[Small Talk: The Library]

Thanks, everyone. :)

[Small Talk: The Library]

To have it work and then have it taken away has to be horrible.

Yes. And it's been interesting for me to see in myself all of the usual human behaviors that come out: bargaining, denial, misplaced anger. Because of course it's not the fault of the people whose veins are staying open that mine didn't. But anger wells up in me at them, which is...ugh. They have something that I also got to have, briefly. But I didn't get to keep mine. Which of course is no one's fault. But try making my brain believe that. Yeah. :(

[Small Talk: The Library]

Random knitting question. I am knitting in the round on circular needles, is there any way to decrease without switching to double pointed needles?

Only if you have a flux capacitor. ;)

Venting: I have a lot of Facebook "friends" who are CCSVI people, active in MS advocacy. And every now and then someone will post about their venoplasty anniversary, and how it's been X number of years and they still feel great, and I'm just...I know it isn't right, but atm my reaction is white-hot rage. Because it didn't last for me, and it just...isn't fair. Ha. Having a very hard time right now not being extremely angry at everyone and everything.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Every test I've ever taken comes up Ravenclaw, which sounds about right.

Today is mine and the mister's 25th wedding anniversary. It's been quite a time so far. :)

[Small Talk: The Library]

Man, Barphe. You are dealing with some shit. :( All the good vibes from the other side of the country, coming at you.

[Small Talk: The Library]

That is awesome, Erratic! Let's hope he keeps it up. :)

My sister had her son when she was 41. She definitely feels her age, sometimes. My nephew is two now, and my sis finds herself beyond knackered at the end of the day. Kids are hard work. :)

[Small Talk: The Library]

Yes, that is nightmarish. :) My sister has the same worry in the daytime, because her husband is just finishing his PhD, and they're going to have to move to wherever he gets a job. Teaching music composition, because there's a giant demand for that at the university level, yep. :(

I hope otherwise things are good, Barphe?

[Small Talk: The Library]

Now I *have* to know!

I'm going to guess, just 'cause (and also because this is, sadly, the predictable answer: he was a big horndog and cheated on her?

[Small Talk: The Library]

Just so you know, when I rule the world, AC will be on the bill of rights. I grew up without one. Never again. NEVER again.

We didn't have one either. But we did have a swamp cooler, which is perfect for Nevada, where when the temp is up around 100°, that means the humidity is probably around 10%. A swamp cooler puts a lot of moisture into the air, and I think that's why they seem less popular: there's always the danger of mold, that goddamn asshole.

sounds like he's fallen off the drinking wagon. The gambling addiction never went away. I'm sorry for Jen.

I haven't been paying any attention, so this is sorta news to me. Is he known as an problem drinker? And the gambling to go with, because it's always more fun to have a complex of addiction issues. :( Poor Jen indeed. That is some difficult shit to deal with, and of course he's in a position to just have that behavior reinforced, rather than confronted. Blergh.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Mmm, copper recipe. It's important to get enough in your diet, because copper is a key constituent of the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. I didn't just look that up. No way. :P

Is it worth getting a second opinion, AnnieF, or do you want to just get it taken care of?

That was the third opinion, pretty much, so...yeah. I pinned the guy down last night (rhetorically, pbbt!) and asked him to just tell me what he would do (apparently he's not supposed to make definitive statements about things that involve sales [yeah, I don't know either]) but he finally said that the way the current system is installed is not correct, there's a lot of leaking, which is very bad (yeah, mold, boo), and if it were him, he'd replace it and do some work on the installation, because the space is a bit wonky. Basically it comes down to: do we continue to do repair after repair, essentially throwing good money after bad, or do we pay more now to replace the fucking thing, thus generating far fewer repair calls. We're going with option two.

'm waiting for mine to go. Its original to the house and can't have much time left. It's working for now. I won't have it serviced or do any maintenance. I'm leaving well enough alone.

This seems wise. I hope it keeps on keeping on. :)

Anybody else remember that awkward acceptance speech Ben gave when he accepted the Oscar for Argo, about how their marriage was hard work? I felt bad for Jennifer Gardner.

That was so awkward. Dude, TMI!!

Happy holiday weekend, fellow USers! My weekend starts at 4:30 today. Anybody got a time machine?

Yeah, who did we assign the time machine project to? And the transporter, how's that coming along? Dang it, I think we need to start keeping better records.

ETA: and why does editing fuck with the formatting of quotes? This is a very annoying glitch.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Vibes for AnnieF's AC. May it be an easy fix!

Alas, it is a full copper repipe situation. Current AC unit is leaking and doing other wrong things that my brain files under "Mechanical systems, blah blah blah." It's working right now, thank goodness, but its days are numbered. Sigh.

[Small Talk: The Library]

They waited until the 10-year mark, which makes the divorce settlement more favorable to Garner in CA. So they really do seem to be trying to be fair and amicable. I never did get that marriage; he seems like such a putz.

Huge vibes for the kitty! Exploratory surgery will figure it out, hopefully.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Since the F-ster is still a giant school fuck-up, he's got summer school, so I'm driving him to that. Whee. He can get a learner's permit in October; cannot wait.

Today I've got the HVAC company coming to look at the AC, which is having a hard time keeping up with the 100°+ weather. It's 85° inside the house this morning, blergh. Last summer was our first year in this house, and we had some issues with the AC then, too. I'm really hoping that the issue isn't that the unit is under-powered and we need a new AC. Let's all keep our fingers crossed. Although the pessimist in me is thinking "There's no way the summers are going to be getting cooler. So maybe we should upgrade, because the temps are only going to keep getting higher." :(

So, married folks, has your hetero marriage seemed somehow degraded, or indeed affected in any way since the SCOTUS decision? Yeah, me neither. :-)

ETA: I have read up on AC (I hate sounding like a complete ignoramus, especially in front of tradespeople) and now know more than I ever wanted. Have all y'all done manual-J calculations? 'Cause if not, your air con may not be functioning at best capacity. Heh.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Also white. Suddenly the animals will have black hair if you wear white. It's like a freakin' magic power or something.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Kitty vibes and house vibes, coming right up!

[Small Talk: The Library]

Big vibes coming yours and your sister's way, Harvester.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Thritto. Vibing like mad.

I get auditory hallucinations when tired, too, and since I had kids, they're always the same: one of my kids has just said "Mom!" This has led, at times, to me checking their beds to be sure that they are asleep, because damn if that "Mom!" didn't sound real.

[Small Talk: The Library]

Yes, that's pretty much exactly what I imagine went down. Humans are so, so good at tricking ourselves, and our brains are very easy to fool.

Just got a buncha lidocaine shots in my shoulder, 'cause I've had horrendously painful muscle spasms since last week. Let's hope the shots work the first time (sometimes round two is required). This growing older thing is for the birds, I swear. :)

[Small Talk: The Library]

I'm the only person on the planet who hasn't seen it yet

Nope. My lack of interest in superheroes as a genre means moi aussi. Plus so many movies give me motion sickness anymore that it's better for me to watch things on a TV screen, so I pretty much don't ever go out to a movie these days. I'm trying to remember the last movie I saw in a theater. Hmm. Drawing a blank. That Paul Giamatti wine movie, maybe?

[Small Talk: The Library]

Is it normally difficult to have clients reassigned? My first thought was that the caseworker doesn't want to work with this particular old lady anymore, and this is one way of getting rid of her.

(Since I am a resident of NoFunnington, my reaction to all the "supernatural" elements of the story is skepticism. I know, I'm no fun. ;) )

[Small Talk: The Library]

Also, I recently saw It Follows in the theater. Late show (got out at 11:30 p.m.) and then I walked home afterward. Alone. On dark streets. Not recommended. It creeped me the fuck out.

I think I'm not alone when I say that many of us wouldn't choose a movie that we'd have to walk home alone from late at night. That gets factored into the whole "Do I want to do this/can I afford it/will it be safe" calculus that I and many women I know use to decide whether to do stuff. (I know you know this stuff, Darkpool, it just struck me that "walking home alone late at night" is already a thing that I wouldn't do, scary movie or no).

(Btw I am really enjoying your comments over at Mark Watches, Darkpool. I barely comment over there but I've read all your posts and I'm right there with you on most of your ST:TNG impressions.)

[Small Talk: The Library]

My husband's mother died when he was 17. I have a memory of her, though, from my own childhood; she worked as a school nurse through the late 70s, and in 4th grade I saw her in the nurse's office for a badly skinned knee. I'm pretty sure that the only reason I remember that encounter (when I was nine years old) is because she had an accent (she was Austrian). It was pretty amazing when Mr F and I put that together.

I do have an absolutely horrible relationship with Mr F's dad's 2nd wife, so there's that. ;) What's up with everyone's weekend? This is the F-let's last day of elementary school. Praise Cthulu. I have to see the drop-off lane clusterfuck one more time this morning, then done forever. Birthday party for a classmate is happening Sat., and Sunday we visit Mr F's grandma (still trudging along at 98). I hope everyone is going to have a good weekend. :)

[Small Talk: The Library]

Why didn't I get one of those easy newborns? Hee hee, and knock wood indeed, 'cause who knows how long it'll last. But for now, yay! Eating a lot is good, too -- the F-let's first ped said that was a newborn's main function: eat and get bigger. :)

[Small Talk: The Library]

It's like looking up "sink hole rubbert insert." Sure, eventually you're going to come up with "sink flange baffle," but the road to get there has some weird stops along the way. Weird, mini hippo pointy pig face stops.

How's the little dude, Erratic? Does he sleep (some newborns don't seem to at all, heh)?

[Small Talk: The Library]

Formula makes some really shitty shit.

Truer words have never been typed. I'm so excited for you and Kory. And you get to have The Newborn Experience, yay! Say goodbye to sleep for a while, hee hee. :-)