Sheila Avelin

The problem with terrariums as a hobby is that they keep outgrowing their enclosures and I hate throwing out cuttings.

Yup!

This is the last Wawa on our route to Oberlin, the first one returning. It is spotless and magnificent and perched on a hill just west of the Susquehanna with a vast parking lot. They are architecturally putting Sheetz on notice.

Unexpected challenge of packing up the kid's dorm: not the near-complete lack of packing headway before our arrival or the exam they're still writing, but the palpable waves of stress emanating from their roommate. I have to keep compassionately vacating the room.

YouTube video by Dave Brodsky Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue

There's an exit for Electric Avenue in the mountainous middle of Pennsylvania. As a result, we've learned a lot about the Brixton riots this trip. The things that went over my head when I was 12! m.youtube.com/watch?v=vtPk...

Anyone else notice that the majority of household tasks they procrastinate are more fun than the internet-scrolling they procrastinate with? Like, even cleaning out the dishwasher filter is more mentally engaging and leaves me with a sense of accomplishment.

‘Timestamp on our minds’: Philadelphia marks 1985 Move bombing that killed 11 Police bombing targeting Black liberation group ignited fire that killed 11, including five children, and burned 61 houses

I grew up in DC, but my mom was from the Main Line. We were riveted to the television for days, watching this unfold. Since moving here in the 90s, it's been this trauma the whole city keeps returning to. I don't think Philadelphia will ever really get over it.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Watching The Sopranos for the first time -- I'm still on season 1, so no spoilers, please!

One thing I didn't expect was how uneven the cast is. Gandolfini and Falco are multiple levels above everyone else in the series. Scenes without out them are so much worse it's jarring.

Stayed up too late, even for me, woke up aberrantly and mysteriously early, decided not to have any caffeine.

I'm basically curled up in my own pocket dimension right now. If this doesn't move my bedtime earlier, nothing will.

Brownies baked. Now to get them to the kid *before* we get there next weekend to take them home. Priority mail, hooray!

The problem is that it's just slightly too long at the back of the jaw. It's distracting.

Good to know! That's what the site says, but the Real ID rush does have me a little worried. I still have time to go in person, which you can do in case of "nondelivery", if it doesn't come by two weeks.

Progress! I renewed my license without Real ID, then used the new license to order a replacement SS card. Going on a Saturday meant the license cost me almost three hours of waiting time, but I was able to ask for the new SS card online. Hoping that the wait time before it comes isn't too long.

In this situation, starting with renewing my license should unlock the rest of the documents.

We're flying to Seattle in about 2 months, so I do need to go in person for the sealed birth certificate. The internet says that in person you can get the certificate the same day but it can take as long as 60 days by mail from out of state.

Solidarity. A couple of years ago I switched from Pokemon GO to Pikmin Bloom because there's just no way to spend an hour straight playing Bloom, let alone 6-8 hours, which I absolutely have done on GO.

Planned to get my Real ID today, but can't find my SS card, my birth certificate has no seal, & my passport expired 12 years ago. I have my name change document, but I'm starting to doubt how much of me actually exists.

Going to renew my license instead. DC's public records office is in my future.

ADD reality: every single time I open my laptop, I lose two hours. It isn't always this bad, but 2025 is basically quicksand made of dopamine.

The Trump Effect is just gaining force.

Starting a week late, but I'm going to make an effort to post once a day for the rest of May, just to see what happens.

It's the most bitter parody, but he posted it like it was a pitch deck.

What Elon Musk wants is worse than you think | Will Bunch Newsletter Plus, a new breed of journalists just might save America.

As the Musk coup rampages through DC, most Americans don't understand there's a method to the madness that's even more terrifying

They want to replace "outdated" democracy with AI, in a power grab that empowers billionaires with a lie about efficiency

My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

All I really want to do this week is watch Ted Lasso on loop. Well, maybe not the third season.

So many terrible things in MAGAland this week, but I am heartened by the sheer volume of calls being made to the Senate this week. I know we have so much work to do, but it feels like the good people of the country shaking off their torpor.

I grew up on the Hill and we were members of the pool during the 70s and 80s. I was glad when the Rubells renovated it and I'll be sad to see it go.

Exactly the same. It's my first move in any social media space.

I realized I didn't explain that EDS, which comes with a standard side order of dysautonomia, means showers cost me spoons -- they tire me out, dry my skin, and leave me moderately brainfogged for awhile. I did manage a bath over the weekend, though.

One week of this cold and I'm finally feeling okay to shower. EDS makes my lungs fragile, so I don't get sick more often than anyone else, but I go down a lot harder. It's no wonder covid took me down for three months.

This morning, I messaged my Congressperson, Dwight Evans about Trump's illegal and unconstitutional freeze on spending. It took less than ten minutes and felt so much better than not acting.

At this point, she's the only reason I'm considering resubscribing when my access from last year runs out.