Small Talk: The Library

[LittleVoice]

Over the weekend I saw Chef, Jon Favreau's new flick.  It's not perfect, but it's fairly entertaining, funny, and all feel-good like.  I have a couple of nitpicks but still enjoyed it.  For the food porn alone, it was worth the matinee ticket price.  (Warning:  It will make you hungry, so avoid if necessary.  I should have, for that reason.) 

 

Like the time I went to see Julie and Julia a few days into starting the South Beach diet. Big mistake! 

[Endeavour]

I watched a LOT of Dog Whisperer, and it changed our lives. She would not be as relaxed as she is without that education, and the realization that the dog wasn't the one in need of training, I was.

I've heard that in these situations the owners are the ones who need to change. This family does a lot of things right but not consistently.

[trudi-tru]

I hope his daughter starts to process, or if she has a reason (nobody else knows about) for being okay with him being gone, she stops caring that others are too worried. I'm sorry that my brain even had that thought, but I can't help it. [ETA now I feel like an asshole. I'm sorry.]

If I wanted to be with people who only tell others what they want to hear, I'd hang out somewhere else :-)

 

He was a great guy and a great Dad, so that's not the case. In fact, it might be the reason she's so in denial.

I'm worried because her mother and brother are obviously dealing with their own grief and I'm not sure if they have realized what's going on with their daughter/sister. I've heard some people comment on how strong she is and I was like "she's not strong, you fool!".

I am afraid to push her, as I'm not a therapist and have no clue how to get someone, especially someone so young, to snap out of it and face reality.

 

Dog training is for the owners. They should call it "human training".

I am horrified at how some people interact with their dogs. They are usually just as bad with other humans.

[Endeavour]

That's a difficult situation, @trudi-tru, with everyone dealing with their own grief over an unexpected loss. Hopefully someone can talk to the mother so she can be more aware of what's going on with her daughter. If you're comfortable enough and haven't already done so, maybe you can just ask her how she's doing and feeling and let her know you're there talk if she wants to. I don't think that's pushing - just letting her know you're there if she wants to talk now and, if not, you'll be there when she wants to. I also think once everything quiets down in the home and the relatives and friends leave, things will start to sink in more. She will need support for some time.

[Boliver]

trudi, how would you feel about trying to steer the daughter towards a grief counselor? If you can find a good one, maybe a loving nudge is what she needs. Or, maybe giving that info to a closer person to give to her. I don't know. I've never seen anyone do that before. It's like a big blast shield came down in her brain, blocking her from feeling the reverb or the heat, or even knowing an explosion happened.

 

I've been feeling deeply unmotivated at work lately, for what I assume are several reasons. My boss has been procrastinating like crazy, and there are no deadlines nearby, so nothing's pushing me. There are now a shit ton of Sunday Assembly items on my to do list, and my office is the place I do them. SilverFox and I realized that if we could quit our jobs and do Assembly stuff full time, we'd totally do it.

[Loandbehold]

To give people a break from dog training philosophies, house inspections, work ennui or overwork (I have some of this as well), and other assorted situations, let's talk about something important - softball. Specifically, my office team. We had a game scheduled for tonight. I let KPC know b/c she lives near Central Park and said if she could make it, that would be great. My team also didn't have a woman, which would mean we could only play with 9 in the field and an automatic out in the line-up (b/c sexism still rules in many softball leagues). So, I asked another friend, who plays on my Sunday team, if she could play. She said she would, but, due to work, might not get there until late. As I typically do when I have a late game, I went home first to get a little food, change and head back to the office to meet people to go to the game. When I got to the office, nobody was in the lobby. I waited several minutes and one of my teammates came down, but he wasn't dressed for the game and didn't have any equipment. Turns out the other team didn't have enough players, so the game was canceled. I immediately texted the friend who was going to play to tell her not to show up. Then, when I got home, I texted KPC. Both had just been about to leave to go to the field. I could imagine what would have happened. They each get to the field separately. There is nobody else there. Being rather personable women, one would have asked if there was supposed to be a game. KPC would have said that her friend [L&B] told her he was playing. The other woman would have said [L&B]? That's the same bastard who asked me to play tonight. The two of them would have then commiserated over what a lousy human being I was. They then would have hunted me down. But, hey, new friendships, right? See, and people think I can't look at the bright side. Anyway, I was able to avoid my potentially imminent death. 

[KittenPokerCheater]

Anyway, I was able to avoid my potentially imminent death.

 

So we've led you to believe (watch your back).  ;)

 

Given how sucky a day it has been weatherwise,  it's probably a good thing the game was cancelled.  When is the next one that will be played in Manhattan?

[Loandbehold]

We don't know yet. Unfortunately, the schedule comes out piecemeal. 

[Bleu]

Good pet vibes for everyone they are relevant to, and I'm sorry for the terrible family situation, trudi. I hope she can process things all right eventually.

 

If I could transform into a tomato I'd be food right now; thanks for all the compliments, guys. Bunny got to be operated and recover at the vet while I was away--I almost wish I'd left her there longer, because now I have to be the one who gives her the antibiotic until it runs out. Plus she has no more milk and the antibiotic is of course bad for the kittens, so I have to keep them from trying to nurse. My grandmother took one of the kittens to her friend over the weekend. People have asked about the remaining two, but no one has managed to actually come.  

 

Wiscon was a wonderful time and I got a lot of books. Damn 1-2$ sale at that one table with a person who was moving. I had to distribute them amongst the luggage and have a box counted as part of said luggage instead of shipping (which because of the destination would have been 200$ regardless of the weight somehow, despite my never paying that amount in all my years of UPS usage.) I need another bookcase.

[trudi-tru]

They each get to the field separately. There is nobody else there.

One is armed, shoots the other one. The screenplay writes itself.

 

Boliver, I've talked about the situation with my therapist and she said it's not that uncommon a response and grief will most likely kick in once the ordinary daily routine of life starts again. I'll keep an eye on things anyway and see how they unfold.

 

Sounds like you had a good time, Blue. Enjoy your new books.

[Erratic]

Just a reminder, TWoP closes on Saturday, so are we posting our goodbye party on Friday over there?

[ZenLizzy]

Just a reminder, TWoP closes on Saturday, so are we posting our goodbye party on Friday over there?

I'm sitting over there with cko waiting. 

[Chyna]

I just tried to go to the forums and got a giant "THIS COMMUNITY IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE" message. :(

[KittenPokerCheater]

I'm going to keep trying.  I also might try to get banned.  ;)

[magdalene]

Looks like TWoP is already kaput and I didn't get to post a last hurrah post. I am sad.

[KittenPokerCheater]

Keep trying- I was able to get in.  And I saw some familiar faces there, coming to say goodbye.  

 

sshh, I heard a rumor that at least one person was virtually streaking over there, and others were- gasp- doing scandalous things like not using proper spelling, grammar, and even double posting.

[Endeavour]

There's also a Goodbye TWoP thread in the Tech Issues forum. Sad.

 

sshh, I heard a rumor that at least one person was virtually streaking over there, and others were- gasp- doing scandalous things like not using proper spelling, grammar, and even double posting.

I'm a little bit tempted to report you all!

[Bleu]

I didn't make it and I'm still trying! It's giving me that 'temporarily unavailable' message.

[KittenPokerCheater]

Happy Birthday LoandBehold!

 

Also, twop is still open, and I cannot be the last person to post.  Surely there are others more eloquent than I.

Edited May 31, 2014 by KittenPokerCheater

[Endeavour]

Yep. It's still open Bleu - I think it might be until midnight today, but I could be wrong about that.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Endeavour

[Bleu]

It loaded!

 

In case anyone's not reading there, my severe case of not being able to let things go had me download the forums. They could be uploaded as a file somewhere I think, and could be viewed by anyone who downloaded the free software that's served me well over the years: WinHTTrack Website Copier.

 

Happy Birthday L&B!

[romantic idiot]

I got the temporarily unavailable message too, but finally it posted. And of course it had a type so I had to edit. 

 

I missed a lot this month so was glad to be able to catch up. I was enjoying the audiobook discussion, which reminded me, @KittenPokerCheater , what did you think of the Jim Butcher read by James Masters? I need to lose a lot of weight so I thought I'd listen to the books while exercising (and maybe use my stair master I've owned for 5 years that I haven't used a collective 5 hours in that time), so was wondering what to begin with. 

[Barphe]

I posted over there. It's still up. 

 

Happy Birthday L&B.

[trudi-tru]

I posted my goodbye. sniff.

 

Happy birthday Lo!

[Wilowy]

Moved discussion of when we all first got into the show over to THE BRONZE, general discussion topic. 

[Erratic]

I am feeling a great desire to re-read the 'Lines You'll Never Hear on Buffy' thread over at TWoP, so of course the site is down again (not for good quite yet). I barely remember that thread, but it keeps coming up in discussion over there in the goodbyes.

This is the extent of my Mets baseball knowledge: Mike Piazza, baseball catcher, however I am proud as pinch to be destroying LoandBehold's birthday by leading his Trivia quiz for the day so far. ;)

(Happy birthday!)

[romantic idiot]

Romanticidiot, I loved the book!  That Spike narrated it was awesome and sexy.

From the Bronze. 

 

@KittenPokerCheater, I'm so glad you liked the book. And trust me, every subsequent book improves over the next one. And Spike narrates them all, except Changes (#13, I think), which was narrated by John Glover. And you've convinced me - instead of a re-read of The Dresden Files that I was planning, I'm going to hear them instead. 

[Loandbehold]

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. And, since I will be celebrating tonight, I leave you with 7 hours, 35 minutes until Orphan Black.

[trudi-tru]

The thing I'll miss most once Orphan Black, is Lo's weekly countdown.

[Valny]

I got that giant message too.  TWoP better be just temporarily unavailable.  I'm not ready to let go yet!  Maybe lots of folks are getting their last minute posts in or something.  I feel like I'm on the Titanic going down trying to futily grasp on to something... or in some doomsday end of the world movie. *overly dramatic*

I should started doing this after finding out TWoP was closing,but I wanted to be able to keep some of the comments in the various threads. Is there a better way than to just copy and paste to wherever you want to keep all that stuff?  *not computer savvy*

 

Thanks for the early OB reminder Loandbehold, have fun celebrating your b-day!

 

ETA-  as of 8:45, TWoP is back up. Whew.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Valny

[KittenPokerCheater]

Somebody hold me.  Or trick me into clicking on a safety-dance link.  Or just....I'm surprised how sad I am.

 

 

And I'm glad so many of you are here.  

 

 

Group hug, anyone?

[Endeavour]

**sniff** It looks official.

 

Night all.

 

ETA: Group Hug.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Endeavour

[Erratic]

Group hug.

That cold grey banner is so real and final.

:(

[Bleu]

Yes.

 

Hugs all around.

 

(Now I hope the update that hasn't finished won't mess up my initial download of the forums. Knew I should have run it a day earlier and just manually saved the last posts on the MM thread. )

 

ETA: Also I forgot to save my profile info and now it's too late.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Bleu

[Darkpool]

Joining the group hug. I'm gonna miss the old place.

 

Also, I got in there in time to see the last batch of messages, but not in time to add one of my own. So I didn't have the chance to let valny know it's cool: I am not (and never was) the slightest bit bothered to be mistaken for a lesbian on-line. It's actually kinda neat to think my writing doesn't have a distinctly male voice.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Darkpool

[Hostile16]

If we were on the Titanic, then I was the person who played too much shuffleboard, took a "quick nap" before dinner, and woke up only when the cold water touched her toes. RIP TWoP.

[Endeavour]

Anyone else stop by TWoP this morning and try the forums one last time?

[KittenPokerCheater]

Me!

 

I was hoping that the "site not up" board would at least have said:  RIP Tubey.  Spare the snark, spoil the networks.

[Loandbehold]

R.I.P. TWoP.

 

 

The thing I'll miss most once Orphan Black, is Lo's weekly countdown.

@trudi-tru, we still have three more episodes before the looooooooong hiatus until season 3.

 

Well, my birthday inspired my softball team to win the first play-off game today, but, unfortunately we ran into a buzz saw in the finals. Still, it was a beautiful day for softball, and I got to play two (kids, google "Ernie Banks"). Thank you all for the birthday wishes, both here and in ye olde MM - former! [/Cordelia]

[Barphe]

I checked again. 

Yesterday afternoon/evening/night were insanely busy and I never got to check back in. I wanted to read the last posts...

[Bleu]

I just tried also. I even manually saved the last three pages--but it actually failed for some reason and says 'community no longer available' on each page even though I saved them from the tabs I opened before the site went down! I still had time to screengrab the last page, and apparently I can still open the files of the last few with Adobe GoLive CS2 so I guess I can screengrab them too. My download of the site worked fine, though it's only updated until late Friday night and is missing all the profile info for the members. 

I tried to forget for a little while by rewatching some Xena today, but.

 

ETA: Now the memory's come back. You can't view the list of members if you're not logged in, so of course it couldn't be saved by software or the Wayback Machine. If only I'd remembered on time.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Bleu

[romantic idiot]

Something just struck me. I'll have no idea what to gift for Secret Santa this year. 

[Boliver]

You know what? I don't miss TWoP; all of y'all are here and elsewhere. It's all I need. That, and this lamp. You all, this lamp, and this picture frame is all I need. You all, this lamp, this picture frame, and this broken yoyo is all I need.*

 

I'm also bereft of Secret Santa ideas, and by now I usually have it figured out. If this workload continues, I might have to pass this year, which would suck.

 

The sweetie and I had our feet done last weekend, and I got my toenails in a blue color that will match the dress I'm wearing to SilverKid's graduation this week. This morning I dreamt that the color was flaking off already and it stressed me out. Sigh. Stupid brain.

 

* Anyone?

[Chyna]

You know what? I don't miss TWoP; all of y'all are here and elsewhere.

 

 

I miss it in that "sigh, end of an era" way, but like Bol said, since y'all are here and elsewhere, I'm mostly OK with it. I wasn't reading recaps anymore--they haven't been really great since the Sars-Wing days. Scrap that: I was still reading them for The Amazing Race, because old-school recapper M. Giant was still writing them and they were still funny. So I will miss reading those. But otherwise, I'm OK with it. End of an era...

[KittenPokerCheater]

End of an Era, and I totally get what Boliver says.  I'm sad because I somehow thought it would always be there, and I loved it because it brought me all of you guys.

 

Bol, secret santa could be easy- a little photo of tubey holding a stake.  Or a box of crayons. Or a troll with a tiny hammer. Or a snoopy (snoopy dance not included)....

 

I have no idea what your quote it from.

 

I'm seeing MacBeth tonight- Kenneth Branagh, Alex Kingston- tickets are, like $350 but I got one for $21 dollars by sitting in line for the "rush" tickets three hours.  I'm a little irritated at Sir Branagh though.  So much for "theatre is for the people."  At $350, it's not for the people, but for the wealthy.  But eeeeeeeee, this plebeian/groundling is getting to see it, even if she has sunburn!!

[harrie]

You know what? I don't miss TWoP; all of y'all are here and elsewhere. It's all I need. That, and this lamp. You all, this lamp, and this picture frame is all I need. You all, this lamp, this picture frame, and this broken yoyo is all I need.*

 

 

* Anyone?

 

The Jerk?

 

Have fun at the Scottish play, KPC.  Sounds awesome,

Edited June 2, 2014 by harrie

[Earl Is Dead]

Life and work have been keeping me pretty busy lately, so lurking and "liking" are all I've been able to contribute.  Congrats on the super tickets KPC and enjoy! 

 

I am sad to see TWoP go, but I think I felt my grief a few months ago with the announcement.  Since then it's felt a little bit prolonged to wait for the forums to go too. 

[Boliver]

Nice, harrie. Indeed, The Jerk. I married a Steve Martin-y looking person, so it's fitting.

 

How are you doing, Earl? You're the one with the seriously fucked up job site with layoffs, right?

[Bleu]

Yeah, I wasn't on TWOP as much. It just hurt that it wouldn't continue on, and that I couldn't have spurts of coming back whenever I wanted. That they wouldn't at least leave it up in archived form.

 

I gave up the last two kittens today. Now I'm worried, of course, because the person said they wanted cats for the mice problem in her new house, so I told her they hunt--because they've played with small lizards that got into the house--but to please keep them inside and not let them eat the mice. She's also the first person I've given cats to who didn't volunteer some form of contact. Granted, one was my mother's workmate and another was my grandmother's friend, but the couple who got one two weeks ago said we were welcome to visit, even if it was only polite. And I'm just worried and sad. But she did say she wanted them both so they wouldn't be separated, which I'm sure will at least help them stay social and active with less trouble. I hope they don't escape from the box before they're safely in the house. They were wriggling out, especially the girl who was my favorite and liked me first. This morning I woke to find them sleeping with me, and they just purred a little as I shifted them so they could go back to sleep together with me getting out of bed.  

 

ETA: Also, I wonder how to tell if Bunny will notice. I'm not sure she noticed when two from her first litter went, or when the first of these four went. Then one was taken away while she was at the vet for nearly a week. But lately she's been calling and looking for the remaining two kittens repeatedly so she could groom and wash and play and sleep with them. So I wonder if I'll be able to tell when she realizes the last two babies are gone and she's back to just having Simba from the first litter.

 

ETA 2: She is walking around their usual playing and resting spots, meowing. I'm being really sentimental but it's so sad. I'm sorry to take all her babies away. 

Edited June 3, 2014 by Bleu

[Erratic]

KPC, for my 21st birthday I treated myself to a theatre trip to watch Kenneth Brannagh and Judy Dench in Coriolanus. It wasn't $350, but it was more than my poor student budget allowed for and it was worth every missed meal that paid for it He is a very short man, surprisingly, and yet he fills a stage so subtly and masterfully. Enjoy!

Wow. That was 21 years ago next weekend :/

Awww, bleu, sorry that you're feeling the loss of the kittens. Give your cat big love and sardines!

Edited June 3, 2014 by Erratic