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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Leaning Into Fragility

Leaning Into Fragility

by John Cole|  November 12, 202010:38 pm| 124 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I broke down and bought a stool for the shower and installed it and man it is amazing. It is amazing. The ability to scrub my feet while not worrying about slipping is amazing. It’s well worth the price of feeling like an old when I see it in the shower.

One of the super nice things about not giving a fuck about what people think is really allowing yourself to do whatever you want and enjoying the fun things and not obsessing over appearances and crap like that. I was never particularly vain, but I remember when I first said fuck it was when I quit wearing contacts. They were just awful. Always having to clean them, take them out and put them in, getting dust and other bullshit in your eye.

Ehh, not sure what the point of this post was.

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Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Jerry

    November 12, 2020 at 10:42 pm

    I’m gonna need that shower stool soon, I’m sure. Too many close calls lately, especially after a thorough cleaning of the tiles.

  2. 2.

    JoyceH

    November 12, 2020 at 10:43 pm

    One advantage of hair going white that people don’t talk about is that you can color it without bleaching first. My hair is now a nice pastel pink.

  3. 3.

    geg6

    November 12, 2020 at 10:46 pm

    I feel you, Cole. I am at an age where I was starting to not give a shit about how I look most of the time (well, not as obsessed anyway). And then COVID came along and it’s all gone to shit. I don’t mind going into the office two days a week now, but I resent a lot having to get dressed in uncomfortable clothes and put makeup on. When I retire, my goal is to go completely to seed.

  4. 4.

    SmallAxe

    November 12, 2020 at 10:48 pm

    I feel you Cole. I gave up the contacts for the same reason long ago, fuck pretenses, comfort rules.

  5. 5.

    Misterpuff

    November 12, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    Cole. I’m sure your wool socks are thanking you.

  6. 6.

    Nicole

    November 12, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    Our building’s laundry room is next to a drink-and-paint place, and it’s filled with attractive young 20-somethings having fun on Friday nights and I wave at them while I do my laundry because the laundry room is empty on Fridays and IT’S AWESOME NOT TO WAIT FOR A DRYER.

  7. 7.

    Yutsano

    November 12, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    I sit when I shower because of safety reasons. To be fair, I have no idea why everyone doesn’t do it this way. It is sooo much more comfortable.

  8. 8.

    e julius drivingstorm

    November 12, 2020 at 10:57 pm

    Twenty-one months ago, Ms. d’storm broke her hip so we got a pivoting traversing shower chair. She liked it so much she broke her other hip six months later (sigh). I’ve been stepping around the damn thing myself. She’s getting to where she doesn’t need it again but I’m thinking that it’s just about my turn.

  9. 9.

    Lavocat

    November 12, 2020 at 10:59 pm

    That you’re old and proud of it!

  10. 10.

    Svlad Jelly

    November 12, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    I rented a house in my 30s that had a chair in the shower and it was my favorite part of that house.

  11. 11.

    JoyceH

    November 12, 2020 at 11:01 pm

    About a year ago, I finally swallowed my pride and started using the drive carts in the grocery store. It’s so nice to reach the checkout without feeling homicidal due to aching knees and feet!

  12. 12.

    Karen

    November 12, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    I love my shower chair. I can’t stand for a long time so it works for me.

  13. 13.

    Kay

    November 12, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    I love contacts. The newer ones (last ten years or so) are so thin and comfortable you don’t even know you have them in. Much better than glasses, IMO. They don’t fog up or get wet or dirty when I’m gardening and I can wear sunglasses driving.

  14. 14.

    Lyrebird

    November 12, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    @geg6: I am just about Cole’s age.  Omnes made some comments on here that poked my vanity buttons, about having kids aging you, but now I mostly laugh.  Having kids means no time to fuss.  Maybe puppehs have the same effect.

    The pandemic had the opposite effect on my day to day style, though, at least when I am working from home.  I try to dress up more when I have to teach online.  We all need some cheering up.

  15. 15.

    Grover Gardner

    November 12, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    I hear your point!!  I’m 64 and still, God willing, in good health, but a stool in the shower–LUXURY!!  Sit and steam!  Hated contacts–the slightest dust mote was agony, need three extra pairs of glasses for close, medium, etc., a quick nap on the sofa was an ordeal to remove, replace, blah blah.

  16. 16.

    TaMara (HFG)

    November 12, 2020 at 11:09 pm

    @Kay: I couldn’t live without mine. They are multi-focal and I can see everything. They are so thin and they are dailies, so no cleaning.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 12, 2020 at 11:10 pm

    I was never particularly vain

    Does anyone really believe this? ?

  18. 18.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 12, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    @JoyceH:

    It’s so nice to reach the checkout without feeling homicidal due to aching knees and feet! 

    These days you can feel homicidal from the jerks not following the one way signs on the floor.

  19. 19.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    November 12, 2020 at 11:19 pm

    I never have to worry about falling.  I take baths.  Much more soothing, too.

  20. 20.

    Keith P.

    November 12, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    Now you need to get one of those chairs that carries you up and down stairs, like Mrs. Deagle from “Gremlins”.

  21. 21.

    Mike J

    November 12, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    Ari JOE na

    NBC calls Arizona for Biden.

  22. 22.

    Yarrow

    November 12, 2020 at 11:22 pm

    Some friends remodeled their bathroom and put a bench in the shower stall. Very smart.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    November 12, 2020 at 11:22 pm

    @TaMara (HFG):

    How do they make them? Magic.

  24. 24.

    Just Chuck

    November 12, 2020 at 11:24 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: 

    All the grocery stores around here (CO) removed the one-way signs. No one was following them anyway. I still see them at my local thrift store, but the aisles are super-narrow there.

  25. 25.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 12, 2020 at 11:25 pm

    @Mike J:

    Hey, Trump won a battle today, too, you know!  The PA court ordered that a tiny number of ballots that had been set aside and not counted because they were legally questionable definitely would not be counted.  That’s just as good as winning an entire state, right?

  26. 26.

    JoyceH

    November 12, 2020 at 11:26 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: problem is, all too often that jerk going the wrong way is me! I’ll be tooling along and see the arrow pointing back at me – whoops! I don’t shop often enough to learn this one way habit yet.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    November 12, 2020 at 11:27 pm

    @Mike J:

    God, it’s about time. So the first call was correct this whole time and this thing could have been over more than a week ago. Good job dragging it out and letting the lunatic roam free to break everything.  Why is everyone such cowards? It’s an epidemic of cowardice.

  28. 28.

    Danielx

    November 12, 2020 at 11:29 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    These days you can feel homicidal from the jerks…

    Corrected. I feel semi-stabby about half the time.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    November 12, 2020 at 11:30 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    It was a terrible decision though. The voters followed the rules they were told at the time. They did absolutely nothing wrong and their ballots will just be pitched in the trash.. I think of those millions of people jumping thru all these hoops to vote and Trump, the Republican Party and judges are working as hard as they can to throw their ballots out. It’s appalling. So incredibly disrespectful to voters.

  30. 30.

    Sebastian

    November 12, 2020 at 11:30 pm

    I am glad you are sitting. Haberman just announced her book

     

    https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1326876954730106881?s=21

  31. 31.

    Yarrow

    November 12, 2020 at 11:31 pm

    @Kay:  Because they got everyone looking at the TV and clicking on websites so they made money.

  32. 32.

    bbleh

    November 12, 2020 at 11:31 pm

    @Mike J: Booyah! And it’ll make the morning papers on a Friday.

    It would be satisfying that the whole rotten Trump regime is finally collapsing, except … it’s our national government.  And there’s all that pandemic stuff, and geopolitics and the economy and … there’s still 10 weeks left for them to be even more dysfunctional than ever

    Remind me again why I’m supposed to show Trump supporters respect?

  33. 33.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 12, 2020 at 11:33 pm

    @Just Chuck: All the grocery stores around here (CO) removed the one-way signs. No one was following them anyway.

    And why not? Because they stick the signs to the floor, because that’s easy and cheap. Shoppers aren’t looking at the goddamned floor, they’re scanning the goddamned shelves!

    As I helpfully point out to local supermarket managers, if they really want people to observe and obey one-way signs, they should put them up at the ends of the aisle attached to the shelves at eye height (maybe like those floppy vertical banners that are stuck in the ground). But of course they don’t care, it’s nothing but virtue signaling dictated by HQ. /pet peeve

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 12, 2020 at 11:34 pm

    @Just Chuck: I go shopping on off hours, and look down aisles.

  35. 35.

    Mike J

    November 12, 2020 at 11:35 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Shitty decision that, thank god, makes no difference.

    This is what people meant when they said win by enough that cheating won’t matter.  To be honest, I wish we had more, but this seems to be enough.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 12, 2020 at 11:35 pm

    @Kay: I don’t think it was cowardice. The initial AZ call was an error because they had incorrect data about how many ballots were still out. And for days, Trump was cutting into Biden’s margin and the way the count was going, it looked like he was genuinely on track to flip Arizona.

    That’s because AZ was the one close state where the mail votes were actually more Republican than the in-person votes. In PA, GA and NV, Biden’s margin just kept getting bigger. In AZ, it was shrinking and it was just a matter of whether or not it would get to zero.

    But the late late counts were a bit bluer and eventually, it became clear that Trump’s numbers were going to fall short after all. They probably could have safely called Arizona one or two days ago, but not a week ago.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    November 12, 2020 at 11:36 pm

    @Yarrow:

    It was kind of horrifying to watch them all lose their nerve at the same time and have a collective panic attack. They don’t even stand by their work! The two who called it were terrified to use it. Boy, attacks by Republicans must be really something. Democrats never seem to get this elaborate deference. They didn’t have any problem calling the states in ’16 and the margins were closer. Another broken thing. Add them to the pile of junk Trump leaves in his wake.

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    November 12, 2020 at 11:36 pm

    @Kay:

    If we would just pay them what they think they are worth, they wouldn’t bother us any more. Of course they think they are worth everything, while we think they are worth shit, so it rarely works out to either of our satisfaction.

  39. 39.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 12, 2020 at 11:37 pm

    @Danielx: To each their own.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 12, 2020 at 11:37 pm

    So this is the get off my lawn and pull up your damn pants thread?  Is it the start of a new series?

  41. 41.

    Danielx

    November 12, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    @Kay:

    Because people are afraid of him truly getting his freak on and setting his flying monkeys loose on them, personally. Being primaried is one thing, getting shot by some heavily armed idiot egged on by Trump is something else again. Cowardice or no, people are averse to setting themselves up for threats and abuse, particularly from a president a lot of whose fans are deranged.

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    November 12, 2020 at 11:39 pm

    @bbleh:

    Remind me again why I’m supposed to show Trump supporters respect?

    What? Respect people who wear loafers because they willfully aren’t smart enough to tie their shoes?

  43. 43.

    Kay

    November 12, 2020 at 11:40 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    And Pennsylvania? And Nevada? And Georgia? And the new rule where they don’t call the race until the margin exceeds the recount trigger? They had a collective nervous breakdown. I’ll never trust them again. This thing is a test. A lot of people are failing it.

  44. 44.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 12, 2020 at 11:40 pm

    @JoyceH: I’ve accidentally done that at times.  One of our supermarkets doesn’t have arrows at the aisle break halfway down.

    But I’m talking about people who just walk over the arrow pointing at them from the ends.

  45. 45.

    Kelly

    November 12, 2020 at 11:43 pm

    Our home came with a shower stall with a built in seat. Would not be without it now. So relaxing after a vigorous day to just sit in the hot water and steam.

  46. 46.

    CaseyL

    November 12, 2020 at 11:43 pm

    I’m not sure my tub is big enough to accommodate a stool big enough to be comfortable.  Plus I shower so fast – in and out in 10 minutes, including hair wash – there doesn’t seem much point.  If I had a comfy chair or bench, and if my hot water heater was up to it, I might linger longer.

    Also:  why don’t makers of bath tubs shape them like hot tubs, with built-in seating?  I’ve never felt comfortable lying down in a tub. Yes, I could put one of those bubbly tub liners in, but then you have to take it out, clean it off, and hang it up somewhere to dry.  Just what I want to do when I feel really relaxed!

    My concession to age, pandemic/WFH, and a rapidly expanding sense of NFLTG is, I’ve stopped coloring my hair. The roots have grown out a few inches, and happily don’t look bad at all.  Like a very thorough frost job.

  47. 47.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 12, 2020 at 11:45 pm

    @Mike J: C’mon JOEgia.  Give Ms. Abrams something to celebrate.

  48. 48.

    mad citizen

    November 12, 2020 at 11:46 pm

    Same for me and contacts, though it became harder for me to read with them in.  I’m old but have dodged the readers.

    I’m going beat NBC News so I’m calling the 1973 Kentucky Derby for Secretariat.

  49. 49.

    Yarrow

    November 12, 2020 at 11:47 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Title of the series: Find Your Own Damn Mustard!

  50. 50.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 12, 2020 at 11:47 pm

    @Kay: Yes, when they were faced with a possible miscall on AZ, they got cautious.   Once the race for an early call was over on election night, they really only faced the downside risk of getting it wrong.  That changed the networks’ incentives.

  51. 51.

    Joey Maloney

    November 12, 2020 at 11:49 pm

    I moved into a new apartment a couple of months ago, and the shower has, not just a chair, but it’s plumbed! It has water jets all over it! I can turn the knob and have water squirt onto my back (good for itchy skin) or onto my feet and calves (makes rinsing easier) or – and this is my favorite – shoot up from the seat and onto my nethers. It’s like a high-pressure bidet for a creature with [counts jets] 6 assholes. Or one big one, I suppose. I can also choose between a handheld showerhead and one of those great big, whatdoyacallems, rainfall showerheads.

    Looxury!

  52. 52.

    Don K

    November 12, 2020 at 11:49 pm

    @SmallAxe:

    I tried contacts close to 40 years ago, and it turns out my eyes produce insufficient tears to keep the damned things hydrated, so I had to use Visine like every 30 seconds or so to keep the lenses from falling out. I said, fuck it, I was meant to wear glasses, so here I am, wearing glasses since age 9 (except for a few months), and fine with it.

  53. 53.

    sdhays

    November 12, 2020 at 11:50 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Since March, I’ve basically just gone to the grocery store late at night after the baby’s in bed and there’s only 5 people there anyway. That way I don’t have to care about the stupid arrows, which don’t really help when people aren’t moving.

    I don’t blame people for not following the arrows or not moving. Sometimes you need to browse! The grocery store isn’t a fucking train. The real answer is limiting the number of people inside at any given time, but that’s not going to happen again. Waaayyy too much effort on the part of the grocery stores and no one wants to wait in line to get inside as winter descends upon us.

  54. 54.

    JoyceH

    November 12, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    Another thing I’m finding useful that I would have scorned a few years ago – Chair Workouts For Seniors videos.

  55. 55.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 12, 2020 at 11:55 pm

    @Yarrow: Well, with a choice between this and the Trump sex thread below, I may need to flee this blog for the night.

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 12, 2020 at 11:58 pm

    @sdhays:my main grocery store took the arrows out a few weeks ago. What’s really pissing me off the last week or so is they have all the holiday displays up, not decorations, the card board stands for marshmallows, one-time roasting pans, stuffing mix, all that crap

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 13, 2020 at 12:01 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: the card board stands for marshmallows, one-time roasting pans, stuffing mix, all that crap

    Don’t people use that crap around Thanksgiving?

  58. 58.

    Elie

    November 13, 2020 at 12:01 am

    @Kay:

    I’m with you, Kay.

  59. 59.

    Dan B

    November 13, 2020 at 12:02 am

    @geg6: Is that “to seed” or feral?

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 13, 2020 at 12:04 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: right, but they’re blocking the aisles that a month ago were one way, and I can’t imagine they couldn’t just re/stock the shelves where the mini-marsmellows and stuffing mix usually are.

    And I bet they throw out tons of those mini-marshmallows. They’re just trying to trick people into buying those. That’s capitalism, man.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 13, 2020 at 12:06 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oops, I forgot this was the get of my lawn and pull your damn pants up thread.

  62. 62.

    Kent

    November 13, 2020 at 12:06 am

    I’m the same way with shoes.  It’s been years since I’ve worn any casual shoes with laces.  Running shoes and hiking boots yes.  But any shoe I put on for work or casual wear is some form of moc.  I can’t be bothered with laces.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 13, 2020 at 12:08 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: and get a haircut

  64. 64.

    sdhays

    November 13, 2020 at 12:08 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve been to the grocery store a handful of times in the past 8 months during more normal hours and it’s just so goddamn stressful. The only thing different is people (mostly) wearing masks. Going late at night makes that all go away, so it’s worth it even though the fish counter is closed and the produce section is sometimes not fully stocked. I can shop without strategizing how to accomplish my task extra fast with a bunch of potential COVID mines at every turn.

  65. 65.

    Danielx

    November 13, 2020 at 12:10 am

    @Sebastian:

    Color me shocked, shocked….

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 13, 2020 at 12:10 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve got a good five or six weeks left before I start to look scruffy instead of raffish.

  67. 67.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    November 13, 2020 at 12:13 am

    Nat Herz @Nat_Herz· 7h
    U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, says he’s tested positive for COVID-19. He’s America’s oldest Congressman and the Dean of the House. He was first elected in a special election in 1973:

    He’s 87

  68. 68.

    Danielx

    November 13, 2020 at 12:22 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Not looking, not looking, not looking…

  69. 69.

    randy khan

    November 13, 2020 at 12:29 am

    @Just Chuck:

    We still have them at the Safeway near me (northern Virginia).  And people generally (call it 90+ percent) follow them.

  70. 70.

    Kent

    November 13, 2020 at 12:32 am

    It’s official. Biden wins Arizona. He’s over 11,000 votes ahead with less than 11,000 votes left to count.

    Margin of difference provided entirely by the Navajo Nation.

  71. 71.

    Procopius

    November 13, 2020 at 12:35 am

    So, what replaced the contacts? Spectacles or lasik? I’ve worn glasses for 65 years and they don’t bother me, but I can’t even open my eyes underwater so I’ve never tried contacts. I had cataract surgery a couple of years ago and the results are great, but I think I chose the wrong type of replacement lenses, or else the doctor didn’t tune them right, so I still need glasses and they don’t work for playing pool or snooker. I’ve been thinking about lasik recently, and the internet says it works and is recommended, but I’m still leery. If anyone can reassure me I’d appreciate it. I’m also going to inquire about contacts, but I don’t think they’re for me.

  72. 72.

    CaseyL

    November 13, 2020 at 12:45 am

    @Procopius:  I had lasik done about 20 years ago, and it’s without question the best thing ever. I went from very myopic and astigmatic (needed to be wearing my glasses to find my glasses) to 20/40.

    One minor cavil: A few years ago I lost my close-up vision, and now need reading glasses. But that might have happened anyway.

    You need to have your eyes evaluated first, make sure your corneas are up to being reshaped.

    Honestly, I can’t recommend lasik strongly enough.

  73. 73.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2020 at 12:51 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    An inconsequential few votes, already held back from the count, will now definitely not be counted — with absolutely no effect on the vote count. No doubt the Trump campaign’s legal team are breaking out the champagne.

  74. 74.

    LeftCoastYankee

    November 13, 2020 at 12:59 am

    When I was in grad school in my late 20’s I rented a total shit shoebox studio.  For some reason it had a bathroom with a 6’+ clawfoot tub (no shower).  It took a week or so, but I fell in love with taking baths everyday.

    Weird place, total shit neighborhood, the bedroom was only a few feet wider than the bathroom, and you could hear the junkies shooting up outside the bathroom window.

    Still find showering to be lame all these years later….

  75. 75.

    NotMax

    November 13, 2020 at 1:19 am

    99% sure the last time I gave a fig about appearance was in the womb.

  76. 76.

    Jean

    November 13, 2020 at 1:28 am

    @Amir Khalid: And in Arizona, where there is no recount unless the margin is 200 votes where 25,000 have voted, the sharpie-gate lawyers are demanding a hand recount in Maricopa.  IT NEVER ENDS.

  77. 77.

    Peej01

    November 13, 2020 at 1:30 am

    I stopped wearing my contacts when I started to fall asleep in front of my computer and woke up with gummy eyes.  I had cataract surgery 2 years ago and opted for distance correction lenses…one of the best things I’ve done.  I still need reading glasses but I am terribly nearsighted and having permanent contacts is great.

  78. 78.

    BlueDWarrior

    November 13, 2020 at 1:31 am

    @Jean: Endless stalling because we gotta find some kind of fuck-up to justify our retainer fees, damnit.

  79. 79.

    eddie blake

    November 13, 2020 at 1:37 am

    just hit the point in my decrepitude where i need reading glasses. everything up close is blurry as shit as of a year ago.

  80. 80.

    Sourmash

    November 13, 2020 at 1:38 am

    I tried contacts 100 years ago and never again…  I need another cataract surgery but they keep telling me I should wait until COVID is over…  OK.  I’m still relatively healthy, but kind of enjoying not having to look when people are pointing things out (“I told you I CAN’T SEE!”) and can claim deafness when I don’t want to listen to people.  It’s liberating in its way…

  81. 81.

    Jean

    November 13, 2020 at 1:38 am

    @BlueDWarrior: I just don’t get how Republican lawyers can sue for a hand recount in Maricopa is Arizona doesn’t allow recounts with a margin that exists now.  It’s stalling, yes, but stupid.  I guess for the lawyers it’s a win.  They get paid.

  82. 82.

    JustRuss

    November 13, 2020 at 1:46 am

    @JoyceH: Heh, well one advantage of having a hairline on a forced-march retreat is you shave down to stubble and don’t worry about it for a week.

  83. 83.

    JustRuss

    November 13, 2020 at 1:50 am

    @eddie blake: I think that was my mortality wake-up call, when my great vision became not so great.

  84. 84.

    frosty

    November 13, 2020 at 2:09 am

    @eddie blake: My best point in my marriage was when I watched my wife move the book farther and farther away, while cranking the light up to 250W and keeping my mouth shut until her sister said “Try my reading glasses.”

  85. 85.

    cain

    November 13, 2020 at 2:10 am

    @Lyrebird:

    I’m a little older than Cole, but not yet ready for the chair. But I do worry about falling since it takes so long to recover. But otherwise, I pretty much feel like I’m still in my 30s.

  86. 86.

    Comrade Colette

    November 13, 2020 at 2:11 am

    @JoyceH:

    One advantage of hair going white that people don’t talk about is that you can color it without bleaching first. My hair is now a nice pastel pink.

    Mine, too!

    Unfortunately. It was brilliant violet for a few weeks, and then day-glo auburn, but no matter what color I start with, it quickly fades to washed-out pink. Luckily I DGAF and since I’m working at home, there’s no one to give me side-eye when I have an inch of white roots on my messy shag.

  87. 87.

    Sebastian

    November 13, 2020 at 2:14 am

    Rooting for injuries

     

    ? ? NEW … Source tells me Trump plans to use vote-count rallies to “wreck Fox” so he can start his own paid MAGA channel, built from his campaign text-message database: “He’s going to spend a lot of time slamming Fox” https://t.co/KkPx4EWFBQ
    — Mike Allen (@mikeallen) November 12, 2020

  88. 88.

    prostratedragon

    November 13, 2020 at 2:22 am

    Thinking about a stool but haven’t got around to it yet. Will, soon. Luckily, the apartment is accessible, so I don’t have to winch my legs over a tub wall to get into the shower —just walk on in, walk on out— and there are plenty of guard rails to hold onto. If I could install one of those walk-in tubs, I would do it, though.

    Shifting gears, has it been mentioned that Lauren Underwood has pulled out a victory in 14-Illinois? Her opponent tried that thing of claiming early and daring anyone to challenge him, but votes from the more heavily Democratic parts of the district started coming in late last week.

  89. 89.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 13, 2020 at 2:36 am

    @sdhays:

    Sometimes you need to browse! The grocery store isn’t a fucking train. The real answer is limiting the number of people inside at any given time, but that’s not going to happen again. 

    This shit happened during summer too.  And browsing during a pandemic?  Fuck you.  Make a list.  Get your shit.  Get out.

  90. 90.

    lgerard

    November 13, 2020 at 2:41 am

    @Sebastian:

    I guess if it is OK to use the office of the Presidency to promote or denigrate individual businesses for your personal advantage it would also be OK to use the assets developed by your campaign for your own personal use

    All in service of MAGA!

  91. 91.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 13, 2020 at 2:47 am

    @lgerard: And it’ll be just fine for the Democratic President to bash these fuckers’ bones to dust.

    Oh, sorry, that’s Lady Justice and the rule law.  Cry harder, Soviet shitstains.

  92. 92.

    Geminid

    November 13, 2020 at 2:49 am

    @prostratedragon: Lauren Underwood’s late victory was mentioned this morning. At least one commenter was very happy. But like most of the Democrats who flipped red seats in 2018, Underwood never gets as much coverage as she deserves, so it’s good to bring her up.   Ironically, Jim Oberweis, her opponent, was in the House GOP’s “Young Guns” program for favored challengers. Oberweis is 74.

  93. 93.

    Sebastian

    November 13, 2020 at 2:56 am

    @lgerard:

     

    He is going to fuck up this business like all others before but he is taking the RWNM down with him

  94. 94.

    mrmoshpotato

    November 13, 2020 at 3:05 am

    @Geminid:

    But like most of the Democrats who flipped red seats in 2018, Underwood never gets as much coverage as she deserves, so it’s good to bring her up.

    Yes. Absolutely.

    And.

    This is awesome not only because Lauren Underwood is a great human, but also Jim Oberweis is such a horrible one and I love watching him lose year after year https://t.co/qA1eiaIFcd— Mike Unpronounceable Last Name (@mikeresistance1) November 13, 2020

  95. 95.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    November 13, 2020 at 3:25 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I know it seems like a timeless time  (except for the election), but it is 2 weeks to Thanksgiving!  That stuff you mentioned is appropriate for cooking at Thanksgiving.  Except for the flimsy aluminum roasting pans that you have to support underneath or they collapse.  They should be illegal.

  96. 96.

    Sebastian

    November 13, 2020 at 3:27 am

    ?? Important ??

    It’s always projection and Donnie says the quiet parts out loud. Or the adjacent ones because he cannot keep his mouth shut.

    Donnie has been going off Dominion the past few days and the GOP was weirdly quiet on that particular subtopic. I didn’t pay attention because I thought it’s spun from that made up software story they floated.

    There is more to the story. 

    Turns out Donnie and GOP are attacking only one electronic machine vendor: The smaller one that was created because Diebold owned 70% of the market. Excellent thread below. Please get smart on this, it might very well be the motherlode of all that unexplainable fuckery we’ve observed.

    Adam, sanity check please.

    Rs are conspicuously NOT talking about ES&S, which controls more of the voting machine market than Dominion, has donated $30k to the GOP, lied about remote access & internet connectivity, & made black votes disappear. Dominion was supposed to break up ES&S’s monopoly in 2010. 1/ https://t.co/kU0cPqIBLj
    — Jennifer Cohn ✍? ? (@jennycohn1) November 12, 2020

  97. 97.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    November 13, 2020 at 3:27 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: In the grocery stores here, there is an area in front of the aisles where they have all the canned yams, marshmallows, stuffing mix, canned pumpkin, etc. so it doesn’t block the aisles and is easy to find.

  98. 98.

    AlaskaReader

    November 13, 2020 at 3:32 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Rep Don Young,  of beer virus fame.

  99. 99.

    lgerard

    November 13, 2020 at 3:43 am

    Don Young brags about having never used a computer

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    November 13, 2020 at 3:47 am

    I came down with RA at the ripe old age of 22 and by the time I was 30 had every bathroom aid they made.

    Friends would come over and laugh at me having more safety equipment than their 80-year-old grandmas – grab bars all over the place, the bidet atttachment, the shower chair, the giant paddle handles on the faucets, etc.

    By the time we were in our 50s they were calling me about their hip problems and asking what they should get.

    It’s not a shameful thing to use all this stuff or a wheelchair or scooter at the market – it frees you to be safely independent. Get whatever you need at whatever age you need it.

    My absolute favorite bathroom helper is the toilevator.

    The things you buy to make a toilet seat higher are a pain in the ass. Hard to clean, prone to coming loose at the worst possible time. The toilevator is a little pedestal that sits under the toilet to make it taller from the bottom up. It comes with whatever adaptive plumbing you need and my housemate installed it in about 15 minutes, dawdling plumber 30. Nowadays you can buy taller toilets for olds. I have one of those and a toilevator and it reduces the knee and hip pain from getting up in a delightful way.

  101. 101.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    November 13, 2020 at 3:54 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Can you show me at this link where it looked like Trump was going to win Arizona because I sure don’t see it. No, Kay is right. It’s cowardice and it’s a completely different treatment than Democrats get from the press.

    Our billionaire-owned corporate press is wired to favor Republicans because that’s where their money lies.

  102. 102.

    Jeffery

    November 13, 2020 at 4:25 am

    @CaseyL:  I have a grip bar in the bath/shower. It’s there when needed. I do use it.

  103. 103.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 13, 2020 at 4:42 am

    @Jean:

    Their client is a whiny ass titty baby who is pathologically incapable of admitting failure.  They were hired to be his useless cries of “Nuh-uh!”  That is all that is going on.  It’s a toddler screaming as he’s dragged from a store.  There is no more logic or planning to it, and no more chance of success.

    @Sebastian:

    Look, there was no vote count changing fuckery.  None.  America does, in fact, have people who watch for that, and they have said publicly they expect to be fired because Trump wants them to say there was vote count changing against him.

  104. 104.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 4:53 am

    @Kay:

    When has the GOP ever respected voters?

  105. 105.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 4:54 am

    @Kay:

    So, Fox was right about Arizona?

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 4:55 am

    @Sebastian:

    Phuck her.

  107. 107.

    AlaskaReader

    November 13, 2020 at 4:58 am

    @Danielx: I used to send infrequent letters to the editor, all pointedly and decidedly anti-right wing.  When I started, I had trepidations because I lived in what might be the reddest part of the only state to grow more red in the 2016 election.

    I found that even here, I heard no pushback, other than a couple of relatives who voiced concern about getting pushback by association from their right wing employers.

    I was pleasantly surprised to get nothing but encouragement and appreciation from a wide spread of our community, even the much more rare recognition in a few far flung parts of the state. Clerks in stores that did not know me would ring my purchase and see my name on my card, turn and ask if I wrote ‘that letter’, then tell me thanks for speaking out. I got a few phone calls on my home phone from strangers, but they were all, every one, just people who picked up a directory, asked if I was the one who wrote ‘that letter’ and wanted to express their gratitude.

    Even living that experience, that was then, and now I’ve stopped.  I still compose those letters, I just don’t send them.

    It is cowardice, an estimated 500 pickup trucks flying Trump flags and Confederate flags, convoying for most of a day up and down the road I live on make me wonder if I’d get killed for saying my piece.  Sociopaths and psychopaths have been given their leash.

    I composed one of those letters tonight, still don’t know if I’ll find the courage to send it.

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 4:59 am

    @Joey Maloney:


    Just reading this made me jealous?

  109. 109.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 5:01 am

    @Kent:

    Will never forget that

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 5:03 am

    @prostratedragon:

    Love her.

    She is the real deal???

  111. 111.

    Amir Khalid

    November 13, 2020 at 5:04 am

    It’s like 6am over there. Where are the early morning posts?

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 5:07 am

    @Sebastian:

    Good thread

    Thank you

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    November 13, 2020 at 5:10 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Hey Amir??

  114. 114.

    satby

    November 13, 2020 at 5:39 am

    @Procopius: not too sure you can get Lasix after having cataract implants.

    @CaseyL: presbyopia still affects Lasix patients, since most of them get Lasix for myopia. If you get it closer to middle age they sometimes undercorrect one eye slightly so that you can last longer without reading glasses, but eventually everyone needs them until they get new implants when they have cataract surgery.

  115. 115.

    satby

    November 13, 2020 at 5:40 am

    @Amir Khalid: Howdy!

  116. 116.

    Spinoza Is My Co-pilot

    November 13, 2020 at 6:08 am

    @mrmoshpotato: Everyone above the age of innocence (whenever that is, some early grade school age I’d say) is vain. Pretending to not be vain is itself very much a form of vanity. It’s ok (to a point) it’s part and parcel of being human.

  117. 117.

    prostratedragon

    November 13, 2020 at 6:21 am

    Twitter thread from Martyn McLaughlin on the rumored investigation by the Scottish government of Trump’s golf course business. McLaughlin has been following the actual and potential unexplained wealth investigations for several years.

    Edit: Actually it was just this year that McLaughlin’s articles first got attention here. In the recent dispensation we have become divine, for a thousand ages in our sight are like an evening gone.

  118. 118.

    pluky

    November 13, 2020 at 8:05 am

    @Keith P.:  In John’s case more like Livia Soprano.

  119. 119.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    November 13, 2020 at 10:19 am

    I’m a lot older than Cole, but as far as bathtub/shower maneuvering goes, I am just getting to the point where I can fully sympathize with this post. I’ve always *much* preferred baths to showering, for a bunch of reasons both practical and what I guess you could call esthetic. IMO nothing beats a deep comfortably hot bubble bath – deep enough to float in – for relaxo-therapy. And no problem getting at your foot-bottoms.But getting up to standing position – not as easy as it once was, the main reason being the rather mild bunion I’ve evolved on my right foot. Amazing how that can get in the way of stuff. You don’t know how much you depend on the first toe joint until it hurts like hell to put most of your weight on it while levering yourself up from tub (or floor).

    I seem to meet my fragility with a disapproving frown thus far.

  120. 120.

    Sebastian

    November 13, 2020 at 10:41 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    When one of the most reputable voting integrity activist in the country is ringing the alarm I’d take a second look.

  121. 121.

    J R in WV

    November 13, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    Interesting conversation about bathroom aids.

    When we built out home in 1991-94 I was just hitting the  40s and we were both active. But the main bathroom has a walk-in / roll-in shower room, tile lined, 5’x8′ with a bench opposite the shower head. No special plumbing on the bench, but sturdy tiled seat right where the water falls. Grab bars too. Having plumbing in the shower bench is pretty deluxe sounding.

    All our doors are wide enough for standard wheel chairs. A good friend was injured in a fall from their balcony, now paraplegic in a chair, so we knew it could happen to anyone at any time. Wife uses the bench a lot, I don’t so far, but the many grab bars are important to us both. All the towel bars are grab bars as well.

  122. 122.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 13, 2020 at 3:43 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: Scroll down to “7/8/9 days ago”. In the rightmost columns, the block averages Trump was getting were pretty consistently higher than what he needed to overtake Biden. CNN had already called AZ at that point. That was when people started saying it was a mistake.

    After that, the numbers were lower, but only by a couple percentage points for about a day after.

  123. 123.

    ballerat

    November 13, 2020 at 11:44 pm

    Naw, I’ve had shower seats since I was in my 30’s. They’re great at any age, IMO.

    Seats in baths are as awesome like, well, grab bars in baths! For the same damn reasons! Olds may need them but the younger (and younger at heart) can put them to (pro)creative good use, or perhaps discover a solo quiet hunkered-down sauna-like dimension of relaxation when the hot is cranked. And no matter how one uses them, always having that security present if youthful invincibility on slippery surfaces proves to be fallacious.

  124. 124.

    Toxic

    November 20, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    Ah jeez John, IIRC I’m three years older than you and I have no issues scrubbing my feet in the shower.   In the long term that shower chair is going to do you nothing but harm.  It’s just going to enable the muscles you use for stability to atrophy that much quicker.   And in the long run that means falls and injury.

    I spend about 15 minutes a day strength training and doing flexibility exercises which is no where near enough but do yourself and your future caretakers a favor and ditch the chair and buy a weight set instead.

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