RL things I love

[Ganymede]

@betternow

I’m hoping I can power through with the 8th Gen i5 chipset. A thread on the Paradox Forums suggests I can do so with the same card on a 7th Gen i3.

[Auspice]

This sort of crosses into the 'Weird RL' but it was kind of charming.

I have always sort of 'adopted' cats unwittingly. Nearly everywhere I've lived, I've had the area strays realize I am the Local Friendly Cat Lady and just sort of wander on by from time to time. In NKY, my house faced the building next to mine rather than the alley directly, so my yard (slab) was fenced and a safe spot to hang out and get away from dogs, kids, etc. I ended up ultimately, there, setting up a sheet of metal as a shelter from rain and snow and would put out food for the strays.

The best was the time a momma cat brought her babies to introduce them to me.

ANYHOW.

Last night, as I'm dozing off, I hear this loud MEOW from the direction of my living room. I start awake (because neither of my cats meow unless something's wrong), but both my kitties are by my legs and both are staring that way, too. Confused, I get up and head for the living room with them following.

I look out onto the patio and there's this round faced tabby, pawing at a trash bag I'd put out earlier. You see, when I clean, I'm usually wiped by the end of it (thanks, fibro), so I'll set the bag on the patio and take it out the following morning once I've rested. Every so often, I've found little holes torn through it. Well, that bag had no food trash in it and this little tabby was apparently quite cross with me for that. I guess he had decided I'd been putting food out for him.

As soon as he saw me at the door, he looked up and began up his complaints: meow meow meow meow!

Oh, well then!

I keep two bowls of food for my cats in separate rooms and they sometimes have fits of ignoring the smaller one and eventually, it gets stale and I have to throw it out (the thing that may have begun this whole situation!). They'd been doing just that this week. So I went, grabbed the bowl, and set it outside the door. Mr. Roundface promptly went up and began chowing down while my kitties watched from inside.

When he was done, he looked up, walked around the patio slab, meow meow meow! and wandered off.

I guess I'm just glad the food is being eaten rather than going to waste because my two are picky af.

[Deleted]

@auspice That cat is living his best life. You are his side piece now.

[Aria]

The barista in my building knows I'm super sick but too swamped to miss work, so she ran a lemonade through the steamer to heat it up, tossed in two mint tea bags, and handed me a fistful of honey packets.

you, Doreen.

[Arkandel]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46970628

[Cupcake]

Having a manager who I was always pretty sure hated me tell me that she's so glad I'm part of her team and she's really excited to help me develop further in the company.

[silverfox]

The last two weeks have been a bit rough in my classroom. My kids just have. not. been. doing. their. work. They've been talking, out of place, on the wrong websites, etc. So we had a class meeting and they suggested we use a clipchart to track behavior over the week and they can earn 'free time' on Friday if their clip is on 'focused' or above. Then I put some rewards in place if they went above and beyond. (Positive note in planner, and positive contact home (phone/email).)

Not only has it improved the amount of work AND QUALITY OF WORK my kiddos are putting in - but it feels damn good to hear a parent's tone of voice just LIGHT UP when they hear that their kid has done something awesome at school.

I'm glad I'm doing this new system, even if it's a crap-ton of work to keep up with. It is forcing me to do what I'm not comfortable with - calling people on the phone - making parents happy, and motivating the kids to work.

Also, it's a great way to end the week.

[Auspice]

@silverfox

I really like that parent component because that has potential to just lead into a repeating system of positivity. The parent gets to hear that from you (the teacher) about their kid and then that probably leads into an awesome weekend overall because they'll then turn around to their kid to praise them... which is probably going to lead into the following week being good, too with the kid coming off that high.

[silverfox]

@auspice

I'm really really hoping this happens! This is hands-down the WORST time of year. There are only two 'breaks (3-day weekends)' before the end of March, and we have state testing hanging over our heads. Anything that brings positive things into the mix right now is amazing.

[Auspice]

About a decade ago, I got a pair of Gap jeans free. Size 16 bastards. They've never fit but they've been my goal because they're soft. And they were a reasonable goal.

I was a size 10/12 when I was 17-20. I can get back there, right? Come on, self!

Once or twice I got them but they just weren't "could wear through the course of a day" wearable. I can't have pressure on my abdomen or I get ill. So there's gotta be some give which means jeans are sometimes a size too large for me to wear them (in certain brands).

The past few weeks I've been in this spiral of feeling like all the weight I'd list in the months before was back on and then some. I'd look in the mirror and feel convinced my face was fat and hideous and no it didn't matter if my clothes fit the same. I must have stretched them. Look at how ugly and splotchy and fat my face was.

Today my 'usual' jeans kept falling off me in the morning. To where I couldn't deny it. I tried the Gap jeans. They fit to the point of being comfortable. For the first time ever.

I'm still struggling to look at my face and not think how uglyfatgross I am, but I also feel this major victory to finally fit my Goal Jeans because it means I didn't gain all the weight back and even lost more. Maybe it's just allergies making my face swell because I have been fighting those for the past couple months.

[Paris]

There really is no describing how dysfunctionally great that feeling is when you stand up and your pants hit your ankles.

Also allergies will totally puff your face up.

[Deleted]

@auspice You aren't uglyfatgross.

[RnMissionRun]

@paris said in RL things I love:

There really is no describing how dysfunctionally great that feeling is when you stand up and your pants hit your ankles.

That happens to me all the time, only it's not because I am so skinny, it's because I have no butt and I hate wearing belts

[Auspice]

@admiral said in RL things I love:

@auspice You aren't uglyfatgross.

I just feel like I am sometimes.

Years of doctors ignoring health issues and doing the '<handwave> just lose weight and you'll be fine' + the usual media of 'if you aren't thin you're ugly/undesirable/unwanted' + my own anxieties ... so I spend a lot of time just seeing only this... really gross, hideously fat person in the mirror and feeling convinced that if I could just lose a ton of weight everything would be okay.

So when I hit these sort of small milestones, it can help a lot.

[Paris]

@rnmissionrun You and me both, man.

I'd get a belt, but I only really stand up at home and even then only when necessary (my condo is build to be ADA-friendly in terms of lights and the bathroom letting in a wheelchair, but the kitchen is too narrow for my wheelchair's canted wheels and it was bought when I was much bigger from the tumor in my abdomen), and when I sit they dig into my surgical scar tissue.

Thinking of getting suspenders, though.

[Paris]

@auspice It's a double-edged sword. Being thin brings with it admiration which is admittedly nice (I got a lot of attention after I moved to the US, back home I was too 'ethnic'-- now ironically I just look pasty), but the attention is often quite negative from those who resent a thin person either getting attention instead of them, or are not giving the attention-giver enough of theirs. I found I got the best attention when I've been a bit heavier but made a point of dressing beautifully, since I have never had the luxury of being invisible in public at any point in my life.

Except by shoppers in malls or people staring at their phones. Not good for my head vs their elbows and bags!

[Auspice]

Honestly I think it's part of why I dye my hair.

It's a lot more fun to have the little girl in the drug store go '<gasp> Mommy, look, a mermaid!'

Srsly, one of the best moments in my life. I absolutely loved when that happened.

[Arkandel]

@auspice Shame you couldn't speak to say thanks.

[Packrat]

I have a new house! Or at least I have a new place to live lined up.

In about three weeks I am moving for my new job and while I do still need to get a removal company booked and sell my current home I do have a rental home lined up for while I carry out said sale and then buy a new place. I will be paying a horrifyingly large sum for it because the south (of the UK) is painfully expensive but fortunately the new job pays very well and I have the savings to cover the cost of the move.

It is going to be interesting to see how the cats adapt when going from a two bedroom apartment being their world to living in a full sized house with a decent garden. Personally I am looking forwards to the summer and living only a few miles from the beach.

[Misadventure]

I love Murderbot.