Girls will have armor plating and have 14 legs

New Halloween group costume idea

she has some kind of electric implant

Yeeeaaaah, that’s where she got it from. Absolutely, definitely

[They’re onto us, girls. Meet me at the usual.]

Siren = mermaid

So yes, like the sailors’ tale

I found that frustrating and annoying as a kid. Like, I just finally got comfy on this hard, wooden pew, and now I gotta move? Again??

Tangential, ever get to see an aerial view of your own neighborhood? It’s pretty cool. My brother and I are both pilots, though he’s current with it while I haven’t flown in years. He visited my parents’ place some time ago and I got to ride along and take pictures of our old neighborhood from above, while he got to fulfill a childhood dream of flying into/out of the local airport (where we used to sit and watch planes doing exactly that.) It was amazing. :)

Maybe from above. Walking around in-person, I’d be saddened by the lack of trees, color, interesting architecture. I don’t even see any parks or playground equipment - where is the life? Is there anywhere the people can go outside and meet up? There’s no sprawling gardens filling up backyards, no pools, no firepits… I grew up in the suburbs and we had all of the things I’ve mentioned in this post. Even the city-building games I play show more vibrant life than this image.

I tend to turn it into a “casual sweep” of the scene. I’m looking at leaves, architecture, license plates! Well, and also getting a glimpse of whoever’s around me. From being bullied in grade school, to learning to fly in college, with growing up as a young women between the two eras, situational awareness has become baked into my existence. But it’s not a bad thing, it’s a skill.

Tangentially, I wonder how much of this increased situational awareness plays into our famous “women’s intuition”? If we’re taking in more of our surroundings, it makes sense our unconscious minds will notice more readily when something’s “off.”

As well, I’ve often considered my “luck” to come down to increased awareness. When retrospectively thinking about a sequence of events, I can sometimes put together how noticing A led to me doing B, even if I didn’t consciously think about it at the time. Like unconsciously noticing that a car in front of you is somewhat lopsided and getting the urge to switch lanes and pass them. You’re not thinking about it. But later on when that car spins out on a flat tire, you’re well past them - a safe distance away.

Or a situation that undoubtly makes people think I’m lucky - finding four-leaf clovers. A split-second scan of the ground and I can notice a four-leafer in a patch. Just a few months ago I was pumpkin-picking with my girlfriend and it happened again. We were standing outside and I was telling her about this exact phenomenon when I stopped, laughed, crouched down, plucked one particular clover, and handed it to her. “See?! It just happens!” I then proceeded to find two more, and at that point I knew I had to stop myself.

So yeah, it’s not all bad. :)

When I was more active on dating sites in my 20s, I encountered a lot of people who held up travel as this big, important thing in their lives. I recall at least one profile where a guy said, “Love of travel is a must.”

At first, I was annoyed - travel takes money and time, which I don’t have. Why limit potential dates in that way?

But then I realized, maybe that’s the point? Someone with the leisure time and spending money can easily filter dates to just those in their socio-economic status by making frequent recreational travel a requirement. My poor ass never had a chance.

When Facebook status windows automatically had an “is” following your name. So posts would start with “Mary is” and you’d fill in what you’re doing or how you’re feeling.

When Twitter used SMS and you could use it just to follow your favorite band, so whenever they posted it felt like you got a text from them. That was pretty cool.

When my car’s radio system completely busted over a year ago, I wasn’t in a rush to replace it. To replace it with the same original radio would’ve cost over $3000. Meanwhile, all the car radios I saw in stores were touch screen - I refuse to buy those. So I’ve simply gone without.

But the radio/infotainment was connected to other systems, including the back-up camera and clock. I can’t change the time and I need to look out the windows/windshields to back up. I take some solace in knowing that despite those minor set-backs, at least I don’t have to worry about my car’s radio system being a little snitch.

I went to Down Detector last night about this. Holy shit, that comment section was something else. It’s clear where all the teenagers go when YouTube is down. It’s also clear that DD doesn’t have the moderation to handle massive influxes of them.

With the notable exception of Malcolm in the Middle.

Baby Jamie wasn’t brought in as any way to boost audiences, but rather because the actress playing the mother was pregnant in real life and the writers decided that instead of hiding it, they’d work it into the series.

Considering the show didn’t have any dips in quality throughout the saga, it’s a rare situation. It’s the one show I can think of where a baby was brought in and the show still felt the same (in a good way) both before and after.

Character tilts head down and smiles as their glasses turn opaque.

Oh shit, someone has a secret

A few years ago, I drove across the entire US. I had no problem parking anywhere until I got to California. My god, does California hate overnight parking.

I went through 21 states. California was the only one where I had to give up and get a motel. Absolutely ridiculous.

Not spam per se, but there does seem to be a sharp uptick in brand new accounts making tons of posts and getting banned. It seems every day I see numerous posts made by users that are already banned by whatever community they posted in (by the time I see them.) Mods must be working overtime.

I was thinking about this just the other day. There’s a popular market in my home state, one I’ve been going to since childhood. It’s a single store, not a chain, and it’s almost always packed. I’ve never seen nor heard a single ad for it in my life. Naturally, that makes me like the place even more.

Some people like to say that nobody’s immune to advertising. Maybe so, but there are definitely some of us who aren’t as affected by it. When most ads you see are for things you’d never buy anyway, all the crap kind of blends together.

For me, no amount of fast food ads, car ads, vacation ads, etc. are going to have any meaningful effect. I already don’t buy fast food, don’t purchase new cars (and if I’m shopping used, there are certain criteria that matter far more than a brand or dealership), and am way too poor to take a vacation. Yet, the ads persist.

Even if I weren’t muting and skipping them at every chance, you can’t get blood from a stone. End stage capitalism, man. Can’t spend money I don’t have!

Oooh, so that’s how ICE agents are born. Dripped from a German gargoyle’s ass. It all makes sense now.

I didn’t expect to start my day with a potato-rorschach test.

Somebody else already said they see poodles, and now I can’t unsee it. So in order to answer your question more organically, I decided to flip the image upside down and try again.

This is a fun game. What does everyone else see?