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notalwaysworking_feedRead Charity Begins Somewhere… But Not Here
Coworker: "Oh, come on! It’s just a dollar. Don’t you care about kids learning to read?"
Customer: "I care very much. I donate plenty to charities."
Coworker: "Then one more dollar shouldn’t be a big deal, right?"
Customer: "It is when that dollar ends up being part of a corporation’s tax write-off so your bosses can all pat themselves on the back."
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lsandersonnotalwaysrelated_feedRead Dessert Or Meltdown
Mom: "Dad, how can you even think about ice cream after all that food!"
Grandpa: "There's always, always, ALWAYS room for ice cream. See. It melts so it fits in between the cracks!"
Read Dessert Or Meltdown
notalwaysfriendly_feedRead Birds, Bees, And BS
One day, a chap, aged in his fifties, who was watching the bees flying around, decided to enlighten me about something.
Man: "I’ll bet you never get women standing here. You know, women are genetically predisposed to throw themselves to the ground when things fly over them."
Read Birds, Bees, And BS
james_davis_nicollAside from Larry Correia, are there any big name Baen authors who debuted at Baen, after Jim Baen's death?
(So, Tim Powers wouldn't count because he debuted not at Baen and also long before JB died)
notalwayslearning_feedRead When Cheering Reaches Critical Mass
My Grandpa is a retired physics professor, and he was quite good at it, too. One of his favorite complaints that he got on the physics book he published was "Physics is supposed to be hard, and he's making it too easy!"
mrissaWe've all heard it a million times: baking is precise and cooking is loose. Cooking is jazz, baking is classical. Cooking has room to improvise, but with baking you have to follow the recipe to the letter.
This is, of course, nonsense. For one thing, you can't control every variable every time. If baking required everything to be utterly precise, it would never work, because air temperature, pressure, and humidity all vary; you have to be able to work around those major variables. If it was true, you'd never see experienced bread bakers frown and throw another handful (or three) into the recipe. And most importantly, if this was true......how would we ever get new baked goods?
I think this is a mistake we make too often when we're thinking about bringing light into dark times for each other. We think of it has having to be precise and perfect for it to work. If we're not winning every struggle, we must be doing something wrong and should just quit. If we can't come up with the perfect phrasing to offer comfort to worried or grieving friends and neighbors, why even try? Maybe tomorrow we'll be warm and witty and precisely right. Or someone else can do it. Surely someone else has the right answer, and we can just use that.
So yeah, the lussekatter--you know what day it is--rose despite the plummeting temperature (and with it the plummeting humidity, oh physics why do you do us like this). They rose and rose and rose. Friends, they are mammoths. They are lusselejon this year. I forgot the egg glaze--I told you last year that I shouldn't mention that remembering it was unusual, and ope, it was an omen, I did not put egg wash on. They are still great. They are still amazing. What they are not--what they don't have to be--is perfect.
Last week one of my friends wrote to me to say that she'd made calzones but they'd turned out denser than usual. And you know what I thought? I thought, "Ooh, her family got calzones, I should make calzones one of these days!" And not in the "I'd do it better than that loser" way, either. Just: yay homemade calzones, what a treat. I watched her doing it. I remembered that I can do it too. Dense or not. Egg washed or not. Perfect or--let's be real, perfect isn't available, what we have is imperfect, and it turns out that's what we need. Lighting one imperfect candle from another, all down the chain of us, until the light returns.
2024: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=4078
2023: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=3875
2022: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=3654
2021: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=3366
2020: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=2953
2019: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=2654
2018: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=2376
2017: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=1995
2016: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=1566
2015: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=1141
2014: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=659
2013: https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=260
2012: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/840172.html
2011: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/796053.html
2010: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/749157.html
2009: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/686911.html
2008: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/594595.html
2007: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/2007/12/12/ and https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/502729.html
2006: https://mrissa.dreamwidth.org/380798.html — the post that started it all! Lots more about the process and my own personal lussekatt philosophy here!...oh hey, this is the twentieth year I've posted about this. Huh. Huh. Well, isn't that a thing.
mindstalkSo I've privately called my downstairs store the world's shittiest Lawson's, but I owe it an apology. Today I checked out several other conbini, and mine is unique in being able to pass for a grocery store.
( Read more... )
On to today's explorations in Chigasaki: ( Read more... )
Yes, I just discovered I can embed Flickr images and Google Maps.
mindstalk"How can you feed yourself with a car?", some Americans and Canadians ask.
As mentioned before, a Lawson's conbini (convenience store) is directly downstairs, though that's admittedly unusual. Despite being rather small, it has milk, oranges and presumably other fruit, ham, raw pork, pasta, olive oil, udon, eggs, and frozen vegetables. This is just from popping in and out of it, without mentally cataloguing everything it does carry (thus the 'presumably'.) You could probably cook a balanced diet just from it alone, if you wanted.
[Edit: okay, so I checked several other conbini today, and mine is unique in passing for a small grocery store.]
( Read more... )
And you know? Most of all this area is detached single-family houses. Two-story, minimal yard, not that far from each other, but houses not sharing walls. Sample, sample, sample, sample, sample, even some two-story apartments/houses in the commercial zone
billroperbrithistorianThis has been a super-stressful week. We had a somewhat lighter than usual round of medical appointments this week, but it was more than made up for by home repair appointments.
We had the garage door installation scheduled for Tuesday, which ended up not being completed that day, so the technician would have to come back Wednesday. Then Tuesday night I discovered that the basement drain was backing up whenever we used the washing machine, dishwasher, or kitchen sink, so I called the plumbing company for that, but they weren't able to send a plumber out until Friday afternoon.
Then Wednesday night, right after the garage door technician left, L. discovered that the washing machine was leaking (totally not related to the basement drain backing up). I tried to fix it, but ended up making it worse. So I had A. call an appliance repair service, who said they could send someone over Thursday morning.
Thursday morning the appliance repair technician came and fixed the dishwasher. Then I had to take A. to get allergy shots, then we went to Ricky's house, where I shoveled the 7-8 inches of snow we'd gotten over the previous two days. (He doesn't drive, but I had to shovel a path from the street to his door so Meals on Wheels could deliver and also to shovel his back stairs to he could let his dogs out.) I'm still sore from this.
Today I had a National Heritage Responders meeting (which went very well), then I had to wait for the plumber to arrive and fix the basement drain. We had originally had a noon to 3PM window for him to show up, which got pushed back to a 2:30PM to 4:30PM window and he ended up showing up at about 3:45PM.
All the house things have been successfully fixed, and we're planning to enjoy this weekend's cold weather from inside the house as much as possible. (It's -2°F out right now, and supposed to go down from here, then only to get as high as 0°F tomorrow, and not to get into actual positive temperatures until Sunday.) But anyway, that's why I've got a massive mental backlog of posts I want to make, and why I've got a folder in my email of comments from you that I want to respond to, and so forth. I hope you're all doing well.
notalwaysworking_feedRead A Berry Unfortunate Mix-Up
Patient: "My name is [garbled name]."
Coworker: "Um ... you said Dingleberry? Okay, what's your date of birth?"
Patient: "January 1st, 1970. Wait, what did you say my last name is?"
notalwaysworking_feedRead We Heard Of Fast Food, But This Is A New Level…
One typical Friday, we were tossing sandwiches to the drive-thru, unbeknownst to our manager, the drive-thru person had ducked away to look at something, and without looking, sort of absently chucked a turkey club over his shoulder.
sharonlee_feedView the pre-Sarah cat census here
Now, where were we?
Ah.
Friday.
Sarah has departed and the house is much cleaner. She reported that Firefly flirted with her to the point of offering chin to be rubbed, which is really new. Usually, Firefly booked to Steve’s office the minute the door opened for the cleaning person. Of course, that was when we had Trooper to stand between us and all invaders. Firefly had apparently settled on a soft approach to invaders (Trooper satisfied himself with Keeping A Close Eye). I did think I saw a memo come in regarding adopting Sarah, but any such Resolution needs to be unanimous, and I, at least, cannot sanction making Sarah’s cats into orphans.
Wrote a little, my intention is to write some more, but also to quit early and watch the first episode of Miss Scarlet.
After Sarah left us, I made hummus, and then I made some toast to so that I could properly sample what I had wrought — and yes I will be making that again. And when I do, I’ll be using the blender, because my food processor is just a little midgy thing, and not up to an entire can of chickpeas. Though it worked fine doing it in sections. Messy, but fine.
While I was in the kitchen, I made some cookies to address the catastrophe reported the other day.
Remaining on the to-do list, one’s duty to the cats, a brief walk, Part 2 of PT homework, eating lunch, and hitting the WIP again.
So! That’s the news from here.
What’s the news from there?
#
Well. Knocking off for the day. Didn’t get much writing done — only about 700 new words, but I did a lot of plotting and staring into space.
On the RL front, I had apparently hit the Land’s End sale hard last year. I had no idea that I had this many mock-necks. OTOH, it’s winter, so — yay! mock t-necks FTW.
I forgot to mention that I did go out to meet ‘n greet the new town manager last night, but it turns out that many people wanted to do the same thing, the new guy having grown up in Waterville and graduated from the high school and all. Long story short, his fandom turned out in such numbers that there was no place for me to park, even if I’d been willing to walk from the other side of the Concourse, which — SPOILER — I was not. So I came home. Mayhap I will write a letter after he’s officially in his office.
I see in my email queue a short story galley to proof, news of a check having landed, which should be in my account on Monday, and — oh. The library wonders if I’d like to do an Author Event in February. That might be fun.
The post office mail hasn’t been delivered yet, which is making me slightly cranky, since there’s a parcel due in that really can’t just sit out in the mailbox and freeze overnight.
My Plan for Saturday and Sunday — tomorrow and the next day — is to write, as next week is Quite Complicated, and that’s before we get to the crack o’dawn double MRI next Saturday. If I don’t check in over the next couple of days, it’s because I’m working.
And on that note — everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.
Today’s blog post title brought to you by Patty Smyth and Scandal, because I heard it yesterday as I was out and about, and it’s a decent song and Patty Smyth can really sing. And I remember — yes, I do remember, the first time I saw the music video, and then trying to explain — er, no — describe it to Steve. WARNING: If continuity errors bother you, don’t watch this video. The Warrior
redbirdrolanniView the pre-Sarah cat census here
Now, where were we?
Ah.
Friday.
Sarah has departed and the house is much cleaner. She reported that Firefly flirted with her to the point of offering chin to be rubbed, which is really new. Usually, Firefly booked to Steve's office the minute the door opened for the cleaning person. Of course, that was when we had Trooper to stand between us and all invaders. Firefly had apparently settled on a soft approach to invaders (Trooper satisfied himself with Keeping A Close Eye). I did think I saw a memo come in regarding adopting Sarah, but any such Resolution needs to be unanimous, and I, at least, cannot sanction making Sarah's cats into orphans.
Wrote a little, my intention is to write some more, but also to quit early and watch the first episode of Miss Scarlet.
After Sarah left us, I made hummus, and then I made some toast to so that I could properly sample what I had wrought -- and yes I will be making that again. And when I do, I'll be using the blender, because my food processor is just a little midgy thing, and not up to an entire can of chickpeas. Though it worked fine doing it in sections. Messy, but fine.
While I was in the kitchen, I made some cookies to address the catastrophe reported the other day.
Remaining on the to-do list, one's duty to the cats, a brief walk, Part 2 of PT homework, eating lunch, and hitting the WIP again.
So! That's the news from here.
What's the news from there?
#
Well. Knocking off for the day. Didn't get much writing done -- only about 700 new words, but I did a lot of plotting and staring into space.
On the RL front, I had apparently hit the Land's End sale hard last year. I had no idea that I had this many mock-necks. OTOH, it's winter, so -- yay! mock t-necks FTW.
I forgot to mention that I did go out to meet 'n greet the new town manager last night, but it turns out that many people wanted to do the same thing, the new guy having grown up in Waterville and graduated from the high school and all. Long story short, his fandom turned out in such numbers that there was no place for me to park, even if I'd been willing to walk from the other side of the Concourse, which -- SPOILER -- I was not. So I came home. Mayhap I will write a letter after he's officially in his office.
I see in my email queue a short story galley to proof, news of a check having landed, which should be in my account on Monday, and -- oh. The library wonders if I'd like to do an Author Event in February. That might be fun.
The post office mail hasn't been delivered yet, which is making me slightly cranky, since there's a parcel due in that really can't just sit out in the mailbox and freeze overnight.
My Plan for Saturday and Sunday -- tomorrow and the next day -- is to write, as next week is Quite Complicated, and that's before we get to the crack o'dawn double MRI next Saturday. If I don't check in over the next couple of days, it's because I'm working.
And on that note -- everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.
Today's blog post title brought to you by Patty Smyth and Scandal, because I heard it yesterday as I was out and about, and it's a decent song and Patty Smyth can really sing. And I remember -- yes, I do remember, the first time I saw the music video, and then trying to explain -- er, no -- describe it to Steve. WARNING: If continuity errors bother you, don't watch this video. The Warrior
notalwaysworking_feedRead Willfully Ignorant About Their Own Willful Ignorance
Me: "You might want to put him on the card-only register."
Supervisor: "Why? He's been trained on cash."
Me: "Yes, but he absolutely refuses to believe $2 bills are real. It doesn't matter how many times we've told him. The last time someone tried to pay using one and he called security."
notalwaysworking_feed - Charity Begins Somewhere… But Not Herelsanderson - 2025.12.13notalwaysrelated_feed - Dessert Or Meltdownnotalwaysfriendly_feed - Birds, Bees, And BSjames_davis_nicoll - Huhnotalwayslearning_feed - When Cheering Reaches Critical Massmrissa - Exactly what we neededmindstalk - Conbini groceries and Chigasaki beachrmjwell - Burlesque Picture of the Day, 2025-12-12: The Stripping Granny!mindstalk - Fujisawa groceriesbillroper - Semester Break (Number One)brithistorian - A most stressful week...notalwaysworking_feed - A Berry Unfortunate Mix-Upnotalwaysworking_feed - We Heard Of Fast Food, But This Is A New Level…sharonlee_feed - Who’s the hunter, who’s the game?sharonlee_feed - Pre-Sarah Cat Censusredbird - IRArolanni - Who's the hunter, who's the game?kill6billiondemons_feed - WHEEL SMASHING LORD 5-157 to 5-158notalwaysworking_feed - Willfully Ignorant About Their Own Willful Ignorancebranchandroot
