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[mare]

That's a bummer! You never know from one year to the next what's going to happen. two years ago we had a ton of kids come by and not enough candy so we had to shut our door and turn off the porch light so no one else would show and last year we loaded up on candy, but it rained so we barely had anyone. This year we bought a ton of candy, but because of the issue my sister has been dealing with all week, she didn't feel like dealing with trick or treaters, so we kept all our lights off and now we have way too much candy in the house.

I posted about this on twitter but not on FB, but my sister is head of a trauma response team for Niagara county which means when something really big or horrible happens concerning children like a death or suicide at a school or school shooting etc... Her and her team will go out and help the school community deal with the tragedy. This week a women brought her 4th grade boy and her five month old baby girl to Niagara Falls and first she pushed him in and then she jumped in there with the baby. Terrible! I mean you want to kill yourself, fine go ahead but to murder your own children is disgusting. I guess the father was in court trying to get full custody of both the kids. Everyone is still trying to figure out what the hell happened.   

[Carter-Orange]

Oh my god Mare, that is so awful. Who would do such a thing to their own kids.  If she wanted to kill herself then just leave the kids out of it.  That must be so awful to deal with.

Another awful thing...I woke up this morning to see that Trump seems to have won!  I feel bad for you all

[mare]

Thanks, Steph! I'm totally numb right now. I'm sure I'll get mad later but right now I'm just really disappointed in this country. We just elected a dictator. Totally unacceptable. I'm staying off all news stations and most social media today. This is insane! I'm just happy I don't have to go to school anymore. I don't think I would be able to mask my anger. I'm sorry you have to deal with it, Meg. Hopefully your kids won't be all cocky about it. That's what happened in my schools after Hillary lost. Their parents were all over the moon happy and as a result, they were too.

[Carter-Orange]

It's all over the news here about Trump, the whole of morning TV has been dedicated to it yesterday and today (I watch Good Morning Britain while getting ready for work and had to switch off).  It must be awful to see it all over your social media as well as TV  

[mare]

I haven't watched any real TV since election night. I have refused. Just seeing anything about him right now makes me physically sick. I have automatically snoozed everyone who was celebrating him winning on FB and none of the people I follow on Twitter was happy about him winning. I can deal with the bitching, not the celebrating. I have had to change my entire morning routine because I would watch the local news from 6:30 to 7 and then at 7 the Today Show but I just can't do it. I literally had Bluey on for about 30 minutes this morning. Those dogs are weirdos. Not as bad as the Charmin bears but I did find myself googling whether Bluey was a boy or a girl because I thought it was a boy and its sister was a girl, and they kept taking baths together which I found oddly disturbing at 6:30 in the morning. LOL

[Carter-Orange]

Can't say I've ever watched Bluey lol, but whatever takes your mind off real life.

[RokofAges75]

This has been such a long, hard week.  I don't even have the words to express how disappointed I am in the results of this election and in my country.  The fact that over half of the people who voted apparently care more about the price of gas and groceries than the rights of women and marginalized groups is disheartening and disgusting.  The fact that Donald Trump is a convicted felon who already tried to stage a coup once and wants to be a dictator - and that none of that was a dealbreaker for the people who voted for him anyway - is downright disturbing.  While I don't want the next four years to be worse than 2016-2020, I can't wait for these ignorant morons to discover that their savior did nothing but lie about all the things he said he was going to do to fix the economy and make their lives better.

We thankfully did not talk much about it at school.  My class held a mock election on Monday, which Trump won, and I did not even bring up the results of the actual election on Wednesday.  It was hard enough to stay neutral in the weeks leading up to the election and even harder to put on a happy face for my students the rest of the week.  Work was a good distraction though.  Thankfully, I have a few like-minded friends there that I could vent freely with away from students, and I got together with a couple of them to decompress and eat and drink our sorrows after school yesterday.  I have been avoiding most news and real TV since Tuesday night, too.  I also used to listen to the news while getting ready for work in the morning, but the last few days, I've listened to ER reruns on the Pop channel instead.  I've never seen Bluey, but it sounds like a better option than reality right now.

That is truly awful about that woman who killed herself and her kids.  What a horrible, selfish thing to do.  I'm sorry it happened and sorry your sister had to deal with the aftermath of it.  I wouldn't feel like handing out candy or dealing with people at all after that either.

Now I'm just trying to distract myself by disconnecting from the world and escaping into my story.  That's the one thing that has been going well this week.  I hope you've been able to distract yourself with writing and books, too!

[mare]

You're right, this week has been rough! And he isn't in office yet. I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it this time around. The last time was hard but at least we had control of one of the branches of government so there was at least some push back. Now, there's nothing anyone can do to keep him in check. I have been doing a pretty great job at not watching the news. What we ended up doing in the mornings now is watching the previous night's Stephen Colbert show. For my own sanity I've snoozed anyone I saw celebrating his win, which surprisingly wasn't all that many people. I've also just been trying to do things that make me happy.

I've been really ramping up on reading. Ironically, I was reading a book called "This Book Won't Burn." About a Muslin, Indian high school senior that moves from Chicago to a suburb far away. I could have very well been very close to where you are. I'm not sure if the town was made up or exists. I think it was called Baybridge. Anyway, she quickly finds out that it's total MAGA country and the school board bans any books at the schools that they find the least bit suggestive. Without even reading them of course. Mostly by BIPOC authors. She decides to do something about it so she takes the banned book list and picks one of the books and goes across the street to the park during her lunchbreaks. Seniors and juniors get to leave. She starts reading the book out loud and every day more and more kids come and listen until they have a full-on huge group of kids. It quickly becomes a students Versus the school board situation. It was inspirational to read.

My writing has been going well too. That hasn't slowed down. I'm also working on an Op-ed. I doubt I'll do anything with it, but it's helping me cope and when it comes to my feelings, I am a much better writer than speaker.

I truly do believe something nefarious was behind these results. He was talking about having the votes long before the election and I just flat out refuse to believe that a race that was supposedly tied went so far right. I need to feel that way because the alternative is living in a country that runs on hate first and foremost.

Blech! I have started wrapping Christmas presents already. LOL I mean who the hell cares, right?

I'm glad you're writing is going well. It is a good escape! And that you have likeminded people you can vent to. That's really important. Today someone left me a random kudo on A Million Little Things.

[Carter-Orange]

A mock election and even the kids voted Trump? That must've been hard to deal with but I'm glad you have friends you can get away from it all with.

[RokofAges75]

Yeah, it was awful listening to them cheer for every Trump vote.  I know they're just parroting their parents because they're too young and naive to know any better, but it was very hard to be neutral.  I teach in a low-income area, and a lot of people around here voted for him because they blame Biden for the inflation that followed Covid and believe Trump will magically lower the price of gas and groceries and improve their lives.  Can't wait to see what they say to defend him when that doesn't happen.

Mare, that book sounds good, and so does the one you just posted about today, "All the Colors of the Dark."  I need to get back into actual reading instead of just watching TV while doom-scrolling on my phone.  A teacher friend lent me a copy of another Freida McFadden book (The Teacher), so I should probably read that one first so I can return it to her.

My writing has been going well this month.  I stayed up until 3 a.m. last night writing, which is rare for me to do during the school year.  I love this time of year when it's dark and cold outside because it gives me a good excuse to just stay cozy at home and write.  I get more done when I'm not feeling guilty about how I should be outside working in the yard or enjoying the nice weather.  I finally finished that damn skiing chapter a few weeks ago and posted it tonight.  It ended up being over 9,000 words - no wonder it took me so long to write!  The next time I update, this story will officially be longer than Song for the Undead, which is my second-longest story after BMS.  I never thought I would write another one that would rival the length of either of those, but here we are.  Never say never, I guess.

I hope your writing is still going well, too, Mare!  I saw that you just finished another story?  Congrats!  I love that you're still getting random kudos on your BSB fics.  Those emails make my day!

[mare]

When I taught at the Catholic schools, the kids did the same thing when he won the first time, and it made me sick especially when they asked who I voted for. Of course, you're not supposed to say but I wanted too SO badly! Those parents! Ugh! I do not miss teaching in Catholic schools. Just the sheer number of times I had to keep my mouth shut as we got notices that teachers should encourage their kids to go to the pro-life rallies in Washington and every year, we used to send a bus packed with kids and parents down there. Then there were the parents who refused to let their kids read and hear anything about the Harry Potter books when they came out. They'd probably be so happy to know what a horrible person JK turned out to be.

Both of those books were great. I've read a lot of great books this year. I've heard a lot of people say that the Teacher was disturbing and one of their least favorite of hers, so I'll be curious to know what you thought of it.

Congrats on finally posting that skiing chapter! lol When I got the notification, I think I yayed for you. I did finish one of my stories this past week. It was the one I had intended to be a slash but didn't end up being one. I can't believe I've already completed 4 novels in the Succession fandom. 9,000 words is a lot! Wow! how many pages did that come out to? Gotta be near 30!

I love getting random kudos for the BSB stuff. 

[RokofAges75]

Yikes... I'm sure that was hard to be encouraged to promote something that went against your beliefs.  Makes me appreciate public school.  Between the civics unit we did leading up to election day and now learning about the Pilgrims before Thanksgiving, we've been talking a lot about the importance of freedom of religion in my class lately LOL.  I teach in a very Christian area, but I want my students to understand that not everyone is Christian and that it's okay to have different beliefs or no religious beliefs at all.

I can't remember if I told this story here last year or not, but because I do teach in a more conservative area, I used to be wary about promoting Harry Potter in school.  When I started teaching, I wanted to decorate my classroom with a Harry Potter theme because I already had a giant cardboard cutout of Hagrid that I won from a display at K-Mart, but I didn't do it because I was worried about getting complaints.  But then, a few years in, I started using the first HP book as one of my read alouds, and no one ever complained.  So about eight years ago, I decided to completely redecorate my classroom and went with a Harry Potter theme.  And for seven years, I got a ton of compliments on it and not a single complaint.  Then, last year at Meet the Teacher night, it finally happened:  this mom showed up with her kid, took one look inside my classroom, and loudly proclaimed, "Oh. So this is a witchcraft classroom!"  I barely had time to respond before she grabbed her child and husband and said, "We're NOT doing this," and they marched out.  He never came back, and I never heard anything more from any of them, but apparently they unenrolled him to homeschool.  I've never driven a family to homeschooling within five seconds before - that's a new record for me! LOL  Anyway, I dodged a bullet because, from the information I had on the boy, he was going to be one of my most challenging students, and I ended up having one of the best classes and school years I've ever had!  All this to say I have also experienced that type of parent.

Thanks!  That chapter ended up being about 20 pages long (single spaced, Georgia size 12 font).  Length-wise, I could have broken it up into two or even three normal-sized chapters, but it all took place over the course of 24 hours, so it worked to keep it all together as one.  I'm conscious of the fact that I'm already approaching 70 chapters and still have a lot left to write in this story, and I'm trying to avoid another 150+ chapter epic, even though it's already got Broken beat in terms of word count.

4 novels, wow!  That's a lot in a short amount of time!  Congrats!  Were your readers disappointed that it didn't end up being a slash?  While it would have been interesting to see you write a slash for real, I respect the decision to not go that route.  Not everything has to be romantic; I love platonic relationships.  I have nothing against slash or romance, but I hate how obsessed the larger fanfic community is with shipping.

I got two more kudos today, one for TWWBW and one for one of my random old 1000 Ways to Kill Nick Carter deaths.  I'm still annoyed by the kudos bot the screwed up my stats by dumping a bunch of fake kudos on 00Carter, so it's always nice to get real ones!

[mare]

A witchcraft classroom? LMAO Ugh that's annoying! I'm glad you never heard from them again and it wasn't one of those things that involved someone telling you to change your set up. At my school that would've completely happened. That person would have then complained to anyone who would listen and next thing you know, it would've come down. One year, for my Christmas show, we did an all-school musical very similar to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego but with a Jesus, Christmas theme. We bought it from a Christian store for a lot of money! Because it wasn't meant for the entire school, I spent hours working on it and making it something the whole school could be a part of. I worked my ass off on that thing and everyone loved it. We got a standing ovation for both performances. The very next day, I'm called into the principal's office. A parent complained that they thought it wasn't religious enough. There were too many 'jokes' and too much laughter. LOL Luckily the principal was rolling her eyes as well, but she still had to let me know officially.

Yay to random kudos! Maybe you can go all wicked and split your story up into parts one and two.

I have no idea if they cared or not that I changed the direction of the story because no one commented. There was one person who loyally commented the whole way through, and she didn't mind, so I'll just assume no one else did as well. It is almost at 3000 hits, so people read it and it did get a fair amount of kudos.  Yeah, I just can't do slash. Maybe it would be different if the person or character was without a doubt gay, but otherwise I can't do it. It feels too awkward. So, instead I turned him into a psycho obsessed with Roman. lol

Keep your fingers crossed for me because they are predicting a pretty big snowstorm for us this weekend and Saturday is my Q and A with Macauley and the Home Alone watch. Because it's a seasonal thing, I can't see him rescheduling if he has to cancel for the weather.

[RokofAges75]

Here's the funniest part of that story, which I forgot to include:  I also had my principal's daughter in my class last year!  So at the end of Meet the Teacher night, I went down to the office to tell him what happened and find out if the mom had complained (she had not), and he just shrugged and basically said, "I'm not worried about it, and you shouldn't be either.  If she calls, I'm going to tell her that I trust you as a teacher enough to put my child in your class, which happens to have a theme based around a well-respected piece of children's literature.  If she has a problem with that, that's her problem."  Thank goodness for supportive administrators!  My principal is pretty laidback about stuff like that and usually has our backs when it comes to crazy parents.

I'm glad your principal had your back with the musical, too.  It sounds like a really fun musical!  Why does religion have to be humorless and boring?  I never enjoyed going to Sunday school or confirmation class for that very reason.  But one summer I went to vacation Bible school with my best friend and his church, and it was way more fun than anything I'd ever done at my church.  I can't help but wonder if I would have grown up more religious if I'd gone to a fun church and had a more positive experience with it.  My Methodist church wasn't "bad," just boring.  I went because I was forced to but never really bought into it.  My brother-in-law says he became an atheist because of Catholic school LOL.

LOL at "going all Wicked."  That's basically what I've already decided to do!  The story's already a sequel, but my original plan for it included even more than what I'm planning now.  If I'm still into it when I finish this one, I'll write a third story.  I have plenty of material for it!  Never thought I'd attempt another series of longfics, but here we are.

That's so frustrating that no one commented!  I guess that means they didn't mind, but it would have been nice to know what they thought one way or the other.  I totally understand your resistance to writing slash about characters who aren't obviously gay in canon.  It gets easier the more you write it, but I still find all sex scenes fairly awkward to write, whether they're gay or straight.  Most of my het sex scenes are just as cringey as the slash ones I've written, if not more so. LOL  You're wise to stay in your lane and write what you do best - obsessive psychos are much more your forte!

I hope you can make it to the Home Alone event!  Fingers crossed!

[mare]

That is so great that you have a principal who is willing to be on your side at all times. It makes a difference. How was it having his kid in your class? Did you feel like you were being observed 24/7? I have had quite a few students of the faculty as well as the principal's kids and all but one of them were discipline problems. Luckily my last principal was very aware of her son's behavior and was constantly working with him. He was a compulsive liar amongst other things. But I had two terrible kids whose mom was one of the 7th grade teachers (who wasn't that great with disciplining her own classes) who refused to believe her boys did anything wrong. She also let them call her mom during the school day and when one of them just wouldn't show up for my class and I called up to see where he was, he almost always had just stopped by his mom's classroom because he needed something. When he was in middle school and actually had her as his teacher, he was horrendous during her classes to the point that she'd cry. But she still didn't think he did anything wrong in our classes lol

I am just like your friend! I grew up in a very catholic family, but an unhealthy catholic family where they spoke tongues and all that other looney stuff. And I HATED CCD and decided to leave the religion before I was confirmed. I'm not an atheist but I am not a fan of organized religion at all. I believe there is something out there somewhere, but I don't think Jesus was anything more than a really great guy. Hard to teach in a catholic school when you think like that.

Sometimes your characters let you know they want a series, and you have very little say in the matter. As far as commenting. It's funny because from the very beginning there was barely any interaction except for that one person I was telling you about. Occasionally I got someone else that said something here or there, but as long as I heard from at least that one person I wasn't that upset with the lack of feedback. I wasn't ever really that proud of this story either, so I wasn't as annoyed as I usually I am. I felt like for that whole thing I was flying by the seat of my pants. This fandom is very different from my experience in the BSB one where I had faithful readers who read pretty much everything I wrote. This one, it's not quite like that so I found that the people reading one of my stories wasn't interested in reading any of the others. I'm still trying to figure this fandom out. It is waning. I guess that's another difference between real people and characters. When the show is over a lot of people move on. But then again, a lot of my readers of my most popular story and now this sequel weren't really in the fandom to begin with so again I'm just confused and trying to figure things out. 

We are expecting over a foot of snow this weekend but mainly to the south of us, but with lake effect, you never know so I'm just going to hope that it misses us, and he doesn't freak out when he hears about it and decides to cancel. I mean, if that happens, I won't be devastated, it's not the entirely correct Culkin anyway, but still.

Have a great Thanksgiving. I had covid last year, so I didn't cook anything. This year, I'm back to making it all, even though it'll just be the two of us. I was hoping to get my sister to go see A Real Pain in theaters this Friday but now with the snow I doubt that'll happen. I kind of want to see Wicked too, but I feel like I'll be cheating if I don't see A Real Pain first. Even though I've already seen it three times in January.