Get Your Grump on Thursdays - Was (What's chapping my @ss today?)

[ides1056]

You have a point.

There is scant racial diversity where I live.

[htwoopup]

Everything. Evidently.

Went to the doctor today. She not only is an internist and teaches medicine but also is an acupuncturist. Which she came to when she was undergoing chemo for breast cancer and acupuncture helped her with chemo-pain.

This was the third Thursday in a row that I have been to her for acupuncture which is really helping me with some digestion issues caused by fructose intolerance. I never thought it would work because, simplistically, one is chemical and one is needles and trigger points. But, I guess the reason acupuncture has been around for so long is it really does work somehow. It is interesting as some of the trigger points they use are in the area local to the problem and some are distant (like for my gut she also puts some in my ankle area). That isn’t the Grump.

The Grump is that I have been blessed with no anxiety, no fear, only joy and lightness since I walked away from all of the things that caused negativity in my life over 5 years ago.

As we usually do, the doctor and I were chatting about the goings on in the world. As she is a very observant, holistic type of practitioner she started putting needles into different places that were different than last week but I thought nothing of it.

When she put one into one area on my scalp, I just about jumped off the table in excruciating pain.

She said, « Wow. I expected it to be a trigger but not that much .» I asked what that was. She said that part of the scalp is a trigger for anxiety.

I guess I can’t wait for this election to be over and hopefully with the result for good in the world that I hope for and for us all to realize that we can mitigate this pandemic if we realize it is a virus not a political being. I am guessing that is the root of the anxiety as there is nothing else to give me agita. I wish it didn’t affect me so deeply personally but I am also glad that it does because this stuff matters. But damn that needle hurt.

[htwoopup]

This has been bothering me for a week, but today is Thursday, so I will vent.

My daughter complained that she was followed home by a car so closely that she could not see the headlights.

A few nights later someone drove up to the house and stuck an ice pick through a car tire.

Next night someone left a dead raccoon at the bottom of the driveway.

Next night a pumpkin was left in the same spot.

Next night another tire was flatted.

The worst part was not having a clue who could be doing this.

Turns out its a guy who used to live up the road, now in his fifties, pissed that others now live in the house, pissed that others live down the road. He's done this to several neighbors as well, hazing them and their children when they are driving, flatting tires, the works.

Another angry white man.

The cops will take care of this.

I hope that the problem is not only safely solved for you, your daughter and your neighbors but I also hope that if the fellow needs help with whatever is causing the anger or mental instability that he gets appropriate care.

[j44ke]

My dad's wife has a friend whose husband started similar angry guy activity. Same complaints (all these people ruining my neighborhood) in his late 50's. Was kind of hell on wheels for a while until he did something that got him arrested. Then the judge ordered an evaluation. Turned out he was in the early stages of developing some kind of dementia. He isn't able to live at home now.

[skouri1]

that's wild. stalking? harassment? not sure what law (besides destruction of property/unsafe following/tailgating?) glad you know who it is. hope he has to answer for this in court and then, as others have said, gets some mental health treatment. not normal.

[ides1056]

My wife called his parents. Found them via the internet. They were hugely apologetic. Not sure exactly what his diagnosis is, if there is one. Rage that overwhelms whatever sense he has. But we know where he lives, what he looks like, what cars he drives, and so does everyone around us.

The son of cousins I am very fond of has similarly tipped off the edge. Same age. Wife, kids- all kaput. They've had to triage, because their own health isn't the best and there was nothing more they could do.

Strange times.

[ides1056]

For update's sake:

After a forty minute high-speed ( 80 mph on a single-lane gravel road) chase through several towns, suspect was apprehended and has since been in some sort of lock-up. No footprints in the snow around his house, and cars gone.

Our neighbors seem to have moved out for the time being after sending their daughter to live with relatives.

Progress.

[guido]

For update's sake:

After a forty minute high-speed ( 80 mph on a single-lane gravel road) chase through several towns, suspect was apprehended and has since been in some sort of lock-up. No footprints in the snow around his house, and cars gone.

Our neighbors seem to have moved out for the time being after sending their daughter to live with relatives.

Progress.

Good to hear things are heading back in the right direction...

[Tom]

Not speaking any language but English. I just had to ream out the managers of our outsourced offshore team and at the end of the meeting one said something to the other in their native language. If she wasn't calling me an asshole I am really disappointed.

[bigbill]

I have Lupus. I also have an M-spike that has shown up in consecutive samples so I have to see a Hematologist/Oncologist. For the rest of my life, I'll have to be checked periodically for Multiple Myeloma.

[ides1056]

That totally sucks, Bill. Bigtime.

[bigbill]

That totally sucks, Bill. Bigtime.

It does, I knew something was up. There were days when walking across the house was exhausting, then a day later, everything is fine. For now, I take Plaquenil and waiting on my next Dr. appointment. The M-spike was disconcerting, I had to google that term. Best case I just live with MGUS for the rest of my life and never develop MM. I think I can manage the Lupus but next spring I'll probably get rid of everything but one road bike, gravel bike, and MTB. Pretty much everything Campy and just have shimaNo bikes.

[bironi]

Sorry to hear.
Take care.
Ride when you can.
Byron

[j44ke]

It does, I knew something was up. There were days when walking across the house was exhausting, then a day later, everything is fine. For now, I take Plaquenil and waiting on my next Dr. appointment. The M-spike was disconcerting, I had to google that term. Best case I just live with MGUS for the rest of my life and never develop MM. I think I can manage the Lupus but next spring I'll probably get rid of everything but one road bike, gravel bike, and MTB. Pretty much everything Campy and just have shimaNo bikes.

Geez us. That seems way over on the unfair side of things. You seem to have a solid view of it though. Inner strength to you. And outer strength too.

Campagnolo’s marketing dept would be having a fit if they knew about this though. :-)

[lumpy]

It does, I knew something was up. There were days when walking across the house was exhausting, then a day later, everything is fine. For now, I take Plaquenil and waiting on my next Dr. appointment. The M-spike was disconcerting, I had to google that term. Best case I just live with MGUS for the rest of my life and never develop MM. I think I can manage the Lupus but next spring I'll probably get rid of everything but one road bike, gravel bike, and MTB. Pretty much everything Campy and just have shimaNo bikes.

I'm with Jay: That really sucks. I am thoroughly impressed that your first action plan is to rationalize your consumables program.

[bigbill]

Geez us. That seems way over on the unfair side of things. You seem to have a solid view of it though. Inner strength to you. And outer strength too.

It's all about embracing the suck. Neither condition has a cure, so I have to figure out how to live with it. To own the suck. I'll hang on to the Lynskey Helix and the two Coconino's. I've had the Big Leg Emma for about 14 years, so maybe two road bikes. But I'll endure sacrilege and put 9100 on it.

[zachateseverything]

I've been kind of surprised at the animosity I've gotten from drivers lately when I'm out on the road. Jerks are nothing new but it seems like anger has risen in my state post election. Saturday I was stopped at a stop sign waiting for traffic to clear so I could make a left turn. A guy rolls up behind me and immediately gets on his horn and then yells at me when passing.

but I'm still better off than my friend. He was riding around his neighborhood today and a driver nearly clipped him, rolled around the block, came back, then threatened to shoot him AND showed him his gun.

WTF?

[doomridesout]

My grump: My generation is fucked six ways from Sunday. I joined one of the classic learned professions and make more money than I ever have in my life and it's still not really enough to raise a family in California. Until my wife can go back to work when the kids are older or I make partner, we'll be treading water instead of saving for retirement, putting money in our kids' 529 accounts, having a cushion in case we get sick, or saving for a down payment. We are renters with little in the way of assets. In comparison, my father did not graduate college, started a business, and owned a home and commercial properties by the time he was at an equivalent point in his life. I had to become an attorney just to have a shot at what I think of as a middle-class lifestyle, and I still feel like we are at risk of being downwardly mobile and precarious. We'll be OK, but thinking of my friends who will be hobbled by student debt for the rest of their lives and just had to opt not to have kids makes me so sad. And people wonder why young people are skeptical of capitalism!

Further grump: the Democratic Party, which was once the natural home in mainstream American politics for those who wanted to improve the material conditions of life for regular people, is blowing it on this. It makes me sick to see the party go all in on cultural signification and actively ignore the ever-growing pool of those who suffer from economic precarity.

[ides1056]

I've been kind of surprised at the animosity I've gotten from drivers lately when I'm out on the road. Jerks are nothing new but it seems like anger has risen in my state post election. Saturday I was stopped at a stop sign waiting for traffic to clear so I could make a left turn. A guy rolls up behind me and immediately gets on his horn and then yells at me when passing.

but I'm still better off than my friend. He was riding around his neighborhood today and a driver nearly clipped him, rolled around the block, came back, then threatened to shoot him AND showed him his gun.

WTF?

Tell me where you live so I don't go there, please.

Totally WTF

[zachateseverything]

Tell me where you live so I don't go there, please.

Totally WTF

Akron, OH but this seems way out of normal character. My incident happened in the nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park. My friend's happened in a well off neighborhood full of old and well maintained Tudor homes, adjacent to a Convent, and down the street from Whole Foods..