Oddtail @oddtail@meow.social

So, hey, I'm a translator. And I'm pretty much *always* looking for more work.

I translate to and from Polish.

Not the most in-demand language in the English-speaking world, but if you need a translation done or know someone who does, hit me up.

I'm good at what I do, I have low rates, and I can work pretty damn fast if that's what you need.

I am also pretty versatile, I've translated everything from literature to marketing to technical stuff.

#introductions

Might as well do this.

Hi! I'm a leftist, furry nerd from Poland, 32 y.o.

I'm shy/socially inept, but always vaguely hope to talk/befriend new people, esp. online (so talk to me about whatever). Both online and IRL, I default to treating everyone as a friend unless given a reason not to.

I'm a cis guy (pronouns he/him), but if you're a furry - I'm vastly more comfortable and less prone to anxiety if you assume I'm a woman (she/her) and if we interact as such online.

Also, both the char limit and the fact there are only four poll options? Annoying.

Let's say someone asks you how to do something. How do you typically phrase your answer? Example irrelevant, but let's say the question is "How do I unlock a door?"

(it's a general question that also applies to more complex, step-by-step instructions, but poll answers have a length limit, so.)

"toxic masculinity" is such an unwieldy phrase.

Why not shorten it to "musclelinity"?

Hey, remember when selling armor for your horse in a video game as DLC was considered ridiculous and unacceptable?

When nickel-and-diming players for minor shit was a rare exception, not the norm that the public is increasingly apathetic towards?

Good times.

It annoys the Hell out of me that adults use words that make them sound like they're frickin' six. Concidentally (?), a lot of those words are food-related.

"tummy", "yummy", "veggies", are you fuckin' serious with those?

I'm not a native speaker, so maybe those are perfectly cromulent words to use, but the vibe I get is you're essentially baby-talking. I see it surprisingly often on the Internet, especially (but by no means exclusively) from older women.

Finally got around to giving "Deep Space Nine" a go.

It's OK. I mean, it's no Babylon Five, but I like some of the characters a lot.

I've read "It" by Stephen King. It's the second-and-a-half book of his that I've read.

It's pretty good. I'd say it's overhyped significantly, because it's not genius or anything. I would say it has interesting ideas and good characters, but the structure overall could use some redoing.

But all in all, it was a positive experience.

After 2-3 months of a bit of a plateau, I'm on track to have the best week, weight-wise, in 86 weeks.

Still WAY off my long-term goal (hoping to lose at least 5 kg before my weight is acceptable, and my ideal weight is about 10 kg away), but at least I'm progressing again.

Also, the "pet peeve" phrase was not meant to be a pun. But it's a happy accident.

My point is that people don't understand animal behaviour, they judge animal behaviour by what human behaviour they think the animal's behaviour mimics, and it's seriously a huge pet peeve for me.

(on that note, dogs with their mouths wide open are not necessarily "smiling", but since a dog's body language is usually very expressive, most people know that. With cats, there's fewer physical cues to read, and they're less geared towards being understood by humans)

I've mentioned it before that it annoys me that ppl attribute emotional coldness and indifference to cats.

Upon reflection, I conclude that one of the major reasons must be that cats don't have facial expressions, and that many cats' faces are kinda shaped similar to a human expression of contempt or indifference.

The shapes of animals' heads do not mimic human facial expressions, anthromorphising pets and projecting human behaviour on them is bad, and ppl should know better. But they won't.

"You need more potassium in your diet"
"K"

Genesis 9, 12-13: God affirms in no uncertain terms that He is an LGBT+ ally.

Choke on that, fundies.

I know I'm preaching to the choir on here, but I think it's important to be able to illustrate why "one billion" is not just "rich", it's "way, WAY beyond what even the extremely rich can normally achieve" in as many ways as possible.

Because it's still difficult to comprehend how much one billion is.

To illustrate why taxing billionaires does not "punish those who work hard":

Say you're a brilliant specialist, top of your field. You make a million dollars per month. Not per year! Per month. That's a ridiculous amount for ANY task.

If you continuously work from the age of 15 until 90, you STILL won't crack a billion in a lifetime.

Bottom line: you may be literally the best person EVER at your job. You still won't make a billion dollars working with your hands, skills or brain.

But it's worst where the largest appeal of a group, from the outside looking in, seems to be how people connect to each other. Everyone seems to have "how to human convincingly" figured out, even when it's something of an act. I've seen socially awkward people I know, or even weird loners, go through a near-magical transformation into sociable and comfortable persons once they clicked with the right crowd. And I've never been able to grok how that transformation happens in the first place.

I think I keep returning to this with my thoughts b/c it almost seems like a puzzle I'm unable to crack. I have a hard time connecting with ppl, but a sense of belonging to a group is sth I both crave and feel unable to even pursue. sI don't even think I have dealt with rejection or anything. I see people interact as a group (say, online) and I either can't reproduce the interaction, don't understand the dynamic or conclude that I'm profoundly alien to the group. Any group really.

The fact that so many ppl refer to queer communities and queer spaces, including online spaces, as basically family is heartwarming and cool.

The flipside is that my feeling of "oh hey, whaddya know, I don't belong ANYWHERE!" gets one more small boost.

Not that I need support in this or any other respect, not to any significant degree. I'm privileged (AF), safe, stable.

But y'know, I still get alienated and lonely.

And yes, this is sth I've Toot-whined abt before more'n'once. Sorry.