Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: February 2026

  • TWIL: Orson Welles will be vindicated by AI

    After Citizen Kane, Orson Welles directed The Magnificent Ambersons and the studio destroyed it. They cut out many minutes, and worse, tacked on a “happy” ending that matched the book and was suited to the 1940s. They didn’t shoot the thematically appropriate and dark ending more suited to the 2020s. Happily, I read this week…

  • H&M applies more pressure

    This is a Facebook ad for a tiered chiffon skirt from H&M. “That’s a man modeling that skirt,” I thought, and it might be. H&M has started hiring trans people to model clothing. I love the inclusion, I do. But wasn’t it bad enough that I had to look as good as a model to…

  • Dad on the cusp

    Still reading through Mom’s letters, and found this random one from Dad to a friend. It is dated Jan 9, 1969. I checked. The son of the founder invented the red Solo Cup just the next year. Coincidence? Or inspiration?

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 2/5/2026

    So this is the previous… This is the progress … And this is the goal. A lot to dislike and undo. Hmph.

  • Friend #3 is on the cusp

    Friend #3 is the only one of the Numbered Friends still at TeddyJ. And even that will not last for long: today was the first of her two (two!) two retirement parties. It was well attended by thirty coworkers from the last 18 years, and they all went around and shared stories of her generosity…

  • Dress code

    I saw a man in a hat recently. At work. The idea. Brazenly wearing a hat in mixed company at work. And not a sedate and modest hat, like a bowler, or a deerstalker. No. The man was wearing the most provocative of all hats. A fedora. At. Work. Here I am, stitching up necklines…

  • A series of related events led to this post

    Event 1: Well, the porn sites in Missouri did not like the recent restrictions requiring that people give proof of age. As a result, any visit to any site, no matter how female-friendly, ethical, or plot-driven, is blocked by a message that until things change in Missouri, no porn will play in your state, no…

  • TWIL: WHY redheads are more sensitive to pain

    Gary is a redhead. I didn’t realize it because he looks towheaded in his black and white childhood photos, and he was a brownhead by his late twenties when I met him. But in the rare color photos from his teens, he was a freckle-free Irish lad with dark auburn hair and a red beard.…