Happy Anniversary to insomniasexx and randomuser!
I started in on a new painting. This time, from my head. We'll see where it goes. There will be trees. I'll be in Vegas for a conference over the weekend early week, then Halloween with the family, then SF next weekend. It's been a while since I've had that kind of week. I abhor Vegas, but kind of miss SF a bit, so that will be nice. I'm trying to get a colony of bats established in my yard. I don't think I'll have much luck before next spring, but as we have had some cases of mosquito-transmitted EEE nearby, I'd like a bunch of bats eating the fuckers. My wife won't let me plant a white birch because she is convinced they are magnets for disease. I'm looking for a good alternate. Suggestions? I think I'm going to get my daughter a bow and arrow.
I bought a drawing tablet! Time to enter the future, instead of drawing everything by hand, scanning copies to my computer, and having to burn hours on digital clean up in Clip Studio Art before an image might even be potentially ready to load into the design software I've been using. Let's see how this experiment progresses!
September and October have been bizarro hell-months sent by satan to lead me towards...debauchery? I don't know. I broke up with my girlfriend of three years on Monday. I don't have much to say about it right now, but I'm obviously sad and doing my best to cope. I really wish I could go for a walk or something to blow off steam, but my leg is a meat-bludgeon still. Between the leg (with the boot I have to wear to bed) and the emotions, I haven't been sleeping my best this week. Would really love to get a restful night sometime soon.
So the upside to having so much go wrong in your life all at once is that plenty of friends you haven't talked to in awhile will reach out to you! I've been spending a lot of time talking to people, going out to eat, seeing movies, playing board games, starting a new D&D campaign...just anything I can do to stay busy that doesn't require walking long distances or running. Truth be told, I'm surprised by the amount of support I've been getting. It's been really heartening, and I think it's why I'm able to cope as well as I have been!
Ah that's good to hear. Support can make all the difference huh, glad you're being well looked after! Remember the amount of people reaching out when you're having a rough time in the future, you're obviously deserving of said support and knowing you're a worthwhile person in many minds is a nice thing to hold in your head.
Less than a month till Japan - woo. Rugby World Cup has entered it's nail-biting stages. I thought NZ v Ireland would be a huge task, but we won convincingly. Onto England in the Semi-final and if we overcome them, it's either the old foe South Africa or Wales in the Final. Before the whole competition began, people were picking NZ v South Africa as the final so there's an almost inevitable feel about what will happen. Still, two matches to decide what really will eventuate. Japan have been, undoubtedly, the coolest hosts this sport has seen. Their fans have been routinely printing off the lyrics to other teams anthems, attending the matches in the outfit and singing along. They don't have to do that, they don't even have to attend but they rock up to every match and add their voices to the occasion. It's just so damn wholesome. Also, the NZ Haka got drowned out by the Irish singing Fields of Athenry which never fails to send chills down my spine: Finally got in to see a physio about this weird lower back pain I've had for a month. It's been affecting my training which affects my mental health so I'm glad I finally went in to see them. She's been great, really understanding and has a very clear plan in place. So far, I've noticed less pain on a day to day basis which is excellent. Turns out, the injury is probably not what I thought it was. I assumed I was being foolish while warming up but she thinks the culprit is my SI joint as the pain seems deeper than ever before, and I can still quite literally bend to touch my toes without any pain. As well as squat with a heavy load. Turns out I may have been exaggerating some kind of pelvic tilt in an effort to save my lower back from aggravating an old injury, then the joint took too much on board as a result of the tilt. She popped me on the table and used an ultrasound to watch my transverse abdominal muscle work which was cool. We were initially confused as she thought I may have neglected glute work and so perhaps they were the weak link, but she got me to do an isolation exercise and was expecting me to find it hard after 20 reps but I wound up getting to 55 before she made me stop, so clearly that wasn't the case. I wouldn't have minded having such an easy answer, but hey at least I'm thiccer than a snicker. TBH, I think training will take a big back seat until the New Year. I'm shifting our Dept across campus once more, then shifting things into my new place, then Japan for two and a bit weeks, as soon as I come back I properly move in and clean up the old place. Then it's Christmas! Hoping I can launch into training with a belly full of beer and Christmas ham, then set a PB by squatting Jupiter. Most of you are in the States right? Always wanted a winter Christmas, but mine have all been beach related. It's really nice but there's something magical about snow on Christmas, everyone tucked up next to the fire. Does Hubski do a Secret Santa at all? Was wondering about that - not sure if the logistics are too difficult for people to take part but I've always enjoyed sending gifts to other parts of the World.
The RWC has been amazing. I wish Japan had been able to give RSA a closer match, but the score line didn't represent how close the game actually was. Japan has put Tier 1 on notice, that it is coming for them, and coming at them hard and fast! I'd like to see England put away New Zealand. They've worked hard for it, and if they can keep their head together and just execute execute execute 80 minutes of focused rugby, they can do it. But those damn Barrett brothers are a force to be reckoned with... Sadly, I don't think Wales can beat Faf de Klerk. That guy is unreal. Wales is a solid team that gives other Tier 1 teams a very strong competitor, but they aren't a world-beating side yet. RSA is. So I could see an England vs RSA final. If it came down to that, I'd bet on RSA, but cheer for England...
I am hoping that Japan can join the Rugby Championship - SANZAAR would be insane not to want them in. So much money to be made and Japan can clearly foot it with the best of them now. I am a little nervous about England - NZ playing Barrett at 6 leads me to think they're going to try and get parity in the set-pieces. If NZ can do that, it's their match to lose as they have too much firepower out back to be contained. However, if Underhill and Curry can pressure the 9-10 axis in Smith and Mo'Unga they're in with the best shout of any team. Though if NZ do win, I'd expect them to beat either Wales or South Africa in the final - Faf de Klerk won't have the awful game he did when the two met in the first pool match, so that will be a bruising encounter but I do think NZ have finally laid their cards on the table and it's up to someone to try and counter it.
My excitement for Japan is two-fold: another culture represented at the highest levels of rugby, and a model the US can follow to build a world-class rugby program. 15 years. Japan dedicated themselves to it, and in 3 Rugby World Cup cycles they went from a joke to a semi-finalist that has earned the respect of the Tier 1 nations. After decade of the MLR in the USA, I expect we field an Eagles World Cup side every bit as exciting and competitive as Japan. Heck... with our population and the NFL talent pool to pull from, I could see the US being competitive in the next RWC, and a semifinalist in the one after that. TODAY's high school kids would have grown up with rugby in schools, pro rugby on TV, and a mature league to play in... if the sponsorship dollars start flowing in ASAP, of course. Rugby in America dies in 24 months if the big names don't start opening their wallets...
Ahh well, I can talk about it now. England did eactly what I hoped they wouldn't - Curry and Underhill dominated the breakdown and the entire team got in our faces. A deserved loss but one that stings given how ready we must have thought we were. A silver lining though, the 2007 loss entirely revamped the NZ rugby structure and mindset, the 2019 might do the same.
Just a poster at this one, but it went well and people seemed interested. That project needs to hurry up and get some results so there's substantive conversation to be had about it! They're good pets; you should do it! She is, unfortunately, so she'll be back in when I'm back home.
I appreciate the offer. Do you believe I'm living in mortal sin because I'm cohabiting with my significant other without being married? Does this one act create a permanent and unbridgeable gap between me and God? If your daughter was living with a man in a committed relationship, engaged, would you remove her from your will? Would you refuse to support her in school? Because if you dont believe those things, there isnt much to say. That's what they believe.
I believe that my beliefs are mine, and for me, and only applicable to me. I believe that you get to do you as long as you aren't harming others. no... and a "christian" who thinks the above, needs to revisit christianity. (I'm over simplifying - but seriously) oof... this is loaded... and heavy. first things first - I don't plan to pay for any of my kids' college - so there's that... but to the rest of it... on the one hand, I can speak from experience: when your child chooses something you don't agree with, it's hard, it's complicated, it hurts, and it's just hard. But also, I actively try to choose the high road, to love more than to judge - to support more than to tear down. I'm sorry man. I know it's hard for you... it's also hard for them. They're lashing out because their illusion of control and hopes for things for their daughter are vanishing or already gone. I really hope they can widen their view to understand you're both happy together... and that is a good thing.Do you believe I'm living in mortal sin because I'm cohabiting with my significant other without being married?
Does this one act create a permanent and unbridgeable gap between me and God?
If your daughter was living with a man in a committed relationship, engaged, would you remove her from your will? Would you refuse to support her in school?
Because if you dont believe those things, there isnt much to say. That's what they believe.
That's a broad sort of answer with a broad (and unhelpful) answer. It's important to recognize that humans often rely on religion in order to square their senses of justice and empathy with a world that is unjust and callous. When someone is getting up in your grille about religion, it's because you aren't aligning with their understanding of the cosmos. And in general, atheists respond to this... "interest" with antagonism: "I refuse to humor your childish insistence on the sky god". It's been my experience that a polite willingness to humor the religion of others, as well as a projected confidence in one's own "spiritual journey", tends to blunt the attack. Consider: the Christian faithful often feel confident and comfortable assailing atheists in ways they would never come at a Jew or a Muslim. I have seen devout Episcopalians be happier that their kids have found Scientology than are still "lost" to atheism. If you can find some protective "spiritual" coloration you are likely to be camouflaged from their need for proselytization.
Its meant to be a broad answer. There isn't a concise way to explain the problem. I don't have it in me to type out a novel detailing the origins of the situation. Suffice to say that there is no amount of camouflage that will make someone decide to act loving instead of antagonistic towards their own child.
You're not wrong. But you're also giving too much credo to the problem being religion. It could easily be that "religion" is just an avatar for the concept of "adopt my ways completely and unquestionably" in which case it can be dumb shit like "date an African-American" or "listen to rap" or "vote democratic" and you're right- there's no room for dissent in that case. But you benefit from determining what the problem truly is. I spent several years at loggerheads with my in-laws over a panoply of symptoms that all boiled down to "we don't like having our ways challenged by outsiders" and after all, they'd already accommodated one new husband why should they be required to accommodate another. Problems still erupt but I'd be a moron to believe they're what they're ostensibly about.
Only one way to deal with in-laws, and that's to put 'em on blast. My mother hangs around with quite a few of them. Rather than attempt to counteract their insanity you just return the favour. They turn it up to 10, you turn it up to 11. Eventually it becomes a mirror of self reflection and they can no longer see.