The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2020

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segelkatt

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... I wish I could know that I'm providing information to offset/deny being painted as a heavy-duty consumer although I'm very happy to be painted as a patriot. When I was a kid I understood that the original intent of celebrating Independence Day was to celebrate Independence Day, and I loved parades, still do, and appreciate that they are a delightful and charming way of bringing communities together :)
Independence from whom and for which people? Native Americans, Blacks, indentured servants of every stripe? Should descendants of others than the English memorialize it too? Just about every people were looked down upon by the English and their descendants when they first came here. Once they were here for a few generations and blended in with the English in looks and behavior they were accepted. Those who could not are to this day discriminated against so why should they celebrate this day that does not apply to them? People are indoctrinated with all kinds of hooey when applying for and are granted citizenship, including pledging allegiance to the US flag (what? a piece of dyed cloth? they should eliminate that part, just pledge allegiance to the republic, period) which is just one more reason I still have my original citizenship. I know several people who have changed their citizenship at least twice because they went to Canada first as it was easier to be admitted there, became Canadian citizens and eventually immigrated to the US which is what they had wanted to begin with. What kind of patriotism is that? They should also change the national anthem to "America, the Beautiful" as the current one has the melody of an English drinking song and glorifies war, a particular war, but nonetheless a war. It is also almost impossible to sing as most people screech the high notes. "America the Beautiful" can be appreciated by everyone, has a lovely melody, can be sung by anyone and discriminates against no-one. What better anthem but one that glorifies the country itself? Wouldn't need fireworks to emphasize the "rockets bursting in air" either.
 

segelkatt

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And here we go again. WWIV starting now. What the heck? The 4th was yesterday. I've got a massive headache as it is from lack of sleep past 2 days. At some point I'll need to crash but noise keeps me awake. At least Treasure and Sopdet just had a huge meal before this started.
Get some earplugs.
 

segelkatt

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I can relate to to anxiety over hearing fireworks and wish they would stop, too. There have been multiple nights this week they have been set off around here. Luckily, my kitties don't seem bothered either, although there was no large firework display with very loud booms because the city did not put on a show this year to prevent large gatherings of people.

How are you after last night?



Fireworks are banned here (for normal people use), but people drive into Wisconsin and bring them back to set off here. :( I get scared, too. It is a fear of mine that a firework would hit the house or something. Many people go to the park behind my house to set them off.

How was the rest of your night?



Firework displays and parades are very wasteful and normally just a one time show. It is interesting hearing these are not standard in other areas. It feels like in the US we are taught to consume, consume, consume.

How was your night? The fireworks stopped about 10:30 for me.



Shoot them at each other?? What type of fireworks do they use? Those people sound very special...



It was about junior high or high school I was at a large show with relatives in another state. Looking up at the sky, it was evident each time a flash illuminated the sky the massive amounts of smoke clinging in the air and drifting slowly away. It saddened and frustrated me. How can people look up look up to see beauty in them but be ignorant about the amount of pollution the shows created? Why was everyone so happy and enjoying themselves, yet here I am overwhelmed that so much pollution is being put into the air for the sole purpose to just look pretty?

There has been an air quality alert all weekend, even without the fireworks, and people were asked to limit their pollution input. Obviously, the people doing fire works don't care or are not educated about the pollution effects.




This situation is very frustrating. Hope you are able to get help for this soon.



Aw, how is Chamouti this morning?
He's doing fine, crashed out on my bed as usual.
 

segelkatt

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The fireworks stopped at 3am. I get up at 6am because of the online jobs I do so I only got 3 hours of sleep, off and on. The one thing I despise about fireworks like this is that it shakes the earth and all the disgusting cockroaches come running inside the house. I hate those things, for some reason. I'm talking the big black ones that are also called water bugs.

Boric acid will take care of those critters or anything with boric acid in it. You can also use plain Borax, but don't put it where your cats will walk thru it as it is a nerve poison. Has been used for over 300 years and still works. Critters, including cats, will walk through it, take it home on their feet, drop some in the nest where others walk etc, clean themselves and thus ingest it, poof, critter dies from nerve poisoning. Anytime I move the first thing I do in the new place is put the stuff quite liberally behind and under the fridge and stove and under the sink and lavatory. No bugs m'lady, kills ants, silverfish, roaches, earwigs and whatever else may crawl around in a house.

Same thing happened last year. So I didn't get much sleep for 2 days as they were going the night before as well. Cats are eating now, but of course Sopdet thought Id like to taste her tail lol

Got my new iphone set up. The old one I'll use to beta test new software, that way I can have an input and say about the software. I won't be using that phone for anything else anyway now so may as well use to beta test the upcoming IOS, huh?
 

MoonstoneWolf

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The boric acid won't work because the cockroaches then go right back outside where the cats are. Of course I can't even go outside to take out the trash during this time of year because as I said they come up from the ground and are literally everywhere. My shoe can only do so much. I can't sprinkle boric acid outside because again of the feral cats. My cats aren't indoors.

BTW: Downloaded the beta IOS 14. I'm not liking it. Looks childish and stupid. Not sure how much I can say since the announcement was made public to even those not beta testing. SIRI is terrible. I have her enabled on my new 11 Pro and she's improved and now she's right back to where she was when first released years ago. And now they're getting rid of chargers and headphones to their iPhones? Stupid. Hopefully my 11 Pro lasts awhile as I won't have money to be buying a wireless chargers and another bluetooth headphone. Ugh
 
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MoonstoneWolf

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Testing the new beta IOS and it accidentally called the police Ughi

Mom just gave me some Chardonnay. I'm going to be honest, I don't like the taste but in a way I like the feeling. I"m very lightweight. 3 oz knocks me out. haha I'm such a dork. Anyway, in this state of mind I'm wondering if she did this on purpose to manipulate me or just to share a glass of wine with. Alchohol doesn't make me either happy or sad,to me it just intensifies my current emotion.

Edited to add: Rest in Peace Charlie Daniels.
 
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LTS3

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I'm frustrated and frankly disappointed with how management is handling this problem employee :frustrated: The issues with the employee go back to at least last October. I think it was initially chalked up to the employee being new and still learning. But the same problems still occur now and the employee has been talked to multiple times by the supervisor and management. I'm not sure why the employee has been given multiple chances to improve performance when it's clearly not happening. Any other company would have fired such an employee after once chance. At what point is management going to say enough and get HR involved?

I had a meltdown today :paperbag: The employee was assigned to do one specific task in every area last Friday by the supervisor. I came in today to find the task not 100% done. It was more like 80% done with leftover stuff in nearly every area. I called my supervisor in near tears because now I have to spend a full day on a company holiday finishing up the task on top of doing my own work. Supervisor was so not happy that the employee did not 100% complete the assigned task on Friday :bat: The employee also worked both days on the weekend and had to have noticed the stuff that was missed and somehow it didn't occur to her to finish the task :rolleyes3: Supervisor sent a(notehr) lengthy email to the employee and copied management on it. Somehow I don't think the email will have much of an effect :ohwell:

The employee isn't a bad person, she just can't meet the job expectations :dunno:
 
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Graceful-Lily

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I wonder if it's possible that Felix and Harvey remember each other after all this time. Harvey used to play with Felix a lot when he was a kitten and today, he rolled on his back and tried to reach for Felix with his paws in a playful manner. He only does this with Felix. When Harvey and Fayola interact, there is a lot of hissing. But when Felix and Harvey interact, there is a lot of purring. But I've heard they can't remember each other... but then some say that cats have good longterm memory so I wonder which one it is.

Felix also approaches the crate often and smells up Harveys rear end. No hissing or anything. Curious faces and rubbing of chins only. :think:
 

Moz

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Stressed out about the weather forecast. Some areas have a chance of severe thunderstorms: big hail, wind gusts over 100 km/h, and conditions could even be favourable for tornadoes. Of course, I'm terrified of bad storms to the point where I used to have really vivid nightmares about tornadoes (thankfully they don't happen very much anymore). And my garden, my parents' garden, and my brother and his girlfriend's gardens could all be at risk. :cringe: I follow a lot of meteorologists, storm chasers, and weather spotters online too, and their comments on what could be in store isn't exactly helping. :rolleyes2::lol:
 

MoonstoneWolf

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I'm actually one of those people that loves thunderstorms and will go outside in it to photograph or just get soaked. I always found thunderstorms to be relaxing. At least our storms last night kept all the fireworks from going off. We seldom have tornadoes here and when one does come through St Louis it usually bypasses our neighborhood. Mom and Dad picked some prime real estate when they bought and built here in 1946. Our concern here in St Louis is the New Madrid Fault that is really 50 years overdue erupting. So that's always in the back of my mind so I totally understand the nightmares although at 64 years old it's just something I push to the back of my mind and don't think about. But lately I've been thinking about it with everything else going on around the world.

Changing topic: It's a boy. Raja, our Asian Elephant who is 27 years old and the first Asian elephant to be born at our St. Louis Zoo is now welcoming his 5 offspring and first son.

Rani's Journey | Saint Louis Zoo
 
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WillowMarie

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LTS3 LTS3 That is very stressful. Hope they figure something out or have consequences they follow through on.


Graceful-Lily Graceful-Lily How cute! My kittens display that all the time with Isabelle, haha. Isabelle will hiss at them and they will flop over looking cute like that and sometimes pawing at her. Like, no need to get upset, we just want to plaaaaay! We are nice, we swear!

Maybe they do remember each other. Either way, that is really sweet they are getting along so well. Hope Fayola and Harvey will warm up to each other. Do they seem to be fixated on each other or just hiss and loss interest?


Moz Moz Strong storms are really scary for me, too. Stay safe and keep us updated.


Life has been pretty crazy lately. My therapist weeks ago canceled right before the appointment was supposed to start because apparently my insurance claims or something weren't going through correctly. They were supposed to call me when things were sorted out to schedule another appointment, but I still haven't heard back.

One of my friends and I had a phone call scheduled. There were multiple re-schedules due to her struggling and needing time for self-care, which I understand. But on our last scheduled chat, she had forgotten about me because she had been drinking the night before with a friend. That hurt.

My friend that offered to have me garden some and pay me has not scheduled any dates. Kinda bummed because I was looking forward to it.

My mom and I have been having discussing masks and safety. The son of her elderly friend that she had an agreement he would not visit due to a potential higher risk exposure job and my mom would take care of most things has visited and been in the house multiple times without either of them talking to my mom first. My mom was fine with it because he was wearing a mask, etc. I was pissed they did not talk to my mom about it first and went above her head not caring about the boundaries my mom put in place to protect my mom and me. My mom had told me she was serious about not going over if she found out the son was because protecting and keeping her family safe was more important and her priority. I'm guessing they didn't want to mention anything because they wanted my mom to continue. It would have been different if they came to her and said, here is research about masks, the son and the friend will start wearing masks and do visits, would this be alright? No? Okay, I respect that and will take over all duties for my mom. Yes? Great, here is what the son and the friend will be doing to be as safe as possible. But instead they both lied to my mom, Like, where they hoping she'd never find out? What else are they doing and not telling her about? How can we trust them if they have not been honest after agreeing to something. My mom of course is calm about it all and still going over to help her friend despite them trampling her boundaries and hoping she wouldn't find out.

My mom and her friend also have not been wearing masks, and my mom kept giving me excuses. Her friend cannot tie her mask on because of her loss of function in her hands. UMMMM, if you or your son is there put it on for her! I cannot wear a mask when I make phone calls for my friend because everything is automated and the system would not be to understand me. Well first, has she tried this to ensure it is fact? Second, go outside and talk to the friend through the window or door while doing the phone call? She said no, she wasn't going to do that.

My brother was also coming to pick a few things up. We had talked previously with me telling her he needs to have his mask on when he comes and we should be wearing ours, since he lives in another household and we don't know if either of us have it. After a heated talk because she wasn't taking it seriously, she asked me calmly what I would like my brother to do so I feel safe, etc. Um, this isn't about making me feel safe, this is about taking precautions to protect all of us! :rolleyes: :angrywoman: I explained there is a reason masks have been mandatory here for months in businesses, etc. She responded that it is hard to social distance in stores and that is why masks are required. I explained how the molecules can stay suspended in the air for at least 7 minutes and how many places had special ventilation/air system requirements they had to meet in order to have customers inside for restaurants. I'm guessing our house systems probably were not up to code. I keep reminding her that all my friends have been wearing mask when visiting family. One of my friends even invited me to a social distancing bon fire and mentioned if we need to enter the house to use the bathroom we need to bring a mask to wear. They did this to protect their family who was in the house, etc. Why are we not taking it seriously? Everyone I know has been taking precautions and we need to, too. She finally thanked me for reexplaining things, and she understood now. But holy cow. All of this left me so emotionally exhausted, frustrated, and hurt.

I've also asked her to keep her distance from me because she had been going over to her friends without a mask after the son had visited. Sometimes she is almost breathing down my neck grabbing something close to me while I'm in the kitchen. She said she would be more mindful. This morning though she wanted to use the microwave and was within three feet of me facing me. I moved and told her she needs to let me know if she needs me to move as she was within three feet of me and needs to keep 6 ft. for now.


With feeling so down lately, I finally made a post about graduating, my honors, and the wildlife biology award I received on facebook. Figured it was time. I also mentioned if anyone would like to get me a goodie to help me celebrate they are welcome to and how gardening is the only thing keeping me sane, which is almost everything on my wishlist. A few things came already, which has helped lift me up, for a little bit at least. I'm trying to focus on the positives that people care and were cheering for me.


One of my classmate friends from community college, who now works at the college, is excited to mention me at a staff meeting as one of their success stories. :bawling2::heartshape:
 

Graceful-Lily

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I think this is good? I let everyone have a run of the house.
15941495812188581528361202202726.jpg

Edit: I decided it was best to not drag the moment out so I put him back in his cozy. They did surprisingly well which I figured since their initial reaction to each other was very positive. They smelled each other and ate some snacks and lunch together. I'm not sure where to go from here though...
 
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LTS3

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LTS3 LTS3 That is very stressful. Hope they figure something out or have consequences they follow through on.

There was a management meeting today. Guess what the big topic was? The AD doesn't see a problem with the tech not doing certain tasks as long as it's done. That's not the point. The tech has a set of expectations for her assigned area and cannot meet them. Everyone else has the exact same expectations and are able to meet them. Why can't this one tech? It's more than a full trash can with stuff spilling out or a dirty floor. The supervisor told me a few other things which I can't wrap my head around :headscratch: It sounds like the tech will just get another talking to :rolleyes3: I asked the supervisor at what point is management going to say enough and she said her hands are tied and it's up to the boss to make that decision.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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I decided to chat with a Walgreens pharmacist. She advised me to take a dose now, and that it's okay to do so "once in a great while."
If you have a smart speaker or use Siri there is a setting to let them remind you of taking your medications. I don't take medications but I am testing all these feature out because, well I'm almost 65 years old and it will seem like a day will pass before my memory won't be so good. However, right now, that early in the morning just means lack of coffee.
 

Moz

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So that storm didn't amount to much more than a bit of wind and some rain for us (not that I'm complaining).

I just found out today that someone I know well has to get tested for COVID after waking up with a fever of 104. :sigh:
 
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