larryhammer | Network

conuly posting in

Dear Eric: My fiancé and I are facing an impasse regarding the guest list for our upcoming wedding. I want to exclude his brother's (the best man) wife from the invitation list.

She consistently refuses to engage with me socially, going no further than a brief "hi." There has been no conflict; she simply does not converse with me. Although, if I ask her about herself or what's going on in her life she will answer, but there's no back and forth. I doubt she even knows my name.

For context, my fiancé is Hungarian, and his family is small. Although she speaks English fluently, she is the only family member who never attempts to talk to me or ask me any questions. While they invited me to their wedding a few months ago, I believe it was purely out of obligation.

My fiancé says that excluding her will create drama. He has acknowledged her behavior is "mean-spirited" in the past, yet he excuses it as shyness. Saying she took years to warm up to him. I find this a poor excuse for a complete lack of basic manners, and I am unwilling to have a guest at my wedding who will not speak to me.

I have told my fiancé that he needs to discuss this with his brother, but he has not done so, and invitations are about to be sent out. I am intent on sending a clear message by not including her. And from now and until our wedding there won't be any more chances to interact as we don't live in the same country.

Am I overreacting or is it reasonable to save my money while also slighting her.

– Guest List

( Read more... )

murderbot_ao3_feed

Posted by sixindeed

https://archiveofourown.org/works/78064056

by sixindeed

careful!!!! NEON/BRIGHT colors

art by me

Words: 0, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Combat SecUnit Character(s) (Murderbot Diaries)
Additional Tags: Digital Art

https://archiveofourown.org/works/78064056

torachan

1. I took Carla to the airport this morning before work and she has arrived safe and sound in Wisconsin.

2. Our heat spell is over and it was chilly and overcast today. It might even rain tomorrow, though the forecast has gone down from 50% to like 25%, so maybe not.

3. I love when cats morph into their slug form.

celli

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

severina

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

ysabetwordsmith

moonhare posted a lovely picture of snow, and a very amusing still life of "Snow Predicted." It got me thinking that occasions would make a great theme for still life in general.

Current Mood: amused

glitteringstars posting in

writethisfanfic

Hello all!

How was writing today?

marycatelli

ursula

glowingfish asked:

The Golden Age of published science-fiction was more or less from 1955 to 1975 (lets say). Why did it end when it did? Do you think that science-fiction (or fantasy) published after 1975 was different, or do you just think it had less ability to become part of the "canon"?

This is really non-standard periodization! Wikipedia has the Golden Age of science fiction starting in the late 1930s, in connection with sci-fi magazine publishing history; the end of your period is solidly New Wave.

The counter-argument is the aphorism that the Golden Age of science fiction is twelve; by that rule, it's interesting to think about who was twelve in 1955-1975, or whatever guidelines you want to pick, and what influence they might have had on defining a canon, once they reached their twenties or thirties. The people who were twelve between 1955 and 1975 were mostly baby boomers, in the standard US generational framework; that was my parents' generation (and

glowingfish's, I'm guessing), and it makes sense that the stories they considered formative would seem quasi-canonized to our generation.

erinptah

All right, I’ve asked questions about the original Japanese in PSOH before and people have popped up with the answers. Hoping to have the same good fortune again.

In Volume 10, the chapter “Duplication”, there’s a panel where Leon’s long-time co-worker Jill introduces herself on the phone. In the Tokyopop translation, she gives her name as “Detective Jill Freshney”:

Photo of the end of a manga page, text: Hello? Agent Howell? This is Detective Jill Freshney from the LAPD.

Jill Freshney is also the name of the managing editor on the book:

Credits page for Volume 10, with Jill Freshney listed as Managing Editor

I assume this is her bio on Aces Editors. She’s a real person, that’s just her real name.

So — does our detective Jill also have this name in the original Japanese text?

If the TP translation had started before the original series ended, I could see it being written in by Matsuri Akino, as a little “aww, there ended up being a real Jill working on my books, I’ll give her a shoutout” homage. But the Japanese volume 10 came out in August 1998, and the NA release of Volume 1 wasn’t until June 2003, so she wouldn’t have known.

Was it added by the TP writers, as their own little gag/homage? Or was it there in the original, and this is an absolutely wild coincidence? (…Or a secret third thing?)

the_mary_sue_feed

Posted by Rachel Thomas

https://www.themarysue.com/minnesota-ice-agents-walmart/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908714

ice agent (l) woman at walmart parking lot (c) walmart storefront (r)

It seems as though there is no person in America who is not aware of ICE’s presence. From Sam’s Club locations to Walmarts, the federal agency has started popping up, causing everyday people distress.

That was the case for one woman in Minnesota, a current hotspot for agents in the wake of Renee Good’s killing. She says she was stopped by ICE agents on her way to a local Walmart.

https://www.themarysue.com/minnesota-ice-agents-walmart/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908714

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34081

OTW recruitment banner

Are you a current or former Digital Humanities or Library and Information Science student? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting!

We're excited to announce the opening of applications for:

Open Doors Digital Collections Intern - closing 29 January 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 40 applications

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If you have questions regarding volunteering for the OTW, check out our Volunteering FAQ.

Open Doors Digital Collections Intern

Open Doors is a committee dedicated to preserving fanworks in their many formats, and we’re looking for a temporary intern to support this goal. The work we do preserves fan history, love, and dedication to fandom: we keep fanworks from offline and at-risk archives from being lost, divert fanzines from the trash, and more.

Open Doors is seeking a current or former Digital Humanities or Library and Information Science student to join us for approximately 8-12 weeks (start date is flexible between 1 April and 1 July 2026). The intern should be able to commit at least 10-15 hours per week for the duration of the position. This internship will provide the intern with a temporary position on Open Doors during which they will complete at least one of several available relevant projects while learning more about the committee’s work. The primary project available is to scope and gather requirements for a digital asset management system for archives/zines. However, time permitting, there may be additional projects available, such as investigating options for automating metadata cleanup.

Applicants should be studying toward (or have completed) a Library and Information Science or related degree (in the US or elsewhere in the world), and they should be fluent in written English. The position will be unpaid and entirely virtual/remote. (We may be able to work with university programs that provide compensation or credit for nonprofit work, but we cannot provide in-person supervision.) We will need your assistance connecting us to any university program that may need documentation to provide credit for you.

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If you're interested, please click through to the application form! Please note you will be required to provide an unofficial college/university transcript as well as a resume/CV as part of your application. For your application to be considered, you will be required to complete a short task within 3 days of submitting your application.

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https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34081

redbird

There's more evidence that the shingles vaccine reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease: two more natural experiments (in which people were offered the vaccine based on date of birth or where they lived). One of them comparED the older Zostavax vaccine with the newer Shingrix: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-on-the-shingles-vaccineagain

As the blogger, Eric Topol says, "If this vaccine was a drug and reduced Alzheimer’s by 20%, it would be considered a major breakthrough for helping to prevent the disease! But as a vaccine, it hasn't reached any sense of being a blockbuster"

moonhare

Events other than snow.

Taxes! I did a preliminary accounting of my income taxes this week. I need to receive some 1099s to actually finish them, but it’s a start! Organizing my papers this year really helped. I struck out getting my annuity figured out on my own, but that won’t affect me at present.

Projects! There’s that tree to cut up in the back yard. Prior to that disruption, I had been considering building new bluebird houses and was searching for some tools and materials to that end. We have had a small flock of Eastern Bluebirds feeding out back (the feeder can be seen in my last post) and our current birdhouses may be too decrepit for these to take notice of. I looked at various work tables to use for this project, and finally decided on a DeWALT brand portable table/sawhorse. I ordered it from HomeDepot this afternoon, along with some trigger clamps and other sundries, and all were delivered, free, by 5:00!

I’ll admit that this picture from the website helped sway me ;o)

The table is versatile and can and will be used for various projects, including giving me a surface above the snow to put my chainsaw and accessories on when tackling the tree. The table I might have used was awkward, and is now crushed under the fallen tree…

The other sundries bought today were Seafoam and Stabil gasoline additives. I was out of the first and low on the latter. Damn kid-in-a-candy-shop when shopping at the Hammerbarn* Toys-r-Us :o)

*It’s a Bluey thing

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Stones

chazzbanner

It's safe to walk out to the dumpsters now, but the recycling bin is still overflowing. No recycling today (and I have a lot to recycle).

So, it was a dsy to stick around and (more or less) stay put. It snowed a bit, so the sidewalks were slushy-slippery. I walked to the library to return that boring biography, and stopped for coffee on the way back.

I invented a new word today, talking out loud to myself:

"I'd better do that today, it's going to get cold, especially the thingy-cold."

'Thingy-cold' will now be my word for wind chill, sometimes called 'feels like temperature.'

The thingy-cold this weekend may go down to -28F/-33.3C.

Luckily I have a very good coat.

-

isis

What I've recently finished reading:

The Bear and the Serpent, the second book of the Echoes of the Fall series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. As with most books that have multiple storylines and POVs, there were parts I liked better than others; I was more interested in Loud Thunder's adventures as reluctant war leader (and Lone Mountain's journey to the coast) than I was in the goings-on of the River Lords. However, I really liked the bits of cultural worldbuilding there as well, particularly the Wolf priest and the Snake priest(ess) coming to an understanding, and the uneasy relationship of Asmander and Asman which sort of echoed that between Maniye and Akrit Stone River.

Toward the end, it became clear that this series ties into the Shadows of the Apt series, which I had read the first book of (Empire in Black and Gold) a while back, but didn't really feel inclined to continue. So when I finished, I grabbed book 2, Dragonfly Falling, but it only took me a few chapters before I had the "yeah, nah" feeling again, so I guess I won't read that series.

What I'm reading now:

I was about to buy book 3 but then my library hold on Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo came in unexpectedly quickly (

wychwood had reviewed it and it sounded up my alley) so I'm reading that now - hey, it's got people who turn into animals too!

What I've recently finished watching:

S2 of The Empress, which was really enjoyable. The setting of a great power in decline desperately trying to hold onto its glory through ill-advised military ventures is great escapism from...oh, never mind. They do have more magnificent dresses, though!

Actually one thing that struck me about this series is that although the women are formally valued only in their ability to produce boy babies, the narrative highlights their strength, the way they are the iron rods stapling things together. They may be swaddled in yards of cloth that make it difficult to run through the forest, but Elisabeth goes out and looks the people in the eye and talks to them, Sophie has a place at the council table, Charlotte gives Maximilian advice (and he listens) - well, they all give men advice, and the men ignore them at their peril.

What I'm playing now:

Still Ghost of Tsushima. Getting close to the end of the first part, I think!

elisem

Here's where I am today, I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InyT9Gyoz_o

ysabetwordsmith

A friend asked about shopping for clothes over 40, with an eye toward age-appropriate and fashionable wear, given an opera subscription. That's different from my typical needs, but I'm familiar enough with wrangling clothes to have plenty of ideas ...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

( Scans under the cut... )

shipperslist

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

flemmings

My brother texts me:

Snow, snow, go away
Come again some other day
Early August, shall we say?

I tell him the snow has its fingers in its ears singing La la la don't hear you. At least it wasn't the dump we had last week, just 5 or 6 centimetres ie 2 inches. I swept it from the steps and shovelled it from the walkway and sidewalk. More fell in the late afternoon, covering the steps, but the sidewalk remains clear. Either foot traffic or the city salting, though I haven't seen any bobcats. I might try getting out tomorrow, though now they're calling for gusty winds before the bipolar vortex comes back tomorrow night. And of course if I'm up at Loblaws I'll want to buy cream liqueur and if I go to Fiesta I'll want to buy cake, and I mustn't have either. Not merely calories: my innards really don't like alcohol but my spasming back muscles love it.

Have read nothing but Dr Siris because nothing else registers. Can't remember if I'm on 11 or 12 at the moment.

kingstoken

Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.

Challenge #11

In your own space, grant someone's wish from Challenge #5. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your own post with the wishes you granted if you feel comfortable doing so.

I went through the wishlists and mostly gave recs, music for snowynight and kanadka, books for skytintedwater, podcasts for queer-scribbling, and a movie for cypresssunn.

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
心 part 12
慰, to comfort; 憋, to suppress; 懂, to understand ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=61

词汇
吃惊, to be amazed; 小吃, snack ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
没想到我们小郭也有安慰别人的一天啊, who knew there would come a day when our Xiao Guo would be comforting people?
[no 吃 words]

Me:
我都懂，我也有体验过。
你竟然没带小吃来过吗？

loganberrybunny

Public

355/365: Birmingham Hippodrome
Click for a larger, sharper image
I was in Birmingham today. I didn't have much time to myself, but I was able to have coffee in the Dragon, which was nice as it's the pub a group of us had our post-UK PonyCon meal in last year. A lot quieter at 10:30am today, though! Here's a photo of the Hippodrome, Birmingham's largest theatre (capacity 1,935 seats), taken with a wide-angle setting hence the odd angles. The pavement decoration is because this area is right on the edge of the city's Gay Village. And the theatre district, obviously. And Chinatown (hence the name of the Dragon). And just down from New Street station. And only a few hundred yards from the UK PonyCon 2025 venue. And rather wet this morning!

Current Mood: lethargic

moonhare

We had a great snowfall Sunday into Monday: six damp inches. The trees looked like as if covered in marshmallow fluff, with branches drooping under the weight. We had one tree come down in the backyard, and another lean dangerously close to the ground.

The ‘top’ of the tree luckily missed my sheds by about ten feet. Had it hit I would have spent most of the morning clearing the mess to get the snowblower, and generator, free. I’ll get this cut up when the weather improves…

Clearing the snow went very well. I only just realized my machine is nine years old now, and it really hasn’t had a lot of uses. After doing the driveway I of course did the dog’s path out back (in spite of the tree). The most effort for me was clearing the heavy snow off the vehicles and then shoveling that back off the drive.

We’re due for more snow this weekend, possibly eight inches. Due to the arctic cold coming with it, the snow should at least be fluffy this trip. Historically this is the coldest time of the year here. But even though it was 6°F (-14°C) this morning, tomorrow could reach 45°F (7°C), and then go back to 4°F (-16°C) Friday into Saturday. Joy!

What, no eggs?

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Springsteen

shadowkat

So, I'm scrolling through my Dreamwidth Correspondence List, and finding all sorts of interesting things!

* Disney attempts to create a fun marketing meme only to delete it when it goes unexpectedly wrong..except you can't easily delete things on the internet

"Social media changed the marketing game forever. Nowadays, brands gain popularity and "street cred" by engaging with folks in comment sections and through relatable posts. It's estimated that when brands reply to comments on Threads, it boosts their engagement by 42%.

However, some posts on social media can turn against big brands, and that's exactly what recently happened to Disney. "Share a Disney quote that sums up how you're feeling right now!" they prompted their fans. But they got a little more than they anticipated: people really let them know how they were feeling, especially about the social and political state of the country. [Americans aren't happy campers, needless to say.]

And, in a moment of poor judgment, they deleted the thread, resulting in a "Streisand effect": instead of going away, the screenshots from the thread went viral."

* Donate what you can - Cross Stitch Patterns to Support Minnesota Non-Profits and Mutual Aid

"As a crafter, I believe in 'craftivism' - a form of activism that uses craft to convey political or social messages. Not only that, but during times of hardship, trauma, and chaos, craft, art, and joy is a form of resistance.

Patterns are created using Floss Cross and manual adjustments - NO AI ART HERE.

The idea is this - FREE cross stitch (alpha) patterns. They can be used for cross stitch, needlepoint, and more. My only ask is that you read about and check out the links I have posted to various Minneapolis/Twin Cities/Minnesota nonprofits and mutual aids and donate if and where you can, whether it be monetarily or by sharing and amplifying these organizations."

[I'm not really a crafter - I am more of a fine artist - so I'm just sharing it with you. Well unless you can poorly knitted scarves, blankets and hats (some unfinished) - crafting, in which case yes.]

* Lore Olympus Will Be Amazon Prime Video's next Animated Show

Webtoon's hit Greek myth romance is getting animated courtesy of Prime Video and the Jim Henson Company.

[Jim Henson Company? Interesting.]

I'd rather they made the Buffy Comics into an animated series, particularly the Last Slayer (which I adored) about a 50 something Buffy and Spike hooking up, and training Willow/Tara's daughter after both died, in an AU version of the verse. But that's just me.

starandrea

Speaking of AI, I just gave google translate an image description to spellcheck, and it added a definition of "guqin" to the English translation of my Chinese alt/title text.

Original Chinese: 一个非乐高积木的瀑布，旁边有魏无羡迷你任务和蓝忘机站在一起。魏无羡有他的笛子，蓝忘机有他个古琴。

Google Translate's English: A waterfall made of non-Lego bricks, with mini-figures of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji standing next to it. Wei Wuxian has his flute, and Lan Wangji has his guqin (a Chinese zither).

I deleted "guqin" to see what would happen and no lie, google translate added "(the sentence ends abruptly)".

(Will it be years or months, I wonder, before this post will sound hilariously dated?)

(...Or weeks?)

sister_raphael

You are STRONG. You are CAPABLE. You are the BEST BOY.

That aside, just look at that mirror! Another red bordered one, so likely painted.

sister_raphael

Let's talk about the size of this thing!

15th century reproduction comb with Scarlet Skwirl for scale. Comb made by Ezio Zanini and is correct proportion to the original. I will have it on display at my After Dark presentation at the Abbey Museum in April!

My new comb is large!

Once again, I thought medieval art was being a bit dramatic about the sized of their combs so they looked better and bigger in art, (otherwise they'd be too small to see that they're really combs, right?) but it turns out that some combs WERE that big, like this pic.

This is the head-in-a-bathtub-looking-pic all over again where people in medieval baths are shown as a head and shoulders poking out of a small barrel. I had initially though tit was representative art, but when I got a bath tub and sat in it cross legged and took a photo, it was EXACTLY what the photo looked like. So, it seems the very large comb pictures may be to scale after all. Here's another:

I'll take some comparison photos with modern combs and other medieval combs in the next few days! This image also has a rather unusual medieval mirror as well... spiky like the sun and on a stand or just with a long handle, but it's something we see every so often on later 15th century art.

hamsterwoman

Snowflake Challenge promotional banner featuring an image of a wrapped giftbox with a snowflake on the gift tag. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.

Challenge #10: Big Mood (Board) – CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU LOVE AND CREATE A MINI MOOD COLLECTION OF THREE (or more) ITEMS THAT EVOKE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT. You don’t have to limit yourself to visual media, or collect the items into a special format like a square (though you can if you’d like).

OK, I’d never made a Moodboard before, but had been sort of wanting to try it, so this was the perfect opportunity. I thought briefly about whether I should do a Taskmaster one, but I do feel like my colorbars from last year fill a similar niche, so I felt like I’d done it. Well, besides Taskmaster, I think it’s fair to say I have only one truly active fandom at the moment, so… Elis James & John Robins it was. And I might have gotten a little carried away XD

(Let me know if this looks giant on your page and I'll add a cut -- mine seems to automatically resize it to something reasonable, but not sure how universal that is.)

( Blathering )

*

Challenge #11: In your own space, grant someone's wish from Challenge #5.

I really like the idea of this challenge, but don’t terribly like the idea of linking to “granted wishes”, so I won’t do that part. I’ve already granted a couple of wishes when originally browsing Challenge #5, but this was my reminder to go finish commenting on another one I’d done in my head but not actually commented on. But then I went ahead and browsed the day 5 comments some more until I granted a wish I hadn’t even looked at before. I plan to continue doing that, but with that I feel like I can call the challenge “done” for the purposes of posting about it :)

Oh, right, and I should probably link to my wishlist, shouldn’t I.

hannah

Reading Jean Baudrillard these days remains rewarding and thought-provoking, except for the occasional moment where he starts talking about nuclear proliferation and I realize he's taken several hundred words to say what Tom Lehrer could manage with just a fraction of that.

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Who's Next - Tom Lehrer

sister_raphael

When you're playing pass the parcel but it's just you and you already know what the prize at the centre is!

It's. My. Ezio. Zanini. Comb!

I'm so relieved that our postal service didn't break it! So. Relieved!

Here it is in all it's glory and I honestly can't tell you how gorgeous it is!

sister_raphael

But I'm not dead yet!

I think I'm feeling a bit better!

sister_raphael

This is a sweet candle stock... that is, a smaller candle sits in the top to burn, and the rest of it is decorative. If I wanted to recreate this, what paint would be best? This is the quandary I found myself in this week.

Whilst some are made of wood, this one is made of wax and gold leaf. Dated at the early 14th century from England. Height is 550mm.

This is what the British Museum has to say about it:

Candle-stock; tubular, tapering at the top; wax, painted and gilded. Decorated with a pattern of six and a half spirals. The decoration comprises firstly, a green line bordered with gilding, on each side of the gilding flower petals in red, on each side of the petals a gilt naturalistic vine scroll, itself bordered by gilding; damage and wear of the decorative pattern at the top.

Here's some information about candlestocks from Alexander & Binski 1987 from The Age of Chivalry. Art in Plantagenet England, 1200-1400 (no128)

A candlestock stood on a pricket candlestick and supported, with the aid of a metal fitting on the top, a smaller wax candle which could be replaced when necessary. The intention, since the candlestock was tapered, was to give the impression that very large candles were being burnt. This candlestock and another [belonging to the Master and Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge, on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum] are without parallel and present a remarkable survival of a decorative altar fitting in wax. The naturalistic vine scroll suggests a date at the very end of the thirteenth century or the beginning of the fourteenth century. A representation of a similar candlestock appears in an early fourteenth century manuscript. The candles used by Queen Eleanor of Castile were coloured with various substances including vermilion and green. In her wardrobe account for December 1289 there is a reference to a purchase of 10 lb of verdigris at 7 d per lb, which was passed to Alexander the chandler.
Bibliographic references.

Anyway, the question remains as to what kind of paint I should use which won't just wipe off. We had a lively discussion on fb which wasn't quite as helpful as I'd hoped, with most suggestions centering on traditional recipes for paint, which I already have. There aren't specifically used for painting on wax, though.

One helpful person did say that there is a specific modern paint for painting candles, so that is now my line on enquiry. Of course, I could just make one from wood and paint it up to match and coat it with wax so it has the appearance of being wax.

kaberett

Back in November I made a ridiculously overengineered parsnip risotto, as a way of dipping a toe into my next cookbook project. I said at the time that it was very tasty, and also I was unlikely to ever make it again.

( Temporary dietary restrictions. )

twistedchick

I think FOTUS is trying to get Greenland in order to impress his dead father. Where's a shrink when the country needs one?

starandrea

Our work computers periodically become outdated and are replaced, which is greatly appreciated and less disruptive with every iteration, as cloud backups and connectivity proliferate. In the spring of 2020, I went home with two six-year-old laptops.

(In defense of my department, they had been encouraging me to upgrade for at least a year, and I resisted because the technology worked fine. I didn't see a need for new if old was doing the job.)

By fall one computer was no longer compatible with company security, and IT sent me a new one that combined everything I needed from both old computers. But we were in the process of moving from one campus to another (a process hugely extended by the pandemic) so the old computers went nowhere.

My point is that when IT upgraded my computer again this week, and they invited me (now a remote worker) to campus to pick up the new one, I brought them three old ones in trade and a whole lot of memories.

Even after my previous department became remote in 2020, we were required to attend a variety of in-person events from client meetings to company all-staffs. In the depths of my three laptop bags I found parking receipts, boarding passes, Chinese readers and snacks, along with masks - so many masks - hand sanitizer, and a note from a deceased coworker about the name of one of my laptops.

It's hard to believe it's been six years. It's also strange to me personally that the time between going home and starting my current job - four entire years - has largely disappeared from daily recall. I remember working with my previous department, on-site, for 18 years. And I remember working with my current department, remotely, for the last two.

Everything in between: the years between 2020 to 2024, from going remote to moving house to saying goodbye to Mimi, all still exists in my memory, but it's largely unmoored from the rest of the timeline. It's neither "now" nor "then," but some secret third option that my brain initially skips over when looking back, somehow assigning those years to a parallel life track rather than a sequential one.

I wonder if it will settle into place as life goes on, if life goes on (thanks body, I appreciate you), or if it will remain disconnected, like the semester I spent teaching at a residential school during the fall of 2001.

Memory is so interesting. I try to let experiences change me in the moment as much as possible and desirable, so I get more out of them than thinking of (or forgetting) them later.

And being kind, of course. The most important connection to any experience.

“I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

~Etienne de Grellet,
Quaker missionary

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Posted by Rebekah Harding

https://www.themarysue.com/coach-cherry-bag-stains/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908813

A Florida woman’s mom gifts her a small, pink Coach purse with cherries, and she wears it out to a restaurant. Then, she sees what it did to her shirt and questions the quality of the designer handbag.

In a video with over 1.2 million views, TikToker Amaia (@amaiapellow) sits across from her sister at an outdoor restaurant. Her sister wears a green shirt with a prominent burgundy stain on the shoulder.

https://www.themarysue.com/coach-cherry-bag-stains/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908813

the_mary_sue_feed

Posted by Sarah Fimm

https://www.themarysue.com/the-10-best-anime-romance-movies-of-all-time/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908922

Two boys talk in a flower patch in "Stranger By The Shore"

Stolen glances. Handwritten confessions. Whispered wishes for senpai to notice. Do you know what this means? Anime love is in the air! If you’re looking for a will-they-won’t-they between a painfully shy pair, or a roller-coaster romance between high-octane lovers, odds are there’s something here for you. After all, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill love stories, but the greatest tales of anime devotion ever told. Here they are, the ten best anime romance movies of all time. And best of all, you don’t have to wait three seasons until they kiss!

Your Name

Directed by Makoto Shinkai, Your Name is a sci-fi/romance box office smash, and was briefly the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. With a track record like that, you know it’s good. It’s the story of Mitsuha and Taki, two Japanese teens who periodically switch bodies at the same time a strange comet passes close to the Earth. Attempting to make sense of their Freaky Friday circumstances, the pair communicate with each other by leaving messages—and fall head over heels in the process. As Taki and Mitsuha attempt to meet each other in their own skin, they realize that distance isn’t the only thing that they’ll have to cross; they’ll need to travel through time as well. It’s a profoundly moving tale of devotion that transcends time and space—two teens who refuse to let even the most apocalyptic of circumstances stand in the way of love.

https://www.themarysue.com/the-10-best-anime-romance-movies-of-all-time/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908922

the_mary_sue_feed

Posted by Jonathan Wright

https://www.themarysue.com/jenny-slate-does-not-have-kind-words-about-justin-baldoni/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908975

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 18: Jenny Slate attends the premiere of "Marcel The Shell With Shoes On" at the Whitby Hotel on June 18, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)

The whole It Ends with Us Blake Lively–Justin Baldoni saga is the kind of Hollywood drama that makes you wonder if anyone involved ever heard of HR departments before bringing together a crew of hundreds to work on a feature-length project.

And unfortunately, the more we learn about what went down during filming, that question becomes less rhetorical and more like a distress signal for how showbiz continues to operate to this day.

https://www.themarysue.com/jenny-slate-does-not-have-kind-words-about-justin-baldoni/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=908975

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Larry Hammer

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the_mary_sue_feed - Florida woman’s brand-new cherry Coach bag ruins her shirt. She can’t believe the email Coach sent h
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