I only have two eyes. But yes they are black. I can dilate them rather more than a human eye does, and due to the fact that the colored part of my eye is a bit larger than a human’s, and that I have a bit more muscle control around the lid area, I can make it appear as if my eyes are completely black. This isn’t an adaptation we developed to frighten your species, in case you wondered. I reckon it helps us see in the dark. It’s most obvious when I’m in the dark and am unconscious of it, and so I think that is the connection.

I once scared the absolute shit out of one of those cinema ushers. Back in the forties, I believe it was. Late forties, early fifties. I was in one of those B rated horror films, the sort that had a name that began with “The” and ended in a -er, and the audience consisted of myself and a group of rowdy teenagers in the back row and a few other couples.

I didn’t mind the teens, because part of the fun of watching a film, for me, is the audience participation. However, someone else evidently was annoyed by them and so went into the lobby and asked an usher to come in and see to them. They came in and walked back to the teens and had a stern talk with them. The teens fell silent. The usher then quietly walked back the length of the theater stopping beside each chair where someone was and politely apologizing.

This was a different time, you see.

When he got to me, in the more forward rows, He stopped beside me. At the time, I was living as a woman, and it wasn’t terribly common to see a lady at the theater alone at night. He no doubt approached me thinking he was being chivalrous and wanted to be flirtatious or something. I don’t know. He said something to get my attention just as a particularly graphic bit of violence was happening (graphic for the time, mind you) and I was laughing. I turned my head, and I must have looked a sight, because he leapt back about four feet, stammered, and trotted the hell out of Dodge.

When I left the theater, he was backed up beside a wall, watching the patrons leave like he was searching for a witch in a Spanish plaza. When he looked at me, I smiled pleasantly and asked him to walk me to my car.

The look on his face! He was sweating like a sponge and stammering! Finally, his manager stepped in and offered to walk me, shooting the poor boy dead with a glare.

We monsters do love our little tricks, eh?

I can’t help it. What’s the point of living forever and being me if I can’t have fun with it? 

I didn’t find him useless at all.

He was not simply comedic relief. As you say, his character evolves along a tremendous trajectory. Think about this: he is the brother of a water bender of extreme power, the last of her people. His best friend is THE Avatar and a boy so lacking in practical intelligence that he literally blows on the wind. My point is, Sokka is the footing in the real world, the boy without magic who keeps fighting. He’s also the touchpoint for the audience as well as the means of connection to all the normal people who exist in that world. He also becomes a very good tactician and is rather clever.

In short, he needed to be there for the cast to be rounded out thematically. He needed to be there for the Avatar. He needed to be there for the world to accept the Avatar and not turn against him.

Sokka was important. 

And to be honest, I was rather fond of the plotlines with him. The episodes surrounding his involvement with the female warriors, and his willingness to dress like them and acknowledge their prowess, all important for young men to see. His episode about poetry, when he demonstrates wit, also good. And he was wonderful in the prison escape episodes.

I like Sokka.

People often ask me this. They think I’m going to be up in arms over his management style. Truth is, that seems to largely be put on for the cameras. He is demanding and serious about food safety, which I approve of, but it’s obvious that he does it all with the intentions of making a kitchen run more smoothly. I know he has good technique, but having tried some of his recipes, I’m not very fond of his food. I find it bland. 

I think he’d make an excellent teacher for culinary arts and the business of it all. I’m not sure I care for all his dishes. And while I don’t like rudenss and if I worked for him, might growl upon occasion, I certainly wouldn’t argue with him, because the sorts of things he goes mad over are in fact, something he wouldn’t have to be upset about if the chef or restaurant owner in question was doing them right.

In fact, I often find his flabbergasted anger and chagrin rather cathartic. Or did, because I was told I wasn’t allowed to watch food television anymore.

No?

Are they turkey and stuffing? I have tried several brands of such flavors.

Fascinating.

If people have a problem with that, I will simply have to find a way to roll my eyes a great deal harder.

I call all cartoons with any adult appeal “anime” because it’s easier for me to think about. I recognize that there are Japanese cartoons and Korean, and American, and French and what have you. I was watching cartoons when your parents were children. I don’t give a damn what you call them. I have a tremendous amount of information to keep square in my mind and that’s simply how I organize it.

Look here, you people simplify the history I lived through every damn day with convenient terms and catchy language. You don’t see me cringing.

People ought to find more important things to be worried about, like the tear gas being shot at children, or Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian vessels, or the bombing in Syria.

Yes. It is true. They shot them across the border into Mexico, which I do believe is illegal. This is Trump’s Great America.

Last night on Twitter, someone rightly said that it had nothing to do with a Great country. If people from England or Norway, or Sweden came here for asylum, they’d be allowed at once. That it was simply the conservatives wanting to preserve the fictional image of a white America. However, Mexico used to own half of this country, quite literally. Native Americans used to outnumber whites. Black slaves were here in staggering numbers before this country stopped being colonies.

This country was never white.

That was very succinct, because it never was white.

The truth is that migrants contribute a tremendous amount to this country. People here illegally can not obtain benefits without a social security number. They pay taxes. They perform occupations no one else wants to. They pick your food, cook your food, make your clothes, deliver, clean, care for children. And so on. They do all this with no status or representation. How much better would the country be if they simply immediately made them citizens subject to law and taxation?

And well…shooting at women and children is a violation of civil rights. All people have civil rights beneath our constitution, not merely our citizens.

So expect this tactic to be vehemently opposed.

I remember that Bible verse, “And Joseph went to the inn and they shot tear gas at him.”

If you claim to be Christian, now is the time to show it.

Thank you. To you as well

I’m not picky. Not at all. I’m simply not allowed to watch food television because I become too involved. I also hate several hosts because they are insufferable people.

Human heart is too dense to have anything rolled up in it. I could throw one at the feedback. Not sure why I would.

What a bizarre dream.