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'Martin' wrote on '09:
I'd say something that can limit and ration oxygen. Imagine having to pay for the right to breathe air. Let's hope nothing like that is ever invented.
Well, that is almost being done to water/water rights at this point, and not just in developing countries. I will not buy Fiji Water because of what the firm is doing to the citizens of Fiji, and their utter gall. These folk also own POM, which sells a lot of pomegranate products. Water is going to become a more costly resource than petroleum products at this rate.
No, I have not seen many dystopia films (THX1138) or read many books of that genre (1984), but the idea that the government might implant control chips in us at birth scares the tar out of me.
One sees a slippery slope with GPS in vehicle location implants at this point: at first, it's a good idea, you can avoid getting lost, and your vehicle can be recovered, and it's gradually nearly universally adopted. Then govt. steps in and says every vehicle must have one “just in case” of emergency. Then we don't hear, but They are constantly tracking us, and there are no librarians destroying records, as they have with circulation records to thwart the “Patriot” Act. Then our comings and goings become more regulated, ad infinitum.
There are microchips in our pets, which most agree helps locate lost or stolen pets, and keep more unified health records (not sure about that last). Then someone had the bright idea about chipping seniors in decline, in case they should wander off, and some suggested them for one's children: mostly to keep tabs on their whereabouts, and a bit for the kidnapping possibility. That set some folks' backs up, because they began to see a very uncomfortable slippery slope.
Welcome to the world of Folks Who Understand. I'm up now because I pretty well slept the day away, and I really can't get any more behind on my email than I already am.
What curveballs did you get thrown?
I have always been a poor sleeper, too, and when I was in my third trimester ages ago, it was even worse, because I could never get comfortable. The next year, I learned the difference between not being able to sleep, and actively being kept from it. Last year, we had birds out on the tree right next to our bedroom window (which needs elimination for more than one reason) who started at 9pm and kept it up all bloody night until about 4 am. Didn't they read the Survival Manual for Songbirds, which tells them to hide at night, so as to be safer from predators? Even my husband, a much better sleeper than I am, was annoyed by them when he was trying to sleep.
'Tommy wrote on '29:What's the best gig/concert you've ever been to, and why?I forgot the first Al Stewart (I think Donovan opened for him) and the first Alan Stivell concerts I attended. I think they were at the same venue in Beverly Hills on Wilshire Blvd. I later saw Al Stewart at a dinner-theatre somewhere in the LA area, and decided never to go to a concert at a like venue–bad food and too much non-music noise interfering with what I really wanted to hear.
The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco–in the Tenderloin, yet–does serve hors d'oeuvres and other light fare, but only before the show and during intermission. You can go up to the bar during the performance and get a drink, but I'm not sure about food–it's been ages since I was there. Food's not bad, either. The first time I went there was for Loreena McKennitt's first SF performance–that, too, was magical. I was too shy at that point to approach her.
(Back to BH venue) With Alan Stivell, whose father taught him to play the Celtic harps he was reviving when Alan was three, there was music and singing along with songs and then doing an An Dro dance en masse throughout the auditorium, possibly the tune being Tri Martolod (Three Sailors). It was pretty heady!
'Tommy wrote on '29:What's the best gig/concert you've ever been to, and why?
Of all of Loreena McKennitt's concerts I've attended (five?), I think the 1998 concert in San Francisco was the best. Many of us on the fan list, who lived in the Bay Area, got together for a group ticket buy (which meant adjacent seats, too), and several of us got together for dinner beforehand–and before the tortuous walk up Nob Hill–steeper than 45deg. I had written to the liaison at Quinlan Road to ask about backstage passes or a chance to share a drink or meal with her, and I was given two. One of them was a present to a friend for her birthday. When it turned out there were 24 of us going to the concert, I wrote back and asked if there were a way I wouldn't be killed by the other folk on the list when they found out what I'd scored? We then acheived 24 backstage passes, and what I hadn't known then, a listers-only meet & greet. I made lots of folk happy that night, in addition to having had a great time at a great concert.
I can't think of which Stan Rogers concert would have been best–I am just grateful I made every single one he gave in the LA area before he died.
I can't recall any bigger-name folk whose concerts I've attended–obviously they haven't been memorable enough. I've certainly been to folk festivals where I got to see & hear so many favorites through the years. I remember a couple of concerts during college, on campus, where the setting enhanced the music being played.
Ah, Silly Wizard played two concerts at CalTech when I was in the folk music club, and I recall the only Peter Schickele/PDQ Bach concert I attended, also at CalTech. I laughed so hard!
I am grateful for those people who donated blood so that I could survive birth, and the month afterwards, when I was getting a complete blood exchange. I hate needles, but I always ask for the best phlebotomist in the office when I give blood.
I am grateful for modern medicine: I might not have survived birth even a decade earlier. I am alive and functioning today due to medications and advances in diagnosis and treatment for the following medical conditions: diabetes (especially while I was pregnant), high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, bipolar disorder (althought D&T for this has considerable room for improvement, as it's a hit&miss lottery system, all too often).
I'm grateful for the time I can sleep, which is more these days.
I am grateful for living in Northern California with its climate for agriculture and season-lovers, its diverse population, and in general, its political climate.
'aimee' wrote on '27:Thank you for the encouragement Marina:-) What is the Spoon Theory?
She can say it much better than I could, and I don't know of a shorter way to say it effectively.
'Martin' wrote on '29:We ended up planning a party – complete with food, drink and a goat. This somehow progressed into the creation of a brand new cult – the Goat Worshipping Sleep-Challenged World Dominators Club. The cult mascots are apparently apple and mulberry cider, chili lime pale ale, cake, crumble and home made vindaloo.
Are you sure you're not a resurgence of the Knights Templar?
I was at a medievalist event once where the goat kids were out all day where people could admire and pet them. Few realized they were to be dinner that night, and when informed, went off-site to find dinner. Definitely not farmers! I have never had goat's milk, but I like most goat cheeses and goat meat.
I've had apple cider, and perry, but not mulberry cider. That might be interesting. I know most silk worms favor the leaves of white mulberry trees, but have no clue if they like the leaves of other mulberries. I'm told that the female trees of mulberries and of gingkos are truly stinky and messy. Most of those varieties sold in the states are only male for that reason. If you've been in Moscow and reeled from the scent of nearby trees, *those* are female gingkos.
Hops and me do not mix, therefore no chili lime pale ale (or other hops-containing beverage) is for me, and there will be more for you.
Would that be goat vindaloo?
Quote:Oh, and I learnt that ghosts dislike vacuum cleaners.Now how you learnt that must be one doozy of a tale–are you going to share it?
'Elfin' wrote on '30:sam my 7 month old was a very unhappy little man last night he has 4 teeth coming through together and had a temperature
Poor Sam, and poor you! I nursed until Arthur was 11 mos., and then went on medicine contraindicated for nursing moms. His first tooth didn't come in until he was 16 mos. old. He was much more likely to have colic.
'yamerias' wrote on '29:Hey guys, sounded like you had a blast! Apologies for my absence, I've been back in hospital with my heart.
Being in hospital about your heart is a much better place to be than anywhere else, in that condition. May your health never get worse, and improve soon!
'sleepy wrote on '26:I just hope I'm not heading down the same path. I'm trying really hard to stay positive and find new meaning in life. Right now I feel a bit useless. Also still angry that it had to happen to me.I understand the anger. When I found out that my son AND I were bipolar (same place and hour, even!) I felt awful. Here I had condemned my son to a previously undiagnosed condition I have, and had I known this–had I had an accurate dx–before May of 1993, I would never have become pregnant by choice. Within two years, though, I found that it was NOT entirely my genetic fault: his father's brother, that uncle's eldest son, and possibly their own father, A's grandfather, were bipolar as well, the nephew having the worst case, being a BP-I who hated the meds and often went without them. *He* misses his manias: we hate our depressions, thus we stay on our meds and seek to refine the dosage components so as to stay on as even a keel as we are able. He knows absolutely that I understand what he deals with, having been there myself.
I have felt useless way too much in my life, and don't care for it, myself, either.
I hope you may be able to find an online community for CFS/ME, like this one for insomnia. When I joined a list for parents of bipolar kids, I was aghast at what some parents had to endure, and just how badly out of control kids with this could get. After that, I *knew* how lucky I was. Even though the process of getting a grip on his mood cycles was hard, and some of the alleged help we had was anything but, I had never had to hospitalize him (or myself, for that matter), deal with arson or weapons pointed/used on me, face the police or child protective services/state foster care, give him up into state care because we couldn't get, or couldn't afford, the help he needed–none of that.
'Tommy wrote on '25:Now about me, I've been an insomniac since I was 13, so for 14 years now! I've learned to live with it, but this past few months it's gotten worse. Like last night, I was absolutely shattered, I mean KNACKERED, yet all I could do was twist, and turn, for 7 hours before finally getting up and making a cup of tea. And that was after 4 sedatives, still no sleep.
That's awful! Four, and nothing? Oy! I don't think I've ever tried even doubling up on something when it wasn't working for me. I do understand how knackering extended periods of little to no sleep can be–have had a few months-long stretches of those.
Quote:It's like living in a daze sometimes. It's the chronic headaches that's the worse part of it all. The doctors are trying to help, but, things take time I guess.Are the headaches from the lack of sleep, or a separate issue? In our families (our poor son!) migraines and sinus headaches abound. Mostly, cold fronts/lows moving through get us coming, but my MiL gets them on the way out.
Quote:Anyway, I'm 26, I'm a Yorkshireman, I love my Real Ale and punk is a way of life.Well, if punk is your way of life, than you won't know Kate Rusby, a folksinger from Yorkshire. I'm a folkie, myself, so that's why I know her work. Haven't seen her come through in years, alas.
I have friends who are RealAle'ers, but I loathe the taste of any amount of hops. Country wines, meads, ciders, fine wines, singlemalts, liqueurs, yes: ale, lager, most stout, beer, etc–not my cuppa. I do like Yorkshire tea, though.
'Jasmine_Monroe' wrote on '23:im currently on 2mgs of klonopin a night and xanax for anxiety also welbutrin xl for depression/bi polar disorder.I live in Waco texas with my mother who is ill. i have alot on my plate at the moment and sleep is always nice when I can get it! lets chat!You certainly do have a lot on your plate! There are a number of bipolars here: I'm an NOS, currently on lamictal and effexor XR for that, requip for restless leg (haven't got round to trying the suggested magnesium). Never tried klonopin, but I'm one for whom NO sleeping med has ever worked. Xanax works okay for my panic attacks, the few times I get them (although I had a two week period of them in March 2003), and wellbutrin just made me angry all the time. It has helped folks I've known stop smoking, though.
Hope we prove useful, or at least entertaining!
'aimee' wrote on '18:Many of us have at some point had a life dream, whether or not we have pursued it, and even though it may seem completely unrealistic or crazy.
What is/was yours?
When the Mercury Space Program started, I wanted to be an astronaut. At the time, the mere fact that I was female ruled me out, as well as the fact that I was below the minimum height requirement. A decade or more later, women were allowed, but I think the perfect sight requirement was still there (far sighted in one eye, with minor astigmatism in both) as well as the stupid height bit…and my math was never good enough to have led to an engineering or science degree. I was also not a pilot.
I still want very badly to walk on a planet under a different sun.
Pharmacist–scratch: the math again, preventing me from completing appropriate degrees in the appropriate time that was funded.
Librarian–scratched that in 1978, when CA's Prop 13 was voted in, and funding for public libraries went downhill. Competition for MLS positions was already fierce, and only going to get more so, due to public librarians looking to replace lost jobs. At that time, I had no car, no money for a move, and no accredited MLS program within even a two-hour bus ride. The salary for a librarian with 5 yrs increasingly responsible experience, with an MLS and a second MS, having managed funding and staff: less than $20K/yr. Can you say futile? When I was 52, I discovered that UCBerkeley had lost/dropped their MLS program, but San Jose State U. had one. Three years to complete puts me at 55, for an entry level position, for which many younger persons would be applying. In this valley, there is very much a youth culture, and that was again a no-starter. Landscape arhitect, ditto–and I only design. Not up to the hard work of implementation.
While I did take up, 30 years later, a different style of bellydancing than I engaged in while in college, I'm never going to make pro at this point–can't get my brain to let me hop or jump, and floor work/getting down to or up from the floor is NOT a pretty sight. Might change if I lost 75 lbs., but age is involved as well. I like my current troupe, but want a different style, or at least different steps & music than our troupe leader prefers. I might be able to do my-own-style solos, but I'll also have to learn to mix my own music.
I'm a good listener, but don't think I'm cut out for psych work–the wall that has to come between practitioner and client is not something I can construct. I do however help quite a few depressives and bipolars with coping with their condition. I may be helping here on this set of forums, too.
I'd be a great 10-6/8 or 9-5 concierge/dispenser of info, but I'm not able to work the other shifts, which is sort of required at the beginning. IF I knew how to advertize AND charge for such services, I'd be doing it. Probably part time only, due to current economic woes. I am very good at research and with “intuitional” leaps matching data to data and emerging with a seemingly randomly-constructed answer. It's mainly lots of seemingly unconnected bits which manage to line up in my brain and burst forth, like Venus from the head of Jove (oy, what a migraine that was!).
Aside from wanting to leave this life with the world better for my having been in it, I seem to have run out of dream. I am on the Marrow Donation Registry, and I donate blood 2-4 times a year, repaying the karmic debt I incurred at birth (Rh-incompatible parents, needed complete blood exchange at birth and however many times in my first month). I also participate in medical studies and trials as I find them. Think I'm making a dent in that wish.
At this point, refreshing my marriage would be great, but I can't change anyone but myself, and there's not much cooperation on the other end.
I have at least managed to rear my son as someone I can be proud of–after many years of inadequate medication formulas for his version of childhood-onset bipolar disorder, with its own stormy weather. We both are much more likely to be depressed than (hypo)manic, so we are inclined to stay on meds. We have a much better rapport than most parent-teen dyads, and we like each other, too.
I too would like to travel more than I have. Moving is deadly awful, but travelling is fun. Moved too often in my early life, and orchards & asparagus take years to get to bearing status, so the gardener in me really hates moving, and I have moved too often *just* before harvest. Grr.
I write essays rather than fiction. Wrote a column for a couple of years each at two defunct pagan zines.
'sleepy wrote on '24:Secondly, since I'm also fascinated by the US, I would really like to live in the US for a short period of time. I just want to known if things really are as shown on TV and what the little differences between Europe and the US are.
The medical care differences will appall you! Mostly, we're a friendly lot. It certainly depends on what programs you've seen as to how real that portrayal is of us.
Quote:And of course I dream of getting rid of the CFS so I can go ahead and actually do something about my dreams instead of sleeping during the day and lying awake at night.Understood. Are you aware of the Spoon Theory of personal energy reserves? You seem to have fewer spoons than many with CFS/ME.
I do rather like your tag line.
'UliHarp' wrote on '23:Ah… life dream? I have a lot of life dreams. Foremost, I dream of being an oft-published author…. We're dreaming, here, so who says I can't dream for an entire library? I'll write 'till the day I kick the keyboard.
My other life dream is to live abroad in all sorts of places. Somewhere, anywhere, or everywhere. I just want to take a blind stab at a world map, go wherever my finger lands, and soak up all it has to offer. Culture, language, food, everything. I'm a curious soul that's never quite satisfied; seeing the world would be a dream come true.
Those two dreams are even compatible! Travel & food writing do take you interesting places–investigate the market for same (and maybe get a contract before embarking), as well as the rules on research tax deductions, before you start, and you'll be even happier.
Go for it!
