Scintillae's page

half a page of poorly-formatted rambly writing that ends with "thank u for reading have a nice day :)"

...I can't give you more points for politeness, but I appreciate it?

Not doing well. Writing up Sophie's profile for adoption hurt. Seeing her happy face demanding pets after posting it twisted the knife.

I feel like a monster, and it's going to hurt just as much when we finally give her away, either to a family or back to the shelter.

I hate this so much.

NobodysHome wrote:

I am... bemused.

I'm old enough and cynical enough to laugh at/scorn Tik Tok "life hacks" as only a Gen Xer can. "Really? You call that a 'hack'? Did you parents give you a trophy when you learned to tie your own shoes? Or can you do that yet?"

In seriousness: No, their parents didn't, because their parents probably never taught them that. They're young adults and late teens learning all this stuff on their own from the collective work of their peers and/or from doing research on the internet, and sharing what they discover back into that collective work.

We shouldn't be mocking and jeering them. We should be pointing at them and saying "They're doing what their parents should have done years ago - educating and improving themselves and learning new things - and choosing to share it with others rather than keep it to themselves."

GenX, and some of the older Millennials, are the ones failing to teach them these things in the first place - the TikTok self-educated "hack" trends are happening because someone in those older brackets failed to pass that education along somewhere earlier in their lives, and they had to learn it for themselves somehow.

The number of times my dad has made fun of me for not knowing how to do something he never taught me...

Uh, they're clearly related to horseshoes.

The fun thing about the cat being out of the bag is getting kids to admit that they're gonna miss the puns.

On the one hand, trying not to post gripefests any more. On the other, FFS:

I get paid identity theft protection from my company. This year, they said I could add my kids. I just tried. Nope. The identity theft protection company does not accept hyphens in last names.

So apparently roughly 10% of the U.S. population isn't eligible for identity protection, 'cause the protection bots use exact string matches.

Oh, well...

This looks like a job for Little Bobby Tables.

Ahh, explaining minor word differences to children.

"Google was founded in the 90s" vs. "Google was found in the 90s." Apparently, we just picked up a rock or something.

I've been offered a position teaching English and Debate in China.

"Why doesn't Victor just kill the monster?"
"Do you honestly think he could?"
"I mean, yeah, it's possible."
"I didn't ask if it was possible. I asked if you thought Victor could do it."
"Oh. Not really."

I am 3 for 3 on classes that thought a toy poodle meant a toy that was a poodle and not just a tiny dog.

All I asked was if the sentence Geoff gave his dog—a toy poodle—a Viking helmet to make her look intimidating. was punctuated correctly.

"Why would he give his dog a toy poodle?"
"No, he's putting a hat on a toy."
"That makes even less sense!"

hissssssss

I am losing the ability to keep time zones straight with all these interviews.

"The problem with calling the creature 'Frankenstein' is that it means Victor accepted him. He doesn't."

"Got it. So do we call Victor Dr. Frankenstein, then?"
"No, we call him College Dropout Frankenstein. Dr Pepper has more claim to the title."

So...they thought I was serious and turned in a paper with the phrase "When College dropout Frankenstein brought the Creature to life," and I almost choked.

Let's see if I can knock out these writing prompts over plan. They're short, so I can probably make good progress.

first paper is titled 'Frenkenstine'

Nope. Time to do literally anything else.

I don't know. When your research project on bringing back the dead is itself qualified to sit on the review board, I think you've earned that doctorate.

Undergrad: Can you memorize information spoon fed from a text book?

Grad: Can you figure out what people on the forefront of a subject are telling each other in research papers?

Doctor: Can you wretch new information out of the universe itself ?

TA: Um, sorry to interrupt, Professors, but the dissertation has taken one of the secretaries hostage and is screaming, "Why can't I know love?"

"The problem with calling the creature 'Frankenstein' is that it means Victor accepted him. He doesn't."
"Got it. So do we call Victor Dr. Frankenstein, then?"
"No, we call him College Dropout Frankenstein. Dr Pepper has more claim to the title."

Yeah, I'm pretty amazed I didn't get some horrific spore-borne brain disease between the ages of 11 and 15. I guess that which does not kill us just makes our mothers really mad and nauseous.

That which does not kill us will be cited as mitigating circumstances for the defendant in their trial for our murder.

There is nothing half so demoralizing as "helping" my son clean out his room.

The missing silverware behind his desk.
The dirty plates in drawers.
The food stashed underneath the mattress.
Are all tween boys this feral, or am I lucky?

Every junior high scholars bowl meet this year included at least one request from me that they stop talking about cannibalism. So.....

"If APA had existed then, Frankenstein might not have had a plot" may be the strangest sentence I've ever uttered.

Someone brought "My Immortal" for their Prose entry.

The absolute 'Nam flashbacks...

I think I'm done with my final portfolio for this class, which has me finished a week early.

8-week modules are exhausting.

"So, where did the Creature go?"
"...it left?"
"Yeah...what would be your reaction?"
"This is bad."
continues reading Victor's reaction of "Oh, sweet, not my problem"
"Why is Frankenstein stupid, Ms. Scint?"

Please just shoot me.

Vibe Coding

No, no, Vany, this is a good thing! Now you can just say that you can't fix a stupid problem because the energy isn't right and requisition some essential oils to rub on the server or something, and management will have to accept it.

Extemp practice
Student: I'll go with the middle one. points to "Should drug cartels be on the list of international terrorist organizations?"
Me: Doing drugs today, got it. pause I cannot explain how much I wanted the principal to walk in for that.
Student: Oh, no...

"Ms. Scint, why do websites have UK English and US English? Are they that different?"
"If I told you 'I got biscuit crumbs on my jumper,' what does that mean?"
"...uhhhhhh"
"They're pretty different."

"Marriage in Shakespeare's day was HELLISH fr and not the best."

Kid, there's a reason we talk about formal vs. informal tone...

"Prometheus was a Greek titan who stole fire from the workshop of Hepatitis."

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

GNU, John. A man is not truly dead so long as his name is spoken.

Kids: talking about the Superbowl ...had the worst defense of all time.
Me: Not as bad as the Maginot Line! fingerguns
(awkward pause)
Kid: ...huh?
Me: ...right. You haven't gotten to WWII yet. deflates and sits back down

Could be worse. Could be wow-wow sauce.

"Two houses, both alike in dignity" does not establish the level of dignity they both claim. Though it is usually assumed to be high, it could in fact be extremely low. Thus, an adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" featuring the two houses as rival clown troupes would not be in opposition to the original text.

Or as the Hatfields and McCoys.

I actively refer to the Grangerford-Shepherdson feud in Huck Finn as "redneck Romeo and Juliet."

Got derailed for a full 5 minutes talking about modern adaptations of various Shakespeare plays. Kinda pleasantly surprised at how into it a couple of the kids seemed.

This is probably super obvious to people already through with grad school, but discovering typos in the APA citation provided by the academic journal I'm using is upsetting me.

How do you misspell the author's name you're typing this two inches above his name this is a peer-reviewed journal

Struggling today. Round 3 interview is scheduled tonight, and I'm optimistic. But we can't take Sophie with us. We'll need to find her a new home, and it's killing me to think about the betrayal she's going to feel.

I hate this so much.

Well, the new frying pan really seems interested.

The best part of this conversation is how nobody blinked at "Britaining" as a verb.

Ah, English.

Just gonna point out that everyone perfectly understood what I meant by it.

Actually, it would have. That was about the time Britain was Britaining over in India, so they could get cotton more cheaply. Lock the British Empire into only buying Indian cotton, and the South loses a huge cash influx. No morals involved, just pure economics. No embargo, just shopping "local." So the thinking isn't that bizarre; you're just a good person assuming that the people involved were also thinking altruistically.

The good news about having anxiety and depression my entire life is that I know how to operate at a base level of existential despair.

Kid DM didn't show, so improv session happened. I think they forgot that I'm a troll.

Well, that ended that shortly and sweetly.

Requestor CC'ed our acting VP on her initial request, most likely to try to pressure me to do something quickly.

*I* tried to be polite. VP didn't.

"NobodysHome is 100% correct. What you are doing is wrong. In fact, it is so wrong that we should meet to discuss what you're actually trying to do..."

Oops. Maybe, just maybe you should think before including upper management on your stupid requests...

You love to see it.

Vanykrye wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

I know Vany will feel this across the void:

Far Too Many Admins

Erm...they want to make the default user an admin?

No.

I have spoken.

NH: "No admin access for default user."

Whoever asked for it: "But, please."
NH: "No. The internet dragon said so."
Whoever asked for it: "What's an intern..."
NH: "INTERNET DRAGON SAY NO ADMIN ACCESS! ALL HAIL INTERNET DRAGON!!"
NH's manager: "Buddy, we need to talk."

"I know we push a unique passcode for everything, but if you've reached the hoarding stage..."

AD and I made the call this morning to cancel next week's meet due to low registration — pretty much entirely blizzard-induced due to everyone losing the first week of school and prep/practice time — and look for a date to reschedule. I sent out the email first thing this morning and felt like crap.

Literally every reply on the chain has been incredibly supportive and understanding. "I'm so sorry!" "That's unfortunate; let us know the new date." "That happened to me last year. Don't worry about it."

Debate and forensics are stressful as hell, but the community is so worth it.

I gave the kids an IXL assignment to correct grammatical errors in signs, and it's backfiring by giving me an aneurysm whenever I see the images as I circulate to help.

It has also revealed my weakness: I cannot spell restaraunt restauraunt diner to save my life.

demonstrates an impromptu speech for junior high
"Anyone else want to try?"
awkward silence
"...uh, sure."
kid does okay
"Thank you! You get a Jolly Rancher for putting yourself out there. Anyone else?"
half the class is suddenly interested

I swear these things are made of crack.

Kinda the problem with letting the robber barons drive the stagecoach.

NobodysHome wrote:

Vanykrye wrote:

No, that graduation was in my neck of the woods. Unfortunately, even though we were in the same town at the same time it just didn't work out to meet up.

It's where you're flying from that matters -- the booking agencies have been "caught" jacking up prices for people from more "affluent" areas such as San Francisco. So if you and Freehold stayed at the same place it'd be interesting for you to compare prices. The exposé was on sites such as Booking.com cranking up their rates for people booking out of San Francisco, but I'm sure they do similar things to New Yorkers.

Misunderstood. Thought we were talking about hotels still. No, it was definitely easy driving distance for me. gran may have unknowingly met Freehold though.

"The hell is this room service request, 'be delivered by a milkmaid'?"

"Is Italy in Europe?"

My mouse is wireless. I can't use it as a noose.

"Ugh, why am I getting all these results about Muslims?!"
"Hon, your topic was 'Christian-Islamic relations in the Renaissance.'"
"Yeah, they're not supposed to date. What does that-"
"Your research topic for Othello is 'how did Christian and Islamic nations get along?' You're gonna get those results."
"But I said Islam-"
"...Muslims...follow Islam. You're basically saying 'I looked up Baptist, what's all this Christian stuff coming up?'"
"Oooooh."

Can we get another week of snow. Please.

NobodysHome wrote:

It's amazing what being honest with a teenager will do for you.

The problem is that that conflicts with way too many parents' positions that a child should defer to their authority without question.

I have some lovely music to recommend your parents.