Dark Shadow's Surprisingly Well-Lit Random Banter #217

[Amidus Drexel]

A few days ago, the 10th anniversary of my joining this place came and went. What a wild ride it has been, with many names that have come and gone like waves on the shore and many that yet remain. It is even the same with my own self, whom in looking back ten years I could barely recognize.

Though it be still the morning here, it's five o'clock somewhere. Somebody drink a toast with me.

Hey, long time no see! Cheers!

What've you been up to these past couple of years?

[Cuthalion]

Oh woah. Hello, Kneen! Been a while.

[Insane Jeenyus]

A few days ago, the 10th anniversary of my joining this place came and went. What a wild ride it has been, with many names that have come and gone like waves on the shore and many that yet remain. It is even the same with my own self, whom in looking back ten years I could barely recognize.

Though it be still the morning here, it's five o'clock somewhere. Somebody drink a toast with me.

I raise a glass of Dewar's Aberfeldy abby single malt scotch to you.

[Teddy]

It's a Kneebaubles! Yay!
*bearhugglomps*

Oh, there's so much happening in lives! Did you know that this little teddy is a working bear now? I have no idea of how that happened and it's totally weird. I still haven't adjusted my sleep schedule to the early mornings, no matter how much denial I try to apply to it.

[WarKitty]

I take it I am supposed to not eat this bird?

[LaZodiac]

I take it I am supposed to not eat this bird?

I mean if you weren't a girl I'd say "go ahead wink" but yeah no don't eat the fancy boid.

I feel like Knee would like this joke sorry if it's to far

[WarKitty]

I mean if you weren't a girl I'd say "go ahead wink" but yeah no don't eat the fancy boid.

I feel like Knee would like this joke sorry if it's to far

I can dress as a really flamboyant boy first if that would help? I feel like it probably wouldn't though.

Since I'm moving I don't even have to explain to my family why I can do that!

[DataNinja]

Did you know that this little teddy is a working bear now? I have no idea of how that happened and it's totally weird. I still haven't adjusted my sleep schedule to the early mornings, no matter how much denial I try to apply to it.

Oof. I know that feeling. I'm going to have to re-adjust my sleep schedule to early mornings again in January. I'm going to miss this semester of 11:30am or later classes.

Since I'm moving I don't even have to explain to my family why I can do that!

I'm envious of that. I'd love my own space, but, dang if my university-paying wallet couldn't afford that in my city. Best of luck to you in your living arrangements, hope it goes well. Especially hearing what you've been going through.

[Teddy]

I can dress as a really flamboyant boy first if that would help? I feel like it probably wouldn't though.

I'm pretty sure Kneen approves of dressing up as a really flamboyant boy no matter who or when it is. Just don't consume him for a late night snack, there will only be grief and gloom left for this world if you eat the budgie.

Since I'm moving I don't even have to explain to my family why I can do that!

Nice, and congratulations!

Oof. I know that feeling. I'm going to have to re-adjust my sleep schedule to early mornings again in January. I'm going to miss this semester of 11:30am or later classes.

Yeah. My natural sleep schedule is 02-10, but for work, I have to get up at 5 in the morning. It doesn't help that I'm a yes man who fills my evenings and weekends with any social activities thrown my way, either...

[DataNinja]

Just don't consume him for a late night snack,

But, any other mealtime it's permitted?

Yeah. My natural sleep schedule is 02-10, but for work, I have to get up at 5 in the morning. It doesn't help that I'm a yes man who fills my evenings and weekends with any social activities thrown my way, either...

Oh, the curse of being popular.
(My weekend is instead filled with work, in order to get money for that aforementioned university.)

[WarKitty]

I'm pretty sure Kneen approves of dressing up as a really flamboyant boy no matter who or when it is. Just don't consume him for a late night snack, there will only be grief and gloom left for this world if you eat the budgie.

What about just a little nibbling?

[factotum]

Yeah. My natural sleep schedule is 02-10, but for work, I have to get up at 5 in the morning.

Oof! 5am is a bit early for *anyone* to have to get up...I'm naturally an early-to-bed, early-to-rise sort but even then I don't usually bestir myself until 6:30am.

[Feytalist]

Hello handsome. *clink* The last two years have been messy, but I'm on my feet. Doing well yourself?

Yeah, I'm ticking along nicely thanks. I have a low-drama life Glad to hear you're doing okay now, at least!

[Kneenibble]

It has been a few years since I've been a flamboyant boy's late night snack. I wouldn't say no.

On the good side of things, my man and I bought a house at the end of summer in the quiet, peaceful suburbs. The yard has several decades-old Concord grape vines, from which we harvested enough ripe grapes to make 1.5 gallons of wine that is currently aging in the basement (we expect a bigger harvest next year, and hope to propagate more vines as well). With so much extra space I have also taken up making beer and mead. I used to make beer the easy way with malt extract, years ago before I sold my last house, but I'm doing it from grain now. I've turned out some pretty nice stuff so far. Mead is even more interesting, but good honey is buzzing expensive.

Oh, wow, the prodigal budgie returns. Or something like that. What's been up?

Hello good sir. Any news your way? Have you kept your wits about you, or have you traded them all in for a shopping cart full of prickly pears?

I'll drink to that Knees. Nice to see you again.

You too, Zodalicious.

*finishes off the last of her soft red wine, clinks her glass against everyone elses.*

*clink* What is soft red wine? Grape juice?

10TH ANNIVERSARY FOR YOU, 100TH OF INDEPENDENCE FOR FINLAND!

I might've been consuming beer. Celebrations, celebrations!

I've missed you so bad

Hello Finn! The Internets have been ablaze with the glory of the Finnish centenary, and I hereby toast it with you. Are you actually there right now or are you in the Highlands? Fireworks have kept my budgie agents at bay in Finland, which is perhaps why they have not been able to find you.

Hey, long time no see! Cheers!

What've you been up to these past couple of years?

Hello my fellow! What do you say for yourself these days?

The nature of the last two years' mess, I prefer to keep private. It hasn't all been bad. Mostly working and having fun as my dad used to say. Almost left my job to go to school for carpentry, until my man decided not to move away for work as he was sort of planning. We have a house now so I can muck around with that stuff in the basement and the garage.

Oh woah. Hello, Kneen! Been a while.

Hello friend. How are the chickens?

I raise a glass of Dewar's Aberfeldy abby single malt scotch to you.

That sounds delicious. Don't make me thirsty, it's only lunchtime.

It's a Kneebaubles! Yay!
*bearhugglomps*

Oh, there's so much happening in lives! Did you know that this little teddy is a working bear now? I have no idea of how that happened and it's totally weird. I still haven't adjusted my sleep schedule to the early mornings, no matter how much denial I try to apply to it.

Hello, dear Teddistowe. Amazing how we all struggle to stay afloat in our own lives with a thousand strands to keep unfrayed, while every other person is doing the same. The mind recoils from the multiplicity of it when, in the brief silences between thoughts, it touches upon the unheard noise from all around.

I imagine this thing has happened because your talents and hard work were recognized. I am happy for you. That is to say, I presume you are working in your field of study, and not wrangling cattle, which also starts pretty early; but even so I am happy for you. I hope when the seasons turn again that this work leaves you time to forage for cloudberries and smultrons on your ancestral estate.

[enderlord99]

In high-school, I independently realized something that Bernoulli mentioned in 1728.

[Qwertystop]

On the good side of things, my man and I bought a house at the end of summer in the quiet, peaceful suburbs. The yard has several decades-old Concord grape vines, from which we harvested enough ripe grapes to make 1.5 gallons of wine that is currently aging in the basement (we expect a bigger harvest next year, and hope to propagate more vines as well). With so much extra space I have also taken up making beer and mead. I used to make beer the easy way with malt extract, years ago before I sold my last house, but I'm doing it from grain now. I've turned out some pretty nice stuff so far. Mead is even more interesting, but good honey is buzzing expensive.

Hello good sir. Any news your way? Have you kept your wits about you, or have you traded them all in for a shopping cart full of prickly pears?

Nice! I don't drink, but as far as home-made foods involving fermentation, I've been baking quite a bit of bread - cheaper and better than supermarket stuff, and it doesn't take much work, especially if you do a no-knead. Been looking into making a few ingredients as well; I've recently discovered toasted sugar and a fairly simple way to make lemon-syrup, both of which are useful in a different class of baked goods.

Wits are a bit lacking at the moment; it's the last week of my second-to-last term, and finals are just wrapping up. Got one more thing to write, then I'm home free (at least, for a few weeks). At least I've got a job lined up for after.

[DataNinja]

Amazing how we all struggle to stay afloat in our own lives with a thousand strands to keep unfrayed, while every other person is doing the same. The mind recoils from the multiplicity of it when, in the brief silences between thoughts, it touches upon the unheard noise from all around.

...it's times like these when I just feel like I'm just a monkey randomly banging on a keyboard in order to produce something barely legible.

[Teddy]

What about just a little nibbling?

It has been a few years since I've been a flamboyant boy's late night snack. I wouldn't say no.

...
I might have drawn a thing...

Oof! 5am is a bit early for *anyone* to have to get up...I'm naturally an early-to-bed, early-to-rise sort but even then I don't usually bestir myself until 6:30am.

If I lived at a reasonable distance from work, that would probably be the time I would get up.

On the good side of things, my man and I bought a house at the end of summer in the quiet, peaceful suburbs. The yard has several decades-old Concord grape vines, from which we harvested enough ripe grapes to make 1.5 gallons of wine that is currently aging in the basement (we expect a bigger harvest next year, and hope to propagate more vines as well). With so much extra space I have also taken up making beer and mead. I used to make beer the easy way with malt extract, years ago before I sold my last house, but I'm doing it from grain now. I've turned out some pretty nice stuff so far. Mead is even more interesting, but good honey is buzzing expensive.

All of this is just so delightful to hear. I have a number of friends who make both their own beer and mead, but if there's a winemaker in my circles, then I haven't heard about it.

How do you flavour your crafts? Or do you stick to the natural taste?

And yes, if you are to produce a steady supply of mead, you either need a beehive of your own or at least a friend with one to supply you. Store bought honey is a little off the price charts for homebrewing...

Hello, dear Teddistowe. Amazing how we all struggle to stay afloat in our own lives with a thousand strands to keep unfrayed, while every other person is doing the same. The mind recoils from the multiplicity of it when, in the brief silences between thoughts, it touches upon the unheard noise from all around.

Small packages of wonder, travelling together, apart, crossing paths, diverging. Small particles of hopes and dreams, plans and desires, wrapped up like Christmas presents, their contents unspoiled, unspilled. Small points in space attracting, repelling, passing by one another, nestling in between, making room, sitting down in perfect columns, perfect rows. Sometimes you reach, you touch, you grasp, lose grip, fly away, disappear. A lone atom in a conscious sea, neither direction nor destiny discernable.

I imagine this thing has happened because your talents and hard work were recognized. I am happy for you. That is to say, I presume you are working in your field of study, and not wrangling cattle, which also starts pretty early; but even so I am happy for you. I hope when the seasons turn again that this work leaves you time to forage for cloudberries and smultrons on your ancestral estate.

Well, that is at least mostly true. And indeed I am, and I ended up in the defense industry out of all places. Nowadays I'm making rig control software, which mostly involves trying to wrap up horrible hardware interfaces with a friendly experience for the users, all while slowly untangling the sad spaghetti which is my predecessors' work. It does put me in a rather unique position to learn all about the detection and jamming of radars, though. The rig is what ties everything together (when it's not put in a jet fighter), and as the programmer of the control software, I get to talk to everyone from the constructors of radar warners to the developers of new jamming techniques and the hardware engineers maintaining the rigs. I've even become a bit of a spider in the net for these people, as they often turn to me when they have an issue involving something outside of their area of expertise, as I might be able to point them in the right direction. It is a cool job, but probably not quite in the way people envision it.

The commute is murdering, though. I would move, but I'm complicated when it comes to doing stuff I've never done before, and there's no room for handling complicated stuff in my life right now...

That said, I do get my time. Sadly, this has been a terrible berry year. I only found a mere dozen of half-ripe cloudberries, and the blueberries were practically non-existent down here closer to home. Not that I had time to pick them anyway, but seeing the woods in such a poor, berry-dearthed state still saddens me.

[DataNinja]

...
I might have drawn a thing...

*snip*

That's adorable.

And also either a giant bird or a tiny cat.

[Teddy]

That's adorable.

And also either a giant bird or a tiny cat.

Or really, really long tail feathers.

(I did this in a rather horrible drawing program (because my computer apparently doesn't have Windows Journal on it any longer), and I only realised I'd messed up the size ratio after I'd gotten happy with the cat face, and resizing it would only mess up the line thickness. So I gave up on fixing it and decided to embrace the kittiness of WarKitty instead.)

[DataNinja]

Or really, really long tail feathers.

Touché. It's all a matter of... perspective.

[TaiLiu]

Hey, Kneenibble!

[WarKitty]

So the lumps my cat has were cancerous. They don't know exactly how invasive we're talking, but...at this point it's a matter of when, not if.

[Goodkill]

So the lumps my cat has were cancerous. They don't know exactly how invasive we're talking, but...at this point it's a matter of when, not if.

my cat recently died of cancer, dear Ozzie. he's now my desktop background. i hope to see him again when i die. not getting another cat. anyway, i feel for you.

[Bartmanhomer]

Have anyone ever work with an abusive supervisor before? If so, how did you deal with it?

[enderlord99]

I'd like to plug my story again. Non-profit advertising is okay, right?

[Durkoala]

Random thought: can you transplant teeth by ripping them out and sticking them in your mouth, after removing your own teeth, so the roots knit together with your gums and the new teeth?


This is wat comes into my head when I'm stayin up fr too late at night.

[Inigo Montoya]

Random thought: can you transplant teeth by ripping them out and sticking them in your mouth, after removing your own teeth, so the roots knit together with your gums and the new teeth?


This is wat comes into my head when I'm stayin up fr too late at night.

Dental Hygienist here. Technically, it is possible to transplant teeth (more commonly, we are putting knocked out teeth back in your mouth). There are a few reasons not to do this. The first is cosmetic. Your teeth look good in your own mouth. It's gonna be pretty uncanny valley to see someone else's smile. Second reason is the fact that honestly? A lot of teeth recovered in that way tend to have issues further down the road. Root canals and such. The final reason is that honestly, most people's teeth aren't healthy enough to transplant. There's always some decay or something going on.

[2D8HP]

So the lumps my cat has were cancerous. They don't know exactly how invasive we're talking, but...at this point it's a matter of when, not if.

.
Sorry to learn that WarKitty, FWLIW my Dad has a brain tumor, so your not alone in waiting for a "when".

Have anyone ever work with an abusive supervisor before? If so, how did you deal with it?

.
Time and the sure knowledge that jobs don't last.

[Bartmanhomer]

Time and the sure knowledge that jobs don't last.

I use to work with a female supervisor who's a real *****. I was unhappy and I always complain my job coach who was very lousy and was definitely no help at all. I finally complain to Human Resources and my job coach was really angry at me saying that I made her look like a fool and not representing my vocational service program. I finally tell her straight and saying oh give me a break, you was never there for me when I was needed you. And I complain to you everyday about my boss abusive behaviours to me. Were you any help at all. No. So you're the real fool not me. So anyway I got lay off for a year and move forward to do something different like going to college.