These are the days when you wish your bed was already made
September 30, 2024 7:30 AM Subscribe
Monday. Stress. Masonry magazine.
Masonry magazine has an article titled "Unusual Ways to Relieve Stress" and sadly, none of those stress relievers involve the art and craft of building and fabricating in stone, clay, brick, or concrete block.
It's your semi-regularly-scheduled free thread! What are your unusual stress relievers? If you don't have any, what are you up to on this (for me) rainy and gray Monday?
Extra love to any MeFites or family of MeFites affected by Hurricane Helene.
Last week's free thread.
Masonry magazine has an article titled "Unusual Ways to Relieve Stress" and sadly, none of those stress relievers involve the art and craft of building and fabricating in stone, clay, brick, or concrete block.
It's your semi-regularly-scheduled free thread! What are your unusual stress relievers? If you don't have any, what are you up to on this (for me) rainy and gray Monday?
Extra love to any MeFites or family of MeFites affected by Hurricane Helene.
Last week's free thread.
A cup of tea. 15 - 30 minutes on the rowing machine. Sleep.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 7:41 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 7:41 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Every so often, I have a day when I don't really feel like doing anything more than making a cheese sandwich - and not even a good cheese sandwich, just a slice of American cheese on white bread, 25 seconds in the microwave - but I rouse myself to get to the grocery store (Mo's Asian Market for light soy sauce and vegetarian oyster sauce, shiitake mushrooms and green peas from the Pick n Save across the street) and cook something (fried rice).
And sometimes it's pure obligation, and sometimes it turns out badly, but every so often there's a moment where everything smells just right and the diced shiitakes and the rice and the scrambled eggs look beautiful together even though they're just various shades of yellow-brown, and I think, why don't I do this all the time?.
Which is to say: for the FIRST TIME, I have cooked fried rice from scratch and not been disappointed. And even though this involved me spilling an ENTIRE CUP OF SHORT-GRAIN RICE on the floor because I accidentally flipped it bottom-side-up, this was very satisfying, and good stress relief.
This week I started the house-buying process in earnest (that is, I put in an offer, negotiated an offer, dropped off the earnest money, got an inspection done, and might be almost done with the mortgage paperwork depending on what other documentation they need from me) while also doing a banned books panel and a bunch of teaching, so I was, as it turns out, desperately in need of stress relief.
posted by Jeanne at 7:44 AM on September 30 [8 favorites]
And sometimes it's pure obligation, and sometimes it turns out badly, but every so often there's a moment where everything smells just right and the diced shiitakes and the rice and the scrambled eggs look beautiful together even though they're just various shades of yellow-brown, and I think, why don't I do this all the time?.
Which is to say: for the FIRST TIME, I have cooked fried rice from scratch and not been disappointed. And even though this involved me spilling an ENTIRE CUP OF SHORT-GRAIN RICE on the floor because I accidentally flipped it bottom-side-up, this was very satisfying, and good stress relief.
This week I started the house-buying process in earnest (that is, I put in an offer, negotiated an offer, dropped off the earnest money, got an inspection done, and might be almost done with the mortgage paperwork depending on what other documentation they need from me) while also doing a banned books panel and a bunch of teaching, so I was, as it turns out, desperately in need of stress relief.
posted by Jeanne at 7:44 AM on September 30 [8 favorites]
I, for one, cannot believe it will be October tomorrow. Yeesh. (But this means a new Halloween mixtape from my old friend Jack Fear! The new one is all the way down at the bottom.)
Busy week: I grew four cannabis plants for the first time in the ground this summer instead of fabric pots. Shepherd helped harvest one of them yesterday--she was a good six feet tall; heck, they all are--and it took us 90 minutes total. Only three more to go! (If all goes to plan though, SO MUCH WEED. Shepherd doesn't really imbibe so uh, it's all me.)
Headed to TO on Thursday for Henderson Brewing's 2nd annual Picklefest; my sister from SC and my bestie from DC will be joining me again. Given how much we dislike my Republican BIL, I consider these trips to my sister's feminism top-up.
Looks like the GSP airport is open and operational so my sister should be able to fly out from Greenville (it's an hour south of Asheville). Still no power for them and for my mom, and Duke Power's best guess is Friday (!) by 2 pm last I heard.
posted by Kitteh at 7:54 AM on September 30 [3 favorites]
Busy week: I grew four cannabis plants for the first time in the ground this summer instead of fabric pots. Shepherd helped harvest one of them yesterday--she was a good six feet tall; heck, they all are--and it took us 90 minutes total. Only three more to go! (If all goes to plan though, SO MUCH WEED. Shepherd doesn't really imbibe so uh, it's all me.)
Headed to TO on Thursday for Henderson Brewing's 2nd annual Picklefest; my sister from SC and my bestie from DC will be joining me again. Given how much we dislike my Republican BIL, I consider these trips to my sister's feminism top-up.
Looks like the GSP airport is open and operational so my sister should be able to fly out from Greenville (it's an hour south of Asheville). Still no power for them and for my mom, and Duke Power's best guess is Friday (!) by 2 pm last I heard.
posted by Kitteh at 7:54 AM on September 30 [3 favorites]
My stress relief this week, was going out and cutting down the bushes on the edge of my backyard. Unfortunately, I now have to wait until they grow back now, for my next session.
posted by storybored at 8:02 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by storybored at 8:02 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
I have a mantra for when I can't stop mental spiraling (normally in bed) about work, "This is not their time. This is your time."
Side note, the level of effort required in the article's suggestions ramps considerably after the first three. OJ, chew gum, warm hands...install an aquarium!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:10 AM on September 30 [4 favorites]
Side note, the level of effort required in the article's suggestions ramps considerably after the first three. OJ, chew gum, warm hands...install an aquarium!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:10 AM on September 30 [4 favorites]
I still have the Microsoft solitaire games on my computer that were used to help people learn to use the mouse - Freecell, Hearts, Spider. I transferred them from computer to computer, from update to update. They still work. When I just can't stand anything, I open my laptop and play one game of each.
The only difference is that the ending animations in Spider and Freecell are lightning fast with the faster processor, instead of languidly bouncing around the screen.
I suppose I could play solitaire with real cards but that's what I have a physical crossword puzzle book for.
posted by Peach at 8:19 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
The only difference is that the ending animations in Spider and Freecell are lightning fast with the faster processor, instead of languidly bouncing around the screen.
I suppose I could play solitaire with real cards but that's what I have a physical crossword puzzle book for.
posted by Peach at 8:19 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
I have my 4th interview for a job I applied for nearly 8 weeks ago, this is supposed to be the last but you never know these days.
Happy that I'm still in the running but sheesh!
Get it mooving!
posted by djseafood at 8:30 AM on September 30 [10 favorites]
Happy that I'm still in the running but sheesh!
Get it mooving!
posted by djseafood at 8:30 AM on September 30 [10 favorites]
I realized upon reading this that I have no stress relief mechanism beyond jaw-clenching and exercise. (And drinking, but I can't drink at work and work is my main source of stress. So it's a fairly useless stress reliever.) It used to be yelling and exercise, but now I live with a person and an easily-startled animal so no more yelling. Maybe there will be something in this thread I can take up.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:39 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:39 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
A broken foot and related surgery have left me mostly sedentary for two months now, and that's demonstrated HOW DESPERATELY I want to be able to burn stress by moving. Other disabilities mean I can never move a LOT, but this degree of stuck-in-bed is something else again!
posted by metasarah at 8:52 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by metasarah at 8:52 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
A lot of my stress comes from undone chores I ought to be doing, hanging above my head. The Chores of Damocles. So, do them, I guess?
I got my flu vax and 2nd shingles vax yesterday, so I can check those off.
Got a reminder to do the fall hvac maintenance so I guess I get that scheduled next.
posted by notoriety public at 8:59 AM on September 30 [3 favorites]
I got my flu vax and 2nd shingles vax yesterday, so I can check those off.
Got a reminder to do the fall hvac maintenance so I guess I get that scheduled next.
posted by notoriety public at 8:59 AM on September 30 [3 favorites]
Heh, I had "Walk Like an Egyptian" in my dream last night, while I saw thick black outlined egyptian art in 3d space walking around a city scape, then the song popped in my head.
Crying and laying in bed and depress napping for 3 hours the past two days has been my "destresser" I guess.
A job would also be nice. I'm not sure how to human enough go get an interview and when I get one to actually apparently be human enough to hire.
video games are too much work, I have no desire to do jack shit. I jsut sit and stare I guess that's it. "meditate" by depressively staring?
Good luck djseafood, I feel your pain! (this is my last month of unemployment, IDK what to do after this).
posted by symbioid at 9:01 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Crying and laying in bed and depress napping for 3 hours the past two days has been my "destresser" I guess.
A job would also be nice. I'm not sure how to human enough go get an interview and when I get one to actually apparently be human enough to hire.
video games are too much work, I have no desire to do jack shit. I jsut sit and stare I guess that's it. "meditate" by depressively staring?
Good luck djseafood, I feel your pain! (this is my last month of unemployment, IDK what to do after this).
posted by symbioid at 9:01 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Knitting/crocheting for me, also reading or doing anything else to think about something else. I also like drinking alcohol on my patio in good weather to chill out.
NYT endorses Harris. That's big of you to get around to on Sept. 30.
Petty bitch: now that I'm in the office five days a week, I am having a hard time figuring out how hungry I am going to be throughout the day and how much food to bring from home to deal with that. There's food options here, but not that many or all that great and after 1:30 the cafeteria shuts down. I don't want to have to eat a breakfast, for example, because then there's 10 damn meals to bring from home and I'm very low energy in the morning, I roll out of bed 15-20 minutes before I have to leave as is and I'm not waking up at 5:30 to eat when I want no food. But working at 7:30 leads me to getting weirdly hungry at 8:30 at times and arggggggggggh. Some days I don't have that much hunger and some days I am just so hungry and I can't figure out how to gauge how much food to bring. Sometimes I can't finish eating all the food before it goes bad, other times I could eat it all by 10 a.m. and still need another meal at 2. Last week I had to go to KFC after work and get a ton of chicken to stuff my face to get the week's hunger to go away. BLECH, this is a pain in the ass. Maybe I just need more protein instead of getting pasta and egg salad for lunch?
This weekend, I went to a hippie festival and the local Renaissance faire and had a good time at both. I got a lot of compliments on my outfit and I didn't buy any new clothes, so good for me there. I stuck to pretty cheap stuff.
I participated in a tarot reading circle and asked a question as to what to do about a friend situation that has been awkward and weird for quite some time. The answers I got were that it's a mutual problem tying us up, "you have to talk to them about it" and "what do you want out of the situation?" Unfortunately what I want is "to have things the way they were before" and I don't think that's an option, so I don't know what to do there. I also just don't WANT to have an open and honest conversation with them directly because that is not my strong suit in life and I don't want to make things weirder and worse since it's really My Problem to deal with. I just wish I could figure out on my own how to "make things better" in my head without having to Talk. Also BLECH.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:17 AM on September 30 [2 favorites]
NYT endorses Harris. That's big of you to get around to on Sept. 30.
Petty bitch: now that I'm in the office five days a week, I am having a hard time figuring out how hungry I am going to be throughout the day and how much food to bring from home to deal with that. There's food options here, but not that many or all that great and after 1:30 the cafeteria shuts down. I don't want to have to eat a breakfast, for example, because then there's 10 damn meals to bring from home and I'm very low energy in the morning, I roll out of bed 15-20 minutes before I have to leave as is and I'm not waking up at 5:30 to eat when I want no food. But working at 7:30 leads me to getting weirdly hungry at 8:30 at times and arggggggggggh. Some days I don't have that much hunger and some days I am just so hungry and I can't figure out how to gauge how much food to bring. Sometimes I can't finish eating all the food before it goes bad, other times I could eat it all by 10 a.m. and still need another meal at 2. Last week I had to go to KFC after work and get a ton of chicken to stuff my face to get the week's hunger to go away. BLECH, this is a pain in the ass. Maybe I just need more protein instead of getting pasta and egg salad for lunch?
This weekend, I went to a hippie festival and the local Renaissance faire and had a good time at both. I got a lot of compliments on my outfit and I didn't buy any new clothes, so good for me there. I stuck to pretty cheap stuff.
I participated in a tarot reading circle and asked a question as to what to do about a friend situation that has been awkward and weird for quite some time. The answers I got were that it's a mutual problem tying us up, "you have to talk to them about it" and "what do you want out of the situation?" Unfortunately what I want is "to have things the way they were before" and I don't think that's an option, so I don't know what to do there. I also just don't WANT to have an open and honest conversation with them directly because that is not my strong suit in life and I don't want to make things weirder and worse since it's really My Problem to deal with. I just wish I could figure out on my own how to "make things better" in my head without having to Talk. Also BLECH.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:17 AM on September 30 [2 favorites]
NYT endorses Harris. That's big of you to get around to on Sept
Hey if those fuck knuckles can do it maybe some other assholes can too. Hopeful!
Having an aquarium is VERY relaxing, I can attest. Requires very little maintenance too, if that worries you. Can't wait to have a second one but cost is putting me off for what I want to build (one with a cave, mister, waterfall, custom made ledges for plants, etc. Hope to get around to it this winter).
posted by tiny frying pan at 9:34 AM on September 30 [2 favorites]
Hey if those fuck knuckles can do it maybe some other assholes can too. Hopeful!
Having an aquarium is VERY relaxing, I can attest. Requires very little maintenance too, if that worries you. Can't wait to have a second one but cost is putting me off for what I want to build (one with a cave, mister, waterfall, custom made ledges for plants, etc. Hope to get around to it this winter).
posted by tiny frying pan at 9:34 AM on September 30 [2 favorites]
Ooh - stealth free thread, have to look inside to find it!
My wife says the things that she sees reduce my stress are creative, particularly physically-active creativity (like building things vs writing). Non-physical creativity helps too; I have noticed that if I sit and sketch without any real aim for producing great art, that I feel better when I'm done. I don't always recognize how stressed I am, it has to get to a point where I can tell I'm breathing weird or my heartbeat is racing before I know I need to step back and seek out calm.
The past 4 days, Thursday through Sunday, I attended the FM LGBT Film Festival, and enjoyed the selections a lot. I do fit the queer label but it doesn't show on the outside, so I don't always feel connected to the local queer community, but it really did feel good to just spend time in a big room where mostly everyone is sorta like me.
A couple times I got to see Bee, a young person who I initially knew as their old name, who seems to be growing into their identity. I had to go back and rewrite that sentence a couple times because I'm old and still figuring out how to do pronouns right, but I'm getting there. Their name announcement on Facebook just a couple weeks ago came with a "you can still call me [redacted] that's OK" but I'm trying to be really good about it, and the first time I said "Hi, Bee" they seemed to be happy about the acknowledgment.
My biggest recommendation from the film festival: Gondola. Filmed in the Eastern-Europe Georgia, it is a delightful, goofy movie about women falling in love, and it's very unique in that it's a feature length film with almost no dialogue at all, and most of those are indistinct, non-word communication.
Other than that, not much new on any front; of the two projects selected for 16mm film class, neither showrunner has contacted me about joining their team, so I guess I get to find out what I can do during class on Tuesday. That's one drawback of not living in the dorms: everyone else lives down the hall from each other, eats meals together, so they can commiserate about the production whenever they feel like it. (It's partly my fault in that I haven't reached out either, but I'm not sure the protocols of the whole thing).
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:42 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
My wife says the things that she sees reduce my stress are creative, particularly physically-active creativity (like building things vs writing). Non-physical creativity helps too; I have noticed that if I sit and sketch without any real aim for producing great art, that I feel better when I'm done. I don't always recognize how stressed I am, it has to get to a point where I can tell I'm breathing weird or my heartbeat is racing before I know I need to step back and seek out calm.
The past 4 days, Thursday through Sunday, I attended the FM LGBT Film Festival, and enjoyed the selections a lot. I do fit the queer label but it doesn't show on the outside, so I don't always feel connected to the local queer community, but it really did feel good to just spend time in a big room where mostly everyone is sorta like me.
A couple times I got to see Bee, a young person who I initially knew as their old name, who seems to be growing into their identity. I had to go back and rewrite that sentence a couple times because I'm old and still figuring out how to do pronouns right, but I'm getting there. Their name announcement on Facebook just a couple weeks ago came with a "you can still call me [redacted] that's OK" but I'm trying to be really good about it, and the first time I said "Hi, Bee" they seemed to be happy about the acknowledgment.
My biggest recommendation from the film festival: Gondola. Filmed in the Eastern-Europe Georgia, it is a delightful, goofy movie about women falling in love, and it's very unique in that it's a feature length film with almost no dialogue at all, and most of those are indistinct, non-word communication.
Other than that, not much new on any front; of the two projects selected for 16mm film class, neither showrunner has contacted me about joining their team, so I guess I get to find out what I can do during class on Tuesday. That's one drawback of not living in the dorms: everyone else lives down the hall from each other, eats meals together, so they can commiserate about the production whenever they feel like it. (It's partly my fault in that I haven't reached out either, but I'm not sure the protocols of the whole thing).
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:42 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
The usual stuff hasn't been working as well, largely because apparently when my boss is under the weather she makes Miranda Priestly look like Mr. Rogers and she was ill all last week. I've tried confining all my communication to email and text.
I also started flirting again with the neo-Pagan side of things (I dip my toe back in every so often) and issued a sort of prayer/spell/whatever you want to call it to just...stop her shouting. Not by controlling her, I just sort of...tried to create a sort of vibe around myself that keeps her from wanting to shout. She can tell me the same information, she just can't shout. ...so far so good. I've also mixed up an oil that's supposed to have a similar protective effect and I've been using that in an oil diffuser - so if it's total bunkum, at least it smells nice in my room.
I also dragged myself out to a knitting group and got a little bit into a project that has been on the backburner for a long time. This is only a once-a-month thing.
But the biggest thing I did was little domesticity - that always sort of grounds me. Making some kind of food and tidying up a bit. I resorted my DVD collection and a couple of bookshelves; I discovered I have a bunch of duplicates, and tonight I'll try throwing some of those at Buy Nothing. I'm all set for food for a while (last free thread I talked about the chest freezer) and the only thing I potentially could make for a while is a cake, and yay cake.
I also was out with my photo group on the weekend - it's a photo group that does urban street photography and the leader is a darling and one of those excited-about-everything people, and once a month he leads people on a walking tour of some spot in the city and we all just take photos. This month it was this one tiny private alley in the city, and I just plum wasn't feeling it. So after about an hour I innocently said that if we sort of ran out of steam, I knew of an awesome old-school candy store that might make for some other photo ops, and it was just a couple blocks away. The group was intrigued, so I lead them there - and they all lost their collective minds over it. I got some cool photos there too - but I also got about $50 of candy which also helped me quite a bit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:45 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
I also started flirting again with the neo-Pagan side of things (I dip my toe back in every so often) and issued a sort of prayer/spell/whatever you want to call it to just...stop her shouting. Not by controlling her, I just sort of...tried to create a sort of vibe around myself that keeps her from wanting to shout. She can tell me the same information, she just can't shout. ...so far so good. I've also mixed up an oil that's supposed to have a similar protective effect and I've been using that in an oil diffuser - so if it's total bunkum, at least it smells nice in my room.
I also dragged myself out to a knitting group and got a little bit into a project that has been on the backburner for a long time. This is only a once-a-month thing.
But the biggest thing I did was little domesticity - that always sort of grounds me. Making some kind of food and tidying up a bit. I resorted my DVD collection and a couple of bookshelves; I discovered I have a bunch of duplicates, and tonight I'll try throwing some of those at Buy Nothing. I'm all set for food for a while (last free thread I talked about the chest freezer) and the only thing I potentially could make for a while is a cake, and yay cake.
I also was out with my photo group on the weekend - it's a photo group that does urban street photography and the leader is a darling and one of those excited-about-everything people, and once a month he leads people on a walking tour of some spot in the city and we all just take photos. This month it was this one tiny private alley in the city, and I just plum wasn't feeling it. So after about an hour I innocently said that if we sort of ran out of steam, I knew of an awesome old-school candy store that might make for some other photo ops, and it was just a couple blocks away. The group was intrigued, so I lead them there - and they all lost their collective minds over it. I got some cool photos there too - but I also got about $50 of candy which also helped me quite a bit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:45 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Oh, and I got back in the blog saddle a bit by watching another film on the docket; this time it was Little Big Man. I may try writing the review tonight even.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:55 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:55 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Early prepping for the winter months. Locate golashes, snow shovel, rock salt, mittens, etc. Bring in patio furniture...do some weeding, and cutting back of perennials. I found a potato in the bin which is sprouting little things. I want to plant it but am stumped should it go in soil or water? Do I cut it in half horizontally, because it is whole now. Checked progress of peach seed which is wrapped in wet paper towel in refrigerator to see if it is sprouting...nothing yet. A peach pit is incredibly hard to split open. I thought a squeeze with a pair of pliers would work. No dice. Ended up putting it in a vice and hammering an old knife into the seam. Finally it worked...
posted by Czjewel at 9:55 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by Czjewel at 9:55 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Pop that potato in soil! I've successfully grown a great plant that way before.
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:07 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:07 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
Also, cut the sprouted eyes into their own chunks. Plant in soil.
I haven't grown potatoes in years as I can never remember to buy seed potatoes until they are long out of stock. Fun to grow/harvest and eat however.
posted by Windopaene at 10:19 AM on September 30
I haven't grown potatoes in years as I can never remember to buy seed potatoes until they are long out of stock. Fun to grow/harvest and eat however.
posted by Windopaene at 10:19 AM on September 30
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My unusual stress reliever is shuffling a deck of cards. I don't know why, it just calms me down.
posted by cooker girl at 7:33 AM on September 30 [4 favorites]