Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

Nearly recuperated, just in time for Peg's return on Monday! I won't even be contagious, if the CDC's flu guidelines can be trusted! Meanwhile, I've lost 7-8 lbs., had a four-day tolerance break, and spent no money except for soup ingredients and facial tissue. So, I didn't expect to be saying this, but...

Thanks, flu!

Thlu.

Schweizerische Käseunion.

SCHWEIZERISCHE KÄSEUNION.

Someday I want to name, like, a battalion in a miniatures game that. "The Swiss Cheese Union" sounds very appropriate for my gaming style.

http://c8.alamy.com/comp/G17183/bottled-seal-flipper-biggoods-supermarket-newfoundland-food-st-johns-G17183.jpg

Oh dear. o_o

Oh man. Never mind the Polish milk bars. I want THESE. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volxkuche

I have SUPER mixed feelings about Eastern Bloc Communism, largely negative, but...

I wish the USA had some kind of equivalent to these. They were probably quite terrible in practice, but something about them appeals to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_mleczny

Current Me in GURPS (3rd ed.) terms. I used to do this once a year or so.

https://awoo.space/media/bpnDqrthSQ9Pf7eLI5c

I just love these freaky things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_restaurant

...

Pinterest just neatly returned an image from a Google image search. No login required. Came up right in the upper-left, and opened right up in its own screen, with no other interfering images, with no trouble.

Truly, these times bring strange omens. I fully expect a rain of frogs within the hour.

I know. I'm scared too. 😭​

Nobody Whatsoever Is Afraid Of Virginia Folf.

Peg is KILLING IT on Parallax boards (you are gonna freakin' LOVE the Slamhound), my flu is nearly over -- and it's lost me nearly eight freakin pounds, I have a neat project at work, and I have a glimmer of new hope about old friendships. And a chance of getting to tabletop/structured RP again for the first time in years. Things are going great, and my mood is unshakeable.

...

*looks skyward for the anvil and immediately sidesteps JUST to be on the safe side* c_c;

#preylogic

Oh, geeze. Here I was in the last stage of the flu, all drained and grumpy about having to focus on hours of boring geo annotation this evening.

Nope. We have a new project: "Go into this spreadsheet and offer the other annotators advice on how to recognize different kinds of world cuisines <s>from quite a long way away</s>."

GEE I THINK I MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO THAT, BOSS. ^__________^

If this isn't romance, I just don't know what is.

(CAPTION: "I should never have bought that boat. What a night." XD )

#moodsnapshot

(i.e., calm and contemplative, but a tad nonplussed by life and a bit in need of a drink; also, is a cat)

https://awoo.space/media/VwZId0PrSFHQC-4J4Nk

(and yes, Reddit has assured me that these are happy, excited birbs seeing someone they really like, not stressed-out understimulated birbs or anything n.n; )

I'm probably not the only one who needed this video: https://www.reddit.com/video/q2t11wuv19c01

(CW: adorable little flappybirds)

And to be fair, I DO realize this is not always an achievable, or even approachable standard for all people. It's... not a small feat to step up to a growling kitty the size of a Buick, jingle a collar at him, and say, "Is it time for me to fetch the superglue?" or something. Paradoxically, blatantly fake condescension GOOD, real(/perceived) condescension BAD, and... that is not an easy judgement call to make, especially because rawr. =n_n;;;=

Which also reminds me: "zen" approaches work well. i.e., DON'T ACCEPT THE FRAMEWORK. Distraction, humor, paradox, abrupt changes of frame... and if you're going to tell me that you don't feel like my feelings are valid, I CAN TAKE IT, but only in proportion to how much authority I feel is being copped over me. You'd be amazed how far you can get with me with "Kin? Do you need to go walkies?!?" Less clinic, more schoolyard. Smile when you say it.

(Naturally, if you're Neptunian, you get a free pass, because the most alienating thing I've ever seen an otter do is form a hugpile. And being mutated by weird deep-sea symbiotic spores is not *technically* "alienation.")

For those of you who follow L5R continuity, here's my most concise advice for dealing with me:

Less Dragon. Less Phoenix. Less Crane. More Crab.

And of course, in 12Fold terms, that's "Less Mercurian, More Martian." How much do YOU think tigers like being caged and analysed? Even when they deserved it? At least have the decency to roar and bop our noses a little. :)