Community Check-In: How is everyone doing?
Given the current cosmic circumstances – hurricanes, extreme weather, end of the year festivities, moon 2: intergalactic boogaloo, and the never-ending struggle against the forces of evil – it seems like a good time to delve into each others personal realms just a a bit, or perhaps too much.
So... How's it going? How's life? Working on anything? How's the family? How's your friends and loved ones? Any worries? Any triumphs, failures, or any other radical (or not so radical) sensical nonsense? Writing or constructing your magnum opus? or are you just feeling like a massive dope, or even The Massive Dopeness?
Rant, don't rant, just a check-in, choose-your-own-adventure, go to page 85, or go to page 20, your choice.
We already have several recurring threads that scratch the surface of our present experiences, focusing primarily on tech and games and the like2. But, hows your individual journey going?1
Footnotes
1. If this were 2014a I would have thrown a yolo in there, but it's 2024 so it belongs in the footnotes to signify the cognizant cringe of it all.1a. If this were pre-2012 I would have thrown an "inb4" in there, but its 2024 so I've added it to a sub-footnote, and made it smaller hoping most people stopped reading before now
2. We have this recurring mental health thread, but I feel its a bit too targeted (more of a downage than a positive start of a conversation) and sort of dicey to talk about for most people in our public forum, especially on the permanent and entirely ephemeral superhighway of information.
Putting a fair amount of time into volunteering for the Harris campaign.
I don't think I have ever been quite this invested in the outcome of an election. In 2016 there was still some uncertainty about what a Trump administration would look like. There is no longer any doubt.
Currently dealing with the aftermath of Milton. I'm on the east coast, so I didn't get the brunt of the storm, but the neighborhood I live in is a particularly low area. So I've got 6 inches of water in my house to deal with at the moment. Luckily I still have power and internet, so at least I can use fans and dehumidifiers, and listen to music while I clean up.
Good to hear you are okay. Is the water damage manageable or are you looking at replacing a bunch of stuff?
Deeply exhausted. Partner has been fighting a nasty UTI for a couple of months now, and I'm not sleeping well. My anxiety got cranked up with the hurricanes. I'm not near them, I think it's just a function of being cranked in general due to election stuff. Houses are expensive, but so is everyone being too tired to cook.
Managed to keep my partner out of the ER last night by some lucky catheter management.
Ugh, UTI’s are the worst. I found kidney stones easier to deal with, at least they didn’t make me scared to drink water. I hope your partner feels better soon.
I had complications from a UTI for a few months years ago, and every once in a while, I still feel a sting when I’m stressed about it. Pelvic therapy helped a lot for me, but it still sticks around in the back of my head as something I’d never want to deal with again. My sympathies and condolences.
Absolutely horrid. I am a pit that things fall into—i'm falling apart, i'm deteriorating, i'm dying. very volatile. so confusing. no energy. So strong but at the same time so delicate. On the other hand I become very reckless which is to the good (normally I am much too risk averse and guarded)
My most recent achievement is getting my teaching license and degree! Looking forward to beginning in public school teaching early childhood soon.
My son just turned 5 as well, which is exciting.
I also got to send in my vote by mail. Thanks progressive state!
Overall, a great time to be alive.
Lost my job on Monday! Position was eliminated because 30% of our sales dried up when our biggest customer pulled our product. Not feeling comfortable right now.
That sounds tough. The best of luck in finding something new!
Pretty good all things considered. I've been engaged in pretty continuous social activity, got a few small events going and have a few more planned for the end of the year. The business isn't really "taking off" but it is slowly doing better. I've continued trying to understand and improve with respect to delivering good care for my grandmother, which has been a fulfilling experience in exactly the way I'd hoped it would. I've spent a lot of time piecing together the history of our family, plumbing the depths and figuring out what the "story" to it really is. I think at this point I've got a narrative put together, and doing all of that has made communication go a lot better than before with everyone. There's still much to be done to achieve my bigger aim with that, but progress is progress. Step by step, folks are coming to prioritize the well being of their group. We have some extended family in Florida who were able to leave ahead of the hurricane, seems like all is going about as smoothly for them as can be expected. There are apparently quite a few over in Louisiana, so I'll probably end up making a connection with them sometime in the near future.
I've still been wandering around town and talking to people. Last time I wrote about it, Biden was still running and there was a surprising kind of support around here. That's only gotten stronger since he dropped out, and what I notice now is that it's much, much easier to be upfront about how dumb and crazy Trump's campaign is. The older folks I've talked to really enjoy laying into it now that they don't feel so much like folks will go nuts/try to bully them over who they support. They'll be more direct about how they're feeling and don't do as much of the petty arguing when disagreements come up. Folks are uncertain but not as afraid, if that makes sense, if my limited experience means anything. It's actually fairly rare I come across a die-hard on either end of politics around here. Many are just tired. As always, grain of salt, one guy in a small town, but what I've observed feels pretty significant and I see the attitudes reflected elsewhere when I go looking around online/talking to folks in other cities. Doing that helps out with my other endeavors too - it's slowly building the impression that our venue is a place where everyone is actually welcome, little bit by little bit.
Besides that, as always, doing a lot of reading, catching up with distant friends, preparing for what could be as best I can. As stuff gets more intense, it's like folks around me come to see things I thought they wouldn't, and there's always opportunity in moments like that to turn toward stuff that folks really value - their friends, their family, their community. What difficulties arise are challenges to overcome. What I can't control, I'll work around. The feeling of determination just grows over time, and when I wake up in the morning I'm just grateful it worked out this way. So, it's just a matter of continuing. Can't stop now.
Very anxious about the world, my country in particular. Yesterday here in NL a refugee center that was supposed to open got damaged by a small bomb. Even though they wouldn't get any new refugees, just lower the pressure from somewhere else in the country...
That said, it seems like I finally, finally get a start for my career after 2 years of temp jobs.
There are still many other problems in my life, such as the lack of even a basic appartement(I live with my parents), but maybe I'll finally be able to steer my life on the rails again.
Feeling in a limbo state. My partner and I are still figuring out if we're staying together. We took a break from July 15th - August 15th and then decided to try a radically different approach to our incompatibilities. In some ways it's improving, but I'm also not feeling too different. I'm feeling kind of stuck again.
However I had a vacation in Japan!!! But also promptly broke my toe on day 2 - genuinely snapped it in half - and spent the trip (and next 3 weeks) on crutches. It turns out Japan is not made for the crippled. We pivoted our trip quite hard, rented a car, and took to the coast. We still had a nice trip, it was just extremely challenging as well. But I had some fantastic, unexpected highlights as well!
All in I'd say I'm neutral, but hoping to shift into gear - regardless of what gear - soon.
Still dealing with Covid symptoms a week later. I'm still able to get leave approved, and I was going back and forth on if I wanted to go back today, or just extend until Monday. Fortunately for me, new symptoms presented themselves this morning and made my decision for me, hooray!
I'm doing all right, but I feel like maybe I shouldn't be doing so well given some personal things going on, so maybe I'm just a dick.
I got my mail-in ballot and I was so upset. My state offers no third party options and, having only lived in safe states, I enjoyed the freedom to vote for them and the hopes of shifting politics in a specific direction. (This year, too, I have a single issue for the first time.) They instead offer "You can vote for a third party, who has advocated for one of the 2 options" so it's 4 squares, but 2 options. I'm wondering what to do now (a write-in?).
Recently, I think I won over my boyfriends' parents and, to some new degree, my boyfriend (Should I run for president and be the liberal who wins the heart of conservative parents?). I posted on Tildes about him previously, and about how it wasn't heavy romance, and more something we put effort into because we liked each other. It picked up more and more and he finally dropped the L word, and talked more about future things. It's still a little weird to adjust to hearing it and saying it, and also surreal to look at someone and talk to them about marrying them in a real way. It's still a meandering relationship in some ways, but I suppose we meander together. It also confirms how I felt about my funemployment-- it really allowed me to put my relationship first and to grow it.
During my funemployment I really also recessed from other parts of my life. I was putting work first, then myself, then finding a job (which were all, arguably, synonymous). Certain friendships, I stopped trying. And now I find myself in a newly shaped social group (not-new but very cool people, new formation), sort of going with the flow, sort of biding my time until I can move out from the big city. I feel like I should be more proactive than I am, and I feel bad for not being so, but I don't mind the listlessness and trying to have a quiet life.
I got laid off from my job this week. I've been thinking to quit soon but this way I get severance pay so I'm happy. I look forward to getting back in shape since I'm no longer tied to a desk all day.
Pretty much just life as usual with the common routine with work, kids, home. I am turning 39 on Monday, so that is a bit weird to approach 40, an age I considered "old people" in the not too distant past. I have some minor back problems, but otherwise feel fine.