Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff

[TNP]

Years ago, during a time of immeasurable stress, I went to my doctor and asked for a Xanax prescription. As he knew what was happening, he gave it to me. I took 5 mg every day. This is the minimum dosage.

Being one of those people who try to stay on top of everything, I had researched the drug as I do all drugs I take and knew the dangers. After three months, even though those circumstances had gotten worse, I decided to just stop taking it. I think I got every side effect in the book at once.

My doctor didn't think I was addicted since it had only been 3 months and I was on the minimum dosage. He also said he didn't think it would be a particularly bad thing if I never stopped taking it. (I never went back to him after that comment.)

At any rate, I weaned myself off of it by halving the dosage every couple weeks. It's a wonderful/horrible drug and I'll never take that class of medication again.

[Ghost]

Got a friend in the hospital in isolation. Looks like he will be there through xmas. If people have any extra prayers or incense or good chi to throw onto the dish feel free to point them towards Arizona.

[gryphter]

Some very mixed feelings about this check I just got in the mail. It's the refund on my security deposit, and it's short $500.00. This makes me angry, but getting an infusion of cash on December 23rd is pretty damn convenient, I ain't gonna lie.

We knew the deposit would get trimmed somewhat as the SO's coveted Disney decals absolutely destroyed the paint coming off. Having worked for years as a professional painter, I know that the amount of peeling that happened means the walls weren't prepped properly before painting, so the paint never adhered properly.

$500 for a coat of paint seems excessive to me, and it makes me grumpy.

Buying extra Christmas presents for people just because makes me happy, as does the money I just spent at my medical Mary Jane dispensary, so I'm chalking it up as a win overall.

[Darren]

Speaking of checks in the mail, we had been told nearly a month ago that there wouldn't be any Christmas bonuses this year due to 'financial hardship'. The mail man showed up today with a registered package and what was inside? Our paychecks, plus Christmas Bonus checks! Alas that $1007 is probably going to just cover my AMEX bill this month but it's still nice that they cared enough to give us something.

[Auspice]

I'm beat. I'm so beat I can't even think straight.

Every time I move is harder than the last. It doesn't help that I woke up this morning to one of those horrendous leg cramps.

But it's almost done. I just need to get some more stuff out of the truck (I am paying someone to do this; my right ankle keeps twinging on me bad) and then go tomorrow to get the stuff from my fridge and clean the old place.

I'm glad to be in a complex that's higher rated and seems to actually care about doing right by its residents. I'm definitely glad to be paying less for more room.

But I do not wanna move again anytime soon unless I can afford movers.

[eye8urcake]

Lived through Xmas and the baby shower, and now my daughter's in labor. Fingers crossed it goes well.

[Kestrel]

I made a New Years Resolution to stop arguing with strangers over the internet.

It's been just under 9 hours and I'm already struggling.

[GreenFlashlight]

@Kestrel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I made a New Years Resolution to stop arguing with strangers over the internet.

That's a stupid resolution. Here is a list of forty-six reasons why you are wrong to make such a resolution.

1. You have a duty to try to change stangers' minds on the internet.
2. Arguing on the internet is the most effective way of changing minds.
3. It also establishes your intellectual superiority.
4. Not arguing means you agree with them.
5. Anger is the only worthwhile emotion, so you should constantly cultivate it in your life.
6. Other people should not be trusted to have their own opinions.
7. Point 6 is definitely distinct from point 3.
8. You're a jerk for making me write point 7 with your insinuations.
9. Actually, you're a jerk for disagreeing with me about the importance of arguing with internet strangers.
10. Actually actually, you're a jerk because you're basically inferior to me.
11. Not agreeing with me means you're a member of every group I personally hate, like Flat Earth Society.
12. Ha ha, look at how dumb you are, thinking the Earth is flat.
13. No, YOU'RE a strawman! And an ad hominem fallacy!
14. I don't have to provide links proving anything I just said. Look it up yourself.
15. The burden of proof lies with you to prove your claims, not me.
16. If the links you provide disprove what I say, then they're from biased sources and you're stupid for believing them. Keep looking until you find sources that agree with me.
17. Not that you will, you dumb Flat Earther.
18. My posts have more upvotes than yours. That means they're right.
19. I bet your upvotes are just from your dumb friends who support your propaganda.
20. Or they're your sock puppets.
21. Lol are you triggered?
22. I'm not wrong about anything I said, I was just triggering you.
23. You're a dummy for falling for my genius tactics of tricking you into thinking I'm stupid by saying stupid things to you.
24. I'm winning this argument because you're mad.
25. Well if you aren't mad, why would I have said you're mad? Checkmate!
26. Facts don't care about your feelings.
27. I'm posting laugh emojis. That means I'm definitely not mad and also you're losing.
28. This devolution of arguments proves how right I am about internet arguments changing minds, because you secretly changed your mind and agree with me, you just won't admit it because you won't admit you lost.
29. I'm not projecting, YOU'RE constructing an alternate reality that justifies your refusal to change your mind from your a priori conceptions.
30. That's a personal attack you just said!
31. Personal attacks mean you have no convincing argument.
32. Hey everyone, look at this jerk Kestrel launching personal attacks against me!
33. You are oppressing me more than anyone in history has ever been oppressed.
34. You are trying to police my thoughts.
35. You would send me to a concentration camp to die for disagreeing with you, you fascist.
36. I'll be honest, I ran out of steam on this list a long time ago, but I feel like continuing the joke long after it should have ended is a funny metajoke given the subject, so I'm still going.
37. Where was I? Oh yeah. You support genocide.
38. Also, you're a bigot for arguing with me, because I am a minority based on my beliefs.
39. Why do you hate free speech so much? Oh right, because you're a fascist.
40. I don't agree with Nazis but it's a shame the Nazis didn't win so they could take care of people like you.
41. Not that Nazis ever had concentration camps, that's a hoax perpetuated by international banking.
42. That's not a conspiracy theory, you're the conspiracy theorist for believing in Flat Earth.
43. Also, it's not at all suspicious I was so eager to bring Holocaust denial into this.
44. [nothing, because I got banned for promoting Nazi conspiracy theories]
45. [sets up a sock puppet account to spread my grudge against you and the admins privately among my circle of "friends," by which I mean people who hate all the people I hate, which I assume is what a friend is]
46. So in conclusion, your life has been improved by having this argument, and you're definitely not mad for no reason and generally exhausted.

[Kestrel]

@GreenFlashlight don't ever quote Ben Shapiro @me, you sick fuck.

[GreenFlashlight]

@Kestrel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@GreenFlashlight don't ever quote Ben Shapiro @me, you sick fuck.

[eye8urcake]

I was hoping to have good well better I guess news to post here but...

Baby Isla was born at 159p Pacific time on 12/31. She had managed to pass some stool before, during or shortly after birth (right in the middle of birth South Lake Tahoe lost Internet and cell service for hours and hours so I aged 20 years stressing on WHAT IS HAPPENING and lots of other stuff happened so I'm not 100% on which which apparently makes a huge difference) so they were hopeful about her intestines at first.

Then my daughter fed her and it didn't go so well and rush imaging showed there's definitely a blockage so they've taken the baby to NICU and put her on IV and some kind of stomach vaccuum to get the stuff she ate out (so the obstruction doesn't grow) in preparation for surgery.

If all goes well she may be sorted out and healed enough to be home by February.

Does anybody know if (hospital in NV, residence in CA, if it matters) since she was born before 1/1 the deduction starts over or if it's on the 2019 one?

[RightMeow]

@eye8urcake

If she is born before 12:01 on the 1st, it counts towards 2019 even if it is 11:59pm.

I hope that everything is going well with her and that all things go good. I will keep them in my thoughts.

[surreality]

Never give up your right to argue (barring spaces that disallow it for whatever reason, provided said reason is reasonable, obviously).

No, really.

Sometimes -- and I think I can say with some confidence that it has happened here a whole hell of a lot, really -- it leads to pointlessly gripey angst.

But even then, it means people are thinking. Brains are working, even if they're wandering far afield of sense now and then. (We're all susceptible; it's part of being human.)

Brains working is good.

It's OK to disagree with people. Most of us were socialized to be pleasers to some extent or another, in some way or another, but those ways tell us 'don't speak up and don't argue or disagree'. Well, fuck that.

If you wanna avoid it because it's causing undue stress in your life, or is otherwise doing you harm? Go for it; always take care of you, y'know?

Just don't do it because someone else tells you 'you should just fall in line', that it's pointless, or similar. Those people are the ones the word 'defenestration' is best used in regard to.

---

...on my own shit that I originally popped in to post, narrowly missed an ER trip today. Am hoping I can continue to miss it until I can get that damned appointment.

[Rinel]

It sort of low-key blows my mind that there are adults who are just... happy. Like, I know nobody is happy all the time. That's the nature of life. But the idea of having, I don't know, a week or more when you just feel okay?

I literally don't remember a single example of that since December of 2010. I've had streaks of a few days that stick in memory. But a week? Weeks? Months of nothing but appropriate moods and responses to things?

Today is not a great day, dearly beloved.

[Macha]

@Rinel I understand this feeling. I would hug you and bring snacks, if I could.

[surreality]

@Rinel Much empathy, and all the hugs that are welcome.

I have had the happy week or two. I have. I know they aren't actually a myth.

It... kinda doesn't improve anything, though? I remember how I felt when I never had; I know how I feel know. The 'wow, it is possible and it exists!' is a boost that is absolutely counterbalanced by the deeper low of 'and it is not like that now at all'.

I think a lot of people that appear to be happy all the time are putting on a front, when it comes down to it. There's a lot of performative happiness out there, especially now in the age of social media. It's not... especially real, and a lot of it is pretty dang shallow.

(This is one of those 'the grass is always patchy shades of green and brown in everybody's yard' scenarios, at least in my personal view.)

[Selerik]

PSA

Allergy meds increase blood pressure.

Cold meds increase blood pressure.

ADHD meds increase blood pressure.

Do. Not. Mix. All. Three.

This message paid for by my fucking sinus infection.

[Groth]

@Selerik
On the upside if your heart explodes you don't have to worry about your cold or allergies anymore.

[Selerik]

@Groth said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@Selerik
On the upside if your heart explodes you don't have to worry about your cold or allergies anymore.

[eye8urcake]

@RightMeow said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@eye8urcake

If she is born before 12:01 on the 1st, it counts towards 2019 even if it is 11:59pm.

I hope that everything is going well with her and that all things go good. I will keep them in my thoughts.

@RightMeow Thank you, I was hoping. It's the difference between $5k and $15k for them at this point. Thank you for best wishes, too.

We're working on getting everybody setup down the hill so they can be closer to the hospital and avoid being snowed in up here and so hubs and I can get back to our place. Our son's going to check on things but I still worry.

Thank you for best wishes. They're very appreciated rn. Or any now, really, but rn especially.