Purple Squirrel Land

my brain at 12:00 am on june 1st:

After being assembled, our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has passed final tests, and is being prepared to move to our Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where teams will work to prepare it for a launch in early September 2026.

With a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's, Roman can potentially measure light from a billion galaxies in its lifetime. It will also be able to block starlight to directly see exoplanets and planet-forming disks, complete a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy, and settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics.

The observatory is named after Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer who made cosmic vistas readily accessible to all by paving the way for telescopes based in space.

Want to learn more about Roman? Check out our #Roman Space Telescope tag and visit our mission page.

we each have a niche of game that we are stupidly good at but that is rarely a have that has 4 player multiplayer so it's just shitshow after shitshow

most recently we played Peak, the climbing game. I am terrible at movement games, platformers, climbing games of all types. plus it makes me car sick to play it. We knew going in it would be a disaster.

SO

week 1. chaos

week 2. the pro in our group shows up kitted out because she beat it solo in between

week 3. I continue to ride the struggle bus but I discover a Frisbee patterned with the games mascot Bingbong. I think to myself, 'I wonder if I throw this hard enough, if it will knock someone over.'

the answer is yes. I start laughing. I cannot stop laughing. I give myself an asthma attack laughing. Amidst the chaos I caused, no one notices I have over again picked up the frisbee.

I throw it once my friend is on the first actual climb of the run and lose it again. the frisbee is taken from me and thrown into the ocean.

week 4. everyone is in a mad rush to get the frisbee and throw it into the ocean before I can get it

week 5. we get 3/5 of the way through the game. the leader asks if anyone has any inventory space to hold an important item that will help us win. after everyone confirms they have no space I sigh loudly and say "I guess I can get rid of the frisbee."

the leader is livid. "WHY DO YOU EVEN HAVE THAT?"

"Why do we look at a sunset? Why do I have my cats? Why do I buy fancy coffee? Because I love it."

I dont care if 9/10 of the people who use the wheelchair ramp arent actually in wheelchairs. As long as the 1 person who needs it has access to it.

I dont care if 9/10 people who use the automatic push button on the library door can actually push the door open themselves. As long as the 1 person who the door is too heavy for gets to use it.

I dont care if 9/10 people who buy the can tab opener, or the little guitar clamp that holds the chords for you, or the hand grip that helps you hold chop sticks, don't need any of it and just get it to "be lazy". As long as the one disabled person who needs it gets access to it.

I do not care. Oh my GOD I do not care. As long as there's a disabled person on this planet who the accessibility device will benefit, the accessibility device is necessary.

my brother and his friends in this field trip group were truly great kids. but they were not above run of the mill teenage boy shenanigans. it’s the end of senior year, you and all your buddies are at the amusement park, you’re naturally going to want to act like a complete moron

there was one kid in the group who was especially prone to goofing around. committed to the bit, some may say. my mom knew that if nonsense was going to break out, he’d likely be at the center of it

so she goes up to this kid at the very start of the trip and says “hey, i’m kinda worried about this chaperoning thing. this might be a lot to ask, but can you help me keep an eye on everyone? you wouldn’t have to do anything big, just be an extra set of eyes for me.”

friends, this kid proceeded to run their field trip group like the fucking us marines. everyone is at the meet up spots at the designated time. everyone waits in line for the rides like a bunch of boy scouts. the second the horseplay gets too out of hand, this kid is getting it back under control

it’s incredible how differently people act based on the expectations you set. instead of going to this kid and saying “hey, i know you’re trouble, so i’ve got my eye on you,” my mom went “hey, i know you have influence in your peer group, so i think you can help me.”

then a woman knocked on the door and said "oh I'm so sorry he's a therapy dog he's trained to seek out people in severe distress"

2014 Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert with Daniel Barenboim — Johann Strauss I, Radetzky March, Op. 228