me too – we did it yestersay though) the modernist part was wonderful)
I was so upset that yesterday I had checked the tv schedule, saw I had three hours, told myself to remember- and then forgot. It’s more or less a family tradition from my childhood that we watch the PBS broadcast (and my mother still teases that I kicked along in the womb to the more energetic marches – I won’t say i was raised on classical music but i sort of was, especially Strauss). So we clapped along to the final march just now and my year can start now. (And yes, I was physically tearing up during the Blue Danube)
A day late, but watching Vienna’s New Year Concert. Tradition.
Wanna know what really fucks me up??? Like. I remember being in school and learning about animals and where they come from and all that shit, or going to the zoo or something as a kid. And like. People are always so fucking blown away that lions Live On The Continent Of Africa. So fucked up about it. Like, imagine you just walked out of your fucking house one day and there was a lion there??? Absurd! How do the people in Africa do it! They must populate the place like squirrels! How is that possible! Like that was always the fucking group mentality when this was going on. People were so tripped out that some people live in Lion Territory, because lions are Fucking Scary. People would be like, ‘I’m so glad the only Lions around here are safe in the zoos’. But you know what??? You know what fucks me up??? Mountain Lions. That’s just….a whole ass fucking lion living freely in North America. Roaming the fucking lands. That’s a literal goddamn lion. We call them lions because they are fucking lions. But apparently because they aren’t Lions™ they’re supposed to be less scary to us??? You know what a fucking mountain lion is??? It’s a LITERAL FUCKING LION that has adapted to a DEBATEATLY MORE DANGEROUS TERRAIN. Like fucking Lions™ can hide around in tall grass and shit, sure, it’s terrifying, but mountain lions???? HIDING IN DARK FORRESTS AND HILLSIDES AND STEEP SLOPES AND UP HIGH IN THE TREES TO THE POINT YOU CAN’T EVEN SEE THEM??? Fuck off!!!! Like Lions™ can be fucking killing machines but at least they’re fucking up front about it!!! A mountain lion is just gonna fucking mug you in a dark alley or some shit!!!! Why are people in North America just. Straight up IGNORING the fact we have Goddamn lions RIGHT HERE. WHY. WHY DO WE DO THAT. THEY’RE LIONS. WHA TTHE FUCK.
I grew up in Oregon and grew up on stories about mountain lions and the news always talked about them like “There’s a mountain lion in this area so like… Watch out I guess” and so I grew kind of numb to it? Like some areas had signs that said like ‘watch for mountain lions’ and school taught us what to do in case of seeing a mountain lion (also bears) and it was just… A thing. And my dad grew up in the southwest of the country where they don’t exist as much and one day he was telling me about when he moved to Oregon and saw one of the signs and was like “watch out for WHAT” and he was ready to hightail it out of there and that’s when I realized it’s kinda weird to become numb to an actual lion being a concern in day to day life
You Americans always talk about how scary the wildlife is in Australia but at least we don’t have frigging lions. Or (large) bears! Sure, you’re in danger of venomous bites, but nothing’s going to chase you down and eat you.
Except in Northern Queensland, of course, where every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile(*).
(*)This is not true. Also there’s dingos and feral pigs. But shh.
It’s fucking wild how certain things become normal while others are completely ridiculous, all based on where you grew up.
I was raised in Florida and we were told pretty much from the age that we could understand words that we shouldn’t fuck with gators and crocs.
We were taught to know the difference at a glance because crocodiles are much more aggressive and move faster on land than alligators.
We knew to run in a serpentine pattern if we ever came across one because they don’t turn very well due to their long bodies and stubby legs.
We knew that if we encountered one, and couldn’t run for whatever reason, that holding its mouth shut was the best (but not guaranteed) way to keep from getting hurt because they have immense biting-down jaw strength but very weak jaw-opening strength.
We were taught about the dreaded “death roll”, where crocs/gators will clamp down on whatever appendage they can reach and then go into a spin. In water, this works pretty well to drown their prey because they’re disoriented and can’t escape. On land, it will rip off limbs.
We learned all of this before we hit puberty. There were signs posted everywhere – parks, rec center sports fields, and anywhere else that had/could have a lake – that said “Do not feed or molest the alligators”. My dad was late for work more than once because an alligator had stretched itself across an entire street and had blocked traffic. We found a baby gator, about two feet long, in our pool one spring after it hadn’t been cleaned all winter. And none of us thought it was weird, it’s just what life was like in Florida.
And yet, when I moved to Georgia and found out that coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions are a Very Real Thing here, I was fucking flabbergasted.
The group of elves who were harrowed by the dungeon of Tol-in-Gaurhoth join with friends and family early in the peace of the Second Age to have a sweet snack.
The group of elves who were harrowed by the dungeon of Tol-in-Gaurhoth join with friends and family early in the peace of the Second Age to have a sweet snack.
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