The Life Experience ~ Autumn '15 (and a week or two of winter)

[bloodyrosemccoy]

So, I'm a little late, but hey, I got it in before 2016, right?

What I Learned Since The Autumn Equinox:

• Startle the parrot on your shoulder and you might get a fat lip.


• Kittens can just suddenly show up in your life. It's up to you to figure out what to do with them.


• The possible habitable zone for UY Scuti, one of the biggest stars we know of, would be only about 4-5 AU from its surface (though its "surface" is debatable), which means it would be fucking HUGE in our skies.


• You can make ricotta cheese in the microwave! HOW HANDY IS THAT?


• If you want to make mochi, though, you'd better be willing to get your hands sticky. Or just go to the local Asian market and buy it.


• There's a reason the Jo-Ann store I go to always looks kind of rundown. They are as short-staffed as it is possible to be.


• If the telescope you've set up isn't on a level surface it won't compensate for the rotation of the Earth and you have to do it manually--and the Earth moves fast.


• Some mood stabilizers can give you rashes the likes of which they sing songs about.


• After the death of Barry Allen in the DC universe, in which he ran so fast he disintegrated Marvel Comics straight up stole him in the form of an amnesiac character who suddenly materializes out of pure speed. Barry Allen ran so fast he transcended license rights.


• Calculating orbital resonances for constructed worlds is really complicated, but I think the saving grace is that they're self-correcting.


• Tiny kittens don't always have super great hygiene.


• Raising an unhygienic kitten does not actually cure one's coprophobia through desensitization. It merely makes life a nightmarish hellscape until the kitten learns better grooming.


• You need to be careful about laser safety when doing laser shows in the dome.


• Sometimes lasers decide they don't feel like lasing at all and at that point you just have to shine some pretty lights out into the dome and hope nobody noticed that the visual accompaniment to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a few swirly triangles.


• Breaking bad news is difficult.


• MST3k miracles CAN happen!


• Illinois is FLAT, y'all.


• In retrospect Dad probably should have been in the ICU this summer. At least he's feeling better NOW.


• I have no idea how to cook at low altitudes. How did I do it in Oregon?


• The reason operating the snowblower during the WINTER APOCALYPSE was so difficult is because its transmission was shot. At least Dad got me a new one!


• Christmas is DIFFICULT.


• It never pays to forget about altitude sickness.


• People stop selling Xmas trees TOO EARLY.


• Star Wars is still goddamn great.


• I have no idea to react when my brother gets engaged.


• My brother's fiancee is pretty great, though.


• HOLY SHIT, Y'ALL, MY BROTHER IS ENGAGED

Comments

[hillarygayle.livejournal.com]

Illinois is SO FLAT. I drove there once on a business trip, and it still ranks as the least interesting drive I have EVER taken. Give me the Arkansas Ozarks and their potential death-trap hill roads ANY DAY.

Star Wars is SO GREAT.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Illinois is not as flat as Indiana. Or Kansas. Or Nebraska.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Turns out Illinois actually is flatter than those. In fact, Illinois is flatter than any state except Florida. Someone's got a plan to fix that, tho. (http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/the-flatter-kansas-plan)

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Weird. I would have sworn that Nebraska was flatter. Says the person living in Minnesota...

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Mathematical analysis often yields results that seem odd from personal experience. And since all of those states are literally flatter than a pancake, it's not surprising that it would be difficult to figure it out by eye.