Push through it

I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I have a good excuse. I hurt.

My head hurts. My neck hurts. Both shoulders hurt. One way more than the other, but still both of them. My ribs hurt. Both collarbones hurt. A cough causes my whole upper body to hurt. I just started yawning again after about a month of some weird diaphragm contraction that approximated a yawn. I haven't sneezed in over a month and I dread the day that I start again.

The bad hurt is gone, now it's just a sort of ache that causes general discomfort. Enough to keep me from sleeping a full night and enough to wear me out by mid-afternoon.

What's all this pissing and moaning about? Well, it makes me think of a few things worth remembering.

Some things in life are extremely fun to do and inherently dangerous. That should not stop you from doing them. There are millions of ways to get jacked up or die and if you get hung up on it then you aren't really living. So you prepare yourself as best you can and realize that if you are rock climbing, you will fall at some stage. If you are riding a bike, you will crash. It's never a matter of if, it's when. Remember that and then go have fun anyway.

When things go south and you end up in a bad way (and I mean this generally, not just when you get jacked up) don't sit around and be mopey about it. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get yourself back in shape. I promise you that you will not do yourself any good sitting on your ass.

A corollary to the last one: sometimes you need help and you are dumb if you don't take it when it is offered. Just knowing you have the support of friends and family gives a huge mental boost when you are feeling pretty low.

Time goes fast, any healing you have to do will go by quicker than you think it will. Months sounds like a long time, it's really not.

Once you've fallen and gotten back up, dust yourself off and get back on the horse. Remember, it's a 'when' not 'if' that you'll get jacked up, so getting engaged in an activity more physical than knitting means you acknowledge and accept that you will probably get hurt at some stage. Don't be surprised when it happens and don't let it scare you off.

So what should you take from this? "Dad is an idiot and will be riding motorcycles again." Well, yeah, but that's not really it. Life happens in a big unpredictable world, so you can choose to wrap yourself in toilet paper and hide from it or you can go out and live in it.

Close encounters of the roommate kind 2

I just spent more than a week with a couple of roommates. One guy couldn't talk because he was intubated, so he was boring. The other guy was funny, but had to have his colostomy bag cleaned once a day. In the room. However, we made it a joke. What's the point? It's possible to make the best of a crappy situation and make it better than a boring one.

Don't be a Typhoid Cate

Yeah, I'm sick right now and I'm totally a Typhoid Matt, so do as I say not as I do blah blah blah. Go to class, sit in the back and isolate yourself. Sneeze, cough, hack into your elbow. Keep away from your fellow dormers until the plague has passed, otherwise it'll make the rounds and the whole building will be sick.

Close encounters of the roommate kind

Not only do you have the uncertainty of leaving home to live in a new place to deal with, you get to live with a complete stranger in very close quarters. Hurray! I can only think of one thing that can make it go easy: make like the Japanese and respect that personal space. You don't have to like each other, but switching roommates is not an easy or quick task so you'd better respect each others crap and space.

Here's a fun example:

I lived, briefly, in an apartment with two other guys. One was much neater than me, and I was neater than the third guy. Except when it came to dishes. Number three and I had an implicit competition to see who could go the longest without doing the dishes. The lengths we went to to stack dishes and glasses in the sink were epic. A Tower of Filth to shame those lazy denizens of Babel. Until Number one finally popped a gasket over the disgraceful state of the kitchen (rightly so, it was foul.) It was pretty awkward for a few days, even after cleaning up, and we didn't have that battle of nastiness again.

Some rules:

1. You spill, you clean it up.


2. You let loose with bodily fluids and don't make the toilet, get to scrubbing.


3. Vomit belongs to source. Always. Having to clean your own puke is a good reminder to not get in that state again. Or to at least wait in the grass until your stomach is empty.


4. Food belongs to the buyer, don't assume it is communal because the fridge happens to be a commons.


5. Drink. See food.


6. Money. Don't even go there.


7. Homework can be a collaboration, but don't even think about doing a ctrl-c, ctrl-v on it. In the off chance you get away with it, you'll still be hosed on the test for not knowing the material.

Passwords and firewalls

Put a strong password on your computer. Use a phrase or initials from the phrase, i.e.
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks" can be used or "Tldptm,m" (if you are allowed non-alpha characters.)

On a hostile network, which is just about any public network, you need to make sure you are not running services and turn on the firewall just in case. Apple's firewall isn't very clear as to what the options mean, so do a little searching if you are unsure. The Windows firewall is pretty clear as to what services are exposed, so it might be a little easier. Basic rule in either case is, if you don't have any open ports, then nobody can connect to your computer.

The Vultures Are Already Circling

The damn banks and credit companies are already out on campus, waiting for a freshman with a meager income to drift from the herd. Don't fall for it, get used to paying with money you have and not money you expect to have. Most everyone gets into the 'oh, I'll just put this on the card and pay it off at the end of the month' and then paying the minimum when the bill comes. If you are really, really, let me say it again, really diligent, then you can work the bonuses for mileage points or gifts or whatever by paying bills with credit and then paying the credit card balance in full every month.

Playing Guitar Hero is different from playing guitar

It is really easy to be a consumer. Try to be a producer instead.