Unsolicited Advice

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are  here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my  Patreon , or sending something off of my  Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their  Ratmas list  is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to  Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the  MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

Welcome to the 2023 Advent Calendar, which this year is just a list of things that light up all pretty. Previous entries are here . If you enjoy this and want to encourage me to bang more things out on a keyboard, consider supporting my Patreon , or sending something off of my Christmas list . If you'd rather support my spoiled pets, their Ratmas list is here. If you want to spend money but not on me, you can direct your donations to Mainely Rat Rescue , who handles rescue and foster operations for rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, and other small mammals in the New England area, or the MSPCA , where my critters got their medical care before I found a good exotics vet, and where I picked up Koda and Yogi.  Enjoy your trip through the cavalcade of things that go blinky-blink in the dark!

I recently cadged a Google Daydream VR rig off of someone on Freecycle. The Daydream is a mass-manufactured headset that Google produced for people who thought that building their own out of cardboard was too ratchet for words. It doesn't really fit me in the same way that swim goggles never really fit me, but I stuck some safety pins in the head strap and you're not meant to move around too much while using it anyway, so it more or less works. The Daydream can be best described as the world's okayest implementation of VR. It's main selling point is its rock-bottom cost, which was achieved by using your extant smartphone for both the display and the head tracking, the two most expensive modules in fancier rigs by Oculus or Vive. It's not a bad idea. We all carry around tiny high-resolution pocket supercomputers that can track our position well enough to catch imaginary Pokémon in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot, why not use it for this? The picture is not as po

It is the weekend before Halloween, and a lot of people who don't normally wear makeup will be slathering on a lot of it. While I'm sure you've all put a lot of effort into planning how you get the stuff on, most of you have only a very vague idea how to get it off again. Let me help. In general, the easiest way to get makeup off is the same way you got it on. All makeup is, is pigment in a skin-safe solvent. If you know how you stuck the stuff onto your face, you know how to get it back off. Powders like loose pigment (Maybelline Color Tattoo pots, loose powder) or pressed cakes (most dry eyeshadows, compacts of setting powder/bronzer/highlighter) stick to your skin because of the natural lipids on the surface. You get them off the same way you get the natural oil off your face, ideally a gentle soap or face wash, and a lot of water. Thin liquids like liquid foundations are generally based on distilled water. If it smears a lot when you sweat, this is your culprit. Soap/

I've discovered some very interesting things about Indian tailoring. Why am I tinkering with Indian tailoring? Well, because I ordered a bunch of Indian kurtas, and they all needed to be let out at the bust.  Why did I order a bunch of Indian kurtas? Because that's what you wear when you take kathak, one of the seven(-ish) forms of classical Indian dance.  Why am I in a classical Indian dance class? Honestly, at this point, your guess is as good as mine. My old flamenco teacher is semi-retired and I don't see her too often anymore, but she held an open class at a little local dance festival a couple of months ago, so I dropped in to visit. The next class over was one of the Indian things with the ankle bells, which turned out to be kathak . You all know me and shiny, noisy objects, so I stayed for that. The teacher is apparently just getting settled in here in Boston, so I gave her a list of places I knew of that rented out studios and sent her a few links for local arts gr

For those who missed it, I'm trying to be entertaining while playing video games again. My original plan was to produce a Let's Play of Final Fantasy II (JPN, the one for the Famicom -- or, more likely, the one re-released in Dawn of Souls ) with running voice commentary. FF2j is an exceedingly boring game, but it's boring for interesting historical reasons, and provides some inoffensive background video for my usual ramble. I figured I'd hold forth on video game history and languages and all that while the damn thing devolved into Sim Travel Agent after the second or third town. Sadly, I have found that my TV is unsuitable for any gaming that involves real-time interactions. I inherited a 42" Philips from a previous roommate who didn't feel like moving it when they left that apartment, and I have now discovered why: This thing is absolutely lag-tastic.  I've gotten into the user menu and turned off every last bit of post-processing I can find, but there&#

So apparently, we have a hurricane coming? Lee is not supposed to hit directly my area directly, but over here slightly inland of Nantucket we're supposed to get a lot of rain and flooding and generally unpleasantly wet circumstances. I've once again landed in an apartment at the top of a hill, as I somehow always do, and I'm on the top floor. I'm not likely to get too soggy myself, or have to bail anything out, but I'm not really going to want to go outside for the next couple of days either.  Fortunately, I don't need to! I'm on Twitch . I've cast the augury bones -- by which I mean I looked at a website that scrapes Twitch metadata to tell me when my audience is likely to be online -- and apparently people are most in the mood for some Ace Attorney on Saturday mornings. Fine. I can think of worse ways to spend my weekend. So, assuming the power stays on, I'm going back to playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney on Twitch at 11am this Saturday, for h

I have found out why the MSPCA was told these guys were bitey. It's mostly Yogi, and he's not biting. He's investigating . Rats use their mouths when they play, just like puppies. When they bite out of fear or anger, it's a very quick strike, very bloody, and you don't get your finger back in a hurry. When they bite during play, they don't chomp very hard -- just hard enough that the other rat feels it and knows he's gettin' got.  Yogi has been systematically testing my hand to see how hard he can toof me while he plays. I offer him my hand, he looks at me a second, then he slowly and deliberately puts his teeth on my knuckle and bites down a little bit. I go 'eep!' and jerk my hand away, then slowly give it back. And the next time he tries it, he's a little bit more gentle.  This is totally normal for a rat, but doesn't usually go over well with little kids. They feel teeth and think they've been bitten for real, then start shrieking

Yogi, left, is a black self dumbo, and Koda, right, is a black Berkshire top-ear. They're about seven months old. These two came already named from the MSPCA. Usually rats in a group together get theme names, because humans like patterns; Google says these two are named after some beagles on Instagram . That's boring, so I combed through the WWWJDIC for some ateji/jinmeiyou kanji that I liked. I've decided the names are actually spelled 容疑 (yōgi, "looks suspicious") and 幸多 (kōda, "many blessings").  I have matched the correct name to the correct rat, trust me. Yogi is the fourth dumbo rat I've had who believes he is in charge of the entire universe. He is also the fourth dumbo rat I've had, period. I am starting to think it's genetic. Something about the shape of that flat little skull just doesn't leave any room for humility. The volunteer at Nevins said they were surrendered because they were "nippy", but further investigatio

I'm not done crying over Cheese, but I'm probably never going to be done crying over Cheese. I still get teary over rats I lost years ago. If I ever stop sobbing when I lose a rat, I need to rethink getting any more rats. If you're going to be solely responsible for the health and happiness of another creature, you'd damn well better be emotionally invested. In any case, an acquaintance and I are going out to Nevins Farm next weekend, where the MSPCA keeps the assorted small mammals, to get me some more critters. The MSPCA charges a very reasonable adoption fee of $10-15 per animal, which I consider a personal medical expense. It makes me untenably sad to walk into the room carrying food and not be met by a wriggling ball of fur that wants to know what it is and when they will be getting their cut.  Frankly, they may elect to give me a discount if I tell them I want to abscond with half a dozen of the little buggers -- they don't often get adopters with that much ro

I was all set to post something chipper today, about turning 42 in a month. Some chatter about plans, the requisite Hitchhiker's Guide  jokes, speculation about whether I could swing getting myself some show tickets or Yet Another Pair Of Shoes. But instead, I have to say goodbye to Cheese tomorrow. He's had intermittent breathing issues for a while. So far he's always recovered to his normal self, albeit not before having a rotten couple of hours and panicking his Mommy a lot. And he came back the last time as well, but he seems just... tired. The ordinary Old Rat problems have started to creep in, unrelated to his lungs. His back feet aren't a lot of help anymore. He can boost himself straight up about three tries out of every four, but if he tries to reverse or change direction, his hips tip out from under him, and he rolls onto his side. He's stopped trying to groom his hind end, and has very limited tolerance for me coming at him with baby wipes.  I can keep hi

Housekeeping first! Amazon has for some reason gotten spotty about putting the thank-you QR codes in their packages. I don't have any direct way to get in touch with the anony-mouse (anony-mice?) who send things off the lists, but everything has arrived. Thank you! Well, I made it through about two weeks of "time off" before I started trying to DO SOMETHING so I didn't go mad. Browsing job boards, mainly. It makes me nervous to see the numbers in my bank accounts go down and down. I realize that this is the point of that grant money -- to spend it on rent and groceries and transit and other aspects of living my life, and that not spending it on those things would be counterproductive. I also realize that theater goes through a lull every year around this time, and that everything will be back in September as it always is.  None of that makes me more comfortable. I will probably never be comfortable with the finite nature of money under a capitalist system. I will als

I've been in my new place for about two weeks now, otherwise known as 'long enough to decompensate'. Despite taking apart all my standing racks and piling all my shit up in the living room, neither of the other roommates noticed I was leaving until the night before, when the Useless Narcissist asked if I was moving.  "Yes." "Oh, when?" "Tomorrow." Stunned look. "Why?" "Because neither of you pay your rent on time."  (Note that I had been telling them for the past two months that I could not continue fronting the rent for everyone indefinitely. The landlord insisted on having the check by the first but didn't cash it until some random time between the 15th and the 25th of the month. Both roommates had gotten around to giving me the money later and later -- for June, the Useless Narcissist paid me just over a week late, and the other one was two  weeks late.) Indignant look. "Oh come on! I paid you back every time!&qu

Hello! I am not dead. I have at points wished I could just be in a coma until it stopped being hot out, but alas, we do not always get what we want. If you are one of my Patrons, you've been getting sporadic updates, but for the lay public, here's the rundown: Bad news: Cheddar has left us. Obituary here on Instagram. I figured the respiratory problems would eventually get them both, but didn't expect it quite so soon. Cheese is still here, although he is a little lonesome. I am consoling him with pets and pudding. Good news: I have yet another new job. Someone figured out I could work the sound board at one of the theaters and started paying me to do that. About 50% of the people who ask are also willing to pay me adult amounts of money for it. The adult amounts of money are enough that I can politely turn down the ones who think "exposure" is as good as a paycheck. I'm not going to be buying any superyachts anytime soon, but money has come in faster than I

I've found a new podcast to binge. It's called "Computer Game Evolution", written, edited, produced and distributed as a one-man show by someone who's opted to go by "Tim". It's a very witty, very thorough exploration of how video games got to be what they are, starting in the pre-history of computers when all your tedious calculations were done by hand, and sometimes by post. His intro trailer mentions that he defended a doctoral thesis having something to do with video games, so my guess is that this is the director's cut audiobook of his dissertation, now with 400% of the snark his advisor made him edit out. Tim declines to say where he's from. His accent is distinctly East Slavic, although I admit I don't know enough about the languages in that family to distinguish between them from just their traces in his English. He also mentions that as much as he'd love to take donations for the podcast, he can't, as they don't work