SO GLAD this thread made the jump.

Mine for today: "Uvula" is an awful word. Especially if you try to say it with a sore throat. It's kind of like how stuttering can be one of the hardest words to say if you stutter. It seems mean.

02/04/2015

The mood is up.

There are a number of reasons for this.

My last entry was going to be my last entry on The Exchange. Er...actually, it was the last entry on The Exchange.

For those who missed it; The Exchange was a newsgroup run by The York Daily Record. A bulletin board, really. There were lots of threads covering a staggering number of topics. I became a member sometime in 2007, don't remember the exact date.

There was a time in my life when the other members of The Exchange were the only friends I had. It meant a great deal to me.

The board was managed by one person. It was a huge, largely thankless job but she pressed on with it anyway. I, for one, was grateful. I don't think I ever said thank you enough. The Exchange was a touchstone.

But times change. People move on. And so The Exchange was closed down. Rather, it's in the process of being closed down.

For the past two or three years I largely avoided the actual news topics. I mostly stuck with doing a journal in a thread called “Random Thoughts”

.I have no idea how many journal posts I did. A lot. Really, a lot.

Reading the announcement that the board was closing down left me feeling kind of strange. Sort of a sense of loss mixed with stoic acceptance. Nothing lasts for ever. I resigned myself to moving the journal over to Facebook.

Then something cool happened.

One of the members built another exchange. A new site in a new place. If you're interested, it's at http://theexchange.boardhost.com/index.php

It's truly an amazing thing.

I have no idea how something like that is constructed but it's a masterful job. Indexes and categories and topics and practically all the regulars from The Exchange are there. Even some of the people who hadn't posted in years have turned up.

And, get this; they named a thread after me! How cool is that?

The thing about the thread is that someone else suggested it. I have to tell you I was almost moved to tears. There are people who actually like hearing from me...well, for the most part. Even I don't like reading my more dismal entries.

Right now I'm rusty as hell.

I've been going weeks without writing anything and I'm finding it difficult to get back into a flow. But the words are churning around in my head and they have to go somewhere so I'm trying to get back the spark.

Bear with me.

Thank you Joan for what was.

Thank you Lager for what is.

And thank you all for being here. And for being the people you are.

Thanks for listening

Last edited by Conspiracy Theory (2/04/2015 7:23 pm)

OK, THIS made me cry. In a week where I'm looking back at a 15-year career and wondering if I really offered anything of value to anyone and looking ahead and wondering what I possibly have to offer next... I needed to hear this, and I am grateful to you in a way I can't describe for being so open. 

It's funny, I had been wanting to leave the YDR. Not because it's a bad place, but because 15 years of something is hard when it wasn't what you ever intended to do in the first place, you know? I was a math major, for crying out loud.

But then Chris and I filed for divorce, and over the past year or two my mom's health has kinda gotten rough, and my daughter is getting older and less interested in me, and suddenly I am starting to feel like there's nothing left of ME - Joan outside of "her job" or "her spouse" or "her kid" or "her parent" or... whatever. I've been working out a lot of things related to that, and I'm feeling generally OK, but it's hard to admit that I'm not sure I have anything of value to offer just as a human, you know? 

Trying to figure out what that is... that's the subject of a LOT of my random thoughts. Is it art? Or writing? Or... just smiling at people? I don't know. I'm trying to find out, though, and in the meantime trying to be a decent human as much as I can.

02/05/2015 

The mood is upbeat. 

From an emotional standpoint I feel terrific. Physically, I'm tired as hell. I'll explain why in a moment. 

I wonder about people sometimes. Okay, that statement is not entirely truthful. I wonder about people All. The. Time. 

I'm in a people line of work. I see and speak to and correspond with people from across the spectrum of humanity. Cultures, languages, religions, social mores, and names. I especially find the names fascinating. If anyone's thought of a name, I've probably seen it before. 

While in Florida, I spoke to a fellow named Santa Nicholas Claus. No, really, that was his legal name. He'd had his name legally changed back in the early 1980's. The back story is that he changed his name as a fund raiser. In exchange for changing his name to Santa Nicholas Claus a senior center somewhere in Florida received a trust to keep it funded. 

There was a caveat, of course. He was not permitted to change his name again for a minimum of 10 years. It's almost 30 years after the fact and he didn't seem inclined to change his name back to whatever it was. You know how people 'play' Santa at Christmas time? Well, this guy wasn't 'playing' Santa. He was Santa. Imagine any positive traits associated with Santa and this guy was living them. I was supposed to be providing a service to him; instead, it felt like I received something. Just speaking with him gave me such a sense of peace and security. I'd never be able to explain why. 

Yes, Virginia, there really, really is a Santa Claus. 

Babies are cute. 

They're chubby and cuddly and fascinated by every little thing and you just want to hold them and hug them. Yes, they come with a few drawbacks, like diapers. But, overall, they just reach right through you and take hold of your heart. 

But babies aren't babies forever. 

Naming your twin sons 'Precious' and 'Charming' is cute...while they're babies. Once they start school you might just as well have named them 'Please Beat Me Up At Recess'. Some states require a waiting period for a handgun purchase. What they refer to as a 'cool-down' period. I'm convinced there should be a mandatory waiting period before the name you choose is put on the birth certificate. 

Let's face it, childbirth is no picnic. There's pain and there's medication and there are raging hormones and emotions and confusion and doubt and joy. What sounded like a really cute name an hour after birth might sound a little bizarre once the pain killers wear off. 

Just a thought. 

The Stealth House is currently on a war footing. We are at DEFCON=M. 'M' stands for Mouse. Or possibly mice. I'm not sure. I first noticed something was wrong when I discovered the packet of tortillas I had sitting on my kitchen table has bite marks. Something had chewed through the packaging and nibbled on the tortillas.

Strangely enough, the cookies, cereal, and gummy-bears were untouched. I'm not sure how I should feel about that. I mean if a rodent won't touch it, should I be eating it? I have to give Mr Mouse credit, he's limited himself to tortillas and potato bread. It's a health conscious rodent. 

I got my first look at the enemy when it ran across my bedroom floor and face-first into a black foam insulation strip I had under a disused door. It was kinda funny because it hit the foam and just kept trying to push through. I'm thinking it was expecting the dark space under the door to be a passage. Either that or it really was a blind mouse. Or a really stupid mouse. But I digress. 

I was watching this happen while propped up in bed reading a book. The second I made a noise Mr Mouse seemed to realize he was right out there in the open and scurried under the bed. 

I've been having to adjust to having the mouse. All of my bread products have been moved into a high cabinet and the cereal boxes were moved to the top of the fridge. This did not encourage Mr Mouse to move along. In fact, I keep finding mouse droppings on top of my microwave which is directly below the new bread cabinet. It's a persistent rodent. 

And now, to the reason I'm so worn out. I ate two 'cookies and cream' pop-tarts while reading in bed. I put the empty plate (with just a few crumbs on it) on the right side nightstand then dozed off. I was woken up by a scritching noise. I turned on the light, and there was Mr Mouse, vacuuming the crumbs off my plate, just a scant six inches away. 

Now, I'm not afraid of a mouse. But I really, really have no desire to have one running around on the bed while I'm sleeping. Needless to say, ever since then, every little noise is waking me up. So, the nation of Stealth House is now at war with an invading force of Mickyites.

DEFCON-M.

I have no desire to harm the mouse or mice.

I certainly will not be complaining to the landlord because landlords do stupid things; like putting out poison bait. Poisoning is effective. I'm not disputing that. The problem is when any animal is dying, it crawls into the most inaccessible place it can find then drops dead. So now you have a little corpse tucked away in a place you can't reach and cheerfully decaying away. 

You can imagine the smell. 

Another thing landlords like to do is put down glue traps. If you have a desire to find a little piece of cardboard with amputated limbs stuck to it and a nice bloody smear across your floor and, again, a little corpse in a place you will never be able to reach then a glue trap is just what you need. 

Yes, a mouse will chew off its own leg to escape. Don't doubt it. 

So. On Saturday I intend to procure and number of non-lethal traps. These are kind of neat. It's basically a rectangular box, about six inches long, with a gate on one end. You put your bait all the way back in the closed end, sit it on the floor, and raise the gate. Once Mr Mouse crawls in past the half-way point, the trap tilts and the gate closes. I've used them before, they work pretty well. I'll be taking the POW's about a mile away to the local cemetery where they will be released.

 I'm hoping this will be a very short war. 

I really need some sleep. 

Thanks for listening 

Good luck de-micing, Ct. Keep in mind that in addition to the little black pieces of "rice" they leave behind mice also pee on everything.  I had three hellish years with mice problems until I figured out they were coming in thru a hole in the screen in the door from the garage.  It was like a hotel for them--coming and going as they pleased and inviting friends and relative mice.  I know you mention not using the sticky cards but that is always my go-to de-micer.  They are quick and easily disposed of and can be placed exactly where mice travel.  I have a walk-in, floor-to-ceiling pantry in my kitchen which is always well stocked with way too much expensive foodstuffs to give away to dirty, little mice.  Once I plugged up the hole I've had no more unwanted mice visitors.