Open Thread: GROUP HUG!

What do I do to get an avi?
To make up, here’s a picture of my favorite animal in the entire world.

From what I read they are really good parents. Plus I just find everything about them to be quite adorable. From how they act like a completely lazy bum to how obsessively they clean themselves, it’s like having a cat in arthropod form.

And, of course, #DogsAtPollingStations gave everyone a smile. The doggies given free sausages had the widest smiles of all.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-02/election-2016-dogs-at-polling-stations-the-star-attraction/7563784

Meerkats. They’ll walk all over you.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/08/video-undefined-1CEDA82500000578-794_636x358.jpg

Then they’ll steal your camera for family portraits.

http://img.burrard-lucas.com/blog/meerkats/meerkat_photographers.jpg

We have two cats. The boy cat is big and smart and strong. He’s 4 going on 5. The girl cat is big (but less so now) and smart and strong (but has only three legs). She’s 16.

We’ve had the boy cat for two+ years now, and he’s been harassing her for almost that long. He gets yelled at a lot by Mom, and sometimes even by easygoing Dad, who believes that All Cats Are Good Kitties.

About two months ago, the boy cat suddenly dialed back his rambunctiousness. He’s still really healthy but he’s more mild-mannered now and sleeps more. He’s maturing.

Today he was asleep on an end table, completely sprawled out. Girl cat was finishing her breakfast, nervously looking over her shoulder every few seconds, waiting for him to pounce. But he was out like a light. So when she finished eating, she stumped over to the end table, sat down, and swatted him. He woke up, very confused. Huh?! Her face was just a few inches from his and she hissssssssed. He was very restrained — just lay there.

I told him, “You have to admit you deserved that.”

Animal vines!

https://youtu.be/ZIhLfu2Jsac

Uh Paradoxical Intention, there’s a reason why that particular bunny is fitted on a skateboard.

https://www.change.org/p/rahul-chopra-storyful-ceo-meat-rabbit-breeder-pull-heartstrings-using-a-crippled-baby-bunny-to-receive-donations/u/15732257

https://www.thedodo.com/wheelz-rabbit-wheelchair-1622557720.html

Yeah it ain’t pretty.

@Dr. NicolaLuna
Good luck with your application! That sounds awesome.

I’ve been lurking lately due to travel. I took two weeks for a conference and a visit to my family in America. The conference was great and really helpful for me. There was lots of professional development, which I need since I’m finishing my degree and starting to look for a job.

I hadn’t seen my family since Christmas, so I was really excited to see them. My mom is recovering from her surgery and doing pretty well. I saw her improve a lot, even though I was only there for a week.

Now that I’m back in the UK, I’m focused just on writing my thesis and applying for jobs. I just need to push myself for the next few months to get everything done. Things are starting to come together, but I’m still fighting some anxiety about not knowing where I will end up. I’ve got a whole list of jobs to apply for and, at this point, I could end up anywhere.

Anyways, here’s an awesome music video for you.

(Yes, those are light up roller skates.)

Me again, dominating the thread – but all in the spirit of distraction and cheering, which we sorely need right now.

Last week I was at the AWGSA (Aust. Women’s and Gender Studies Association) conference and it was the most amazing space for brain and heart re-charging.

Keynote speaker was Clare Hemmings from LSE – I tried not to fangirl, even though I used her work a LOT in my PhD. I should’ve asked her what the chairs are like at LSE :P. There were papers on cultural appropriation; potential of social media (me and quite a few others) grieving/mourning; family violence; indigenous women and feminism; masculinity studies; and a cracker on climate change and heatwaves (imagine someone with a gorgeously thick Austrian accent saying “we should be researching the fuck out of this!”).

I’d forgotten how great it was to spend time in this kind of context; it’s been too long. I was keen to mention it here, because there were so many connections with what we Mammoths talk about, so you were in my thoughts a lot 🙂

@ Viscaria,

What, the ‘tree?’

I’ve been waiting for my religious sister to message me for a week with a time for us to talk and her to explain how she feels about the whole LGBT thing. I sent a shaky ‘i’m not dancing around homophobia’ message in the family chat after the Pulse shooting, to which she replied (in essence) ‘i feel like you’re angry at beliefs you think i hold and not the ones i actually do, we should talk’.

So then after i came home from work (laaaaate, i was working what was basically a part time job above my full time one) i asked if she wanted to talk. She felt that it wouldn’t go well (she was probably right) amd suggested we do it sometime that week. I realised i was too busy, so told her this week past would be better. She agreed, saying she was sure she could make time.

Radio silence. I need to message her again, though i’m angry and hurt that she couldn’t tell me that it wasn’t going to happen this week either. Like, how many more times do i need to say ‘let’s talk so i can decide how this is going to go’ before she either decides that i could be a priority that she needs to find time for or something?

We are pretty close, and i’ve made up my mind to come out to her a million times, but then i just imagine how she’ll think i’m a sinner going to hell, and i can’t deal with that. I don’t know why, the entire thing is stupid because i’m an adult who us way to old to be paralysed by this but whatever.

So i need to message her today, and convey some of this because i guess i should let her know that this is important to me, and not just academically?

In happier news, my ‘part time’ job is finished, and everything is coming in and looks good. We had a bbq yesterday for our nations big day, and had a whole bunch of people over. Everyone had fun, and enough to eat. It was cooler than ideal, but the rain stopped just before people came over so we got to sit on then patio outside.

And tomorrow i’m going to an apartment for drinks and to watch the Pride Parade from their balcony, like the coolest of kids.

I’m also nerving myself up to get my hair cut at the barber shop on the corner, one of my first forays into what is a traditionally masculin space.

So stress all around, but then i can play dragon age inquisition on my new ps4 (thank you part time job!!) And relax a little.

(Hopefully enough happiness to counter the anger at the beginning. I don’t really have anyone irl that i feel like i can complain about this to without feeling like i’m just imposing. Which is silly because i have lots of good friends who would listen, and yet…)

Oh i forgot! I’m also going to bottle my beer today, first try making some. I’ve wanted to try for years~

@Pitshade

@ Viscaria,

What, the ‘tree?’

XD I meant the meerkats. I require no specific excuse to think about the misandtree. It’s all I think about all the time.

Caterpillars

http://dailynewsdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Meet-The-Caterpillar-That-Disguises-Itself-As-A-Creepy-Snake-1.jpg

http://2ngaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wavy-lined-emerald-moth-camouflaged-looper-caterpillar-with-flowers-on-back-2-800×588.jpg

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/DNR2KP/brimstone-moth-caterpillar-opisthograptis-luteolata-disguised-as-a-DNR2KP.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/06/01/article-1282890-09D495A6000005DC-862_634x303.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LrVlDzF.jpg

I can’t remember who mentioned Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows but an adaptation of it is being re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4Extra at the moment. Not sure how available it is to listen outside the UK but you might be able to get it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jvd3

The reader, incidentally, is Roger Allam, who played Illyrio Mopatis in Game of Thrones (ok, fine, he also played Prospero at the Globe, whatever).