Help. Helllllp!

 

I went in today for a little "manual" therapy on my left shoulder, and this clip from the Muppets is a decent facsimile of how it went.

The good news is I can feel a bit more movement in my shoulder through the therapy pain, so I think it did me some good. I've got some exercises to do, and by folly I'm going to do them. This has not been a fun week.

Anything would be an improvement over last night, where I was basically awake from 3 am on. I took my muscle relaxant at 8 am and I was so sleepy from it I drifted off a few times from it at work.

Kris Kringle Lives

I've always had a special place in my heart for 1947's Miracle on 34th Street, but this year for some reason it hit particularly hard. Seeing Kris Kringle's cane in Susie's house brought this sentimental fool to tears.

Maybe it's the film's message of faith that hit me hard. A much more cynical world today wouldn't think much of this message. But I love it.

Reminds me of this bit of so-called humanism from Terry Pratchett's Hogfather:

That's faith, plain and simple. I'll always recognize faith in its street clothes.

Be HAPPY. I Order It!

 

Found this on the Internet tonight: While maybe the. emoticon is pushing it, but . . . not for me. I love it when I find an essay that makes me laugh, makes me feel happy, or thoughtful or wistful or helps me learn something.

The most striking Conference talks that stick with me are often all of the things I list here and more. Elder Kearon could read stereo instructions from the pulpit and I'd weep.

So please, be happy. Be whatever you need to be to write, and your audiences will thank you for it.

??

Apologies to Tad if you really are a real person with innocent intentions. I mean, I try not to assume that everyone I meet online is a scammer waiting to fleede me of my one million golden pazusas. But I'm also a paranoid and suspicious bastard who looked at the "??" you sent and figured your desire to engage couples with the typical scammy double question mark were enough red flags.

Well, that and that you haven't come back and denied anything. A real person would at least get indignant, particularly as that person kept on trying to engage in conversation.

You Needn't Eat the Leg, Thompson

This has been me for about a week now, except it's my left arm, not my leg.

I've been on acetaminophen and have been applying heat at night. Slowly it's getting better. I'll get more of the autism, but I'd rather have than than a gammy arm.

Of course, this happened.

No Longer on the ERO

 

Officially, I'm no longer a member of the emergency response organization at work.

Not that I minded. Well, at least all that much. I know being an ERO member contributed to me surviving at least two rounds of layoffs, so I'm grateful for that.

But since I'm now assigned to work in town, it didn't make much sense for me to stay on board. I've been out of the duty rotation for a few months now, but yesterday got the training need taken off my record so they don't dog me with that anymore.

I'm free. More layoffable, but free.

Fleshy Human to Fleshy Human

Of course the video title is a tease, and I fell for it.

Rainman Ray. I've been watching his channel for years. And it's odd, because I'm not a mechanic. I'm not even all that interested in cars. I mean, I know how to check fluids, I know what kinds of warning signs to listen for, but when it comes to actual repairs, it's either our mechanic way out in Woodville or our youngest, who has taken on brake work and other such stuff.

So why I've followed Rainman Ray comes down to this: He tells a good story with each video. He shares his failures as well as his successes. He's another human being using the Internet for what the Internet was intended for: Communication with other fleshy human beings.

And I love the celebratory tone of this video. Not only is he moving to a new place to expand his business, he just happens to be moving into a building he was employed at near the beginning of his career, and a business he was fired from. They apparently went out of business and now he's there, horning in on their racket.

He notes it, but doesn't rub it in. Too much.

Anyway, enjoy. I know I do.

Quiet: A Few Final Thoughts

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Susan Cain turned her book “Quiet” and its follow-ups into a cottage industry, but she does know her audience.

Maybe.

I see she offers courses through Authoritive.com, meant to help introverts thrive. Can’t load any of the course sites on my phone at the moment.

Nevermind. I’m not all that interested. I know plenty of local introverts so if I need any community, I’ll chum up with them. After a fashion. In my own limited way.

Reading “Quiet” was helpful. I appreciate the strategies outlined – from proposing a “Free Trait Agreement” at work and at home to help make life better for introverts to taking introverts and extroverts through the concepts of masking, coping strategies and the use of roleplay to help introverts prepare for stressful situations. Those are sections I’ll read again to figure out how to implement that at the workplace. I’m back to the office full-time after over five years’ bliss of working from home. I won’t gnaw on that particular bone in this post. Or at least not a lot.

The last few chapters of the book meandered a bit and were tough to get through. I should probably read them again. But it is interesting to see many of the strategies I developed on my own recommended to other introverts.

Going back to the office after working from home showed me my use of these strategies has diminished through disuse. Not that I have more interactions in the cubicle versus my basement, but going from my cubicle to the bathroom is fraught with far more interactive risks now.

Reading the book has helped me realize there are more introverted people where I work than I recognized in the past. It also helped me realize that sometimes dealing with those introverts – even for a fellow introvert – can be a pain, so I have a better understanding of extroverts’ pain now. Though I still wish they’d go out of their comfort zones and shut up more.

What stood out a lot to me is that neither introverts nor extroverts need “treatment.” They need understanding, and in many cases, accommodation. And it’s made me a bit more wary of people who think they need to “fix” others.

From the book:

As Ethan grew older, his parents tried in vain to instill “fighting spirit” in him. They sent him onto the baseball diamond and the soccer field, but Ethan just wanted to go home and read. He wasn’t even competitive at school. Though very bright, he was a B student. He could have done better, but preferred wo focus on his hobbies, especially bu9ilding model cars. He had a few close friends, but was never in the thick of classroom social life. Unable to account for his puzzling behavior, Ethan’s parents thought he might be depressed.

But Ethan’s problem, says Dr. Miller, was not depression but a classic case of poor “parent-child fit.”

Compare their worried about Ethan to [child psychologist] Dr. [Jerry] Miller’s assessment: “He was like the classic Harry Potter kid – he was always reading,” says Dr. Miller enthusiastically. “He enjoyed any form of imaginative play. He loved to build things. He had so man things he wanted to tell you about. He had more acceptance of his parents than they had of him. He didn’t define them as pathological, just as different from himself. That same kid in a different home would be a model child.”

But Ethan’s own parents never found a way to see him in that light. The last thing Dr. Miller heard was that his parents finally consulted with another psychologist who agreed to “treat” their son. And now Dr. Miller is worried about Ethan.

The main message I get is that we need to communicate with each other. For introverts, that can be difficult.

And don't try to fix us. Like Buddy here, we're perfectly happy as we are.

Sunday Drive-by Mocking

 

Three Golden Coifs . . .

News item: President Trump received inaugural peace prize from FIFA.

Reactions, of course, were mixed.