Sundry Sunday Thoughts

[jesse_the_k]

Just expressed my interest in 144 WisCon programming items. You have until midnight CDT 17 Mar (0500 UTC 18 Mar)--don't let the chance to determine our programming slip by.
Sunlight until almost 7 pm is singing-at-the-top-of-my-lungs wonderful. There's been major melting—I can now use the fixed route bus again. Hooray! While it sounds convenient to have door-to-door service with paratransit, the ride is so long and anxiety-inducing that the "big bus" is a delight.
Neither swam nor trod my mill nor walked with my walker today. Yes, I'm feeling exhausted and weary and unwell, and part of me thinks that it is OK to take a day off. But the most impairing thing right now is guilt: the gloomy voice accusing me of lassitude due to "just" depression, and not my Syndrome. Brainweasel rodenticide, I need some.
I've learned something important about my reading tastes: I don't really like fantasy, or at least this decade's. That said, I'm finding Helene Wecker's The Golem & the Jinni to have just enough real-life history that I can stick to the story, and just enough polished, old, fantasy to be fascinating and familiar. She takes me inside the Jinni's and Golem's thinking, and their viewpoints make turn-of-the-19th century NY city even more magical. Also the immigrant experience, which resonates with my own family's.
In recent reading folks have written that a grey on black Tumblr with 7 point type can be a roadblock. It could be to me, as well, except I've developed a quiver full of "make it easy to read" tools. Would anyone be interested in an article explaining "how to make 90% of web pages readable, with a few mouse clicks or handy browser extensions"?

Comments

[sonia]

*waves!* Yay for sunlight and melting and fixed-route buses. Boo for brain-weasels. Perhaps they could go play in the sunshine and leave you to rest peacefully.

I'll quote Robyn Posin: "Rest is as urgent, significant, meaningful, honorable, and productive as any other purposeful act!"
http://forthelittleonesinside.com/new-page/ (Not sure that link will work for you, although it seems to for me. I searched for "rest" in the Tale Finder.)

I hear those same weaselly voices about not accomplishing enough. *sigh*

[lilysea]

"Rest is as urgent, significant, meaningful, honorable, and productive as any other purposeful act!" - as someone with chronic fatigue syndrome who finds it all too easy to overdo things, and hard to rest, this really speaks to me, thank you. ^_^

[jesse_the_k]

+1! Our culture is so oriented towards overdoing: whoever works the most hours wins the prize of "serious useful person."

Feh. Poke around on http://forthelittleonesinside.com/ and discover other things particularly helpful for CFS folk like us.

[sonia]

Glad the link was helpful for you both! I've been reading her monthly essays for more than 10 years now, super-helpful for me.

[jesse_the_k]

Really, let's invite my weasels and your weasels to play in the sunshine right in front of a bus (evil, but true).

Thanks so much for the quote and the link: those are lovely things to contemplate there. I'm particularly struck by Remember to only go as fast as your slowest part feels safe to go and that rest is a sacred act.

Hmmmmmmmmm. Thanks

[being_broken]

Hi :) (smiley face)
I almost never talk but thought I'd poke my head up long enough to say that I'd love an article on making webpages more readable, I manage mostly but I know there are fancy Things (computer stuff I don't understand) that can be done but I've no idea how to do such things so if it's truly unreadable to me I generally hope it wasn't that interesting and move on.
Thanks :) (smiley face)

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks for taking the time to speak up! I know 100% about how to make it work on some computers with some software. If you told me what computer you use, and what browser, then I could start out by writing something for you. Then I could fold in the other stuff I know, and then snowball!!!!

browser hacks

[bibliofile]

Is that information that would fit into a table sort of format, visually? Rows and columns for hardware and software? Or something like that.

I loved that the local news pointed out last week that sunset falls after 7 p.m. from now til September. Though if I were a morning person, I'd be pissed off about the clock change.

Thanks :)

[being_broken]

Thanks! And I realized I ought to have added that I too am cheering you on in resting, its hard as hell when needed but so important and hopefully you can read the support for resting here to your brain weasel as a sort of internet rodenticide ;) (winky face)

I go online on an iPad using safari, amusingly (or not) my actual computer has gotten old enough that it truly hates the internet and even with the annoyances if sites trying to give me mobile versions (which I get out if as often as possible) the iPad still gives me better/easier internet viewing.

Thanks again and this is a zero time sensitive thing so whenever you feel like it us awesome :) (smiley face)

[littlebutfierce]

Blerrrgh, that voice saying that you need to Try Harder & Stop Being So Lazy & etc. etc. is awful. Rest is good! Especially when you're unwell! <3

[jesse_the_k]

Thank you! Rest was good, and I was able to swim again today (but taking it slow) and I'm definitely feeling better than I did when I pushed it too hard on Saturday.

Living inside chalk lines I'm responsible for drawing is challenging.

[luzula]

Brainweasel rodenticide, I need some.

What a wonderful expression! Yeah, I need some of that sometimes, too. *redacts long story about board work and irritation at why people don't speak up in meetings and then only tell me privately that they agree with what I said*

I am glad you get sunlight and good buses! And rest is a good thing, too, I hope you can enjoy it without guilt. : )

Thanks for your opinion on the Golem and Jinni book! I'd seen it reviewed but wasn't sure whether to put it on my to-read list.

[jesse_the_k]

Oh, ughhh, I can just so imagine that long story. Here's some virtual glass cleaner so you can see the sunlight better tomorrow.

At the end of another day, when I swam gently, I can slowly slowly recalibrate what's "too much." I wished I'd learned these boundaries better when I was young.

Did you learn such useful things about your body in school? Like how to judge whether it was a sprain, just walk it off versus yipes! go for medical help? Or sex education (sadly almost entirely gone in U.S. except "abstinence-only," which doesn't even mention masturbation)? In my school there was mainly organized games, with three levels of teams (they saved a slot for me at the bottom).

OTOH MyGuy was a star on the wrestling team, and he learned many helpful skills, like how to stretch, how much is too much, how to starve oneself, and so forth.

[luzula]

Did you learn such useful things about your body in school? Like how to judge whether it was a sprain, just walk it off versus yipes! go for medical help? Or sex education (sadly almost entirely gone in U.S. except "abstinence-only," which doesn't even mention masturbation)?

Not that I remember? I was pretty bad at PE in school--I hated running, for example. And we did have sex education, though I don't remember much of it. Like, I guess we covered the basics, but I already knew the basics. Ah well.