A.J. O'Connell

I never really thought of this as a milestone, but we are watching a show as a family, and yesterday my kid experienced his first major plot twist. Watching him process it and love it? One of my favorite parenting moments to date.

Ad: "Do you want to look snatched all the time?"

No. No I do not.
I did my time. I paid the pretty tax.

I'm ready to embrace being pale, puffy, and alarmingly shiny.

Going to #ConnectiCon?@allegrosolutionsllc.com and @pixiedane.bsky.social and I are doing a panel about using fandom in activism. Did you know that fandom influenced social activism back in Dickens' day? What happens when a creator is at odds with the social causes of their fans? Come talk to us!

I love reading through the names of adoptable pets at shelters. It's always a list of normal pet names but with one or two insane ones, like:
"Beans, Dexter, Sugar, Bella, Screaming Cheezit, Bailey, Fenway, Janet from Accounting"

a woman is sitting in front of a wall of pictures and says groundbreaking . ALT: a woman is sitting in front of a wall of pictures and says groundbreaking .

An #infosec blog post quoting William Gibson.

11 y-o would like to amend this to a Heat, Yeet, & Eat

A toaster is a Heat and Yeet

"Coastal grandma" is just Anthropologie with sleeves.

My brother and I speak in quotes from two films: The Golden Child and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Both are good, but I'd argue that Golden Child is the better film.

Where is the director's cut of this film? HMMMM?
Where is the Criterion Collection edition?
Where is Golden Child 2?

Introduced my kid to my very favorite #EddieMurphy movie ever this weekend: The Golden Child.

A true forgotten masterpiece.

This may be the first time an OBGYN felt more awkward than the patient

Not me, in a paper gown, going full journalism professor at my annual exam.

Hosting a playdate for 3 10 year-old boys while working from home is uncannily like a newsroom. People are loud, there are two competing blaring electronics, and males are causing problems for me and for each other.

Maybe that's why I am uncharacteristically productive today.

WHO DARES DISTURB ME, MORTALS is a fun thing to say when kids ask you for something during a playdate.

I mean. Wow.

"In the 21st century, we will work from home, have video phones, and our kids will play with robots!"

In the 21st century, I will sit down to work to find my keyboard unplugged because my kid wanted to use that port to recharge his robot.

*wind blows, power goes out, everything goes black*
Me: "Hey, buddy?"
10 y-o: "I DIDN'T DO IT"

"You have to watch what you say around our friends."
"I would argue that makes them not really your friends."

"We have some friends who pick their noses."
"I mean, who doesn't, right?"

The teacher's like "We have some friends who can be very disruptive" and I'm like "OH, me too! I know people like that."

Every time I hear teachers refer to kids as "friends," there's this split second when I think they're just being refreshingly honest about their actual grown-up friends.

and then I feed the remains to my flock of pet dinosaurs.

I like making bone broth because at the end when the bones have gotten all soft and crumbly, I can yell "I CRUSH YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS WEAK MORTAL."

I like making bone broth because I like pretending that the bones are the bones of my enemies.

I like making bone broth because there's just something about a big pot full of bones simmering on the stove for DAYS.

a man in a medina sod jacket stands on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean ALT: a man in a medina sod jacket stands on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean

Going out to sand the driveway with ash AGAIN. In the wind.

Me: Now. What do I say before every playdate?
10 y-o: "Don't embarrass me in front of the good parents."

In my quest to get my 10 y-o on the bus, I've just decided to do Captain Janeway's voice and call him Ensign Davis.

It's working surprisingly well AND I get to enjoy my coffee. #startrek #voyager #parenting