Beocat

My favorite con got canceled this year so no fun for me that said, I think people will return to how they were shortly after...within a year. Us pitiful humans with our short attention spans and even shorter memory. 

Anime-planet hands down wins. MAL does not have some genres like reverse harems and isekai. I find MAL to be pretty useless in most every regard actually.  Anime-planet to me is better for genres but may not have some of the really obscure things, but is something super obscure even going to hsve enough sources to properly rank in s meta-analysis?

I seriously only use MAL on this forum to link to an anime someone is asking about. 

I think Anime News Network uses a ranking system too. I think the metacritic (meta-analysis) part is probably what is unique about your set-up.

Still, it's cool you have your own site and that it is growing I'd really be interested in a guage by genre list (space opera, reverse harem, mecha, scifi, etc) but that could be pretty complex seeing as so many snime cover multiple genres or have subgenres throughout.

Be glad it's a lymph node and not a disc that happened to me and they thought it was a lymph node at first. Couldn't turn my head, the pain never stopped, would've required a neurosurgeon to fix.  I walked around with a disc shaped bulge pushing out the left side of my neck. I suffered through 3 months of constant agony before it slowly ground its own way back in. If it is a lymph node, did they biopsy it? I know they like to take the watchful waiting route but if you really can't tolerate the pain any longer, they could remove it (or if infected at least give you antibiotics).

I hope your weekend is enjoyable at least

First I would suggest Snow White with the Red Hair if you haven't seen it yet.  It's two seasons long, but definitely worth the watch. 

Recovery of an MMO Junkie is quite good as well (and short...8-10 episodes I think).  In fact, I think that might be the exact type of anime you are looking for. 

I have some older anime I could suggest as well, if you are interested   Might take a bit of time to track them down however. 

Any anime you used to enjoy or genres you like? I could name some slice of lifes and romances that are 13 episodes easily but if you aren't into it....

Welcome back

Your burnt rice story reminds me of dozens of cooking misadventures my best friend has had  Try again!

Well...better to have to go too much than not being able to go at all...  Use the tp with aloe.

It has been thunderstorms nearly every night here. Usually does this every year. I hope you feel better soon!

23 minutes ago, Wedgy said:

This is, I feel, the reason it is so important to be able to separate and balance work and home/family life. When work becomes too demanding- so demanding in fact that it consumes both of those things, that's when you know that job is dangerous for your health. I sometimes come off like a dick because I refuse to mingle too much during work hours. I walk away from overly personal conversations that have nothing to do with the work. Letting myself get emotionally invested with my coworkers' lives can only lead to drama, in my experience. And that's a lot of things others can use to manipulate you. 

That right there is why I have a rule I live by.  I don't go out of my way to remember names or get to know anyone I'm working with until I've had a chance to watch them work for about five or so months first.  Usually by the end of five months, you can tell exactly what kind of horrible person the person is, whether that be stalker, gossiper, clingy, fibber, lazy, highstrung, petty, whatever.  And the less people know about me the less they can target me from.  I just don't trust people in business because most people will try to climb to the top off the backs of person they stabbed. 

The thing is, this was in a government facility on federal land (where somehow most labor laws don't matter).  When I first arrived, one investigation had just ended.  The previous department head had been groping the contracted staff on the job (just walking up behind them and grabbing crotches and boobs and sexually harassing them).  The girls reported it to their supervisor who laughed in their faces and told them no one would care and to get over it.  They felt they had no alternative (reporting outside the department had caused retaliations in the past).  Eventually, one girl opened an investigation on it regardless of the backlash and the investigation team dragged it out so long (intentionally) that the statute of limitations ran out before the department head was charged (and he was able to retire honorably with full benefits and pension off of my tax dollars).  Then the investigation team turned it around on the victims and reprimanded them for not reporting it outside of their chain of command (even though many had proof of previous retaliation for having done similar things) sooner.  I grew up in an AF town.  Well, I can tell you, none of that would fly if it were AF. 

I could describe every investigation in detail and how it ended and the promises that were made to certain individuals if they were complicit in a lie or cover-up or if they failed to give adequate testimony.  I can tell you how investigators intentionally changed witness statements (hoping the witnesses would just sign it and not read what they were told was a transcript of the interview).  Corrupt!  So very corrupt!

I'm definitely better off away from there.  I have one interview later this week, one I did yesterday, and I have a possible future interview (when the job is no longer on hold....they are changing it from PT to FT) in a few weeks.  I'm hopeful for myself.  I haven't heard from her though since.  I'm not sure I will.  She was flighty at best...I couldn't blame her.  Talking to me must remind her of that place to some degree.  I still can't believe that I made it that long in that place.  It has made me certain I never want to work in a place like that again.  I had misgivings my first day there (literally I think the world was trying to tell me to back out quickly) but I stuck it out.....next time I'm listening when the world or a higher power tries to tell me something important.  I will obey!  LOL

As an update, we didn't make it out on the boat.  I stayed up without a problem, started cleaning (which saps my energy out faster than anything), finished by washing the dishes, then spent some time reading on the couch with my husband who saw how bad I looked and sent me to bed. 

He said he'd rouse me in a couple of hours when it was time to leave....  Four and a half hours later, I wake up on my own call out to him and find out that he tried to wake me up, shook me, shouted at me, my cat jumped on my chest and stood there squeaking at me....nothing.  He said I was exhausted and didn't respond at all to anything he tried.  >_>  It's not surprising.  I should have never of let him talk me into taking a nap.  I know I get that way...part of the reason I always made him promise if the house was burning down around us to save my sweet furbaby first and then come back for me afterwards.  Priorities.

Well, another short nap later and I finally started my day.  Now, I should be getting to bed now but again....my night owlness is just slamming that door shut again (I didn't get a full 8 hours today.  Only about 6 at the most.  I should be tired.).  Maybe I'll try some boring reading or cleaning again to tucker me out completely.  We're going to try again tomorrow....  Fingers crossed....

Preach it sibling of unknown gender!  You know, I used to be 128lbs but my high stress job put the pounds on (even keeping to a low calorie diet and exercise, the cortisol my body was producing from juggling my job like I was screwed me up royally).  My best friend is now losing weight...down like 40 lbs in just a few months.  I'm so proud of her but how I wish I could do that again. 

I found the first time I lost weight (and kept it off successfully), I checked my weight every single morning, immediately after waking up and using the bathroom (basically your driest weight of the day).  I would watch it go down by the tenths of pounds (sometimes more) and that fueled my determination to keep going, and when I hit my first plateau it drove me to run harder, and take up tennis again to restart my weightloss. 

I guess keep trying to find a better system that works for you.  Maybe you need to be doing multiple things to inspire and drive you forward.  Keep experimenting until you find the right combination.  I'm rooting for you!

In my job market you would only have a 3% chance of getting an interview, so try not to quit unless you can get by on just your husband's salary alone.  Start revising your resume and making your cover letter look good and apply to everything you see.

I will say, this happened to a coworker once.  They made him work every weekend for 3 months.  He saved up his schedules and approached them about it and they pretended to be shocked it had slipped by.  It was obvious (and honestly, I expect that kind of crappy treatment from that group of people) that they were doing it to try to force him to quit.  Making the job undesirable to a fault.

He did eventually quit, got a job working at a place that did maybe an 8th of what he was expected to do there, got the part time hours he wanted at a higher hourly pay, and is living the dream retirement life that he always wanted, no weekends at all.  I'm jealous truth be told LOL. 

I'm just going to throw this out there...  You met him in person but he was not interested in you in person...but you continued to open your personal life to him online?  That is a big red flag!

Let me tell you something.  You need to really (and I mean REALLY REALLY) learn how to read body language.  It is becoming a lost art.  Too many people staring at computer screens and cell phones and not talking face to face.  You have to start observing people, before you talk to them, while you talk to them, while they talk to you, when they have finished talking to you...and this is not being creepy.  This is simply reading people.  You need to learn the cues that body language gives you and integrate this into your communications.  He was staring at you (probably with disinterest, detachment, possibly just letting his mind wander out of boredom, maybe he really does want to stare at someone else and you are taking up his valuable homeroom time to do it, who knows?) and this requires a snap decision.  Either you change the conversation and see if that changes things, or you say "oh well.  It was nice meeting you face to face....see you around..." and cut your losses.  Oh and if you feel awkward...there is a reason for it.  Listen to your instincts.  Your instincts will never lie to you.

By the way, if they are uninterested in you offline, then they aren't really all that into you online either.  If you learn to read body language, you'll pick up on little cues, things that might tell you when a topic makes someone anxious or bored, interested or repulsed.  It will tell you things they might be trying to hide from you (people do one thing and say another all the time).  A little hint, that translates into writing as well.  There are little things you can read in a persons's online response that will give you a wealth of information, simply by considering how they said what they said.

I want to say I feel bad for you.  Rejection is never easy.  That being said, cut off the online contact and start ignoring him at school.  Take it as a lesson learned and consider the whole picture first next time.  And practice recognizing body language.  It will help you avoid social mishaps like this in the future. 

Well, I for one am glad to see you back again.  I hear the acute illness thing.  A couple of years ago I had a pneumonia/head cold from working with all those pediatric patients (half of them with whooping cough.  Parents would rather their children suffer and die from asphyxiation than vaccinate them these days.  Tragic and inhumane.).  I halfway think it was whooping cough (I could have been one of those non-responders) it was so bad.  Took me three months to recover.  I looked like death walking.  Anyways, as a Southerner, I suggest chicken soup.  The broth cures almost everything (it warms the soul, so even if you aren't cured you still feel better.).

I am so sorry to hear about Wendy too.  Losing a pet is never easy.  When I lost Tiggr, I thought my soul might never mend.  It's good though that you have three new additions to the family to help you get through it.  Izuku sounds a lot like Riptide in some ways. 

7 hours ago, Wedgy said:

Lately, I've taken to a sort of 'outlining my checkpoints' approach. I think of it as a timeline. I'll jot down the beginning and the ending. Then I'll make little ticks along the line, 'steps' or 'events' that lead to the conclusion. I consider cause and effect. From there I can get out the fine-tipped pen and fill in questions needing to be answered, such as how each event affects each character, and how they will react to it, and if those reactions affect the progression of the plot.

Writing a good story can be fun, challenging, and give you headaches at the same time. But I wouldn't quit writing for the world. Would love to read any piece you feel like sharing, @Beocat!

I do the same thing.  Filling in the timeline, noting where major character development happens and how things are going to go down is something I do too when planning out a story.  I think my main problem comes in dialogue of conflict.  It's hard to construct a conflict between two people for me.  It takes a lot of energy out of me but then most conflicts between people will.  Still, going to keep on writing.  Now that I've decided how I want to go about introducing this other group, I think it won't be long before I'm chugging along again on the novel. 

7 hours ago, Frith said:

That's great that you could write 37 pages in just a few days!  I've been turning over a story in my head since high school and I only have a document of rough notes and a few pages of prose to show for it; I keep telling myself that if I wait to write stuff down I can think things over more and make it better, but it's slow going.

I used to write around 6 to 8 pages a day but if I have the energy and the inspiration (and some good Frank Sinatra music playing in the background...surprisingly, it helps me write) I can write around 16 to 22 pages in a day's time.  It's rare that I have a good day though where the words flow out of me that fast.  Getting in the mood and having things set (and having the room clean before I start...a messy room is a big distraction for me) really helps.