This thread is a positive everyday.
7 Likes
I’ve put it on watched so I get the notification every time someone posts. It’s so very lovely. Thank you @anon66621404 for starting it 
6 Likes
One positive thing that happened today:
I just learned I can put specific topics on a watched list instead of repeatedly refreshing my “latest” tab.
3 Likes
I actually found this a few days ago, but I’ve been really enjoying this daily word game: Cell Tower.
5 Likes
Psst… Is there a way to change settings so that if I reply to a topic, it automatically goes to watching instead of tracking?
I think you only get those options at the bottom of the page
3 Likes
Sinterklaas is coming on the 6th of December in Belgium, Holland and other parts of western Europe. He’s a Catholic Saint turned rooftop-climber/present-bringing-catburglar.
Tradition requires that in the week (and-a-half) leading up to the big day, children put their shoe by the chimney (if one is present, otherwise any heating implement will suffice). Sinterklaas will drop some candy and perhaps a small toy in the shoe, adding to the joyful tension before 6th December.
My son and I just set his shoe for the first time this year, with an apple for Sinterklaas’ horse (named “Slechtweervandaag”, which literally translates to “Badweathertoday”) and a cup of cold coffee for the man himself… I wonder what will be in it tomorrow morning…
In other news, my girlfriend and I went Christmas shopping and we found every person on our list a gift! Except my sister’s notoriously difficult girlfriend. Scented candles again this year…
A good day was had by all involved.
13 Likes
I found a cool study spot tucked away in between some old disused lockers on a floor of a familiar building I haven’t spent much time in that made me feel kind of like a horror movie protagonist. Also, a nicer study spot in an Arts building that is normally very full, but has been derelict as of late because they swapped over to an online format for most of their final pieces. It’s even by the accessibility elevator!
10 Likes
YESSSSSSSSS
I love finding fun little study spots like that!!
3 Likes
My favorite spot to study was the top (4th) floor of the library in a back corner where the staff stored unused desks and cabinets. I would hide in a back cubby. There was a restroom nearby. I would take a stash of snacks and just study undisturbed.
Those were the days.
5 Likes
One of the “chocolate milk” (light brown with white marks, usually red or pale eyes and feet) pigeons I know (he lives in a flock near the church, sometimes he waddles up to the bench by the bus stop and will wait beside me until the bus arrives, at which point he waddles off to go pester the priest or one of the old ladies with crumbs and bird seed for them) came onto??? The?? Bus with me today?
I hope he can find his way home??? But it was a very disorientating Disney princess moment. He was contently munching on some half finished breakfast item someone dropped on the floor when I left him last. He’s also looking a bit dirty today, usually he’s a bright white, but it’s a damp city day so he looks a bit grey.
10 Likes
Sophia, this is definitely an enchanted bird. Did you try talking to it? Maybe it needs something to turn it back into… whatever it was before it got enchanted. It sees that you are The One who can help it. This is like SO the opening to a fairy story. Mind those wolves, now.
7 Likes
Reminds me of this: Teryl's Tales of Whim~: ""I want to soak in the swamp," declared the queen…" - Mastodon
3 Likes
I managed to do everything I planned to do with my WIP before my self-imposed deadline for sending to testers (tomorrow)!
Do everything until feedback rolls in, anyway
Gee whiz, I’m excited about not looking at it for a while, barring game-breaking stuff. It’s just been a lot. Tomorrow I’m going to eat snacks and play video games
8 Likes
I just discovered Google’s Doodle for today. You can play an old-school platformer and even design your own game. It comes with a tutorial, sound effects and several sample games. I’m not very good at these games when using keyboard control. The Breakout clone told me I was a turkey!
Lots of fun and far more entertaining than attending a meeting or reviewing something that I’m half-way through reviewing.
Regarding @anon66621404’s chocolate pigeon, I just want to know whether it paid its fare. Did it tap on (or whatever it is that you do to pay your fare in north America)?
6 Likes
Oh wow! Did you by any chance manage to get a feather? Not by plucking one out of its bum of course, but perhaps it dropped one for you?
If you should let that feather blow in the wind, it will lead you to the Enchanted Land.
When you get there, don’t mind the roadblock. Just go about your business and it should be done in a jiffy.
5 Likes
You guys are a riot! I went through the recent ones I’ve sent my friends- I often take photos of wildlife I encounter in the city, so here are some more! I especially love seeing the rare variants of pigeons. I often frequent the same route- so I get familiar with their patterns and can identify individuals.
They’re quite friendly, even if you don’t have treats- so long as you approach them as I do all animals: cautiously, sheepishly, trying not to startle or alarm: a downward cast gaze and slow movements will get them so comfy they’ll start trying to peck at my shoes or flutter over to try to see what I’m holding in my hands on the arm of the bench, very occasionally they’ll just follow me about on the sidewalk for a bit until I enter a campus building.
In the winter, they’re quite docile: it’s very sweet how trusting they are once they’ve warmed up to your presence, they’ll plop onto the ground and fluff up into their feathers like a dense orb to keep warm, while sheltering from the wind chill by pressing close to your leg to break the wind up. This weirdly slow movement thing is also how I’ve picked up a crow before, after additionally bribing him with a bit of my sandwich and bits of brushed out hair for his nest. He wasn’t as soft as I imagined… But quite amiable about being relocated to a safer location!
I joke that the animals can tell I’m more nervous of them than they are of me, so they’re more at ease because thank goodness, it’s the freaky weird pink blob on two legs that’s the anxious wreck and not me. City people are also just- mean, people sometimes kick or scare pigeons on purpose, so it can take a bit to get them to willingly spend time with you and not just take flight instantly- but they’re wonderful birds, very sweet, and come in lovely color variations.
First time a bird has followed me onto public transit, though! (He didn’t pay, but I tapped my card, and he’s probably under like, 11 or whatever age it is kids ride free, so we’ll say he’s covered.)
Bonus poorly cropped image of a tubby squirrel staring directly at me and making prolonged eye contact at the bus stop. Despite being the normal / wild morph in fur- he’s quite rare with all the melanistic ones we have around, so that’s why I snapped a photo.
16 Likes
Somehow unsurprising to find out you’re a Disney princess in your free time!
7 Likes
Sophia,
I love your posts.
5 Likes
I made a contact with a faculty member in my university who’s doing a course on esports, and we’ve got a meeting to talk about IF. One step closer to my goal of starting an IF club.
10 Likes