Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[oliviabenson]

My friend is alive! She just did not pay her phone bill. I’m so relieved! She is a wonderful woman.

[oliviabenson]

Did not check the weather and it rained! I’m soaked through and miserable. Sigh.

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, oliviabenson said:

My friend is alive! She just did not pay her phone bill. I’m so relieved! She is a wonderful woman.

Oh, great news, indeed :). So glad she's okay. 

[oliviabenson]

Omg a nice lady gave me an umbrella! I’m so happy!

[Gramto6]

3 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

My friend is alive! She just did not pay her phone bill. I’m so relieved! She is a wonderful woman.

So glad to hear that!! I hope she appreciates how good a friend you were to worry about her so much.

[MagnusHex]

It's been a while since I posted on Primetimer. Took a very long one and a half month break playing Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Strikers just a short while after my previously mentioned break playing Dark Pictures Anthology. Hopefully, I could get things back on schedule and binge-watch my shows and posting reviews here again.

I've stopped at around the mid-season portions of my shows (Supernatural, Star Trek TOS, Twilight Zone, etc. you know the ones I post at), so hopefully my return to them won't be too jarring. Thankfully, more than half of my shows in my current schedule are either anthological or episodic, so I won't have to remember much. Probably. Catching up with Leftovers season 2 midway might be a problem though.

Edited June 10, 2023 by MagnusHex

[crazycatlady58]

11 hours ago, Leeds said:

Apropos of nothing, does anyone else wish there was a reaction emoji to express "WTF does this post even mean?"

Sometimes,  I also wish we had one that meant " Dear God in heaven help us". Especially on some of the Dugger threads. 

[Leeds]

1 minute ago, crazycatlady58 said:

Sometimes,  I also wish we had one that meant " Dear God in heaven help us". Especially on some of the Dugger threads. 

This thread is the only contact I have ever had with the Duggers, apart from educating myself about who they are (and what The Prayer Closet refers to).  Goodness knows how I first ended up here.

[Salacious Kitty]

18 minutes ago, crazycatlady58 said:

Sometimes,  I also wish we had one that meant " Dear God in heaven help us". Especially on some of the Dugger threads. 

I love the Duggar forum. Lots of quality snark. 😃

[GHScorpiosRule]

I’M HOME!!!!

Actually landed at 10:00, but we couldn’t get to the gate and circled for 15 minutes. Then when we got to the gate, that tube thingie wasn’t attached so we couldn’t disembark! For another 10 minutes!🤬🤬🤬

But I didn’t have to wait for the carousel for my luggage. It had been pulled off and was waiting for me. And within 2 minutes, got me a taxi and I’ll be in my own bed in 20 minutes!!!!

Edited June 10, 2023 by GHScorpiosRule

[EtheltoTillie]

8 hours ago, Leeds said:

This thread is the only contact I have ever had with the Duggers, apart from educating myself about who they are (and what The Prayer Closet refers to).  Goodness knows how I first ended up here.

I started (hate)watching the Duggars 15 years ago or whenever it started, and I found some forum that eventually became TWOP, and here I am. 

[oliviabenson]

11 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

So glad to hear that!! I hope she appreciates how good a friend you were to worry about her so much.

Thanks! I hope she knows how much I care about her!

[ABay]

Bees have finally found the salvia and catmint in my garden. I am ridiculously pleased.

[Gramto6]

Not so thrilled. here right now with bees.  A neighbor down the road had a hive swarm about a week ago and way too many of them have found my yard enjoyable.  Heard about it on Neighborhood  (whatever it is) site, but no way to find person to try to get them back.  Argh...

But yes,  having bees in normal amounts in the yard are a good thing...

Edited June 10, 2023 by Gramto6

[SuprSuprElevated]

20 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

Not so thrilled. here right now with bees.  A neighbor down the road had a hive swarm about a week ago and way too many of them have found my yard enjoyable.  Heard about it on Neighborhood  (whatever it is) site, but no way to find person to try to get them back.  Argh...

But yes,  having bees in normal amounts in the yard are a good thing...

Perhaps there is a local beekeeping org or apiary group that could assist you? Maybe a city/county extension office or wildlife org?  I'm riffing here. ANYTHING but spraying.

[Gramto6]

32 minutes ago, SuprSuprElevated said:

Perhaps there is a local beekeeping org or apiary group that could assist you? Maybe a city/county extension office or wildlife org?  I'm riffing here. ANYTHING but spraying.

I might call my pest guy and see if he knows who the bees belong to. I'd never spray them. I just avoid them and have been cutting off any flowers on weeds that may attract them here.

[Bastet]

They'll probably move on soon.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 6/6/2023 at 2:50 PM, annzeepark914 said:

It's really hazy here in the metro DC area. They say it's smoke from Canada and/or northern states. Very odd looking (like a *bright* overcast day).

As I was flying home last night, I read how the air quality was really bad in the MD/DC/VA area and that our pool was closed. I was wondering if the smoke from Canada had made its way here, as I’d only heard about NY, NJ, and yes, even the part in IN where I was ( one day was really hazy in the evening/night (sun set around 9:30!)) last week. 

But today, the sun is bright, the sky clear, and I saw people at the pool on my way out to pick up the food my aunt made me. I checked, and air quality is “good”/green today.

On 6/9/2023 at 3:02 PM, Quof said:

I want a puzzled face, "what in the hell are you talking about" reaction.  

There is an editor bar where we have the options to Bold, Italicize, Underline, and Strike. As well as bullets and numbers. A gif option too. You can look through those and paste your reaction in the reply box. 

it was explained that this site won’t have any reactions that can be construed as negative.

[annzeepark914]

I have a question for New Yorkers (city area): when did they stop singing "Sidewalks of New York" at the Belmont? I'm not a fan of horse racing but last year decided to tune in just for the NY-ness of it all (the song, the trumpets and parade of horses, that's all) and they were singing "New York New York" (one of my favorite songs, but no history).

[ginger90]

53 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

I have a question for New Yorkers (city area): when did they stop singing "Sidewalks of New York" at the Belmont? I'm not a fan of horse racing but last year decided to tune in just for the NY-ness of it all (the song, the trumpets and parade of horses, that's all) and they were singing "New York New York" (one of my favorite songs, but no history).

 Through 1996, the post-parade song was “Sidewalks of New York”. From 1997 to 2009, it was “Theme from New York, New York”. In 2010, the song was changed to a solo version of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” before reverting back to “Theme from New York, New York” for 2011.

[Blergh]

OK, here's a blast from the past I'd like others to answer (especially in the educational community):

 Ages ago, I had a favorite grade school teacher who was remarkably patient with all of us (and I don't admit I was easy). Anyway, Mrs. D. even took our class to her home and introduced us to her family once! Yes, there were other good teachers there but none of them were as attentive or genuinely loving to us students as she!

 Anyway, one day, she wasn't there and I asked but was told that she was not feeling well. OK, that satisfied me for the day. .but they kept saying this for weeks, then months. ..THEN one day she showed up in a ghastly contraption that looked as though it was a coat rack propping her up! She happily reunited with all of us but, even without that contraption, I could tell something very bad had happened to her- far beyond 'not feeling well'. After about maybe fifteen minutes of us hugging her as best we could around that contraption and her saying she missed us but would be back soon, she left. .and, yes, none of us ever saw her again. EVER.

Roughly a year later, I was transferring to another school and was having a friendly conversation with the school's principal doing what I could to recall 'old times'- and at that point, I brought up Mrs. D. It was ONLY then that the principal told me that Mrs. D. had had bone cancer and had DIED maybe a month after her last appearance at our school! Yes, I was quite upset hearing that news and even went home to discuss it with my parents (who also adored her) and her death was also news to them!   Many years later, I got the chance to tell Mr. D. and their kids what a wonderful person I thought Mrs. D. had been and they awkwardly thanked me.

However, I'm still wondering why the principal and staff thought it was best to just not bring up Mrs. D.'s fatal condition and eventual death. I mean, I will NEVER be able to put that image of her in that horrible brace 'coat rack' which I realize was propping her up like a mannequin because they had removed part of her spine to try to stop the  cancer's spread. 

Yes, I've had quite a few loved ones die in the decades since and some even died in worse circumstances than Mrs. D. However, I  wish I had been able to known what was going on at the time and all this wound up not 'protecting' me .

Thoughts?

[PRgal]

@Blergh:  Not quite the same thing, but I found out years later that one of my favourite teachers died HIV-related causes years back from someone I knew back in elementary school and met up with in university.  He died at a time when meds were in their infancy, so he wasn't able to take advantage of them.  He was apparently closeted at least to the school (Catholic) and was married to a woman.  Not sure if she knew until he was sick.  

[ginger90]

45 minutes ago, Blergh said:

 

Thoughts?

Perhaps the school handled it the way Mrs. D. requested. 

[Bastet]

22 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Perhaps the school handled it the way Mrs. D. requested. 

That was my first thought, too.

Or they handled it the way Mr. D. requested; that he just wanted to grieve with his family, without having to handle the fragile feelings of a bunch of young students when he wasn't equipped to do so.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Bastet

[Gramto6]

23 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Perhaps the school handled it the way Mrs. D. requested. 

This could be the reason.

When I was in the 6th grade our teacher was "out sick" a few days before we were told she had died. My older brother had had this teacher also.  She was a great teacher and we were all in shock. Not much more was ever said about her to us other than they named a Library Cart after her. WTF? Wow, how considerate.

When my daughter was in the 4th grade her teacher passed away from some heart related problem. It was shocking, but the school put on a lovely memorial service and even rewrote the Chariots theme song incorporating her name and the school and the choir sang it. It was far better closure for DD and the whole school than they did in my day. 

Death of a teacher does happen and I think it really depends on how the school handles it and how  the family wants it handled, in how it affects the kids from then on.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Gramto6

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, PRgal said:

@Blergh:  Not quite the same thing, but I found out years later that one of my favourite teachers died HIV-related causes years back from someone I knew back in elementary school and met up with in university.  He died at a time when meds were in their infancy, so he wasn't able to take advantage of them.  He was apparently closeted at least to the school (Catholic) and was married to a woman.  Not sure if she knew until he was sick.  

We lost so many wonderful people in the eighties and early nineties to that scourge. Way too many.

[Blergh]

OK, thanks to everyone who answered my query re the school's possible MO for not discussing Mrs. D's terminal condition then death.

Yes, I think there's a good probability that Mr. D. and possibly Mrs. D. herself may have requested that so as not to stress out us students.

I have no doubt that those who kept the news had the best of intentions but, alas, we weren't sheltered from the tragedy in the end.

 @Gramto6,

Yes, I would agree that doing nothing besides naming a library cart after that deceased 6th grade teacher was a bit flat-footed and lame (and your daughter's school did a much better job helping the students deal with her 4th grade teacher's passing). But that was more than how my school acknowledged Mrs. D.'s passing- via saying and doing nothing!

I wish I had thought to seek out Mr. D.  and have a more in depth conversation about his wife but Mr. D. himself died about twenty years afterwards and somehow I was too shortsighted to consider trying to contact him.  I know it can't have been easy since he wound up raising their three preteen children entirely on his own after her passing and, for whatever reason/s, never remarrying until his own death. I don't what's become of their now-grown offspring, though their youngest was about a year younger than me so I'm not sure how much they'd have been told at the time.

Thanks again for everyone's input! I don't know why that popped up into my noggin  roughly a half-century after the fact but it was nice to recall how wonderful she had been to all of us who knew her before she got her reward. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

The biggest upside to the Reddit blackout today is that my feed actually looks really chill right now. Since I unsubscribed from all the subs I’m in that decided to participate, as I’m not interested in childish stuff like caring if a volunteer moderator will have a “hard” job without a third party app, I actually have interesting discussion on my feed and not crap like “Help! Why does nobody take my fanfiction seriously?” “Working 40 hours a week is so depressing; what do?” It’s so quiet, and I honestly hope that all the people who vowed to quit leave now and never return. 

I also love the people who say things like “I’m going to spend more time with my partner” or brag about all the more productive things they’re going to, yet as of an hour ago they are still posting. I get downvoted so hardcore by refusing to “protest” and calling it what it is (virtue signaling) but I am sure I will sleep fine tonight. 

 

 

 

[theredhead77]

The blackout is a lot more nuanced than that. No one is saying Reddit shouldn't be able to make money. Their plan is poorly planned and short sighted. Forums such as r/blind will be negatively impacted because the third party screen readers aren't going to be able to be used. That's just one example.

 

Maybe the demographic of the sub-Reddits I'm in is different, but no one is calling this a childish protest. There are very real issues and concerns with the changes Reddit wants to make and the incredibly negative impact it will have on various sub-Reddits.

[partofme]

I've never used reddit and don't fully understand what's going on, but I'm always willing to side against a corporation.  What I don't understand is why some of the reddits are doing a 48 hour blackout and others are doing an indefinite blackout, doesn't the indefinite blackout sound like it would have a better chance of being effective?

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

I’m not interested in childish stuff like caring if a volunteer moderator will have a “hard” job without a third party app

One of the key things they can do more easily on a third party app is deal with spam messages and posters. When your threads are filled with spam, you might care...

[theredhead77]

18 minutes ago, partofme said:

What I don't understand is why some of the reddits are doing a 48 hour blackout and others are doing an indefinite blackout, doesn't the indefinite blackout sound like it would have a better chance of being effective?

I think (and I'm no expert) the blackout is dependent on the potential impact not just to Reddit, but to the sub-reddit community.

[Caoimhe]

Until today I never knew there was such a thing as a  third party app for Reddit, I use a web browser to access it. I did know there was an official app but (like Facebook) never downloaded it. Since I didn’t know Reddit even existed until a year or two ago I can live without it.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Caoimhe

[oliviabenson]

I keep getting banned on threads on Reddit. I answered once in a thread, bam banned. I just read now and do not answer questions anymore.

[peacheslatour]

49 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

I think (and I'm no expert) the blackout is dependent on the potential impact not just to Reddit, but to the sub-reddit community.

I've been on there on and off all day. I don't notice much difference from the way it usually is.  I don't want to give up on it, I'm close to a million upvotes, we got our beloved Elizabeth from a Redditor and I've commissioned some great paintings from amazing Reddit artists. I know it has many problems but I've had so many good experiences with it, I don't want it to go away.

[EtheltoTillie]

2 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I've been on there on and off all day. I don't notice much difference from the way it usually is.  I don't want to give up on it, I'm close to a million upvotes, we got our beloved Elizabeth from a Redditor and I've commissioned some great paintings from amazing Reddit artists. I know it has many problems but I've had so many good experiences with it, I don't want it to go away.

Same.  I really enjoy Reddit.  I know some people say there are toxic subs, but the ones I participate in are not.  Mostly crafts. 

[peacheslatour]

Just now, EtheltoTillie said:

Same.  I really enjoy Reddit.  I know some people say there are toxic subs, but the ones I participate in are not.  Mostly crafts. 

Same. I'm in flowers, gardening, interior design, baking, some TV shows and stuff like Nushu and vintage fashion.

[Caoimhe]

9 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

 I know some people say there are toxic subs, but the ones I participate in are not.  Mostly crafts. 

Me too! Quilting, sewing, machine embroidery, crafts, papercrafts, plus some that cover where I’m from and others for where I live right now.

[PRgal]

I'm not on, so I'm not missing anything.  I've been banned or nearly banned on various places, including Primetimer's predecessor, so I don't really want to engage.  

[roseha]

I subscribe to maybe 7 or so subreddits currently and the interesting thing is that 4 or 5 of them are totally unreachable right now, so I guess they have gone dark for the two days.

For some reason "Ask NYC" is available, I would have thought they'd have gone off sooner than r/tennis or r/declutter but not the case.

[Kitty Redstone]

Interesting! I only read at AITA on Reddit when I can't sleep and didn't realize there were so many other cool topics there. I've given up most of my usual threads here and it would be great to have somewhere else to read and possibly participate.

 

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Interesting! I only read at AITA on Reddit when I can't sleep and didn't realize there were so many other cool topics there. I've given up most of my usual threads here and it would be great to have somewhere else to read and possibly participate.

 

I hope you do! Nice people are welcome everywhere.

[oliviabenson]

1 hour ago, roseha said:

I subscribe to maybe 7 or so subreddits currently and the interesting thing is that 4 or 5 of them are totally unreachable right now, so I guess they have gone dark for the two days.

For some reason "Ask NYC" is available, I would have thought they'd have gone off sooner than r/tennis or r/declutter but not the case.

Ask nyc deletes most of my questions lol

[theredhead77]

For those of you interested in learning more about what is going on with Reddit. The entire saga can be viewed here. This is a snippet of the start

Quote

On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced a policy change that will kill essentially every third-party Reddit client now operating, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader- leaving only Reddit's official mobile app as a usable option- an app widely regarded as poor quality, not handicap-accessible, and very difficult to moderate a subreddit with.

Here is the thread from Out of the Loop (they are participating by going "read-only" so things like this can still be visible and shared).

This was part of an announcement in one of the Subreddits I belong to (not r/Blind) with more info.

[EtheltoTillie]

9 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

Ask nyc deletes most of my questions lol

I've never heard of AskNYC.  I'll check that one out.

The thing about Reddit that is different from Primetimer is that it permits negativity.  Every so often something gets downvoted and it's hard to understand why because I think I'm saying something neutral.  Very rare, though, in the craft forums.  The downvoting system is hard to understand for me in general. 

[Anela]

28 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I've never heard of AskNYC.  I'll check that one out.

The thing about Reddit that is different from Primetimer is that it permits negativity.  Every so often something gets downvoted and it's hard to understand why because I think I'm saying something neutral.  Very rare, though, in the craft forums.  The downvoting system is hard to understand for me in general. 

On a reddit that I'm a member of, people were talking about bots downvoting posts in threads, or people from horrible reddits, swarming and downvoting quietly. 

I mostly lurk on reddits for gaming (kind places), cleaning tips, cooking/meal prep tips, paranormal, ghost stories, adhd forums. I can't remember everything that I've joined. I keep forgetting to check the main page, and just leave some tabs open. 

I really need to explore it more, for creative things, hobbies, gardening, etc.

[Anela]

16 hours ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

The biggest upside to the Reddit blackout today is that my feed actually looks really chill right now. Since I unsubscribed from all the subs I’m in that decided to participate, as I’m not interested in childish stuff like caring if a volunteer moderator will have a “hard” job without a third party app, I actually have interesting discussion on my feed and not crap like “Help! Why does nobody take my fanfiction seriously?” “Working 40 hours a week is so depressing; what do?” It’s so quiet, and I honestly hope that all the people who vowed to quit leave now and never return. 

I also love the people who say things like “I’m going to spend more time with my partner” or brag about all the more productive things they’re going to, yet as of an hour ago they are still posting. I get downvoted so hardcore by refusing to “protest” and calling it what it is (virtue signaling) but I am sure I will sleep fine tonight. 

 

 

 

I read something from /blind that they wouldn't be able to access reddit, without third-party apps. I'm all for being inclusive, and haven't visited since Sunday. The few places I visit regularly, are involved in the blackout, and I think that's great. 

[EtheltoTillie]

9 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

Ask nyc deletes most of my questions lol

So I just checked out Ask NYC.  I'd love to know the kind of question you would have asked that got actually deleted by a mod?

[emma675]

I love reddit, it has an area for almost any topic you can think of. I've experienced some negative aspects of it, but I think that's just the reality if the internet and it's been few and far between. I'm also all for inclusivity so I support the black out.

[nokat]

Well, I'm mostly packed and ready for things to be shipped to my new apartment. It is hard downsizing from a 3 bedroom, two story house to a small one bedroom apartment. Too many things hold sentimental value and I have had to pick and choose. 

I've been handling it well enough mentally, but I've had my moments where it is just too much. I also have mobility issues that require me to not do too much at once and my back is aching from all of the bending even though I'm careful.