#pip-n-flinx

What do you think makes Joker such a remarkable pilot? We get told he's the best, and get a handful of cutscenes demonstrating his badassery, but I feel like his aptitude is never fully explained beyond "had to prove em wrong" ethos.

To be fair, spite can be a very powerful motivator. XD

As a kid growing up on Arcturus surrounded by fit, active, extremely healthy military personnel, it's not a stretch to imagine Joker struggling with having a very significant physical disability. I can imagine Joker spending time watching ships, getting more and more enamored with the idea that if his own body was going to place limits on him, he could find himself one that wouldn't be - a ship. Who gives a shit what his meatsuit is capable of when he's in control of a starship?

To me, Joker's the kind of guy who wears a mask of indifference, but the things he cares about, he cares about a lot. The kind of person who shucks their moral code to volunteer for Cerberus - be it for the Normandy or Shepard or both - puts his entire ass into the things that matter to him. It wouldn't be enough to him to be a good pilot - he wants to be the best pilot, and he does the work to make it happen.

I think Joker sees the ship - the Normandy in particular - as an extension of himself. When he's at the helm, he's the one people depend on. At the helm, his only limit is the stars.

You have no idea how much this means to me, honestly.

Every sub on Twitch is like a gift, so even if Twitch isn’t your thing the fact that you’re dropping your free monthly Prime sub on me means a LOT.

I do, in fact.

From my very first fanfic, Junkyard Dogs. Almost five years after the fact, the line that I can recall most readily off the top of my head is the one that gave the fic its title.

"You and me, we’re like junkyard dogs. We find a scrap of something and call it ours. We defend it, fight off anything that comes our way and take no prisoners. We fight with anything that comes to hand, even our teeth and nails. Everything becomes a tool in our hands."

Okay, so that's more than a single sentence, but it's the whole thing that stands out to me. In FO4 (for those who've never played it), junkyard and mongrel dogs are random enemy spawns all over the map. They're pretty vicious and they don't back down. They have strength in numbers, always attacking in packs. They became something of a metaphor for this particular SoSu, and in turn for Hancock, who says these lines: when you find something you love, you fight for it. I suppose the reason it resonates with me still is because the sentiment is still true. Maybe more so now than it was then.

Send me a 💬 for me to ramble about a random SWTOR OC

You got one of my newer(ish) OCs, Tygra Sharek. She's a member of Glee Anselm's defense force. She's quite to the point and by the book when she's at work, but she can be fun and playful when she's away from work. She just knows how to separate professional life from personal life, which can be confusing for people. She's a skilled warrior, using a lance type weapon native to Glee Anselm with high proficiency.

Funny story! My knowledge of wine far outstrips my knowledge of spirits, but I have the best capacity and depth in CA wine -- and I’d still consider myself just a hobbyist. I’m also fairly conversant in amari (bitter and herbal liqueurs in general), cider (as well as mead and fruit wines), beer, tea, and coffee.

I just really like unique flavors and this whole realm of experience makes me happy.

Thankfully I did all my drinking before I developed a vastly reduced tolerance for alcohol, so all of my recommendations are based on personal tasting experience and recall. The real shame is that all of my favorite cocktails are liquor + liquor + liquor... 

Can’t mix a drink to save my life, but I have MAD APPRECIATION for anyone who works in hospitality and food and beverage industries.

A quick tip for anyone out there who wants a fabulous drink but doesn’t want to get sloshed (or has low tolerance) -- most bartenders at good places will be able to make you a ‘session’ (low-alcohol) version of something that sounds interesting to you. You’ll get charged the same for less alcohol, so everyone wins. Having ordered a ‘regular’ and a ‘session’ version of the same drink at a place, they were darn near identical on flavor profile (less alcohol tastes less ‘rich’ or ‘heavy’ to the palate, but this isn’t a bad thing).

You can order a drink at a cocktail bar like a ‘normal’ person without the consequences. 

The martini the quicker answer.  You are correct, it is lillet and sapphire.  I may be having another because... drumroll... ENGINEERING SUCKS.

My biggest program currently is trying to put a new part made of a novel material onto a new engine model that is currently in test and already under order.  We were asked to do this because the thing is too damn heavy (and weight is literally everything in aero).  

The little corner of the store that belongs to me is the material development.  In this case, on this particular program, that means not so much with the test tubes and more with the characterization, the validatation and creation of models, and ultimately proving the material is predictable, reliable, and above all safe to a certifying authority.  (Think FAA and EASA.)

This would be all good if not for a few pesky details:

I need four engineers and I have two.  At this point, three years deep, the shit that isn’t getting done due to lack of resource is really starting to stink up the place.

This one guy who is running a different but closely related program taking every fucking opportunity to complain we should be doing the testing this way and not that way.  My friend.  My dude.  That ship has sailed.  You lost.  Literally every expert at my site thinks you are wrong and doesn’t care what the people at your site think.

Aero may be literally the most risk-adverse industry in the world and I’m trying to get them to do something new

My dept head and the relevant fellow seagulling over everything

My supplier delivering months late due to covid, not telling us they gave the work to a new manufacturing team, and over half the material is complete shit and unusable and it takes four months to replace

The industry is in financial freefall and I’m going to lose my budget next year because I won’t be able to spend it this year, due to said shit material

I may well lose my job because, well, see above

Nobody is hiring for anything I know how to do

My old boss trying, in the mildest way possible, to pull me back into the hellhole I crawled out of because “it’s different now”

FUCKING MICROSCOPY and everyone’s refusal to believe NDE when it is put in front of them, thus necessitating ruining material to prove it out yet again