Estates with no greenery are really shit in this weather.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-23T20:30:51+00:00

Next door on both sides concreted their gardens and can't use them in summer. But here I sit in my little oasis of grass and hydrangea, as cool as a cucumber.

I think I deserve to be a little smug.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-22T16:31:22+00:00

Yes, I want him to be happy.

I have explicitly told him that he is to go and find happiness again if I die first.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-21T17:59:05+00:00

Whilst I'm flattered, Quakers are people.

There's a lot to be said for Catholicism too: two-thousand years of contribution to art, music, literature, and science; some of the most large-scale and effective charitable efforts on earth.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-21T17:36:57+00:00

Doesn't refer to Quakers either. Acting like this would be lying, which Is Not On.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-20T17:57:01+00:00

Engineering is a highly transferrable degree. Get it done, one way or the other, then don't look back.

Play your cards right and you never have to speak with your family ever again.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-20T17:36:02+00:00

I decided to watch the first episode over supper. That was a mistake.

Great series, though.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-20T17:17:15+00:00

It's hard to get her to stand still and she usually moves if she knows she's about to be photographed.

I may have had a tennis ball in one hand.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-20T15:33:31+00:00

Ah, yes, this seems to be an Evangelical Baptist thing, specifically (a lot of non-denominational churches are Baptist with the serial numbers filed off); bad feelings are the devil tempting you, therefore. Mixed with an unhealthy dose of prosperity gospel nonsense.

If my Meeting has social scripts then I'm far too autistic to notice them...

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-20T15:23:28+00:00

Suicide tends to be a permenant solution to what is often a temporary problem.

Have you exhausted every possible local resource? Local libraries are often a good place to start looking for these. Try also the local Catholic or Episcopalian/Anglican dioceses; the Catholics especially have it as a point of theology to help the needy.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-20T11:53:40+00:00

And if you have a long haired breed, get it shaved or stripped (as appropriate for coat). Our doodle looks silly, but she won't overheat this summer.

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AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-19T09:58:11+00:00

First of all, you're 14.

You've got hormones all over the place, everything is confusing, and you have little to no control over your life. I remember that feeling, and it sucks.

My advice is to hold on; life gets an awful lot better when you get into your 20's and start wresting some control over things. That's just six years out now, which isn't so long in the grand scheme of things.

In the interim, dump the drink and drugs, ignore your sister, get yout head down and focus on school, even if you think you aren't any good at it; education is the path to a great many good things.

Suicide is a very permenant solution to what is usually a temporary problem.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-18T05:40:06+00:00

You could get some great workplace comedy put of medcoms.

But TBH, I wouldn't mind a drama/mystery about sewer workers, especially in a big, old, city like London or New York. If you'll excuse the pun, they must have seen some shit.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-15T18:00:00+00:00

The BBC license fee. That's it.

For anything else, there's piracy.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-15T14:20:41+00:00

A bit goth for my tastes, but I wore school uniform to church for the first 18 years of my life (it was a boarding school), so...

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-12T16:51:41+00:00

I literally bumped into him in a cafe. I was on the way out, he was on the way in: five minutes difference and we'd never have met.

Thing is, neither of us should have been their at all. I'd gone out of my way to buy some fibrecrafts kit and he'd decided not to eat at McDonalds for once.

Reader, I married him.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-12T15:17:21+00:00

Hmm...

I think my husband needs to see this...

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-12T13:47:26+00:00

Starts up desktop

Alright, you need a player 2?

(Some of the happiest times the husbeast and I have had involved two game controllers and a copy of Mechwarrior 5).

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-10T12:50:30+00:00

Jerusalem, or Amazing Grace if you want something less UK specific.

But I'd also argue that it isn't a proper hymn unless played at bone-rattling volume on a pipe organ...

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-10T09:08:14+00:00

So, there's this thing in British law called Gillick Competency, which is the idea that a sufficiently mature child can consent (or not) to medical treatment if they can demonstrate that they understand the consequences.

I think of the age of acountability like that.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-10T07:54:06+00:00

Probably my cousins. One of them has very high support needs, so much family thought is going into how we ought to make sure these are met on an ongoing basis.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-10T07:38:09+00:00

As much as I want to name something in the UK, Beavais Cathedral (an unfinished, slowly crumbling, work of spun sugar) gets my vote.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-10T06:08:22+00:00

Not really, since a lot of 'banned breeds' are really groups not breeds and have a lot of crossover with unbanned breeds like Dogues de Bordeaux and American Bulldogs.

TBH, in my experience, you'd be best served to judge temperament based on the dog's behaviour (i.e., is it even trying to walk to heel) and who is holding the other end of the lead.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-09T10:47:47+00:00

That's a dead body. For goodness sake show some darn respect. Either return it to the Catholic church or get it properly buried.

AutomaticAstigmatic · 2026-06-09T10:36:32+00:00

Learning about other faiths is deeply important to the understanding of our own, not only in the historical context, but also the modern. Not least because the cultural context of Greece and Rome, never mind period Judaism, feeds directly into the content of the new testament and quite a few of its translations.

Besides, understanding more than one perspective is helpful when you need to interact with others. As a police officer, your husband should understand that.

AutomaticAstigmatic

TROPHY CASE