What's everyone up to right now?

[SaStrike]

On my way to work.

Don't forget your clothes

[The Valkyrie]

On my way to work.

Don't forget your clothes

Both sets.

[Angrboda]

Finishing a response to Huggy which I was going to procrastinate on. I have a meeting of my philosophy group tonight to discuss more of the ethical essays in Peter Singer's book. I've got an hour to read my notes and eat something before I have to head to the bus stop. Hopefully it won't rain. They weren't expecting rain today, but it was raining earlier today when I was out with my ILS worker running errands.

I bought a Krupps burr type coffee grinder today. I have been using ground coffee, but my coffee habit seems rather permanent now, so I thought I'd start using fresh ground whole bean instead. I was originally going to just get a cheap, $20 blade grinder, but this burr grinder was only $10 more, so I splurged. The only real extravagance was popping an extra $4 for a two year warranty plan, but these cheap burr type grinders have a rather high failure rate, so I considered it a good investment, in spite of the conventional wisdom that extended warranties are a waste of money. We'll see how long this thing lasts. I'm probably not going to be overly conscientious about cleaning it, which is one of the factors which contributes to premature failure of these cheap burr grinders. Hopefully I won't need the warranty, but I thought that in this case, it was better to be safe than sorry.

[Jello]

Absolutely buzzing because i get a new computer soon.

Shiny I 7 and a 1070? yes pls

[Joods]

Dealing with day 2 of an IBS flareup.

I don't understand why I can't just lose weight when these things happen. It'd be worth going through the pain if I actually lost some weight with these events. But no. I just continue to stay fat and ugly. As usual.

[Gwaithmir]

I'm going to take a brief nap, then watch a movie.

[Rev. Rye]

Watching I am Big Bird, a documentary about Caroll Spinney.

It turns out the life behind Big Bird is actually pretty dark. So far, I've got:

• He had an abusive father, although they eventually reconciled... to an extent anyway, since when Caroll said he had a good relationship with his father, he said "son, I think you have a bad memory."
  
• At a time when he fully expected his father to die, he got a call that someone died... and it was Jim Henson.
  
• He was racked with such self-doubt in the beginning that he seriously considered quitting Sesame Street before it premiered.
  
• Throughout much of the Seventies, he suffered from severe depression, spurred partly by having to deal with his first wife not caring about the puppeteering he poured his life into, and continuing long after that, and at one point, even contemplated suicide from jumping out his ninth-story window. Fortunately, he changed his mind after opening the window.
  
• Getting traumatised after ROTC students took a large enough number of feathers from the costume (putting them in their hats) that his hind quarters were bare and one of his eyes hung out. He described it as being like seeing your child getting raped and thrown in the gutter. I'm not sure if those were the exact words, but I'm sure that Spinney used the word "raped." Thank Jah the goose whose feather I've put in my hat was molting at the time.
  
• Perhaps the most disturbing part: At one point in the mid-eighties, there were talks between NASA and the Children's Television Workshop to send Big Bird into space. It turned out that the whole process of sending an eight-foot bird and his 5'10" puppeteer into space was way too complicated, especially when they had to deal with this (seriously, how does NASA design a proper spacesuit for Big Bird taking all this into account):
  
  
  Spinney was not sent into space, and it's a good thing, too, because the flight scheduled for Big Bird's visit did not go well.

You know, with the prospect of starting an accounting internship, and being terrified at the prospect, especially considering that they've closed the store this week, seeing how Carroll Spinney, who's been doing this job for FORTY-NINE YEARS going through similar anxieties when getting this job, helps give me some perspective.

[Jackalope]

The fuck I just read?

[Jackalope]

Venting my spleen on slack.

[Jackalope]

Dealing with day 2 of an IBS flareup.

I don't understand why I can't just lose weight when these things happen. It'd be worth going through the pain if I actually lost some weight with these events. But no. I just continue to stay fat and ugly. As usual.

Joods, PM me?