ah, to live in a civilized country

My independent pharmacy sells its own gift cards. My initial thought was "it's so sad that health care is something people would be excited about opening on Christmas morning." Then I realized I would in fact be psyched if I didn't have to pay for a few months of compounded testosterone, so yeah... 

still managing joint custody of our youngest

I was looking forward to my daughter's graduation in part because it would reduce contact with my ex when that shared financial responsibility ended. (2025 should be the last year we need to figure out how to split dependent income tax benefits, and it's likely she made enough money so neither of us will claim her- very bad for my tax bill but great for her.) Ironically our shared dog is now requiring more contact and discussion than the kids have in years (and is expected to cost about the same in vet bills as college tuition did, which has already led to disagreement). But I still hope he stays with us for a good long time, despite the heart murmur and arthritis that's slowing him down. 

watch the icy patch

Update: I finally found a good Christmas watch: a 1987 Muppets special, in which everyone visits Fozzie's mom. I'd never seen it and it far exceeded expectations. The Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock gangs show up. Big Bird helps the Swedish Chef feel his feelings. Bert and Ernie have a small talk technique I wish I could utilize. Miss Piggy is not present for most of it, which always improves the dynamic. Rolf meets another dog. When a turkey tries to seduce Camilla away from Gonzo, Gonzo quotes "Some Like it Hot."

I even missed the Family Ties finale!

In 2021 HBO aired the first six episodes of a show called The Nevers. However, it was created by Joss Whedon, and after he was cancelled they never aired the last six. I was curious about them but even pirating proved difficult, so I asked my kid to do it for me. He wasn't able to download or find them on demand either, but alerted me that they were airing on Tubi the week before Christmas, so I checked them out. 

The show was a mess. But mostly it was funny to me that this thing that was normal when I was a kid, only being able to watch something at the one specific time it was on and without being able to pause it, felt so alien. How did we ever fit that into our lives? (I was only half watching while sending work emails, taking care of the dog, etc.) I remember it was exciting when we could program the VCR, but even that was a late development at my house and not used very often. 

(Yes, I know there are ways to screen record to get around that, but I just can't be bothered. I also can't usually be bothered to pirate media. Honestly since legal streaming became even more annoying than pirating, I just watch less. Maybe when I'm unemployed I'll start futzing around with VPNs and such, but now, nah.)

I mean give us some benefit of letting you track us all the time

Google is getting rid of location reminders, which pinged me when I was in certain places to tell me to do other stuff while I was there. It's not a massive loss (probably the one I used most often was the one suggesting I go to Empire Wine while I was at Target, and I'm never there these days anyway) but it feels like a function which should be standard.

important reddit news

There is a "what is my cookie cutter" subreddit. It reminds me of early aughts internet; Russian bots do not benefit from participating so it's mostly actual humans being silly and/or helpful. 

movies

 Partner A and I have not had any luck attempting to watch Christmas movies this year. The first 15 minutes or so of Jingle Bell Heist were so bad we gave up. Anna and the Apocalypse was also bad, but at least it was in an intentional sort of way I guess? Not my genre in any case. The Apartment wasn't really a Christmas movie (despite having the most epic office Christmas party I've ever seen) and the romantic interest was so uncompelling that it was hard to muster any interest in the plot. (Plenty of casual 1960s racism though!) True to its name, White Christmas only had white characters so the racism was systemic rather than overt (though the sadness over the end of minstrel shows... well). It was generally meh but slightly more interesting because I'm never sure with old movies what was supposed to be gay coded and what wasn't. Was everyone supposed to be straight and what appears in 2025 to be a queer storyline misleading because dancing men usually look gay now? Or did the audience at the time also read between the lines?