Silver Lining
Y'all likely remember that along with everything else going on, I'm the proud landlord to a colony of bacteria that is antibiotic-resistant. Fortunately there are a FEW bugstompers that are effective to various definitions of "effective". They're all IV-administered however. A course of them is anywhere from 7-14 days long. To prevent my arms from looking like someone threw a pissed-off hedgehog at me, a PICC line is inserted just above the elbow. This provides a medium-term port for the application of IVs and other meds.
But there's a catch. This PICC (for the more medically inclined amongst the Pond Scum, it's actually a "midline") is run up the arm, through the shoulder, and down to the vicinity of the heart to better move the drug around. The nursing home staff doesn't do that, instead hiring an outside company to do the work. THEY bring the fancy crap with them, like the ultrasound unit that's basically a tablet and salt-shaker. That lets the technician find the correct vein and run a dilator with a teeny tiny camera in it to better place the line.
This would be incredibly cool if it wasn't being done to me. Anyway. The last three PICCs have all been inserted by the same man who I shall name Skippy for the duration of this post. He actually said that I'm his favoritist subject because A) I'm not old, and B) I have a sensayuma. Also C) I'm not old. While he was getting set up, we chatted. He had left his home at 6am to show up around 8am to do the inserting. He'd stopped at McD's for some sausage muffins and hash browns during his drive. When he said that, I mentioned that I envied him.
See, I haven't had McD's... or really ANY fast food... since this nightmare began in March 2021, and I LOVE their brekky samitches. He then said the words that made me very happy: "I've got an extra I'm not going to eat, want it?" I couldn't say YES fast enough.
Which is how I had McD's for breakfast yesterday... and oh, it was divine.
Then a few hours later, they bundled me up and moved me to another room. A PRIVATE room. See, those bacteria I mentioned reached a count of 100,000. I don't know what that means, but it did seem to make people very excited. So they moved me. They SAY it's isolation, but honestly I don't care. I'd like to think that it's really because of my roomie, who has been irrationally angry of late. Screaming at nurses, CNAs, and anybody else within 50 feet about how they took his coffeemaker away (fire hazard), or how he want allowed to take a shower (not one of his shower days) or how they stole his underwear (still in laundry from the day before. This is normal). He saved his biggest fit for very early Monday. The toilet clogged (one application of plunger to fix) and he took it as a personal affront. At 330am he was ranting in the hallway about how his was going to start throwing punches if it wasnt fixed immediately. NOT cool.
I'd taken to saying "quit yelling" at him, knowing it was pointless: he's nearly deaf. And of course, the incessant giggling.
Do two birds, one stone: get me into quarantine AND get me the hell out of that jerk's presence. Last night I slept for about 10 hours, the first real sleep I'd gotten in a week. So remember kiddies, sometimes infections can be good things!
1
1. Get well soon. Maybe you should research Things That Kill Resistant Bacteria. Too bad you can't get hold of Bald's Eyesalve yet.
2. Obviously it kinda stinks to have Thanksgiving in isolation, but it sounds like you can also have a nice quiet day and watch some anime.
3. Well, I've actually missed almost every show in the last two years, much less anime. I'm too busy on workdays, and too tired on days off. Sigh.
4. I kinda wonder if a "vitamin cocktail", like they're testing for fighting sepsis, might also be useful for helping your body resist the bacteria. Probably not, because of the biofilm, but OTOH all the vitamins would probably give your body energy and make you feel better.
Not that you need another IV, though.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at November 24, 2022 12:44 AM (sF8WE)
2
Just letting you know some random internet person wishes you the best. And maybe the doctor shouldn't have pulled it like starting a lawnmower, but taking a PICC out isn't fun, either.
Posted by: Binchou-fan at December 05, 2022 01:36 PM (28DnC)
3
Quick note: Wonderduck is having trouble logging in to the blog. I'm looking into it.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 19, 2022 11:58 PM (BLOW1)
4
Since I also can't log in to this blog, I can probably track the problem down and fix it.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 20, 2022 01:12 AM (BLOW1)
5
December 23rd 8:30PM update: Wonderduck txted me that he is in the Critical Care Unit with some kind of blood issue. He's been there since Tuesday and he has successfully escaped from the spiders but is still stuck in Mirkwood. He has his phone but is still waiting for a chance to charge it now that he can use it.
Posted by: Ben at December 23, 2022 08:35 PM (DH73r)
6
Posted in comments at Brickmuppet:
Just as a FYI, I'm out of the CCU. I have some massive infections, a surgical procedure on Tursday. Not in any pain, feel pretty good honestly.
According to a doctor, I was close to have serious life-threatening issues, but that's been handled... 6 units of blood about 12 big bags of saline, and at least a month of antibiotics are in my future. But I'm alive.
I still can't Pond though.
Posted by: Cadrys at December 27, 2022 01:12 PM (T6enK)
7
Arrrrgh! Glad you are feeling better, but holy cow!
On the bright side, it's well known that getting blood from a young, healthy person can actually jumpstart your own body a tad, if you're sick. So hopefully all your blood came from some young whippersnapper who never gets sick.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at December 27, 2022 01:57 PM (sF8WE)
8
Suburbanbanshee: another Heinlein prediction come true.
Posted by: Rick C at December 29, 2022 10:38 AM (BMUHC)
9
There's a game called Placid Plastic Duck Simulator, on Steam. It has no interactivity at all, just camera controls.
If you leave it open long enough, you get more ducks and achievements.
Probably not what you want right now, but it does have an odd relaxing fascination to it.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at January 13, 2023 01:00 AM (sF8WE)
10
Along the same lines as the above, I just got off a session on the World of Warships public Test server. This year's April Fools game is back to the Hot Tub from the old Bottleships April fools game, only this time, you're driving around Rubber Ducks.
Posted by: Mauser at February 23, 2023 08:20 PM (BzEjn)
11
I'm sorry to have to report that Wonderduck, AKA Eric Carra, passed away on March 8 due to complications from his medical problems. His stepfather asked me to let you all know since this blog and community meant so much to Eric.
His obituary is posted at the Fitzgerald Funeral Home in Rockford, Illinois. Here is the link:
https://www.fitzgeraldfh.com/obituaries/Eric-T-Carra?obId=27495006#/obituaryInfo
There will be a memorial gathering this Friday, March 24 at 1:00pm Central time. There is a zoom link in the obituary.
Eric was a lifelong friend. He will be missed.
Posted by: Vancanson's Duck at March 22, 2023 02:44 PM (0dtXM)
12
Very sad news. When Wonderduck was still posting, this site was a part of my daily routine, and I was always cheered when I saw that there was a new military history or Formula One post to read.
Posted by: David Eastman at March 22, 2023 06:47 PM (hiYWq)
13
So sad to hear he passed. He's the reason my wife and I started following F1. His writing (from driver nicknames to crash euphemisms) never failed to get a chuckle.
Posted by: Will at March 23, 2023 03:00 PM (jrY13)
14
Dang. Sorry to hear about this. RIP, Wonderduck.
Posted by: Rick C at March 24, 2023 02:11 PM (BMUHC)
15
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
He was one of our own. God Speed and Safe flight Wonderduck
Posted by: StargazerA5 at March 24, 2023 05:15 PM (QbD7n)
16
RIP, Wonderduck.
Thank you for the many wonderful anime recommendations and reviews over the years. Our tastes aligned quite well: Aria, Hidamari, Nanoha, and many others.
I'm honored to have been called Pond Scum.
Posted by: mikeski at March 26, 2023 02:24 AM (DgGvY)
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at March 26, 2023 10:20 PM (LZ7Bg)
19
We will all miss you, Wonderduck. Creative in everything, interested and interesting about so many things -- your blog was a bright light.
Praying. Please pray for us, too.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at March 29, 2023 07:42 PM (sF8WE)
20
Oh, dammit. I skip checking on the comments for a couple of weeks and the news I kind of expected but mostly feared has arrived.
We shared a joy in music, in anime, and in duckies. I'll give Rusty a pat on the head in tribute.
Posted by: GreyDuck at April 02, 2023 08:53 PM (twFTQ)
Whole Buncha Nuthin'
I wish I had more to talk about. There's just not that much going on over here. I mean, the big news I can think of was that they had donuts for the veterans a few days back. Only one of the bunch was in WWII.
That was... kinda sad, actually. He had no stories to tell, barely understood why he was there, and may STILL be trying to finish his Donut. Doesn't look a day over 150.
There's an eight-episode Arknights anime airing on Fridays; ep04 just aired. Reportedly it's quite good. It's going to cover Act I of the game story, chapters 0-3: The Fall of Chernobog. Yes, really. The subreddit is pleased thus far, it's hewing closely to the story as it is in the game, with only a few anime-only digressions. They've even figured out a way to show the Doctor (aka the Player) placing units on the map in a way that's different from the game, but is still recognizable. It's airing on Crunchyroll, but as a premium show it's not available to be watched by filthy f2p'ers. I'm trying to decide if I can afford $7.99/month to catch up on all the good anime I've missed in the past... two... years.
Crap.
I think I'm just going to curl up in a ball and cry myself to sleep now.
1
Hmm, might give that a look-see...
... and also hmm, purely hypothetically, would one have a gift sub thingy sent to the email address that I have on file?
Posted by: GreyDuck at November 20, 2022 09:31 AM (twFTQ)
2
One does not. Hypothetically.
I emailed you at your .net address.
Posted by: Wonderduck at November 20, 2022 07:23 PM (DB9Lx)
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I drove a lap around the "Circuit of The America" track in Austin. Wonderduck is the only guy I know who might get as excited about it as I was.
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Posted by: Lucy Chow at June 18, 2024 02:58 AM (kzhFW)
Medical Shenanigans
I'm sure you all remember me whining about my reaction to the anesthetic when the Doc used a laser to play "Death Star and Alderaan" with a kidneystone last month.
It happened again. Early last week was the second procedure. This time to remove a stent that had been in my kidney area for 18 months instead of the eight weeks originally planned. See, the idea was that they'd pull it out after I got back from therapy.
Oops.
Last month when he tried to remove it, nothing happened. I got the distinct impression that maybe he could have yanked on it like starting a lawnmower...
As it turned out, the medical transportation unit... an off-duty pair of EMTs in an ambulance... took me to the wrong hospital. Don't get me wrong, it was the right hospital, just not the one I expected. Instead of going to Tony's Body Shop, just a few minutes away from my current "abode", we wound up going to Stockholm Pancakes and Surgery, a few more minutes away in the other direction.
In the cold light of hindsight, I was never TOLD we were going to Tony's, I just assumed. Functionally there was little difference: the ambulance bay was just an overhang with thin walls ad opposed to the enclosed and protected one I was used to seeing. The hallways were laid out better... organized as opposed to organic. And the ceiling tiles were just plain white squares, no texture, no whorls, nothing. They could have been made from drywall, titanium, or carbon fiber and there'd be no way to tell. Boring.
The anesthesiologist took pity on me, the kinda 54-year old terrified child, and gave me a dose of sedative before I was scurried to the Room o' Knives and Lights. He added that I may not even remember leaving the waiting room.
I did. I remember there was a looping gift of a cartoon vampire on one part of the big screen on the wall... late October, yo. I remember being told that everything will be fine. I remember the anesthesiologist holding a mask over my nose and mouth, saying "breathe deep", then two deep breaths.
Then I woke up in the recovery room, with a nurse that looked like a cross between the leader of a biker gang and a guitarist from ZZTop. Talked a lot of last-century football... Walter Payton was King... and politics. Or, at least, he talked politics, I was still drooling on myself. Which is basically how I talk politics anyway.
Some hours later, I was bundled back onto the medical transport... the same two EMTs, as it turned out... and brought back here. 12 hours later the retching started. The good news was that there was no blood this time. By the time I passed out from pure exhaustion, I had been awake for three days straight (minus the surgery nap). On the plus side, when I woke up, I wasn't yakking anymore. The catheter was pulled out that evening too.
So the surgery was a success. They got the old stent out, put a replacement in, and reported a 10mm kidneystone that the ultrasound bugzapper couldn't break up. So one more procedure lurks in my future.
Dammit.
Right. You've been kind enough to read this far, so it's time for more songs from Arknights, which you could easily mistake for a record label.
People apparently disliked this track, the menu music for the "Maria Nearl" event. Which just goes to show that gamers don't know a good thing when they've got it.
1
I feel like I should take up playing Arknights entirely for the purpose of supporting their soundtrack efforts. (Unlike a lot of other mobile games I take up entirely for the purpose of enjoying the eyecandy, I suppose.)
Posted by: GreyDuck at October 31, 2022 08:13 AM (twFTQ)
2
For what it's worth, theres plenty of eye candy too. The art is actually amazingly good, the artists for game assets have a sense of humor and whimsy I've not seen in other games, and now there's even an anime running that's basically going to be the prologue chapters of the game (ch0 - 03) by the time it's over. I've been giving serious thought to signing up with Crunchyroll to watch it and all the other shows I've missed lately.
Just the other day, there was a two hour concert streamed by Yostar of nothing but music and art and animation for the game. It's not available on yootoob yet, though
Posted by: Wonderduck at October 31, 2022 09:36 AM (DB9Lx)
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Posted by: sarahlison at May 12, 2024 09:11 PM (Hjpd2)
Thanks to Ph.Duck's efforts, nothing was left behind in the apartment. The well-timed appearance of Vaucaunson's Duck and his younger brother was all that was needed to get the furniture out and into the dumpster. Except for the dining room table, which was a transplant from the kitchen of the Old Home Pond. Vauc's brother, who just moved into a new home himself, took possession of it, meaning it "stayed in the family " so to speak.
The coffee table, a lovely little thing Ph.Duck gave me some years ago, also went with Vauc's brother. Good call; it was probably the second-best bit of furniture I had. The computer desk, which was the best, is in storage. Total win, I was expecting to lose it. Vauc's brother also took the one truly odd thing: the top of my old coffee table... a seven-foot long, inch-thick piece of clear plexiglass. I held onto it, mainly because it was much too awkward to get to the dumpster alone, but also because... well, someone somewhere must have a use for something like that, right?
He doesn't know what he's going to do with it either... but if he comes up with something, hrs got it.
All the military history books, all the manga, all the ducks, and all the anime figures: boxed and squirreled away in the basement of the Old Home Pond. I can't believe it really... Ph.Duck went far above what I was hoping for, and I can't thank him enough.
So that's it. Moved in January 15, 2001, moved out 21 years, 8 months and 16 days later.
Now if I ever get out of this nightmare, I don't have a place of my own to come back to. But I'll be able to walk, so I'll have that.
Which is nice.
From a time when the future was bright. Even now that synth-bass is enough to cause a flutter in my mind.
1
A sad, sad day. May the gods speed the day when you're up & about properly again.
Posted by: GreyDuck at October 18, 2022 08:32 AM (6gH3c)
2
Yay for not losing your stuff, and Double yay for having friends and family you can depend on when things go to hell. I was facing losing my house in the mid 2000's, and I didn't have any real support network.
Posted by: Mauser at October 19, 2022 10:03 PM (BzEjn)
3
Checking in late...
Sorry to hear that you had to be moved out. Some kinds of character-building are not fun.
Plexiglas sheets are very useful for keeping maps under, such as gaming maps, and then you can use a plexiglas-friendly dry-erase marker to draw on it, and the special eraser that comes with sets of markers to erase it.
Apparently you need to use gentle cleaning supplies, because powerful ones make plexiglass porous?
Whiteboards are made of melamine, apparently?
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Posted by: Micle at March 21, 2024 09:24 PM (Pjaph)
3m07s + A Shower
For the record: standing up is really tiring. You don't notice it because you're healthy, but take it from me. Hard work, this standing thing. It'll never catch on.
Shower was nice, too. First one this month, thanks to my roommate pretending that he's Turkey and the gap between the corner of his bed and the opposite wall, the Dardanelles and my custom wheelchair an aircraft carrier. With its big offroad tires it does not fit in the Dardanelles, and Turkey my roommate refuses passage.
So something that should only take a minute or two and a single CNA, tops, becomes instead a massive headache that needs two or three CNAs and about 10 minutes. Half that if the crew has done it a few times before.
And all this backing and filling and hemming and hawing happened just a short time after therapy. By the time I crawled back into bed my shoulders ached and the headache from the Straits of Turkey had flared into something truly special.
1
So, if I'm following this correctly, your roommate is, in fact, a jerkface?
Three minutes plus is awesome!!
Posted by: Kathryn at September 29, 2022 07:29 PM (jrY13)
2
Jerkface would be a good designation for him, yes. He also has a dusting of dementia, apparently, so he talks to himself... and GIGGLES as he does so.
He's not as bad as the yellers or the thief, but he's managed to... look, he was quiet usually. Not as quiet as me, but still. His tirades over stupid crap ("That wheelchair is mine." "Yes, but we're not talking about your chair." "WELL I AM!!!") have made me weary as hell.
Posted by: Wonderduck at September 29, 2022 08:33 PM (DB9Lx)
3
Oh, the giggling would drive me around the bend.
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Music Game With Tower Defense Minigame
Just like how "Doom" and "Doom Eternal" are Mick Gordon solo albums that come with a free first-person shooter game, so does Arknights continue to be a growing collection of OSTs with a tower defense mini game associated with it.
A new "side story" event begins in a couple of days, but since the global server is six months behind China's and Japan's, the music is already on yootoob. Cyberpunk/EDM and choirs don't seem like things that go together well, but:
...we'd be wrong.
Edit: Something sounded familiar here. Took me a few minutes to figure out, but these would fit into the Dredd OST quite well.
1
The music department's doing solid work there, yeah.
Posted by: GreyDuck at September 15, 2022 08:56 AM (rKFiU)
2
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(I posted something like "Your blog is very excellent and I learned very much" and then clarified it was just a joke, but it definitely did look like a spam comment)
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Posted by: kathy23 at December 16, 2023 02:16 AM (mLREZ)
Medical Indignities
So. Hi everybody! A little over a week ago, I went to the hospital for a planned procedure to deal with a kidneystone. The good news is that this stone had been located in a kidney... go figure, right?... back when all this crap began, and now it was in the bladder. PROGRESS!
The procedure is called a lithotripsy... spelling may be different in real life... which is a fancy way to say that they were going to run a camera attached to a super laser pointer up my lil' wonderducky and pretend to be the Death Star during its visit to Alderaan and break up the stone.
From all reports the procedure went well, and after a 10am zapfest, I was back here by 4pm. Still a little zoned from the anesthesia they used, but otherwise cool. I even managed to eat half a peanut butter & jelly sandwich around 7pm.
At 8pm, I began reviewing inputs into the garbage can. Repeatedly. Until 3am, at which point I was taken back to the hospital. There was blood.
IVs were inserted. Anti-nausea meds and saline solution were pushed to try and make life worth living again. Then once again, I was admitted for another stay on Tony's Body Shop, about 10 hours after the fun started. I stayed there until Sunday afternoon. The ceiling tiles were boring.
In between those times, I had two different doctors tell me that they were going to do things to my innards, coming from either end. In both cases, I would be anesthetized.
I told both of them no. Why did they think I was there in the first place? Right, I handled the sleepyjuice badly. I'm not fond of medical personnel ignoring everything else to do their thing, then just flat out saying we're doing it. If it ain't a true must-do, at least consult with me, mmmkay? You'll catch more flies with honey than you will trying to push the fly into the jar.
Somewhere around 10pm Friday, I fell asleep. Other than for medical things, I slept until early Sunday, then came back here.
Somewhere on Monday, I used the bucket. As I did so, something felt... wrong. Very wrong. Then, just as I began wondering if my prescription for pain pills had been filled, everything exploded. Once I got my eyes to stop spinning, I examined the bucket.
You know how in the bottom of a fish tank, there's a layer of gravel-like stones? Apparently I had just expelled a fish tank from lil' wonderducky. I thought that the doc would be removing the kidneystone debris. I was wrong. Lot of it, though.
The pain meds didn't arrive until three days later. Now fast forward to this Saturday past and I'm looking up something on the hospital's patient portal and I see the report on the Death Star's visit to Alderaan. Curious, I began reading... and stopped dead when I reached the part where they broke up a 23mm stone... just under one inch in diameter. Thank whatever it is that watches out for ducks and idiots that it DIDN'T try to come out on its own.
I'm still passing bits and pieces, but the pain med helps. It also gives me the munchies.
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Posted by: Emoji at September 18, 2024 08:27 PM (9UU5L)
Surgery, And A Philosophical Question
Well, the procedure that was canceled last month is tomorrow morning. I wouldn't be lying if I said I wasn't a little terrified, because I'm not.
I'm a LOT terrified. The Nephrologist that spearheaded my infection treatment... and brought me pizza yesterday so I'm obliged to love her... thinks all my nagging issues should be handled when this is over and done with. She's a doctor, so she knows what she's talking about. I'm just the patient, and there's a little me in my brain running around screeching in fear.
Because that's what I do: I overthink things, then panic. Usually it's pointless. Usually.
Philosophical question time: can it still be called a birthday when it was never born?
Hatsune Miku's VOCALOID pack was released on August 31, 2007, 15 years ago. Which means she's now as old as the character was said to be.
So can the avatar of a software package be said to have a birthday, or just a release date? Is there a difference?
1
In all seriousness, I'd go with something like "release date." But that's no fun, so I'll just say... she's the most phenomenally successful 15-year-old I know of.
May the procedure go smoothly and resolve all the pending medical shenanigans.
Posted by: GreyDuck at September 01, 2022 08:10 AM (rKFiU)
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1m24s
One minute, twenty-four seconds. Doesn't sound like all that much of a much, does it? And to you, the members of my Pond Scum, it isn't.
For me, though? It's the culmination of 18 miserable, stinking months. Because that's how long I stood up for, completely without help of any sort. 48 seconds, 16 seconds, and 20 seconds, using only a grab bar for balance so I didn't faceplant immediately.
By the end of the third stint, I was a bit winded. Okay, a lot winded. But what would you expect, considering this was the first time since February 28, 2021 that I've stood up totally under my own power.
Posted by: Rick C at August 06, 2022 10:23 PM (BMUHC)
9
Good job! My father also started to get up a couple of weeks ago. I've been on this case for months. Laying in bed is a sure way to never get up again.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at August 08, 2022 10:01 AM (LZ7Bg)
Posted by: skyhack at August 10, 2022 06:57 AM (KrC5e)
12
I am so glad to hear that.
The Wright Brothers' first powered flight lasted 12 seconds. You lasted seven times longer than them.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at August 11, 2022 06:23 PM (sF8WE)
13The Bihar Public Service Commission will release the BPSC 70th notification 2024 in the first quarter of the year. Interested and Eligible Candidates can apply online for BPSC at bpsc.bih.nic.in. https://bharatbhoomitimes.com/bpsc-70th-notification/
14
The fact that you stood up for such Among Us a significant duration, entirely under your own power, after enduring 18 difficult months speaks volumes about your determination and perseverance.
A New Life Awaits You In The Off-World Colonies
There's been a bit of fun and excitement over here over the past couple of weeks! The best news is that real physical therapy guided by real physical therapists has restarted. After a week, I very nearly stood up totally unassisted. The only thing that stopped me was that I was alone and my feet were tangled in the leg rests of the wheelchair. If I had stood up, given the positioning I'd have ended up faceplanting almost immediately. The sit-to-stand device has become almost laughable. Today the harness gave me a little boost, but I pulled and stood up so quickly it was hanging loosely. Good positive results.
Neutral news: I have a surgical procedure scheduled for Friday, apparently to either break up one kidney stone, or to remove the Stent that went in 18 months ago to help get that kidney stone to move its way out of me. General anesthesia, so I'm likely to be goofy... goofier than normal after. No idea if there's an overnight needed... last time it took 36 hours before all the sleepy sleepystuff wore off.
Bad news: I am about to lose Pond Central, my home for 21 years. I've been relying on the kindness of other to cover my rent for pretty much all of 2022, and the end of 2021 as well. A Duckford program for people impacted by covid covered a few months, but they wouldn't renew afterwards... since I never actually HAD the Plague, they thought my "couldn't find a job because of it" wasn't good enough anymore. Ph.Duck has begun an evacuation of stuff, but 21 years of stuff... the reference books alone would tax the suspension of a van or smallish pickup. Furniture... my high-quality computer desk that I've had since before Pond Central... bookcases... my memory foam mattress...
PhDuck and RNDuck have rescued the ducks, but my figure collection will be much more difficult. The ones still in boxes will be simple. Of the others, the Great Haruhi Collection comes first. Beyond that? The 1/4 scale bunnies, if they can find the boxes. The small amount of Darjeeling figures from Girls und Panzer, probably. My To Heart 2 figs... fsck.
Gotta put all that out of my head for a whole. I've got a procedure to get through first.
Yay.
Edit: Procedure is postponed due to vague instructions. My copies of the instructions says "blood thinners must be stopped _____ days before the procedure." Everybody else has "...stopped 2 days before..."
I think the facility took that to mean my last dose would be given Wednesday night. The doctor's office actually meant two full days, which would have been Tuesday night. Last night I asked the nurse if I was getting my blood thinners, and she replied "yes," and pointed to a small pink-brown pill which matches one of the generic versions of the med.
This morning I called the doctor's scheduler. This began a six-hour long kerfluffle that finally ended weirdly. I dozed off waiting for the final call from the doc's office... and never heard the music clip that acts as a ringer... so they left a voice mail.
The voice mail indicator is a simple electronic "beep." THAT woke me. Sometimes I wonder. Anyway, the doc was not willing to add to the risk factors, since bleeding WILL occur. There's a difference between "incidental bleeding" and "Oh crap oh hell oh no bleeding". So, no procedure.
There is a good-looking Nephrologist that is going to be passed next time I see her.
I talked to the nurse this evening and told her about the day's activities. She said she never told me that the blood thinner was in the cup, and she didn't give me the pill. So either she's confused or deflecting blame... or I completely misunderstood her response to "am I getting my blood thinners?"
The pill was not in this evening's bucket o' pharmaceuticals by the way.
1
Oh, goodness. I wish you safe landing, and may the flock n figs make the journey safely as well.
Posted by: GreyDuck at August 04, 2022 08:11 AM (rKFiU)
2
Here's hoping that everything goes well!
My last move involved seven boxes of figures, only some of which I had a box for. For the rest, a quick layer of bubble wrap, filling the box with foam peanuts, and driving them down myself rather than leaving them to the movers did the trick - no damage to anyone. They don't have to be THAT carefully protected so long as the box isn't shaken and the orientation stays top-side-up the whole time. Does sound like you're going to need help from someone understanding to get them packed and unpacked, though.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at August 04, 2022 12:17 PM (6/aLK)
3
Ph.Duck has a large roll of bubblewrap and a big box of ziploc baggies for the Haruhimini figs. And I have faith that things will go okay. Because what else can I do?
Posted by: Wonderduck at August 04, 2022 08:54 PM (DB9Lx)
4
All this time I was concerned about your place and your stuff, being essentially away from it for so long. It's sad it came to this.
Posted by: Mauser at August 06, 2022 01:03 AM (BzEjn)
Arknights: When The Music Is Better Than The Game
As I mentioned last time we got together here, I began playing the tower defense game Arknights a few weeks ago. It's really quite decent with so many possible team combinations that it makes your head spin. I recently stopped doing "build-a-team" for every mission, after stumbling on a team that can handle itself against anything but overwhelming aerial attacks.
But that's not why I'm here at the moment. Just in the last couple of days I've been paying attention to the OST involved and I'm glad I did. I'm VERY impressed. From the very first song you hear when you start the game, which most players may never listen to more than a few seconds of, to battle music, general day-by-day tracks, and events, the songs in this are outstanding.
That's the opening song I mentioned before. It took me nearly two weeks before I found out there were guitar breaks involved... I just kept hitting "play" when the game said it was ready.
That is the second track you hear in the game, on the "control room" screen (EDIT: if you have the night-time background selected). Fortunately it is very chill, because you're going to hear it a lot. It's comfortable enough that you don't care and it just becomes part of the experience.
Music from the in-game shop. It wouldn't be too out of place on a modern jazz album.
Finally, one of a gazillion battle themes. I actually can't say when it plays; I'm usually too busy commanding my Operators to truly listen. As I recognized it immediately, it's pretty clear some part of the turnip I use in place of a brain was listening.
I can go on and on about the various facets of the game... basebuilding is taking up more of my time than actual story mode, for example. Or the astonishing artwork of the Operators, including their combat chibis. Seriously, I didn't think FGO's art could be beaten, but on the whole I'd rather look at Arknights characters. I don't know enough of the story yet to say anything about it, save that it could probably be used as a X-Men plot line.
I don't really know what I'm doing quite yet, but I'm having fun not doing it.
Guess I know what I'm going hunting for later this morning.
Posted by: GreyDuck at July 17, 2022 08:38 AM (rKFiU)
2
Hello, my name is Chris! For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to find out if Chuck E. Yeager knew about Shirley from Strike witches. After god knows how long of searching I eventually came upon your 2008 post about someone informing him on my space. This was the first shred of evidence I had found so far. It seems however that his my space account no longer exists. I was wondering if you saw his response or not if he even responded at all.
Posted by: chris at August 02, 2022 12:40 AM (Ar78U)
3
Chris, I certainly never saw a response... and believe me, I was watching for one. I'd like to think that he was mildly amused by the information, though perhaps a bit baffled. Whatever his reaction, I'm sure he never gave it another thought.
The thought of Chuck Yeager actually watching an episode of Strike Witches triggers so many alarms and klaxons in my brain that a brain scan would look like nighttime over Chicago...
Posted by: Wonderduck at August 03, 2022 03:58 PM (DB9Lx)
No Longer Hagridden
After 11 days, the Powers That Be decided that I was COVID-19 free and could rejoin the general populace. I still feel not so great, but I guess that'll be a thing for a while. Food tastes . different, like vaguely metallic maybe. It's not like the kitchen here needs any help in the "making food poorly" category.
Well, at least I have a new roommate. My last one, who I loathed, went into Plagueville a week after me roughly, so I've been placed in a room with an elderly man who can't really speak, or honestly much of anything. Quite often the only sound from this room is the beeping alarm on the IV pump I'm hooked up to three times a day, screaming there's an issue of some sort... usually that it's empty.
Like now, as I'm writing this at 8am. It's been beeping for an hour as it waits for the Nurse to come turn it off and disconnect me. Staffing levels are pretty awful on weekends.
In other, non-medical news, I started playing Arknights a couple of days ago. An MMORPG Tower Defense game doesn't seem like it'd work, but so far so hoopy. It's nothing like FGO, I'll tell you what. But the art is good and I have an anthropomorphic badger carrying a riot shield on my team... what's not to like?
1
I wish I could get into tower defense games, it seems like there are some interesting things happening in that space right now mobile-wise. Hooray for general improvements here & there, nonetheless!
Posted by: GreyDuck at July 03, 2022 10:39 AM (rKFiU)
2
Since you appear to be into MMORPGs, and you could probably use some more entertainment outlets, I'd like to recommend <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Templar-LitRPG-Eternal-Journey-ebook/dp/B089R34ZK7">Twilight Templar</a> by CJ Carella. Five books in the series so far, and I've enjoyed them (though the author could've used a better copy-editor, and the stat-dumps get a bit repetitive).
Basic premise: 60,000 gamers are abducted to a world that operates identically to the game (Eternal Journey Online) that they were all just playing. The story follows one player (Hawke Lightseeker, nee: Ben Velasco) as he levels up from newbie Paladin to...well, something more.
Lots of fun.
Posted by: jabrwok at July 11, 2022 08:22 AM (iyhH7)
3
Wait, so English-language authors are getting into the isekai craze now?
May the goddesses have mercy on us all.
Posted by: GreyDuck at July 14, 2022 03:08 PM (rKFiU)
4
Isekai books were pretty common in the US, in the Seventies and early Eighties. Quag Keep by Andre Norton, which was the first D & D tie-in novel, and Joel Rosenberg. Some others. Probably would have been more if publishers would have taken them. And the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at July 15, 2022 07:12 AM (sF8WE)
5
I'd argue that A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court could be considered an isekai.
Posted by: Kathryn at July 16, 2022 06:18 AM (8548M)
6
Isekai is typically called LitRPG here in the US.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at July 17, 2022 07:03 AM (3TbQP)
7
Yes, portal fantasy is a long-running tradition/trope, sorry I should've been more specific: The very very currently-popular (for certain values of "popular") isekai trope of "gamer(s) transported into the world of their favorite game" is what I was forehead-slapping about.
Posted by: GreyDuck at July 17, 2022 08:43 AM (rKFiU)
8
Oh, I see. I hadn't even heard about that sub-type. The isekai I am considering learning Japanese for is Ascendance of a Bookworm, which doesn't involve a gamer in a game world.
Posted by: Kathryn at July 21, 2022 07:08 PM (8548M)
Too Ranty To NOT Use...
So I got an email from the official First Friend of the Pond Vaucaunson's Duck (est 197
today that ended with "Hang In There."
The following is much of the response I sent.
----------
Hanging is sounding more and more like the right choice! Though all things considered, my luck has been so bad recently that the hangin' folks ("Nooses R Us"?) would probably use a bungee cord instead of a rope:
"May Heaven grant you forgiveness, for you'll get none from us. Hangman, if you would?"
-----Boi-i-i-i-nnnnnnggggg-----
"Haw haw haw!!! You shoulda seen the look on your face! Actually, us too, what with the black hood and all. But I'll betcha it was funny!"
Huh... literal Gallows humor. Wasn't my plan, but what the hell, it's keeping my mind off the travesty they just served for lunch. Pot pies are called pot pies because they look like friggin' PIES, not because they look like someone made them while high on pot. Seriously, a dry, ice cream scoop sized, ball of some vegetables, and something that looks like... chicken? Tuna? The result of feeding a nice 2x4 into a wood chipper?...that's used as both the pastry part and the filling part.
Mmmmm... I love the smell of wood filler in the morning. But not, it must be said, when it's lunch. I'm starting to understand the people who say "I'd kill for a good slice of pizza" AND MEAN IT. I've actually had dreams about swimming-pool sized deep dish pizza. Or simple mac and cheese that that tastes like it was at least in the vicinity of actual CHEESE at one point in its creation.
THINGS WONDERDUCK HAS SAID WHILE EATING THE MAC AND CHEESE HERE:
"Why did they use lasagna pasta?"
"Why does it have brown gravy?"
"Why is the cheese sauce spicier than the enchiladas we had yesterday?"
"What sins have I committed to deserve this punishment?"
"...where's the macaroni? What do you mean 'they substituted toast'???"
At least they haven't figured a way to ruin jello yet. I like the orange-colored better than the red-colored, and they're both better than every other color. Though I remember a black cherry jello that was really tasty growing up.
----------
I didn't get any sleep last night, courtesy of two soggy and not very warm at all grilled turkey and cheese "sandwiches" and their effect on both my stomach and my gag reflex. My tum-tum didn't stop doing the Hustle until 430am, at which point a nurse came in and turned on the 1000000lumen overhead lights to get my "roomies" BP. It took 19 minutes, as his brain is even farther off the reservation than I was led to believe.
If I get no sleep tonight, you're probably getting a 4000 word essay on the evolution of the toothpaste tube's cap, such is the effect all of this crap is doing to my already stupid stream of consciousness.
1
I want to believe (said Mulder) that they didn't actually substitute toast but... oof.
May you be capable of ingesting (and acquiring) proper nourishment, soon!
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 22, 2022 08:12 AM (rKFiU)
2
GD my old and trusted, pizza night here was last Saturday. Even though it's a pale mockery of what should be accepted as "pizza", I like it well enough and look forward to the two slices I get (normal is one, but I know a guy...).
Before the trays of us room eaters were brought, the kitchen RAN OUT OF PIZZA.
So instead, we got a grilled cheese sandwich.
I WISH toast-for-pasta was a joke. I really do.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 22, 2022 10:24 AM (DB9Lx)
3
You're long past, I'm sure, the point of glaring skyward and muttering "Okay, we've all had our fun, we can all stop piling on now, yeah?"
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 22, 2022 02:21 PM (rKFiU)
Because Of Course It Did
1043pm Sunday night, after having requested it, I had a test come back as positive for COVID-19.
I willingly hermited myself for two+ years, and went through two different outbreaks in my various locations, nothing. I was tested on Friday, clean. A few wet coughs later, tah-dah, I've got the thing I've tried so hard to avoid.
If this wasn't a family-friendly blog, this is where there would be a long, invective-filled diatribe. But it is. So there won't be one.
But oh, the need to curse the universe is very strong right this moment...
Edit: Roommate came back clear, which is good. I may not like him, but I have no interest in having his health on my conscience.
They moved me to the Plague Hall inside of an hour. My new roommate has the same first name as the other one. According to the nurse? CNA? in the hall, he's apparently not really present, if you know what I'm sayin'??
WiFi is spotty or just *bad* here in my little corner of the leprosarium. It was excellent at the other end of the building. Swear to whomever if I can't get good broadband...
Edit, Next Morning: Food is served on paper plates or in Styrofoam cups, with sporks. Better and better. Probably will just burn our gowns and bedding instead of washing them...
1
I remember, dimly, a year ago when people were getting vaccinated and it looked like we might start to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Then the anti-vax anti-mask folks really got going and... here we are, wave after wave later, and I'm still highly anxious about ever leaving my apartment, double-booster and N95 regardless. At any rate: The hits just keep coming, don't they? I hope it runs its course and leaves you alone afterward! You've had enough!
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 20, 2022 08:08 AM (rKFiU)
2
Would you believe I got the second booster last week?
Fat lot of good it did.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 20, 2022 08:30 AM (DB9Lx)
b) don't treat a true positive as a death sentence
c) GreyDuck, what did you expect? Colds are coronaviruses, and rhinoviruses; there was always going to be too many new strains from mutation and the distinct animal reservoirs for a single vaccine targeting an old strain to be worth spit. The ordinary cold corona viruses and the ordinary flu viruses did not
magically disappear from every population when the new strain of corona
showed up. The only way that anything would 'improve' is if i) there are tests good enough to distinguish bioweapons or whatever from ordinary colds ii) journalists and health bureaucrats are honest and scientifically competent enough to distinguish ordinary cold corona virus events from the special corona virus events.
d) There is suggestive rumor that the strain that the vaccine's signature was for went through the US the fall before the lockdown. Certainly, there is little reason to suspect that the lockdown did much to prevent that strain from having spread through the US population by now. Food logistics is too much 'just in time' to allow for very many people to have had true isolation.
e) Continuing to respond to Grey Duck, if you revise your mechanics, and your highschool level biology, from texts of more than ten years of age, you can work out something that you have overlooked. Masking is at best a trade off, between bacteria and virii.
The masks are not chemically active, or electrically active, so that means that the mechanism of separation is mechanical. Which means 1) trap bacteria moving out 2) maybe trap virii moving in 3) the 'cost' of the separation is the pressure difference across the mask.
Viral protection /cannot/ be present without good filter media, edges that can seal, straps putting enough tension to overcome the pressure difference, and some attention to fit; in no way was this made clear to the public who were responsible for implementing the masking.
With a proper mask, you do have a pressure difference, and your lungs have to work harder, which is a cost to your health.
The public cost of the masking protocol partly comes from the university undergraduates; they are young enough not to have the life skills for good bacterial hygiene and do not have their parents there to enforce good hygiene for them. And, it does not matter if they keep separate while on campus, having them in town is a risk. So, all of the medical schools who did not have the main university abandon enrollment for humanities majors? This is a combination of profiteering and a disregard for the public by the medical faculty. If the viral risk is enough to shut down businesses outside of the university, then the bacterial risks are enough to shut down businesses inside of the university. Because respiratory bacterial infections promote respiratory viral infections. So far we seem to have been very fortunate that haphazard masking policy has not bred up some sort of bacterial superbug.
Posted by: PatBuck at June 20, 2022 09:09 AM (r9O5h)
You 'boosted', then tested a week after, and nobody suggested that this might raise the false positive rate of the test?
If they missed this, whatever friend or family member who is serving as your outside advice and support on medical suggestions may be missing some other things.
I don't suppose you can easily scare up some more eyes to look at your specific medical details?
Posted by: PatBuck at June 20, 2022 09:33 AM (r9O5h)
5
Given how Elon Musk publicly got tested four times in one week and had two positive and two negative results, I'd've insisted on another test a day or so later, just in case of a false positive. What with being in a rehab hospital (IIRC?) and all, isolating in between doesn't seem imprudent.
Posted by: Rick C at June 20, 2022 02:45 PM (kbV78)
6
Nursing home. Yes, it's possible there's a false positive. The cough, stuffy nose and sore throat tends to make that point moot.
I'm literally the youngest resident here. They're not going to let me out in the general population when I've already had a positive AND symptoms.
Safer to lock me away at the end of the Plague Ward and hope I don't die.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 20, 2022 06:19 PM (DB9Lx)
7
Fair enough. I mean, it could be a cold or something, but they won't want to let that spread either.
Anyway, I hope you're on a generally improving trend.
Posted by: Rick C at June 20, 2022 11:06 PM (BMUHC)
8
@PatBuck:
The masks work to protect others by preventing small, wet particles from flying around the room as much when we talk and breathe. They are not meant to protect the wearer.
The "cost" of the pressure difference is nonsense, completely negligible. Go on YT and you can easily find a video of some frustrated nurse donning layers of masks, and then showing a 98% blood oxygen level. There is no health impact to the wearer whatsoever.
Posted by: John Peters at June 21, 2022 02:15 PM (do9LM)
9
Can confirm. I had a full-blown PICC line inserted last night and I wound up with two basic masks under a fresh N95 that looked very much like those I'd worn hundreds of times before in the various scene shops.
O² sats stayed right at my normal 96, which it's been for as long as anybody's been interested in my sat numbers, yknow?
And that included a bit of panic when the installer explained it was going all the way into my heart (one of the Vena Cavas, I forget which one he said). The other two I've had were both "Mid lines" and didn't get anywhere near the whole heart thing.
Posted by: Wonderduck at June 21, 2022 03:09 PM (DB9Lx)
More Hoses
I woke up Thursday morning, grabbed my bucket, and take a whizz.
Except I didn't. The urge was there, but nothing I did worked except just gritting my teeth and straining until I saw stars. This has happened once before and it cleared up after a couple of hours.
Nope. By three in the afternoon I was very unpleasant from pain, except to Carrie, the Nephrologist. She called ahead to the hospital, let 'em know what was coming in.
Once transportation arrived things took place in a hurry. In an ER room that's also regional trauma center?? I laid there until they got around to me... and it took three professional nurses 11 sticks to take 4 bottles of the red cstuff and get an IV going.
Around 1030pm, they took me into a room and said "We're going to insert a Foley cath now." Then when they saw my face, they said there will be good drugs. The first was a sedative that took me into a numb haze. The second was a gel they liberally gooped into lil' ducky.
And then they began sticking hoses and tunes into something that's a definite out.
It took them five tries, using progressively smaller hoses, until they installed a Pediatrics sized hose.
Almost immediately 750ml of brown sludge flowed into the bag. Yeah my superbug infection appears to be back. Didn't get home until 2am, but didn't sleep... my mind wad wearing a groove into my brain with "20, 18, 16, 14, 12." Those being the sizes they tried.
I slept all day while my body flushed the anesthetic out of me... always takes longer for me. Even this post has taken two hours to type... prufredin it going to take forever.
EDIT: It fell out around 4am Saturday. I have no friggin idea what now, because I can't get the nurses here to talk to me. My mood is not high.
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 18, 2022 10:31 AM (rKFiU)
2
It's fortunate that Carrie, the Nephrologist, Infinite Craft was able to intervene and coordinate your care at the hospital. The urgency of the situation is evident in the swift actions taken by the medical team upon your arrival at the ER.
Hospital pt6, The Other One With All The Hoses.
The Time: a couple of days after my lil' wonderduck had been dehosed. Late evening.
The Place: a remarkably comfortable hospital bed, watching Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? starring Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
The Moment: I was reminiscing about an acting student at Duck U when I was getting my tech theater BFA. I'll call her "Kate" because she looked remarkably like Hepburn at a similar age, and for once because that actually was her name. I actually met her before I was a student at Duck U, during an orientation day/night, when us prospective theater folks (all three of us!) got to watch the current show. Us three n00bs unofficially teamed up against the ravening hordes of real students. I was struck by three things about Kate: first, her remarkable resemblance to K Hepburn. Second, her nose stud, the first I had ever seen, which I found to be quite fetching. And third, she actually seemed to like me. But that's a different story for a different day. Anyway, watching hi g the film and reminiscing when The Event occurred
The Event: I barfed.
Now you may say "But Wonderduck, you hadn't been eating much, how did you.. ," which is a fair question, and one I had no good answer for at the time. I didn't even feel poorly, it was a very strange occurrence, and one that happened so quickly I had no prep time. One moment I was fine, the next I had a brown-green slurry about the consistency of a melting vanilla shake from WcRonald's down the front of my gown, the blanket,and a pillow. Quite a bit of it too, if I may be so bold.
Surprised, I hit the call button, explained what had happened to the nurse on intercom duty, and a few minutes later I had been tidied up all my bedding changed, and the poofy air mattress wiped down with something that smelled of equal parts bleach and Satan's left armpit. While I was rolling around on the bed and biting back tears from the pain in my leg, I explained that no, it just happened, ykonw what I mean, and that I felt okay. Just in case though, she handed me one green barf bag, a rubberized plasticy thing that looked like a bondage getup for a cucumber.
1
... I can't even say "that had to be the worst thing" because of everything ELSE going on, but for me, vomiting is The Actual Worst. I hate it. Hate.
I hope the gods and medical science have mercy on you at some point!
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 04, 2022 08:25 AM (rKFiU)
2
The more of your adventures I read, the more I worry. But then I remind myself that you survived all of this or we'd not be reading any of it, so that's good.
Sorry you had to go through all of it, and I hope the worst is behind you.
Posted by: jabrwok at June 04, 2022 06:33 PM (T4WaI)
3
Egad, this just gets more awful the more I read it.
I'm so glad you're here.
Posted by: Ed Hering at June 05, 2022 11:26 AM (/cXdK)
4
Never tell the DM that you want a chance to grow as a person and deal with adversity.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at June 15, 2022 02:27 PM (sF8WE)
A Dog's Age, A Duck's Life
Well, it has been a while, hasn't it? There are reasons for that. Firstly, I've been a bit under the weather... maybe a week and a bit ago my stomach rebelled against the proletarian concept of food, one Stalinistic Purge after another.
Then there's the infection. I think I've mentioned it's antibiotic resistant. Turns out it's not resistant to all of them. Unfortunately the ones that still work are IV-based. So the decision was made to throw another PICC line (nurse: "It's a mid-line.") into my arm. At least this caused no issues, but I'm hooked to the tree for about two hours per day.
Despite my taking a prebiotic, the antibiotic ... I'll just call it "Jeff" from now on... has done a number on all the good bacteria. I mean, Jeff has done a better job on that than the real target.
Anyway, there's less blood usually so that's a positive. I'm seeing a specialist tomorrow with a non-trivial chance that a catheter is stalking me. I used to hate dentists, but at least they don't try to work via your bellybutton.
There's been a lot of not sleeping going on too. My roomie, who I'll also call Jeff, is 65 looking like 80, and goes to bed right after dinner. Lights out and silence, and he tries to get me to do the same. Jeff doesn't care if I sleep, he just wants dark and quiet. To which I have of course said no.
Jeff also thinks the light of my phone screen is too bright, and the sound of a bag of chips being opened too loud. As is my bed as I adjust it to a good sleeping position six hours early. To express this dislike, he unleashes the Litany of Profanity and the Panoply of Sounds.
The Litany is uninteresting; only five words that get strung together in combinations. The Panoply is different. From hums to express displeasure, to a Lecter-style intake of breath, to a raspberry, these sounds definitely indicates bad moods. The big one however is a heavy breathing thing... like he's trying to growl, maybe. Last night he added a new one... whacking his table hard with something.
Of course that one dragged me out of a rare bit of sleep. I mean I'm a night owl... 3am is no stranger to me... but I've been trying to be polite and nice, which results in me waking up at 2am and not being able to sleep again. At least last night I expressed my displeasure with "what the hell is your problem?" His muttered "no problem" seems like he didn't expect me to respond.
I've resorted to official complaints, and two nurses have gotten involved too. Apparently I'm not his first roomie, just the most recent.
In good news, visitors have been a thing! First it was the folks, then Vaucaunson's Duck all the way from California, and The Librarian is coming next week. All of which has been a welcome change from being the youngest inmate and having nurses and CNAs only to talk to... and they all yell. I assume it's because of deafness of the other folks. I've taken to speaking quietly while they yell, hoping to reduce their volume subconsciously. Mixed results.
The 6th Hospital entry is coming... this one is probably the worst to talk about because there's very little funny involved and I need there to be some.
Lunch is being passed out... allegedly chicken parm and pasta. We'll find out.
1
You didn't ask for advice, so I'll keep my fat mouth (mostly) shut, but I am compelled to mention just one thing: if you are not already familiar with fecal transplants, you may want to look into that.
Anyway, sorry you are having such a rough time. I hope the specialist will be helpful!
Also, you haven't answered the most important question: Does the hospital TV show F1 races?? I'm sure Jeff, for one, would appreciate a nice early qualifying session.
Posted by: Kathryn at May 12, 2022 07:40 AM (8548M)
2
Not only engaged in protracted battle with your own body but you've got a passive-aggressive obnoxious roomie as well? That's double-plus ungood and then some. I hope at least one of those situations gets resolved and soonest.
Posted by: GreyDuck at May 12, 2022 08:20 AM (rKFiU)
3
I'm adding 'Litany of Profanity' to my most useful phases.
Posted by: astro at May 12, 2022 07:58 PM (9U4tg)
4
*phrases, dammit. I assure you I'm not going through a profanity phase.
Posted by: astro at May 12, 2022 08:06 PM (9U4tg)
5
Kathryn, sadly ESPN is not a thing here. I did, however, watch the US Grand Prix in Miami last weekend, the first race I've seen in a long time.
Good lord but the cars look different. The actual racing seems to have improved, and Mercedes appears to have peed the new tech regs down the legs of their collective firesuits so that was fun.
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 13, 2022 09:18 AM (DB9Lx)
6
Yeah, the new aero is wild. No one knows what's really the fastest yet. But the Mercedes zero sidepod concept doesn't appear to be it.
It's been good racing between LEC and VER so far this season. It remains to be seen how respectful and clean the racing will be another ten or twelve races down the line...
Would you like a subscription to F1 TV for your birthday?
Posted by: Kathryn at May 13, 2022 06:21 PM (8548M)
7
Earbuds and an audiobook narrated in calm tones, or earbuds and music. Does great things for blocking out annoying noises.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at May 13, 2022 08:58 PM (sF8WE)
8
I checked with F1 TV's help line, and they don't have a gift subscription option, but I can set up a new account with a throwaway email and then give you the credentials for that email and the account. Drop me a line to the email I use to comment here if you'd like to do that. You can also go back and watch some of the races you missed last year too (I think...have not tried it myself, but they claim you can watch old races). Some of them were pretty good.
Posted by: Kathryn at May 22, 2022 06:47 AM (8548M)
9
You're much too kind, but it isn't really necessary. I watched the race as much for form's sake... I refuse to not watch a US race, not when every viewer counts... as actual interest in the race.
I'm not sure what to think about the Miami circuit. It's a shame they couldn't swing running the race in the GTA Vice City part of Miami...
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 22, 2022 07:07 AM (DB9Lx)
10
All righty, well, the offer remains open if you change your mind :-)
Miami was OK, I guess. The proposed Vegas circuit looks terrible. I think as an event, a Grand Prix weekend in Vegas will be fantastic, but as a race, it does not look interesting. Also, it will be on at like 10pm local. I'll be in bed. (granted, I say the same thing about Melbourne, Japan, etc.)
Posted by: Kathryn at May 23, 2022 01:55 PM (8548M)
Birthday Gifts
No donut, alas. Just a store-bought chocolate chip cookie... sugar-free. I ate it anyway.
Ph.Duck and The Nurse (ret.) stopped in for about an hour or so. First time I've seen either of them in the flesh since the hospital. They brought with them two bottles of Sprite, which was heavenly. It's been water and juices all year... and some kool-aid, which in the right circumstance can be awfully tasty.
Do you remember an entertaining trifle called Go! Go! Nippon? I really enjoyed the thing, and ridiculously enough, liked the geographic bits as much as I did the two heroines, Makoto and Akira. Like most of us dedicated fans... and you have to be considering the amount of weebhate thrown at it, the hope was for a new DLC or, miracle of miracles, a new GGN game. Time passed, and the 2015 date of the last update receded in the mirror. It seemed unlikely that we'd ever see the girls again.
On April 22nd, that all changed. That is when I discovered that they two of them are VTubers now, and have been for eight months.... and if they got 10000 subs, a new GGN! game would go into production!
On my birthday they reached that 10K goal. There's going to be a new version of GGN! Okay, look, I know it's not much, but that was a nice birthday gift to get.
And in the best gift of all, Big Papa Pixy has found the four missing years and wrangled them back into place on the sidebar. They probably fell under a server rack somewhere and he found it as he prepares to decade to a new residence. Thank you, Pixelmator! You're the ginchiest!
All right, you apes! You wanna blog forever? Get back to work... um... blogging.
1
Resurrected archives, though! Hot dang!
(More GGN? So, "Even More Geographical Tidbits: The Sequel" or branching out to new locations?)
Posted by: GreyDuck at April 24, 2022 11:07 AM (rKFiU)
2
Happy birthday, Wonderduck! I see you've already found your present.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at April 24, 2022 05:46 PM (PiXy!)
3
It's just what I've always wanted, Pixy!
GD, we dunno yet. My guess is more locations, more romance, maybe even a new character. I'm giddy with anticipation.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 25, 2022 08:24 PM (DB9Lx)
4
Happy belated birthday! It's good to hear from you again.
Posted by: Kathryn at April 26, 2022 02:28 PM (/ryTz)
5
Out of the loop so long, just wanted to check in. I was afraid you were going to pull an SDB on me. Hang in there buddy, it is a great comfort to see you still posting! I miss those old days.
Posted by: astro at April 29, 2022 01:59 AM (9U4tg)
6
ASTRO you old miscreant. How are you?
KATHRYN, thank you kindly. Pixy's system plays poorly on smartphones... even writing this comment is a trial. I read do need to get the next installment of My Hospital Life out. It's far and away the worst one though... even thinking about it makes me shake my head in sadness.
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 05, 2022 06:25 PM (DB9Lx)
7
Wonderduck, I'm still hanging in there, same as always, just not blogging anymore. I'm a miscreant now though it seems, so I guess I need to adjust. I'm going to have to go look that word up to see if we're still friends...
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