I Was Thirsty, So I Ordered Toilet Paper

I got thirsty this morning, and ended up ordering toilet paper. Because this is how my mind works. I'll take you on this journey with me, where I dig myself down into a hole and back out of it again.

While working, I realized I was thirsty. I went to take a drink of my Coke, but it was empty. So I crushed the can and dropped it in the bin, then grabbed a glass to pour some water. That left the pitcher low, but I couldn't refill the pitcher because there was a dirty bowl soaking in the sink and blocking where the pitcher would need to sit. So I needed to do dishes. I emptied the dishwasher and started rinsing dirty dishes to refill it, but then realized with all the bending over and running water that I needed to go to the bathroom.

Naturally-Carved Jack-O-Lantern

I found this image posted on Facebook in a few places. And I found it wonderfully horrific. Also suitable to my usual laziness. 

So I got a big fat pumpkin and some peanut butter. I found this article about having a naturally-carved pumpkin:
https://flannelandflame.com/2020/10/19/train-squirrels-to-carve-your-pumpkin

Using a drill to make holes in the pumpkin is something I've done before. I like it as a lazy carving technique.

I thought you guys might like to follow along the progress, so I'll take some pictures and we'll see what happens.

It sounds like it could take as few as a couple of days for the squirrels to do their work, and then it'll go bad like a week later. Which means this might be a trial run before Halloween, and we do another later.

Pronouns as Canaries

I have some outside reading to refer you to this time - 'Pronouns are the Canary in the Coal Mine' - go ahead; go read it first. But the short version is that telling someone your pronouns is a simple measure of how they will (or won't) respect you overall.

We wear a vest almost all the time when we're out of the house. When I meet people, I will often point to the patches on my vest as I introduce myself. One has our name, and the other shows our pronouns. After I've done that, I generally won't say much about my pronouns, though I typically will use plural pronouns in conversation a lot (for those new to my space, we use both plural and singular personal pronouns - I/me/my/mine and we/us/our/ours - depending on intent).

Religion, Worship, Prayer

 A couple of friends lately have brought up the subject of prayer and worship with me, and I rather like one of the answers I've typed out, so I'll share parts of it. 

First, context. I was raised casually-Christian. In that I understood I was a Christian, I went to church a handful of times a year with various family members, but I didn't really have any active worshipping or churching happening in my life. I also occasionally went to synagogue or temple with various friends or classmates. I went to school with a lot of Jewish friends, so 7th and 8th grade meant a lot of Bar and Bat Mitzvahs (is there a collective term for that?). I went to a Baptist summer camp, and was baptized at least a couple of times (I'm pretty sure I was baptized as a baby, too?).

As I got older, I learned more about other religions, both real-world and fictional.  I took a couple of cultural anthropology courses, which were enthralling for examining religions from without. Sci-fi and fantasy fiction world-building have to include religion as part of those worlds, and often include a lot of thought and discussion about how a particular religious view can influence entire moral structures and behavior mores. If you ask me now about my guiding faith, I'll point you toward IDIC (https://meronym-thoughts.blogspot.com/p/idic-infinite-diversity-in-infinite.html). Yep, that's from Star Trek.

You Can Be Anything You Want To Be

 You can be anything you want to be. You can even be 'just' what you are...

I was a Gifted Child(TM) and was told over and over I could be anything. And when I got into the working world, I had multiple bosses, during reviews, push me toward that next promotion or that harder, higher-paying job.

But you know what? I don't want a promotion. I like what I do, and I am REALLY good at it. I feel valued by my coworkers and clients and supported by my boss, and I love having the answer for things when people ask. 

Better yet, I get paid a very comfortable salary and have excellent working hours (from home even), and have plenty of time and energy left to do non-work things.

It took a while to stop feeling guilty because I wasn't going for CEO and President and stuff, and instead just enjoy where I'm at. But I'm there.

My Food Truck Idea - 'Packed Lunch'

I've said before that if I ever wanted to open a food truck, it would be 'Packed Lunch' - all premade/cold foods, tossed in a paper sack, just like we got as kids for taking to school. For one price, maybe $5, you pick one of each of the following:

• One premade sandwich. Pick from whatever sandwiches I'm offering today. But always PB&J as an option. They are all on plain white bread. No artisan fancy breads here.
• PB&J - creamy peanut butter and cheap grape jelly.
• Bologna & Cheese - that's plain American cheese slices and cheap meat-like product.
• Today's Sandwich - this is whatever I either found cheap makings for, had leftovers of, or just felt like making. Maybe it's a grilled cheese, maybe it's a tortilla wrap. After Thanksgiving, for example, it's likely to be turkey or ham for the next couple of weeks. Less of these available will be available each day - get 'em early.
• One Fruit Side - an apple, banana, applesauce, or fruit rollup.
• One bag of chips. I'll get the big mixed bag pack of Doritos, Cheetos, Lays, etc. One of each will be in the window, and when we run out, I grab the one in the window, and we're out of that.
• One dessert - a jello cup, pudding cup, or pack of cookies. Sometimes that'll be one cookie in a ziploc because I made cookies; sometimes it'll be Oreos from the store multi-pack. But only one cookie option at any given time.
• One drink box - milk, chocolate milk, apple juice, maybe a small bottled water as an option.

Everything's laid out in order - you hand me $5, I grab a paper bag and grab one thing in each column as you pick 'em. I hand you the bag - no waiting to be called. If something runs out, it's no longer available for the day. 

After you pay, there's a table with mayo & mustard, napkins, and plastic knives for cutting your sandwich or apple if you need to. That should be all you need.