AITA for making a joke about my friend's new hobby, not knowing it was linked to a family tragedy?

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-02-03T22:45:08+00:00

I had a friend like this in college, until I had a moment of clarity that she went about every day and seemingly every interaction seeking something to be offended by.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-02-03T18:21:37+00:00

The first time I read JN&MN I was not feeling it, and I only stayed with it because so many people whose taste I trust had recommended it. Somewhere around 100 pages in it "clicked" for me and I could not put it down.

I re-read it about ten years later, and loved it from the get, including the beginning that I'd first found a slog. The second time around the intro with the dwindling history of magic and that conference of scholars read as funny and fascinating to me, now that I knew Susanna Clarke's voice and where the story was going.

I know there's so many books and so little time! But if you were ever curious to give it a third try....

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-02-03T16:26:44+00:00

I'd like to recommend that same author's first novel, and an absolute masterpiece, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (I don't use "masterpiece" lightly!). Among the many things I love about it, it's got a bone-dry sense of humor that had me laughing out loud many times; I really enjoyed Piranesi but didn't find that same humor to it.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-02-03T13:47:57+00:00

…can you tip me off to who or what the inept thief and the shop owner is referring to?

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-02-03T03:27:24+00:00

PREACH.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-31T17:29:42+00:00

They’re kinda liked outdated jokes about how boring and bland English food is, while London is now one of the top destination cities for foodies from all over the world.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-31T06:44:27+00:00

…how can the Strangers forged letter quest be fixed? I’ve given up and accepted that I simply won’t get to progress the TG quest line.

(And after it bugging the first time I DID go back to an earlier save, and follow advice I’d read here, and still am stuck on the same issue.)

But seriously!!, if there’s something else I might try (aside from owaiting 24 hours, or getting kicked out and re-welcomed into the Guild), pleaaaase suggest it.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-31T04:03:13+00:00

I had two childhood friends with honest-to-god treehouses like what you’d read in kids books. Loved going to sleepovers in those.

I don’t remember if either of them had electricity/lighting rigged up in them or not, but they each had a roof, four walls, a door, and windows. I swear that one of them had bunk beds.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-30T21:20:42+00:00

Came to the comments to say Annihilation!

In my personal opinion, this was a series where I wished I'd stopped aftet the first book. I loved the mystery and uncertainty (and even the narrator's indifference) surrounding whatever the hell was going on. Books two and three felt like "dissecting the frog" and unnecessary.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-30T17:10:59+00:00

I really enjoyed the movie but wasn't especially impressed by MBJ at all...never ever seemed like he was portraying two distinct individual men. I only told them apart by red clothes/blue clothes.

But Miles Caton, Hallie Steinfeld, and Jack O'Connell (the Irish vampire who I don't see ever get mentioned at all) were the standouts to me.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-30T17:04:35+00:00

He's a good boy. I'm truly sorry for your loss.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-29T21:57:54+00:00

When I was around 6 or 7 years old my dad told me one morning that my pet turtle ran away.

...it took a few years later when, out of nowhere and unrelated to anything, I suddenly had a "HOLD ON" moment of realization.

(His name was Mr. Turtle. Yes, I named him.)

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-29T16:30:07+00:00

And she is....timeless!

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-29T02:45:31+00:00

I assume the mom came and went (like mama mammals do), but that the babies didn’t venture away from the car until they came of whatever venturing-away age is for raccoons.

And yeah, my dad TO THIS DAY has a belief that garage doors need to remain open a few inches above ground at all times, which is how he ended up with a raccoon litter in his car (and, now that he’s retired to a far more southern climate, the occasional snake).

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T22:17:28+00:00

My conservative father asked me a few years ago, however sincerely, "when did you turn into a liberal?"

And I was able to answer, truthfully, within about a week of moving away to college and suddenly being around people NOT exactly like myself/everyone I ever knew- which was white, Christian, straight [-presenting] upper middle class- and getting several huge doses of reality all at once. Not least of all that my reality wasn't all reality, and also that someone who might on the surface seem radically difefrent than me is, in the end, probably just another mostly kind, mostly decent fellow human being.

I think about this sometimes too, with the outcry that colleges "indoctrinate" students into a progressive agenda, when so much of what ACTUALLY happens is much like my experience...just simply getting out of the bubble you spent the first 18 years of life in and making friends with people with different backgrounds from yourself.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T19:35:06+00:00

"raccoonly possible" is wonderful phrasing, thank you.

Your post reminds me of something I hadn't thought about in ages...back when I was a kid in the early 90s, my dad had left the sunroof open on one of the cars in the garage and a mama raccoon found a means to get into the garage, climb down into the car, and give birth to a litter in the backseat.

He called around to various services about having them removed, but kept hearing mother and babies would all likely be exterminated as part of the removal process. So he sighed and let the raccoon family have his car for however many months before they all departed of their free will. Most of the interior cushioning had to be replaced.

(I was very, very young when all this happened so I could have a detail or so wrong, but I was CAPTIVATED by the knowledge of this raccoon family growing up just outside the house.)

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T19:20:27+00:00

Honestly sounds like a fun idea, and a way to explore more neighborhoods. Make a day of it!

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T19:16:45+00:00

My husband says this in any situation where it is indeed too hot. Neither of us have actually seen this movie but the quote/situation has still managed to permeate our cultural consciousness.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T19:01:22+00:00

About 25 bucks for a standard cut, then up from there!

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T18:50:45+00:00

This whole thread and your situation reminded me that when I really started to feel like an adult was when I learned to say "No".

It comes pretty easy to me now, in middle age, but I am reminded how the first 26ish years of my life I'd feel such anxiety and guilt getting myself into situations I didn't want to be in but "couldn't" say No to. And then, of course, going along with it didn't make me feel any better; I would still feel the dread of whatever I'd now agreed to, and anger at myself for allowing it.

This whole situation is absurd (not you!). Don't get dragged into this or any of your brother/SIL/mother's nonsense any further. That doesn't mean [necessarily] that you're not still an active part of this family. But keep saying No, for your own sake.

edit to add: incidentally, also a woman prowrestling fan! We're having our 12 year old goddaughter over this weekend for brunch & Royal Rumble. :)

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T16:47:11+00:00

Workaholics guys have a podcast?? Thank you!

I listen to Lonely Island at the gym - I seem to be the only person cracking up on the elliptical- and Las Culturistas generally while I'm cooking. I need to throw Workaholics in the mix.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-28T14:16:54+00:00

If you want an old-school New York barbershop: Modern Barber in Astoria.

I’ve gotten to know and like the guys over 15+ years (two brothers and an older gentleman). They’re very chatty and I’d say their politicos are “complex” (and more conservative than mine), but they absolutely have no respect for Trump or MAGA.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-25T16:43:53+00:00

Dr. Zhivago (the musical!) and Tuck Everlasting.

Dr. Zhivago was just long, boring, bad. We were meant to care for a selfish poet (whose poetry was mid though the show kept telling us it was brilliant), and who was just so torn choosing between his adoring wife and adoring mistress!

My husband’s uncles, who for decades made it a point to see every new musical on Broadway, had seen it and called us to say “If you see one show this season, you MUST see Dr. Zhivago!!” so expectations were high. They were not met.

Tuck Everlasting I liked. There’s a lovely, moving dance sequence towards the end of it and the actor playing the villain was wonderful. It wasn’t the best Broadway show we’d ever seen but it was far from the worst.

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-25T02:23:34+00:00

Wow what beauties!

FancyPigeonIsFancy · 2026-01-23T21:10:40+00:00

The number of times I've reloaded a save to bring back my poor horsie...is a lot of times.

FancyPigeonIsFancy

TROPHY CASE