Mara does not have pierced ears yet, which is a relief since she tugs on her hair and so forth and I'm afraid she'd yank them out, which is a fear of mine anyway. I'd probably let her get them at age 7 or so, though. She's the only "girl with brown skin" in her class who doesn't have them and a few of the white girls do too. It's still pretty rare but not unheard of to see toddler or baby boys with an earring or even sometimes two.
How's about some full body yakuza tattoos for infants? Wouldn't be cute to see them grow into it, and heck, pain is forgotten.
"There are two laws:do not pick wildflowers, and do not frighten children."
Oxy. You really don't get google where you live, do you?
Pwned. Alas, the google is better where Thorn lives than here. It's because I live on the coast, and as everyone knows, the internet is actually headquartered in a secure bunker in Columbia, MO. It's a much shorter tube to Thorn's house.
Or watch Justified, which, besides Turner Classic Movies, is the only reason I have a television.
Hey Al. I just volunteered your new place in the tropics (not Narnia—the other island) for Unfoggedecadecon. It's OK if we drop by, right?
Also, woot for 3 days without headaches!!!
Justified is fantastic. Best show on TV right now.
Uncle. Since Rosamunde I have been reading all the comment threads on Unfogged. And I have fallen and I cannot keep up. Uncle. Uncle. Uncle.
Uncle. Since Rosamunde I have been reading all the comment threads on Unfogged. And I have fallen and I cannot keep up. Uncle. Uncle. Uncle.
Uncle. Since Rosamunde I have been reading all the comment threads on Unfogged. And I have fallen and I cannot keep up. Uncle. Uncle. Uncle.
I haven't watched Justified, but Lee is watching the Braxtons reality show and one sister (Trina) is afraid or birds, which of course makes me think of teo. Other than that, I don't think there'd be much unfogged interest.
10: it's not on Hulu or Netflix On Demand, which means it doesn't exist. NCAA Tournament? I have no idea what you're talking about. Not having cable kind of sucks, actually.
He's fallen on the "post" button, I guess.
NCAA Tournament? I have no idea what you're talking about. Not having cable kind of sucks, actually.
I paid my four dollars for the streaming, bastards.
Also I'm worried about Brad. He needs a bigger coffee mug.
I don't have much of an opinion on piercing babies ears except it's really common and not very SWPL.
I'm slightly less enchanted with Justified than I was a few weeks ago. They've spent so much time building the Justified universe that now every episode exclusively explores that universe and furthers the over-arching plot instead of telling an episode length story. Which also is causing ever increasing disconnection from the marshal service.
It's great to see you well enough to exploit the natives for your comfort, Al.
My daughter had her ears pierced when she asked for that, around seven, I think. Whenever, it wasn't unusual or traumatic enough to leave me with much of a memory beyond knowing I was there.
Alameida - Manic Pixie Dream Blogger transfigured. And cheers to md 20/400 for no headaches.
23.last: It's alameida who's 3 days without headaches, I think.
24: Yes. After careful analysis, I conclude it's md congratulating Al on the 3 day break from hell.
22:By the time they ask for piercing they are not likely to be frightened by it. That's different than doing it to an infant.
26: True, but an infants' fear meter will go into the red over any pain or strange happening no matter how trivial to an adult. It's the same with frustration, hunger, wet diapers, or whatever.
They don't modulate, so I'm not seeing any real harm in doing it early, they'll suffer much worse as soon as they start to toddle around.
Yeah, when I was a kid I certainly internalized the message from my parents & other relatives that having girls' ears pierced before the age of 12 or so was Not The Done Thing, and betrayed a level of loucheness and depravity so infamous as to virtually defy description. (There was no standard for having boys' ears pierced, similar to how there was nothing in Germany's pre-Nazi penal code about lesbianism, because it was so far outside the possible categories of behavior as to be completely invisible and unutterable.) Now, I don't really see what the big deal is. I mean, we're not talking about getting 3 year-olds huge dangley plugs, or the low-rent version, an AA battery. Just a teensy little hole that will grow closed quicker than you can say "Jack Robinson". Why not?
Tattoos, you probably want to wait awhile on. We have so little way of knowing what will be fashionable in 20 years or so, that it would just be asking for big black cover-up bands on their arms.
I am glad that haven't had any headaches recently. But, yes, I was cheering alameida's respite.
Yay drugs! Break the cycle.
Also, if we're going to be making circumcision analogies, clearly they have to involve someone's rod, or his johnson, getting bitten by a small member of the Mustelidae.
I am not exploiting the narnian natives, it would be too expensive. I am exploiting cheap foreign labor; my maid (let's call her molly) is filipina. she is a wonderful person, with lots of initiative, my daughters love her, and she has learned to cook many of our favorite foods (I taught her, obviously, but she learned them quickly and is now totally proficient.)
I was recently in the most 19th-century position imaginable. molly's former employers, having let her go when the children reached 17 and 19, realized the error of their ways, and attempted to lure her back with a birthday present of a gold necklace. as readers of TFA may recall, I more or less saved her son's life when he had a critical brain injury and the hospital wasn't going to let him into the ICU unless they had proof someone would pay. she happened to be at home in the philippines at the time, visiting, so she called me in tears and handed the phone over; I spoke to the hospital and basically said I wanted him in his own room with hot and cold running staff.
gold necklace that, bitch. you thought you could poach molly back after she had learned to make all that great southern food? damn, she even makes good biscuits?! so not happening. molly told me she felt bad about going to their place on her birthday weekend because she knew they would be trying to get her back. I said, that's their problem, you should take the money and run. run back to our house, though, naturally. OK, now I'm really closing the computer and going to go use the upholstery stapler. you may, if you wish, in my absence, turn this into a discussion of whether it's OK to hire people like this who will spend most of their children's young lives in another country, just to pay for their schooling, and not infrequently to pay for their husband's killer weed and new 17 year old girl-friend.
you may, if you wish, in my absence, turn this into a discussion of whether it's OK to hire people like this who will spend most of their children's young lives in another country, just to pay for their schooling, and not infrequently to pay for their husband's killer weed and new 17 year old girl-friend.
Oof.
'Oof' looks so wrong, but I tried 'Ooph', 'Oomph', (and 'Ugh', 'Yowza', and 'Yikes') and finally figured some little bitch would explain to me what I meant.
31: My Filipina friend had a Filipina maid (back when she was a little kid in the Philippines). Said maid was really mean and would pinch my friend very hard in order to terrify her into not making a peep when everyone else was at work/school. And then she found five pisos.
"Oof" just looks like "woof" to me. Is that really what people write?
That is the name of my new installation piece: "porpCHRIST". It makes this point very well.
I'm just trying to drive the comments up, so that 2012 looks a little better in retrospect.
porpCHRIST: catsUP
Gouache on butter dishes, 2011
Dammit, took too long with the character map. Oh well.
I'm trying to distract myself from the enormous number of college students who are trying to lose me a small amount of money right now.
porpCHRIST: catsUP
The weird sequel to 'Pimps Up, Ho's Down'.
Is 'porp' the thing in Hyperbole & A Half where she wanted to say 'park' but couldn't?
I could look this up in like 10 seconds but laziness.
72: Does that apostrophe belong there?
Should 71 be so cryptic?
Christ, I need to do laundry and pack. Then I think NO MORE TRIPS FOR 3 WEEKS.
73: no, it's a small, cute person that looks like a dolphin with a scrotum for a backside.
Oh wait I'm from Kentucky so I should totally understand 71.
First I wrote 'Hoes'. Then I looked it up on IMDB and used my executive privilege to correct(?) it to 'Ho's'.
I can't exactly recommend doing a google image search for "porp", but it's definitely fascinating.
From the third definition:
Look at that sweet porp! She's named Porpie!
Next person to say something sweet gets called Porpie.
Ah the tough life of a physicist. My BIL has been forced, forced I say, to go to the New/ton Institute for two weeks this month.
(OK. I do have sympathy. It is nice to sleep in one's own bed.)
83: Do they just drop apples on your head until you achieve enlightenment? 'Cause that's what I would do if I was in charge of such an institute.
From what I gather, they just make you drink many pints of goods ale. I like the dropping of apples idea. PHYSICS! BUDDHISM!
Here's a cool session: String Theory, Duality and Art. (No Oxford comma for these Cantabrigians!) Davey is a sculptor.
the New/ton Institute
Huh. I feel like I should have been aware that this exists but I don't think I was. Looks like their programs are all more mathematical than my corner of things.
OT: If one's reprobative Internet friends be interested in becoming updated, she has spent the last five nights in the Flip-cave (more convenient for some professional obligations that she has had this week) and will not stop suggesting ways in which one might improve one's housekeeping, eating habits (Qu'est-ce c'est, "meals"?) and/or personal maintenance practices we have been having a lovely, albeit occasionally sitcom-esquely stereotypical,* time.
* "Do you own a vacuum cleaner? Do you know how your oven works? Don't you have a bath mat? Do you often just eat bananas and dry cereal for dinner? How many suits do you own? Take off your shoes in the entryway, for heaven's sake."
we have been having a lovely, albeit occasionally sitcom-esquely stereotypical,* time.
PORPIE! PORPIE!
"Do you own a vacuum cleaner? Do you know how your oven works? Don't you have a bath mat? Do you often just eat bananas and dry cereal for dinner? How many suits do you own? Take off your shoes in the entryway, for heaven's sake."
"No. No. In the oven. Yes. Not enough. I have an entryway?"
Anyhow have you told her about unfogged? If not, why not?
And "are you kidding?" doesn't count as an answer to 97.2.
92. Yeah, my BIL is a very math-y string theorist. The current six-month program is right up his alley.
Poor guy. He has to go from the delightful weather of coastal LA to spring in the UK. Yes, I am jealous.
97, 98: Christ, no. She found the Flip-cave amusing, but there are some introverted-recluse habits one doesn't share in the first, say, twenty years, I should think.
Nonsense! The time is now. Think of all the happily coupled unfoggeders who have shared the blog with their paramours, and then think of all the unfoggeders that have failed to share, to their peril.
reprobative Internet friends
We proved it twice!
I have to say Flip's apparent culinary and cleaning-related habits seem rather at variance with his sartorial presentation.
Tweety is right. Take Knecht, for example.
103, 104: From the Sidney Paget illustrations to Basil Rathbone's brocade dressing gowns to Jeremy Brett's gleaming ebony top hats, one has always admired Sherlock Holmes' bohemian, louche but definite elegance among the oft-described disarray at 221B Baker Street.
Also, one is bit of a lazy slob.
There's louche elegance, and then there's frequently having (dry!) cereal for dinner.
What could be more elegant than dry cereal?
Your question, teo, has nonplussed but not stumped me.
What could be more elegant than dry cereal?
Formal pumps with black tie.
110: A fine pre-breakfast ritual, but it leaves unresolved the question of what to eat.
Flippanter obviously should have copped to topping his nightly repast with champagne. "Purple horseshoes, red balloons, tiny bubbles and all the stars for you, my dear!"
I like Tiny Voices ok, but I think on balance my favorite is still Trampoline.
111: In this godless age, nothing is more bohemian than dressing elegantly.
112: When you look this good, you don't have to eat.
112 would have made more sense if I had typed "pre-dinner", but really it's up to Flip and Lunchy.
No comma between "Flip" and "and Lunchy"? To quote Ming Ming, "This is serious!"
115.2: so the dry cereal was purely an aesthetic choice?
What could be more elegant than dry cereal?
There's a vietnamese preparation of beef that tastes just like Lucky Charms.
11-13 has me thinking I should have included Brad on the emails for the NO FUN BOOK CLUB.
There was a book club and I wasn't invited? That... makes perfect sense, actually. Carry on.
The idea was a "meatspace" bookclub, but I guess others could read along, in parallel, and then fantasize about how awesome the in-person meetups that they were missing were.
And it's still in the planning stages.
Will everyone wear color-coded clothing to the meetings?
Yeah, I think I agree with bob on the undesirability of stabbing sharp pieces of metal into very small children for aesthetic reasons. Once they're old enough to ask for it, that's different.
Glad to hear that al is achieving better living through chemistry. But are small male Indian kids really getting their noses and ears pierced? I have never, ever seen an Indian man with a nose piercing, and it's very common among women.
I'm never sure if this was local or specific to a few years or what: does anyone remember the formulation "left is right/right is wrong" to remind us all that if you get your right ear pierced and are a male, you also doubtless like other cylindrical things shoved through other parts of...ok you know, that didn't quite work out, but you take my meaning I trust!
If you're going to do it, do it early. There's enough WTF and trauma surrounding being born and having to figure out how to get sustenance through your mouth instead of direct through the bellybutton plus the whole slap on the ass thing not to mention being squeezed through a tube that's really not big enough that a little prick in the ear isn't a big deal. Six months in they have probably picked up some sense of the way things are and that doesn't involve getting stabbed, so it'd be a lot more upsetting.
Trust me, I'm an expert on imagining what it's like to be a baby.
128: It certainly wasn't local, but it does seem to have been era-specific. I got both pierced at the same time when I was 15 because I liked watching the confused reactions.
128: I don't remember the formula (grew up in a liberal bubble) but I do remember that there was a code, and was confused in college because it broke down and didn't seem to be accurate at all by the time I graduated.
128: Definitely was the case in Chicago when I was a kid. By the mid-90s I was living in Virginia, and the rule had seemingly all but disappeared.
My first gay activism, well prior to having any particular sexual identity of my own, was complaining at my Catholic junior high where the boys who'd pierced their ears (all left, of course, in '92-'93) were being told it was against the dress code since, per the principal, earrings on males would clearly signal that they were homosexuals looking for mates at school. I was so super offended by her wording and made an impassioned speech about how this is context-specific and in other eras they might have been thought to be pirates and honi soit qui mal y pense and what the fuck???? Predictably, I got nowhere and they had to keep wearing bandaids over their piercings for the rest of the year.
I definitely remember it being a thing for a while, and definitely remember it disappearing. Probably because people couldn't remember which was which. In my head it overlaps with the east coast/west coast pant leg rule, allowing a two-by-two matrix where a straight east coaster could inadvertently signal that they were both gay and Californian. Or a ha'pirate.
129: false dichotomy! The choice isn't "at birth or at 6 months", there's also the "not at all" or "not till sentient" options.
I had a theory in college that which ear meant which was different East Coast to West Coast, and that explained people with an ear pierced that didn't fit the pattern I knew. I don't remember if I had any particularly convincing evidence for this.
I was so super offended by her wording and made an impassioned speech about how this is context-specific and in other eras they might have been thought to be pirates
(dumbstruck with admiration)
137: if you roll up the right leg, it means you're a Freemason. Unless you're in the southern hemisphere, of course.
137: yes. Rolling up one pant leg or the other declared your allegiance in the Great East Coast-West Coast Rap Feud.
I grow old
I grow old
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled, yo.
I thought the pant-leg rule meant "I ride a bike."
Tuck them into your socks, heebie. Haven't we had this conversation already? Keeps the legs warm while restraining the trouser from flapping around and getting intermingled with the sprockets.
I don't ride a bike. I just pass judgment on people with one rolled up pant leg.
142: well, right. And if you google you can find theories to the effect that the style originated with Jamaican people in New York, who brought the style along with the habit of riding fixed-gear bicycles everywhere (the fixed-gear-bicycle-for-messengering thing having also come from them). That would involve rolling up your right pant leg, which is east coast. So to differentiate, west coasters rolled up their left pant leg, et viola.
Which ocean is on which side of the US's rolled up pant leg?
Data that would be helpful: how long does it take to close up if unused (i.e., can it be just a baby-fashion thing and not affect their sentient lives); and how much risk of infection is there with normal practices? I wonder if especially doing it in a hospital could be a health risk compared to a store (superbugs and all that).
I roll up my right pant leg when playing drums, because the bass drum beater will otherwise snag inside the pant leg. And then I usually forget about it for half an hour after playing, leading to confused looks from people who presumably decide I'm way too lame to be packing heat or whatever it signifies.
Until I read 145 I thought Sifu was joking, but it seems he's serious. Rolled up trouser legs is a thing. Huh.
120: Why don't you say that there's an American preparation of Lucky Charms that tastes exactly like Vietnamese beef, you ethnocentrist?
149; I thought you were teasing Megan (was it Megan?) who was sure at one time that the rolled up pant leg was a whole other thing, of a hanky code nature.
