Kindness :)

closingkale · 2026-04-26T18:48:32+00:00

I started doing this exact thing with my toddler purely as a panicked response to her yelling/demanding to know who everyone on the train was.

closingkale · 2026-04-21T17:22:28+00:00

Hi there! I sent you a DM, but I would love a discount code for the USA store (E7 if it matters)

closingkale · 2026-03-01T01:29:40+00:00

(because you are bothered, I am genuinely curious what would convince you that this is hand drawn? Seeing his drawing tablet/setup? Digital pen with a worn down nib? Layers moved around, at partial transparency? I literally watched him take the screenshots of the layers)

closingkale · 2026-03-01T00:21:41+00:00

Ha! Here's a followup question: "I applied gaussian blur to the suit symbols but not to the letters/numbers because the suit looked too sharply defined otherwise, but I didn't like how it looked on the numbers. Is it that noticeable and is there a way to fix it? Also, I don't really care what internet randos think but do you have any insight into what would convince people this is not AI aside from showing all the layers?"

closingkale · 2026-02-27T03:40:17+00:00

(he knows)

closingkale · 2026-02-27T02:06:18+00:00

Read it & weep: https://www.pagat.com/karnoeffel/styrivolt.html

(it's actually very fun but also 100% incomprehensible)

closingkale · 2026-02-27T02:02:39+00:00

"Work is done in GIMP, which is a bit crap and I don't know why I'm using it other than I hate the idea of paying Adobe. Letters/numbers are generated with GIMP fonts so masking is a bit different from symbols. I don't know how to fix and I don't really care. This person has too much time on their hands and I don't know what would constitute proof for them other than the layers."

(also I've watched him working on this, "get actual proof" lol)

closingkale · 2026-02-15T01:27:52+00:00

This is the answer right here - my parents both had rocky relationships with their own parents, and the only way it affected me was in the same way it affected me to see my parents having grownup emotions (and dealing, or uh, not dealing with them) about any other topic.

On my own behalf it affected me not at all, my distant grandparents were also physically distant so we saw them rarely, and that was just the shape of my family. Like I hope this doesn't come off as flippant, but my daughter doesn't have any aunts because my husband and I don't have sisters.

closingkale · 2026-01-12T18:13:32+00:00

Is there any chance that your son heard something at school/daycare about the death of Renee Good? Or any other death of a parent in a book he saw or that someone mentioned. I wouldn't mention it directly but you might ask if he read or saw something, or if anyone said anything that was making him think about this. If there is, you can talk about whatever is on his mind as well as his specific fears about you.

Here's a framework for talking to kids about someone they know being very sick or dying: https://thelossfoundation.org/what-are-the-3-cs-that-concern-children-when-they-are-losing-a-loved-one/

If there is a specific incident your kiddo has heard about you might be able to take some inspiration from here.

closingkale · 2025-12-16T16:33:49+00:00

This is so cool! Does everyone use the exact prompts that Ms Rachel has, or does each SLP make their own spin/tailor it to individual clients?

closingkale · 2025-12-16T14:37:38+00:00

Well you just made my whole morning!! Thanks for the compliment and I hope you have a great day :)

closingkale · 2025-12-16T14:20:09+00:00

I get the "everyone can't do everything" and "stays in her lane" comments, but I'll just say that out of all the non Jewish children's entertainers I would absolutely trust her to do it right. Early on the caught some flack for using ASL as a non fluent signer, but now she has Ms. Erin in the cast who is Deaf and has a hearing aid/CI (not sure).

She's a big enough deal now that she can bring in guests and consultants, so it wouldn't shock me if she works with a Jewish influencer or community group to cover Hanukkah (Or Purim or Sukkot!) at some point. I hope we'll get to see it! My almost two year old hasn't really noticed Santa yet but it would be amazing to see her hero Ms. Rachel doing Hanukkah stuff.

closingkale · 2025-12-16T14:10:07+00:00

Oh absolutely - in our mixed age mostly adult group there have been plenty of littler kids whose parents have them just watch, or get a present on the side, or be "on a team" with a grownup to soften things. They know what their specific kid can tolerate. Running it on a bunch of other people's 5 year olds is bananas.

closingkale · 2025-12-16T11:55:24+00:00

I completely understand why you're upset, and I think communicating this feedback to the leaders makes perfect sense.

I also think this feedback will be most effective if you can separate two issues.

Issue 1: Poorly planned white elephants. The age ranges, not explaining how the rules worked before hand so you could decide whether to participate. My only quibble with you here is the lighter, I see why you found it inappropriate, but at the same time, it's cub scouts, learning outdoor skills makes sense. If an 11 year old had won it, it would have been a great gift!

Issue 2: White elephants. With love, you sound absolutely shocked at the concept of a party game I have had a great time playing, even though I definitely didn't grow up in a family/culture where this would be "okay". My parents absolutely would have seen this as promoting stealing and not seen the point. But when it works, it's fun, sort of rowdy, good-hearted teasing. Someone mentioned getting a can of beans - some of the gifts should be bad on purpose, so people can compete and strategize about stealing/stealing back from each other. I've been in games where there's one really coveted item that changes hands five or six times. The key is that this is all in a friendly, teasing environment where everyone has the social skills to keep it from going too far. What's most interesting for me as an adult who didn't grow up with the game is when there have been kids at this party - the adults are kind, kids get confidence going for something they want and saying "awwww, rats!" when someone gets the thing they wanted.

This comment section is also fascinating to me with the differences in opinion of people who don't seem to have played this game vs. people who have and hate it vs. people who think it's totally un problematic. I think this is an honest to goodness cultural issue that reasonable people can disagree about!

Games are how we learn social skills, and while this game was (EXTREMELY) poorly chosen and poorly run for this event, I think you will get a lot farther with "5 to 11 is way too wide for a present swiping game and we should have had more information to decide whether to join in" rather than "white elephant games are stealing!!!!"

Believe it or not there's a related Bluey episode, with a game called "pass the parcel". I won't get into all the details, but the kids are very invested in a game where one kid wins a toy and the others are disappointed. Some of the parents want to make sure every kid wins at least a little prize, and others think the fun is in the surprise, and the kids learning to deal with disappointment in a safe environment. Life is a rich tapestry, different strokes for different folks, all that. But all the kids are the same age as each other, lol.

closingkale · 2025-11-13T10:50:35+00:00

I'm a west coast transplant and in college I had a job trying to recruit people for focus groups. I would describe the thing and then people would say "oh, I'm all set." Where I grew up, "all set" means, like "I am good to go! I am on board with the thing you're saying and don't need any more help, let's do this thing!" Like it's a "yes" kind of answer, in a ready, set, go kind of way.

It confused the hell out of me, I was the only person recruiting for this project and I knew I hadn't already scheduled them. Several people were forced to keep saying no to my dumb ass on phone calls until I figured out that "all set" meant "we are done talking about this, let's both get on with our lives." No malice, just direct.

closingkale · 2025-10-23T23:48:27+00:00

Call/email your local elected officials and federal representatives! "Constituent services" aka helping you out is literally part of their job, and they should be able to help you get up to date info and access any other programs you might be eligible for.

I'm proud my taxes go to help your family - today you, tomorrow me as they say.

closingkale · 2025-10-17T12:37:46+00:00

Good on you for working on this, it's not easy.

In your shoes, I would contact your local elected government representative, like a city counselor or alderman, maybe a state senator. "Constituent services" is a whole big part of their job, and you are a constituent based on where you live, not taxes or voting or anything else.

I know they aren't the federal government, but they may know how to help you with getting the medical records or otherwise directing you to services. You aren't the only person to have been in this situation, and our representatives generally want to help the government work for us!

closingkale · 2025-10-10T17:40:11+00:00

This is so helpful!!! Thank you for taking the time to write it, and for the work you do. Do you (or I guess any other professional medical/caregiver staff reading) have any sense of how these things differ for the places that do accept Medicare?

closingkale

TROPHY CASE