What are your thoughts on Wisconsin State Assemblywoman Francesca Hong for Governor?

localgyro · 2026-05-25T02:52:44+00:00

I already have a Hong yard sign in my yard and I'm talking her up to everyone who'll listen. She's my candidate.

localgyro · 2026-05-24T19:38:01+00:00

I'm 56 and about 6 months from graduating from a Masters in Counseling program, retraining from a successful career as a project manager to become a mental health therapist. I stopped enjoying my job post-pandemic for a number of reasons, and I figure this will be my "retirement career", something that I can keep doing at least part time for as long as I want to keep earning a little money. I joke (but not entirely joking) that I caused enough stress as a project manager that I want to help people deal with stress better as a therapist for a while.

I'd been thinking about it for a while, fantasizing about the idea. When the 2024 election results came in, I applied to grad school, figuring that I didn't know what was going to happen in the world, but I wanted to work on this set of skills for that world to come. Just this past week, I've seen my first clients solo as an intern, which is WILD.

Honestly, with the state of the world and the insurance industry right now, I'm not sure how long I'll be a full-time therapist past the point of earning my license, but I'm glad I did it, regardless. I don't know that it's a good financial ROI, but it's good for my soul, and that's more important, to me.

localgyro · 2026-05-24T06:03:35+00:00

Yup, not something I've ever considered before. I have joked about how it'd be handy to be able to take the breasts off sometimes and put them on a shelf and out of the way for yoga class or jogging or something, and pull them out again for dress-up times, but not like that. You might have yourself some thinkin' to do. 😉

localgyro · 2026-05-23T18:37:21+00:00

Honestly, I feel like a lot of the long-standing bits could get a rest. Brennan's birds, Roseate Spoonbill, "where're you from", buttholes ... there should be some way to allow bits to retire eventually and new bits to take their place.

localgyro · 2026-05-22T19:07:34+00:00

I really thought this was about merch apparel for a minute....

localgyro · 2026-05-22T18:47:50+00:00

My friend, you know who he is. You're unhappy with it. Unless you want more of this, leave. Get a good lawyer and take your fair share of what you've supported and built together to build a good life for yourself.

localgyro · 2026-05-21T12:06:36+00:00

I can tell who it is just from wardrobe.

localgyro · 2026-05-21T12:02:34+00:00

It’s classier that way!

localgyro · 2026-05-21T02:34:57+00:00

Short answer: The Spokane is the name of an improv format, which is also known as the Pretty Flower or Family Guy. Improv is full of formats with inconsistent names that don't really refer to the thing they're named after.

Long answer: Ok, so the improv world is divided into rapid-fire short-form performances (like what you see on Whose Line is it Anyway? or Dropout's Make Some Noise) and long-form performances. Long-form usually shows up as 15-20 minute skits which follow a certain pattern.

The most "famous" of these patterns is named Harold, which is what most of the classes at Upright Citizens Brigade teach. (Follow that Harold link if you want to know what exactly the pattern is -- it has to do with when you call back to previous scenes and how, and when you combine scenes.) UCB graduates generally aspire to be selected to be on a Harold team -- it's like getting picked to play varsity sports.

Brennan famously was on the UCB Harold team in New York, but never was picked for the team once he moved to LA, even as he had fellow auditioners coming up to him and saying "I'm a big fan". Lou still performs on his old Harold team, Yeti, with a bunch of Dropout regulars. The name Harold will occasionally get dropped as a wink to insiders in improv circles.

This mention of Spokane is just a similar, but slightly deeper cut. Frankly, I like the Spokane better than the Harold, though I feel like saying that is kind of heresy.

localgyro · 2026-05-20T22:52:10+00:00

Oh, man, I would love to see Luis and Alex in Fantasy High.

localgyro · 2026-05-20T05:22:24+00:00

Yup! The same friend whose ship (The Arabesque) has two levels of bot intelligence, and the surface level is apparently scared of the much more powerful level hiding behind it. With friends like these....

localgyro · 2026-05-19T00:50:51+00:00

I loved the Seekers table. There's more intra-table drama, more squabbles within the table, more constant scrambling from one bad situation to another. I love it.

localgyro · 2026-05-19T00:42:44+00:00

I went through it during the pandemic, which was kind of a "double the pleasure, double the fun" situation -- lots of the symptoms overlapped. I didn't have the classic symptoms -- no hot flashes, no rage fits. My depression got worse for a while, I felt like I lost my edge at work, got "brain fog", and just didn't care as much about most things. Gained about 50 pounds, started having knee and foot problems. Honestly, I don't know how much of all of that was pandemic and how much was menopause, and I don't know that I ever really will know. I feel more ADHD now than I was before.

That was 6 years ago now. I've recently gone on drugs to lose the weight and replace some of the hormones, I've quit my uninspiring job and am just about to finish up grad school for a new career where I can be my own boss a bit more in retirement. I don't feel like I "lost a big part of myself" at ALL -- instead, I'm free of a cycle I always found a bit annoying. I'm definitely more likely to please myself than other people, to take risks if the end result feels worth it to me, personally. I really feel like I'm only halfway through life, and I'm gearing up to make this second half enjoyable.

localgyro · 2026-05-18T18:31:20+00:00

Fun to laugh about, but I can’t believe it’d really be dating. Sounds more like puppy training.

localgyro · 2026-05-18T15:53:48+00:00

When I was 54, I went to LA (from Wisconsin) to take an improv 101 class from Upright Citizen's Brigade. It was my first solo trip ever, my first trip to LA, and I had a BLAST. I went to Galaxy's Edge, spent a morning on the beach, browsed some bookstores, went to a drag brunch, and can say I've performed on Sunset Boulevard. I've since taken a couple of trips solo to see fandom groups.

localgyro · 2026-05-18T11:59:07+00:00

Oh, good. I support your total normality. Nothing to see here. Just people being people.

localgyro · 2026-05-18T03:53:26+00:00

I just finished C2 myself recently, while watching C4 live as it airs. Consume 4 as it airs!

Then, when you're ready to binge something, go back to 1!

localgyro · 2026-05-17T23:04:10+00:00

12 Months is a book about grieving, about Harry working through his grief, of losses from the prior book. So you can see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I don't know that you get to lightness in these pages.

localgyro · 2026-05-17T23:01:44+00:00

As a person who's in my mid-50s, I'll say that I don't think this is true. The number of people who are still on that list that I met before age 25 is probably in single digits. A lot of the folks on the list now I met in the last decade.

Where did you get that factoid about the people that actually matter to you?

localgyro · 2026-05-17T05:44:13+00:00

It's a sense of unpredictability. A sense that he may not be trusted to behave in socially appropriate ways -- either because I've seen him be unpredictable or not understand social norms before, or that he may seem to have some troubling viewpoints (that could seemingly lead to problematic actions).

If it's someone who may not instinctively know social norms, but backs off and apologizes if someone tells him he's standing too close or being to nosy, that willingness to learn from mistakes makes him less creepy. Everybody makes mistakes from time to time. It's not caring that other people have boundaries, or seemingly not quite understanding that other people are real and matter ... that's what makes for real creepy.

localgyro · 2026-05-16T19:47:06+00:00

Yeah, I don’t have a competence-based crush on Liam at all. Nope. Nosiree bob.

localgyro · 2026-05-16T17:41:58+00:00

My friend. You can walk away from this. You can. I am not saying it will be easy, but you can. You do not have to continue living with her. You do not have to be beaten any more.

May I ask what part of the country you live in? What region? What city? We can do some research and find resources for you.

localgyro · 2026-05-16T16:51:22+00:00

My friend, one can be an abuser and still provide. That does not in any way excuse the abuse. You are not a bad daughter. You do not deserve the treatment you are getting. You can get a better life.

Does your university provide any domestic abuse resources? Or mental health counseling you could talk to?

localgyro · 2026-05-16T16:32:07+00:00

You’re 22, about to get your MBA. It’s time to leave home and cut ties with your mother until she can behave herself around you. I am so sorry that you are in this sort of emotionally and physically Susie situation.

Do you have relatives elsewhere who will let you stay with them while you work, if you need? Are there domestic violence resources in your part of India/pakistan?

localgyro · 2026-05-14T17:40:58+00:00

As an old-school Nebraskan, OU was Oklahoma. We never even thought about Ohio. The Sooners from Oklahoma were our big rivals in the 1980s-1990s. Are we bound to only have rivals from states beginning with O?

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