phosfate | (no subject)

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Yesterday I spent an hour talking to a woman who is either clinically insane or living in a John Grisham novel (I realize those are not mutually exclusive - just because you hear voices and claim that no computer will work for you doesn't mean you're not at the heart of a criminal conspiracy). I couldn't help her much other than steer her away from the Crime Commission (it would be like going to the Liquor Licensing Board to report a drunk at the bus stop) and listen, but at least it was interesting and made her feel a little better for a little while. Anyway, if I'm found murdered in the next week, tell them about the whole murder conspiracy and they should check the lobby security footage. Unless they're in on it. They're probably all in on it, except for the lobby baristas. I would die for the baristas.

I seem to have inherited the curse from Mom where strangers talk to me. Mom's best story was when she and dad (I'm not sure which dad) went out to a nightclub, and the evening ended with the stripper sobbing in her arms. This was back when striptease was still wholesome nightclub fare, and there were still nightclubs.

I found five dollars on the bus. Using cash feels strange now, like I'm in the 70s.

I assembled a very small doll room box, which is supposed to fit together like a jigsaw but actually required a sweater-covered fist and then a rubber mallet. I don't own a rubber mallet, but my screwdrivers have silicon handles and I have a lot of pent-up rage, so that worked. Now to spend weeks going totally My Froggy Stuff on its ass. Hello, scrapbook paper from 2005!

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Oh, I totally have the "strangers talk to me" thing! People start entire conversations with me about their lives and I'm like halfway to putting my headphones back on.

I totally use cash and it confuses people. It worked more reliably for me than cards in Indonesia, and I don't have to worry about having too much cash, because Palau uses the same currency. So that's good!

I get addicts and the mentally ill, which is fine because they're rarely scary, unlike bus mashers. The only scary one is the lady with the white hair and silver canes, because she will actually get physically violent and shout. I do not like being hit and yelled at, especially when I am not allowed to hit back. ("Yes, officer, I did punch the elderly mentally ill disabled lady a third of my size, but she started it!") She will try to fight you if she asks if the kids are out of school today, and you don't know, so that's fun.

I used to always keep a $20 in my keychain in case I needed a cab, but Uber just takes it out of my Paypal, and if I lose my phone there's no way to get a taxi anyway, because payphones no longer exist. They even took out the payphone outside the phone company door. I keep mints and the occasional valium in it now.

I think about when I went to Europe with travelers checks, and that seems completely insane now. I got home five bucks in the hole to my group leader. "Why didn't you wire me for money?" Mom said. "You didn't tell me I could," I replied. Because she hadn't. "I mean, I would've brought you a much better present. And more books. And not have lost 20 pounds."

Yeah, I used to live near a camp full of homeless people, and over the course of four years, I had to deal with being creepily hit on once, and one guy making a remark that was both creepy and baffling and then just immediately walking away, which is not exactly off the charts.

It's a lot simpler with the cell phone, but as is the case with a lot of simple things, if the one point of failure actually fails, you're left in a rough situation.

Oh man, I remember traveling to Europe and having a money belt! My brother's oldest kid is going and I'm offering to be very reassuring about what happens if they lose their passport. (They're being careful, but you never know.)

I think a rubber mat is an inexpensive purchase that is well worth it for numerous applications around the house. Including pounding things without damaging them or yourself.

I have some rubber cap snafflers, but they're too thin for the amount of force generated, and the screwdrivers were right there. I should keep one in my backpack for self defence and for when the back door latch locks and I have to take it off the hinges to get in. Usually in the snow. Screws falling into three inches of snow makes a very small, final sound that says "You're fucked, buddy."

Am envisioning the baristas in this novel as heavily armed secret service agents under deep cover, or likewise but wily assassins (lawful good, obv, because that is the Way of the Barista).

I, like my mother before me, am not only the person strangers (and I mean strange) talk to but also the toddler-magnet. The first I can understand up to a point but the second is inexplicable: no, I don't want your rugrats and please detach them from my personal space. Also a dog attractor but I like dogs so that's all good.

Sorry to hear you're having to use cash, like a 20thC peasant.

Pent up rage is so very useful if properly channelled.

They put up with me saying, "No, thanks, I get upset thinking about how they hook them up to the milking machine" when they offer me almond milk.

Definitely feds rather than assassins then.

I take public transportation, and I've been in fandom for 40+ years, so it's not my first rodeo. But I did have to phone upstairs to let them know I was helping out a member of the public and would be up when I could.

The other day I, PAYING WITH CASH, had to try to keep up polite attention to an elderly lady in a scooter telling me about the foibles of her cat while ALSO giving proper attention to the cashier tried to tell me the deal of the day and by the time I got out of that grocery store I must tell you, I was quite a confusion. I too have the 'talk to me' face. I've seen so many pictures of grandkids while waiting for the bus when I was a child.

I want pictures of that doll room box when you've got it all tatted up, pal.

I'll try to take pics as I go. I have plans for the floor paper tonight, and I think the furniture will be vintage toys. It's this guy in a different box and cheaper:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266286532443?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=266286532443&targetid=&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9024742&poi=&campaignid=20389314120&mkgroupid=&rlsatarget=&abcId=9317278&merchantid=6296724&gclid=CjwKCAiA_OetBhAtEiwAPTeQZxBJw2lG6a18fUDT3DiGyong2NnyyqP3_QecTeguCbVxwGyyJoHvnBoCcigQAvD_BwE

I have three salvaged Snapstars that I think can fit in it. Otherwise one sitting 11" doll, a Na Na Na Surprise, or add a loft and it's home for Bearbricks.

Oh that's neat!

Real estate agent voice: Lots of possibility here for a new family or student.

It would be terrific for a Blythe box, too. There is also a flat-roofed rectangular "bungalow" that goes with it, so if this works well it has a lot of possibilities. Sadly you can't flip the parts to make the roof pitch the other way, so making a symmetrical house would take sawing and glue.

And if you're gonna get that far into the weeds, you might as well just make a custom one to begin with.

Yeah, it would be easy enough to knock out an addition with balsa wood, or even popsicle sticks.

In another life we have a nice house with toy display rooms and a woodworking/craft shop for you to fuck around in.

I call it the dining room. XD

Like, it's not at all a goal for you to be taken out by secret service agents, but sometimes the devil in me is like "I hope they ARE out to get her!" Mainly because media is always focused on people like Bourne but in reality there have arguably been more ordinary people who got targeted. Or at least some. And in a weird way, I feel like it's rooting for the little guys, although practically speaking, it's probably better for her if they aren't out to get her.

Exactly. I mean a lot of the stuff was entirely possible and has tons of precedent. Then we got to "no computer will work for me" and I was kind of well all righty then.

I have vaguely heard something about personal electric? Static? Fields? But have no idea if that is science or pseudoscience. 🤔 I mean probably it's just not true... but it's an interesting thought, whether that might be possible somehow.

She was carrying a smartphone, which would be a lot easier to freeze than every library PC. She also said that someone was defacing her scrapbooks.

A plot point that could be amazing in a spy thriller, for sure.

My mom still has people literally tell her everything but their blood type in the first 30 seconds. Your mom and my mom sound like they had/have similar levels of that going on.

I didn't get that level of stranger talk, but as I get older, I definitely get a lot more than I used to. It's not my favorite thing, to be sure.

I had a very very old Russian lady give me her history on the bus as a teenager. Unfortunately she's been almost completely replaced with the pony lady from Seinfeld in my head, which I guess just goes to show that the best comedy really is taken from real life.

Dollhouses, room boxes? Welcome, mon amie, to the realm of my addiction. I'm afraid I can't help much with the assembling of domiciles, however. That was always done by the expert at House of Dad, which is no longer available. But the kit you showed looks pretty straight forward, so I'm sure you can do it. And then maybe you can teach me! :)

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