I haven't even LOOKED at the TABS yet because I had to come here immediately to remark that this gif ABSOLUTELY needs that comical little trumpet riff, the one that's like usually just two measures on repeat, you know what I mean? GODS, I wish I knew what it was called, because I've heard it a bazillion times on tv.
I know they hate those boots, but the doggos in the villages in VT get their poor little paws cracked by the salt in standard ice-melt without them. But in the rain? Prob not a great idea.
Once, long ago, I had a first date with a woman I'd met on match.com. As I approached her house, I overheard through the open window a knock-down-drag-out fight between this woman and her daughter. I know she knew I could hear. Anyway, I never mentioned it.
Over dinner, she told me about how much fun she'd had at some sort of Halloween event where everybody had dressed their dogs up in costume.
To this day, I'm sure she thinks the reason I never called her back was because of her fight with her daughter. Nope.
The first time I put booties on our old lab, Abby (pbuh), she tipped against a wall and just slid down. Like pudding off a spoon. Until she was basically on her back with her feet up. Look at me! Laughing at a memory instead of crying ❤️
Aww! It's like booties are such a deep offense to their dignity, even to dogs (like all my lab mixes) who usually seemed unacquainted with the idea of acting dignified.
A dog that I was backup human for, now departed, once got booties. It made some sense because it really hurts to walk bare-paw on salty or icy sidewalks. But he always peed by crouching down rather than lifting a single leg, and so when he peed, he would fill his front booties.
Hey, all. If I generally sound like I think it's the end of the world, or even if I only did that after the confirmation vote tonight...I'm sorry. I've sorely needed to check in with myself, and I'm happy I finally did; I needed to face something deep and painful I've run from for a long time. Someone tonight helped me see that I've have particularly bleak takes on American politics and some other things, especially since the election (in my opinion, at least), and I'm happy they did; I needed the criticism.
It turns out that guys like Hegseth (and even Trump) are far too familiar to me, for deeply personal reasons. (Let's just say that I'm reacting to some trauma I don't feel like talking about right now.) If I come off as some paranoid whackjob or whatever around here, I'm sorry. I really do have a way of jumping right to a worst-case scenario in a thread, and (as I've had to admit to myself tonight) that might be a trauma response. Then again, it could also be other things from my past that I haven't dealt with yet. Maybe all of the above, who knows.
If I don't drop by here as often for a little while...well, it's so I can deal with those issues. I know, I know--"this isn't an airport" and all that. (At least, that's what I hear in my head right now.) I just need to take care of business, that's all.
Just a reminder that the price of orange juice will be going through the roof because the gestopo, I'm sorry, the Border Patrol is picking on California orange growers, Also boycott Florida orange juice because it will turn you MAGA.
OK wow. Here is the exciting news from my corner of the world. I get to not break my leg today. I get to not have my car smooshed. Car is safely in the garage. I did a little bit of clearing of the rain sodden Snow from My decks and porch, and then I called it, and I am inside for the rest of the day.
Drove to town, wondered at the absence of traffic as I put it along behind a semi that was going 30 miles an hour with its hazards flashing. I can be kind of dense. Turns out there were accidents ahead that had the traffic blocked. That should’ve been my cue right there to turn around and go home, but did I? Nooooooo. I kept going. Passed two ambulance response accidents And then got into a queue that was lined up beside another line of cars that had all slid into the ditch. Watch a policeman walking up and down, checking in with them and he could barely stay on his feet on the rain slick ice. Sat there for the better part of an hour, and then the traffic finally cleared enough for me to make a Junction where I could safely turn. Took me about half an hour to make it back the 8 miles or so that I had covered.
A midwinter warm-up and thaw and rain in and of itself is not the worst part. It’s what happens when it refreezes. We’re kind of fucked.
I heard that at that spot where I was waiting, a semi hit a pedestrian. I really can’t come up with any way in which this can have a good outcome.
I honestly didn’t know how bad it was when I started out or I never would’ve gone. I am ashamed that I was on the road.
So, here's my lukewarm take on the Nazi salute. OG Nazis would have, in most circumstances (maybe all, but if someone fit into some odd bit of their "psyche" there might be delays) be much happier to kill people on the spectrum. Elno is not given to introspection, so this does him no good. A mirror to his effect on the world?
Maybe the assumption that Trump will do disaster aid in Southron states is a little jejune*. Why should He spend money since states after all are sovereign entities? If the price goes down the billionaires can buy them up and it will be to their own self-interest to see them fixed up. Job creators on the job!
* I never used that word in an actual sentence before! What fun!
TFG doesn't give two shits about any state or any voters. He got his. Thinking forward about 2026 elections or post TFG is far beyond his "mental" capacity
OT - yes it's Politico, but I can always read about senior government officials eavesdropping on convos with the Mangled Apricot Hellbeast and laughing their asses off.
HuffPost: "Trump has revoked security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former government official who helped him oversee the COVID-19 pandemic, sources familiar with the decision told CNN and The New York Times.
Trump was asked to explain why he pulled security protection for former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former aide Brian Hook, both of whom reportedly continue to face threats from Iran over actions they took while serving in the first Trump administration. "When you have protection you can't have it for the rest of your life," Trump told reporters. "Do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives?" "There's risks to everything," he added."
If (please gawds, not when) Trump brings us another pandemic, will his MAGAts relent, and admit that they may have have erred somewhat in their political calculations?
Life is a highway. LOL. I have very fond memories of six to eight transportation professionals driving a state van to a meeting in the UP - an 8 hour drive - and this song comes on the radio. We were all singing along to the chorus. Republicans, Democrats, nerds and civil servants all. It was like that scene in Almost Famous, only with nerds.
I don't get that these ingrown toenails warmongering against diversity are usually also the ones always bleating about survival of the fittest. I mean, did they even READ Darwin? (this is a rhetorical question).
I don't know, y'all--I'm having a lot of anxiety about starting the new job on Monday. I hate it because people keep wanting me to be excited or something and I'm not and I'm not going to lie. Mom said "are you excited about Monday?" "No." She sounded kind of hurt and upset--"Well, you need to get a better attitude about it!"
Husband asked this morning if I was at least looking forward to it a little? No--not at all. I'm dreading it. I feel bad telling people this, because I know they're just (awkwardly) wanting me to be happy and they hate that I'm not but I'm just not.
I don't even know what I'm going to do. I mean, yes, I literally know what they do, but I don't know how to do it. I tried to find some trainings on the things I don't know and I couldn't. When I started at the public defender's office I had "training wheels" if you will, and I had a natural flair for the job, so I was GOOD at it really quickly. It made sense. I looked forward to going to work. As a judge it was the same--it felt comfortable enough, I still had a lot to learn, but I had a structure and such. Now it's something I know nothing about, surrounded by people I don't know, and I feel like I'll be bad at it.
I sympathize and empathize with what you're feeling, and it's a good thing. You don't seem to have a lot of Dunning-Kruger going on.
But you're wrong.
You haven't been successful in the past because of the structure. You've been successful in the past 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 the structure. You've been successful because you have figured out how to apply your skills and talents within the structure, which is a very different thing.
I find many people take far too small-scale a view of their talents, abilities, and what they do.
I coordinate meetings and events, mostly corporate. I could go on and on about the details of what I do and how I do it, but that's trivia.
What I really do is sort, analyze, and distribute information. It's all I'm good at. I take a big pile of information, go through it, try to figure out what it is and whom it should go to. Then I distribute it; and by the time I'm done with that round, there's another round, and I keep doing that until the last truck has pulled out of the loading dock. I did that while shoveling shit, frycooking, working in offices, building scenery, etc.
I'd bet that's mostly what you've done, too. I don't know what lawyers and judges and so on do from minute to minute, but I bet it's mostly sorting, analyzing, and distributing information.
If you can do that you can figure out how to do anything.
Not because of the structure. Because of you. And you've proven it, over and over.
And that's the best part. Nobody else has your best interests at heart. You do. So go do it.
EDIT: Oh, and by the way. My "Imposter Syndrome" got a lot more manageable when I realized everyone has always known I'm a fake and a fraud and don't really know what I'm doing; and they hire me anyway.
Someone really doesn’t like their rain gear, eh? It’s your hed gif source info: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/some-folks-dislike-rain
And a meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/6f966c53-de5b-4a0c-8e2c-4078c05ff8eb?utm_source=share
thank you for my morning laugh out loud
After seeing the beginning of that commercial...I knew right away I had 'genius brain', and turned it off...
I haven't even LOOKED at the TABS yet because I had to come here immediately to remark that this gif ABSOLUTELY needs that comical little trumpet riff, the one that's like usually just two measures on repeat, you know what I mean? GODS, I wish I knew what it was called, because I've heard it a bazillion times on tv.
I know they hate those boots, but the doggos in the villages in VT get their poor little paws cracked by the salt in standard ice-melt without them. But in the rain? Prob not a great idea.
Mushers Wax is a doggies best friend
Sex wax for dogs?
Not something I would recommend
I should use it on my thumbs
i use it on my hands in the winter
Once, long ago, I had a first date with a woman I'd met on match.com. As I approached her house, I overheard through the open window a knock-down-drag-out fight between this woman and her daughter. I know she knew I could hear. Anyway, I never mentioned it.
Over dinner, she told me about how much fun she'd had at some sort of Halloween event where everybody had dressed their dogs up in costume.
To this day, I'm sure she thinks the reason I never called her back was because of her fight with her daughter. Nope.
"Stoopid mom makes me dress up in my Stoopid rain stuff in front of all my Stoopid friends!!!!"
Hasn't been like that here for a couple of weeks. Not good for the snow pack & summer fire water. supply.
Ooof! If looks could kill... She does look awfully adorable, though.
Not exactly Gene Kelly.
Not even R. Kelly! (Too soon?)
Never.
The first time I put booties on our old lab, Abby (pbuh), she tipped against a wall and just slid down. Like pudding off a spoon. Until she was basically on her back with her feet up. Look at me! Laughing at a memory instead of crying ❤️
Aww! It's like booties are such a deep offense to their dignity, even to dogs (like all my lab mixes) who usually seemed unacquainted with the idea of acting dignified.
A dog that I was backup human for, now departed, once got booties. It made some sense because it really hurts to walk bare-paw on salty or icy sidewalks. But he always peed by crouching down rather than lifting a single leg, and so when he peed, he would fill his front booties.
"Yellow! I fucking hate yellow!"
Doggo is now consulting with cats for murder advice.
Cute, but the poor doggo looks uncomfortable.
I am also uncomfortable in bright colors, my gaudy threshold is low. But life is easier when one dresses for the weather...
I wear loud floral shirts. It's a thing with me.
Back when I was working, we'd wear loud Hawaiian/Aloha shirts and I'd be self-conscious until the party started...
So you must hate being shot in Kodachrome then, yes?
Kodachrome
Give us those nice bright colors
Gives us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day...oh yeah!
Alas, they did take it away.
Ilfochrome! Ektachrome, in a pinch...
Fuji Velvia 25 or 50 or GTFO!
Kimberly Guillfoyle seems miffed about her Greek ambassadorship.
I just now learned that Kimberly Guillfoyle is a Mercy Girl. Now I have to reevaluate everything.
Who wouldn't like to be in Greece? ... weirdo!
Drop her off on Lesbos.
From a great height, while moving fast...
"There's a new bombsight I been meaning to test..."
Do they really need blow-up sex toys?
What a nauseating notion.
How good of a swimmer is she? How's about we just dump her in the middle of the Agean Sea?
It's warm, and she probably has a bunch of added bouyancy. I am sure there is a rock they can chain her too. Much more trad.
She doesnt't really need to swim, the lips act as floaties.
Her lips or over-inflated tits.
Gah, it's too early in the am for this.
sadly, the Aegian seems to have done run clear out of sharks, unless you count the volunteer migrant patrol boats,
Well, hell.
The fact remains that she is NOT particularly appetizing in the first place.
I was thinking that Sappho's influence might help her out.
"Which way did you come in?"
I simply find her entirely...unappealing,
All this
I mean, I'll take that job since she doesn't want it
Though Donald would never appoint me
(Maybe "because")
She's her own "Spitting Image" caricature.
I admire the depths of her debauchery in mid-life crisis.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fmedia_upload%2Fcomment%2F1ae5c834-7f49-4548-8116-5c6a25217868%2Ff7660d2c-83f8-42f0-9be0-85f3f21394dc.jpeg
That’s a rough approximation of what my old pup looked like when I tried booties on her. It was hilarious.
puppers be all like me when the kids played with legos
I picked the wrong century to quit drinking.
Hey, all. If I generally sound like I think it's the end of the world, or even if I only did that after the confirmation vote tonight...I'm sorry. I've sorely needed to check in with myself, and I'm happy I finally did; I needed to face something deep and painful I've run from for a long time. Someone tonight helped me see that I've have particularly bleak takes on American politics and some other things, especially since the election (in my opinion, at least), and I'm happy they did; I needed the criticism.
It turns out that guys like Hegseth (and even Trump) are far too familiar to me, for deeply personal reasons. (Let's just say that I'm reacting to some trauma I don't feel like talking about right now.) If I come off as some paranoid whackjob or whatever around here, I'm sorry. I really do have a way of jumping right to a worst-case scenario in a thread, and (as I've had to admit to myself tonight) that might be a trauma response. Then again, it could also be other things from my past that I haven't dealt with yet. Maybe all of the above, who knows.
If I don't drop by here as often for a little while...well, it's so I can deal with those issues. I know, I know--"this isn't an airport" and all that. (At least, that's what I hear in my head right now.) I just need to take care of business, that's all.
I see visions of page after page flying across the screen as he sends *one more* FB message and the tune of *One Step Beyond.*
Here is a VERY nice thing about local journalism in Santa Barbara. Possibly the best thing that could happen with the shuttered News-Press. Hurray! https://www.edhat.com/news/santa-barbara-news-press-to-relaunch-as-nonprofit-news-network/
Just a reminder that the price of orange juice will be going through the roof because the gestopo, I'm sorry, the Border Patrol is picking on California orange growers, Also boycott Florida orange juice because it will turn you MAGA.
OK wow. Here is the exciting news from my corner of the world. I get to not break my leg today. I get to not have my car smooshed. Car is safely in the garage. I did a little bit of clearing of the rain sodden Snow from My decks and porch, and then I called it, and I am inside for the rest of the day.
Drove to town, wondered at the absence of traffic as I put it along behind a semi that was going 30 miles an hour with its hazards flashing. I can be kind of dense. Turns out there were accidents ahead that had the traffic blocked. That should’ve been my cue right there to turn around and go home, but did I? Nooooooo. I kept going. Passed two ambulance response accidents And then got into a queue that was lined up beside another line of cars that had all slid into the ditch. Watch a policeman walking up and down, checking in with them and he could barely stay on his feet on the rain slick ice. Sat there for the better part of an hour, and then the traffic finally cleared enough for me to make a Junction where I could safely turn. Took me about half an hour to make it back the 8 miles or so that I had covered.
A midwinter warm-up and thaw and rain in and of itself is not the worst part. It’s what happens when it refreezes. We’re kind of fucked.
I heard that at that spot where I was waiting, a semi hit a pedestrian. I really can’t come up with any way in which this can have a good outcome.
I honestly didn’t know how bad it was when I started out or I never would’ve gone. I am ashamed that I was on the road.
Yikes! Glad you got home and was smart enough to not go out again.
So, here's my lukewarm take on the Nazi salute. OG Nazis would have, in most circumstances (maybe all, but if someone fit into some odd bit of their "psyche" there might be delays) be much happier to kill people on the spectrum. Elno is not given to introspection, so this does him no good. A mirror to his effect on the world?
I've simply given up giving anyone on the right the benefit of the doubt. Elon's a Nazi. He threw a Nazi salute.
Maybe the assumption that Trump will do disaster aid in Southron states is a little jejune*. Why should He spend money since states after all are sovereign entities? If the price goes down the billionaires can buy them up and it will be to their own self-interest to see them fixed up. Job creators on the job!
* I never used that word in an actual sentence before! What fun!
TFG doesn't give two shits about any state or any voters. He got his. Thinking forward about 2026 elections or post TFG is far beyond his "mental" capacity
Yep, he already got their votes and doesn't need any of them anymore.
OT - yes it's Politico, but I can always read about senior government officials eavesdropping on convos with the Mangled Apricot Hellbeast and laughing their asses off.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽
https://www.politico.eu/article/how-to-survive-a-phone-call-with-donald-trump/
Dear White People
1 - please do not do this
2 - if you know your "cousins" are doing this, check them ... because the fauxpology does not erase the trauma AND
could get someone killed if the "cop" who shows up is one like the cops who showed up as Jan 6th rioters who Donald pardoned
3 - "you people" is just ... a terrible phrase. Do not use it
https://youtu.be/OxjD_mSYmWM?si=S706zynkkh4e3THH
If you really want to do something - report the ICE agents depriving detainees of their Constitutional right to counsel to your state AG's office
(because you know Donald and Stephen Miller and Russell Vought and those other Nazis are harassing people in blue states first)
https://bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social/post/3lgh6ls4qn22b
HuffPost: "Trump has revoked security detail for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former government official who helped him oversee the COVID-19 pandemic, sources familiar with the decision told CNN and The New York Times.
Trump was asked to explain why he pulled security protection for former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former aide Brian Hook, both of whom reportedly continue to face threats from Iran over actions they took while serving in the first Trump administration. "When you have protection you can't have it for the rest of your life," Trump told reporters. "Do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives?" "There's risks to everything," he added."
If (please gawds, not when) Trump brings us another pandemic, will his MAGAts relent, and admit that they may have have erred somewhat in their political calculations?
Please laugh.
Life is a highway. LOL. I have very fond memories of six to eight transportation professionals driving a state van to a meeting in the UP - an 8 hour drive - and this song comes on the radio. We were all singing along to the chorus. Republicans, Democrats, nerds and civil servants all. It was like that scene in Almost Famous, only with nerds.
I don't get that these ingrown toenails warmongering against diversity are usually also the ones always bleating about survival of the fittest. I mean, did they even READ Darwin? (this is a rhetorical question).
I don't know, y'all--I'm having a lot of anxiety about starting the new job on Monday. I hate it because people keep wanting me to be excited or something and I'm not and I'm not going to lie. Mom said "are you excited about Monday?" "No." She sounded kind of hurt and upset--"Well, you need to get a better attitude about it!"
Husband asked this morning if I was at least looking forward to it a little? No--not at all. I'm dreading it. I feel bad telling people this, because I know they're just (awkwardly) wanting me to be happy and they hate that I'm not but I'm just not.
I don't even know what I'm going to do. I mean, yes, I literally know what they do, but I don't know how to do it. I tried to find some trainings on the things I don't know and I couldn't. When I started at the public defender's office I had "training wheels" if you will, and I had a natural flair for the job, so I was GOOD at it really quickly. It made sense. I looked forward to going to work. As a judge it was the same--it felt comfortable enough, I still had a lot to learn, but I had a structure and such. Now it's something I know nothing about, surrounded by people I don't know, and I feel like I'll be bad at it.
What swmnguy said.
I sympathize and empathize with what you're feeling, and it's a good thing. You don't seem to have a lot of Dunning-Kruger going on.
But you're wrong.
You haven't been successful in the past because of the structure. You've been successful in the past 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 the structure. You've been successful because you have figured out how to apply your skills and talents within the structure, which is a very different thing.
I find many people take far too small-scale a view of their talents, abilities, and what they do.
I coordinate meetings and events, mostly corporate. I could go on and on about the details of what I do and how I do it, but that's trivia.
What I really do is sort, analyze, and distribute information. It's all I'm good at. I take a big pile of information, go through it, try to figure out what it is and whom it should go to. Then I distribute it; and by the time I'm done with that round, there's another round, and I keep doing that until the last truck has pulled out of the loading dock. I did that while shoveling shit, frycooking, working in offices, building scenery, etc.
I'd bet that's mostly what you've done, too. I don't know what lawyers and judges and so on do from minute to minute, but I bet it's mostly sorting, analyzing, and distributing information.
If you can do that you can figure out how to do anything.
Not because of the structure. Because of you. And you've proven it, over and over.
And that's the best part. Nobody else has your best interests at heart. You do. So go do it.
EDIT: Oh, and by the way. My "Imposter Syndrome" got a lot more manageable when I realized everyone has always known I'm a fake and a fraud and don't really know what I'm doing; and they hire me anyway.