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[Welu]

I'm just back from a few days holiday in Bristol! I saw Jonathan Coulton/Paul and Storm and Tim Vine. Got a photo with Jonathan Couton and he signed a drawing I did for him and I gave him a copy of it.

What I miss?

[Lines]

I don't know who Tim Vine is, but the other guys are awesome and really fun to talk to!

[Welu]

Tim Vine is an English comedian and his material is all word-play and puns. It's better than it sounds. He's touring right now doing a chatshow where he interviews ones from the audience under the idea that "Everyone has a story*. _{*Not a guarantee that everyone has a story.}" It was very fun and he was really good at keeping the atmosphere up even when the interviewee was off.

Bought the Paul and Storm USB because that's the first time I've ever heard anything of them. Although I only talked to Jonathan Coulton. He was so lovely and waited patiently and bantered with me while my phone froze because it panics sometimes when I try to use the camera. I honestly never thought I'd get to see him live and I'm so glad I got to do so. Gonna be framing the autographed drawing, which is a left JPEG-y version of this:


Context: He has wrote songs about zombies and in the last newsletter email it talked about how he was looking forward to getting some Jaffa Cakes.

[Carl-E]

OK, I've been wanting to post this for a while now... I finally figured out Youtube. 

Back in June, 850 of my best friends and I graded over 360,000 AP calculus exams in 7 days.  At the end, there's a "talent show".  For the last three years, I've gathered a group of choristers and written in-joke lyrics to a well known hymn tune. 

This year it was recorded...

I know, too many in-jokes.  But this is really the most fun thing I do all year. 


Kinda sad, actually...

[BeoPuppy]

Sad? In-jokes are a reason to live.

[Redball]

And when will you post the words? And are you directing?

[Patrick]

Kinda bummed, haven't heard from the Girl in a couple days, Idunno if that means something but I'm just gonna drop it, it's not good when I've only known her a week and I'm already overthinking shit.

[Papersatan]

Got good news from the student loan people.  They don't need the letter I was waiting on from a creditor, only the one I have.  I emailed it over today, I should be able to pay October rent without borrowing money. Hurray!

I also started an appeals process with Equifax to fix the problem which is that an old card I paid off is showing up as having a balance of $0, but also as being more than 120 days past due. The letter I got from Equifax was signed:
Thank you for giving Equifax the opportunity to serve you!

Yeah, because an adult in the US who participates in the economy has a choice about letting you serve them. 

[Lines]

On the first bit - hooray!

[Carl-E]

And when will you post the words? And are you directing?

Yes, that's me directing, and pre-apologizing for offending what are essentially the foremen of the exam reading process...

If you click on the words "AP Calculus Chorus 2012", it links you to the Youtube page, and the lyrics are posted there beneath the video.  You can read most of them on the screen in the video, except for the first verse which got botched by a technical difficulty named Dave. 

One in joke actually is worth explaining.  We used to differentiate on the score sheets between a 0 (no points earned) and a dash (-), given for "no mathematical content", a page that was either blank, or had a poem, song lyrics, little drawings that had nothing to do with the problem, or sometimes just tirades.  This year, we changed that for the first time, and only blank pages got the dash.  Poems, artwork and tirades got zeros, a;long with failed attempts at calculus.  I'm not sure what the data is supposed to measure now, and there was no explanation given at any level.  Even the chief reader, who I made fun of in another verse, didn't know why this was changed. 

[Akima]

Carl, your shorts are fierce!

[Barmymoo]

Ugh, I like my new room and I'm glad to have (nearly) all my stuff, but I do not enjoy the process of transitioning from newcomer-in-room-full-of-boxes to home. I can't even walk across the floor yet, and I'm about to go and get another suitcase of stuff. After that there's just one small box and a guitar, and I think everything will be here. Once all the kitchen stuff is out and packed away in my new cupboard and shelves, it will be a lot easier...

[valley_parade]

I also started an appeals process with Equifax to fix the problem which is that an old card I paid off is showing up as having a balance of $0, but also as being more than 120 days past due.

Obvious solution is obvious, Kat. Send them a check for $0.

[Papersatan]

The credit card knows I don't have an account with them, it is just the credit agency that is confused.

A similar thing happend once with my cell phone.  I forgot to pay the bill and they shut off service, but when I paid it they didn't remove the block.  Any call I made forwarded to an automated message.
"I'm sorry there is a past due balance on this account.  You will need to pay it to reconnect service. You have a past due balance of $0.00, would you like to pay that."
"yes"
"Ok, please say an amount or say "Pay balance" to pay it off"
"pay balance"
"processing.  I am sorry there has been an error.  Please say the amount you would like to pay."
"$0.00"
"That is not a valid amount."
"Operator"
"I would be happy to connect you to customer service, as soon as we clear up this past due balance.  You owe $0.00.  Would you like to pay that today?"

I ended up having to go to a store to get it stored. 

[pwhodges]

Oh look, this week marks the anniversary of my becoming admin here.  No big deal, I guess, as everything seems to be running pretty smoothly these days, for which I thank you all (and especially the other mods).

[dr. nervioso]

Happy adminversary!
Thank you for not being a crazy dicktator like the mods i have experienced in other forums

[Papersatan]

No big deal, I guess, as everything seems to be running pretty smoothly these days

muhahaha

I regularly self-moderate. But if you want more to do....

[Barmymoo]

For those of us who have been here for a long time, it is a pretty big deal. This place is so different to how it used to be, and I put that almost entirely down to good moderation (and of course to people responding well to it and being supportive of each other). Congratulations, and thank you!

In the spirit of that supportiveness... I wasn't sure which thread this should go in but I guess it is a bit bloggy.

I was just reading the story of a homeschooling family who took their daughter out of school after a lot of behavioural and academic problems that they didn't understand the cause of. It turned out after much heart-ache that the little girl has sensory processing disorder.

Out of interest I went to the website which they linked to find out more, because a couple of her behaviours reminded me of myself at the same age. I'm well aware of the tendency for people to self-diagnose with every condition under the sun and I read the list feeling sceptical, but frankly it is hard to ignore the fact that I recognise at least 2/3 of every one of the hypersensitivity categories, and several of the non-binary categories as well.

I hadn't actually finished reading the list before I came to write this post, and I just reached the part which mentions "frequent constipation or diarrhea, or mixed during the same day or over a few days, difficulty with potty training; does not seem to know when he/she has to go (i.e., cannot feel the necessary sensation that bowel or bladder are full". The list is talking about infants and toddlers, but this is something I have trouble with even now (I am only slightly ashamed to admit that I wet myself today because I only had five seconds' warning that I urgently needed to pee) and it might explain my doctor's inability to work out what is wrong with my stomach.

I also just found a checklist of adult symptoms, for which the over-responsiveness has more like an 80% accordance. I will talk to my doctor when I go to see her about the fainting-bladder release issue and the constant-stomach-pain issue, but to be honest I've reached adulthood and coped so far. I probably don't need an official diagnosis. But it is nice to be able to tie together all my personal weirdnesses (including particularly my complete inability to cope with change without plenty of warning, my aversion to crowds and overstimulation and my dislike of lifts) and know that they are connected, and it's common for those things to be linked.

That said, it would also be useful to be able to say "I have sensory processing disorder and I will not be able to cope with that" when I refuse to, for instance, go to a party, rather than my current route of "I'm sorry, I've got boring in my old age".

[BeoPuppy]

"I'm sorry, I've got boring in my old age" is a way more interesting answer. You'd have my attention.

[Barmymoo]

Unfortunately my friends don't all find it that amusing, and I was honestly worrying that it might be connected to the fatigue disorder (although no other symptoms are present any more). Ironically I am not sure whether all the symptoms I recognise now have been around for my entire life, because I definitely recognise the one about not noticing my own state of being, such as temperature, hunger, pain, illness and so forth. It's been a personal goal for the last few years to take better care of myself, with baby steps like "when you cut yourself, clean the cut and put a plaster on" or "when you are feeling emotionally messy, eat something and have a nap".

[Redball]

It would be grand to be able to tie together the several things that bother you into a single knot. Are there treatments for the disorder?

Only once that I can recall did have hope for tying things together: I'd started therapy in 1969 after my first wife left, I was hanging out with Clara, I'd started therapy. I saw a physician on a new health plan. He thought I was a little hyper and sent me for a thyroid test. Ah, I thought, it might be the cause of my emotional problems. No such luck, the thyroid was normal. It apparently isn't quite normal now, and I have medication for that. But I've not noticed that the deficiency caused me any problems.

[Papersatan]

A woman messaged me on Okc this afternoon. We are going on a date in an hour.  Nervous but excited.

[Zingoleb]

I had an OkC date the other day. It was pretty much entirely impromptu; she lives a block over so I offered to bring her wine.

Her name was Amelia (not to be confused with my partner Amelia or my roommate Amelia).

[Papersatan]

Or my sister Amelia.

[Zingoleb]

Or my friend Amelia (Maus) or my friend's partner Amelia, or the Amelia I met at a party a couple weeks ago.

Note: every single one of these Amelias I have mentioned are trans. Amelia is a SUPER common name for trans-femmes (surpassed only by some variation on Alex, I think).

[Redball]

If you're worried about being lonely and bored, this should ameliarate.

[Patrick]

Stefanie, the gal who has got my attention but has been quiet lately, is talking to me again, hooray! She's just been having a rough week, but she's going down to L.A. to see her bestie for the weekend and do some decompression.

Lucky her. I wanna get the fuck out of Dodge too lately, life can be pretty mundane around these parts when there isn't music stuff going on. We don't have another show til the 6th, then the 11th, then something like the 27th in the City, then Halloween. October's gonna be a busy month, but until then I'm just gonna be working, which means boredom and exhaustion. But also money.

I've been hanging out with my buddy Greg a lot lately, and he's moving to New Zealand soon. I am gonna miss him an awful lot. He and my bestie Lukas are two of the people I'm closest to in the world, and they're both gonna be on different continents, different time zones, etc., and it's gonna be just like I never moved back to Livermore, as far as they're concerned. Bums me out so bad. But they're fulfilling their lives more, and going and seeing the world in a way that I was lucky to be able to do. I'm proud of them and happy for them, but god I miss Lukas, and I'm gonna miss Greg too.

So much going on, so little time to process it mentally. Then again, when in history has anybody ever had enough time to prepare for when their loved ones go far, far away?

[Jace]

I messaged a girl on OKcupid so we could be friends and talk about hockey, DC comics, and gaming, she sent back "I like cheese :3" and I was just disgusted at that.
fucking cheese, are you kidding me?

[Omega Entity]

What do you have against cheese? Cheese is awesome!

Are you really that finicky that a simple statement like that will put you off of someone?

[Papersatan]

Date was great. Didn't kiss her.  Probably should have.  But we had nice talks for 4 hours and she walked me home.

[Barmymoo]

I'm a big fan of cheese too. Perhaps I should date her instead.

I think the only treatment for sensory perception disorder is to learn how to avoid unpleasant stimuli, which I already do, and occupational therapy to increase tolerance, which is probably not worth it since I am coping fine. It was just very interesting to discover and makes me feel a bit less like there are lots of little things wrong with me.

[Welu]

I don't think it's cheese itself, which I personally only like melted. I like the taste of most cheeses but the textures put me off. Although I have no issue with the yellow-flavoured plastic that is processed slices, love those.
I think it's more it sounds like Jace sent a somewhat detailed message about possible shared interests and she sent back a !wacky and random! one sentence comment, along with kitty emote.

[Barmymoo]

With Jace it's hard to tell I'm not sure I've ever met anyone who prefers plastic processed cheese to actual cheese before.

[Pilchard123]

I'm allergic to cheese. Well, dairy stuff. Not much, but enough to make me think twice before I have too many ice creams.

[TheEvilDog]

I like cheese, especially the blueberry cheese that's made in the next town.
I also like making a mornay sauce that works quite well in a salmon pie.
 

[Edith]

... "I like cheese :3" ...
fucking cheese, are you kidding me?

...kitty emote.

Whoah! I never saw that as a cat before. I honestly thought it was supposed to be Cthulhu.

[Papersatan]

man I always thought it was balls deep... shows where my mind always is... :/

[Zingoleb]

I messaged a girl on OKcupid so we could be friends and talk about hockey, DC comics, and gaming, she sent back "I like cheese :3" and I was just disgusted at that.
fucking cheese, are you kidding me?

oh GOD. she sounds like my ex who spent one night calling me up every fifteen minutes to say "Hey. Do you like cheese?"

moral of the story: never date someone out of pity

[Welu]

Confession: When I was a young teen heavily influenced by the internet I was one of those OMG I AM SO EPIC RANDOM AND LIKE THE MOST CRAZY PERSON EVER ones. I haven't fully grown out of it but there's a time and place for it, which is mostly in the early morning and only in the company of my boyfriend.

man I always thought it was balls deep... shows where my mind always is... :/

I will forever associate that now. I like that meaning better and it'll make my Facebook feed a lot more entertaining.

[Carl-E]

moral of the story: never date someone out of pity

That's not a moral, that's a principle! 

OK, serious blog time, with photos!  Remember that crappy day  I had a little while ago, nothing worked out?  I went back up into the church steeple, and this time the pics came out.  I'll spare you the ones about the leaks...

The only way in is to use an old iron ladder built onto the roof.  You can barely see it in this pic...



You start by propping a 16 foot ladder against the gutter, then climb (yes, that's me)...



At the top, you use a handhold/step built into the side of the steeple to stand on the roof ridge, grab the handles, open the screen door, and swing yourself into the opening (it's about 2 1/2 feet wide by 3 high). 



Our bells; Faith (1000 lbs),



Hope (500 lbs) and Charity (300 lbs). 



The funeral toller is a hammer that sits on the floor and strikes Faith when she's stationary (something about the joy of a bell swinging being inappropriate for a funeral, I think)



The first time I went up was to replace a rope that had broken, because Faith and Hope had been cross-roped.  Faith was twisted in her yoke and had a broken grease fitting, Hope hadn't rung for over 20 years, and Charity was getting flipped regularly.  The funereal toller was broken, too.  It all works, now. 

You never know what you'll find in some places...  this old oiler's been sitting there in the rafters for... I dunno, but I know the grease fittings were put on in the 50's making it obsolete about 60 years ago. 




Oh, and the sign I couldn't get laid out right?  It came out pretty well...

[lepetitfromage]

Very cool, Carl!! I really enjoyed those photos

I'm a big fan of cheese too. Perhaps I should date her instead.

This seriously made me LOL.
Re:cheese- I have a serious cheese addiction. At any time, I have 5 different cheeses in my fridge. And I'm lactose intolerant. But it's so worth it. (And it makes me crazy that the processed cheese food crap is called "American" cheese. Really? Can't we at least get CHEESE right??)


Re: OkC-
That's where I met Nick! Yay OkC! 

[Lupercal]

Hey everyone, cheese cravings go back to at least 1989.

You all sound like our favourite Uncle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvjRsijFejA

[Papersatan]

Speaking of cheese, Stephen and I made some this weekend.  We failed at mozzarella, but salvaged it into some ricotta. Gonna make stuffed shells with it I think.

[Jace]

Yeah so it was because I don't really like cheese. It is okay with other stuff but I very rarely find myself just eating cheese on its own.

[Gnomes2169]

Yeah so it was because I don't really like cheese. It is okay with other stuff but I very rarely find myself just eating cheese on its own.

You would not survive in Wisconsin...

[Jace]

I live in Buffalo right now, I have to tell people I don't like blue cheese, and they look at me like I just shit on their car.

[nekowafer]

Yeah I get that response when I tell people I don't like chocolate or mint. I can do chocolate occasionally but mostly it's just too strong for me.

[Patrick]

The first word I ever said was "chocolate". Seriously.

WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU

[Zingoleb]

The first word I ever said was "chocolate". Seriously.

WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU

fixed

[Barmymoo]

Can't find my bike key where is my bike key I need my bike key