Random Raves 54: You will succeed. It is inevitable.

[Valka D'Ur]

Got my flu shot today, and surprise! the covid shots were available as well (hadn't expected that so I hadn't booked one). The pharmacist asked if I wanted both of them, so I said yes.

It's quite a kick to get both at once (felt immediately dizzy, but it didn't last long, maybe 5 minutes). I did a little bit of shopping (hate shopping in unfamiliar stores, but scored a few tubs of my favorite rice pudding), and came home.

Now my arm hurts (had both shots in the same arm, rather than having both of them hurting).

I have to be a hermit for the next 7-10 days and not catch anything, then I should be good to go.

There's a rant that goes with this, but I'll post that in the Rants thread.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

If it's dark where you are now and your sky is clear, the Moon's up. It's beautiful. Go have a look at it. Tell it that it's doing a wonderful job, keeping the tides here in order and everything else it does for us.

Even the Moon deserves an occasional bit of praise and a 'thank you'.

 

[Sommerswerd]

If it's dark where you are now and your sky is clear, the Moon's up. It's beautiful. Go have a look at it. Tell it that it's doing a wonderful job, keeping the tides here in order and everything else it does for us.

Even the Moon deserves an occasional bit of praise and a 'thank you'.

The moon was absolutely breathtaking last night. The kids I coach did a special tribute to celebrate the moon at the end of practice instead of their standard "break down" cheer at the end of every practice.

What they actually did was perform the scene from Despicable Me where Gru and the Minions pledge to steal the moon... it was pretty funny, since I and the other coaches had no idea that they were planning this.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Hunter's moon. Perigee. 14% bigger than the moon usually looks. Something like 30k miles closer!

Gorgeous.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Finished a group project last night and managed to meet original expectations despite one of us (not me) having a baby midway through and disappearing for a couple of weeks. She came back on fire and we were able to fulfill the original paper & presentation requirements despite having official sanction to reduce both by half to accommodate the missing member and lost time. I worked in an Office Space reference, using a before and after Peter Gibbons to illustrate the value of time management and workflow optimization.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Metro Diary: Math challenges!

Sliced Ham​

Dear Diary:

I was new to New York City. I went to a deli to buy some ham. I wanted just enough for a sandwich, so I asked the counterman for a third of a pound.

“You can’t get a third of a pound,” he snapped. “The minimum order is a quarter of a pound.”

I froze.

Fortunately, a woman who was in line behind me intervened.

“He wants a quarter of a pound and a little bit more,” she said.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” the deli man growled.

— Neil Mellen

 

[BenitoChavez]

The only good thing about today is I only got 1 spam call instead of the 10+ I was getting for the past few months.

 

[dusters]

Legendary band The Cure released a new album on 1st November and gave fans a full concert of it and their old songs for free on Youtube.

Robert Smith is 65 and sings very well. Pioneers of gothic rock

Certainly Made my Day!

 

[Birdjaguar]

NYT:

[/URL]

Dive Bar​

Dear Diary:
When I was in college, I traveled with a small group of people from Ohio to New York to attend a conference at Columbia University about left-wing politics and progressive activism.
After a long day of teach-in sessions and listening to different speakers, my friend Jackie and I decided to get away for a bit.

We wandered down Amsterdam in search of a drink. We found a dark dive bar and grabbed stools among the dozen or so patrons who were there.
We ordered the cheapest draft beer available. The bartender, correctly sizing us up as out-of-towners, asked what had brought us to the city.
We told him about the event at Columbia.
“We’re socialists,” Jackie told him.
“Oh, cool!” the bartender said. “That’s awesome.”
He continued the conversation, asking us more questions about the conference, what we were studying in college and what the trip from Ohio to New York had been like.
I gave him a $20 bill to pay for the beers, and he went to the register. A minute later, he came back with a handful of singles.

“Now,” he said, “do you want your change or should I evenly distribute it to everyone in here?”
— Jonathan Rose

 

[Quintillus]

I recently discovered the local butcher. And it turns out their pancetta is fantastic. It used to be a bit of a hassle to find pancetta in my old city, now it's a short walk down the street.

Probably most of their other meats are great as well - so far I've also tried some Toulouse sausages, which are very good, and which I plan to buy again to go with some oysters (hot Toulouse sausage, cold oyster, sip of cold white wine - as suggested by my 1930s French cookbook). Only question is whether the local fishmonger will have oysters... not super optimistic that they will this time of the year, but I want to try that French combination while the appropriate style of sausage is available locally!

And not to worry, they sell onions and garlic as well, and there's a great produce market nearby, so I'm still getting my vegetables!

I asked the counterman for a third of a pound.

I asked the counterman for ten ounces, and he asked his colleague what that would be in pounds... the counterman at that deli in New York is not the only one who's not great at math! It probably wouldn't have helped if I had instead asked for a quarter kilo and a little bit more!

 

[dusters]

I have started to write a book about my journey how I managed to cure/deal with my depression (I had it from age 9 to 19) and disability (had it from 2015 to 2019).

I had only written short stories so far, therefore taking on a 140+ pages long book seems like a herculean task. My mentor from Latvian Union of Writers suggested to write at least one
40+ pages long story first. However, I got a concept for a book and I'm slowly crawling forward. Writing the main themes first (why protagonist got ill in the first place) and then adding side characters later.

Publishing a book costs several grand there and you need recommendations to even apply for a grant. I thought that writing an autobiographical book would be easier. But I don't want to concentrate on the pain, I want to write about solutions. 10 years of depression was a lot of pain though. Solutions required very hard and diligent work as in lifestyle changes, behavior changes, thought pattern changes etc.

So I have to understand and realize how to make it interesting for a reader to read about very slow and gradual changes in protagonists life. It is by no means a self-help book or a psychology book. It is more like a book of a survivor. I want to give hope to all patients with so called incurable diseases to show that even if there is a lot of pain, you can improve your life quality and mindset and concentrate on something that you love so intensely that you aren't defined by your illness anymore. It is a book about inner strength and discipline for a big part.

On the other hand it is a coming of age book as well. The protagonist got ill at 9 and never really recovered from feeling that the land, the planet he was born into is a hostile place. He has to carve out some safe haven in it for himself and his soon-to-be family.

I expect to finish it in 3 years. In 1.5 months I have written 20 pages and structure which I have to fill in, so in a year I could finish the text, but then there will be editing and raising the money part. I want to have a few illustrations as well since my friend is a painter and she could help.

 

[Gori the Grey]

This strikes me as a worthy venture. I hope that, as the thread title puts it, your success in this undertaking will be inevitable.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I have started to write a book about my journey how I managed to cure/deal with my depression (I had it from age 9 to 19) and disability (had it from 2015 to 2019).

I had only written short stories so far, therefore taking on a 140+ pages long book seems like a herculean task. My mentor from Latvian Union of Writers suggested to write at least one
40+ pages long story first. However, I got a concept for a book and I'm slowly crawling forward. Writing the main themes first (why protagonist got ill in the first place) and then adding side characters later.

Publishing a book costs several grand there and you need recommendations to even apply for a grant. I thought that writing an autobiographical book would be easier. But I don't want to concentrate on the pain, I want to write about solutions. 10 years of depression was a lot of pain though. Solutions required very hard and diligent work as in lifestyle changes, behavior changes, thought pattern changes etc.

So I have to understand and realize how to make it interesting for a reader to read about very slow and gradual changes in protagonists life. It is by no means a self-help book or a psychology book. It is more like a book of a survivor. I want to give hope to all patients with so called incurable diseases to show that even if there is a lot of pain, you can improve your life quality and mindset and concentrate on something that you love so intensely that you aren't defined by your illness anymore. It is a book about inner strength and discipline for a big part.

On the other hand it is a coming of age book as well. The protagonist got ill at 9 and never really recovered from feeling that the land, the planet he was born into is a hostile place. He has to carve out some safe haven in it for himself and his soon-to-be family.

I expect to finish it in 3 years. In 1.5 months I have written 20 pages and structure which I have to fill in, so in a year I could finish the text, but then there will be editing and raising the money part. I want to have a few illustrations as well since my friend is a painter and she could help.

Certainly a worthy effort. @Synobun knows a lot about books and getting them published, as well as, having editing experience.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Back in Town​

Dear Diary:

It was just before Thanksgiving, and I was finally back in the city after being away for several years.

My first morning in town, I was out for a run when I paused at a crosswalk to wait for the light to change. I was not back in full jaywalking mode yet.

As I stood there, a woman walked up and grabbed me by the arm.

“Join me,” she said. “They never kill two.”

— Heike Endemann

 

[GenMarshall]

I don’t know if this is a rave or not, but gone to therapy to help me with my feelings of regret and guilt.

 

[Gori the Grey]

That's a rave, no doubt.

 

[reddishrecue]

I sometimes feel like I won't succeed. Even though I was able to get a degree, I can't get a job. It's like I'm successful but I'm not That successful.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I sometimes feel like I won't succeed. Even though I was able to get a degree, I can't get a job. It's like I'm successful but I'm not That successful.

Can't get a job or can't get the job you want? ATM, in the US the job market is pretty robust. Do you need to move?

 

[reddishrecue]

Can't get a job or can't get the job you want? ATM, in the US the job market is pretty robust. Do you need to move?

Im guessing the job I want. I doubt they'll take me for warehouse even. I would move for a job that I want too, yeah.

 

[Synobun]

I got a Roku before the Amazon strike during an early Thanksgiving sale. I've always been curious about it but never willing to spend $80+ on one. But $35 was an acceptable risk. Easy setup and it's much faster/steadier than the cheap smart TV I have, which took ages to boot, load, and would constantly freeze mid-playback.

Apparently they have a deal with Crave, our telecom streamer, for two free months when you activate a Roku. It's the most expensive service ($22/mo, before tax) so I don't ever bother subscribing to it, except for when I was doing a big CW rewatch years back. I'll definitely take two free months, especially since it looks like they have the streaming rights for Stargate SG-1. The Stargate franchise has languished in licensing hell in Canada for years. E.g., the other shows are still nowhere to be found here. But I'll take this one. I've been wanting to do another rewatch.

Also, this will be a much more elegant solution to streaming when I travel to places with a TV than lugging around a laptop and an HDMI cable.