My hubby and I both made each other one when we were dating 10 years ago. Occasionally we drag them out and play them. Always a good spark to rekindle the old flame.
Sounds fun. When I worked in restaurant/bar, we separated out the glass beer and liquor bottles for recycling, and it was always a little spirit lifter if you were having a hard shift to go crash a bottle into the recycling bin. The crash,and the feel of being allowed to shatter it, was oddly soothing.
Also, when my life used to be way too stressfull, I would buy old dishes at charity shops and throw them against the brick and concrete walls on the the back of my house. It was theraputic, and by using charity shop dishes, they were cheap, the charity got the money, and they were already cast offs, so I didn't feel bad about breaking them like I would if I'd used new dishes. Busting those old mismatched cups and plates probably saved my sanity at the time.
I wouldn't have taken the money, either. I probably wouldn't have had time to waste to find out the details. I would have assumed that there was a lot more to it, fine print, if you will. Like that the five dollar was free if you bought something, or subscribed to something, or did something. People don't generally hand out free money for nothing. I would have automatically assumed that it was a ploy to get my attention so that I would stop and entertain whatever sales pitch they were making, or be tricked into something they thought I wouldn't notice (like that the form I had to fill out to get the money really wanted me to sign up to be solicited to by tons of salespeople). So the skeptic in me would have definitely cost me five on that one.
The good news in this may be that people are being more cautious to guard themselves against scams. It's harder to lure people with the promise of free cash. People are wary of strangers with too good to be true offers.
While I'm behind her on her support of people with cancer, I don't see any reason she couldn't have put on a wig. If her look is distracting to customers or not up to the restaurant's standards, it's okay for them to fire her for it. They offered her the opportunity to wear a wig. That's not that hard. She chose to not comply. She shouldn't whine about it now.
It's no different than if she'd gotten a big anti-cancer tattoo on her forehead. Nice sentiment, but still not appropriate for the job. It's hard setting appearance standards when you're a boss. If you start letting some people get by with some things, and start making room for exceptions based on subjective things like why they chose the style, or if you agree with the statement they're making, you're setting yourself up for a ton of hassle and controversy. It's a lot easier (and more fair, in the long run) to just to set a policy and stick to it. Employees can comply or choose to work somewhere else.
I'm curious if she interacts normally with other human beings. Is the love for things is in addition to regular human relationships or instead of them? If she sees her family, has friends, etc, but also loves a wall and some guillotines, more power to her. Hey, we've all got quirks. But I suspect she's got issues with other people. Trust issues and the like. And I could see that her love for something that is a barrier, a divider, might be a bit symbolic of boundary issues. I'd be willing to bet she was abused. But, like Freud said, "Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.". Might benefit from therapy,though.
Also, I wonder if it's just some objects that are ultra significant, but all objects are significant, or just that handful of objects that matters. Is it just the wall and the guillotines that she's in telepathic communication with, or is it everything? In a way, that would be sort of zen and a little bit cool, a union with all the matter in the universe type thing, but would seriously make life difficult for her.
I think it's that creative people are often not likely to get the help that would keep them from suicide. First of all, people around them often fail to notice the signs of illness because creative people channel the dark things into art rather than shutting down, and mania goes unnoticed, masking itself as periods of intense creative output. And the regular eccentricity that makes them brilliant can hide the signs of things that are really serious. It's simply harder to tell where the artsy weird ends and the disturbed begins.
Secondly, even if the condition comes to light, creative people are less likely to be willing to submit to drugs or therapy that might change the way their mind thinks. They fear in tinkering with the mind to stop the insanity, they'll lose the genius,too. A plain normal mind is not a good option for creative people. They'd rather deal with the bad than risk losing the good. Sadly, sometimes they fail at coping with the bad and lose everything.
I love the site. The only thing I can think of that would improve it would be if there were some way to send certain specific things that are a lot of posts related to to their own category instead of the general front page. For example, steam punk stuff and lego stuff get tons of coverage, and while it is cool, and the best of the best are really worth seeing, some of those posts could go to a steam punk section and a lego section instead of the main page all the time. Then people who are really into steam punk or lego could go to the steam punk category and find tons of it, but those of us not so deeply into it could just see the coolest or most popular posts.
Another weird Southern pickle treat is Kool-Aid pickles. Big pickles (like the kind you'd get at a concession stand) soaked in concentrated kool-aid. Very weird tasting.
It's a case of the gov't wanting to make sure the kids are indoctrinated with their crap rather than the parent's crap. The schools are mandatory to make sure kids are trained to be good consumers and cogs in the wheel. Our public schools are awful in that respect.
But I do agree that there is a lot of room for error in keeping kids at home. At school, they may get exposed to some different views and ideas than they are getting at home. That infusion of ideas helps kids develop their thinking skills and helps foster a progressive society. In my area, pretty much the only people homeschooling their kids are REALLY fundamentalist radical Christians. I don't mean your standard evangelicals, I mean the scary kind. While I support the rights of parents, even weird fringe parents, to imprint their belief on their kids, it's really scary for these parents to be the only perspective on things that kids get.
I think the secret is to find a happy medium. Kids could be schooled at home, but have to take the same standardized tests every year as the public school kids at their same age level to be sure that they are getting an adequate education. Parents should be required to take periodic work-shops (monthly maybe?) to make sure that they are up to date with the latest teaching methods and technologies and ideas. While the parents are in their workshops, the children should also be required to be in workshops. The works shops could focus on things like the latest in technology and ideas, social issues, tolerance, diversity, etc. That would ease the impact of children's isolation, both from an academic standpoint and a social one. It would also allow other people to see and interact with the children regularly. Yes, not every day like public schooling, but often enough that if there is suspicion of abuse or neglect or other issues, it wouldn't go undetected. Seems to me there could be a cheap easy compromise that would make everyone happy. The state would be able to monitor the kids. The kids would be getting a good education. The parents would be able to control their kids education. Win, win, win situation.
I smoked about a pack a day for about ten years, and quit a little over a year ago. I didn't lose any teeth. And my husband who quit smoking like four years ago and never smoked nearly as much or as frequently as I did has lost two teeth.
But I think there's a lot more to it than just smoking. There could be other factors. Like stress levels of smokers versus non-smokers? Or diets? Or dental care coverage? When I worked in the restaurant industry, most of the people I worked with were smokers, and most were also uninsured. I could see how having dental insurance could help you keep your teeth longer.
Here in Fort Smith, Arkansas, there was a popcorn and peanut locomotive in operation downtown around the turn of the century. It was destroyed when a tornado struck the neighborhood (I believe the tornado was in 1911, but I may be wrong on that.)
It wouldn't scare me a bit. Everyone dies somewhere. Murder or natural causes. Death happens and it often happens indoors. If you limit yourself to only sleeping in places that have never been touched by death, you'd be surprised how limited your options are. Unless you're the only occupant ever of a house or apartment or hotel, there's a chance it's been the final residence of someone. And the older a house gets, the better your chances are. I wouldn't,however, pay to stay there. Capitalizing on a tragedy like that is yucky. The Bordens were real people and probably would be creeped out to see the house being treated as some morbid tourist attraction.
And Louise, no, don't tell them. If they live in an old house, they probably get people all the time asking them if it's haunted. I live in an ancient house myself and strangely almost everyone who has ever visited it asked me that.(And no, it's not creepy, just that people associate houses with history as houses with ghosts.) If there is any sort of creepiness in those folks' house, they already know it. They don't need to hear any gorey historical details. If the house doesn't creep them out already, they don't need anyone telling them creepy stories to start causing them to think it should. Funny how the power of suggestion works on that sort of thing.
Also, when my life used to be way too stressfull, I would buy old dishes at charity shops and throw them against the brick and concrete walls on the the back of my house. It was theraputic, and by using charity shop dishes, they were cheap, the charity got the money, and they were already cast offs, so I didn't feel bad about breaking them like I would if I'd used new dishes. Busting those old mismatched cups and plates probably saved my sanity at the time.
The good news in this may be that people are being more cautious to guard themselves against scams. It's harder to lure people with the promise of free cash. People are wary of strangers with too good to be true offers.
It's no different than if she'd gotten a big anti-cancer tattoo on her forehead. Nice sentiment, but still not appropriate for the job. It's hard setting appearance standards when you're a boss. If you start letting some people get by with some things, and start making room for exceptions based on subjective things like why they chose the style, or if you agree with the statement they're making, you're setting yourself up for a ton of hassle and controversy. It's a lot easier (and more fair, in the long run) to just to set a policy and stick to it. Employees can comply or choose to work somewhere else.
But I suspect she's got issues with other people. Trust issues and the like. And I could see that her love for something that is a barrier, a divider, might be a bit symbolic of boundary issues. I'd be willing to bet she was abused. But, like Freud said, "Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.". Might benefit from therapy,though.
Also, I wonder if it's just some objects that are ultra significant, but all objects are significant, or just that handful of objects that matters. Is it just the wall and the guillotines that she's in telepathic communication with, or is it everything? In a way, that would be sort of zen and a little bit cool, a union with all the matter in the universe type thing, but would seriously make life difficult for her.
Secondly, even if the condition comes to light, creative people are less likely to be willing to submit to drugs or therapy that might change the way their mind thinks. They fear in tinkering with the mind to stop the insanity, they'll lose the genius,too. A plain normal mind is not a good option for creative people. They'd rather deal with the bad than risk losing the good. Sadly, sometimes they fail at coping with the bad and lose everything.
But I do agree that there is a lot of room for error in keeping kids at home. At school, they may get exposed to some different views and ideas than they are getting at home. That infusion of ideas helps kids develop their thinking skills and helps foster a progressive society. In my area, pretty much the only people homeschooling their kids are REALLY fundamentalist radical Christians. I don't mean your standard evangelicals, I mean the scary kind. While I support the rights of parents, even weird fringe parents, to imprint their belief on their kids, it's really scary for these parents to be the only perspective on things that kids get.
I think the secret is to find a happy medium. Kids could be schooled at home, but have to take the
same standardized tests every year as the public school kids at their same age level to be sure that they are getting an adequate education. Parents should be required to take periodic work-shops (monthly maybe?) to make sure that they are up to date with the latest teaching methods and technologies and ideas. While the parents are in their workshops, the children should also be required to be in workshops. The works shops could focus on things like the latest in technology and ideas, social issues, tolerance, diversity, etc. That would ease the impact of children's isolation, both from an academic standpoint and a social one. It would also allow other people to see and interact with the children regularly. Yes, not every day like public schooling, but often enough that if there is suspicion of abuse or neglect or other issues, it wouldn't go undetected. Seems to me there could be a cheap easy compromise that would make everyone happy. The state would be able to monitor the kids. The kids would be getting a good education. The parents would be able to control their kids education. Win, win, win situation.
But I think there's a lot more to it than just smoking. There could be other factors. Like stress levels of smokers versus non-smokers? Or diets? Or dental care coverage? When I worked in the restaurant industry, most of the people I worked with were smokers, and most were also uninsured. I could see how having dental insurance could help you keep your teeth longer.
And Louise, no, don't tell them. If they live in an old house, they probably get people all the time asking them if it's haunted. I live in an ancient house myself and strangely almost everyone who has ever visited it asked me that.(And no, it's not creepy, just that people associate houses with history as houses with ghosts.) If there is any sort of creepiness in those folks' house, they already know it. They don't need to hear any gorey historical details. If the house doesn't creep them out already, they don't need anyone telling them creepy stories to start causing them to think it should. Funny how the power of suggestion works on that sort of thing.