regarding Ed Sheeran being a fuckass coward, Palestine
Remote
Steph (slightly better version)
@astronomerritt@hachyderm.io
mastodon 4.7.3Former astronomer and ex-academic in recovery; current k-pop stan and ADHD non-binary lefty nuisance. They/them. British-Irish, born in England, long-term resident of the occupied north of Ireland. Living proof that having a PhD doesn't make you more sensible or interesting than anyone else.
Rarely serious, often swearing.
I also write novels (badly), play video games (somewhat competently), code in Python (pretty well actually), and accumulate new hobbies (with more enthusiasm than skill).
2259 Followers
604 Following
50 Posts
Joined September 22, 2023
pronouns:
they/them
current hair colour:
pale pink
Replying to
“I can’t afford to pay an artist!”
Well, I can’t afford a car, but that doesn’t mean I get to let a robot steal enough car parts from other people to frankenstein me one.
Use stock images, learn yourself, or go without.
Replying to
The leader of the Conservative Party is backing Binface. You can’t make it up.
I like the thing where you're learning a new skill and on one day you will be struggling with a thing and you can't seem to get it right and literally the NEXT day you will sit down and immediately nail it. Brains are interesting!
Replying to
Latest development. Technically, MPs can’t resign, only request to be appointed to a symbolic role which bars them from the Commons, which can be denied by the sitting government.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves had this to say:
Okay, well, I am provisionally back already, because I missed people. I have unfollowed all the hashtags I was following and culled my follow list to folk I actually interact with and I am going to see if I can stop being such an angry little wasp.
Replying to
My garden philosophy is that the patio gets weeded, and the paths get weeded, and anything growing too close to next door’s garden gets politely weeded, and everything else will be assessed on a case-by-case basis where “is it a weed” will not be taken into account because “weed” is a silly definition anyway.
I automatically mute anyone who is using AI “art” to promote their stuff, and that is in part a moral stance, but it is also an aesthetic one, because the vast majority of AI art is ugly as hell.
just had a random flashback to the time I was in an airport waiting for check-in to open for my flight and a man sitting near me was eating a jar of pasta sauce with his fingers
Today I wish a minor curse on all of those Redditors who will respond to a post by a non-native English speaker asking for help to pick an English name with “just use your real name! people can learn how to pronounce it!!! you don’t have to change it your real name is lovely!!!!!”
It’s a minor curse because these people clearly have good intentions and don’t realise they’re being horrendously paternalistic.
I enjoy that my Pokémon character can, like me, run about looking scruffy and tired in a giant ugly cardigan.
I saw my parents' girl cat for the first time in nearly two months today and she was absolutely beside herself. She ran right at me, yelling at the top of her little cat lungs, and demanded I sit down so she could bonk me with her head a million times.
I thought she might do a Performative Cat Sulk but nope, nothing but love and yells and headbutts.
I am, as predicted, very drunk. My friend from uni was, as usual, effervescent and lovely. A good time was had at all times. Now I am home with my partner being fed. Excellent.
In bed with my partner absolutely cackling over the time we recited the Lord’s Prayer together to see if we still remembered it. Turns out the Catholic version is a couple of lines shorter so when they stopped and I kept going they were APPALLED.
They were like “EXCUSE me?” and I was like “wait, you lot just stop there? without a proper sign-off? that’s so rude!” and they were like “it’s a prayer, not a formal business letter, you don’t have to ‘yours sincerely’ God!”
We’re both atheists, you understand.
me: why is it, right, that you’re an introvert but your hobby is music, which is usually a collaborative process? and I’m an extrovert and I’m a writer, which is very solitary?
partner, after a long pause: I think we might hate ourselves.
All right, new Dad Lore just dropped.
My parents were on holiday in Portugal recently, in a resort town they go to often, and during the Spain v. Portugal match their favourite bar was short-staffed and absolutely rammed.
So my dad gets up and starts collecting glasses. And then he “somehow ends up behind the bar pulling pints”. Which he did for free, because it needed doing, and there is some bar work in the misty annals of his past, so I suppose it’s like riding a bike.
The next day he walked into the bar and the owner called his name with delight. “You! I’ve got your uniform here!”
So now my dad owns a staff polo shirt for a bar in Portugal.
No more Reddit for me today. Too many “aspiring writers” who say they don’t read much or don’t enjoy reading and it makes me want to boil my own head.
I showed my partner the trailer for the new Sense and Sensibility film. some quotes:
“why do we need another one? we’ve got the Ang Lee one! with Emma Thompson! we don’t need another one!”
“is that her from Where The Crawdads Sing? Willoughby better not go up any towers with her”
“wait. Steph. WHY DO THESE WOMEN ALL HAVE THEIR HAIR DOWN.”
“why do people make period films when they don’t care about the PERIOD”
genuinely I am so proud of them 🥲
Replying to
Anyway, I have patio dandelions, which is annoying, because I don’t want patio dandelions. I want dandelions in the bits of my garden that aren’t the patio. So now I have to wage a reluctant war on the patio dandelions.
I am pretty sure the dandelions will win.
changed my display name in honour of my nephew calling me “bro” all the time
alcohol
Last day of catsitting. I’m going to go home and give my gaming PC a huge smooch.
Really tempted to fire up another playthrough of Final Fantasy IX (aka the Greatest Game Of All Time), but then you lot would have to put up with my inevitable toots about its existentialist and anti-authoritarian themes, plus the bitching that Final Fantasy VII, an INFERIOR GAME, is the one that got the extended universe and remake trilogy, and maybe I want to spare you all from that.
the Girl Cat scared the crap out of me. she was stretched out on my lap chilling and she started having these rhythmic chest spasms. they didn’t seem to be bothering her but they were really strong and shook her whole body. so I was frantically googling symptoms when the spasms just stopped and it occurred to me:
the bloody cat had hiccups.
reminiscing with my partner about a rather elderly and extremely sarcastic emeritus professor who taught us at undergrad for a couple of modules
he once got bored of a derivation in the middle, handed the chalk to a student, told him to finish it off, then sat in his seat and heckled him.
he used to answer his phone in the middle of a lecture to talk to his cleaner in atrocious Spanish.
he used to make very dry jokes telling us to sign our name on the attendance sheet “unless you’re a Manchester United supporter, then you can just put an X”.
he was still somehow one of the best lecturers we had.
Catsitting for my parents means we spend more time in the same room (their house is TINY), so here is a list of music my partner has put on today:
Periphery (fine)
Steve Roach (relaxing)
Massive Attack (excellent)
Skinny Puppy (great)
Justice (awesome)
Big improvement on yesterday’s endless jazz fusion. I will await further musical developments.
#WritersCoffeeClub 10th May: What wisdom do you wish you could share with your younger self?
Stop paying attention to common writing advice, it’s all holding you back. You don’t need to outline, you don’t need to care about structure or pacing before you start, you don’t need reams of organised notes, you don’t need fancy writing software, you don’t need to do the “messy first draft” and you don’t need to hew to either side of the plotter vs. pantser dichotomy.
It’s going to be 24C and muggy today so I probably shouldn’t wear this vintage black lace maxi dress out, especially since I will also be binding and wearing platform boots, but on the other hand… I wanna, so I guess I’ll melt.
I won’t care after the first couple drinks anyhow.
Replying to
and yes I do find it very funny that I apparently need to be very meaningful and passionate about a story that starts with someone feeding corpses into a grinder
but the thing is, I write these things because of what I believe. the world is dark and grim and fucking ridiculous. and yet, there are still things within us that the darkness cannot eat.
injury, mild
My partner and I are playing escape room puzzles on the Switch with my nephew. The kid is SMART. I’m great at puzzle games and twice now he’s gotten the answer to a puzzle while I’ve still been puzzling it out.
Currently trying to decide what to do with ~8yrs of notes and printed papers and miscellany from my time as an astronomer. It would be a wrench to get rid of all this.
Fediverse! Anyone aware of any decent free resources that one might use as a refresher on SQL? I will need to look for a job soon and while I am still confident that I could write Python with my eyes closed, I do feel I need to brush up on my SQL skills.
Replying to
@DJDarren My dad couldn't cut his shortlist down to less than three this week, so now I feel like I am suggesting Too Many Songs and should be punished, perhaps by being forced to listen to that one Geri Halliwell track again.
From me, in honour of Sir David's tireless efforts to bring attention to climate change:
Dreamcatcher - MAISON (a k-pop song about climate change!)
Bryan Adams - Don't Drop That Bomb On Me (an incredibly corny song about climate change! also war)
Levellers - Three Friends (a folk-punk song about climate change! about the Moon and Sun watching the Earth die! cheerful!!)
From Papa Irish:
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse In Your Soul (he's been desperate to suggest this for ages so forgive the tenuous "bird" connection)
Hank Mizzel - Jungle Rock
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (I can't talk him out of this, I'm so sorry)
#ThePlaylistSuggestion
Replying to
@DJDarren My partner (a second-hand listener) would also like to suggest The Black Dahlia Murder - Statutory Ape, though they said it might be a bit "much".
#ThePlaylistSuggestion
Replying to
@purplepadma@beige.party @Peternimmo@mastodon.scot …what on earth makes them think folk with ADHD or anxiety don’t have medical evidence? I think the multiple doctors, consultants and nurses involved in my care would find this bizarre.
Replying to
shhhh
he’s sleepin
Replying to
@alicemcalicepants@ohai.social I feel you. I set Coheed and Cambria's Gravemakers and Gunslingers as my phone alarm during one of the worst periods of my life and now every time I hear the intro I get a horrible jolt of dread.
Replying to
@Mark_Harbinger@mastodon.social I genuinely notice the eye colours of most people I meet, I’m afraid! Maybe it’s *because* I’m a writer, though 😆
Replying to
@swisslet yes EXCELLENT
Replying to
@woe2you you should put the hashtag on your post so it gets collected by Darren's robot!
Replying to
@RyeNCode@mstdn.ca distressingly relatable!! 😆
Replying to
@DJDarren That’s more or less what I told them.
Replying to
@DJDarren most excellent of you! He will be pleased.