#larathia

[ID: A photograph of a small mug sitting on my kitchen table; it says "Christkindlmarket Chicago" on it, and has an image of the quaint hutches that make up the pop-up outdoor vendor stalls, plus an image of Picasso's big Daley Plaza sculpture in the distance.]

Per request of @larathia, a photo of this year's Christkindlmarket mug; each mug has the "skyline" of the market it's issued to (Loop, Wrigleyville, Aurora) but otherwise I think they're pretty similar. Still on the "cauldron" shaped kick, although this is more elegant than previous years' cauldrons. I suspect the boot shape might be more expensive and/or be having supply chain issues.

Also, walking home from the market I encountered a couple of Chicago Fire Department golf carts. I didn't know they had vehicles like this (makes sense, easier to get around in something like this in high-traffic but wide-sidewalk areas) and it's such a weird mixture of cheesy golf cart, tricked out jeep, and weird vintage van that I had to take a picture.

Honestly, I'm now more curious about the hint abt Lolth not having a say in Zak's resurrection - I knew she didn't have Zak's soul, but it seemed at the end of Boundless that Yvonnel had sent the prayer - so if not Lolth answering then who?

[[ The answer should be simple: Eilistraee, or maybe even Vhaeraun. If Bob actually cared about the rest of the Forgotten Realms and the work that a bunch of other creatives have put into it, there wouldn’t be the need for any of what’s quite honestly a load of contrived bullshit. 

However, Bob’s got a vendetta against Eilistraee because the existence of her and her followers threatened Drizzt’s only good drow special snowflake status. As such, Bob never acknowledges Eilistraee’s existence in his books, except during the Transitions where he throws shade her way by having Drizzt declare that her followers utterly failed. It’s really a shame, because having other goodly-aligned drow would make Drizzt a better and more nuanced character rather than the opposite, since there are bound to be fundamental differences between different people even if they happen to believe in a general similar thing, and exploring subtle differences is both more realistic and interesting than pretending they don’t exist. 

As it is, I suspect I know the answer of where Zak’s soul was/who answered, or rather, what answered, but it’s all speculation at this point. Nothing is confirmed in Boundless. Based on history and pattern of behavior, I doubt that Bob will finally acknowledge Lolth’s twins, but if he did, I’d be ecstatic and feel less dumb for holding out hope that he’ll improve despite consistent evidence otherwise. You know what Einstein said about the definition of insanity? That’s kinda how I feel like I am with still holding out hope for Bob. :P ]]

sunshinedoomguide replied to your post “Boundless questions: Is Zak going to be the embarrassing racist...”

And now I'm curious as to if the characterization of Yvonnel continues to ping-pong...

My personal two cents is, ‘he doesn’t, and there’s some fudgery going on.’

I don’t like the idea that Keith is a sneezeworth of galra heritage because... that’s a level of nuance in writing that I don’t think these people are gonna go because there’s a certain amount of very direct mythology here and it’s emotionally much more a punch if these are his mother’s people, his mother’s legacy, her war rather than his great-great-great-great grandma’s.

Specifying it down past “some fudgery” is... an unknown for me. I’ve heard rumors that the purple hand incident was actually a stylized burn which I can buy more since in s3e5 Shiro’s leg injury was also depicted as a sort of dark-colored smear.

But... yeah, especially considering I speculate pretty intently that Acxa’s another half-human half-galra, something is definitely up with Keith and his appearance. And considering the youthfulness of the Generals, I doubt it’s just that half-galra have a weird thing of starting out looking all like one species and then pupate later into their true forms.

Make him give you a raise for this!

evil-is-relative  on this post about business writing:

Demand a raise.

justalurkr  on this post about business writing:

It'll be fine. But, yeah; with extra responsibility should come extra compensation.

Sadly, they absolutely did give me a raise and now I’m stuck with it :D It’ll be fine, it’s not a chore per se, at least not any more than work ever is, it’s just funny to be trying to talk to people I’ve been watching from afar for a decade. 

twelfth-doctor  on this post about business writing:

grant writing is a tricky thing. You just gotta do your best and try not to think about the ramifications

Yeah, I figure the worst case is we annoy them, but it’s not like they’re likely to remember we annoyed them if we try again in a year or two :D

larathia on this post about business writing:

Any resources you'd recommend for other people to learn business writing?

larathia

Not owning ACNH, what are snowboys and why would anyone want to jump through hoops to make them?

So in ACNH in winter snow falls on your island, and once per day two snowballs spawn somewhere with a reasonable amount of open space. If you walk your avatar up to a snowball, your avatar will kick it around automatically. If you’re in a field of snow (as opposed to say, on a paved area) the snowball will get bigger as you kick it, until your avatar can bend over and roll it around. If you roll it around eventually it will reach a maximum size at about the height of your avatar’s nose. If you roll it into an object, or into a river or cliff, the snowball falls apart and that’s the end. 

If you manage not to kick it to death, however, then you get the second snowball and kick THAT around, then roll it around, so that it too grows larger. If you then get it close enough to the first snowball, your avatar automatically kicks it up on top of the first snowball, making a snowboy, which then achieves sentience and can talk to you.  

There is a mythic, some would say nonexistent, perfect ratio where if the snowballs are within a certain size of each other, the snowboy will tell you that you’ve built it perfectly and give you an exclusive “recipe” (a little card which allows you to build certain things in the game). If you miss this ratio by even a hair, however, the snowboy immediately becomes a fuckface who tells you that you’re a loser who can’t build a snowboy properly. If you try to talk to them again at any point before they melt (which I think takes about a week) they’ll passive-aggressively remind you that you’re incompetent and it’s your fault they’re a dickhead. 

Given this situation, I have chosen to forego even attempting to build a perfect snowboy and have instead accepted the challenge of getting both snowballs to the snowboy death park, where once assembled I place a bonfire in front of them in order to torment them with the knowledge of their own fast-approaching mortality.

I don't see "multiple scraps of paper, napkins, and receipts that must be pieced together five years later when you find them while moving"

I think that makes you the DM. :D 

needsmorecrazy replied to your post “SAM. SAM. SAM. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I CAN'T LINK THINGS IN AN ASK...”

i need this and need this NOW i don't care if they have to film it over zoom in their prospective kitchens and eliot's hair is actually a mop on top of his head I NEED THIS!

Honstly I’d pay cash dollars to see Christian Kane play Eliot in a wig fashioned from a mop. I was never even fond of the long hair, I much prefer it when he wore it short, but I know that Eliot’s Hair is extremely important to fandom and it did reach a certain peak of gloriousness that has rarely been rivaled in television history. 

arukou-arukou replied to your photo “ALL. THE. CRISPS. @underanothername let me know there was a large...”

I don't know why I'm so suspicious of the Lamington crisps, but I absolutely am.

kholden83 replied to your photo “ALL. THE. CRISPS. @underanothername let me know there was a large...”

@arukou-arukou​ because lamingtons are cake? Which is a weird thing for chips to be flavoured with. I don't recall seeing those ones in stores, but I wouldn't have bought them anyway because I don't like coconut

bluroux replied to your photo “ALL. THE. CRISPS. @underanothername let me know there was a large...”

I have heard from several Aussies and a few Kiwis that the Lamington crisps are an abomination, and proof that Australia has gone very, very wrong somewhere along the line...

I love this whole exchange but I feel compelled to add also that as a flavor it’s very confusing to Americans, who have generally not encountered a lamington. I don’t know if Aussies are aware of this but lamingtons look a little like small dark-rinded cheeses so I assumed from the photo, which I saw before the text, that it was some kind of smelly-cheese flavored crisp. Biting into a lamington crisp while expecting, say, gorgonzola, would have been an interesting experience. 

brilliant-starlight replied to your photo “Found the most hipster of hand sanitizer at the hardware store...”

I think this is significantly less hipster now than it would be if you found it before the pandemic since a lot of distilleries have switched production over to sanitizer. Seems only fair they still get to brand stuff.

I have to say I’m dying for the Malort hand sanitizer bottle. I’ll take it empty, I just want the bottle. 

larathia replied to your post “SAM. SAM. SAM. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I CAN'T LINK THINGS IN AN ASK...”

yah but it seems Noah Wyle will be doing Nate's job, and to paraphrase Nate, the point in that conversation where I punch Noah Wyle in the throat nine or ten times would come up FAST. I really did not like him in Librarians *at all*. He could really, really fuck up the role of Mastermind here.

He was a lot in The Librarians, but that was also heavily contextual. I’ve seen him in roles where he didn’t chew the scenery like that, and I suspect he really cut loose in The Librarians because the movies were super cheese fests so he knew he could get away with it, and also he’s meant to be the slightly undependable swashbuckling geek dad. He put a bit more manic energy into Flynn than I think most people would have, and more than he put into the movies previous, but his character in Leverage will be in a very distinct context from that -- if he IS an experienced crook like the others he’ll still be a newcomer to their established group, and if he’s a white hat like Nate was, all the more so he’ll be the student, not the teacher. Like, I have reservations about it too, but I’m willing to give him a very generous benefit of the doubt, especially having been a fan of his from ER. 

I wish I had the show runner’s ear, I’d pitch Bobby Dismas to them as another addition. :D Hacker, hitter, grifter, thief, mastermind, data nerd. 

swingprince replied to your photoset “Post office bounty! I posted this image yesterday but fucked something...”

What does one need to do to get people to send them stuff?

I mean, there’s no way to say this that doesn’t make me sound like I’m being an asshole or think you’re one, which I don’t because I get the drift of the question, but I think you can’t really start from a place of “I want to get people to send me stuff.”

Given it's the Post Office, and in Chicago in December, if they wanna stay chill by growing their own pot back there *I* for one say let 'em have at.

annechen-melo replied to your post “The Loop post office on Dearborn – technically it’s on Clark, but you...”

Someone has registered that post office as their residence and is planning to use it as a greenhouse come 1 Jan 20.

mangy-mongrel replied to your post “The Loop post office on Dearborn – technically it’s on Clark, but you...”

Or weed, possibly

GUYS I WAS TRYNA BE DISCREET :D 

geekgirl76 replied to your post “isabellaofjerusalem replied to your post “I just woke up from a...”

If they continue to not show interest in the hammock, a small blanket or a towel may tempt them. I knit one out of macrame cord for the cat enclosure and its Sarah's favourite place in the world, and doesnt leave it if at all possible. But only of her cushion is in it.

Yeah, I think I’m going to put some fleece on the hammock. They don’t like pillows and the “unsteady” feeling of the hammock may be part of that, but Polk is fine with the little wood bridge, so she should be ok with the hammock. She may just need something familiar on it. 

eimearkuopio replied to your post “isabellaofjerusalem replied to your post “I just woke up from a...”

Honestly the "fun" flavours are disgusting to me anyway but I'm happy with my standard coke in general

Yeah, I like trying the new flavors but I’ll stick with Diet Coke for the most part. The new “twisted” flavors were fun in theory but I don’t want SPICY SODA. 

col1999 replied to your photo “Dearborn's newest game involves waiting until I walk past the cat...”

I have this mental Image of Dearborn actually picking up some small change, but not being able to get her paw back into the camper because her fist is too big. So, thanks for that smile on a Monday morning :)