The Contradictory Feelings Thread

[Pole, the]

Catching up was really enjoyable and I told him I'd work on planning a trip out next year. Upon hanging up, it occurred to me how wonderful it would have been to go out and visit him with my husband in tow. It's very close to where he grew up; I'm sure seeing familiar spots would have prompted him to share some stories he never had before. And, as I began to regret not getting in touch much sooner, I started slipping into melancholy. Then I reminded myself it was much better better to have gotten in touch now than not at all.

Hey, I hope you enjoy reconnecting with them. ;)

[vampireshark]

Went to a Christmas market in Metz today. Was awesome, but, damn, it's really cold at this time of year... last year, it wasn't this "bad". (We even got snow on Thursday, which seems to be unusually early for Luxembourg...)

[Vijay]

I made a post on r/kerala about a...certain restaurant or eating stall, and this North Indian guy comes in saying in Hindi that it looks good but he's too lazy to get off his ass and try it. He also is one of those "everybody in India should just speak Hindi!" types (but ironically almost always posts in English and uses Roman script instead of Devanagari even when he's typing in Hindi). Like, thanks for appreciating the food, and thanks for apparently not doing anything super-disruptive on the sub so far, but wtf are you doing on a sub for Malayalees where much of the content is in Malayalam?

Also, I'm having the usual problem with r/russian: There's a weekly writing challenge there, which I appreciate because my Russian is in dire need of practice and this is a good opportunity. However, there are two writing prompts, one for beginners and one for intermediate learners, and I can't figure out what my answer would be for either one even in English! The one for beginners is "my favorite book," and the one for intermediate learners is basically "what would you do if you could control your dreams?"

[finlay]

your answer to neither of those questions is binding, and nobody's going to turn around and hate you if you decide you disagree with your answer a day later. i'm "bad at choosing favourites" too, so i usually interpret the question as 'what book did you read recently that you like' or 'name any book you like and why'

[linguoboy]

My coworker brought sufganiyot/pontshkes for Channukah, which are topped with powdered sugar. But I'm wearing black trousers.

ETA: Sorry, trousers.

[Vijay]

your answer to neither of those questions is binding, and nobody's going to turn around and hate you if you decide you disagree with your answer a day later. i'm "bad at choosing favourites" too, so i usually interpret the question as 'what book did you read recently that you like' or 'name any book you like and why'

Hah, I could've used that as a shameless plug to promote my grandfather's diary then, I guess. (Not that it would help much tbh). I ended up going with the second prompt, which I came to realize was asking what I would do first, so I basically said "move out of my house."

[linguoboy]

your answer to neither of those questions is binding, and nobody's going to turn around and hate you if you decide you disagree with your answer a day later. i'm "bad at choosing favourites" too, so i usually interpret the question as 'what book did you read recently that you like' or 'name any book you like and why'

Or, you know, it's an awesome opportunity for trolling. Not that I would ever do such a thing.

[Salmoneus]

your answer to neither of those questions is binding, and nobody's going to turn around and hate you if you decide you disagree with your answer a day later. i'm "bad at choosing favourites" too, so i usually interpret the question as 'what book did you read recently that you like' or 'name any book you like and why'

Or, you know, it's an awesome opportunity for trolling. Not that I would ever do such a thing.

Wait... you mean your favourite book isn't "The Jewish-Japanese Sex and Cookbook and How To Raise Wolves"?

[Vijay]

your answer to neither of those questions is binding, and nobody's going to turn around and hate you if you decide you disagree with your answer a day later. i'm "bad at choosing favourites" too, so i usually interpret the question as 'what book did you read recently that you like' or 'name any book you like and why'

Or, you know, it's an awesome opportunity for trolling. Not that I would ever do such a thing.

Wait... you mean your favourite book isn't "The Jewish-Japanese Sex and Cookbook and How To Raise Wolves"?

I just had to look this up.

[linguoboy]

I just had to look this up.

According to colleagues who have read it, it falls unfortunately short of living up to the promise of that title.

[Vijay]

I just had to look this up.

According to colleagues who have read it, it falls unfortunately short of living up to the promise of that title.

That reminds me of my cousin who had to read To Kill a Mockingbird at school and said he still didn't know how to kill a damn mockingbird.

[linguoboy]

I just had to look this up.

According to colleagues who have read it, it falls unfortunately short of living up to the promise of that title.

That reminds me of my cousin who had to read To Kill a Mockingbird at school and said he still didn't know how to kill a damn mockingbird.

[rotting bones]

By the way, my week went well. Luckily, everything worked out again. Good for me. (Shut up, melancholia.) Anyway, I'm using my free time to stare at the ceiling. I'm finally in the process of deciding, at this advanced age, what to tell people when they ask my religion and politics. In religion, I will call myself a geometer, in the tradition of Euclidean reasoning with Galilean extensions. For me, the only authentic mystical experience is precision in thought, in terms of triangulating inferential encompassings defined over an object language of geometric calculus. In politics, my ideal society would be one that not only preaches but practices scientific askesis. Too bad that would probably never last in the real world, but it is what I actually want. That's what the ceiling tells me anyway. Let me know what doesn't make sense.

[linguoboy]

FWIW, I seem to have gotten over my contradictory feelings about this evening's party. I only got added to the invitation a week ago when I ran into one of the hosts and was like, "Hey, are you guys doing your NYE party again this year?" I got a kind of noncommittal answer which puzzled me until the invite appeared the next morning and I saw that it had originally gone out in October. So then I felt awkward that I'd basically invited myself and wondered if I shouldn't accept another invitation from friends who were a little less cavalier. But if I want chances to flirt with hot men, this really is the event to be at so I'm swallowing my pride in big gulps and bringing extra alcohol to compensate for any lingering misgivings. Plus it's like four blocks from my house and it's going to be ridiculously cold tonight, so that sort of clinches it.

[Ryusenshi]

I've just received the results for the TOEFL. I aced the reading and listening tests, but the speaking and writing parts were less than stellar. This may be because I didn't have time to prepare for the test at all; when the speaking part came up, I panicked and my mind went completely blank. Besides, since the TOEFL is based on American English, I thought I had to try to speak with an American accent; maybe I should have used my English accent instead. For the essay, I didn't have the time to write a conclusion or proofread the text.

Oh well, this should be enough for my registration application anyway.

[linguoboy]

I'm in a really prickly mood today. I should probably just avoid social media altogether lest I get into an asinine argument with someone.

I'm also really bored. Friday is a slow day at work already and it snowed half a foot last night so now it's even slower than ever. So I keep checking discussion fora despite myself.

[linguoboy]

Apparently my cat killed another rat in my bedroom three days ago and I just noticed it today.

[alynnidalar]

Yeeech!

[Travis B.]

I assume your cat didn't eat the rat...

[linguoboy]

I assume your cat didn't eat the rat...

You assume wrong!

[Vijay]

How does that work? Did your cat eat it before you noticed or after? Was there fur left over afterwards or something?

[linguoboy]

How does that work? Did your cat eat it before you noticed or after? Was there fur left over afterwards or something?

Cats don't eat the bones.

I should've been immediately suspicious the night he didn't start whining at least an hour before dinner.

[Vijay]

Cats don't eat the bones.

TIL.

[vampireshark]

I'm looking forward to vacation starting Friday. I'll be headed first to Brussels for a few days and then to Cardiff and London. Super-excited.

But... I haven't packed anything yet, though, and Wednesday and Thursday look to be somewhat busy...

[linguoboy]

CONTENT WARNING: Mild suicide ideation.



My employer runs a shuttle between campuses (they're about twelve miles apart) and I use it to commute to and from work (they discourage this, but there's not much they can do). At one point, the route runs along a breakwater that keeps the road from falling into Lake Michigan. It's a very short distance (600 m) and I always make a point of stopping what I'm doing to look out over the water as we drive past.

I try not to think of anything while I do this, but sometimes I do contemplate what it would be like to disappear into the Lake, just lying on my back and sinking under the waves without a care left. About a week ago, this took a more concrete form and I tried to imagine what it would be like if the bus leapt the guardrail and plunged underwater, taking everyone around me with it. I tried to visualise remaining impassively in my seat while the others struggled to escape, but it was no good--I just know that if such a thing happened, my competitive instincts would overwhelm any deathwish and I'd just have to demonstrate that I know better than any of they do how to escape being trapped in a sinking bus.