Tara!

The beach

Beach day

Calico cat standing with two front paws on the edge of a sink, looking into the bowl. Exam table with paw print mat in the foreground

Same shot as before but the cat is now sitting on the edge of the sink, head down inside the bowl.

Closeup of a computer screen with some of the cat’s medical chart, and a photo of her in someone’s lap. A section labeled Demeanors has her listed as: Friendly, Wiggly, Social Media OK, and Super Sweet Critter!

Got to the vet’s office a bit early for the cat’s yearly checkup which meant she got to snoop around the examination room while I got to snoop on her medical chart.

Me, in a cardboard hat that says THEY

Light sconce in the shape of Neptune’s head - a bearded man with a crown and a shell

They Might Be Giants + bonus horn section on a colorfully lit stage.

Intermission photograph curation:
A sucker for a silly hat, a pretty good sconce, and you must be thinking of some other band

Of course the audience for They Might Be Giants would comprise entirely of punctual nerds. Got here 3 minutes after doors opening and I think every ticket holder is already in line in front of me.

adding balatro to the list of games I can't watch other people play, because they're making objectively incorrect decisions (slightly different than mine).

Mostly empty advertisement for a bank with text “What would you like the power to do?” below in small uneven letters someone has graffitied “fart”

Went to a few museums during my trip home to Boston, but the best art I saw was while waiting for the red line at Park St.

YouTube video by peter They Might Be Giants - Older (Conan O'Brien) - 60fps

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEW8...

Went to smash putt tonight, which in theory is mini golf course, but is actually paintball, battleship, laser tag, and foosball. And also somehow a grody restroom, a summer picnic, a marble run, and an intergalactic space flight. Decorated in VHSes.

At least in MA you'd get some wild curve-ball thing on the ballot like "should we not-sell tortured pig meat?" or "gambling: maybe a thing we could do here?" or "so, uh, weed's cool now... what about 'shrooms?" to break up the monotony and keep one politically engaged.

Nearly every ballot question I've seen since moving to Seattle has been some form of "but are you *sure* you want us to collect taxes for [normal/reasonable thing taxes should pay for]? Are you REALLY sure? What if I ask again in a special election, would you still want a tax then?" Yes! Always yes!

hello friend

Thinks she’s so clever.

My hair appointment was in my calendar for an hour earlier than it actually is, which I’m pretty sure Past Tara did months ago to trick me into having lunch at the cute cafe next door. Went from panic-running out the door while checking the confirmation email to a leisurely stroll to order a sammich

Gird yourselves, a whole bunch of things are going to break this and next week because holiday code freezes are over and devs will be making code changes that were due last year all at the same time.
In related news, my online-only bank won’t let anyone log in right now.

Rice/noodle dishes are probably the same, so you’d be set if you want orange chicken or Mongolian beef or something. But all the appetizers in a pu pu platter are pretty much nonexistent. I’m lucky if a place has crab rangoons, the egg rolls are weird, no red pork or meat onna stick etc. Real bleak

Open takeout tray with 6 crab rangoon inside

I found a place that did a passable crab rangoon, but I’d pay good money for batter fried chicken fingers and an order of bright red spare ribs.

“Have you tried [restaurant xyz]?”
“OP [xyz] is the exact opposite of what you’re looking for you will only be disappointed”

2 years later, all different posters
“Pretty sure [xyz] fits the bill”
“[xyz] is not even close it’s just really bad and over-salted this person is so wrong”

Searched to see if there’s garbage chinese takeout anywhere in seattle and the short answer is no but the funnier answer is this question pops up in r/seattle every few years from east coasters lamenting their lack of pu pu platters and the same fights repeat in the comments of possible places to go

Calico cat curled on a black Among Us blanket, looking up and to the right of the camera with her perfect smooshable face.

Look at this little sweetie. You’d never guess she was yowling from the top of the stairs (where it echoes best) not 10 minutes ago.

And they're kitties! You forgot the part where they're all cats!

Arc of a rainbow over houses and trees. The sky is very grey.

A 10 minute break in the rain was just enough time for a rainbow to peek through.

Logo for the National Championship Elite Electricians - it has a wire cutter on a shield

An electrician in a safety helmet and work gloves looking down at a tool shelf with a stripped wall behind him

A contestant being introduced. A bug on the side says he’s 52 with 33 years in the trade. He’s giving two thumbs up and there are fireworks going off behind him.

A blueprint schematic of a an electrical panel, air handler, heat pump, and splice cams.

If you ever wondered what an alternate universe Great British Bake Off would be - it’s the National Championships of Elite Electricians. It’s tradesman installing appliances, but also a timed and judged competition with cutaways to their wholesome electrician backstories.

it’s not just his height he’s completely proportional too - legit hobbit man.

Oh boy I sure do love getting paged by work while on vacation. My most favoritest thing to happen at six in the morning.

Black and white cards on a table. Black cards have white text with phonemes (PU RUE RA SHA UGG) and white cards have printed cartoon drawings of various items (e.g. a typewriter, trashcan, a turtle). The picture cards are grouped around the phonemes in a categorical way. The game rulebook is in the top right and says DADADA on the cover.

Georgian cheese bread with an egg yolk.

Top of my head with a crown made from PAX omeganaut badges. A submarine and a POG with a T embossed in it are adhered to the crown base.

PAX has been a blast - created a couple new languages (DADADA and Gibberers are great games!), ate bread and cheese with an egg on it, fed a mimic chest in exchange for a barrel of monkeys, and someone gave me a crown!

The very tall very old tree adjacent to and also looming over the house is aggressively pelting the windows with pinecones as it sways in the wind. Steady background of plonk plunk plink PLONK while the lights flicker is not exactly making it easy to relax.

Close up of the back side of a bag of carrots with Grimmway Farms logo centered

Cool cool cool, had the E. coli carrots in my crisper drawer - guess I’m sanitizing my fridge tonight.
www.fda.gov/safety/recal...

Book cover for Pet Cemetery featuring an angry cat’s face hissing as a silhouette of a man stares off. Text and title read: I just FED YOU Stop yelling at me...

tbh nobody I work with is “uggggh” but that might be easier to write about because who doesn’t love to complain?

I have to write reviews for my team AND feedback for my peers and I hate this kind of writing because it needs justifications and examples and flowery verbiage and I can’t just say “they’re good, give them more money” or “meh, not actively making my work harder so w/e” or “ugggggh”.