Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

Just so I don't leave you hanging:

There is no canonical answer. The characters in the episode explicitly disclaim that it's an otter, supposedly because of the ears, but there's no indication whether they're right. FWIW, I'd guessed otter, too. I was just curious what everybody else thought. 'cause yeah, damned if that's not an otter. :)

@zx3 Yeah. *hug* Yeah.

We live eight blocks from the funeral home where they held the services for Peggy's mom, and six blocks from the restaurant where they held the reception afterwards. Adulthood is fun, huh? :|

I made a friend on Twitter who speaks Toki Pona, a minimalist conlang, and... well... I thought at least dear cousin @Austin_Dern might appreciate adding this to their vocabulary ​:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kijetesantakalu

@Leucrotta The WORST Jellicle cat.

Ah. Looks like our neighbor is already aware Shadow is injured and had a vet appointment for tomorrow.

This actually reassures me a bunch about her general concern for these cats--I was still pretty miffed at her for letting Umbra wander off--and to be perfectly honest... I love Shadow, but I REALLY did not want to have to spend most of a day trying to convince her to behave to, at, and from a vet appointment.

We're still gonna chip in, but this takes a lot of the burden off of us... Also, Shadow's known our neighbor a lot longer than she's known us, so she'll probably have an easier time getting here there and back.

@dodec okay this is really charming :D

Quick poll:

What species is this mascot?

(If you've seen the Season 5 premiere of Inside No. 9, you are disqualified from answering.)

Awww. Cute New Friend is being very gently and guiltily evicted by Equally Cute Flannel-Wearing Barista Boy. They have been cordially welcomed into the back room or the front porch. Sorry, buddy, you're just too much fun for an enclosed space like this.

Again, I suspect Shadow will be OK. It looks like either a wound or an insect bite, it's not super gory or anything, and she seems content and comfortable otherwise--just super-itchy at the bad spot.

Still, if any of you so aligned could put in a word with Bast for us...

In other critternews, I am sitting next to the most adorably ill-behaved brown lab at Coffee Science. Their very first move was handlickies, and no matter how their poor owners try to get them to sit, they've been thumping me with their tail.

I honestly don't mind. Not my tribe and I have a certain vestigial urge to throw rusty cans at them and hiss, but they're just too damn friendly to resent.

#MisterPeanutbutterEnergy

=(^)_(^)=

The concerning little lump on Shadow's right cheek has progressed to a bald reddened patch. She's still not showing any signs of discomfort, but we're gonna try to get her into a cat carrier and haul her to the vet tomorrow.

I suspect she took a hit while brawling with one of the local cats. Listen, I mean, I'm a very close personal friend and roommate of a Martian tigress, so I understand. I just hope she understands we're TRYING TO HELP HER OUT HERE and does not make tomorrow into a nightmare.

Sugarfoot and Shemp are just fine, except for Shemp's advanced and lingering case of kittenstupids.

Steve Martin is 74.

I don't usually mourn very hard for celebrities. But that one's... gonna hit hard.

Huh. For those of you who care... new (to me) Reggie Watts project!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc9vfFQY94I

I never thought I'd see the day when my work life was a net source of self-esteem and my social life was a net source of self-hate. I've said it before, but it's just getting truer and truer.

Doing another 3 hours of edits to monthly annotation reviews sounds great, borderline fun. I get to look at foreign restaurants and correct blatant errors without feeling like a piece of shit for it.

Trying to rebuild a "social media presence" so I can convince people to read my comic---i.e., "fight through 15 years of self-loathing and pariah feels, in a culture that will gut you at the first sign of heresy"--makes me kinda want to dry up and disappear forever.

I'm definitely getting those "Final Age" feels. Between the utter death of my libido, the loss of THREE of what I thought were my best friends, moving away from the few friends I had left (and still wonder daily if I'm not secretly annoying and they won't tell me, because THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED with Transliminal), the lack of creative/psychedelic outlets, and everything locking me into an utterly mundane mindnet...

I kinda feel like it's just all over, and Parallax is less a creative outlet than an advanced form of denial. And so is this. And what's waiting for me is a beautiful house... with a beautiful wife... and maybe a large automobile. Which isn't bad, but it's not me, and it'd be turning away from everything I've longed for my whole life.

Maybe it's time to stop pretending and become an Earth Person. Any signal reception I had from anywhere else has just faded away. Can I please just wrap things up already?

@Oneironott I really should get mouthier about this issue, it's one I've been concerned about since The Old Days.

I still wonder if this isn't just what happens when you have a social movement that's all passion and no theory. Someone really needs to bring a little formalized critical skill to these Eager Young Activists, not to mention a little history of what happens to these movements...

I know for me it's definitely There I Go But For The Grace Of things like the Principia Discordia, Buddhism, and all the absurdist literature I read in college. I still managed to be a fanatic, but at least I was a fanatic who could admit when I was full of shit sometimes. ;)

suffer large

https://twitter.com/normalcatpics

[cw: "cats"]

@001zlnv No idea yet! Chocolate something, possibly a cheesecake.

@anthracite *Thomas Dolby synth line*

SCIENCE!

Holy fuck that's the dB's. In fact, it's THAT SONG, the one I've come to think of as the "Transliminal Song," but in a good way.

I swear to god, if I hear "Marquee Moon" by 5 pm, I am leaving a $20 tip.

(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWN-adiDNtM

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlbunmCbTBA

Shonen Knife cover of "On Top of the World," followed by Velvet Underground's "Heroin," followed by April March's cover of "Laissez Tomber Les Filles/Chick Habit."

I think I have found my home.

Oh, and they have cake.