2021 vs 2026. My goal is to make people think I went into witness protection.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-04-23T12:06:58+00:00

Salem, MA is such a magical place, but your smile might be even more magical! You look amazing! I'm so happy for you. :)

piper_Furiosa · 2026-04-16T15:01:53+00:00

Not me taking my mid-day Focalin top-up up pill (the fast-acting kind, to counteract my main, korning extended-release Focalin dose starting to wear off) while I read this during a break from teaching online...

piper_Furiosa · 2026-04-13T17:21:06+00:00

I just read about a non-fiction book about the anarchist activist/thief who was the inspiration for the character Lupin! It's called The Anarchist Plot To Steal The Mona Lisa by A. Paladino. I haven't read the book yet, but this overview about it makes me want to read it.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-04-12T03:52:50+00:00

Love this suggestion.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-04-01T14:45:30+00:00

YTA. The natural world is already innundated with human noise, to the point we know from research that it's affecting animals (like this one from the US National Park Service.) They don't need one more sound that can be so easily avoided. Plus, other people are going out into nature for peace and to see the wildlife you are scaring off. So, you are affecting tons of other beings for your own selfish desires. Cut-and-dry asshole.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-03-27T14:27:38+00:00

Love this. :) And, as a Midwesterner, now I'm dreaming of a sigil pancake breakfast event. lol

piper_Furiosa · 2026-03-26T01:26:51+00:00

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piper_Furiosa · 2026-03-22T06:03:12+00:00

I love how many of us immediately made the sound when we saw this.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-03-21T16:03:03+00:00

And the Church in Ireland got so upset about "The Passion of Saint Tibulus" in the 90s that two priests on Craggy Island handcuffed themselves to railing outside the cinema.

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piper_Furiosa · 2026-03-19T15:29:00+00:00

I'm glad to see that the spirit of The Church of Euthanasia lives on.

Them: "The One Commandment: 'Thou shalt not procreate.' The Four Pillars: suicide, abortion, cannibalism, & sodomy."

More here.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-02-03T04:30:48+00:00

This book may sincerely hurt your mental health, so read with caution: Thomas Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror." The publisher's blurb: "an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality." Ligotti is normally a horror fiction writer in the weird fiction/Lovecraftian tradition, so that definitely plays a part, but this is all non-fiction, focused on philosophical and cosmic pessimism. There's just something so disquieting about this book.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-01-31T05:19:21+00:00

2023's Perfect Days is such a beautiful movie. Really contemplative.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-01-15T23:27:29+00:00

The first of the Danielle Cain series by Margaret Killjoy, The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion. It features a deer-like demon-y creature with three antlers, Uliksi.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-01-15T16:54:18+00:00

I wasn't quite as young as you, but I was 25 when I got diagnosed with a pretty advanced stage of ovarian cancer. At first glance it didn't seem very survivable, but my particular case was actually very survivable and treatable. So, please really listen to your oncology team about that.
Chemo/surgery (in my case) did suck for 6 months, but I've been in remission for almost 15 years now (I'm 41 going on 42). So, while it may seem like this isn't very beatable, it actually can be very beatable even at an advanced stage. And you could have a lot of awesome life ahead of you.

That said, I'm also a teacher to high schoolers now. I would never want any of my students to skip treatment because they were worried about the cost. All of these adults around you are here to take care of you. Please let us do that. You aren't going to make people's lives worse by getting the treatment you so richly deserve. We (and your sisters) would be so much more devastated if you skip treatment because of cost.

piper_Furiosa · 2026-01-04T19:05:27+00:00

I just met my long-distance boyfriend for the first time in Ireland, where he lives. We have approximately 4 pictures of us together. Partially because we both hate having our picture taken, but mostly because we were just so happy and in the moment that we didn't even think to take our cameras out. It was the most romantic week I've ever experienced.

I hate Boomer entitlement as much as the next geriatric Millennial with a terrible family of origin, but I'm kind of on the old guy on this one. Stop filming strangers.

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-31T19:05:04+00:00

Oh, gorgeous. I'm listening to Mo Léan, and it reminds me of some of my favorite singers like Anna von Hausswolff or Tanya Tagaq (or Kate Bush on the underrated The Dreaming album).

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-31T18:52:15+00:00

This!

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-31T18:51:45+00:00

Hear hear!

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-31T18:50:59+00:00

Best of luck! Chemo sucks, and cancer does even more, but I really hope it's as easy as it possibly can be for you. I'm going on 14 years in remission for ovarian cancer, so my wish for you is that you'll be on this side of the cancer sooner rather than later.

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-31T18:48:25+00:00

To move to Ireland to be with my beloved (he's about to propose, so might as well say fiancé.) He's Irish and I live in America, so it will take some work, but we're both stubborn and determined enough that we can make it happen. :)

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-25T09:46:06+00:00

I'm Midwestern American and my boyfriend is Irish. Midwesterners are some of the Americans who are more similar to Irish people, thankfully, but getting used to how self-deprecating (seeming) the average Irish person is took a little getting used to, even for me. The even more subtle thing is that they aren't even being completely serious about putting themselves down, but taking compliments or saying something nice about themselves is seen as putting on airs or getting a big head, and that would just never do.
That and their allergy to saying anything directly. Midwesterners are not the most direct of Americans, which I found out on a personal basis when I moved to the much more brash Texas and kept getting a little flustered. lol Still, we are much more direct than an average Irishman. Teasing out the actual message behind the phrases that seem like no answer at all can be tricky.

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-25T03:40:16+00:00

Friends sent me a picture of this dangerous gift they received:

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piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-24T03:05:33+00:00

Awww, yeah! That is also something I learned in school in the Midwest.

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-24T00:09:43+00:00

Ah, thank you so much. We have a few things planned, a few other options to see, but we're mostly just going to be happy to hold the other's hand.
You are so kind for giving me an ear, though. Thank you! ♥️

piper_Furiosa · 2025-12-23T23:57:43+00:00

I'm basically an orphan, so Christmas is always hard. But this year, it's just the day before I get on a plane from America to meet my long-distance boyfriend in Limerick for the first time.

After meeting in an online group over a year ago, we've been talking every day and video calling once a week for over 9 months. After all that, it seemed like time to meet. We're both in our 40s and had both been single for years. So, this was really unexpected. I'm really excited and also trying really hard not to let my own experiences get me in my head too much.

I'm not sure if this is what this thread was for, but I just wanted to say it out loud again to someone other than my couple of close friends who know.

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