Hard Things

[ysabetwordsmith]

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently?

Comments

[jtthomas]

Writing more than a few words a day when in the midst of a heat wave. I have some problem with the heat biologically, and have been light-headed for three full days now. Sure, the cold's even worse on my body, but at least then I can put on a parka and work inside or out as needed. Currently, I'm left unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time, which is far worse. Grr.

Alas!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That really sucks.

I have the same problem with the heat. Before we got the temporary air conditioners, we just had to leave the house for most of the day.

Re: Alas!

[jtthomas]

I did that last heat wave. Trouble is, I live in a house without /any/ air conditioning and don't drive. Whenever possible, I convince someone to drive me to the much cooler stores in the next town over, but that's only about once a week.

Winter's better for me. Sure, my sister and I both end up with blue hands, but we've gotten used to that and turn the heat up.

[technoshaman]

Slogging through the depression of most of the things in my life slowly circling the drain. Managing to get at least some done, thanks to you and several other people you've introduced me to. But damn it's hard.

(Icon: Snoopy: Curse You Red Baron (just before he has to hit the silk *again*)

Aww ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

*hugs* I'm glad we can help. I hope you feel better soon. Depression sucks like a black hole made by Microsoft.

Re: Aww ...

[technoshaman]

*snorf* if MSFT made the black hole it would crash on a regular basis and all the trapped stuff would come pouring out...

(Truthfully, Win7, and XP before it, have actually been the proverbial masonry outhouses, almost as stable as anything out of Red Hat or Debian.. but beware the even numbered versions... ME was a joke, Vista was a travesty, 8 is for shit, and 10... just no. You are NOT Big Brother ET Phoning Home on ME.)

I think I'd feel a lot better if certain politicians, both sides of the pond, met up with karma kaiju and got *et*... preferably publicly and spectacularly but I would settle for them just dropping into their own black hole, this one made to proper spec... Then at least this desperate clawing to get back into the rat race would make *sense*...

Re: Aww ...

[zeeth_kyrah]

Man, I feel you. The memory managment in Vista is CRAP. I ended up working on my mother's computer because my own is missing something in its power chain. I think the power connector burned out (rather than the external supply unit), but I don't have time or energy to crack open the case and identify the cause. Win7 works, I wish it were on this machine because she has an nVidia GPU instead of the basic Intel stuff, but I have Vista to play with.

Re: Aww ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It frustrates me that people can't leave well enough alone. They make a program, the early version is usually a bit clunky, somewhere around the second or third is often best, and after that they just pile on crap until nobody can use it anymore. >_

Re: Aww ...

[siliconshaman]

and then usually they junk it and start over, so by the second or third development cycle they have a decent product.

Microsoft have perfected the art of only keeping the bad parts...

[zeeth_kyrah]

I'm trying to finish up this walk-in incarnation properly and not leave it half-assed and end up dead two years in because I didn't fix an infection properly. With the previous soul's help we're making progress, but I still think I'm lacking good options right now.

That said, I'm getting a lot of good magical training, so sometimes suck has value.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith]

My sympathies. That's always hard.

[stardreamer]

I've spent about a week tackling the reorganization of my jewelry work area. Most of it has been yak-shaving and moving things from one location to another, but I'm finally down to the meat of the project: the Very Large Bin holding all the unsorted bead strands from the last 2 or 3 years. I'm hoping that I now actually have enough storage space to get them all sorted and filed properly!

As a side benefit of this process, I've completed several UFOs, and will be making more in anticipation of Worldcon.

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Progress is good. I wish you luck at WorldCon.

[thnidu]

Getting ALL the papers scattered around my bed (double, I only use half of it), my floor, my desk, any other formerly-available surface... sorted, filed with older stuff off the same category, or trashed, or recycled, or shredded, or put in one of a number of new folders for things that I will have to work on quite soon.

No, I somewhat misspoke. I certainly have not dealt with all the papers. I *made a start* on that job, yesterday I think, and I believe I put in a good two hours on it. With visible results. :-)

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

At least it's a start!

[siliconshaman]

Trying [and failing] to write. I think my brain is stuck in hardware mode... aka non-verbal focused on making stuff and engineering.

That and it's uncomfortably hot indoors.

Aww ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That sucks. I hope it gets better.

[mdlbear]

Made it, by the skin of my teeth, through an incredibly stressful week on call at work.

[rix_scaedu]

Recovering from a fall and realizing that I really was shaken up.

*hugs*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I hope you will be okay.

Re: *hugs*

[rix_scaedu]

I will be, it seems to be just superficial soft tissue damage, but I currently have this large interesting scab in a slightly uncomfortable place on my face.

Re: *hugs*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Large scabs can be very unpleasant, especially if they're stiff. Some possible solutions:

* Hydrogels are available either as gel or stick-on sheets. They are popular with mountain bikers for dressing very bad abrasions.

* Vitamin E cream or oil is good for softening and feeding skin in general. There are versions for first aid use, but some people are very fond of stretchmark cream for keeping scabs soft.

Re: *hugs*

[rix_scaedu]

Thank you, I have already applied some sorbelene with Vitamin E to soften the scab.

I had to keep the wound dry for 48 hours, so it just felt so good to be able to wash my face again.

Re: *hugs*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

That should work then. I'm glad you're feeling better.

Re: *hugs*

[rix_scaedu]

I think the disconcerting part was realising afterwards that my mind was a little jumbled.

Re: *hugs*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

This is common among people who have a fluent emergency mode. It takes over. Then a few minutes or days later, you realize that the inside of your head is like a house after a minor earthquake, everything slightly rearranged. 0_o

It helps to practice emotional first aid for yourself, or if you have a good support network, get people to brace you up for a little while. In particular, if you're having trouble organizing your thoughts or processing the event, any kind of sorting-stacking video game (such as Tetris) can help put your brain into "filing" mode.

Re: *hugs*

[rix_scaedu]

After I made tea when I meant to make coffee (I have bags for both) I realised that using my sewing machine might be A Bad Idea for a day or two.

Re: *hugs*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, at least you realized that.

This is a good reason why video games or simple crafts (you can't break wet clay) are helpful.

Re: *hugs*

[rix_scaedu]

And my family didn't let me climb step ladders.

I think my sister was vaguely appalled that I drove myself to the doctor after I got home from where I fell (all of five minutes from my front door.)

Re: *hugs*

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I am often appalled by the level of helplessness that is currently taught, expected, and even mandated. Sure it's nice to have someone else drive if you're not feeling well. But to be dependent on that? Not fun even if you have no other choice. I had people shocked that I was walking with a thumb-size cut on my knee, and that was decades ago. Well what was I supposed to do, sit there and cry until someone found me? It didn't impair anything, it was just messy.

Re: *hugs*

[rix_scaedu]

Later, when the thoroughly rattled thing had had time to settle in (and the roads were much busier) it probably wouldn't have been such a good idea, but I left home at quarter to seven in the morning to be at the surgery when it opened at seven. I didn't want the fuss of waking anyone else up, I just wanted to go to someone who could clean me up. The tetanus booster and checking for broken bones were also really good.

Re: *hugs*

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Probably way too late, but: old time advice was to leave a healthy scab open to air. Newer advice is that all wounds recover more quickly if kept covered. (There's a pun in there, but I'm too tired to make it today. "Scabs become modest if bandaged, and recover quickly because..." yeah, too tired.)

Here's hoping healing has proceeded quickly!

Re: *hugs*

[rix_scaedu]

Thank you. It seems to be recovering very well without further adventure.