BeLinda Mathie

The owner of the sushi place we order from knows my favorite roll and sometimes gives my husband a discount on it even when it isn’t the roll of the month. (We call directly for carry out.) I’d much rather give him our money than a third-party service.

Wheels are one of humanity’s greatest inventions.

I haven’t listed to the audiobooks, but my friends who recommended the series absolutely agree with you. They really enjoy listening to them.

Dungeon Crawler Carl. The first book is somewhat derivative, but the writing improves and the series checks all the boxes on funny, fast-paced, grabby. Read them a few months ago when I wanted a distraction from ~waves hands.~ Great literature? No. Excellent escapism? Yes.

I remain astonished at how many people who have done extraordinarily well under the current system have convinced themselves that Those People are keeping them from doing even better, and the solution is to burn it all down.

Once sent a department-wide email asking if anyone had certain expertise. My favorite response was: “Nice semicolon.”

A video clip that has stuck with me is a real estate agent asking his viewers how people can afford all the nice cars you see on the road, and then exclaiming, “They can’t! I see their financials when they apply for mortgages, and they are in debt up to their eyeballs!”

Last week, my supervisor left early on Thursday and was out Friday to drive his kid to an out of state tournament. Was supposed to be back for work on Monday. But his kid’s team won. So out Monday too. Then they won again. Out Tuesday. So glamorous!

I was raised in a fundamentalist Baptist church that taught Rapture theology. Imagine my surprise when a law school classmate who is a member of the Conservative Movement (Judaism and American politics) told me PMDD is just something liberals made up to slander Christians.

This happened to us
too! Went on vacation with husband’s fellow ER residents. One observed, “Wow, you guys bring a book to the beach every day! I haven’t read a book cover-to-cover since high school!” We were flummoxed. Not a single book? Of any kind?

Happy birthday! Celebrity karaoke has become one of my favorite @jococruise.bsky.social events.

About 2 blocks away from my office in Chicago’s Loop, from the looks of it.

My late mother needed 2 rotator cuff surgeries after 19 years of working in hospital housekeeping and kitchens. People who fetishize physical labor have never had a repetitive motion injury and it shows.

None of the people romanticizing physical labor have ever worked a double.

This was basically my review of Redshirts. Main text: delightful silly Scalzi romp! Epilogues: why am I crying? Damn you, @scalzi.com

With regret, I can confirm that unsalted matzo was the communion wafer at the Baptist church I attended as a child. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the 80s.) First time I ever saw a Manischewitz label was on a box in a cabinet at the church office.

Non-parent and yes. (Sadly, a case occurred in my neighborhood when I was an elementary school kid in the early 1980s. Also covered in Red Cross babysitting course in late 80s.)

I’m sure I’m not the only one! Thank you for taking the leap and saying yes. I’m just mad I forgot to bring my copy of Burn It Down. I’ll keep the Celebrity Karaoke memories instead. 😂

I’m so glad you had a good time! Validates my repeated suggestions in the post-cruise survey to invite you.

I got to hear an excerpt from The Shattering Peace on the JoCo Cruise last week and highly recommend attending a reading where you can hear it too!

Just about every charity/mutual aid group needs help. It might not be glamorous, but there are groups that collect baby supplies, decorate places for the newly housed, clean up local parks, and socialize stray animals. Whatever one’s talent/interest, there’s probably a way to use it for good.

Totally agree that many people want an identity/deeper sense of purpose. But why opt for hate when “I feed hungry people,” “I mentor disadvantaged kids,” “I rescue abandoned animals,” etc. are options?

The single best thing I’ve ever done with my law license is help an undocumented survivor of domestic violence get her green card. Volunteering can be deeply meaningful.

What I don’t understand is solving boredom with fascism when volunteering, arts, and hobbies are right there. Ok, so your material needs are met. Read a book! Teach someone else to read a book! Raise money so the library can buy more books! Why hurt others when you could help?

It remains astonishing that people who have done extraordinarily well in the current system have convinced themselves they could and should be doing even better, and the way to get there is to burn everything down.

The result of The Game is the one bright spot in a whole lot of bad right now. Makes me smile every time I think of it.

Can confirm it is a lot of work. Students verify all citations in each article. Editors read hundreds of submitted articles. But as smart as the students might be, they are 2nd & 3rd year law students, not “peers.”

Yes. It is a strange system. Professors want to publish in the most respected law reviews. Student editors want to publish big name and/or big impact articles, but might have ideological views about what counts.

Not great!

There are a few peer-reviewed legal journals, but most are student-run. That said, my law review had a practice of running any article we planned to accept by a relevant professor to make sure we weren’t going to publish something embarrassing.