The news for the last couple of weeks has been pretty depressing, faith-in-humanity-wise. I’m going to turn off CNN/MSNBC for now and put this video on instead.
Or maybe this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdqjp3yK1Co
Feel free to share your own chillout/de-stressing techniques — videos, music, books, meditation techniques, whatever. Or any other brain bleach you want to pass along.
Consider this another open thread for uplifting stuff. No trolls, MRAs, etc.
Did you know there were a bunch of jazz covers of Studio Ghibli and for Evangelion? There totally is!
https://youtu.be/A0PZj0zmqAU
https://youtu.be/MegkASUhaX4
@Fishy
It’s cool, IP did it once too. Somewhere between ‘copy’ and ‘paste’, the whole thing breaks down. I can’t barely remember how my own nym is spelled half the time 🙂
Not sure what about that video made you think of me, but Toy Story 3 is my favorite movie, so vid appreciated! Truly flawless film that…
I also like how they breezed past Philadelphia *bemused finger wag*
@Axecalibur
Thank you for the words of encouragement. Especially since when I did my research, it’ll take weeks for it to start kicking in. First pill in, and I feel the same, I worked out a whole lot more so there’s that.
And here’s the final (probably not final but I swear if I don’t move on I’ll keep editing this page until the end of photoshop) product.
http://i.imgur.com/kEiL08p.jpg
Here’s that page I spent far too long cleaning and translating. Artifacts, plenty. Translation most likely not properly representing the characters? Most likely. Just basic grammar? Yeah that too. But I’m still glad I finished it. And I’m already on the next page.
I recommend searching on “dirty samoyed” and “wet long-haired chihuahua.”
My go-to destressor is painting. I highly recommend to anyone getting a little watercolor set and small watercolor tablet.
I tried to post earlier with a picture, but I probably borked the tags and it got caught in moderation.
My good news is that the little kitten that I’ve been fostering is doing wonderfully now. She was brought in with the worst upper respiratory infection that I’ve ever seen and her eyes were in terrible shape. The infection cleared up fairly quickly, but her eyes were still awful despite trying three different medications and she was basically blind. The pupil ruptured on her right eye last week (which is gross) and we removed the eye. Then her left eye finally started improving to the point where I can actually see her iris now and she has vision. Between those two things she is feeling a lot better. She has now spent the last two days tearing around the house, jumping and playing with my other cat, and generally being a kitten. I’m so happy.
Thanks for sharing these, David. 😀 I particularly like the first one. I love Blackbird song! Since I am Australian, here are some relaxing Australian sounds.
A video of Banjo Frog sounds. They really do sound like someone strumming at a Banjo.
And here is the dawn chorus!
And here are rain forest sounds.
Hey, that’s awesome! Love Eva! Thanks for the Jazz covers!
https://davidalexandermcdonald.bandcamp.com/track/iunius-adrift-in-the-aether
@Axecalibur
Me?
@Oogly
The editing is great! The translation’s a bit stilted, but Japanese always sounds stilted to me. It probably sounds better in more context. 1 page down! Gambatte!
@IP
Yep! I have a terrible memory, so you’ll forgive me if I’m mistaken. I’m good with the broad strokes, the details often elude me. And this is the opposite of a big deal. I just seem to remember you spelling it AxeLcalibur and being confused as to how the ‘paste’ function coulda added an extra letter. Or somebody did anyway…
I always expect people to mess up the Calibur bit. Think it’s like a gun that shoots bullets the size and shape of axes (caliber, ya know), instead of a teenage nerd pun on Excalibur (I was 15 once). That’s part of the reason I’ve been calling myself (and subtly encouraging others to call me) just Axe. Save everyone the hassle of trying to remember which vowels to use. Turns out the actual problem is with copypasta. *Laughing quietly to myself*
PS, apropos of nothing: I like y’all. Y’all are fun. We got a pretty cool community going. Even our angry arguments are about how to best be nice people. That’s fuckin awesome, yo! <3
@Axecalibur
That was definitely someone else. I remember reading it though. :p
My current favorite is this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmf0KAHWlnk
And recently I also found these pictures, with some animals whose cuteness is sometimes “neglected”. 🙂
http://www.boredpanda.com/cutest-baby-animals/
I don’t know how to embed, but the first link is a 20 minute video of kittens and the second…well, cute baby animals of all sorts.
https://youtu.be/LS-ErOKpO4E
Nick Offerman’sticker yule log.
It’s just nick offerman sipping single malt scotch next to a roaring fireplace.
I remember someone asking for vegetarian recipes a while back. I made this last night, so it occurred to me that I should share it. 🙂
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g8icavnt7zy32rq/Cooks%20Illustrated%20-%20Eggplant%20Involtini.pdf?dl=0
In personal news, Pepper is doing really well these days. Her health issues were all related to food allergies and now that we’ve figured that out she’s full of energy and affectionate all the time. She enjoys being an only kitty (the shelter I got her from even had a warning against adopting her into multi-cat households), so we’ll keep her that way.
I forgot to mention a bit of good news in my comment the other day. On Friday, I found out that my most recent paper was accepted for publication! One of the reviewers was really harsh and didn’t want to accept the first draft, so I had to do a lot of rewrites. I was worried that they would come back asking for more changes, but both reviewers were happy with it and it got accepted! It’s going to be in an online, open-access journal, so hopefully it will be available soon.
I also stayed up until about 3 this morning working on my thesis. I seem to work better at night and I managed to knock out a pretty big chunk of my current chapter. I’m hoping to have a draft of it by the end of the week. It really helps that most of the work in this chapter has already been published (journal article or poster), so I don’t have to make new tables or diagrams. It’s coming along and I’m starting to feel like I can actually do this.
It’s still early but the pre-release reviews popping up today of the (much hated by the manosphere) new Ghostbusters I’ve seen so far say it’s mediocre to okay, with most of the criticism directed at the plot and most of the praise at the cast.
This is Mungo. He’s had a pretty adventurous weekend. He managed to knock a load of tiles over onto his head; then he decided to eat a caterpillar; it didn’t agree with him. Anyway, he’s been to the vet and now he’s got enough drugs in him to earn him a place in the Tour de France. We’ve told he’ll be fine though once he’s slept things off.
http://i.imgur.com/LRAgWHi.jpg
Congrats on the publication, ej! I know how hard that is, and it’s a huge deal to be accepted. I hope the paper makes waves.
Thanks EJ (TOO). It’s probably going to make some waves, but I’m a little apprehensive about that. It criticizes a very commonly used method and the company that makes those test kits will probably not be too happy with me. It is a problem that needs to be addressed, but because the test kits are so widely used and recommended, there could be some resistance to what I’ve said.
The good news is that my supervisor is the corresponding author, so any comments will go to him first.
@IP
Oh bother…
Never mind then…
@JoeB:
From what I can see, the consensus seems to be settling that New!Ghostbusters is a decent film, but not as good as the original.
And yet people have already started cherry-picking the negative reviews to go, “See? See!?!?! We told you it would suck!!!”
I’m just going to leave these here: they never fail to lift my spirits even in the worst of times. 🙂
@ Congratulations EJ. Do u mind if I ask what your paper is on and where it’s going to be published. U probably mentioned it in an earlier post but I’m afraid I don’t get to read the posts everyday.
MissEB47, thank you! I always wondered what those frogs were called; we have them around here. Plus the video confused Miss Purry, which is always a nice bonus. Confused cats are hilarious, as long as they’re not being hurt. (Obviously.)
ej, congrats!
I spent the day doing absolutely nothing of importance, as I’m recovering from spending a week in New York at my in-laws and driving most of the way home overnight to give my husband a rest. The weather absolutely did not agree with me (high 80s/90s with very high humidity), and I ended up with a multitude of blisters on my feet, but it was nice to see (most of) my husband’s family. (His youngest brother…. not so much, but I’m also at “he annoys me by breathing” levels with him anyway due to history. Suffice to say that if I never had to see him again, I’d be perfectly happy.)
I’m definitely feeling better after sleeping in my own bed and being alternately mobbed by and yelled at by the cats, and I appreciate my bathrooms so much! I also missed my desktop, which is awesome, and the weather here has been really pleasant. I really like my home, too; it’s not fancy, but it’s nice, and comfortable, and reasonably clean (I do have to do dishes!). I don’t have to conform to other people’s expectations, which is a relief.
I’ve also considered signing Scrumpy up for Pet Partners. He’s very friendly and doesn’t seem to be prone to panic, and he already walks on a leash. I’m just not sure I’ll actually do it; the (human partner) training is $70 and interacting with people is sometimes difficult for me.
Tomorrow I’m going to family therapy and my younger son has group therapy, plus I’m going to do some dishes… but I’m also going to work on my Fallout mod, which I’ve been itching to do all week. 🙂
ETA: Oh, and I’m going to play Pokemon Go tomorrow, since I’ll be out anyway. It looks fun, but the directions aren’t very clear…