Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

I broke down and rejoined.

@CatAndAHalf

One, it's just too damn quiet here, during a period when I really could use a lot more social contact and affirmation.

Two, I've improved enough on my fighty tendencies that I think it won't be an unending nightmare. :)

Three, I guess it's time to get back out there and start doing some PR for Parallax.

I ain't thrilled about any of this. :)

Honestly? I'm a bit disappointed.

The cartoons are not wrong. Up close, Limburger has an aroma that it would not be unfair to describe as "footy." Its flavor is only a tad earthy and bloomy, though. It definitely didn't emit the cloud of telekinetic stink I was promised by Tom & Jerry. And it didn't begin to compete with the smelliest cheese I've ever had. (A French Munster, which is nothing like the stuff they serve up as deli cheese in the USA...)

Stressful day. Things are actually generally good, just got an unexpected piece of healthcare bureaucracy dropped on me with a tighter-than-comfortable deadline.

Well, I had to do some grocery shopping, and I wanted to get something that would help me deal with stress without going overboard. So I got some Mr. Kipling Unicorn Slices (see image below)...

...and some limburger cheese. Because I've never tried it and I need a nice purgative ritual.

@hystericempress @Daikanu It's always good to have a personal League of Substitute Heroes for cosmic crises and other emergencies, though! I've got a punk badger gal whose been benchwarming for months now, semi-patiently waiting for an assignment...

@Oneironott I mean, I take a lot of comfort from being both a history major and a history buff. Humanity's gotten a lot worse crazy and actually come through it a shred wiser. I think of Japan and Germany and what generally liberal, prosperous, peaceful societies they became...

I still have a lot of hope, this is just... such godawful timing for a Teachable Moment about the perils of autocracy and personality cults, you know?! :(

=== SECRET KITTY ALERT ===
=== DO NOT COPY OR DISSEMINATE ===

AS REPORTED BY AGENT ANTHRACITE COMMA SUGARFOOT APPREHENDED IN PROSCRIBED AREA PRIOR TO ELEVEN AM THIS MORNING STOP

DETAINEE WAS IN POSSESSION OF ONE (1) DECEASED MOUSE STOP

UPON INTERROGATION SUGARFOOT REVEALED THIS WAS SANCTIONED COVERT TERMINATION OF FOREIGN PANTRY MOUSE AS PART OF ONGOING OPERATION STOP

AGENT SUGARFOOT WAS RELEASED COMMA GIVEN TREAT COMMA TOLD SHE IS GOOD CAT STOP END

He's done enough fucking damage already—to democracy, to the mental health of my friends, and to my faith in the ability of humans to see lies and corruption right in front of their own faces. The prospect isn't enough to make me want to give up on life... but boy, was it enough to make me want to give up on today.

*sighs and curls up in your rafters, listlessly batting some shiny things around*

Like I said, I'm still hopeful. 55% is not great odds for Trump—I mean, Hillary was at, like, 90% from the least optimistic sites and STILL lost. And those odds are likely to go down.

Plus, I can play the long game if I have to. We need Trump to not just fail and fail horribly. There are probably futures in which that ONLY happens because he hangs on to power long enough to show his proverbial nudity...

But.

I mean, I don't feel doomed _yet_. The impeachment hearing has a long way to go, and King Stubby Orange could still go Full Nixon. He's only got so many yes men left and he's alienating former allies left and right. An economic downshift could do him some damage, too.

But for the first time in a while, I'm genuinely scared. It is eminently possible we could have to soak up the damage from another four years.

On a lark, I poked at a couple of offshore betting websites to try to cheer myself up, after reading some headlines that said Trump might pull off 2020 through the electoral college. This was a major source of comfort for me in 2016 since they heavily favored Clinton—even though they were wrong.

Yeah. All the betting sites favor Trump. By a small margin, something like 5-4, but still. Not at all what I needed to see today.

@Soreth Gives a whole new meaning to "Be Seeing You..." 👁️

#IAmNotANumber
#IAmNotAFreeMan
#IAmAGardenFixture

@Austin_Dern Isn't it?</space_ghost>

@LexYeen@snouts.online Is this that Rodney Dangerfield brawler I've been hearing so much about lately?

Number of women aged 14-20 wearing spiky collars, ripped jeans, and T-shirts with illegible heavy metal logos on the Canal St Trolley:

4

Number of elderly women on scooters wearing helmets with skulls on them:

1

Number of times the smell of downtown New Orleans made me physically recoil:

3

Number of people who looked like dealers:

2

Number of times I got up the nerve to ask where I can score:

0

@Oneironott Oh, great, blow right past the raccoon and go straight to the persona who has ZERO resistance to flattery! Not fair! Not fair! Do some more! 🐯 😻 😻

@Oneironott I mean, what are ya gonna tell me? "Gee, Kirsch, you sure smell like the bottom of a dumpster!" "Neat, you're so crepuscular I can't believe it!" "Hey, was that YOU that picked a giant hole in my roof?" "OK, um... I'm gonna go count my silverware again, no offense."

❤️

@Leucrotta Yeah, exactly. I'd love to see a next-gen YA adventure toon have, say, 3+ factions—with one being where people who, quite legitimately, think the two main ones are crazy fanatics end up. I want there to be a place for good people who still just plain don't like our Designated Protagonists, and for the audience to look at them and go, "You know, I still like Our Heroes best, but... they've got some real good points there." Lapis & Per could've been that...

@Leucrotta Also, huge sympathy for wanting to see that general principle of "the enemy is not necessarily evil" to take root. I Have Beef against you-know-who, but still don't see them as anything worse than flawed-like-me. And Parallax is all *about* the hazards/absurdity of seeing your enemies as dehumanized, red-eyed demons who Just Up And Hurt You For No Imaginable Reason... Even Tea Party twerps have valid issues—they're just addressing them in a real, real bad way.

@Leucrotta Yeah, my ideal solution for Jasper is "OK, you're allowed to live, and you're allowed to hate us, and we totally dig why you're mad... but you have to do it from VERY VERY FAR AWAY from now on, okay?"

There's nothing wrong with a good catch and release program. Wolverines and recluse spiders aren't evil either, but I wouldn't try to explain to them that they're welcome in my house as long as they sing a song with me first. ;D

@Leucrotta Exactly, the fact villains generally have motivations and soft spots and traumas that led to their behavior is still something really *good* about SU, and I wouldn't have wanted to, say, lose the whole series just to fix the issues I have with it! Again, it's progress, it's just got its own lingering problems that I want the *next* generation of these shows to fix now that the foundation's there...