What's on your mind?

[RelentlessOblivion]

Oh it was frosty alright, but AC had nothing to do with it… I could go on an extended rant, but what’s the point. into

[RelentlessOblivion]

Hmm i’m noticing that, for whatever reason, some of my recent posts are either one. Duplicating certain parts, two. Relocating certain parts of my posts, or three. Including part of a previous post in my current one, so that’s fun. Worth noting my messages appear normal until I click the submit button and it’s something to do with the unique way I have to go about things here? 

[AlSymerz]

Bah! It's a bloody everything day today. Start out cooking a ham, then I've got some painting to do, then I have to cut the grass around the house, then I have some gardening to do, then I have to weld up a new frame for another solar panel. Days like this annoy me, I much prefer days with only one or two jobs to do for the whole day.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Thank mighty Cthulhu Christmyth only comes once a  year. At least i’ve managed to get all the presents, food, and most important of all alcohol sorted as of yesterday.

[Nasty_Cabbage]

Alright guys, we're entering the home stretch of the holidays. Family has started arriving and converging on this years meeting point. Homemade candy, good and bad, is stocked. The tree's up and stabilized. Fake Christmas trees are considered a blasphemy among my tribe and so the relatively modest one I chose is inside decorated and sheltering various size and shades of gaudy looking wrapped gifts. Some of the older adults have officially put on the same fifty or so songs we hear every year, so I must hold what little time I have to listen to sweet sanity maintaining metal in precious reserve. Now come the members of the family with a small battalion of shrieking charging berserkers of destruction and mayhem they call "children". I wish you all the best of luck surviving this year. I'm headed into the fray.

[AlSymerz]

Shit I'm glad we no longer make such a big fuss about Christmas these days. Lunch out at whatever local place is doing Christmas lunch. Then casual dinner at my parents place for anyone who wants to turn up. No presents, no fancy dress, just an easy day of doing very little.

[RelentlessOblivion]

I wish we could turn down Christmas in my family, but I just don’t see that happening any time soon.

[AlSymerz]

I first told my family in 2007 that I thought it was time to stop the fanfare, no presents, except for the kids, presents stop when the kids get to 15 and zero expectations of meals, dressing up and anything more than a day of relaxing. My sister in law never agreed and it took until covid when my mum decided she'd had enough of cooking the feast because no one bothered to help clean up to actually have an effect. Since then we've done Chrissie lunch out and the rest of the day just relaxing and doing nothing. So much better for the mental health than what it used to be.

[RelentlessOblivion]

well, considering that both my parents, and my brothers houses look like the Christmas spirit stumbled home after a three week bender and puked all over them I think it’s going to be a much harder cell. 

[AlSymerz]

My brother's house has enough lights on it to be seen from space. In the last 20 years he's raised over $25K for charity from people visiting his lights during the Christmas period. They spend the entire month, dressed in Santa suits, 5 hours a night, greeting people and offering candy canes to kids when they come past. His kids for the last 5 years have decorated my parents house with so many lights that if I don't shut the curtains I can't sleep at night. My mother plays Christmas records from Dec 1 to Dec 31. My mother also starts writing her Christmas cards in October and has the house decorated for the entire month. My mum wont leave the house in December without a Christmas shirt and Christmas earrings.

I took a long time and a lot of repeated effort for Christmas day to become a relaxed affair but I never gave up.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Christmas is just another day to me like any other day of the year. I ordered a few things off Amazon for the 9 year old, (who'll be 10 next month) mostly Pokemon cards which is all he thinks about besides becoming a Youtuber one day with 10 million subs. I grabbed him a box of candy canes at the Supermarket last week too, but that's about it. My sister will have us over for dinner this weekend and give the kid a small gift then as well. Then he'll complain to me about the dumb gift on the ride home. Other than that you'd never even suspect it was Christmastime around here. Holidays are all stupid, I just can't be bothered. My daughter on the other hand starts making FB posts in September about how she can't wait to put her tree up and start decorating. I have to wonder sometimes if she's really mine. I stopped putting up my tree a few years ago when I finally realized that if I didn't put it up in December then I wouldn't have to go to all the trouble of taking it down in April...May...June maybe. Didn't throw the ornaments away though, I could always change my mind and decide I want to put it up again one day.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, AlSymerz said:

My brother's house has enough lights on it to be seen from space.

Which one's his?

[AlSymerz]

Bottom right of the mainland, third cluster along from Melbourne.

[Thatguy]

Thatguy has pneumonia  - probably as a consequence of the COVID I had in the first half of November. There was a midnight trip to the local emergency department  this morning and many hours of waiting and having scans and tests. I am not short of breath, I am not coughing and I only intermittently have a fever. What I have is really severe and unpleasant pain in the left lower chest. I got admitted to the hospital but fortunately the Respiratory Physician said it was just boring old pneumonia and he kicked me out and has given me permission to fly to Hobart Xmas eve afternoon. This is good as we will be having Xmas with Mrs Thatguy's very elderly parents - her dad is 90, and it is my twin brothers-in-law birthdays tomorrow.

Like most here I don't give a fuck about Xmas per se but it is good to be with family especially since there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for us all to be together. It will be a quiet time and especially so for me. Both Mrs Thatguy and the younger Dr Thatguy correctly said that I didn't look after myself when I had COVID and that I must do as I'm told and take it easy now. I think I actually will this time.

On a happier note, my end of year list is about settled and just has to be written up with some very refined notations and I will finish that off while taking it easy when we get back from Tasmania.

Back soon.

[AlSymerz]

1 hour ago, Thatguy said:

Thatguy has pneumonia 

 

Which guy?

You should tell him too look after himself better.

 

[MacabreEternal]

9 hours ago, Thatguy said:

Thatguy has pneumonia  - probably as a consequence of the COVID I had in the first half of November. There was a midnight trip to the local emergency department  this morning and many hours of waiting and having scans and tests. I am not short of breath, I am not coughing and I only intermittently have a fever. What I have is really severe and unpleasant pain in the left lower chest. I got admitted to the hospital but fortunately the Respiratory Physician said it was just boring old pneumonia and he kicked me out and has given me permission to fly to Hobart Xmas eve afternoon. This is good as we will be having Xmas with Mrs Thatguy's very elderly parents - her dad is 90, and it is my twin brothers-in-law birthdays tomorrow.

Like most here I don't give a fuck about Xmas per se but it is good to be with family especially since there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for us all to be together. It will be a quiet time and especially so for me. Both Mrs Thatguy and the younger Dr Thatguy correctly said that I didn't look after myself when I had COVID and that I must do as I'm told and take it easy now. I think I actually will this time.

On a happier note, my end of year list is about settled and just has to be written up with some very refined notations and I will finish that off while taking it easy when we get back from Tasmania.

Back soon.

Be well.

 

Dumbass.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

On 12/23/2023 at 12:13 AM, Thatguy said:

Thatguy has pneumonia  - probably as a consequence of the COVID I had in the first half of November. There was a midnight trip to the local emergency department  this morning and many hours of waiting and having scans and tests. I am not short of breath, I am not coughing and I only intermittently have a fever. What I have is really severe and unpleasant pain in the left lower chest. I got admitted to the hospital but fortunately the Respiratory Physician said it was just boring old pneumonia and he kicked me out and has given me permission to fly to Hobart Xmas eve afternoon. This is good as we will be having Xmas with Mrs Thatguy's very elderly parents - her dad is 90, and it is my twin brothers-in-law birthdays tomorrow.

Like most here I don't give a fuck about Xmas per se but it is good to be with family especially since there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for us all to be together. It will be a quiet time and especially so for me. Both Mrs Thatguy and the younger Dr Thatguy correctly said that I didn't look after myself when I had COVID and that I must do as I'm told and take it easy now. I think I actually will this time.

On a happier note, my end of year list is about settled and just has to be written up with some very refined notations and I will finish that off while taking it easy when we get back from Tasmania.

Back soon.

Take care of yourself Doc. At our age chest pains are terrifying. Glad to hear it's just boring old pneumonia. I reckon a little rest and some esoteric post-prog-wank and she'll be apples in the morning. 

My computer has died with all my working lists on it, so my end of year lists will likely be delayed even more than usual this year. I do backups to an external SSD sporadically, but I've been busy lately so haven't been keeping up with them. So it all depends if I can revive this machine or not. It boots up, fans and lights come on, but after the Gigabyte bios screen it says "no signal" and the screen just goes black. 

Haven't been listening to much of anything lately, except when I'm in the car. We've got final inspections Wednesday and we're going crazy trying to get everything done in time. No Christmas for me, I'm gonna be working and cleaning all day today.

Hope everyone of you has a very metal Christmas.

[JonoBlade]

Deicide - Stench of Redemption

On break from checking potatoes. I am on lunch duty and rest of family has disappeared.

Take care everyone.

[MacabreEternal]

New keyboard and mouse synced with PC and I now can see the letter A on my keyboard again.  

P.S. I know where A is obviously anyway.  Would have to be a next level douche bag to not know where A is on a keyboard after some 30 years of using a computer most days.

[AlSymerz]

9 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

My computer has died with all my working lists on it, so my end of year lists will likely be delayed even more than usual this year. I do backups to an external SSD sporadically, but I've been busy lately so haven't been keeping up with them. So it all depends if I can revive this machine or not. It boots up, fans and lights come on, but after the Gigabyte bios screen it says "no signal" and the screen just goes black.

It could be a hardware failure but to me it sounds like a video driver issue. It could just be a glitch in software but Winblows is prone to updating the "basic" driver and overriding any other after market drivers. When it does so the two drivers often conflict and both drop out or the motherboard gets confused as to which one it should be using.

Christmas is over and it's pissing down rain here so I'm not doing anything if you want to run through some checks. Bios would be the obviously starting place but after that it could require opening the case.

 

[RelentlessOblivion]

6 hours ago, MacabreEternal said:

New keyboard and mouse synced with PC and I know can see the letter A on my keyboard again.  

P.S. I know where A is obviously anyway.  Would have to be a next level douche bag to not know where A is on a keyboard after some 30 years of using a computer most days.

Yeah, but you’d be amazed at the number of people who have used computers, most of their lives and still can’t touch type.

 

anyway, I couldn’t be happier that Christmas is over and done with for another year, unfortunately I did such a good job at preparing everything that I’ve been asked to do it again next year… I guess the Christmas roast is now permanently my responsibility kind of ironic, considering that for the most part, all I want to do this time of year is roast Christmas…

[FatherAlabaster]

Christmas is "over", eh? And here I just got the roast in the oven.

We're fucking sick again for the holiday this year. I thought I had avoided the plague until I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I had swallowed a razor blade. Oh well. Kids are gross, doctors' offices are gross. We're caught in the middle.

[thrashinbiker]

On 12/23/2023 at 5:13 AM, Thatguy said:

Thatguy has pneumonia  - probably as a consequence of the COVID I had in the first half of November. There was a midnight trip to the local emergency department  this morning and many hours of waiting and having scans and tests. I am not short of breath, I am not coughing and I only intermittently have a fever. What I have is really severe and unpleasant pain in the left lower chest. I got admitted to the hospital but fortunately the Respiratory Physician said it was just boring old pneumonia and he kicked me out and has given me permission to fly to Hobart Xmas eve afternoon. This is good as we will be having Xmas with Mrs Thatguy's very elderly parents - her dad is 90, and it is my twin brothers-in-law birthdays tomorrow.

Like most here I don't give a fuck about Xmas per se but it is good to be with family especially since there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for us all to be together. It will be a quiet time and especially so for me. Both Mrs Thatguy and the younger Dr Thatguy correctly said that I didn't look after myself when I had COVID and that I must do as I'm told and take it easy now. I think I actually will this time.

On a happier note, my end of year list is about settled and just has to be written up with some very refined notations and I will finish that off while taking it easy when we get back from Tasmania.

Back soon.

Hope you feel better soon, TG.  Pneumonia is a nasty little bugger, as you no doubt realise.  

I do hope you are enjoying your time in Hobart and that you had a good day witht he Mrs and the in-laws.  

 

Been a quiet day here, cooked a meal for me and the parents (I am their carer so all good) and took the lazy approach to most of it this year, as I, too, am not very well right now (seems like most of the forum/planet has some lurgy or another) so went with frozen roast potatoes and vegetables, but it turned out okay.  I even - disgracefully to admit as a Brit - bought mince pies rather than making them, since I am so, so exhausted.  Fortunately, enjoyment was had by all and I think I might take the lazy approach next year, since it was nice to be able to have an afternoon snooze without worry. 

Anyway, I am knackered and off to bed soon, but I promise to get to the album recommendations some of you so kindly provided (my head has been to fuzzy for either music or television at the moment and I like to be able to concentrate) but I wanted to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and to thank all of you who have interacted with me since I joined the forum as you have made this a very pleasant experience and sometimes much needed bolt-hole as a lift to my mental health.  

Have a good one, whatever you are doing  

[markm]

On 12/23/2023 at 12:13 AM, Thatguy said:

Thatguy has pneumonia  - probably as a consequence of the COVID I had in the first half of November. There was a midnight trip to the local emergency department  this morning and many hours of waiting and having scans and tests. I am not short of breath, I am not coughing and I only intermittently have a fever. What I have is really severe and unpleasant pain in the left lower chest. I got admitted to the hospital but fortunately the Respiratory Physician said it was just boring old pneumonia and he kicked me out and has given me permission to fly to Hobart Xmas eve afternoon. This is good as we will be having Xmas with Mrs Thatguy's very elderly parents - her dad is 90, and it is my twin brothers-in-law birthdays tomorrow.

Like most here I don't give a fuck about Xmas per se but it is good to be with family especially since there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for us all to be together. It will be a quiet time and especially so for me. Both Mrs Thatguy and the younger Dr Thatguy correctly said that I didn't look after myself when I had COVID and that I must do as I'm told and take it easy now. I think I actually will this time.

On a happier note, my end of year list is about settled and just has to be written up with some very refined notations and I will finish that off while taking it easy when we get back from Tasmania.

Back soon.

Best wishes TG for a quick recovery. Pneumonia is scary. Get well soon! 

I'm not as much of a Grinch as some of ye ole bastards. The short days and holidays depress me to a certain extent, but I'm at a pretty good place in my life and my health, knock on wood, seems to  be good. Self care is important. I've been trying to eat right and exercise. 

I teach a high school program at a community college and have access to the health and wellness facilities. I've been strength training for the first time in earnest since Covid and swimming at the pool-fuck it, it's free. I've worked up to about 20 laps in a non Olympic pool at about 25 yards per link works out to be about half a mile. I've been kayaking more than usual on the Potomac here in DC as we've had a lot of rain in December after having a brootal drought, so the whitewater is higher than it's been, which means it's rock and roll time on the water,  and we've had a warm December with temps often approaching and even exceeding 50 degree fareinheight or 10 Celsius, Now the water is in the 40's and freaking cold, but with a dry suit and good layering and skill to stay in your boat is totally doable. I find exercise, and time outside get me through the winter. 

I'm a staunch critic of organized religion and think Christianity on a literal level is non sensical, yet somehow, feel the symbolic message of Christmas of hope and peace is positive. That said, hail Satan haha. 

My Christmas present to myself is an onslaught of 2023 metal purchases. I'm off work unit January 3. Bills are paid, my kid's out of college, working as a nurse and has a dude who seems like he's in love with her and they're happy together, so, I don't hate this Christmas at all except my lifelong feeling that belief in virgin birth and savior figures is beyond stupid. 

Happy Holidays grouches! 

[Nasty_Cabbage]

Brother in law was part of the Christmas gathering this year. He woke up today with pancreatitis. Feel bad for the guy since I've been through that before. Apparently his decision to only have whiskey and a margarita for all of yesterday was the tipping point. Sucks, but the whole thing about hangovers being worse as you get older is definitely true. Everybody who's not Bukowski seems to need to learn that lesson the hard way though. As long as his stomach lining is still at least somewhat in tact he should get through it in a day or so. When I had it I was definitely out of commission for a whole twenty-four hours and change.