Real Life and What's Happening...

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spittingimage said:
I just punched myself in the face trying to shoo away an insect. :blah:
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What was it - a huhu?

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spittingimage said:
Every time someone tries to courier something to me, I spend ten days playing phone tag with the courier company and then collect it from the depot myself. WHY?! For the love of Satan, what do those people get paid for? You might as well hand the package to a random car stopped at the lights and pointed in the right direction!
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Getting packages out to remote locations can be entertaining. Small communities that lack regular mail service often have innovative solutions. A couple years ago I was working on a fire in a tiny town in a remote part Northern California (to give you some idea how remote it was just a few miles from where the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot footage was shot). Someone working the fire had a package sent to them at fire camp, and the tracking number showed it was delivered, but to whom? It took two days but finally one of the locals asked if he had checked the hardware store? WTF hardware store why? Turns out all the locals have their packages delivered to the hardware store, and his package was there waiting for him.

Séadna said:
As mentioned in another thread folklore collecting when suddenly a new lockdown was announced has us stranded next to the sea.

The house's garden looks off a small cliff into the sea on one end and a lake on the other. Pea soup weather is a permafeature.

Lot's of conversation with wizened old sea dogs out here. Getting some CoC ideas.
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That totally sounds like the start of many HPL stories.

I have always had a strong connection to the ocean and the mountains, which is odd as they are rarely nearby. I find those to be the two areas where I can just lay about, let the stress flow away and recharge. While I do enjoy the beach in warm weather (the water here is quite cold), for full stress relief I prefer cold and foggy. The proximity of the ocean and mountains where I currently live (roughly an hour to either) was a major draw.

On a side note several horror movies have been filmed within 2 hours of me, The Fog, Dead and Buried, Humanoids from the Deep and the Dunwich Horror being among the more notable.

Bunch said:
Follow-up. So he's been playing what I'll call Calvin & Dragons.
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You don't need to go any further than the title to paint that picture. Calvin & Dragons would be an awesome comic strip, can you draw? :wink:


Nobby-W said:
The house is very, very quiet.
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My wife has gone to visit her family a few times, up to two weeks and it is amazing how quiet things get even with a dog and cat about the place. A year would be hard.

Nobby-W said:
It's a bummer that we have to do this, but Indonesian society is very family and community oriented. They're quite isolated here, and will have a much better support network there. Depending on where I'm working, they can also come stay with me there for extended holidays, at least until #2 spawn is in school, which doesn't need to happen until 7 years old in Indonesia.
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This often seems to get overlooked in importance.

I spent most of my working career with the US Forest Service and National Park Service. The US Forest Service work locations in particular tend to be located largely in small, remote to very remote (and very Caucasian) communities. Human Resources management located in places like Washington DC, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boise, ID, Albuquerque, NM etc (ie large urban areas) seem unable to comprehend that many people don't really like to be the only one of "their kind" living in an area or of being completely isolated from their family support structure.
This on top of the huge shift in life style moving from a place where you have 4 grocery stores within a 10 minute drive, to one where you have to shop for the month because it is 2 hours + to the nearest major shopping area, and may be an hour or more to get essentials beyond that you find in a gas station mini-mart.

I come from a small family that was never very close, the usual holiday gatherings and that was about it. My wife on the other hand has a large family that is very tight knit. I am so thankful for the internet, Skype and the fact that several of her brothers and sisters (well really mostly it is three of the younger brothers) are online gamers. That has been very helpful for her being able to feel like she is in close contact with her family even though they are scattered about the country.

Fenris-77 said:
30 years of anxiety. I have a possibly unfounded distrust of therapy, and so I avoided managing my issues. My wife finally convinced me that it was nonnegotiable. So I'm taking meds and doing well, but still not talking to a professional. *shrug*
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Although I grew up in a touchy feely environment, I never developed that myself. While I encourage seeking help for others if they feel the need, for myself I developed the "suck it up, keep it to yourself and deal with your stuff yourself" method that most therapists discourage. My stress relief tends to come from long drives, or just relaxing in the forest or a trip to the coast (as mentioned above the foggier, the better). I also find conversations with farm animals to be relaxing, goats, cows and sheep seem to be the least judgmental in my opinion. If you can find one who is a good listener ducks can be a good confidant. Never geese or peacocks though, they have no trouble telling you to quit whining in the most unhelpful ways.

This has served me well over the years (well I haven't shot anybody or hung myself so I consider that a success). I reached my fill in 2017 too much stress and not enough release. I started having anxiety attacks (which due to my state of mind I truly hoped were cardiac in nature). Still being a stubborn ass, I had to do it all myself. I ran across a website that at first I thought was a joke, but I actually found it helpful. It is presented in a somewhat self depreciating way, but is 100% sincere, in helping "stoic" people help themselves or find help that they can work with.

Man Therapy
 
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Toadmaster said:
Getting packages out to remote locations can be entertaining.
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I don't usually have much to complain about, but I have this one package that USPS just doesn't want to deliver. Was supposed to be here on Tuesday, but has been 'in transit' since Monday.
 
spittingimage said:
Every time someone tries to courier something to me, I spend ten days playing phone tag with the courier company and then collect it from the depot myself. WHY?! For the love of Satan, what do those people get paid for? You might as well hand the package to a random car stopped at the lights and pointed in the right direction!
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Your predicament doesn't make sense, surely there is a local-ish outfit who can help you out. I work in financial services and regularly arrange for notaries and attorneys to meet with people who live in remote and rural areas. This includes islands, mountaintops, and people who thinks it's a great idea to sign a refi in the middle of a fucking forest. I can usually find a qualified local-ish agent or in rare cases ask the borrower to meet halfway.

Honestly borrowers who live remote areas are are nowhere near as annoying as dealing with academics or the nouveau riche. Fuck those assholes.
 
Well, Day 2 back in Indonesia and #2 spawn is vomiting blood. So, off to the doctor we go.

He also wants Daddy, Daddy, Daddy all the time, and I won't be able to get there for at least another 6 months. More or less as predicted.
 
spittingimage said:
Nah. If it had been an insect of that size there would have been a lot more flailing and screaming. If it comes to that, I hope I have the presence of mind to stick my face in the toaster.
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Honestly that bug's not particularly big. Look at it. That's the distance between the fingertip and the first knuckle. Bees are bigger than that.
 
Nobby-W said:
Well, Day 2 back in Indonesia and #2 spawn is vomiting blood. So, off to the doctor we go.

He also wants Daddy, Daddy, Daddy all the time, and I won't be able to get there for at least another 6 months. More or less as predicted.
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That sucks so bad and I know the feeling of a kid needing daddy all the time.
 
Nobby-W said:
Well, Day 2 back in Indonesia and #2 spawn is vomiting blood. So, off to the doctor we go.

He also wants Daddy, Daddy, Daddy all the time, and I won't be able to get there for at least another 6 months. More or less as predicted.
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Hope it’s nothing serious and that he’s fine by now.
 
The Butcher said:
Hope it’s nothing serious and that he’s fine by now.
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The doctors ran some tests and can't find anything. Given how quickly it came on it might be something like food poisoning or some sort of viral tummy bug. It looks like he's a bit better now. We did some whatsapp video before and he tried to kiss me.
 
The Mrs was so happy to get back in school. Now she is furious because her English 100 resembles a sociology class with a political bias that has nothing do with, you know, improving one's command of the English language (she very much wants to improve her reading and writing skills). I keep telling her to write her teacher or even the administration about this but she won't do it. She is really worked up over this and I don't know how to help her.
 
Brock Savage said:
The Mrs was so happy to get back in school. Now she is furious because her English 100 resembles a sociology class with a political bias that has nothing do with, you know, improving one's command of the English language (she very much wants to improve her reading and writing skills). I keep telling her to write her teacher or even the administration about this but she won't do it. She is really worked up over this and I don't know how to help her.
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The best marriage advice I received was from someone that I really despise otherwise. Message not messenger, I remind myself, because it is superb advice. Sometimes, wives just want to vent. They don't want you to fix everything, nor even help in any way other than listening. You've given some excellent advice to her; it's up to her if and/or how she wants to handle the situation. You're helping her by listening and supporting her.
 
#2 spawn is back from the hospital now and on the mend. Indonesia has a Murica-style private health system, but much cheaper than the US because Indonesia.

So I sent her £500 to cover the hospital bill and she had enough change left to buy a TV. I think that sums Indonesia up on some level.
 
Nobby-W said:
#2 spawn is back from the hospital now and on the mend. Indonesia has a Murica-style private health system, but much cheaper than the US because Indonesia.

So I sent her £500 to cover the hospital bill and she had enough change left to buy a TV. I think that sums Indonesia up on some level.
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Great to hear the little fella is doing better Nobby.
 
Now having a conversation about whether the power socket for a chest freezer in the back yard (which is covered but still) needs to be waterproofed. Also, very Indonesian. I get the impression that the building codes about this sort of thing are either nonexistent or aren't terribly strictly enforced.
 
It's worth noting that I've had to fund out-of-pocket healthcare expenses in Indonesia that were an order of magnitude more than that. I pity the poor sods in Murica who have to deal with their healthcare system at US prices.

We're supposed to be getting health insurance for the family.
 
Nobby-W said:
Now having a conversation about whether the power socket for a chest freezer in the back yard (which is covered but still) needs to be waterproofed. Also, very Indonesian. I get the impression that the building codes about this sort of thing are either nonexistent or aren't terribly strictly enforced.
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Eh, there are places in America where that is certainly a thing. I've been to a few places where what you do on your property is your business, and inspectors are actively discouraged from adding their input.
 
We're going in the opposite direction, with talks of an Incubation Chamber Hybrid School starting in November (i.e. half the school goes on M-T with the other half virtual, and half on Th-F with the other half virtual and one teacher over them all). Not many are happy with this- especially the teachers.

My wife had to have a pretty heavy round of steroids in the aftermath of what we think was undiagnosed COVID, but of course there's no way to prove this. She and my daughter were very sick at one point, but had no fever or typical symptoms at the time, so they wouldn't do anything about it. However, her blood oxygen levels dropped really low, and with what we know now, that's one of the after effects of the disease that people that were untreated have. She had a heavy dose of steroids and breathing treatments, and is still dealing with that, but on top of it, the doctor thinks that the steroids may have knocked out her pancreas totally, making her now a Type 1 diabetic.

Waiting on the test results from that- but not sure if she should take the risk of being around children that are going back into the petri dish of on-site school. She's only doing this now because the doctor advised her not to work around people as she's now high risk, and now they're making even this idea of the pandemic pod high risk. And they have no plan for what to do if anyone tests positive in the schools. And they're planning to have a Halloween Trunk-or-Treat festival the weekend before school starts, because why not throw a party to mark the super spreader event in our area.

Very frustrated.
 
Our school district is attempting to go back Nov 3rd. This despite the neighboring school districts all deciding not to go back until at least Jan. I'm going to give this a few days before reacting since I can't tell if they are attempting to appease everyone in a round about way. My wife is freaking out hardcore which is oh so fun.
 
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