This is our weekly Chatterday! open thread. Use this open thread to talk amongst yourselves: feel free to share a link, have a vent, or spread some joy.
What have you been reading or watching lately (remembering spoiler warnings)? What are you proud of this week? What’s made your teeth itch? What’s going on in your part of the world? Feel free to add your own images. (Anna insists that these should only be of ponies, but I insist that very small primates, camelids, critters from the weasel family, smooching giraffes, and cupcakes are also acceptable.) Just whack in a bare link to a webpage, please – admin needs to deal with the HTML code side of things.
Today’s chatterday backcloth, a slow loris, comes via The Daily Squee.
No one wants to get Chatterday started?!
All right, well: For my Friday night, I am watching the Battlestar Galactica finale and eating cookies. It is an exciting life I lead, folks! What are y’all doing? (Bearing in mind that much of the world is already totes over Friday and well into Saturday.)
I’ve finished work for today and I’m going to unload the dishes and clean the cat box. If I get really wildly ambitious I might see if the wife could help me get my hair washed. I don’t think I can do it myself; my hands hurt.
Just as soon as I can convince myself to stand up I’m gonna get right on all that.
.-= kaninchenzero´s last blog ..Out of Focus =-.
I got a brand spanking new diagnosis of ADHD, which I can’t seem to stop thinking and talking about.
I’ve started watching another anime, Wolf and Spice and am liking it a lot so far. It’s really clever, although I did cringe a few of attitudes in it, but it is set in a fantasy middle ages under powerful chruch that doesn’t approve of a lot of things.
I’m also off the the waiting list for Voc Rehab and can start receiving services.
@meloukhia, that sounds like a pretty great night to me.
.-= thetroubleis´s last blog ..Working on my ableism. =-.
School continues to happen despite the fact that being lazy is much more fun.
My Friday night plans? A ’70s Bollywood movie that will hopefully have subbed songs on my tiny 10 year old TV.
My pain is getting better, easier to tolerate without medication… whatever. Still nervous about overdoing it, so mom drove me like 3 blocks to the grocery store today. Better than me walking there and being stuck because of pain while she’s at home on cold medication, since everyone at her work is either fighting or coughing.
I had to leave one French class early on Thursday, partly because I still need to hoof it and find the book, partly because I was just so exhausted. I finally got a good night’s sleep last night – only my class wasn’t until 11:30. (Wednesday night – fire alarm went off at 5 am. Bah.)
I’ll bite. What I’m doing… What I’m reading, then. Well what I’m reading is a book by Leonore Tiefer, Ph.D. who is a sexologist & a really vocal voice in the realm of sexual health & dysfunction. I’m not particularly fond of her stance on FSD actually.
Well, the book is really hard. I mean, it’s really, really hard. I mean, I am really struggling to follow along. I can do it… it just takes everything I have. And I know I *need* to read it eventually, so I’m chuggin’ away at it and pluggin’ away at it… and struggling the whole time. It’s not all bad, but it’s all difficult.
On the other hand my Light Fun Reading that I keep getting distracted by is that new Dungeons & Dragons Metalllics Dragons instruction book. That’s a lot funner 🙂 I just wish it had more pretty pictures.
Anyone else getting tripped up by the year when writing the date on things?
(So glad I don’t write checks – I wrote my first and last ones in 2006 – so grown-up! My first one was 5 bucks and change for an X-files comic.)
I like to date my (illegible, profanity laced, foreign language filled, bad doodle covered) notes in classes. On Wednesday, I had to take notes for a class. I dutifully wrote 1/20/09. And then corrected it. Today, again with the notes. On the same side of the same sheet of paper. 1/22/09.
It’s an annual tradition.
I am curled up in bed, catching up on google reader, eating tortellini with homemade pesto, and playing random things on my DS.
I got three temporary crowns put on at the dentist this morning, so I snuggled with soft foods and my kids on the sofa, and we watched two Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes.
This weekend I need to read a book overdue from the library. I can’t renew anymore, and it takes forever to get it back on hold. So, I will eat the 50cents in fines I’ll get and finish. It’s a bit of anxiety provoking to break the rules and knowingly keep a book overdue… I’m usually compulsively organized with my library books.
I like how you’ve added the iPod-optimized WPTouch layout. A lot easier to scroll through!
Ms. M – I have been there.
Once, about two years ago, I had to turn a book in late. I forgot if I could only have it for a week (popular/new) or 3 (regular). If it was a regular book, well, I’m really close to a library and can order books online and just grab them in between classes! Thank goodness it’s free, or I’d be in trouble!
Well, this was a particularly bad evening. I tried walking and got outside and almost across the street before the pain sent me packing. I even called the library! And my mom, who was not happy.
I had a doctor appointment the next day, and turned the book in.
Late.
So nervous.
What was my fine?
Twenty-five cents.
I just saw Legion. It was pretty good, though I think the trailer gave the best parts away.
I’m also trying to learn computer programming again. I think I finally figured out how to calculate how many seconds old I am, finally. (Around 940 million).
Damnit, Shiyiya, now I want pesto! I may have to put on pants to go to the store and track down some basil.
I am rather delighted that my grocery store carries relatively large 4oz things of fresh basil leave, allowing me to buy two, stick them in the food processor with olive oil and garlic, and have deliciousness. It also makes eating lots of pasta less boring. I haven’t gotten around to calculating if it’s cheaper than buying premade pesto or not.
@ Shiyiya:
I don’t know where you are, but here I would get a heck of a lot more pesto out of the cost of the dried/fresh leaves, olive oil, and garlic as compared to how much I would spend for an equivalent amount of pre-made pesto.
As for me, well, I’m sitting here when I should be at work and crying my face off because according to one of my aunts, I’ve behaved “cruel[ly] and insensitive[ly]” towards my cousin William, and “ignored and rejected” him because I stopped talking to him on MSN. And apparently I will have “no problem” with “get[ting] over” the fact that he now wants nothing to do with me.
What really happened (that she does not care to consider) is that I got really bloody depressed and stopped talking to EVERYONE: parents, best friends, brother, roommate, etc. – not just my cousin. I didn’t answer my phone, didn’t answer e-mails, didn’t leave my room for any reason (not food or anything) if my roommate was home/up in case we passed each other in the hall and I had to possibly make small talk or even SAY HELLO.
But because other members of my family (my grandather/her father-in-law, my grandmother/her mother-in-law, my uncle/her husband) have done really shitty things, she’s assuming I did it on purpose just to hurt Will. To whom I haven’t said a harsh, angry, or mean word since I was NINE, when I last visited him at his place and we bickered a little like small children do when playing.
I feel awful that Will feels like he does, but I can understand it and I can’t blame him, considering what else has happened to him in regards to family, but what my aunt’s been saying has really, really upset me and made me really angry. I’ve always been incredibly attached to Will, ever since we were three and four, and she knows this. Last time I visited him, we were attached at the hip, together every minute of every day we were there. (We weren’t when he came here a couple years ago, because I had university and work, both in a different town and county from where they were staying, but I sure as heck made it home to see him as much as I could!)
…Sorry if I’ve ruined anyone’s happy. :/ I hope nobody minds this very much less-than-joyous post, I had to get this off my chest.
Caitlin – I’m sorry about the situation with your cousin. It’s awful when people interpret your need to withdraw as rejection of them, personally. I’m not much of a hugger IRL, but I’ve got plenty of e-hugs, if you like ’em.
@ Gossamer – thanks for the e-hugs.
I want to e-mail him and explain why I stopped talking to him, but at the same time I’m unsure if I should, since he’s said he wants nothing to do with me now. I desperately want him to understand that it had nothing to do with him, but at the same time, I don’t want to be seen as ignoring his expressed wishes.
D:
Caitlin,
I find that being honest about how a HEALTH issue kept me from doing X, made me cranky, or whatever, HELPS rather than hurts these misunderstandings.
FWIW, when extended family get involved, and start talking to me about how someone else feels, they are often exaggerating the situation because of how THEY feel, and it’s often not as bad as I think with the original person.
I have 4 siblings, and when I call them and explain what’s going on, I find out there never WAS an issue, my mom or other sib blew it out of proportion.
METANOTE: don’t let this through if I’ve got the interface wrong! J the K
I’m really glad FWD exists, and all of you help keep me floating with your thoughts, insights, and emotions!
I’ve also just discovered a really cool feature of the blog redesign: if you jam an “at-sign” before a commenter’s name, that magically becomes a link to that person’s earlier comment on the thread. (You do have to dehyrdrate the spaces in the person’s name, though.)
So, I jam an @ before “Tera” like this — @Tera
Jump some more: @Gossamer
and back @JessetheK
and forward @Tera
Ain’t that cool? For the previous design, we’d invoke numbers. Does this also work for screen-reader users?
Ms. M.,
Part of my uncertainty about e-mailing Will is that I have no idea how he might react – he has fairly severe Asperger’s – and the last thing I want to do is upset him further, especially when he’s already been subject to so much emotional abuse from other family members. I don’t know if knowing about my depression would help him or not; his oldest brother had very, very severe depression and associated repeated suicide attempts, and was hospitalised a number of times, but Will never understood what was going on with his brother. He couldn’t relate at all to what was going on, he “just [didn’] get it” (he told me as much several years ago, so I’m comfortable making that statement), and it was the cause of some tension among his family.
Caitlin – what Ms. M said. I read this and then went walking for food and books (you know, the essentials).
Your aunt may have blown it out of proportion. What I would do is get a 3rd party family member to talk to your cousin. Sometimes it’s easier to tell the 3rd party, because they’re not emotionally invested.
Or just pour it all into an e-mail to your cousin – the typed/written word is so much easier than the spoken one! I think he’ll understand, though he may feel hurt that you didn’t want him to help you, because he may be one of those people who wants to help. Which is a good time to… sigh… teach him about your reality.
@ Kaitlyn: yes, I constantly mistype the date. I have this every year but it’s worse this year. Possibly writing two numbers differently makes it harder, although I can’t remember how I did in 2000 (but then again on a computer upper row number keys that is pretty similar to 1999, while 2010 is not to 2009).
I was a “bad cripple” yesterday — and it felt fabulous. One of my friends(ish) keeps talking about getting me drunk. I don’t like to get drunk. It makes me feel glutened, even when I’m not. I hate that I can’t turn it off. So I don’t drink. I’ve said this nicely a few times before, but she tends not to listen.
Yesterday, she mentioned it again, getting me drunk. I finally snapped at her and said, “I don’t LIKE to get drunk. I HATE the way it makes me feel when I’m drunk AND the next day. So no, I won’t be getting drunk. I hate alcohol.”
I feel like maybe she won’t mention it again. It’s such a relief to vent some of that anger.
I read an article on how to save money at the grocery store without clipping coupons and the very first tip pissed me off – “Don’t buy prechopped or prepared items, do it yourself!”
So not only should we be expending time and energy to eat healthy, we should also do it cheaply.
I like articles on how to organize/save money, but now I’m looking at them in a different light. You may have the time, I may have the time (sometimes), but not everyone does.
And this doesn’t just apply to PWD on limited spoons, but people working extra hours (or jobs) to get money. So the article was blinkered by class as well. Some things treat saving money as a lark, even with the recession, when many people were paycheck to paycheck before and will probably still be once the economy’s “recovered” if it hasn’t already.
Thank you very much, Gossamer, Ms. M, and Kaitlyn, for the thoughtful and considerate advice. I haven’t emailed Will yet (I just woke up), but I’m going to this afternoon, and no matter how it turns out, I just wanted to say thank you.
I’m having some sort of back problem that involves muscle tension. I’m not sure what it is because I’m having the hardest time getting doctors to take me seriously. I keep running into old guys who will rant about the evils of pain medications and how they don’t want me to be dependent on them but are all too happy to put me on antidepressants because they’re convinced my only problem is anxiety. Yeah, antidepressants cause no dependency issues at all, making them totally different from your perception of pain medications. Of course. And it’s totally OK to dismiss my problems with being on antidepressants to save your precious conscience. Sarcasm, obviously. It’s just so hard to cope with this stuff otherwise. I just don’t see how anyone can be that stupid, and yet I’ve run into two guys with the same views!
The first guy I saw wouldn’t let me take Tramadol (which helped the most) because it interacts with the antidepressant he wanted me to take. When I got to another doctor, I learned that the two antidepressants that first guy had me on interact, but apparently, that’s A-OK with him. *rage!* Of course, that doctor turned out to be more or less like the first one, so I’m trying someone else. At least I have that option in this clinic vs. the one I was at before where I was stuck fighting that same guy over and over again for months.