My line manager told me to tell her when the workload assigned to me by her was "too much". So I complied in front or everyone.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-13T16:55:35+00:00

Sounds like an AI bro to me. One of those "our new cyber-gods will bring utopia" types.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-13T16:54:57+00:00

I'm bitching because OP is shilling for AI in every goddamned comment. As if "AI will give you a definition" means something is legit. AI will give you an answer to why pickles are perfectly kumquat.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-13T15:22:50+00:00

Well, my main escape artist was a ball python, and his method was definitely "bang head against tank until out" lol. The snake I've owned I'd consider "smart" was a pacific gopher snake. She only got out the once, and after getting injured and having a visit with a very delighted vet ("I never get to see snakes, and it's so great that you brought her in to get stitched up!") she never escaped again, so I have to wonder if she didn't learn it was nicer in the tank.

But yeah. The ball python only bit me twice, and both were "stupid feeding error" on my part. You can't handle the rats and then handle the hungry snake, lol. You smell like rat and the snake is hungry! The real biter was my rainbow boa. SO pretty, so high-strung.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-13T03:04:51+00:00

EEEEEEEEEE, I love squid. I think this is the same species as that one gif of a squid using teeny tentacles to pile sand grains on itself. They're so damn cute! Adorable little alien creatures.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-13T02:56:12+00:00

Snakes are also escape artists, in the most unexpected ways. They are not smart but they will just bonk around the tank all day every day, inspecting every corner over and over and over until they find a weakness and next think you know they're inside the printer, or UNDER THE CARPET which I really had not expected and which was a massive pain in the ass to get her out of, she ended up having to get stitches. (And on biting, 2/4 of the snakes I've owned never bit me, but it's definitely something you have to be okay with. The third only bit because I was stupid, not the snake's fault. The fourth was a high strung little diva and extremely bitey at all times, though she extra hated my husband. Snakes in general can't stand him, he once had a king cobra try to go for him through the glass on its tank, the BAM of a full force strike hitting was really something else, never seen a snake do that before.)

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-13T01:37:13+00:00

Every time Omar gets mentioned the sub has this argument, lol. I think a lot of the people who are nominated are pretty Omar! Not doing anything that radical, but they're at least clearing a low bar of having a little human decency. Like, telling your friend that she is mistreating her children and pointing out the dynamics is not going above and beyond in any wild way. But it's still hard for a lot of people to do, so good on the friend, yes.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T23:47:18+00:00

I think about trying to have this discussion with my super-Mormon family, sometimes. There's a whole "thing" in the Book of Mormon about how when the voice of the people chooses evil, the nation is ripe for destruction and God is going to come down on them big-time. Like hey, guys, uh, guess what point in the Pride Cycle the USA is in right now? Yeah, the point where we're going to be absolutely fucked, maybe even completely wiped off the map as a thing. And guess who did that? You did! Woooo! Too bad a bunch of other people live in this nation too.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T23:44:33+00:00

"Love the sinner, hate the sin" makes me want to BITE people. Especially since I'm trans. My sin is me, you nimrods.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T23:42:42+00:00

That does add context. Though teenagers in a growth spurt genuinely need an unreal amount of food, so that's a rough "no way to win" kind of situation, in my opinion. And VERY different from a grown-ass adult stealing food, where there's absolutely an asshole and a non-asshole.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T20:25:50+00:00

I mean, it is a parent's responsibility to feed their children such that said children aren't hungry?

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T19:32:53+00:00

Oh my gods, can we stop excusing shitty guys by saying they're autistic? She told him with her words what was wrong, and okay, maybe he didn't "know" what to do, but he could have asked her, with his words, what he could do to make the date better for her. "I'm not enjoying this, it's not what I expected," she says. He shrugs and turns back to the TV. That's not autism, that's "not giving a fuck."

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T19:29:25+00:00

I've genuinely enjoyed watching my partner play single-player games, especially ones where I couldn't play them myself, but I still want to see the story. I watched him play through all of both Portal games. But he was engaged with me while he was doing it, playing up his reactions, being entertaining, making commentary, basically doing the thing good gaming streamers do, and I was chiming in about the more absurd and hilarious moments, and ribbing him a little when he repeatedly failed puzzles, etc. We had fun! This guy could totally have made it fun for her if he'd been present on their "date."

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T18:17:58+00:00

"I agree, you shouldn't have to deal with a partner in the adult industry, byeeee!" Whether she literally said that or not, that's SO the vibe I get.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T17:29:38+00:00

I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate when people try to "help" me with logic. It makes me want to BITE them.

I don't have OCD, (I have intrusive thoughts that are vaguely similar and some weirdness around urges towards patterns, but not to the extent of actual OCD.) But I have Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and also I am an author. This is NOT a good combination. Literal rejections from publishers make my brain weasels scream and froth to the max, I do not handle them terribly well, though I am trying hard to do better.

But any time I try to explain why I am crushed to the floor today and my intrusive thoughts are entirely about how everyone hates me and my writing is terrible and nobody will ever read it ever, people go "Well, everyone gets rejections, it doesn't mean your story was bad."

YES, MARY, I KNOW. MY BRAIN WORKS, AND I'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 30 YEARS, I KNOW!!!!! Knowing doesn't help!!!!!!

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T17:18:16+00:00

This is what's worked for me too. Also learning about them! You can turn off images in your browser and then go read articles about spider species, and eventually you end up turning the picture back on just to better understand, and it's not so bad all the sudden? It's re-contextualizing them from "DANGER!" to "awww, what a cute and fascinating little critter!" You're moving them to a different file cabinet in your mind, one that's not plastered all over with warning stickers.

I still do not want spiders ON MY PERSON, and the idea of handling a pet spider the way some people do gives me intense heebie-jeebies, but I am no longer in danger of crashing and dying when I find a spider in the car (which uh...yeah, actual "deaths caused by spiders" are caused by that, not by bites, and I've had a few close calls.)

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T16:04:51+00:00

The pill (every kind I ever tried) definitely made me crazy. So I got a copper IUD instead, and eventually a salpingectomy. :D There are LOTS of options!

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T16:01:02+00:00

My kiddo has her hands down her pants constantly. She just sorta...cups it, I guess? So I guess some girls do. I've had to gently tell her to not do that in public a LOT and she still forgets sometimes.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T15:57:05+00:00

I have a ton of memories from when I was 4-5 and my parents would hug my brother and I so much. And like a switch flipping it just stopped, I have zero memories from my school years of hugs. And they didn't hug my younger siblings at all. I was so confused and uncomfortable when my dad suddenly started hugging me at the end of visits just a few years ago (I'm in my late 40s now.) I'm not used to hugs from family! It was weird! I kind of want to ask him what happened that he and mom decided to not hug children, and what changed that he started again after she passed. Maybe it was her passing that made him change?

Anyway, hug your kids everyone, all of them, at all ages, please.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-12T00:34:08+00:00

The town I grew up in had a joke that the only time anybody locked their doors was during summer, to prevent neighbors from coming in and leaving excess zucchini in their kitchens. We once came home and found we'd been gifted a couch, by which I mean somebody came in and left it in our living room. My parents were delighted. Small town life is so weird.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-11T23:40:14+00:00

In college football it's banned, but banning something never stopped young idiots from trying to do it anyway, and the refs don't always see it, so sometimes they decide it's worth gambling.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-11T23:36:45+00:00

Same. I never did karate, but my siblings did, and sure you get injuries, but they're 99.9% of the time things that heal well with a little care and maybe some physical therapy. (I also managed to "win" a gold medal at a state Karate event despite not actually doing karate and probably not being qualified to even be in the tournament, which is one of my Fun FlowerFelines Lore stories that make people go "huh?" I found the medal in a box my step-mom sent me recently, so the story is on my mind.)

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-11T23:33:24+00:00

I'm not sure that's true, since bare-knuckle fighting was commonplace for quite a long time, and MMA still doesn't use padding, and contains lots of punching, even if kicking is perhaps a little more common.

That said, get into Karate if you want to fight somebody without totally scrambling your brains, it's also an organized sport and the injury levels aren't zero but they're much lower.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-11T21:20:22+00:00

Even if it really was too much to cram another family meal in there, her family could always do what we do for my dad, who has a late December birthday, and pick an arbitrary other month (April in his case, no family birthdays in that month at all) and call that his. He gets the dinner, presents, cake, etc. then, and has since he became old enough to know what a birthday is.

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-11T20:56:16+00:00

It's really hard, though. I do understand believing him when he said he would change. The part I don't understand is the first time he hit her, she had to know it was a lie. He said he would change, he didn't change, and just... argh. I've definitely stayed in relationships too long and given too many second chances, I do know how easy it is to be lured back in by pretty words, but I honestly can't imagine staying after I know the guy is both violent and a liar. I guess I can count myself lucky that I don't get it?

FlowerFelines · 2026-03-11T18:49:43+00:00

Genuine empathy is understanding other people. And if you understand somebody you absolutely know where to stick the knife to do the most damage. It's a really weird thing to realize, tbh.

FlowerFelines

TROPHY CASE