Oh no! Happy and not-so-good birthday to you nonetheless!

happy birthday and a swift recovery!

Mazel tov!

Subscribed!

Best of luck!

Go go go!

bless you for going back into education. we need more good ones like you. i'll be vibing in your direction and looking in on your blog with great interest.

<sigh> anything but nazistack. ghost, beehiv...

You both look FABULOUS.

What @MackReed said +++

@MackReed @Argie thanks!!!

Swanky as heck! How was the show? Dita is something else, I can’t imagine being able to see her live.

@BennyTheIcepick It was good! That said, I actually prefer the small kind of burlesque or revue kind of shows. Her show is bigger, and this theatre is really quite large, yet it didn't feel too small for them - so that was pretty darn good.

In the end she did the famous cocktail glass act, and that's when you really feel how mesmerisingly good she is. But the other acts were darn good as well.

"Jestem na tym zdjęciu i mi się nie podoba"
(allegedly, "I'm in this picture and I don't like it")

I read an article last week that taked about AI replacing the need for archaeological excavations. AI will simply look at the location and tell you what is below the ground.

I would normally laugh at this but the reality is that if big business and govt accept that as the minimum required for due dilligance then there's sod all we can do about it. I despair. Of course I will have snuck off from this mortal coil before it happens but... it might happen and that's pretty fucked up.

Wow. https://www.instagram.com/p...

Watch out for those bent bottles!

In Russia, Stenli Flattens You

and vice versa.

Vibes and hugs

When PTO looses it edge, nothing elsedoes. Reach out if you need to talk.

If it's any solace, none of us have a clue what we're doing.

And I hear you about 'doing nothing at work can be exhausting'. I've been there too.

hugs. Thank you for letting us know this is going on for you--you are very much not alone.

Sorry, that sounds harsh. I’ve run free resume workshops in the past. If/when you have the spoons for a 1:1 interview-style voice chat to work on your resume hmu. Same goes for other mltshpers. I’m on US/Pacific time.

Nothing but love for you, my friend. I wish I had wisdom to share, it sounds like you are shouldering a lot.

Hugs, my friend. That kind of consistent stress is unsustainable. If you can make time in the morning to job search that may help. Then you’re not already drained.

work always sucks, and bosses always suck, and here’s to both of them sucking much less for you, very soon, in whatever way you can manifest. you deserve better.

Thank you for letting us know. I’m late to the party but I support you all the same. I hope you find resolution soon.

Hey thanks for letting us know. We're here for you. I was in a similar work situation for a few years until two years ago, we got new management that was completely soul crushing. I got another credential and put my resume out there and now I'm in a much better situation but it was a slog. You're not alone in this and now that you've named it an escape plan will materialize and you'll be in a much better situation soon. Keep us posted!

Sorry to hear the work situation hasn’t improved. Maybe it’s time to take a good week of PTO to recharge and get the resume tuned up?

Heard. Thinking of you.

Och, I'm sorry. A workplace that has to put up posters about burnout knows it has a problem and not dealing with it is how they roll.

Fuck that exec in particular. Can you move groups?

Let me at [exec] and I’ll give him an earful!

thanks everyone for the feedback and support. i appreciate everyone taking the time to just read and commiserate. sometimes it's nice to just vent and know someone else has been through it.

i'll find the time and energy to equip myself. i think i will take up the kind offers for assistance in the near future. i tried updating my resume yesterday and oh boy does it ever need some work. (read: oh boy, do i ever need some work)

i have more to say but for now thanks all for listening and being such a great community <3

This is great and all but if people won’t/can’t vote it makes no difference.

I'm still trying to get there with my various creative pursuits. Way too focused on the result, still.

Versus, "Oh, tonight it would be fun to do thing for a couple of hours."

Hair goals

I have this level of enjoyment in my hobbies. A bad result at the end will often detract from the enjoyment of doing, but I’m getting fewer bad results over time.

Al Boardman.

A.I. Retro Encabulator

I ♡ Ogden!

The distinct sounds of the rocks clacking against each other pops into my head...

Oh hell yeah

this describes much of my friend groups

Deadloch is such a great show!

@travis Agreed (fucken)

"Hey...the newspaper called me an actor!"

<creepy_bunny_patting_toilet_seat.gif >

Paid on commission. A buck for every photo made.

[Curb Your Enthusiasm theme playing]

Got a flashback to the Macon Mall in 1999 and passing the mall eater bunny and it was wearing latex gloves, like it was part of the costume. White fur and proportionally small black gloves.

cancelled!

New bar tape makes a bike feel new!

No Faux-King Way!

The lightning bolt is _sort of_ like the Bad Brains debut tape cover (designed by Donna Lee Parsons) but the direction of the bolt is flipped. See also the Rider Waite Tower tarot card for the lightning bolt and falling crown - I hadn't noticed the parallel with the album before.

(I suspect these are mlgen, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.)

that’s a beautifully imagined metaphor.

Flawless execution!

Kudos!

Remember the checklist. https://mltshp.com/p/1R7R2

This is bloody awesome.

And I would love to retoot it but can't see it over at mastodon.social on your feed, or trying to tunnel thru to awgeez.help

A+

Bravo!

Great kid, and great parenting! This made my day.

Yay!

My husband and I had a 30 minute discussion about you and your daughter last night. It was half "Just how/what does one be such a good parent to raise such an amazing kid?" and half "I'm so goddamn jealous of robotmachine's daughter having parenting like this." Seriously, you're such good parents it made me cry with appreciation (and more than a little envy - I would've given everything to have parents like you). All the kudos we can give!!! Well done, well done.

Also your daughter has more coolness in just this act than I've had my entire life hahahahaha ;) Amazing kid! Cannot wait to see what else she does!

@williwaw Wow. It’s hard for me to know how to respond. We have had a lot of hard years for various reasons so it’s easy to overlook the good times.

She is perpetually the funniest goofball I know. I have many good stories about her.

I think she will wind up doing a lot of cool stuff in her life. She’s only 11!

@robotmachine Just be proud and appreciative of what you've figured out/done, and the strength you've shown to do it, during those hard times: you've given your kids the amazing gift of the power and confidence to be themselves. It's a rare gift most people don't have. :)

@williwaw She is remarkable in a lot of ways. She is trans and we had to basically flee our home in SC so that she could continue just being a normal kid at school. We just got to Baltimore in October (the day she turned 11, as it happens[^0]). At first she wanted to keep it to herself and not say anything. She came out to us when she was 2.5 and has never lived as anything but just a girl in her memory. She was betrayed by her old school as they outed her to all school admins and expected her to just accept that she had to use the bathroom in the learning disability classroom[^2] as though that wouldn’t make the other 4th graders wonder why. They had a sex ed class pretty soon after she got to the new school and they covered trans stuff like it was just another fact of life. She came home in a good mood, but when she started to tell me about the class she started to choke up and cried. She hadn’t really thought about why it made her feel good until that moment. She was completely overcome with joy just because who she is was brought up and treated with complete disinterested routine fashion. It was everything she didn’t understand she needed. She came out to her class the next day. No one cared. She was thrilled. She’s just the weird kid who makes everyone laugh so hard they can’t breathe. Kids who have known her for a few months now recognise me (when I’m at the playground with just my youngest) as her parent. They tell me without being asked that she’s so funny and the smartest kid they know.

Things with Opal aren’t the only thing I have been dealing with in the past few years. But that aspect has gone so well that it’s really helped me through the rest.

Anyway idk why I’m rambling on. Thanks for the kind words. Please enjoy the footnotes.

0. she actually turned 11 while we were in one of the tunnels on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel[^1] which she was thrilled about. It hit midnight and she was doing a dance in the van.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...

2. No disrespect to those kids. I was a substitute in my late teens for the special education class my mom taught (she has since retired), but it is hard to not feel that it is a bit on the nose and rude that they would have her go specifically there instead of her being allowed in the girls room.

(What is the record for footnotes on a Mltshp comment?)

SO much to say, thank you for your "rambling", it's *wonderful*. Not the greatest space for a long discussion as I'd like, but so let me just say I bawled for a good half hour after reading your comment, happy/good tears. There's no doubt we have some tough times ahead and oh my goodness you're setting up your kids for the success. We will need people like your daughter sooooooooooo badly. You are a good parent.

Anyhoo more to say, so check your @s. :)

Aesthetics alone this is fantastic. But then the mechanics of it are intriguing. Add in the description of how it’s used? Mind blowing. What an incredible project.

Those EULA’s are long and complicated for a reason.

"Is it what you'd expect from an official government app? [Probably not either.|What year is this?]"

@ardgedee 1984.

Epic, with plenty o' cheese!

finally, history remastered

i dream of @heyitsal continuing this until it’s a Too Many Cooks-level frieze/panorama 39,758 inches wide

The craziness continues!
Amazing

those are earle trees, alright

Eynind Earle was THE influence on the art for The Banner Saga. It's stunningly beautiful as a result.

Working from home?

your title is why I'm a geologist :)

@williwaw haha nice :-)

lucky charms, you say?

Pure gold, to be sure.

Pot o' something, anyway

@tweedlydo +++

This is beautiful.

I'll be looking for an EOD update!

Aw dang, no photos?!

I'd be all for this except Beets are the worst vegetable on the planet and should be eradicated for all time. I say this with kindness and love for other root veggies, but not beets those fuckwads can rot in hell.

I don't have kids, but I would like to subscribe to your parenting newsletter.

Top-notch PARENTING.

@rob I'm one of those people for which most beets taste overwhelmingly of dirt to the exclusion of anything else and I find them hard to eat. Golden beets, though, are pretty good.

more beetroot for me!

@rob I am sorry that the universe has punished you with an inability to appreciate beets. I hope one day we will find a cure for this awful disorder.

@dreyfusslugado @ba I will post an update once I know more!

@bencmeissner My parenting style is pretty straight forward. I try to be the person I needed when I was a kid. And I only take things seriously when we must. Otherwise my aim is to enjoy life as much as we can manage. The world is full of pointless misery and I'm sure they will all experience their fair share of it, but so help me they will not look back at these years questioning if they were loved and cared for.

Sorry… I kind of have feelings about it. :) Thanks for appreciating my kid, though. She's tied for first place as my favourite among my three kids.

@MackReed <3 <3

Love. Love. LOVE!!

@m3moellering <3

i just got that lunch box for a friend! i cosign and adore allllll of thisssss, especially BEETSBEETSBEETS

Next up, borscht in a blood bag!

This is very awesome!

@tweedlydo <3

@otaman That's an excellent idea.

@samh <3

I <3 beets. also second @otaman's suggestion for borscht.

My partner used the same lunchbox… while working in organ and tissue recovery. I still don’t know how that didn’t cause more issues than it did.

@cristin <3

@BennyTheIcepick Lunch is lunch, amirite?

Posted an update: https://mltshp.com/p/1RMY7

@robotmachine Brilliant!
Your daughter is President material.
Maybe too good for President.

@roonie
She would rule with an iron fist.

To underline my compassion and perspective, i'm certain you are a top notch parent and this kid is clearly awesome sauce, despite both of you ingesting beet filth.

@robormachine

@rob I forgive you. Hahaha 🤣

Second Cheeseball TV

Pixels were bigger back in the olden days