Real Life and What's Happening...

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So yesterday I went in for what I thought was a sinus infection, they send me to Camp Covid. Tested me for flu (no), Covid
(no response yet), and I kept telling them its just a sinus infection. Meds they finally gave me worked way better than Nyquil, and others. Feel much better today but still in "isolation."

Guess what, they called yesterday. Covid. Yes, Covid.
Thanks, guys, a bit longer to run that test ya think?
 
Guess what, they called yesterday. Covid. Yes, Covid.
Thanks, guys, a bit longer to run that test ya think?

currently the labs across the US are fucking packed because we are seeing a huge spike. Wear your masks, folks. My wife was in infectious disease, a team lead on the county covid response. This is no joke. I can speak pretty detailed about it.
 
I feel for you Brock. My uncle had colon cancer so we all had to be screened about three years ago. The general anesthetic wore off during my colonoscopy, not something I'd like to repeat.

Mine didn't wear off and it was bad. I can't imagine how it would be if it didn't wear off. And I have to do it again soon... the joys of having it run in my family.
 
heh...when I had my colonoscopy the nursing student put in the IV wrong and my arm swelled up like a balloon, I'd never had one before so I just figured it hurt a bit and felt weird, and when I got in with the doctor he looked at me and said "what the hell happened to your arm?" and then I went under and the only thing I really remember is at some point the doctor said, "well you felt that." I imagine it was when they clipped a polyp.
 
The first time I've been put under was when I had my wisdom teeth removed. They stuck the needle in my no problem, but for some reason right as I was about to go out I raised both of my arms up like I was doing the wave at a stadium. That detached my IV, but they got it back into me before I woke up.
 
The other day I went into a national chain for some tires. They didn't have any my size but told me I could order them online, $850 for a set of four. Yesterday I went into a local Mom & Pop place & they hooked me up with a set of four for $550. Glad I got that taken care of! The old ones were really worn out.
 
The other day I went into a national chain for some tires. They didn't have any my size but told me I could order them online, $850 for a set of four. Yesterday I went into a local Mom & Pop place & they hooked me up with a set of four for $550. Glad I got that taken care of! The old ones were really worn out.
I got the exact same thing going on in my neck of the woods. A local family owned tire shop has saved my ass many times when I was young and broke with cheap tire solutions. Only explanation I can think of is that the family owned place which has been around for decades owns their property and passes the savings along to the customer while the fancy chain outfits in a nicer part of town have a massive lease to pay every month.
 
I just found out that the many sirens I've been hearing all day were caused by someone trying to bomb a local building. The device failed to detonate, but started a small fire. I'm a bit shaken, as I drove past the building earlier today.
 
I just found out that the many sirens I've been hearing all day were caused by someone trying to bomb a local building. The device failed to detonate, but started a small fire. I'm a bit shaken, as I drove past the building earlier today.
Where do you live? Scary!

Wait you live in Sweden right? I have a frien that lives I think near a place called Malmo. He’s scared all the time.
 
Washington State.
Good old Spokane! I don't know what it's like over there these days but in the 90's eastern Washington/north idaho was quite alt right before it was in fashion. Ruby ridge and Hayden lake and all that.
 
Good old Spokane! I don't know what it's like over there these days but in the 90's eastern Washington/north idaho was quite alt right before it was in fashion. Ruby ridge and Hayden lake and all that.
I grew up in a town that was used as a sort of home base for a Neo-Nazi Terrorist group. Their leader, Robert Matthews robbed armoured cars and murdered folks before dieing in a shootout on Whidbey island. That all happened before my time, but his widow worked at my school. I'm used to seeing this particular ugly side of humanity, I'm just not used to folks being so open and rabid about it. One of my college dorm mates was the kid of the lawyer for the family involved in Ruby Ridge.
 
I grew up in a town that was used as a sort of home base for a Neo-Nazi Terrorist group. Their leader, Robert Matthews robbed armoured cars and murdered folks before dieing in a shootout on Whidbey island. That all happened before my time, but his widow worked at my school. I'm used to seeing this particular ugly side of humanity, I'm just not used to folks being so open and rabid about it. One of my college dorm mates was the kid of the lawyer for the family involved in Ruby Ridge.
I think a lot of folks would be surprised how few degrees of separation there are between them and stuff like this, if not actively aware of it.
 
I think a lot of folks would be surprised how few degrees of separation there are between them and stuff like this, if not actively aware of it.
It's a surreal feeling knowing someone who has done such violence.
 
It's a surreal feeling knowing someone who has done such violence.
My father was friends in college with a guy who would later go on the stab is ex wife and new boyfriend to death. It was interesting watching his reaction to it. He didn't stop being his friend but he didn't defend him in any way either. He had a friend who did something horrible and had to go to jail and that's just how the two things were.
 
I've just installed the Intel 750 in the machine and - apart from spending a great length of time initialising with no feedback from the management tool - it seems to be working now. The vendor has promised to send out some replacement memory for the machine and asked me to take a photo of the 16GB modules I put in it so he could get some of the right spec.

It's been a bit of a faff getting this up and running but I think we're on the home stretch now.
 
Been trying to get back into writing by focusing on original fiction instead of fanfiction and I've been realizing I'm doing it all wrong.

Like, I know I'm a bad writer but I've been making a lot of rookie mistakes left and right since I've started trying it again.

Apparently, it's considered bad form to write in first-person unless you're already experienced and have got your form and style fully worked out.
 
Been trying to get back into writing by focusing on original fiction instead of fanfiction and I've been realizing I'm doing it all wrong.

Like, I know I'm a bad writer but I've been making a lot of rookie mistakes left and right since I've started trying it again.

Apparently, it's considered bad form to write in first-person unless you're already experienced and have got your form and style fully worked out.
Fuck bad form man, wrote the way you like writing. We're talking about an intensely personal pursuit, and I can't recommend listening too much to other people. Any regular practice performed with the intent of getting better will get you where you need to be. There's nothing wrong with fanfic either, it lets you work with a built-in understanding of setting, which lets you focus on mechanics.
 
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The best way to learn how to write in a certain style way is to practice writing that way over and over again. I recall one writing prof who pulled the old 'you have to learn the rules before you break them' claim in a workshop. But I soon realized that was just an excuse as he didn't like any form of sf, fantasy or surrealism in writing and admitted he didn't know how to advise others how to write in those styles.

While it is true you need to have a real grasp of the English language I realized how absurd that claim is if you just turn it around: to write like Dickens first you have to learn how to write like DeLillo...if you're inspired by Bartheleme and Kafka you're not going to get there by modelling Graham Greene.

Which doesn't mean that modernist writers don't learn from the 'traditional' masters and vice versa but one has to write a lot to figure out how it works and your time is best spent writing towards the style you want to achieve.

Another common misnomer is the cult of 'originality.' I had a great writing prof who told us that we were best off practicing by imitating the form and style of writers we loved and then we'd work towards our own voice. He was so right, imitating the form of a piece you admire is really eye-opening and helps you understand what they are doing at a structural level.

I later read that no-less great and original writers as Flaubert and Proust wrote pastiches of writers they admired as technical exercises.
 
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In these troubled times, it's a trifling thing, but I made gumbo tonight, for the first time.

Since I work from home, I do the majority of the cooking and I wanted to make gumbo for a long time now, but I couldn't find a recipe I liked until this past week. More importantly, I knew it involved making a roux, and I was a big coward at the thought - cooks ruin pans, and meals, if they get the roux wrong.

And I decided to add a degree of difficulty by doubling the recipe, so I could be sure to have enough for more than one meal and to share with my sister-in-law.

I made the roux with olive oil and all-purpose flour and it turned out light; gumbo's usually made with a chocolate brown roux, but I think I would've needed to use butter for that, and I prefer to cook with olive oil. It came out well enough for a first try, and now I can play with the proportions to get it the way I want it.

It was delicious, if I do say so myself: way too spicy for the First Mate, though she liked the flavor, but both Cabin Kids at it up - the Cabin Girl is a nightmare to cook for, especially vegetables, but she downed okra and bell peppers and onions and celery without a moment's hesitation tonight.

I love cooking for my family; it makes me happy when I can bring something new to the table they enjoy. And I expanded my comfort zone as a cook a little bit, which always feels good. Bon appétit.
 
Been trying to get back into writing by focusing on original fiction instead of fanfiction and I've been realizing I'm doing it all wrong.

Like, I know I'm a bad writer but I've been making a lot of rookie mistakes left and right since I've started trying it again.

Apparently, it's considered bad form to write in first-person unless you're already experienced and have got your form and style fully worked out.
Great to see you back here Senpai!
 
Been trying to get back into writing by focusing on original fiction instead of fanfiction and I've been realizing I'm doing it all wrong.

Like, I know I'm a bad writer but I've been making a lot of rookie mistakes left and right since I've started trying it again.

Apparently, it's considered bad form to write in first-person unless you're already experienced and have got your form and style fully worked out.
So you think to yourself, maybe Sammy should write in second person. You know it's not a common approach, but you realise it has the advantage of making you sound like a hardboiled New York detective. And now you're waiting for a dame with a problem to walk through the door.
 
Holidays Family Drama: Now Powered By COVID-19™️!
My usual holiday drama has dropped because now everyone is staying home. Well that's how it looks so far. I'm a little concerned some of my family who have had Covid will think they can do anything with anyone now.
 
They're thinking of tightening the lockdown as numbers keep rising despite the current measures and guidelines. It won't really affect us much, because during our daily lives we usually do little more than go to work, go to the supermarket and stay at home anyway.
 
Anyone here in Germany? My understanding is they just closed schools. Does anyone have more details on that?
 
Although spending Thanksgiving alone turned out pretty okay, I'm currently rather bummed that I will be spending Christmas alone, too. Hoping I'll feel better about it on the actual day.
 
So work is just holding some sort of global town hall meeting and the response time on their remote desktop server has just gone to shit with all the traffic from streaming video to every employee over the remote desktop connection.
 
I've been working a lot, gaming is cancelled for this month, and the Mrs is on an oddball early morning holiday crunch schedule (she works in a bakery). In response I have been playing CP2077 like a maniac. I have been playing until 3 or 4am every night along with an unemployed friend, catching a few hours of sleep then working. I don't even wanna admit how much time I have put into it since release.
 
I've been working a lot, gaming is cancelled for this month, and the Mrs is on an oddball early morning holiday crunch schedule (she works in a bakery). In response I have been playing CP2077 like a maniac. I have been playing until 3 or 4am every night along with an unemployed friend, catching a few hours of sleep then working. I don't even wanna admit how much time I have put into it since release.

I've been pacing myself. Its siren call is very hard to resist, though.
 
We had a beach house (in a resort town a couple of hours away) rented for the next week and I was really, really looking forward to it — a little respite for our family to wrap up this shitty year — but yesterday the town went on a very strict lockdown. Nobody gets in and tourists have been ordered to vacate their rooms and get back home.

Seriously, fuck this thing, and fuck Brazil’s utterly ineffective, science-denialist government too.
 
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