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Kristen Schaal is a goddess. A strange goddess of strange humors, voice to some of our favorite characters, and a wild muse. I could list her many accomplishments but I am only one man, and her accolades are so heavy. The clips below of her stand-up, they're fucking weird . Fair warning. The slayer goddess befuddling us for 8:41 in her set from 2022. Schaal slaying for 21:14 at Comedy Central's full set "Making Love to George Washington. 2010ish I think?? [AI images generated via Dezgo AI with the prompt "The comedian Kristen Schaal as a vampire slayer. She is wearing a complicated dress and wielding a crossbow."] Slayer Training Lore Reading in bed by 11pm - 5x/week ✅✅🔲🔲🔲 Meditation Ass on meditation pillow - 5x/week ✅✅🔲🔲🔲 Bodhrán meditation 3x/week ✅🔲🔲 Strength Squat - 75% 5x3 Front Squat - 60% 3x5 Paused Single Leg Extension - 75% 5x5 Yoga Life Stuffs Going on a FB diet for a month or so because Weltschmerz isn't useful when I'm upset and impotent to affect change. Writing letters to elected officials (likely a useless gesture), and volunteering in local queer groups, but sobbing over news and social media isn't helping anything. Korean food is amazing, and I had Jap Chae after a mediocre convention I visited last weekend. The convention was mostly an excuse for people to try beat sabers, but I hate people so even that was mostly an annoying thing to suffer through while waiting for delicious sweet potato noodles and Korean beef.

No, no, no, solidarity is not a good description. Stubbornness. We both have a firm belief that the other person can live up to their press releases and we are going to make this work, dammit. That said, we have been actively working on building a good relationship for a long time. Things are now to the point where I worry about something bad happening instead of worrying about how to fix things. --------------------------- Monday worked out better than I expected. I did a familiar core workout. I felt my abs engage and work without protesting. Work continues to have more volume of tasks coming in than I can do. I am trying to do a bit more triage so that the older things do not come around to bite me. Instead of being overwhelmed I am refusing to look at the whole list of things I should be doing. Maybe not the best approach, but it's what I have at the moment. I was looking forward to going to my spinning group to connect with people. That was great. The host gave us a tour of her extensive garden. She keeps bees and chickens too. As we walked over to the hives, one of the group noticed a swarm of bees on a tree. They were just hanging out, coating the trunk of a small tree. Not flying around or doing much. Luckily, the host had an empty hive. She suited up and moved the bees into the hive. Most of us went inside for that part, just to be safe. I brought along a bag of silk roving to give away. I bought it a long time ago. This is the roving that I discovered has noils in it. Great if you want textured yarn. I want smooth yarn, so out it goes. Chris was delighted to see the bag of silk because she wants to do silk dyeing. I told her she could just have it, but she didn't feel right about that. It turned out she just accidentally purchased a wholesale quantity of pearl-infused cellulose fiber. This was the first time I had heard of such a thing. It is white and shiny. I took home a good chunk of it. I'm looking forward to seeing how it spins up and how it blends with alpaca.

So often I find the Hanged Man to be reflective of exactly this "you don't know what you don't know" moment. Here's a dude who has to hang upside down and crosslegged to see things differntly / better. It's not just a transition moment to me, but a perspective shift, and not really one we can always enact for ourselves, but one that has to be imposed on us by the universe or some external source (like reading a book or seeing a movie, or hearing the garbage get picked up -- the Universe is weird and random and often makes use of mundane details because --gosh! -- there are just so many of them). Air / Swords / Intelligence can always cut the weilder, and when taken with the (what was it, Hawthorn? I forget now, but you know which one I mean) ten card that represented burnout, I think this is indicative of a new perspective coming to you. I honestly think you've been through a seriously fertile few weeks, and that this lacuna of no-houseguest, no-Dave is exactly what will allow the perspective to percolate. Be easy with yourself. Throw away half-eaten things that were never for you inthe first place; eat good ingredients weirdly mixed; let the adulting happen in spurts and fits as it will. You are grand and the Universe loves you. ❤️

Maybe the Universe wants public philosphy and writing my novel to be my second job. I'm going to sit with that (while listening to Broken Boy Soldiers). I will have ten Star Trek & Philosophy one-sheets prepped and ready to go, with a page of Notes To Self on each one for things to remember when guiding the discussion. I am pretty certain that I could put this together as a "portfolio" and write a local group and ask for $15,000 to run it monthly (which would cover the cost of renting a room at the arts center next door, advertising and printing supplies, and my TA level salary). This has merit. I love the way the GroupThink happens here. ❤️

I've had a couple of days like that lately myself, where I'm just trying to make the macros fit together while still eating colorfully and getting protein. It's led to odd bedfellows: whey protein and Greek yogurt and riced cauliflower and spiced broccoli and, somehow, it fits my macros. Can't say I fully get how this happens, but, as you say, it could be worse.

#DruidApproved.

Pardon me, I'm going to sit in awe of the sheer solidarity that this statement represents.

You are so right. I have a lot of sympathy for Spinoza who turned down the offer of being a professor and chose to remain a lens-grinder and counted that as freedom. After I read Kim Tolley's Professors in the Gig Economy (a collection of really great essays), I had an a-ha moment that it wasn't just me and it wasn't just this town and or that organization -- academia is in its death throes and I would be better off launching my public philosophy series and writing a grant based on its success. This is not hyperbole: A community college adjuct professor in my town earn $750/credit hour or $2,250/course (IF the class doesn't get canceled, in which cse the lion's share of prep work and time commitment has already happened, but the professor gets paid nothing). A Teaching Assistant at my University makes $12,000 a year (and also gets tuition forgiven, but I don't really care about that since I'm nearly in a post-tuition moment). I could easily write a grant for the public philosophy series that is more in line with a TA income than an adjunct professor, and that's the moment that I knew that I would likely never join the academia circus. My long term plans were never about being "an academic," thank goodness. The only reason I'm a grad student now is becuase I have a sense of real urgency about the timeliness and importance of what I'm researching. I am looking forward to going back to having my intellectual investigations be a hobby amongst friends. You know how I love the Raconteurs, especially this album. Have you heard the live version of "Level?" It just blows me away, every time.

I'm picturing you sipping at your tea while everyone's doing shots and that's classy as heck. Rock on! You do you! Oh I saw a cool insta reel I wanted to try for meatless donair/gyro using brown lentils. It seemed easy enough. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3dFd_BuCzq/?igsh=cm5neGdlNGs3ZWgw Apparently you can do the same with red lentils for a tofu without soy.

Well done fitting in all that exercise. No wonder you didn't have time to read

How did the consultation go? This is not medical advice. I am not a doctor. Definitely talk to your physio. But here's my two cents (do you say two pence?). You can investigate potential muscle involvement. How does it feel to massage or foam roll around your knee? For example: How's your soleus, your gastroc, everything that attaches on the inside of your knee (the adductors, inner hamstrings, etc?) How's your quads, especially your vastus medialis and rectus femoris? How does it feel to trace the gastroc down or the adductors, hamstrings, and quads up? If you don't know what they're supposed to feel like, you can compare to your left leg. That may give you more precise information about where the problem is (and where to focus your efforts.) However, remember that having a muscle problem does not guarentee that that's the only problem. Also, how does it feel to jump in place? That may help you differentiate between high impact (shared with running and walking up inclines) versus particular movements or angles. Good luck!

Lm squats 3x8 bar+27.5kg ar push-ups 6,5,5 rows 50kg 6x3 curls 2x8 / laterals / 2x20 lm press 120 degrees 3x8 bar+13kg / rear delts 2x20 Band high pulls 2x20 Added 2.5kg on legs Added a rep on assisted ring push ups Added 1 set on rows Added 0.5kg on lm press but only did 2 sets

Sunday and Monday dissolved into a blur. I think Sunday I spent mostly doing some background reading/planning for my next large sewing project (for ME!). That evening, the light in the laundry room went out. It's a 4ft fluorescent, so we don't keep bulbs on hand and it was late enough that things were closed. Yesterday morning I had an appointment for a haircut, after that, we went to get bulbs and also lumber to fix the wood rot of the well enclosure. Apparently whatever lumber the guy who we bought the house from built the enclosure from doesn't exist, because the dimensions do not match any commercially available piece of wood at a regular hardware/lumber retail location. More planning/thought needed. Called the guy and he said he'd pop over and take a look. SCRAMBLE home to frantically clean/organize/make the house look a little bit presentable. Spend 1.5 hours chatting about various and sundry things (including the well enclosure) with the previous owners of the house. No real solution, but at least some options. Install bulbs and the light still didn't work. After trouble-shooting, deciphering the fuse panel, and a lot of fiddling about with a multimeter, hubs determined that the ballast was probably dead. Cue some frantic googling for the correct part and a quick run down to the Home Depot in the next town before they closed, and hubs had the new ballast installed and the new bulbs placed by around 10p. At this point, we'd barely eaten all day and there wasn't really time to make something reasonable while still having enough time to decompress and relax before bed. I had a PB&J sandwich and I think hubs had a premade frozen 'healthy' meal that we keep around for just this kind of situation. Oh, also, Ollie has been a grumpy/anxious cat for the past couple days, hiding a lot, hissing at the other cats and hissing at us(!) periodically, so add some concern in over whether he's alright and may/may not need to go to the vet. Blarghgh. Fortunately, he seems to be handling things better this morning and be more like his regular goofy self. Things I was planning to do yesterday and didn't: Lift Walk Cut out pieces for next bag sewing project Make dinner (there is ground beef defrosted in the fridge) Cut hubs' hair Today is a full working day, so I don't know how many of those things I'll be able to rectify, but before Sunday, here's the list of things Misc time/when possible: haircut for hubs--hopefully tonight. cook defrosted ground beef--hopefully tonight. cut out fabric for bags--maybe tomorrow night? grocery shop--Friday afternoon work on pattern for MY sewing project--maybe Friday evening? buy fabric for MY sewing project--maybe Friday afternoon? (Local shop has 40% of fabric this week so it would be nice to get there) Scheduled things: Tuesday: Work full day Wednesday: Work full day Thursday: Work half day, lunch w/ parents in afternoon Friday: Work half day Saturday: Group meetup event Depending on how the rest of the day goes, I may or may not be able to cut out of work a bit early today and tomorrow. We'll see. PS. Have I mentioned how grateful/lucky I am that my husband is a handy guy who knows about stuff? He's always willing to jump in to fix/repair things as needed and I am SO happy that he has this base level of knowledge and confidence. I have no doubt that I would be able to call my dad/YouTube/google my way to a solution in most cases were he not around, but I like not having to

Yay thank you! I will send you stuff later this week when I get some time to sit with it!

Hahaha! Some days I am tempted! yay!! Thanks!! Thank you!! I give you notice, I intend to return! And then we can share stories about how our summers went! The doodles are a good suggestion!! I love creamsicles and fudgecicles too!! They’re so much fun!! I will have to look for del monte popsicles! That sounds good! We eat a lot of outshine? I think that’s what they’re called. Those are good too!

Thank you!

After we lost the last of our clowder, we'd planned to start over with 1, leaving an 'emergency spot' for a second. So we started fostering kittens just to have a cat in the house. Our very first pair of fosters, we adopted. 2 litter mates, male and female, because they were so cute together we couldn't bear to think of someone else adopting them separately. Then a single male a year later, because he was sweet and funny Then a single female a year after that because she was the closest we'd met to our 'soul kitty' that we lost the year we started fostering. 🤷‍♀️

Dumbledore once came to visit me at work and snuck up behind me while I was concentrating on something. My desk was in stop where people had to walk behind me a lot, so I was used to ignoring them. Dumbledore leaned over me and said "Boo". I was so startled that I levitated from my chair and hit him in the nose with the top of my head. He tried to look hurt, but he was laughing too hard. 😂 Your situation sounds frustrating on several levels. Would it help to make a list of things that would make your life better? This could work much like your to-do list from work. Some things would be simple, like buying voice-cancelling headphones. Others would be more complex, like doing art or getting your bike fixed. Having a list would let you have some small (or bigger) wins every day.

Sticking with AF options when everyone else is drinking is rock star level sobriety, Sal! I love the husky picture with the bubbles. 😂

In defense of goblin days, sometimes they happen. Dunno the science behind needing the occasional day of your id driving your dietary decisions, but personally I think 1 or 2 days in 30 is a nice balance for me. 🤷‍♂️

You are absolutely right about a lot happening in the last several weeks. For myself, I'm glad to have this week to keep working on my challenge. The same things are happening all over. The US academic model is falling apart as the student population plateaus and is projected to decline. Everyone has known for years that the graduate school education model was a Multi-level Marketing scheme. Each professor trains 10-30 graduate students over their career, but there will be only one or two job openings in academia that the new PhDs could fill. Some fields direct their graduates to jobs outside academia, but most pretend that they are preparing students for academic careers. Now there are so many unemployed PhDs around that universities are using them as grunt labor (Adjunct Professors) to teach courses, allowing the administration to get rid of tenured faculty. It has always been a challenge to get tenure, but now that option is just plain disappearing. There may be some smaller private schools that still hold to the previous model of higher education. Everyone I know in academia is reporting that things are getting worse. There are still good reasons to get a graduate degree, but an academic career is no longer one of them. I'm not sure what your long term plan is. You may want to consider how the current climate is going to affect it. I hope you can find a second job that is less stressful and lets you put some of your financial worries to rest.

Starting weight- 239.25lb 26/3 - 240.75lb 2/4 - 240.25lb 9/4 - 237lb 16/4 - 239.25lb 23/4 - 238lb solid foreword momentum this week. Very happy.

Yes, this. Sending hugs. ❤️

So glad the mammogram results came back fine! What a relief! I support your decision to have a Snarky-centric Summer and do all the wonderful things without crowding your brain. I will really, *really* miss you if you don’t come back to us, though. Not that I intend that as pressure if you decide you’d rather not, but just saying. Popsicles: Del Monte made some fancy ones I had a while ago. Some were strawberry and others were blood orange I think? Either way, they were incredible. For standard popsicles I like the grape and orange ones, but I am open to many frozen confections. I love love love creamsicles and fudgecicles as well. I think you should do a tiny doodle of each popsicle you have over the summer and make it a fun archive.