#at least I'm wfh today so

[mavriarch]

I came to Tumblr for a 10 minute, mindlessly scroll, brake and instead I've spent the last 30 minutes obsessively booping anyone I can in my dashboard and I almost forgot I'M STILL AT WORK

[music-for-them-asses]

Yesterday was the most Friday Thursday I've ever experienced in my life

[scrumandf1]

Opting to start work at 8 when I feel ill just so I can finish early and be ill in peace

[annakie]

Okay so I just finished season 2 of Prodigy.

I woke up early this morning and got a few episodes in.

I WFH so I worked all morning getting shit done, and then watched at lunch, and then my normal Monday afternoon work is work that can easily be done while multitasking watching things, so I actually got a ton of work done while watching straight through the afternoon and finished the last 5 or so episodes after work/dinner.

I posted a few posts today with some thoughts but hey let's make it more coherent.

Heavy spoilers!

I loved this season so, so much from start to finish. It somehow never felt like there was a lull. Every episode either did something interesting or pushed the story forward in an important way.

So many shows do that "one story in a long season" thing and the show really suffers for it in the middle, especially. But I, personally, never felt that, even when they were taking diversions like getting Zero a body, that and the Tribble episodes might have been the "slowest" and still, I really enjoyed those.

Digging deep into the tropes and finding something new.

And the arc actually came together so well and nothing felt forced. It was a complex arc, too. So many moving parts, and it would have been easy to lose some threads and let things drop, but it actually felt like every element was important and it all tied together nicely.

They did a great job giving recaps where needed to reinforce what was going on in the storyline and why they were doing what they were doing, which was appreciated. I never felt lost. No arc felt like it dragged on too long.

Everyone got their moments to shine. Some of the characters had more of an arc in the season, like Zero, and some had less, like Jankum, but no one felt left behind from the main cast. I think it would have been easy, especially with adding in a new major character to the group, Ma'jel, but they really made her fit in. I especially love that they used Wesley to help cement her part in the group.

And yeah, the cast was huge. Seven main "kids" now. Janeway, Chakotay, Wesley, and the Doctor all felt like main cast throughout the season, plus Ascencia, Dreadnok, Ilthuran, Tysess and Noum... the cast is huge but everyone had a place. With 20 episodes they had some time to breathe, and I loved that.

The kids each had a lesson to learn, something to contribute. Gwyn was at the center of it all even more than last year, but she's such a fantastic character that holds the story up so well.

Of course there's a contrivance in things like... them not getting thrown in the brig in the first couple of episodes, and the fact that the ending was something allowed at all when they literally just said because of the Synth attack on Mars ships were in short supply but I mean, all easy to overlook in the name of the Story needs to happen. None of it really bothered me.

But as much as I love the kids, what they did with the legacy adult characters this season meant the most to me.

The Doctor fit right into this show, and was such a great inclusion. Still the same egotistical but loveable hologram. It was so good to have him back. And that scene with him and Holo-Janeway was adorable. I was glad to see that their rights weren't affected in the Synth attack -- at least not yet!?

I don't know if ANYONE would expect Wesley Crusher. That hit me in the face like a ton of bricks, seeing Wes again, and it was amazing. He's now been in Picard, Lower Decks and now Prodigy and every time I'm just delighted to see him.

But this was definitely his best re-appearance so far. A Wesley Crusher at his full Traveler powers. He was so smart, and funny, and a little manic with his big brain running at a thousand miles an hour. It really felt like this was what Wesley always had the potential to be, a real logical progression in the best way from the Wes we saw at the end of TNG. Space, Time and Thought all coming together and he had awesome magical powers to go along with it.

I was hoping after his initial two episodes that he'd be back! They dropped some decent hints about it, and they mentioned him almost every episode while he was gone, so having him in the final handful of episodes was amazing. And it seems like he might have a place in the future of the show, if we get that future! (and GOD I hope so.)

But my absolute favorite part was the MOST unexpected. I was hoping we'd get to see a bit of him calling Beverly. But then the hug, he went and saw her and Wil's voice breaking when he said Hi to her and gave her the hug broke me, and I cried.

Then, holy shit, they closed the loop on that burning question so many of us had at the end of Picard S3, if Wesley ever met Jack. Wes met his brother, and spent time with Beverly, and that meant so much to me.

It's crazy that the ending of this season tied up loose ends from other shows, and integrated those shows into the universe with fewer seams. It was amazing.

---

And as great as all of everything else was... I just want to be more coherent about Janeway and Chakotay.

Not going to lie -- the fact that there wasn't a kiss, or an obvious love confession did sting a little, but what we got was so, so good, and it was enough.

I do get it -- this is a kid's show and as much as we love them and how important they were to the season, this show is about the kids and not J/C as much as some of us are watching for J/C reasons. I'm not mad about it.

We got fed. More than Voyager.

You'd have to be blind to not admit that there was love there, on both sides. They never gave up on each other, they both looked forward to that reunion, they were terrified of losing each other again but did their duty. There was a little tiny bit of hand holding and quite a bit of touching. It's enough, it's canon enough for those of us who have been shipping it since Season 1 of Voyager.

And like I said in that previous post, they did so much more for Chakotay than Voyager did. This post summed it up better than I could. This season took two of the most maligned and neglected characters from their initial iterations -- Wesley and Chakotay -- and not only did them justice but made them the best versions of themselves. I felt like I was seeing the Chakotay from the Beyer novels on screen, the character he always should have been.

His relationship with Dal was an unexpected delight and I very much hope that in season 3 that mentorship continues.

I need more of that Chakotay. I need more of Janeway and Chakotay together. I just need so much more of this show.

---

I love every Trek. Yes, even that one that isn't that popular, or that other one that people forget exists. But this was without a doubt one of my favorite seasons of any Trek ever.

I'm so mad at Paramount's treatment of this show.

I'm so glad that Netflix stepped in and let us get this one.

I need at least one more season, y'all.

[dogweapon]

Mutual aid request

Hey folks, I know I don't post much personal stuff on here these days, but we've been in dire straits lately and we could really use some help! My fiance's brother moved out of the house a few months back and we've been struggling to make end's meet and cover the bills without his portion of rent ever since. I lost my WFH job and my insurance a month before he left, and I've recently started getting a crushing tooth pain that I can barely sleep or focus with that max strength OTC pain meds aren't even touching. I really hate to e-beg, but times are getting tough and I we could use some relief.

Ordinarily I'd offer art in exchange for money, but I am hardly in any shape to work with the pain I'm in and I've sworn off of taking more emergency commissions until I've finished the queue that I still owe people. If anyone would like to help by making a donation to my Ko-fi so I can at least be seen by a dentist before this molar goes any more critical, the URL is https://ko-fi.com/doggymove.

I appreciate any amount that folks can send my way, even if it's just a few dollars. All I need is enough to cover a down payment on a payment plan, after that I can take it from there.

[lindsayribar]

Happy Gay Pirates Eve, everyone. Don't forget to leave cookies and milk out for David Jenkins tonight! Plus some French fries for the seagulls.

Thinking hard about March 23, 2022 today. The last Gay Pirates Eve. The show had just started appearing on people's radars, and there wasn't nearly as huge a fandom as there is now -- more like a bunch of queers shouting "HEY HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THIS THING?" on various social media platforms. (It's me! I was one of those queers!) Those of us who'd been watching in real time were sick with worry that the heavily-hinted Ed/Stede relationship wouldn't actual be real, that we'd ended up the target of a queerbait yet again. We were also sick with worry about everything else that might happen to them, but that felt almost beside the point back then. Nobody (at least nobody that I saw) was theorizing about what the plot of those last two episodes might be. Everyone was like "BUT WILL THEY KISS."

Me, personally? I also had covid that week. Which meant lots of cancelled plans as I quarantined myself inside my apartment for what ended up being ten long days. I had a WFH day job to worry about, but other than that, it was all free time to rewatch the eight existing episodes, go treasure-hunting for subtext and little asides that I'd missed, cough a lot, nap a lot, and hope hope hope that this relationship I'd become so invested in would actually turn out to be real.

I thought really hard about staying up until 3am that night to watch the finale. (I'm thinking about doing the same tonight.) I didn't, both because I was sick and because I knew that whatever the last two episodes threw at me, it would render me completely unable to sleep afterward. (I probably won't tonight either, not for the first reason but very much for the second one.)

But it's pretty amazing, this time around, to see hordes of people on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, etc., theorizing about what might happen in the plot, because we're no longer worried that the romantic relationship might not be real. It's amazing to just know it's the heart of the show, both because the creators have told us so many times and because the show itself has proven it so many times.

Just look, guys. Look how far we've all come.

[dangerously-human]

Got to see former office bff today for our first WFH together day in far too long (we used to do this at least monthly and have falled off as we've both started going into our respective offices more often, etc). Her early Christmas present to me truly almost made me cry: cookie cutters, so we can start a tradition of making Christmas cookies together each year. She explained that she's been feeling particularly sentimental and thinking about establishing more traditions, and she really wants to do this together because we are the kind of friends who are family, and I'm getting really emotional about it all over again just typing this out. This girl has been my best friend for 7 years, since I was the new kid at work and she trained me on everything, and at the start I sat next to her and we kept kicking each other under our desks, and then when I had to move to a new seat, we spent every day messaging each other every thought that popped into our heads from across the office. We've been there for each other in some of the worst lows and best highs, cheered each other on to meet hard goals and sat with each other in the suffering. We would and have dropped everything for each other, and she's the most fun person I know. Not working with her every day is something I miss constantly, and our lives don't overlap as much as they used to, but here she is finding the single most thoughtful, loving gift, something that gives us time together not just now, but says, "I am committed to making space for you in my life for years to come." I am so blessed and so loved!

[foster-the-world]

WFH

Still sitting around at work. Apparently waiting on some logon before I can start doing assessments. Boring but I get my at home logistic stuff. Today I sent a bday invite for Rebel's bday and finalized a grant submission for the school.

I sat in on a nurse union zoom. It seems work from home is not out of the question. Which would be such good news. It would be two days a week. At least two other days I would be doing assessments in the field. One day a week in the office is not a big deal.

Baby boy was super tired tonight. He passed out while I was reading bedtime stories. I love when that happens. I rarely get to hold him anymore - so its such a joy.

Talked with the special ed consultant. Every time it stresses me out - so I'm not sure why I do it. I guess I forgot as its been a long time. She thinks we need to take him to several schools and they can tell us if he qualifies for their program. I expressed my skepticism about continuing to take him to one hour assessments. I don't think children can really be understood in an hour and he's no exception. He has done five separate 1 hour evaluations - which required trekking all over the city. So more of those don't appeal. Will do the one at the school near us and see how it goes. Blah. Blah. Blah. I want them to call us and say they've found a SEIT so I can stop spending time trying to get services. He's already owed over 100 hours of SEIT services alone.

My head actually doesn't feel itchy for the first time in a while. Its such a relief. I took an allegra and tried a more medicated shampoo. I'm not sure which one is doing the job but really hope it continues.

I miss my girls. I'm still enjoying the only child parenting but want to see their sweet faces. Every time they call it sounds like they are having the time of their lives. My MIL fell down again. No real injuries but it must be scary for everyone. Poor lady. I know I bitch about her but she honestly is an extremely kind person. Next level kind. Literally NEVER says a mean thing about anyone. She is going to start using a cane. They want her to go to an OT. I'm not exactly sure that will fix the issue. I worry this will be the last year she can do three months in California visiting her daughter. My FIL and her are NEVER apart. In eight years with my husband I've seen them not together maybe 4-5 times. I cannot imagine one without the other. Hurts my heart to even think about it. Send them good vibes. They deserve only good things.

[talesofsimverse]

Random thought about the Bunker

So I finally have time to play a bit today, and I'm starting day 12 of the Bunker, but just realized most of the aspirations the sims have can't be completed. I should have checked the milestones more carefully 🤦‍♀️

Liberty as Nerd Brain needs a rocket ship, so that's never gonna happen. She could switch to Renaissance Sim like Dirk but that one requires reaching level 3 in three different jobs. There are some jobs that can done from work, but the WFH goals usually required to go somewhere or have the tools at home, like a computer, so very unlikely or at least not any time soon.

Then Ulrike as Painter Extraordinaire needs to visit a museum so not possible either and it was really frustrating to see because she was doing so well since they got the easel. I'm even considering cheating on just that point and call it "admire artwork at home" bc it's so unfair for her. That leaves Akira as the only one with any hope of ever becoming a "Musical Genius" because he can do it all from home with an instrument

And now looking thru the full list of aspirations, it seems like there are only a handful of them that could be completed without going out, like "Best Selling Author" (it needs a computer but its doable) and a couple of the social aspirations but even most of those need the ability to meet and interact with more than 3 other sims.

So I guess completing aspirations is out of the equation for most of them, and will have to focus on skilling to bring more sims in. This is a very disappointing realization, ngl

[overnightheartbeats]

another roadtrip to LA...and still wfh today so it's busy and tiring to say the least...I will try to work on stuff but I also would really like to catch up on sleep when I'm off work so tbd

[music-for-them-asses]

Work is so slow and there's no PTO available today. Jesus Christ help

[jmagnabo92]

I'm sick so I decided to work from home today, but I had a meeting that I joined virtually.

Call in. I say hello and...

"How are you feeling? You sound terrible."

"Thanks, Boss."

LOL - at least he knows I didn't fake it to WFH rather than go into the office like some people.

[alskylark]

Ok so I'm doing workouts quite regularly (emphasis on the quite as today I should've worked out but had a bath before I did so now I'm like well I'm clean no point in getting myself all sweaty again...) and it's working in the sense that I don't feel like I'm getting worse gut wise and I legit think my arms are getting slightly bigger BUT...

I'm still not as consistent as I should, and I think the key should be to do it in the morning, early morning before work sounds like the most reasonable thing and yet... shit man

One thing I've never "gotten better with age" is waking up consistently, like, so many of my friends can just wake up at ungodly hours every day or at least GET USED to it and yet, after so many years in this green earth I still struggle sooooooooo damn hard ESPECIALLY now in the winter (at least in the summer I feel more motivated to get up) it's so damn cold and shieht

And what hasn't helped at all is that I've been wfh for a couple of years now and man it... really nice to just get up 10 minutes before work oTL I feel like I need to set a challenge for myself to get the fuck up early for X amount of time, and just do it but man... That's where I'm the weakest in terms of power of will 😭

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Recurring Nightmare

Yeah, the situation at the office hasn't exactly improved. I mean, on paper it has, but there's some ridiculousness attached to it.

So Violet's back, but on reduced hours for a little while. Temp's away for three fucking weeks. Though we do seem to have someone else stepping in a bit. So that's a whole thing where we're pretty much on even keel (and I'm still being left with the long obnoxious bullshit).

And then there's Goblin.

Goblin's apparently following in my footsteps and working from home for the duration. Except there's a problem. See, you'd think all the issues I had with getting set up for WFH would mean that IT had policies and documentation in place for how it's done. Buuuuuuut apparently not, because I got a fucking phone call from IT asking how my system was set up because they couldn't remember how to do it. Why the fuck am I doing IT's job?

Anyway, we got that sorted and I thought, "Great, Goblin will start any time now!" ...Except that now apparently there's another problem. Apparently she needs a company mobile phone to load the authenticator onto.

...I mean, I was pretty sure I saw her with a mobile phone, and the authenticator works fine on my four-year-old brick of a cellphone, so I'm really confused. And a little pissed off because the only reason I can think of that she'd need a work phone for the authenticator is that she refuses to give her mobile number to the office in any way. It' the kind of thing I can see her doing; "I don't want them checking up on me at all hours!" Not that they actually do that, but Goblin thinks the worst of just about everyone.

Anyway, when I was having my issues with IT, I was coming into the office regardless. But apparently she can't do that, so she's stuck "for the duration". Which is, until they can get her a company phone. Which is probably going to take awhile, since requisitions like that start with Head Honcho and he's away until Thursday.

SO GUESS WHO'S STUCK DOING MORE FUCKING OVERTIME?!?

Also my colleagues left urgent cases sitting there for several days instead of cleaning them up first. Why do I work with lazy idiots?

I should take a very quick trip to the shops before it rains again. I can make up the time when I work overtime yet again today. Ugh. At least the money's useful. And at least I've had a break...

[ohsilverplease]

stuff for me to remember

But feel free to read my journal entry if you want

The bathroom reno is coming along -- I was going to say "nicely" but I mean right now it's just pretty dusty and everything's covered in plastic. But I've bought all the new stuff and went with the pale coral paint because it's more versatile if I ever want to redecorate, and they should be done by next Friday.

Today I had lunch with an old work friend who has also changed jobs and is now working downtown, and it was so nice to see someone I've known for 15 years, you know? We laughed about memes and her kids and how our lives are now. It was really nice.

I worked my butt off for an event last week and I just got a really nice card and a couple restaurant gift cards from the committee, specifically for places I had mentioned while chit-chatting with one of the committee members. I just feel bad because we decided *not* to get gift cards to say thank you to the students who helped out, and now here I am with a few free meals.

I'm going to C's after work but trying to wait for traffic to lighten up. I need to return a dvd to the library tonight, and I have to get at least a few groceries so I don't have to buy breakfast & lunch out the rest of the week. That will be the best part (not really) of having the bathroom done -- I can work from home again and not feel like I'm in the way. I might WFH Friday just for the heck of it, if it's nice, I can sit on the patio or whatever.

[roseymoseyberry]

I have never in my life considered going bra-free at work, not with my big bazongas. I suppose the soft bras I wear doesn't do like a whole lot but they keep them at least somewhat contained

But even with the softest of bras and a shirt between the bra and my back, it does NOT feel good on my healing back tattoo at ALL. Downright spicy

So I'm really considering just free-boobing it. There's no one in IT with me today, only person on my half of the second floor in general is a pretty chill guy who always gets my pronouns right and we talk masc fashion so

Either that or disappearing home to wfh

Edit: officially free-boobing it at work because I just Can Not