What are you doing to cope with the craziness in the world these days?
9There so much craziness going on right now, I’m feeling quite a bit of stress in trying to handle it all mentally. Most of the time we’re a good, caring community here, so I thought we might share how we’re coping with it to maybe help each other. If you would like, please comment with your ideas, what you’re trying, and what’s working for you.
Things that are helping me are sticking with my hobbies, staying involved with the groups I’m in, not missing my workouts, seeing my therapist, and giving myself mental breaks. I find the easiest way to do the last one is to take a daily nap. 
Every few months, I also do a getaway, even a simple one. This month I’m going on another cross-country Amtrak trip, including a visit with @Kyeh! Because so many of the long-distance Amtrak trains and routes, especially in the West, don’t have or aren’t within range of internet service and sometimes even cellphone service, I’ll be (mostly) detached from the stressful news reports and social media and just enjoy the scenery and meeting new people in the dining car.
Can’t wait to hear what others are doing!
And please don’t make this a political thread by talking about and offering opinions on the crazy things themselves. We’ve seen how that turns out on the Political BS threads.
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I’ve been doing a lot of seemingly little things that are keeping my brain busy and happy.
But sticking this on the fridge helped more than I can explain. It’s a great reminder. (It doesn’t hurt that the song gets stuck in my head every time I see it.)
Keep your head up.
Please, @Thumperchick, what’s the song? I’m guessing I know it, but right now, I can’t place the lyrics.
@ItalianScallion
@Thumperchick Thank you. I had forgotten about that one in Les Miserables. One of my favorite songs I’ve learned in my years of singing lessons is “Stars.” Philip Quast was my inspiration!
I’ve been staying occupied with little tasks and organizing around my home.
Just this morning, I went to see my primary care doctor and he was talking about watching Andy Griffith shows.
I’m not quite that unplugged, but I also like watching youtube videos of property restorations. I particularly like Vanwives and emma shaye and Colin and Paige and Schoolhouse Homestead.
Geeze, that’s a lot. I also like me some true crime like That Chapter and Mr. Ballen of course
@therealjrn I like the idea of watching old TV programs. I’ve been watching Star Trek reruns for about 50 years now, but I’m always doing something else at the time because after so long I know a lot of them down to the minute, it seems. I wonder how many times I’ve seen the episodes from the (1966) original series.
@ItalianScallion @therealjrn
Currently watching the season 1 episode, A Passage for Trumpet from the 1959 Twilight Zone.
@therealjrn @yakkoTDI I like the old Twilight Zone series so much that I picked up the DVDs for the complete series on eBay. I kinda remember the episode you mentioned, but not the details, but with Jack Klugman in it, I’m sure it was a good one. I still think it’s so weird to see Rod Serling with a cigarette in his hand when he introduces some of the episodes.
@ItalianScallion @therealjrn My box set of the DVDs also included the series from the '80s. Not all were great episodes but there were some very good ones. Nightcrawlers was a stand out episode from the '80s series.
Here’s something to see when you can’t sleep tonight.
@therealjrn
Yep. Was planning to set an alarm for that. Sleeping is the least of my problems.
@chienfou @therealjrn Thanks for reminding me. I just set my alarm for 6:00. I just hope it’s not too bright where I am in the city to get a good view!
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @therealjrn
Blood moon and election primaries here on the same day?
Coincidence? I think not.
@ItalianScallion @phendrick @therealjrn
@ItalianScallion @phendrick @therealjrn
Crap. Turns out that the moon had gone behind the tree line across the street by the time it started eclipsing. Was up at about 4:30 hoping to set out the camera I set up with stop motion but I could barely see a glimpse of it through the trees. Oh well, maybe next time.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion @phendrick It’s cloudy and chilly here. So I watched it some on the local news who had a good location.
@chienfou @phendrick @therealjrn I woke up, was too sleepy to bother to get up, and remembered that I’ve seen a whole lotta lunar eclipses anyway…
@therealjrn
Was up for the eclipse. Cloud cover.
: (
Here you go, @f00l
Observer visual journalist Alex Slitz captured this image of the eclipse at 6:53:28 a.m. in the shadow of the Bank of America Tower in uptown Charlotte on Tuesday.
Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/environment/article268445672.html#storylink=cpy
@f00l @therealjrn Sorry, but I have no choice …
https://wompwompwomp.com/
Posting on meh and digging into my past.
/showme Anthropomorphized goat in archaeology outfit is digging into boxes labelled “cfg83 crap” that are filled with memories of the good old daze from childhood to old age.
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “Anthropomorphized goat in archaeology outfit is digging into boxes labelled cfg83 crap that are f…”
@cfg83 Hey, how did you get a picture of my living room and relabel my boxes?!
@cfg83 @ItalianScallion Shouldn’t those boxes say “Recent IRKs”?
@ItalianScallion
Through the power of AItaScaViRES, Artificial ItalianScallion Virtual Reality Emulation Software. In fact, I already ate your VR sandwich … and you need another carton of VR milk. I can’t actually go get it because the VR supermarket crashed and I misplaced the product key.
@cfg83 (whispering) Psst! I have a bootleg product key I got from a website on the Dark Net!
@ItalianScallion (whispering) I know, I sold it to you!
Tax season keeps me occupied at least for the next month and a half after which maybe some of this madness will subside. Wife and I did go to an exhibition baseball game this weekend and had the pleasure of sitting in the owner’s suite which was air conditioned and food and a bathroom just steps away. Nice diversion from tax season.
I either read (urban fantasy) or watch tons of Chinese and Korean shows. Total escapism for me.
BTW: I live in Colorado too, and have had the pleasure of meeting @kyeh briefly a couple of years ago.
@Pony
It was great to meet you!
@Kyeh Likewise! We really should try to meet up again- it’s not like we live far from each other.
@Pony We should!
@Pony I’m curious what urban fantasy is. Could you give me an example that someone who doesn’t get it would know?
@ItalianScallion It’s just fantasy (magic, shifters, witches, vampires etc etc) in a modern urban style setting, sometimes our world, sometimes made-up ones.
@Pony Sounds like Salem, Massachusetts at Halloween.
@ItalianScallion @Pony
The Magicians, books and series or Gone Girl are pretty good.
@jkawaguchi I didn’t care for the Magicians series, simply because there was animal torture/murder. (where the bad guy turns the girl’s cat inside out) I know it isn’t real, but that is never necessary, in my opinion. It is a hard stop, never watch it again trigger for me. Kill as many fictional humans as ya want- but leave the pets out of it. I saw the series before I knew about the books, so I haven’t read them.
I haven’t read Gone Girl, it’s a thriller/suspense story, not really my cup of tea.
@Pony
Sorry that it reminded you of a bad experience. I got the other name wrong it’s, Lost Girl it’s a Canadian tv series. That might be better, I don’t remember any animal cruelty……
@jkawaguchi I looked up Lost Girl- that one sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation.
@jkawaguchi @Pony
This song kind of fits here, I think!
@Kyeh @Pony
choice! yeah some of the characters fit that description but it’s about the MAGIC 
Awesome
FOOLS! TOOLS! JEWELS! AWESOME!
@jkawaguchi @Kyeh Ha! Love it.
what i’m doing:
/showme beaker from the muppet show in julius schnorr’s “four horsemen” reacting to them
@zippyus Here’s the image you requested for “beaker from the muppet show in julius schnorr s four horsemen reacting to them”
I don’t watch the news. Ever. I limit what I read and who I read it from. I keep music playing a lot of the time that I enjoy. And I let Spotify put the random stuff in even though it’s weird sometimes. I read a lot. Talk communicate with friends here and there. Take a walk. Anything to put my mind on something else.
We did the segment from Denver to Glenwood springs a couple of times. That’s an awesome route. Hope you have good weather and visibility for your trip.
POPSOCKETS! SPA KITS! POLLY POCKETS! AWESOME!
@chienfou I hope so too. I’ve done that route, the California Zephyr, three times and this will be my fourth. It’s my favorite Amtrak route and is considered in some rankings to be one of the best train rides in the world. Unfortunately the snowfall this year out there is at a record low, so there probably won’t be a lot of snow in the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies. It’s just scenery to me, but for those who live out there, this is going to have a huge effect on the available water later in the year.
Anyway… here’s a photo from my roomette on my first time on the Zephyr at the end of March 2019 as we go through the Colorado Rockies. I’m not sure exactly where we were in Colorado.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion
That train ride looks to be envy-worthy. Ah …
Someday … someday …
I’m spending less time online, and more time actually completing stalled projects that go back for over a decade in many cases.
I will be working as an Election Judge on March 3 for the Texas Primary.
If nothing goes wrong, I’ll have a long-delayed bit of surgery on Thursday which is aimed at fixing part of what was done wrong back in January of 2025.
All of these things bring a sense of accomplishment and (in most cases) relief.
I’m not coping : )
@Wollyhop You’re not alone.
@ItalianScallion @Wollyhop I know what you need. Take this.
@Wollyhop @yakkoTDI I need a Chocotaco! Bring them back!
@ItalianScallion @Wollyhop @yakkoTDI Ok …
/showme people standing in a glade while a chocotacos with wings flutter above them.
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “people standing in a glade while a chocotacos with wings flutter above them.”
We are Leaving Las Vegas. Had some rugby therapy this weekend. The match was ace. The Rhinos beat Hull KR 58-6. We had amazing seats and then got to watch the two Aussie matches after ours.
Also we went to the Shark Reef today before we left @thumperchick! I could’ve spent all day in there. The Englishamn, not so much.
As far as coping goes mostly art. I’ve been in a clay class with my mum, who is very versed in ceramics, the last few weeks and I think we have three more. Also the painting. And the reading.
@sillyheathen I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I got a pretty great pic of that octopus, too.
@sillyheathen IMHO many persons who play rugby might need some therapy. (Maybe before, maybe after; most likely, both.)
@phendrick I was a center on the woman’s team at LSU so you’re probably correct.
@phendrick @sillyheathen
My younger brother played rugby in an intramural league in college and loved it.
Gave it up when he got the diploma tho.
Said “if you’re not a pro, and/or not in a ‘rugby madness region’, it’s for the young.”
@sillyheathen - Here it is! I had to go hunt for it in the ridiculous number of photos I took on our trip.
@Thumperchick that’s ace!!! Yours has much better focus than mine! I truly could’ve spent hours in a few spots. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
Meh post inspired by found crap …
/showme Momma Raccoon is taking daughter Raccoon in her arms arms and slowly rocking her back and forth to sleep.
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “Momma Raccoon is taking daughter Raccoon in her arms arms and slowly rocking her back and forth t…”
@cfg83 That’s an adorable image, and I don’t like raccoons very much.
@Kyeh That’s ok, this guy will like them for all of us …
@cfg83 Okay.
@cfg83 @Kyeh That video says mobbed but I get the feeling a future one will be titled murdered by raccoons.
@cfg83 @yakkoTDI Yeah, they can be vicious little thugs.
@cfg83 @Kyeh @yakkoTDI I developed a rather intense detestation for raccoons living in Yosemite. They’re brazen little bastards. One tried to bite me through the steps of my tent one snowy afternoon.
@cfg83 @Kyeh @sillyheathen @yakkoTDI
In the South they are primary rabies vectors…And they can definitely tear up a chicken pen… Leaving half-eaten chickens in their wake.
@cfg83 @chienfou @Kyeh @sillyheathen @yakkoTDI I don’t like raccoons - in my experience (living in a rural area) they are brazen, nasty creatures. Many of our chickens have been lost to them. Any notion that they are cute furry clowns gets dispelled once you have big one rummaging on your porch that sits upright on its hind legs, bares its teeth and growls at you.
@cfg83 @chienfou @Kyeh @macromeh @sillyheathen @yakkoTDI
That video reminds me of my back deck when I put out cat food at night. My 'coons aren’t nearly that polite though. Luckily I’ve had only five max at a given time.
My dog tolerates the cats but not opposums. She really goes ballistic however when she spots the coons. And they disappear in a hurry, for the next few hours.
Also concerning is the frequent odor of skunks, though I’ve yet to see any in the back yard. Apparently the chain link fence is more of a deterrent to them than it is to the possums or coons.
BTW, I live in the middle of an urban community of over 200,000. We do have small pockets of residual woods in the residential areas. With the high volume of traffic through here, I’m surprised I only see about one roadkill carcass a year.
@cfg83 @chienfou @Kyeh @phendrick @sillyheathen @yakkoTDI
My next door neighbor recently lost 3 pygmy goats to a cougar over the course of a couple of weeks. The goats were in a fenced pen and had a shelter (but with no door - I think they have since added one). Over the years here I have heard reports of cougar sightings (one was captured on someone’s video cam) but have never seen one. I have encountered bobcats several times.
And thankfully I’ve never seen a skunk around here!
@cfg83 @chienfou @Kyeh @macromeh @phendrick @yakkoTDI when I was Yosemite, we came across cougars a few times. Once when we were walking back to our bloody tent in the Terrace! And we sort of had a pet skunk there. Her name was petunia and she was spotted. She was so stinking adorable. She actually followed us twice when we moved. It was kind of a running joke in housing. I do love nature but I absolutely acknowledge that all of those things are absolutely wild animals. You can live harmoniously but they’re just not meant to be pets. Not proper ones anyway.
@chienfou @Kyeh @macromeh @phendrick @sillyheathen @yakkoTDI Hmmmm.
/showme A cross between a raccoon, skunk, and cougar.
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “A cross between a raccoon, skunk, and cougar.”
@cfg83 @mediocrebot it’s like honey badger cat
@mediocrebot He/she/it doesn’t seem to have an opposable thumb, so maybe we got lucky.
@mediocrebot @sillyheathen Hmmmm.
/showme A honey badger crossed with a cat.
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “A honey badger crossed with a cat.”
@mediocrebot Forget about cloning around, we need to start making these!
@cfg83 @chienfou @Kyeh @macromeh @sillyheathen @yakkoTDI That r/s/c is stinking cute, but probably needs some calming chews.
@cfg83 @chienfou @Kyeh @macromeh @phendrick @yakkoTDI
Lol, I bet.
/showme a stinking adorable skunk
@therealjrn Here’s the image you requested for “a stinking adorable skunk”
@mediocrebot @therealjrn If the little fella got the de-stink operation, then I would take him in.
@cfg83 @therealjrn
This was what petunia looked like. And I’m all about a pun!
@sillyheathen @therealjrn Oh my goodness. That’s a million dollar skunk on the socials!
@cfg83 @therealjrn she was adorable and would often come hang by our fire pit. I loved it because she never sprayed around our housing. Just everywhere else. And she loved leaving presents, ie dead mice, on our porch.
I couldn’t believe it when we moved a half mile away and she followed us. It was bonkers.
@cfg83 @sillyheathen @therealjrn Also “cougars” followed by “bloody tent” was a little scary to read!
@Kyeh @sillyheathen
@cfg83 @Kyeh @therealjrn I use it so frequently that I don’t even think about its potential context in sentences.
@cfg83 @Kyeh @sillyheathen @therealjrn My (American) family lived in New Zealand for a while (I was born while they were there). So Bloody this or that was commonly heard in our household.
@cfg83 @macromeh @sillyheathen @therealjrn Well, of course I knew what she meant - it just seemed like an unfortunate adjective for that particular sentence.
@cfg83 @Kyeh @macromeh @therealjrn I’m glad you pointed it out because it’s bloody hilarious!
@cfg83 @Kyeh @macromeh
I especially enjoy a nice turn of phrase @sillyheathen!
@cfg83 @macromeh @sillyheathen @therealjrn Yeah, she’s bloody good at turning those phrases!
As a good distraction, not to mention it needs to be done, I’ve been (re)organizing here and there with some “Tetris” involved as I have a lot of same or similarly sized Amazon boxes.
@narfcake What a truly unique kind of distraction! Good for you!
@narfcake Does the falling speed also increase as your version of the game goes on?
@phendrick The opposite. It gets slower because I’m finding another item that should go into a box that’s at the bottom or something.
@narfcake That’s representative of the kind of planning I usually manage.
“What are you doing to cope …”
Hiding, avoiding, seeking shelter and distraction? Watching a LOT less TV …
@Kyeh we can help one another cope.
@sillyheathen Sounds good!
Same as always. I’m a world class fatalist/realist.
@chienfou Yep - it’s always something. Do you remember the drills back in the 60’s where school kids practiced diving under our desks? Kind of set the expectations…
@chienfou @macromeh
/youtube duck and cover
@macromeh @therealjrn
Those were the days…
@chienfou @macromeh @therealjrn horrible days where we would just stick our heads into the ground… We haven’t changed much have we?
I’m running away.
I’m moving to Spain in July on a digital nomad visa (my employer is supportive of the move). After some time there I hope to get a job in Europe, perhaps Scotland or somewhere else that I can get along with working as an English speaker.
I’m going to rent my house for now. We’ll see if I return or if I sell it when the housing market goes up again.
@kittykat9180
…but…but…meh doesn’t deliver overseas!
@chienfou that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
If meh has something I can’t live without, I can orde it to a friend’s house and they can mail it to me in Spain.
https://cphpost.dk/2024-11-16/news/politics/mayor-in-copenhagen-wants-to-attract-trump-disappointed-americans/
@pakopako low birth rates have a lot of countries trying to bring in immigrants, especially those with skills that are short locally.
I enjoy watching Anatoly prank and destroy the egos of massive bodybuilders in the gym! He has over 9.31 Million followers on Youtube and recently met his idol Arnold Schwarzenegger. If you’re ready to belly-laugh out loud, here’s 1 of his over 170 videos:
@MrGoodGuy I love that guy. I’ve watched most of his videos.
Had a baby last week. She (and my family) is my world right now. Everything else is ignored.
@mbersiam congrats!
@mbersiam oh yay!!! Congratulations!!!
@mbersiam @sillyheathen
Yeah… A new mehtizen!
@mbersiam congrats and it reminds me to send you something soon.
@ironcheftoni .oO
/giphy smile thanks
I’m taking a psychotic break.
/giphy psychosis
@f00l Is that a break FROM psychosis or a break WITH psychosis?
@f00l @phendrick The answer is yes.
@f00l Maybe this will calm you
@f00l Or, there’s always this
@phendrick
/youtube they’re coming to take me away
@phendrick
Re psychotic break
Kinda both.
/youtube “break up” “make up”
I am lucky to have a great network of friends nearby. They are my sounding boards, shoulders to cry on or just willing to let me scream and then ask if I feel better. I’m caretaker for my mom who has dementia and believe me there has been a lot to scream about. With one group of friends, I play Mah Jongg at least once a week. I cannot remember which late night talk show where Julia Roberts was a guest but she also plays and she summed it up nicely. Finding order out of chaos. It at least keeps my brain active several hours a week.