there’s this trend among youths on social media to speak in memes that self-deprecate the intelligence. “no thoughts, head empty” “two brain cells to rub together” “smooth brain” etc. i dun’t cotton to it, son. save it for your sons of superwholock discord.
but i genuinely am running out of shit to post – an experience kin to running out of thoughts. the obvious solution would be to react to news, but fuck that noise.
probably within a week you’ll see my tap out post, then I’ll be back to my old ways – still more productive than 90% of the sidebar here, heh.
let’s see how much longer this baloney rolls…
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Well, I don’t know if it helps, but it’s not all you. You’ve been pushing thoughts out into the clouds and I’ve noticed a significant drop in comments on FTB posts across the board. I know I’ve been commenting a lot less, and I can give you a few reasons why. Mainly, I’m very busy and very stressed.
The company I work for has decided to move the group I’m in to another division, and all the support functions which we have come to rely on from the first division do not exist in the new division, so I’m working like mad to identify the gaps and ensure my management knows about them. Not that I expect they will do anything about them, which means the quality of our products will drop, which means money spent on replacing products (do you have any idea how expensive an automotive recall is? Millions/day.) Which means no money available to hire the people to improve the quality. Which means even more work for me. And if I get myself laid-off, no one is likely to want to hire a 60-year-old engineer who is likely to retire in 5 years. Which probably means trying to find a job which doesn’t pay as much and will require me to work until death.
Then my father is dying, and my mother is continually forgetting it. Right now my sister is over to help, but she will be leaving on Thursday. We live next door to my folks for precisely this reason, but it adds to the stress. My mother won’t carry the cell phone we gave her for emergencies, and when she goes to the store leaves the car unlocked with the keys in it because then, “she won’t forget where they are.” She also stopped carrying any identification because she doesn’t want to carry a purse. She carries her ATM card and that’s about it. I’m expecting any day to find her missing and have to start calling around to the various stores (or the local police) to try to track her down. My sister believes Mum isn’t that bad, but my sister isn’t living next door to them.
Add to all that the shit which is happening to the safety net in our country, and the complete capture by the ignorant of our political process, and I am just tired of it all and exhausted to boot. I’ve said to my wife for some years now, based on the pressure of work, that when I do retire don’t worry if I spend six months just sitting on the porch decompressing. I’m wondering now if that will even be possible.
I know it must be hard for you to fling your pearls of thought into the trough in front of us, and it must be even harder when we don’t take the bait and respond with a comment. I feel bad for Charley too because I haven’t felt like commenting there either, I have little enough to say about gardening as it is.
A community forms when people get together and talk about things, with respect and patience for each other. A few writers shouting into the void doesn’t build one by itself. In the on-line world the commentors are part of the community as much as the writers are. They used to teach about the conversation ball. If a person introduces a subject at a party/gathering it was only polite to try to say something more about the subject, grabbing the conversation ball to avoid it hitting the ground. If you are throwing a ball out there and it falls flat, the fault is not entirely yours. We share some of that.
I may not have been commenting, but I have read every post. If that helps at all.
Ultimately though, what you post and how frequently you post, is entirely up to you. You are not a bear being being whipped to dance for our amusement. You do have an audience. We do enjoy your posts enough to read every one, even if they are not daily. You have agency, and we respect that.
A general malaise seems to have befallen FTB of late. Your life-support posts are appreciated and read.
I haven’t had anything to say lately.
Malaise is a common response to the daily torrent of exceedingly cruel/illegal/
stupid* shit done by the fascists who currently control the executive branch of my government. It was fun to watch the orange blob get played like anidiot* fiddle by the various European leaders.My response has been to dive into a very analog activity of learning to paint with watercolor, because I mistakenly thought it would be easier than oil or acrylic.
Nope, once you’ve put down paint on the very expensive cotton paper there is no way to undo it, or change your composition.
I try to keep to daily practice, as that’s the only way to actually improve a skill, but I too have days when I can’t think of anything to paint.
*censored by beeb per my probably outdated and overapplied ableism policy
@bebe, I also read but seldom post, but I wanted you to know you’re not just shouting into the wilderness.
@flex; thank you for demonstrating clearly how cruel and empty-headed all the, “you don’t like the USA? You’re a fool for not going elsewhere!” comments are, as if people could simply buy an airline ticket and be welcomed with open arms as a citizen of another country in any event. You are shouldering a lot now with your parents, and it’s hard and important work. Thank you for being there for them.
As for work…yeah. I was recently in the hospital for a fairly-dramatic-and-kinda-scary-but-probably-will-be-okay matter, and I had a long discussion just today with someone who’s going through something similar to you. One comment was that management seems to have completely lost the plot that it’s their workers who show up to work every day and perform significant work that keep the company afloat.
I end with the story of the Polish immigrant to the US who bought a bankrupt mill in Massachusetts a couple of decades ago and started up a Polartec factory. The mill caught fire, and the owner continued to pay his workers while the reconstruction was going on because he felt responsibility to his employees, who lacked other form of income in the post-industrial town. He realized that local employees used their paychecks in local grocery stores and shops and restaurants, which in turn employed other local employees, who then spent their paychecks around town in the other local businesses. The short-term loss to the owner’s own bottom line kept the entire town afloat.
Wouldn’t it be nice to work for that man?
I recently learnt that baby puffins are called ‘pufflings’, which is just perfect and a lovely thing to know, so I share it with you all.
Our dog is not well, I think probably a stomach bug rather than anything serious, but she isn’t eating much, which for a former street dog is worrying. In the scheme of things not very important, but we promised to look after her, we care about her, she’s important to us. So I’m distracted.
@Jazzlet; full sympathies to you and your dog. I hope the problem resolves quickly and fully–often street dogs who survive puppyhood are very strong and resilient because they had to be. Sending hopes that this is just a passing, minor thing. Please make sure she is not dehydrated, because that will make her less willing to eat. And please do see a vet if this continues and it’s possible.
I just got a bad bloodwork panel on my own senior rescue dog, and we’re trying to determine the best next steps to take. Mind you; the issue is likely due to breeding because our dog clearly came out of someone’s kennel and then was dumped on the street at some point prior to getting him. Our otherwise-excellent veterinarian is AWOL and that can’t be good news for us. We are putting his kids through college with our dog, so I’m holding on to whatever hope I can scrape up.
You’re doing better than me Bebe, and my posts are likely to continue with the mental health struggle, career struggle, and finding friends struggle theme. Post what you know right?
what about a life list of small furry animals?
I read most of these posts, but rarely have anything to add in the comments.
Pharyngula comment threads tend to run too quickly for me to keep up with, and there are a bunch of people hanging out there that are too interested in arguing than in exchanging ideas/discussing stuff.
And, as most others have said, with everything going on in the world, it’s hard to avoid doomerism.
And, like most others, there’s a lot more personal stress in my life lately. This intentionally incompetent government in the U.S. is just making things worse for everyone. My employment organization might be laying people off in a year (which, granted, is a lot more notice than most people get), and my incredibly incompetent boss has lately gone on a personal vendetta against me, so I’ve been trying to toe the line, dot the I’s, cross the T’s, document everything, loop in someone higher in the chain of command on almost everything, and it takes a toll…
it’s a bad time to be looking for a job for anyone, and worse when all your experience is in library work and lab/research work…
big sympathies to all. i think life is rugged as hell but i ain’t got half the suffering that’s possible. it’s meaningful to me that this half-assed check-in post provoked these kind of replies. thank you.
Sorry, I was trying to not spout expletives. My bad.
If you haven’t seen the footage of cheetolini getting brilliantly handled by the Heads of State of Italy, France, Ukraine and especially Finland, it is worth a watch.
They played on his neurotic desire to receive a Nobel by repeatedly praising his efforts towards peace, and making him feel included in their head of state club.
I painted a woodland scene featuring mushrooms.
no prob, bud. congrats on rendering an idyll. let the fungus out to play.