort out :P
The cross stitch I am currently (off and on) working on is the opposite. It’s a story keep (wide bookmark) showing a valkyrie on a horse, and uses about 60 colours. Sewing with two strands in the needle on 22 count is tiring on the eyes!
Bit woozy tonight. I’m on 90mg of my current anti-depressant meds, 60 in the morning, 30 in the evening, and yesterday i forgot the evening one.
Decrease in meds yesterday + normal dose today + glass of wine at lunchtime(father insisted) = woozy gilshalos.
I’ve managed to finish the new Wen Spencer book, fun but not at all what I was expecting!
And talking of inspiration/writing, I was recently reminded it’s only 2 months to NaNoWriMo, anyone else doing it this year?
Argle, and please ignore my punctuation; clearly, I am being punished for posting when I should be working.
Yay for COTB’s kitty!
Woodsprites is out? WOOT! See you in a day or two :)
Um, I’m thinking about nano, but I completely failed last year, and I’m a little overscheduled this year.
Yes. All years every year, I flail words at the computer screen. It’s fun.
Hmm. If we start a Mammoth group on nano, that would be quite motivating for me. Anyone else interested?
Cloudiah, election night is on September 14. According to the latest polls, the right-wing government parties taken together will get 37 % of the votes. The social democrats, the environmental party and the left party will get 48 % of the votes. And according to the very latest poll, it looks like the Feminist Party is gonna get 4 %. In the Swedish system, you need at least 4 % to get any seats in the parliament, so that’s like a magic limit. If the Feminist Party does get into parliament, the social democrats (the biggest of the left wing parties) will plausibly form a government together with the greens, the lefts and the feminists, because if they do that, the government will control the majority of the seats in parliament, which is obviously advantageous.
Also, the Swedish Democrats, which is a racist party that was actually formed out of a nazi organisation once upon a time, will probably get about 10 %. Which is pretty sickening, I know. However, they’ll have no influence on politics at all if we end up having a left-wing government that controls the parliament, so I really hope that’s how it’s gonna end up.
Last night I discovered that I get stones in not just my palastine tonsils but my lingual ones as well. The rest may be mild TMI.
For about the last couple days I’ve been getting really sharp pains when I swallow and I’ve been poking around my palastine tonsils but haven’t gotten anything out. Last night the squeezing sensation got a lot worse after dinner, and I woke up at 4am after a restless night choking and it felt like one popped out, but not from the usual spot on the side of my throat. So I did some weird tongue manuvers while sucking hard and sure enough I felt a big pop at the base of my tongue and coughed a series of disgusting stones up. I still have a sensation that something’s stuck at the base of my tongue, and my tonsils are still swollen up huge, but at least my throat doesn’t feel a bit like it has a pin stuck in it anymore. I really need to see an ENT, but alas, I have no health insurance. YAY ME.
The moral of the story is, if any of you have weird throat sensations, check to make sure you don’t have stones before you let multiple doctors tell you it’s “just anxiety” for years like they did for me. Because girls are totally crazy, amirite? /s
I always say I’m going to do NaNoWriMo and then I don’t. I would like some motivation! Writing writing writing. Hugs of congrats for the good, hugs of condolence for the bad. Cloudiah, what sort of work do you do? (Museum exhibit is le cool anyway.)
I am in school again and it’s getting paid for yeaaaaaaaaah! Also reconnected with an old friend. But my anxiety is rocketing up, booooooo. (GO TO CLASS! but I’m scared of outside there might be danger! GO ANYWAY.) Stupid arguments with myself. I really want my psychiatrist to prescribe me more than one month’s of meds at a time, but he keeps wanting to meet with me. Not like I’m going to sell them, I need them, I get really sick without them.
Le Boyfriend and I have befriended a stray cat which is grey and white and of indeterminate gender. I wish to buy it some cat food because it is skinny and because I am allergic to cats and therefore can’t take it home with me but I still wish to be close with this cat because I enjoy them. Anyone have a cat food rec that isn’t too expensive?
I’ve done NaNoWriMo a few times, although I eventually got to the point where I didn’t really need it to motivate me any more, and I preferred writing my novels at other times of the year. The second time I did NaNoWriMo did result in the best novel I think I’ve written so far, so I must thank it for that.
Speaking of fantasy books, I’m just finishing up reading the full Chronicles of Prydain for the first time since I was in sixth grade. Those were my early pre-Tolkien fantasy loves. It’s been a wonderful trip back, but I still agree with sixth-grade me that the second book, The Black Cauldron, is the best.
@ J.J One trick I’ve tried when I’ve found it difficult to go outside, is to get ready early. Then I sit there feeling sicker and worse and worse till I decide I can’t do it. I’m sick. Valid excuse. So, I let myself off going out (without removing shoes etc) and relax and do something, till, when I am feeling better and off my guard, I grab my bag and leave the house and get a bit away before my brain has time to kick in.
It sometimes worked when I was being treated for agoraphobia, anyhow, so I hope it helps!
Also, YAY and YAY again for paid for school!
I haven’t been here for a while but I want to post a picture of a woman 50+ years old who is a Crossfit athlete.
It’s something that the manosphere wouldn’t like since they believe that women over a certain age (40+) are shrivelled and no good.