[Tiste Simeon]

Congrats TRB that's exciting! Try to fit as many Malazan references as you can into them. Even if you're the only person who gets them!

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Tiste Simeon, on 16 February 2026 - 03:52 PM, said:

Congrats TRB that's exciting! Try to fit as many Malazan references as you can into them. Even if you're the only person who gets them!

Challenge accepted!

[amphibian]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 16 February 2026 - 03:02 PM, said:

I've got a couple of small speaking events to do through work, and I'm mildly terrified (haven't done any public speaking in years) but also quite excited.

First one is being on a panel at an event in London run jointly by our chartered body and the charity who look after diversity in my industry, talking about the experiences of neurodivergent women in IP. As far as I'm aware, I'm only the second paralegal to be invited to speak by the chartered body.

The second is in the summer and is part of an annual careers drive where they pair up volunteers working in IP with students who are thinking about pursuing careers in the industry - so I will potentially get to talk about why I love my job.

I'm really honoured to have the opportunities, but particularly the latter one. I spent most of my 20s listening to the wrong people and feeling I'd never amount to anything or have a career because I didn't have a degree - and I can't quite describe what talking to someone like me who was thriving in an industry would have meant. It sounds completely trite but I am genuinely happy I could potentially be the person younger me needed to hear from for someone else

Congratulations!

It may help for the panel or speech to work backwards from what you want people to really take away from listening to you.

I work in disability policy for a career, so if you want someone to run words by, happy to help. No worries if not.

Very glad you get to share your expertise - and it is expertise, developed over years and by adapting to many situations.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

amphibian, on 17 February 2026 - 04:08 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 16 February 2026 - 03:02 PM, said:

I've got a couple of small speaking events to do through work, and I'm mildly terrified (haven't done any public speaking in years) but also quite excited.

First one is being on a panel at an event in London run jointly by our chartered body and the charity who look after diversity in my industry, talking about the experiences of neurodivergent women in IP. As far as I'm aware, I'm only the second paralegal to be invited to speak by the chartered body.

The second is in the summer and is part of an annual careers drive where they pair up volunteers working in IP with students who are thinking about pursuing careers in the industry - so I will potentially get to talk about why I love my job.

I'm really honoured to have the opportunities, but particularly the latter one. I spent most of my 20s listening to the wrong people and feeling I'd never amount to anything or have a career because I didn't have a degree - and I can't quite describe what talking to someone like me who was thriving in an industry would have meant. It sounds completely trite but I am genuinely happy I could potentially be the person younger me needed to hear from for someone else

Congratulations!

It may help for the panel or speech to work backwards from what you want people to really take away from listening to you.

I work in disability policy for a career, so if you want someone to run words by, happy to help. No worries if not.

Very glad you get to share your expertise - and it is expertise, developed over years and by adapting to many situations.

Thank you so much amph, that's really kind! When I find out a bit more about the panel I may well take you up on that!

[worry]

Alternatively, the advantage of a panel format is that every time a question gets aimed your way you're allowed to shout "PASS!" and they have to skip you. Those are the rules.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

worry, on 17 February 2026 - 12:26 PM, said:

Alternatively, the advantage of a panel format is that every time a question gets aimed your way you're allowed to shout "PASS!" and they have to skip you. Those are the rules.

I so badly want to try this

[Abyss]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 17 February 2026 - 01:24 PM, said:

worry, on 17 February 2026 - 12:26 PM, said:

Alternatively, the advantage of a panel format is that every time a question gets aimed your way you're allowed to shout "PASS!" and they have to skip you. Those are the rules.

I so badly want to try this

"Let me think about that question for a minute while my friend here -gesture to next person on panel- answers you."

[Slow Ben]

USA! USA! USA!

Canada had so many opportunities to win that match. Great game though.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Slow Ben, on 22 February 2026 - 04:25 PM, said:

USA! USA! USA!

Canada had so many opportunities to win that match. Great game though.

Was on the verge of posting about this in What's messing with your groove... boo, of course I didn't watch it but please tell me the Canadians at least took some of the Americans out?

Though I'd suppose any deaths or maimings would have made it into the headlines, so... again boo. (Boo-S-A, Boo-S-A? The hungry ghost of the United States...)

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 22 February 2026 - 04:46 PM

[amphibian]

My partner and I are getting through boxes that have stayed packed after I moved in two months ago. It's quite nice to work with her and to organize things.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

amphibian, on 22 February 2026 - 05:05 PM, said:

My partner and I are getting through boxes that have stayed packed after I moved in two months ago. It's quite nice to work with her and to organize things.

Happy for you.

This ONE Championship (MMA with no connection to Trump or Putin) video also cheered me up after the horrible US Olympic victory:

https://www.youtube....rts/eWzfmyM4bLc

Obviously that's what the Canadians should have done... but with ice skates on.

[Slow Ben]

Azath Vitr (D, on 22 February 2026 - 04:46 PM, said:

Slow Ben, on 22 February 2026 - 04:25 PM, said:

USA! USA! USA!

Canada had so many opportunities to win that match. Great game though.

Was on the verge of posting about this in What's messing with your groove... boo, of course I didn't watch it but please tell me the Canadians at least took some of the Americans out?

Though I'd suppose any deaths or maimings would have made it into the headlines, so... again boo. (Boo-S-A, Boo-S-A? The hungry ghost of the United States...)

Hell yeah! Jack Hughes got a tooth knocked out with a high stick, then of course came back and made the game winning goal in OT!

This post has been edited by Slow Ben: 22 February 2026 - 07:13 PM

[Tsundoku]

amphibian, on 22 February 2026 - 05:05 PM, said:

My partner and I are getting through boxes that have stayed packed after I moved in two months ago. It's quite nice to work with her and to organize things.

Only 2 months? Amateur. You need the kind of mixture of procrastination and sentimentality that has me not opening a couple of boxes I packed and still have 20 years later.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Slow Ben, on 22 February 2026 - 07:13 PM, said:

Azath Vitr (D, on 22 February 2026 - 04:46 PM, said:

Was on the verge of posting about this in What's messing with your groove... boo, of course I didn't watch it but please tell me the Canadians at least took some of the Americans out?

Though I'd suppose any deaths or maimings would have made it into the headlines, so... again boo. (Boo-S-A, Boo-S-A? The hungry ghost of the United States...)

Hell yeah! Jack Hughes got a tooth knocked out with a high stick, then of course came back and made the game winning goal in OT!

No doubt MAGA's busy proclaiming it another divine "miracle":

Quote

underdog United States men's hockey team ended their Olympic gold drought in a white-knuckle contest dominated by Canada until Jack Hughes' seismic overtime winner.

[...] The US were outshot 42-28 by the Canadians but the run of play often felt even more one-sided than the stat sheet indicated, requiring a sensational performance from goaltender Connor Hellebuyck to keep the Americans alive.

[...] Hughes had two of his teeth knocked out when he took a stick to the face [...] left the ice and went back into the game almost immediately. Then, with less than two minutes gone in sudden-death overtime, he [...] buried [the puck] through the [...]hole

'He is an animal': Jack Hughes loses teeth then scores Olympic ice hockey winner for US | Winter Olympics 2026 | The Guardian

See, the Canadians were being too polite... if they'd just hit him in the head a bit harder (or taken his head clean off) they most likely would've won.

Oh well, I guess that gold medal will look at least look a little more interesting after they melt it down to forge fresh golden fangs to replace those missing teeth...

[amphibian]

Tsundoku, on 22 February 2026 - 07:58 PM, said:

amphibian, on 22 February 2026 - 05:05 PM, said:

My partner and I are getting through boxes that have stayed packed after I moved in two months ago. It's quite nice to work with her and to organize things.

Only 2 months? Amateur. You need the kind of mixture of procrastination and sentimentality that has me not opening a couple of boxes I packed and still have 20 years later.

The tolerances of people for boxes being vaguely in the right place are quite stunning in their range. Some of us even have partners who basically sit us down with a notebook and pen, then write "unpack basement boxes" with a box (the irony!!!) next to it to tick off when completed, plus a list of other things we need to accomplish this weekend or the world shall melt fully into squalor.

Three of these boxes have been packed since I graduated from school (2011). It has been freeing to finally go through them and toss/keep because I didn't really have the settled in feeling before now (long story). A thought derived from that: I really should have been selling back my textbooks - except my absolute favorite ones - instead of keeping them because they might come in handy some day. Same for recycling my notes and binders. The space they've taken up is honestly a decade plus blunder that could have gone to more fun blunders.

I can see on the horizon the competition for storage space with additional family members, so paring back comes with a mindset of "nature abhors a vacuum" mixed with "where else am I going to put the little one's stuff?".

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Azath Vitr (D, on 22 February 2026 - 09:47 PM, said:

Slow Ben, on 22 February 2026 - 07:13 PM, said:

Azath Vitr (D, on 22 February 2026 - 04:46 PM, said:

Was on the verge of posting about this in What's messing with your groove... boo, of course I didn't watch it but please tell me the Canadians at least took some of the Americans out?

Though I'd suppose any deaths or maimings would have made it into the headlines, so... again boo. (Boo-S-A, Boo-S-A? The hungry ghost of the United States...)

Hell yeah! Jack Hughes got a tooth knocked out with a high stick, then of course came back and made the game winning goal in OT!

No doubt MAGA's busy proclaiming it another divine "miracle"

Trump's official White House response was even worse:

Quote

The White House has celebrated the US's victory over Canada in the men's hockey final at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 2026 with a politically charged message, sharing a social media post showing a bald eagle appearing to assault a goose – two animals that symbolise each country respectively.

The image on Sunday was in response to a 2025 post by then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that said, "You can't take our country — and you can't take our game."

https://www.aljazeer...irs-controversy

Implying "we took your game, and we can take your country"... like an eagle dominating and devouring a goose.

[QuickTidal]

Haven't won something like this since like 1980...they can have this now, but this is still our sport. Enjoy it while it lasts America, your next drought will be longer.

[QuickTidal]

Putting this in the happy thread for reasons...

When we were on Vacation in Mexico, we RARELY see MAGA gear and even if we did at some point in the last decade, it was no prevalent. Americans seem aware of how bad it would look to wear the merch of a racist POTUS in a foreign country that said POTUS seems to hate...

Anyways, we were in line for the buffet and I was talking to my 17y/o nephew on political news stuff and we were RIPPING into Trump and the Epstein files and all that...and I could see this chud in front of us (you know EXACTLY what he looked like, I needn't explain it...picture him in your head and you'l have him) ears perk up...no MAGA gear but he started listening to us and turned his head as we continued to rip into US MAGATs and GOP enablers...and I could see him getting VISIBLY angry...like red in the face...but of course he was concerned about going off about it WHILE in a foreign country that isn't supportive of the administration in charge of his country...but I could TASTE how much he wanted to say something...like he was gritting his teeth and bunching his jaw...in the end his wife took him by the arm, whispered something and led him away...

It gave me INTENSE joy to know that a clear MAGAt was silenced by the realization of where he was, and that he was likely for the most part NOT surrounded by other Americans who might back him up.

[Tiste Simeon]

Surprised that MAGA have enough awareness to restrict their idiocy when abroad tbh.

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 23 February 2026 - 05:00 PM, said:

Surprised that MAGA have enough awareness to restrict their idiocy when abroad tbh.

I feel like some of them have enough self awareness to realize that the walls are closing in and eventually the rats will need to jump and pretend they aren't this...so the last thing dude would want is video of him in Trumps waning time supporting it and possibly tainting his future...