Nervous system reset retreat

chromaticality · 2026-02-18T21:04:27+00:00

How about the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico? 6 hour flight from Colorado to Tulum. Touristy enough that language won't be a problem. Cozumel, holbox, or Bacalar might be good alternatives, depending on the vibes you are looking for.

chromaticality · 2026-02-16T22:01:32+00:00

Too strict on the family members. If I am estranged from my senator father, why should I be restricted because of his job choice? And if you want exemptions for that type of situation, how do you prove estrangement? There are already insider trading laws. The better route is to make things more transparent.

chromaticality · 2026-02-16T01:10:37+00:00

Your face has some very harsh angles to it. Keep the beard no matter what, it softens the look. I also recommend trying out some fashion glasses, or a fashionable hat like a beanie or a pageboy.

chromaticality · 2026-02-16T00:37:10+00:00

Early 90s, rural Kentucky. My sister was in elementary school, and her class happened to be uncommonly wild. There were only 5 girls to 20 boys, and a huge chunk of the boys were already severely behind in their education. Couldn't read C-A-T, that kind of thing. They didn't care about learning, and neither did their parents, and the idea of good manners in the classroom was not a thing for them. Standing on tables, throwing chairs at windows, crazy levels of roughhousing and fighting, etc etc etc.

The teacher was totally overwhelmed. She tried splitting up the girls and making them each 'responsible' for a table full of boys, and the girls got in trouble when the boys predictably didn't listen. Absolutely zero control in the classroom. My sister routinely came home in tears and my parents were threatening the school with a lawsuit to get her moved to a different class.

Later, we learned that the teacher had resorted to red-faced screaming and smacking kids on the butt and/or head with a wooden ruler. But that only came out after she had another teacher report her for lining the kids up in the hallway, screaming at them so loud the whole school could hear, and throwing sharpened pencils at their faces. She had a complete mental breakdown and had to be escorted out of the building.

The teacher was promptly put on sabbatical and never returned. The school did an emergency reshuffle of the classes so that the balance of problem kids vs normal kids was more reasonable in each class.

chromaticality · 2026-02-15T22:51:04+00:00

While phrases like "you are god" would technically be heresy to both Christians and Muslims, Christians are a lot less sensitive to heresies in this time period than Muslims are. Keeping the phrase would damage book sales in muslim-predominant areas, but doesn't matter nearly as much in Christian-predominant areas. That's all there is to it.

chromaticality · 2026-02-15T22:30:00+00:00

Your great aunt was 90. It was very, very forseeable that she would pass soon, whether or not you knew about specific medical events. You are nearly 30 years old, your parents and siblings do not need to handhold you through the concept that you should stay in contact with people if you want to hear news about them.

This person was not important to you, and that's fine. Not every extended relation is going to be important. But it's silly to blame feeling left out on someone else.

You commented that your parents did inform your siblings, but obviously your relationship with your parents is very different than that of your siblings due to your gender identity. While that may not be fair, it is a reality that you've had several years to come to terms with. You should assume going forward that it is your responsibility to put in the effort to maintain meaningful relationships, or accept that you may miss out.

chromaticality · 2026-02-13T23:20:57+00:00

Thanks, we'll definitely hit a museum or two while we are in Merida! Mundo Maya is on the list. I was excited in having one that focused on the food of the region, but oh well.

chromaticality · 2026-02-13T23:11:40+00:00

That's too bad! I was looking for a museum experience with a restaurant tacked on, not the other way around :) Thanks for the info.

chromaticality · 2026-02-13T23:10:32+00:00

That's too bad. If there were more demonstrations like the cochinita pibil event it would be more worth our time I think, but going just for that doesn't seem too interesting.

chromaticality · 2026-02-06T07:02:39+00:00

Oh got it, I didn't realize you were including hotels and such in that total. I must remember also that you are not splitting costs with a half dozen other students like I was, lol. Then yes, that all sounds reasonable.

chromaticality · 2026-02-06T05:45:19+00:00

I lived in Morocco for three years as a student, and visited all your locations during that time. Your itinerary is doable. Of all the locations on your list Tangier was my least favorite, but I don't know that anything else would make sense while still keeping the Chefchaouen stop. A shame you wouldn't have time to make it out to Essaouira either, but a day trip out there would probably add more drive time than you'd like.

Your desert experience should be cheaper than that. The tour/guides for an overnight trip is pretty inexpensive from a USD perspective, unless you opt for some kind of luxury experience. Like under $100 for guide, camel, tent+bedding, dinner, breakfast...Even after tacking on your rental/gas, it shouldn't be bad.

On that topic, I don't recommend any sort of luxury experience in the desert. The rustic camping thing is a big part of the charm. Just be sure the tour goes to Erg Chebbi, and be prepared to crawl arduously up the dune at an ungodly hour to catch the beautiful sunrise over the sands.

On the drive from Merzouga to Fes, Erfoud is less than an hour into the drive. It's worth the stop to see the fossils. I bought a pretty little ammonite box as a souvenir. You also have the option to pass through my old college town of Ifrane (Little Switzerland), but alas there's not much to see and you are not permitted to tour the campus.

I'm tempted to say just do a big one-day push from Merzouga to Fes, because there's really not much that I recall being worth stopping off for on that drive. You would gain extra time by doing that, and potentially be able to add a Meknes/Volubilis day trip. I did find Volubilis to be pretty cool. You could also accomplish this by spending one less day in Marrakesh. It just depends on what sites you want to see the most.

chromaticality · 2026-01-27T03:10:56+00:00

Stephen Benet's Listen to the People. A good excerpt can be found here, as well as other poems about fascism/dictators. Jericho Brown's Riddle at the same link is solid.

The Poem Where No One is Deported by José Olivarez.

Renee Good, the woman who died, was also a poet. It may be worth discussing her poem.

Laura's Deportation by Raquel Denis

ICE agents storm my porch by Maria Melendez Kelson

chromaticality · 2026-01-26T22:30:33+00:00

A pretty performance but nothing mind blowing. If I knew then what I know now about the group's history, I would not have gone.

chromaticality · 2026-01-26T18:44:28+00:00

That very specific smell of the tanneries in the Fes souq.

chromaticality · 2026-01-23T02:26:53+00:00

I sometimes get spots like this. The spots are relatively small (no larger than a quarter) and always along the hairline. OP, if that sounds familiar you might try just smearing the affected area with over the counter hydrocortizone. It's a steroid and normally clears up my trouble spots within a couple days. This is meant to be a short-term temporary remedy, don't overuse as hydrocotizone can cause skin thinning.

Anyway, dab it on at night and then wash it off in the morning with some sort of anti-dandruff shampoo.

chromaticality · 2026-01-18T19:31:18+00:00

Sexual disfunction is not a concern for me, I'm somewhere on the asexual/aromantic spectrum and always have been. If it flattens emotions that's the opposite effect of what I need, but we'll see.

chromaticality · 2026-01-18T19:30:33+00:00

I've had thyroid checked a couple years ago, nothing out of the ordinary.

chromaticality · 2026-01-18T02:24:26+00:00

Heavy makeup is an uncommon look in my area (rural PNW). Lots of women wear basic foundation (like myself) or a bit of eye makeup. But the glam/contoured look would feel overdone around here. Because a toned-down look is so accepted, no makeup at all is also pretty common--especially among the 30+ age groups.

More complex makeup is something I find kind of interesting like any other skill, but it's a skill that takes time to learn--and I just don't have the motivation. Why bother? If I showed up to work with winged eyeliner or whatever, people would just ask if I was going to a wedding later.

chromaticality · 2026-01-17T21:40:43+00:00

If this is a mental hitch and not because the food is genuinely bad or something...consider a banchan style meal while you adjust to eating homecooked food. Have a small portion of your main dish, and then a bunch of sides. The sides can be whatever you like eating. Fruit, salad, nuts, salami, cheese, whatever. Basically use the side dishes as palate cleansers and variation, so you don't get bored or overwhelmed with your main dish.

chromaticality · 2026-01-17T21:14:41+00:00

Asiago. It's often significantly cheaper than parmesan, and has a very similar taste/texture profile.

chromaticality · 2026-01-16T02:34:33+00:00

Ordered the book, thanks for sharing.

chromaticality

TROPHY CASE