Nataly

Wellllll... Insincere apologies/thank-yous also annoy me!!!! Guess I'm becoming old and grumpy.

Leading with a cat-related video is usually appreciated - hahahaha!

Oh, for sure they are!!! Hahaha

Maybe it's also to do with the volume of correspondence I'm dealing with... I'll hold my hand up - it started becoming annoying to me when I realised even I was using it ALL THE TIME. In the same way that it annoys me to see everyone's eyes glued to their phone ALL THE TIME and yet am guilty of the same crime - lol! Bah... It's a pet peeve of mine... And as with most pet peeves, it's not so very important - just annoying. In my opinion. Lol

Wondered how everyone felt about this opener and whether others found it as obnoxious as I do?! I live in the real world and I'm aware one needs a modicum of diplomacy/politeness in a business context. But this line is sooooooo overused it has become meaningless. Worse: in an effort to inject some warmth into their emails, some people have taken the insincerity to a new level and decided to veer away from this generic phrase in favour of a personal message... "How was your weekend? Did Leo get stuck in the rain again?" YUK!!! Are you my friend??? Do you actually give a fuck about my cat/knitting/plants (I hope not!)??! You want something from me, otherwise you wouldn't be writing... So fucking ask! Please and thank you are sufficient - don't add a bunch of frills to it... Right?

Hahaha - I had to look that up!! I should definitely get one! Hehe

Well well... Here I go again for a new adventure!! This time I am off to Germany - the land of beer - woo hoo!!! Been a long time in the making but getting closer and closer to my long-term goals! Very excited about this move and for anyone who is interested I will keep you posted

Nice! Only USD 10k! I am totally getting one! Anyone want to sponsor the rest of the $1,000,000 cost of flying me up to space??!!! Lolol

I think this was in 1999 so I would have been 19!

Can't say I am 100% shocked... The details are sketchy because I heard this story some 19 years back... Some guy apparently wanted to commit suicide by ejecting out of the CT114 Tutor (the planes used by the Canadian Forces at air shows and more commonly known as the Snowbirds). It didn't work. So he proceeded to pull a bunch of them - on ground - and nothing happened!!! I remember the check for the equipment used to just be that the white "line" on the seat was still visible (ie: not compressed and therefore the mechanism for launching hasn't been compromised). They were never tested because they would shatter the canopy and not work with an open canopy... So pretty expensive to set them off!! I think at the time the whole fleet was grounded and all the seats checked somehow or replaced... Not sure... Anyway, point being, it's entirely possible that they aren't serviced all that often & only "tested" in an emergency...

Hehe - I don't post on here or on FB very often anymore... And re the avatar... It occurred to me that I donated my mane two years ago so was time to update - lololol

Hahahaha!! No, it's true!! But it's also true that with the property prices so high I am living in a dilapidated house that I cannot afford to fix up - lol! My point is that some things are pretty awesome... And like everyone, some are pretty shit. Nothing wrong with sharing either, and like gowlerk rightly pointed out, it's a lot about balance...

I couldn't say exactly when, but something like two years ago, I became increasingly aware that I was spending an inordinate amount of time participating in what I like to call a "culture of fakeness." I was using up a lot of my time posting and sharing things on social media in order to publicly portray my life as being far more AMAZING than it really is. And something about buying into that really drove me nuts. Why the fuck should I spend ANY energy at all putting lipstick on a pig? Why fake it? Why pretend everything is rosy and beautiful and awesome and that I am ♯BLESSED?!! Don't get me wrong... I *am* grateful for the good things in my life. I am not complaining about the stuff I don't like... I am simply making a conscious effort - and it does take some effort - not to fake it. Everyone else can do whatever they like - I just want to focus my time and energy toward doing things that actually challenge me to grow in a generally positive direction.

Hahahahahaha!!! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the coffee squirting out of my nose and covering my phone!!!! Keep going - this is fun

I swear these messages all over the place addressed to women, telling us "love yourself, you are beautiful" bla bla... Why in this day and age are we still continuing to equate "beauty" with "value"??? Yuk! So sick of it. We badly need a puke emoji on here "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Oh, that’s perfect! Wendy P. Perfect sig line for an old fart! Hehe - good one! I have been making a conscious effort to spend less time online in general... And over the years my days of jumping seem like a more and more distant memory... But every once in a while I get nostalgic about the dz.com/skydiving community... It's nice to browse the topics now and again

Niiiiiice!! Congrats and like everyone said: assume everyone is out to KILL you! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

The Room takes "bad" to a whole new level - I love it. I was so excited when I heard Seth Rogen was a fan and wanted to do a movie about it. I showed The Room to my boyfriend a few months ago and when we get a bit of time we are very much looking forward to watching The Disaster Artist together. Franco is incredible at imitating Wiseau and from several side-by-side YouTube videos the attention to detail is amazing. I. Can't. Wait!!!!

I live in a dead end teeny street in an out of the way village in France... I have seen and now expect every kind of delivery fuck up imaginable (and some I could never have fathomed)... I once had an entire sound system held in a warehouse about 25 miles from where I live because the delivery service who had been sub-contracted to do the job flat out refused to deliver without me paying them extra... I had ALREADY paid extra for the delivery and when I contacted customer service they claimed I had already signed for it... Took 6 weeks and a "friendly visit" from a neighbour before I got my stuff... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Black Mirror only comes out once a year, and it is meant to sipped like fine wine, not guzzled like cheap beer! To each his own I have re-watched several episodes from past seasons and am likely to do that with some of these as well. But I did think there were a lot of revisited themes... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I binge watched all the episodes of season 4 in one day. I was a smidge disappointed, if I'm honest... Wasn't as fresh as the previous seasons imo - felt like a lot of recycled ideas/themes... That said, I absolutely *loved* Hang The DJ. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I have not followed very closely the allegations against Spacey but at first glance it seems like he is essentially being denounced for trying to get laid... If the claims against him are more serious, then my apologies... But yeah... There is such a thing as going too far... I am really glad that all of this is raising awareness about the injustices people face when there are imbalances of power... It's fantastic if vulnerable people have more opportunities to speak out and indeed if predatory behaviour can be discouraged/stopped in the first place. But some of what is being denounced has more to do with an extremely unhealthy attitude toward sex and some of it is simply witch-hunting... That is not great... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I really want to be clear that I don't think what he did was ok. And as a grown man he FOR SURE should know better. And as a person who *does* appear to have a great deal of empathy, the fact that he denied it for so long is pretty horrible. The thing I find most disappointing is that this behaviour is so freakin far from what knd of human being I thought he was... It's hard for me to compute. It really doesn't match the idea I had of him. Guess we are all flawed... Even our heros... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Am I the only one experiencing cognitive dissonance with this whole Louis CK sexual misconduct thing?? It's not that I like his comedy so I don't want to condemn the man... I just really saw him as a person who has empathy and who championed women in all their (flawed) glory. I can believe that comedy is a cesspool of gross, inappropriate, stupid male behaviour... Having worked in male-dominated environments, I have seen first-hand the kind of shit that goes on... Burping, farting, and yes, pulling your dick out... You would think that a *grown man* would not have to be told not to whip out his cock AT WORK or in front of work colleagues or in a work context, but there ya go... It happens... A lot. And whilst I think that sort of thing is *mostly* harmless and just funny or indeed rather pathetic, it's NOT so harmless/silly/funny when there is a power imbalance that means you cannot say anything if it makes you uncomfortable. And BELIEVE me - when you are alone with a semi-naked man, it quickly becomes scary/uncomfortable. I guess maybe it's hard for a man to fully grasp how frightening/awkward/unpleasant those situations are from our point of view... I guess the fact that Louis asked before pulling out his dick made him feel like it was ok... I guess a lot of stuff happens that shouldn't because people fundamentally do not really understand what the experience feels like from the other person's point of view. I like Louis. A lot. I am a huge fan of his. I am glad he finally fessed up to this. Perhaps it will raise people's consciousness. To be honest part of me feels more sorry for him than for the women... He's not a particularly handsome guy... He is funny as hell, and he used this as his currency to try and get *some* kind of sexual release. If people had less hangups about sex in general, the experience would be "icky" at most but for sure not traumatising... Ahhhh... I dunno... It's complicated. And sad. I sincerely hope Louis learns from this and has some insight into how he made those women feel... I hope those women have a bit of empathy for Louis as well... I am surprised by the dialogue that is happening in light of this... I was worried he would be crucified on the same level as a rapist but it seems people are looking deeper into it and trying to be fair in their analysis of the situation. I bet he feels relieved he finally owned up to it... Will be interesting to see what comes of this in the long run. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Bah... People have a kind of fascination with skydiving... Only a seasoned skydiver can realise it's not such a big deal... Smile and nod and listen patiently and let those idiots feel like they have their moment of glory. Honestly there are far worse things than vain fucktards... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss