currently juggling reading 4 different books at the same time; i would recommend you get a note-taking app if you are in a similar situation
Feeling rather burnt out lately. A lot of stress-inducing things beyond my control have happened this winter, and I’ve found myself forced to violate the self-imposed ‘no more than three prescription sleeping pills a week’ rule on several occasions, which is probably not a good sign.
At least things are looking up now! Most problems have been solved or at least defused, and starting today I get a whole week away from work and family.
The weather helps too! It’s getting warmer and I love that the sound of birds singing in the morning has returned.The downside is that the dogs feel spring too, which means they do a lot of stupid stuff and consider my increasingly angry yelling to be non-binding recommendations at best, which means lots of walks on a short leash, which in turn means even more pent-up energy for the next walk. Just when we started being grateful for having made it through our youngest daughter’s puberty…
Anyways. Things are mostly looking up, so yay! I’m going to use this week to refuel and work on some absolutely useless but entertaining projects such as an analysis of our collected hotel key cards with respect to their contents and cloneability. So far I’ve found exactly one keycard that used some kind of encryption. Most keycards are just Mifare Classic cards that rely on the UID alone, and one just had an unprotected data block with the plaintext room number. That’s basically one small step above the door locks accepting a handwritten note saying “master key”. This is going to be interesting.
What books are you juggling? And which notes app do you use? What’s your typical note taking process like?
Flew to Europe for a vacation we planned last year. Turns out people hate Americans now (more than before anyway), and I can’t even blame them.
When I was a child (80s) growing up in Germany I had to lie and say I was Canadian. I recommend this strategy.
Honestly considering saying we’re from BC. It’s a short drive from us anyway.
It will be the best decision you ever made. I promise. I hated being an American in Germany in the 80s. I can’t imagine what it’s like now. It can be quite dangerous, tbh. Be safe.
I just use my Swiss Pass in Europe. Having spent time in Niedersachsen, I can have a very convincing Standarddeutsch accent.
I had a visa application in for another country. Was a long term long time plan to relocate back to the old country. My timing could not be worse, as the mood at the consulate has…shifted?
I’m sorry about your experience - I’m afraid for you Yanks it’s usually in dubio contra reum. If you ever visit us again, it usually helps to casually mention that you’re unhappy with the current government or didn’t vote for Trump. Us Europeans aren’t necessarily mean, just jaded, and it helps if you give us something to let us know that you in particular aren’t one of the idiots.
It is so weird to have been raised by Europeans, my dad of course being Swiss, and Nana a warbride from England. I learned nothing about how to be American. Sport still confuses me. “People you’ll never meet compete for points that won’t affect you.”
That anyone voted for Trump, let alone is supporting him as he fucks their lives over, is just baffling. We’re not all idiots; they’re just the loudest, and journalism is dead in the states.
I refuse to be lumped in with all the ignorant assholes here.
Woke up early for what I thought would be a legal contest over a lying highway patrol about a traffic violation. I’ve got receipts and a list of questions for his bitchass. Turns out it was only an arraignment. Hardest eyeroll ever.
OK… so the court was Wednesday. It’s Friday and I am sitting in an office of voices that I have low levels of patience for. I hate my bosses and hearing their voices makes me feel awfully stabby.
Meh? I’m a uni professor and I gave a subpar lecture. I really care so when I feel things don’t go well, it hits me hard. I’m very tired and stressed and can see the same in my students.
I also want to fight back against the nonsense in my country; not sign holding, not performative nonsense, but can’t find an outlet or ally. Its frustrating feeling powerless, seeing my students scared and suffering, and feeling useless.
I don’t know how strictly your lessons are monitored, but if they aren’t, you might be able to deviate from your curriculum sometimes, especially if all of your students are on the same side as you. This field manual is a great start for teaching creative civil resistance against an oppressive regime while minimising the likelihood that the resistor loses their job doing so.
As a teacher you wield the power to shape young people in a magnitude that is only topped by direct family and best friends. Use it wisely, while making sure to stay on curriculum enough that your students still pass their mandatory exams.
What do you teach?
Public Administration and Policy.
Something that doesn’t interest me but I know our society needs desperately.
So far so good
I did a photoshoot for a local screamo band at the beginning of February, and sent the pictures off last Friday. The band got back to me with their first batch of proofs for parts of the album art on Tuesday and they’re super happy about the shots I gave them. They’re not going to use all of the shots I did but they do want prints of a few of them that they’re not putting in the album art book which is cool IMO.
Also as part of the agreement to do the shoot I’m free to share the shots as long as I link back to the band.
So I’ll be sharing a bunch of them leading up to the album’s release starting soon.
Awesome :)
Going ok here, joined a Lancer TTRPG group on Tilde Town and also am trying to start a writing group somewhere online, probably at the same place, to encourage myself and others to write! I also joined a book club, again, at the same place! Finally, other than that, playing Monster Hunter Wilds a lot.
For the past two years I’ve been communicating with the planning board of the next town over, regarding supplying plants for them to redo the municipal plantings with genetically diverse natives. With the forest service suspending the tree planting programs using IRA funds, I am unsure whether their project is going to move forward. Here’s hoping it does - we’re one of a number of small nurseries who would’ve been tapped (hah! tree pun) for the project.
In other news, our six month old is figuring out standing on her own by holding on to objects. I’d say more but I have to go clear everything off of everything 🙄
This junta is fucking so many people. Like, this is a speedrun for the ages that I can only hope makes its own base realize the face of evil.
Our six month dr’s appointment is Friday, and let me tell you just how excited I am to ask the pediatrician about sticking to the vaccine schedule as it existed when Juniper was born, or about our options for speedrunning vaccinations should they begin messing with the certifications or supply chains.
i’ve been too plugged-in to trump news. i’ve banned myself from my primary source of that unhappy chaos, and will get it from a news outlet instead which is much slower and less ragey
i’ve gotten into audiobooks again, and that has done a lot to lift my spirits. i’ve plowed through the lord of the rings and am now listening to the silmarillion. i’ve found the silmarillion difficult to read, but much more accessible as an audiobook - and it’s giving me a deeper appreciation of the lord of the rings
eucatastrophe, where art thou?
Going well. I have committed to a exercise regimen and its helped my stress levels.
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I feel like I should be good. I dragged myself to D&D on Thursday and then speed dating on Saturday, met a lot of people and had fun.
But as soon as both ended, I just felt hollow. I haven’t texted anyone back because I don’t think I can do friendships/relationships.
The day of the speed dates I got into an argument with my best friend. I guess I misunderstood something he said so my response made no sense. I thought I was spilling my heart and he just said, “what the fuck are you talking about? How the fuck was that your takeaway?”
And the fight was my fault, I fucked up. I don’t think he was unfair. But I feel incoherent and annoying when we talk, and I don’t think I want to make any more friends.
if i did two big social things in a week like that i would be pretty burnt out and possibly snippy with people. i’d need a bit of solo time to recharge before i could wear my social mask again
the statement by your friend here looks unkind without context
Thanks ❤️
I think it was unkind, but I also get why he lost his temper. Looking back I wasn’t being rational, was doing relationship OCD stuff and being really frantic about it, too. He could’ve said the exact right thing and it wouldn’t have helped. Been working on it, but I backslid hard.
Gonna try not to take his words to heart but they did feel pretty bad for a little while.
I’m doing mostly alright. Seeing a lot of friends lately which is great.
I’ve started playing the new monster hunter which - contrary to what I expected based on the reviews - actually runs pretty decently.
Also I’m looking for some new books to read. Maybe it’s finally time to venture out of my comfort zone and start reading some of my wife’s books 🤔
Today would have been my 18th anniversary had my first wife not demanded a divorce in the middle of the rehab – on my 30th birthday – she’d already demanded as a condition for not getting a divorce. But at least the geopolitical situation is rosy.
I’m sorry! How did rehab go?
It was less than successful. My birthday fell halfway through the six-week program, and I went and got a beer after that call, then steaks with another client, followed by us being a bit closer than the program would have liked, as we were both graphic designers. I visited her for a week in Wisconsin the following month, with both of us telling our parents the other one bought the plane ticket. 2009 was a crazy year.
Rehab doesn’t work if you have nothing to go home to.
Ugh. You’ll get through this.
Not that you asked but maybe an anecdote can help? My lil bro has like… more DUIs under his belt than I have cats… (I have 2). He lost his partner of over a decade and ended up in jail (a number of times for drinking) and eventually in front of an empathetic but dead serious judge. It’s been a year a half of sobriety for him, finally. And now he’s focused on learning hobby radio stuff and nerding out on linux. It took time, though. Grieving isn’t a linear process. You got this.
In 2017, I was driving to the store for a pack of smokes, and cops saw my expired registration, leading to a whole shitshow that ended up costing more than $10,000. Texas was still doing vehicle inspections at the time, and my door handle had broken, which turned out not to be a reason to fail.
I was arrested for felony DWI (as this would be my third and the 10-year exemption had been repealed) after blowing 0.09 roadside. I wear dentures, which is a story for another time, so the two beers with dinner were still hanging out in my mouth. Once I got to jail, I was allowed to take my teeth out and blew a 0.07.
Even the magistrate in jail thought this was a miscarriage of justice, recommending this get pushed down to a misdemeanor (being under 0.08 should have meant this all gets thrown out), but I had to lawyer up, got deferred adjudication, a breathalyzer and a year of probation, complete with having to go to another county for the monthly appointments and UAs. The case has since been sealed.
But it was quite the hassle. One thing I’ve not done since is drive after any alcohol consumption, so I suppose it was corrective – but an unnecessarily extreme method of doing so.
Jesus. What an absolute nightmare. I’m sorry you went through that. My mom was saying the creator behind MADD ended up quitting the organization she started because she said it was becoming more of a racket than an organization with helpful intent. Your story fits that.
My girlfriend at the time came by my place that evening and was very confused that the lights were on but I wasn’t opening the door. When I called her the next day to pick me up from jail, she was pretty irate about the whole situation.
It wasn’t the end of the relationship by any stretch, but it was an added stressor.
What app are you using for note taking? Reading for fun or work?
Obsidian.md; for fun, although i do tend to write blog posts about the things i read
I’m so mixed on Obsidian. I want it to be FOSS so badly.
How long have you been blogging?
