Cerina

Dark floors, like dark cars, show ALLL THE DIRT. Keep that in mind. All the dirt. All the dog hair. All the people hair. All of it. 

8 hours ago, Hobbes said:

Here is nightly.net as an image. 

AI does not understand this wasteland. 

And also 13 Going On 30

2 hours ago, Lord Darth Hunter said:

I figured the answer to the Harry Potter one would be, "read the book," but you figure there would at least be something in the movies to explain this. Maybe that sideplot you mentioned about having to steal one and all that is too much to add to the movies and you don't want to get bogged down with those details. But we don't even get a single line explaining what happened to the one Hermione had in the 3rd movie, unless I completely missed it? After using it to save the day in that entry, they all chuckle along at the end when things are back to normal and then we never see it again. For all we know she put it in her closet and forgot all about it.  

They don't actually mention it again in the books either. She turns it in because she doesn't want to take that many classes anymore, then they aren't mentioned again until a later book when I believe Ron suggests one for a different solution and Hermione mentions that they were all destroyed at the end of the 5th book. The rest is just supposition from knowing the plot and characters. 

They left a lot of little details out of the movies, as one would expect, but they also left out some pretty major things that were big oversights. 

I didn't even get pics. Luke was Mario to go with his cousins - Peach and Toad. Noah was a character named Sans from a video game named something I don't remember. He's like a skeleton who dresses like a teenager in fuzzy pink slippers. Now those fuzzy pink slippers are Noah's favorite shoes. 

Free.

On 10/30/2023 at 6:33 PM, Lord Darth Hunter said:

I agree, but at least with Indy we knew this was the last film. I hate when a series adds time travel as a plot device for just that one episode and then it's completely forgotten about. Because when things go to crap in every subsequent episode, it begs the question, why don't they just go back in time to fix this? Good example is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

The movies don't cover this very well, but there's fairly simple explanations for the time turner thing in the books. They used it in PoA because Hermione had one already. The time turners are all held at the ministry and it takes a LOT of convincing to get them to let anyone use one which is what makes it remarkable that Hermione even got one. By the end of GoF, when they realize they'd need one, the Minister was firmly anti-Dumbledore and anti-Potter and any of their known allies, so getting their hands on a time turner would have required stealing from the ministry, which would have been possible but not something Dumbledore would have been willing to do and he was the only one who knew how to actually kill Voldemort and was beginning to formulate a plan for it (however flawed that was). And then at the end of OotP, they're all destroyed. 

Also wanted to add Meet the Robinsons and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. 

2 hours ago, Hobbes said:

Or when you watch a youtube video and it takes like 5 minutes to get to the point.  The other day I was trying to make a graph in Google sheets and the data wasn't aggregating properly.  So I found a Youtibe video on how to do it but she spends like 5 minutes describing the problem and why it is important the graph is made properly.  I am like, "listen kind sir, this is the reason I am here".  The solution was literally less than 30 seconds in a 10 minute video.

I use Chat GPT now for spreadsheet help. Then I just copy and paste. And if you don't get the result you wanted, you can ask it to modify it or just tell it the issue and it'll self-correct. 

4 hours ago, Jedigoat said:

I think we all want to go out Legends Of The Fall style. 

 

And by that I mean killing your brother so you can get his woman, then leave her so that she marries your other brother then steal her back again.  

 

Did I get that right?  Close enough. 

You missed the part about coming back to marry the little girl who always had a crush on you. And then watching her be killed as well. 

Jesus. Agreed. Get those parents out of here. A 2nd grader still having accidents of that kind has to be a sign of something else. 

Meh, her part in the scheme was over. Thrawn obviously considers people disposable as soon as they've served their purpose. She served her purpose - basically as just an intergalactic receiver. 

Baylan's obviously being reserved for the next series and/or movie that I haven't confirmed is on the horizon. His story is going to be bigger as he looks for the World Between Worlds or whatever the blinky light was indicating. I hope they recast. They should also think about recasting Luke and Leia (possibly Han again) as well, but the fanbros might explode. 

Also, I wonder if Anakin's force ghost is spending this much time with Luke/Leia or if he's only haunting Ahsoka. 

Story time!! 

We moved out of that house back in April. The taxes completely priced us out at the time (since then Trevor's started a different job that came with a significant increase in pay), but it was mostly dealing with my MIL and her brother that led us to leave. So we said "screw it all!" and moved into a 3 bedroom apartment - not having to deal with maintenance was the clincher in the house vs apartment rental debate. 

Since we'd already put so much work into that house, my MIL and her brother agreed to let us sell it for them in exchange for 20% of the profit. We'd be splitting the money 40/40/20, and they'd be getting more than they would have at the price they agreed to sell it to us for. So I contacted a realtor/investor I know, and she and her husband/flipper agreed to buy it. We got all parties to sign the contract and all was well. Until...

One of the women from the title company asked who I was and why I was being included in all of the transaction correspondence, and I responded "I'm Diana's daughter-in-law. Neither she nor Greg have bought or sold real estate in Texas, and I work in the industry. I'm just here to assist when needed."

My MIL cancelled the sale the next day. 

I waited until Trevor came home that day to call her and ask "WTF WOMAN". The only things she would say were various of "I don't have to explain myself to you", "I can't help how you feel", "I'm the parent, I don't have to explain myself to my child", and everybody's favorite "y'all are just mad because you're not in control anymore!". 

I fucking LOST IT. This woman had been making our lives difficult for over a year. Her anger was/is out of control. You can refresh yourself with this thread. There was also an incident where I had to stop working in the middle of the day to come downstairs and send Trevor inside the house because they were on our back porch SCREAMING AT EACH OTHER. My MIL just kept saying "GO TO HELL!!" and Trevor kept replying "OH MY GOD! DO YOU EVER HEAR YOURSELF RIGHT NOW!?!" I then spent EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS downstairs listening to this woman rant and rave about absolutely everything she now hates about her kids and about how she doesn't need grief therapy and about how she can't drop her shitty friends because then she'd have no friends and how she's the "Don of the Family now!!" and how we're keeping her from having a relationship with her formerly estranged son and how we're only mad at her because she was grieving and couldn't do anything with the house and so so much more. But anyway, she cancelled the sale without giving anyone a head's up or a reason. 

Shit went downhill from there. We stopped talking to her. My sister-in-law tried to reason with her, but she's going full narcissist refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing on her part and doubling down on all the previous bullshit. 

On 10/2/2023 at 11:28 AM, Hobbes said:

Based on the scenery, you must have been way out there if you were near Alamosa!  If you were where I think you are--that part is scary to me...hardly any cars, no towns, no cell service.  I had to drive through that area in a blizzard at night and it was probably the most scared I had ever been...if I had an accident I probably would died in one fashion or another.  

Were you near the sand dunes?

 

I wasn't there. They actually didn't allow parents. It was just the kids, one teacher per group, and their expedition guide. They actually had some seminars up there where the teacher guided them on group discussions about their experience and some poetry they introduced. 

It was very remote though. No cell service. No running water even. They had to treat their own water from natural springs and streams. 

Noah did say something about passing a sign that said something about Rio Grande Trail (or Pass or Something). 

Ender, Alamosa. Or nearish there. At least that's the weather they told us to look up!

10 hours ago, Hobbes said:

What are your thoughts on the autism diagnosis--I am interested in your feelings?  Just curious, when you say diagnose, do you mean the psychologist qualified Luke for an IEP under autism?  That is awesome both boys are finding success at school--aren't they in a charter?  I never heard the term ARD before--I had to look it up  

Where in Colorado were you?  Nice pictures, but all the trees here being killed by the pine bark beetle are depressing.  Fucking global warming....

 

Yeah, sorry. Not a diagnosis diagnosis. I’ve been explaining this to a lot of family lately, so I’ve had to shorthand and appropriate some verbiage that they relate to. Forgot I was going to be addressing some pros on here
 

Here’s what I wrote on FB. 
 

Quote

We got Luke's test results this week. He had a full individual evaluation earlier this summer with the school's psychologist and speech therapist, so his report was something like 65 pages long. It was a lot for this momma to slug through, and despite the fact that it didn't contain any information or insights I didn't already know or suspect, it was still very hard to see in black and white print. 

Luke meets the markers for mild to moderate autistic traits. He also has a speech disability affecting his expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language. 

They didn't find any evidence of an intellectual or cognitive disability, but his subtest scores on these tests were disheartening. He's "in the typical" range for a child his age, but most subtests were scored average to below average. However, the psychologist and I agree that his anxiety, autism, and speech impairments most likely greatly affected these scores negatively. 

This is rough, y'all. I mean, none of it is shocking. He's my kid. I live with him. I already knew all of this. I know he can't answer some questions appropriately. I know he gets immense anxiety in new situations and especially when pushed socially. I know he shuts down. I know that most times you have to give instructions or explanations to him in a certain way for him to understand. I know he needs extra reminders and prodding. I know he doesn't have behavioral issues which is what generally flags children for testing and services, so I know many people don't see him as a child with special needs. I already know all of this, and I know that he's a great kid and his needs are far below some of his peers,  but I'm still heartbroken over it. I know many of you also understand where I'm at perfectly.

The hardest part was seeing the subtest scores in the ability tests, not gonna lie. The only other scores I’ve read through are Noah’s and my own. Noah’s scores were all well above average except in areas where he displays more of a disability challenge - working memory, processing speed, etc. My lowest standardized test score ever was in the 94th percentile (don’t recall the subtest). Seeing scores this “low” was painful. There’s a lot to unpack there I’m aware. And in a similar vein, the entire 2nd grade gets screened for the gifted program in the next month, and I’m not sure exactly how I feel about that either. 
 

Luke is in the local public school so he can take full advantage of their special needs programs and supports. Noah’s at a public classical charter. It’s good for him, but would be too strict for Luke. 
 

I think they were near Alamosa? Near Rio Grande, but not THE Rio Grande (which confused a lot of those Texas kids). 

So for those of you who didn't see my post last month on FB, Luke officially got his autism diagnosis from the district's psychologist. I had a lot of feelings about it. 

We actually had his ARD last week with the whole gang. Everyone agreed that he's just the sweetest kid, which is good since he can be quite a pill at home most days. He's going well academically, but he's still a bit behind his peers in reading and writing, which isn't a great shock considering that his expressive and receptive speech is his #1 issue. So he gets one-on-one help during those times in class. But I question this a bit because apparently he's been "reading" Captain Underpants books during their DARE (drop everything and read) time, and CU is waaaaay above his reading level. We have a parent-teacher conference tomorrow, so we'll probably bring that up. Pleasure reading doesn't seem that effective if he's not actually reading. 

The big kiddo is doing well at school still. He's currently making straight-As, and 4/5 of his 7 classes are technically honors classes since ALL the core classes are honors classes. (And I say 4/5 because they have one 2 period class they call the integrated humanities program that serves as their language arts and social studies credits, but it's one grade on the reports.) He's also taking biology, Spanish, and geometry/Euclid's Elements as honors classes. 

He also spent a week in Colorado 2 weeks ago on a 5 day backpacking trip with a small group of boys from his class. Way cooler than anything I ever got to do in school. Pics attached. Mine's the one with the hair. He's also bringing up the rear in the pic where they're actually hiking. His backpack doesn't match because he was the only kid on the trip who actually supplied his own gear as opposed to borrowing it from the expedition company that the school used, and as such, he came home less sore than everyone else, despite his feet problems, probably because his backpack has been properly fitted and he's received more than 15 minutes of instruction on how to pack it. 

 

On 9/19/2023 at 12:17 AM, Destiny Skywalker said:

I think she was in the World Between Worlds because Jacen heard the lightsabers.

I think it was in her head and that's how Jacen heard the lightsabers...

Noah and I have been having this argument for over a week now. No resolution in sight. 

Finally saw this on Friday! My husband and I really enjoyed it. I laughed and cried. 

I can see why so many people are taking offense to it, and I'm eating that up. I thought it was cleverly subtle while being completely IN YOUR FACE with its messaging. 

Jesus. H. Christ. Some people...

My kiddos start back on the 14th and 16th. And since Noah's at a charter school, even a public one, his school is on a completely different holiday schedule than Luke's. 

Holy shit, jacob. did you even open the calendar??

On 7/15/2023 at 12:26 PM, Cerina said:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=MTJsaXAxbmlsYXJhYWVlY241NGJsOTY3dWcgY2VyZWVzZTgyQG0&tmsrc=cereese82%40gmail.com

OH crap. Thanks for the reminder. I was prescribed Ozempic since I'm pre-diabetic, but the pharmacy needed the doctor to approve something. I need to follow up. 

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=MTJsaXAxbmlsYXJhYWVlY241NGJsOTY3dWcgY2VyZWVzZTgyQG0&tmsrc=cereese82%40gmail.com

Not sure exactly. I think they're looking at staying close~ish to Denver. We'll probably work out more of these details in the coming years.