POWWOW HIGHWAY IS A CHRISTMAS MOVIE in that there are Christmas decorations in the background in many scenes and everyone ignores them, and also the bad guys are distracted by a Christmas party

me going to bed at night: Do I have my favorite pillow? My weighted blanket? My eye mask? Am I wearing the softest of t-shirts? Is it pitch black? Is the fan running? me taking a nap: Is the surface vaguely horizontal?

My dad, a lifelong atheist, told me that when he joined the army and had to declare a religion he said “Ra, the sun god.” This would have been in the 1950s, back when America was Great 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 I really should see if his official records are somewhere I can look them up. His story might even be true!

Hear, hear. “The Big Dark” sounds so contrived.

Boys’ high school basketball: huge article. Women’s professional hockey, local team wins: wayyy down in the corner.

I have a customer service job and am usually good at it but today I found myself saying “I disagree with everything you just said” to a customer. Whoops.

I cannot do quilt math in my head and am in awe of people who can. This is me figuring out what size I want to make my mushroom quilt. Not shown: the agony of binding yardage. I know calculators exist and yet.

Cute lil’ upside-down mushrooms. Pinewood gingertail, says the Seek app. #fungifriends

Mushroom quilt: finished! This one was an emotional journey, with me alternating liking it and wanting to shove it in a bag and pretend I never started it. Now that it’s done and has crinkled, I’m v pleased.

My memoir-essay on growing up with Norman Rockwell Thanksgivings is up in Vogue this morning. Here’s a small extract: www.vogue.com/article/norm...

I’m normally a bit squeamish about food made in non-commercial places I don’t know well but so far today I’ve eaten a PB cookie made in someone’s house, eggrolls made in a different house, and pumpkin pie made in a church. Goodbye, goodbye

Last night I watched “The Package” (1989) and tonight “The Fugitive” (1993). Notably one actor is in both movies: the very tall bagpipe-leading guy in the feather bonnet. Is he a Chicago parade celebrity?

I just turned on YouTube on my TV to watch a @thepwhl.com game and immediately was shown an ad in Spanish telling me how to self-deport.

They tried to make us all chant "Let's go Torrent!" but it was definitely half-assed. Quick! Someone smarter than me come up with a better cheer and let's get it out there before the first game. We HAVE to do better than "Let's go Torrent." #SeattleTorrent I guess

Let’s go, Seatte Orren! Seattle Ttoreni? Seattle Ttoren Setorrents? Orteni Torrent? #SeattleTorrent kinda

The true generational divide is old people like me who have coffee mugs they keep at work (usually hideous) and the younger people who use the work-provided disposable ones.

I am not even enjoying this game

Well, this leftover Halloween candy isn't going to eat itself. I hope. That would be terrifying.

Baseball, I love you, but you desperately need some new fan chants. There has to be more than "Let's go (team name)" and "oh oh oh-oh oh ohhhhh ohhhh!"

I don’t usually watch live TV, so I find myself fascinated by the commercials — especially the ad for dehydrated food cooked in a dirty pot. It’s for patriots! Patriots who don’t know what QR codes are!

Salt Lake City knows what it did.

@jimbrunner.bsky.social I'd read your headline today to @olivermoffat.bsky.social in admiration, not realizing it was your piece. Well, I'd shouted it. "DID YOU GIVE WATER TO A BAT AT THE ARBORETUM? IT HAD RABIES!!!!"

Ta dah! #fungifriends

One of the best author events I've been to. Scalzi let us vote on if we wanted his reading to be from the novel we had all just bought, or from a new, unpublished, not-even-his-editor-had-read-it-yet book. The man knows how to work a crowd. (I am in this photo but am well hidden.)

One of those kinds of weekends.

Someone left peanut butter cookies in the break room 😊 They are homemade 😀 They have banana flavoring WTF what why noooo wrong bad no

Happy Labor Day to all my fellow nonunionized workers at work today, let’s all just (metaphorically) phone it in

I watched The Panama Deception last night, the 1992 documentary. Music by Sting and Jackson Browne. I remember when everything was either Sting or Jackson Browne, with a touch of Ry Cooder if you need some ‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹ Americana ‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹

I turned on “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” last night expecting to watch maybe half an hour, but I got sucked in and watched it all. Tense! Funny! Great 1970s clothes! Ancient subway technology! Not actually racist! Recommended.

I’ll be peacefully reading Bluesky when it suddenly jumps to the top of my feed. As far as I can tell I’m not accidentally touching the screen. Is this a setting I’ve missed?

At the gym today a white woman complained to me that Asian women were using paper towels from the dispenser after their showers instead of bringing their own towels, and said it was “weird and sad” that maybe they didn’t know about towels. I think I saw a new racism being born? A weird and sad one.

Going to try out Focus Friend later today when I have some boring work to do and see if if helps or if it’s a distraction of its own. I have, of course, named the bean Suzuki.

After spending time with a friend and her puppy who she's training, I've started saying "Good settle. Good settle" to myself when I stop my ADHD-ish puttering and sit down.

In this house we believe in moving small objects and signs around to absurd places (e.g. a small plastic hand that shows up in a coffee mug, then in your shoe, then in your sleeping bag while you’re backpacking). I think I’m setting myself up with this note, intended to stop grocery waste

My book group won trivia night, as we often do. Yes, that’s me not knowing the “30 days hath September” mnemonic. I use my knuckles to identify the months like a civilized person 👊

I used to work in magazine publishing, including time at Lincoln magazine (for owners of Lincolns) and New Jersey Bride (for New Jersey brides). This selection at my archery range delights me. Do I read them? No. But I am happy to see them.

OK, this one I might actually need.

Olympic athletes don’t come out of nowhere; there’s a long system of competing that they go through to get to that level, and this stupid, stupid decision will be used to justify banning trans women from competing at lower-stakes games. www.seattletimes.com/sports/u-s-o...

I found myself making the Patrick Bateman “oooh!” face when I looked at these photos.

Odd to see Progressive Voters Guide repeating racist smears against Lynnwood's Josh Binda. Citing “concerns among many progressive leaders” as sources, @fusewashington.org suggests maybe his inexperienced, white, and not-progressive challengers are fine progressivevotersguide.com/washington/2...

Hakeem Jeffries giving off strong “Better Off Dead” Paperboy vibes in my texts.

I guess this AI garbage explains the confidence the women I met on this train had that they have tickets on a ferry from Vancouver, Wash to Victoria, BC. They were nice; I hope they’re right and I’m wrong.

Amtrak roomette sunset

Waiting to board an Amtrak train for an overnight trip that would be faster and cheaper by plane. But: train! Train travel is great. My fellow train guys (non gender specific) are taking photos of the train, of the signs, of everything. I’m in my Rail Passengers Association t-shirt. Trains!

Ah, the traditional “rain starting just when it’s time to pack up the tent” part of the camping trip

From yesterday’s No Kings protest. Hello, my fellow Gen Xer, I agree. We’ll tramp the dirt down.

I’m doomed

I just talked to a customer service person on the phone who said that she had never seen the name "Sara" without an "h" before. She sounded American. I am at a loss.

This weekend I’m a judge at my favorite Girl Scout event of the year, a camping competition. I’m in my tent and I hear the troops setting up. It makes me so happy that even with all the things going on, there are troop leaders willing to put in the time to give Girl Scouts this experience. 🏕️