My latest obsession is sashiko, a Japanese form of embroidery with beautiful repeating geometric patterns. It’s a folk art that evolved to strengthen cloth, extend its lifespan, and repair torn clothes. Rather uniquely it’s also intended to be stitched with the fabric in your hands rather than in a hoop.
One thing I really love about it from a technical sewing standpoint is that traditionally you don’t use knots at all, but it’s still a strong stitch. Quilters do something similar with what’s called a waste knot that gets snipped away, but this skips the knot step entirely.
There are specific paths you follow while stitching these patterns so that you don’t waste thread. They vary in complexity from simple lines, triangles, and curves, all the way up to tiny repeating patterns that practically replace the cloth with thread.
I don’t have nearly enough patience to do the complex ones like that, but the more simple stitches are so relaxing.
Packing: backpacks, bags, organizers, compression sacks, all kinds of things like this. People loathe packing while I just love to play Tetris with my perfectly organized stuff. I have too many bags.
Role-playing games: it is weird because I mostly collect them since there's no time to play (nor to learn new rules).
Automation: why spend 2 minutes manually something when I can spend 2 hours failing to automate it?
Swearing. I live in South East Asia, where swearing is taboo. Visiting my homeland of the UK, it takes a few days to get back my expletive laden fluency. The first few days are painful, as everyone thinks I'm being pretentiously posh. Upon returning to Asia, typically i offend a few people until my language is restrained. Sadly, Southeast Asians don't appreciate how expressive, cathartic and fun swearing is, it's a fucking shame.
About 12 years ago I moved from the US to Vietnam. Moving there was exciting. They do things a lot differently. Modern conveniences are sparse, the people are happy, infrastructure is poor, and most people have mopeds instead of cars.
Moving back it was hard to come to terms with how excessive most things in the US are. I think time is the only way to get used to it.
It depends on the species. Some dog species can survive in the wild, it really depends on the breeds and if they came from the wild (for example, coyotes can be let go if needed). The idea that all breeds are unified under a single umbrella of "dogs" comes from the Victorian era's need to classify everything, it's not accurate.
My company set up two factor for office 365. The type of verification used is the outlook app where you tap on something to gain access. I must have been one of the first to be required to change my password on the stupid 90 day schedule. After changing my 365 account pw I was locked out because I had to log in to the Outlook app and use the outlook app for verification, which didn't work due to the need to be logged in. You can't make this shit up.
Happy Thanksgiving Eve to you too. I wish other places had their own Thanksgiving tradition, North America wasn't the only place with an indigenous population who deserve homage (even though America doesn't do the whole homage thing that well).
Honestly, when you feel like you've consumed enough, it's time to get offline. Find your hobby, go for a walk, cook something good, go to a museum or a planetarium or a national park, live your life in real time.
It has this power because we give it this power. The second we step away, its hold weakens. Stepping away more often is difficult, but a good and necessary change.
There's a lot of cultural forces keeping people at jobs. We're told to never quit from everything. We're told it in school, movies, sitcoms and stories so it feel wrong and bad to quit. Especially true for work. The Office made Josh Porter the villain for quitting a failing paper company for a senior position at a successful company. And that's a feel good sitcom
Not too mention that our work is highly tied to our identities to a fault. The classic first question you ask anyone is what do you do for work. Not too mention the guilt business put on people to come in because their coworkers have to fill in. Since most people like their coworker this feels like letting them down. But it's the company letting them down by not replacing you or staffing at the correct level.
So everything you are feeling is normal especially if you have never quit a job before. It's hard but you are going to feel amazing when you do it. There's no feeling like quitting a job you hate
One of -- if not THE -- primary causes for attraction is proximity. If you see someone often, you are much more likely to become attracted to them. Family members and 'unavailable' people such as those already married are typically, but not uniformly, excluded.
After that, we tend to be initially attracted to pretty people with symmetrical features, good health, and of a similar social status (we are also attracted to those of higher social rank, but they will tend to self-select themselves to be less frequently proximate as well as rejecting overtures from potential mates of lower status). That still doesn't matter as much as frequent exposure to someone. Ideally the exposure occurs when you are both in a good mood. Bad moods make for less attraction. We also like people with whom we share common interests, habits, and so on, such that more similar people are more likely to become attracted to one another.
So, yeah, 'friends' are generally going to trigger psychological cues of attraction in any group. Most everyone has to deal with such feelings and quash them when appropriate. Some people have a hard time dealing and either pursue when that makes them creepy or they fail to respond when the feeling is mutual.
As a former healthcare support staff professional and current medical student, I want you to know that I hate it just as much as you do. I can't make any explanations for that GI, but my least favorite part of medicine is when there isn't a good answer, or enough time, or the right treatment is just too expensive...I hate it when the capitalist bullshit medical system gets in the way of actually practicing medicine.
[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation
Active