Y'ALL I TOOK MY MOM AND MY OLDER SISTER TO SEE DOLLY PARTON ON WEDNESDAY AND IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING NIGHT OF MY LIFE

Toasties, Toastrons, Tostadas:

Who lives in Colorado?

TEXAS TOAST MEETUP, NEXT SATURDAY, AUSTIN

Toasties in Austin or within driving distance! Come meet us! 3:30 pm next Saturday, June 7, at the Tavern on 12th and Lamar in Austin, TX. I think we have 4 or 5 confirmed attendees and we'd love to see more!

toasties: NEGRONIS FOR CHARITY and probably in your town, wherever it is! I trust we alone can raise a significant chunk of cash for many worthy causes. Drink up!

Guys my brother in law wrote a memoir and it's available as an ebook on Amazon! He's physically and mentally disabled and this has been one of his dreams for a long time!

Url because my phone
doesn't do html: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00C0GPF9I?cache=fd...!

Friday Cat Thread!

Apologies for no cat thread the last couple of weeks.

OK, so here is Anne, thinking that sleeping in the bed is for suckers.

And Bonny, after she climbed inside a plastic bag, got confused, tore a hole for her head and then couldn't work out how to leave.



It's been raining here lately, and my darlings are indoor/outdoor kitties. What this means is that Bonny, the stupidest cat ever born, has gone outside, got wet, come back in and whined at me about being wet approximately once an hour.

(to post your own cat pictures instructions for PC. First, put the picture somewhere online like facebook or photobucket. Right click it, scroll down to 'copy image location' and click that. Then, paste that link in between the " " on this code: < img src = " " > only without the spaces after/before the < and > and =)

unshored! I got your mix CD and it's great! I should be done with yours this weekend :)

No GoT last week, but I'm happy to discuss Hannibal with anyone who saw the finale and is somehow still alive.

It is my last day of work and my first day of showing up to work hungover, AMA.

TOASTIES I will be in London all by myself for 2.5 days this summer! Soliciting recommendations for:

1. Best museums to see hilarious medieval art (none of that modern shit, get outta here)

and

2. Best places to purchase awesome British bras

Or whatever else you think I should do in London. (Also, if anyone lives in London and would like to hang out with me, I would be so into that.)

Hanging out at work listening to TSN Sports Radio so I can hear my sister talk about the Canadian Football League. I love my sister. (Read her blog at www.cflisforgirls.ca!)

Other than that, first week back at work after the honeymoon has been good! One of our girls is leaving so I have a bunch of new responsibilities starting up. How are you guys?

Toasties! Reminder to any in the DC area that we've got a google group so hit me up at jocasta.carr at gmail dot com if you want an invite. Topics currently under discussion include the next book club book and meeting date, and going to see the movie Belle. Also wanted to put it out there that we should get back to planning a general DC meetup!

Offer in on a house! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

This should probably be two separate comments, BUT:

Does anyone have any experience with hand wringers for laundry? Our new apartment doesn't have laundry on site, and we're thinking about supplementing trips to the laundromat with some hand washing.

And, also, I finally signed a lease! (In Philly; New York didn't pan out.) I remember seeing a few weeks ago that someone was looking for Philly Toasties in the Open Thread but can't remember who?

West Coast Toast: I'm headed to Portland, Oregon in two weeks; anyone wanna meet up for beverages? I'll be there for my ladyfriend's brother's dental school graduation, so party time, I guess?

HEY my gormenghast full sleeve is booked for the 12th next month AND LOOK AT THE DESIGN THE ARTIST DID ISN'T IT GREAT

It's gonna be all muted, watercolour ink and heavy scratchy black outlines.

Dog thread!

These are our dogs: Land Manatee (standing) and her sidekick Toast Shark.

Whew it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. So far so good, but phew - new job busy but going well, got into a fender bender with a complete asshole, getting a new phone, trying to manage a social life which is busier than it's ever been in my entire life, just a LOT.

Also am recently discovering how bad/negligent I am at managing my money - has anyone else gone through this before/is going through it now? Any tips/lessons learned? I'm thinking I need to set up a spreadsheet to budget, which gives me anxiety hives just to think about it, but it's a bit ridiculous at this point; I am a grown-ass 24-year-old woman, for God's sake. Gotta set up a 401K too. Adulthood...

Since reading about how sitting all day awful for you, I am trying to set up some new habits. I set up a 20-minute timer on my browser and have been alternating between doing 10 squats or 10 desk pushups every time it goes off. So far today I have done 30 squats and 30 pushups, which is not bad considering my level of sloth is somewhere between "Baron Harkonnen" and "An Actual Sloth".

How do you guys deal with the impending Sit-ocalypse?

I just found out that the new intern where I work loves Orphan Black. Toasties, are you ever unsure about people, and then you find out one thing about them and suddenly you're just like, "Oh, yes, you are of my people."

The intern is in his 2nd career, having retired from his first. He's probably 25 years older than me and now doing what he's always wanted to, and since we're in the same field, I could obviously relate professionally. But sometimes you just don't know if you'll click personally. And then you find out that one thing, like they love Orphan Black or whatever, and then you're just... you're good.

Anyway, also, my wife and I went to New York last week and ate all the pizza and ice cream, and it was good.

Toasties! What are your favorite titles, the ones that just stop you in your tracks? Disregarding the work itself, though if it's something you love, that doesn't hurt. For me, nothing will ever top Chris Claremont's "God Loves, Man Kills", but "Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos" and "God Emperor of Dune" deserve honorable mentions. And via Matt Fraction, here is a series of absolutely tremendous chapter titles. Let's hear your favorites!

Toasties! I am leaving tomorrow to be a part of the Great New York Intern Migration, and am embarrassingly excited about it.

I'll be subletting a room in Bushwick for the summer. Any suggestions for activities/food?

It's been a tough week, for reasons external and internal. I know I'm not alone in that, so I'll send out encouragement and sympathy for anyone else who managed to make it through the week without losing all their faith in being seen as a fully recognized human in this world, and especially to those who did lose that faith.

And honestly, if you could send a little shout of encouragement back out my way, I would take it shamelessly. It has been rough.

I decided this week that I'm going to write again, and nothing (meaning mostly my own fears) is going to stop me.

Guys who is watching Silicon Valley??? It's my favorite new show and Jared and Richard are OTP.

I'm so out of sorts this week-- have a raging headache and feel super emotional and don't know if it is wedding planning/ grant submitting/ manuscript submitting stress or just a particularly pernicious menstrual situation (bleh). I'm going to eat at a fancy restaurant in Malibu this weekend and then go to aerial yoga, so hopefully that will help *~*~CALIFORNIA~*~*

Toastie Twitter had a good week, I think. But if you're there, you knew that, and if you're not, why not?

I SAW EDDIE IZZARD THIS WEEK AND IT WAS AMAZING. Go if he's around your area (which he should be at some point, it's a very extensive tour).

Holy crap have I had a week.

On Wednesday, I got hauled into an office with 2 of my coworkers, our managers, and HR, to get 'our side of the story.' For talking about a specific porn site? And sexual positions? On floor? I do not remember a conversation anything near to that. I would not even talk about anything like that on floor. Like, ever. And when I talk about porn at all it’s about issues with the industry. And still, I don’t talk about it at work. Because shit’s inappropriate.

The other two finally figure it was a very mis-overheard conversation about a bitcoin article on CNN. We know who reported us, and know they're gunning for us, and made up lies. But the co-workers still might get suspended and/or fired.

I got a screenshot of my punches for that day. The time frame I was supposedly talking about inappropriate things? I’d left half an hour before that.

Then yesterday morning, I badged into the building without any problems, go to log on, and my system account has been disabled. Was I fired between the door and my desk? Disconcerting. Especially with the HR meeting the day before. I might have panicked more than a little. Sat around for about 3 hours, unable to do anything. Management finally got in, and figured out what happened.

A total of 4 of us were deleted from the system, instead of extended like we were meant to be. Oh, heads started rolling. The very highest manager on-site (who is very, very business-like, never flustered) started swearing a blue streak. It's nice to know that you're one of the 4 best people in the building apparently, but I'd rather not lose my accesses to find out next time.

So, now I have my computer access back, but none of the tools I need to actually do my job, and those may take up to 7 business days to get back. And yet, I still have to come in. No vacation for me.

BOOK TALK THREAD!

What are you reading?

Recommend me things! I live for historical fiction, but I dislike fantasy/sci-fi. I LOVE a good nonfiction piece on just about anything! I can't remember the last fiction book I read that was actually set in the present-day? (I think it may have been Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, which was good!) I just finished January First by Michael Schofield and before that Code Name Verity, which WAS AWESOME OMG OMG OMG.

BOOKS. DISCUSS.

Good news: I accepted a job 2 wks ago; its kind of a great one. I quit my current situation in a blaze of glory. BF and I just had 3 wks of escapading together and are now looking for apts in the SAME CITY where we will soon end 2 yrs of long distance!

Meh News: I did not pass the CA bar :( And i slaved over it for moooooooonths. And yesterday just when I was starting to feel OK about the whole thing / exhale like Angela Basset, I was offered my DREAM JOB which reqs the bar and had to DECLINE IT. My heart and stomach hurts.

Question for all: How many Claritins is too many claritins to take in a day? Because I'm on 2 within a 24 hr period and if its bad for me or there's an alternative, I would LOVE to know.

ALSO I met Nicole today, EVERYONE BOW DOWN BEFORE ME, I am basically like a second-degree relic now. I ALREADY FEEL MORE BENEVOLENT TO ALL MANKIND.

I had job interviews last week and this week! The first job is at a photography-related business. I had short notice for the interview, so I didn't have much time to prepare. The interviewer asked me what photographers I like, and I forgot every single photographer's name except one.

I'd applied to the second job six weeks ago, so when I told a friend I'd gotten an interview, I said that they must be scraping the bottom of the barrel for candidates. She then told me that she'd actually applied for the job and hadn't gotten an interview. (We're in the same field, but I didn't think she was looking at that type of job!) I wish putting my foot in my mouth were a skill I could put on my resume. Luckily, she is a lovely person/friend and was really nice about it, but I feel bad.

Hello! Have any Toasties been to Berlin? Any recs?
Im hearing strange tales of clubs that require an interview with a street photographer before you go in which sounds bananas. What do you even wear to a trendy Berlin club?
Apart from that Berlin sounds very cool and artsy and exciting.

I'm looking after my niece today. She had a failed dentist appointment, poor kid- they couldn't get it frozen quite right, apparently, so they did some work and gave up because it wasn't taking. So she's curled up on my couch with netflix and I DON'T KNOW WHEN SHE'S LEAVING because my sister is dealing with divorce stuff today and doesn't know when she'll be done.

I love my niece more than life itself, but that's also how much I love to know when my duties are supposed to be finished.

As requested from the LeVar Burton comments: Who's invited to your fantasy dinner party? Dead people are totally allowed. Mine are probably Bob Ross, Julia Child, and Bill Nye.

This has been a rollercoaster of a week, friends. Here are some good and happy things to keep myself positive:

1) I finally filled in the second eye on the daruma doll that my roommate brought me back from Japan during senior year of college five years ago.

2) Iced black lychee tea is delicious.

3) I have a pack of the kindest, smartest friends on the internet.

What are your good and happy things?

you guys, in a whirlwind—i got a new job! i had a crazy three-hour interview on tuesday and by thursday they gave me an offer. it's a full-time position in my current field and definitely a step up from the two part-time/food-service gigs i have going on right now. but it's...scary. being an adult is scary, wahhh.

also, i am going to new york on vacation with my mama! it's my first time there. you guys have already given me some great suggested in cocktail hours past, but...GIMME MORE! tell me what i should do!

I'm looking for fantasy books by women, any recommendations? Lev Grossman made me realize that I don't care about men and their manfeels. I'm open to anything in the genre as long as it doesn't end with everyone dying and being miserable because the world is a horrible place and life is futility, etc.

Yesterday at the gym I got my first unbroken double-unders PLUS my first unassisted pistol squats PLUS my first pull-ups. HOLY COW. I feel like a beast lady robot superhero.

Now I want to hear everybody else's recent feats of strength!!!

So, been sitting here for more than a few minutes, trying to think of something kind I did this week for someone else? Coming up empty handed. Does being super sticky sweet nice to someone in a secretly sarcastic way instead of being an obvious asshole count? Because otherwise I've got nothing. Which makes me feel bad :-/

I have my summer vacation plans mostly figured out! I'm going to spend about three days in Paris, and then I'm going to Loncon because I am a giant nerd, and then I am going to spend most of a week in London doing less nerdy things.

I am going to steal ideas for things to do in London from catoclock's subthread, but ideas for things to do in Paris would be great. Also, it will be the first time I've left North America, so general advice on travelling to Europe would be good, I guess.

I am rereading Fall on your knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, and I am shocked by how quickly it's sucked me in and I never want to put it down. It'sstill SO GOOD and dramatic and depressing and riveting.

I basically have no attention span for reading these days, so I'm surprised I've managed to find one for a 900+ page novel.

So I am nearly done my trip to Marseille. The conference was the boringest conference ever (except for my talk, which was sparkling). But the city itself was pretty great, and it's been 70 and sunny each day I've gone out for tourism. My mother-in-law, who is French, came down on Wednesday to show me around the city, and she ended up generally spoiling me. Best mother-in-law!

I know I promised you all cat photos. Unfortunately, I only saw a single cat, and it ran away before I could take a photo. So, instead, here's a photo of a monkfish, at the fish market:

That's as good as a cat, right? Later, I ate him and many other animals in a delicious traditional bouillabaisse. I did not take to the sea, but I did eat like half of it.

Commenting under this one because I don't want all my angst and bullshit hanging out in the open where everyone can look at it

Can we also talk about attempted kindness gone horribly wrong?

Because I gave someone directions the other day and didn't realize until an hour later, when I was patting myself on the back for general awesomeness, that I'd given her WRONG directions and left out a crucial step and OH GOD what if she thinks I did it ON PURPOSE? I'm so mortified.

Also, does anybody know how to deal with a SEVERELY stuck zipper? Nothing is caught in it and it does not want to move. I can occasionally get it to go up (not down, of course) and it keeps wanting to occasionally put two teeth in the spot for one tooth. Do I just need to get it replaced?