mrs-pattie-thinks-things

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Sisters doing sister things

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This is about my dad. I wish I felt as loved by him as he made everyone else believe.

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PAX story time - Furries are doing just what we did as children, plus wholesome stories

Something that caught me off guard was the furry panel. My brain was trying to process really hard how being a furry was a game. Don’t get me wrong, they fit right in, as lots of people were dressed up and at PAX, we welcome all, but I had questions. How do they play games with their hands in those giant gloves? Would they not simply sweat alive playing Just Dance? My conclusion that being a furry in and of itself, at least for many of them, was the game. Someone explained that it was like they create their own characters and act out different scenarios in an ongoing format, and they play exclusively as that one character?

Me: Oh, like D&D?

Apparently not like D&D. Their storyline’s are much more about domestic life and family relationship dynamics.

Me: Oh, like how little girls play House?

If you don’t know what playing house is like a child, each child would choose a role in a family household, be it the mum, the dad, the baby, the dog, the weird uncle, and you’d just act out their roles in the playground. There often be one boy who was roped in and he’d have no idea how he got there.

Apparently not, because, unlike house, there was elaborate relationship dynamics, complex themes and scenarios, scandals, significantly more dramatic than just acting out roles in a household.

Me: Oh! They’re playing Horsies!

Now, I don’t know if horsies is a universal game little girls play, but after school, we’d play with these little plastic horses. We were all horses in a field. We’d each choose a horse character, or a number of horses, and act out various melodramatic scenarios. For example, one afternoon I was playing the two “grownup” horses who had both lost their spouses and decided to fall in love and get married so their family could be one happy Brady bunch. Lo and behold, one of each of our children also fell in love. They were so upset with us for wanting to get married because they were pretty sure it’s illegal, or at the very least, really weird, to marry your step sibling. There was a back and forth, - “no, we’re older, so we should be the ones to get married!” ‘You’ve already had your chances at love, give us a go!” It ended up being a literal race to the alter because we couldn’t choose who was in the right.

For some reason, in our little eight-year-old brains, play acting these melodramas as horsies ways WAY less weird than acting them out with human dolls. I think, when you make them out as humans, there might be something in the back of your head that might remind you of people in your real life. That’s possibly why House, in comparison, had very tame. Horsies? That’s a massive free-for-all.

I’d also like to add that nothing can re-create the exhilarating shock of finding out your potential future horse-step-children have fallen in love. Not in any way that’s still fun and entertaining, anyway.

I also wonder if these kinds of games are the reason why girls are less likely to be diagnosed with Autism than boys.

So, if, by some unlikely chance this story happens upon an actual Furry - is being a Furry like playing Horsies? Are we all wrong and have no idea what we’re talking about?

And now for wholesome PAX Furry stories:

Proud Furry dad

There were a couple of dads talking about their (I’m assuming adult) children. One had a daughter who was non-verbal almost for her entire childhood. Somewhere around twelve, she expressed wanting to spend her time dressed up as (if memory serves) a puppy. She started with really simple outfits that she made for herself - just paper masks and a simple tail, but she became very focused in her sewing skills that by the time she was in her late teens, her skills were to a professional standard. He was saying how thankful he was that there was a community where she could feel safe to express herself and interact with other people. He was so worried that when he and her mother died, that she might not be able to look after herself or find a community to interact with. There was another furry dad who agreed, saying his son is autistic, but feels comfortable communicating with others when they’re all in a fur suit. There’s no pressure to be verbal, and the mask helps him feel safe.

Cult of the Lamb Furry wedding

I wasn’t there, but after the main events, there were two weddings that took place at The Cult of the Lamb booth. One was between two Furries. I have heard people say it was really sweet, and one attendee say they cried tears of happiness for the new couple.

There’s a short of it on games hub YouTube channel. I’ve seen plenary of more footage than just this video, but this one is at least googlable.

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PAX story time - Call of Cthulhu

PAX this year was amazing! I tried out 20+ games, it was great!

One moment I wont forget was signing up for a Call of Cthulhu demo and feeling like we had broken the Games Master with... efficiency.

You see, horror isn't my cup of tea, but I was keen to trial the game system. I think a couple of others felt the same, but wanted to see what it was about. However, because our party consisted of someone who had worked in mental health, someone who had worked in a crematorium, a cleaner who had biohazard training, and an electrician. For lack of a better phrase, we were overqualified for the game.

Games Master: you enter the morgue. The lights are flickering. You see bloody smears and handprints all over the door.

The party: this looks like a biohazard so we’ll need surgical gloves. Also who here has experience with electrical maintenance?

Games master: you come across a creature so vile that anyone who looks upon it goes insane

The party: we should keep them isolated and take them on three at a time while the others stand outside, as to preserve everyone’s mental health.

Game Master: the authorities arrive on the scene and aim their guns at you

The Party: we explain there is a dangerous biohazard that needs to be taken care of.

Everyone survived, got their ideal ending and the evil doctor was taken to prison. The games master said that was the smoothest run he had ever seen.

I was told this wasn’t supposed to happen.

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My TikTok feed is full of American politics due to recent events and it’s riling up some strong opinions I have in regards to separation of church and state.

As a devout Christian, I firmly believe that there needs to be boundaries between religion and government. Yes, religious expression is very important, yes, it should have some influence on your political opinion, but keep it out of the doors of Parliament House.

Consider this - sex and cooking are both wonderful and important components in a healthy marriage* but there needs to be healthy boundaries between the two activities. Yes, both will influence the other, but if you are chopping onions naked in the bedroom, you’re going to ruin both activities.

““When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

(For everyone reading this, sorry for ruining your day)

*this of course is not including the healthy marriage of asexuals. You guys can go have fun eating pizza together while watching Bobs Burgers

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I think God was wise when he decided that I shouldn’t be an influencer, at least not just yet. You see, I suffer from a bad case of she’s confused, but she’s got the spirit.

If I had a following to influence, at the moment I would ask all my audience to spam their local members of parliaments with out of context memes of Abed Nadir, our favourite fictional half-Palestinian, and ask why you’re depriving us of wonderful people like his by banning them from our country?

And if you say, Amy, Abed Nadir is a fictional character, there’s no proof that anyone from Palestine will have the same adorkable whimsy, look. I once ran into an Arab grandmother who I have never met before. She was expecting a meeting that was cancelled and we ended up going on a fetch quest in search of a lemon tree. She got in my car and went on a tiny road trip, and in the end she gave me a bag of handmade cookies.

And then she just… walks home from where we were, off into the sunset. The ma’am was Aslan. She was gorgeous. I have never understood the dichotomy of feeling both the love and fear of God. I had no idea what she was going to do or say next but I would die for her. She made my day a little bit more magical.

If you do happen to be influenced my be (I apologise) I have some prepared Abed Nadir memes to use. You’re welcome.

Dear Parliment member, why are you depriving this great nation of people like this guy?

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The Daughter of Smoke and Bones series is probably one of my favourite young adult fantasy series. It is absolutely my favourite fantasy romance. Most romances I want to shake the protagonist and explain to them why the leading man is a red flag factory, but Laini Taylor managed to distract me enough with her amazing themes, world and story that I did not care, and genuinely enjoyed even the romances. It has my favourite themes that I have decided to call, deeply spiritual yet religiously traumatised and decolonisation for white people.

Then of course one must head over to Tumblr to see all the fan-art and then I discovered that everyone else’s interpretation of the characters seem…

Much more human than I pictured…

In my head, chimeras faces weren’t completely human. I imagined some distortions of the promotions - longer noses, eyes a little further apart, skin that stretched at odd angles. Even those described high human aspects, I imagined a lot more animalistic. I was kind of taken aback about how human-looking all these beings were, and here I am thinking this was a YA romance for furries.

… but does that…

Does that make me…

…

Am I the furry?

Anyway, this was inspired by Madrigal

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Every time I listen to a theological debate, I imagine people debating Miley Cyrus in A Thousand Years

"But there is no actual evidence, no building records, no paperwork, to suggest that she ever entered a building like a wrecking ball. Therefore we can assume she did not exist."

"But you see, there is video evidence-"

"We KNOW that digital evidence can be faked, even in the 2000's. No real scholar takes video evidence, DIGITAL video, as evidence. Plus, it's clear that all wrecking ball footage is staged."

"Hey guys, I don't think we were ever supposed to take wrecking ball as a literal event. I'm pretty sure it's a metaphor of a turning point in her career."

"Oh my Godness Jeff get off this panel, screw you."

"For the last time, Jeff, if we see wrecking ball as JUST a metaphor, where do we draw the line? World War One? Nine Eleven? Were THEY metaphor, Jeff?"

"Don't get him STARTED on his views of the existence of Hannah Montana..."

----

I don't know if I recommend this. Likely chance it's a weird coping mechanism to not take things personally. Either way, my brain is very entertained.

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If you didn’t want to strangle him, you were playing the game wrong

I am playing horizon forbidden west and I'm halfway through the Faro tomb mission.

I hate this man an IRRATIONAL amount aggsgsgsfs

She should be allowed to punch him in the face

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Hint: it was not any of those things

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It’s 1 am and I need sleep, but Horizon franchise is too good

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If you ever feel like ugly crying, here are two simple steps:

1. Start listening to The Hunger Games Audiobook

2. At the 6:44:23 mark, go listen to the song Can’t Catch Me Now from the A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

I’m glad I warned my husband that Rue was going to die soon and I will cry, because boy, was it ugly. The Hunger Games really holds up as an adult, way more than any other Young Adult novel I’ve read. Even more so that I now have a blond niece who Annabeth’s actress really remind me of. I have my own personal Prim and Rue and, fuck, it’s so much more real as an adult when children die. They’re so much younger now.

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When the expert in treating anxiety misses the mark on helping with your ADHD problems

(This is based of an amazing woman at what she does, by the way! I can’t expect someone to be an expert at something outside their experience!)

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Executive distinction isn’t just about things you don’t want to do

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I had an intuitive thought this morning and now you must all suffer too

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Michelle Krusiec’s performance in Community always bothered me so much. The more I watch this episode, the more irrational I realise my annoyance is, the more annoyed I am about it.

The thing is, she doesn’t sound like an actor performing a Chinese character. She sounds like an American actor doing a really, really bad performance of a Chinese character. We know she’s better than that. She performed in IMDB. We all loved her in that.

We know that community can cast Chinese actors.

We also know that they’re not afraid to go full parody in their portrayal of foreign accents either.

Which gives me the impression that her direction was to “act like someone who’s trying to act like they have a Chinese accent but is struggling to keep up the act.”

And you know what?

THATS PROBABLY EXACTLY WHAT HER DIRECTION WAS.

BECAUSE IN THE END WE LEARN THAT SHE’S FAKING IT. THE WHOLE TIME.

THESE TWO FOOLS WOULDN’T HAVE FIGURED IT OUT.

PIERCE IS TOO RACIST AND STUPID, AND JEFFS NOT WORLDLY ENOUGH TO PICK UP ANY SUS BEHAVIOUR AND HE’S TOO BUSY MENDING HIS EGO.

So Michelle’s acting choice makes perfect sense.

But then I watch it again, and it bothers me.

And I remind myself about the ending and how it makes sense.

Then I get irritated about my irritation.

And then I get irritated by how irrational my irritation is.

I’M IN A PERPETUAL LOOP OF IRRATIONAL ANGER OVER SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T MATTER.

That in a nutshell is the beauty of the show Community.

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