ageOkay, the Lorelei update...
Kelli did go over and see her the other night, and called me back afterward. We talked for quite a while about her aunt's situation, and she's in agreement with me that there's a lot of co-dependency at play in her current actions. Kelli said that Lor apparently was not aware of just how much she hurt me last fall, and her guilt over that was behind her abrupt ending of our call.
The following day, Lor apologized to me for her behavior on the phone. (But not, you'll note, for her behavior last fall. I guess she's still not owning up to that.) Nevertheless, over the ensuing day or two, we talked more, and I can't say much has improved. Or maybe it has. It's really difficult to tell.
I'm just not going to worry about it, really. That's easier said than done, of course, but I can't be an enabler for her. She's got to learn the coping skills that a normal person needs to survive in this world, and she just doesn't have them. Relying on me isn't going to give them to her.
Kelli did go over and see her the other night, and called me back afterward. We talked for quite a while about her aunt's situation, and she's in agreement with me that there's a lot of co-dependency at play in her current actions. Kelli said that Lor apparently was not aware of just how much she hurt me last fall, and her guilt over that was behind her abrupt ending of our call.
The following day, Lor apologized to me for her behavior on the phone. (But not, you'll note, for her behavior last fall. I guess she's still not owning up to that.) Nevertheless, over the ensuing day or two, we talked more, and I can't say much has improved. Or maybe it has. It's really difficult to tell.
I'm just not going to worry about it, really. That's easier said than done, of course, but I can't be an enabler for her. She's got to learn the coping skills that a normal person needs to survive in this world, and she just doesn't have them. Relying on me isn't going to give them to her.
In other news, I recently downloaded newer versions of a couple software programs. One is Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser. I got version 7.
Then I noticed that one of my websites doesn't display normally in it. And no, it has nothing to do with my scripting. It appears just fine in previous versions of MSIE, not to mention every other browser on the planet. The site uses a three-frame interface, with the top frame holding a banner logo, the narrow left frame holding the table of contents list, and the large main frame holding the body (including the display of whatever table of contents list item you click on.) But something about MSIE 7 causes the contents to display in that narrow left frame, rather than the main body frame.
That is, of course, fucked up.
So I've put a disclaimer in big-ass letters telling visitors that the site will look retarded in MSIE 7. And then I switched to Firefox.
The other upgrade I got was Windows Media Player 11. (Yes, beware... another Microsoft product.) And this version is such a radical departure from previous versions... I dunno. Its main upgrade is that it's very graphic intensive. If you're looking at your library, it'll show you album art for each of the groups you've got in there. You might be thinking, "Well, that's cool!" Yeah, it is. Unless you've got more than 4000 songs on your computer, as I do. Then it gets ridiculously cumbersome. So I turned off that feature.
But here's something else I think is idiotic. When you've added songs to the "now playing" list, it doesn't tell you what the total running time of your list is. This is something very important to me, and if there's a way to display that, it's certainly not intuitively found. (Hell, it should be automatic; I shouldn't have to turn it on as a feature.) This is such a big issue for me that I will almost certainly be rolling back to WMP 10.
Then I noticed that one of my websites doesn't display normally in it. And no, it has nothing to do with my scripting. It appears just fine in previous versions of MSIE, not to mention every other browser on the planet. The site uses a three-frame interface, with the top frame holding a banner logo, the narrow left frame holding the table of contents list, and the large main frame holding the body (including the display of whatever table of contents list item you click on.) But something about MSIE 7 causes the contents to display in that narrow left frame, rather than the main body frame.
That is, of course, fucked up.
So I've put a disclaimer in big-ass letters telling visitors that the site will look retarded in MSIE 7. And then I switched to Firefox.
The other upgrade I got was Windows Media Player 11. (Yes, beware... another Microsoft product.) And this version is such a radical departure from previous versions... I dunno. Its main upgrade is that it's very graphic intensive. If you're looking at your library, it'll show you album art for each of the groups you've got in there. You might be thinking, "Well, that's cool!" Yeah, it is. Unless you've got more than 4000 songs on your computer, as I do. Then it gets ridiculously cumbersome. So I turned off that feature.
But here's something else I think is idiotic. When you've added songs to the "now playing" list, it doesn't tell you what the total running time of your list is. This is something very important to me, and if there's a way to display that, it's certainly not intuitively found. (Hell, it should be automatic; I shouldn't have to turn it on as a feature.) This is such a big issue for me that I will almost certainly be rolling back to WMP 10.
Friday night, I went up to The Corner Pocket. It had been a long time since I'd seen Debbie, so it was overdue.
I did something unusual for me. An attractive young lady that I'd been observing for a while came up to the bar (not near me) and ordered a drink. Kevin, the bartender who took her order, had to come over my way to get something for it, and I instructed him to put her drink on my tab. In walking back to her table, she thanked me. Without stopping, I might add.
And it occurs to me that this little cutie was probably thinking, "Oh, gross. That creepy old guy just bought me a drink."
I guess in my mind I just think, "Hey, she's in a bar. Obviously, she's not too young." Then I remember (after a moment) that the legal drinking age here is half my current age. But I so don't feel my age that I just don't think about it. And while I'm told that I don't look my age (some people say I look nearly a decade younger than my real age), I'm still not going to be confused for someone in his late 20s.
And not that I focus on appearance, mind you, but I have to be honest about something. I've browsed personals ads and such, and nine times out of ten, the women who are my age in those photos appear to be in at least a dozen years older than they're claiming. I'm not kidding. It freaks me out. No, I'm not implying that they're lying about their ages (despite the stereotypical belief that women do this). I'm just saying that they look far too old for their years. Maybe the worn out look is due to having raised kids (because let's face it, by the early 40s, most women have done that). Maybe the wrinkly face is from getting too much sun. Maybe they just posted really shitty photos of themselves in their ads (in defiance of conventional wisdom on the subject). I really don't know. But I do know that it's so startling for me to see a picture of someone my age who looks to be more like 55 that I don't even read the ads, half the time. Call me shallow, but that's just how it is.
Wow. I digressed.
Anyway, I didn't get home from the bar until about 1:00. And then... well... I had to feed my addiction. Yes, City of Heroes. I played until 3:30. (Hey, Thursday night I played for five straight hours. I have no life.) And then I woke up Saturday morning at 7:30, having to pee. And I decided to just stay up.
Grocery shopping at 8:00 A.M. is wonderful. No lines. No crowds. The deli wasn't open, yet, but I didn't care. I almost never buy stuff there, anyway. I should also have done laundry in the morning, but instead I talked to a couple friends on the phone until I had to go to the Sac-Poly lunch at Cafe Bernardo.
It was a very low turnout; only six of us. Two had to leave right afterward, but the others came over to my place for a couple hours afterward for conversation. We talked a lot about intentional communities, and of our mutual feelings of "give me the city or the country, but suburbia is hell."
Interestingly, the couple I stayed with in VA also were very into the idea of starting up an intentional community. (Oh, and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go here.) It's always been a very intriguing subject for me. I'd love to live in one, I think. Maybe one day, when I get rid of my current debt.
I did something unusual for me. An attractive young lady that I'd been observing for a while came up to the bar (not near me) and ordered a drink. Kevin, the bartender who took her order, had to come over my way to get something for it, and I instructed him to put her drink on my tab. In walking back to her table, she thanked me. Without stopping, I might add.
And it occurs to me that this little cutie was probably thinking, "Oh, gross. That creepy old guy just bought me a drink."
I guess in my mind I just think, "Hey, she's in a bar. Obviously, she's not too young." Then I remember (after a moment) that the legal drinking age here is half my current age. But I so don't feel my age that I just don't think about it. And while I'm told that I don't look my age (some people say I look nearly a decade younger than my real age), I'm still not going to be confused for someone in his late 20s.
And not that I focus on appearance, mind you, but I have to be honest about something. I've browsed personals ads and such, and nine times out of ten, the women who are my age in those photos appear to be in at least a dozen years older than they're claiming. I'm not kidding. It freaks me out. No, I'm not implying that they're lying about their ages (despite the stereotypical belief that women do this). I'm just saying that they look far too old for their years. Maybe the worn out look is due to having raised kids (because let's face it, by the early 40s, most women have done that). Maybe the wrinkly face is from getting too much sun. Maybe they just posted really shitty photos of themselves in their ads (in defiance of conventional wisdom on the subject). I really don't know. But I do know that it's so startling for me to see a picture of someone my age who looks to be more like 55 that I don't even read the ads, half the time. Call me shallow, but that's just how it is.
Wow. I digressed.
Anyway, I didn't get home from the bar until about 1:00. And then... well... I had to feed my addiction. Yes, City of Heroes. I played until 3:30. (Hey, Thursday night I played for five straight hours. I have no life.) And then I woke up Saturday morning at 7:30, having to pee. And I decided to just stay up.
Grocery shopping at 8:00 A.M. is wonderful. No lines. No crowds. The deli wasn't open, yet, but I didn't care. I almost never buy stuff there, anyway. I should also have done laundry in the morning, but instead I talked to a couple friends on the phone until I had to go to the Sac-Poly lunch at Cafe Bernardo.
It was a very low turnout; only six of us. Two had to leave right afterward, but the others came over to my place for a couple hours afterward for conversation. We talked a lot about intentional communities, and of our mutual feelings of "give me the city or the country, but suburbia is hell."
Interestingly, the couple I stayed with in VA also were very into the idea of starting up an intentional community. (Oh, and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go here.) It's always been a very intriguing subject for me. I'd love to live in one, I think. Maybe one day, when I get rid of my current debt.
Speaking of things one does to pay off debt, I'm applying for a new job. It's the same sort of work I'm doing now (yes, I know I'm sick of it), and would probably initially require a pay cut. So why am I applying for it? Because it's up in Eureka. I'd be working for Humboldt County. And as I'm sure I've mentioned here elsewhere, that's where I want to live. Jobs aren't exactly plentiful, though. And while I used to check the listings often, it's been at least six months since I last browsed the ads. But this week, I took a peek. And I knew I had to apply for this one. The idea of living up there (even if I have to live in Eureka itself) is just too appealing.
What are my chances? I have no idea. Certainly, I have an impressive amount of work experience to put on the application. And I could, I'm sure, get killer letters of recommendation from people at my current employer. But one of the things that'll stand in my way is that I don't live there right now. And I'd be asking them to start me toward the higher end (or at least middle) of the pay range for the position. Starting at the low end (which the app says is what they do) would be taking a pay cut of nearly five grand. And even though I'm sure I could get an apartment up there for less than I'm paying now, it wouldn't be half what I'm paying now.
Plus, I wouldn't be able to keep teaching at The Learning Exchange, obviously. I don't know if there's a similar outlet for such things up there. But if not, that's an additional bit of income (albeit a small bit) that I wouldn't have.
So all in all, it's one hell of a long shot that I'd even accept the position if it's offered to me. But I can't not look into it, y'know?
What are my chances? I have no idea. Certainly, I have an impressive amount of work experience to put on the application. And I could, I'm sure, get killer letters of recommendation from people at my current employer. But one of the things that'll stand in my way is that I don't live there right now. And I'd be asking them to start me toward the higher end (or at least middle) of the pay range for the position. Starting at the low end (which the app says is what they do) would be taking a pay cut of nearly five grand. And even though I'm sure I could get an apartment up there for less than I'm paying now, it wouldn't be half what I'm paying now.
Plus, I wouldn't be able to keep teaching at The Learning Exchange, obviously. I don't know if there's a similar outlet for such things up there. But if not, that's an additional bit of income (albeit a small bit) that I wouldn't have.
So all in all, it's one hell of a long shot that I'd even accept the position if it's offered to me. But I can't not look into it, y'know?
I've got a busy week coming up. Teaching tomorrow night. Getting together with an acquaintance to discuss social activism on Tuesday. Wednesday night, I've got an appointment at a local university to discuss pursuing my Master's degree. And Thursday? Thursday I'm going to an advance screening of X-Men 3, for free! Boss B had a pass (for two), and she and her hubby aren't fans, so to speak. Heh. Score for Cardigan!
Next Saturday is what'll probably be a full day of Dungeons & Dragons. It'll have been a month, by that point, since we played last.
Hm. City of Heroes. X-Men 3. D&D. Yeah. I'm a geek.
Next Saturday is what'll probably be a full day of Dungeons & Dragons. It'll have been a month, by that point, since we played last.
Hm. City of Heroes. X-Men 3. D&D. Yeah. I'm a geek.
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ladyluck on
Re: Microsoft Sucks and Other Missives
1 - yes, you are a geek.
2 - Do you think, maybe, your perception of what people look like at a certain age is a little off? Maybe because you look younger than your age, when you see a woman of the same age - who actually looks her age - you think she looks older?
1 - Thanks.
2 - Might that also explain why I'm buying drinks for girls half my age? I just think everyone is older than they are?
It's quite possible!
Good luck on the job possibility. Hopefully all the stars align properly and they'll offer you the job at a reasonable enough rate that you can accept their offer and start living your dream.
All I have to say is that if I ever look the age I feel, I'm doomed. *G*
Ohhhh you are SO lucky getting into an early screening of Xmen3 - me SO jealous!!! Sounds like you had a good weekend, despite the small turnout at the cafe. Please don't utter a word about Xmen3 until after I've seen it ;p heheheh well I just won't read your blog until after I've seen it 
Hope you have a good week!
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