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2022 Reading List

Welcome to the 2022 Reading List! I read 35 books last year! I hope to beat that this year. :) I am also happy to add that my voracious reading has inspired Nick to read more, as well! This pleases me!

Goodwill Hurl! June 2022


Cruising Attitude, Heather Poole.
The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman.
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls. The first memoir by Walls. The second, Half Broke Horses, I just read. EXCELLENT.
Fifth Chinese Daughter, Wong.
A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean. Yep, the movie was made from this.

Half Price Books hurl!

ALL these are from the memoirs section. I’m on a memoir tear!
Ruined By Reading, Lynn S Schwartz. This is a short tome, which is to its benefit. It is a memoir of a life of reading and musing on various authors. The book was published in 1996, pre-internet as we know it. Which is why this quote is prescient:

“If those of us who live by language become superfluous in years to come, it will not be because of the advance of technology, but the loss of coherent discourse.” – p.24, Ruined by Reading.

OH, YES. She is right on the money. She is of the Silent Generation (b. 1939), so many references are a bit dated, but she certainly has a handle on being well read and dealing with morons who are not. Good read!

MORE BEHIND CUT!
Continue reading “2022 Reading List”

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Looking for VSG/Bariatric info?

Hi there! If you’d like to see ONLY my extensive research on Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, bariatric diet and managing GERD (reflux), you can filter out all my other posts and see just those by clicking HERE. You can see my vlogs about my VSG journey here.

To see any category (recipes, for instance), use the drop down menu to the right labeled “View Posts by Category” and select the category you’d like. Thanks for stopping by!

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All My Wedding Rings!

I just had a pair of rings commissioned for us! I love all my wedding rings (below), but I wanted a set that was matched for us. It only took 18 years to get around to it! LOL



We got married in the first ring, then got the thinner one soon after (matched), but I never cared for them much. The third and fifth rings are the ones I wear the most. I usually have a blue stone, usually a blue topaz, but the third one is a Mystic topaz in Peacock and the seventh one is opal. The fourth one is a really large adjustable ring that I got at Decatur Arts Fest when I was fat and couldn’t wear my peacock ring (also an arts fest purchase). The cool antique one (#6) is off ebay and I adore it, but it’s a tish big. The last one, the current one, I’ll tell you all about below!

Here is the pair of rings! Cool, right? Here are the sexy pics taken by the artist:

I’ve been stalking the artist, Dominic Rossi, on IG for a while now (IG: @Dom_Ross) and one day he posted some reticulated silver rings that caught my eye. Reticulated silver is cut to size, then fired until the silver starts to bubble – that’s what gives it the texture. So I contact Dom via IG message and we started discussing a plan. He showed me some Burmese spinels in several colours and I decided to break with tradition and get a purple one. Now we we’re off to the races!

I had to devise a way to get a good measure of Nick’s finger. Since the accident, it is larger than before and a rather hard fit. He’s been wearing my size 10+ bubble ring and it’s too big, so I was concerned he’d lose it. (I’d been thinking about getting him a new ring when this awesome artist popped up.) I told him the bubble ring was too big and he needed something else. I got my ring sizers and got a measurement of his finger. Armed with this info, Dom and I calculated what size was needed – it is actually pretty complex when you take into account the width of the ring (8mm) and the thickness of the ring (2mm, VERY thick). We settled on 9.75 for his and 8.5ish for me. We were amazingly accurate – both rings fit PERFECTLY!

Dom turned around the commission in just a couple of weeks and his price was excellent. Nick saw the first PP payment and asked what it was and I said “it’s for a thing”, which worked! The second payment I intercepted the email, so he was none the wiser! HA!! Waiting for the rings to arrive was torture! I told everyone about the rings EXCEPT Nick and I kept it off FB, natch. Last night I presented him with the ring and he LOVES it! I am very pleased with my ring, too. The spinel changes colour in different lighting. Lovely!

If you are thinking of a commission or just looking for some really cool jewelry, I HIGHLY recommend Dominic Rossi! He’s in CO and you can find him on his IG: @dom_ross or FB (new page coming): https://www.facebook.com/domb.bomb1

And here are the rings on our old hands:


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That’s a Wrap!

With MomoCon in the rearview, it’s time to reorganize and change gears.

MomoCon was spectacular this year! They blew past their previous attendance numbers and we are so proud to be a part of it! The GWCC police were dicks, as usual, but everyone else was great.

Our games had lines most of the time and we got lots of positive comments about how nice our games are. We appreciate the support!

If you don’t know, Player One Arcade Services is our side hustle. We bring games to conventions, mostly, but sometimes we’ll do a random party or reception. Furry Weekend Atlanta and MomoCon are our two biggest events. If you are into cute, FWA is for you – even if you’re not a furry! If you are into anime, gaming or other nerdly pursuits, MomoCon is for you! We HIGHLY recommend these cons! Furry is not particularly kid friendly, but MomoCon is DEFINITELY kid friendly.

We’ve got games to repair: Simpsons’ display finally pooped out at Momo; Ms Pac cocktail at My Parents Basement is having major display issues; Millipede and Donkey Kong III both need to be fixed. It never ends.

Nick would love to do nothing but games, but it’s just not feasible. Even if we had 75 games like one of the vendors, we’d have to travel continuously and STILL not make much money, so NO to that. We are still underemployed and in debt, which is never a good place. I’m working on getting a p/t job and soon I’ll be combing the intertubes on Nick’s behalf for a new job. He really hates that stupid print shop and the hour long commute – and I do not blame him.

So, that’s the state of the Weasels at the moment. Tyler Bryant said it best:

I ain’t last, I ain’t first
I ain’t blessed, I ain’t cursed
I been better
But I sho’ been worse
Sho’ Been Worse, Tyler Bryant

Wish me luck with the p/t job and finding something better for Nick. Peace out.

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Notes From an OG Internet Geek

Today, I am reminded that 90% of the people using FaceBook are either young (under 30) or old (over 50). On top of that, these are people who either grew up on FB (the youngsters) or think that FB *is* the internet (the olds). And the overlap of just dumb people who share characteristics of both groups.

Sure, there are plenty of us on FB who have been internet users since the 90s. We were there for AOL, dial-up, Mindspring (RIP), the platform wars (Apple vs Microsoft), Nutscrape (3.0 GOLD!!), Dogpile, Alta Vista, HTML websites, screen savers (Boris, Flying Toasters), Hamster Dance, chat rooms, usenet and having to manually find answers to EVERYTHING. WE are the OG Internet Geeks and WE know what’s up. We knew the nascent internet, when it was pretty useless unless you were very persistent and crafty. WE WERE. We still are. We know the true shitshow that is social media, because we remember the ‘net without it. And it was GLORIOUS.

Here is my take on the various groups and what it’s like to be an OG. It ain’t pretty.

The Youngsters
The youngsters are oblivious to everything and can’t do a Google search to save their lives. They have grown up with the sum of human knowledge in their pockets, yet are unable to use any of it. I really don’t understand WHY this is, just that it is. If I had $1 for every time I’ve done a simple Google search and hand fed the answer to a youngster, I’d not be worrying about my bills. It is at the same time extremely irritating and fascinating. I think it’s the generalized dumbing down of education that is the root of this lack of intellectual curiosity and intellectual laziness. It’s also lack of training on how to use a search engine to find what you’re looking for – a basic internet literacy course would go a long way. These users are using FB less and less, mostly because they don’t want to be on the same platform as their parents and other clueless olds. When they do use FB, it’s spotty and not nearly as obsessively as other groups. They generally are not too bothersome on FB because they are too busy with TikTok.

The Olds
The olds are ALSO oblivious to what is actually going on with FB, but they THINK they are not. They think that they control their accounts and FB can be trusted to keep personal memories, photos, etc. They also think that FB is the whole internet and they use FB like a search engine. This is because they don’t know how to use The Google, and they can’t understand the difference between The Google and The FaceBook. These are the people who post stupid shit without checking it, play every game presented, give out their personal info, then go insane when their account is hacked. They then ask for help, but reject what they are told – which is generally: too bad, so sad, welcome to FB, the miner of personal data. These people are not worth engaging, they are militantly ignorant and will not listen to a word you say. These are the ones who insist that making a police report will solve the problem. LOL They also scream about “cybercrime” a lot. I’ll get back to this.

There is a subset here of people who are not all that old, but they are still ignorant AF about the internet and how it all works. These are the people who act just like the olds, but are not in that demographic. They, too, cannot use Google, just like the youngsters. I call them the Dumbasses, and these are to be avoided just like the others. Lots of Karens in this bunch and they will TOTALLY call the manager to get this FB issue FIXED. LOL

Then there’s us, the OG Internet Geeks. Most of us are Gen Xers with a smattering of Millennials. We are ALWAYS ignored, but we actually are the ones who know what’s up.

Poor us.

We are the ones who put up with these other assholes day in and day out. We listen to their whines about how unfair it all is, how FB is to blame for their account being hacked (not that abc1234 pw or the info given out to data mining, of course), how you just can’t PROVE anything on the internet, there’s no way to find information, blah blah blah.

We try to help these morons, yet it is a thankless job, since they typically don’t really WANT help, they just want someone to commiserate and validate their butthurt.

Today I was in the mood to troll a little, and I found the perfect Karen for it. I had TRIED to offer her help with her hacked account, firstly by telling her that calling the local police was a waste of time. Which it is. What did I get for my trouble? Well, a scolding, of course! What else? I don’t think this person is an old, but she is definitely a dumbass Karen. After I told her that local police do not control FB (I’d deleted by the time I did the SS), she went OFF about how she lost her something something and can’t get it back and she has a “background” in criminal justice, so SHE KNOWS WHAT TO DO!!! So, I wrote back, “Didn’t realise this was a PERSONAL ISSUE, not a FB issue. NEVERMIND. Jaysus. You’re not looking for assistance, you’re looking for validation. I misread your ask.” She is so oblivious that she ANSWERED THAT. The snark went right over ole Karen’s head. ::cackle::



I wish this was an isolated incident, but it is not. Notice the indignation that I dared to actually help – not commiserate – and the dumb’s favourite claim: “cyber crime”. Yep. FB is a cesspool of ignorance. I am there because I admin umpteen pages for our stuff and clients. I get really sick of this shit, y’all.

I DO know how it all works. I DO remember when the internet was snarky AF, but you knew that going into a chat room, so it was OK. I DO remember having to word your searches just so to get any decent results. That is why my Google Fu is strong, I’ve searched without it! I do remember hand coding sites and I’m damned glad there is CMS now (WordPress). I do remember BLOGS and the vast amount of content we dumped into them. (This one is 23 years old and has 1473 posts!) I have a whole different view of the internet than the above mentioned and I DO know that social media has fucking ruined society because I’ve watched it happen.

I’ve watched the internet, the sum of all the knowledge of humanity, become a zoo full of shit flinging monkeys.

Twitter, FaceBook, InstaGram, TikTok, YouTube, ALL OF IT is nothing more than distraction. It is trash. We OG bloggers know this, but good luck getting the FB crowd to see it.

This is why we OG folk are coming back here, to our blogs. No more content given to FB or other bullshit social sites. We are taking back our content and some authors (including me) are starting up Substack email newsletters (free and paid) again. We are going back to pre-social media times and controlling our content. We are sick and tired of FB using our content for free. Yes, our blogs are public and free, but we are not handing over our content to an entity who can do with it as they wish – AND we are getting our content indexed by Google rather than being ONLY in FB. Substack is set up for monetized newsletters, which I think is GREAT. People are used to subscriptions for everything now (another rant for another day), so why not subscribe to an author you like, right?

So, we OG Internet people invite all of you to leave the walled garden of FB and the others. Come OUT to the internet. See its expansive content.

It is the sum of all human knowledge at your fingertips; it is amazing and mindblowing and beautiful and terrible and VAST.

Come on out here. Leave the curated and algorithmed bullshit of platforms. Come out and learn things. Come out and see the art of 1000s people, the cultures of 1000 societies, the recipes of 1000 cuisines, the languages of 1000 places.

JUST COME OUT OF THE CURATED BULLSHIT AND EXPLORE THE WORLD. IT IS RIGHT HERE.

Just ask The Google for what you want and go from there. You never know what you’ll find. You might even begin to understand why we OG internet folks are sick of your shit… ;)

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Con Season!

We made it through FWA (Furry Weekend Atlanta) and we’ve got MomoCon next week. I hope we both get over this head cold completely this week.

FWA was SO much fun! It is a very queer friendly con, with tons of representation across the board for all LGBTQIA+ folx. We weren’t expecting that! You do NOT need to be a furry with a suit or any of that to have a great time at this con. They are so nice and so accepting of EVERYONE! I squeed all weekend! The nose boops, pets and scritches given to various fursonas was amazingly fun. We HIGHLY RECOMMEND this convention!

Having a room to escape to also made a HUGE difference for us. Despite Marriott’s bullshit (WOW they really need to get their shit together!! They truly SUCKED.), the room was helpful AF. I wouldn’t be happy if I paid for it, but I didn’t, so whatever.

I look forward to Momo as well, it’s always fun to do that con, despite the very long hours and no room to escape to.

Once Momo is over, then we’ll switch gears to house stuff until Southern Fried Gaming Expo in July, where we hope to sell off a ton of games parts as well as vintage Mac stuff. The Vintage Mac yardsale is now in conjunction with SFGE, so it’s two birds w/ one stone. The overall goal is to be rid of the storage space this summer. That will save us $125/mo.

We hope to see everyone at Momo and/or SFGE!

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Inspiration comes from many places…

and this post is inspired by Wil Wheaton’s book Still Just A Geek, which I just started.

This book is a annotated and updated version of his first book Just A Geek, written in the early aughts – about 20 years ago.

He has three intros to this book: the original, one by Neil Gaiman (for the original) and one for this version of the book. In the third one, he goes on quite extensively about what I different person he is now and how his original words (from his blog and the book) are NOT representative of him now, and he’s horrified and embarrassed by them now.

Well, I want to make a post about this blog and its longevity, and how I, too, have grown as a person and don’t think like I did in 1999. I do not feel the need to vomit apologies and regret (sorry, Wil), but I will say that if you deep dive into this blog, you’ll probably come across some questionable content of various stripes. I’m OK with that.

I will say this: 1999 was a long time ago. I was prone to calling out bullshit here, regardless of who it might involve. I also wrote about many opinions I had at the time that I no longer have. It was a badge of honour to be called out on my blog! LOL

ALSO: I will not apologize for holding various people and/or companies accountable for their actions. There’s a difference between blaming and holding accountable. For instance, that major asshole Realtor™ who fucked us over on the pub lease. That guy refused to look at the lease AT ALL, did not come to the closing and whined about how mean we were to him afterwards. That guy is a fucking rich (working for father in law’s company) fucking asshole who’s had $$ and privilege handed to him. He saw no fault for not doing a goddam thing he was supposed to do as our Realtor™. I still despise him to this day and will spit in his face if I ever run into him. We take 100% of the blame for the pub debacle, but there were definitely people involved who did NOT do their jobs they were paid to do. I have no problem calling out jackasses when they need it. No regrets about that.

So if you are here, trolling or just looking for proof that I’m a terrible person, you just might find it. I can’t change who I’ve been or who I am. But I strive to be better all the time.

I am a human. I am a work in progress. Just like everyone else.

I think the beauty of having a longterm blog is seeing the changes and growth that people have. I am not ashamed – but I am also glad that I’ve grown up and gotten past much of the bigotry, biases and other bullshit. It’s what it means to be a person. Change is the only constant.

So, trollers or others who are just here looking for my bullshit: go for it. It’s probably here and I own it. I am a VERY VERY different person I was in 1999. I was 34 then and 56 now! That’s a LOT of growth. And that is why I leave everything up on this blog – that is now way past drinking age. It’s the story of my personal growth and it’s MINE. Love it or don’t. :)