"The Doors of Durin" by J.R.R. TolkienThis tale grew in the telling, until it became a history of the Great War of the Ring and included many glimpses of the yet more ancient history that preceded it. It was begun soon after The Hobbit was written and before its publication in 1937; but I did not go on with this sequel, for I wished first to complete and set in order the mythology and legends of
Not to be all Youtube recs all the time, but the same mutual who shared the Greensleeves video shared this tribute to the city of Kyoto via a compilation of anime clips set in Kyoto, to the tune of "Toki Doki" by Takénobu, which has the chorus "boku no Kyoto" (my Kyoto), and I loved it very much.
Since several of my Dreamwidth friends have been to Kyoto and are fond of the city, I had to share. You can also go to the AO3 location and leave the creator some kudos if you're inclined :-)
PETTY THEFT: 8:53 p.m. at Safeway on North Santa Cruz Avenue. A juvenile boy walked out with a 30-pack of Coors Light.
Dec. 13
PETTY THEFT: 9:13 p.m. on Dardanelli Lane. On Tuesday, a UPS package was stolen from the porch for an approximate loss of $100. On Thursday, an Amazon package was stolen from the porch for a loss of around $55.
Dec. 14
BATTERY: 1:59 a.m. at Second Story on North Santa Cruz Avenue. A caller said another man hit him in the face behind the store. He requested medical attention.
PETTY THEFT: 11:56 a.m. at Applied Material on Greenwood Lane. A suspect stole a package from the mailbox on Friday around 3:18 p.m. The caller had video surveillance of the suspect but was unable to make out the plate on the suspect’s vehicle.
DEFRAUD INKEEPER: 1:40 p.m. at Oak and Rye on North Santa Cruz Avenue. A suspected repeat dine-and-dasher was arrested. The restaurant manager told the caller about a known suspect who likes to dine and dash. The caller realized that the suspect was already eating at the bar. The caller told police that he believed the suspect would leave without paying. The incident ended in a cite-and-release arrest.
A Primark opened last month in my city.. I don't expect it to be anything interesting but maybe some different snacks we don't usually have in the US? I am going to go there and take a look around. I also need to locate towels suitable for embroidery to make Christmas gifts, as well as some green felt. I am going to attempt to make a small felt plant and pot to gift to one of my boyfriend's friends. I am feeling a little nervous to use my embroidery machine later. It's a Brother innovis something, and was very expensive and I can never seem to make it work quite right. I've been sewing all my life and can use about any sewing machine, but the embroidery machines and industry just feel so set apart and the machines are SO complicated. I constantly have to re-thread and cut away thread knot-balls from the fabric. I am happy to have it and finally have a little motivation to try it out again, so wish me luck!
seekingferret (seekingferret) wrote2025-12-1610:32 am
I did not have high expectations for this year's Hallmark Hannukah movie and this about lived up to my expectations.
When Jake, Rabbi's son, and Nikki, Reverend's daughter, were teenagers, they were inseparable best friends, until high school academics made them rivals and brought out a dysregulated competitive streak in both that ruptured the friendship.
As grownups, they both seem to live stunted lives. Nicki appears to have zero adult friends and works at her father's small church as children's choir director. Jake has spent 20 years playing tiny NYC rock clubs and chasing a label signing (in 2025!) and refusing to visit his henpecking mother.
When the temple has a fire the week before Hannukah, the church invites their Jewish neighbors to make use of the church space to celebrate Hanukkah. This soon bizarrely evolves into a joint Chrismukkah with combined sermon ("Both Hanukkah and Christmas are about love," natch) and combined choir concert, as Jake and Nikki are guilted and manipulated into co-choir directing by their pandering parents.
The Chrismukkah merger is eerily frictionless. The movie is not at all interested in interrogating the reasons why Hanukkah and Christmas are distinct observances or exploring how Jewish people and Christian people are different and approach the world differently. Religion is represented as a sort of universal fiber, with the different versions no different than a comic book with variant covers.
This lack of friction extends to the film's romantic chemistry. Jake Epstein and Brooke D'Orsay are charming actors and it's clear that their characters like each other, but because all their seeming differences resolve so simply, we don't see their relationship really deepen. Everyone in both families is on board with intermarriage, nobody discusses what religion future children will be raised in, everything is just easy. At worst, Nikki is briefly confronted at dinner eith the fact that if she marries Jake, her mother in law will be the worst version of a stereotypical Jewish mother in law, but this is quickly papered over. Even the inevitable, overforeshadowed moment where Jake has to miss the concert to go back to New York and meet with a label is resolved without any argument, and doesn't actually force Jake to compromise. Surprise! Turns out he can make it to the concert after all, without missing his meeting.
Hallmark really fooled us with Round and Round. The past two years have been a reversion to the nonsense we used to get in Hallmark Hanukkah movies. I will continue to watch them, of course, but I am back to watching them with gritted teeth.
Matlock: Now there are two eps mom and I haven’t watched.
The Pitt: I have heard a lot of good things about this show and was excited when I found out that TNT was going to air the first season. I’ve watched the first three eps so far, and my comments have spoilers for all three eps. ( spoilers )
Tracker: Dang! I was right about the cliff-hanger, but wrong about who would be involved. ( spoilers )
California breaking news, crime, politics | The Mercury News (sjmerc_ca_feed) wrote2025-12-1601:00 pm
After the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools and ushered in a new era of “remote learning,” the parents in Ana Briones Gonzalez’s San Jose neighborhood became increasingly worried about their children’s mental health and well-being.
Briones Gonzalez– president of the Cadillac Winchester Neighborhood Association at the time — said residents had questions about how to deal with anxiety and depression and how to help their children navigate the challenges they were facing. But they didn’t know where to turn. For many in the small, predominantly Latino community, there was a stigma surrounding mental health issues, along with a lot of misinformation — all which made it difficult to get out information about resources and care.
Ana Briones Gonzalez, former president of the Cadillac-Winchester Neighborhood Association, poses for a photograph at Payne Avenue Friendship Park in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. Wish Book San Jose State University Health. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
“(It’s) not only that their kids have these issues that they’re dealing with, but the parents as well have signs of anxiety and they don’t know how to deal with that,” Briones Gonzalez said. “The residents… want to understand how to communicate with their kids and understand the signs of anxiety. They want to understand depression, they want to understand wellness…but where are they going to get these resources? A lot of people have felt a loss of hope because they want all these things, but none of it’s being presented.”
Briones Gonzalez helped partner the community with the San Jose State University Healthy Development Community Clinic, which offers free health services to underserved communities. Together, the clinic and neighborhood association put together a health fair offering outdoor activities and information about health resources at a local park. The clinic also has held cooking and nutrition classes and provided childcare during community meetings.
Created in 2022, the Healthy Development Community Clinic has served over 3600 children, youth and families across Santa Clara County through free speech and hearing screenings, mental health services, parent education, support groups, nutrition workshops, community programs and other health and wellness services. The clinic also offers resources for the immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.
Ashley Dubon, 10, center, plays a board game during San Jose State University Healthy Development Community Clinic’s Neighbors in Nature program, which encourages families to spend time outdoors as an enriching experience for children, on Oct. 28, 2025, at Payne Avenue Friendship Park in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
The clinic — staffed by SJSU graduate students under the supervision of clinical researchers — partners with local schools and communities to expand access to health care for underserved communities across the county while also training university students to become service providers.
The clinic is hoping to raise $50,000 through Wish Book to support health screenings, mental health resources and community education programs for more than 150 people from underserved communities and training and educational experiences for over 50 university students.
Cara Maffini, a professor in San Jose State University’s Department of Child and Adolescent Development and co-founder and director of the clinic, said when the clinic launched, students and faculty discovered that community members mostly wanted a safe space to connect with each other.
“A lot of folks really wanted to talk or wanted to learn,” Maffini said. “A lot of caregivers wanted to learn different parenting strategies. They were just struggling and wanting more information and a lot of youth wanted safe places to connect with each other and with meaningful adults.”
Cheyenne Grant, a wellness coordinator for San Jose State University's Healthy Development Community Clinic, left, plays a board game with Ashley Dubon, 10, during the clinic’s Neighbors in Nature program—which encourages families to spend time outdoors as an enriching experience for children—on Oct. 28, 2025, at Payne Avenue Friendship Park in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
An occupational therapy doctorate student at San Jose State, Tanny Tani led a caregiver group for parents of children with speech difficulties. She helped parents learn more about child development, emotional regulation and how to create stable routines and reduce caregiver burden. But she said a big part of the caregiver group was to create a space for parents to lean on each other and relax with snacks, board games and mindfulness activities.
“It was nice for them to be able to connect in those areas because they have that experience that we don’t,” Tani said. “Being able to bring these parents together and create this little community was really nice.”
Briones Gonzalez said that a year after the clinic connected with her community, the relationship is still going strong.
“It slowly became more of a lasting relationship,” she said. “They come to the meetings and they are recognized by the people in the community and they appreciate them and know who they are. They built a very strong relationship with the residents, not just the association.”
Briones Gonzalez thinks the Healthy Development Community Clinic is successful because of its emphasis on building trust and routinely showing up in the communities they partner with. She said the clinic’s staff and faculty emphasized that they were there to support the neighborhood association rather than tell them what to do, and listened to the community’s residents about what resources they needed most.
Ashley Dubon, 10, right and her brother, Edwin, 7, play with hula hoops during San Jose State University Healthy Development Community Clinic’s Neighbors in Nature program, which encourages families to spend time outdoors as an enriching experience for children, on Oct. 28, 2025, at Payne Avenue Friendship Park in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
“They have been very respectful,” Briones Gonzalez said. “They’re there to hear us and willing to help whenever they can, but also willing to step aside and just see us grow and advocate for our needs and still have our own voice in this.”
Director Maffini said that’s key to the clinic’s work, especially in San Jose communities with immigrant residents who may be on edge amid immigration enforcement activity.
“It’s a really complicated landscape right now, but what we have found is that when we build intentional relationships and develop those relationships — showing up time over time — it really helps to build trust,” she said.
Maffini said another challenge the clinic currently faces is funding, with many community members assuming that because the clinic is part of San Jose State University, it has unlimited resources. But she said while the university provides some funding, the clinic is responsible for the majority of funding and relies heavily on donations and grants — many of which have been slashed under the Trump administration.
Maffini said the most important thing the clinic is doing is continuing to create safe spaces for residents.
“People need places to feel safe now more than ever,” Maffini said. “It goes back to those community relationships and we just keep showing up…It’s creating safety in the community even in really unsettling times.”
Cheyenne Grant, a wellness coordinator for San Jose State University's Healthy Development Community Clinic, plays with children during the clinic’s Neighbors in Nature program, which encourages families to spend time outdoors as an enriching experience for children, on Oct. 28, 2025, at Payne Avenue Friendship Park in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
ABOUT WISH BOOK
Wish Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by The Mercury News. Since 1983, Wish Book has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.
WISH
Donations to the Healthy Development Community Clinic at San Jose State University will allow it to support health screenings, mental health resources and community education programs for more than 150 people from underserved communities, as well as training and educational experiences for over 50 university students. Goal: $50,000
As he prepares for his last year in office, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is going all out to make it easier for insurance companies to fulfill their wishes, doing their bidding as he usually has during seven years as the state’s insurance boss.
He’s now under investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission for accepting help with campaign expenses and travel gifts, including a trip to Bermuda. Far more damaging to customers, he allowed the cancellation of thousands of homeowner policies, forcing most of the rejected into the state’s last-chance Fair Plan, which is much more expensive than regular insurance.
Now he proposes to make himself the sole arbiter of how much insurance companies can charge for property and vehicle coverage. He wants to change rules letting consumer groups scrutinize and challenge rate increases sought by companies like State Farm, Allstate and many others.
The rules for challenges are set by California’s 1988 Proposition 103, which also made the insurance commissioner an elected official with a two-term limit. Lara’s tenure began in early 2019, so he must depart the office just after Jan. 1, 2027. Meanwhile, he filed a draft resolution letting himself deny payments to groups who fight proposed insurance rate increases. Thirty-six public interest nonprofits quickly urged him to withdraw that plan.
Lara essentially wants to defy Prop. 103, the state’s main insurance law, which requires the companies to pay consumer representatives (known as “intervenors”) legal fees and to compensate experts who testify in rate cases. Lara seeks to circumvent that law by vetoing consumer groups’ payments if he finds their advocacy is “vexacious,” “duplicative,” “oppositional” or “irrelevant” plus a few other adjectives.
Mainly, this is an effort to squelch or silence Consumer Watchdog, the group whose founder, Harvey Rosenfield, authored Prop. 103. That nonprofit is the preeminent intervenor in insurance rate proceedings, saving consumers more than $6 billion in rates (compared to charges in other states) since Prop. 103’s passage.
Lara and the insurance industry claim Consumer Watchdog and other such groups harm the California housing market by delaying rate hikes. This makes no sense when you consider that the higher insurance rates go, the higher project costs will rise.
Meanwhile, national parent companies of California’s largest insurers such as State Farm and Allstate refuse to tap much of their gigantic cash reserves to help their branches here pay claims from wildfires and other disasters. For example, State Farm’s Illinois parent companyu had about $145 billion on hand in 2024 but reportedly contributed less than $2 billion for payouts to policyholders after January’s Los Angeles County firestorms.
Apologists for Lara and the companies claim delayed insurance rate hikes impede new housing. They assert that when intervenors question rate increases, the time doubles for approval of new and higher rates.
“When insurance costs balloon, … project costs don’t pencil out,” wrote one pro-insurance industry lobbyist.
That’s true, but it’s not the fault of consumer groups, who keep rates down as much as they can for as long as they can. State Farm, for example, right now is charging California customers $749 million annually for an “emergency” rate increase granted by Lara after the company months ago asked for $1.2 billion.
Only resistance from Consumer Watchdog delays part of State Farm’s request and other similar ones. Without it, the rates asked by the companies likely would have slid through without their having to justify any of their additional premiums. It is plain illogical to argue — as lobbyists often do — that lower insurance rates raise project costs.
Critics of intervenors like Consumer Watchdog also complain that the group has collected $14 million in fees since 2013 — which Consumer Watchdog says came to about 25 cents for every $100 it has saved insurance customers. Meanwhile, Lara promised in 2018 not to take any campaign money from insurance companies. Later, he admitted taking such donations and refunded $83,000.
Here’s something to look for in 2027 and 2028, long after the issue of intervenor payments is resolved: Will Lara end up as an insurance company official and how much might he be paid? That’s a legitimate question in a state where several past presidents of the Public Utilities Commission later became top executives of companies they once regulated.
The Powerball jackpot for Wednesday’s draw is estimated at $1.25 billion after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Monday night.
In California one player matched five numbers, without the Powerball. That ticket, sold at Star Market in Salinas, won $708,443, the California State Lottery said.
The jackpot was last won on Sept. 6. The prize of $1.787 billion — won by two players, in Missouri and Texas — was the second-largest Powerball jackpot ever.
The record prize was $2.04 billion in November 2022, with one winning ticket purchased at a gas station in Altadena.
The U.S. has seen more than a dozen lottery jackpot prizes exceed $1 billion since 2016. The $1.25 billion jackpot would be the sixth-biggest for Powerball, but when Mega Millions is included it doesn’t crack the top 10.
Monday’s Powerball numbers were 23, 35, 59, 63, 68 and Powerball 2.
Powerball draws are Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The cash value of the jackpot is now at $572 million.
The Mega Millions jackpot for Tuesday’s draw is $80 million.
Rain returned to a portion of the Bay Area early Tuesday as the first in a series of systems that will change the long dry pattern of December moved across the North Bay.
The South Bay, East Bay and Peninsula continued to wait.
That light rain in the North Bay — six-hundredths of an inch fell near Lake Berryessa on Tuesday and .01 inches fell in Santa Rosa — is expected only to build as the week moves toward the weekend and should be fully unleashed by Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Until then, the North Bay is likely to see most of the showers.
Forecasters are anticipating at least an inch of rain in the South Bay, East Bay and Peninsula, and perhaps as much as 1½ inches. In the North Bay, 2-5 inches of rain are anticipated before Monday.
“The atmospheric ‘reload’ will come in the way of a low spinning up over the Pacific north of (Hawaii) and another storm system swinging into the (Pacific Northwest),” forecasters said of the light rain expected before the weekend. “This set up will allow for a moisture plume to take aim at the (Pacific Northwest) before sliding down the (Northern California) coast on Friday.”
Widespread rain is expected to initially return to the North Bay before pushing south to the Central Coast.
“A great way to describe the overall weather starting Friday through early next week will be episodes or periods of rain,” forecasters said. “Not a complete wash out, but measurable rain.”
Meanwhile, confidence continues to increase that “impactful weather” will return beginning around Dec. 22 and continuing through Christmas, according to the agency.
“Holiday travel is likely to be impacted across the West Coast,” the agency said in a separate briefing.
For David Lincer, 67, the question of longevity once felt straightforward. He initially imagined living to 93 — close to the national ideal of 91, according to a recent survey. Now, numbers matter less to him than his physical health.
“I’m not interested in living life out in a bed just to say I made it to 100,” Lincer said.
Lincer runs an elevator installation business that requires climbing, lifting and heavy physical work, and is generally healthy. He jokes that he can still outrun his younger employees up a hill. But recent lab tests showing he is “on the borderline” for diabetes have pushed him to focus more intentionally on his health.
He cut out sugar and continued his weekly yoga practice. Several years ago, after a physician warned him about his cholesterol levels, he made dietary adjustments and improved his numbers: a reminder, he said, of the importance of being proactive about health as one ages. His healthy habits have also been shaped by watching his mother’s decline; she developed Parkinson’s and later suffered a stroke during a medical procedure.
“I want to stick around with a good life,” he said. “If I can’t enjoy it, get me out of here.”
Researchers say these concerns mirror those expressed by many adults. The Stanford Center on Longevity has started the New Map of Life, a multi-year initiative aimed at rethinking what longer lifespans might look like. In a survey the center conducted with Time magazine, respondents said their top hopes for if they reach 100 were avoiding dementia and staying financially sound.
“We found people still associate growing old and being very old with declining physical and cognitive health,” said Yochai Shavit, a researcher at the center. “We are in desperate need of a positive vision of what 100-year lives can look like.”
The cash crunch is real. On average, assisted living can cost $6,694 a month, about twice the average monthly rent in the Bay Area. The Pew study found a direct link between financial security and health outcomes. Only 26% of low-income seniors reported being in very good or excellent health, compared to 49% of those with the highest incomes. This changes the picture of living to 100: More than four in 10 adults are not confident they have enough cash to cover their retirement years.
Beyond money, there are other things seniors can do to make the prospect of living to 100 more appealing: Avoiding social isolation is part of staying sharp. Tee Lynn, 75, has leaned into community as she’s aged. A former school counselor, Lynn keeps a small circle of friends and volunteers at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center throughout the week. But, even as a self-proclaimed “lover of life,” she imagines living to about 85 or 90, and is unsure about the value of reaching 100.
Even those with a solid community still worry about the physical frailty that can come with age. Marina Miranda, 69, also has found friends at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center, where she spends most weekday mornings knitting and working on puzzles.
“I don’t like being stuck in the house. All you have is TV. And it gets hard if you don’t have a social life when you’re older,” she said.“I do have one fear as I age: If I become disabled, who will take care of me? I just live day by day. You can’t think about the future because you don’t know what’s gonna happen, and you can’t control what’s gonna happen in life.”
Her attitude toward control reflects a larger truth about aging. According to the Pew study, only three in 10 adults say they feel they have a fair amount of control over how they age, including their mental and physical health. Miranda maintains what control she can: small routines, polished nails, daily conversation at the center.
Like Miranda, Chuck Sieloff, has no target age. At 83, he is a longtime member of Avenidas Village, an aging-in-place program in Palo Alto, where he leads a monthly discussion group called the Healthy Aging Group. It is work that gives him insight into what he wants for his future.
“I’m a huge believer in ‘health span’ over lifespan,” he said. “It’s not about how long you live, but about how long you remain healthy.”
Surely no one needs an explainer on this fandom, right? If you do, google is your friend, I reckon.
The tv show ended the way it did (the less said, the better), and we will never see the book series completed; having got these two elephants in the room out of the way, let's concentrate on what drew me to this fictional world: medieval-England-like politics, fantasy, lots of intrigue, a sprawling cast of characters with endless permutations of shipping possibilities... ASoIaF/GoT really had a lot going for it. And I think this is why it attracted so many talented authors.
I've read extensively in this fandom, and if you had the patience to trawl through the sheer mass of fic posted, you were simply bound to find something to your taste.
When it comes to single out the stories I enjoyed the most, I think I'm going to have to take two different approaches: the ship way (my favourite was, unsurprisingly, Jamie/Brienne, but I've read pretty much any pairing under the sun, lol) or the astounding-author way.
Let's start with the latter. I'm just going to list who my favourite authors are and give you a couple of recs for each of them, sure in the knowledge that whatever work of theirs you will read is pretty much awesome. I'll keep the shippy recs for another day. One last warning: something I found particularly satisfying in this fandom is AUs of the canon divergence kind, because changing one single fact and seeing how the consequences span out is extremely interesting in an intricate and politically fraught world as Westeros. So most of the stories I'm going to rec here fall under this category. Last but not the least, for me, this fandom is all about the women.
arbitrarily. My top pick: the joinery. 14K words. Cersei/Ned, Cersei/Jaime. by what right does the wolf judge the lion -- ned stark takes the iron throne, and with it, a lannister for a wife.
lareinenoire. My top picks: 1)Reap the Whirlwind. 6K. The circumstances under which Cersei Lannister finds herself Princess of Dragonstone are not the ones she anticipated.; 2)False Sorrow's Eye 18K. Elia Martell/Lyanna Stark. Two women survive Robert's Rebellion and everything changes.
Net_girl_y2k. She writes mostly femslash and it's ALL excellent. My top picks: 1)Had A Dream I Was The Queen (woke up, still the queen). 7K words. Rhaegar marries Lyanna Stark, and runs away with Elia Martell; 2) The Sisters BlackNight gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no husband and bear no children. I shall wear no gowns and no jewels. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life's blood to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come. The Night's Watch is for women. Lyanna Stark survived and was forced to take the black. Arya decides to follow in her aunt's steps. Podfic available!
vixleonard. My top picks: 1) No Featherbed For me 154K. Arya Stark wanted to be a knight; she wanted to find glory and adventure with Needle in her hand. But that is not an appropriate life for a highborn lady, and that was all Arya of House Stark was allowed to be. This is the definitive Arya story. What an epic journey. 2) The Evening Star. 38K. Some day people will tell tale of Ashara Dayne, the tragic and beautiful sister of the great Ser Arthur Dayne, who flung herself from the Palestone Sword with a broken heart. They will whisper about the man who dishonored her at Harrenhal, the man who got a bastard on her. But they will never get the story right.
astolat. Keeping in mind I'll rec the shippy bits elsewhere, my top picks: 1)The Price of Bread and Salt 12K. “The girl asks for more deaths than she is owed. The Many-Faced God may grant it. But for this, there will be a price. And a man cannot say what the price will be. A girl must pay. A man must pay. A girl’s brother must pay, if he agrees.” Podfic available. 2)Royal Flush. Robb Stark had swept his entire hand of cards off the table, and Tyrion couldn’t see how to make a single play at all.
The Pitt
Compiling this rec list made me realize arbitrarily has written for The Pitt too and I didn't notice! So I went on a good ol' binge-reading and come offering this gem runner's high. 7K. Robby/McKay/Abbot threesome, woot. Jack joins a run club, Cassie’s raw-dogging a 10k, and Robby’s sweating. Can't believe I'd missed this.
it only hurts when i breathe (spikedluv) wrote2025-12-1607:31 am
Today is Sister A’s b-day! She’s the baby; 10-years younger than me.
I hit Walmart, Dollar Tree and Agway while I was downtown. Dollar Tree was for cards; Agway was for a gift card because I forgot Pip’s dad’s b-day! I was reminded at the Bear’s Dinner and I was like o_O I couldn’t believe I had forgotten it.
I visited mom, hand-washed dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I also mailed more cards at the post office, returned a book to the library, and hit the bank drive-thru. AND I shoveled the sidewalk again.
I watched Tracker and an HGTV program. Dr. Pol was my evening background tv.
Temps started out at 8.8(F) and reached 25.3. I’m not loving this cold.
Thank goodness we're now required to go to the office two days a week, to do Very Important Office Things like everything on today's schedule!
1. drink the free coffee at work instead of home coffee
2. breakfast (enjoy the fact that they're still bribing us with free breakfast on Tuesdays)
3. end of year team meeting with the team we've been temporarily loaned to (okay, it was more like 'take these people off my hands I can't deal with them right now,' but you know, think positive)
4. end of year holiday lunch with new team
5.Yankee Swap with new team (apologies to the old team which is not getting a party)
6. go for a walk with any office folks who want to go outside
7. hour-long meeting about a thing none of us want to talk about and which could have been an email
8. wrap up the day, because that's more than enough productivity for me!
I keep running across this Buffy take on Tumblr, which is that Buffy should have brought up the Ted incident with Faith. And if it was brought up at the round table with the Scoobies, sure, excellent continuity. But bringing it up with Faith? Like that was going to help reach her? Honestly, not mentioning it was one of the smartest things Buffy did during 'Consequences.'
Faith was already bitter about golden girl Buffy, forgiven for everything Faith could ever do wrong. How would Buffy saying "I've been there. In fact, I did worse! I killed a man because I was angry and went at him with slayer strength and wouldn't stop hitting him until he was dead because I never liked him anyway. Oh, and then he turned out to be a robot! Whew! Lucky for me! But I totally get how these things happen."
Obviously, Buffy wouldn't have said it that way - but that is what Faith would have heard. It would not have helped, not even a little. Buffy, the girl with all the luck, didn't kill a man even when she tried.
Not bringing it up was the smartest thing Buffy did in that messy situation.
The argument I haven't seen is for what Giles should have said. Lots of people blame him for Faith's living situation, but I've never seen anyone point out he had the golden opportunity to deescalate Faith's panic at the outset. She went to him first (to sell out Buffy, but still). Why didn't he give her the same spiel he later gave Buffy? "It's tragic, but accidents have happened."
Faith would attempt to counter. "You're only saying that because it's Buffy who killed him. If it was the other way around..."
And Giles would say, in his most soothing voice, that if their positions were reversed and Buffy had come in telling him that Faith had accidentally killed a man, Giles would tell her the same thing (because he does, in canon). And he won't be involving the council, and he doesn't care which slayer killed the man. This is exactly the point where Giles letting his mask slip and being a bit of a cold bastard would help Faith.
"Nightly war" is a philosophy Faith could get behind. Sure, it's morally gray (like Giles himself) but it might have kept her from running to the Mayor. She was right there. Wesley wasn't in position to eavesdrop yet. The whole thing could have been avoided.
I love Giles. I will defend him in most things, including many choices that fans smack him around for, but this oversight was really bad on his part. Of course, her accusing Buffy probably put his hackles up and things rapidly snowballed afterward. Perhaps his British reserve simply needed another cup of tea to thaw, and he'd planned to approach Faith with that very line of reasoning after she had a few hours to calm down and he'd had equal time to gear up for the conversation.
(There I go, defending him, because he was never the most skilled at understanding teen girls, and because of his own deep shame about what happened to Randall, and because he was not at his best emotionally after the earlier events of the season, to say nothing of the previous one).
Anyway, Giles had the potentially winning argument here. Buffy, with regards to Ted, absolutely did not. That is all.
It's Tuesday!! One more day to 53 for me. That sounds so weird. I am going to be fifty three in less than 24 hrs time. Go figure. I'm solidly GenX, so lets be real, we didn't expect to make it to adulthood. We figured on nuclear war long before then. So this is a little surreal.
It's not a bad thing, mind you. I'm not dreading getting older. I've earned every gray hair and creaky bone that I've got. It hasn't been an easy 53 years, but my scars tell a story, and I wear them all proudly, visible or not. And, all of that got me to where I am now, with a cozy appartment, and Jess,
I've said that this will be my year of yes. If something comes up and there's a chance of doing something fun, I'm going to say yes. Friend says "Want to go see the Lost Boys musical on Broadway?" Yes. "Want to take a cruise?" Yes. "Want to book another cruise after the one you just booked (even though you have no idea how much you'll like it)? Yes. Weekend trips? Yes.
Yesterday was busy at work, but not terrible. I took 55 calls, and squished in a bunch of patients. Today should be a little quieter, I hope. After that, we had perogies and bratwurst with some sour cream and sauerkraut. It was excellent.
Of course, in ordering the bratwurst from Aldi, I realized that there was yet another retailer who had the old address. So my lunch break was running over the house and getting the bag. Jess kindly went up the driveway to get the bag, which I appreciate, since it was a bit icy and I would not like to eat shit again.
I also stayed on this side of the street when we walked Yoda. I am not trying that parking lot at night again until we have a warm snap.
Today, I was thinking about making a nice batch of stroganoff. I pulled the brisket out. I could use half for that, and half to make a regular brisket with potatoes and maybe some carrots. It's pretty enormous, I could honestly probably do a third thing with it if I was so inclined. But first stroganoff. It's one of Jess' favorite things I make but lord is it heavy. Thus why I only do it during the winter. This is the recipe I use. It's really good and flavorful, though a little more work than just dumping cream of mushroom soup over things.
I still haven't decided on dinner tomorrow. Irish Pub for Shepherd's pie, or Sichuan? I did get my cupcakes. Turn out that the place we go to does indeed deliver to our house for an exorbitant fee. They had so many good flavors that I ended up getting almost a dozen cupcakes.
I have not yet had a whole one, but the bite I had of Jess' Sugar Cookie flavor was delicious. I may bave a pre-birthday cupcake today. I think the Gingerbread cupcake is calling me. I'm saving Snickerdoodle for my birthday.
Jess' present should come today, for which I am very impatiently waiting. I wasn't sure it would make it in time for Christmas, so I'm thrilled. Looking at the tracking, we'll see if it actually shows up today. It looks to me like it might be tomorrow. Which is fine. As long as I can do some wrapping on Saturday or Sunday, I'm good. The last of the presents should be here on Saturday, so that'll be nice. I do need to print some images. One of my sister's earrings and one of one of Jess' presents. They'll go in cards.
And Christmas is all set!
I'm actually looking forward to this Christmas. We're going to have fun things, and eat all the good stuff. I ordered a carving plate for my rib roast, and we're going to open the table up, so that it can accommodate all the food. I figure in honor of the holiday, I would actually serve things rather than just bringing out a plate of food. We'll carve the prime rib at the table. The mashed potatoes and peas will just have to be in small bowls, as we don't have a full service set. I did order a carving board and set so that I have something to do that on. This prime rib is gonna be lorge. Probably about 8 lbs with the bones.
And now, I shall get ready for work! Everyone have a excellent Tuesday!
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