Krista

The ass selection in HR is nice, I will admit. It was something I noticed. The hyper-masculine one that can speak bad Russian also helped the show, probably. But seeing him out of character is like a wet blanket for me... he acts very hyper-active, like a child that I know I would have to give a melatonin and put in a corner in order to not lose my damn mind.

Call me a prude, but I am tired of seeing penis, boobs, the over use of sex, and swearing in my entertainment. And we all know, if they're not in use they look like half-plucked chicken butts anyway.

There are penises in 'Off Campus..' It is not worth the poor writing and acting to see the three or so seconds though. Promise. Toronto never counts, it's Toronto.

Must've been a down year if 'Heated Rivalry' was the top choice. I mean it had it's high points in both acting and such, but that's really all it had going for it. The pacing I still never really warmed to. There was a lot of ass, which was likely appreciated, who knows... the Canadian that's a fanboy of the show will probably explain that better. Off Campus certainly won't win any awards though. That show sucked. I don't understand the hype surrounding it, truly. It wasn't groundbreaking, although romances typically are not. All the actors were wooden in their roles and the writing for them wasn't good. It made their interactions forced fed and unintentionally awkward. Everything that was supposed to be heavy hitting or impactful failed for me. If Van from Reba is the best actor in the show, you know it is going to be a struggle. Although I hear he's decent in Shameless... The themes were okay, but they both would've hit harder if the actors were better and the character writing allowed for more of an emotional investment. The Hockey was better in Off Campus. But since I care nothing for Hockey it didn't help my opinion of it. The books are likely better in both cases, probably... at least for 'Off Campus,' it better be, the show is trash.

I've said my piece with you already @wildone, you never listen. That's why you stay in trouble. All of it is ick. Addictive icky nonsense. I said what I said.

I missed the survey as well. But I've barely been on GA for over a week or so. I doubt my answers would've skewed the outcome any by looking at the results. It looks massive, this change. I wonder how many times I'll manage to break something. It will be interesting to see the implementation of it, as I am more likely to complain about... or enjoy something after I have access to it. Although I am a bit worried we're moving towards a "Recommendation" heavy system. I'm not going to break my back trying to get readers to react, review, or recommend. But I also don't want my stories buried in searches for the lack of them either.

Sometimes you have to sit back and read the whole picture. What you think is clunky, cumbersome or unnecessary hides itself well and actually fits the writing in general. It is just you tunnel visioning on how you have pictured it in your own head. Possibly many different times, and you have a feeling the words don't match the imagining. I suggest taking your hands off the keyboard. You see a typo, cringe and ignore it. Missed punctuation? Keep going and try not to focus on the structure as much. Focus on the message, the scene, the flow of it from start to finish. It may take you reading the chapter before and the chapter after, before something clicks. We've all been there. I do spot edits all the time as I read, re-read, and read it again. Reading my own story grounds me in it, maybe some of your over editing is because you've lost some of your footing with the story, and you might need to reconnect at that spot where you are most comfortable. You can also over-prune something.

I am so jealous. Australia is No. 1 on my bucket list, but I don't want to be on that long of a flight over there... --- @wildone I think if I too also went quiet around the same time, people would start worrying about you. Thinking I finally made that 'road trip,' up to see you after one of your little attempts at being cheeky. I can imagine the screaming tot, but that poor dear had its whole schedule upended and it was too young to reconcile that. Poor dear. That is one of the things you have to contend with whilst traveling with wee little ones. I will be demanding all the more juicy details from your trip. There is no way on this earth that you behaved. It would be a shock to your system. Lastly, this man also didn't remind me of his trip. So I spent those days thinking someone got to him before I did. I was worried. He knows I cannot remember dates worth a damn. He's had these conversations with me, I forget holidays. I've walked my happy ass into work on holidays before... but does he remind me, no. He up and disappears. Rude behavior.

You can cry, I'll be snockered off my ass.

Don't burn your biscuits, Wildthing, you're Canadian you're not used to that.

Good luck y'all. Be sneaky... and all that. I'll be uninvolved. Probably.

I do not think I've touched the information in my profile for over a decade. Yikes.

Dark mode. I cannot stand to read digitally for very long without switching.

I already take care of one man-child - we all know who that is, I do not need two more. I have a full time job. And I've told @wildone more than once. If I wanted to tell my side of the story to a jury, he would've already been dealt with. Miles is just an excuse to go sightseeing, vacations do exist. Although, I'd have to book the trip for the one month in Canada where there's the lowest chance for snow, so he'd expect me around July. I like the element of surprise, but I do dread snow...

When you're three aisles into grocery shopping, you have your oldest meandering beside you, because she's learned to behave... but two toddlers strapped to you via backpack leashes. The cereal aisle becomes a testament of patience. All those colorful boxes... all that cartoonish writing, and childish advertising. You can overlook the first crash of cereal boxes as your little tot finally got enough 'line' to reach a box. Pick them up, tell them no, too much sugar. Three aisles deep, a buggy half full of necessities you're not going to put back, because you're outnumbered and two sets up lips are puckered out and you see the oncoming tantrum. Twins - you piss one off, you've pissed the other one off... that happens from Birth onward. All those whispers from ladies that no longer were outnumbered by toddlers and children under the age of six in a grocery store and their judging eyes because you have two of them strapped to you like dogs and not little young people. I think that gives me the right, forever, to embarrass the brats. Nothing is more embarrassing than dragging two toddlers, both holding cereal boxes, because you've given up through the store on their butts, because apparently, if their hands are full their feet no longer work. Now they're teens. Paybacks are coming. ---- As for my parenting style, I am looking around and I no longer see parents actively placing expectations on the shoulders of their children. They wander through life being carried, partially, and give little in return. I knew from the start that my children were to have expectations. I mentioned this a few times to other parents and they blinked at me. Some would say, "kids that young?" And I would always answer with, yes. My kids were expected to gather their dirty dishes and give them to me, or place them in the sink. They were expected to clean their rooms. They were expected to bring their dirty laundry down to be washed. They knew they wouldn't be allowed any screen at the table, or in the family room when their attention and involvement/participation was -- you guessed it, expected. They come in from school, they do their homework. They do their chores. They eat their supper and we talk about their day. After we clean the kitchen together, afterwards they're free to decompress and do what they wish. When they were younger they'd bring their crafting, or toys, or whatever they wanted to do to the family room, not because they were told to, but because they wanted to be in the room with us whilst they played. Now they're older and stinky teenagers, so they do like their rooms more. But that went for the adults too. To place expectations on the shoulders of children, you should place them on yourself as well. Flexibility is key. Children have bad days. The world burdens them. You will never know every single burden, but you hope you've prepared them enough to manage it, or you've given them enough openness they will come to you when they can't. One of these days I'm sure one or more of my children will come to me and tell me something that happened to them, and it will shatter me. It may even be my fault in the end. Social media we do not allow though. I explained and rehashed my reasons for them not to be on social media. The oldest is driving now, and she still isn't allowed on any platform. I'm sure they get doses of it at school, the blocks on content are easy to get around, and they're allowed phones during down time and between classes to get that fix. They have friends, most of them with poor posture and eyes glued to their phones. I know I've done something good when they come home annoyed because their friends are addicted to scrolling endlessly looking for fifteen seconds of whimsy, and my children can't understand 'why' it is necessary to be on phones/tablets all the time and not engaging with the people around them. My children are also different individually. I worry about the boys more than I do the girls. They seem to take the punches the world gives them a lot harder. I admit that I am a beast when it comes to incidents that happen at school. I know what y'all are thinking. She's one of those.. "Little Jonny can do no wrong..." sorts. No, I don't think I am. I have explained to them that school disciplinary actions are important, they will follow through with them. I've told them after each incident there are better ways to handle it. That I understood heat of the moment situations are difficult to digest, but they are expected to handle it better in the future. I was privately proud of them both though. They stood up for what they believed, they just didn't choose the right words or way to do it. Most of you may be thinking... 'well they take after her...' But I am still a beast. Especially when I think the teachers were unfair. So far though there's only been two incidents that prompted a visit from me. They're mostly well behaved and I get great feedback on them. It was the two girls that I got called into the school over, not the boys. I won't go into detail about the incidents here, as they're rather specific and one of them even made the school's newspaper and I'm rather certain that publication is open to public viewing and not restricted behind the school's log-in, so I will not talk about that. Just know that my daughter wasn't the only one upset with that teacher that day, but you best believe I was the first one in that office and that teacher left having heard my opinion. I do get told that I am one of the most involved parents. I make it a point to be. I want to know what they're learning, what their assignments are, when they're due. I want to know how they're graded. I know each child's syllabus for every class. More parents should, we all have access to that information at least at the school my children are enrolled in. I went back and forth on whether or not to say any of this. I try to keep my footprint on social media rather minimal, so I don't like to specifically talk about anything to do with my children and family, jokes aside. I think I've kept this all vague enough. Only a few people know how I came to be a mother. It wasn't conventional. There was a time in my life when I thought I would never get the chance to be one. My husband showed me that it was a fight worth the fighting for and we made it happen, with a lot of help from my mother. Someone who I think I get a lot of my strength from, she doesn't know where I got all the sass though.