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I don't know what Nilla Wafers are, but if they're tasty, dig in. Sorry you're having a less-than-good time of it.
Re-marrying a nun is quite a thing, and very swashbuckler-y - I can imagine Julie d'Aubigny doing something similar, and she was a champ.
Today, I came home from my other half's, then did some sword practice, then played the guitar, then drank some beer and read more books about the Kaballah, all of which are favourite activities of mine.
{Edit} And they're always better when performed NUDE.
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Just watch where you swing that "sword", Limey!
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Ach, it's more of a dagger...
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Watched a bit of the livestream. I should have known they'd go with the Vatican II? What's that?" Latin rite.
Anything else I could say would be grossly political, at least in terms of church politics, so I won't.
But I don't feel nearly as bad as I did earlier.
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In happier news, Teensy Valeros auditioned to study with a new piano teacher this evening and was accepted.
This shouldn't seem like a big deal, but I've been trying to get him a new teacher for three months, ever since the other one told us he was moving. Everyone is retiring from teaching music or is too busy to take on new students.
Snacks.
I want unhealthy snacks.
I want them now.
Snacks.
I want unhealthy snacks.
I want them now.
YES! FEED YOUR HUNGER!
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*Hugs* for LM.
I've been there. I've been married for 20 years, but not in a row.
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Not that I am trying to tempt Freehold to become patron, or something.
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So here's an open question for FaWtL: Have any of you as players ever enjoyed the standard "Mirror, Mirror" trope?
Yet again, our otherwise-excellent GM is trying to control the PCs rather than the world, so he's secretly asked several of us to come up with "opposite" versions of our characters. So if you're playing a Good-aligned character, you need to play them as Evil. If you're playing an Evil-aligned character, you need to play them as Good. Etc., etc., etc.
I've been gaming and running games for 47 years now. I've had many GMs insist that "players love that trope!"
I have yet to have a single player say anything enthusiastic about it. About the best I've heard is, "Yeah, I can do it. But I don't really like it."
But my vast experience only encompasses around two dozen players, all local, so I'm sure there are many many other opinions, and I'm interested.
The only suggestion on the "Opposite Character" approach I ever thought was usable was by Mike Pondsmith for Cyberpunk for when players start getting dismissive or cocky: "take copies of your player's characters, change up some of their hardware and appearances, then send them out after the PCs."
And that was really only appropriate for Cyberpunk...and maybe Paranoia, but for entirely different reasons.
I once had the group divided in two groups that had full party member sets, only I knew who was real and who was the evil doppelgangers. I just let the players play their characters as normal until a climatic clash when all was revealed, but I never forced anyone to play opposite their character concept. I think that is just not fun for anyone other than a bored GM.
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Here's my own open question:
Anyone find a N95 mask that is comfortable to wear for hours?
Cloth masks are apparently in the neighborhood of 30% effective if worn properly but I can't find the N95 type that doesn't pull my ears off or put creases in my face.
Replace the regular strings with ones that you can wrap behind your head. I had a construction work mask (marked as FFP2) for which I had modified the rubber straps that I wore that way for a long time, though it finally broke down and now I am wearing a cloth mask.
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Here's my own open question:
Anyone find a N95 mask that is comfortable to wear for hours?
Cloth masks are apparently in the neighborhood of 30% effective if worn properly but I can't find the N95 type that doesn't pull my ears off or put creases in my face.
It does not exist, I've been wearing N95 masks at work for years and I have yet to find one that's comfortable.
Edit: That said, what Drejk says is true, if you want one somewhat comfortable your best bet is to look for N95 masks used for construction at a hardware store.
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Here's my own open question:
Anyone find a N95 mask that is comfortable to wear for hours?
Cloth masks are apparently in the neighborhood of 30% effective if worn properly but I can't find the N95 type that doesn't pull my ears off or put creases in my face.
Whenever I've had to wear them at work, I always get lines on my face from where they pushed against the skin. There is no such thing as a comfortable N95.
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I've been doing double-masks for about a week now, a three-layer and then a two-layer.
With a dearth of N95 I can wear (reactions to the elastic straps over the course of the workday PLUS general lack of availability) that's going to have to be it for the time being (faceshields prohibited by company and local health codes despite working in a drug/grocery store).
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I have a massive scab going up the center of my nose now. My school suggested we double-mask, cloth over N95 to make the N95 reusable, but the ones they provided us with have elastics too small for my head.
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I have a massive scab going up the center of my nose now. My school suggested we double-mask, cloth over N95 to make the N95 reusable, but the ones they provided us with have elastics too small for my head.
..were you separating into Lisa and Marlene and then had to stop?
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*SIGH*. Another day, another, "I feel fine but my temperature is mysteriously sitting at 99.3°F," adventure, another night on the couch.
Being locked down at various times during this pandemic has been annoying. Having to avoid each other in the house is ridiculous.
Impus Major has to avoid GothBard and Impus Minor because he's still supposedly contagious.
I have to avoid GothBard and Impus Minor because I might be contagious.
GothBard and Impus Minor have to avoid each other in spite of the fact that both of them keep testing negative because Impus Minor got exposed on Friday.
So Impus Major and I don't have to be particularly worried; if I have it I got it from him so I'm unlikely to give it back to him while his immune system is still actively fighting it (which according to the doctors it is). If I don't have it then my immune system has already done its job. We still wear masks when we're in the same room or passing by each other, but at least we're not in the "total avoidance" situation everyone else is dealing with.
It's like some great big stupid kids' game.
Hopefully, we'll all come back negative on Thursday morning and we'll be able to return to COVID-normal instead of COVID-stupid.
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Ridiculous? Yes, literally some of the required actions are ridiculous.
My favorite:
Arrive at a restaurant and mask up for the 30 second walk to my table.
Unmask and eat + talk to the person/people I'm with for 45 minutes.
Then mask up for my 30 second walk to the exit.That and it's perfectly acceptable for anyone, indeed most in practice, to wear a cloth mask. Including the quasi-retired nurse who gave me my last jab.
Speaking of masks, thanks for all the N95 feedback. I was afraid that would be the answer, since that's what everyone else has been telling me. I'll try a custom mod for the portion that wraps around the ears.
Unfortunately, there aren't enough masks available STILL to provide enough for every single grocery worker(In multiples, because they really can't be washed), so we HAVE to wear cloth.
We Do Not Have A Choice and We Cannot Just Quit.
And we STILL get folks coming in with them wearing masks down half around their chin claiming it's all stupid theater and HOW DARE WE TELL THEM WHAT TO DO??!!
Maybe what is needed is for all the grocery workers to get sick and the stores to close because there's not enough staffing.
Maybe THEN the point would be driven home about how crap we've all been treated during the pandemic.
OH, WAIT! It **IS** happening, and people are whining about how horrible the 'supply chain' is.
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Good luck and may it be all that you hope that it may be!
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2000 new messages? I'm not reading all those.
For what it is worth, I wear a cloth mask over a kn95 mask. I hate things on my ears, so the behind the head straps on the cloth mask hold the KN95 mask on without my having ear stress. I'm pretty sure it's working, because when I pick up fast food, I can't smell it at all until I take the masks off. My nurse sister said that's a good sign that both the seal and the thickness are effective versus viruses.
Get/stay healthy, everyone.
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Ridiculous? Yes, literally some of the required actions are ridiculous.
My favorite:
Arrive at a restaurant and mask up for the 30 second walk to my table.
Unmask and eat + talk to the person/people I'm with for 45 minutes.
Then mask up for my 30 second walk to the exit...
Yeah; a lot of the mandated protocols are classic "theater of the absurd" where they're more for psychological support than any actual protection... BUT...
...such psychological shenanigans DO help people stay aware that they can't behave normally.I've pointed it out before, but I like repeating it because I'm old and crotchety: I've been working from home for 15 years now, so my situation is little-changed, especially with Impus Minor back in school.
Yet in 2021 I had the lightest hay fever I've had in 20 years, and 2 sick days instead of a more typical 14. Impus Minor's back in school, yet instead of worrying about him breaking 10 sick days in the first semester as usual, he has 2.
Lots of the requirements are pointless psychological or bureaucratic nonsense. But as a whole, they are indeed helping reduce disease transmission, so I'm willing to accept the bad with the good.
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Most safety protocols are based on instilling a routine behaviors and repeating them ad nauseam.
Funny part - I have only a very basic firearm experience (single actually visit to a shooting range, handling a few cold guns earlier) but I cringe a lot when I see photos or videos of people failing basic gun safety by pointing them in various directions.
Well, the actually funny part was that during that shooting, I have personally witnessed how easy is to do something silly, despite the long experience. We had quite tight headphones that were getting tiresome to wear after an hour or so. A friend's friend who was with us is a professional firearm teacher and the person who gave me the basic instructions. At one moment, he was clearly tired of his ear protection and took it off forgetting we are sharing the range with other guys firing independently from us—one of them fired some kind of medium or high caliber rifle which made the instructor visibly twitch with pain and quickly put the ear protection back on.
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I think my eyeglasses are cursed. It always feels like there's a hair tickling my nose or eyelashes, but I can't find any evidence of one.
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Ever since I read about the great WHO particulate size f$$!-up, I err on the side of caution, even if it seems like theatrics. I figure if I can smell you, you can give me COVID.
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Treppa, thank you for that find.
It's also interesting to point out that the approach they used to fix stuff in that article is something that Big Business has struggled with.
Namely, the introduction of far more robust HVAC systems cleaned and maintained.
Our ventilation system at work never gets cleaned and is legacy hardware from at least the mid-70's -- I'm surprised we don't have more outbreaks based on that alone.
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2000 new messages? I'm not reading all those.
For what it is worth, I wear a cloth mask over a kn95 mask. I hate things on my ears, so the behind the head straps on the cloth mask hold the KN95 mask on without my having ear stress. I'm pretty sure it's working, because when I pick up fast food, I can't smell it at all until I take the masks off. My nurse sister said that's a good sign that both the seal and the thickness are effective versus viruses.
Get/stay healthy, everyone.
Treppa! Treppa!
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Treppa! Treppa!2000 new messages? I'm not reading all those.
For what it is worth, I wear a cloth mask over a kn95 mask. I hate things on my ears, so the behind the head straps on the cloth mask hold the KN95 mask on without my having ear stress. I'm pretty sure it's working, because when I pick up fast food, I can't smell it at all until I take the masks off. My nurse sister said that's a good sign that both the seal and the thickness are effective versus viruses.
Get/stay healthy, everyone.
Freehold! Here I was afraid it was your lastday.
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Freehold! Here I was afraid it was your lastday.Treppa! Treppa!2000 new messages? I'm not reading all those.
For what it is worth, I wear a cloth mask over a kn95 mask. I hate things on my ears, so the behind the head straps on the cloth mask hold the KN95 mask on without my having ear stress. I'm pretty sure it's working, because when I pick up fast food, I can't smell it at all until I take the masks off. My nurse sister said that's a good sign that both the seal and the thickness are effective versus viruses.
Get/stay healthy, everyone.
it IS my lastday- at this job. I have a new one- a dream job- that I hope to start on Wednesday.
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Guess who’s got two thumbs and tested positive for COVID?! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
(Follow up tests will be had to make sure, but anyway. Also, kids tested negative.)
Fun times at the household, let me tell you~!
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Guess who’s got two thumbs and tested positive for COVID?! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
(Follow up tests will be had to make sure, but anyway. Also, kids tested negative.)
Fun times at the household, let me tell you~!
We should combine households and build a maze.
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Speaking of our household and COVID, I am all astonishment: You can indeed distinguish between viruses and allergies because antihistamines have very little effect in reducing symptoms caused by viruses. Have I mentioned that biology is weird?
So I've taken a diphenhydramine to see whether all my symptoms vanish. Worth a shot.
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We should combine households and build a maze.Guess who’s got two thumbs and tested positive for COVID?! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
(Follow up tests will be had to make sure, but anyway. Also, kids tested negative.)
Fun times at the household, let me tell you~!
Anecdotally, from everything I've heard talking to other people is that covid inexplicably leaves at least one person in a household uneffected or asymptomatic. I'm presuming it's following the old villain strategy of leaving at least one person to tell the tale.
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We should combine households and build a maze.Guess who’s got two thumbs and tested positive for COVID?! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
(Follow up tests will be had to make sure, but anyway. Also, kids tested negative.)
Fun times at the household, let me tell you~!
Turning your home into tactical maze filled with lions where Nobody actually lives?
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Update: One diphenhydramine cleared ALL of my symptoms, even the elevated temperature.
I'm more hopeful that my test on Wednesday will come back negative.
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Update: One diphenhydramine cleared ALL of my symptoms, even the elevated temperature.
I'm more hopeful that my test on Wednesday will come back negative.
I would be left with the symptom of being completely knocked out for a day.
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I would be left with the symptom of being completely knocked out for a day.Update: One diphenhydramine cleared ALL of my symptoms, even the elevated temperature.
I'm more hopeful that my test on Wednesday will come back negative.
Years of hard drinking have made me resilient to soporifics: It takes two to render me unconscious.
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Today's one of those days that makes you understand why it's so insanely expensive to live here. January 1-4 Impus Major was in the hospital. January 5-6th were freezing, miserable, wet, cold days compounded by trying to find COVID tests for all of us, plus get Impus Major scheduled for his follow-up treatment. January 7th Impus Minor got exposed at school, and the weekend was tense, exacerbated by the closed-in feeling of the house.
So today it's bright and sunny, 65°F, with a strong-but-not-unpleasant breeze. We've aired out the entire house so it feels MUCH less stuffy and disease-ridden, and things just look a bit brighter.
Days over 80°F are extremely rare, summer or winter. Days in the low-to-mid 60's happen almost every month of the year, so the house never feels overwhelmingly stuffy.
Just a nice day.
Ask me Thursday whether I still feel happy.
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I would be left with the symptom of being completely knocked out for a day.Update: One diphenhydramine cleared ALL of my symptoms, even the elevated temperature.
I'm more hopeful that my test on Wednesday will come back negative.
Years of hard drinking have made me resilient to soporifics: It takes two to render me unconscious.
Alcohol hits me wildly differently than painkillers and allergy meds. Painkillers and allergy meds basically put me on the floor within 15 minutes. Not so with alcohol.
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Get well soon, TL!
Hello, Treppa!
No Monday HEMA group, so I had to do it on my own at home.
We are also stopping playing 'Kingmaker' on Sundays and starting a Shadowrun campaign. The rest of the players are in a grotty punk band, and my character is their manager, their drug dealer, and also a professional dominatrix and amateur wizard. Things will only get worse when we can all afford cyber genitals.
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Wow...
...and here I thought I couldn't think any less of our school district.
Someone at one of the elementary schools accidentally pressed the "active shooter on campus" button, causing a district-wide lockdown.
OK. I'm a firm believer in being prepared, so having a plan in place for worst-possible scenarios doesn't bother me. But the fact that an adult employee can accidentally trigger the alarm and panic an entire school district is...
...beyond awful.
EDIT: Got more clarity from Impus Minor: It's a phone app. I don't know that that's any better. So the person sent out the alert, everyone started locking everything down and telling all the kids to hide, and within a matter of a minute or two the person sent an announcement that it had been a mistake.
I still think there are going to be massive repercussions here... our students are under a lot of stress to begin with, and even only a minute or two of that kind of adrenaline can't be good for their mental health.