One of the dick things that the local college where my fraternity boys go does every summer is that if you are staying at the college working for them (buildings and grounds, internships, etc.), they make you move out of your frat/sorority/housing and everyone has to move to Harlan Hall and they all live there. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal and it does make it easier to keep and eye on all of them, other than it is the only residence hall on campus with no AC. They do that, because they rent out the rest of the air conditioned residences to the various camps who come here (religious groups, band camps, soccer camps, etc.). Fuck the students, there is money to be made, basically.
Summer nights here can be absolutely miserable. This part of West Virginia is basically a tropical rain forest from May-July, and then it is just a miserable humid mess all through August and September. So basically, they are living in a brick building with no central air and university windows that won’t support an air conditioner. I regularly have one or two of the kids sleeping on the couches during the hotter months. So I saw this online, and Shawn and I are building a couple of them for Christion and Carlo.
Cost about 25 bucks for each one, and I have a big freezer in the basement, so basically all they have to do is come down and throw warm jugs of water in and take out frozen ones, and they will be able to sleep in peace at night. I honestly don’t know how they do it- I sweat in a meat locker and my ac is on 74 at night and I have a standing fan blasting on me and a ceiling fan on high.
At any rate, what are you all up to?
ulee
First, put your AC on 64. And then those students–they should sleep on the roofs like they do in Iraq.
Corner Stone
I absolutely crush at foam crafts. So, I got that going for me.
Violet
Your A/C is on 74? Mine’s on 71 and that’s a compromise because I’m keeping it warmer than I’d like to save a bit of money. I like the night time room temperature cold and then add blankets. It’s expensive to do that when you live in a warm climate.
Corner Stone
Tonight I’m making ginger and broccoli chicken with jasmine rice. Who’s in?
Baud
I can handle a very little amount of heat at night in a pinch, but I can’t sleep if it’s the least bit humid.
Corner Stone
@Violet: I think we’re somewhere reasonably close. I put it on 77 during the day and 74 at night.
I have an oversized high efficiency HVAC, so my bills are pretty reasonable.
Violet
@Corner Stone: I made something like that last night. A stir fry with chicken, ginger, garlic, broccoli and some other vegetables–onion, peppers, snow peas. It was delicious.
Tonight is baby back ribs and sweet potatoes. Baking them on the BBQ–wrap them in foil and throw them on there. Great way to bake them and not heat up the kitchen with the oven.
Corner Stone
When I was married I would have to keep it at 72 or lower because my ex-wife was a fucking furnace. If there’s such a thing as osmosis heat while sleeping, she could generate that shit, even in our king bed.
ulee
@Corner Stone: AC is affordable these days if you don’t lose your head. I keep the AC in my bedroom running at 64 at night for me and the puppies. I use AC for sleeping. For living, put on shorts, take a shower, beat your wife.
Corner Stone
@Violet:
Yeah! That’s really close. I have a hot dutch pepper and some water chestnuts. Instead of white onion I am using the white part of green onions to cook, then the green stem for garnish/flavor.
No snow peas or carrots. I’m keeping this pretty simple.
The sauce or glaze has a little corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin, rice wine vinegar and water added as needed.
Phylllis
We keep ours at 77. There are a lot of trees around the house, so that helps.
As for what we’re doing–watching the Braves, being generally lazy, and trying to resist the siren call of Blue Bell Italian Cream Cake ice cream.
Corner Stone
@ulee: I’m uh…hmmm…
FlyingToaster
I spent the past 3 days emptying out the basement of my best friend’s mom, including water-damaged papers/carpets/clothing and testing electronic devices for functionality and driving every sorted thing to the donation center &/or transfer station for disposal.
I got this honor because I’ve a) done this 4 times before for other people and b) I own a mutherfucking semi of a mini-van.
So I’m back and my other best friend (my friend’s husband) promised me he would now refrain from killing his m-i-l in gratitude.
WarriorGirl simply wants to know what we brought her from Connecticut. HerrDoktorToaster is just glad I’m resuming my duties as primary care-giver.
Corner Stone
@Phylllis: Blue Bell! The Best Ice Cream in the Countryyyyy!!
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
Speaking of arts and crafts, Afghans for Afghans has been able to extend the deadline for their current campaign until July 21st:
http://www.afghansforafghans.org/currentcampaign.html
I have two baby hat and sock sets to send them that I need to weave the ends in and wash. Since they don’t want to get flooded right at the end, I’m going to send those on Monday and then see if I can crank out one or two more sets before the new deadline. Patrons Classic Wool meets AfA’s criteria and is frequently on sale at mass-market craft stores.
pat
@ulee:
64???? Geez, we don’t even let it get that cold in the winter.
AC on 77-78 day and night, bump it up or down a degree to turn it off or on as needed. And dress for the weather/indoor temps. Shorts in summer, sweaters in winter.
Joel
If it weren’t so humid you could do a swamp cooler, too.
Violet
@Corner Stone: I grew up with my parents putting the thermostat at 68 at night even in the middle of summer. My mom is from a cool climate so she wanted it cold at night. I really can’t sleep if it’s warm at night. Well, okay, that’s not true. I’ve lived and traveled in places without a/c where it’s plenty warm and you just deal with it. But given a choice I like it cold at night.
? Martin
Same deal for us in college not far from you. They at least let us spread out a bit in that dorm so many of us got double rooms as singles. The first summer I put a kiddie pool in mine as the bathroom was across the hall and running a hose was easy. The girls would put on their bathing suits and come by for movies and booze every night. I signed up to work every summer after that.
Teach those boys to make lemonade out of those lemons.
That’s a clever little invention. Kind of a compact swamp cooler.
Violet
@Corner Stone: I forgot to pull a carrot from my garden and toss it in too. They’re getting really old and tough in the summer heat but they still work in stir fry. Can’t eat them raw though.
Phylllis
@Corner Stone: True that. Well, except for Haagen Daz Dulce de Lece.
ulee
@pat: I only have it at 64 in my bedroom. I’ve never had an air conditioner but my father surprised me with one a month ago. I’d rather have the real weather run through but what am I gonna tell my dad? Take it back? Besides it’s Maine. It’s only 86.
Morzer
For a moment there, I thought some pimply dean of students was applying some creative thinking to the problem of financializing the student body.. or bodies.
Steeplejack
After periods of awful (indoor) heat both last summer and the year before—indoor temps above 90° on occasion—I am luxuriating in the kick-ass new HVAC unit installed in my apartment a few months ago. I’ve been keeping the thermostat at 74°, and it feels like sybaritic luxury. Occasionally I’ll go wild and dial it down to 72° in the early evening to set up a cool bedtime.
I had a big lunch, so I think it’s a turkey sandwich for dinner. And maybe I’ll open that bottle of Apothic Red.
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: That sounds good. I made some chicken with lots of curry leaves and tomatoes and bunch of spices that I just threw together.
Anne Laurie
@Corner Stone: My body temp drops like a stone overnight. (Seriously, the college health center almost locked me up when I showed up for an early-morning appt and three different thermometers said my body temp was 95.5, which is technically ‘dead’.) As I discovered when I started sharing a bed with normal humans, this means I radiate heat outwards all night. Separate covers, it’s the story of my nights…
BGinCHI
We keep our AC at 76. Maybe we’re doing it wrong.
Corner Stone
@Phylllis: Back when my dad lived in TX, he had friends from Philly visit. They became addicted to Blue Bell and asked my dad to ship them BB back home once in a while, because they couldn’t get it where they lived.
Surprisingly affordable, but a pain in the ass.
They all now live in AZ, where nothing but Suzanne and her brood can survive.
jeffreyw
Peaches and cream
ulee
@BGinCHI: depends where you live.
gbear
I finally put my window AC unit in my bedroom today. It isn’t really super hot today, but it is super humid. I’m like Baud in that I can’t sleep in a muggy room. I’ve got it set for 74. We’ve had some storms come thru this afternoon so it may be cooler than that outside right now, but the reduced humidity feels luxurious.
The bedroom is the only AC’d room in the house, so I had to create a cat door. I’ve got 1×6 boards that sits on the top of the door and along the jamb except for the bottom 8″. I took a piece of wire and created a latch so that the board stays tight to the door frame, and there’s a piece of fabric at the bottom so that the cat can pass through but the cold air stays in the room. It works pretty well.
schrodinger's cat
The largest Buddhist Chaitya (Prayer Hall) in India.
Plus Hindu temple in the shadow of much older Buddhist Caves.
Corner Stone
@schrodinger’s cat: I have a bad tendency to overcomplicate meals sometimes. Since my son doesn’t eat anything I do, it’s usually just for me so I can get a bit nutty trying new things.
So, once in a while I have to force myself to just use like three things and that’s it.
Mustang Bobby
I keep the AC at 78 when I’m home and 82 when I’m not. Here in South Florida that means it’s running about 12 hours a day. In the winter it’s off.
When I lived in New Mexico, we had a swamp cooler; basically cooling by evaporation. It was a lot cheaper than AC, but ours didn’t have a thermostat: it was either on or off.
On the drama front, the first reading and rehearsal of my play went great. The actors are perfect for the parts, the director gets the play, and they really brought it to life. At the end I told them, “Wow, I don’t remember writing it as well as you did it.”
Steeplejack
@Mustang Bobby:
You sound like a cast’s dream playwright.
Phylllis
@Corner Stone: There are reasons to live in the South. The other is the availability of the only mayonnaise allowed in this house, Duke’s.
Iowa Old Lady
Geez you people are Spartan with the AC. We have ours at 74 during the day and 70 at night. That’s a compromise because I love a cold room to sleep in and that’s not cold.
rikyrah
Mike Madigan wins court battle against referendums
Fri, 06/27/2014 – 12:22pm
Dan Mihalopoulos
@dmihalopoulos | Email
The $3 million attempt to change the way Illinois redraws legislative district boundaries ended Friday, marking a big victory for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his state Democratic Party.
With heavy financial support from former New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and some of the richest people in Illinois, the Yes for
Independent Maps group had hoped to create a new process for devising Illinois legislative maps after each census.
In doing so, they took aim at a key lever that Madigan — the longtime state Democratic boss from the Southwest Side — has used to perpetuate and enhance his party’s control over the state Capitol.
But a Cook County judge ruled Friday in favor of a lawsuit filed by
Madigan’s lawyer, saying it was unconstitutional for ballot initiatives on redistricting reform as well as term limits to go before the state’s voters in November.
Proponents of term limits — led by Bruce Rauner, the Republican nominee for governor in the November election — promised to appeal Cook County Judge Mary Mikva’s ruling.
A few hours after the judge released her decision, though, Yes for Independent Maps issued a statement announcing that it had halted its campaign.
http://politics.suntimes.com/article/springfield/mike-madigan-wins-court-battle-against-referendums/fri-06272014-1222pm
ulee
Here in Maine, they say it’s muggy, and I guess that’s why when it’s in the seventies you’re sweating buckets when you vacuum the carpets. When it’s in the eightie’s, then it’s Stephen King time.
Corner Stone
@Iowa Old Lady: What’s an avg high temp in August where you live?
mai naem
@schrodinger’s cat: Hey, I saw your post the other day about laptops. You might want to look at the Lenovo outlet. They usually have some pretty good deals. I got one of those touch PCs about 4 yrs ago for a price that I thought they had made a mistake on. Even the tech guy who did some networking stuff for me on it said it was a bargain. My sister got a bargain laptop off it a couple of years ago too.
shelley
Rube Goldberg would be proud.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Made my sandwich, got distracted by the housecat to give her one of her numerous microfeedings of the day and forgot about the wine. So I find myself drinking a Third Shift Amber Lager, which has been my recent cheap go-to beer.
By the way, if anyone is thinking about watching the “new” HBO movie tonight, The Counselor—oops, I see it just started here on the East Coast—do yourself a favor and give it a miss. Great cast, but it suh-huh-hucks. Dismal script, and Ridley Scott’s fists are hammier than usual. I saw it in the theater with great expectations, which were dashed—dashed, I say.
Better to go with Ernst Lubitsch’s comedy To Be or Not to Be on TCM. (Also just started at 8:00 EDT.)
JPL
What you set your A.C at depends on your lifestyle and where you live. When we lived in TX we set it at 82 but in GA it is set at 77. I work outside a lot and any lower than that would cause me to freeze when I step inside.
OzarkHillbilly
A long long time ago, away back when on the solid brick and asphalt side of South St. Louis, wheere July’s temps would brush up against 105 and the humidity reached 78%, I could drift to the edge of never never land on my 2nd floor apartment with all my windows open and the fan going full blast on my naked body fresh from a cold shower…. all.night.long. with out ever really sleeping and get up the next morn and actually be semi coherent at work the next day. I was what… 20?
Now I am 55 and fwck that sh!t. Keep the AC at 68 with the ceiling fan turning at max speed and no sheets.
And yes, my Mediterranean wife hates me.
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
“So they call me Concentration Camp Erhardt!”
And my second-favorite line:
“If I don’t come back, I forgive you for Sobinski. But if I do come back, it’s a different matter.”
Corner Stone
@OzarkHillbilly:
Women. Amirite!?
shelley
The cat drank the wine?
If you want to spend a couple of bucks in OnDemand, I heartily recommend the ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel” Fiennes is a hoot.
kc
Damn, you people are austere. 68 at night, 72 by day.
Morzer
@mai naem:
I would strongly recommend Lenovo. They’ve fixed the problem they used to have with fans/overheating and their laptops are solid, have a good chunk of memory and seem to last better than most. If audio is very important to you, that might be a bit of a problem area, because that’s been Lenovo’s weakness of late. Things are fine with earphones jacked in, but blasting music out loud tends to expose a couple of issues.
Corner Stone
If you were serving on a US aircraft carrier, and a global pandemic broke out, wouldn’t you be pretty much ok for some number of years?
I mean, given that anyone back from shore leave was not infected initially.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
As I have aged, I seem to have become somewhat allergic to my own sweat. Is that even possible?
John (MCCARTHY) Cole
@Anne Laurie: My temp doesn’t drop, but I am a total heater. I had a girlfriend who was I swear a cold blooded (physically, not in demeanor) reptile. She would wear flannel pj’s in August and September and I would wake up at night with her right up next to me and a down comforter somewhat draped over me having Kuwait flashbacks. It got to the point that I would use half the comforter and erect a barrier between us and sleep with just a sheet.
Then again, I snore like a jet plane with asthma, so I have no room to complain.
ruemara
hunh. You people like it cold. I don’t use my AC at all and keep things a very nice mid80’s in the apartment. Anything below 75 is freezing. As long as there’s good airflow, I don’t mind warmth.
SiubhanDuinne
@ulee:
Was that necessary?
Morzer
@SiubhanDuinne:
You might have prickly heat, which is a fungal skin infection caused by high moisture content blocking sweat ducts .
Iowa Old Lady
@Corner Stone: Mid 80s for an average high maybe
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
I love all Lubitsch.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
Wrong on so many levels.
Steeplejack
@shelley:
I saw it in the theater. Excellent choice.
Lolis
I keep it at 79 during the day and 78 for sleeping. The 78 is for the benefit of my roommate. I am fine with 79. I can even feel a little too cold with a fan on.My electric bill is very low so far, but I also have a 3-star green energy home.
SiubhanDuinne
@Morzer:
That sounds like a very silly disease, and I do.not.want.
Corner Stone
@Lolis:
You are indeed a benevolent God.
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Sounds like prickly heat. I used to dust myself with Nycil after my shower.
* Try using Johnson’s Baby Powder, Nycil is too expensive in the US. In India, the carton is about $2.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Corner Stone:
You need food. The carrier would probably be fine without resupply for years, the crew not so much. Carriers on extended deployments rely on unreps (Underway replenishments) to maintain their consumables.
OzarkHillbilly
@Corner Stone: Oh dog, I think it was Anne L who said she was always cold but only because she radiated heat all the time? My wife cooks all night long. Middle of winter, she will be laying next to me with 3 blankets and a down comforter while I am naked and sweating with no sheets, and it is NOT because the room is so warm, 55-60, but because she is like the sun on a July day on the east coast of Spain. Every blanket is between us and I still sweat.
Corner Stone
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: I agree, and I have no idea of the consumables stocked on board.
But wouldn’t that be the best place to be, aside from some remote, buried indigenous population hundreds of miles away from civilization?
Who could stop an aircraft carrier? If they rolled into port couldn’t they destroy any opfor waiting onshore for them?
RSA
Speaking of Arts and Crafts and university buildings, the Glasgow School of Art has received 5 million pounds from the UK government for restoration of the Mackintosh building, which caught fire at the end of May.
My wife and I visited Glasgow many years ago to see a Charles Rennie Mackintosh museum exhibit. Wonderful work.
Steeplejack
@Morzer:
Agree about Lenovo. I got a steal on a little X130e a while back, and it has been great. As you said, the speakers are slightly weak (no problems with earphones), but the keyboard is awesome for a fast touch typist on such a small machine (11.6" screen). My only other minor complaint is that the 1.77 screen aspect ratio feels too horizontal on the small screen. Really would have liked 1.6. (I have given up on ever seeing a 1.3 screen again.) But it’s a good machine, and I would strongly consider getting a Lenovo if/when I’m shopping for a bigger laptop.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
True. I’m going to switch over after I finish this beer.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne: Not sure if this would help your particularly problem, but: When I went through ‘the change’, I started finishing my daily showers by dousing the odor-producing areas of my body with generic betadine (povidine iodine) just before the last rinse. As an unexpected side benefit, 99% of the random patches of eczema I was prone to develop during pollen season disappeared.
I eventually asked an allergist about this, and all he could suggest was that reducing naturally-occuring skin bacteria helped calm my body’s overactive histamine response. He didn’t think it would be a problem if I kept doing it, so it’s been part of my routine for many years now. (Only problem is the stuff stains the rubber tub mat an unpleasant shade, but it does rinse off the tile/fiberglass/vinyl shower curtains. Took me years to convince the Spousal Unit it wasn’t the cats peeing in tub that did it!)
scav
@RSA: Good news, how much nearer to making enough will it make?
raven
72. I cooked Versailles garlic chicken, butter beans, fresh tomatoes and rice for my buddies 60th. His wife is Colombian so we enjoyed the game and then we ate.
dance around in your bones
I grew up in New Mexico, traveled hither and thither, but the only place I felt absolutely miserable? Was on the East Coast of the US of A. Humidity, I cannot stand it. When you get out of the shower and 2 seconds later you are dripping in sweat? Fuck that noise.
Well, I was in India for a while, and I remember going from the bed to the shower to the bed (under the ceiling fan) until I dried out, and then back to the shower again. But then, I was traveling, not living there!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Corner Stone:
Hmmm, if you’re thinking of a scenario where a carrier goes rogue in order to survive in a disease-ridden world, no. The current crop of super-carriers (Nimitz class and Gerald R. Ford class) don’t carry sufficient small boats to land troops. They don’t usually have that many troops either and their armories usually stock only enough small arms to provide for armed watches. Their main job is to deploy aircraft and their stores spaces, particularly in the Nimitz class are oriented toward storing aircraft fuel, spares, and ordnance. A Wasp class amphibious assault ship would be a better choice for piratin’.
raven
Oh yea, the boss lady got back from a week at art camp, fabric dyeing to be specific. She loved it.
ulee
@SiubhanDuinne: No, it’s not necesarry. I’m an idiot.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@ulee:
I hope that you know that you’re the only person to ever make a regrettable comment here. I, for one, have never done so. No, really…
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie:
Interesting and potentially useful, thanks. I will check it out. (Although my own “change” took place close to three decades ago, and this is a more recent phenomenon.)
@schrodinger’s cat:
Thank you. I’ll try that as well (or first).
SiubhanDuinne
@ulee:
Thank you! I don’t think you’re an idiot. We all say thoughtless things occasionally. Cheers and peace.
ulee
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: thank you higgs but I think I may be in trouble here. I’m missing things at work. I’m missing things in front of me. I’m truly worried here. I have never ever been this stupid. I’m 48 but I’m beginning to think there is something wrong organically. (really not looking for attention, been hiding this as best I can from everyone)
SiubhanDuinne
@RSA:
I love CRM second only to FLW (there are many similarities).
Good news about the £5m grant. There is a tiny cynical part of me that wonders how much of it is political, given the independence referendum coming up in September.
Naaaah….
Mike in NC
SyFy channel is now showing “Snakehead Swamp” set in Louisiana. Giant man-eating fish. Next month they have “Sharknado 2” scheduled.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@ulee:
Have yourself checked out thoroughly. IIRC I went through a period of missing, losing, forgetting, when I was in my early fifties. I got through it by buying a pocket-sized voice recorder and re-focusing my attention. That worked for me. YMMV. Now I’m 66 and I forget things because sometimes I just don’t give a shit.
Honus
@Phylllis: dukes barbecue sauce too. I used to make my own until one day I bought a gallon of Dukes for a starter. Read the ingredients, there were about six, all of which I recognized and could spell (things like “vinegar” and “tomatoes”). Tasted it and thought “this is really good and it doesn’t need anything”. Been using it for years and never looked back. Heard the same story from several other cooks.
BTW, the BBQ sauce is not called dukes it’s called “Sauers”. Sauers is a Richmond spice company that owns Dukes.
schrodinger's cat
@dance around in your bones: Where were you in India?
Higgs Boson's Mate
@dance around in your bones:
And I thought that I’d led an adventurous life. You ain’t written a book yet?
Mike E
@SiubhanDuinne: Ah, ulee means put on a wife beater.
I prefer to just go naked. ymmv
gene108
I live in a two story condo. The back of my unit faces a common area, with a lot of trees providing shade. My upstairs neighbor does a good job insulating me from overhead sunlight.
It has to be muggy as sin for me to turn on my AC during summer.
Downside is, I have north facing windows, The southside has a neighbor. With the shade the trees provide I get very little light and had most of my plants die, the first winter after I moved. Just. Not. Enough. Damn. Light.
Also, in winter it is really, really fucking cold. I’m on a concrete slab, which isn’t great for insulation below, my windows are old and drafty – I put plastic insulation sheets on them that seem to help a bit – and my furnace is always running.
I bought my place in summer and decided laminate flooring was a good idea, when I replaced the carpet that came with the place. Does not insulate like a thick carpet would, but it is prettier.
Morzer
@Mike E:
But.. but… decorum! …civility!…
HARUMPH!
Emma
@ulee: Run, do not walk, to your doctor and ask him/her to run tests that include vitamin deficiencies. I was having a similar problem and it turned out to be a severe vitamin D deficiency. Damn thing nearly killed me.
Morzer
@ulee:
Have you been under a lot of stress recently? That might account for some at least of your symptoms. The other question would be whether you’ve had any physical symptoms – headaches/migraines, shortness of breath. I’d strongly advise you to see a doctor you trust and make sure all is well with blood pressure etc.
dance around in your bones
Well, mostly in Delhi and northern India – Agra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh; Benares on the way to Nepal. – it was a long time ago, and I was traveling overland across the Khyber Pass, so coming down from the mountains it was fucking HOT.
I went there later with a male friend I met in Pakistan and we had a brilliant time. (Yes, he was English).
ulee
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Thank you Higgs. I am getting increasingly upset as the weeks roll by and I cannot remember dates or names or movies. I guess I could go to the doctor but they gave me lamictal and clozanepam and others that only made things worse. Oh, well, tired of complaining.
Mike E
@Morzer:
I need to view an old movie, and Blazing Saddles is a good’ern. I’d watch To Be Or Not To Be any day, too. Carole Lombard was radiant, precious in her last movie.
Edited due to errant Publish button push.
burnspbesq
We’re right at the edge of the zone that gets the onshore breeze. Any farther inland and you’re basically in what would be minimally inhabitable savanna if we hadn’t stolen all the water for 500 miles around.
No matter how hot it gets here during the day, we can usually turn the AC off by 7:00 and get through the night with fans. Living 11 miles from the ocean has its advantages.
Emma
@ulee: No, seriously. Change doctors if necessary. You need serious testing.
ulee
@Morzer: blood pressure great, weight up from 136 in my darkest days t0 154 now, which makes this so frustrating. I am really having a difficult time here. I’m blanking out on items. It’s embarassing.
dance around in your bones
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Everybody asks me that. All I know is that everybody I knew at that time was doing the same thing – so why should I write a book? Especially since Shantaram came out. I couldn’t top that.
But thanks for the props! It was what it was.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@ulee:
Don’t give up. I’ll echo Morzer in asking if you’re under stress. That can be hugely distracting. One thing that helps me is just sitting quietly for a while and letting my mind run until it gets tired of running. And I use the voice recorder in my cellphone for shopping lists.
Morzer
@ulee:
As much as you can, try to reduce your stress levels. It’s likely that by thinking about this and (understandably) worrying about what it might mean you are making matters worse. Try and find some time just to relax and enjoy something undemanding. I don’t know about your diet and sleeping habits, but the healthier you can make them, the less stressed your system with be. If you can, take walks or exercise and try to get yourself more active. I would agree with those who urge you to go to the doctor – and discuss your medications with him/her. Maybe they aren’t working well with your system.
Either way, don’t feel bad about telling people here when you are feeling nervous or upset. It’s good to talk to others and realize that you aren’t alone.
ulee
@Emma: Emma, I will. I have medical insurance where I work. I have a four hundred dollar balance. There is an acronym for what I have for coverage but I couldn’t tell you what it is. That’s how stupid I have gotten. I’ll need to look it up.
Iowa Old Lady
@ulee: You need a doc who’ll listen to you. We’re all happy to do it in the meantime.
J R in WV
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Uhh hUH! Right! Fer Sure! Me Neither!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@dance around in your bones:
Your story is just as worthy as anyone’s from that time. It should not be lost.
The best book that I ever read about those times is Rudolph Wurlitzer’s estimable Nog. I think, though, that it only makes sense if you dropped as much acid as I did.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@ulee:
Look, a few months ago I shared my worst time in decades here. The outpouring of commiseration and offers of help still make me feel humble and grateful. You can share it with us. No one is here to judge you and if we can’t do anything else we’ll all offer you support and good wishes. There are some very bright people commenting and there’s also a few thousand years’ worth of experience so reach out. Then you can be there for the next person.
ulee
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: I do that. I work a 56 hour straight shift with a man with autism. It’s a good shift becuase I get four days off. But I will tell you, I wrote this sentence with many stops because I could not remember the words. I stopped working my last job because I could not help shaking. I’ve cut down on my stress which pretty much eliminated my shaking, which was so bad I couldn’t hold a pen.. but now I’ve got this goddamn total blanking.
reall sucks. Wow…what do you call done. damn.
schrodinger's cat
@dance around in your bones: I haven’t seen those parts. I have traveled mostly in western and southern India. In Rajasthan I have only been to Mt. Abu. Khyber Pass sounds exciting. That’s the way most land invasions to India have occurred.
J R in WV
@ulee:
Lamictal is really dangerous, you should avoid it if at all possible. Mrs J R takes it, and she would have to decrease the dose slowly over several weeks to avoid side effects like death.
When she had septic shock and was in the MICU for weeks I had to raise hell to be usre they maintained her regular dose of maintenance drugs … they acted like the fact that outside a hospital she could die didn’t mean anything inside a hospital!! Stupid. Fortunatly there was a PhD Pharmicist on her team who understood what I was yelling about.
Otherwise I agree, see a good family practise Dr with a Gerentology sideline. You’re too young to have the symptoms we olds have. I’m 63 and have memory issues, I blame it all on repeated head traumas over the past 632 years!
Rolled in a F-350 last March on I-25 in NM, BONK ouch!
But without that history you should be way more normal. Take notes, look at them every morning. Etc.
Best of luck!
ulee
sorry..lost the thread..this really is a problem.
dance around in your bones
@schrodinger’s cat: @dance around in your bones:
This was, of course, supposed to be an answer to schrodinger’s cat, who’s travels in India I have followed with great interest. She has relatives there (for better or worse, like relatives everywhere) while I just made friends (like the hotel maid who cleaned my room in Delhi, whom I went home with and stayed for several days with her family and eating the most delicious food! – no, we were not lesbians, not that there’s anything wrong with that!)
Oh gawd. Once I get started, there’s no stopping me. I type like a monkey on crack
.
@ulee:
I hope you get help in some fashion. Before I got health insurance (Thanks, Obama!) I thought everything under the sun was wrong with me. It turns out – after numerous tests – that not much is really wrong with me. Maybe that will turn out to be the case with you. Meanwhile, the BJ crowd is here to support you. Do not discount that.
schrodinger's cat
@ulee: Have you tried a physical activity in which you can completely lose yourself? Running or swimming or yoga are great stress relievers for me. Also, dancing.
Corner Stone
Wow, this isn’t familiar.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@ulee:
And things are dropping through the cracks? No way. When I was a much younger man I worked some long hours in machine shops. I was also raising an autistic son. I often made wrong turns on my way home and then I’d have to work my way out of some of SoCal’s finest rabbit-warren developments.
The four days off are great only if you use part of that time to actually rest. I always had a tendency to say “I’m off work so I can do this, and this, and this, and that other thing.”
ulee
@schrodinger’s cat: I walk with my dogs. That is the one thing that I truly love. But on the street there are cars and people and in the woods there are predators, but I’m not complaining there. We all need to deal with those issues.
LanceThruster
I moved to the high desert a couple of years ago. I haven’t used the HVAC in my entire time here because the house is insulated so well. Passive heating and cooling works quite well.
pat
@OzarkHillbilly:
she will be laying next to me with 3 blankets and a down comforter while I am naked and sweating with no sheets, and it is NOT because the room is so warm, 55-60, but because she is like the sun on a July day on the east coast of Spain. Every blanket is between us and I still sweat.
Sounds like she is the ..ahem.. normal one here.
ulee
Thank you all. I’m off to walk the puppies around the block.
dance around in your bones
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Well, gawd-dang, I followed your link and saw Nog costs $14.00! I only buy e-books for $1.99 on Amazon’s kindle Daily Deal or at the Goodwill store, where perfectly fantastic books can be had for 4 for a dollar in paperback. I don’t have the simoleans to afford anything more.
Maybe I should write a book – like I have said, many people have urged me to do so, and I have definitely dropped enough acid in my time to qualify.
When I was 15 or so, I used to hang out at a local park by the local university in NM (why am I being so shy??) and guys would come buy and drop acid tabs in our mouths. I met my future husband there when he had a snake draped around his neck, and asked me to come back to his apartment to meet his bunny rabbit, which was house-trained.
Really, are my stories any more weird than anyone you knew back in the late 60’s? Maybe I was hanging around with the wrong/right sort of people.
RSA
@scav:
The news reports I’ve seen say it may cost 35 million; I’ve also come across a 20 million campaign, so I think they’re on their way.
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m also a huge fan. I once took a walk through Pittsburgh with a knowledgeable person who pointed out Wright influences (and possibly design work) on various buildings that I would have passed by without a glance.
RaflW
We are extremely awful humans when we travel: we set the hotel a/c at 65 if we can for sleeping. We sometimes have to call and have the engineer override the programming, but they usually will do it.
At home, our building has a highrise-wide chiller, and my place is usually about 70 daytime, 65 at night. I live in Minnesota for a reason!
I barely turn on the heat in the winter … that’s my lame rationalization. Over the year, 3 months of blasting a/c vs. 9 months of minimal heat. Yes, we get radiant heat from
the uit below and on each side. But I hate being hot, summer or winter.
I could never understand my grandfather, who set the a/c at 72 in the summer and the heat at 75 in the winter. WTF?
PaulW
What am I up to?
1) getting a short story finished for a planned anthology
2) getting prepared for the July Camp NaNo. Has anyone else ever done one of those?
3) Going mad from the heat
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Anne Laurie:
“You’re not dead until you’re warm and dead.”
-emergency medicine maxim.
Steeplejack
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
“You ain’t old until you’re cold.”
Thing my bus driver told me once. Words to live by.
dance around in your bones
Ok, fuck it. It’s Saturday Night.
So what if it gets slow around here?
Newdealfarmgrrrlll
@ulee: I had similar memory problems for over a decade, I was worried I had Alzheimer’s. I was told it was just stress but F that. I went in for a routine physical five years ago and the blood tests showed extremely low thyroid. When I stated taking thyroid meds, the doc said it would take several weeks to see results. On the fourth day I woke up and my brain was back, it was amazing. I am hyper vigilant now about my thyroid med, I don’t want that cloud of confusion and forgetfulness descending on me again.
Steeplejack
@dance around in your bones:
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey. Hold up, sister. You abandon us for months and then come around and start bitching because you’re not being entertained? Aw, hell, no.
That said, good to see you around here again, and here’s a song that could sort of plausibly remind me of you.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@dance around in your bones:
I think that I have a spare copy of Nog. If I can find it I’ll give you a heads up and I can mail it to you.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: An octopus in a bathysphere?
@dance around in your bones: The classic hippie trail.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Crap. YouTube is pulling me into gravitational orbit. My favorite Eagles song: “Lying Eyes.” Former boss said this should be the national anthem.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dance around in your bones: I was vaguely familiar with the song – one of those “yeah, I remember that one” songs, but I knew little about Brood. Interesting guy, it appears.
ETA: My knowledge of Dutch Rock ‘n Roll is pretty much limited to Golden Earring.
Morzer
@dance around in your bones:
The synchronized naked mopping starts at around midnight. Just enter your password and subscription number into the appropriate boxes on the private thread and you should be good to go.
Steeplejack
On an early ’70s note, I was listening to this song all this morning. Really seems to neatly store a lot of emotional baggage for me. And for some reason it’s inextricably linked to this song.
Christ, all I need now is Little Boots and “Heard It in a Love Song.” (Not that that’s a bad thing.)
Steeplejack
@Morzer:
Dark Web Balloon Juice. Enter at your peril.
ulee
@Newdealfarmgrrrlll:thank you. I have credit in the thing I can’t remember from work. (really, I’m not kidding, it’s that bad) and maybe I can get some renumberance from this bad
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Oh yeah, there’s also Shocking Blue.
Jewish Steel
Tonight it is Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Original 1968 mono UK pressing. Quality white boy blooze. Utterly devoid of production. Someone threw up the mics in a good room. Full stop. What band has the nerve to do that anymore? I ask you! shakes fist at cloud
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Holy shit! Someone else has read the book. I knew I was in the right place.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Jewish Steel: Isn’t that pretty much what the Sun Studio sessions are? Grace Potter and the Nocturnals example (they stop talking and start playing at about 2:17).
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: I’ll confess that I saw that on your link. OTOH, it makes me want to head out and get it tomorrow.
ulee
well, I’ll fake my way as long as I don’t have to shake my way, which gives myself away. And anyway, it’s not the way I make my way.
Steeplejack
I feel compelled to state that there was a time when you could like the Eagles without embarrassment or irony.
Look out, kids, it’ll happen to you, too.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: I like the album Desperado. I even have a vinyl version.
Jewish Steel
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): They get a fine sound, no doubt. But there’s something to be said for doing it 45 years ago versus now. I don’t know if white boy/girl blooze is really viable anymore. Kinda like talented college kids playing bebop. All the notes and phrases are right the fuck on, and yet…
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Having been on the Berkeley, SF, Santa Cruz axis during the Sixties I can safely say that Nog is the best evocation of what it was like for the average freak in those times.
Yes, we referred to ourselves as freaks. The first recorded use of the word was in The Berkeley Barb. Later, the Jefferson Airplane immortalized the thing in 3/5 of a Mile in Ten Seconds. The word “hippy” was reserved for the media and really bad TV shows featuring hippies wearing flower leis and Nehru jackets. I never, during my whole time as a freak, saw anyone wear a Nehru jacket.
Origuy
@Newdealfarmgrrrlll: I second the thyroid suggestion. Hypothyroidism can cause aphasia. Make sure they run a complete thyroid panel. There are several tests and they don’t always run them all.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Jewish Steel:
She did, of course, drop out of St. Lawrence to join the band. OTOH, arguments could be made that if you didn’t come out of the Delta and head to Chicago by way of Memphis, you aren’t really playing the blues.
bago
I got bored at the pride activities. I kept thinking about how to make DNS timing reports, and possibly use avocado to show exactly how crappy my home internet connection is.
That and I’m still behind on my Dr Who.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
According to the nonpareil David Bromberg, You’ve Got to Suffer if You Want to Sing the Blues.
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack:
Ok, you made me laugh out loud with your comment but I lasted approximately 10 seconds on that vile Eagles song.
So here’s Herman and Nina
Say, thanks Steep! for remembering me :)
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: My parents were on the edges of the Chicago art and politics scene back then. I was at the ’68 convention; I had just turned four, but, damn it, I was there. My parents also have lot of art given to them by friends who couldn’t sell the stuff, but no longer had room for it in their studios. Chicago Imagist school stuff. I was at some interesting parties – parents couldn’t afford a babysitter and weren’t going to stay home. There usually was a room full of us.
ETA: I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything.
reality-based
@Steeplejack:
hey, when the old HP laptop blew, and I got a yen for IBM-feel keys again – and remain stubbornly devoted to the old screen aspect ratio, (meant for writing, dammit, not game-playing) and the simplicity of XP – I got a used Lenove T60p, tons of RAM and a big hard drive (too lazy to look up the specs) for around 175 on Ebay.
Love the thing. dragged it around for a couple of years now, its solid as a rock. and I love the keyboard.
So what am I gonna do, when XP finally gets permanently hacked and too buggy to use? I don’t WANNA new computer!!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Damn, so many interesting lives here.
Jewish Steel
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): That argument certainly holds with me. 1960s white boy blues and the real thing occupy separate categories in my head. Whole different set of aesthetic properties. And I say this as someone who has no, zero, nada truck with “authenticity.”
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Your parents sound sound super-cool.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@reality-based:
Load Windows7. It’s the best WinOS I’ve seen since my beloved Win2K.
dance around in your bones
Ok, Steep, Higg, Omnes and at al – somehow FYWP has defined me as “undefined”….which I kinda like.
Thanks all youse guys for remembering me – enjoy Herman and Nina -( the undefined being formerly known as dance around in your bones).
OMFG! I am Dance Again! Never mind what I said before, except for the smushing up to you parts :)
And really, listen to Herman – maybe because I lived in Holland for a long time and gave birth there? I was just so into Herman. That Dutch accent used to drive me wild, even on planes when it was just the pilot. Oh wait! I have a story about a Dutch airplane pilot!
reality-based
@ulee:
II know how terrifying it is when a word or a name or an object you’ve used for years is suddenly missing from your brain. (lyme diesase brain fog, here. )
BESIDES seeing a GOOD doctor
Try adding 2000 Units of VItamin d3
some fish oil and some CoQ10
some magnesium citrate and a b-complex vitamin
and turmeric. (1000 mgs a day. )
all have helped me tremendously. I know it seems like you’ve become some weird hypochondriac, having all these bottles by your toothbrush.. Ignore that feeling, and chug the pill right after breakfast.
and for Chrissakes, don’t swallow anything a doctor gives you that ends in “epam” – or is in any way related to valium, librium, etc. That shit makes you crazy, and stupider.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Jewish Steel: A few years later, they owned a home in Connecticut and my younger brother ended up with a completely different childhood than I had – much more conventional. Dad’s hair was always too long and he is one of the few career insurance people who is probably a socialist at heart. But my brother got the CT house and a Volvo as formative experiences. Mom would have come down to Madison for the union marches and protests but it was just prior to her hip replacement so she was a bit hobbled. They sent pizza instead.
@dance around in your bones: Awesome.
Lyrebird
@ulee: Possibly too late here, but PLEASE avail yourself of your right to a second (or third) opinion… I know that diagnosis-by-treatment is really common, but with lamictal? That’s pretty flippin’ high risk. I know nothing about your life situation, but I send lots of good wishes for you to find out something more useful!
Jewish Steel
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
That’s awesome.
You got the better part of the bargain. Us Midwesterners, we’re the salt of the earth. Even if we’re too modest to say so.
Steeplejack
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Did you ever read, or have you reread, Richard Brautigan? I liked his stuff back in the day, haven’t gotten around to rereading it. Might be avoiding it for fear of disappointment.
ETA: Surrealistic Pillow might be one of my top 10 desert island albums.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@dance around in your bones:
Herman and Nina made me get up and dance.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: “Rommel Drives On Deep into Egypt.” Read aloud often during my childhood.
reality-based
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
oh, OK – i just keep remembering all the bad Windows iterations I struggled through at work – but if you say 7 is stable, I wont be so fearful!
Steeplejack
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
I had that album! Inextricably bound up in memory with Leo Kottke. “Eight Miles High.”
ETA: Song goes hypersonic at 1:20.
dance around in your bones
Ok, that was supposed to be et al, as you probably figured. I don’t know what other typos I committed in my undefined state but here’s my Dutch airline pilot story:
I was living on a houseboat in Amsterdam, and for some reason the Dutch police raided our boat one night. I was asleep and didn’t know what the fuck was going on until I was walked out into the living room of the boat and asked my ‘boatmates’ if we were all going to jail? And one of my friends said “No, just you”. I guess while I was asleep they found hash in a candle in my room?
Anyway, I spent a week in a Dutch jail. They questioned me repeatedly about ‘my boyfriend’ whom they had pictures of, with me, in front of a Christmas tree but I denied all knowledge of said boyfriend.
Finally, they deported me back to the USA and gave all my papers to the Dutch pilot, who was supposed to only give them to me when we landed in NYC. Before the plane even took off, the pilot walked up to me in my seat and said (in that lovely Dutch accent) “I believe I have something of yours”….and handed me my passport and etc.
I was back in A’dam within a week. Where my husband and I had our baby. Who was conceived in a graveyard in Nepal, but that’s another story.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: Inner hipster popping up here, but I like The Great Society better than Jefferson Airplane. Sample: Often as I May.
Violet
@ulee: Are you talking about your Flexible Spending Account or your Health Savings Account? Either one will help pay for a doctor visit.
I second or third the recommendation to get your thyroid checked. It can make you crazy if your thyroid is out. Make sure your TSH is under 2.0 and under or near 1.0 is desirable. If your doctor finds yours to be higher and says your “normal” then find a new doctor. Preferably find a doctor who will run the enire thyroid panel including both anti-thyroid antibody tests.
Not sure what you mean by working 56 hour shifts, but if that’s 56 hours straight without sleep and/or you’re working nights then you need to think about what you can do to tend to your circadian rhythms. Especially if you’ve got thyroid issues, making sure you’re taking care with your circadian rhythm cycle/sleep hygiene is essential. It’s important for everyone but particularly for those with thyroid problems. Read up on it.
Jewish Steel
@Steeplejack: I revisited Trout Fishing In America recently. It’s pretty heavy hippie going. But you’ve got to remind yourself that he wrote it in 61. He had a hand in inventing that hippie stuff.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Yes! I was partial to In Watermelon Sugar. “In watermelon sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life was done in watermelon sugar.” Plus I think that was the book that had “The Rivets in Ecclesiastes” in it.
But I would like to go back and read the “biggies,” A Confederate General from Big Sur and Trout Fishing in America.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Steeplejack:
Besides having an incredibly delicate face, beautiful, with long black hair that hung about her shoulders like bat lightning, there was something very unusual about her …
= Richard Brautigan, The Abortion: An Historical Romance
Re-read him many times. I still do. He’s erratic. When he nails it though he nails it good.
Now, have you read anything by Lawrence Ferlinghetti?
dance around in your bones
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Darlin? Ask Anne Laurie for my email because I would love to read Nog even if no one I knew during the 60’s wore a Nehru jacket. We all made our OWN fucking clothes! From Thrift shops! and we did our own embroidery!
Ok, enough of that. My email is malta jan at that googly thing dot communism.
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Oh Yay! I love turning people on to Herman and Nina.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dance around in your bones: Oddly, I also have a houseboat in Amsterdam story. It doesn’t quite match yours.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@reality-based:
Even my UNIX-or-Nothing friends told me good things about Win7. I loaded it on the last box I built and it is a good one. Just make sure that the Win7 drivers for your laptop are available before you embark. You can load them onto a CD or a thumb drive (Depending on your laptop’s capabilities) and then load them after the install.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Oh, hell, no. Grace Slick meets Marty Balin + Paul Kantner is one of those “result is much greater than the sum of the parts” meetings that are all too rare in pop music. Not saying the Great Society is bad, but “prefer”? Hipster, please.
Early Jefferson Airplane clearly crying out for Grace: “It’s No Secret.” (And this is a great song that is all but forgotten.)
NotMax
Fixed for silly linkage error.
@reality-based
Nothing other than quibbles to hold against Win7 as opposed to XP. Fairly shallow learning curve going from the former to the latter.
However, the prices of Win7 (last I checked) were stratospheric, there having been an upsurge in demand following the launch of 8.
Also, check carefully first to determine if your XP laptop can handle Win7. I, too, have an old reliable laptop running XP (not a Lenovo) hanging around but Win7 is something it could never run at all.
Steeplejack
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
That is a fair assessment.
Have read a lot of Ferlinghetti, but not in a while.
Steeplejack
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
I am running Win7 Pro on the Lenovo X130e, and it has been rock solid.
Roxy
ulee, what part of the country do you live in. Maybe a few of us balloon juicers can provide assistance if we are in your part of the woods. Please, please get more than one opinion.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well, spill the beans frijolito!
I lived on the Singel Canal (otherwise known as The Hash Boat, as I later learned) and the Prinsengracht and other places that I don’t want to talk about just yet :)
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: Actually, the formative music of my childhood was really Country Joe and the Fish and the Moody Blues. I associate Saturday mornings with watching Bullwinkle with my dad and then the music started. As far as the difference between GS and JA, the phrase “acid clear” from Often as I May comes into play. I like the clarity and simplicity of the GS album.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@NotMax:
True about the price of Win7. Depending on the version, it can be costly. I do see prices around seventy bucks for the 32bit Home version.
Roxy
Well, I do not have any air conditioning where I live, because I live in an area where the air conditioning is natural, cold and free.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
I think—as someone in the same position—that if you’ve got a WinXP computer it’ll still be good for a long while, as long as you don’t expect it to do any edgy stuff. But for Web surfing, e-mail, etc., it should be fine. Just uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials (now useless) and install an antivirus program. I’m going to Avia, which I’m pretty sure is the one I used before MSE.
dance around in your bones
Ok, so this is weird – doesn’t the beginning sound like Hotel California? There ya go, Omnes!
I did kinda like Dirty Laundry back in the day. When I was partaking of a white substance inhaled through the nasal passages. Please don’t tell anyone.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Clarity and simplicity are good. There is a lot of that on Surrealistic Pillow. A surprising amount, actually. Aside from the few big “psychedelic” hits, most of the album is surprisingly folky. “Today.”
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Also, from around the same time: Deirdre Wilson Tabac, “I Can’t Keep from Crying Sometimes.” Nice horns (for which I have a particular weakness).
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dance around in your bones: I love that city. I’ve spent time there with natives and it isn’t the faux hippie pot culture that appeals to me. It is so liveable, tolerant, and accepting. If you are weird, fine. The last time I was there, there was an American yellow school bus containing a ska band jsut parked and playing in the Dam Square at midnight. But that’s not my story…
My story begins in Chicago in the 1950s when a young lawyer invested some of his money with a guy named Hugh who wanted to start a magazine. Oddly, this rather louche magazine was very successful and made a lot of money. The lawyer married one of the models for the magazine and had a daughter. The daughter grew up to be beautiful and eventually went college at a small liberal art college. Two years later, I started at the same school. We ended up as friends of friends. During my junior year, I studied in London and during a break I toured the Continent. Near the end of this tour I arrived in Amsterdam after a variety of adventures. I got off the the train an d was approached by a Dutch guy, who asked my if I was looking for a place to stay. I said that I was looking for a youth hostel He said he could offer me a place to stay and some money, but there was a catch. I said “well. yeah.” He told me that he was bisexual. I said I wasn’t and besides, I was quite well off. He was persistent ( I was apparently quite pretty) and offered to show me his Dutch journalist card. I don’t read Dutch so I have no idea what the card would have said. Finally having shed this guy, I arrived at Bob’s Youth Hostel (which I thought was a houseboat operation). I walked into the bar area there and the daughter talked about above looks up and sees me. She rushes across the room and gives me a huge hug. Apparently, she was backpacking across Europe following graduation. The guys in the bar were pestering her like crazy and my arrival saved her from that. The dudes in the bar just kept looking at me like “what the hell does he have?” For the next two days, the two of us wandered around A-dam in a hash induced haze until she put me on a night ferry for the UK. Being deposited, still stoned as fuck, in the City at 8:00am is disorientating as hell.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Don’t use the laptop much anymore, but it still works fine. Fire it up from time to time to confirm that. It was my portable workhorse machine for browsing/news reading, that kind of stuff, so not particularly concerned about XP being obsolete.
Never had MSE on it in any case. At one time had AVG, but IIRC it has Avast! on it now.
As for e-mail, although I have multiple accounts, unless someone informs me to expect an e-mail or I have solicited one, I only bother to check any of those accounts maybe twice yearly. Think I have sent out a grand total of around 50 e-mails over the past 15 years. It’s not a form of communication which I’ve ever warmed to, so mostly ignore it or treat it as a necessary nuisance.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dance around in your bones: We could go back to the Ur-Geman counter-culture songstress.
Steeplejack
@Jewish Steel:
Well, there is something to be said for revisiting that hippie vibe. It seems to have disappeared completely. I was in college from ’69-72, and just seeing the covers of those old Brautigan novels has a strong emotional effect. In Watermelon Sugar.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Eek. But in a good way. And you need an umlaut in there, but I have none to spare. I’m hoarding them.
columbusqueen
@Corner Stone: Wrong–Jeni’s here in Columbus is the best ever. Trust me.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@columbusqueen: In the North Market. The raspberry sorbet (when offered), OMFG!
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Ok, so that is a coolish story, Plus, I kinda figured you were good-looking and quite well-off, even in your yoot.
Amsterdam is a very special place, at least it was when I lived there. It’s cold as fuck though – we used to go to the ‘Kosmos Meditatie Centrum’ to have hot showers and soak in their hot tubs and then get high on hash – you know, meditate! I used to ride home on my bike and would get ice crystals in my wet hair.
I believe I saw Timothy Leary there on a stage giving a lecture, though I wouldn’t swear to it under oath.
brettvk
@OzarkHillbilly: When I was a child most of my relatives lived in St. Louis and I got bused up there regularly to spend a week or two with grandparents. I vividly remember getting off the Greyhound downtown and going outside to an almost ochre sky — the air would be so thick with heat, humidity and pollution that you kinda had to push against it to get down the sidewalk. Later, even though the Clean Air Act eliminated the weird colors, you’d be driving in on I-44 and the heat island effect would come down like a curtain at Eureka. I could never afford air conditioned vehicles in those days so it was really noticeable. All my St. Louis childhood memories are sticky with humidity and melting Ted Drew frozen custard.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: Lenya was Kurt Weill’s girlfriend. The female leads in the Brecht/Weill plays were designed for her.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Really? I think it’s great. It has replaced my long, holographic letters but with the additional benefit of instant delivery, which I used to envy in the Sherlock Holmes stories and Victorian novels. (“I would like to have tea with so-and-so tomorrow. I will send her a letter tonight which she will receive in the morning post.”)
Do you communicate with any friends beyond phone call or text message? Why wouldn’t e-mail be perfect for that?
reality-based
@Steeplejack:
I’ve used AVG anti-virus and Malware Bytes (the paid version) the last two years – – so far, so good, and both reasonably priced.
From hanging out on the boards, I think that the Lenovo T60P runs Win7 slowly and grudgingly – and also, the price pissed me off – so here’s hoping XP stays working!
Steeplejack
@dance around in your bones:
Omnes in his youth.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Thanks for pointing out the bleedingly obvious. I am aware of all Brecht/Weill traditions.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dance around in your bones: I told you that it didn’t match yours. I can tell you though that having a gorgeous woman rush across a bar to give one a huge hug just after one arrived in new city and had a vaguely unsettling experience is rather nice. Plus, could the frickin’ Dutch “journalist” have taken my first no as a no?
BTW on the ferry, they were showing Risky Business in the theatre. I went to watch it. Given the amount of hash I had eaten, I actually thought that I was in the movie and interacting with the characters at times. The fact that those characters were my milieu didn’t help me maintain normality. Going through passport control was brutal. I was completely sure I wasn’t carrying, but what if I was too stoned to know?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: Sorry. Not all people know, but I should have known that you did. My apologies.
@Steeplejack: Dark hair and parted on the right rather than left.
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack: Ok, that was fucking funny.
Omnes, I was just glad you linked to Lotte Lenya instead of Lena Lovitch, who was an imitation of Nina Hagen in my Superior Opinion! (IMSO?)
Nina ruled.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): More Brian Ferry than Martin Fry.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Sorry. It was like a slap in the face.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Now, THAT is funny. Makes me think of this pot brownie thingy – I can’t find the one with the best animation (like, R. Crumb style animation) though I am sure I saved it in my bookmarks but I might have been stoned. Maybe I should call 911 and ask them.
Oh Jesus Fuck. Looks like 4th of July has begun early here – something just went off like a shotgun. Dog started barking, I went out to check and another huge firework burst into the sky as I was saying Jesus Fuck.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: Without trying trying to be an intellectual snob, I find that tons of my allusions and references fly over people’s heads. Sometimes I over-explain as a result. Or I dumb myself down and avoid the interesting references.*
*I work very hard at doing that in legal writing.
Steeplejack
Odd that I can’t find the video for “Poison Arrow.”
“I care enough to know that I can never love you.” Meowch.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: If you are going to do this, you need All Of My Heart. You are in my wheelhouse now. These are my college years.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
It was a fertile period. Style Council, “My Ever Changing Moods.”
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: If you want Paul Weller, let’s go with the The Jam.
dance around in your bones
OMFG. ABC again. You guys are brutal.
I might have to call 911 and report you all.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dance around in your bones: Steep is just mocking my floppy hair.
Steeplejack
And with this I’m out: “Driving Away from Home.”
You guys and your Eurotrash drug stories.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Okay, okay, I’m now clear that you’re more Bryan Ferry than Martin Fry. Got it.
Steeplejack
This is a video that I could find: “Shattered Dreams.”
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Steeplejack: Brunets have rights too.
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack: What’s wrong with Eurotrash drug stories? Jealous?
Stop Making Sense.
(Yes, I know it’s not Bryan Ferry.)
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dance around in your bones: I think he has something against dark haired folk.
Steeplejack
@dance around in your bones:
Yeah, I don’t have any Eurotrash drug stories. My stories are more, uh, ethereal.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Dark floppy haired folk? Nah.
Who could be against that? For all we know, Steep is a dark floppy haired gent. For that matter, David Byrne is a slightly floppy haired gent, so I think I will return to watching him in his big floppy suit and hope that no more god-damned fireworks scare the stupid dog.
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack: Nick Fury? Please proceed, Steep :)
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
This video is oddly affecting, especially the foot move at 3:02.
And the singer exhibits Omnesian style sense (although without dark hair).
I have gone from blond to silver fox.
gene108
I was watching Resident Evil: Retribution on Starz. They had a Chinese chick wearing a red dress with a slit open on one leg, like the Alice character wore in the first Resident Evil movie. If I was 20 years younger, I’d have fantasies about trying to picture girls in that dress.
But anyway, this character, Ava (Chinese girl), was wearing high heel shoes with the dress.
Whatever little plot there is to the movie involves a good bit of running and shooting things. Why on earth would you opt to wear shoes that are not even closely meant for running and tumbling and jumping?
If this was a movie about a dinner date, I could get it. The shoes would make sense, as long as the couple was not walking a lot, because a normal human being in high heels cannot walk that much in fairly high heels.
When a movie asks me to suspend my disbelief about some sci-fi stuff, please please please do not force me to fucking accept something totally nonsensical about something ordinary. I’m already agreeing to accept your premise, with whatever flaws there are.
I just find the added little details to be insulting to me. A bridge too far, if you will, for me to cross as part of the audience.
Though it was not nearly as unforgivable as Cloverfield, where the protagonists go up 60 flights of stairs to save somebody, and are not doubled over in exhaustion afterward. My brother, when he first moved to Manhattan, lived on the sixth floor of a walk-up. In my early 20’s, and in pretty good shape – could run 5 miles in 40 minutes comfortably – I was gassed after the 4th floor when I went to see my brother.
Climbing multiple flights of stairs is a exponentially harder than just climbing a few.
Sigh…too bad it’s 2;42 am where I’m at…because there are no kids out and about for me to yell at to “get off my lawn”….
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack: Jeezus, I love you Steep, but tonight you have shown a knack for linking videos that I dump after three seconds.
You may ask yourself, How did I get here?
Steeplejack
@gene108:
Have you missed the entire sci-fi/fantasy movie history of buxom chicks going into battle—or doing anything, really—in iron bikinis?!
Chinese dress is cheongsam. Google images and enjoy.
Steeplejack
@dance around in your bones:
Okay, one for your hippie roots.
Steeplejack
I’m out, before I get sucked into 1961 Jill Ireland in So Evil, So Young on TCM.
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack: Thanks, but a bit too mellow for me tonight,
I’m more into this – I’m a bluesy kinda gal.
dance around in your bones
@Steeplejack:
Gads, that was what I was kinda watching in the background between listening to videos and commenting and whatever the hell else….all those girls in pink uniforms!
My default TV station is TCM because there’s pretty much always something cool on. My grandkids think there’s something wrong with my TV because it’s almost always in black and white.
Talentless Hack
@kc: I had open windows last night. Wonderful cool breeze that is still blowing this morning. I hear it’s supposed to get to 90, though, and I’ll have to go around and shut the windows and turn the AC back on. Boo.
Ruckus
@ulee:
Late to the party so you may not see this.
Anyway….
The meds I’m on for my heart/BP reduce B12 intake which leads to memory problems. The difference since they started me on B12 is pretty amazing. It can be something as simple as that which causes memory problems. If all your doc is doing is prescribing some pretty heavy meds in the hope that something will work, find another doc. Just like any other profession there are docs who are worthy of sainthood and docs that are worthy of a clue by four upside the head or at least they shouldn’t be practicing. I’ve always figured that at some point they should be able to stop practicing and accomplish actual medical work.