As requested, an open thread. I’ll try to get these up more often in the future. This one will be overseen by Morrissey with a cat on his head.
No trolls, no arguments.
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Open Thread for Personal Stuff: January 2014 Pretty Cats Make Hats Edition
Congratulations on all fronts, damselindetech.
So there’s been yet another school shooting in the U.S. this morning. I feel like we are never going to learn. 🙁
Dunno who Morrisey is, but he has a cat on his head, so what more’s needed?
Howard, lovely kitty!
Nothing to report here except it’s So Freaking Hot and I’m moving at half-speed.
So… What does one do in threads like this? Just talk about life and how things are going?
Pretty much! It’s a nice place to chat and to support one another. How are you doing, BreakfastMan?
Not super well. Looking for a job, and the uncertainty it causes has not been good for my mental well-being. Or maybe that is just the exorbitant amounts of black-metal I have been listening to, lately… Oh, and I am completely broke. That isn’t fun.
But… The new Cynic song is really good and I don’t have to worry about food, warmth, or shelter, so things aren’t completely terrible. XD
Unemployment sucks. Hope you find something soon.
It is very annoying. Recently graduated and have been looking to start my career. The place I am at now feels like some sort of weird limbo, stuck between one part of my life and the next, just waiting for a change. And I don’t think I like it…
@Viscaria
He is not only a snuggler, he is an aggressive snuggler who will attempt to snuggle you harder than you can snuggle him.
@Cloudiah
He’s really starting to feel secure, and the other cat is starting to get used to him. They’ve figured out whose food is whose and don’t seem to be fighting at all, and they’re starting to play. I was afraid it would take months to get them to this point, and it only took a week.
@BreakfastMan
It’s not a great economy to be job-hunting… I know a guy who just managed to snag a job after a year unemployed. It was really getting to him. There are jobs out there, but there’s three or four people looking for every job that’s open. It’s rough.
@Howard Bannister:
Luckily, I have it better than most, from what I can gather. I am looking for a job in one of the areas with better job prospects (computer science) in one of the best locations for such a position (western Washington state), so it is very likely I could get something in around a month. The process remains incredibly stressful, however, especially as I hate doing interviews. D:
I took my first Mandarin class today. I have now completed all three of my New Years resolution in the month of January. I have never done that before. So I made two more resolutions
I was interviewed by our morning paper on my work on free will and morality. I got three emails from dudes in response to the article. Two were nice and interested ones. The third one just wrote “Actually, there is no such thing as free will! Just read the great MALE philosophers and you will see!”.
Posted this on Facebook to the amusement of all my colleagues. (Also, I was under the silly lady impression that a) various great male philosophers, such as Kant and Hume, have argued for the existence of morally relevant freedom or free will, and b) sometimes male philosophers disagree with each other. Obviously this is just some delusion of mine caused by hormones.)
Anyway, to talk about happier things… Anyone else here a hardcore gamer, movie nerd, or metal-head?
It appears the Mens Rights Sub Reddit found my favourite pop culture site and guess what? They don’t like it http://badassdigest.com/2014/01/14/badass-digest-is-run-by-a-bunch-of-female-comic-book-lovers/
Nice. I too frequent Badass, and I love how Devin takes no shit in the comments. XD
And that article is great, besides. Pretty much sums up the whole, sad situation. XD
In fairness, he had no choice about sending that email.
I have a better health insurance plan because of Obamacare! I guess that obliges me to support him mindlessly.
And your kitty is adorable, Howard.
That is the most hilarious thing I’ve read yet today.
Hey guys, I have a question that maybe some of you can help me with or point me in the right direction.
I have relatively recently made a new internet friend. This friend is a person with bipolar disorder. In the past couple weeks this friend has been having a manic episode. They’re in the care of a doctor and are nearby to family which is good. We talk all the time online, and lately they’ve been acting grandiose and somewhat paranoid, and I’m not really sure the best way to respond when the conversation goes in this direction. Most of the time it’s easy to say something empathetic like “I’m sorry your doctor didn’t understand you”, but I am not sure how to respond to things like “isn’t it weird that X, Y, Z” where I don’t, in fact, think it’s weird, or I think they are misinterpreting something.
I’m just not sure the best way to support them when I disagree with their interpretations of their experiences. I don’t want to invalidate their feelings, but then on the other hand, maybe they are asking me for a reality check? I don’t know. Of course you guys don’t know my friend and can’t read their mind, but I thought maybe some of you have had similar experiences you’d be willing to share, and any advice? The internet is kind of stupid on this topic, as it seems like most of the “how to help someone having a manic episode” advice is about whether you should have them hospitalized and yeah, no, that is SO not my call.
Katz — Sir Pecunium has been emailed. Don’t expect a speedy reply, I think he’s on the road currently, though he might leave tomorrow.
Because it’s sorta on topic, much as open threads ever are, I left my iPod on a train on my way to pecunium’s. Yeah, I feel dumb. If it doesn’t turn up by the end of the week, it probably won’t. But I talked my father into giving me his debit card number since he keeps buying my brother more expensive things, and will be getting a brand new one if it doesn’t turn up.
Also, more cory eggs! The largest of the first batch have been moved into the 55g and now look so small again, after looking huge in the 2.5g, the second batch is doing almost too good, if this batch does as well I’m going to have to enforce gender segregation among my mature cories! (Not a problem, I have like three mature boys and room in the 29g, particularly if I more the girls up to the 55g). Puff is begging for snails, big surprise there, and the cat is mad that I went away for the weekend, also a shocking surprise I’m sure.
In other dumbfounding things, I need coffee.
If I am kinda iffy on the whole Free Will debate. I believe that we are more “Free Won’t” than “Free Will” but I do believe the more aware one is, the more free one is…you cannot have Free Will without being aware, but you can have Free Won’t just by being minimally aware
@katz:
At risk of missing a joke, in my experience, the officer would probably pick some distinguishing feature to differentiate them, or otherwise just include their first name if clarification is needed. Why do you ask?
@Robert Ramirez:
Mandarin Chinese! Fun stuff. Are you learning written or strictly spoken? I can offer some great resources for both, especially if you ever plan on taking the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi).
AIT — I’m guessing first name, but distinguishing feature? Not for formal address, and for informal address the question seems less relevant.
Katz — to complicate matters further, various ranks are sometimes lumped together in formal address — e.g he’s (staff) sergeant [last name here]. So maybe using the full rank is how they do it? First name seems more likely.
In any case, after being shown his bookshelf of army manuals, I’m sure there’s an answer in there somewhere (sadly, despite his offer that I can have duplicates, none were of any interest or use to me, I love well written manuals)