Kaymyth

It's not always this easy. I have asthma. Smoke in general is a trigger (so is perfume), but tobacco smoke is an extreme one. One whiff from the breeze blowing it from someone 20 feet away and it's an instant coughing fit. Prolonged exposure will send me into a full attack, and while I have a rescue inhaler, it's only really effective if I get away from the trigger. I have to be careful at outdoor events. No rock concerts. Can't stick around many of the shows at the RenFaire. No outdoor restaurant seating. Hell, I can't even sit inside a restaurant that has a smoking section. I'm not talking about sitting in the non-smoking section, I mean I can't stay in one with it at all, because no matter how far away I am, it will carry over and it will make me sick. So even if I'm doing something as simple as walking through a parking lot, I have to keep an eye out. And if I spot a smoker, I take a deep breath and hold it as I go past them. And sometimes I can't hold it long enough.

Lighting up in the car - sounds like a good way to get banned from my car for life. And from me ever riding in that person's car. Even with all the windows wide open, that'd be a death sentence for me.

We had a separate bowl, but preparing little packages might be a good idea for next year. I kind of like the notion of giving the allergy kids a little bit more to make up for how much candy they have to give up at the end of the night. We don't generally get the non-chocolate candy 'cause most of it's terrible and we'll never eat the leftovers. Plus there are more allergies out there than just peanuts, and I want to be prepared to accommodate the most oddball allergy types that could possibly surface. We had bubbles, little helicopter toys, glowsticks, some bracelets, and a few other bits and bobs.

The Halloween party we usually attend didn't happen this year, due to one of the hosts prepping for major surgery. So we didn't party. But that's OK. Last night, we stayed home and answered the door for trick-or-treaters. (The kids love my skeleton-squished-under-the-steps thing, plus all of my dead fairies everywhere.) We gave out a ton of candy and a few toys. See, we participated in the Teal Pumpkin Project this year, so whenever we had kids come to the door I'd ask if anyone had any food allergies. There were a couple of kids with peanut allergies whose faces lit up when they realized they were going to get at least a few treats that they could KEEP. Win!

Isn't it the way of things? In Cold Days, the camera panned back and we got to see a glimpse of all of the stuff that's been going on driving much of what's happened to Harry over the years. And then we get the biggest break between books in a long time. I can't complain too much, though. The Aeronaut's Windlass was really good, too. Butcher + steampunk = ok maybe I can wait a little longer for new Dresden.

Oh, no. Not again.

I think that's the official reason. But the real reason is because they ran out of Star Wars films to use in the titles.

That sounds much less weird than my character interaction at Universal. ...Beetlejuice hit on me. Sidled right up, put an arm around my shoulders, and attempted to sweet-talk me. While I was walking hand-in-hand with my husband. It was kind of hilarious.

Indeed not. Though if you were to move to a larger city, I imagine you could get by on public transit. My understanding is that it's a lot better over in Europe than it is most places in the States.

Which would then also be the problem with your available job opportunities. You need to get the heck out of there, man. Small towns are not inducive to the fulfilling living of nerd life.

I guess a lot depends on how large a city you live in. A small town actually might not be able to support it, but even a medium-sized city may have some demand.

When a client sends back one of our Monster Repelling Devices* covered in spiderwebs, rodent feces, or other types of filth. WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING WITH OUR TECHNOLOGY *They don't really do this. They're much more mundane than that. Probably.

Yeah, that was...brutal. Papa Winchester, WHY?!

Reports to CPS almost always come from school administration/teachers or other adults in a child's life. It's very rare for a child, even a teenager, to have access to the necessary resources to make a report themselves, and they're much more likely to take it seriously if she has adult backup.

Really, it's not up to her to do it. She needs to talk to her guidance counselor; it's up to the school administration to contact CPS, which they will do if they have sufficient evidence that it's necessary.

Agreed. Given that there is very clear evidence of self-harm, failing to put their child into therapy could be construed as neglect, which CPS will absolutely do something about. Furthermore, her teachers and guidance counselor are in a position to document everything they are privy to. That level of documentation is enough to get CPS to step in. And every employee of that school is legally obligated to report any evidence of abuse or neglect. It's called being a "mandatory reporter" and it's something that teachers are supposed to take very, very seriously.

Yeah, they are...beyond horrible people. What I'm seeing here is neglect and emotional abuse. CPS needs to get her out of that house ASAP.

... OK, now let me get this straight. These parents' reaction to finding out their child is self-harming was to: 1. laugh 2. invade her privacy 3. accuse her of seeking "attention" 4. tell her she is unlovable 5. revoke access to teachers who provide positive support 6. take away an activity that she loves, thus removing yet more positivity from her life. My question is: What in the RUSTING hell is wrong with these people?! What they are doing is going to push their daughter further into despondence. They've already destroyed her trust in them; are they that callous in their disregard for the young human they created who depends on them for love and support? I just...I am going to sit here and ragefroth for a while, because I absolutely cannot with this people.

It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep getting the science wrong. So very wrong. See, for me, back in the day it was finding out that the new Stargate show was going to be starring MacGyver. And I wasn't too sure how to feel about that. (Spoiler alert: it was awesome. And so is the classic MacGyver.)

Clearly what we really need is a book about a bodyguard who is protecting the intended victim of an assassin, slowly grow to realize that their ward annoys the crem out of them and is a terrible person, and then wind up trussing her up and delivering her to the assassin encircled in a big red bow.

Yes. And she likes to chase the laser pointer. That would be a neat trick, given that I've had her since she was a tiny puppy and I watched her grow. Heh. He'll get plenty of that. Leia's not too bad with other dogs so long as they leave her be. She might get a little growly if he gets too rowdy, but she's all bluff. The latest episode of the new MacGyver has me sorely disappointed. The writers are idiots. How are these people still employed?

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight has probably the best handle on things. Different polls can vary wildly, but he aggregates all the data, weights it by how reliable a particular poll is likely to be, and then feeds in a bunch of historical data as well. It's not looking good for Drumpf. Poor Bruce. He'll be in for a rude awakening when Leia shuns him. She...she thinks she's a cat. I am still not 100% sure I even know what the heck that means. I know, I am so old. Get off my lawn, ya darn kids!

Let's put it this way - FiveThirtyEight dot com gives Clinton a better statistical chance of winning Texas (the largest deep red state we've got) than Trump has of winning the presidency. Oh, man. XD If you make it up here for Thanksgiving, Leia is going to be so perplexed by this dog.

She really needs to be checked out by a doctor. There are a number of things that can cause this; blood pressure, narcolepsy, epilepsy...there's a huge list. They're all treatable to some extend, but she needs a diagnosis first.