What is your happy place?
November 11, 2024 6:57 AM Subscribe
Everybody needs a happy place. What's yours? What's a place you can visit or even just think about that gives you a sense of calm and relaxation? If yours is the semi-regular #freethread on MeFi, boy do I have good news for you... You are there.
Ctrl+F library, not found
posted by olopua at 7:07 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
posted by olopua at 7:07 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
That would have to be Water's Edge beach here in Cape Town.
It's a tiny beach that's not many people know about because its entrance is hidden behind a nondescript wooden gate.
It's in a small cove, right next to the much better known Boulders Beach which is a Penguin reserve, and penguins often come swimming there too.
It's very sheltered, and there's a kelp forest close to shore that you can swim in, perfect place for snorkeling.
If you have seen "My Octopus Teacher", that's the same ecosystem, and fairly close to where that movie was filmed.
I used to be a bit nervous of the kelp, as it has a habit of swooshing at you in your peripheral vision, but these days I love dragging myself right inside a dense thicket of underwater kelp.
The plants are huge, trees, really, and their leaves are amber-brown and slightly translucent so that the underwater sunlight light dapples through them as they sway their long fronds.
There are sounds too, lots of little clicks and fizzing noises, I don't know what makes those. Schools of fish, just browsing calmly, and big lone fish too. They don't seem to be scared of humans at all.
And the rocks are covered with apricot coloured anemones, and sea urchins, and sea stars, and tiny peculiar little crustaceans that wave their multiple antennae as they march along with the attitude and charisma of some massive creature.
Just the best place.
posted by Zumbador at 7:15 AM on November 11 [29 favorites]
It's a tiny beach that's not many people know about because its entrance is hidden behind a nondescript wooden gate.
It's in a small cove, right next to the much better known Boulders Beach which is a Penguin reserve, and penguins often come swimming there too.
It's very sheltered, and there's a kelp forest close to shore that you can swim in, perfect place for snorkeling.
If you have seen "My Octopus Teacher", that's the same ecosystem, and fairly close to where that movie was filmed.
I used to be a bit nervous of the kelp, as it has a habit of swooshing at you in your peripheral vision, but these days I love dragging myself right inside a dense thicket of underwater kelp.
The plants are huge, trees, really, and their leaves are amber-brown and slightly translucent so that the underwater sunlight light dapples through them as they sway their long fronds.
There are sounds too, lots of little clicks and fizzing noises, I don't know what makes those. Schools of fish, just browsing calmly, and big lone fish too. They don't seem to be scared of humans at all.
And the rocks are covered with apricot coloured anemones, and sea urchins, and sea stars, and tiny peculiar little crustaceans that wave their multiple antennae as they march along with the attitude and charisma of some massive creature.
Just the best place.
posted by Zumbador at 7:15 AM on November 11 [29 favorites]
My happy place is our cousins' family home in the mountain village of Rimetea (Torockó, if you're Hungarian) in Romania.
The town and their little home are lovely.
My spouse's grandma's house is still there, but it was centuries old, the oldest still standing in town, with six foot ceilings and no internal plumbing. The village bought it and turned it into a museum.
The family still own several other homes there. Two sets of cousins have little homes that the have been fixing up as country homes. Some cousins our age inherited a little one from their grandmother that they're very gradually fixing up to be their country home (they're from Cluj, like my spouse). It was built in 1873 in the local style. It's the one in the second link above.
So far, the younger cousins' place has one really nice bedroom without real furniture. The kitchen is outside for the time being and probably half the yard is given over to various one-time farm buildings that now serve as storage. But it doesn't matter.
On a hot day, you can sit in the shady yard among berries and vines on little handmade furniture and sip wine and barbecue. Step out through the back gate and you're looking directly at one of the two mountains the town is located between.
Mostly all of the buildings in town are built in the very same style.
It's actually nicknamed "The Village Where the Sun Rises Twice" because the sun has to clear both mountains for it to really feel like the day has started. One mountain is in little terraces for livestock to graze on. The other is a jutting rock with an intense cliff-face. (That's the one their home faces.) In the middle of town is a little fountain where the most perfectly crystal clear water is piped in from a spring on the mountain. People fill their bottles from the pipe above the first section. Animals can drink from the second. The third is for washing.
A little secret is that actually think the very nicest view is the little temető, the little Hungarian cemetery way up on the hill. There are little benches in front of some of the graves where you can sit and just look out over everything.
Torockó is just lovely.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:17 AM on November 11 [19 favorites]
The town and their little home are lovely.
My spouse's grandma's house is still there, but it was centuries old, the oldest still standing in town, with six foot ceilings and no internal plumbing. The village bought it and turned it into a museum.
The family still own several other homes there. Two sets of cousins have little homes that the have been fixing up as country homes. Some cousins our age inherited a little one from their grandmother that they're very gradually fixing up to be their country home (they're from Cluj, like my spouse). It was built in 1873 in the local style. It's the one in the second link above.
So far, the younger cousins' place has one really nice bedroom without real furniture. The kitchen is outside for the time being and probably half the yard is given over to various one-time farm buildings that now serve as storage. But it doesn't matter.
On a hot day, you can sit in the shady yard among berries and vines on little handmade furniture and sip wine and barbecue. Step out through the back gate and you're looking directly at one of the two mountains the town is located between.
Mostly all of the buildings in town are built in the very same style.
It's actually nicknamed "The Village Where the Sun Rises Twice" because the sun has to clear both mountains for it to really feel like the day has started. One mountain is in little terraces for livestock to graze on. The other is a jutting rock with an intense cliff-face. (That's the one their home faces.) In the middle of town is a little fountain where the most perfectly crystal clear water is piped in from a spring on the mountain. People fill their bottles from the pipe above the first section. Animals can drink from the second. The third is for washing.
A little secret is that actually think the very nicest view is the little temető, the little Hungarian cemetery way up on the hill. There are little benches in front of some of the graves where you can sit and just look out over everything.
Torockó is just lovely.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:17 AM on November 11 [19 favorites]
My happy place, but also source of frustration, is a house I'm renovating as I have time and money. We don't live in it -- the house is in an idyllic small town, just up the street from a wooded lakeshore, and it was badly neglected for...decades? before we bought it from the bank for what now feels like pocket-change. I can go down there and putter around, avoiding screens, and using my hands to accomplish things. During the summer I can sit on the front porch and watch nature go on around me. My life has been extremely busy with filmmaking stuff, so I haven't been down there in a while, but hope to again soon.
Oh, did I mention filmmaking? The small independent film I was working on got a sudden deadline update mid-October; the director/writer/star wanted the edit done before November 1st because there were film festival deadlines that day. The editor had not worked on something of this scale, and I got a variety of texts asking relatively basic questions about frame rates and color grading and tried to help as I could; I have not heard if they were successful in meeting the deadline.
This Friday is the premiere of the film that I've been making with my friend/professor/director -- it's looking good, although the past two weeks have been full of frantic re-recording of audio and foley. Yesterday was the last session and he seemed satisfied; today, with the holiday and no classes, he is, in theory, finalizing the edit for the showing. Since it's a short film, about a half hour, we're also showing Eyes by Stan Brackhage and In Order To Not Be Here by Deborah Stratman, both of which highlight problems with policing, showing somewhat mundane events that progressively get worse due to the police in bad situations making poor decisions. As producer I've been frustrated by some of the non-filmmaking processes; partly relying on things outside of my control -- the director has access to free resources through the university, even for personal projects, but you get what you pay for and the posters aren't ready and the press releases went out two weeks too late and I don't know what sort of attendance we're going to get. We did get booked to be on the local morning news tomorrow...but we don't know what time and since it's a holiday there's nobody at the university who can tell us what the agreed upon time was...but, we're both very optimistic that this Friday will go as well as we can get it, and then we move into Stage 2: refining the edit based on feedback from Friday, and then seeing what film festivals we can get into. Friend/professor/director has a history of getting into really good film festivals and he thinks there's a good chance we can get shown at Sundance (I'm only somewhat optimistic there) so despite hurdles we're hurtling in the right direction. Also part of the next stage is I have to put together a report for the arts grant I got: did we accomplish our goals? Did we contribute to the arts community with our work? Will I ever get a grant again? But, let's just get to Friday.
Also Friday: 48 Hour Film Project on campus: we get two days to write, produce, film, edit, and show a 7-ish minute film. It's a lot of work but I had fun last year.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:21 AM on November 11 [12 favorites]
Oh, did I mention filmmaking? The small independent film I was working on got a sudden deadline update mid-October; the director/writer/star wanted the edit done before November 1st because there were film festival deadlines that day. The editor had not worked on something of this scale, and I got a variety of texts asking relatively basic questions about frame rates and color grading and tried to help as I could; I have not heard if they were successful in meeting the deadline.
This Friday is the premiere of the film that I've been making with my friend/professor/director -- it's looking good, although the past two weeks have been full of frantic re-recording of audio and foley. Yesterday was the last session and he seemed satisfied; today, with the holiday and no classes, he is, in theory, finalizing the edit for the showing. Since it's a short film, about a half hour, we're also showing Eyes by Stan Brackhage and In Order To Not Be Here by Deborah Stratman, both of which highlight problems with policing, showing somewhat mundane events that progressively get worse due to the police in bad situations making poor decisions. As producer I've been frustrated by some of the non-filmmaking processes; partly relying on things outside of my control -- the director has access to free resources through the university, even for personal projects, but you get what you pay for and the posters aren't ready and the press releases went out two weeks too late and I don't know what sort of attendance we're going to get. We did get booked to be on the local morning news tomorrow...but we don't know what time and since it's a holiday there's nobody at the university who can tell us what the agreed upon time was...but, we're both very optimistic that this Friday will go as well as we can get it, and then we move into Stage 2: refining the edit based on feedback from Friday, and then seeing what film festivals we can get into. Friend/professor/director has a history of getting into really good film festivals and he thinks there's a good chance we can get shown at Sundance (I'm only somewhat optimistic there) so despite hurdles we're hurtling in the right direction. Also part of the next stage is I have to put together a report for the arts grant I got: did we accomplish our goals? Did we contribute to the arts community with our work? Will I ever get a grant again? But, let's just get to Friday.
Also Friday: 48 Hour Film Project on campus: we get two days to write, produce, film, edit, and show a 7-ish minute film. It's a lot of work but I had fun last year.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:21 AM on November 11 [12 favorites]
One of my favorite spots/things to do is to check out the little tiny stores that are labors of love and just crammed with something, for ex: pens, art supplies, miniatures and just every time you turn around (carefully) you find something neat.
posted by Art_Pot at 7:32 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
posted by Art_Pot at 7:32 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
I like to sit at the kitchen table with a jigsaw puzzle, the radio, and a coke. There are details but that's the gist of it.
posted by JanetLand at 7:44 AM on November 11 [18 favorites]
posted by JanetLand at 7:44 AM on November 11 [18 favorites]
Half Price Books
posted by Billiken at 7:47 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
posted by Billiken at 7:47 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
I was tempted to say 2014, but instead I'll say on my bike, riding the Erie Canal path before sun up, just me and the animals and the quiet world.
posted by tommasz at 7:51 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 7:51 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
I've just started a job as a signaller in a quiet rural signalbox in the SouthWest of England. My signalbox is my happy place and I get to come here pretty much every day which is pretty wonderful.
I can't search for it right now but my journey here started (as do so many things) with a comment on Metafilter in 2011/12. I'll try and dig it out later.
posted by jontyjago at 8:01 AM on November 11 [28 favorites]
I can't search for it right now but my journey here started (as do so many things) with a comment on Metafilter in 2011/12. I'll try and dig it out later.
posted by jontyjago at 8:01 AM on November 11 [28 favorites]
That sounds amazing, jontyjago.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:17 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:17 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]
My house. My house is my sanctuary. I may place way too much importance on it but as a kid who moved everywhere and never quite having a family "home" to go back to (my parents could never afford to buy), the idea that I ended up a homeowner has not stopped being an amazement to me. It is a 112 year old home purchased by a fiercely independent nurse who eventually raised her family here. (A pair of her elderly descendants came by a few years ago to introduce themselves and told us lovely colourful stories of the people who used to live here from 1912 onward to the 1970s, when they finally sold it.)
The walls are solid plaster, the floors are the original wood. It is full of art and light and cats and books and love. It is the grounding force for a person who was always afraid to put down an anchor because the anchor always seemed to be taken away. It is where I feel safe. When we first looked at it in February 2015, the first word I honestly felt and heard in my head was "home." The previous owners converted half of the second floor into a loft like lounge space and it has huge windows! Again, this is my home. I love it so much.
I am so lucky. I married the best person in the world for me, I have a home that means something to me, I have decent employment, and I am never not grateful. I placed myself in many boxes that got smaller and smaller throughout adulthood. It really wasn't until I got sober in 2019 that I actually got to be and live my life as a queer weird woman fully.
Anyway, I love my house.
posted by Kitteh at 8:29 AM on November 11 [40 favorites]
The walls are solid plaster, the floors are the original wood. It is full of art and light and cats and books and love. It is the grounding force for a person who was always afraid to put down an anchor because the anchor always seemed to be taken away. It is where I feel safe. When we first looked at it in February 2015, the first word I honestly felt and heard in my head was "home." The previous owners converted half of the second floor into a loft like lounge space and it has huge windows! Again, this is my home. I love it so much.
I am so lucky. I married the best person in the world for me, I have a home that means something to me, I have decent employment, and I am never not grateful. I placed myself in many boxes that got smaller and smaller throughout adulthood. It really wasn't until I got sober in 2019 that I actually got to be and live my life as a queer weird woman fully.
Anyway, I love my house.
posted by Kitteh at 8:29 AM on November 11 [40 favorites]
Honestly, any thrift store or run-down vintage store. I can spend hours and hours looking at all the things that people have given up, wondering what the reason was for getting the thing, getting rid of the thing, and what I could do with the thing in the future. I love to incorporate thrifted and vintage and found objects in my art and crafts, and it always feels good to grab something that someone else has lost the value of and make it into something new.
posted by xingcat at 8:29 AM on November 11 [5 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 8:29 AM on November 11 [5 favorites]
This sounds pretentious, and it probably is, but my happy place is being aboard the Queen Mary 2. I love how quiet and simple my life gets. It's a total reset of one's life, a decompression, a removal from all troubles. Everything goes still and elemental, and I don't miss my normal life at all. My biggest decisions become when to move on in the spa, how long to watch the waves, or what to select from the menu. It's like camping, only luxury with no work.
I don't get to do it often enough. My next transatlantic crossing is in 631 days, but who's counting?
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:31 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
I don't get to do it often enough. My next transatlantic crossing is in 631 days, but who's counting?
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:31 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
There are evenings and no meetings scheduled and I get a beer and turn on a hockey game and the cat joins me on the couch and the dog has her chair and my partner is in her room watching something. Eventually the dog comes over and tells me it's time for bed. Just a nice break from everything, pure familiarity.
posted by ginger.beef at 8:35 AM on November 11 [5 favorites]
posted by ginger.beef at 8:35 AM on November 11 [5 favorites]
My orchard, definitely. I planted around 800 fruit trees a decade ago. They have grown up, produce a prodigious amount of fruit, and provide wildlife habitat as well. If I walk every row in the orchard it's about 1.5 miles, just long enough to clear the mind and soothe the soul. Best thing I have ever done. They feed me, my community, bring wonderful people to my home and provide endless solace in a fraught world.
posted by birdsongster at 8:40 AM on November 11 [22 favorites]
posted by birdsongster at 8:40 AM on November 11 [22 favorites]
snorkeling with whale sharks by Isla Mujeres.
many of your special places sound very lovely! the library!! Romania (gotta add it to my tree list)! lots of beaches and water. (if I can be in water I'm most of the way there. floating, swimming, kayaking.)
posted by supermedusa at 8:50 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
many of your special places sound very lovely! the library!! Romania (gotta add it to my tree list)! lots of beaches and water. (if I can be in water I'm most of the way there. floating, swimming, kayaking.)
posted by supermedusa at 8:50 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Yellowstone.
Just the most amazing place I have ever been to. (Until the supervolcano blows up and kills us all, but, tradeoffs and such).
Bison, geysers, and Bears Oh My!
posted by Windopaene at 8:50 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Just the most amazing place I have ever been to. (Until the supervolcano blows up and kills us all, but, tradeoffs and such).
Bison, geysers, and Bears Oh My!
posted by Windopaene at 8:50 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
snorkeling with whale sharks by Isla Mujeres.
I didn't have my reading glasses on and initially read that as "smoking with whale sharks" and I gotta tell you the actual scenario is amazing, but still, after that, a mild letdown.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:53 AM on November 11 [4 favorites]
I didn't have my reading glasses on and initially read that as "smoking with whale sharks" and I gotta tell you the actual scenario is amazing, but still, after that, a mild letdown.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:53 AM on November 11 [4 favorites]
Found it. Not a comment per se but the "How to Boot a Steam Locomotive" link in (sadly missed) pjern's profile.
I was still living in Argentina when I read the article but knew I would be moving back to the UK within a year or so and it made me think about a heritage steam railway near to where I would be moving back to, and that it might be cool to so dome some volunteering there.
Fast forward to 2016 when I'd been back in the UK for a couple of years and I'd moved to a job which gave me weekends free and I started training as a porter at the Swanage Railway and shortly after that began signalling school with the aim of being a signaller in one of the 3 boxes the railway operates. I'd considered driving as a possibility but when I saw the start time was 0630 I thought signalling with the ever-present kettle and cups of tea seemed much more civilised.
Still as a volunteer and working only at weekends I passed as a porter in 2018 and then passed out for my first box in 2019. COVID slowed everything down and in 2021 I was working for a small web dev agency near where I live - they manage the site for a local volunteer organisation which is where I saw the advert for a full-time job on the Swanage Railway managing existing volunteers and recruiting new ones. I applied and to my surprise and joy, I got it. I stayed in that role for 18 months before moving to Deputy Operations Manager, whilst at the same time qualifying for all signalboxes.
In January this year Network Rail were advertising a vacancy on the "big railway" in one of their leverframe mechanical boxes about 30 mins from where I live. I applied and again, to my surprise and joy I got it. After a 10 week residential training course near London and 6 weeks training in the box I passed out at the start of October.
So it's been quite the journey and honestly I've loved every minute from the steam trains at Swanage, footplate rides out on the mainline I've been lucky enough to be invited on, to learning the ins and outs of the rule book and the frame in my box - and it all stems from that one link I found on Metafilter... I've been meaning to get this all down in a comment here at some point, and doing so in a free thread about happy places seems the right place to do it.
If anybody is interested in UK railway signalling (mechanical or otherwise) feel free to MeMail me.
posted by jontyjago at 8:55 AM on November 11 [45 favorites]
I was still living in Argentina when I read the article but knew I would be moving back to the UK within a year or so and it made me think about a heritage steam railway near to where I would be moving back to, and that it might be cool to so dome some volunteering there.
Fast forward to 2016 when I'd been back in the UK for a couple of years and I'd moved to a job which gave me weekends free and I started training as a porter at the Swanage Railway and shortly after that began signalling school with the aim of being a signaller in one of the 3 boxes the railway operates. I'd considered driving as a possibility but when I saw the start time was 0630 I thought signalling with the ever-present kettle and cups of tea seemed much more civilised.
Still as a volunteer and working only at weekends I passed as a porter in 2018 and then passed out for my first box in 2019. COVID slowed everything down and in 2021 I was working for a small web dev agency near where I live - they manage the site for a local volunteer organisation which is where I saw the advert for a full-time job on the Swanage Railway managing existing volunteers and recruiting new ones. I applied and to my surprise and joy, I got it. I stayed in that role for 18 months before moving to Deputy Operations Manager, whilst at the same time qualifying for all signalboxes.
In January this year Network Rail were advertising a vacancy on the "big railway" in one of their leverframe mechanical boxes about 30 mins from where I live. I applied and again, to my surprise and joy I got it. After a 10 week residential training course near London and 6 weeks training in the box I passed out at the start of October.
So it's been quite the journey and honestly I've loved every minute from the steam trains at Swanage, footplate rides out on the mainline I've been lucky enough to be invited on, to learning the ins and outs of the rule book and the frame in my box - and it all stems from that one link I found on Metafilter... I've been meaning to get this all down in a comment here at some point, and doing so in a free thread about happy places seems the right place to do it.
If anybody is interested in UK railway signalling (mechanical or otherwise) feel free to MeMail me.
posted by jontyjago at 8:55 AM on November 11 [45 favorites]
Quit bogarting that joint toothy...
EDIT: Whale Shark ruins my joke...
posted by Windopaene at 8:55 AM on November 11 [3 favorites]
EDIT: Whale Shark ruins my joke...
posted by Windopaene at 8:55 AM on November 11 [3 favorites]
I'm having a really hard time today. Accepting encouragement in Memail please.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:07 AM on November 11 [12 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:07 AM on November 11 [12 favorites]
White Sands National Monument, a dune landscape of gypsum salt, is unlike any place on Earth. For an optimal experience, they offer a small amount of backcountry camping permits each day.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:08 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:08 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Less on the happy place thing and more with the general "taking advantage of a free thread," but I'm going to spend the US Thanksgiving break visiting cousins in Toronto. I'm looking forward to eating Descendent Pizza, walking the St. Lawrence market, and checking out the new brick and mortar Vinegar Syndrome store.
I may have to make an IRL post to see what other Mefites I can say hello to while I am there.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:20 AM on November 11 [3 favorites]
I may have to make an IRL post to see what other Mefites I can say hello to while I am there.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:20 AM on November 11 [3 favorites]
Sappy I know, but my happy place is wherever Mrs. 43rd is. Can't say if the same is true for her ;-)
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 9:22 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 9:22 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
Oh, I can relate to that. I remember Anne Bancroft explaining her love for Mel Brooks by saying that she was excited to hear him coming in the door, because she couldn't help but think, "Now things are going to get good."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:29 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:29 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
I am very fortunate in that my happy place is just my yard. I live on the bend of a river that rages in the spring but I can walk across pretty much the rest of the year. We’re in a little patch of forest that’s primarily cedar, with some maples, birches, spruce, and pine. We have all sorts of wildlife. Any chance I get I sit outside on my porch with my camera and watch the forest happenings. I love it.
posted by eekernohan at 9:30 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
posted by eekernohan at 9:30 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
DOT, check out Little Ghosts over on Dundas West, a queer-owned horror bookstore!
posted by Kitteh at 9:30 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 9:30 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]
My happy place is Thursday night open mic at The Brewhouse Gallery in Lake Park, FL. I've been a big fan of open mics since I was a teenager (I actually met my husband when he came into one where I was playing in Urbana, IL in 1991) and this one is my favorite. I've been a regular there for a few years, and it's my Cheers, where everybody knows my name and they're always glad I came. I will never be a professional musician, but getting up to share a couple of songs and listening to what all the participants bring in - it's the best.
posted by Daily Alice at 9:32 AM on November 11 [7 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 9:32 AM on November 11 [7 favorites]
My happy place is our family farm. When I was a child, it was in the middle of a desert, now the trees my granddad planted have grown to maturity. It's different but it is still wild. Sometimes I just roll in the ground, taking in the smells and the feeling of everything.
In the village nearby, they feel it's very very far out, but it isn't, the neighbors are great and one never feels alone.
September 7th, I had a really unlucky fall and my right shoulder was crushed. They pain was insane, and I couldn't do anything with my right arm. First, the doctors said there was no way it could be healed, but then they found a team at a hospital about a hundred miles away who thought they could help, and they patched it up. I was restricted for 7 weeks, unable to do anything without help, but here I am. And now I am back to the big city for re-training and because my children want me to be closer to them.
Friday I went to a party and had too much wine, so I fell while walking the dog at night afterwards and I have the worst black eye you've ever seen. I'm mad at myself for being careless. But the good news is I didn't break anything and I had fun with friends.
posted by mumimor at 9:35 AM on November 11 [12 favorites]
In the village nearby, they feel it's very very far out, but it isn't, the neighbors are great and one never feels alone.
September 7th, I had a really unlucky fall and my right shoulder was crushed. They pain was insane, and I couldn't do anything with my right arm. First, the doctors said there was no way it could be healed, but then they found a team at a hospital about a hundred miles away who thought they could help, and they patched it up. I was restricted for 7 weeks, unable to do anything without help, but here I am. And now I am back to the big city for re-training and because my children want me to be closer to them.
Friday I went to a party and had too much wine, so I fell while walking the dog at night afterwards and I have the worst black eye you've ever seen. I'm mad at myself for being careless. But the good news is I didn't break anything and I had fun with friends.
posted by mumimor at 9:35 AM on November 11 [12 favorites]
My happy place is with my new kitten. We got him Saturday, which was kind of a sudden decision but kind of not; we've been considering an additional cat for a while. Eldest cat is 13 and the vets recently started talking about kidney issues, so we are concerned about him. We also knew that middle cat, formerly younger cat, would not do well as an only cat. There was a cat show on Saturday and we met this kiddo and decided to take the plunge. We had hoped for a young adult male originally but how could we say no to that face?
We know they say separate the cats until they're curious, etc. Middle cat was curious and interested that day and we were able to introduce them immediately. They're already playing. Eldest cat is jealous and hisses but doesn't do any more, and we've seen him watching the kitten with forward whiskers. We're making sure to give both of the older cats a lot of love and care separately so they're not too jealous. But it's all going remarkably well.
Apparently new kitten had come back to the shelter TWICE and the reason the second time was "no time for animal", which will not be an issue for us since Mr Epigrams is WFH and I don't work. He is pretty demanding but having two other cats helps.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:11 AM on November 11 [13 favorites]
We know they say separate the cats until they're curious, etc. Middle cat was curious and interested that day and we were able to introduce them immediately. They're already playing. Eldest cat is jealous and hisses but doesn't do any more, and we've seen him watching the kitten with forward whiskers. We're making sure to give both of the older cats a lot of love and care separately so they're not too jealous. But it's all going remarkably well.
Apparently new kitten had come back to the shelter TWICE and the reason the second time was "no time for animal", which will not be an issue for us since Mr Epigrams is WFH and I don't work. He is pretty demanding but having two other cats helps.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:11 AM on November 11 [13 favorites]
I was out walking with a friend around Green Lake, with my two dogs.
I had not had too much wine, but have had some kind of foot pain. I think it is about a 3 mile walk. Getting near the end of the walk, foot hurting more and more.
See a foot trail off the main path. Think, "the dogs will enjoy this little path". Then something happened. Don't know if I missteped, or the dog pulled me or what. But went over the edge, face down into the lake. NOT A HAPPY PLACE.
It was a fairly steep slope. I realized my head was face down in the water, dealt with that. But couldn't do much more than not drown. Hard to pick yourself up in this situation. Took a few tries to get back to the path. Had some finger bleeding, and being on thinners, any bleeding is going to be more extreme than you would expect.
Pulled muscles in my right pectoral area, but no serious damage. Was embarrassing though.
Glad you only have a black eye muminor, and not another crushed shoulder.
posted by Windopaene at 10:14 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
I had not had too much wine, but have had some kind of foot pain. I think it is about a 3 mile walk. Getting near the end of the walk, foot hurting more and more.
See a foot trail off the main path. Think, "the dogs will enjoy this little path". Then something happened. Don't know if I missteped, or the dog pulled me or what. But went over the edge, face down into the lake. NOT A HAPPY PLACE.
It was a fairly steep slope. I realized my head was face down in the water, dealt with that. But couldn't do much more than not drown. Hard to pick yourself up in this situation. Took a few tries to get back to the path. Had some finger bleeding, and being on thinners, any bleeding is going to be more extreme than you would expect.
Pulled muscles in my right pectoral area, but no serious damage. Was embarrassing though.
Glad you only have a black eye muminor, and not another crushed shoulder.
posted by Windopaene at 10:14 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
There is a sidewalk tree here in Brooklyn where I take my kids mulberry picking every June. We bring little step stools and buckets and load up on red and white mulberries until our hands and lips are purple. It doesn't sound like much but it's paradise to me
posted by 1adam12 at 10:22 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
posted by 1adam12 at 10:22 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
Definitely playing my djembe at the local drum circle group every Sunday. It's both energizing and calming at the same time (and oh so much fun!). I feel so fortunate I hooked up with such a group of diverse and link-minded people. So good for my soul.
posted by JonathanB at 10:26 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
posted by JonathanB at 10:26 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Nice 1adam12!
The house I grew up in had a mulberry tree in the back yard.
Spent a lot of time climbing that tree and eating mulberries.
posted by Windopaene at 10:29 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]
The house I grew up in had a mulberry tree in the back yard.
Spent a lot of time climbing that tree and eating mulberries.
posted by Windopaene at 10:29 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]
I think, though it can be quite difficult and frustrating sometimes, that my 1 bedroom apartment which I use as a studio is my happy place. I refer to it as The Art Flop and this is a pic taken on a very sunny day in March.
Thank you for these weekly free threads, no more than ever.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 10:31 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
Thank you for these weekly free threads, no more than ever.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 10:31 AM on November 11 [11 favorites]
Sitting by a campfire, surrounded by big trees. With friends is nice, but even just by myself it's still good.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:42 AM on November 11 [9 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:42 AM on November 11 [9 favorites]
Pretty much anywhere on a bike.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:44 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 10:44 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
I did indeed post an IRL thing for a Toronto meetup, if anyone is gonna be around.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:08 AM on November 11 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:08 AM on November 11 [1 favorite]
I saw a post, (I think on Facebook, sorry I still do some of that), that quoted Carl Sagan. Actually highlighted something he had written. And he totally nailed it. It has all happened.
And now we have to figure out what happens next
But, perhaps, the Universe(s) are my happy place.
I have a degree in Geology, so, timescales are a thing. And we are all just blips. We are all going to die. You will likely not become a fossil. "No individuals are preserved" Said my paleo prof. (The toss yourself into a crevasse of a glacier, not withstanding, (also make sure there are no pumas in that Crevasse)).
But this universe we are living in is mind-boggling. We are meat. That thinks?
posted by Windopaene at 11:34 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
And now we have to figure out what happens next
But, perhaps, the Universe(s) are my happy place.
I have a degree in Geology, so, timescales are a thing. And we are all just blips. We are all going to die. You will likely not become a fossil. "No individuals are preserved" Said my paleo prof. (The toss yourself into a crevasse of a glacier, not withstanding, (also make sure there are no pumas in that Crevasse)).
But this universe we are living in is mind-boggling. We are meat. That thinks?
posted by Windopaene at 11:34 AM on November 11 [10 favorites]
Camping in the mountains, hammock hung in the aspens with a stream within earshot. Drawing and reading all day long. Hot springs.
posted by sugarbomb at 11:40 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
posted by sugarbomb at 11:40 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
In a library - with time, electricity, and wifi.
posted by doctornemo at 11:49 AM on November 11 [7 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 11:49 AM on November 11 [7 favorites]
My happy place is Dornoch, Scotland. It is a small town in the far northern highlands. It is located on the East coast about 45 miles north of Inverness.
I first went there because it is the home of one of the greatest golf courses in the world. The second time I was there I got the idea I’d like to be a member of the club. It took a few years to find a couple of sponsors but eventually I got in. After that it became a regular site for vacations and I got to know more and more of the locals that make the club and the town such a wonderful place.
I retired at the end of 2019 and just before Covid shutdown the world I was able to buy a small 1 bedroom flat in town. When things started to open up in mid-2020 I went over there and spent three months. I was so well accepted by the townspeople that I quickly realized it wasn’t the golf that would keep me coming back (although that is still a major draw along with the whisky) but the entire vibe of the people and the place.
This summer I had a bad knee which severely limited my golf, but I still loved my three months there. After getting the knee dealt with in September I came back for another month and while I was here I bought a house so that I can spend more time over here. Tomorrow I head beck to New Jersey but I’ll be back in December to get settled in the new place and put the old one on the market. Hopefully whoever buys it will feel the love of the town grow in them also.
posted by jvbthegolfer at 11:51 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
I first went there because it is the home of one of the greatest golf courses in the world. The second time I was there I got the idea I’d like to be a member of the club. It took a few years to find a couple of sponsors but eventually I got in. After that it became a regular site for vacations and I got to know more and more of the locals that make the club and the town such a wonderful place.
I retired at the end of 2019 and just before Covid shutdown the world I was able to buy a small 1 bedroom flat in town. When things started to open up in mid-2020 I went over there and spent three months. I was so well accepted by the townspeople that I quickly realized it wasn’t the golf that would keep me coming back (although that is still a major draw along with the whisky) but the entire vibe of the people and the place.
This summer I had a bad knee which severely limited my golf, but I still loved my three months there. After getting the knee dealt with in September I came back for another month and while I was here I bought a house so that I can spend more time over here. Tomorrow I head beck to New Jersey but I’ll be back in December to get settled in the new place and put the old one on the market. Hopefully whoever buys it will feel the love of the town grow in them also.
posted by jvbthegolfer at 11:51 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Listening to KMFA, playing xNetHack on Hardfought and chatting with my wife, all simultaneously...
posted by jim in austin at 11:54 AM on November 11 [3 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 11:54 AM on November 11 [3 favorites]
My happy spot is sitting on my portal (covered patio) and looking out to the New Mexico Jemez Mt.s. Very nice at sunset if there are clouds floating by. We also have two great horned owls that hoot every evening and sometimes fly by after sunset. I have to remind myself that I'm very lucky. Also listening to Mrs. Jabo play the flute and violin every morning makes me happy.
posted by jabo at 11:58 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
posted by jabo at 11:58 AM on November 11 [8 favorites]
It's raining here, the cats are feeling very affectionate, and I've been exploring fancy teas. It's all I can do to be logged into work at all instead of sitting in a comfy chair reading a book about spaceships.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:07 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:07 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
CW suicidal ideation and self pity
seconding everyone who said "on a bike". Increasingly it's the only way I can avoid my conscious self-hatred, which is the thing that makes every other place unbearable.
These days, it seems the most cognitively-expensive thing I can do without bitter recrimination and suicidal ideation is just to keep spinning and shifting.
I have been watching a number of documentaries about adventure cycling races like the Tour Divide and just thinking "what a dream it would be to only have to worry about moving my bike forward for weeks on end".
Unfortunately, thanks to ill-timed surgery last week I'm off the bike until after Thanksgiving. I'll make it, because I'm a fighter and I always beat back the depression & anxiety enough to survive. But I feel perilously close to finally losing this battle with each new day.
posted by turbowombat at 12:11 PM on November 11 [13 favorites]
seconding everyone who said "on a bike". Increasingly it's the only way I can avoid my conscious self-hatred, which is the thing that makes every other place unbearable.
These days, it seems the most cognitively-expensive thing I can do without bitter recrimination and suicidal ideation is just to keep spinning and shifting.
I have been watching a number of documentaries about adventure cycling races like the Tour Divide and just thinking "what a dream it would be to only have to worry about moving my bike forward for weeks on end".
Unfortunately, thanks to ill-timed surgery last week I'm off the bike until after Thanksgiving. I'll make it, because I'm a fighter and I always beat back the depression & anxiety enough to survive. But I feel perilously close to finally losing this battle with each new day.
posted by turbowombat at 12:11 PM on November 11 [13 favorites]
I think mine would probably be inside a book. But, failing that, maybe this beach in Fife (not my photograph), or one of several libraries in universities.
Today I was at this beach (YT video, also not mine) at low tide, which was pretty good. I shared a cinnamon bun with a friend. I was having a day off from the hospital, where my father is dying. They are having difficulty managing his pain, so I never know when I go in whether he will be crying with pain or massively drugged up. Yesterday was the latter and he was cheerfully rambling. The ward staff talk about whether he is "lucid" and I've not yet found a good word for the opposite. He said he wanted to discombobulate god, which sounds like a decent ambition to me, if possibly on the tricky side (he is a convinced and militant atheist). Then I reminded him of his favourite Shakespeare line, "keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them", and he sobbed and said it is shattering.
posted by paduasoy at 12:42 PM on November 11 [10 favorites]
Today I was at this beach (YT video, also not mine) at low tide, which was pretty good. I shared a cinnamon bun with a friend. I was having a day off from the hospital, where my father is dying. They are having difficulty managing his pain, so I never know when I go in whether he will be crying with pain or massively drugged up. Yesterday was the latter and he was cheerfully rambling. The ward staff talk about whether he is "lucid" and I've not yet found a good word for the opposite. He said he wanted to discombobulate god, which sounds like a decent ambition to me, if possibly on the tricky side (he is a convinced and militant atheist). Then I reminded him of his favourite Shakespeare line, "keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them", and he sobbed and said it is shattering.
posted by paduasoy at 12:42 PM on November 11 [10 favorites]
I must confess that after the events of the past week. Bathory's Blood Fire Death is relaxing listening for me.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:45 PM on November 11
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:45 PM on November 11
Greg_Ace: >Sitting by a campfire, surrounded by big trees. With friends is nice, but even just by myself it's still good.
I hear you. Every summer, we go to a small hacker camp in Denmark, to do exactly this, with people who have become friends over the years.
In the daytime, we tinker and fool around with tools, paint and whatnot. But that's the gravy.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:59 PM on November 11 [2 favorites]
I hear you. Every summer, we go to a small hacker camp in Denmark, to do exactly this, with people who have become friends over the years.
In the daytime, we tinker and fool around with tools, paint and whatnot. But that's the gravy.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:59 PM on November 11 [2 favorites]
I’m battling the depression too these days. In addition to the Current General Unpleasantness:
- my mom is sliding rapidly into alcoholism.
- my sister is melting down as well due to the CGU issue and the mom issue.
- my platonic life partner is in the throes of her own severe mental health crisis, she’s cut off almost all of her friends, including me, and is planning to move out of state.
- I had to prematurely surrender the litter of kittens I was fostering due to all of the above issues, as well as this being absolutely the worst litter I have ever fostered, in terms of disasters. The kittens themselves were not to blame, of course, but I could just not handle the stress and I had to triage.
It’s a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Lots of triage happening.
posted by notoriety public at 1:05 PM on November 11 [10 favorites]
- my mom is sliding rapidly into alcoholism.
- my sister is melting down as well due to the CGU issue and the mom issue.
- my platonic life partner is in the throes of her own severe mental health crisis, she’s cut off almost all of her friends, including me, and is planning to move out of state.
- I had to prematurely surrender the litter of kittens I was fostering due to all of the above issues, as well as this being absolutely the worst litter I have ever fostered, in terms of disasters. The kittens themselves were not to blame, of course, but I could just not handle the stress and I had to triage.
It’s a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Lots of triage happening.
posted by notoriety public at 1:05 PM on November 11 [10 favorites]
My happy place is my dog. Recently he's started adorably snoring and the sound of it is so soothing it puts me straight to sleep. Literally. Like taking a Vicodin. Last night I was lying on the couch reading when I heard him start snoring. "Uh oh," I thought. Then the next thing I knew I was waking up from a two-hour sleep with my book on my face.
Today we went out foraging for rose hips in the misting rain. I have a spot I go where the trail is all mossy and lined with wild roses and on one side you have a view through the trees of endless miles of green rolling hills. It's next to a very popular trail but for some reason nobody knows this one is there so we always have it to ourselves. He noses around while I fill my bag with rose hips and then gallops to catch up with me when I move on. We were both soaking wet by the time I was done. Came home and had some split pea soup and rose hip tea and now we're going to have a nap by the fire. I am fully in my crone era and loving it.
posted by HotToddy at 1:06 PM on November 11 [17 favorites]
Today we went out foraging for rose hips in the misting rain. I have a spot I go where the trail is all mossy and lined with wild roses and on one side you have a view through the trees of endless miles of green rolling hills. It's next to a very popular trail but for some reason nobody knows this one is there so we always have it to ourselves. He noses around while I fill my bag with rose hips and then gallops to catch up with me when I move on. We were both soaking wet by the time I was done. Came home and had some split pea soup and rose hip tea and now we're going to have a nap by the fire. I am fully in my crone era and loving it.
posted by HotToddy at 1:06 PM on November 11 [17 favorites]
Mine is definitely the officially legal nude beach in Florida. It's such a balm to be free, but also, it's usually a break in an elder care trip where I can stop worrying about them, and also embrace a part of my gender and sexuality that I'll never share with them.
posted by advicepig at 1:16 PM on November 11 [5 favorites]
posted by advicepig at 1:16 PM on November 11 [5 favorites]
This is a bit odd, but I find watching video of Katie Ledecky winning gold in "distance" events at the various Olympics to be relaxing and cathartic and makes me happy and content. I have a youtube playlist, starting with her London 2012 800m victory, then Rio 2016 800m (in Rio she was in such tremendous form if the 1500m had been run for women she might have won that by more than a minute), then "2020" Tokyo (inaugural) 1500m, then 2020 Tokyo 800m, then 2024 Paris 1500m, and finally 2024 Paris 800m.
I enjoyed learning about her fellow medalists in these events and it's nice to see them succeed at this level as well: Mireia Belmonte Garcia (silver 800m 2012, ES), Rebecca Adlington (bronze 800m 2012, GB), Boglárka Kapás (bronze 800m 2016, HU), Jazz Carlin (silver 800m 2016, GB), Erica Sullivan (silver 2020 1500m, US), Sarah Köhler (bronze 2020 1500m, DE), Ariarne Titmus (silver 2020 800m; silver 2024 800m, AU), Simona Quadarella (bronze 2020 800m, IT), Anastasiya Kirpichnikova (silver 2024 1500m, FR), Paige Madden (bronze 2024 800m, US), and Isabel Gose (bronze 2024 1500m, DE)--the fact I can name those folks off the top of my head suggests my curdled old brain can still pick up new things (I didn't know anything at all about women's swimming before this summer).
posted by maxwelton at 1:27 PM on November 11 [1 favorite]
I enjoyed learning about her fellow medalists in these events and it's nice to see them succeed at this level as well: Mireia Belmonte Garcia (silver 800m 2012, ES), Rebecca Adlington (bronze 800m 2012, GB), Boglárka Kapás (bronze 800m 2016, HU), Jazz Carlin (silver 800m 2016, GB), Erica Sullivan (silver 2020 1500m, US), Sarah Köhler (bronze 2020 1500m, DE), Ariarne Titmus (silver 2020 800m; silver 2024 800m, AU), Simona Quadarella (bronze 2020 800m, IT), Anastasiya Kirpichnikova (silver 2024 1500m, FR), Paige Madden (bronze 2024 800m, US), and Isabel Gose (bronze 2024 1500m, DE)--the fact I can name those folks off the top of my head suggests my curdled old brain can still pick up new things (I didn't know anything at all about women's swimming before this summer).
posted by maxwelton at 1:27 PM on November 11 [1 favorite]
tools, paint and whatnot. But that's the gravy.
Paint gravy doesn't sound very healthy or appetizing.
;)
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:30 PM on November 11 [1 favorite]
Paint gravy doesn't sound very healthy or appetizing.
;)
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:30 PM on November 11 [1 favorite]
It used to be on a bike, very lightly stoned, riding fast down unfamiliar streets and paths.
Or laying on a hammock in a place with no people listening to nature.
But I fucked up my knee and got older.
I feel tempted to give some performative answer. Being very honest with myself, I have two safe safe places where I can feel relaxed and in peace.
One is late at night in my extremely cluttered home office, surrounded by computers, tools, machines, and some of my animals. Lights off, illuminated by the monitors and leds in the machines. I like to have one monitor playing videos and music, another with a strategy or building game, another with 3d design software running, and one with some electronics project running. I love the sound of the 3d printers running, the pumps, valves, and actuators of my projects, the sounds the animals make. I can spend 5 minutes adjusting a 3d model, turn around and monitor the humidity project for the tarantulas, play a little Civ. I feel like I’ve worked all my life to be able to afford a couple hours a day in this place. The closest I will get to living in the world of bladerunner. This is my romantic way to say I love my borderline hoarder room.
The other one is laying on the grass looking at the stars.
posted by Dr. Curare at 1:47 PM on November 11 [12 favorites]
Or laying on a hammock in a place with no people listening to nature.
But I fucked up my knee and got older.
I feel tempted to give some performative answer. Being very honest with myself, I have two safe safe places where I can feel relaxed and in peace.
One is late at night in my extremely cluttered home office, surrounded by computers, tools, machines, and some of my animals. Lights off, illuminated by the monitors and leds in the machines. I like to have one monitor playing videos and music, another with a strategy or building game, another with 3d design software running, and one with some electronics project running. I love the sound of the 3d printers running, the pumps, valves, and actuators of my projects, the sounds the animals make. I can spend 5 minutes adjusting a 3d model, turn around and monitor the humidity project for the tarantulas, play a little Civ. I feel like I’ve worked all my life to be able to afford a couple hours a day in this place. The closest I will get to living in the world of bladerunner. This is my romantic way to say I love my borderline hoarder room.
The other one is laying on the grass looking at the stars.
posted by Dr. Curare at 1:47 PM on November 11 [12 favorites]
Listening to music is my happy place. And I can take it with me wherever I go.
posted by mightshould at 2:49 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
posted by mightshould at 2:49 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Point Reyes National Seashore, specifically Abbott's Lagoon. Walking from the parking lot to the shore past the lagoon I can count on seeing all sorts of great birds, like quail, egrets, herons, sparrows, hawks, vultures. Sometimes coyotes or river otters, rabbits or skunks. There is interesting flora in all seasons. Then I get to the beach: miles of pounding surf in both directions, often shrouded in fog.
I have to slow down to take in the sights, the smells, the sounds, the feel of the wind and mist on my skin. There is no cell reception, no interruptions. Very few people once I start walking up the beach.
posted by sagehen at 3:33 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
I have to slow down to take in the sights, the smells, the sounds, the feel of the wind and mist on my skin. There is no cell reception, no interruptions. Very few people once I start walking up the beach.
posted by sagehen at 3:33 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Twitter was an aggravating place, glad to have left. MeFi is a happy place, I came straight here after the election. Mastodon has its moments, like this one:
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virágposted by otherchaz at 4:06 PM on November 11 [12 favorites]
@TarkabarkaHolgy@ohai.social
Speaking as someone living in Hungary, to friends in the #USA:
The greatest weapon the system has is outrage fatigue. Doing so many unimaginable things at the same time that people just sigh and go on. Having so many things to protest that you run out of days and hours. Piling on so you start focusing on surviving with your bare mental health day to day.
Pick your cause and stick to it. Support others who focus on different causes. Don't try to do everything at once.
Nov 10, 2024, 08:13 AM
I don't have anything specific to say about happy places or personal triumphs or requesting encouragement, but I've missed a few of these free threads and I'm glad to have caught this one.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 4:51 PM on November 11 [3 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 4:51 PM on November 11 [3 favorites]
Tulum Mexico. 25 years ago. It's changed, not for the better, but it's still pretty great... though it's been eight years, and its trajectory was dispiriting, so who knows?
We went there for our Honeymoon and it was so chill that it's hard to describe. No AC. No loud music. No lights after dark except for very minimal pathway lighting around the various cabanas. Mom & Pop places to rent. No mega-resorts. No all inclusive crap. Long stretches of land and beach with no cabanas at all, no restaurants or bars. One of the most spectacular beaches in the world. And it was so easy to get to, relatively speaking.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:57 PM on November 11 [3 favorites]
We went there for our Honeymoon and it was so chill that it's hard to describe. No AC. No loud music. No lights after dark except for very minimal pathway lighting around the various cabanas. Mom & Pop places to rent. No mega-resorts. No all inclusive crap. Long stretches of land and beach with no cabanas at all, no restaurants or bars. One of the most spectacular beaches in the world. And it was so easy to get to, relatively speaking.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:57 PM on November 11 [3 favorites]
Actually, perhaps I have more to say than that. I am teaching again after several years adrift during The Protracted Family Catastrophe, and I have concern that I'll return to an old pattern of falling to pieces as the semester comes to a close. I could use some infusions of thumbs-up energy.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 4:57 PM on November 11 [5 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 4:57 PM on November 11 [5 favorites]
I've been in Portland (OR) for, geez, over five years now, and while I haven't developed anything resembling a social circle, or found many social places where I like to hang out, the great pleasure and consolation of life during those five years has become walking through the many and varied neighborhoods in this city. Some of these neighborhoods are fairly upscale, with large older houses and enormous trees, and others are pretty down-at-heels, but more than anywhere else I've lived there's a richness and variety of landscaping and gardening, imaginative and quirky choices about exterior styling (Halloween decorations are *off the hook* hereabouts), and -- just so many comfy, unpretentious Craftsman bungalows, such a wealth and variety of vegetation, so many magnificent trees (I have been almost drunk at times these past few weeks with the autumn colors, OMG). I feel like everywhere I go in this city there are wonderful things--maybe a stone retaining wall with an assortment of exquisite little alpine plants in bloom, or a sudden enormous sequoia in front of a rundown house in a scruffy neighborhood, or, as I found by chance the other day, a life-size lifelike plastic sculpture of a horse, with a sign propped up against it saying "HORSE," in a yard in an otherwise bland and featureless block. I love this city; I feel safe here; even though I haven't really connected with anyone here, I feel like I am among my kind.
posted by Kat Allison at 4:57 PM on November 11 [11 favorites]
posted by Kat Allison at 4:57 PM on November 11 [11 favorites]
Hawaii, Disneyland and similar, pretty parks, locations with giant bodies of water for me. I don't generally feel "safe" in life, but I like those places.
I did a storytelling event on Friday and it went really well, the audience snickered in a few places and I got some compliments after, yay.
I have not been having a good time, even beyond the election stuff. I am....again, once again...being kind of a problem at work. I'm told I'm just not getting things*, which on the one hand, yeah, I never worked here before and that's part of it, and also I literally have to learn by asking busy people.
* note: I'm not actually allowed access to try to do any processes myself, my boss is trying to negotiate access but so far no dice. I have to learn via hearing people say complicated things, and reading old procedures.
I'm having half of my workload taken away and my disability was mentioned as why. My boss was very nice about it and she'll stick with me and help me and that's fine with her to do and she said she doesn't mind, and I believe her. But now I do feel disabled and dumb and like I'm going to keep having the problems I had before.
I am both Too Slow and Too Fast at the same time and ...sigh. Nobody can even put their finger on "what's wrong with me?" other than something is just...missing in my brain. My singing teacher called me "beginner-ish" (I've been doing lessons for two years) and well, I frequently just don't Get It there either. I don't even have a label or a name for what's wrong with my brain, other than...I'm just wrong. Singing teacher said she mostly just has to spell things out to me very explicitly.
I also went to see the world's longest theater production ever. I went to the Sunday matinee, the program said it was two hours and forty-five minutes, and it was THREE HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. It's a show I normally like and loved the last time I saw it, but this version just dragged ass and was really staid (also I was sitting in front of the director so I was trying to hide my clock watching) and mostly was not all that...fun? I haven't seen the director direct anything before and I was really mostly not into it, though a few people seemed to be having fun here and there. I'd been planning to get out of there by 5, have dinner and then go to an audition far away by 7 p.m., but instead I was running out the door around six and then getting caught in traffic and eating packaged Rice Krispies I leave in the car for dinner.
I've only auditioned at this place (call it Far Away Theater) a few times. I was only doing it for fun--it's kind of a commute and the show rehearsals are during the worst weather time of the year so I'm fine with not getting in--but I realized auditioning *there* makes me feel like shit.
The middle time I auditioned there (for a musical) was fine, but this time I had the same experience that I did the first time, auditioning for straight plays: I got to read twice, the second time to read a smaller/mom part I don't fit agewise, and then I sat there for hours while other people read 4/5/6/9 (I lost track) times apiece. All of the men read multiple times, and all the hot young ladies. The nerds and olds, nope. I note that there's only one Hot Young Lady part in the show and the rest are supposed to be older ladies. I felt like I'd wasted a lot of time and gas, and felt so obviously like I'm The Shitty One, I didn't get a chance to read for one of the two parts I wanted to go for, and despite him saying you could ask to, he was too caught up with having every hot girl read the same scene for that. Also, it would have helped if he'd said that the mom part is supposed to be read the dead opposite of what the lines are, something he didn't mention for hours into the audition. I did it wrong.
Really, auditioning at that place made me feel like shit. It's one thing to get to do your bit once and be done like most places (feels fair), but this place having the same people read over and over again for hours and it's clear who the favorites are...fuck this joint. I should have stayed home with booze and Christmas movies.
Though on the good news side, I got a medical procedure taken care of on my day off (despite having to switch locations and negotiate through a ton of cops and fire trucks and sirens blocking off the location....) and got my hair done, so I look a lot less shitty for picture day tonight.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:07 PM on November 11 [11 favorites]
I did a storytelling event on Friday and it went really well, the audience snickered in a few places and I got some compliments after, yay.
I have not been having a good time, even beyond the election stuff. I am....again, once again...being kind of a problem at work. I'm told I'm just not getting things*, which on the one hand, yeah, I never worked here before and that's part of it, and also I literally have to learn by asking busy people.
* note: I'm not actually allowed access to try to do any processes myself, my boss is trying to negotiate access but so far no dice. I have to learn via hearing people say complicated things, and reading old procedures.
I'm having half of my workload taken away and my disability was mentioned as why. My boss was very nice about it and she'll stick with me and help me and that's fine with her to do and she said she doesn't mind, and I believe her. But now I do feel disabled and dumb and like I'm going to keep having the problems I had before.
I am both Too Slow and Too Fast at the same time and ...sigh. Nobody can even put their finger on "what's wrong with me?" other than something is just...missing in my brain. My singing teacher called me "beginner-ish" (I've been doing lessons for two years) and well, I frequently just don't Get It there either. I don't even have a label or a name for what's wrong with my brain, other than...I'm just wrong. Singing teacher said she mostly just has to spell things out to me very explicitly.
I also went to see the world's longest theater production ever. I went to the Sunday matinee, the program said it was two hours and forty-five minutes, and it was THREE HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. It's a show I normally like and loved the last time I saw it, but this version just dragged ass and was really staid (also I was sitting in front of the director so I was trying to hide my clock watching) and mostly was not all that...fun? I haven't seen the director direct anything before and I was really mostly not into it, though a few people seemed to be having fun here and there. I'd been planning to get out of there by 5, have dinner and then go to an audition far away by 7 p.m., but instead I was running out the door around six and then getting caught in traffic and eating packaged Rice Krispies I leave in the car for dinner.
I've only auditioned at this place (call it Far Away Theater) a few times. I was only doing it for fun--it's kind of a commute and the show rehearsals are during the worst weather time of the year so I'm fine with not getting in--but I realized auditioning *there* makes me feel like shit.
The middle time I auditioned there (for a musical) was fine, but this time I had the same experience that I did the first time, auditioning for straight plays: I got to read twice, the second time to read a smaller/mom part I don't fit agewise, and then I sat there for hours while other people read 4/5/6/9 (I lost track) times apiece. All of the men read multiple times, and all the hot young ladies. The nerds and olds, nope. I note that there's only one Hot Young Lady part in the show and the rest are supposed to be older ladies. I felt like I'd wasted a lot of time and gas, and felt so obviously like I'm The Shitty One, I didn't get a chance to read for one of the two parts I wanted to go for, and despite him saying you could ask to, he was too caught up with having every hot girl read the same scene for that. Also, it would have helped if he'd said that the mom part is supposed to be read the dead opposite of what the lines are, something he didn't mention for hours into the audition. I did it wrong.
Really, auditioning at that place made me feel like shit. It's one thing to get to do your bit once and be done like most places (feels fair), but this place having the same people read over and over again for hours and it's clear who the favorites are...fuck this joint. I should have stayed home with booze and Christmas movies.
Though on the good news side, I got a medical procedure taken care of on my day off (despite having to switch locations and negotiate through a ton of cops and fire trucks and sirens blocking off the location....) and got my hair done, so I look a lot less shitty for picture day tonight.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:07 PM on November 11 [11 favorites]
Oh, I can relate to that. I remember Anne Bancroft explaining her love for Mel Brooks by saying that she was excited to hear him coming in the door, because she couldn't help but think, "Now things are going to get good."
You know for the first time in my life I have exactly this. Previous partners were not nightmares or anything necessarily but it's a novel experience to have my heart leap in the good way, when I hear someone's key in the door. And not just because he's often come bearing cheese curds. Though that doesn't hurt.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 5:56 PM on November 11 [4 favorites]
You know for the first time in my life I have exactly this. Previous partners were not nightmares or anything necessarily but it's a novel experience to have my heart leap in the good way, when I hear someone's key in the door. And not just because he's often come bearing cheese curds. Though that doesn't hurt.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 5:56 PM on November 11 [4 favorites]
This question gave me an odd feeling. I remember that I had happy places at one point, but the memories feel like I’m looking at them through thick glass, like they happened to someone else.
posted by eirias at 7:52 PM on November 11 [8 favorites]
posted by eirias at 7:52 PM on November 11 [8 favorites]
Reporting back on our kitten: he is playing with both his brother and his sister today. Not all the time but we've watched him with each of them. They're good cats, Brent.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:01 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:01 PM on November 11 [6 favorites]
Several places .. Eagle Summit, Alaska, a long road that ends when it meets the Yukon River. I nearly died on Eagle Summit (travelling alone, bypothermia), and I return there often in my mind, and read about it too, climate change has changed it a lot.
North Hampshire, UK, my Romany roots lie there (my mother's side, the other side of the family means nothing as war was their thing).
Anywhere in red tussock (Chionochloa rubra mainly) country in Southern NZ, preferably about 600metres alt on a warm windy day. Wind swishing thru the grass, huge blue skies, utter silence except wind.
posted by unearthed at 1:35 AM on November 12 [1 favorite]
North Hampshire, UK, my Romany roots lie there (my mother's side, the other side of the family means nothing as war was their thing).
Anywhere in red tussock (Chionochloa rubra mainly) country in Southern NZ, preferably about 600metres alt on a warm windy day. Wind swishing thru the grass, huge blue skies, utter silence except wind.
posted by unearthed at 1:35 AM on November 12 [1 favorite]
I want to live in HotToddy's happy place. 💖
My happy place is less a physical space these days, and more an imaginary world I've built. This started during Covid lockdowns, and has stuck around as a thing that gets my mind off Bad Stuff. It's sort of funny because I remember having a robust imaginary place when I was ... hmm ... 7 or 8 years old? I called it Non or Nonn, which for some reason I thought meant "nothing" or "nowhere" in French. It actually means "no," and all these years later, here I am, back to "No."
Also, this thread has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog! Thanks for sharing, everyone!
posted by taz at 1:57 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
My happy place is less a physical space these days, and more an imaginary world I've built. This started during Covid lockdowns, and has stuck around as a thing that gets my mind off Bad Stuff. It's sort of funny because I remember having a robust imaginary place when I was ... hmm ... 7 or 8 years old? I called it Non or Nonn, which for some reason I thought meant "nothing" or "nowhere" in French. It actually means "no," and all these years later, here I am, back to "No."
Also, this thread has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog! Thanks for sharing, everyone!
posted by taz at 1:57 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
turbowombat
I really hope you get to move your "bike forward for weeks on end". I'm fortunate to have done this in three bits totalling about 9 months, and I have a kind of in-head video when I want to explore or revisit a place. Some of it was very 'character building' - crying covered in freezing mud (hard to type even now 34 years on), some was euphoric - or voice from God, or just sheer fucking dangerous - 110kmh dowhill, and meeting many people with new to me ideas and lifeways. Please stick with it as life is a ride too (sorry to sound so Oprah).
posted by unearthed at 1:57 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
I really hope you get to move your "bike forward for weeks on end". I'm fortunate to have done this in three bits totalling about 9 months, and I have a kind of in-head video when I want to explore or revisit a place. Some of it was very 'character building' - crying covered in freezing mud (hard to type even now 34 years on), some was euphoric - or voice from God, or just sheer fucking dangerous - 110kmh dowhill, and meeting many people with new to me ideas and lifeways. Please stick with it as life is a ride too (sorry to sound so Oprah).
posted by unearthed at 1:57 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
Used book stores, unfailingly.
Any frozen lake - as a kid the frozen lake was just another place to be, to drive snow-mobiles on or cross-country ski or ride in cars. Now, decades later, to go skating on the lakes (here in Berlin) is a zen-slap. (In a previous century - we had a place north of Poughkeepsie, NY and one winter the Hudson froze solid enough that what's-his-name dragged the old ice-boat out and with a couple other people raced around. Big, gaff-rigged sails skipping across the surface, it was like stepping out onto the ice we'd slipped into the past. Of course, out there in the small group watching the boats zip around was an old friend I'd not spoke to in years.) A frozen lake is wonder/ an abrupt shift a slam-cut to an alternate world.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:04 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
Any frozen lake - as a kid the frozen lake was just another place to be, to drive snow-mobiles on or cross-country ski or ride in cars. Now, decades later, to go skating on the lakes (here in Berlin) is a zen-slap. (In a previous century - we had a place north of Poughkeepsie, NY and one winter the Hudson froze solid enough that what's-his-name dragged the old ice-boat out and with a couple other people raced around. Big, gaff-rigged sails skipping across the surface, it was like stepping out onto the ice we'd slipped into the past. Of course, out there in the small group watching the boats zip around was an old friend I'd not spoke to in years.) A frozen lake is wonder/ an abrupt shift a slam-cut to an alternate world.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:04 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
My happy place in general is running early in the morning, starting in the dark and watching the sky lighten and change color as the sun comes up. I've been running in the same park next to my apartment for a decade now and the other dedicated runners and I know each other enough to nod and wave and maybe offer an awkward greeting to each other when we cross paths in the "real world".
Specifically while running, I love the track. The memories I have from middle and high school, the smell of the vulcanized rubber under the hot sun, the cameraderie, the vomit (so much vomit). It just feels like home. I generally only do one track workout a week now, and I am alone, but I like to just sit and watch other people jog laps and just generally lie down and watch the sky.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:30 AM on November 12 [1 favorite]
Specifically while running, I love the track. The memories I have from middle and high school, the smell of the vulcanized rubber under the hot sun, the cameraderie, the vomit (so much vomit). It just feels like home. I generally only do one track workout a week now, and I am alone, but I like to just sit and watch other people jog laps and just generally lie down and watch the sky.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:30 AM on November 12 [1 favorite]
From Bklyn: A frozen lake is wonder/ an abrupt shift a slam-cut to an alternate world.
Somewhere in an undescribably weird hereafter, Franz Kafka tilts his head sideways and says '... wait, what?'
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:35 AM on November 12 [4 favorites]
Somewhere in an undescribably weird hereafter, Franz Kafka tilts his head sideways and says '... wait, what?'
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:35 AM on November 12 [4 favorites]
Museums. Big ones, small ones, funky private ones. Any time folks care enough to house and display what is meaningful to them, that’s where I want to be—somewhere quiet where my eyeballs and/or brain can soak up something interesting or important or just beautiful. The best part is that you can find them everywhere if you look hard enough.
Just recently I spent time in a small historical museum in Cape Charles, VA at the end of the Delmarva. It’s housed inside a power station where an enormous generator once powered the town. The docents will start it up if you ask! So much cool history about the Chesapeake Impact Crater and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the area’s railroad history. And so easy to drive by…
Museums are treasures and I am always happy to explore them.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:20 AM on November 12 [6 favorites]
Just recently I spent time in a small historical museum in Cape Charles, VA at the end of the Delmarva. It’s housed inside a power station where an enormous generator once powered the town. The docents will start it up if you ask! So much cool history about the Chesapeake Impact Crater and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the area’s railroad history. And so easy to drive by…
Museums are treasures and I am always happy to explore them.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:20 AM on November 12 [6 favorites]
Quick thank you to everyone. I was feeling an unusually severe case of the Monday blues, exacerbated by my workplace itself, and just feeling so ALONE (a lot of my good friends have moved away and I am single).
I got a number of lovely and supportive memails yesterday, and between that and my roommate also reaching out because he was feeling the same, I am better. I may follow up on some of those messages over the week and the roommate is dragging me to see a movie on the weekend and it will be okay.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:37 AM on November 12 [15 favorites]
I got a number of lovely and supportive memails yesterday, and between that and my roommate also reaching out because he was feeling the same, I am better. I may follow up on some of those messages over the week and the roommate is dragging me to see a movie on the weekend and it will be okay.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:37 AM on November 12 [15 favorites]
I suppose, in keeping with the thread theme, I do have a happy place but I haven’t been spending much time there. I do enjoy getting caught up in my Apple II peripheral hobby project, but I have worked very little on it in the last several months. I need a certain minimal amount of calm and focus to get ignition on it, and both of those resources have been in short supply.
But I did manage to get a little focus the other week. Updated my PCB design to fix some things and submitted the order. The new prototypes showed up yesterday. I need to ship some to my project partner today so he can work with them too. I also need to solder some headers on so that I can plug it in and start testing again.
All I need is some calm and focus. Sigh.
posted by notoriety public at 5:41 AM on November 12 [2 favorites]
But I did manage to get a little focus the other week. Updated my PCB design to fix some things and submitted the order. The new prototypes showed up yesterday. I need to ship some to my project partner today so he can work with them too. I also need to solder some headers on so that I can plug it in and start testing again.
All I need is some calm and focus. Sigh.
posted by notoriety public at 5:41 AM on November 12 [2 favorites]
…Franz Kafka…
wait no, wha - why Kafka? I’m missing it… (as usual )
posted by From Bklyn at 9:55 AM on November 12
wait no, wha - why Kafka? I’m missing it… (as usual )
posted by From Bklyn at 9:55 AM on November 12
There are plenty of good answers to this for me and most of them involve sitting or strolling near or floating on large body of water and ruffled about by a warm-ish salty breeze in the evening as the lights start to flicker on and the stars come out.
Also, I have particular calming situations that involve being surrounding by tulle skirts and kittens while stretched on pillows reading novels on a rainy day, but that may have something to do with spending too much of my childhood around the stage. See also: stages. I generally find stages to be happy places.
But if you want super-specific, when things are terrible, sometimes I just imagine myself with infinite time to kill and no concern for how I'm going to transport my purchases back on a flight at Charlie Byrne's Bookshop
posted by thivaia at 10:20 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
Also, I have particular calming situations that involve being surrounding by tulle skirts and kittens while stretched on pillows reading novels on a rainy day, but that may have something to do with spending too much of my childhood around the stage. See also: stages. I generally find stages to be happy places.
But if you want super-specific, when things are terrible, sometimes I just imagine myself with infinite time to kill and no concern for how I'm going to transport my purchases back on a flight at Charlie Byrne's Bookshop
posted by thivaia at 10:20 AM on November 12 [3 favorites]
oooh. It's nippy and drizzly raining here today, and we are having homemade chili and macaroni and cheese for supper. Definitely a cozy happy meal for me!
posted by taz at 12:30 PM on November 12 [4 favorites]
posted by taz at 12:30 PM on November 12 [4 favorites]
The beach is my happy place and I like it best when it's cold and gray and maybe drizzling a little. I like beaches that are completely or almost completely devoid of other humans - and dogs so I can relax my hypervigilance around my own dog/leash/dog reactive dog and the two of us can enjoy the beach together as it was meant to be enjoyed. That means I wander along and take photos and breathe deeply and think the four words Sand. . . Wind. . . Wave. . . Salt over and over in different orders until my brain goes quiet and he finds horrible things to roll in with occasional breaks to chase a ball.
Failing the beach I am unhealthily comfortable in dive bars. And if things are truly terrible then I like anonymous well lit plastic seating places like diners and chain restaurants. Yeah give me a 12 page menu from a Greek diner and neon lights fizzing in the background and a constant hum of coffee pots and maybe those booth jukeboxes playing the Talking Heads.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:20 PM on November 12 [7 favorites]
Failing the beach I am unhealthily comfortable in dive bars. And if things are truly terrible then I like anonymous well lit plastic seating places like diners and chain restaurants. Yeah give me a 12 page menu from a Greek diner and neon lights fizzing in the background and a constant hum of coffee pots and maybe those booth jukeboxes playing the Talking Heads.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:20 PM on November 12 [7 favorites]
So, nothappyplace thing (thoughnotunhappy!): latest Modmail From The Void that amused me ...
posted by taz at 3:38 AM on November 13 [7 favorites]
Mushroom products entertain enhance a basic in my wellness routine! The proper ingredients put together me experience energized and focused without the jitters. From coffee blends to mushroom gummies , I sweetheart the shameless taste and the health benefits. Perfect fitted unsusceptible stand up for, worry liberation, and mental clarity. Enthusiastically endorse!This entity really! loves! mushrooms! No link, no specific product, no Cyrillic, no "I wILl WriTE pAiD cOnTEnt fOr Ur bLoG," just an (imperfectly translated?) enthusiastic endorsement of mushrooms! Probably sent from a mushroom! Also "I sweetheart the shameless taste" is going to be my next username.
posted by taz at 3:38 AM on November 13 [7 favorites]
Our family room with a roaring fire in the fireplace, a cup of tea, a book and two happy cats.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:41 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:41 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
Failing the beach I am unhealthily comfortable in dive bars.
Oh hell yeah, a cozy little dive bar glowing dim on a dark winter night gives me a heart thing that physically hurts.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:03 AM on November 13 [2 favorites]
Oh hell yeah, a cozy little dive bar glowing dim on a dark winter night gives me a heart thing that physically hurts.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:03 AM on November 13 [2 favorites]
taz, that's an amazing email. Since you claimed "I sweetheart the shameless taste" (great choice), I'll take "a basic in my wellness routine" as my new sockpuppent name.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:27 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:27 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
oooh ,
There's a tune of course
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
Its a great big place
Full of nothing but space
And it's my happy place
posted by yyz at 1:45 PM on November 13
There's a tune of course
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
Its a great big place
Full of nothing but space
And it's my happy place
posted by yyz at 1:45 PM on November 13
The family room has been upgraded this evening by the installation of a new cat tree, the same type that resides in my office upstairs. Mayhem is very skeptical, but I suspect she will come around soon enough.
Kiddo collided with a classmate’s elbow in gym class and broke his nose in the textbook definition of a freak accident. What makes this notable is that kiddo is really tall, a good 2-3 inches taller than his classmates, Most of his peers would have to stand on a chair to get a decent shot at aiming at that portion of his face.
Appointment has already been made to correct the listing of the nose to one side. He has been warned that it will hurt.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 4:41 PM on November 13
Kiddo collided with a classmate’s elbow in gym class and broke his nose in the textbook definition of a freak accident. What makes this notable is that kiddo is really tall, a good 2-3 inches taller than his classmates, Most of his peers would have to stand on a chair to get a decent shot at aiming at that portion of his face.
Appointment has already been made to correct the listing of the nose to one side. He has been warned that it will hurt.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 4:41 PM on November 13
When I was a child I lived in a fairly rural part of Connecticut, on a circular street surrounded by woods. We'd often take family walks in the woods just close by, and discovered a swampy patch just two minutes walk in that was the perfect ice skating spot. When we found a baby turtle in our driveway one morning we brought it there (I wanted to keep it but was overruled - I was only six - so they let me name it instead, I went with "Bingo").
Then when I was about ten, a farmer bought up a chunk of the forest and cleared it for growing corn. Bingo's pond was still there, and the cornfield was just another minute or so past it, so my parents let us head there alone still. Just past the spot where you came out of the woods into the cornfield, the farmer had piled up all the big boulders left over from clearing things out; that became a good spot to sit.
That cornfield is at the center of my soul. I went there very often for the next few years - with friends, or alone. It was close to home, but FELT completely isolated- but in a liberating way. No one was watching or listening, and I could do, say, and think as I pleased. I had no responsibilities or obligations except for ones I chose. I was even free enough to let myself believe in fairies and Narnia a few last times even though I was growing up and should have been casting that aside.
Things area little tricky for me now. But last night I thought about the cornfield last night as I was going to sleep, and imagined I was lying there, looking up at the night sky. I slept sounder than I have in a while and feel more centered in myself this morning than I have in weeks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:32 AM on November 14 [5 favorites]
Then when I was about ten, a farmer bought up a chunk of the forest and cleared it for growing corn. Bingo's pond was still there, and the cornfield was just another minute or so past it, so my parents let us head there alone still. Just past the spot where you came out of the woods into the cornfield, the farmer had piled up all the big boulders left over from clearing things out; that became a good spot to sit.
That cornfield is at the center of my soul. I went there very often for the next few years - with friends, or alone. It was close to home, but FELT completely isolated- but in a liberating way. No one was watching or listening, and I could do, say, and think as I pleased. I had no responsibilities or obligations except for ones I chose. I was even free enough to let myself believe in fairies and Narnia a few last times even though I was growing up and should have been casting that aside.
Things area little tricky for me now. But last night I thought about the cornfield last night as I was going to sleep, and imagined I was lying there, looking up at the night sky. I slept sounder than I have in a while and feel more centered in myself this morning than I have in weeks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:32 AM on November 14 [5 favorites]
My happy place is anywhere with my husband and kids, and/or my closest friends. Said husband is out of town for work right now, at a really bad time, and I'm kind of drowning. Elderly mother has been in the hospital since Saturday with a UTI and problems just kept cascading, of course. She thought she was having a heart attack so they did a CT scan to check her heart and found a (some?) "concerning" lymph nodes so there was a biopsy yesterday that we won't have results for for at least three days and how is anyone supposed to get anything done while we wait? I have a complicated relationship with my mother but I do love her. Meanwhile, two of my close friends are also dealing with loved ones in the hospital. One should be just fine but the other one is going through some incredibly hard, heartbreaking, exhausting, confusing, terrifying stuff and my heart just hurts for her and her family. And then there's ALL THE OTHER STUFF I WON'T TALK ABOUT GOING ON that just wears me down.
On the good news front, my daughter has a job again (yay!), grad school is going well (with some difficulty, given all the shit that's going on now but I'm keeping my head above water), and I've been told I'm going to get a second interview for a job I'd be really good at and would scratch the itch of community building and impact. So yeah.
posted by cooker girl at 7:31 AM on November 14 [4 favorites]
On the good news front, my daughter has a job again (yay!), grad school is going well (with some difficulty, given all the shit that's going on now but I'm keeping my head above water), and I've been told I'm going to get a second interview for a job I'd be really good at and would scratch the itch of community building and impact. So yeah.
posted by cooker girl at 7:31 AM on November 14 [4 favorites]
Taylor Swift is playing the first of 6 shows tonight in Toronto
50,000 seat capacity so 300,000 people will see her. Remarkable
Doors opening at 4:30, so there'll be crowd of Swifties in the heart of downtown at rush hour,
Anyways hope they have fun
posted by yyz at 12:47 PM on November 14
50,000 seat capacity so 300,000 people will see her. Remarkable
Doors opening at 4:30, so there'll be crowd of Swifties in the heart of downtown at rush hour,
Anyways hope they have fun
posted by yyz at 12:47 PM on November 14
cooker girl, best wishes for your mom's recovery and good thoughts to you and your friends.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 1:43 PM on November 14 [1 favorite]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 1:43 PM on November 14 [1 favorite]
Happy place? Probably Bluffer's Park at dawn. I go there at least once a week. Watching the seasons change is incredible.
Oh, and … today I need to remind you about LibreOffice. Y'see, five years ago, a mefite asked me to “set a timer for five years from now so you remember to tell me …. So I set a calendar alert. But that mefite isn't around any more. So wherever they are, can you please remind them about LibreOffice?
posted by scruss at 7:12 PM on November 14
Oh, and … today I need to remind you about LibreOffice. Y'see, five years ago, a mefite asked me to “set a timer for five years from now so you remember to tell me …. So I set a calendar alert. But that mefite isn't around any more. So wherever they are, can you please remind them about LibreOffice?
posted by scruss at 7:12 PM on November 14
My happy place is Thursday night open mic at The Brewhouse Gallery in Lake Park, FL.
Since we're at the bottom of the free thread, here's a link to a video of me in my happy place, playing "Fixer Upper" by Grace Petrie, a song I learned about from a MeFi post earlier this week.
posted by Daily Alice at 5:23 AM on November 15
Since we're at the bottom of the free thread, here's a link to a video of me in my happy place, playing "Fixer Upper" by Grace Petrie, a song I learned about from a MeFi post earlier this week.
posted by Daily Alice at 5:23 AM on November 15
That's a beautiful song, Daily Alice! It's got me all tearful.
posted by Zumbador at 5:54 AM on November 15
posted by Zumbador at 5:54 AM on November 15
Since we're at the bottom of the free thread
I prefer to think of the "bottom" of the free threads as not occurring until Sunday evening. I reject your reality and substitute my own!
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:00 AM on November 15 [1 favorite]
I prefer to think of the "bottom" of the free threads as not occurring until Sunday evening. I reject your reality and substitute my own!
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:00 AM on November 15 [1 favorite]
I live in Western North Carolina, and my house was moderately damaged by Hurricane Helene. While we are lucky that we didn't lose our lives and didn't lose the entire house, we're facing about $60k in repairs. FEMA gave us $4500 to help fix our foundation, which seems laughably small until you realize that our insurance company is only paying $2800 for water damage (they claim there was no roof damage.)
My family is going to help us and we won't be bankrupted by this due to their kindness. I can't even begin to imagine how badly this will go for folks in this area who lost their jobs and everything they own and have no family to fall back on.
The only silver lining is how our neighbors came together, hopefully those bonds will endure through the coming fascist shitstorm...
posted by schyler523 at 12:37 PM on November 15 [3 favorites]
My family is going to help us and we won't be bankrupted by this due to their kindness. I can't even begin to imagine how badly this will go for folks in this area who lost their jobs and everything they own and have no family to fall back on.
The only silver lining is how our neighbors came together, hopefully those bonds will endure through the coming fascist shitstorm...
posted by schyler523 at 12:37 PM on November 15 [3 favorites]
Mod note: [We added jontyjago's great comment to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:12 AM on November 16
posted by taz (staff) at 1:12 AM on November 16
OK, not probably acceptable, but
Bela Karolyi has died. And that seems to be a good thing in my mind. Fuck that fucker and all the harm he caused to the young girls he "coached".
posted by Windopaene at 7:08 PM on November 16 [2 favorites]
Bela Karolyi has died. And that seems to be a good thing in my mind. Fuck that fucker and all the harm he caused to the young girls he "coached".
posted by Windopaene at 7:08 PM on November 16 [2 favorites]
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posted by dobbs at 7:03 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]