Life

[osmosisch]

Yeah I've heard about Ingress and that's a good idea!

Let me know if you want an invite, I've got several spare. May not even be needed though, I've heard that it only takes a couple of hours after putting your email into their sign-up thingy. Only took a day for me.

[Nachimir]

Holy moly I'm out of shape!

One thing that might be affecting you is new exercise excitement. New runners sometimes sprint instead of jogging, with predictable results. Pace yourself a bit more and your range (and subsequent fitness gains) might go up dramatically. In turn, taking it easy lets you build better all round fitness: If you only work at maximum capacity, that's all you're training your body to do and you're effectively turning aerobic into anaerobic exercise.

It's easy to get on a bike and overtrain, especially in a town with hills. I have a heinous 1:4 hill climb at the start of my commute, and if I hammer it up there as fast as I can each time, within a few days my legs are getting strained faster than they can recover.

[Twig]

Yeah that's probably a problem! But that's why I am going to ride a bit every night, just to figure out how I'm going to do it.

 

Although unfortunately last night was D&D, tonight is Man of Steel and tomorrow I'm camping. Thursday will be the first night I get a real chance to ride. Hah.

 

(Hills aren't a problem near where I live, though, miraculously enough. Burlingame is pretty flat. ESPECIALLY compared to the rest of San Francisco.)

[Merus]

So my brother is out of the hospital (and into rehab). He recovered much, much faster than people with head injuries are supposed to, and it doesn't look like there'll be any permanent brain damage.

 

The doctors say he was six minutes from death. If the ambulance drivers hadn't been getting McDonald's when he was punched outside the McDonald's, or if they'd closed down the emergency department at the hospital where he was taken, like the government has been threatening to, he would be dead.

 

They didn't tell the neurosurgeon my brother had recovered so quickly, that he had opened his eyes, could have short conversations. He went into the ICU to see his patient and was told his patient wasn't there any more. Mum asked him how he managed to function, being woken up at 3 in the morning to come in and do brain surgery. Wouldn't he be sleepy, she asked. No, he said. You just have to be awake, because you can't afford to be tired. It's just part of the job.

 

If I insert a paragraph here about a video game it will count as games journalism.

 

There was a brief period where my brother was conscious and capable of talking, but was having trouble forming new memories. He couldn't really comprehend what was going on, but he did know the State of Origin was that night and kept asking people if they were going to watch it. None of us visiting him at the time really cared for rugby league, but he didn't seem to be disappointed. He asked the same question a couple of times, which made me think I'd be able to mess with him.

 

The next day he remembered what hospital he was in.

 

During the State of Origin game that night, the captain of the New South Wales team (which won for the first time in a long time) punched a Queensland player quite hard in the face, supposedly in retaliation for that player performing headbutts along with his tackles. No worries, the Blues won and there was a little bit of biff and everyone likes a bit of biff. A reporter called Mum about it, who also does not care for rugby league, and said if she had to pick she'd prefer AFL, which is less violent and more athletic (and bizarre). Dad had some opinions, though, being rather sensitive to people punching others for spurious reasons. All Dad's quotes were attributed to Mum. Celebrating supporters were sobered by the reporter's comparison between the man who'd put my brother into the hospital (which had been big news in the city's papers since the incident) and the captain of the Blues, and it gave those who thought the fighting was disgusting a way to express their opinion without being labelled a spoilsport.

 

That was about sports so this doesn't count as games journalism.

 

In the last few days of his hospital stay, my brother had been getting increasingly restless. He hated the food, he hated laying in bed all day, he hated the junkie in bed 24 who'd screamed the ward down at 3 in the morning, he hated that even after all this time, he'd have to go to rehab, and then stay with Mum and Dad, and he couldn't just go back to normality. I think he can probably bear a few inconveniences - he isn't recovered, even though the worst damage we know about is to his left eye, but there's potentially damage they don't have time to test for at the hospital. I think he'll be fine. He's a survivor.

[Joewintergreen]

I really hope he stays fine, man. Really good to hear how well he's doing. <3

[Ucantalas]

Wow, that's really good news. I'm glad to hear your brother is doing so well.

[Patrick R]

Glad to hear it Merus. Also, for a post updating us on the potential life-threatening condition of your brutalized brother, the "If I insert a paragraph here about a video game it will count as games journalism" joke is maybe the funniest thing I've read all day.

[Merus]

I realised I have actually quite a lot of stories about these two weeks. It is one of the most bizarre experiences I think I've had, and certainly the least painful of the bizarre experiences I've had. I was prepared to be worried basically all the time, to have to reassure others, to look on the bright side. I was not prepared for the rest of it.

 

Basically everyone involved, from the hospital to the media to everyone I know, has been amazing and supportive and thoughtful throughout this.

[toblix]

Good news! Or, as you say «down below,» fozzie nozzies!

[Merus]

Thanks, or as you say in Norway, may your descendants ever bath in blood!

[syntheticgerbil]

Haha, wow, what a finely written humorous good news post on serious subject matter. Really wasn't expecting that.

 

Glad he's okay Merus.

[dibs]

That's great to hear Merus.

[Ben X]

Also keep us updated on the punishment meted out to his assailants, please.

[castorp]

I had my last exam today. Now I'm a master, of sorts. Not a particularly good one, mind you, but whatevs. Next up, Ecuador. Yeah!

 

Thanks for providing me with distraction in times of stress and deadlines, Thumbs!

[Justin Leego]

Good examinating, castorp! Are you now to become a lord of Ecuador?

 

Oh man, I have switched between EU and UK keyboard layouts an unusual amount of times this week. My life is one long, continual qwerty error right now.

[castorp]

Good examinating, castorp! Are you now to become a lord of Ecuador?

Thanks! Nah, no royalty. A year in the highlands, eating guinea pigs, climbing on mountains, trying to teach some kids English and stuff. No university, no Japanese Language (my stupid major), no having to look for work in a region that has absolutely no jobs in my field. Happy, and exciting.

[syntheticgerbil]

Stoic did not hire me, but I figured since Banner Saga is nearly done, that wasn't going to happen.

 

The art director responded within about five minutes and gave me some really nice compliments about my work and characters, so that's kind of made my day already.

[mikemariano]

I will soon make my first visit to San Francisco!

 

I am going for work, but will have two free evenings: Monday 7/15 and Tuesday 7/16.

 

Any suggestions for what to do in SF?  Any possibility for a meet-up?

 

From Google Maps it appears I will be near the Moscone Center and "The Art of Shaving."

[miffy495]

My town is crazy flooded right now. Pretty much any neighbourhood near the Bow or Elbow rivers has been evacuated. Downtown is underwater. Both my girlfriend and I live at the top of a very large hill, and are therefore fine, but it's pretty crazy around here. We've both taken the weekend off for a music festival (which was cancelled this morning due to all their venues being flooded), so we've got no reason to leave the house before Monday and can just wait it out. Making a huge pot of soup now, and had an awesome pancake breakfast. States of emergency are pretty much like vacations, right? I love the way that Calgary is handling a huge crisis. I realized that I needed a can of tomato paste for the soup, so I walked a block away to a grocery store. Everyone was really chill and laughing about whatever. I got to the shopping carts at the same time as another woman and the exchange was just "Go ahead. No, you first." etc for a while. Got my tomato paste and a zuchinni and headed back to the girlfriend's place. If you live here and have been displaced by the neighbourhood evacuations, stay safe and stay dry. I'm super lucky to be as unaffected as it as I have been. It occurred to me this morning that if the move I'd been planning last month hadn't fallen through, I'd be underwater right now.

 

 

For context, this is just down the hill from my house. There's actually a road on the underside of that bridge about 5 metres below the arches, which is completely submerged:

 

 

And this is the neighbourhood I was planning on moving to last month (a couple of blocks away):

 

 

And here's an aerial view of downtown:

 

[Zeusthecat]

Holy crap! Glad to hear it's not having too much of a negative impact on you and yours. And people still treating each other so nicely despite everything going on is pretty fucking cool.

[Roderick]

Looks like you need some good ol' Dutch water engineering! SOMEBODY CALL OUR KING, STAT!

[Apelsin]

Why has the world got to be so shit?

[elmuerte]

because: religion and greed

[syntheticgerbil]

Floods scare the hell out of me. I'm glad people are not panicking up there!

[Zeusthecat]

I have to admit I'm jealous of all this talk of floods. It's dry as hell here and we're supposed to hit 115 degrees by the end of the week. This place is miserable in the summer.