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I had a very generous job offer recently to move to Paris and teach at a bilingual Montessori school there. A former coworker I truly enjoyed working with would have been my hiring manager and colleague. She and her husband were willing to help us find housing, help us get settled, etc.
And we can't go, because we're committed to helping take care of Miz Daisy, my MiL.
Edit: clothed post. It's not in Montmartre.
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On a move away from everyone's favorite topic (getting the heck out of the U.S.), I bring you: Critiquing other's parenting! That's harmless, right?
As I mentioned last year, new neighbors practiced the whole, "Let babies cry," movement that has no foundation in science that I'm aware of. (Name one other primate species that leaves its young screaming in the nest for hours on end.)
So, it's been a year. How did that work out for them?
Our toddler neighbor is the whiniest, cryingist, screamingist kid I've ever been around. And I've been around some doozies. As far as I can tell, every time he comes out of the house, he's crying. It's at least half a dozen times a day that my musings are disrupted by his wailing outside my window. When he's not crying, he's whining loudly. And yes, he's old enough to be forming his first words, but he's still crying loudly enough to disturb the neighbors on an astonishingly frequent basis.
So, exactly how did that, "Let him cry," improve this situation? (Other than getting you more sleep?)
Elaborating a bit, it's, "Too many anchors, too much financial pain, not enough upside."
** spoiler omitted **...
Yeah, that's respectable. Completely understand. We're definitely in a much less stable situation and much more vulnerable demographics.
Hey there folks, in the process of our preparations for the Big Move, we have a bunch of books we need to get rid of. We're not really interested in making a profit or anything, but if you'd be so kind as to reimburse us for shipping, it'd make things much easier. Reply or PM me if you're interested in anything in particular! First come first serve.
Last night's Tomb of Annihilation session really epitomized why I hate this AP:
(1) Keep experimenting to try to find a delay mechanism so the party could stay together, or
(2) Have one person stay at the controls and rotate them on a timer.
Of course Shiro's group did (1), took tons of damage from setting off the traps, managed to survive, and then ran through the area on a timer, missing the deadliest rooms by sheer dumb luck (they out-and-out failed to open the deadliest room by ignorant omission). Our group did (2), chose me to be left behind, and opened the deadliest room. They barely managed to survive, but with no communication mechanism I'm cluelessly rotating them through the rest of the configurations.
So yeah, the entire party's going to die except for me. It'll be my character's fault. And there's literally no way in the as-written AP to avoid either having to survive a massive amount of damage from setting off the traps in the control room or splitting the party and likely killing those who go out.
Not a fan of, "The GM is an a*****e out to kill you, deal with it," APs.
If you could reasonably do so sooner I'd encourage it, but I completely understand the issues of work being a hangup until then.And it's over. I've turned in my keys, cleaned my classroom, took down everything. It hurt more than I expected.I am truly terrified of everything I'm going to have to say goodbye to when we leave the country. But at the rate health care costs are rising, we see no alternative other than to emigrate as soon as we retire.As I think I've mentioned, it's the "don't let the wealthy emigrate" tax:
(1) The U.S. is one of two countries in the world where if you don't relinquish your citizenship you owe U.S. income tax on all income earned worldwide. So technically, if Scint doesn't abandon her U.S. citizenship, she's still subject to U.S. income tax. The deduction is pretty high, however, so I suspect she'll be fine. We wouldn't be.
(2) So we'd have to give up our U.S. citizenships to not get taxed on our income. But we'd lose nearly $100k/year in Social Security plus we're subject to the exit tax, which would be back-breaking with our IRA and 401(k) balances.
So, in order to not lose our retirement, we need to stay U.S. citizens. And since our income is high enough to be subject to U.S. income tax even when working in other countries, ironically enough we're rich enough that we can't afford to emigrate until we no longer have an income; i.e. after we retire.
Yeah, I've already looked into the tax brackets, and if I've done my math right, we're still coming out ahead. My retirement was never going to be secure, even starting on my investing as early as I did. I really hate that my generation was raised with hope only to have it ripped away right as our careers were beginning.
I'm also just...glad to get rid of the house. Repair after repair without ever being taught to do any of it... It's too stressful and too expensive with contractors being unreliable at best.
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Yeah, I've already looked into the tax brackets, and if I've done my math right, we're still coming out ahead. My retirement was never going to be secure, even starting on my investing as early as I did. I really hate that my generation was raised with hope only to have it ripped away right as our careers were beginning.
You're talking to an early Gen Xer:
(1) "Social Security? It will be bankrupt well before you retire. And pensions were phased out in the 1970s. You're on your own."
(2) "Medicare? Don't make me laugh!"
(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"
And at least #3 has come true in spades. Check for Gen Xers at any level of government and we are grossly underrepresented. An article I saw last week was titled, "GenX: The biggest loser generation" and I was wondering how someone was going to shift the blame onto us, but the entire article was, "Before you complain about your generation, this is all the ways in which GenX was screwed over."
So yep. We're legendarily bitter.
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LOL. I'm listening to our India team talking about how important AI is in helping us do our jobs better, and I'm thinking of how just yesterday Impus Minor asked ChatGPT to generate an opening hook for his research essay on eyewitness reliability...
...and it gave him a side-splitting, over-the-top courtroom drama scene right out of Ace Attorney except for the fact that the defendant ended up shot dead on the courtroom floor because of the flawed eyewitness account of the victim's brother.
He, erm, chose not to use it for some reason...
Hey there folks, in the process of our preparations for the Big Move, we have a bunch of books we need to get rid of. We're not really interested in making a profit or anything, but if you'd be so kind as to reimburse us for shipping, it'd make things much easier. Reply or PM me if you're interested in anything in particular! First come first serve.
Well that was quick. All books are spoken for! Thanks those who expressed interest - see your PMs for responses!
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Yeah, I've already looked into the tax brackets, and if I've done my math right, we're still coming out ahead. My retirement was never going to be secure, even starting on my investing as early as I did. I really hate that my generation was raised with hope only to have it ripped away right as our careers were beginning.You're talking to an early Gen Xer:
(1) "Social Security? It will be bankrupt well before you retire. And pensions were phased out in the 1970s. You're on your own."
(2) "Medicare? Don't make me laugh!"
(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"
And at least #3 has come true in spades. Check for Gen Xers at any level of government and we are grossly underrepresented. An article I saw last week was titled, "GenX: The biggest loser generation" and I was wondering how someone was going to shift the blame onto us, but the entire article was, "Before you complain about your generation, this is all the ways in which GenX was screwed over."
So yep. We're legendarily bitter.
You do not summon The Latchkey Kids unless you have no other choice. We live on the edge of the woods for a reason.
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You do not summon The Latchkey Kids unless you have no other choice. We live on the edge of the woods for a reason.Yeah, I've already looked into the tax brackets, and if I've done my math right, we're still coming out ahead. My retirement was never going to be secure, even starting on my investing as early as I did. I really hate that my generation was raised with hope only to have it ripped away right as our careers were beginning.You're talking to an early Gen Xer:
(1) "Social Security? It will be bankrupt well before you retire. And pensions were phased out in the 1970s. You're on your own."
(2) "Medicare? Don't make me laugh!"
(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"
And at least #3 has come true in spades. Check for Gen Xers at any level of government and we are grossly underrepresented. An article I saw last week was titled, "GenX: The biggest loser generation" and I was wondering how someone was going to shift the blame onto us, but the entire article was, "Before you complain about your generation, this is all the ways in which GenX was screwed over."
So yep. We're legendarily bitter.
TRUTH. I knew three different ways to break into my mom's house without causing damage if I forgot my key.
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(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"
So, I posted this this morning. Then Impus Major came to me just now and pointed out that FIVE Democrat members of Congress have died in office in the last 12 months.
So yeah, the whole, "We would rather stay in our jobs and retain power 'til we keel over dead than gracefully step aside and let YOU lead," really resonates with Gen Xers for some reason...
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Hermione's middle school graduation was last night. Today is the last (half) day of school, and her grad party at Dave and Busters (it's a grown-up, expensive version of Chuck-E-Cheese).
This weekend, we are taking the kids to Scarborough Fair, our local Ren Fair, to celebrate her 14th birthday. They've never been to one.
Oh, and Sunday we have our 5E game.
The great thing about being very busy is I don't have time to be sad. She's gone to school with me every day since she was eleven weeks old. The first year, I carried her in a sling all day while I taught. It's going to be so weird next year.
I had a very generous job offer recently to move to Paris and teach at a bilingual Montessori school there. A former coworker I truly enjoyed working with would have been my hiring manager and colleague. She and her husband were willing to help us find housing, help us get settled, etc.
And we can't go, because we're committed to helping take care of Miz Daisy, my MiL.
Edit: clothed post. It's not in Montmartre.
Montmartre sounds like a place I should visit.
On a move away from everyone's favorite topic (getting the heck out of the U.S.), I bring you: Critiquing other's parenting! That's harmless, right?
As I mentioned last year, new neighbors practiced the whole, "Let babies cry," movement that has no foundation in science that I'm aware of. (Name one other primate species that leaves its young screaming in the nest for hours on end.)
So, it's been a year. How did that work out for them?
Our toddler neighbor is the whiniest, cryingist, screamingist kid I've ever been around. And I've been around some doozies. As far as I can tell, every time he comes out of the house, he's crying. It's at least half a dozen times a day that my musings are disrupted by his wailing outside my window. When he's not crying, he's whining loudly. And yes, he's old enough to be forming his first words, but he's still crying loudly enough to disturb the neighbors on an astonishingly frequent basis.
So, exactly how did that, "Let him cry," improve this situation? (Other than getting you more sleep?)
man. I haven't heard that phrase in a while.
I've been here for less than 40 minutes, and I've already seen 5 different people approach the front door, read where it says to "Swipe your key in the card reader to the right," and then immediately turn to their left to try and swipe their card in the Knox box.
Yup. That happened to me too my first time in a card reader hotel.
Hermione's middle school graduation was last night
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO
Hermione's middle school graduation was last night. Today is the last (half) day of school, and her grad party at Dave and Busters (it's a grown-up, expensive version of Chuck-E-Cheese).
This weekend, we are taking the kids to Scarborough Fair, our local Ren Fair, to celebrate her 14th birthday. They've never been to one.
Oh, and Sunday we have our 5E game.The great thing about being very busy is I don't have time to be sad. She's gone to school with me every day since she was eleven weeks old. The first year, I carried her in a sling all day while I taught. It's going to be so weird next year.
I cannot believe that in all our years together we never did a Ren Faire...
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(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"
So, I posted this this morning. Then Impus Major came to me just now and pointed out that FIVE Democrat members of Congress have died in office in the last 12 months.
So yeah, the whole, "We would rather stay in our jobs and retain power 'til we keel over dead than gracefully step aside and let YOU lead," really resonates with Gen Xers for some reason...
Enjoying beating on this dead horse for a bit, but as I think I've posted before, my dad was a fantastic example of this attitude: He loved his job and he couldn't imagine what he'd do if he ever retired, so when he turned 65 he became chairman of his department. When he reached mandatory retirement age of 70 he granted himself an exception. So he got to keep teaching 'til the day he died, giving himself a very satisfactory life...
...but...
...because he had such seniority, the department didn't have the budget to bring in anyone new -- he was literally making a double salary (full time employment plus full pension at 70). Because he was allowing himself to keep working, he let all his colleagues keep working.
Then he died. And the department that hadn't seen anyone new hired in over a decade completely collapsed and had to be rebuilt from scratch. It took them years to recover from his selfishness. So sure, he did right for him, but he completely hosed hundreds of students who came to his university hoping to major in his department but who couldn't, 'cause he'd destroyed it through selfishness.
Seems like such a parallel with our current government...
I cannot believe that in all our years together we never did a Ren Faire...Hermione's middle school graduation was last night. Today is the last (half) day of school, and her grad party at Dave and Busters (it's a grown-up, expensive version of Chuck-E-Cheese).
This weekend, we are taking the kids to Scarborough Fair, our local Ren Fair, to celebrate her 14th birthday. They've never been to one.
Oh, and Sunday we have our 5E game.The great thing about being very busy is I don't have time to be sad. She's gone to school with me every day since she was eleven weeks old. The first year, I carried her in a sling all day while I taught. It's going to be so weird next year.
I can. We were perpetually broke.
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I can. We were perpetually broke.I cannot believe that in all our years together we never did a Ren Faire...Hermione's middle school graduation was last night. Today is the last (half) day of school, and her grad party at Dave and Busters (it's a grown-up, expensive version of Chuck-E-Cheese).
This weekend, we are taking the kids to Scarborough Fair, our local Ren Fair, to celebrate her 14th birthday. They've never been to one.
Oh, and Sunday we have our 5E game.The great thing about being very busy is I don't have time to be sad. She's gone to school with me every day since she was eleven weeks old. The first year, I carried her in a sling all day while I taught. It's going to be so weird next year.
You know darned well that wouldn't have stopped us. But I can see, "No, Shiro, you don't get to pay for everything again."
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Some habits get so ingrained they can have hilarious results.
GothBard came in and just barely managed to stop herself as she started to lay into me for leaving a box cutter out where the Fluffernutter could reach it.
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The utter agony of watching someone try to re-implement a requirement just because it's "always been" a requirement:
Can you help us build a rule that checks for any spaces in the field and, if there are any, generates an error and notifies users that spaces aren't allowed?
In short, we built a proper modern application that handles special characters correctly and they're asking us to undo that so they can refuse to accept spaces.
Grr...
Hermione's middle school graduation was last night. Today is the last (half) day of school, and her grad party at Dave and Busters (it's a grown-up, expensive version of Chuck-E-Cheese).
This weekend, we are taking the kids to Scarborough Fair, our local Ren Fair, to celebrate her 14th birthday. They've never been to one.
Do they provide the complete Scarborough experience by boarding up 3/4s of the booths, scattering the ground with empty takeaway cartons and bottles of white cider, then staging a three-way fight in a force 10 gale between a stag party, a coachload of OAPs, and a rabid flock of seagulls?
Hey Drejk:
I have to make myself a Discord handle for a game that I'm joining. Which Polish female diminutive suffix would be the best to use with Worf?
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Wouldn't it be "Son of Mogh"?Hey Drejk:
I have to make myself a Discord handle for a game that I'm joining. Which Polish female diminutive suffix would be the best to use with Worf?
I went with Worfka.
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Worfa or Worfia (the latter implying a degree of youth), Worfka, Worfina (often used to create feminine names derived from male ones - Jozefina, Janina), or Worfowa (which would be more suitable for wife of Worf, sort of Mrs. Worf).
If you want to go nuts, you could use Worfula, Worfichka, or Worfena.
If you want to go nuts, you could use Worfula, Worfichka, or Worfena.
Lisichka is what the Ersatz Russian calls me.
Do they provide the complete Scarborough experience by boarding up 3/4s of the booths, scattering the ground with empty takeaway cartons and bottles of white cider, then staging a three-way fight in a force 10 gale between a stag party, a coachload of OAPs, and a rabid flock of seagulls?Hermione's middle school graduation was last night. Today is the last (half) day of school, and her grad party at Dave and Busters (it's a grown-up, expensive version of Chuck-E-Cheese).
This weekend, we are taking the kids to Scarborough Fair, our local Ren Fair, to celebrate her 14th birthday. They've never been to one.
Hopefully not.
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"There are 2 kinds of outdoors people: Those who want to save the environment, and those who want to eat the environment."
Amazingly enough, throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Sierra Club and NRA/hunter's groups got along very well because they both wanted the same thing: A pristine wilderness. Just for different purposes.
That kind of went out the window...
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Drove to Indianapolis for Sessanta v2 tour yesterday. That was one of the best concerts I've ever been to.
Sessanta = A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus. However, they do not each play a set with long breaks between bands. Nope. They weave in and out every few songs, no breaks, and eventually you start noticing different members playing in different bands...until eventually it just doesn't matter and everybody is on stage.
Then the unfortunate part was I chose to drive straight home. That wasn't best.
As a side note, not only is the highway through gran's town a giant construction zone, so is the next major town over...all the way through to the state line.
I almost stopped at a certain hotel on the way back, but I remembered it's Memorial Day weekend and it would take longer to find a room than it would to just drive the rest of the way home.
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Sophie is at her new home.
Orthos and I are not doing well.
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Sophie is at her new home.
Orthos and I are not doing well.
*Hugs*
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Sophie is at her new home.
Orthos and I are not doing well.
Big hugs to you both.
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Fantasy Monster: Pillar of Frost And Flame...
Air gets colder the closer you get to this pillar of living flame...
TRUTH. I knew three different ways to break into my mom's house without causing damage if I forgot my key.You do not summon The Latchkey Kids unless you have no other choice. We live on the edge of the woods for a reason.Yeah, I've already looked into the tax brackets, and if I've done my math right, we're still coming out ahead. My retirement was never going to be secure, even starting on my investing as early as I did. I really hate that my generation was raised with hope only to have it ripped away right as our careers were beginning.You're talking to an early Gen Xer:
(1) "Social Security? It will be bankrupt well before you retire. And pensions were phased out in the 1970s. You're on your own."
(2) "Medicare? Don't make me laugh!"
(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"
And at least #3 has come true in spades. Check for Gen Xers at any level of government and we are grossly underrepresented. An article I saw last week was titled, "GenX: The biggest loser generation" and I was wondering how someone was going to shift the blame onto us, but the entire article was, "Before you complain about your generation, this is all the ways in which GenX was screwed over."
So yep. We're legendarily bitter.
Technically a Millennial (born 1985) but definitely a Latchkey Kid growing up. Well, in the sense that we were used to coming home to an empty house a few hours before the parents would be home for work. We lived out in the country and often just didn't bother locking our doors.
I feel like I should have super powers…