the_itsb (she/her)

Mr T knows his balls.

That caption is 🤌

My kid is in high school, and they communicate about emergencies through text, email, and automated calls. There are lots of jobs, especially low-paying ones, that will not let you check your phone during your shift, and they’re certainly not going to be okay with you leaving early to go pick up your kid. If the choice is “leave to pick up kid (who you know is safe with teachers), get fired,” versus “leave kid (who you know is safe with teachers), keep job,” it’s pretty simple math.

“ran out of medication” me sneaks up on “functional and medicated” me

In the US, in the weeks leading up to the new school year starting late August/early September, many retailers will offer discounts on school supplies - paper, pencils and pens, backpacks, etc - to attract customers. Many clothing retailers market it to students as a great time for a wardrobe refresh or to reinvent your look entirely and offer discounts. Same deal with electronics, especially since higher math courses tend to have required calculators. Some states - including Ohio, where I live - offer a sales tax holiday on a weekend during this season to help with the expense involved.

It’s wicked expensive with just one kid, I can’t imagine having several.

the_itsb = the Ill-Tempered Sea Bass, and though it’s a batfish and not a sea bass, I’ve always thought this guy conveys the ill-tempered part beautifully.

Who I actually am as a person is a little more like some kind of crab. There’s the strawberry crab, who is “small, brightly-colored … known to be quite toxic,” which sounds just like me without medication. 😂 And then there’s the black-eyed hermit crab, who “often inhabits shells left by massive moon snails … often covered with colorful pink anemone-like hydroids, making this critter even cuter.”

I think the physical and psychological distress that tend to result from Vogon poetry would be problematic for the celebrational mood I’m hoping to achieve, but there will definitely be gorgeous sandwiches crafted by the loving hands of an artisan of intergalactic renown.

I’ve never seen a recipe for Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters that appealed to me, but I’m hoping to get that sorted as well.

They also only got the Supreme Court to agree to their extremely sketchy August date for the election along party lines.

Really rich, lovely quote from the article linked:

In fact, the Ohio Legislature explicitly banned August elections (except in very limited circumstances) in its omnibus election law that was enacted earlier this year. Ironically, the Legislature did so at the behest of LaRose who stated that “August special elections generate chronically low turnout because voters aren’t expecting an election to occur. This is bad news for the civic health of our state.”

It’s fucking gross. My husband and I went in person to the Board of Elections to vote early, and we were heartened to see the steady trickle of people coming in mid-morning on a weekday.

The original Rice Krispies Treats cereal was the best. The current is a pale imitation and lacks the depth of flavor the original had - it wasn’t overly sweet, and it had a perfect balance of vanilla and puffed rice flavor that is hard to explain.

I’m turning 42 next summer and have been thinking about hosting a Towel Party; this image is going to be very helpful.

How will anyone know I exist if they can’t hear (or read) my bitching?!?

conservative apologist

Isn’t he just a conservative? I know he likes to pretend that Trump gave him serious distaste for some of the more extreme parts of modern conservatism, but - considering the blood on Frum’s hands - I’m not buying it. Am I getting him confused with a different Bush speech writer or perhaps a different Iraq war cheerleader?

When we’re gaming together but he gets distracted by his phone, I’ll call my husband back to the game with, “Play dom-jot, hew-mon!” but I never stab him if he’s cheating.

Can you even imagine how anyone involved felt?!? The exultation and relief of the researchers when they not only didn’t accidentally kill their patient but fixed him, the mind-blowing reality that he can move again as it sinks into the patient’s brain… !!! I cry about every overwhelming emotion, good or bad, and I don’t think I’d be able to stop crying for weeks.

(double posted but getting error when trying to delete)

This is genius! I’m so excited to tell my friends, thank you so much for this tip!

This is so wholesome ❤️ thank you, I love it!

I don’t dispute for a second that Elon’s an idiot, but his ex-wife did ask him to buy and kill Twitter:

“Can you buy Twitter and then delete it, please!? xx” Riley allegedly texted Musk on March 24. “America is going INSANE.”

Maybe it’s not 3D chess but just transparent - yet effective! - stupidity. Buying Twitter was fiscally foolish, but it does seem like he’s gonna kill it, so 🤷

His ex-wife did ask him to buy and kill Twitter:

“Can you buy Twitter and then delete it, please!? xx” Riley allegedly texted Musk on March 24. “America is going INSANE.”

🤷

I suspect you might be joking and I just didn’t get it, but just in case - do your ducks actually respond to verbal cues??

I have friends with ducks, and another friend who tried to have ducks this spring and lost them all to predation, and I know they would all love to be able to get their ducks to get to bed on time.

This is a perfect rant in that it is so specific it loops back around to universality. I have no experience with any of the programs you mentioned - I’m only in the comments because I thought my husband, who uses SolidWorks sometimes in his day job, might find this thread entertaining - and yet I totally related to everything in your comment. I have felt all those same frustrations, just with different software; stuff that was perfectly fine getting “improved” to the point of uselessness for my situation.

You’re a great writer! It takes skill to rant so well about niche stuff that anybody can relate.