The Cantina Staring Back At You From The Abyss

[AnnieColleen]

I can contribute a weird book auntie example. After a few too many times of me saying “sounds like a storybook title” to some random bit of kid conversation, my niece recorded* a 10-minute story that’s honestly brag-worthy for a 7-year-old author. I contributed some brainstorming help beforehand but the story and the telling were all her.

*Voice-recorded because my transcription couldn’t keep up with her dictation.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I gotta select the type of weird uncle still. Teach her her first swear words and buy her a motorbike for her 1st birthday? Nothing but dinosaur toys? Introduce her to revolutionary Marxism?

Why compartmentalise? Go for everything, it'll keep the parents on their toes.

Although I can approve of dinosaur toys and teaching them all the names. Sometimes all a girl wants is her very own pachycephalosaurus. In minature. With moving limbs or possibly with Amazing Roaring action (tm). Plushe is also an option.

Careful, though, with new concepts because kids are like sponges and they remember everything you say and once or twice it comes out back at you at times you're not ready for it and it will be cheerfully used against you when you have long forgotten you mentioned it once in the first place.

Reading is also a good weird-relative-field! I got the nephew interested in Percy Jackson (which is IMO a lot more wholesome than Harry Potter which he loves). Lamenting the only translation of Pratchett's YA is to be found these days are in ebook. Desperately counting down the years until it is time I can spring LoTR on them.

Give her a drum set and a pony.

Nooo, not unless you also provide the space to practise with both. I've seen it end badly too many times.

Giving noisemakers and unwanted pets to kids is usually only a short-term-fun but the frictions it creates within families will last a lifetime and can put a serious cramp on the opportunities to engage into proper weird auntie or nuncle-ness.

 

[CMBright]

No weird auntie/uncle for our little one, but we/I may have "accidentally" broken more than one noise-making toy given by my in-laws.

 

[E.F.B.]

Sorry for your loss Albedo.

NO! Not the drum set! As long as Uncle provides stabling, I'd be good with someone getting my kid a pony. Or getting me a horse.

My weird uncle vote is to get the kid into reading. Listening can start as an infant to spark the interest early.

Yeah, someone gave me a noisy toy as a toddler and my mom told me recently that she couldn't stand the thing and made it mysteriously disappear.

I've never been close to my uncles, but my aunt has always encouraged me in my geeky ways, reading included. Also, my paternal grandpa gave me a pair of boxing gloves when I was like, 3. The story is that a little girl in my preschool kept picking on me, and picking on me, and picking on me, day after day, and I finally decided I wasn't going to take it any more and shoved her against the wall. The teachers didn't even want to punish me because the girl kinda deserved it, but I still got put in time out. My grandpa was on my side, and since he couldn't come sit in time out with me, he mailed me the boxing gloves.


Speaking of uncles, my uncle's pace maker surgery was successful and he's feeling better in that regard. He's now in rehab to build his strength back, but... *sigh* When he's been in rehab in the past it's always been questionable if they've really pushed him to get up and do his exercises or not. The last time he had to be there and they claimed he was ready to come home, someone went out to visit him and he was as weak as ever and they had to really push to get the employees to make him exercise. Long story short, he's not going home unless he can, at minimum, walk himself to the bathroom and clean himself up. My aunt took care of their mother for decades until Grammy passed last year. Aunt suffers from her own health problems, not to mention severe depression. She shouldn't have to, and physically CAN'T wait on her older brother hand and foot for the rest of their lives. The rehab center needs to do their freaking jobs and make him build his strength.

 

[zanzjan]

Ah shoot, Albedo, that's a lot of a lot. There's trauma that's going to last us a long time coming out of this pandemic (if we're ever out) and that's even w/ people who haven't lost anyone. I have aging parents 2600 miles away that I haven't seen in over two years now and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed we all make it through.

Congrats on the nuncleness, though!

 

[CMBright]

Sorry for your loss Albedo.

Yeah, someone gave me a noisy toy as a toddler and my mom told me recently that she couldn't stand the thing and made it mysteriously disappear.

I've never been close to my uncles, but my aunt has always encouraged me in my geeky ways, reading included. Also, my paternal grandpa gave me a pair of boxing gloves when I was like, 3. The story is that a little girl in my preschool kept picking on me, and picking on me, and picking on me, day after day, and I finally decided I wasn't going to take it any more and shoved her against the wall. The teachers didn't even want to punish me because the girl kinda deserved it, but I still got put in time out. My grandpa was on my side, and since he couldn't come sit in time out with me, he mailed me the boxing gloves.


Speaking of uncles, my uncle's pace maker surgery was successful and he's feeling better in that regard. He's now in rehab to build his strength back, but... *sigh* When he's been in rehab in the past it's always been questionable if they've really pushed him to get up and do his exercises or not. The last time he had to be there and they claimed he was ready to come home, someone went out to visit him and he was as weak as ever and they had to really push to get the employees to make him exercise. Long story short, he's not going home unless he can, at minimum, walk himself to the bathroom and clean himself up. My aunt took care of their mother for decades until Grammy passed last year. Aunt suffers from her own health problems, not to mention severe depression. She shouldn't have to, and physically CAN'T wait on her older brother hand and foot for the rest of their lives. The rehab center needs to do their freaking jobs and make him build his strength.

I hope things go better, rehab wise, for your relative this time around.

I'd think it would be worth asking about home health or home aides for a time after he gets out of rehab. Home health nurses were great years back when my Mom needed knee replacements.

If uncle's house does not yet have bars and shower seats, I'd recommend getting them in the bathroom before he gets back from the latest surgery, if he has any balance issues now or might have any after the surgery.

I definitely agree with the shouldn't have to on the Aunt taking care of him. Even if she were able, which it sounds like she isn't.

 

[MaeZe]

"And now for something completely different."

My chicken exploded in the microwave when I was reheating it for breakfast.

Kapow!

Made the dog happy with the shreds I scraped off the inside. She's fully recovered, by the way, despite only getting one of the three doses of oral antibiotic. Hooray for injectable antibiotics for recalcitrant pets.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Mergh... Monday morning, gray again, and the sinuses are being all sinusy, sinusating on me something fierce.

Today's plans involve more ornament work (hopefully finishing up the initial "glue crud together" phase of construction), catching up on some site stuff I've fallen behind on, hitting the yard with one last pass of a weed whacker (weather permitting), and hopefully a little streaming on the side. Going to lose a big chunk of tomorrow to family stuff again, so today needs to count.

--

And it's later on Monday. Got ornament bases gluing, though I think I'll wait until next weekend for the first phase of Apoxie because that's notoriously messy and time sensitive. Got a little further on site stuff (spliced three out of five reviews into the main review site on my end), and I got the yard weed whacked. And the PT place called and cancelled Mom's appointment again - it's a habit with them - but I'm still probably going to lose a big chunk of tomorrow because shopping (and she always prolongs the trip "just to get out of the house"... mergh...).

I'm also pretty sure that submission attempt was eaten by the online form and didn't go through at all. Dang it. I mean, it was probably going to be rejected anyway, so it's not worth asking about, and this saves time. May try again somewhere else, but there are only like two places I found that might take anything that long anyway. (I really, really need to learn to write shorter... they always skew to novella/novelette size, and I just don't see a lot of places that want that.)

 

[MaeZe]

It's 4:30 in the morning and I'm wide awake. My circadian rhythm is so messed up. I need to get off this computer.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I don't want any sympathy, I just want to vent.

It's raining, dark and cold. Pretty much like my mood. I'm so tired of endless bad news and leaks. Which is often the same but a mop only works on one of them. I want to kick life and some people in the shins. hard. I'm tired of liars getting away with things. I'm tired of wet carpet smells. I'm tired of adulting. I'm fed up with of fixing things, even the non-physical ones.

I'm gonna pick one adult thing to today and then I'm DONE and am going to watch humerous cat videos and try not to feel guilty about it or something because I can't even mope properly without that annoying voive of reason that tells me moping doesn't solve things. Which is in itself SO. UNFAIR.

I'll probably feel better tomorrow.

 

[Albedo]

thanks for the kindness everyone. The funeral for my cousin was really well done, touching, beautiful and went off technically without a hitch. There were 50 people there, but there would have been hundreds and hundreds more watching online, because he was the type of person to become lifelong friends with everyone he ever met.

I got to see pics today! She looks like ... a baby. I've always been sceptical when people claim they can tell which relative the baby resembles when they're 3 days old, lol. Give her a bit of a time.

So noisemaking toys are right out?? Dang. I still have the battery powered drumming monkey plush toy my grandmother very kindly but inexplicably bought me for my b'day a few years ago (beyond my 30th ... I think she may have mixed up the parcels for me and one of my young cousins?) and thought it might make a good gag gift. But I'm with you, FF, dinosaurs are for everyone, and especially girls.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Boo for sucky life being sucky and messed up circadian rhythms!

Hooray for dinosaurs for everyone!

Tuesday morning, waiting to hear when Mom wants to go get her blood drawn (she still needs to do that even if PT keeps blowing her off; dunno why we are always the ones getting canceled on, but we are... then they wonder why she's not getting better faster... gee, think it's because you keep not giving her the PT she needs to get better?). Today's plans are similar to yesterday's, save not so much ornament gluing (will probably go out and check them later, at least) and the yard doesn't need weed whacking again.

Mergh.

 

[MaeZe]

I got to see pics today! She looks like ... a baby. I've always been sceptical when people claim they can tell which relative the baby resembles when they're 3 days old, lol. Give her a bit of a time.

Having worked in labor and delivery, and going by my own son's appearance at birth, it's actually true for many newborns. But it's at about two or three days when that look disappears. Their little faces start getting chubby cheeks and they begin to look like babies.

I was surprised when my son looked like my dad when he was born, not like his dad. He's grown up though, with features from both sides of his family so I'm not sure that newborn resemblance is prognostic of who they will grow up to look like.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Mergh... lost time to not one, but two shopping trips today.

And the sibling's coming down with some manner of crud that has her wiped out and looking like death warmed over. Danged well better not be contagious... next week is my week off. (We think Dad may have a touch of whatever it is, too, as he's a little extra zonky today.)

Otherwise, not the most productive of days, again largely due to family. Did get through S3 of my Expanse rewatch; may pause to rewatch S6 of Lucifer before marathoning S4 and 5 of Expanse before December.

And it's way too dark to be 7 PM, dang it. The whole day's just off kilter. Might try to get some site work done.

 

[E.F.B.]

Morning/Almost afternoon, Cantina. We've hit that time of year where I feel like I have all the things to do and I don't know what order to do them in. Endless parental doctor appointments, some of which have thrown off the daily routine, aren't helping. I'm trying to make sure my Etsy shop is prepped for the holidays, which really is a slow process. I'm trying to add designs/photos to my new Redbubble shop in an attempt to have a (albeit small) source of passive income, which is also a bit of a slow process and thus far a waiting game as I'm sure, like anything, it takes time to get eyes on your stuff. And then I'm trying to continue editing my manuscript, which is also a slow, though fulfilling process.

In related news, I've been mulling things over and, at least at this point in time, I'm seriously debating skipping Sisyphus this year. (Feels early to talk about it, but December aproacheth fast.) It'll be the first year I've skipped since I started participating... I think five years ago? But this has been such A Year, I'm just really inclined to stay focused on my own manuscript this winter instead of fearing a repeat of February. Hopefully I'll feel up to it again next year.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Nothing wrong with knowing your limits...

Wednesday afternoon. Work existed, as work is wont to do. Sinuses also are reminding me that they exist. In a little while, dinner needs to start existing.

 

[MaeZe]

Yay!

Got my beta reader feedback and I'm ecstatic. She has some excellent ideas to improve the novel and she liked it overall. Couldn't ask for more!

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hooray for feedback ecstasy!

Thursday morning, gray and damp outside, and the sinuses are doubling down on the cranial vice routine. Really hoping the Excedrin kicks in by the time work starts, here... very not fun.

 

[Gatteau]

I got to see pics today! She looks like ... a baby. I've always been sceptical when people claim they can tell which relative the baby resembles when they're 3 days old, lol. Give her a bit of a time.

Ha, I had also always thought this was kinda ridiculous too, but we just got a little baby nephew this summer and his first pics look exactly like his dad, down to the receding hairline, which the nieces were quick to point out . (And Maeze, interesting to know that's actually, like, a thing. Weird.) Congrats and enjoy it, being the fun aunt and uncle is the absolute best! All of the good times, none of the responsibility...

And yes, I vote dinosaurs too, dinosaur everything.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Mergh... Thursday afternoon. On the plus side, got out from work early - just a few minutes after I finished up my current audiobook. On the minus side, having a bit of an Issue with my Amazon Associates stuff, and if I can't clear it up it's going to take me essentially forever to go back through several years of blog posts to strip links from reviews... (It's not even like it's a big money-maker; I just like having the pictures with the reviews. I've only hit payout thresholds maybe twice in all the years I've been doing this.)

 

[Cobalt Jade]

I had two blissful days off from work and the opportunity to do NOTHING and follow my muse, because boyfriend's out of town for a few weeks at a boat show. Boy that feels good. But work starts again tomorrow, which means back to the stress and rushing around, since I have to take the teenage dog to the dog park in the morning because boyfriend isn't here to do it.

I also found out I have to have a minor operation for a uterine cyst, which sounds like fun. NOT.

 

[Brightdreamer]

That's weird - why would they be giving you a... oh. Cyst removal. Yeah, that makes more sense... Fingers crossed for successful surgery.

And it's Thursday evening. Rain comes and goes in splurts, and the power's blipped a couple times. There's a "bomb cyclone" weather system that's currently aimed to the north of us, but may clip us with the edges. I'm personally rooting for a power outage at work tomorrow because to heck with work anyway.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Best of luck with the surgery, Cobalt jade.

So noisemaking toys are right out?? Dang. I still have the battery powered drumming monkey plush toy my grandmother very kindly but inexplicably bought me for my b'day a few years ago (beyond my 30th ... I think she may have mixed up the parcels for me and one of my young cousins?) and thought it might make a good gag gift. But I'm with you, FF, dinosaurs are for everyone, and especially girls.

Well, you know your sibling best, Albedo. You're a better judge to know if they would appreciate it.

There is something to be said for giving it now, before the baby is old enough to play with it, the parents always will have an option to make it 'disappear' before then.

There is a pattern I noticed in my family that noisemakers that were gifted to my nephews had a habit of turning up again in the gifter's house for the kids to play with them there, regardless of where they had originally received the gifts. My sis never was subtle.

But dinosaurs, well, it bears repeating: can't go wrong with those!

 

[Brightdreamer]

Friday afternoon, and quite soggy out there. Work existed, followed by shopping at Target. Yippy skippy. Dinner tonight would've been a roast except for shopping taking longer than it should have due to it being National Block The Aisle Day (seems like it was just last week everyone celebrated that...). Now it will be omelet. Because I have stuff to make omelet, and omelet is faster than roast. (I will not, however, be making a roast omelet.)

 

[E.F.B.]

High fives for good beta feedback!
Hugs for surgeries.

Well, I finally got my 100th Etsy sale yesterday! After a quiet month, I was starting to wonder if it would ever come, LOL. But I knew it would eventually. Feels good.

In family health drama news, shocker of shockers, the rehab center actually called dad and invited him to a family conference call to discuss uncle's progress! I'm saying shocker because this facility hasn't done that before and has even sent uncle home with a UTI in the past. This is progress. Sort of. Dad doesn't like talking to strangers on the phone so mom actually spoke to the facilitator and found out that they STILL hadn't communicated with aunt. So. Mom being Mom, she kicked butt and said if they don't get aunt involved, the meeting won't happen at all, so they said they would call her immediately. When the actual phone meeting happens, mom will kick more butt and they will learn what it's like to speak to a woman who doesn't take any guff.