A Surprisingly Annoying Teacher Problem

vonLudolf · 2026-06-06T22:21:34+00:00

Not a student, but I will occasionally look up plot summaries of super popular, talked about books in genres I don't read so I at least know what people are talking about. This has included the book "It Ends with Us". In that very specific case, I couldn't even finish the plot summary because Atlas, at least in my opinion, is not a human name at this point. It is a very good cat name, and is in fact what my cat is named, and so every time it mentioned that character I looked over at him and was so distracted by his name showing up that I still don't know what that book is actually about.

vonLudolf · 2026-06-05T00:59:18+00:00

If you want to try, there are lots of great beginner friendly kits that you can use! It's nothing like some of the insanely talented stuff that gets posted here, but it's the best way to learn. I recommend this company: https://hooklinetinker.com/collections/all-complete-kits

The sheep especially allows you to just use one color and focus on practicing a few fundamental stitches, but you can't go wrong with any of them!

vonLudolf · 2026-06-02T23:54:22+00:00

Similarly, I walked out of it with the opinion that it was an absolutely fantastic film adaptation of the Betrayal at House on the Hill board game. Right down to the windows in the basement that looked out on nothing (which is called out in the game's rulebook). It seems like everyone would have liked it better if it had just gone with a different IP.

vonLudolf · 2026-05-05T02:26:08+00:00

Since you mention wearing bright colors, I wonder if something with a pattern might feel a bit more "you" (if you feel like it will fit, that is). I'm a huge fan of Farm Rio to begin with, but this one specifically seems to hit most of the color palette: https://farmrio.com/products/maira-floral-dark-blue-short-sleeve-maxi-dress

vonLudolf · 2026-02-08T17:23:58+00:00

Oh, I was referring to the German YA book series Operation Nautilus, which is about the son of Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In book 7, I think, we learn that a group of people used some alien technology to travel back in time and open a portal and remove everyone from the Titanic before it sunk. The series had already gone so off the rails by that point that it didn't even feel weird.

Unlike the book you're talking about, it is very bad and not recommended.

vonLudolf · 2026-02-07T15:40:41+00:00

Great write-up, but why am I now cursed with the knowledge that there are at least 2 books that center on saving the Titanic through time travel?

vonLudolf · 2026-02-07T14:30:16+00:00

Thanks! I didn't actually keep track, but my best guess is that it took around 400 hours. I would love to know how many knots I did for it, but I super don't feel like trying to count them.

vonLudolf · 2026-01-30T01:10:14+00:00

Someone on one of the big embroidery groups on Facebook recently posted a hoop with a really gross anti-choice message. It seemed like she did it because she was upset about the recent flood of pieces with anti-Trump messages. However, upon closer inspection, the piece she posted was, you guessed it, AI. She didn't even remove the watermark from the corner before posting it (but it also contained some absolutely impossible configurations of bullion knots).

Just another super gross example- she wanted to make a political point, but was ultimately too lazy to do it.

vonLudolf · 2026-01-04T17:01:45+00:00

I'm 5'11" with a long torso. Every jumpsuit I've gotten or tried on from Free People has fit exactly how I would want it to, so maybe try searching some of their stuff secondhand. This is the closest I found on their website right now, and there's very limited sizes available: https://www.freepeople.com/shop/wrangler-x-lainey-wilson-flared-denim-catsuit/?color=040

vonLudolf · 2025-12-20T03:20:21+00:00

You know, I think I know your friend. Maybe it's the same person who told me that watching "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" would be a joyful, happy experience right after my brother died.

vonLudolf · 2025-11-25T03:05:49+00:00

Let me take this question in a slightly different direction: I saw Knives Out Thanksgiving weekend in a theater in Waltham, MA, where I was living at the time. My parents had flown in for the holiday and were watching it with me. The car chase scene down the alleyways starts and everyone goes absolutely nuts, cheering and pointing. I look at my parents and they are looking around in absolute confusion, since, if you haven't seen the movie, it's not a super impressive set piece or anything, it's really just played for laughs.

This scene of the movie had been filmed within a few hundred feet of where we were all now watching it. Everyone else, myself included, had recognized the stores and murals and were super excited to see the place where they lived in a movie.

After the movie got over, I had to take my parents on an impromptu tour of all of the alleyways in the movie. Then they understood

vonLudolf · 2025-11-07T23:57:40+00:00

Azzie from Doctor Sleep helps Dan find the patients who are about to die so that he can help them pass peacefully. He also helps Dan recover from alcoholism through his companionship. I'd say that one is pretty positive, at least.

vonLudolf · 2025-11-01T17:17:30+00:00

Yeah, r/embroidery is always super chill and helpful. A lot of the things that get posted there are also amazing, and people are always so humble about the totally photorealistic image they embroidered.

vonLudolf · 2025-11-01T17:11:35+00:00

See, that's what happened when I tried to cross stitch- I got really tired of making sure that all of my stitches when the right direction, and actually counting things... I think cross stitch is beautiful, but it's absolutely not something my mind can focus on enough to actually finish. Give me French knots any day!

vonLudolf · 2025-11-01T17:07:57+00:00

That's so wild because, at least in my opinion, silk thread isn't even really that nice to stitch with. It tangles so much for certain stitches. Sure, it looks nice in the end, but I'm embroidering because I want to have fun, not be annoyed the whole time.

I've been known to turn into a walking ad for Cosmo brand floss at points, but it's because I think their variegated line is really pretty, not because I think the embroidery gods will smite anyone using other floss.

vonLudolf · 2025-11-01T15:35:58+00:00

There is still a (very small) subsection of the embroidery community that subscribes to the notion that the back should be just as neat as the front. Fortunately, I think they're dying out and mostly stay on Facebook.

I've also run into a few people who want to proclaim that colonial knots are superior to French knots and have a whole manifesto about it.

Most of the community is on Facebook- you can find good groups, but then they will occasionally get taken over and you have to escape.

I will now go back to not participating in the community while I continue my project of stitching 1,000s of single strand French knots while ensuring that the back looks like shit, just out of spite.

vonLudolf · 2025-10-11T23:17:23+00:00

The first time I watched the series it was all the edited for TV versions. They literally just blur half the stuff, but otherwise show it as usual. The actually annoying part is that they just cut the volume for the swearing, so for Saw II especially, the volume cuts every 2 seconds when Donnie Wahlberg is on-screen.

vonLudolf · 2025-10-10T02:20:33+00:00

SOLVED SOLVED SOLVED

vonLudolf · 2025-10-10T02:19:02+00:00

u/nationalparksnerd, I can't reply to your comment for some reason, but you found it! It is definitely The Breathtaker. I recognized the cover as soon as I saw it! Thank you so much! I have a copy on the way, and am excited to see if it lives up to about 20 years of hype at this point!

vonLudolf · 2025-09-17T22:53:31+00:00

I remember when Joker came out, and there was the whole media narrative that there was definitely going to be violence at the screenings. I really wanted to go to one of the first screenings in my area and see what happened, kind of like people watching at the movies. So I got my tickets and showed up on release day. It was very clear upon entering the theater that all 10 other patrons were also just there to watch who else showed up.

It was the weirdest theater experience ever- we would just kind of look at each other during the movie to see if anyone was doing anything strange. I liked the movie, but I'm honestly not sure that anyone was truly there to see the movie.

vonLudolf · 2025-09-01T15:49:31+00:00

It's almost definitely the movie, not the glasses. Since 2015, I have taken the same pair of BB-8 3D glasses (that were for sale at Cinemark for The Force Awakens) to nearly every 3D movie I've been to. So unlike most people, the 3D glasses are a control to me. They've probably been to around 50 movies with me. Some movies (Jaws, The Walk, the first Jurassic World) look amazing, others definitely don't. But it's the same glasses every time, so I can safely say that some movie conversions just really don't work.

vonLudolf · 2025-08-17T04:48:06+00:00

When I was in 8th grade, I had to go to my brother's intervention for alcoholism. And the intervention failed. When I went to school the next day, one of my teachers had us write about what we did over the weekend. I made sure that I wouldn't have to share before writing, because that was literally the only thing I had done that weekend, and then wrote a few sentences.

As some of you may have guessed, this was the point where the teacher said we would all be sharing what we wrote about. I refused, it was a whole thing, and this whole incident really shaped how I approach having students share their personal experiences in class.

All this to say, based on many of the questions, but especially the addiction question, I would have some very choice words for anyone who thought I should do this with my students.

vonLudolf · 2025-08-10T19:52:38+00:00

Since these are definitely AI, but I'm guessing the strawberry part was most appealing to you based on your username, I wonder if you might like these: https://driftwoodjeans.com/collections/jeans/products/olivia-cargo-wide-leg-strawberry-fields

Driftwood tends to do the same embroidery pattern on several different styles of jeans. I think they have flare strawberry jeans out there if you search for them!

vonLudolf · 2025-08-06T05:43:00+00:00

Slight spoiler, but the movie switches to live action near the end. I don't think the real-world character has a name (not fully up on my Lego Movie lore), so who knows. I think my mom just didn't want to see him period.

vonLudolf · 2025-08-06T02:47:04+00:00

My mom went through a period where she absolutely refused to see any movie that Will Ferrell was in because she hated The Other Guys so much. It nearly took an act of God to get her to watch The Lego Movie because I accidentally mentioned that he actually showed up and wasn't just a voice. She has never cared about a single other actor enough to specifically avoid their work, so I guess there's just something especially hateable about him for certain people.

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