Street art in London.
#StreetArt #Gaffiti
Remote
Book
@book@beige.party
mastodon 4.6.6A quiet they/them. Tea enjoyer. #QueerMedia consumer, #Bookstodon lover, #jazz enthusiast, guitar and cello player, #manga reader, game player, #math dabbler, #philosophy lover, digital art attempter, bad tummy haver, hug wanter, #Bonkwave evangelist.
EN/普通话/ES okay.
558 Followers
917 Following
50 Posts
Joined June 07, 2024
Currently listening to:
Codes in the Clouds
pronouns:
they/them
Studying:
Logic, digital art, creative writing.
What do they consume?:
Tea. Peanut Butter. Complex sounds.
Have you weirdos (affectionate) heard of Hidden Orchestra? I hadn't until a few days ago.
https://hiddenorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/wingbeats
IT'S RAINING!!!
Do any of you have recommendations of books or documentaries about Appalacia/Eastern Rust Belt?
I want to know its history, why the area got so rich, then so poor, why the whole place has been left to rust, and why the people there keep voting against their interests.
#Bookstodon #Recommendations #AskAnAmerican #Appalacia #RustBelt
Happy Birthday, Professor - STORYTIME
===
Several years ago, I met an aged professor of philosophy from Jinan Teachers' University. It was happenstance; a friend had an important, ritual-filled family meal at an exclusive restaurant and wanted me there for 'moral support'.
I sat next to this 85-year-old thinker, grandfather of the one who invited me, and I didn't think we'd talk all that much. I was the only white face there anyway: More "we have a white friend" one-up-manship than actual friends. After we were assigned seats (again, ritualistic) we sat and made furtive small-talk. Hello, I'm X from Y, it's a pleasure to meet you, etc. etc.
The old man quietly got out an old box with faded text written in clerical script, placed it on his lap, and pulled out a bottle. Then, he offered me a glass of old and rare rice wine.
The restaurant, the wine's box, the bottle, the serving china, the way he asked; it all said: "This is special."
I accepted - it's rude to refuse - and took a sip. The power hit me like a trans-Siberian train. Being white, I showed this on my face. Chinese people are very good at not showing emotion. Anyway, after the initial shock, the flavour settled into something austere and quite profound. I remember staring at the drink in the tiny glass for quite some time until the prof gently touched my arm; almost unsure of his 'place' in the table hierarchy vis-à-vis race. He asked a simple question:
"Were you present when you drank my wine?"
...
Can you feel the portent of that question? There was a way to experience this drink. With expectation, without guidance. And while the offering was in my hands, it remained, by his question, his. I told him, apologetically, I was not.
"Where were you, my new friend?" He smiled at me. The wall fell.
I was in my mind; trying to wear the face of what I expected in such a time and place, with such people, as to bring as much harmony to proceedings as possible while leaving the least of footprints. "I was trying to be what you (pl) wanted."
"You can get lost in the ocean, but the river tracts true. Here, with me, you are on the river."
We met many times after that. I was studying in Beijing, he teaching in Jinan, so it was quite a distance for me, and worse for him due to age, but once a month, we'd meet. We'd talk. We'd share our cultures, our languages, our moralities, modalities, and incentives. What he lived through would shock most. To him, they all "aided in his life-long education".
He died four months before I left China. I wasn't invited to the funeral; I never found out why. Shame. It would have been an honour to say goodbye to such a thought-proking natural teacher, a humble being of compassion, a person who broke barriers with such grace.
Today was his birthday.
#HappyBirthday #Philosophy
My tummy hurts and I'm a little pissy. I am requesting movie recommendations. Here's what I like:
-Queer
-Soft
-Cerebral
-Psychological
-Indie/off-beat/beatnik
...but i am open to pretty much anything, in any language.
#FilmRecs #Film #MovieRecs
There has been a distinct lack of Bonk today. And it's knocking on midnight.
Time to dream to The Bonk™️.
https://bonkknobrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-four-seasons-of-bonk-wave-autumn-waves-1
Today, colours seem brighter.
This floof is the marble fox. Selectively bred for appearances, they are the descendants of, we think, the red fox and the arctic fox. They still live under the vulpes vulpes name.
Solitary creatures, they are extremely wild, opportunistic, and quite curious. They don't make good pets. Maybe they don't want your pets.
Shame. I bet they feel awesome.
#MarbleFox
Replying to
@ravensrod@mstdn.social @DoubleTreble@cupoftea.social Hokay, I'll get the kettle on. Bickie?
Boosted by @GroupNebula563@mastodon.social
I am so glad my mastodon feed has so little World Cup stuff; even without filters. The only time I hear of it is when a new, entirely predictable and down-played tragedy happens. Or the Mango Mussolini opens his cockhole.
I received a small collection of fabric swatches. I wanted to see which pretty sofa I could get that would match the new colour scheme, but being poor, all I could do is get swatches and dream.
I'll still do something with these.
I'm way too late to the party on this, but I just found out Radiohead composed a Bond theme song, but was ultimately rejected for Sam Smith's "Writing's On The Wall". According to what I've been reading, justifications range from politics, to "too much Radiohead in the song", to marketability.
This doesn't take away from Smith's song. It's a good song, and it's performed brilliantly. Radiohead's Spectre is better.
I just heard it and it is rich, dense, unforgiving, progressive, and unmistakingly Bond.
Hang on; some schmuk/nerd/audiosexual (affectionate) would have written on this.
Replying to
@davidgerard@circumstances.run I don't understand the incongruence. What have they done, and why is everyone leaving? /gen
Replying to
@jackeric@beige.party @arrjay@tacobelllabs.net @SwiftOnSecurity@infosec.exchange Oh, I really need to know how you achieved all those, but I am intimidated af
Replying to
@quixoticgeek@social.v.st I request a cube of aluminium. I will purchase such a clunk of metal.
Replying to
@theleftistlawyer@mastodon.social You boss it, sis. Show the hetero-patriarchy based people have a place in today's fascistic system, and that place is right in they faces!
Replying to
@ahihi initially I thought this said glitchy distorted breakfast, and I was so ready for new munch!
I panicked in town. I lost my keys. Friend with spare won't answer.
Now, wondering if to call locksmith.
So, last night, just before bed, I noticed the crystal (glass fascia) of my watch had fogged over.
Shit. It's a 50+-year-old Omega.
I took it into town today. Being a "Fine City", there are jewellers aplenty. One of them will be able to diagnose.
Place one: I was dressed too scruffy to go in.
Place two: (with watch in hand and not bag this time) A grandma welcomed me in, took my watch, looked on her iPad, and quoted £60 for diagnostics, and £580 for a full service sans parts.
Place three: "We don't service Omegas any longer."
Bugger all this for a bickie: I took a walk over to my usual hierologist. He's loud as fuck but knows what he's doing.
He took the back off, noticed a bunch of water, and found a broken O-ring around the crown. Since it's coming up to service time anyway (every 5 years), he said he'll do a full service for £250. And "pay him whenever".
My heart.
Replying to
@endeavorance@astral.camp Sentence fragment.
People are doing this a lot recently. Is it a game?
I just found this badge on the floor outside a high school.
#Norwich #TheKidsAreAlright
Oh.
Someone has remixed the F1 theme song they commissioned 6 (?) years ago.
Another reason to not like F1 of late, nej?
Tres cosas buenas
-
A cleaned up a large part of a friend's garden, somewhat ready for a yearly inspection. For my efforts I was rewarded...
-
...an old, huge laptop on to which I shall be installing a media server.
-
I saw a very good boy 🐕
Norfolk elected a new Police & Crime Commissioner yesterday. The Reform candidate won by more than 15,000 votes.
17% turnout.
...
Bawls.
#Norfolk #NorfolkPCC #UKpol
Boiled parsnips = bleugh 
Steamed parsnips = meh 
Roasted parsnips = god tier munch 
Steamed parsnips = meh
Roasted parsnips = god tier munch Replying to
@aspeed@lgbtqia.space @setmeravelles@lgbtqia.space how do you manage the repetitive noises?
Replying to
@robpike@hachyderm.io you, and others like you, are exactly the ones to question it, gramps. You, and the academics and the ethicists and professors and unions and legislators.
And we should listen.
Replying to
@internetarchive@mastodon.archive.org The Voting Rights Act is effectively dead. How long until they come after this?
I got paid this morning. Just shy of £2000 in the bank. Woohoo!
Rent, five weeks of munch, toiletries, prescriptions, new (re: higher) energy rates, internet, phone, 4x bus fares,...
#CapitalismSucks #ToTheCore
Tree Gaod Tangs
- I have a massage this morning. I even got a discount! I know not why.
- I wrote 8 pages of dense legal paperwork in a very bitchy tone backed up with fact and reference. (Note: remove Bitch before sending)
- I cooked, cleaned, did laundry, changed bed, a spent the rest of the day in my undercrackers. Bliss!
Merz regime changes Germany's sick leave policy. Sick note required from day one.
What's the betting that next winter, doctors' surgeries are packed full of people requiring little to no treatment, but clog up the system for a piece of paper?
...
Does anyone actually *like* Merz?
#DEpol #FriedrichMerz
Replying to
@anathema@gts.spoonstack.org @jessamyn@glammr.us I love the idea of the QLL, and I've been a member for soooo long, but their stock is low and the wait-times for any media is embarrassing.