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Joined 8 months ago
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Cake day: March 16th, 2024

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  • My colleagues from Europe are always fascinated by Wal-Mart. They walk the aisles and usually buy an insane printed t-shirt or blanket as a souvenir. They also like to stock up on “American snacks,” so that accomplishes a few things with one trip. Pop tarts, corn chips, maple syrup - just things with a different flavor profile or philosophy of what counts as “food.” And Pork Rinds (aka chicharrones) are fried pig skins. Somehow I can never quite persuade them to get those.

    Tex-Mex and BBQ are the two biggest food recommendations for Texas. BBQ may include beef brisket or chicken. If you’re keeping a halal diet, just be aware that these restaurants may incorporate pork into seemingly vegetarian choices, like collard greens or beans.

    One tip: you can usually ask a restaurant to make a substitution to a meal and they will be happy to oblige unless it’s integral to the cooking process. For example, you can ask for a bacon cheeseburger with no bacon, but you can’t ask for beans without pork because it’s more like a soup. (Sorry if this seems obvious, but my coworkers from EU are super reluctant or shy to ask for modifications. In the US it’s considered perfectly normal to make this type of request.)

    Since Houston is reasonably close to Louisiana, you may be able to find a decent Cajun style restaurant. Very regional and very delicious.

    I’ve heard that you can find shark teeth on some of the local beaches, but they also just sell them at Murdoch’s, which is a gift shop in/near Galveston.









  • I’ve always preferred skirts to pants, precisely because they’re less restrictive to movement. I’m not sure why, but the comment was always, “I’m not sure you’d be able to do this while wearing a skirt.” It seems like people who haven’t worn them habitually don’t know how they work.

    Worst case: I fall down and you can see my knickers. Well that’s why I wear the knickers. And in nearly a half-century, I can think of maybe 2 times that’s happened. Both times I was sprinting madly to catch a bus and both times were due to my shoes and/or bad decisions.

    Field hockey and lacrosse are both traditionally played in kilts.

    Some other objections:

    Need to don some Tyvek coveralls for work? It’s really no problem with a basic skirt. You just hike it up a bit. Those suits are baggy and everything fits. You also avoid the discomfort of two layers of leg fabric.

    Cold weather? Tights are great, as are thigh high socks. And boots. All of these also look cute.

    Oh, and packing for vacation? I can pack 3-4 skirts for every pair of jeans. It’s just a simple cloth tube which folds down to nothing.





  • That’s wonderful!

    My orange cat has appointed himself as house monitor, so he’ll alert us to any danger or weird situations. When the kitten escaped from the back patio, which is enclosed, he ran to my husband and alerted him. He can be a jerk, but overall he’s a good dude.

    When I’m home alone I can always count on him. If I hear a weird noise? If that little guy is snoring I know that it’s just the wind.


  • My current oldest was a stray for about 4-5 months and she seemed to regard anything wrapped in plastic as a valid food source. We assumed that reason is that she had been scavenging garbage.

    One of my favorite “new kitten” moments was coming downstairs to find that she had taken about 12 sample bites from a package of toilet paper. She stopped doing that.

    I swear we fed her well, but she had some habits from life on the streets.


  • My best girl is really into being petted while standing in a bathtub or shower. No water. She’s done this since she was a kitten. Like Kika, she’ll lure you to the spot for petting, then meow until you and she are both standing in the tub and she’s getting pets.

    Two different houses and three different tubs are involved here.

    I sometimes wonder if it’s related to the time I had to give her a bath when we first took her in as a stray. She was weak and underfed, and had a bad case of fleas. I gave her a bath, which she hated and I hated - but when she hit the water you could see blood in her fur from all the flea bites. Poor kitty. It was probably the first time a human had given her much attention. And it helped with the fleas, so she probably felt much better afterwards.

    Sometimes I tell myself that she’s trying to tell me she’s still grateful for that, and that she trusts me.

    Or else she’s just a weirdo. I’m fine with either.