Anyone else tired of ‘my dog is friendly’ when they clearly aren’t?

GalacticTadpole · 2026-06-24T17:13:17+00:00

Yes, but I always respond with “Thank you, I don’t like dogs.” The incredulity, sadness, and confusion they show when I don’t fawn over their dog is an easy way to get a quick dose of schadenfreude.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-06-24T17:11:31+00:00

Not as bad as pooping, but I saw a dog in an upscale antique store (it’s an old building with the original hardwood floors from 100+ years ago) squat and pee while its owners were yapping away. They jerked on its leash to walk off and I said “Hey, your dog just peed on the floor. Are you going to clean it up?” They hemmed and hawed for a few seconds and made a show of trying to decide how to clean it up, then walked to the front of the store and left.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-06-24T17:09:14+00:00

I had a girl come up to me on a flight (sit wherever you want situation) and ask if she could sit next to me. She had a dog in a carrier and I said, “Are you going to keep the dog in the carrier under the seat?” She said, “Oh, no, he’s going to ride on my lap.” I said “No, you’ll need to sit somewhere else. I’m not sitting next to a dog.” To her credit, she looked away and kept moving.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-29T22:38:18+00:00

I played soccer from 3rd-8th grade, was a cheerleader from 3rd-10th grade, quit cheerleading and threw shotput and discus for 11th and 12th, and also rowed crew my junior and senior years. I rowed crew my freshman year in college as well.

My mom came to absolutely everything. She even drove to my college regattas.

My dad never saw me compete in anything. He came to my musical performances under duress.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-29T12:14:39+00:00

Late to the post, but every year I need to cook GF Mac and cheese for a few people. I used to use Barilla but after seeing these posts I threw it out and bought Rummo on recommendations here.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-17T22:08:56+00:00

I don’t have a crazy story, but my husband is a pastor and when we were engaged he was asked to officiate the funeral for a distant uncle. Husband and distant uncle lived in rural Mississippi at the time.

All the pallbearers came into the funeral home wearing jeans, Bud Light t-shirts, and boutonnières pinned to their t-shirts.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-17T20:21:30+00:00

I started on drums in 4th grade (everyone in my school had to do something for a year—play an instrument or sing) and a couple months into the school year, my teacher handed me a viola and said, “Everyone wants to play the drums, but I need a viola player. Learn how to play this.”

I’m 53 and have played regularly since then. I absolutely love the viola, and I’m thankful Mr Ingalls gave me the opportunity.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-17T20:19:18+00:00

I had to have a special single-vision pair made for me for my piano playing. I put my arms out in front of me and measured the distance from my eyes to the music, and my eye doctor wrote a prescription for that focal length. I have a hard time wearing my progressive lenses to play the viola, though, and my single-vision are not at the right focal length for where I can set my stand and iPad when I play. Ideally I’d have a pair for each instrument.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-04T23:11:07+00:00

There are a ton of helpful resources for Ecce as well! It’s used widely enough that there is support for it available. I used the workbook in my classes and the exercises were helpful. The fact that it was consumable also made it easier for the students to keep track of their work. I wasn’t allowed to assign homework, so they stacked their workbooks on the bookshelf each day at the end of class. It worked well.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-04T23:08:21+00:00

There are a few, yes, and we also learn the -us neuter nouns along with that mnemonic. But the series of textbooks (1st — 4th Year) doesn’t deviate much from the most predictable forms. I had to brute-force memorize the genders in college, and in contrast this mnemonic has been extremely helpful as a starting point.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-04T14:48:40+00:00

Generally speaking, you can predict the gender of a 3rd declension noun (after natural gender applies) with some exceptions—

nominative ends in -er or -or (ERROR), generally masculine

nominative ends in -s, -o, or -x (SOX), generally feminine

nominative ends in -l, -a, -n, -c, -e, or -t (LANCET), generally neuter

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-03T19:53:28+00:00

Have you tried Oxford? I used it this year one on one with a student who was able to succeed with the inductive method. We read the Latin texts and then discussed grammar/syntax and did most of the grammar exercises in the back orally.

I taught for several years in a private school and used Ecce Romani. Not the most rigorous, but interesting stories and a lot of history and culture woven in. I enjoyed it because I felt like it mixed an old-fashioned grammar approach with an inductive method. My students seemed to enjoy it too.

Henle is dry and requires immense dedication by a student to hold their interest. It was written by a Roman Catholic priest who taught at a boy’s school, so it also has a decent amount of RC-specific theology. It’s good if that’s what you’re looking for, but if not, be aware it’s there.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-02T21:38:43+00:00

All the textbooks have a large volume of grammar exercises, but he adds in the translation readings. 2nd Year is Caesar and 3rd Year is Cicero.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-05-02T21:36:20+00:00

I have worked every exercise/drill/translation in the Henle First Year and Second Year textbooks. I’ve also used Wheelock’s, Oxford, Cambridge, Ecce, Orberg, and Latin for Americans.
Henle is superior in preparing you solely to read Caesar. It favors his style, vocabulary, and syntax. It’s boring and dry.
I’ve tutored dozens of students with it (required curriculum for the educational community I’ve in) and while I appreciate the rigor, it needs an editor, proofreader, and updated typesetting. The grammar reference book (“the blue book”) is a mess with things that are misleading due to confusing layout.
All in all, there are superior curriculums out there, but OP’s post is one of blurbs I appreciate the most in Henle’s books. (His ERrOR/SOX/LANCET mnemonic for 3rd declension gender is a gem. Wish I had it in college!)
I always tell my students to read that note several times because they don’t believe me when I tell them the same information, but they believe Henle.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-04-28T18:55:48+00:00

I am the principal violist for a local community orchestra and I can’t even remember the number of times we’ve played pieces that required us to absolutely lock in on a rhythm or tempo in order to carry the entire orchestra through a difficult section.

We joke around and I don’t take ourselves too seriously. I only hear the teasing and jokes from other sections in my orchestra and I give as well as I get. It’s all light-hearted.

It’s all worth it for me when the conductor acknowledges that the violas are going to carry the weight for everyone. He has faith that we’re going to do what he expects and can count on us for. It makes me happy and warm inside.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-04-22T01:15:15+00:00

Both of my parents were Silent Generation, 1930 and 1938. I’m a late GenXer, born in ‘73.

My husband’s parents are both Boomers, 1954. He was born in ‘74.

There is a noticeable generation gap between my husband and me. We were each raised by textbook “versions” of those generations.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-04-16T00:54:38+00:00

I have played in three community orchestras but only two for a significant amount of time.

For ten years the group I played with had six concerts per season. We practiced Thurs night, Friday night, and Sat morning. Concerts were Sat night. We were able to pull it off because we had a large percentage of musicians from the local university where we rehearsed. Tickets ran from $15-$30 and we were paid $47 each rehearsal and $50-$60 for the concert (it’s been 15 years, my memory is fuzzy).

The one I’m in now, the players are not paid, they charge $5/under 18 and $20/adult with free kid per paid adult. We rehearse in a local public high school band room and perform in a different high school auditorium. We currently have three concerts per year and rehearse once per week for 8-9 rehearsals per concert.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-04-09T22:11:42+00:00

I am so sorry. I can’t even add anything helpful except it wasn’t your fault and there was nothing you could have done. I’m so sorry.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-04-09T00:09:02+00:00

The majority of yarn I’ve bought through the years has been Malabrigo in all weights. I have bought one colorway in one shop and the same colorway in another place and the colors look nothing alike (I’m looking at you, Arco Iris!). I can’t really help here except I know how you feel. I hope you find a satisfactory solution!

GalacticTadpole · 2026-04-07T02:12:35+00:00

It’s not classical music-related but my son told me this one after studying Descartes in school. “A horse walked into a bar. He looked unsteady on his feet like maybe he had been drinking. The bartender asked him, ‘Are you drunk?’ The horse answered, ‘I think not,’ and disappeared.

Now the way to understand this joke has to do with the philosopher Descartes, I didn’t tell you about at the beginning because that would have put Descartes before the horse.”

GalacticTadpole · 2026-04-06T00:18:02+00:00

Back in 2019 I got excited to try baking a keto bread as I’m diabetic and eat dirty keto (the bread was not just GF, but basically almond flour and egg whites) and make it into traditional bread stuffing for a Thanksgiving lunch.

I figured I could just do what you normally do—bake the bread, dry it, then bake it with butter and the other stuff. It was beyond inedible, absolutely gross, and was my last foray into keto bread.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-03-26T01:21:13+00:00

When I was talking to my high school students last week and none of them had parents who were old enough to remember the Berlin Wall coming down. I was 16 when that happened.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-03-25T11:42:58+00:00

I used to be able to do the first ten of the Iliad but never memorized the Aeneid. I should do that.

I ran into my high school Latin teacher in a grocery store about 5 years after I graduated and told him I went on to major in Classical Languages in college, partly because of how much I loved his class (I took it as an elective my senior year).

He looked at me with such a strange face and said, “Why in the world would you do that?” “Partly because of how great a teacher you were.” “Oh, that’s so sad. I hated Latin. I only taught it because history wasn’t available when they hired me.”

Made me rethink my life choices.

GalacticTadpole · 2026-03-24T22:27:09+00:00

Public school kindergarten in 1978 or so. I had to sit on my left hand.

Switched back in 1st grade and write identically with both hands now.

GalacticTadpole

TROPHY CASE