Haven’t read his work but I’m certainly going to try now.
Macintyre came to a sad end himself.
Indeed. Not a good way to go at all. In fact, probably the worst in my book.
I thought the NYT article was particularly good (if a person were to only read one of them, I’d recommend that one).
My wife and I are prepping for a garage sale and hauling a bunch of old stuff out for pricing. We want to get rid of it, so we’re pricing it all to move - $1 here, $2 there, etc. Her uncle shows up and mentions how he bets some of this stuff would go for a lot on eBay (he does a lot of hobby eBay stuff). We’re not collectors of anything really, so we don’t pay much attention to that kind of thing. I mean, I figured our first run Steel Battallion controller should be sold separately, but most of the stuff is just “junk” to us.
So, curious, we just start looking some of it up.
In a couple hours, we’ve pulled about $1300 worth of stuff to the side, in a box smaller than the smallest box of the rest of the amassed lot to sell. Good Lord. Our garage sale is suddenly the afterthought. Some of the stuff is ridiculous. An unopened Mr. Potato Head Christmas set (just five costume pieces) that I got as a joke gift from my sister - not even that many years back - $90. People be crazy.
And we’re fine with that kind of crazy, heh heh.
I love this post, @nijimeijer. Yesterday I was helping a friend pack up her girlfriend’s house for a move. I was in charge of packing a back bedroom, and then getting all of the stuff from under the bathroom sink, and elsewhere in the bathroom. That was fun. I sat there sorting partial bottles of lotion and strange empty containers and thinking, “Jesus, who keeps all this crap?”
Of course then my thoughts turned inward and I thought about all the shit I keep around and suddenly realized, “It’s time to start culling, jerk.” I told this to my friend and she said, “I know, right? I get that feeling everyday I pack up here. You should see my backyard right now. It looks like a garage sale.”
On a side note, after packing a box in the living room I noticed a big box labeled, “Dragon Head.” I started laughing.
From the kitchen my friend asked, “What are you laughing about?”
“This box is labeled ‘Dragon Head’.”
“That’s because that’s what’s in it.”
“Wow.”
“I wish I could have convinced her to leave it behind.”
I suddenly was reminded of the wagon-wheel coffee table in When Harry Met Sally and I went back to taping boxes.
-xtien
This just happened to me very recently, interesting or not, you decide. Not sure if this even belongs in this thread but… divorce, well not divorce we weren’t married. Nine years together, two kids, cars, a house. Packed a bag today and staying with family. We’ll alternate weeks in the house with the kids. Apart from my mother dying a few years back I am absolutely having the worst day of my life right now. A million worries spinning in my head. But I can feel getting out of the house is already doing me good. I know things will be fine eventually. If anyone could suggest YouTube content I can binge on I’d be much obliged, science, space, gaming, sci-fi, fantasy. My brain needs a distractions. Shorter form content preferably 5-10 minutes. PMs are probably advised, wouldn’t want to mess up this thread. Thanks for reading!
Aw, man, that sucks. I’m sorry to hear about it, and I hope it all works out for the best. :(
I came here to post I just found my daughter in the kitchen practicing wand movements with her wand she got from Harry Potter World, which I told her was for sure the nerdiest thing I’ve ever seen her do. She started to argue, but then realized … she cannot. :)
We’ve been slowly culling stuff over the last year or two. If it’s in a closet and hasn’t been touched for a couple of years, it goes unless it’s something that does get used once every few years, like her sewing machine.
It’s hard for me to part with books, but I’ve gotten rid of quite a few. I read mostly on a Kindle now and most of the books I probably will never read again.
I’d sell stuff on eBay but I’m too lazy. We don’t have much that would sell for a good price anyway.
I’m so sorry for you @Fortitudo.
I may have stumbled upon just the thing for you, a Youtube channel called “Dust”.
DUST is the first multi-platform destination for binge watchable sci-fi. We feature science fiction short films and other content from emerging filmmakers with stunning visual effects, captivating plots and complex character explorations. Robots, aliens, space exploration, technology, and human experience are all a part of DUST. New uploads every week with DUST exclusive premieres and original series. Explore, subscribe, #getdusted, and follow for more
It’s full of 5-15 minute sci-fi shorts. Although most are low budget the “democratization” of rendering means even low budget shorts can have brief hifi scif-fi moments. In many ways this is the best way to consume sci-fi, skip the exposition and right to the meat of the thing. I’ve been impressed with most of the shorts i’ve watched.
This is so me. But I’ve had to do it. In one of my moves, a friend of mine who can Tetris the fuck out of a U-Haul truck (I’m terrible at spatial) got really frustrated with me. “Christien,” he said. “All of your boxes are labeled either ‘BOOKS’ or ‘FRAGILE’ and it’s driving me nuts!”
There’s also this great bit about books…
Yes. There is a Seinfeld bit for everything I deal with in life.
Problem is, I just cannot bring myself to read books on electronic devices. I do not like this about myself, but there it is.
-xtien
This is amazing, thanks.
It’s impossible for me. Also old Commodore magazines, a huge set of PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World and others.
Oh and, @Fortitudo I’ve been through a couple of divorces and major breakups. If you need to talk please PM me.
This time, I was really aggressive with books. Which means I got rid of books I hated. Previously, I kept even those because who the fuck knows. My wife is the same. Which means that we’ve got like a whole hallway filled with boxes of books. And those are the ones we’re dumping. God almighty. I need one of those manor libraries that’s two stories tall with floor to ceiling shelves, ladders on rails, comfy chairs, big glass windows, lightning crashing outside, a crackling fire, and murder most foul.
Whoa.
You own books you hate? How did that happen, were they gifts?
I’ve been chasing this dream my entire life.
Nah. Sometimes you buy a book and end up hating it. I’ll often binge on sale books at library sales or other places where I can get them cheaply, and not all of those end up winners. But they still end up on the shelf because dammit.
I’m the same way. I might hate it now but maybe l will come to love it later. In my last move though I really purged including books I liked but that I doubted I’d read again. The same will likely happen for the next move.
I’m not a huge fan of e-readers, but I’m going to keep going that route for fiction and some nonfiction until I’m in a place where I know I’ll be staying. Then I’ll go book crazy again.
Thursday 27-08, 21.00 local time: arrival in Orlando from the Netherlands
Friday 28-08, 13.00: pick up rental car
Friday 28-08, 14.00: recieve phone call from the Netherlands: my wife’s father has suddenly passed away
Saturday 29-08, 19.45: return flight to the Netherlands
Sunday 30-08, 12.00: back home, funeral to arrange
This was not how I expected our 3,5 week family holiday to Florida would go, yet here we are. Losing a family member is hard enough as it is, but this way, it sucks even more…
Sorry you’re going through that man. From experience, I can say that if you get to the point where splitting up is the best way forward, then it’s usually better after. But still sucks while going through it.
Youtube stuff:
RocketJump
HAWP
Scott Manley
Corridor
Not related to any of the subjects you listed, but lately I’ve been really liking videos of folks doing thru-hikes of long-distance trails like the Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails. Here’s two of the best currently hiking ones–these are fairly short, well edited, and pretty interesting:
Darwin on the PCT
Dixie on the CDT
Is this that weird euro thing where you guys like to use commas instead of decimal points?
Regardless that’s an impressive amount of sucking giant donkey balls. I think my brain would just break trying to switch gears like that.