# What’s your current mood?



## yaxomoxay

Mine:


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## Eric

At the moment, happy that you started a new thread in this forum to kick it off.   

In general, sort of melancholy at times over this pandemic. We haven't had food from outside of our home in 5 months and many in our rural area refuse to wear a mask as infections spike in this county so we're afraid to go anywhere. Aside from that I make the best of it, taking photos in the back yard and an occasional drive to see some daylight.


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## Alli

I’m glad I was already on antidepressants. I’d guess that prescriptions have gone way up lately. 

For the last 25 years I’ve had dinner weekly with the same couple. I’ve seen them once in the last 6 months. I can spend the early hours on the deck, but then it gets too hot and humid to stay. I’m looking forward to some cooler weather so I can at least go back to walking.


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## Eric

Yeah, we are in the same boat with our friends, haven't been able to hang out with anyone in months. What section of the country are you in? I'm in CA and we're going through a heatwave right now, supposed to be between 105 and 110 all week here but we don't have a lot of humidity so walking in the early mornings isn't too bad.


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## Alli

Eric said:


> Yeah, we are in the same boat with our friends, haven't been able to hang out with anyone in months. What section of the country are you in? I'm in CA and we're going through a heatwave right now, supposed to be between 105 and 110 all week here but we don't have a lot of humidity so walking in the early mornings isn't too bad.




Gulf coast, south Alabama. The part most people think is either Florida or Mississippi. We're in monsoon season. Mobile is the rainiest city in the country and this time of year is just miserable. Doesn't help the mood any.


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## Renzatic

My mood now is about what I've averaged throughout most of 2020.

For the most part, I'm just here, trying to chillax, wondering when the other shoe is going to drop.


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## Eric

Renzatic said:


> My mood now is about what I've averaged throughout most of 2020.
> 
> For the most part, I'm just here, trying to chillax, wondering when the other shoe is going to drop.



If what we're going through now isn't already the other shoe, we are indeed fucked.


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## Renzatic

Eric said:


> If what we're going through now isn't already the other shoe, we are indeed fucked.




Oh, I expect things to get far worse before they get better. We're only in the opening acts of this stupid little play.

Also, we can cuss? THAT IS SO RAD!


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## Alli

Renzatic said:


> Oh, I expect things to get far worse before they get better. We're only in the opening acts of this stupid little play.
> 
> Also, we can cuss? THAT IS SO RAD!




Fuck yea.


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## Renzatic

Alli said:


> Fuck yea.




I like you. You're rad too.


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## jkcerda

Renzatic said:


> I like you. You're rad too.



thought you loved me....


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## Renzatic

jkcerda said:


> thought you loved me....




As a friend.

...sometimes.


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## Scepticalscribe

Since I no longer dwell in the groves of academe, (nor watch TV) I am neither acquainted with, nor up to speed on, much of what passes for current slang.

What does "rad" mean in the context of this discussion - (apart from something that I assume is positive)?


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## Scepticalscribe

Terrific idea for a thread, somewhat akin to, or similar to, @Gutwrench's genuinely lovely and warm "what's on your mind?" thread over at MR.


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## Scepticalscribe

I had posted this elsewhere, but this - more meditative - and thoughtful - thread seems more appropriate.  

We - @Alli - had quoted from it - had been discussing the play/musical "Hamilton" and, I love plays, the theatre, and have never managed to see this superb production yet (and - if and when the world thinks to try to return to something ever so vague resembling normalcy, this is a play I would love to see, performed live, in a real, genuine, authentic, honest-to-God theatre, with a stage, actors, music, and a live audience.  

Someday, someday....

As someone you (most, if not all of you) know, I have worked in some of the most dysfunctional laces on the planet. 

That experience has given me a whole new, entirely fresh appreciation of some of the more agreeable aspects of our more mundane existence in the First World: Coffee shops, museums, theatres, pubs, bars, restaurants,book-shops, art galleries, concerts, just being able to sit and read a newspaper while sipping a cup of coffee. 

Bliss. 

Any lingering shades of silly, self-indulgent cynicism, that cultural jaded palate of the perennially tired teen, (and the university world prizes, promotes, encourages that sort of teen mindset, - eceb among, indeed, sometimes, especially among, the academic staff - well, as long as it is comes with an enquiring mind, and a reasonably hard-working ethos) disappeared or dissipated when I was faced with the world as endured by those who have survived war, civil war, all kinds of strife, destruction, dysfunction, challenges & - very often stratospheric corruption of a deeply depressing nature. 

So, I developed a fresh - and real - appreciation of the small - almost mundane - but profoundly pleasant and civilised - pleasures of our world, small pleasures now mostly suspended, or in (hopefully temporary) abeyance, as a result of Covid-19.


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## Alli

Scepticalscribe said:


> What does "rad" mean in the context of this discussion - (apart from something that I assume is positive)?




It’s slightly better than sick.


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## Eric

Alli said:


> It’s slightly better than sick.



Also goes well with bitchin'


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## Scepticalscribe

Alli said:


> It’s slightly better than sick.





Eric said:


> Also goes well with bitchin'




Thank you, both; much appreciated.

Once upon a time, I taught university students, and they took no small pride in dutifully keeping me up-to-date with the argot of the young.

Urban Dictionary informs me (and I am utterly unable to break with the studious habits of a researcher that governed the life of the academic I once was, and the historian I still am) that "rad" is an even more pronounced and emphatic expression for those for whom "cool" and "awesome" (both perfectly good terms) no longer suffice.


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## Alli

Scepticalscribe said:


> Once upon time, I taught students, and they took no small pride in dutifully keeping me up-to-date with the argot of the young.




I think that’s the thing I miss most about teaching high school. They took delight in helping me try to stay relevant.


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## Scepticalscribe

Alli said:


> I think that’s the thing I miss most about teaching high school. They took delight in helping me try to stay relevant.




I remember the explanations - crisp, meticulous and precise - ("US prison slang meaning homosexual rape") for the verb "shafted" that my male students offered me.

Actually, they were genuinely delighted - as you have said, @Alli - to be in a position where they could enlighten me on such matters: Now, I knew what was understood by the term in the context of a political discussion where the meaning seemed to cover the concept of back-stabbing, but, one day in class, I had idly wondered what the etymology, or the linguistic history, of the verb was.

"Wanker" (which I subsequently had to explain the meaning of to my mother - my brother stared at the table and pretended he hadn't heard her question, as she wonders what this term we had used to describe a politician we both loathed actually meant) was another expression which came up in class.

Yes, I also loved teaching; at its best, it was great fun, - the job satisfaction was off the scale - and I learned a lot, too.


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## Thomas Veil

One term my kids taught me when they were teenagers was "wigger". I won't explain it in full, but I think you can figure out that it's a condensation of "white _______".

I remember being both amused and appalled. Appalled because of its racist origin, amused because it seemed pretty accurate--white kids trying to be black.


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## yaxomoxay

Thomas Veil said:


> One term my kids taught me when they were teenagers was "wigger". I won't explain it in full, but I think you can figure out that it's a condensation of "white _______".
> 
> I remember being both amused and appalled. Appalled because of its racist origin, amused because it seemed pretty accurate--white kids trying to be black.




never heard it, but it’s incredibly amusing how new words pop up


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## Renzatic

Thomas Veil said:


> I remember being both amused and appalled. Appalled because of its racist origin, amused because it seemed pretty accurate--white kids trying to be black.




It's amazing thinking of the random things we used to say and do back then that absolutely would not fly in this day and age.

For example, I recently got on this 80's movie kick here about a year ago. Some of the things they say and do in, say, The Breakfast Club, would send your average Gen Z kid into an apoplectic fit. It's strange, experiencing all these old cultural norms that don't really bother me at all personally, but also being distinctly aware of how they could bother others now.


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## Alli

I still say “groovy,” and I very much overuse the word “dude.” I find that “dude” is almost as good as “fuck” for having multiple uses. Both can be nouns or interjections. “Fuck,” of course, is still the world’s most versatile word which can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and interjection. Pretty impressive really.


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## Renzatic

Dude? Dude. Duuuuuddddeee. Dude!


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## Alli

Renzatic said:


> Dude? Dude. Duuuuuddddeee. Dude!




See? It just works, dude! And you can get away with saying dude when what you’re thinking is “jackass.” Just sayin.


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## Scepticalscribe

Renzatic said:


> It's amazing thinking of the random things we used to say and do back then that absolutely would not fly in this day and age.
> 
> For example, I recently got on this 80's movie kick here about a year ago. Some of the things they say and do in, say, The Breakfast Club, would send your average Gen Z kid into an apoplectic fit. It's strange, experiencing all these old cultural norms that don't really bother me at all personally, but also being distinctly aware of how they could bother others now.




I suspect that they wouldn't have bothered you then, possibly because you wouldn't have been the target, or recipient of such attitudes & and expressions; white middle class males weren't the target.  

However, I think others did dislike them - even at the time - but felt either that this was a battle that they couldn't fight/win, (not without considerable cost), or that they would have learn to live with it, and grin & bear it with gritted teeth.

Recently, I read a interview (pretty sure it was in the Guardian) with the actor who played the girl who was under detention, in which she said that - while she was too young to have understood it at the time - she was treated in an extraordinarily sexually exploitative way during the making of the movie. 

(Which, by the way, I - ardent leftie feminist social democrat that I am - thought a good movie with a superb soundtrack in the 80s).


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## yaxomoxay

Renzatic said:


> Dude? Dude. Duuuuuddddeee. Dude!




dude!


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## Alli

yaxomoxay said:


> dude!




Dude?


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## yaxomoxay

Alli said:


> Dude?




dude. A classic among the classics:


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## Alli

yaxomoxay said:


> dude. A classic among the classics:




And they were so young! Who knew they’d both turn out to be fine actors and honorable men.


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## Yoused

Alli said:


> Dude?





​


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## yaxomoxay

Current mood is... pride.
Kid is now officially enlisted in the US Marine Cops. He’s expected to leave for boot camp in 3 months, but he might also leave with almost zero notice.


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## Scepticalscribe

yaxomoxay said:


> Current mood is... pride.
> Kid is now officially enlisted in the US Marine Cops. He’s expected to leave for boot camp in 3 months, but he might also leave with almost zero notice.



 Congratulations; I can well imagine your pride.

What are his chances of receiving a commission?

Just had a chat of an hour & a half with my brother.


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## Renzatic

You said:


> The Dude Abides


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## Alli

yaxomoxay said:


> Current mood is... pride.
> Kid is now officially enlisted in the US Marine Cops. He’s expected to leave for boot camp in 3 months, but he might also leave with almost zero notice.




That's fantastic! Some of my favorite people were jarheads. It will provide him an exciting life, and great exposure to so many wonderful experiences. I'd be proud too.


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## lizkat

Eric said:


> Also goes well with bitchin'




Wasn't that one in vogue around the same time as  'Boss!'  ?


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## Renzatic

Scepticalscribe said:


> What does "rad" mean in the context of this discussion - (apart from something that I assume is positive)?




I somehow missed your question.

I'm saying she's rad, short for radical, analogous to "cool", and/or "totes the GOAT."


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## Renzatic

lizkat said:


> Wasn't that one in vogue around the same time as  'Boss!'  ?




That's so phat.


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## lizkat

yaxomoxay said:


> Current mood is... pride.
> Kid is now officially enlisted in the US Marine Cops. He’s expected to leave for boot camp in 3 months, but he might also leave with almost zero notice.




I am happy for you and know he'll make lifetime friends out that of that experience.

One of the most memorable parties I ever threw was one for the return from Marine boot camp of a younger brother of a college roommate when I'd been out of school for a couple years. 

I  remember we tried to curry favor in advance with an elderly downstairs neighbor by inviting her up to partake of some of the food we had cooked, before the party actually got going...  and some of the good wine...  which she did, and she was appreciative and of course wished the guest of honor well. 

But later on, like when guys were hanging off the fire escape at a few levels and singing the Star Spangled Banner and some other less restrained anthems, she knocked on the door a few times and was reassured we'd tone it down some but she did finally call the cops. 

So when they showed up, of course we invited them in for a few brews and some pasta, so they took their hats off which back in the day was like going off duty, right...  and they had a few and then reported to the old lady downstairs that they were going back to the station house "for backup" and that everything would be taken care of. 

 Heh.  Right, so it was truly grand when half the patrol force stopped in later with a couple more cases of Ballantine Ale and some pizzas as well.   The party went on until around 4am.   Next day I was kinda wondering what the old lady would have to say,  but she was actually half-apologetic and said something like "My dear, it was a bit noisy and so I did finally complain but didn't think they would send so many officers up there to bother you."    If I'd known that was going to be her reaction I would have invited her back up to party on with us all.


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## Renzatic

I want free pizza.


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## Alli

Renzatic said:


> I want free pizza.




Works for me. I just want someone else to make the decision as to what to have.


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## Renzatic

Alli said:


> Works for me. I just want someone else to make the decision as to what to have.




I can do that too.

Supreme pizza. All the way.


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## Alli

Renzatic said:


> I can do that too.
> 
> Supreme pizza. All the way.




Ok. I can just pick off the stuff I won’t eat.


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## Renzatic

Alli said:


> Ok. I can just pick off the stuff I won’t eat.




Hey, I'm willing to sacrifice some toppings to make for a better fed board. Tell me what you don't like, and I won't order it.


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## lizkat

Y'all just stop.  Where I live I can get Instacart to deliver groceries but nobody will bring takeout food this far out of the towns.   I've been making fake pizzas out of pitas with assorted toppings.   They're ok but they're fake fake fake...  and I can hardly wait for late September when (in theory, and barring coronavirus upticks) a pal and I are taking our mad money and face masks and venturing out of the boondocks for some not-home-cooking for the first time since the February thaw last winter.


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## Renzatic

lizkat said:


> Y'all just stop.  Where I live I can get Instacart to deliver groceries but nobody will bring takeout food this far out of the towns.   I've been making fake pizzas out of pitas with assorted toppings.   They're ok but they're fake fake fake...  and I can hardly wait for late September when (in theory, and barring coronavirus upticks) a pal and I are taking our mad money and face masks and venturing out of the boondocks for some not-home-cooking for the first time since the February thaw last winter.




You could try to meet the delivery driver right at the edge of their delivery radius. We used to do that all the time when I worked at Domino's way back when. 

And if you're still worried about contracting the virus, you could conduct the whole thing like a hostage situation, instructing the driver from a distance, telling to leave the pizza next to the road, and that their tip is under the rock just to the right of the nearest mailbox.


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## lizkat

Renzatic said:


> You could try to meet the delivery driver right at the edge of their delivery radius. We used to do that all the time when I worked at Domino's way back when.
> 
> And if you're still worried about contracting the virus, you could conduct the whole thing like a hostage situation, instructing the driver from a distance, telling to leave the pizza next to the road, and that their tip is under the rock just to the right of the nearest mailbox.




Sounds like a plan... although I'm without a car now so everything is by remote arrangement with a third party for stuff like that.   My bro and I have been doing drops like we're in the CIA or something when we swap my check to him for cash that he gets at an ATM for me so I can pay the guy who mows my lawn.    I leave the check in my recycle box on the porch and then an envelope with cash in it mysteriously appears there at some point.   One of these days we might actually catch sight of each other again, who knows.


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## Alli

Renzatic said:


> Hey, I'm willing to sacrifice some toppings to make for a better fed board. Tell me what you don't like, and I won't order it.




That’s very kind of you, but since I’m a vegetarian, you’re probably better off if I just pick off the stuff I don’t eat. I’m not overly fond of bell peppers or olives either.



lizkat said:


> Y'all just stop.  Where I live I can get Instacart to deliver groceries but nobody will bring takeout food this far out of the towns.   I've been making fake pizzas out of pitas with assorted toppings.   They're ok but they're fake fake fake...  and I can hardly wait for late September when (in theory, and barring coronavirus upticks) a pal and I are taking our mad money and face masks and venturing out of the boondocks for some not-home-cooking for the first time since the February thaw last winter.




You sound like me when my mother and daughter start talking about their trips to Trader Joe’s and what they’ve gotten. We don’t have one here and it’s soooooo disappointing!


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## lizkat

Alli said:


> You sound like me when my mother and daughter start talking about their trips to Trader Joe’s and what they’ve gotten. We don’t have one here and it’s soooooo disappointing!




Same here only it's my sister and her daughter.  I have to forward my Trader Joe (and Wegman's) cravings to them up in the Ithaca area,  or else take a list with me when I go so we can build a shopping trip into our time together.     There's also a Wegman's around 60 miles west of here but that always seemed a bit far to go just for groceries.    What there isn't right here that I do need from Ithaca or Syracuse is stuff from Asian markets. We frequent a place called Win Li that serves Ithaca area.  It's not NYC or Syr and definitely not rock bottom prices even for Ithaca options, but friendly service and when the produce truck from NYC has just arrived, it's heaven.  And if one is short on Buddhist readings, well there's an enlightening selection at no charge.  Great bags of baby bok choi and other greens...  I take a cooler to my sister's house, we make a trip to Win Li and come back to divvy up the fresh and some frozen things as well, stashing the frozen items in her freezer until time to head home. 

Or at least that's how it worked before this blasted coronavirus.   I expect it will sort out eventually.   Meanwhile BJ's nor Aldi carrry bok choi for Instacart to re-up my supply...  so I get all blasphemous  once in awhile, reeling off a doctored bit of the Apostle's Creed, the original of which says that I live in hope of the resurrection: these days I live in hope of fresh bok choi in my soup plate once again before (or after?) I die, but for now it's just some mixed spring greens landing in that plate.


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## Thomas Veil

yaxomoxay said:


> dude!



That's another one. Again, when my kids were young was the first time I'd heard that. Up until then I thought that word applied only to clueless city slickers trying to act like cowboys. You know, like a dude ranch.



Alli said:


> Works for me. I just want someone else to make the decision as to what to have.



You do that, you end up with anchovies. 



Renzatic said:


> ...Supreme pizza. All the way.



*So* bad for you. But *so* good.


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## lizkat

Alli said:


> Works for me. I just want someone else to make the decision as to what to have.





Thomas Veil said:


> You do that, you end up with anchovies.




Well if it's up to @Scepticalscribe ...


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## Alli

Thomas Veil said:


> You do that, you end up with anchovies.




They’re not that bad.


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## lizkat

Alli said:


> They’re not that bad.




They're great when you need them and a puzzlement as leftovers.   Anchovy paste my usual go-to but of course not for pizza.


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## Scepticalscribe

Anyone condemning anchovies?

They are wonderful. 

I have been know to attack the contents of tins of anchovies, while mulling over what to cook.

And they supply a brilliant umami taste note when melted, or dissolved, in olive oil at the outset of preparing almost any pasta sauce, - not necessarily solely with tomatoes - or seafood soup/broth/stew. 

Anchovies are up there along with lemons, & garlic, as something I consider, or regard, as food for and from the gods.


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## lizkat

Scepticalscribe said:


> Anyone condemning anchovies?
> 
> They are wonderful.
> 
> I have been know to attack the contents of tins of anchovies, while mulling over what to cook.
> 
> And they supply a brilliant umami taste note when melt, or dissolved, in olive oil at the outset of preparing almost any pasta sauce, or seafood soup/broth/stew.
> 
> Anchovies are up there along with lemons, & garlic, as something I consider, or regard, as food for and from the gods.




I know, I know...  it's just sometimes I would like to have a very very very tiny little tin of them.  Two fish.


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## Scepticalscribe

lizkat said:


> I know, I know...  it's just sometimes I would like to have a very very very tiny little tin of them.  Two fish.



If you want (need) to ration yourself, or your consumption, (and I do empathise on the temptation) try the small jars, rather tha the tins.  

Ortiz produce both tins and jars of anchovies.


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## lizkat

Scepticalscribe said:


> If you want (need) to ration yourself, or your consumption, (and I do empathise on the temptation) try the small jars, rather tha the tins.
> 
> Ortiz produce both tins and jars of anchovies.




Yah I long ago had a tiny sample jar of honey mustard with a nice lid that I kept to contain desirable leftovers like some anchovies or four olives or whatever.    I'd still like a half-size tin of anchovies though, so there would be nothing left to keep track of for once.    But it sounds like you may not have that problem.


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## Scepticalscribe

lizkat said:


> Yah I long ago had a tiny sample jar of honey mustard with a nice lid that I kept to contain desirable leftovers like some anchovies or four olives or whatever.    I'd still like a half-size tin of anchovies though, so there would be nothing left to keep track of for once.    But it sounds like you may not have that problem.




The jars are more expensive (than the tins), but also more useful, in that one need merely extract (remove) the number of anchovies that one wants, or needs, on whatever occasion they are required, rather than being obliged to consume the entire tin at one sitting (or a single session with pots and/or pans)....


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## lizkat

My mood this afternoon, bittersweet to go with that steady shift of summer towards its end.  Today had the same general appearance of the morning as yesterday but the breeze is tinged with enough northwest in it to make 72ºF feel like might need a sweater. 

The calls of summer-only birds in my yard are not what they were even last week, and of course it's ever more tempting --by a couple more minutes per day--  to tweak what I mean by "rising with the light" towards the idea of actually waiting for the sun to show up on the job before I roll out of bed.   But I know that soon enough it would mean I'd still be lazing around upstairs when half my usual morning had gone past me.

Not really looking forward to the natural aspects of November (although the political season is an entirely different story in my books).    As far as morning light goes,  I'm already eager to fast-forward past the winter solstice and holidays to late January when rising with earlier daylight is a joy again.

Well the best mood changer for me is either a walk or a book or a bit of music, so that library ebook that will self-destruct in a couple days now is next up for me.


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## Alli

I’m in a wonderful mood today. My data analysis ran properly - finally. And it was relatively easy to interpret and write up. Next week is the final week of the term and then I get a whole week off before the next two classes start.


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## DT

I'm one of the jolliest assholes this side of the nuthouse!


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## Eric

D_T said:


> I'm one of the jolliest assholes this side of the nuthouse!



You should know your avatar prompted me to get Hulu so I can get back to watching unlimited episodes of Futurama, I miss being called a meatbag and all those threats from Omicron Persei 8.


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## Scepticalscribe

My mother would have been 90 today, had she lived.  

I'll raise a glass of Something Nice to her this evening.


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## yaxomoxay

Just received a call telling me that a friend (not close, but a friend) is seriously injured. Car accident.


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## Alli

yaxomoxay said:


> Just received a call telling me that a friend (not close, but a friend) is seriously injured. Car accident.




I’m sorry to hear that.


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## Scepticalscribe

yaxomoxay said:


> Just received a call telling me that a friend (not close, but a friend) is seriously injured. Car accident.




Very sorry to learn that.


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## Gutwrench

Mad at the world.  I hate everyone.


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## DT

WTF is there LOVE and LOVELY, where's my laughing reaction ... >!>!>!


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## lizkat

D_T said:


> WTF is there LOVE and LOVELY, where's my laughing reaction ... >!>!>!




It's baaaaaack....   else there was gonna be mayhem.


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## yaxomoxay

I am quite bored of my online presence, in general. I have been on the internet since 1993 (and BBS's since 1988), and I think I am at a breaking point to be honest. I just can't really stand the online world that much. I already cut my social media (FB, IG, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) presence to almost 0 hours a week, I often even forget they exist now. I might go "Amish" soon.

On the other hand, I took up woodworking. I am working on very easy projects for now, and I am learning the best way to paint, or do finish work on wood. I am still a very early beginner, but boy, is that relaxing!


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## Scepticalscribe

yaxomoxay said:


> I am quite bored of my online presence, in general. I have been on the internet since 1993 (and BBS's since 1988), and I think I am at a breaking point to be honest. I just can't really stand the online world that much. I already cut my social media (FB, IG, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) presence to almost 0 hours a week, I often even forget they exist now. I might go "Amish" soon.
> 
> On the other hand, I took up woodworking. I am working on very easy projects for now, and I am learning the best way to paint, or do finish work on wood. I am still a very early beginner, but boy, is that relaxing!




Wonderful.

What woods (I love wood, and go weak at the knees when walnut wood puts in an appearance anywhere) do you particularly like to work with?


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## yaxomoxay

Scepticalscribe said:


> Wonderful.
> 
> What woods (I love wood, and go weak at the knees when walnut wood puts in an appearance anywhere) do you particularly like to work with?




As of this moment I am working with whatever is cheap (pine etc.), I am in no rush to go to expensive stuff for now.
My first "serious" project will be a shoe box, two levels, with the idea of 3 pairs of shoes per level, with four small vents in the back, and top that can be opened and closed (w/ hinges). It should be easy enough but not that easy.


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## lizkat

yaxomoxay said:


> I am quite bored of my online presence, in general. I have been on the internet since 1993 (and BBS's since 1988), and I think I am at a breaking point to be honest. I just can't really stand the online world that much. I already cut my social media (FB, IG, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) presence to almost 0 hours a week, I often even forget they exist now. I might go "Amish" soon.
> 
> On the other hand, I took up woodworking. I am working on very easy projects for now, and I am learning the best way to paint, or do finish work on wood. I am still a very early beginner, but boy, is that relaxing!




Lots of us including myself would be very unhappy if you disappeared altogether from sites like this, even if you only hung out in the non political threads...    but it's great that you've taken up woodworking.   May it give you years of joy amid those inevitable wtf moments any craft is only too happy to deliver!

My granddad was a banker, but once he took that hat off it was all about his gardens and yep, woodworking.   In winters especially, his cellar workshop was where he could be found on weekends,  from after lunch until grandma walked over to a spot in the kitchen that was approximately over his lathe down there, and stomped on the floor a few times to let him know dinner was about to be served. 

Weeknights in summer as the evening wore on,  he'd join us grandkids sometimes on the back porch for a few rounds of some card game and a dish of ice cream, but again in winter it was hard to pry him away from his projects.   He made me a library table and refinished a cherry dining table that was a decrepit ol' thing when he bought it at an estate sale.  "There are antiques," he said, loading the thing into his station wagon, "and then there's decent wood just too long punished."

He was incorrigible about tracking down pieces of walnut, cherry, tiger maple.... My grandma had to keep him from more than just speculating about what kind of fine lumber might be stacked up in old barns as we drove past them on Sunday cruises around the county back then.  "Keep your eye on the road dear" usually meant we were coming up again on some barn he'd scoped out in the past and was now thinking to locate the owner's driveway...

He had that streak of perfectionism in him that Steve Jobs had mentioned was evident in the fine carpentry of his dad, Paul Jobs.   My granddad always finished the undersides of tables, the backs of cabinets and even the backs of desk drawers.  _ "I'd always be thinking about what it would be like to have someone notice I took the shortcut..."_


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## Alli

yaxomoxay said:


> I am quite bored of my online presence, in general. I have been on the internet since 1993 (and BBS's since 1988), and I think I am at a breaking point to be honest. I just can't really stand the online world that much. I already cut my social media (FB, IG, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) presence to almost 0 hours a week, I often even forget they exist now. I might go "Amish" soon.
> 
> On the other hand, I took up woodworking. I am working on very easy projects for now, and I am learning the best way to paint, or do finish work on wood. I am still a very early beginner, but boy, is that relaxing!




Amish to woodworking. Yup. That sounds about right.

Can’t wait to see what you create!


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## lizkat

Gratitude at being reminded we're capable of uplifting each other with a loving spirit.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1348671536954273793/


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## Thomas Veil

Awwww!

The kids driving that little car is the icing on the cake, no pun intended.

They drive it the way_ I_ drive on the way home from a wedding reception.


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## Huntn

A combination of hopeful for the US, while wondering what the point of life is. No I’m not depressed.


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## lizkat

I'm happy the Dems finally have the committee chair slots in the Senate.  Durbin takes the gavel from Graham in the Judiciary Committee.


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## Thomas Veil

> What’s your current mood?​



Here’s another topic that hasn’t seen any action in a few weeks. 

My mood? Well, I consulted my mood ring and it’s blue-green. Supposedly that means I’m contented.

Darn thing must be busted, because I’m due at work in a couple of hours.


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## Scepticalscribe

lizkat said:


> I'm happy the Dems finally have the committee chair slots in the Senate.  Durbin takes the gavel from Graham in the Judiciary Committee.




Amen to that.


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## Thomas Veil

Every time I turn on the news and there’s video of Biden and his people in the White House having intelligent, big boy discussions about intelligent, big boy issues, I feel a combination of elation and relief.


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## Clix Pix

My mood?  Pleasantly optimistic.  Things are fine here at home and there is hope that with the vaccine that people will be able to do more this coming Spring, or surely by summertime.    The sun is shining here this afternoon and that always makes me happy, and the snow is nearly all melted off my car and on the ground around it, which will be nice when I go out tomorrow to run a couple of errands.


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## Edd

Relief, as I’m off until next Friday (not tomorrow). Skied today and will at least 4 additional days until I return to work.


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## Scepticalscribe

Thomas Veil said:


> Every time I turn on the news and there’s video of Biden and his people in the White House having intelligent, big boy discussions about intelligent, big boy issues, I feel a combination of elation and relief.




It is such a relief, (yes, an almost pathetic relief), and a pleasure to have competent, decent, dignified, ethical, experienced, mature, measured and responsible adults in charge, isn't it?


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## Thomas Veil

Clix Pix said:


> My mood?  Pleasantly optimistic.  Things are fine here at home and there is hope that with the vaccine that people will be able to do more this coming Spring, or surely by summertime.    The sun is shining here this afternoon and that always makes me happy, and the snow is nearly all melted off my car and on the ground around it, which will be nice when I go out tomorrow to run a couple of errands.



Much the same. 

That dreaded 2020 is behind us, Trump is gone from the White House, the vaccine will get into our arms sooner or later, winter is half way over...those alone are reasons enough to feel optimistic.

And as I remind my wife now and then, we're luckier than many people in America right now. I fall under the category of essential worker, I'm still working, I'm still making money, our house is paid for, we're still healthy, and really, we want for nothing. 

Hard to bitch much about not being able to eat in restaurants or having to wear a mask.


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## Yoused

Raisins (the "golden" ones). Currants are just not cutting it for me right now.


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## lizkat

Yoused said:


> Raisins (the "golden" ones). Currants are just not cutting it for me right now.




Currants...  the ones I usually get have a great cookie recipe on the box...  now i want some! 

So my mood is...  determined to change the subject.

I'm still celebrating gavels of Senate committee chairs changing parties.


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## Yoused

lizkat said:


> I'm still celebrating gavels of Senate committee chairs changing parties.



I am hoping for


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