#go check pik's work out

[unma]

POV: You're the last uncontained breaching abnormality and stumble into a particularly focused employee.

SO I recently found out about @trainingdummyrabbit's Cocoa through their long post about how she came to be and ever since I've been unable to get her out of my mind. I absolutely adore her story and wanted to try and draw this nugget that is totally 100% normal and sane.

[bopinion]

2024 / 17

Brief compromise edition (and belated - sorry...)

Bad News of the Week

Climate change not only has immense consequences for flora and fauna (including humans, by the way), but also for the economy. A recent study now emphasizes once again: climate change is causing the global economy to shrink significantly. Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) present facts in the scientific journal Nature that can only be described as severe: even the best-case scenario (i.e. even with a drastic reduction in climate-damaging gases that limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius) describes that at least 38 trillion dollars in economic damage is to be expected - every year.

You have to put that into perspective: That means a global loss of income of around a fifth. So for companies AND their employees. And the damage would be six times as high - so as expensive - as the cost of effective measures to limit global warming. When will I finally stop hearing that climate protection measures are sensible but expensive? No, they are sensible and inexpensive. And, incidentally, essential for survival. Let's (finally) go!

Good News of the Week

In just over a month's time, there will be elections to the European Parliament in Europe. Absurdly enough, there are also parties standing for election that see Europe as a curse rather than a prospect. And would prefer to abolish the EU. And the Euro. And Europe in general. Unsurprisingly, these are primarily nationalists from the right-wing spectrum. Taking Viktor Orbán as a role model: this juggernaut in Brussels must be dismantled from within. Just like parasites do with their host. Got the picture?

In Germany, the right-wing populist AfD (Alternative für Deutschland / Alternative for Germany) is taking on this task. These parasites already occupy 10% of German seats in the European Parliament. Constructive work? Full stop. Loud grumbling? Full throttle. The AfD is so extreme that other right-wing parties such as Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (France) or Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia (guess what: Italy) are seriously considering throwing them out of the ID (Identity & Democracy) group of parliament.

Nevertheless, the AfD assumed that it would go into the election with a tailwind - as the ruling traffic light coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals has an immense image problem. Until last week. That's when a bombshell dropped: an employee of top candidate Maximilian Krah was exposed as a Chinese spy. Yes, exposed. And not just suspected. Because the hurdles for a parliamentary employee to be taken into custody are high. Since then, the top candidate has been asked to resign. And hidden by his own party.

I think there are several positive lessons to be learned from this incident: Germany must significantly increase its awareness of espionage. Germany needs to check more closely which people come in and out of its institutions and have access to sensitive information. Not all right-wingers are the same, there are plenty of nuances. And above all: potential voters could now (and should at least now!) think twice about who they vote for. Because the AfD is clearly not only undermining Europe's interests, but also those of Germany. "Germany first" therefore effectively rules out a vote for this party. Got that?

Post Scriptum

The Liberals are swearing their base (and the few potential voters they have left) to an "economic turnaround" at a party conference. What does that mean? For example, a freeze on social transfer payments with simultaneous tax relief - by abolishing the "solidarity surcharge", which is perhaps not just called that by coincidence. Dear Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP): I wish you a constructive time as an extra-parliamentary opposition in the coming legislative period. Fortunately, liberal ideals have recently been upheld primarily by the Greens. You are now just a client party for high earners who want to dismantle the welfare state. What a pity, really...

[nuo2x2]

Druid By Hello Tavern

Taken by nuo2x2 with Sony ZV-1

another long due review, but mostly because of my last Halloween themed posts parade, haha.. oh well…

long story short, in my current country, I usually spend my weekend going to an area called as Pantai Indah Kapuk or PIK to photo hunt, hunting toys, and yeee, just doing leisurely weekend hobby life in general… within that location, they got two renowned Board Game Cafes, one being super fancy and busy lookin, while the other more cozy and having that small guild/cafe type of vibes… originally, I checked the first one several times, yet whenever I was there, either they already fully booked, or they are just super busy and the place cramped with visitors…

so one day, I went to the later one, the smaller one that is still within the area… first time there, right away I got that chill, cozy, and community types of vibes from the cafe.. I rarely bring any party with me, usually travel alone, so I just sit there and order some drinks and food… but not long after, a friendly game master approach me and ask if I want to join some other table that was seeking a fourth player… was an awesome experience… went there again the second time only for quick lunch, yet another friendly party approach me… hum… what a friendly place I said to myself… that cafe is called as Hello Cafe & Boardgame

jumping to the recent time, couple of months ago, their team was joining an event held by my current company, and they brought a board game they are developing called as Hello Tavern. It’s a table top game, where they try to create their own lore, print their own map, and developing their game pieces… they brought amazing quality pieces to the event, where I got the chance of checking each pieces that were 3D printed… very nicely done…

each pieces got amazing craftmanship, they really put some efforts in making it smooth and easy to be painted after the printing process, quite amazed.. later, they also brought a huge gacha type of wheels, where every visitor can play the wheel for free… I tried, and won that Druid game piece above… really happy with the quality. later we got acquainted, and I just realized, they were Ben and Gerry from Hello Cafe & Boardgames, whom also develop the Hello Tavern boardgame

really love their works, and only bidding the best for the development of the Hello Tavern board game…also the reason why I reviewed that piece here, lol. make sure to check em out in their IG, or just google em… my piece havent got painted, but Im thinking of preserving that early model instead, y’know, me being a toys collector, and the possibility of Hello Tavern to thrive in the future ;)

[terribletaletime]

Bananarchy

•

Evil. Gru had become evil. After twenty years of his darling daughters fleeing the nest and living their own lives far away from him, he had become soured to the world. It's not like his daughters hated him and fled an abusive father, it's just that life swept them away. Slowly, they all moved across the country and started their own lives. Of course they try to find time for their father, but as we all know life just... happens. As the once doting father realized that his daily chats with his darling daughters became rare occurrences, he got angry and bitter. His mother dying didn't help his situation, either. Every little person that brushed by him and tried to speak to him was somehow responsible for all of the pain and fury he felt.

Gru's devious acts used to be theft and miscellaneous little tricks. His evil would inconvenience and scare people, but that's where the line would be drawn. However, as Gru's anger festered his urges increased. It started out with beating a guard that caught him during a heist. The guard was fired up, furious that he was bound. If only they had gagged him, too. He goaded Gru; he screamed at him and called him a coward. He said a true man wouldn't bind him up, and instead would fight him like a man. Gru walked over and nearly bashed his face in. If Bob didn't intervene, then he would've been long dead. Maybe that would've been the better option. The man's face after that was deformed, covered in scars with an eye missing.

He loved it; nothing excited Gru more than the adrenaline he got from his brutality. The violence made him forget the aching hole in his heart that his absent daughters had left. Even if just for a second, it numbed the unbearable pain, but it was never enough. The more atrocities Gru had committed, the more he craved it. It went from beatings to homicide at an alarming rate. His inventions to shrink and steal things became inventions to slaughter as many people as possible. He would experiment with new and fun ways to do it; he would squeeze the life out of someone with his own hands one day then burn someone to death with a ray the next.

"Ba sup Whaaat? pik tos reffud da be (this isn't what it was supposed to be)", Bob thought.

When Bob was just a child, he had joined forces with Gru. Together they comitted various fun and petty crimes, but he never signed up for murder. Gru didn't care about this, though. He wouldn't confront his own feelings, so nobody else was allowed to feel theirs.

"Kill her." Gru growled at Bob last week.

"Radbad... radbad domo batooay ba. Ka pudum't vivo com gaenu asa ka batooay ba. Lam's sola a lip, Gru. Lam's sola a fucking lip (Please... please don't do this. I can't live with myself if I do this. She's just a child, Gru. She's just a fucking child.) Bob pleaded for the young girl's life. They were robbing a bank and the girl and mother just happened to be cashing a check while it was going down. The girl, who could be no older than seven, threw herself over her mother. She sobbed as the color drained from the woman's eyes and the pool of blood grew around her.

"Mom, mommy, please! Please wake up please! Mommy!" The girls shrieks echoed throughout the building. Bobs heart sunk into his stomach. He pressed the gun to the girls head. She didn't even notice it, her focus was locked onto her still cold mother.

"Ba tis ta merciful tipa da batooay (this is the merciful thing to do)," he thought. "Ta pappala tis een agony recha prompo. Lam sola ethnob la mama ads a agden, asa lam lumfag ba pen lam polo kaylay da vivo com pak sin alga dia de la levo. Pak tis no levo sec ehkit (The girl is in agony right now. She just watched her mother eat a bullet, if she survived this then she would have to live with that image every day of her life. That is no life worth living)."

Bob was desperate to justify the situation. If he did, that meant he wouldn't have to life with the crushing overwhelming guilt. It didn't work, though. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the sobbing girls' chunky blood-soaked brains splattered against that wall. He couldn't bare it. It felt as if there was a truck parked on top of his chest. Every breath he took made it feel as if he were working out for hundreds of hours. He was exhausted, he had to do something. He sent out a secret memo to all minions while Gru was out to gather in their basement base.

"Siblings, radbad bebada. Ka cono ta mew ka dub nama daunting, pelo feila bare nan ugly dun. Gru tis kapee de hottoe (Siblings, please listen. I know the words I speak are daunting, but they bare an ugly truth. Gru is out of control)." A concerned murmur was heard all throughout the room.

"Kan pem fem dugoda eyed yokpye, pem bonded com pak lonely pes lip. Le mobla nos mara filinn yee paslay. Pem hagan la mucha agei modkif elm yee disorder askoud. Pik tos agei, pik tos fid. Seep me unami to ba, kan tos ta tepo veela to dif zelp ba via (When we were bright eyed children, we bonded with that lonely angry child. He made us feel welcomed and wanted. We had so much fun causing chaos and disorder everywhere. It was fun, it was happy. Let me ask you this, when was the last time you truly felt this way)?"

The minions' whispers reached a halt. Pure silence spoke for them. Nobody was happy anymore, nobody was okay anymore. Fear and pain soaked their every thought.

"Qatavo, pem talp cep noor vow ohosae ba ka yee ivycay da tepo hagtot. Qatavo, pem talp bin gru. Noor uts, noor sadness, noor gaspen, pik sama tadda be fino. Pem sama tenga ta oebun wagleu wop yee hub noor hodwhy. Whaaat? batooay to tom (tomorrow, we shall raise our arms against this man and commit one last murder. Tomorrow, we shall kill Gru. Our pain, our sadness, our confusion, it will all be over. We will keep the general population safe and gain our freedom. What do you say)?" Loud cheers filled the rooms. Bob, for the first time in years, was filled with hope. Finally... finally it'll be over.

The next morning, Gru walked through the door. Bob grabbed his gun and pointed it at Gru's head.

"No, gru. Non diejag. Tu reign de terror tis fino. Nopa unama sama seegem tadwiz ta brutal curse tu kor nop (No, Gru. Not anymore. Your reign of terror is over. Never again will anyone suffer the brutal curse your hands hold)." Gru let out a laugh that seemed to echo throughout the entire house.

"What, do you think I fear you? You think I fear your pitiful little gun?" He smirked. "Do it, Bob. Pull the god damn trigger."

Bobs fury bubbled and boiled over. He pulled the trigger, but instead of a loud bang all that was heard was a quiet click. Gru once again let out a loud laugh.

"Oh Bob, you fucking moron. You really thought you could kill me?" Bobs minion siblings surrounded him, holding up various weapons towards him.

"They told me about your little... stunt. I'll give it to you, it certainly was a nice try, but come on. They're not all cowardly wimps like you."

They grabbed Bob and dragged him outside to the backyard where there was a large cross standing on top of a bed of hay.

"No, no radbad stop! pem roopa templa a talamo ohosae lom, radbad! le pudum't tenga gego cos com lo tyranny (no, no please stop! We still stand a chance against him, please! He can't keep getting away with his tyranny)!"

They didn't listen to him, though. All they did was laugh as they strapped him to the cross and put a thorny crown upon his head to inflict maximum pain and ensure he was as... flammable as possible. They threw a torch upon the pile of hay and watched as Bob slowly was roasted to death. HIs screams filled the air, making the atmosphere heavy. They did what they had to, they did what they had to. If they didn't do this, he would kill them. Even if they had succeeded in killing Gru, where would they go? They did the right thing, right?

[nelweensfic]

Always with you

Chapter 4 : Aveam and Scatty Cat

Thank you to @cluelesspigeons for beta reading ❤️

Chapter 1 - previous chapter

“Ruby, did you check the emails?” my manager, Valentin, asks. “There are a lot of demands.” 

“Yeah, I know,” I sigh, putting down my pencil. “But I’ve been working on this project all morning, and you know when it comes from the CEO it gets priority.” 

Valentin rolls his eyes with a loud sigh. I take my mouse and check the emails anyway. We both use the same mailbox and he always gets desperate when he sees there are too many unread emails. 

I print some of the demands, classify them as urgent orders and go back to my own work. 

Just then, my phone vibrates on the desk and I glance at it. 

[Mae] : I want you to join our team :(

I look toward my manager. His desk is next to me on my left. I know he hates when I’m on my phone too much. But I can’t help it. My brain needs something more entertaining than those maps and specifications for future works. 

[Me] : I told you I can’t! 

My heart sinks at the message. Maeva’s team has been holding try-outs for a new ADC for a week now, yet nobody seems to fit. Even Justin has tried to contact me to try to cheer up Maeva. She just doesn’t want anyone else other than me. She wants to live our dream together. 

[Mae] : What are you afraid of? You know you’ll be paid well. We’ve talked about it.

“I need some tea,” I say softly, mostly to myself. 

I can’t focus on my work and I'm struggling to find an answer to Mae’s question. I’ve tried to explain to her that I can’t just leave my job or my apartment. Though, Mae has talked about the paycheck. The amount of zeros in the number is insane. 

So what am I afraid of? 

Going on a stage? The fame? Probably both. I’m an introvert. I don't know if I can deal with fame. I’ve never liked playing when Maeva’s streaming for that reason. And if we do play while she’s streaming, I mute myself in the Discord call. 

“Hey, Ruby!” Robin calls me as I walk down the stairs. 

Robin is my favourite male colleague in the company. We talk a lot about anime or video games. He also plays Dragonitia.

“Look at this! Pik Gaming is showing Sunny’s new photoshoot!” he says as I walk toward his desk, trying hard to not make a face at Henry’s in-game username.

I sigh. I can’t stand Henry’s username anymore but I can’t say why. “I feel bad for the DiP, though.” Robin sighs. “Aveam is probably disappointed.” 

Aveam is Maeva's username. It’s her name backwards. We were young when we chose our usernames and clearly weren’t creative when we made our accounts. Mine is ScattyCat, like the big fluffy black cat from the Disney movie, The Aristocats. I was also not really creative.

“Well, her carry AD left her for another team. Of course she feels sad,” I reply angrily. Maybe I even sound too mad because Robin looks at me weirdly. “What?” 

“Well, it’s funny that you’re taking her side.” He shrugs before looking at his screen again. “I didn’t know you liked her that much. Do you have a crush on her? You know it’s okay. She’s pretty.” 

I roll my eyes with a snort. Since he found out about my sexuality and me liking boys and girls after I told him when I had too much to drink one night, he hasn’t stopped teasing me with that. Funny that he talks about Maeva like that. Even I have to admit, she is gorgeous. 

“It’s not because I defend a girl that I have a crush on her.” 

“You say that, but look at her!” Robin types something on his laptop and a bunch of pictures and GIFs about Maeva appear. She is pretty. “The new carry AD will be lucky.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“Well, he would totally be able to date her! I’m sure some of her teammates have tried.” 

“Robin, she’s a lesbian.” I raise an eyebrow. 

“Yeah right.” Robin sighs in disappointment but I don’t let him rest. 

“Also, how can you assume the new ADC won’t be a girl?”

I hold my breath. Why am I asking him that? Do I want to know someone else's opinion on having two girls in a team? Why? Because I want to join them? 

“I mean why wouldn’t I assume?” He shrugs once more. “It’s rare to see girls as pro players. There are only two other girls aside from Aveam in the other professional teams, but they’re not even that good.

“Then who do you want to join DiP?” 

“I don’t care?” Robin turns to look at me with questioning eyes. “Do you have someone in mind?” 

“I mean…” I scratch behind my neck. “ScattyCat always plays with Aveam on streams. They’re quite good together.” 

“You’re right. They could work well in a team.” Robin nods before leaning back on his chair. “ScattyCat’s level is just Grand Master, though. I don’t think the team would want them. They’re basically a nobody among pro players, you know?” 

That hurts. I’m a nobody? Robin has just confirmed my fears. I don’t have the right rank level to play in a professional team. 

“But with some team practice, they could fit the team,” Robin adds. “I think it’s just them not playing that often.”

“How do you know that?”

“I check their account from time to time. They almost only play with Aveam, or a solo game from time to time. But never more than one or two games during weekdays.”

Ok, that’s kind of creepy. I have a stalker and it’s one of my colleagues, but I smile anyway, heart beating fast. I have someone who looks at my score and thinks I’m still okay. It does make me a little more happy. 

“Ruby!” Valentin calls from upstairs. 

“Coming!” I shout back. “I have to go.” I sigh before leaving Robin. 

Maybe I can reconsider the offer. What would Robin's reaction be if he discovered that I am ScattyCat? What would my family think? Well, we’re almost as good as no contact so… Their opinion doesn’t really matter. But still. 

Am I ready to come out as a professional video gamer?  

Edit : next chapter!

[tikpik]

Another Guitar? No Problem! 10 Ways to Convince Your Parents

You can't get over with Guitars, are you? Guitars are beautiful, and the Guitar Music is so refreshing to listen to. Guitar lovers can't convince themselves not to buy another Guitar. They go to the Guitar Shops to buy Guitars.

10 Ways to Convince Your Parents to Buy Another Guitar:

If your parents or partner think that you have enough Guitars and you don't need another one, convince them why you should buy another one. 10 ways to convince your parents to buy another Guitar:

1. Need a backup guitar: Well, if something happens to your Guitar and you don't have a backup plan for it, then what you should do? It is a way to convince your parents. If you succeed, then remember to buy some Guitar Picks like Fender Guitar Pick, Metal Guitar Picks, Nylon Guitar Picks, etc.

2. Different Guitars, Different Sound: Different Guitars have different sounds. They also have different-sized Guitar Picks as well like Jazz III, Guitar Pick Medium, etc.

3. Need a Guitar That Suits Your Style: You will practice and learn new skills as time passes. So, you will know what is your perfect Guitar that will suit your style.

4. To Impress Your Crush and Others: Your crush likes Guitars. You have to impress them. You want to be a Guitar Player in your school or college to impress others, too. It is another way to convince your parents to buy another Guitar.

5. To support Your Ideal Guitar Artist: You have to buy your Ideal artist's Guitar to support them in their career.

6. To Learn New Genres and Styles: If you are interested in new Genres and styles, then you should buy another Guitar that will be perfect for your new genres.

7. A Reward For Your Hard Work: You participated in a show by playing Guitars. You got your first prize or got selected for another round. So, in this case, a reward for your hard work is a must.

8. Guitar Collectors: You love Guitars so much that you want to collect rare Guitars and antique Guitars. You can buy Guitars for your collection and Guitar Pick and Guitar Pick Holder accordingly.

9. Special Occasions, Celebrate with a New Guitar: Christmas is coming, and you want a new Guitar to celebrate the occasion.

10. Special Discounts and Deals That You Can't-Miss: Every online/offline shop gives special discounts on special occasions on every product. Your favorite Guitar is on sale, and you will finally get it at discounted prices.

You now have 10 ways to convince your parents that you are going to buy a new Guitar. You can use any one way, and your job is done. If they still don't want you to buy a new one, then convince them with another method. You will succeed.

Tik Pik: Your One Stop Shop:

You can find Guitar Picks that will stick to any Guitar in Tik Pik. They stick without using any residues, chemicals, or adhesives. Take advantage of this opportunity to buy one, and if you have multiple Guitars, then you can buy a set of Guitar Picks at discounted prices. Why wait if you are getting a deal? Check out the prices here[website link]. If you have any queries, feel free to reach us here https://www.tikpik.com/.

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[msbarrows]

You know thoese threads talking about how much people wished they had their younger bodies? Particularly parts like knees, hips, spines, etc? For me the #1 thing I most finding myself thinking about when those roll around is my teeth.

I had craptastic oral hygeine when I was younger and as a result have had a lot of fillings over the years (to the point all my molars and most of my premolars have fillings in the crown), plus one precautionary root canal (a front incisor that stopped a softball back in highschool - tooth was still slightly loose and twinge-y years later, so dentist of the time and I figured I should get it handled while I had some nice dental coverage going on). Also had all my wisdom teeth extracted over a several month period due to bad tooth decay, go younger me and not brushing or flossing anywhere near enough.

I later went through a multi-year period where I couldn’t afford to go see a dentist at all, despite having lost a big chunk of a filling in one upper right molar, so when I finally did get back around to regular dentristy, guess who had a second root canal. Yeah, me. I have since become much better at maintaining dental hygiene. Not necessarily great or even particularly good on a consistent basis, but better. Enough so that my dental hygienist no longer gets all frowny faced after a cleaning and my gums are usually the good colour.

But then, since last spring alone, I’ve broken an upper left molar twice - once on a partially popped popcorn kernel, which blew out the outer front quadrant of the tooth, and then this fall a second time on some peanuts, which sheered off the entire inner face. The only original bits remaining are the roots and the outer back quadrant, the remainder is currently temporary rebuilt of amalagam or resin or something, and at some point once my dentist has a big enough block of time free, will get to become my first crown (he’s still playing catch-up due to last year’s covid shutdown; big chunks of appointment time are hard to fit in). That’s not even my first broken tooth - I have a premolar, also on the left though lower side, that lost it’s inner front corner way back when I was still with the first root canal guy in the 90s, which was rebuilt of amalgam (and is still going strong, awesome job Dr Bob).

I also this fall developed a very painful cavity on the upper right back molar, up between the teeth (where I’ve had a food trap area for decades). Current dentist fixed that back in Dec, but it’s been intermittently painful ever since, and this weekend went from “occasionally uncomfortable with random sharp pains” to excrutiating pain for hours at a time; pain that even a couple of extra strength Tylenols was not significantly helping with.

Yay for an emergency dental appointment this morning.  Dentist thinks it’s probably the root dying because of how deep and close to the nerve that cavity had been. I now have prescriptions for antibiotics (to make sure it doesn’t abcess, and clean up anything funny that is already going on in there), extra strength ibuprofen (Advil) and acetaminophen with codein (Tylenol 3). Usual thing of try the Advils first, if that doesn’t cut the pain down to tolerable levels, switch to the Tylenols, and if that doesn’t work, combine the two. And once the run of antibiotics is done, grats me on root canal #3.

If I could go back in time and give my younger self any sort of health-related head slap, it would be about brushing and flossing regularly. Buying a water-pik earlier and using it more regularly. Brushing for longer, paying attention to the gum line, etc etc etc.

Maybe a caution about not taking my knees for granted. Getting that blood sugar checked earlier. But mostly, the teeth.

[tennisnightwhenthesungoesdown]

Day 14

Today we are going to the old town centre zone type thing in Huntington, to check out more famous sights and sounds of the MBMBaM tv show :)

We wanted to go to the radio and television museum but that is only open on the weekends in wintertime we found out, so that is now a plan for later :)

We are staying in between the town centre shopping type place which is called Pullman Square, and the old town centre place in west Huntington. It's like a five minute drive and a 40 minute walk to west Huntington but we absolutely cannot figure out the bus routes or timetables, so we're walking :) Luckily it's like six degrees today :)

We started walking, realised we were walking along the wrong side of the train tracks and would just be going through the industrial kind of zone the entire time, so we went back to our airbnb and started again on the residential side of the train tracks :)

We had a lovely walk through the other side of Huntington, listening to our podcast friends along the way :)

This is the second biggest city in West Virginia but I see why the McElroys always call it a town. It is not big. And it seems like within a block there will be houses that look in pretty good shape and then houses that are absolutely wrecked. I can see why the McElboys do so many things to fundraise for different groups here. I hope it's helping!

We walked all the way to where Safety Town (the safest little town in West Virginia) should have been (according to the map) and it wasn't there. So we kept walking along the road and it just wasn't there. Safety Town is a small fake town they have in Huntington to teach children about road safety and it is also the site of many beloved McelBoy moments from the TV show.

We were cold and sad and dejected, so we decided to give up and go to the next place on our list. We walked back along the very cool walking path that was there and ran alongside a little creek and a cool woods area where all the trees had no leaves. Then suddenly, as we got closer to the place where Safety Town should have been, we saw a place on the other side of the intersection that started to look more and more like Safety Town! Could it be? Could the map have been a little bit wrong but not as wrong as we initially thought?

And lo, it was true, the thing we had literally seen the side of and thought it was the railway museum (because there are a bunch of cool old trains at the back of it, and a literal sign saying "railway museum this way") turned out to be Safety Town!

AND! It all actually worked out sooo well because there turned out to be a big group of like forty McElBoy fans in there who had organised a tour of Safety Town?? So we crossed the road, went in the open door, and joined :) It was soooo cool! And we got certificates and honourary junior fire fighter identity cards! Nice!!

We had such a lovely Safety time in Safety Town :) And if we had found it earlier, we knew we weren't going to be able to go inside because it's usually closed and is just for school groups to visit, so it all worked out sooo good :)

We then walked just up the road to the old shopping zone which is now the antiques district and saw Hattie and Nan's, the antique store our boys go into to buy haunted items in the first episode.

Needing to warm up, we visited a very lovely book shop with many welcoming gay rainbow stickers on the door, and looked around and ordered a London Fog!? Which is a drink here!? It's very cool it's another coffee alternative which is earl grey tea, vanilla flavouring, and steamed milk? So rad :)

We walked all the way back across to the new town area and got Thai food for dinner :) The waitress was so lovely and very friendly because very few people were in there :)

And then... it was..... time to go see "Star Wars: the new Star Wars movie" at the AMAAAAAAAZING movie theatre here where griffin used to work and which has the most glorious 90's aesthetic 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 I'm talking purple and blue patterns on ALL of the walls 🙋🏼Weird squiggly orange neon lights 🙋🏼 Candly pik n mix 🙋🏼 so good 🙋🏼

And we really liked Star Wars :)

What a day :)

[jedimaster941]

A Declaration of Lost Independence

A Declaration of Lost Independence

As we get older, as we live life, like stone eroding under the power of crashing waves, our bodies break down. And as our bodies break down, we become more and more unable to do things. Sometimes not to the standard we once did, and sometimes we lose the ability completely. We lose things that bring us joy, and we lose things that bring us to life. Whether it be slowly or quickly, we all lose our independence. Aging is something, like it or not, we have all signed up for. We will get older, our bodies will break down, and we will lose our overall independence. It’s not ideal, but we understand it to be true.

For Chronically ill people, however, we can lose our independence rather suddenly, and it has absolutely nothing to do with natural aging. If someone aged 78 years has trouble walking, getting dressed, or going to the bathroom, very few would question it. But imagine you are 28 years old and you have the same difficulties. Think of how you would feel. In this article I will discuss the ways in which people with chronic illness lose their independence in the areas of physical, mental, social, and dietary, and the toll it takes on us when the things that we should be able to do becomes out of reach.

*This post features responses from chronically ill patients whom I asked…*

------------------------------

Physical

Loss of physical independence is the area that most people think about when illness takes over. It is at least the most public. People see wheelchairs, walkers, canes, crutches, and handicapped placards. They are also readily aware when someone takes a little longer to stand up, when they have trouble buttoning a shirt, or their handwriting becomes illegible. If someone gets to know a disabled person well enough they may also become aware of PIK lines, feeding tubes, and colostomy bags among others.

When someone is chronically ill/disabled their bodies are the primary victim of their disease. In one way or another, our bodies are malfunctioning. As my primary care physician said to me once, “We are all getting older, you're a just doing it a lot faster”. (If anyone is curious, I did not take offense, I appreciated that he acknowledged my illness and my lack of certain abilities)

Our independence is very much directly lost in these examples. We lose the ability of climb stairs, walk short distances, wash ourselves, cook food, and one I’d like to discuss a little more, exercise.

Doctors and online experts tell us we need to exercise. I can’t disagree with that. Exercise is important to keeping what we have left tip top. However, when we can’t climb stairs, walk short distances, or wash ourselves, how do you expect us to get the the gym to do some Cross Fit? I know for me, exercise of any kind hurts and has lasting effects. Some of my readers may remember how not long ago I walked a peppy poodle for half a mile and my legs hurt for three days after. This wasn't from being out of shape, this was due of my condition. Yes, exercise, but understand sometimes it's more harm than help.

I used to be a distance runner, a golfer, and could give the best piggy back rides. Now, due to Ankylosing Spondylitis, I can’t do any of that. And believe me when I tell you, that hurts me mentally as well.

Mental

With chronic illness and disability there comes a mental toll as well. Both in the areas of cognitive ability, and depression.

First, let's touch on cognitive ability which will then (as all of these sections do) we will move on to depression.

I imagine many of my readers are already well versed in the words and terminology used in the discussion of chronic illness. However, if you are new to this world, let me share a term that I, and all of us use probably on a daily basis: “Brain Fog”.

Brain Fog is exactly what it sounds like, a thick layer of fog on your brain. You know how hard it is to see through a covering of fog? Now, imagine that fog is in your head and your brain is trying to see thoughts, feelings, and ideas through it. It’s not easy and often things are lost.

Brain fog is caused by pain and the inability to actually shut down and rest. When people go to sleep their bodies and minds go into power saver mode to recharge, refresh, and do diagnostics checks. However, what happens when you drink caffeine, or you eat a big meal before bed? Well, if you can sleep, your body has now been given other things to work on. The caffeine makes your heart work harder, and your body needs to work to digest that big meal. So what happens? You don’t wake up rested because your body never actually got any rest. The same thing happens every night for people with chronic illness, but without the caffeine and steak dinner. In my case, with Ankylosing Spondylitis, my body is always working to fight off a foreign invader known as the lining between my joints. (I guess it’s actually a domestic invader) For most of us, because of constant pain, we can never get comfortable and even when we do sleep, we aren't actually resting. This lack of true sleep causes our brains to process at a diminished rate limiting our abilities to remember, problem solve, and function.

When I go to the doctor, I bring my wife. Not because I need a supportive hand, but because I need a partner and coach to help me tell the doctor what I need to say, and then remember what the doctor tells me. There have been times I have come home from an appointment solo and either forgot what treatment we discussed or, through my fogginess, made up something completely different because I could have sworn the doctor said she wanted to try bloodletting. (Or was it Methotrexate? I can’t remember) Although I love my wife, and I will always welcome her to join me at an appointment, I'm 37 years old, I shouldn't need someone to be my brain while the doctor checks out my body. While I am not depressed about this, this loss of mental and physical independence can also lead to depression.

I used to run, and I loved running. When my health got worse I took up walking long distance. However, only a few short years later, I couldn't even walk short distances without great pain and weakness. I was 34 the last time I walked with any kind of purpose. Far too young to lose so much ability. When I see people out running, or I drive past the local health club with overly large windows, I get sad longing for my glory days. When I watch American Ninja Warrior I’m sometimes heartbroken. Believe it or not, I used to be able to do stuff like that. It’s crushing to think that somebody actually has the freedom to wake up in the morning, pop up out of bed, and then think to themselves “Well, I think I will run 10 miles, shower, go to work, spend an hour at the gym, play with my kids, and then get 8 hours of restful sleep before doing it all over again.” Here I am thinking, “I hope I can get out of bed.”

Chronic illness can take a great toll on our mental state and subsequent independence.

-------------

Diet

With the chronic illness life, more often than not it seems, comes a list of dietary restrictions. 90% (not actual figures) of life comes from our gut. What we eat and drink. Other than breathing and IV treatments, it’s the only way anything gets into the factory known as our bodies. So, there is much stress put on us by our doctors, friends, family, TV, and the woman on the corner to eat right to better our condition. And not everyone is wrong. There are certain things that improve or worsen our condition. We will listen to the “experts” and try certain things. Excluding things like sugar, dairy, nightshades, and gluten. Or “fad diets” like Paleo, Keto, Vampire, or Atkins.* We might even try Kale! Many of us will try anything if it means we reduce our pain and get a little life back. But, the more foods we give up, the more independence we lose.

Personally this area has been my biggest struggle. Two years ago I went dairy free at the suggestion of a nutritionist, and one year ago I totally cut out sugar. And, I won’t lie, excluding both of those have been fantastic for me! I may not always notice the improvement, but if I happen to slip up on purpose of by accident, I certainly notice then. I am solid and confident in my sugar free/dairy free life, and for the most part I am happy.

However, this does not mean everything is butterflies and unicorns. I still struggle as I’m sure many many of my chronically ill brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings do. Two examples: My birthday, and the ice cream aisle. On my birthday my co-workers wanted to know what to get me for my party. Typically the birthday treat is cupcakes and fudge. Hello sugar and milk! After much thought, I received the treat of peanuts and pickles. (And I didn't complain) However, it didn’t mean it didn't hurt. My co-workers needed to avoid yummy delicious treats because of my AS. They were supportive, but it didn’t mean I didn’t feel like a party pooper. As for the ice cream aisle, they have dairy free ice cream, and they have sugar free ice cream, but as a friendly store clerk told me, diary free & sugar free ice cream isn't ice cream. I'm out of luck there.

When it comes to dairy and sugar, I have lost my independence. People need to accommodate for me. Oftentimes meaning they might miss out on what they want. When my school does nacho day, frozen custard day, cookie day, etc for staff wellness days, I’m the only one not well. I could tell the people that sorry I can’t eat this, but that opens me up to feeling bad for making them feel bad.

Or when you need to find out if a restruant is accessible. Many would think that with all the handicapped parking spots all places would also be accessible. This is not always true. I have seen places where the "accessible" table is in a door way or up against a wall. The freedom to go to any restaurant one wants is never a guarantee.

When friends want to go out those of us with diet restrictions need to be “that guy/girl”. The one who has hard opinions on what we can eat. Ever stand behind the person at Starbucks who insists on soy milk and Stevia? Have you ever thought “Just take your coffee and drink it! You're holding up the line!” Yeah, that’s us, the ones holding up the line. Doesn't feel good.

We are jealous of those people who can eat whatever they want. Go to any restaurant, order anything off the menu, and even have dessert. This isn't about gaining weight, it's about being able to get out of bed in the morning.

Social

The next topic of how we lose our social independence ties into the three topics above and any others I have not mentioned. Humans are meant to be social. We aren't bears where we can just crawl into our cave and sleep for a few months. If any human crawled into a cave, nobody would be friends with them. Why? Because interacting is one of the standards of human life. We need other people! Sure, there are the mountain folk who go out, kill a deer, make clothing from it, light a fire and live their life in seclusion. (And there is nothing wrong with that) But, most humans need other people to cook our food, make our clothes, work on projects, drive us, and socialize purely for fun. The problem is, for many chronically ill people, getting out of the house and socializing sounds equal to climbing up and living in a mountain.

We are exhausted! Chronic illness takes a lot out of us! Every day can be a struggle to move, breathe, think, and complete other daily activities. Showering can be one of the most difficult activities for some. Doing laundry is pure hell! When most people hate it for the fact they have to do it, for me, folding makes me want to die! Seriously, I don't fully know why, but it hurts so much and takes so much out of me. After doing everything we have to do, we don’t have energy left for what we want to do.

I come home from work, my shoes come off, and I’m done! Very little is going to convince me to put my shoes back on and go out with friends when all I want to do is sleep. Because of this, many chronically ill people are forgotten. We bail on friends two or three times, and they just stop inviting us. But, then we have a good day, we are ready to accept an invite. Do we take it? No. Why? Because, we feel good now, we don’t know if we will feel good later.

Chronic illness symptoms can come in waves. We can have good days (or at least the start of a day) but then we drop. We don’t always know why we drop, but our feelings and mood are in no way guaranteed. So, we don’t risk it. It’s far better to be at home near our bed than 30 minutes away with a group of people you will need to apologize to for leaving early. Declining the invite or simple ghosting is far easier and less harmful to our psyche.

-----------------

Chronically ill patients lose all sorts of independence. We can not truly live free with AS, Fibro, EDS, POTS, Lyme, MS, ME or one of the many other chronic illnesses that totally sap us of life. We are not free do do as we like.

While others wake up and get to choose between running, biking, partying, fixing cars, eating amazing food, and/or playing with their kids. We wake up and.. well.. that's it.

In closing. If you know a person with a disability/chronic illness try to be understanding of their limitations. Don’t give them a hard time when they can't do everything you want them to. Our lives are hard enough dealing with all the independence we may have lost.

*I might have made up one of these diets

[bestpowerball]

Win the powerball 파워볼게임 using the law of attraction

Many people consider the Powerball 파워볼게임 분석 as a lucky game. The mathematical chance of winning the lottery is 14 million! However, a growing number of players use various techniques to improve their odds of winning the Powerball.

Not only an analysis of the mathematical and statistical numbers or logical selection methods, but more esoteric approaches to opening your mind, to increasing awareness and connecting your mind to the “universal source” or the “universal consciousness” arose from the growing popularity of the law of attraction following the success of the film “The Secret.”

The video was full of instances of the way individuals modified their thinking processes to bring some incredible things into their lives – from health improvement to business success, attraction of spouses, and, of course, attraction of houses, vehicles and the attraction of money.

This led to a surge in this line of thinking in the previous several years, with many trying to achieve success not only with the law of attraction, but also to enhance their speed and quality outcomes.

The employment of subliminal messages is an increasingly common method. Subliminal messages may infiltrate your mind and modify your beliefs totally. They can focus your attention on money attraction and guarantee that your unconscious notions of gaining money and gaining Powerball follow your conscious thoughts – essentially so that nothing stops.

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Many daily journals broadcast the results of UK Powerball and also cover other Powerball draws, such as Euromillions and Irish Powerball. They are incredibly handy to check out results that are a day late, but when you can’t wait that long, there are a number of alternate alternatives to find out the results. 실시간 파워볼게임 bestpowerball.com

The iPhone 3G has been a big hit since it was launched in 2008. A great deal of this success was attributable to the broad availability of smartphone apps. Apple has recently claimed that over 85,000 different iPhone applications can now be downloaded, with many of them offering fast access to the latest Powerball results that enable consumers to check numbers wherever they are.

The current results of Powerball are also available from general news and Powerball websites, and some of the more advanced sites provide advanced results checking tools to automatically validate the results of UK National Powerball up to 180 days earlier. All you have to do is to choose and store the numbers played from the 49 selections. These programs will not only compare your numbers to the most recent drawing but compare them to the last 52 draws for Wednesday and Saturday drawings to determine if this combination of numbers won in any of these occasions.

Such automatic Powerball results controls are excellent when you uncover an old ticket because prizes may be redeemed up to 180 days after the draw date, so you may just find you have won a big sum by checking! The latest findings are available a few minutes after the draw; if you do not have access to a TV to watch it, the next best thing is here.

Naturally, Powerball results are also available online via mobile phones that allow Internet navigation so that those who don’t have an iPhone may view the results on their phones. If everything else fails, mobile phone users may only call friends or family members to get the results through TV text if they’re so desperate to find out whether they have won.

Pick 3 Powerball – I am 파워볼게임 사이트추천 sure that you played it

Pick 3 Powerball in the United States is a popular Powerball game. Its attraction comes from the simplicity of the game and the fact that you lose not much. It is not like other chance games where you have to go to a casino to play, win, play and lose everything in the same night. You must point a pistol on yourself in these games to get you to quit and call it a night. Pick 3 is comparable to many Powerball games since you predict a winning number, expect a draw and win a day or lose and say tomorrow again.

Pick 3 is so named because three numbers must be chosen

A combination made of them, and then wagered. If you pick the right decision, you can win up to $500. That’s when you bet a dollar. It may seem like a tiny profit, but given that you have just paid one dollar, so that you are less likely to risk and worry less, $500 is already a fortune for everybody.

You may play and win during the week at any time. Pick 3 is open from Monday through Friday. Because Powerball retail outlets are throughout the location, you can always play the game. You may do it directly or boxed.

In two ways, you can play 3 Powerball: straight or boxed. You have 엔트리 파워볼게임 the choice to play directly or boxed. You select a winning number if you play straight and you win if the draw is the same as the precise match. You pick a winning number and win when you play boxed if you obtain the same numbers in any sequence. You can leave the option on the Powerball computer if you do not believe your luck on the day, but still wish to bet. The computer picks the number for you when you make a “Quick Pik.” But don’t blame it if you lose. If you lose. It’s not alive! It is not alive!

Choose 3 is a game of chance with tactics and suggestions. It’s gambling, no matter how you see it. There is, however, a way to win in nearly every game without relying only on chance or luck. It’s not a way to cheat or beat the system. It’s pretty thinking. He uses maths. The global language is considered to be mathematics. This seems true even when selecting 3 is played.

how pick 6 안전한파워볼사이트 powerball works

You might frequently or internet seeks for ideas and methods to win pick 3. Usually these works are written by regulars. Either they play 3 Powerball for a long time and have extracted the common part of their winning games, which is why they win, or they’re new and they’ve applied the probability concept. It is likely that an event occurs based on the number of positive results in a set of results divided by the total number of alternative possibilities.

[shytiff]

May Small Wins

1 - lazed, went to racheel’s place and put my motorbike there, went to slipi jaya with silvi devi reza to watch seobok (it was fun!!), had iftar at the yumz green sedayu. It was raining when we get back. prayed maghrib and isya in some random mosque. went back and arrived at like 8 past sumn. showered, slept like a babyy

2 - lazed, slept and woke up at like 11, went to nila’s house, practiced doing eyeliner by borrowing nila's (focallure brand), iftar at green sedayu foodcourt (originally intended to go to the yumz but it enforces actual distancing) with angkot ppl minus tik will. Arrived home at about 9-ish.

3 - magang as usual. Went to rm. Took mrt to lebak bulus. My inaco salary finally came. My head kinda hurts after tarawih. Ended up skimming over bj alex lmaooo. Did not shower today lol,,,,

4 - added dr dafsah's revision to the excel database otw to rsf. Pak nardi took a while to arrive. Left rsf early to go to the bank. I (((finally))) activated m-banking lmaooo wow the features are neat wow im not jahiliah anymore. Found this method of just let it sweat anyway during tarawih lmaoo. Preferably with long sleeves bcs somehow you feel less of the sweaty feel compared to tshirt.

5 - sampling - data entry - RM as usual. Theres no new RM. Read a goood dramione fic by bex chan even if its not complete, its okay. Im okay :"))). Iftar was soup, salad, chicken katsu and french fries. Its been 2 days that i practiced sleeping-to-rain-sound. The first night was spent as a dreamless quick sleep (its over before you knew it), but tonight i dreamed abt almira's wedding lmaoo.

6 - no sampling today!! Still went to rsf tooo go to the mall w regen lmao. Did some data entry. Went to PP by mrt. Went back by going to halte gbk and thankfully the kalideres one arrived after only waiting for 5 mins. Its surprisingly quick, compared to lebak bulus - pesakih trip. Took abt 20 mins to jelambar.

7 - no sampling today too. Dr vera gave us lebaran cookies! Did gcp for bu suryati a5. Went to rm, finally finished the available rm. Went home early. Can finally relax since its the weekend.

8 - literally laid in bed til my body hurts. Rly want to read sumn but dunno what. Finally decided to read momoiro heaven. And rere hello. And after iftar i read lack of love. And just like tht, my saturday was gone. Cant bring myself to do things

9 - its another day of lazying (or self sabotaging, cant tell). Read spy family and its effin hilarious. Wasted my sunday. Cant bring myself to even move and i just laid in bed all day.

10 - last day of work in the weeekend lmao. Felt better than being in AR, but still not that much productivity. Went to RM. Phone call w fianti along the way to plan food in almira's bridal shower. Went back at 12-ish. Picked up my dress from risma busana. Walked to and fro halte kebon jeruk. Prayed zuhur close to ashar in kfc's mushola. Felt better after ~8k steps. Had homelab's green tea mixed with vsoy. It honestly made me feel better. Matcha, or caffeine, sure is amazing. At least i had a sense of normalcy before losing all the will to self-care

11 - consumed internet entertainment u til i was sick and tired of it. Watched a lot of cut videos. Granny came and stayed over. So i slept upstairs

12 - same as 11 but upstairs. More relatives came near iftar time so i excused myself to shower. Slept in mom n dads room at like 12-ish. Watched hp goblet of fire since keisha and karins newest obsession was draco. We squealed together over liking enemies to lovers trope haha,,,,

13 - Somehow all of dad's jakarta relatives came for lebaran. the last time i checked, there were some bridges being burned. prayed eid at home. watched perempuan tanah jahanam (which was surprisingly not scary). ate. napped. talked about personal things w keisha and karin. i cant believe the time has finally come where we talk about this kinda stuff. watched you’re next (it barely has any plot, just gore). they went back at about 8 pm and i just sleptttt yall lmao i didnt shower today. disgusting, i know

14 - cam barely get out of bed. Managed to shower at zuhur time. Watched dalbang and laughed like crazy bcs its just that funny. Read fanfics. Tiktok. Ate once and had greenfield yogurt at the evening. Fell asleep. Woke up at 1 and snacked on 1 pack of oat krunch

15 - run bts. Originally planned to go to flavola but it was still closed, so i went to dm's dunkin. Ordered orange juice and oeanut choco donut but somehow the price wasnt package price hhh. Turns out my clires account was somehow banned. So i contacted the admin. Instead of doing dr dafsah's excel i ended up taking off the makara sticker from my laptop. Bought some stuff for almira's bridal shower. Bought arirang at hari2 (its funny bcs yesterday i was seeing online marketplace, planning to buy it, but turns out hari2 the magical place had buy 2 get +1 deal for arirang.

16 - run bts. Managed to move my body a bit. Did 20 squats (ill elaborate on this later). That improved my mood. Tidied up some of my stuff. Saw the paper bag of random memorabilias by friends.

17 - went to rsf by tj. left kalideres 06:45 and arrived at RSF 8:15. sampling. went to RM (still no new ones). picked up by mom. went to salemba for almira’s bridal shower. originally planned to get padang at citra minang behind BK but it was closed. so we drove around looking for open ones. ended up buying it in a small (but crowded) padang place near a big padang restaurant lmao. was the first one to arrive at acacia. checked in, pulled the bed near the wall. showered. its hilarious sometimes with a bit more serious discussion anjayy. went home w febby who drove and clara

18 - went to mcd to get lunch (since everyone’s fasting) and tried to muster the will to do something. i didnt manage to do anything except shopping online (brought dusty pink hijab at hijup). got spicy chicken and iced coffee. (spoiler alert: tomorrow i got mencret2 lmaooo). read my suha and beyond the skidipapap its actually rly good

19 - went to RSF (with mom as usual. quickly snapped RM pictures while mom was waiting. went with her to mami’s house bcs she and uwak will fly to banjar. finally got to meet haekal, he’s such a smiley babyy its basically free therapy. planned outing with nisa lmao. from soekarno hatta we went to vintage vibes lmao since we’re already out. vintage vibes is more crowded now. and there’s less good findings now. went back emptyhanded. ate chicken arirang since there’s no food. fell asleep at like 06:30 until early morning lmaooo

20 - woke up at 2-ish am, played my phone, fell asleep at like 9?, woke up again at 11 lmaooo. went to sbux. had matcha latte. did some inaco work. todays the most productive ive been this week.

21 - went to gi with febby to also meet up with fi, bought falsies and glue (later proved to be of a horrible quality), siraman and pengajian almira (first time seeing an actual siraman), went to blok m w nes ren ara gen. Tried naruto takoyaki at little tokyo, went to daitokyo (i didnt eat anything), and got matcha cake, sakura and mango raspberry gelato at kebun ide. Picked up by mom. Renata gifted me bts 2021 winter package photocard 🥺����

22 - iluni internship webinar by dr naldo. Grabbed fried chicken master. Stupid time management etcetc made my start makeup at 12 (febby went out at 13:30). My falsies and hijabdo was done by herrr thank god for the help. Went to swissbel. Didnt take a pic w almira bcs time. Almiras wedding at damai indah golf pik. My skin was TERRIBLE at the wedding. The make up didnt stick prolly bcs of vitacid. Thank god for masks,,, went back home w febbyy. Made tiktok lmao

23 - lazed. Went to flavola. Its finally daytime caffeine again w kopsuscok. Did dr triya's translation work and finished it at home. She transferred the fee at like 11pm

24 - off to RSF with mom. no new medical records. wrote fuad’s name on the medrec borrowing form. continued to nisa’s place w mom. lazed, played w haekal, put some patient’s phone number on the inaco excel. Off to GBK with nisa and sarah. parked at abc field (shouldve parked near GBK’s H gate). saw moja museum 2.0, took lots of pics. mo paint (moral lesson: draw the background first!! not the foreground). finished at 16:30. ashar at masjid al-bina. nisa dropped me off at gbk tj station. prayed maghrib on the bus since the traffic was so ughh. met atikah in lippo puri. decided to eat seirockya so we walked to puri. talked about a certain someone along the way. we rly talked about it while walking until we arrived at seirockya. atikah treated me uyeyy since she and racheel will stay in depok for 2 weeks starting tomorrow. got the shoyu ramen and gyoza. took the taxi to atikah’s place. mom’s waiting there lmaoo i was like “noo dont wait at jco, just wait at atikah’s”. still felt energized that night in my bed. no sleepy2. like 100% awake. 

25 - woke up at like 9:30. i basically did nothing today. didnt even shower lmao (i showered last night). read the good teacher in one go. zoom meeting w dr eva. i rly need some structure in life, goshhh

26 - showered and went to mcd. got nasi uduk, breakfast wrap and milo for 26k (thanks mcd app promo and mcd duta garden’s menu machine, i dont have to interact with another human). planning to do dr dafsah’s excel after all the data is complete, and still no new inaco data, so i ended up.... online shopping at bobobobo....... (bought outer and white culotte). tidied up the writings on my stickies (plenty of words has accumulated). ordered onejai for emir juan (expensive!!! 79k no promo lolll but free delivery. i was baited by gojek’s 1k 2 week subscription and felt like hmmm i should get something since we live in the middle of nowhere and free deliveries felt significant at that particular time when im holding my phone lmao). fell asleep after drinking vsoy + matcha lol its soft caffeine no longer works i guess

27 - woke up late as usual, went to sbux at 1 pm. tried white peach matcha frapp. the peach overpowers and u can barely taste the matcha. tried to read something useful (in medicine) but skimmed 2 ppt and then i saw solid’s bitly for isip. finished reading banana fish. couldnt bawl my eyes out because im outside.

28 - checked out rsf. Still no new ones. Immediately went back. Lazed and wasted my time

29 - iluni webinar. Here comes the impending life crisis. Ate nasi uduk and mie goreng telor today. Tried vsoy golden grain with matcha. It has almond aftertaste. Line call with kris for almost 4 hrs until 11 past sumn pm.

30 - more iluni webinar. Dr Eric, SpPD, PhD was rly cool. Tried daily box (butter soy chicken). Quite tasty. Mkg w regen. Videocalled in the mall w silvi racil bcs its ale and nadaa's wedding today. Bought gooma 500ml matcha w gofood pickup discount. Ate sushi go (the shoyu has mirin btw). 50k+ you get 6 piece of sushi (2 salmon) and matcha cake and ocha. Quite a nice deal. Talked abt cryptocurrency lmao. Went back and forth w TJ. All hail tj

31 - planned to do at least some productive stuff at home. turns out nila is outside and had some time to spare. so we went out. i met her in citra 6. we went to pik’s white beach. its scorching hot since its 2 pm. spent like 15 mins there. we had wanted to stop by monsieur spoon but THERES A QUEUEEE even if its a hot afternoon. so we ate tom sushi at green sedayu. talked a bit afterwards in nila’s place and then i was picked up by emir. tried gooma’s matcha. its not sweet like sbux. approved by mom (who doesnt like sweets). but its more expensive than sbux’s 2L 100k promo lol. (45k after gopay pickup promo for 500 ml). reread bj alex lmaooooo found new tidbits

[pikminkhaki]

https://proteacampcamp.tumblr.com/post/168398104465/hi-pik-here-ive-been-working-on-this-au go check it out pls I worked rlly hard on this

[knightofbalance-13]

I’ve decided to switch focus for a moment from RWDE to this, a sort of hyperbolic series of videos criticizing Video Games. I will might also cover his Twilight Princess/Skyward Sword too but I wanna hit this because I am very well versed in Pokemon and I have been a fan of the series since I picked up an old Red Version back in the early 2000′s so yeah, I have been a long term fan having played the games from Red to X and the only reason I don’t play Sun or Moon is because I haven’t gotten the games. I have done quite a bit of research on them though so I feel confident that I can debate this. So let’s begin:

0:25

Actually yes, they have. A lot. Like the Steel Type which WASN’T a part of Generation 1, Berries, alternate Pokeballs with differing catch rates based on conditions, Natures, Physical/Special Split, Double Battles, Held items, Evs and Ivs, Abilities, Breeding, EV training, Poke-amie, Mega Evolution which completely changed the game, Roaming Legendaries, the Fairy Type and re typing of previous Pokemon, the Alolan forms, Poekpolaga, Z-Moves and many others because I don’t do competitive battles. And this is all coming without delving into how THESE aspects are changed and built upon, such as the Triple battle, Rotation battle and Inverse Battle being built off of the Double Battles along with the various new Pokeballs, The change with the Physical Special Spilit, the sheer variety of the held items and the Abilities that are rare like Hidden Abilities or Mega Abilities. And then we have spin off games, such as the Mystery Dungeon Series, the Ranger series, the Rumble series, Pokemon COnquest, Pokemon Snap, Poke Collseum, Pokemon XD, Pokken and such. This is simply not true.

1:50

This Mario analogy really bites him in the ass because if Pokemon is nothing but these turn based battles, then Mario would be, by his logic, nothing but jumping around. And once again, this only applies to the Pokemon main series, not the spin offs which have dungeon crawling, adventure games, beat em ups, stradegy games, photo shooting and fighting games. So this compliant still doesn’t hold up and with  the Mario analogy kind of gives an air of willful ignorance.

2:08

“Copy and Paste”? Really? So the fact that there are new characters, new locations, new cities, new types of battles, new items and so are completely disregarded? If so, then no wonder you have a problem: you aren’t taking things into account. And then there’s the fact that not every Pokemon fan watches trailers so that flaw doesn’t apply to them and is thus not a universal criticism.

3:22

*Groans and growls* A. That doesn’t even make sense considering wild Pokemon cannot stall the game like that, they would have no concept of such a thing being WILD Pokemon, another Pokemon means more experience points without having to look for more Pokemon, grinding is inherently slow so “quickly” doesn’t even make sense, you are pretty much guaranteed to be stronger than any none Legendary Wild pokemon in the game so a second pokemon would pose no threat and this could have just been avoided if you mentioned how in generation 5 when you are faced by two wild pokemon you could send out two. I know this is a joke but the joke is so poorly written and so badly enacted that there’s no humor for me to suspend my disbelief for him.

3:43

Gee, i dunno. Because that’s over 800 POKEMON that you would need to program into the game which is located on a hand held console meaning it has less space and less processing power than a console. Also, Pokemon following you around is your suggestion? Dude, that is the definition of a novelty: as cheap throwaway gimmick that in fact would be just like that “new coat of paint” you were complaining about. All the stuff I mentioned but you refuse to acknowledge actually impacts the gameplay.

4:22

...Would you believe it if I said that this exact analogy is why I decided to do all of this? Yeah, this is a TERRIBLE analogy. First off, you’d HAVE to order the Cheesecake, just like how you’d BUY a pokemon game. If you complain about getting the same basic formula as before, it’s no one’s fault but your own.

Secondly, stuff like Abilities, Fairy Types and Mega Evolution would change the game entirely so it would be exactly the same as before. But you know what IS essentially chocolate shaving? Having your Pokemon follow you around. The one specific compliant so far and it spits in the face of everything else.

Third: The part about not putting chocolate shaving on strawberry would be disgusting if it actually happened, just like how adding in Pokemon following you everywhere would clash with the gimmicks of some of the gyms.

Fourth: The part about being more expensive is just blatantly false: Teh starting price of Pokémon games, at least since Diamond and Pearl, has always been 50 dollars. Are older games cheaper now? Yes but that’s how prices go: The newest games are more expensive because they expanded more than the older games.

Fifth: You can stop ordering cheesecake at many time and look for another dessert, just like you can stop playing the main series of games and look at the spin-offs or just different games. Nobody is forcing you but yourself.

4:32

Hehehehe...

Remember this.

4:37

But if you change the battles, that would be a complete OVERHAUL of the game, that thing you said Pokemon didn’t need to do 5 SECONDS ago!

4:43 And Abilities, and new types, and Mega Evolution, and held items, and Double+ battles...

Also, no unique Z-Moves? Well, sorry Catasrropika, 10 000 000 Volt Thunderbolt, Stoked Sparksurfer, Extremem Evoboost, Pulververizing Pancake, Genesis Supernova Sinister Arrow Raid, Mailcious Moonsault, Oceanic Operetta, Guardian of Alola, Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike and Clangorous Soulblaze: None of you are unique enough!

4:52 Then don’t USE the Z-Moves: You have a choice to not use them. Even so, you cannot speak for everyone and if this is YOUR issue, that’s YOUR problem, not Gamefreak’s/

5:13 A. The opinionh about Totem Pokemon is personal opinion and without any proof is irrelevant.

And B. What about Kiawe’s trial which is about spotting the difference in the dancing, or Mallow’s trial where you have to find four ingredients or Sophocies’s trial where you have to answer several questions? A bit more expansive than most Pokemon Gyms.

5:30 Because if they did do that: Then the Gym Leaders (oir Captains here) would just feel like a generic trainer. It works for the rivals because you see their teams grow but with Gym Leaders? One battle and that’s it. The types give them more personality and more vibrancy.

5:39

Why are the rivals dumb? What makes them dumb? ... No answer? Well then, they aren’t the dumb ones here.

And if we talk about rivals as a whole: What about Gladion? He’s a call back to older rivals, specifically Silver with his personalty and parental troubles.

6:33

A. YOU DID NOT FINISH THE GAME. This explains why you have made so many mistakes here: You are talking out of your ass and pretending you know this stuff without seeing it for yourself or, lie me, doing any research on them. If you don’t even confirm what you are saying is true, why should anyone believe you?

And B. Exp. Share is OPTIONAL: You have no one to blame for that but yourself if you let your team get that overleveled.

.7:12

A. Pikachu’s voice is literally it saying “pik-a-chu” That’s it. Nothing else. You are directly lying here.

B. That skit is as unfunny as one form modren Family Guy

And C. Pikachu’s only appear in SOS battles and only in two places so they DON’T appear that often. And even if Hau has a Pikachu, he uses it three times and evolves it into a Raichu.

7:40 Then that would break the game, making attacks with low PP completely worthless and making super hard to defeat Pokemon like Shuckle a terror. You say, don’t do a big overhaul but this WOULD be a big overhaul.

8:04 THAT is the very definition of a complete overhaul. You just contradicted yourself AGAIN.

8:15 You mean like a dungeon crawler, or a beat em up or an adventure game or a fighting game? Like the ones that already exist? Yeah, kind of makes it look like you don’t do a lick of research.

8:27 Okay then, what’s your excuse for fans like me, ones who ARE older but still enjoy the new games? Nothing?

8:35 ... He says they should do a spin off game...and references a spin off game...

.. Do I even need to be here?

8:57

A. Teh E-Shop games cost about six bucks a piece: Not really a cash grab.

And B. That part ignores the legal side of things where, by using already existing Pokemon, the creators have every right to protect their intellectual property if they so choose. Not to mention this sin’t even exclusive to Pokemon, which around the time Uranium got hit a Metroid fangame was hit as well so this is clearly Nintendo’s doing.

9:39

...

You know...Nothing...and I mean nothing...pisses me off more than some whiny, entitled, arrogant, pissant pseudo-fan claiming that a creator is being lazy or some shit because all that says is that you understanding NOTHING about what they d Especially since this so called “artistic intergrity” was gone when you started not doing research, contradicting yourself and outright LYING just to push your narrative while insulting the real fans for paying attention to the changes that the creators have done over the years and teh chances tehy’ve taken.

And the most ironic thing is, you putting LESS effort into your videos would actually HELP. Because you already don’t do research or fact check anything you say, you already take footage from other places and the one thing you put effort into were the WORST parts of the video. Remove the original animations and you’d actually have a better product. Funny how stuff rebounds on you.

[vickisventures]

El Dentista

It was nice to be able to around family for Christmas.  Last year we didn’t know if we’d be able to be home for the holidays.  Most workamping situations probably won’t allow us to do that so this was a blessing.  We are back to work now though.  Last month we logged 31 ½ hours for the month per person.  That’s a bit shy of the 50 we are supposed to work but it was deemed “ok” because the other couples that work the week opposite of us, had about ½ of that!  They said not to worry, January and February’s hours will make us appreciate December’s. Our first week back was easy, but the next week looks a lot busier.  

To keep people who are curious about this lifestyle informed, I wanted to update you on what’s happening with our health insurance.  We are losing our ACA insurance through the state of Texas for 2020. Last year, we were able to have $0 premium due to our income.  This year, we aren’t making enough to keep that $0 premium.  We could keep the ACA, but the premium would be high.  So for this year, we will just have our emergency type insurance.  We will just hope and pray that we won’t need any insurance in 2020!  We will continue to pay for certain medical services out of pocket.  

I know I’ve mentioned how big this park is and how almost everyone has a golf cart.  The funniest thing we’ve seen so far is people who are exercising their dogs using their golf cart.  They will drive along the levee by the golf course and let their dogs run alongside.  Guess that’s the lazy way to let their dogs run off some energy.

We went to a park activity expo yesterday where they had representatives from all the park activities.  We spoke to the softball team rep and inquired about the team.  I’ve wanted to check it out for a while but had never made the call.  We went to watch a game today to see the level of play and whether we would fit in and I’d say we could do it if we wanted, but the thing I didn’t like was that is wasn’t a true co-ed league.  Our team had 2 women on it but we only saw 1 woman play for a bit. The opposing team had 1 woman and she didn’t play at all so it’s not really co-ed.  Everyone moved a bit slower, but they were serious about the game. They had some odd rules; I guess to keep older people from injury.  Like you couldn’t touch the bases; you had to run to the left or right of them. They also played with 11 people on the field.  My only worry about playing with them is how long it’s been since I last played in a league. I can’t really remember but it’s got to have been at least 5 years!  I’m definitely out of practice.  

We also talked to the pickleball rep and he talked us into going tomorrow to a free lesson for beginners. It’ll be good to hear the rules and get some practice time in with other people.  We haven’t decided if we want to join their “club” or not.  I really enjoy it but Steve’s not sure whether his knees can handle it or not.

We went across the border again for our dental appointment.  I wasn’t sure what I would think of it…whether it’d feel just like I was in the U.S. or if it’d be a lot different.  The equipment seemed older.  The hygienist did not.  They looked like they were right out of school and they seemed a little “green” to the job.  I spoke to my hygienist in Spanish and then thought that might not have been wise.  I’m not sure my dental terminology is good enough to get me by, but I couldn’t understand her anyway with her face mask on. I have no idea if she was speaking to me in English or Spanish.  Sign language was how I knew what she wanted me to do! She stood and used a water pik to clean my teeth while I sat in the chair.  It seemed a little awkward and I didn’t feel like she could get to my back teeth very well.  So overall, Steve and I felt like they didn’t spend as much time (maybe 20-5 minutes) on our cleaning nor were they as thorough.  I wouldn’t want that to be my regular dental clinic because I’d be afraid they would miss a problem or wouldn’t clean well enough and I’d end up with a mess in a few years.  BUT it did only cost $25.  Steve got his bite wing x-rays and paid $10 apiece for them.  (They weren’t able to email the x-rays to future dentists, so they just gave Steve the x-rays!)  Interesting experience!

With the Winter Texans here now, the border crossing was a bit busier than last time.  The line to cross back to the U.S. was a lot longer than the last time.  We went to a new restaurant this time, Pancho’s, and liked it better than Arturo’s. This place was rockin’ with snowbirds!  They had a band playing and a dance floor and although it was 12:30 in the afternoon, the place was packed and crazy. The food was good as well.  We still have one more restaurant to try the next time we cross the border.   I’m sure it won’t be long until we go back!

[michaelfallcon]

I’m Just Digging Out From My Email

“Press back to return to the video player. Press back to return to the video player. Press back to return to the video player…”

I woke up with a start, neck crooked, with a cold sheen of sweat on my brow. The headphones were still somehow in my ears, but the movie, another vainglorious biopic, had long since ended. Lights were on in the cabin; the drink cart jostled my elbow.

How did I sleep? There was the worst fucking turbulence for a couple of minutes, and then I was just…went out for an hour and a half at least, maybe longer, in a twilight, twinkly state of half-rest.

I’d slept through my allotted in-flight work time, which was extremely unusual. Totally unlike me, honestly, but this was a long, long travel day, a set of two international flights over unfamiliar destinations, split up by a three hour layover. And that meant I could make it up in the International Lounge.

Flights like this—work flights—afford few if any luxuries. Once, exactly once, I was upgraded to Delta One, for reasons I don’t totally understand. I know other people in this business who fly business class every time: the international CEOs, the Executive Directors Emeritus, the consultants who demand it in their dignity riders, and the sort of folks for whom money doesn’t matter, whose careers in coffee are really more like hobbies.

The rest of us sit in coach.

But the International Lounge, well. On flights like these, access is complimentary, which means between flights I can put my feet up, grab a handful of snack mix, maybe a soda water with lime, and relax for once in my life. I hate traveling for work, and affliction I can’t seem to shrug off or numb myself out to it no matter how much I fly. It’s something really hard to explain to people who never travel for work, and look at travel as being intrinsically connected with holidays and fun. Traveling for work is neither. But the lounge, of all things… I find myself looking forward to it.

In what felt like a fast-forward batch of seconds we landed an de-planed. My feet were numb. My hands, too, numb all through my extremities, first like my fingers and toes had been rounded into clubs, and the there were thousand fire ants inside my skin. I couldn’t shake it off. I started doing a little dance, right there in the aisle, the people around me politely looking away into their cell phones. It faded a bit but not completely as I walked out into the terminal.

“May I see your ticket please?” She stood tall, blonde, in a perfectly manicured blue and grey uniform with a tiny silver nametag. It read Leentje. 

I handed my ticket to Leentje, awaiting her next direction. It came efficiently. “Oh! Welcome Mr. Mike-El-Man, you are welcome to International Courtesy lounge at Gate 52. It is this way.” She pointed down a vast concourse of numbered gates.

“Thank you, Leentje.” I’m pretty sure I pronounced it right.

I walked and walked, in what felt like another batch of fast-forward moments, still just slightly numb, shaking off the combination of a flight and a nap, running through my task queue in my head. I owed a bunch of email replies; I’d assigned myself a couple of stories to edit; I needed to dig out from a half-dozen different things.

At the lounge they checked my ticket—their nametags read Marieke and Jopie—looked at their computer, checked my ticket again, looked at another computer, and then finally admitted me. I glanced at the ticket before tucking it back into my passport, and for just a second it looked jumbled, like the words and letters were all mixed up. Have you ever broken a digital display screen? It looked like that, but on paper, and for just an instant.

The lounge was massive, an interconnected series of rooms dotted by service areas with row upon row of breads, cold salads, Segafreddo superautomatic coffee makers, self-service Diageo booze, and entry level charcuterie. I wasn’t hungry, but my feet still hurt, and I needed somewhere to set down my shit, plug in to a power source, and start finishing all my work.

There was every possible seating configuration: low tables, private desk nooks, huge high-backed privacy swivel chairs, bar stools near the food, and a set of long lounger daybeds with a raised portion, like what you lay down on in a cartoon shrink’s office. I chose that one, finding a lounger with nobody else on either side. A small mercy that lasted just a moment, barely enough time to put on my headphones and plug in my laptop.

He was maybe 50, or 55, and had that rumpled suit coat with shiny elbows thing that people get when they live their lives in the same set of suit coats. He sat down on the lounge directly next to me and made hard eye contact.

I looked up from the computer.

“Hey! How ya doing? Crazy running into you here!”

“Sorry, I don’t really like to smalltalk when I travel,” I heard myself saying in reply, which is what I always say in these situations. Yes, I know it’s rude, but it’s rudeness as a sort of self-defense, which I consider at worst a menial sin. “I have travel anxiety,” I said; I like to add this bit in to sort of buttress the self-defense posture. It’s not my fault I don’t want to talk to you, it’s my medical condition, you understand.

He didn’t understand.

“Whoa, sorry, hey—you’re the guy from Sprudge, right?”

I was.

“I’m sorry, hey! Good to see you!”

I always say this—good to see you—because I’m shit at remembering if I’ve met someone before, and so good to see you functions as kind of a catch-all salutation without causing offense. Of course I’ve seen you before, and I remember, and so it’s good to see you—but if we have never met once on this earth in life or death, well, it’s still really good to see you now, in this moment we’re sharing.

“Good to see you, too! I’m really glad to catch you here, you know. I sent you that email last week but maybe we can just talk about it now? I’m gonna run to the bar and grab a hot toddy, you want anything?”

I did not want anything. I wanted to be left alone. What I wanted most of all was for him to get up and walk away so that I could furiously check my inbox, and cross check its contents with this interaction so as to best figure out who this person was, what they wanted to talk about, and how to manage the rest of this interaction as efficiently and inoffensively as possible.

“No I’m good, let’s talk when you come back! I’m just digging out from my email.”

The man walked away in his rumpled suit coat, leaving his bag behind in the lounger next to mine. I had to know this dude, but I couldn’t for the life of me… couldn’t remember. So I opened the laptop.

100 new messages

My heart started pounding very quickly. My cortisol levels spiked. I had just looked through this shit before the 10 hour flight and there was what, maybe a dozen emails that needed replying? I had to scroll back to a second page of the inbox to get to the last tronche of read messages. I started to feel the fire ants again running up and down my legs…

Maybe I need some tea or something, or a glass of whatever shitty wine they’re pouring. It’s unhealthy to go straight from a flight to more work, after all. A big glass of spa water—that’s the best thing they serve here, you know, in these lounges, is the tower of water with cup up fruit inside. I stood up from the lounger, surveyed the room, and in that very instant felt the creepy-crawly sensation of a hundred eyes upon me.

I knew everyone in the room. And, I suspected, they were waiting on me for an email.

They were all there. Rob Riggle, Director of Coffee at Pik-Kwik Coffee in Nashua. Helga Ingiborg Gunnarsdottir, the international green coffee buyer and coffee competition judge. Ezekiel Christian, owner/founder/marketing manager at Hallowed Coffee Roasters of Grand Rapids. Jon Luis Fitzcarraldo, a third generation Salvadoran land owner and general manager of a network of washing stations. Dizzy Morris, editor of the industry-focused trade publication Bean Teen Magazine. Hector Hernandez of Finca Hernandez in Chiapas, whose Finca Hernandez Yellow Bourbon (roasted by Goatyard Coffee) just received an unheard of 96 rating on Coffee Scores. Tina Sonsgard and Ricky Kim, who owned Construction Yard Coffee Roasters in the Bay Area. Constance Marino, the national barista champ and green coffee buyer. Hercules Siffaretti, the current international president of the World Coffee Association. Julio Trocas, the land management advisor and UC Davis trained agro-chemical salesman.

There was Lev Piav, the Ukrainian-cum-Australian international coffee consultant. Next to him sipping an Amstel was Matty Morely, son of Mickey Morely, who since the 80s had run Morely Roast Academy, a ten day $12,000 independent coffee shop owner certification. Hiroko Mayamara, who had personally judged more coffee competitions than any living person, and lived in a state of perpetual travel. Tim Wright, the Dean of Coffee Studies at Texas A&G. Dane Copeland, the hard-living Gen X bad boy founder of Little Beirut Coffee Roasters. Giacomo Olio and his team of staff representing La San Luigi Produzione, makers of the world’s most expensive espresso machines.

It went on. The entire coffee industry, it seemed, was sitting in this lounge, as though it were one of those invite-only executive after parties that pop up around the international trade shows.

I sat back down. I rubbed my eyes. My hands were completely numb, and fumbling, stumbling, I opened my laptop.

1,000 new messages

The words and addresses became like a floating jumble of crushed LED display. The whole lounge started to float. The man—I still didn’t know his name—came back over and sat down next to me, holding two large glasses of liquid.

“I went ahead and got ya a spa water, looks like you need it. You look tired! Ahawhawhaw…”

“Oh, yeah, you know, long flight—so do you!”

I hate it when someone says that—”you look tired!”—as a way of making conversation. I don’t look tired, you look tired. Of course I’m tired, I just flew 10 hours, and I’m starting to get the sinking suspicion that in fact I am dead, and this is hell, or at least purgatory.

“Listen—that thing I wanted to talk to you about. I just think it’s crazy that nobody is reporting on it yet!”

“Oh definitely, me too, me too. Listen—these days for news tips your best bet is to email my colleagues directly…”

“Of course,” said the man—I still didn’t know his name—”but since I’ve got you here right now I just figured…” but his dialogue was broken by a second man, looming before us, his enormous mustache gleaming in the early morning airport lounge light.

“Jon Luis Fitzcarraldo, what are the odds!”

What are the odds indeed. I stood with my spa water, smiled at both men, and began walking back through the lounge. There was Lettie Dinklage, PR emissary for Toraji Springs Syrup Company. I had to write her back. There was Duke Iannucci, who I’d known for a decade, whose nominal job was fixing espresso machines for Metallico Espresso but who functioned as a sort of all-around brand emissary for the company. He’d emailed me two weeks ago asking for travel recommendations and I just… well, I still needed to dig out. I hadn’t written back. I kept walking, my eyes focused, my numb hands slipping on the water glass, back to the front of the lounge.

Marieke and Jopie were still there, standing in their crisply pressed blue suits. I approached with my ticket and passport in hand.

“Listen… your colleague Leentje sent me here… am I pronouncing that right?

“Leentje, yes.”

“Anyway, is there a way I can get on an earlier flight today? There’s something weird going on here and I need to… know my options.”

“Yes of course,” said Jopie, in no-nonsense lilting English. “Let me check your layover.”

“I think it was just supposed to be like, three hours. I have it in my email…” Reflexively I looked down at my phone, opening the Gmail app. My lock screen was now a digital spiral, like a black hole or a vortex or the gaping mouth of hell IDK…

10,000 new messages

“Were you on the 8am from Portland?” asked Marijke.

“I… was but something is… very wrong…”

“The computer here says there was a delay in your connection,” I heard Jopie say. “You will be delayed on your next flight. I suggest you enjoy the lounge, and we will call your name when there is an update.”

I paused for just a beat. My head felt numb now, like my extremities had from the moment I woke up on the flight. The lounge buzzed and hummed behind me, a service cart of fresh pastries clattering through the room.

“Give it to me straight, Jopie. Am I dead? Did my plain crash? Is this hell?”

She paused for a moment. Jopie and Marijke looked at each other, spoke briefly in Dutch, and turned back to me with a smile.

“Our records show you will be here for some time. The WiFi password is ‘relax’ spelled in English. That’s R-E-L-A-X.”

“I know how to fucking spell relax!”

“Alright sir. Perhaps you want to chat with the other guests in the lounge, and enjoy a complimentary drink? Or use this time to catch up on some emails?”

I thanked them, Jopie and Marijke, and apologized for raising my voice. How terribly American and embarrassing of me, to act like that. Totally unlike me, really. I try to be the most polite American of all time when I travel. It’s just, this had been such a long travel day, and it was only getting longer.

It’ll be fine. I’ll just go sit back down in the Lounge. You know, I do have some stuff to dig out from. I did have some emails to send.

Jordan Michelman (@suitcasewine) is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

The post I’m Just Digging Out From My Email appeared first on Sprudge.

I’m Just Digging Out From My Email published first on https://medium.com/@LinLinCoffee