Metatalktail Hour: GREAT NEWS! November 11, 2021 6:38 PM Subscribe
Happy weekend, MetaFilter! This week, I want to know what GREAT NEWS you have heard lately, or what great news about your own life has happened, or anything else AMAZING and happy and wonderful you care to share! It can be something as small as, "I cleaned my kitchen!" or as huge as "I saved the whales!" Anything great and happy!
I’m making hard candy for the first time tonight. Pralines, using toasted pumpkin seeds and the juice from pumpkin guts instead of water. I will crush the pralines and use it to top the pies I will make this weekend from the flesh of the same pumpkins.
I know candy-making is tricky. It stalled out for a while at the soft ball stage but seems to be moving again. We’ll see.
posted by gauche at 6:46 PM on November 11, 2021 [9 favorites]
I know candy-making is tricky. It stalled out for a while at the soft ball stage but seems to be moving again. We’ll see.
posted by gauche at 6:46 PM on November 11, 2021 [9 favorites]
This Metatalktails brought to you by, my two youngest children got their first Covid shots today! We went to a community clinic put together by all the local elementary schools, staffed by teachers and principals and school nurses, where my kids saw EVERYONE THEY KNEW. My 5-year-old (who is small and short, and so looked very tiny, and guys I announced her birth in metatalk!) was SO EXCITED she ran up to the chair and JUMPED in. A lot of the 5- and 6-year-old contingent were crying because they were scared or it hurt, but she was SO EXCITED, and didn't flinch at all, and then as soon as she had her bandaid, pumped her fists in the air and shouted, "I GOT MY COVID SHOT!" The shot-givers and supervising physicians were all charmed and said she was a total poster child. She has been singing, "I got my Covid shot! I got my Covid shot!" all evening. It's been 20 months, and I can finally exhale, you know? I know there's a long way to go -- I have a baby niece! -- but I can unclench a little bit.
The clinic itself was amazeballs and so heartening. The check-in stations were staffed by local principals and superintendents, teachers were directing traffic, and school nurses were supervising the "wait 15 minutes after the shot" area. The atmosphere at the clinic was incredibly joyful -- the parents were SO happy to be there, and while some of the kids were scared or weepy, most of them were REALLY EXCITED to finally get their shots. It was like a socially-distanced dance party with nothing but minivans in the parking lot. My kids saw a ton of friends from school, and their teachers/principal/nurse. There were therapy puppers giving the kiddos love and soothing the scared kids! There were coloring sheets and crayons in the "wait 15 minutes" area! I have barely been around other parents since Covid started, and it was so great to be in such a joyful place with other parents, you know?
My youngest's kindergarten teacher told us that 9 of her 16 kids had shots scheduled today at the school clinic, and the only thing the kids have been talking about all week was when their Covid shots were scheduled, and they were all telling each other to be brave because it would only hurt a tiny bit for a second, and then they'd be "mostly safe" from Covid! (They get "almost all the way safe" after shot 2, kindergarteners are great, y'all.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:52 PM on November 11, 2021 [60 favorites]
The clinic itself was amazeballs and so heartening. The check-in stations were staffed by local principals and superintendents, teachers were directing traffic, and school nurses were supervising the "wait 15 minutes after the shot" area. The atmosphere at the clinic was incredibly joyful -- the parents were SO happy to be there, and while some of the kids were scared or weepy, most of them were REALLY EXCITED to finally get their shots. It was like a socially-distanced dance party with nothing but minivans in the parking lot. My kids saw a ton of friends from school, and their teachers/principal/nurse. There were therapy puppers giving the kiddos love and soothing the scared kids! There were coloring sheets and crayons in the "wait 15 minutes" area! I have barely been around other parents since Covid started, and it was so great to be in such a joyful place with other parents, you know?
My youngest's kindergarten teacher told us that 9 of her 16 kids had shots scheduled today at the school clinic, and the only thing the kids have been talking about all week was when their Covid shots were scheduled, and they were all telling each other to be brave because it would only hurt a tiny bit for a second, and then they'd be "mostly safe" from Covid! (They get "almost all the way safe" after shot 2, kindergarteners are great, y'all.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 6:52 PM on November 11, 2021 [60 favorites]
A friend who had her hours cut during peak COVID (at a job she loves) finally asked to go back to full time and management said yes!
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 7:00 PM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 7:00 PM on November 11, 2021 [13 favorites]
I thought I was probably taking my daughter and her really sick cat, Pirata, to the vet this morning to euthanize the cat. But no, he lives! There is a ray of hope for him! This is GREAT NEWS because he is an awesome cat and my daughter loves him.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 7:01 PM on November 11, 2021 [36 favorites]
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 7:01 PM on November 11, 2021 [36 favorites]
At my first go, a few weeks ago?
I pulled off making Dalgona candy. It is very tasty, even the mistakes.
Now I have a tasty snack that I can either make for myself, or bring (very VERY carefully) to parties this season.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:09 PM on November 11, 2021 [12 favorites]
I pulled off making Dalgona candy. It is very tasty, even the mistakes.
Now I have a tasty snack that I can either make for myself, or bring (very VERY carefully) to parties this season.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:09 PM on November 11, 2021 [12 favorites]
The hospital I work at, which is a pretty major hospital in Boston, has had a huge reduction in COVID cases as of late. The chart they sent out showed the initial spike, then the Delta spike, and the current caseload is just a small bump. I know this won't be over for a long time and there are more spikes and plenty of deaths still to come but it was still really nice to see.
posted by bondcliff at 7:13 PM on November 11, 2021 [27 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 7:13 PM on November 11, 2021 [27 favorites]
In the first lockdown in 2020 as an 'I have lots of time' project, I dragged my unregistered, non-functional and in-disrepair motorbike out and started disassembling and repairing it, little bit by little bit and small cost by small cost, mostly by myself, teaching myself the processes I didn't know as I went. I started with the essential bits, like brakes, learned how to replace bearings for the steering and swingarm, worked through properly restoring the carburettor and fuel system, but this morning I picked up the last of the 'nice to haves' of the project, a reupholstered seat. Job's done.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:27 PM on November 11, 2021 [38 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:27 PM on November 11, 2021 [38 favorites]
After three tragic dog losses in a row, we're getting a puppy. I just got word from the breeder last night that we're going to be able to get the one I was hoping for, the one that was half promised to someone else. It's hard not to think of all the ways this could also end in tragedy, but fortunately I'm an optimistic person by nature, so I'm mostly just thinking about names and looking into puppy classes and feeling excited about bringing her home.
posted by Redstart at 7:56 PM on November 11, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by Redstart at 7:56 PM on November 11, 2021 [15 favorites]
My rat Maurice needed some medicine, which really stressed me out as he is very difficult to medicate. Trying to get him to to take liquid meds from a syringe is tough. The stress of the process is bad for him when he's already fragile, and I hate that it might make him not trust me. He's also very good at detecting the meds if I mix it into a treat, and refuses to eat it.
But! I discovered the answer! Mixing the meds into chocolate muffin, or avocado. (Both are safe for rats, I checked with the vet). Especially avocado.
So for the last two weeks we have developed a ritual. Twice a day, I click my tongue and he startles awake. He makes his way down from his favorite bed to the door of the cage, as quickly as he can. Then he climbs into my lap and quickly licks up every last bit of the teaspoon full of medicated avo.
Then he cuddles there, letting me stroke him for a bit.
Today is the last day of meds, and he also seems much better to me, he's no longer wheezing.
So a thing I've been absolutely dreading turned out to be a pleasure.
Here's Maurice, getting cozy in his Banana bed.
posted by Zumbador at 8:06 PM on November 11, 2021 [32 favorites]
But! I discovered the answer! Mixing the meds into chocolate muffin, or avocado. (Both are safe for rats, I checked with the vet). Especially avocado.
So for the last two weeks we have developed a ritual. Twice a day, I click my tongue and he startles awake. He makes his way down from his favorite bed to the door of the cage, as quickly as he can. Then he climbs into my lap and quickly licks up every last bit of the teaspoon full of medicated avo.
Then he cuddles there, letting me stroke him for a bit.
Today is the last day of meds, and he also seems much better to me, he's no longer wheezing.
So a thing I've been absolutely dreading turned out to be a pleasure.
Here's Maurice, getting cozy in his Banana bed.
posted by Zumbador at 8:06 PM on November 11, 2021 [32 favorites]
Our back yard is no longer quite barren. Even though the only plant in the yard is in a pot, we have life, because birds have discovered our bird feeder. And they are hungry, piggy birds! We now need to fill the feeder every day.
posted by NotLost at 9:05 PM on November 11, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by NotLost at 9:05 PM on November 11, 2021 [11 favorites]
Next weekend I’ll be flying to NY to spend Thanksgiving with relatives. I scheduled this trip early in the pandemic, thinking Covid would be resolved in a few months, but I canceled, rescheduled, and canceled again. This time I’m going forward with my travel plans but I’m 63, so I’m not quite eligible for the booster – and I really wanted the booster to feel confident about traveling.
Earlier this week my boss told me he was scheduled for his booster at Walgreens. I bluntly asked him how he managed that, since he’s in his 30s, has no underlying conditions, and works from home. He told me he simply checked the box saying he works directly with people – to me he added “sometimes I do.” He is one of the most honest and ethical people I’ve ever known, but he rarely works directly with people. Anyway, he suggested I log onto Walgreens just to check it out. That was Tuesday at noon and I immediately checked the website. There were 5 Walgreens listed near me – all with lots of available appointments for that afternoon. So I selected a 4pm slot and fully expected to get a message back saying the slot was taken – but instead I received confirmation of my appointment. I know there may be folks who read this and say I should have waited until I’m truly eligible, and I’m probably just rationalizing here, but they clearly had an abundance of vaccines and not enough people signing up for appointments. So Tuesday I got my booster, and I’ve had 0 side effects. I am so happy and relieved – and looking forward to Thanksgiving with relatives.
posted by kbar1 at 10:35 PM on November 11, 2021 [24 favorites]
Earlier this week my boss told me he was scheduled for his booster at Walgreens. I bluntly asked him how he managed that, since he’s in his 30s, has no underlying conditions, and works from home. He told me he simply checked the box saying he works directly with people – to me he added “sometimes I do.” He is one of the most honest and ethical people I’ve ever known, but he rarely works directly with people. Anyway, he suggested I log onto Walgreens just to check it out. That was Tuesday at noon and I immediately checked the website. There were 5 Walgreens listed near me – all with lots of available appointments for that afternoon. So I selected a 4pm slot and fully expected to get a message back saying the slot was taken – but instead I received confirmation of my appointment. I know there may be folks who read this and say I should have waited until I’m truly eligible, and I’m probably just rationalizing here, but they clearly had an abundance of vaccines and not enough people signing up for appointments. So Tuesday I got my booster, and I’ve had 0 side effects. I am so happy and relieved – and looking forward to Thanksgiving with relatives.
posted by kbar1 at 10:35 PM on November 11, 2021 [24 favorites]
I found a lynx on my weekend bike ride. It crossed the singletrack about 20 feet in front of me at an intersection, and then veered off the trail and sat silently to watch me and my trail dog from 15 ft or so away. I got to watch it for 5 minutes (dog was oblivious, lynx seemed unperturbed) until we turned at the intersection and left it to supervise the next biker or hiker.
Also, today was an in-service day for teachers. We got an absolute snow dump (also at that link) that would have cancelled school for sure because of the timing. Teachers still had to go in to school for Zoom meetings (ridiculous) but they had us driving all over the city for in-person meetings in the second half of the day. At 11:30 the superintendent sent us an e-mail that told us to go home in the interest of safety instead. A miracle!
posted by charmedimsure at 10:39 PM on November 11, 2021 [20 favorites]
Also, today was an in-service day for teachers. We got an absolute snow dump (also at that link) that would have cancelled school for sure because of the timing. Teachers still had to go in to school for Zoom meetings (ridiculous) but they had us driving all over the city for in-person meetings in the second half of the day. At 11:30 the superintendent sent us an e-mail that told us to go home in the interest of safety instead. A miracle!
posted by charmedimsure at 10:39 PM on November 11, 2021 [20 favorites]
My partner has taken a surprise interest in yoga! It is so cute. Every day at 4:30 he shows up at my house for "yoga class," which is an installment of the Peloton yoga for beginners series, viewed on my laptop. We shove the sofa out of the way and I do the day's class with him. Never in a million years would I have predicted this. He is a gruff New England-y manly man with a twice-replaced knee who chops wood and tromps through the forest but has never held with formal exercise. So this is quite the turn of events!
posted by HotToddy at 11:00 PM on November 11, 2021 [18 favorites]
posted by HotToddy at 11:00 PM on November 11, 2021 [18 favorites]
We had a kid!
... We still have one, but we had one, also.
posted by solotoro at 11:48 PM on November 11, 2021 [39 favorites]
... We still have one, but we had one, also.
posted by solotoro at 11:48 PM on November 11, 2021 [39 favorites]
I spent the day with my best friend and her family yesterday after not seeing them for a month due to migraines, their dog was very happy to see me and it was so life affirming.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:58 AM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:58 AM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
It looks like I'm going to have a major and well-paid project in February. I'm self-employed, I'm a signwriter/decorator, and since COVID has been upon us, I have not had any projects at all. So this is the first one since that, and it's in February which is traditionally a shitty month, work-wise.
In other words, this is a Very Good Thing.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:49 AM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
In other words, this is a Very Good Thing.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:49 AM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
More than two years ago, I thought I'd figured out how a certain bacterial species makes a chemical that's under investigation as an antibiotic (among other things.) I finally got the first experimental evidence to support this, after a lot of flailing and glaring at poorly behaved bacteria!*
*World's worst pets. About as exciting as a pet rock, but smellier, and with an annoying tendency to evolve or get contaminated or do other biologically reasonable but experimentally unhelpful things.
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 2:26 AM on November 12, 2021 [37 favorites]
*World's worst pets. About as exciting as a pet rock, but smellier, and with an annoying tendency to evolve or get contaminated or do other biologically reasonable but experimentally unhelpful things.
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 2:26 AM on November 12, 2021 [37 favorites]
[CW: ends with poo reference]
Got my Covid booster jab booked in, for the first day I am eligible for it (in 9 days time). Happy with this. It also opens up possibilities for going a bit further afield in the near to middle future (at the moment, with probably waning immunity, I'm back into semi-hiding).
After an extremely long and difficult gestation, I managed to start a difficult writing project on the last day of October. It'll take several years to reach full fruition, but I'm very happy at how it has started.
I got an angry email reply from an ex-work colleague who I don't want to work with again, as his integrity with data quality and sheer honesty are not good. He wanted to "write" a joint paper and, based on his reputation, I strongly suspected his contribution would be (a) minimal and (b) comprising of data that is not verifiable and is too good to be true. So I emailed and said I wasn't going to collaborate with him again. Hence the angry reply, which he signed off with "fecally yours". To be honest that's the most useful contribution of any kind he's made over the decades, and I may re-use it in certain situations.
posted by Wordshore at 3:12 AM on November 12, 2021 [21 favorites]
Got my Covid booster jab booked in, for the first day I am eligible for it (in 9 days time). Happy with this. It also opens up possibilities for going a bit further afield in the near to middle future (at the moment, with probably waning immunity, I'm back into semi-hiding).
After an extremely long and difficult gestation, I managed to start a difficult writing project on the last day of October. It'll take several years to reach full fruition, but I'm very happy at how it has started.
I got an angry email reply from an ex-work colleague who I don't want to work with again, as his integrity with data quality and sheer honesty are not good. He wanted to "write" a joint paper and, based on his reputation, I strongly suspected his contribution would be (a) minimal and (b) comprising of data that is not verifiable and is too good to be true. So I emailed and said I wasn't going to collaborate with him again. Hence the angry reply, which he signed off with "fecally yours". To be honest that's the most useful contribution of any kind he's made over the decades, and I may re-use it in certain situations.
posted by Wordshore at 3:12 AM on November 12, 2021 [21 favorites]
After 14 months on backorder my Playstation 5 is in the mail! More importantly, it seems like monthly game night with my childhood buddies is back on again after a hiatus during COVID.
posted by Harald74 at 3:29 AM on November 12, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 3:29 AM on November 12, 2021 [9 favorites]
Montly game night being mostly centered around tabletop RPGs, currently we're playing Free League's reboot of Twilight 2000.
posted by Harald74 at 3:30 AM on November 12, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Harald74 at 3:30 AM on November 12, 2021 [7 favorites]
I got my booster yesterday and my parents are coming tonight for a concert (Guided by Voices) tomorrow night. My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s two months ago but they are in good spirits, all things considered, and it’s mild at the moment, so I’m just grateful to have time with them and to see them supporting each other. I’m very lucky there.
I’ve been going to the gym in the mornings before work - this time for improving my brain chemicals rather than a singular focus on weight loss. It’s been good to have this task and has made many days that normal, depressive me would have scowled through much more enjoyable.
Two things that took me years and years to get to: A decent therapist and writing my own songs and feeling confident enough to share them with other people, who like them a lot. It’s good to feel some positive momentum.
Finally, my wife is absolutely KILLING it at work and I’m so proud of her for all the work she’s put into this. She’s an absolute rockstar and I couldn’t be happier for her and the much deserved (yet delayed, until these last few weeks) adulation she’s been getting.
posted by glaucon at 3:40 AM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
I’ve been going to the gym in the mornings before work - this time for improving my brain chemicals rather than a singular focus on weight loss. It’s been good to have this task and has made many days that normal, depressive me would have scowled through much more enjoyable.
Two things that took me years and years to get to: A decent therapist and writing my own songs and feeling confident enough to share them with other people, who like them a lot. It’s good to feel some positive momentum.
Finally, my wife is absolutely KILLING it at work and I’m so proud of her for all the work she’s put into this. She’s an absolute rockstar and I couldn’t be happier for her and the much deserved (yet delayed, until these last few weeks) adulation she’s been getting.
posted by glaucon at 3:40 AM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
My husband has been off work this week, so I've finally had the spoons to go through my dad's papers and things. I'd been hauling his stuff, unexamined, from home to home since his death nine years ago.
It's been a revelation in a lot of ways, and you can learn a lot about a person based on the paperwork they leave behind.
He didn't have a proper birth certificate until he joined the Navy at 17. His documents list him as "Caucasian" for many years, until as an adult he began to list himself as American Indian. He was allergic to apple juice.
I've been enjoying the crazy stuff. He bought an airplane from a drug dealer in 1969. His divorce papers from my mom are mixed in with a copy of a Nicaraguan woman's passport. He served as attorney for my uncle in some sort of trailer-related legal dispute. Note: my dad wasn't a lawyer.
We had a complicated relationship, so it's been healing to go through all this stuff. I can see the person, not the parent, very clearly now.
posted by champers at 4:04 AM on November 12, 2021 [23 favorites]
It's been a revelation in a lot of ways, and you can learn a lot about a person based on the paperwork they leave behind.
He didn't have a proper birth certificate until he joined the Navy at 17. His documents list him as "Caucasian" for many years, until as an adult he began to list himself as American Indian. He was allergic to apple juice.
I've been enjoying the crazy stuff. He bought an airplane from a drug dealer in 1969. His divorce papers from my mom are mixed in with a copy of a Nicaraguan woman's passport. He served as attorney for my uncle in some sort of trailer-related legal dispute. Note: my dad wasn't a lawyer.
We had a complicated relationship, so it's been healing to go through all this stuff. I can see the person, not the parent, very clearly now.
posted by champers at 4:04 AM on November 12, 2021 [23 favorites]
* A week and change ago I'd been told that I was exposed to someone at work who had tested positive for Covid, and I would have to get tested. Chances were very, very slight that I had it - I was sitting in front of him during a mandatory anti-harrassment training thing, and I'm vaccinated - but it was still nice seeing that negative result on Tuesday.
* Plus my boss put a hysterical mental image in my head when we were discussing my risk for infection - "I think the only way you could catch it is if you can lick the back of your own neck." I've been quoting him to everyone because I love this so much (I told the guys at the test center too, and one of them laughed so hard he nearly knocked his chair over).
* For years, back in my old apartment, I had my herb pots in the super-deep-silled windows, some facing east and some facing west. Which worked fine, but....still was only about half as much light as was ideal, so my herbs would get kind of spindly and scraggly. But my new apartment has north-facing windows in one room and windows that face an alley in all the other rooms, so I decided to get a couple grow lights for them instead. And - after about 3 months, I'm seeing signs of more normal bushy growth on all of them.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:31 AM on November 12, 2021 [10 favorites]
* Plus my boss put a hysterical mental image in my head when we were discussing my risk for infection - "I think the only way you could catch it is if you can lick the back of your own neck." I've been quoting him to everyone because I love this so much (I told the guys at the test center too, and one of them laughed so hard he nearly knocked his chair over).
* For years, back in my old apartment, I had my herb pots in the super-deep-silled windows, some facing east and some facing west. Which worked fine, but....still was only about half as much light as was ideal, so my herbs would get kind of spindly and scraggly. But my new apartment has north-facing windows in one room and windows that face an alley in all the other rooms, so I decided to get a couple grow lights for them instead. And - after about 3 months, I'm seeing signs of more normal bushy growth on all of them.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:31 AM on November 12, 2021 [10 favorites]
Not much going on in my life, but I had a recent perspective change that has been pretty positive. I am generally a happy dude, but for some reason it has only been very recently that I have made peace with the fact that I don't need to feel guilt about people who treat me badly. Not that it happens much, but I would always internally wonder what I did to cause a negative interaction or make someone dislike me, and that's generally a miserable way to feel. BUT then, all of a sudden I finally seem to have accepted that most of these things are outside of my control and I don't need to put myself through the wringer because someone at work that I basically have no contact with thinks I'm a butthole. How incredibly freeing that is!
posted by Literaryhero at 4:36 AM on November 12, 2021 [20 favorites]
posted by Literaryhero at 4:36 AM on November 12, 2021 [20 favorites]
After years of just (to my great shame) replacing my chef's knives when they got dull, I bought a whetstone and am learning how to use it. Great news: I have not yet maimed myself! And I have at least one cheap chef's knife to practice on while I'm figuring out how to get the angles right.
My college is in the initial planning stages for starting a food pantry. How initial? There are three people on the committee and we aren't having our first meeting until Monday. But I volunteered/was voluntold to chair the committee, and I'm excited about it firstly because I think a food pantry would really benefit our students and secondly because it will look good on my resume.
posted by Jeanne at 5:34 AM on November 12, 2021 [9 favorites]
My college is in the initial planning stages for starting a food pantry. How initial? There are three people on the committee and we aren't having our first meeting until Monday. But I volunteered/was voluntold to chair the committee, and I'm excited about it firstly because I think a food pantry would really benefit our students and secondly because it will look good on my resume.
posted by Jeanne at 5:34 AM on November 12, 2021 [9 favorites]
I made a software thing work at work. I had tried to make the software thing work before, and failed. It all got shelved due to people shifting jobs and I was very relieved. Then it came up again, but by now I was better at dealing with $awful_plugin for $awful_platform. AND IT BLOODY WORKS NOW.
I got un-locked-down recently. I can now be out after 9pm. I can go further than 5k from my house. We've had VISITORS. Actual human friends in our house. Legally. I'd say "this hasn't happened since..." but I honestly can't remember what the next part of that sentence should be.
On Tuesday my SO asked if I wanted to join them for a sanity-walk around the neighbourhood, and I said "How about we go down to central Footscray and go to Sloth Bar?" and we did, and we were let in, and we had a couple of quiet pints in the beer garden on a sunny afternoon and I almost cried.
(shit, you can all move on to the next comment, I think I'm just doing therapy for myself at this point).
The pub trip was necessarily preceded by my defeating the Byzantine shitfest that is government IT. One agency had me with a middle initial, and another didn't, and therefore I couldn't do the stuff that lets me prove I'm vaccinated and get into a pub. Each agency advised that I needed to fix it with the other, but with a lot of searching I found the number which was Agency 1's Agency 2 hotline.
A couple of weeks back we went for a bit of an urban-foraging wander and picked 3kg of kalamatas. I even climbed a tree for the first time in decades. Previous record was around 500g. (I mean, they shouldn't be ripe around now, so the climate is presumably utterly fucked, but 3kg of olives! I'm still counting a win).
I'm making plans to visit a mate in the country (rather more than 5k from my house). The "when is good" conversation was very quick. Like we were going to have plans.
posted by pompomtom at 5:51 AM on November 12, 2021 [13 favorites]
I got un-locked-down recently. I can now be out after 9pm. I can go further than 5k from my house. We've had VISITORS. Actual human friends in our house. Legally. I'd say "this hasn't happened since..." but I honestly can't remember what the next part of that sentence should be.
On Tuesday my SO asked if I wanted to join them for a sanity-walk around the neighbourhood, and I said "How about we go down to central Footscray and go to Sloth Bar?" and we did, and we were let in, and we had a couple of quiet pints in the beer garden on a sunny afternoon and I almost cried.
(shit, you can all move on to the next comment, I think I'm just doing therapy for myself at this point).
The pub trip was necessarily preceded by my defeating the Byzantine shitfest that is government IT. One agency had me with a middle initial, and another didn't, and therefore I couldn't do the stuff that lets me prove I'm vaccinated and get into a pub. Each agency advised that I needed to fix it with the other, but with a lot of searching I found the number which was Agency 1's Agency 2 hotline.
A couple of weeks back we went for a bit of an urban-foraging wander and picked 3kg of kalamatas. I even climbed a tree for the first time in decades. Previous record was around 500g. (I mean, they shouldn't be ripe around now, so the climate is presumably utterly fucked, but 3kg of olives! I'm still counting a win).
I'm making plans to visit a mate in the country (rather more than 5k from my house). The "when is good" conversation was very quick. Like we were going to have plans.
posted by pompomtom at 5:51 AM on November 12, 2021 [13 favorites]
I ran for 40 minutes last week, a new milestone for the last three years of running for me.
I've created a cottage industry at work teaching others how to use the new-ish dynamic array functions in Excel. I'm making a lot of people very, very excited.
The domestic violence advocacy program I'm with is starting up in-person shifts again this weekend, and I'm going out Sunday. We've been shuttered due to...well, you know...and I'm glad to be able to do face-to-face work again.
posted by Gorgik at 6:21 AM on November 12, 2021 [7 favorites]
I've created a cottage industry at work teaching others how to use the new-ish dynamic array functions in Excel. I'm making a lot of people very, very excited.
The domestic violence advocacy program I'm with is starting up in-person shifts again this weekend, and I'm going out Sunday. We've been shuttered due to...well, you know...and I'm glad to be able to do face-to-face work again.
posted by Gorgik at 6:21 AM on November 12, 2021 [7 favorites]
Since California has decided to not wait for the FDA or CDC they've opened up boosters for any 2mo after J&J or 6mo after Phizer/Moderna so I'll be eligible in just a couple more days. Otherwise it's mostly "no news is good news".
posted by zengargoyle at 6:53 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by zengargoyle at 6:53 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
I lost 15 pounds. (On purpose.)
posted by JanetLand at 6:54 AM on November 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by JanetLand at 6:54 AM on November 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
domestic violence advocacy
Wait, what?
(Sorry, my SO has a thing about this. Keeps getting asked to write "sexual misconduct policy" and thinks that maybe that should be a very short document that says "No, don't do that").
posted by pompomtom at 7:01 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
Wait, what?
(Sorry, my SO has a thing about this. Keeps getting asked to write "sexual misconduct policy" and thinks that maybe that should be a very short document that says "No, don't do that").
posted by pompomtom at 7:01 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
I burned my novel manuscript!
This doesn't sound happy, but it was literally an object I'd been lovingly transporting everywhere since middle school (!). Although working on it through the years was therapeutic, I know it's holding me back from other things, so I thanked it and torched it...
posted by Otter_Handler at 7:02 AM on November 12, 2021 [23 favorites]
This doesn't sound happy, but it was literally an object I'd been lovingly transporting everywhere since middle school (!). Although working on it through the years was therapeutic, I know it's holding me back from other things, so I thanked it and torched it...
posted by Otter_Handler at 7:02 AM on November 12, 2021 [23 favorites]
Newly retired, I lost 40 lbs in 2020 but had hit a plateau, and even though I exercised and ate less, I couldn't lose any more weight. But I weighed in a few days ago and I've lost a further 5 lbs and I am delighted. Had a doctor exam yesterday and my doctor was pretty stoked about it too. And blood pressure was 120/62 which was exciting too. It's a bit silly, but now the amount of weight I need to lose is under 100 lbs, which doesn't seem so daunting.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 7:13 AM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 7:13 AM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
celebrated ten years since my last drink yesterday
posted by thelonius at 7:42 AM on November 12, 2021 [48 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 7:42 AM on November 12, 2021 [48 favorites]
I got a job, youse guys!!!
posted by supermedusa at 7:54 AM on November 12, 2021 [40 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 7:54 AM on November 12, 2021 [40 favorites]
I know one specific MeFite has got some very good news, and I am (impatiently) awaiting them to put it in this thread so I can favorite it...
posted by Wordshore at 8:01 AM on November 12, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 8:01 AM on November 12, 2021 [7 favorites]
I'm in a relationship, for the first time in a lot of years. He DELIGHTS me, pals.
posted by wellred at 8:10 AM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
posted by wellred at 8:10 AM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
Wordshore I also know someone and I’m so super excited and happy for them! I wonder if it’s the same person!
posted by mochapickle at 8:21 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 8:21 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
I went to a concert with an old friend and had a wonderful time.
posted by bleep at 8:26 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by bleep at 8:26 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Wordshore, me too!
posted by ellieBOA at 8:31 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by ellieBOA at 8:31 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
I think Wordshore and ellieBOA must be talking about me. I'm excited to announce that I am apparently about to receive favorites from Wordshore and ellieBOA, which is frankly about the best thing to happen to me for a very long time.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:35 AM on November 12, 2021 [59 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:35 AM on November 12, 2021 [59 favorites]
Y'all, I got engaged yesterday!!!
The bf (I'm sorry, fiancé :D ) and I had been in talks, and I knew the ring was on the way, but he told me that it would take 6-8 weeks when it was actually two. He had planned the proposal for this vacation this whole time, I was thinking it'd be around the holidays. With absolutely no knowledge of his plans, I booked a couples photography session (see my last AskMe) , which handed him the perfect opportunity. About 10ish min into the shoot (the photog was a Mefite too!) , she had me stand and face her while he got on one knee behind me. I turned around, and was thinking "what is this weird pose?" and was super confused and had to be told to turn all the way around, haha. I was so shocked! I started screaming and didn't even hear him ask. I cried a little bit, but we had the rest of the photos to take and I had just had pro makeup done so I had a big interest in keeping it together, hahah. I don't think it's fully sunk in yet.
The ring is just absolutely perfect - he got one of his grandmother's rings and took the main sapphire and some of the side diamonds and used it to build my ring, and the other side sapphires will be going into his wedding band.
It's funny, the last few weeks I've been telling the fiancé how I didn't think he could pull off a long con, and wouldn't be able to contain his excitement once he got the ring, etc etc AS he was doing exactly that. All of both families knew, and I was walking around in a bubble of oblivion. Heckin bamboozled.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 8:56 AM on November 12, 2021 [90 favorites]
The bf (I'm sorry, fiancé :D ) and I had been in talks, and I knew the ring was on the way, but he told me that it would take 6-8 weeks when it was actually two. He had planned the proposal for this vacation this whole time, I was thinking it'd be around the holidays. With absolutely no knowledge of his plans, I booked a couples photography session (see my last AskMe) , which handed him the perfect opportunity. About 10ish min into the shoot (the photog was a Mefite too!) , she had me stand and face her while he got on one knee behind me. I turned around, and was thinking "what is this weird pose?" and was super confused and had to be told to turn all the way around, haha. I was so shocked! I started screaming and didn't even hear him ask. I cried a little bit, but we had the rest of the photos to take and I had just had pro makeup done so I had a big interest in keeping it together, hahah. I don't think it's fully sunk in yet.
The ring is just absolutely perfect - he got one of his grandmother's rings and took the main sapphire and some of the side diamonds and used it to build my ring, and the other side sapphires will be going into his wedding band.
It's funny, the last few weeks I've been telling the fiancé how I didn't think he could pull off a long con, and wouldn't be able to contain his excitement once he got the ring, etc etc AS he was doing exactly that. All of both families knew, and I was walking around in a bubble of oblivion. Heckin bamboozled.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 8:56 AM on November 12, 2021 [90 favorites]
Aw. Sparky <3 Mazel tov!
posted by wellred at 8:59 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by wellred at 8:59 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
My "pandemic paper" has finally been published. No, it doesn't have anything to do with the pandemic, it's just what I was doing during the pandemic. While juggling two young kids and moving across the ocean. God, the past two years have felt like a decade and gone by in the blink of an eye.
My wife says I have a problem with not taking joy in my accomplishments. So here:
:)
posted by Alex404 at 8:59 AM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
My wife says I have a problem with not taking joy in my accomplishments. So here:
:)
posted by Alex404 at 8:59 AM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
Sparky B you’re making me cry! Aw!!!
posted by mochapickle at 9:03 AM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 9:03 AM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Next Tuesday, a group I help organize, Tuesdays with Toomey, is celebrating five years of weekly protests outside of Senator Toomey's (R-PA) offices across Pennsylvania. We started right after the 2016 election and have worked hard to educate fellow constituents about him. He has won elections by pretending to be a "moderate conservative" and then is anything but moderate when in office. Last year he announced he won't run for reelection (or for any other office) and the sustained protests have been credited for helping create an environment in which he didn't think he could win again.
(It's also his 61st birthday which means he's spent 8.2% of his life being protested by constituents.)
posted by mcduff at 9:18 AM on November 12, 2021 [32 favorites]
(It's also his 61st birthday which means he's spent 8.2% of his life being protested by constituents.)
posted by mcduff at 9:18 AM on November 12, 2021 [32 favorites]
I got a cold and it was just a cold.
posted by Stanczyk at 9:39 AM on November 12, 2021 [35 favorites]
posted by Stanczyk at 9:39 AM on November 12, 2021 [35 favorites]
Sparky Buttons - that is all kinds of fantastic!
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:40 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:40 AM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
there's a crack at the edge of the venetian blind where a thin vertical blade of sunlight, dancing with dust motes, slices in an hour or so a day. after an unusually-thorough vacuuming, that blade was just empty light for a day, until today, when i scratched my beard.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:53 AM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:53 AM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
Yay Sparky Buttons! Congrats!
...News that isn't quite as groundbreaking - I made pie crust 100% from scratch last week. Heh.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:53 AM on November 12, 2021 [9 favorites]
...News that isn't quite as groundbreaking - I made pie crust 100% from scratch last week. Heh.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:53 AM on November 12, 2021 [9 favorites]
Boring home repair stories are the kind of excitement we roll with lately:
We ordered a new smart thermostat 2 weeks ago because you can get a $75-off code here in Ontario and our old one is from the 80s so we though, why not? Save some money, save some energy and leap into the new age.
Attempted wiring of said new thermostat didn't work, as our wires were different than the wires we needed. Many, many hours in HVAC forums and message boards gained me too much knowledge of furnace wiring and resulted in my eventual degeneration into Gene Hackman from "The Conversation," cutting open my drywall and tracing wires through the house.
So re-wiring...then a blown fuse...a bit of a re-think...a bike ride to the only close hardware store open on a Sunday that had a 100amp cartridge fuse...a bike ride home...a bike ride back to the store to get a plastic tool to remove and replace said fuse without dying...and I was back in business.
So my GOOD NEWS is that it's been 6 days and so far so good. Furnace runs, no blown fuses.
posted by chococat at 10:10 AM on November 12, 2021 [13 favorites]
We ordered a new smart thermostat 2 weeks ago because you can get a $75-off code here in Ontario and our old one is from the 80s so we though, why not? Save some money, save some energy and leap into the new age.
Attempted wiring of said new thermostat didn't work, as our wires were different than the wires we needed. Many, many hours in HVAC forums and message boards gained me too much knowledge of furnace wiring and resulted in my eventual degeneration into Gene Hackman from "The Conversation," cutting open my drywall and tracing wires through the house.
So re-wiring...then a blown fuse...a bit of a re-think...a bike ride to the only close hardware store open on a Sunday that had a 100amp cartridge fuse...a bike ride home...a bike ride back to the store to get a plastic tool to remove and replace said fuse without dying...and I was back in business.
So my GOOD NEWS is that it's been 6 days and so far so good. Furnace runs, no blown fuses.
posted by chococat at 10:10 AM on November 12, 2021 [13 favorites]
I have an offer for a great job, not only great career-wise but will involve doing things that can directly help people struggling with drug abuse and movement disorders. It involves relocating so I haven't made a decision yet but I'm thrilled to have the offer.
posted by biogeo at 11:12 AM on November 12, 2021 [17 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 11:12 AM on November 12, 2021 [17 favorites]
biogeo doesn't it feel great? I got so many validation fuzzies from my job offer its sweeping the SAD right out the door!
posted by supermedusa at 11:22 AM on November 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 11:22 AM on November 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
I know there may be folks who read this and say I should have waited until I’m truly eligible, and I’m probably just rationalizing here, but they clearly had an abundance of vaccines and not enough people signing up for appointments.
As per this thread, some states are already making people eligible, and it sounds pretty likely that everyone will need to get boosters anyway. I think anyone signing up for a booster (since Walensky left a large loophole) shouldn't feel guilty about it once their six months are up. Walgreens has been a godsend to me and I got mine a few days after my six months are up.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:25 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
As per this thread, some states are already making people eligible, and it sounds pretty likely that everyone will need to get boosters anyway. I think anyone signing up for a booster (since Walensky left a large loophole) shouldn't feel guilty about it once their six months are up. Walgreens has been a godsend to me and I got mine a few days after my six months are up.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:25 AM on November 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
My parents have two kittens and they like to sleep lying on top of each other like eels.
posted by Balthamos at 11:41 AM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
posted by Balthamos at 11:41 AM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
My kid also got her first COVID vaccine!
We went on Tuesday evening and the county health clinic was also full of her friends and schoolmates. It helped her relax a lot, I think, and they had a table full of snacks and treats. They offered us a flu shot at the same time so I went for it and she was a total champ about it, bandaids on both thighs and no tears.
I told her that when we go back for the second one, probably most of the same friends will be there again, so now she can look forward to that.
We are in planning mode for her 6th birthday next week. Her very specific cake request: 3 layers, lemon, chocolate, and vanilla, with lemon icing and a lemur decoration. My cake skills may not be up to this challenge, but the local options are not adequate.
Happy kid vax week, everyone!
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:42 AM on November 12, 2021 [15 favorites]
We went on Tuesday evening and the county health clinic was also full of her friends and schoolmates. It helped her relax a lot, I think, and they had a table full of snacks and treats. They offered us a flu shot at the same time so I went for it and she was a total champ about it, bandaids on both thighs and no tears.
I told her that when we go back for the second one, probably most of the same friends will be there again, so now she can look forward to that.
We are in planning mode for her 6th birthday next week. Her very specific cake request: 3 layers, lemon, chocolate, and vanilla, with lemon icing and a lemur decoration. My cake skills may not be up to this challenge, but the local options are not adequate.
Happy kid vax week, everyone!
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:42 AM on November 12, 2021 [15 favorites]
I'm SO excited for all the families whose younger kids can now get vaccinated!! I know its been a long tough wait and I love hearing stories about everyone's brave kids facing the needle xxx
posted by supermedusa at 11:47 AM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 11:47 AM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
I finally asked my crush out this week ("would you like to go to Local Show A with me?"). It went, uh...well, he said yes and then wanted to invite "the entire gang," followed the next day by "Hey, we have a friend in Local Show B, should we see that too?" which has now morphed into "the entire gang" is now going to Local Show B this weekend instead since Show B only runs one night, and right now I have no idea if anyone else but him and me is able to make Show A during the rest of its monthly run. It may end up being a just-him-and-me activity after all, possibly.
No, I didn't spell out the word "date," and yes, I know men are clueless and I should have spelled out "date." However, I asked my therapist about this and after she's heard about his introvert-y-ness and not picking up on flirting and whatnot, she said "don't use the word date, it'll scare him." After telling her this story, she said she gave shitty advice!
But hey, I tried. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯So there's something and I give myself bonus points for bravery/trying this week. I haven't asked a guy out since high school and I haven't dated in 1 billion years, what do you expect from me, actual easy success? As for whether or not to try again--he's probably super clueless (like it's pretty clear he likes me, really, I swear) like that but is but on some level I wonder if that's just an avoidance technique to suddenly want to invite everyone--I'm still debating. I may try again but do something different next time, I'm gonna think it over for a few days and see how the weekend goes.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:50 AM on November 12, 2021 [24 favorites]
No, I didn't spell out the word "date," and yes, I know men are clueless and I should have spelled out "date." However, I asked my therapist about this and after she's heard about his introvert-y-ness and not picking up on flirting and whatnot, she said "don't use the word date, it'll scare him." After telling her this story, she said she gave shitty advice!
But hey, I tried. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯So there's something and I give myself bonus points for bravery/trying this week. I haven't asked a guy out since high school and I haven't dated in 1 billion years, what do you expect from me, actual easy success? As for whether or not to try again--he's probably super clueless (like it's pretty clear he likes me, really, I swear) like that but is but on some level I wonder if that's just an avoidance technique to suddenly want to invite everyone--I'm still debating. I may try again but do something different next time, I'm gonna think it over for a few days and see how the weekend goes.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:50 AM on November 12, 2021 [24 favorites]
Sparky Buttons, I am SO, SO HAPPY for you!!!
You deserve the best. Enjoy!
posted by bookmammal at 12:00 PM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
You deserve the best. Enjoy!
posted by bookmammal at 12:00 PM on November 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh I also wanted to say congratulations to thelonius, because that's awesome.
I've appreciated your comments over the years with respect to drinking and you have helped me to consider my own alcohol use.
(I just passed 16 weeks no booze on Monday which is small potatoes and I'm still being a baby about it because I really, really like beer.) Anyhow thanks and yay you.
posted by chococat at 12:01 PM on November 12, 2021 [16 favorites]
I've appreciated your comments over the years with respect to drinking and you have helped me to consider my own alcohol use.
(I just passed 16 weeks no booze on Monday which is small potatoes and I'm still being a baby about it because I really, really like beer.) Anyhow thanks and yay you.
posted by chococat at 12:01 PM on November 12, 2021 [16 favorites]
Her very specific cake request: 3 layers, lemon, chocolate, and vanilla, with lemon icing and a lemur decoration. My cake skills may not be up to this challenge, but the local options are not adequate.
....I think I have a way you could do this - you could even use a mix for the cakes if that's how you roll. Instead of like a full-on lemur decoration, you could do a lemur FACE.
1. Make two round layers of each kind of cake. You're going to use one of each layers as the round bit of the cake, and then the other layers will be some of the ears.
2. Make one stack of lemon/chocolate/vanilla as the main lemur head.
3. Do the same with the other layers, then cut a couple of ear-shaped wedges out of it - those are now your lemur ears. Put those into place alongside the lemur head.
4. You'll probably even have enough left over to cut a weird-looking slice to make the lemur nose. Put that into place too.
5. Make up a batch of frosting (or use packaged frosting), and scoop a little bit out into one bowl and an even smaller bit into a second bowl. Tint the frosting in the first bowl black and the frosting in the second bowl bright yellow. Frost the whole cake, then use the tinted frosting to make the lemur face. (I especially like this guy.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:12 PM on November 12, 2021 [6 favorites]
....I think I have a way you could do this - you could even use a mix for the cakes if that's how you roll. Instead of like a full-on lemur decoration, you could do a lemur FACE.
1. Make two round layers of each kind of cake. You're going to use one of each layers as the round bit of the cake, and then the other layers will be some of the ears.
2. Make one stack of lemon/chocolate/vanilla as the main lemur head.
3. Do the same with the other layers, then cut a couple of ear-shaped wedges out of it - those are now your lemur ears. Put those into place alongside the lemur head.
4. You'll probably even have enough left over to cut a weird-looking slice to make the lemur nose. Put that into place too.
5. Make up a batch of frosting (or use packaged frosting), and scoop a little bit out into one bowl and an even smaller bit into a second bowl. Tint the frosting in the first bowl black and the frosting in the second bowl bright yellow. Frost the whole cake, then use the tinted frosting to make the lemur face. (I especially like this guy.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:12 PM on November 12, 2021 [6 favorites]
I have nothing great or happy going on, but also nothing terrible or sad, so I am satisfied with this period of relative "eh" in my world and would be glad to keep it that way for a while.
posted by briank at 12:40 PM on November 12, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by briank at 12:40 PM on November 12, 2021 [10 favorites]
My niece, aged 14, is having an amazing time on her work experience. There were considerable difficulties setting it up and she had to settle for something she wasn't that keen on, working in a chemist. She's had a difficult couple of years and I was worried that this would be an un-fun experience for her. The staff have been very friendly and positive about her hard work and desire to understand things and she is really enjoying it. There's banter, one staff member brought in chips, and she's finding the ins and outs of prescriptions interesting. In the past she's imbibed a lot of "I hate people" and general negs about all the things from other family members so it's lovely to see her enjoying this. Also, her teacher came in today to see how she was doing so niece was called into the consultation room and assumed it was to record details of someone's 'flu jab. Opened up the database to start recording ... "Wait, you're my teacher!".
posted by paduasoy at 1:09 PM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by paduasoy at 1:09 PM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
Sometimes no news is fantastic.
Sparky - your pictures are such heart-warmers: the two of you just exude such love, it's fantastic. I hope the feeling continues to resonant through your lives.
I quit drinking alcohol sometime last summer and aside from a couple (four maybe?) occasions where I had a glass of wine, I haven't had any. I miss it, but in the way I miss cigarettes - I miss the fantasy of it, not the reality where it made me feel like shit. The fantasy was real strong, though, and I'm telling myself someday I just might go back to having a glass of wine with dinner or a whiskey - but I don't think I will. So far I'm getting through the fall madness with very little drama - and this is another huge point in not-drinking's favour. It surprises me how insidious and wide-spread the effects of drinking were in my life. And I feel weirdly betrayed, they far out-weighed the fleeting benefits.
It's not news but it is fantastic.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:35 PM on November 12, 2021 [10 favorites]
Sparky - your pictures are such heart-warmers: the two of you just exude such love, it's fantastic. I hope the feeling continues to resonant through your lives.
I quit drinking alcohol sometime last summer and aside from a couple (four maybe?) occasions where I had a glass of wine, I haven't had any. I miss it, but in the way I miss cigarettes - I miss the fantasy of it, not the reality where it made me feel like shit. The fantasy was real strong, though, and I'm telling myself someday I just might go back to having a glass of wine with dinner or a whiskey - but I don't think I will. So far I'm getting through the fall madness with very little drama - and this is another huge point in not-drinking's favour. It surprises me how insidious and wide-spread the effects of drinking were in my life. And I feel weirdly betrayed, they far out-weighed the fleeting benefits.
It's not news but it is fantastic.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:35 PM on November 12, 2021 [10 favorites]
My girlfriend got a new job that she’s excited about (a few weeks after getting fired without cause on the same day her therapist quit.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:48 PM on November 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:48 PM on November 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
I bought a house today. There are about a million more things I need to do now, and omg so much money to spend at once, but house!
posted by Akhu at 2:07 PM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
posted by Akhu at 2:07 PM on November 12, 2021 [22 favorites]
MetaTalk: Loveboat full of good news.
posted by clavdivs at 2:27 PM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 2:27 PM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
My kid is getting her first Covid vaccine right now! And the delivery of my shiny, new, actually-working-unlike-the-current-dead-one refrigerator was rescheduled a whole month earlier than planned!
posted by centrifugal at 2:48 PM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by centrifugal at 2:48 PM on November 12, 2021 [11 favorites]
Mr Tangerine Man got his US permanent residency, aka green card. It's a card! And it is sort of greenish.
posted by tangerine at 4:13 PM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
posted by tangerine at 4:13 PM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
I moved a couple months ago and not only did it solve all the problems I was having, it's been better then I dared dream. My roommate is very fun to hang out with, plays piano, and is on the same wavelength for alone time. My neighborhood is waaaay more fun. I'm just grooving these days.
posted by meemzi at 4:32 PM on November 12, 2021 [17 favorites]
posted by meemzi at 4:32 PM on November 12, 2021 [17 favorites]
My Mr. D just had surgery on his eye - he's diabetic and was diagnosed yesterday with a torn retina. Yay, he did very well and the vision is preserved!
Oh, and did I tell you how absolutely over the moon I am in this relationship??? Once again, I need to thank whoever it was on here who suggested Bumble as a dating site...Over a year now and going incredibly strong! I am beyond grateful.
posted by annieb at 5:20 PM on November 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
Oh, and did I tell you how absolutely over the moon I am in this relationship??? Once again, I need to thank whoever it was on here who suggested Bumble as a dating site...Over a year now and going incredibly strong! I am beyond grateful.
posted by annieb at 5:20 PM on November 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
I got a cold and it was just a cold.It's a few syllables short of fitting the original lyric/meter, but "And heaven knows I'm miserable now" ran through my head right after reading this.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 5:21 PM on November 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
Getty Images is going to broker my photos.I have so many off Great Salt Lake and The West, and everyday things, orchards, farming...
posted by Oyéah at 5:58 PM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 5:58 PM on November 12, 2021 [19 favorites]
Sale of my mother's house, which i had inherited following her death in late December 2019, is finally nearly closed, contract to be signed / Keys turned over this coming wednesday.
What a relief. I am so glad to be rid of it. It holds only bad memories for me, and to be able to sell it is fantastic. Also, the money comes just at the right time, as i have been unable to work since March 2020 and wont be able to for at least another year.
But more important to me is getting rid of a house that only represents bad things to me.
posted by 15L06 at 6:16 PM on November 12, 2021 [16 favorites]
What a relief. I am so glad to be rid of it. It holds only bad memories for me, and to be able to sell it is fantastic. Also, the money comes just at the right time, as i have been unable to work since March 2020 and wont be able to for at least another year.
But more important to me is getting rid of a house that only represents bad things to me.
posted by 15L06 at 6:16 PM on November 12, 2021 [16 favorites]
Congratulations Sparky Buttons!
Several bits of recent Great News:
- My 11 year old son got vaccine #1 yesterday! He has historically been terrified of shots but was excited for this one; I'm super proud of him.
- I got a booster two weeks ago, six months and one day after my second shot.
- I was able to take a day trip one state away to visit my mom for her 75th birthday!
- I am two weeks away from hitting a 365-day streak on Duolingo! Around this time last year I decided I finally wanted to work on my minimal Japanese language skills, and now I'm pretty far in the Japanese course, went on a tangent and finished the (pretty short) Mandarin course, and am now also one-third of the way through WaniKani (kind of like kanji boot camp).
posted by sencha at 7:33 PM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
Several bits of recent Great News:
- My 11 year old son got vaccine #1 yesterday! He has historically been terrified of shots but was excited for this one; I'm super proud of him.
- I got a booster two weeks ago, six months and one day after my second shot.
- I was able to take a day trip one state away to visit my mom for her 75th birthday!
- I am two weeks away from hitting a 365-day streak on Duolingo! Around this time last year I decided I finally wanted to work on my minimal Japanese language skills, and now I'm pretty far in the Japanese course, went on a tangent and finished the (pretty short) Mandarin course, and am now also one-third of the way through WaniKani (kind of like kanji boot camp).
posted by sencha at 7:33 PM on November 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
My across the road neighbor, Tim, has a dog and a cat and three adult sons. Before me moved here in '13 one of the sons found the cat, just a kitten, in a skunk trap somewhere in West Tisbury. They named him Wakko and he was indoor/outdoor, he'd roam the neighborhood, piss on our (his) yard, hunt small animals. He was jet black, yellow eyes.
Early summer, one of Tim's sons moved back in with his girlfriend for a couple of weeks while the apartment they were going to move into together was being readied. Those groovy kids had just gotten a husky pup named Moose.
Wakko took one look at Moose and ran away. No one saw him all summer, Tim and the rest of the associated humans assumed he was dead. I guess I didn't notice he wasn't around, until August at least, when my SO mentioned she'd chatted with Tim, and Wakko was gone. Then one day in mid Sept. I saw him.
So for about a month and a half, everyday before I left for work I put out food (we have two indoor cats) near a plastic storage bin, on its side, with old towels and flannel shirts in it, and call "come on Wakko, come have lunch, time to go home" and clap my hands and make that cat summoning sound. Every night after work I'd leave my headlights on after parking in the driveway and go t wards the back of our yard and check the food, and call "Wakko come one buddy time to go home gonna get cold soon." I saw him a couple of times and he even meowed at me and came a little closer one night.
The last week of October, I saw him on Tuesday and the next day a nor'easter slammed into the island and we lost power until early Friday night. I kept calling and checking the food dish, but it was untouched. I was so worried. I was sure a falling tree or erratic driver or just exposure to the storm had done him in.
On Halloween I was having a smoke on the front porch and I saw Tim pull into his driveway, and he strides over to me and says "Wakko came home Tuesday night! He's sitting on the couch and letting me pet him every night, he's skin and bone but he's okay."
So the black cat made it home by Halloween night. That is great news. I've been seeing him stride through our yard and pee on it, and say "hi wakko hi buddy" and he trots off to Tim's house.
I kind of miss calling to him in the dark every night.
posted by vrakatar at 8:36 PM on November 12, 2021 [37 favorites]
Early summer, one of Tim's sons moved back in with his girlfriend for a couple of weeks while the apartment they were going to move into together was being readied. Those groovy kids had just gotten a husky pup named Moose.
Wakko took one look at Moose and ran away. No one saw him all summer, Tim and the rest of the associated humans assumed he was dead. I guess I didn't notice he wasn't around, until August at least, when my SO mentioned she'd chatted with Tim, and Wakko was gone. Then one day in mid Sept. I saw him.
So for about a month and a half, everyday before I left for work I put out food (we have two indoor cats) near a plastic storage bin, on its side, with old towels and flannel shirts in it, and call "come on Wakko, come have lunch, time to go home" and clap my hands and make that cat summoning sound. Every night after work I'd leave my headlights on after parking in the driveway and go t wards the back of our yard and check the food, and call "Wakko come one buddy time to go home gonna get cold soon." I saw him a couple of times and he even meowed at me and came a little closer one night.
The last week of October, I saw him on Tuesday and the next day a nor'easter slammed into the island and we lost power until early Friday night. I kept calling and checking the food dish, but it was untouched. I was so worried. I was sure a falling tree or erratic driver or just exposure to the storm had done him in.
On Halloween I was having a smoke on the front porch and I saw Tim pull into his driveway, and he strides over to me and says "Wakko came home Tuesday night! He's sitting on the couch and letting me pet him every night, he's skin and bone but he's okay."
So the black cat made it home by Halloween night. That is great news. I've been seeing him stride through our yard and pee on it, and say "hi wakko hi buddy" and he trots off to Tim's house.
I kind of miss calling to him in the dark every night.
posted by vrakatar at 8:36 PM on November 12, 2021 [37 favorites]
Yay Sparky Buttons! We love you!
In additional great news I got the flu shot yesterday and haven’t had any reaction to it! I got sick last year and the year before for 48 hours each time so this is a nice surprise.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:05 AM on November 13, 2021 [7 favorites]
In additional great news I got the flu shot yesterday and haven’t had any reaction to it! I got sick last year and the year before for 48 hours each time so this is a nice surprise.
posted by ellieBOA at 12:05 AM on November 13, 2021 [7 favorites]
Like a bunch of people here, I’m incredibly happy/relieved that my kid got his first covid vaccination this past week. He will get the second one at the end of the month and two weeks after that we can start planning to go visit my sister’s family and my sister-in-law’s family and let my kid drive his cousins crazy. And he can hang out inside with other vaccinated kids.
posted by sciencegeek at 3:53 AM on November 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by sciencegeek at 3:53 AM on November 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
Came back to add that sometimes I discover (usually through tag rabbit holes) old MF posts which make me happy. Just found Fantastic beasts and someone to draw them, about mythical animals, posted by youarenothere in January 2020. Lovely Instagram account and interview with the artist. Her recent posts include St Lucy's eyeballs, Satan, the Kilkenny cats and the winged salami. This may be better placed on another MeTa post (site updates?) but I wonder whether we could find a way to highlight older posts which people might still find interesting - even reposting so people can comment?
posted by paduasoy at 4:06 AM on November 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by paduasoy at 4:06 AM on November 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
Hooray for all of the wonderful news!!! Love this thread.
My little bit of good news is that I got glasses for the first time in a few years and we are enjoying our first snowfall this morning. I can see all of the big fat flakes bumbling down from way high up in the sky and it is MAGICAL.
When the sky is clear and the moon is new I'm going to stare at all of the stars I haven't seen in ages and I can't wait.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:52 AM on November 13, 2021 [16 favorites]
My little bit of good news is that I got glasses for the first time in a few years and we are enjoying our first snowfall this morning. I can see all of the big fat flakes bumbling down from way high up in the sky and it is MAGICAL.
When the sky is clear and the moon is new I'm going to stare at all of the stars I haven't seen in ages and I can't wait.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:52 AM on November 13, 2021 [16 favorites]
My new boss (started job in late August) called me up out of the blue and said, “For what it’s worth, your work is really good. The writings are excellent.” So, you know, that’s nice, since I usually assume that my work is shit.
posted by holborne at 8:04 AM on November 13, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by holborne at 8:04 AM on November 13, 2021 [10 favorites]
This week/life fucking sucks but my breakfast was really good so that’s the high point of my life right now.
posted by obfuscation at 8:19 AM on November 13, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by obfuscation at 8:19 AM on November 13, 2021 [12 favorites]
I have two! I asked my local library to buy a friend's book, and they did.
I helped a friend find a new home for his mother's elderly cat.
posted by MichelleinMD at 9:59 AM on November 13, 2021 [6 favorites]
I helped a friend find a new home for his mother's elderly cat.
posted by MichelleinMD at 9:59 AM on November 13, 2021 [6 favorites]
Oh, congratulations, Sparky Buttons!!
Little eirias is half vaccinated! We are about to celebrate with donuts, as we always do with vaccines.
Got a really nice note from a teacher yesterday thanking me for advocating for Little e. I got a little worked up when I read it — school has been such a journey. For years I’ve had in the back of my mind this urge to figure out how to make things better for kids like her. When her struggles first began, the people we sought out for help heard which school we were at and more or less told us, it’s not going to end well for you there, they will not play ball, you really ought to cut your losses. I got the feeling they had collectively accrued a lot of stories over the years. But maybe this is an opening.
posted by eirias at 12:14 PM on November 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
Little eirias is half vaccinated! We are about to celebrate with donuts, as we always do with vaccines.
Got a really nice note from a teacher yesterday thanking me for advocating for Little e. I got a little worked up when I read it — school has been such a journey. For years I’ve had in the back of my mind this urge to figure out how to make things better for kids like her. When her struggles first began, the people we sought out for help heard which school we were at and more or less told us, it’s not going to end well for you there, they will not play ball, you really ought to cut your losses. I got the feeling they had collectively accrued a lot of stories over the years. But maybe this is an opening.
posted by eirias at 12:14 PM on November 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
My wife has finally gotten the promotion she deserves, after much goalpost moving and assorted corporate bullshittery (and she works for a non-profit!).
posted by mollweide at 3:40 PM on November 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 3:40 PM on November 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
Ok, on further reflection, while it's not good news of raise the trumpets variety yet (but will hopefully be so by next spring), it's certainly worth celebrating. Our kid is applying for colleges now, after being on a special education odyssey of 13 years or so. After being kicked out of several preschools for his "behaviors", he got accepted into our public special ed pre-K. After a few years of struggling and not having his needs meet despite our efforts and that of the school district, he wound up in an out-of-district placement. He's done very well there, and his standardized test scores make up for the oddity of not having advanced classes. He will likely get into a college that will provide him with a supportive environment that he can succeed in. Whew, and yay!
posted by mollweide at 5:48 PM on November 13, 2021 [14 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 5:48 PM on November 13, 2021 [14 favorites]
I love this thread! So happy to hear about all the kids getting vaxxed, especially. (And a good reminder to check whether I'm eligible for my booster, and when my kids (17-25) will be, so I can politely nag them.)
My great news is that I had a 3 hour zoom call with my sisters today. J2 reached out and suggested it about six months ago, and J1 and I agreed, and then... crickets. Which, in our case, that's kinda how we roll. But we finally collectively got our shit together and we all agreed we need to do More of This Kind of Thing. Also, we were all reminded how nice it is to talk with people who think like us (at one point, J2 was telling us about a DM in her gaming group who mispronounced "melee", and J2 said it seemed obvious how it should be pronounced, because isn't it French in origin, and I said yes I was pretty sure it was, and J1 said everyone she works with would think it was weird to even think about a word's origin, and I reported about the time a coworker looked askance at another coworker who used the word "askew" and...
In short, I suspect my sisters and I would prefer to work with MeFites.
posted by cinnamonduff at 7:10 PM on November 13, 2021 [10 favorites]
My great news is that I had a 3 hour zoom call with my sisters today. J2 reached out and suggested it about six months ago, and J1 and I agreed, and then... crickets. Which, in our case, that's kinda how we roll. But we finally collectively got our shit together and we all agreed we need to do More of This Kind of Thing. Also, we were all reminded how nice it is to talk with people who think like us (at one point, J2 was telling us about a DM in her gaming group who mispronounced "melee", and J2 said it seemed obvious how it should be pronounced, because isn't it French in origin, and I said yes I was pretty sure it was, and J1 said everyone she works with would think it was weird to even think about a word's origin, and I reported about the time a coworker looked askance at another coworker who used the word "askew" and...
In short, I suspect my sisters and I would prefer to work with MeFites.
posted by cinnamonduff at 7:10 PM on November 13, 2021 [10 favorites]
Looks like crush and I shall be alone together next Saturday, as everyone else passed. We shall see...
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:14 AM on November 14, 2021 [20 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:14 AM on November 14, 2021 [20 favorites]
The company I work for got a new CEO in October; it's only been six weeks and I know it's still the honeymoon period but boy, I am so much happier. I've worked here for over a decade now, and had known in a powerless sort of way for most of that time that almost all of our dysfunction stemmed from the previous founder/CEO. Finding out the previous CEO was planning to leave a few months ago felt like a huge weight lifting off me, but even that was nothing compared to just how happy I am working with the new guy.
He's not a huge bonehead, for one! He has a reasonable attention span and gives important things the time & focus they deserve! He doesn't have the blistering entitled arrogance of a multi-millionaire who believes they deserve to lead because they founded the company in the first place! He's not a terrible manager of people, and actually wants to hold his management team to account and develop them, including in ways which will make the part of the business I'm responsible for more high-performing! It's possible to have a sensible adult conversation with him that isn't inherently high-drama and high-stakes about topics like diversity, equity & inclusion or corporate sustainability and he actually cares about improving those things to the point of putting personal effort into them!
I can't believe how giddy I am about these changes, and how vastly better it feels to work there following this change. I always believed in the company and the ethos, we do better than most at treating employees like rational adults and trying to get the best out of them, but it's felt for at least the last five years like there was a huge barrier to true excellence in the form of the founder. And given he was both CEO and majority shareholder, there was basically nothing anyone could do about his dysfunction unless he chose to do something about it himself - and let me say THANK FUCK that he did choose to do that. If he'd carried on for another two or three years I don't think I could have stayed, and apart from the blistering frustration of having to work with that guy and hear his garbage opinions and feel deeply privately pained about the ways in which we was holding us back, I genuinely love the company, the work and the people.
It's a huge surprise to me that I'm still there, and a fairly healthy person and fairly senior manager now, having joined more than a decade ago in a very lowly admin role as a 21-year-old reeling from barely-processed trauma with an escalating drinking problem. I'm even more surprised about how excited I am at the thought of staying for at least another five years to see us through the transition we're in the middle of making at the moment. I've got a deep-seated anti-capitalist vein, I work to live rather than the other way round, but I feel incredibly blessed that I've found a niche at a place I don't hate that allows me to live a pretty good life all things considered, and that it promises to get even better in the next few years.
I also have a booster shot booked on the 26th, a bunch of fun social stuff coming up in the next few weeks, and some fingers-crossed COVID-safe travel plans in the pipeline for next year when I get to take a bonus chunk of annual leave for ten years' service. Everything's coming up Milhouse right now.
posted by terretu at 4:29 AM on November 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
He's not a huge bonehead, for one! He has a reasonable attention span and gives important things the time & focus they deserve! He doesn't have the blistering entitled arrogance of a multi-millionaire who believes they deserve to lead because they founded the company in the first place! He's not a terrible manager of people, and actually wants to hold his management team to account and develop them, including in ways which will make the part of the business I'm responsible for more high-performing! It's possible to have a sensible adult conversation with him that isn't inherently high-drama and high-stakes about topics like diversity, equity & inclusion or corporate sustainability and he actually cares about improving those things to the point of putting personal effort into them!
I can't believe how giddy I am about these changes, and how vastly better it feels to work there following this change. I always believed in the company and the ethos, we do better than most at treating employees like rational adults and trying to get the best out of them, but it's felt for at least the last five years like there was a huge barrier to true excellence in the form of the founder. And given he was both CEO and majority shareholder, there was basically nothing anyone could do about his dysfunction unless he chose to do something about it himself - and let me say THANK FUCK that he did choose to do that. If he'd carried on for another two or three years I don't think I could have stayed, and apart from the blistering frustration of having to work with that guy and hear his garbage opinions and feel deeply privately pained about the ways in which we was holding us back, I genuinely love the company, the work and the people.
It's a huge surprise to me that I'm still there, and a fairly healthy person and fairly senior manager now, having joined more than a decade ago in a very lowly admin role as a 21-year-old reeling from barely-processed trauma with an escalating drinking problem. I'm even more surprised about how excited I am at the thought of staying for at least another five years to see us through the transition we're in the middle of making at the moment. I've got a deep-seated anti-capitalist vein, I work to live rather than the other way round, but I feel incredibly blessed that I've found a niche at a place I don't hate that allows me to live a pretty good life all things considered, and that it promises to get even better in the next few years.
I also have a booster shot booked on the 26th, a bunch of fun social stuff coming up in the next few weeks, and some fingers-crossed COVID-safe travel plans in the pipeline for next year when I get to take a bonus chunk of annual leave for ten years' service. Everything's coming up Milhouse right now.
posted by terretu at 4:29 AM on November 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
I have a few things:
The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, to which I contributed around a half dozen articles, published and everyone seems to be talking about it and buying it.
Also, a somewhat obscure bottle of whiskey I bought for around a hundred bucks in the mid aughts turns out to be a Unicorn of Rye Whiskey. I’ve offered it for auction and the bidding will start at what is, to me, a truly absurd amount of money.
posted by slkinsey at 9:27 AM on November 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, to which I contributed around a half dozen articles, published and everyone seems to be talking about it and buying it.
Also, a somewhat obscure bottle of whiskey I bought for around a hundred bucks in the mid aughts turns out to be a Unicorn of Rye Whiskey. I’ve offered it for auction and the bidding will start at what is, to me, a truly absurd amount of money.
posted by slkinsey at 9:27 AM on November 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
A week ago my company laid off the assistant to the CEO, and my boss volunteered me as the CEO's Backup Temporary Scheduling Assistant on top of my regular job, to cover things while we looked for the more permanent person.
It was loosey-goosey, largely because ironing out his schedule was not quite a priority for my predecessor and it took a few days of figuring out what she'd done and where I needed to pick up, but...my boss had my back (and helped me out, in fact), the CEO was patient, and I am good at this kind of thing and sorted everything out, and survived my first week doing that - even if it took a few times of reminding myself that "man, if I can just hang in here, when the company is doing its annual reviews for everyone this is going to make me look fucking amazing."
And not only did I hang in there, but today I still had the energy to do a massive apartment deep-clean - complete with washing the outside windows and hanging up a second bird feeder, so I consider that a personal triumph.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:06 PM on November 14, 2021 [5 favorites]
It was loosey-goosey, largely because ironing out his schedule was not quite a priority for my predecessor and it took a few days of figuring out what she'd done and where I needed to pick up, but...my boss had my back (and helped me out, in fact), the CEO was patient, and I am good at this kind of thing and sorted everything out, and survived my first week doing that - even if it took a few times of reminding myself that "man, if I can just hang in here, when the company is doing its annual reviews for everyone this is going to make me look fucking amazing."
And not only did I hang in there, but today I still had the energy to do a massive apartment deep-clean - complete with washing the outside windows and hanging up a second bird feeder, so I consider that a personal triumph.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:06 PM on November 14, 2021 [5 favorites]
For the first time in my 25 years of working full time, I asked for a raise. Directly to the CEO (my boss's boss).
And she agreed AND said I should get a promotion too. And that I was right to come directly to her.
So that felt pretty good.
posted by Twicketface at 6:55 PM on November 14, 2021 [12 favorites]
And she agreed AND said I should get a promotion too. And that I was right to come directly to her.
So that felt pretty good.
posted by Twicketface at 6:55 PM on November 14, 2021 [12 favorites]
The holidays are a bit...gloomy?...around here since my divorce a few years ago, but a friend (whose partner always flies out of town to be with her family) and I have been having t-day dinner together for a few years running now. It works out great for me since he's an excellent cook and excellent company. Alas, this year he's been invited to a neighbor's for the day--so he's coming over here the day before "real" t-day with a complete turkey dinner in tow so we can have our meal and being here means he doesn't have to worry about my dog deciding his kitties are the special doggy dinner. It's a lovely thing to do and I'm looking forward to it so much.
posted by maxwelton at 10:36 PM on November 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 10:36 PM on November 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
Oh yay Sparky Buttons! (I have a sapphire engagement ring made from heritage stones, too!)
My positive news is that I had some very very good personal news this week. Don't want to share too much yet but I'm very very happy.
posted by freethefeet at 2:44 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
My positive news is that I had some very very good personal news this week. Don't want to share too much yet but I'm very very happy.
posted by freethefeet at 2:44 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
21kg dropped since the start of August, 50kg to go.
Also, my happy pants finally turned up in the mail and wearing them is making me ridiculously happy.
posted by flabdablet at 6:16 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
Also, my happy pants finally turned up in the mail and wearing them is making me ridiculously happy.
posted by flabdablet at 6:16 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
Additional: got positive replies to both of my complex queries to Norwegian bureaucracy this morning. I wasn't expecting either so quickly, or possibly at all, and this makes a couple of future pathways slightly more likely. I have to do some more careful background research and thinking in the near future, but I may well bring my trip scheduled for next May forward a good bit.
It's interesting to also compare similar processes in the Norwegian and Swedish bureaucracies, now I've clocked up some experience of both.
posted by Wordshore at 6:30 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
It's interesting to also compare similar processes in the Norwegian and Swedish bureaucracies, now I've clocked up some experience of both.
posted by Wordshore at 6:30 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Also also, ms flabdablet and little ms flabdablet brought home a nice 290mm wide pine plank to make a balancing board to help little ms flabdablet's ankle recover from the aftermath of a sprain, and after cutting it down to the length she wanted it, I chamfered all the edges of the offcut piece and rubbed about a quarter of a cup of flaxseed oil into it. Now I have a chopping board big enough that the piles of cut veg I customarily make won't need such careful management to avoid spilling off the edges before I get them into the pot.
This particular piece has grain and figure that are unusually good looking for standard-issue dressed radiata pine, the oiling has brought that out beautifully, and I'm very much looking forward to using it once the oil's had a couple of weeks to cure.
posted by flabdablet at 6:36 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
This particular piece has grain and figure that are unusually good looking for standard-issue dressed radiata pine, the oiling has brought that out beautifully, and I'm very much looking forward to using it once the oil's had a couple of weeks to cure.
posted by flabdablet at 6:36 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
flabdablet, I have never met you and yet still somehow picturing you in purple harem pants also made me ridiculously happy.
posted by eirias at 6:39 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by eirias at 6:39 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Also also also, I finished the deck on the back cabin. But it's been rainy as all get-out here since I did that, and it turns out that the cabin was apparently not designed with water migrating along a deck and puddling up against the bottom of its outside wall in mind, so I'm going to have to pull a couple of the boards back off and improve the flashing a bit. Even so, the deck looks good and is nice to sit on when it's sunny.
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
picturing you in purple harem pants also made me ridiculously happy
One of the best things about them has been the outraged reaction they provoked from our local 16 year old fashion authority :-)
She tells me I've agreed not to wear them when I'm out and about in public. Oddly enough, I recall making no such agreement.
posted by flabdablet at 6:43 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
One of the best things about them has been the outraged reaction they provoked from our local 16 year old fashion authority :-)
She tells me I've agreed not to wear them when I'm out and about in public. Oddly enough, I recall making no such agreement.
posted by flabdablet at 6:43 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
Pátzcuaro is a town in Mexico. It was the original capital of the Purépecha Empire in the 1320s, and since then it has accrued a cruft of beauty, historical significance, cultural significance, and, beginning in the 1940s, preservation for the tourists, all of which make it a fabulous place to visit. I could go on (location, ruins, culture, food!) board of tourism style, but the thing I want to talk about is shopping. Pátzcuaro is surrounded by all towns and villages that each specialize in one thing. So: pottery of various types, masks, copper. If you ever want to buy a bunch of awesome hand-crafted stuff direct from the people who made it, complete with studio tours if you are nice and lucky, here is the place. You can find everything from simple and cheap on up to works of art made by renowned artists master craftspeople.
About an hour and a half drive from there is the town of Paracho. I think I first heard about Paracho twenty years ago as the real guitar town that the guitar town in Desperado is based on. It’s probably too far away to be part of the same system of towns around Pátzcuaro, but they are known for making guitars, and its close enough by car to Pátzcuaro, so that’s where it lives in my head. You can buy a guitars there ranging in quality from cheap mass produced junk on up to custom handmade masterpieces by internationally renowned master luthiers, and, of course, for the handmade stuff, you are buying from the people who made it, seeing their shops and how the guitars are made. It’s guitar town, and it’s so cool!
My first visit to the place was about ten or twelve years ago, and oh, how I wanted a guitar! But we only stopped there for twenty minutes on the way to somewhere else, I hadn’t done any research on where to get a good one, the altitude was affecting me badly, and I didn’t know what a chord was, much less how to play guitar. So we visited the shops and then moved on, and I didn’t buy anything. And buying a guitar in Paracho remained (or maybe became) a dream of mine. It’s not the sort of place you accidentally visit more than once, and driving randomly around the Michoacan countryside is even less advisable than it used to be, so I figured the dream would never be realized.
In the intervening years, at least partly inspired by this dream, I learned to play guitar (not that well, but I have fun), bought an electric, aquired some beater acoustics from friends. I also took up guitar-making as a hobby, built an electric from scratch (with hand wound pickups, so fun!), made a cigar box guitar and a cigar box ukulele, did major repairs on those beater guitars, and generally got into that whole thing.
Anyway, this fall a combination of circumstances including covid, a death in the family, and changing airline policies on dogs led to me having to drive to Mexico, and my trip took me close to Paracho. I know how to play, I did the research, I know a bit about how guitars are made, I have a plan for how to deal with changes in humidity and temperature, my budget is sufficient for a decent guitar.
Three days ago, I went to Paracho and I visited the luthier I picked, and he showed me his shop, and we chatted about guitar making (really it was just me in awe. Dude has been making guitars for 50 years), and... I bought the guitar.
posted by surlyben at 8:22 AM on November 15, 2021 [18 favorites]
About an hour and a half drive from there is the town of Paracho. I think I first heard about Paracho twenty years ago as the real guitar town that the guitar town in Desperado is based on. It’s probably too far away to be part of the same system of towns around Pátzcuaro, but they are known for making guitars, and its close enough by car to Pátzcuaro, so that’s where it lives in my head. You can buy a guitars there ranging in quality from cheap mass produced junk on up to custom handmade masterpieces by internationally renowned master luthiers, and, of course, for the handmade stuff, you are buying from the people who made it, seeing their shops and how the guitars are made. It’s guitar town, and it’s so cool!
My first visit to the place was about ten or twelve years ago, and oh, how I wanted a guitar! But we only stopped there for twenty minutes on the way to somewhere else, I hadn’t done any research on where to get a good one, the altitude was affecting me badly, and I didn’t know what a chord was, much less how to play guitar. So we visited the shops and then moved on, and I didn’t buy anything. And buying a guitar in Paracho remained (or maybe became) a dream of mine. It’s not the sort of place you accidentally visit more than once, and driving randomly around the Michoacan countryside is even less advisable than it used to be, so I figured the dream would never be realized.
In the intervening years, at least partly inspired by this dream, I learned to play guitar (not that well, but I have fun), bought an electric, aquired some beater acoustics from friends. I also took up guitar-making as a hobby, built an electric from scratch (with hand wound pickups, so fun!), made a cigar box guitar and a cigar box ukulele, did major repairs on those beater guitars, and generally got into that whole thing.
Anyway, this fall a combination of circumstances including covid, a death in the family, and changing airline policies on dogs led to me having to drive to Mexico, and my trip took me close to Paracho. I know how to play, I did the research, I know a bit about how guitars are made, I have a plan for how to deal with changes in humidity and temperature, my budget is sufficient for a decent guitar.
Three days ago, I went to Paracho and I visited the luthier I picked, and he showed me his shop, and we chatted about guitar making (really it was just me in awe. Dude has been making guitars for 50 years), and... I bought the guitar.
posted by surlyben at 8:22 AM on November 15, 2021 [18 favorites]
A few weeks ago, my wife's oncologist broke up with her. He said she's 5 years cancer free and no longer a cancer patient, so he doesn't want to see her anymore. Best breakup ever.
posted by COD at 2:24 PM on November 15, 2021 [34 favorites]
posted by COD at 2:24 PM on November 15, 2021 [34 favorites]
I just finished a mid-career master's programme. I don't think the grade matters: it was credentialism really, to get myself a foot in the door with a particular group of employers, and I don't think they care about the grade vs the course and the institution. And I don't want to go into academia.
But! I got a prize for the best overall performance on the course. I'm stoked.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 2:45 PM on November 15, 2021 [11 favorites]
But! I got a prize for the best overall performance on the course. I'm stoked.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 2:45 PM on November 15, 2021 [11 favorites]
I have been living in fear for the past several months of medical test results for someone extremely dear to me, and it turns out that EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK.
More news when it's mine to tell. :D
posted by Space Kitty at 11:22 AM on November 16, 2021 [11 favorites]
More news when it's mine to tell. :D
posted by Space Kitty at 11:22 AM on November 16, 2021 [11 favorites]
flabdablet, she'd really wince if she saw my hippie pants collection :P
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:18 PM on November 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:18 PM on November 16, 2021 [2 favorites]
I survived my first Jury Duty call - and got dismissed right away!
It was for a Superior Court, for a criminal case. I filled out all of the paperwork, and I didn't know if the trial was going to be virtual or in person. I have Long Covid/Post-Viral CFS, and while I could do a trial over Zoom easily, doing a physical trial? May make me sicker. Because of that, I didn't pursue a note from my doctor. But I did write about the condition on my form. I'm also extremely fortunate to have a doctor who listens to me, and formally diagnosed me with Long Covid/CFS.
So we had Zoom Voir Dire today, and the judge explained that it'd be on premesis, in a physical courtroom, and would take about a week. When he asked if anyone would have difficulty with that, I raised my hand. When called on? I got to explain it in detail. How I get fatigue and brain fog. How, when I stand or sit? I get dizziness and nausea. How it feels like I'm walking on a boat sometimes - and I WFH 100% of the time, with over 50% of that time? Reclining on my bed, with a laptop on my lap.
Luckily, the judge understood, as did the lawyers - and I was the first Juror who got dismissed in the Voir Dire process. I'm also going to ask for a letter I can file with the court, to ask for a permanenet medical exemption. The irony in all of this? I've always *wanted* to do Jury Duty, to see what it was like. I have a job where I'd get paid on my days in service, and I feel it is an important civic duty. And I was looking forward to it this morning - until I stood up from bed, and the room spun. There is *no way* I can sit in a courtroom all week.
Now to take the next few days to rest from this experience - but it was a fulfilling experience to have. I'm grateful for giving it a go.
posted by spinifex23 at 9:24 PM on November 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
It was for a Superior Court, for a criminal case. I filled out all of the paperwork, and I didn't know if the trial was going to be virtual or in person. I have Long Covid/Post-Viral CFS, and while I could do a trial over Zoom easily, doing a physical trial? May make me sicker. Because of that, I didn't pursue a note from my doctor. But I did write about the condition on my form. I'm also extremely fortunate to have a doctor who listens to me, and formally diagnosed me with Long Covid/CFS.
So we had Zoom Voir Dire today, and the judge explained that it'd be on premesis, in a physical courtroom, and would take about a week. When he asked if anyone would have difficulty with that, I raised my hand. When called on? I got to explain it in detail. How I get fatigue and brain fog. How, when I stand or sit? I get dizziness and nausea. How it feels like I'm walking on a boat sometimes - and I WFH 100% of the time, with over 50% of that time? Reclining on my bed, with a laptop on my lap.
Luckily, the judge understood, as did the lawyers - and I was the first Juror who got dismissed in the Voir Dire process. I'm also going to ask for a letter I can file with the court, to ask for a permanenet medical exemption. The irony in all of this? I've always *wanted* to do Jury Duty, to see what it was like. I have a job where I'd get paid on my days in service, and I feel it is an important civic duty. And I was looking forward to it this morning - until I stood up from bed, and the room spun. There is *no way* I can sit in a courtroom all week.
Now to take the next few days to rest from this experience - but it was a fulfilling experience to have. I'm grateful for giving it a go.
posted by spinifex23 at 9:24 PM on November 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
My kid will be getting the first dose of the vaccine! We have been delaying until their checkup as they are under 12 but the height and weight of an average adult woman, so we wanted some guidance on the dosage. I'm nervous but also relieved. Kiddo is excited as it means they can play indoor sport they enjoy this winter.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:26 AM on November 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:26 AM on November 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
Tongue-in-cheek great news -
It looks like Tehhund has just caught up to the political posts from January 6th.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:55 AM on November 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
It looks like Tehhund has just caught up to the political posts from January 6th.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:55 AM on November 18, 2021 [9 favorites]
22kg down, 49 to go.
posted by flabdablet at 7:42 AM on November 19, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 7:42 AM on November 19, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'M GONNA BE A GRANDMA!
After some utterly terrifying early tests, it's confirmed that the baby is perfect and arriving sometime between the Spring Equinox and Easter, 2022.
**explodes in happiness and relief**
posted by Space Kitty at 9:13 PM on November 19, 2021 [11 favorites]
After some utterly terrifying early tests, it's confirmed that the baby is perfect and arriving sometime between the Spring Equinox and Easter, 2022.
**explodes in happiness and relief**
posted by Space Kitty at 9:13 PM on November 19, 2021 [11 favorites]
I got into a play with my crush!
Will see how tomorrow goes....
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:00 PM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
Will see how tomorrow goes....
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:00 PM on November 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
He said no.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:26 AM on November 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:26 AM on November 21, 2021 [3 favorites]
Little footnote on the Wakko-come-home story: found out today that cat is 15 years old
15 years old.
posted by vrakatar at 1:55 PM on November 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
15 years old.
posted by vrakatar at 1:55 PM on November 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
Sorry Jen!!
posted by ellieBOA at 12:31 AM on November 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 12:31 AM on November 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
Passing chocolate to Jen - and celebrating with Grandma Space Kitty!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:52 AM on November 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:52 AM on November 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
23kg gone, 48 more to go.
Tomorrow I shall feast, and woe betide any who stand between me and my tuna coleslaw yoghurt almond hummus bean tomato capsicum soy sauce turmeric and black pepper salad.
posted by flabdablet at 11:14 AM on November 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
Tomorrow I shall feast, and woe betide any who stand between me and my tuna coleslaw yoghurt almond hummus bean tomato capsicum soy sauce turmeric and black pepper salad.
posted by flabdablet at 11:14 AM on November 23, 2021 [4 favorites]
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posted by michaelh at 6:42 PM on November 11, 2021 [16 favorites]