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Scylla Rhiadra

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Everything posted by Scylla Rhiadra

  1. Scylla Rhiadra
    Welcome back, Weston! Sorry to hear about the beagle. 😔
  2. Scylla Rhiadra
    So, I decided to treat myself to a new apartment. And I have a tradition (well, ok, this is only the second time but that makes it a tradition, right?) of doing a video of me dancing in any new place when I've finished setting it up. So here it is. Me dancing for 7 seconds. In the living room of my new place. It's a tradition. Really.
  3. Scylla Rhiadra
    Checkov? Ibsen? Pinter? Or perhaps you prefer the classics: dontlookatmygf.resident?
  4. Scylla Rhiadra
    I have said more than I probably should have on this subject here, and I don't want to turn this thread into a derail about the positives of, and challenges facing the Canadian health care system. So I'll just say that, while I understand why you say that, I disagree at a fundamental and moral level. This is, however, definitely a conversation we need to be having here, in our country.
  5. Scylla Rhiadra
    I agree absolutely. Complacency will only result in a slow decay of an already over-stretched system. We need to fight to make it better. I think there is a little political will in some quarters to see that happen. I'm very sorry to hear about your own experiences. I remember when a grandparent needed a hip replacement, and there was a great deal of waiting, although it happened eventually. I truly believe decent, affordable, and accessible health care is a human right. And it's also a good measure of the basic human decency of any society. We all need to hammer that home to policy makers.
  6. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thank you, @Ceka Cianci, @Ayashe Ninetails, @Luna Bliss, and all the others who've expressed kindness here. I really didn't want this to become maudlin and personal -- hence my hesitation. But I have, over the past 7 years, and most especially in the last month or so, had a front row seat to how our health care system manages its treatment of someone with a condition that is both chronic and terminal, and that's given me some insight I didn't have before. And I have a few important takeaways. First, although I'm sure there are "health care horror stories" about health care here (and probably anywhere else too), the care that my father received was simply superb. Secondly, because of socialized medicine, my mother's decisions about my Dad's care were never influenced by worries about cost. She chose what was best for him because personal finances were not an issue. And thirdly, and this is important, my Dad never had to worry about that either. I can't imagine what he faced in his last weeks as he approached a death he knew was imminent -- but whatever it was (and he was outwardly very cheerful to the end), concern about leaving my mother bankrupt because of his condition had no part of it. Yeah, taxes here are higher than in the US, in part because of our health care system. I am personally delighted to pay them, and would gladly pay more to make it better and more comprehensive, knowing that I am contributing to a system that is at least a little more equitable and humane in its treatment of everyone.
  7. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thanks Sid, this was very kindly said, and I appreciate it. I am fortunate to have a really loving and close-knit family, as well as a wonderful partner, so I'm doing as well or better than might be expected, although the last month has certainly been very tough. But we're all getting through it together. And, I have discovered that standing alone on a sky platform in SL mindlessly sorting out your inventory is a really effective means of de-stressing and distracting yourself. I recommend it highly.
  8. Scylla Rhiadra
    A short word on this. I hesitate to post this, for reasons that will soon be obvious, but I feel some nuance and detail is required. My father battled cancer for 7 years. He was initially given only 2 years to live. The quality of his life for all but the last few months of his life was very high. He finally succumbed last weekend. Dad survived 7 years, and survived well, because of the care our heath care system provided. During that time he was recipient of surgical interventions, chemotherapy, radiation, physical therapy, and, a few months ago, heart surgery to fix a valve. All of it, with the sole exception of a few prescription medications, which were vastly cheaper than would have been the case in the US, was free. All of it was timely, and all of it was undertaken by highly qualified and caring individuals who, essentially, work for our health care system. In the last month of his life, Dad need palliative care: the cancer had advanced too far to stop, although continued radiation treatment slowed down the growth and made him more comfortable. We decided to bring him home. We obtained -- free, through the health care system -- a proper mechanized hospital bed. (The bed is free for only a month: thereafter, it is something like $250 a month.) A care worker dropped by each day for a half hour or so to assist my mum with what needed to be done, and a nurse once every two days -- more often, on occasion, as needed. About twice a week, a palliative care doctor came by to check out my Dad, and fill us in on his condition, as well as making suggestions about how to keep him comfortable. For his last week, he was on a morphine pump that allowed Mum to adjust his dosage as needed. When my Dad finally let go, he was asleep and in relative comfort, lying in his own house. ALL of this, again with the exception of a few prescription drugs, was covered for free by our "not so great" health care system. There's not much doubt in my mind that my Dad would not have survived 7 mostly good years had it not been for our socialized medical system. My parents live on a fixed income -- they could not have afforded to keep him alive that long, and Mum would not now be financially secure as she is, but undoubtedly very deeply in debt, without government-run health care. There are lots of problems with Canadian medicare. It's chronically underfunded, and accessibility in some smaller population centres is an ongoing problem. There are longer wait times for elective surgeries and procedures: assuming that one has the cash to throw at it, or really good insurance, you doubtless can get things like hip replacements done more quickly in the US. If you can afford it. But I have never been more thankful for our "not so great" system than I am right now. It give me an extra few years with my Dad.
  9. Scylla Rhiadra
    Are you implying that any of my boyfriends ate quiche?
  10. Scylla Rhiadra
    Here we go. Not terrible for a quickie (as all my old bfs used to say . . .). Needs a bit of fiddling with, still. I'll put together a proper pic later, to be posted elsewhere!
  11. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thanks Lindal! This was sweet of you! The first one I actually own, and am wearing -- or the skirt part, anyway -- in a pic here somewhere. It's not terrible, but the blouse isn't embroidered, which is the central feature of Vyshyvanka Day. The second one is not a terribly Ukrainian pattern. I'm working on my own now! Pics soon(ish)!
  12. Scylla Rhiadra
    They are light (usually, depending on the amount of embroidery) and poufy and comfy and very pretty! I may actually have to make one from a full perm kit. Hmmmm. Not that I know of. Argentina has a lot of Ukrainians, but I don't think Mexico or Central America has much of a connection with Ukraine. It is very earthy, though. Ukrainian embroidery is embedded with designs that carry particular meanings, most of which are connected spiritually and mythically with the natural world. I remember going to a wedding on the Ukrainian side of my family some years ago, and there was singing in the church, and my father jokingly commented that this was what he sang to the sun rising over the wheat fields every morning. Which he certainly never did, but it's not that far off the truth, culturally speaking. Ukrainians are very connected with the land.
  13. Scylla Rhiadra
    Today is Vyshyvanka Day -- the day when Ukrainians celebrate their artistic and cultural heritage by wearing blouses, shirts, and dresses festooned with traditional Ukrainian embroidery. And there is next to nothing, other than a small handful of slightly sexed-up and pretty ancient fitmesh pieces on MP that really represents Ukrainian national dress. Which is an awful shame, because it's frickin' gorgeous. I used to own a blouse a bit like that in RL . . . alas, long gone. Well, I'll see what I can hobble together. (/me waits for someone to suggest she learns mesh creation and rigging and do it herself in three . . . two . . . one . . .)
  14. Scylla Rhiadra
    I use lens flare sometimes. Somewhat conservatively. Bite me. 🤨
  15. Scylla Rhiadra
    Unlike @Aiyumei, I am a careful shopper. My turtleneck fits! On the other hand, I seem to have misplaced my skirt.
  16. Scylla Rhiadra
    Grrr! Wrong thread!
  17. Scylla Rhiadra
    This kind of thinking is so unfortunate. It's unfair, and it's also terribly misinformed. To begin with, as others have noted, most Gen Xers spent much of their youth glued to TV sets. I know I did. According to a Nielson data report from 2015, the amount of TV that children watched actually dropped since the late 60s, from 54 to 32 hours a week. The kids I know personally get out lots. I see them in my neighbourhood -- which is a downtown residential one -- at the parks, walking, running, and playing basketball or street hockey. And the provision of public parks and playgrounds in urban centres, at least in my experience, has improved vastly since when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. Kids are reading a lot. The number of young adult books published annually between 2002 and 2012 more than doubled, and the market for reading for kids and young adults has only expanded since then. New genres of literature, such as "New Adult Fiction," have been developed to grow with the millennials who started reading with Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Web sites and platforms such as Goodreads and Young Adult Books are immensely popular and busy with young people talking about books, and I know of a number of popular book bloggers who cater to a younger audience. And then, of course, there are things like fanfiction sites and NaNoWriMo that are also available to aspiring writers. Kids read, to some degree, differently today -- they do read novels and poetry (especially slam poetry), but of course they are also reading shorter form stuff on social media sites. They follow podcasts and bloggers on a variety of subjects, ranging from the admittedly trivial to the really informative. I'd wager, actually, that young people actually read more, by sheer volume, than at any time before. And if some of it is dross, a lot of it isn't. (And the vast majority of what older people consumed was dross too, after all. If you watched Dallas or The Flintstones, you're in no position to cast stones.) Finally, kids inherited this information age environment . . . from us. They didn't invent the internet, and they didn't invent social media. We did -- and made damned sure that it was appealing enough to a younger audience that we could be sure of profiting from their attention. And it's not as though Gen Xers aren't consuming much of this same crap themselves. It's a different world, in some ways, today -- but the kids are alright. They're more socially aware, and often more media-savvy and critical as consumers of information than my generation was. They're going to be just fine.
  18. Scylla Rhiadra
    https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/toronto-ranked-2nd-safest-city-in-the-world-for-2021-report-1.5589711 /me tries unsuccessfully not to look smug
  19. Scylla Rhiadra
    Yes! But it's REALLY part of Burgundy!
  20. Scylla Rhiadra
    Yes, but where would you rather live????
  21. Scylla Rhiadra
    4. Duchy of Grand Fenwick 5. Pimlico (I was force fed British comedy as a child.)
  22. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thanks, Cinn, this is a wonderful pic, and I loved your description. I am not a terrible "physical" person, beyond doing a lot of walking and bike riding, but I totally get the sense you convey of feeling as though you are living in your body -- the sort of hyperconscious awareness one gets from sore muscles and scrapes, and remembering that we are not just mental but also physical beings. I think that this is a super-hot pic because it reminds me of how I sometimes feel something like that myself.
  23. Scylla Rhiadra
    While I appreciate that I'm merely the OP here, and don't have any real say over the direction the thread takes . . . can I request that we drop this line of discussion here, please? This is a picture thread, in the Art, Music, and Photography subforum. It is about sexy pictures, not about "sex" as such. Continued discussions of this sort belong in the Adult subforum, not here. I'd like to see this thread remain where it is, and not moved yet again or, worse still, closed because of topic drift. I hope that makes sense. Thanks!
  24. Scylla Rhiadra
    There are some stories surrounding the Night Witches that reveal a similar dynamic at play. Apparently they were, for instance, given cast-off boots that were so large they had to stuff them with fabric to wear them. And there are hints they were, if not directly sabotaged by their own side, at least treated poorly. One of my favourite stories about them, not irrelevant to this thread, is about the time some got caught cutting up parachute silk from flare bombs to make panties, which the military has failed to supply.
  25. Scylla Rhiadra
    This is a pic I did last night. It was partly in response to the "sexy uniforms" that have appeared here, but I actually wasn't going to post it in this thread. I think maybe it's worthwhile doing that anyway, though. This is a pic celebrating the "Night Witches" (die Nachthexen), which was the German nickname for the Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment, an all-woman bomber unit formed in October of 1941, in response to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The unit flew slow and antiquated Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes (most of their equipment was cast-offs) but with deadly efficacy. It received its nickname from its adoption of the tactic of turning off their engines as they neared their target, gliding in near silence to drop their bombs: the Germans likened them to witches flying on brooms. Before the end of the war in 1945, they flew over 23,000 sorties; 23 of its pilots were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. These women were not dressed sexily, or even, really, in anything one might describe as at all attractive. But they were strong, fearless, competent women who also battled Nazis. And that makes them pretty damned sexy in my book.
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