Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

I would just like to thank my mother once again for giving me these awesome new wireless headphones, whose noise-canceling features are doing a great job of shutting out the mildly homophobic banter of the baristas in my hometown's only independent cafe. *sigh*

(It wasn't anything too virulent, just some muttering about guys getting earrings—some "if it were my son" bullshit and snark about "you'd better be a pirate." Still. I am debating whether I want to come back here, and I'm sure as hell not busing our table for this shithead. :p )

Late-night thought:

While I'm actually not particularly fond of Randall Munroe's work in general, these three links, in order, beautifully sum up how I feel about woo, magic, and so forth.

https://xkcd.com/240/

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/240:_Dream_Girl

https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/10/01/the-meetup/

Or in the words of stage magician Jeff "Magnus" McBride, "All magic is 100% bullshit—and it works 100% of the time."

@hystericempress God I'm fucking proud of you sis.

=(^)___(^)=

@Austin_Dern Actually, we at HEREInc. have a massive grudge against 0.0, 0.0. For... reasons. >____<

@001zlnv I mean, it's no "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)" but...

@hystericempress I mean, I'm hyped enough for it that if it won't run on my low-grade laptop, I might seriously consider saving for a decent desktop just to run it...

🐯: never fuck with a martian with an english degre​e

Oh my god, my Christmas haul was incredible. Peg got me Disco Elysium. <3 Parents got me books including the Scarfolk Council Annual and the ultra-cool crime thriller that became Get Carter, one of my favorite films. I got a double-feature BluRay of Ugandan(!) action cinema, new bluetooth headphones and a really nice trackball mouse, and a hell of a lot of pricey Austrian chocolate.

And then of course there are my vast new Marmite riches, for which see earlier post.

@001zlnv Yeah, I mean, at least right now it's still "first three minutes of Up" and not... um... "next one minute of Up." 😨​

Yeah. Stepdad is not doing well. I haven't seen him this gaunt since his cancer treatments, his breathing is labored, he's tired, he's having trouble going up and down stairs, and he looks harrowed. And he's on so many pills, so many freaking different pills.

I'm really worried I have a *real* limited number of holidays left with him. I'm just really glad we got Peg up here to meet him while she could.

Maybe he'll improve after his next stents get put in. He did just a minor (?) heart attack after all. He's still walking around with a 60% blockage, though thank god they got rid of the one that was 90%.

I dunno. Otherwise the holiday's been really nice. Peg's been a snarky li'l dragon angel, and been getting along just fine with my equally snarky parents. I just... feel that sense of doom overhanging everything, especially because we're ALSO still reeling from losing my brother Matt from cancer*, and Mom's broken down in tears three times so far.

It's hard. It's just hard.

*fuck cancer

CURRENT ESTIMATED FAMILY POIGNANCE LEVEL:

Grave of the Fireflies
Requiem For A Dream
Up <-------------
Brokeback Mountain
Dead Poets Society
Bambi
Truman Show
Amelie
Manos, The Hands of Fate
Airplane!

I... I now possess 1.5 kilograms of Marmite. I wanted ONE JAR for Christmas, but Mom found a site with a deal, and it was actually cheaper to order six.

This is a good thing, actually. I love the stuff. But do you know how small a serving is? Like, a spoonful.

It's basically a 3-year supply of Marmite. I'm a Marmite baron at age 44. Livin' the dream.

Also, in the event of an apocalypse, I no longer have to worry about B12 deficiency. Nor does my entire circle of friends. Or their friends.

@JulieSqveakaroo @001zlnv

COME BACK ALI

COME BACK ALI'S SISTER

@001zlnv WEAR A BIKINI

#homestarrunner

@001zlnv

the only good carols are robot carols

https://aiweirdness.com/post/189845472982/the-ais-carol/amp

@Oneironott It's OK, I did the opposite with American Movie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Movie), thought it was a fake documentary until I read the Netflix DVD sleeve days later...

Got a fretful note from my mom, reminding me that my stepdad is walking around with three heart blockages and needs to keep his stress to a minimum, and now—even after a long phone chat with her where she felt bad for alarming me—I'm in a mild panic.

It's gonna be a long, long week. He is not taking the loss of my brother to cancer this year well at all, nor should he be expected to. And on top of that, this is his first time meeting Peg, who my mom outed to him just like two months ago.

It's probably gonna be fine. Mom assured me her main worry is NOT Peggy, it's just the general chaos of the holidays and the lingering fear I'm gonna want to argue politics. *blush* Peg has promised to be chill and I trust her, I just...

A week in Ohio is a lot, to start with.

I feel a bit sad that I'm missing Festivus this year.

I have SO MANY GRIEVANCES. :D

@kistaro OH MY GOD, look up "talkie toaster" on Google. Someone beat us to it...