Posts made by surreality

@Derp Ohgods, that one is new to us. He was already debating a stormtrooper face, the death star, and the falcon... that's fucking AMAZING, though.

Lottery kitchen will clearly just have to have them ALL for some sort of 'every flavor of waffles' day.

Though re: Taika, I do a variation of the wedding soup, too, but a super easy one with the egg drop method. Nuke chunk of frozen spinach (optional) to throw in; if I am too bleah I don't bother. (I will try, though, because spinach is one of those foods that will help me physically feel less bleah.) Throw spinach in broth while broth heats. Crack two (or more depending on how much you're making at once, 2-3 is good for one of those boxes of premade broth) eggs in bowl, scramble. Drizzle scrambled eggs into hot broth and stir broth to break it all up. Keep stirring like... up to a minute while the eggs cook in broth. Ladle out as needed. Add salt or pepper or grated cheese if you want, mix in or throw on top. (This is how my grandmother would do the wedding soup, she'd just also have meatballs. I tend to not have meatballs around or the patience/ingredients to make them when I make this version.)

Stupid quick and dead simple for quick protein and greens and relatively healthy ingredients on the cheap. Can probably convert to vegetarian relatively easily with egg substitutes and veggie broth/etc.

Also a very good 'I need chicken soup because I feel like garbage' soup.

Double post for: you know you're a maker-of-things addict when you're content wearing the same thermal shirts from Target until they are literally falling apart after a decade, but you don't even blink about getting art tools or supplies for that one neat effect or that one new thing you wanted to learn how to do the moment there's available cash.

@SinCerely Niobium anodized layers can wear off, definitely -- but it's harder to do than it sounds. I've scuffed some mightily but it took uncoated pliers to do it.

You may be able to find some welded/solid rings of it; if not, The Ring Lord (they're up in Canada, I them forever) will plasma weld any rings you get from them for a pretty reasonable charge, and they've got many sizes/etc. They'll do saw cut rings that close amazingly well; I've used some of their saw cut anodized aluminum for 'big needle' rings, but DEFINITELY use two pairs of well-coated pliers for this; they're the dye-anodized ones. They also do some double-punched pieces that are flat metal -- bigger hole with smaller hole knocked out. That might be viable for niobium sheet.

(ETA: I've not had the snag problem, but I do buy their saw-cut for the rings, or solid/soldered rings from them or fire mountain. Their saw cut close so seamlessly it blows the mind.)

If you peek at that site, try to not look at the anodized titanium... it's like matte variegated watercolor metal. It's so droolworthy. (I am a bad jeweler though. I have stuff to anodize and a modest anodizer -- not one of the $$$$$ ones, but a decent starter one -- and I have yet to set it up to use. My work table is stainless steel top for easy paint/chemicals cleanup, soooooooo... yeah, gotta rewrangle the already too-packed-to-the-gills-with-everything room some to work around that and get a solid non-conductive surface for that. I wanted one for over a decade and I swear that box has been giving me judgy looks from the corner for ages now.)

@saosmash Amazon gets them in stock every so often, if you wanna track one down. It was our triumph purchase for more or less organizing the kitchen and getting rid of my grandmother's ancient things that were still there. (I defeated the drawer we called 'Tetanusland' mostly unscathed, so it was a real triumph.)

More or less everything else in there is black, stainless, or a rainbow finish (don't judge me!), but that was worthy of an exception. Also there will some day be a Star Wars waffle iron, when the husband decides which of the dozens he wants. I LOVE geek kitchen stuff, so it's just so much

@saosmash This is a real meat mallet.

(This may or may not have been a 'SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!' sort of purchase re: how I know that.)

• Whatever can of soup is handy in the fridge.
• ...do we have leftovers of anything worthwhile?
• Instant udon from Costco
• ...is there string cheese?
• ...how many tiny cups of yogurt do I feel like carrying right now?
• Fuck this, do we have ice cream?
• "I could roast those brus--WHY DO WE NOT HAVE ICE CREAM?!"
• Fresh mozzarella (in season for the farmer's market)
• . o O ( Is there mac and cheese made? )

@SinCerely Niobium is a great option, really. If you're just using it for the ring portion, it's not tooooooooo evil on cost, and some kinds work up a lot like silver from what I've been told at least. I don't do metalsmithing, but I've handled the rings and they're about on par with the silver from what I've used them for.

(Also titanium or aluminum if you want colors, though you can anodize niobium as well.)

@SinCerely You may want to check other metals, particularly non-tarnishing metals. It can transfer to yarn and since they're handled a great deal, oil from the hands gets on them a lot to encourage it.

People absolutely do make them with silver/copper/brass/bronze, but having done yarn and jewelry shows with those people for a number of years, this is a problem frequently cited by the customers and the people making stuff. (I redid a pile of them I'd used silver rings for when I found this out, and that was a giant pain in the arse I'd wish on no one else.)

Not as much of an issue for the drop part, but the ring part that rubs against the yarn more compactly/with more friction can cause the above pretty easily.

@bored said in Good TV:

source

Worth clicking in part for the image in the post immediately below it. Spit take of the day, achieved.

@Auspice That's the image for 'that feeling you get when you stumble over a ravelry projects page you like, and see that person has umpteensquillion flawless, finished objects, and start to question what you're doing with your life, because theirs is clearly completely accounted for'.

@bored I have no idea either way, but sadly... I'm sure you're right. I'm going to sit over here pretending Ghost is right, though, because it makes me feel less like dying inside.

Thank you both. It's been... yeah, Friday can die in a fire.

(This message brought to you by 'you will have to sleep in a bra for the next three weeks', aka 'guess who won't be able to sleep for the next three weeks'.)

Update: OMG the hoop-jumping 'you-should-have-mentioned-that-in-June-assholes' bullshit of this day.

• Early AM surgery. I have had people drilling straight up into my skull while I was fully conscious after ripping out all of my teeth, morphine shot straight into a drip going right to my heart (that's a head-spinner, holy crap), and been given a custom special snowflake organ of my very own on the fly on the operating table, but this specific sort of surgery is the absolute worst to me and is my #1 body horror 'I would like to curl into an increasingly tiny ball until that ball becomes small enough to enter the quantum realm' headspace to even think about, let alone have to go through for the third time. It was not fun.

• Nothing for the pain, and there is plenty of pain. (My brain is flashing back to Wanda Sykes on John Oliver giving heavy side eye while saying: ibuprofen right now.) I guess the bonus here is no heavy emo mind trip, but holy shit ow.

• Get back hoping my normal scrips have been refilled. NOPE! 'We need you to come in to verify which you need and why.' "Didn't I do that in June? There were zero issues then." "Oh, we want you to do it again." "OK, but they're already a month or more overdue and this is a serious issue... and why didn't you mention this when I called earlier in the week?" "We were going to get back to you. She has an opening at the end of this month on the 24th... " "NO." "...well you can come in today to see one of the supervising physicians today-" "I literally just got home from surgery." "Next opening is on the 21st, at-" "...see you in a few hours."

• Pay (again) to see someone (again) to verify all the medication provisionally, still have to schedule with the usual person (AGAIN) on the 5th of Feb to verify this all (AGAIN)... (...the day after the NEXT dental surgery, naturally! When I will be OH SO PLEASANT I'M SURE!)

• "Sure, I don't mind if the usual scrip for that is halved, I only use about half of it anyway." Apparently HALVED was not interpreted as 'half of what you get for a month*', but 'half of what you get for a month *that now must last six months'. EXCUSE ME? I would like to be able to walk sometimes, k thx. That is not HALF in any sane universe. Can y'all even math?

Dear Tits: this is why you're ideally getting hacked off this year if the insurance company isn't a bag of wank about it (hahahahahaha what are the odds though), seriously. I'm not going through this particular wankery again, no matter how much I love you.

ETA: tl;dr: OMG so over quota on adulting, I would be rolling around on the floor kicking stuffed animals and making yowly noises with my cat if I wasn't in too much pain to manage it.

Managed to not actually freak out or cry during surgery. Not a minor feat.

Found out the new doc screwed up one of my prescriptions, whee. Now I get to fix that.

C'mon, y'all... don't fuck with the medication that stops me from freaking out and shaking right when you give me damned good reason to do so.

Appointment for minor surgery set up for tomorrow, 9am.

Of all the dumb crap I've had to do over the years, I've had to do this once before, and it was hands-down the most awful thing. The teeth stuff? Sucks. The almost dying due to a spazzy gall bladder thing? Sucked. This? The most minor and yet most 'ohgodno' by miles.

...that is literally all the adult I've got in me for the day, I need to save up the rest for tomorrow.

@JinShei Ninja detector.

@Kestrel We've argued about stuff in the past, to be certain, but fwiw, I don't think this ever made you a horrible human being. (No snark or sarcasm intended in any of this.)

I can seriously empathize with the feeling that people are baiting or otherwise being disingenuous and, frankly, awful. I hate how much I get sucked into that crap, too, even when I see the glaring neon sign that reads: 'it's a trap!' (And then I hate it all the more when it's actually... not.)

It definitely sucks, but there is some small consolation in knowing it doesn't happen unless (general) you give a shit, which is not an inherently bad thing.

@Rinel Much empathy, and all the hugs that are welcome.

I have had the happy week or two. I have. I know they aren't actually a myth.

It... kinda doesn't improve anything, though? I remember how I felt when I never had; I know how I feel know. The 'wow, it is possible and it exists!' is a boost that is absolutely counterbalanced by the deeper low of 'and it is not like that now at all'.

I think a lot of people that appear to be happy all the time are putting on a front, when it comes down to it. There's a lot of performative happiness out there, especially now in the age of social media. It's not... especially real, and a lot of it is pretty dang shallow.

(This is one of those 'the grass is always patchy shades of green and brown in everybody's yard' scenarios, at least in my personal view.)

Never give up your right to argue (barring spaces that disallow it for whatever reason, provided said reason is reasonable, obviously).

No, really.

Sometimes -- and I think I can say with some confidence that it has happened here a whole hell of a lot, really -- it leads to pointlessly gripey angst.

But even then, it means people are thinking. Brains are working, even if they're wandering far afield of sense now and then. (We're all susceptible; it's part of being human.)

Brains working is good.

It's OK to disagree with people. Most of us were socialized to be pleasers to some extent or another, in some way or another, but those ways tell us 'don't speak up and don't argue or disagree'. Well, fuck that.

If you wanna avoid it because it's causing undue stress in your life, or is otherwise doing you harm? Go for it; always take care of you, y'know?

Just don't do it because someone else tells you 'you should just fall in line', that it's pointless, or similar. Those people are the ones the word 'defenestration' is best used in regard to.

...on my own shit that I originally popped in to post, narrowly missed an ER trip today. Am hoping I can continue to miss it until I can get that damned appointment.

This looks really fantastic. @Seraphim73 and @GirlCalledBlu, y'all should be super proud!