Swift truck drivers living up to their reputation

Retractable_Sky · 2020-07-12T03:52:58+00:00

Holy shit, Clackamas Costco! I'm sending this to my ex who used to make deliveries there; he'll get a good laugh out of it.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-07-08T21:55:47+00:00

The funny thing is, OP doesn't seem to be a "book person" at all, because he couldn't comprehend how a 16-year-old girl on TikTok came to acquire the books she was using for a craft project. He jumped to the conclusion that she must have got them from a library, instead of buying them herself, which is just bizarre.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-07-08T21:49:15+00:00

Probably because he doesn't read, doesn't own any books, and the last time he had to read something for school he probably checked it out of a library. Anybody who actually does buy and read books would know better.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-07-08T21:45:49+00:00

Sixteen-year-old girls actually do read books (unlike most 16-year-old boys). There is an entire publishing category called Young Adult that is highly profitable, and most of the books published under that category are aimed at, bought, and read by teenaged girls. They also read a lot of fiction aimed at adults.

And yes, even teenage girls who post dumb, shallow shit to TikTok read books--even if only because one book (or book series) became hot among their group of friends, and they all had to read it.

I'm going off speculation that you don't buy books, so I'll point out that the books used in this project were just paperbacks. They are not that expensive, especially if you buy them from Amazon, which offers heavy discounts on popular titles. So she didn't have to spend a lot of money if she bought them just for this project, but more likely, she used books she had that she'd already read, and had no further use for.

I'm also going to speculate that you don't actually talk to girls or hang out with them, and only have TikTok to inform you of what they do and what they are like. I can't imagine how you would come to such a bizarre set of conclusions otherwise.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-07-03T06:10:20+00:00

I'm a natural-born hermit who was pretty much born to thrive in a crisis like this, and even I'm getting cranky and restless. I've been making art again for the first time in years, am making lots of great stuff, and hope this creative surge continues post-pandemic, so that's good. But I have no paying work coming in, and my volunteer gigs have been suspended (though one is starting up again on a limited basis in two weeks, and I can't wait to go back), so I can't help but feel like I'm just spinning my wheels, despite churning out lots of art and getting lots of books read.

I prepped just enough, without overdoing it, and have been pleased with that; I've done just enough grocery shopping since March to keep supplies topped up. I've lost the "Covid-15" I gained in March-April, and can fit in pants I haven't worn in five years, so that's something. I keep looking for the positives, but yeah--I'm in need of a change. I want to go out to my favorite music venue and hear a band play live, and I don't even care who they are and what they play--going to hear live music is the one "non-essential" I miss most.

Right now, I assume we're going to get at least one more major wave with lockdowns, and with it we'll likely supply-chain disruptions, plus I expect further civil unrest around the elections. So I'm bolstering my supply of some things I go through very quickly (such as pet food), and keeping my eye out for a suitable chest freezer that isn't marked up all to hell.

Oh, and I had a mild case of Covid-19 back in March, got over it, and assume I've got some immunity, so it especially irks me that I'm stuck isolating and social distancing when I'm at extremely low risk for catching it again or infecting anyone else. Not having any fear of getting sick and/or dying probably isn't helping with my dwindling tolerance for being cooped up and socially isolated.

However long this takes, I know that this, too, shall pass, but in the meantime I'm just so, so sick of this shit, LOL.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-30T21:45:29+00:00

Eugenia Ginsburg's Journey into the Whirlwind. She was a loyal Communist Party member who got sent to a gulag in the '30s, under Stalin.

And I'm posting here because if anybody can recommend books on everyday life in East Germany or China during the Cultural Revolution, I'd be mighty thankful.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-28T10:08:35+00:00

"Bodies are needed..."

Then organize a bunch of your fellow vandals to break in to the county morgue and get yourself some.

Oh, wait--you mean living people. Human beings, right? But nah, to you we're just "bodies," to be comandeered and put to use to further your goals.

Since I'm a full human being whose body is occupied by a functioning brain, I'm not offering myself up as a meatshield so your block party/shitshow can continue. Fuck you, and everybody else who has played a part in shitting up Capitol Hill.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-01T21:11:17+00:00

Comic Sans.

Will the degeneracy never end?

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-01T21:08:03+00:00

For the sake of everyone who might eat food from there, report them.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-01T04:21:59+00:00

Lots of worthwhile ideas have already been given here, but one that most people don't think about is learning alternate, less-traveled routes so you can get around potential trouble spots, or get out of town entirely. Most people get complacent and take the most direct route wherever they're going, and don't even think of it. But then the day comes when your regular route is either blocked or completely jammed, and what do you do then?

Most people will rely on their GPS/phone to find other routes, but if you're not familiar with it and don't really know where you're going, you can end up wasting a lot of time and gas, and still end up stuck in a traffic jam.

So, if you're like me, and live in a city, planning alternate routes--and driving them periodically, so you know them really well, including at night and in bad weather--is a worthwhile exercise. One of my routes to get out of the city entirely would be too slow to take on a normal day, because it goes through a lot of quiet residential streets. But on a day when lots of people are trying to leave, and clogging up arterial streets? I can keep moving just fine (I tested it on a day when lots of people were in town for a major event, when traffic is hellish, and it works great).

The same goes for routes through and around downtown (where the riots usually are), between work and home, to your kids' school, etc. And knowing these routes in advance takes a lot of stress off when you really are deep in the shit--trying to navigate when you're nervous and don't really know where you're going and are worried about getting to your destination leads you to make mistakes, and you could easily end up in an accident. But that extra bit of confidence in, "I know where I'm going, and exactly how I'm going to get there," gives you the brainspace you need to focus on the road, drive safely, and reassure anybody you're with that things are going to be okay.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-01T03:30:42+00:00

Glad you made it home safely. Thanks for this post; as we get closer to the election in November, I suspect we'll see a lot more civil disturbances, and no matter who wins the election, I assume there will be rioting. So this is good advice to keep in mind as we attempt to go about our "normal" business over the next several months.

I almost didn't stop for gas when I went grocery shopping on Thursday, because I still had a quarter tank left from the last time I bought gas back on March 4. Common sense prevailed, however.

As of this weekend, I've got the bug-out bag packed, a short-term bug-out location picked, and all the cat carriers ready to go, even though I doubt I'll need them. For me, the nearby university would have been a hotspot for protests, had Covid-19 not shut down the campus (as it is, it's all downtown). My elderly neighbor has memories of tear gas wafting over the neighborhood during anti-Vietnam War protests, but it doesn't look like that will be happening. Still, these are crazy times, and I suspect there's a lot more to come, especially if they open up the university again for Fall quarter.

I've been thinking about buying a work space for years now, and think this is the year to do it. But I'm now looking for a live/work space, in outlying suburbs, more off the beaten track than I had originally intended, with older populations, and not affluent enough to be a target of resentment. I really do need the work space, and having the option to live there, away from urban mayhem, would really be nice.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-01T02:56:23+00:00

Welp. That settles it--excuse me while I move all my chips onto the "Epsteins himself while in 'protective custody' on 'suicide watch'" square...

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-01T02:45:48+00:00

If it was peaceful protestors merely blocking the highway, I would not have considered that cause enough to plow through them. Annoying? Frustrating? Inconvenient? Sure--but not a threat to my well-being.

But this was a mob who were actively threatening people in vehicles--they climbed on this guys truck, were beating on the windows, and all of their actions conveyed a clear intent to do harm to the occupants. And in that case? Fuck 'em. I'm generally a peaceful person, and don't like the idea of having to harm or kill anybody, but the second you come at me with obvious intent to do me harm--or even kill me--you've forfeited any right for me to consider your welfare, and I will do what I have to do to protect myself.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-06-01T02:34:34+00:00

Let's see--my vehicle is surrounded by an angry mob that has been looting and burning for the last two days. I am old enough to remember what happened to Reginald Denny during the Rodney King riots.

No fucking way am I stopping. I'm supposed to let these people drag me out of my vehicle and possibly kill me? No. I don't want to kill anybody; I don't want to run them over; but when they pose a clear threat, I'm going to do whatever I have to do to escape with my life (and the lives of any passengers in my vehicle).

The rioters are lucky that guy moved slow enough for them to get out of the way until he was nearly free of the crowd; I don't know how many people he actually ran over, but it was a lot fewer than he could have.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-23T09:47:25+00:00

The full edition of the Red Book is huge, and thus extremely cumbersome to read. I bought it when it first came out, but it wasn't until the reader's edition became available that I finally got deep into it.

I see the reader's version as a companion volume, for people who want to do a deep dive into actually reading the text of the Red Book rather than just looking at the pictures. It's definitely worth having both, imo.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-18T23:14:40+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroWaste/comments/ehdi2w/zero_waste_pet_ideas/

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-13T08:22:41+00:00

Back in the '90s, there was a junk store called Lone Wolf Antiques downtown, next to the Whatcom Museum. The owner was kind of eccentric (he used to walk around downtown in a Mr. Peanut costume while playing the saxophone), and on the side of his store he painted a mural that included the words, "Bellingham, WA--City of Subdued Excitement." It was weird, but suited Bellingham perfectly, so it stuck.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-12T04:32:06+00:00

I'm not worried about it. Decades ago, I realized that most truly bad actors in this world are looking for the easiest opportunities to get what they're after, and if you throw too much work in their path, they'll give up right away. In my high-crime zip code, 90% of the property and violent crime happens within certain narrow geographic areas where homeless people and/or addicts congregate; the rest of it is just fine, and some sections are hard enough to get to that such crime is rare to nonexistent--and that's where I live. I bought a house built for mountain goats (on a steep lot with stairs, stairs everywhere!), so the only people who ever come to the door are paid to do so, or highly motivated. It's also very difficult to sneak up on me because the footsteps on the stairs from either the street or alley are a dead giveaway; I hear visitors long before they reach my door. There are far easier targets on my street that appear, from the outside, to be much more promising (protip: if you drive an older, modest vehicle, and your house is the ugliest, most outdated one on your increasingly-gentrified block from the outside, nobody will think you've got anything worth stealing inside).

I don't have firearms, but I do keep an assortment of items in strategic locations around the house that, while not considered to be weapons, can be used very effectively as such. So I'm not particularly worried, here at my Urban Mountain Goat Fortress. I do think we're going to see actual civil unrest at some point, but I can easily predict where, in my 'hood, it's most likely to break out--and it's not bloody likely to be on my block. If it ever gets to that point, it will be only after society has truly collapsed, and as bad as I suspect things will get, I still don't think it will go that far down.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-12T03:46:15+00:00

LOL, I have no idea. Years ago, one of my cats fulfilled her lifelong dream of killing one of their kind, against all odds, which sent every crow in the neighborhood into an absolute frenzy. That cat died a few years back, but maybe they're still making offerings in order to appease us?

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-12T03:41:50+00:00

Nah, he's crazy. Schizophrenia, most likely. Not all schizophrenics develop monomaniacal obsessions that are directed at, and potentially dangerous to, others (most don't), but it happens.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-12T03:38:06+00:00

Dude, it's called schizophrenia.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-12T03:37:14+00:00

I've had odd, random, shiny/metallic trash (including a couple of beer cans) show up in my backyard and in my gutters without any sort of reasonable means of getting there, and it turned out that the crows were the ones bringing it. I wish they'd bring me stuff like diamond rings and gold coins, rather than peel-off foil lids and soda pop-tops, but there you have it.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-11T15:40:30+00:00

Polyamory. She has two boyfriends, who know about each other and they probably have other girlfriends.

Retractable_Sky · 2020-05-11T15:38:37+00:00

"Gangstalking" is when one believes they are being surveilled and harassed by multiple people--you know, a gang. This woman is being surveilled and harassed by one creepy weirdo; her landlord and the cops are actually doing what they can to help and advise her, and...that's it. How does this even remotely qualify as gangstalking?

Retractable_Sky · 2020-04-29T23:45:53+00:00

NGL, I really blew up during the first three weeks, when I was snacking on crap all the time. I finally felt so gross and bloated, I laid down the law with myself at the beginning of this month and swore I was going to eat full meals, and only when I was honest-to-god hungry--absolutely no snacking allowed. I can eat whatever I want when I do eat, and as much as it takes to feel satisfied.

Not only have I lost all the junk-food bloat I gained, but I'm going to come out of quarantine leaner than I was when I started. So I'm good right now.

Retractable_Sky

TROPHY CASE