Metatalktail Hour: Good News! March 18, 2022 4:33 PM Subscribe
I've gotten an unusual amount of good news this week, and it just has me in the best, best mood. Keep my buzz running: Tell me what pieces of good news you've had lately! Could be huge good news, could be teeny good news. It's just been so nice to have a week of hearing good news, big and small, after two years of Hard Things.
I got a great new job last Sept, at a place that strongly encourages asking for help, does weekly kudos callouts, has a strong dedication to hiring and promoting Women, PoC, Disabled and Queer folks (and asks every one of us to join at least one group to discuss how we feel about the company in regards to one or more of those categories) I've gotten a lot of good positive feedback, I like my boss, I like my team, it's a good job.
Also I get to sometimes see neat x-rays of animals.
Today we got a virtual tour of our new building - and while my boss was doing the tour of "our" area, he talked about how every cube was a hot desk and would have a dock, monitors, keyboard/mouse. And THEN dropped the "But. We're a fully virtual team. If you want to be in the office, you can, but it will at most be on a partial basis, our productivity has gone up since we sent all of you home. You are happier working in your homes, without shoes, with your pets and families."
I get to stay home. I get to have my great job and have afternoons with my youngest kid. I get to have him walk three blocks home from school next year! I get to duck out at lunch and walk around my own neighborhood. I get to not wear shoes! I get to BE HOME. I don't have to drive, I get another half hour of sleep. I can work on my patio if I want! It's quiet here! I get to pet my cat when I'm stressed. I get to STAY HOME.
posted by FritoKAL at 4:49 PM on March 18, 2022 [39 favorites]
Also I get to sometimes see neat x-rays of animals.
Today we got a virtual tour of our new building - and while my boss was doing the tour of "our" area, he talked about how every cube was a hot desk and would have a dock, monitors, keyboard/mouse. And THEN dropped the "But. We're a fully virtual team. If you want to be in the office, you can, but it will at most be on a partial basis, our productivity has gone up since we sent all of you home. You are happier working in your homes, without shoes, with your pets and families."
I get to stay home. I get to have my great job and have afternoons with my youngest kid. I get to have him walk three blocks home from school next year! I get to duck out at lunch and walk around my own neighborhood. I get to not wear shoes! I get to BE HOME. I don't have to drive, I get another half hour of sleep. I can work on my patio if I want! It's quiet here! I get to pet my cat when I'm stressed. I get to STAY HOME.
posted by FritoKAL at 4:49 PM on March 18, 2022 [39 favorites]
EM, was it the Let's Make Art box? Regardless, that is super cool!
FritoKal, also super cool, you are living the dream! I am still temporarily living this dream but am looking for a permanent situation. Congratulations!
My good news is my partner just texted to say he picked up king salmon, broccolini, and a baguette for dinner.
posted by HotToddy at 5:14 PM on March 18, 2022 [8 favorites]
FritoKal, also super cool, you are living the dream! I am still temporarily living this dream but am looking for a permanent situation. Congratulations!
My good news is my partner just texted to say he picked up king salmon, broccolini, and a baguette for dinner.
posted by HotToddy at 5:14 PM on March 18, 2022 [8 favorites]
I have made better than expected progress in Elden Ring, which is...I dunno, it *is* good news? Very narrowcasted good news, but if you're like me and find the Souls games extremely intimidating but also fascinating, getting fairly far in this one feels validating. A sort of recognition of cussed persistence in the face of something intentionally, aggressively intimidating. At this point I need to kill a humongous Fire Giant in some sky-high mountains and I have no idea how I'm gonna do that, but I've said that about a dozen previous encounters in this game so I am willing to believe I'll figure it out.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:18 PM on March 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:18 PM on March 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm in Lisbon!
posted by Alex404 at 5:20 PM on March 18, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by Alex404 at 5:20 PM on March 18, 2022 [12 favorites]
I finally got a new bed frame, replacing my old and janky metal futon frame with an all-wood platform bed frame.
posted by bixfrankonis at 5:30 PM on March 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by bixfrankonis at 5:30 PM on March 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
Found out a couple of days ago I passed my civil engineering/transportation PE exam, which is something I've been steadily working towards since I went back to school a little over nine years ago. Been a pretty long/difficult journey but I feel good about having done this. It's still sinking in.
posted by curious nu at 5:33 PM on March 18, 2022 [36 favorites]
posted by curious nu at 5:33 PM on March 18, 2022 [36 favorites]
I'm improving in Semantle which I did not think was possible. Me and my sister have made some progress in the seemingly intractable problem of getting a new septic installed at my mom's place that we are hoping to sell this year. I wore shorts outside on a long walk and did not turn the furnace on today which is a first for 2022. It's a little early for nice weather but not the worst. Not getting snow tires off yet though. I got my tax bill from my tax guy and it's also not the worst. I pinged a friend for coffee and we wound up grabbing take out dinner and it was really nice to catch up plus he helped me fix a coat rack which had fallen off of my wall last night right before bed. And he was going to go home for tools but I had all the tools he needed! (but not the smarts to do it myself) I guess I'm just happy about things being not the worst, for once.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:34 PM on March 18, 2022 [17 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:34 PM on March 18, 2022 [17 favorites]
"EM, was it the Let's Make Art box? "
YES! I cannot say enough good things about my experiences with Let's Make Art. We also subscribed to the kids' box for a while, when my kids were distance learning and my youngest was really bored, and I've bought one-off art journaling boxes. I honestly thought (having been told this as a child) that you either COULD do art, or could NOT do art; it was innate, and it was 90% down to whether you could draw/sketch without instruction. I had literally no idea there were learnable skills that even someone with crappy fine motor control could learn! (I also had no idea you were allowed to use carbon paper to trace outlines.)
But the whole vibe of the company is "everyone can do this," "you can learn skills," and "things don't have to be any particular way, make things your own!" (And a very "happy little accidents" vibe generally! The watercolor teacher says, all the time, "if you hate it, it's just a piece of paper. Throw it away and start over!") My 72-year-old father, who hasn't picked up a paintbrush since elementary school, now always wants to do an art tutorial when he visits, and he's super into it and keeps talking about buying his own paints. Usually me and him and my kindergartener do a kids' tutorial all together. (He's very pleased with his sea turtle!)
(If you have your own paints and paper, you can print off any outlines you need, and the video tutorials are free -- you don't have to splash out for the box if you just want to do some watercolor tutorials!)
I have now graduated to buying tube paints and building my own palettes, but I still look at the tutorials every month and learn or practice techniques. I also feel like having my kids watch me start something I'd never tried before and was really bad at, and doing lessons, and practicing, and not minding that I was bad at it, and slowly improving, was a really great lesson for my kids about perseverance and practice, and that skill is not innate, but can be learned and trained!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:38 PM on March 18, 2022 [19 favorites]
YES! I cannot say enough good things about my experiences with Let's Make Art. We also subscribed to the kids' box for a while, when my kids were distance learning and my youngest was really bored, and I've bought one-off art journaling boxes. I honestly thought (having been told this as a child) that you either COULD do art, or could NOT do art; it was innate, and it was 90% down to whether you could draw/sketch without instruction. I had literally no idea there were learnable skills that even someone with crappy fine motor control could learn! (I also had no idea you were allowed to use carbon paper to trace outlines.)
But the whole vibe of the company is "everyone can do this," "you can learn skills," and "things don't have to be any particular way, make things your own!" (And a very "happy little accidents" vibe generally! The watercolor teacher says, all the time, "if you hate it, it's just a piece of paper. Throw it away and start over!") My 72-year-old father, who hasn't picked up a paintbrush since elementary school, now always wants to do an art tutorial when he visits, and he's super into it and keeps talking about buying his own paints. Usually me and him and my kindergartener do a kids' tutorial all together. (He's very pleased with his sea turtle!)
(If you have your own paints and paper, you can print off any outlines you need, and the video tutorials are free -- you don't have to splash out for the box if you just want to do some watercolor tutorials!)
I have now graduated to buying tube paints and building my own palettes, but I still look at the tutorials every month and learn or practice techniques. I also feel like having my kids watch me start something I'd never tried before and was really bad at, and doing lessons, and practicing, and not minding that I was bad at it, and slowly improving, was a really great lesson for my kids about perseverance and practice, and that skill is not innate, but can be learned and trained!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 5:38 PM on March 18, 2022 [19 favorites]
I followed the excellent advice in this askme and made my first pro-market (and SFWA qualifying) Science Fiction short-story sale. This is huge, it's something I've wanted my whole life. it's like waking up one day and being told "okay, you can be a rockstar", except for the money and the fans and private jets.
posted by signal at 6:26 PM on March 18, 2022 [43 favorites]
posted by signal at 6:26 PM on March 18, 2022 [43 favorites]
Huzzah! That's awesome, MollyRealized!!
I don't have anything comparable, but some good things have been happening here. I got a decent sized promotion at work, which is cool. We decided to send the kids to public school starting this March 1, which was stressful because they have been attending international school and the whole idea of not just switching schools but also switching languages has had me really stressed out. However, all three kids seem to be happy and doing well, so I have apparently been worrying about not much at all.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:44 PM on March 18, 2022 [8 favorites]
I don't have anything comparable, but some good things have been happening here. I got a decent sized promotion at work, which is cool. We decided to send the kids to public school starting this March 1, which was stressful because they have been attending international school and the whole idea of not just switching schools but also switching languages has had me really stressed out. However, all three kids seem to be happy and doing well, so I have apparently been worrying about not much at all.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:44 PM on March 18, 2022 [8 favorites]
Wow, congrats, Signal, that’s fantastic. Felicidades!
posted by dhruva at 7:06 PM on March 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by dhruva at 7:06 PM on March 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Hey MollyRealized, welcome.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:11 PM on March 18, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:11 PM on March 18, 2022 [7 favorites]
Gracias, dhruva.
Congratulations, MollyRealized!
posted by signal at 7:21 PM on March 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Congratulations, MollyRealized!
posted by signal at 7:21 PM on March 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
I had one of those moments in science this week that hasn't happened to me much, if ever, where you get a new dataset and you make plot after plot and you're just like... whoa, there is really something here.
posted by eirias at 7:35 PM on March 18, 2022 [15 favorites]
posted by eirias at 7:35 PM on March 18, 2022 [15 favorites]
Congratulations as well to MollyRealized! That must be a huge weight lifted from your shoulders.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:45 PM on March 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:45 PM on March 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
That is just wonderful, MollyRealized. I’m so happy for you!
EM, I got one of their kits early on and I LOVE the little watercolor projects, they are just so spot-on appealing to me, but my creative self is struggling to make time for things like this. Also I’m a little pinched for money so don’t feel at liberty to buy all the boxes. I totally get how this opened up the world of watercolor for you though and am thrilled about your success! So cool!
posted by HotToddy at 8:03 PM on March 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
EM, I got one of their kits early on and I LOVE the little watercolor projects, they are just so spot-on appealing to me, but my creative self is struggling to make time for things like this. Also I’m a little pinched for money so don’t feel at liberty to buy all the boxes. I totally get how this opened up the world of watercolor for you though and am thrilled about your success! So cool!
posted by HotToddy at 8:03 PM on March 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
Tiny good news: I was gifted an ukulele very recently, and within maybe an hour I was strumming and finger-picking my way through the Beatles "Eight Days a Week". I've been messing about with guitar for decades now (picked up an electric in '84), and I'm finally getting to a beyond a beginner, starting to be sort of intermediate stage. It's fun to be able to make musical noises pretty quickly on a mildly unfamiliar instrument.
posted by coppertop at 8:24 PM on March 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by coppertop at 8:24 PM on March 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
It looks like the SSRI I'm taking is helping for my anxiety? As in helping * a lot *.
I now realise just how sick I've been for the last 3 years. It feels like I've been in severe pain for most of that time and now that's mostly just gone away.
So weird because it took me about a year to realise "this is pain I'm feeling", and even then, because anxiety is framed as a mental health thing, I thought that the pain was self inflicted and would ease if I just thought it right. How cooky is that?
Meditating, exercise, making new friends definitely helped me. And my therapist taught me really valuable skills. But why didn't anyone, doctors or therapists, say "hey, you're female, late 40's, depressed and anxious, *ding ding ding! * menopause!" and helped me try medication?
Anyway, it's just wonderful to feel like myself again.
Also the book I'm writing is going really well. It's such fun too see the story coming together.
posted by Zumbador at 8:57 PM on March 18, 2022 [29 favorites]
I now realise just how sick I've been for the last 3 years. It feels like I've been in severe pain for most of that time and now that's mostly just gone away.
So weird because it took me about a year to realise "this is pain I'm feeling", and even then, because anxiety is framed as a mental health thing, I thought that the pain was self inflicted and would ease if I just thought it right. How cooky is that?
Meditating, exercise, making new friends definitely helped me. And my therapist taught me really valuable skills. But why didn't anyone, doctors or therapists, say "hey, you're female, late 40's, depressed and anxious, *ding ding ding! * menopause!" and helped me try medication?
Anyway, it's just wonderful to feel like myself again.
Also the book I'm writing is going really well. It's such fun too see the story coming together.
posted by Zumbador at 8:57 PM on March 18, 2022 [29 favorites]
Yay MollyRealized!
I recently passed 9 years in Paris, and posting about that led to an old colleague getting in touch, and we met up after 6 years! She has a tiny baby, and with knowing my less tiny nieces I could reassure her that this sleep deprived stage passes!
I also celebrated 18 months without cigarettes!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:37 AM on March 19, 2022 [18 favorites]
I recently passed 9 years in Paris, and posting about that led to an old colleague getting in touch, and we met up after 6 years! She has a tiny baby, and with knowing my less tiny nieces I could reassure her that this sleep deprived stage passes!
I also celebrated 18 months without cigarettes!
posted by ellieBOA at 1:37 AM on March 19, 2022 [18 favorites]
I work with a team in Malaysia (and i'm in Denmark). They are in our offices in Kuala Lumpur and the last time we had face to face (non-virtual) meetings was back in 2019. Now the country is opening up a bit more after April 1, and I have gotten a green light to travel! So, I will leaving cold DK towards warmer KL in a few days. We have a company-wide, leadership-backed push for more employee mobility, whether that means explore another department or even an office in another country and I appreciate that about them SO much. I am happy to see my team IRL soon! Can't wait :)
posted by alchemist at 2:50 AM on March 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by alchemist at 2:50 AM on March 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
I got rid of the stitches in my arsehole, or rather, got rid of the stitches that mean I no longer have an arsehole.
This means I can sit down again at last.
posted by Phanx at 4:46 AM on March 19, 2022 [16 favorites]
This means I can sit down again at last.
posted by Phanx at 4:46 AM on March 19, 2022 [16 favorites]
I'm watching cartoons with my two youngest grandkids, ages 3 and 6. My daughter-in-law and my son are at the hospital having a baby, my sixth grandchild. The 3 yr old told her mama yesterday that mama's belly was really full of noodles, not a baby, and that mama had to go to South America to get the baby. The sun is shining through the trees here in upstate New York. We are very fortunate. The cartoon is really weird, a little girl turns into a big orange bear and becomes a rock star or something. I can't follow it at all. And something about inner peace. Phew, it just ended. Breakfast time.
posted by mareli at 5:05 AM on March 19, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by mareli at 5:05 AM on March 19, 2022 [12 favorites]
My father had has three kinds of cancer. And as of very recently, he is officially cancer free, thanks to surgery and immunotherapy.
Praise be to Science!
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:05 AM on March 19, 2022 [31 favorites]
Praise be to Science!
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:05 AM on March 19, 2022 [31 favorites]
MollyRealized, this morning I discovered I could smile ear to ear while sipping coffee. I'm so excited for you! And I'm so excited for all of the good news for everyone!
I registered my LLC and new web domain this week and went over my business plan with a friend. I make a list, I cross things off. It feels really good. I hit a wall, I take a nap. I keep going. I've always kept my goals unspoken, less out of a fear of total failure but more of a fear of putting everything I am into something and still coming up short, and it's nice to feel like I can make mistakes and still be okay.
I love you all.
posted by mochapickle at 7:03 AM on March 19, 2022 [20 favorites]
I registered my LLC and new web domain this week and went over my business plan with a friend. I make a list, I cross things off. It feels really good. I hit a wall, I take a nap. I keep going. I've always kept my goals unspoken, less out of a fear of total failure but more of a fear of putting everything I am into something and still coming up short, and it's nice to feel like I can make mistakes and still be okay.
I love you all.
posted by mochapickle at 7:03 AM on March 19, 2022 [20 favorites]
mochapickle: "I've always kept my goals unspoken, less out of a fear of total failure but more of a fear of putting everything I am into something and still coming up short"
Same. One of the good things about getting old is people stop expecting things from you so you can just go for it more.
posted by signal at 7:06 AM on March 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
Same. One of the good things about getting old is people stop expecting things from you so you can just go for it more.
posted by signal at 7:06 AM on March 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
Oh! We're doing 10-day virtual spring cleaning over on IRL starting on March 28. Er, the event is virtual, the actual cleaning is real. Come join us!
posted by mochapickle at 7:06 AM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 7:06 AM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
signal, are you... are you calling me old?
posted by mochapickle at 7:09 AM on March 19, 2022
posted by mochapickle at 7:09 AM on March 19, 2022
mochapickle: "signal, are you... are you calling me old?"
Nah, I'm calling me old :) See my comment above, I'm just starting (hopefully) my writing career at 51.
posted by signal at 7:15 AM on March 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
Nah, I'm calling me old :) See my comment above, I'm just starting (hopefully) my writing career at 51.
posted by signal at 7:15 AM on March 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
Well done, you! Carry on!
posted by mochapickle at 7:17 AM on March 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mochapickle at 7:17 AM on March 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
I had a roundly kick-ass appointment with my primary care doctor, where she went through my stack of referrals and explained in normal human terms what each of them were for. Then we gamed out which ones I needed to do and which ones could wait.
A lot of times my medical care involves being lobbed at various specialists and getting lots of tests, none of which give suitable answers and all of which generate more appointments and tests, which runs out my very limited energy and leaves me feeling like I'm stuck in a game of disability pinball.
It felt really good to have a sense of control.
posted by champers at 7:20 AM on March 19, 2022 [12 favorites]
A lot of times my medical care involves being lobbed at various specialists and getting lots of tests, none of which give suitable answers and all of which generate more appointments and tests, which runs out my very limited energy and leaves me feeling like I'm stuck in a game of disability pinball.
It felt really good to have a sense of control.
posted by champers at 7:20 AM on March 19, 2022 [12 favorites]
Congrats to everyone on their good news!
My latest mammogram came back clean. I'm 5 years out from my breast cancer diagnosis, so am officially cured! Next year I go back to regular screening mammograms rather than diagnostic ones.
I picked up my high school Spanish a few weeks ago and have been studying everyday. I'm using DuoLingo which at times feels too simple and a workbook that most of the time seems to hard. I'm surprised at how much I remember. I've also been writing a "journal" in Spanish. It's just a few sentences but writing it is gratifying.
posted by kathrynm at 7:47 AM on March 19, 2022 [34 favorites]
My latest mammogram came back clean. I'm 5 years out from my breast cancer diagnosis, so am officially cured! Next year I go back to regular screening mammograms rather than diagnostic ones.
I picked up my high school Spanish a few weeks ago and have been studying everyday. I'm using DuoLingo which at times feels too simple and a workbook that most of the time seems to hard. I'm surprised at how much I remember. I've also been writing a "journal" in Spanish. It's just a few sentences but writing it is gratifying.
posted by kathrynm at 7:47 AM on March 19, 2022 [34 favorites]
I just found something I'd been seeking for years!
posted by moonmilk at 12:13 PM on March 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 12:13 PM on March 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
I finally got to meet my baby niece for the first time! She's five months old, and I love her very much.
posted by biogeo at 1:20 PM on March 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by biogeo at 1:20 PM on March 19, 2022 [11 favorites]
We made it to Italy for the first time! Man, it was excruciating to get here-as I’ve posted in previous questions, we were struggling for months to get our adult daughter’s passport replaced-and it didn’t happen. We left Wednesday, our congressperson’s office finally responded that day and said they were having it overnighted for Friday. Argh.
BUT! We came with the two younger kids-12 and 16. The trip from western US was long and rough-but now we are in Florence, our apartment is lovely, and all is amazing.
posted by purenitrous at 1:48 PM on March 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
BUT! We came with the two younger kids-12 and 16. The trip from western US was long and rough-but now we are in Florence, our apartment is lovely, and all is amazing.
posted by purenitrous at 1:48 PM on March 19, 2022 [9 favorites]
This morning my 10 month old reached from me to be held by his father instead and whew is that a relief. His preference is still completely lopsided to me but even one sign that I may someday be able to walk through my house without causing disturbance and tears (unless I take him) is very exciting.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:49 PM on March 19, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:49 PM on March 19, 2022 [12 favorites]
I won a Cuisinart juicer and a citrus basket from my local nice supermarket chain. They had a contest where you sent in a photo of something you made with citrus. And I won! I didn't really want the juicer so I sent it to my nephew who is getting married, and I'm sharing the citrus with family and friends.
posted by Kangaroo at 3:37 PM on March 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Kangaroo at 3:37 PM on March 19, 2022 [6 favorites]
After struggling through the death of my mother in 2020 and all the apocalyptic bullshit that just doesn't seem to want to go away, my unemployed self finally got my shit together enough to embark on a Diploma of Clinical Hypnotherapy. It's taking the last of my savings and I was terrified because I haven't been to school for 30 years and what even is Zoom....and...and...
It's been fine! More than fine, actually! Complete career change at 50? Pshhh...whatever.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:07 PM on March 19, 2022 [16 favorites]
It's been fine! More than fine, actually! Complete career change at 50? Pshhh...whatever.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:07 PM on March 19, 2022 [16 favorites]
Grandbaby arrived at 4 and this rainbow was outside the delivery room window.
posted by mareli at 5:07 PM on March 19, 2022 [29 favorites]
posted by mareli at 5:07 PM on March 19, 2022 [29 favorites]
I have, through today, maintained my decision to only eat meat once a day. To my surprise, it's been easy! It's so convenient to not have to cook every day.
posted by SPrintF at 6:16 PM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 6:16 PM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
"I finally got to meet my baby niece for the first time! She's five months old, and I love her very much."
I get to meet MY baby niece for the first time in 30 days, and counting! She is TWO YEARS OLD, almost three! Her parents didn't travel for Christmas after she was born, because she was little and because my BIL was starting a new job and the week between Xmas and New Year's was ALL THE TRAINING, AND THEN THE COVID HAPPENED, so I get to meet her for the first time REALLY REALLY SOON! I tried to go to her last fall, but Delta happened and wildfires happened. Anyway! She's coming here in a month! And she is 2 1/2 so I can't just scoop her up and snuggle her as if she was a baby, but I bet I can get a high-five.
She is named for me and I CRIED MY EYES OUT when I heard that, as one does. I'm just REALLY EXCITED! But I have to keep my adult excitedness cranked down to tolerable levels so I can interact with the actual 2.5-year-old who wants to give occasional high-fives but not have all her surprise new relatives swoon over her while squealing.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:52 PM on March 19, 2022 [19 favorites]
I get to meet MY baby niece for the first time in 30 days, and counting! She is TWO YEARS OLD, almost three! Her parents didn't travel for Christmas after she was born, because she was little and because my BIL was starting a new job and the week between Xmas and New Year's was ALL THE TRAINING, AND THEN THE COVID HAPPENED, so I get to meet her for the first time REALLY REALLY SOON! I tried to go to her last fall, but Delta happened and wildfires happened. Anyway! She's coming here in a month! And she is 2 1/2 so I can't just scoop her up and snuggle her as if she was a baby, but I bet I can get a high-five.
She is named for me and I CRIED MY EYES OUT when I heard that, as one does. I'm just REALLY EXCITED! But I have to keep my adult excitedness cranked down to tolerable levels so I can interact with the actual 2.5-year-old who wants to give occasional high-fives but not have all her surprise new relatives swoon over her while squealing.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:52 PM on March 19, 2022 [19 favorites]
Had a great mini-vacation with my wife, celebrating both my birthday (I bought a skateboard, and my dentist is very excited) and our anniversary, and reconnected with an old friend I haven't seen in 25-ish years. He's a New York Times bestselling writer, and I'm somebody who once had aspirations of writing, and this didn't even precipitate the emotional coulda-woulda-shoulda crisis I was kind of worried it would cause. It was just good to see him.
posted by Shepherd at 4:32 AM on March 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Shepherd at 4:32 AM on March 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
Reading all this good news feels like even more good news - so happy for so many here.
My minor good news is I think I've finally figured out my tennis serve after 25 years of playing. So much of my game still needs work but to have a consistent serve has been very encouraging.
My bigger good news is a recent raise and promotion after a good "you are critical to our success" chat with the CEO. I was getting ready to move on but am feeling more grounded now.
posted by Twicketface at 6:22 AM on March 20, 2022 [7 favorites]
My minor good news is I think I've finally figured out my tennis serve after 25 years of playing. So much of my game still needs work but to have a consistent serve has been very encouraging.
My bigger good news is a recent raise and promotion after a good "you are critical to our success" chat with the CEO. I was getting ready to move on but am feeling more grounded now.
posted by Twicketface at 6:22 AM on March 20, 2022 [7 favorites]
YAY! It's so wonderful to see and share good news. Thank you for creating this thread!
I found out on Friday that I was awarded a fellowship renewal! I have continued support and a place to learn, grow, and lead over the next 4 years. So excited and relieved!
Other good news: I finally got up to date payment and a contract amendment for some other work I'm doing, It feels like things are coming together. It's been a long couple of years, so it's nice to see recognition of work.
posted by wiskunde at 8:53 AM on March 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
I found out on Friday that I was awarded a fellowship renewal! I have continued support and a place to learn, grow, and lead over the next 4 years. So excited and relieved!
Other good news: I finally got up to date payment and a contract amendment for some other work I'm doing, It feels like things are coming together. It's been a long couple of years, so it's nice to see recognition of work.
posted by wiskunde at 8:53 AM on March 20, 2022 [8 favorites]
Our son has decided where he's going to college, and it's 10 minutes down the road (yet happens to be the best school he applied to, both objectively and for him). He wants to live on campus, we want him to live on campus, and while the room and board will be a stretch, we can make it happen. None of us know if he's really going to enjoy living on campus. We're all hopeful, but if it doesn't work out, then it's only a 10 minute commute.
posted by mollweide at 10:01 AM on March 20, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 10:01 AM on March 20, 2022 [11 favorites]
Two good newses: Wife accepted an offer for a super cool new job and we made it past the week 9 on the adventure of growing a human! (Both things have been works in progress, and both have been kinda under wraps for a while.....)
posted by token-ring at 1:14 PM on March 20, 2022 [16 favorites]
posted by token-ring at 1:14 PM on March 20, 2022 [16 favorites]
Some friends of mine from wayback asked me to join their long-time band after coming out of COVID hiatus, and I didn’t realize they are kind of famous? So gigs have been fun! These guys are pros and it feels good to be appreciated and welcomed into somewhat rarified air, for me anyway.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:59 PM on March 20, 2022 [20 favorites]
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:59 PM on March 20, 2022 [20 favorites]
So wonderful to see everyone's wonders and insights, lovely to read good news.
I've just been asked to design a landscape for one of NZ's oldest (and remotest buildings), so pretty happy about that. Much of NZ has few roads, and many places are down very long dead-ends so it's always nice to get a call and be able to visit one of these places.
Work is changing to becoming a mix of heavy industrial, agricultural and heritage / historical sites. It's not what I would have expected but it's mostly exactly what I want to do.
posted by unearthed at 7:07 PM on March 20, 2022 [10 favorites]
I've just been asked to design a landscape for one of NZ's oldest (and remotest buildings), so pretty happy about that. Much of NZ has few roads, and many places are down very long dead-ends so it's always nice to get a call and be able to visit one of these places.
Work is changing to becoming a mix of heavy industrial, agricultural and heritage / historical sites. It's not what I would have expected but it's mostly exactly what I want to do.
posted by unearthed at 7:07 PM on March 20, 2022 [10 favorites]
Is it just me or has mefi been down quite a lot the last little while?
posted by Dysk at 7:42 AM on March 21, 2022
posted by Dysk at 7:42 AM on March 21, 2022
The couple hours this morning is the only recent major outage I know of; we do have smaller middle-of-the-night-server-time blips sometimes during scheduled high-load tasks like daily backups or the weekly Infodump calculations, so depending on time zone and luck you may be running into that occasionally.
I put up a quick meta about this morning's outage here, so if anyone's got specific site uptime etc notes feel free to collate them there.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:29 AM on March 21, 2022
I put up a quick meta about this morning's outage here, so if anyone's got specific site uptime etc notes feel free to collate them there.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:29 AM on March 21, 2022
I've had a series of extremely boring and mundane personal successes in the last several weeks and I've just been feeling really impressed with myself.
I could go into long and excruciating detail but I think the best illustrative example is that I left my house THREE DISCRETE TIMES this weekend because the opportunity to run an errand presented itself and I just went ahead and did it instead of putting it off and causing a problem for future-me.
posted by phunniemee at 8:38 AM on March 21, 2022 [11 favorites]
I could go into long and excruciating detail but I think the best illustrative example is that I left my house THREE DISCRETE TIMES this weekend because the opportunity to run an errand presented itself and I just went ahead and did it instead of putting it off and causing a problem for future-me.
posted by phunniemee at 8:38 AM on March 21, 2022 [11 favorites]
Without too much identifying detail, my beloved went back to work today after a long leave, and it went all right. I'm super, super relieved.
posted by wellred at 10:25 AM on March 21, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by wellred at 10:25 AM on March 21, 2022 [9 favorites]
I set a date for my PhD defense this morning!
posted by deludingmyself at 3:58 PM on March 21, 2022 [15 favorites]
posted by deludingmyself at 3:58 PM on March 21, 2022 [15 favorites]
My wife got called into her Dean's office, accompanied by her department head, thinking they were going to assign her some bullshit assignment as happens often in academia.
Instead, the Dean wanted to congratulate her on a job well done and advance her two and a half years of performance bonuses. Usually every two years you're evaluated, and if you're doing OK you get one or two fixed-amount salary bumps. My wife got five salary bumps ahead of time.
So, she's awesome, I already knew that, nice that other people seem to notice as well.
posted by signal at 6:59 AM on March 22, 2022 [10 favorites]
Instead, the Dean wanted to congratulate her on a job well done and advance her two and a half years of performance bonuses. Usually every two years you're evaluated, and if you're doing OK you get one or two fixed-amount salary bumps. My wife got five salary bumps ahead of time.
So, she's awesome, I already knew that, nice that other people seem to notice as well.
posted by signal at 6:59 AM on March 22, 2022 [10 favorites]
I got accepted into grad school (PhD in a stem field)! I've spent the past 2+ years struggling with some pretty debilitating health problems, and I had a string of horrible shit (3 ER visits in a month, followed shortly by a vet ER visit for my cat - the cat is okay) that almost derailed my getting the application out, but I was able to get it done.
And I got in!
Now I'm putting most of my focus into rehab to get myself back to a place where I can physically and mentally handle grad school, but after 2 years of fumbling around in the dark, I think I'm finally on the right track and finally making real progress.
Also recently had a major breakthrough in therapy that finally sort of just made all the pieces come together - why It's not like years of trauma and dysfunction were erased overnight, but at last I feel like I get why I always felt so "wrong" and why previous therapies never did anything to help me. So much like with my physical recovery, while there's a long way to go, I finally feel like I see a clear path forward towards healing.
For so long I just didn't really see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just felt like i was going around in circles getting nowhere. And now I feel like I can finally see a real future for myself.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:22 AM on March 22, 2022 [12 favorites]
And I got in!
Now I'm putting most of my focus into rehab to get myself back to a place where I can physically and mentally handle grad school, but after 2 years of fumbling around in the dark, I think I'm finally on the right track and finally making real progress.
Also recently had a major breakthrough in therapy that finally sort of just made all the pieces come together - why It's not like years of trauma and dysfunction were erased overnight, but at last I feel like I get why I always felt so "wrong" and why previous therapies never did anything to help me. So much like with my physical recovery, while there's a long way to go, I finally feel like I see a clear path forward towards healing.
For so long I just didn't really see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just felt like i was going around in circles getting nowhere. And now I feel like I can finally see a real future for myself.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:22 AM on March 22, 2022 [12 favorites]
I think my pup, who is in heat, has finally stopped bleeding, and she is starting to calm down -- that is, back to normal teen pup standards of calmness. I cannot tell you how awful the last weeks have been, with the tantrums and the accidents and the mess. My last girl didn't take on like this when she was a pup! It was just a few spots to clean up! But then it is not fair to compare the young to the departed that way. If she will just let herself have a schedule and let me wear light colors again, I will be happy.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:27 AM on March 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 7:27 AM on March 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Huzzah to MollyRealized! Nice to meet you.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:50 AM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:50 AM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've had a series of extremely boring and mundane personal successes in the last several weeks and I've just been feeling really impressed with myself.
In today's events, I came home and opened my freezer to find a small puddle of mystery substance, which I identified, cleaned up, and dealt with immediately upon seeing it, because I am A Person Who Achieves Things. Is that an action I would have taken even two months ago? Can't say that it is.
posted by phunniemee at 4:25 PM on March 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
In today's events, I came home and opened my freezer to find a small puddle of mystery substance, which I identified, cleaned up, and dealt with immediately upon seeing it, because I am A Person Who Achieves Things. Is that an action I would have taken even two months ago? Can't say that it is.
posted by phunniemee at 4:25 PM on March 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
Well, I finally "discovered" Steinbeck, after reading several "heavy for the vintage" and "it's the monster" quotes scattered around MetaFilter. So I picked up Grapes of Wrath, and it's probably the most invigorating novel I've read in the last few years.
If I was forced to read it for school I wouldn't have the same feelings about it that I do now, and I know it's old news to most. Probably could have been old news to me, but Steinbeck always smelled dusty to me, like Updike or DeLillo, a ponderous American with Big Things to say about the Big Experiment. But to me, Grapes is American only insofar as it's human, and it's dusty in a golden way, like bacon grease spitting in morning sunlight.
I'm only eight or so chapters in, and I think he's easily my new favourite American author, when I didn't have a favourite American author before. So, old dogs still have silver linings.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:46 PM on March 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
If I was forced to read it for school I wouldn't have the same feelings about it that I do now, and I know it's old news to most. Probably could have been old news to me, but Steinbeck always smelled dusty to me, like Updike or DeLillo, a ponderous American with Big Things to say about the Big Experiment. But to me, Grapes is American only insofar as it's human, and it's dusty in a golden way, like bacon grease spitting in morning sunlight.
I'm only eight or so chapters in, and I think he's easily my new favourite American author, when I didn't have a favourite American author before. So, old dogs still have silver linings.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:46 PM on March 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
Tomorrow will be my last day as chair of our public library board of trustees, which will be bittersweet - it's been a long and harrowing 5 years, but we designed and built a new library, got delayed in the middle of construction because Covid, moved the entire collection somehow in early 2021, had to recalibrate our grand opening expectations because, again, Covid, and then hire a new director (who I'm really excited about) to come in after our long-serving one retires. All in all, I'm pretty frickin' chuffed with everything that we accomplished, and gonna finish off with a declaration of Freedom to Read (which seems to be necessary in our state, because it is bananas) hopefully going in to the paper this week. Then I'm gonna go lay down flat for a while. But, yay books! Yay, libraries!
PS Yay, MollyRealized!
posted by ikahime at 4:48 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
PS Yay, MollyRealized!
posted by ikahime at 4:48 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
Metafilter: like bacon grease spitting in morning sunlight
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:22 PM on March 22, 2022
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:22 PM on March 22, 2022
(that phrase was too porkily picturesque to pass up!)
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:23 PM on March 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:23 PM on March 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Got my final thesis paper back to complete my LLM from my supervisor, with considerable work required but not nearly what I was fearing. Also finishing up my last course in the program, and actually really, really enjoying the course's major paper (turns out trademark law is... fun?!?)
posted by Shepherd at 3:20 PM on March 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Shepherd at 3:20 PM on March 23, 2022 [3 favorites]
I got into Farm Practicum school!
(in the vein of career changes in ones 50s. Oo, i am going to notice no longer having the knees I didn’t need for a desk job in my 20s.)
posted by clew at 4:10 PM on March 23, 2022 [10 favorites]
(in the vein of career changes in ones 50s. Oo, i am going to notice no longer having the knees I didn’t need for a desk job in my 20s.)
posted by clew at 4:10 PM on March 23, 2022 [10 favorites]
My white, still-registered-Republican, retired-cop uncle has a new personal hero this week:
Ketanji Brown Jackson.
He’s been glued to the hearings and he can’t stop fanboying about her composure and expertise.
He’s come a long way from his crush on Sarah Palin back in the day. It’s just kind of heartwarming to see it.
posted by armeowda at 5:09 PM on March 23, 2022 [11 favorites]
Ketanji Brown Jackson.
He’s been glued to the hearings and he can’t stop fanboying about her composure and expertise.
He’s come a long way from his crush on Sarah Palin back in the day. It’s just kind of heartwarming to see it.
posted by armeowda at 5:09 PM on March 23, 2022 [11 favorites]
Hell, a hundred pages in to Steinbeck before you get to the first loving description of a pre-teen and then teenager's breasts. While that's a new record for a white male American author, I admit it's dampened my enthusiasm somewhat.
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:32 PM on March 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:32 PM on March 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
I’ve just been approved to receive monoclonal antibodies. I’m about to cry! It still means being careful but it also means a little more freedom and less worry.
posted by mochapickle at 12:34 PM on March 24, 2022 [22 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 12:34 PM on March 24, 2022 [22 favorites]
That's wonderful, mochapickle! Good news indeed <3
posted by Zumbador at 8:02 PM on March 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Zumbador at 8:02 PM on March 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
Gosh what a great thread. Congratulations, every one!
Nature is teasing us with a promise of spring to come so every day brings bits of good news in the form of bird songs we haven't heard in months, or spring peepers, or a single little crocus. The Canada Geese are noisily negotiating nesting spots and John Green's review (from The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast) is on point. Life is good.
posted by evilmomlady at 11:23 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Nature is teasing us with a promise of spring to come so every day brings bits of good news in the form of bird songs we haven't heard in months, or spring peepers, or a single little crocus. The Canada Geese are noisily negotiating nesting spots and John Green's review (from The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast) is on point. Life is good.
posted by evilmomlady at 11:23 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:37 PM on March 18, 2022 [37 favorites]