dreamwidth_haikai | Member Posts

Anxiety levels got really bad last week, and depression started to kick up. We've upped my Effexor a bit more. I've also schedule a check-up with my Primary care, and went to get blood drawn today for the usual work-up (thyroid and metabolic levels). Appointment isn't until the 29th, but I wanted to get the blood work out of the way. I also found a counselor to start seeing and had my first appointment yesterday. The appointment went well and I think I will work well with this therapist. I have another appointment in a week and some breathing/mindfulness exercises to practice to try to help with the anxiety. We talked a lot about the effect of past trauma on the nervous system and how all the transitions I've been dealing with have put me into "not-safe hyper-reactive mode." My appointment was after work, and between the anxiety over seeing new therapist and a long day I was wiped.

Thankfully I had the foresight to plan, and accomplish two things with one work from home request. I asked to work from home today so I could go get blood drawn and not have to worry about getting into work very late. It was fasting blood work so I had to go first thing in the morning. Even if you have an appointment it can take forever (my insurance only covers LabCorp labs and they are usually chronically understaffed). I have a work laptop now, and the remote access key (VPN) so I can easily do my job from anywhere. The bonus was that it would give me a day of quiet to recoup my nerves a little bit. My co-workers are very nice, but can be a loud and a little much for someone who is feeling easily overstimulated. I'm back at the office tomorrow, but then have the weekend to rest some more.

I will eventually find my balance and keep it for a while. But for now it is best to take things a breath at a time.

Current Mood: blah

jjhunter

Let's take a breath for poetry. It is April, and as good a time as any for a collaborative poetry fest. Please find below a starting stanza or two of a brand new shiny haikai (what's a haikai, you ask? think extended haiku: alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 and 7-7). Comment with a new stanza responding to the original theme. Someone (most likely me) will respond with another stanza, and so on and so forth throughout the day.
===

statistics, not calc.
skills, not grades; life, not college
things I wish I'd known

qem_chibati

RULES:

-Must always post rules
-Answer the 11 questions given to you
-Create new 11 new questions
-Tag 11 people
-Let them know that they have been tagged

(I always feel very socially awkward to tag people so please feel free to fill in if you want?)

I got tagged by

mmmdraco and

verloren1983.

aiwritingfic didn't tag me but why not.

( Read more... )

1. If you had free rein to set up a garden the way you wanted what would you plant and why?
2. What kind of colours do you enjoy wearing?
3. How was your day? :)
4. Are there any genres of fanfic that you are craving at the moment?
5. Have you ever thought about playing Go?
6. Do you celebrate Easter?
7. If you could live in an anime series, which one would it be?
8. Do you consider yourself a serious person?
9. What's a question that you wish you get asked on these things?
10. What are some places in the world you'd like to visit?
11. Telekinetic or telepathy powers - which would you pick?

marahmarie

Since myself and others will probably be running XP for some time despite how end-of-service (April 8th) has already come and gone (my main reason for keeping it is Aesop here can and will run anything: 7, Vista, 8 - she's run them all - but she was made for and simply runs XP better) I figured I'd do a quick writeup on how to keep an XP computer safe and light on its feet and how to run the newer and more fancy Microsoft fonts on XP.

Best Practices For Installing and Using XP after April 8th End-of-Service Date

Don't! Use it! At all! Ever! Again! (from The Book of Do As I Say Not As I Do, Chapter XP)
Turn on Automatic Updates (users who install or use anything less than a fully updated copy of XP running SP3 Build 5512 Final will get all updates needed to bring their OSs current despite being past end-of-service date)
Don't use anything less than Service Pack 3
Turn on Windows Firewall
Turn off possibly dangerous services
Don't use anything less than Internet Explorer 8. Once SP3 is installed, IE6 or IE7 will take you to the IE8 download page so no worries. Install IE8, then go to the Menu Bar-->Tools and click on Tools, then on Windows Updates. IE will take you to Windows Update where you can install more updates you'll need
While still running IE8, go to Tools-->Internet Options-->Advanced and turn off ActiveX, all scripting, meta refresh, cross-domain content, automatic downloads of anything, and turn on all certificate checks (especially after Heartbleed); under the Security tab set all Zones cookie handling (except for restricted sites, which are already set to high) to medium-high; turn off all third-party cookies
Download Firefox, close Internet Explorer and don't open it again; install Firefox and set it as the default browser (it's worth mentioning that all three of you worldwide still using an AOL web browser are running whatever version of IE is currently installed on your computer every time you use it; older copies of AOL's browser, newer versions of it, and AOL Explorer itself are just IE disguised in an AOL hard-candy shell - same goes for Avant and Maxthon browsers, so you should stop using them, too)
After Firefox is installed get Web of Trust for search engine safety and to avoid entering dodgy websites; for better password management use a secure password manager; I use LastPass
Before logging into any website or email account, check for Heartbleed vulnerabilities both past and present; change passwords once affected websites are known to be patched
Don't install Java - uninstall it if it's already on your PC (link for this and next tip)
Don't install Flash - uninstall it if it's already on your PC; instead of Flash use the HTML5 Player on Youtube (it plays everything, just search for what you want and click on the desired result)
Don't go without antivirus but don't use classic antivirus. Yes, you read that right; try Webroot SecureAnywhere instead. It doesn't download virus definitions nor use heuristics to analyze any possible virus - instead, it analyzes program behavior to stop dangerous activity before it can damage your computer, and it's supposed to leave the lightest footprint and offer the most practical realtime protection - we'll see

Vista/7/8 Fonts on XP

You can get all the basic Windows Vista/7/8 fonts from two sources.

For fonts that begin with the letter "C" (nope, I'm not kidding;, they all do) download PowerPoint Viewer, which will also install a useless thing called ctfmon.exe; if seeing it run in Task Manager 24/7 drives you nuts (it drives me nuts) use this to get rid of it
For Segoe UI, download Windows Live Mail (it's not as bad as it sounds - the downloader includes five or six programs but you can uncheck them all except for Live Mail, and you never have to use it; it won't run on start up or otherwise get in your way); download link and some good tips

If I left anything off my lists (or if you'd like to debate me or each other about anything on my lists - I'm sorta democratic like that) please let me know and/or go ahead in the comment section...

Current Location: With Aesop!

marahmarie

The good: the CD I used to reinstall the OS has all the standard games on it which of course includes Internet Reversi.

silveradept can imagine how happy this makes me; what he or she may not be able to imagine is how bad I am at it after years of not playing (which is good! moar challenge): really, terribly fucking bad. Even on the easiest games I'm like "Whut" like I've never seen the board before. Which is uh, great! Almost like having amnesia. Yeah.

ariestess

( You're about to view content which the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: contemplative
Crossposts: http://ariestess.livejournal.com/2066853.html

jjhunter

Originally posted as a comment reply to one of D's cat photos.
___

To Be (To Dream To Be)

every ear and whisker says
my body is ready

o birds, you do not know
the foe beyond
the air you cannot pass

( the taut spacing of her midnight hair /betrays the singing of her legs )

jjhunter

Let's take a breath for poetry. It is April, and as good a time as any for a collaborative poetry fest. Please find below a starting stanza or two of a brand new shiny haikai (what's a haikai, you ask? think extended haiku: alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 and 7-7). Comment with a new stanza responding to the original theme. Someone (most likely me) will respond with another stanza, and so on and so forth throughout the day.
===

I don't fall in love
I leap — like faith, unknown if
loved one leaps for me

marahmarie

All morning it poured as low, heavy winds assaulted our humble three story abode yet the utilities chugged away as though nothing was happening. As I got out of bed around 11:30 the rains died down and the Internet went out; about two hours later the sun started shining and we lost the power. I was deep-cleaning the refrigerator and therefore less than completely delighted - you probably could've heard me cursing the power company from down the block.

The power company rep I reported the outage to warmly assured me we'd have power again by 4:30 - yet at 3:00, the automated phone system couldn't estimate any repair time at all. At 4:30 the automated system told us to wait until 6. At 6 it told us to wait until 7, and all because the sun suddenly shined, which apparently snapped all the lines in this county. When I called the cable company around 12, they told me the Internet would be back on by 3 - but then we lost the power at 1:30 so it didn't matter. But when the power came back on at 7, guess what? So I got back on the phone with the cable company, who told me all those little bits of information that normally fly around the house would be flying around it again by 8.

By the time the Internet came back on that didn't matter, either; we were starving from not opening the fridge all day so I had to cook dinner while Fiance Person had to run to the store. And because the power had just come back on after being off for six hours I couldn't open the fridge without risking losing all the food - also, I have nearly zero budget for buying any more of it this month - so I got down on my hands and knees in front of the fridge, opened the door from the bottom by just one tiny little crack, and inserted my hand through said crack to pull out the Italian sausage, green peppers and onions I'd been planning to fry up, anyway. Then I spent the next two hours cooking and cleaning it all up.

Then I had to do laundry because Fiance Person needs work clothes for tomorrow! And the water heater won't let you take two showers in a row (you have to space showers about three hours apart for maximum hot water and I use all the hot water every time, so yeah) so I let Fiance person go first (he has to work tomorrow so he takes priority over me, since I have exactly nothing to do tomorrow) and then I collapsed in from of the computer to write this.

Oh, and how did I spend the entire day without power? Ha. Let me describe the ways: I dusted the entire inside of the house, scrubbed the kitchen, cleaned the box fan in the living room inside and out, ate cold leftover meatloaf with potato chips for lunch while I read the paper (this was the only break I took), scrubbed the glass shower stall, scrubbed the toilet, swept 3 flights of stairs outside from top to bottom and back up, and repeatedly called the power company for updates. Fiance Person made his first trip to the store during this time after happily hand-building gaskets all day (don't ask) only to find out their power was out, too.

On his second trip to the store the trucks for the power company, the cable company and CenturyLink all passed him on the road pretty much in a row and the store hadn't even turned its computers back on so he had to wait in a line that snaked around the back of the place, which was how he came to learn everyone lost everything today. Whoever came up with today can shoot it right between the eyes because I am done with it (time to throw the laundry in the dryer...grrrrr)...

ursamajor

Last slice of the hazelnut torte. #mine #vscocam

jjhunter

For future reference, the following improvised additions to fudge brownie mix work together beautifully:

- ~3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 2 1/2 tsp orange juice concentrate (I would have gone for a generous half of that in orange peel instead if I'd had it, but microwaved frozen concentrate worked just fine)
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp molasses

baked in 9x9 pan, and some chocolate frosting out of a can added on top.

*om nom nom*

jjhunter

Pick a thing or two that sums up how you're doing today, this week, in general, and tell me about it in the 5-7-5 syllables of a haiku. I will leave anonymous comments screened unless otherwise asked; feel free to use this to leave private comments if that's what you're most comfortable with.

=

Signal-boosting much appreciated!

jjhunter

Let's take a breath for poetry. It is April, and as good a time as any for a collaborative poetry fest. Please find below a starting stanza or two of a brand new shiny haikai (what's a haikai, you ask? think extended haiku: alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 and 7-7). Comment with a new stanza responding to the original theme. Someone (most likely me) will respond with another stanza, and so on and so forth throughout the day.
===

how can I give up
when I've the example of
scarlet runner beans?

( illustrative images behind the cut )

jjhunter

Let's take a breath for poetry. It is April, and as good a time as any for a collaborative poetry fest. Please find below a starting stanza or two of a brand new shiny haikai (what's a haikai, you ask? think extended haiku: alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 and 7-7). Comment with a new stanza responding to the original theme. Someone (most likely me) will respond with another stanza, and so on and so forth throughout the day.
===

many syllables
in 'accountability'—
but 'blame' lacks way forth

jjhunter

Let's take a breath for poetry. It is April, and as good a time as any for a collaborative poetry fest. Please find below a starting stanza or two of a brand new shiny haikai (what's a haikai, you ask? think extended haiku: alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 and 7-7). Comment with a new stanza responding to the original theme. Someone (most likely me) will respond with another stanza, and so on and so forth throughout the day.
===

when counter cleaning
takes on Hero's Journey twists
it is time to sleep

ariestess

( You're about to view content which the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: creative

jjhunter

Let's take a breath for poetry. It is April, and as good a time as any for a collaborative poetry fest. Please find below a starting stanza or two of a brand new shiny haikai (what's a haikai, you ask? think extended haiku: alternating stanzas of 5-7-5 and 7-7). Comment with a new stanza responding to the original theme. Someone (most likely me) will respond with another stanza, and so on and so forth throughout the day.
===

mark of adulthood:
extra money for groceries
spent on vegetables

jjhunter

I will not, alas, be making it out to Wiscon this year after all (though I may deputize

stultiloquentia to say hello to some people for me!), but I am most delighted to learn that both of my panel suggestions at

laceblade's unofficial brainstorming post have made it onto the program.

The Once and Future Badass: Historical Women who Inspire, Challenge and Unsettle Us

From "Badass Women in History RPF" as a Yuletide fandom to tumblrs like historicalheroines and the Reconstructionists project, fans have a hunger for (re)discovering and celebrating women who go to extremes to Get Shit Done. Who are our favorite Badass Women in history, past or present? How do they conform to or subvert (or perhaps blatantly blast to smithereens) current tropes about "strong" women in fiction and the news?

Ghosts in the Machine: Anonymity, Autonymity and Social Construction of (Internet) Reality

It's easier to notice online that how we perceive each other is something we collectively create. What are the pleasures and pitfalls in constructing online identities? How is the internet version of the identities people create different from identities constructed in meatspace? And what's in a name, anyway, when services like Google+ try to enforce which names are 'real'?

If you have a chance to attend either, take notes for a write-up, pretty please?

ariestess

( You're about to view content which the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: contemplative

qem_chibati

I don't often make general requests like this (I think), but I'm pretty sure that there are people on my flist that would have an idea of where to look.

My friend's brother is currently living in Hong Kong for work reasons, has been there for about a month now and is having problems finding people to socialise with (there are reasons why work colleagues after hours isn't an option in this case). He's supposed to be in the country for at least another 8 months. He doesn't speak the language (either Mandarin or Cantonese). :(

Although I can't say that I know the brother of my friend very well, he's been a pretty good guy in my limited experience. (Most of our contact is via relaying - I know he likes anime and that we may possibly have a long history of passing recs onto each other via his sister/my friend? :3)

I'm pretty sure there are some ex-pat groups at least in HK (from what I recall of other people who lived in Hong Kong for a while); but I don't know where to suggest looking for where people who speak English go to hange out...?

It might not be the bestest solution for him (he is retaining Australian citizenship, and intends to come back eventually) but I figure finding a English speaking group in HK would help him find it a lot easier to network further and find something more specific.

Profile

Celebrating Dreamwidth One Syllable At a Time

April 2013

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

Page Summary

alee_grrl - hanging in and hanging on
jjhunter - Haikai Fest: "Reverse Time Capsule"
qem_chibati - STOLEN FROM TUMBLR ahahahaha
marahmarie - Best Practices for End-of-Service on XP and Getting Windows Vista/7/8 Fonts on XP
marahmarie - The bad: I had to reinstall XP today after it repeatedly froze at the Start Screen.
ariestess - April 2014 One Card Draw!
jjhunter - Poem: "To Be (To Dream To Be)"
jjhunter - Haikai Fest: "Care Is Not a Passive Being"
marahmarie - Whoever came up with today please make it die k thx bye
ursamajor - Last slice of the hazelnut torte. #mine #vscocam
jjhunter - Recipe Log: Jazzing Up Brownie Mix
jjhunter - How Are You? (in Haiku)
jjhunter - Haikai Fest: "Perseverance"
jjhunter - Haikai Fest: "Constructive vs. Destructive Feedback"
jjhunter - Haikai Fest: "Epic of the Liminal"
ariestess - Today's DailyOM Offerings...
jjhunter - Haikai Fest: "The Temptation of Cherry Tomatoes, and Other Vegetable Wiles"
jjhunter - Pause for Wiscon Wisting
ariestess - Today's DailyOM Offerings...
qem_chibati - Hong Kong - expat /english speaking hang outs/groups/networking?

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