I just saw the email from explore.org! It's Bear Cam season! 🐻🥳

I have been watching the bears at Brooks Falls catch salmon for many summers now!

It's day 100 for my tiny lake monsters! 🥳 I don't think I really believed I could keep Sea Monkeys alive this long.

https://youtu.be/Ml-xNXXIvBI

I was so happy with myself for calling the plumber yesterday. Less happy with getting up early because they're coming out today. But the hot water will get fixed!

I called the plumber, and that counts as an achievement for the day! 🙌 Go, me!

@CrankyGrandma I sometimes think odd creatures come my way because they somehow know I'll care. Life is too enchanting to ignore someone just because they aren't human.

@Pennyformythoughts Thank you for the link! We do think it's juvenile, and this information is very helpful.

There's a visitor in my yard today. I'm a little concerned about why a bat would be out during the day. We've seen them in the evenings before, so we know they live on our property. It could be the heat. If they don't go home tonight, I may need to call a wildlife rehabilitator tomorrow.

@Pungent My house probably owes LeVar Burton child support because he really did a lot of raising me when it comes to my mental development. Sometimes I felt like LeVar Burton and Mister Rogers were the only people who believed in me. That was enough to keep me going.

He screwed a lot of things up. Nobody's perfect. But if the worst thing you do is curse your child with the ability to love, you did a good job.

I stayed offline most of today, just like I did with the one last month. I almost made it all the way without thinking about what day it's recognized as. I don't know if it will ever stop hurting. Probably not. I've discussed how I grieve with therapists. They say I just stay aware of it longer than most people. Sometimes I do wish I couldn't love so much. But he taught me. And he's not here anymore. So I have to do it.

Suddenly, a Sim would be exhausted, starving, and need to go to the bathroom. They could end up just standing there and crying until they passed out in a puddle of their own pee. All the needs crashed when they came out of the zone.

Now I'm thinking it makes more sense if the needs bars are seen as a Sim's awareness of their own needs. The needs are still changing, but the Sim doesn't know it. Being in the zone is hyperfocus, and it interrupts interoception.

Our family is made up of a mix of autistic people, ADHDers, people with PTSD...not just one of each. There's overlapping and combining. And this has me rethinking something about The Sims. Specifically, when a Sim is "in the zone".

When that was added, my friends and I talked about how it was good that a Sim in thier zone didn't have their needs moving much, but it was hell when they stopped what they were doing!

<insert screaming into the void>

@clong Alfred is so polite about this! 🤣

@AskTheDevil I'm thankful for my first lessons on love coming from watching Mister Rogers. He taught me to just love living beings because they exist.

Happy pride, y'all! 🏳️‍🌈 When you're queer, you're family. 💜

If you're not out, you're still family. There are many valid reasons to stay quiet. You are still loved. We just have more family than we know.💜

That includes queer military. We know you're there. We love you. 💜

@MrGoat These responses from Alfred sound a lot like HAL 9000.

We just watched the finale of "Star Trek: Discovery". I cried twice. I yelled in joyful shock! And the thing that shocked me...so well done! It's the kind of thing I normally would see coming a season ago and everyone would tell me I'm wrong until it's revealed. But they did it in a way that made that impossible.

And now... I miss them already. That crew became as much fictional family to me as TNG.

@LowEndMuse Hose water is the best. I don't care if it's coming from the same source as the indoor tap water. Still the best.

I got a new deck of cards. I am really picky about how Hekate is portrayed. Neopaganism has done a lot of appropriating and manipulating. I was glad to see the creator is a member of the Covenant of Hekate. There's a higher standard for research. Looking through the cards, I think they'll be great for self-examination and growth work.