How are you doing? - Kiwi Farms Wellness Check

[Blamo2000]

I'm having this end of the year calm. I love this season because I usually can get reflective about the year and plan for the next.

I really hope to turn things around in 2024. I basically want to make up for my lost 20s, pick up a few new skills/hobbies and improve my dreadful English. I just wish I could learn stuff fast so I could get rid of my job or at least have a solid plan B so I don't need to stress as much.

 

[LonesomeDud]

I'm having this end of the year calm. I love this season because I usually can get reflective about the year and plan for the next.

I really hope to turn things around in 2024. I basically want to make up for my lost 20s, pick up a few new skills/hobbies and improve my dreadful English. I just wish I could learn stuff fast so I could get rid of my job or at least have a solid plan B so I don't need to stress as much.

You have a whole message board of English speaking friends. While there's no replacement for conversational English, it helps. I'm sure you'll get there.

 

[Magnum Magazine]

I need to figure out what clue X 4 I need to use because I don't think I am being indirect. I straight up tell him I find him attractive. I don't know if he thinks I am lying or something because he is unconventionally attractive. I actually do like him for a lot of reasons that drive me insane. If I try to tell him, he'll sort of laugh it off but won't stop doing things that clearly indicate interest to me.

Sorry for yet another reply about this, but if you are being as direct as you say and he still doesn't get it, then I wonder if either he's just socially retarded or he's trying to politely decline you.

Either way, even if it's not subtle, blatantly asking him on a date will probably make it clear.

 

[Harbinger of Kali Yuga]

I'm having this end of the year calm. I love this season because I usually can get reflective about the year and plan for the next.

I really hope to turn things around in 2024. I basically want to make up for my lost 20s, pick up a few new skills/hobbies and improve my dreadful English. I just wish I could learn stuff fast so I could get rid of my job or at least have a solid plan B so I don't need to stress as much.

Wait, English isn't your native language? You should see how the kids here talk and write. Hell, back when I was in college the other students were barely literate. America's lack of truly valuing education (America values the fame money that education can bring only) means even native speakers speak worse than many foreign people. The thing is you're focusing on every error of pronunciation or grammar that you replay in your head while kids growing up here are babbling about "skibidi wub a dubba dub duuuuuub piiiiickleeee riiiiiiccckkkkk!"

 

[AnOminous]

From you?? I am disappoint.

I'm not blaming women in general for this. We've all gotten a raw deal, just in different ways. I take a hate the game, not the player approach to it. Society is to blame.

 

[Blamo2000]

Wait, English isn't your native language?

Nope, it's not. I wouldn't mind it though.

You should see how the kids here talk and write. Hell, back when I was in college the other students were barely literate. America's lack of truly valuing education (America values the fame money that education can bring only) means even native speakers speak worse than many foreign people. The thing is you're focusing on every error of pronunciation or grammar that you replay in your head while kids growing up here are babbling about "skibidi wub a dubba dub duuuuuub piiiiickleeee riiiiiiccckkkkk!"

That's an unfortunate side effect of how kids are being reared nowadays. We have a generation where let's players, TikTok shorts and those god awful "nursery rhyme" videos are teaching kids how to speak. And they used to say that SpongeBob rotted the minds of Millenials...

Of course just because others suck that doesn't mean I shouldn't improve.

 

[alpha889boba]

I got sick for the last week, and sitting at home alone I got really lonely, more than I have felt in a long time. I had friends online I was talking too, and went back to work at the end of the week, but I haven't been able to shake the overwhelming feeling of isolation. I have friends, good relationships with my family, etc, but I just feel disconnected and like there is nothing ahead other than the motions to keep myself alive.

 

[CowPox]

I've been writing haiku and leaving it under rocks in the various places of my youth and also writing very graphic and raunchy erotic fiction and leaving it in parks and cemeteries etc.

 

[CowPox]

I've been writing haiku and leaving it under rocks in the various places of my youth and also writing very graphic and raunchy erotic fiction and leaving it in parks and cemeteries etc.

 

[Doctor John B. Zyklon]

Think I got the apartment. Dealing with these guys is a bit annoying, but if I get this place; worth it.

Making a bit of banana, brown sugar, and maybe honey, egg-nog for my new boss and his wife. I'm hoping to get more into management and I'm going to use all the plays in the playbook.

 

[Betonhaus]

Think I got the apartment. Dealing with these guys is a bit annoying, but if I get this place; worth it.

Making a bit of banana, brown sugar, and maybe honey, egg-nog for my new boss and his wife. I'm hoping to get more into management and I'm going to use all the plays in the playbook.

Make sure you pay close attention. Half the time when they give you the run around like this is because they want you distracted and not noticing dealbreakers

 

[Doctor John B. Zyklon]

Make sure you pay close attention. Half the time when they give you the run around like this is because they want you distracted and not noticing dealbreakers

Will do. I can't tell if it's a couple of guys renting multiple places or what; but they're just slow moving. They seem confused that I'd want to move in while I still have two months on my lease. They also confused my background check w/ someone elses...so you know, good sign.

 

[Friend of Dorothy Parker]

Going to a see a speaker is not a date. An event does not mean a date-worthy event.
Because it's evident I have to make it clear; no one gives a damn if you are single or not at a lecture.

Oh, fair enough. "Event" sounded like a gala or party, at least being someone's +1. Going to see a speaker could be a date, but I agree with you that it isn't necessarily and think her response was gay.

It has been something of a burden. I am having back pain that is getting progressively worse. I should go to the doctor. I know. I am not old. (Well-south of 50, in fact.) When I wake up, I cannot fully straighten my back for about 15 minutes and am stuck in a C shape. It is very unpleasant. I would rate it 4/10 pain, unignorable, and I can't immediately go running or easily get down on the floor.

My first thought is I should change my diet and increase exercise. Did both, and have given it three months. Have tried ibuprofen until it started bothering my stomach, and acetaminophen before bed does seem to help, but does not eliminate that this happens in the morning. I use cold and hot packs for the extremely minor day pain when it is "bad" (3/10) and it is 100% effective 100% of the time. It is only the morning pain. I bought a new mattress... Twice. I changed pillows a multitude of times in a number of ways, but still it continues.

I am interested in any solution that does not involve visiting a doctor or involve really far-reaching woo.

How's your posture? How's your sleep in general? How limber are you the rest of the day? Do you wake in the same position everyday?

Feel better! I've had varieties of back and shoulder pain for decades. Some was posture/lifestyle/strength imbalance that improving those things helped/helps. Some is just physiognomy - I have strong back muscles but probably asymmetric and out of balance with certain other groups. And some has turned out to be less within my sphere of influence - adhesions and bone spurs in my shoulder, some cervical disk degeneration - though ROM exercises have helped with the adhesions and with cascading effects of the pain from all of it.

Have you tried a basic hang to loosen up in the am? As in bend from your waist and hang awhile, hands and arms doing nothing - takes awhile bc you have to hang long enough that you're not secretly holding yourself up with abs or back (if there's tightness or tenderness you'll do it without knowing). Done long enough (several minutes, maybe) you'll feel some bumpy shifts that feels like what I assume it is - vertebrae separating. Also gives the muscles a break. Can feel nice to creepy to painful but usually is some relief to the tense area. Can also hang off the edge of a bed if your bed is high enough, though standing is less precarious.

I also found Voltaren to provide some relief when my shoulder/s were cry-level, can't raise my arms above 30 degrees painful - better than icy hot or Tiger Balm.

Also - a TENS device that also has EMS settings. Can't say enough good things about it.

I've been writing haiku and leaving it under rocks in the various places of my youth and also writing very graphic and raunchy erotic fiction and leaving it in parks and cemeteries etc.

Love the haiku-leaving. Hate the erotic fiction-leaving bc if I found it and picked it up I'd immediately assume someone had masturbated all over it and just left it behind by accident, and that would be a gross feeling.

 

[bliblblblbbllb]

I have to work a bajillion days in a row with no day off, and once again it's starting to change my personality. It's more than 12 on 12 off because it takes so goddamn long to open and close because we're so understaffed since the mass exodus.

I get up like 4AM, walk in the door 5:30AM, and don't get home until 7PM. Over and over.

People keep telling me I must have a "passion" and "gift" for my job and I'm just like..... how stupid are all you people? I feel like I'm doing barely pasable and I don't try that hard because if I tried hard, I think my brain would explode from these 70hr work weeks.

Spoiler: Bliblilbllii has a stupid boss

My incompetent boss (with fifteen years of experience in kitchens!!!) just says over and over, "bliblblb, I can't believe you know how to make x! I don't know how to make x! You're such a wonderful cook/baker/etc"

"'x" including such as-
- bread
- roux
- the mere words "mise en place", let alone the concept thereof
- a cornstarch slurry rather than dump in dry cornstarch
- sugar glaze
- hot chocolate
- hamburger patties
- .....instant oatmeal???

This is my first job in a kitchen which I've had for less than 6 months. My coworkers said, oh, you must watch tons of baking shows on TV then! No. I haven't seriously watched any TV in like 5 years. I'm just.... an adult??? Who owns a stove and doesn't live off ready-meals?

My family did not teach me any of those things. I just own cookbooks- he told me he doesn't own a single cookbook or have recipe cards or even save things virtually- he's totally computer-illiterate. Imagine being a cook for 15 years and not having a single recipe recorded.

So I guess in comparison, I'm just amazing at my job.....

On a positive note, someone brought in their toddlers, and the toddlers enjoyed my cooking, and it was so sweet it made my heart hurt. In general all my clients ask for my cooking now and openly discuss how I'm a good cook and the others are trash while I treat them well- which is quite the ego boost.

 

[Doctor John B. Zyklon]

In general all my clients ask for my cooking now and openly discuss how I'm a good cook and the others are trash while I treat them well- which is quite the ego boost.

I can't wait to see a bliblblblbbllb restaurant in a few years. Everyone will think the name is stupid; and it will be. But we'll know.

 

[Friend of Dorothy Parker]

I guess in comparison, I'm just amazing at my job.....

If you haven't experienced it before, you will certainly experience again in the future that people...operate a very different levels. What's obvious to you may be shocking to them...and vice-versa. This is an opportunity for you if you want it - if you like this work, apply yourself to it (development of your personal skills), rather than just adopting your boss's standards, and then after growing as much as you can and sticking around for a bit to show diligence, etc., you can seek out more elevating places to learn from people who are on or above your skill- and thought-level. If you want to, I mean. I get excited hearing anecdotes like yours because though it's baffling and probably is or will be frustrating to you to work like a dog with a boss who is mailing it in, it means you now know that you've got something that you can grow and excel at. Now, I'm going to stop planning your future in my mind, but when the 70-hour weeks kill, maybe knowing you have some great natural aptitude and potential future paths will give that added bump that makes the hours less soul-killing.

Tl; dr: hope the hours calm a bit, but in a backwards way you've gotten some really positive information. Nice work!

 

[Vibe_Guy]

I'm laying in bed smirking to myself because last week an australian IGCSE student came to pester me about the schools internet password so he could play bloons (the internet is for administration/teachers)

He made his case and even struck up a pose, I struck up a pose too and said "nuh-uh" we both laughed and he fucked off.

Context: we know eachother for about a year and have a friendly relationship with professional boundaries on my end, but he understands where I'm coming from.

 

[Betonhaus]

so he could play bloons

...is Bloons even a thing? It predates fortnight and angry birds and it is probably older then the college freshmen

 

[WTBOnlineFather]

I got sick for the last week, and sitting at home alone I got really lonely, more than I have felt in a long time. I had friends online I was talking too, and went back to work at the end of the week, but I haven't been able to shake the overwhelming feeling of isolation. I have friends, good relationships with my family, etc, but I just feel disconnected and like there is nothing ahead other than the motions to keep myself alive.

I got really bad tonsillitis last summer and had to spend almost 3 weeks in the hospital and at home on medical leave, so I wasn't allowed to go out much. At the same time all my friends were really busy with work and couldn't come visit so I ended up in what was essentially solitary isolation for 3 weeks. With every passing day I could feel myself slowly going insane. Really feel you there, it's an awful feeling.

Right now I feel really flattered after I talked to a friend-of-a-friend bass player after his new band co-headlined a concert. Told him I thought his playing was the best that night (it was), he responded by complimenting my own playing he'd heard on our demos, that it's more technical and he wishes he could play like that. There's no way he wasn't exaggerating when he said that but it made me feel much more confident about finally performing live in the near future.

 

[Vibe_Guy]

...is Bloons even a thing? It predates fortnight and angry birds and it is probably older then the college freshmen

btd6 is surprisingly common amongst kids these days, not as popular as fnaf but still played