I think we’re a bit overdue for another open thread for personal stuff. As per usual, no trolls, no flames, no being a butthead.
I’ll paste in some recent personal comments from other threads.
Categories
Open Thread for Personal Stuff: November Rain Edition
Is it bad that I read this and had my mind high-dive into the deep gutter?
LBT – aww, shit. I didn’t think the closet could get worse. 🙁
In addition to the good charities helping humans, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Philippine Animal Welfare Society are asking for help with relief efforts right now.
Also, Charity Navigator can help you decide which charities are best to give to.
I’m sorry I seem to have borked my first two hyperlinks. So they are:
http://www.ifaw.org/united-states
http://www.paws.org.ph/
Thanks for those links, grumpycat! IFAW just got my donation.
That’s great, kittehserf! Thanks.
Some areas of Bumfuck, VT are quite lovely. But, and I say this as a former Vermonter, other areas are deadly boring. Do you feel safe saying where-ish? I understand if you’d rather not.
Also, I know people in VT, if you need anything.
As for the Typhoon, I found an important article today: Please Don’t Send Your Old Shoes to the Philippines. It’s a short but important read about how well-intentioned donations can actually create problems if they’re not what the survivors need (which will be obvious to many people, but less obvious to others).
@LBT
Bumfuck, VT? Is that north Bumfuck, south Bumfuck, or central Bumfuck?
Those endless trees and snow are sort of what I call home. Such as it is.
RE: Alice
Is it bad that I read this and had my mind high-dive into the deep gutter?
Quoth my husband: “The HAPPIEST part of Vermont!”
RE: Kittehs
I survived one winter in the closet. And to be fair, winters are better than summers–the closet is literally directly under the eaves, an attic space, and until I did some work, completely uninsulated. So broiling hot in the summer, ice box in the winter. But still, I have no intention of ever weathering a winter there again; I suspect I have IT to thank for my current cold tolerance.
RE: emilygoddess
God willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll be in White River Junction. I know a couple people up there, and a place I might be able to stay, if there are rooms open. (And how many people could POSSIBLY be staying there in WINTER?) Tomorrow I’ll call them up and see if I can’t make things happen; if I don’t find a decent room, I feel like my brain’s going to crack. AGAIN.
RE: Howard Bannister
Quoth my husband, “Why, Deep Central Bumfuck, of course!”
Oooh that Mac’s a shameless hussy, he is!
Is this sarcasm? VT in winter is full to bursting with skiers. But it’s not winter yet, and I wish you the luck I’m sure you won’t need.
WRJ is not Bumfuck. It’s got a bus station and an Interstate highway and everything!
By the standards of my town, that’s a bustling urban metropolis, a veritable transportation hub.
Exactly! When you’re in Bumfuck, VT, you’ll damn well know it.
I have been ruined by the people around me, who think freakin’ Des Moines is tiny. WRJ is small by my standard (it’s only got about 1000 people), but yup, that bus station is my ass SAVED, right there.
I really, REALLY hope that boarding house still has a room open…
It’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? My college BFF and I used to have pretend fights over the size of Burlington VT. She, being from just outside Philly, thought it was a pretty small town; while I, being from northern Maine, had never lived in such a big city. I mean, Burlington has TWO MALLS!
I grew up in a part of Vermont where I literally couldn’t see my neighbors through the trees. Halfway up the side of a mountain. Drinking well-water and logging firewood.
WRJ is still too big for me….
Yeah. I’ve lived in towns of about 500-1000 people, and I’ve lived in… well, Boston. Definitely more urban than rural, for health reasons if nothing else, but Boston is waaaaay too big for me. I think my ideal city size is about 500K or so, but this requires more extensive testing!
Most of all, though, I think I’m tired of leapfrogging from place to place. I JUST WANT A ROOOOOOM.
[Content note: abuse, violence, anxiety]
Earlier today, more memories of abuse from my dad were flooding my mind (a little after you folks told me about him gaslighting me – somehow that reminded me of other things too). I stayed up in my room all day curling up in my bed, thinking about some very painful things that happened to me when I was 15-17. Like when my dad forced me to clean up a scorching hot pile of broken ceramic shards and curry using only my bare hands and paper towels.
But despite those awful thoughts and much more, I think I was able to calm myself down better than usual today. I often give up and decide to smoke in order to make myself feel better, but I ended up not having to that. So not only am I smoking less now, but I’ve also become less dependent on it. Today started with me feeling very anxious, sad, and lonely, but I feel much more relaxed now. I’m even beginning to find it much easier to process thoughts about past abuse, and I think you folks helped me out with that a lot. The fact that I am actually able to call those experiences abusive now is a huge step. So I just want to say thanks again.
Ally, you do an amazing job dealing with your situation. You have sisu.
It really depends on *why* your vision is off. I myself am near-sighted, but have actually been improving due to (cough, advancing age, cough) stuff. And my sight would have been a lot better if we’d caught it when I was a child.
My youngest has worn glasses for a two years, but zie should be done with them in another couple of years. Sort of like braces for zir eyes.
And congratulations of reducing the smoking! All too often I used things like that to avoid thinking about the things that stress me out, rather than them actually helping with the stress.
@moldybrehd
I think I was a little far-sighted when I was younger. These days I still have a little bit of double vision when I look at an object ~6 inches away from my face, but I don’t think that’s actually a problem.
I mean, don’t get me wrong – pot has helped me cope with stress on many occasions. It’s just that being totally dependent on it does much more harm than good for me. Besides, if I smoke too frequently, there’s also a big chance of being caught by my dad or step-mom while high, and I don’t know what the consequences of that will be. All I know is that, if I’m ever caught smoking weed by either one of them, it’ll be my cue to get the hell out of the house immediately, regardless of my circumstances.
Ally, congrats on this – the not-needing to smoke this time (baby steps, hey) and being able to process stuff without it. So glad this place is helping you!
Katz: I signal boosted.
re yesterday: I was out the door at 0500, on my feet until 1800, Standing in the cold, and dark, for the exteriors of The Today Show taping; and got to (though she didn’t know it) snub Sara Palin.
The prep for the parade took longer this year, because the parade was larger, and IAVA (with whom I march) was about 500 strong.
Good time, but Oh My God! was I worn out.
Also I took on a drive-by commenter in the Logo Thread.
As to Jury Duty, one of the sad things was getting a summons to the Federal District Court in San Francisco, just after I moved to NY, so I couldn’t attend.
Here are my thoughts from the one time I was moved from “the pool” to a selection.
On jury duty
FUCK
There are two links in that post (and the first takedown has all sorts of hard to read, from formatting disappearing, to a doubling of the comment)