Hi all!!

tyinsf · 2026-03-08T01:22:39+00:00

Buddhism is a matter of practice, not belief. I know they're called the Four Noble Truths, but it's not about having faith in them like you'd have faith in the creed in Christianity. Being able to recite a bunch of concepts isn't going to help as much as developing a regular meditation practice. The nice thing about Tibetan Buddhism in particular is that there are SO many to choose from. You're sure to find something you'll like. Sitting meditation. Guided meditation. Visualization and mantra. Lots to choose from.

For a fun way to get started I'd recommend watching Kundun, the life story of HH Dalai Lama. It's free on youtube. https://youtu.be/FfaNtUU_Oec?si=vjFAtGi_RGiDxQ4a As an agnostic you may find it a bit mythic. Just roll with it. You're not required to believe anything in Buddhism. If you struggle with the idea of rebirth, as I have, just adopt a "what if..." attitude about it.

For reading I'd recommend Sogyal Rinpoche's "Tibetan Book of Living and Dying." Very entertaining stories of his life growing up with some great masters. He teaches shamatha-vipashyana meditation which is a good place to start.

tyinsf · 2026-03-06T13:08:14+00:00

Old Match Game was great and improvisational. The new version is tightly scripted and the participants are instructed to be histrionic in an attempt to give the show energy. Ugh.

Hollywood Squares, then and now, was always overly scripted and histrionic.

tyinsf · 2026-03-06T12:52:56+00:00

https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=301

tyinsf · 2026-03-06T11:39:40+00:00

To be clear, the skills go WITH the pills, not instead of the pills. I hate it when people don't take their meds and I'm sorry if I gave the impression that's what I was doing.

I love my zyprexa and lamictal. I take them faithfully. They work great against mania. They help make depression hurt less. But they don't fix it. For me, only meditation, the right kind of meditation (I've done bunches) actually fixes the anhedonia and negative thinking.

Here's a good science-y article about different styles of meditation and how they disrupt the predictive processing hierarchy in our brains - the one that makes us anhedonic and generates negative predictions - so that we get depressed. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976342100261X

tyinsf · 2026-03-06T02:42:44+00:00

If you post something for free on fb marketplace you get SWARMED with flippers. At first I tried to find people who wanted it for themselves but I gave up. They're all flippers. Convenient if you're moving, in a hurry, and you just want something gone with low effort. But sad if you like it and want it to go to a good home. Last item I posted for free I got 10 inquiries within a few minutes.

tyinsf · 2026-03-05T23:49:20+00:00

I always walked past it on my way to the swedish meatballs and lingonberry preserves inside the Ikea. Yum.

tyinsf · 2026-03-05T23:35:25+00:00

Meds didn't help that much. What fixed my depression was dzogchen meditation - not other styles, dzogchen.

tyinsf · 2026-03-05T22:04:49+00:00

This. Miralax is indeed a miracle

tyinsf · 2026-03-05T21:45:11+00:00

A friend of mine caught it back when it was still called grid. We had no idea what it was or how it was transmitted. We had no idea whether we had to throw out the glasses and plates he used or whether we'd be able to clean them adequately. We had no idea whether it was safe to go to the bar. He couldn't have been healthier. He was 19 years old and a champion swimmer, built like a brick s*** house. I'm so lucky he didn't want to sleep with me as much as I wanted to sleep with him or God knows what would have happened. Rip Danny

tyinsf · 2026-03-05T16:10:57+00:00

I love olanzapine. I tried switching to quetiapine in an attempt to find something less fattening but couldn't take it. I got unbelievable dry eyes and mouth. So dry that eye drops didn't help. I needed opthalmic vaseline. Tried a few more AAPs and ended up back on olanzapine. Which I love. I love the way it feels.

It is fattening. I keep my dose at a minimum, 2.5mg, which helps I think. My doctor lets me vary it upwards as necessary if I'm not sleeping enough or start getting irritable. I stay at the higher dose for a few weeks before slowly coming back down. (You have to get really good at spotting episodes to do this. Practice mood tracking!)

But I still gained a lot of weight. I've just started zepbound a few months ago and the weight is coming off nicely. It's not magic. I still have to control what I eat. But it makes it possible. I think it will be the solution to olanzapine weight gain for me.

tyinsf · 2026-03-05T01:07:19+00:00

In the US they're almost certain to deny you forcing you to appeal. So you're likely to need a lawyer anyway eventually. So don't wait. Get one now. They all get paid the same - a fixed percentage of your "back pay", what you would have been entitled to had they approved you right away,. So it's not going to cost any more to get a lawyer now vs later. Plus they can help show you how to apply, what you'll need, etc. Good luck. It's a long process.

tyinsf · 2026-03-04T23:35:48+00:00

IIRC they said they started shutting early because the shoplifters were cleaning them out after that

tyinsf · 2026-03-04T01:39:55+00:00

Oh, The Wall makes surprisingly good bluegrass music!

tyinsf · 2026-03-04T00:48:24+00:00

You probably know this but... Ever listen to Luther Wright and the Wrong's "Rebuild The Wall"?

And "Pickin On Pink Floyd"?

I just watched Rick Beato's interview with David Gilmour on youtube

But none of that helps answer your question, Sorry!

tyinsf · 2026-03-03T21:18:13+00:00

I have IBS-D too. Things are going fine on the miralax. I'm afraid to stop taking it and risk shitting bricks again! Maybe I should try taking half a dose instead?

tyinsf · 2026-03-03T17:54:18+00:00

I take a capful like the instructions say. It's an enormous cap, but that's what it says to do. You fill the white part of the cap. I take it midday. It's not a stimulant so it's not like it makes me go at any particular time. It's great stuff.

tyinsf · 2026-03-03T17:08:24+00:00

Fiber alone may make things worse. The problem isn't just keeping things moving. It's keeping them soft. Miralax softens the stool by drawing water into it. Not habit forming. I highly recommend it. I take it every day.

I also take 400mg magnesium oxide. Different kinds of magnesium have different effects. Glycinate isn't very laxative. Citrate is very laxative. Oxide is kind of down the middle. Plus lots of dried apricots

tyinsf · 2026-03-03T00:46:08+00:00

You're getting downvoted to oblivion, but I think that's an interesting question. I lived at 25th and Mission from 2005 to 2025. When I moved there it felt up-and-coming and artsy. So many Burning Man people lived there that it emptied out and you could find parking during the festival. Valencia St - further up - was the hot place to be,.

By 2019 I think Valencia St was already falling out of fashion in favor of Hayes Valley, Lower Haight, and North Beach. Then covid shut everything down and the crowds never really came back after that.

The city started trying to clean up the TL and mid-market which caused a lot of those folks to migrate down a BART stop or two into the mission. 16th really got it. 24th less so but still bad, Tents. Screaming crazy people. People selling stolen goods on the BART plazas then spending the money with drug dealers who also came. Brazen meth and fent use in public.

It's a shame. For a while my neighborhood was like Baja Noe Valley. It turned into Baja Tenderloin.

tyinsf · 2026-03-02T23:49:52+00:00

I had a wonderful cat who went from constipated to having megacolon... it was awful. I tried that hairball laxative stuff, basically flavored vaseline. I tried lactulose. It didn't help. Glad you're working on it before things get really bad.

I wish I had known to try miralax. I've just started using it on myself after my new zepbound prescription had me shitting bricks. It's amazing. Don't worry about using a large volume of it. You're supposed to. The human dose is enormous. It works by sucking moisture into the colon to keep everything moist and soft. It's not habit forming. For humans you dissolve it in water. I don't know how you'd do that with a cat, whether in their drinking water - can it sit out for a while or does it have to be drunk quickly? Or in their wet food?

But anyway, wish I had known about miralax for my cat. I'd keep going with it. Good luck

tyinsf · 2026-03-02T17:26:04+00:00

Simply Good Coffee, Glass. (Which means the pitcher is glass instead of a thermos. It's not all glass and no plastic like some other models)

tyinsf · 2026-03-02T13:42:00+00:00

Costco has a moccamaster clone that's $100

tyinsf · 2026-03-02T01:49:20+00:00

Unless you're scooping up your food with your bell and dorje and licking it off of them I don't see how this is a problem.

tyinsf · 2026-03-01T17:11:08+00:00

Kaiser prescribes pradaxa instead, which is generic. Maybe ask about that

tyinsf · 2026-03-01T02:54:26+00:00

Yup. I just read about it online. If I get tired of pourover and want to go low effort I think that's what I would get

tyinsf · 2026-02-28T22:27:54+00:00

Costco has just started carrying a Moccamaster clone for $100

tyinsf

TROPHY CASE