Brain update

Some notes on the great Fix the Brain Project:

The verdict on Adderall XR so far is; good. I don't feel overstimulated as long as I remember to have a lot less coffee than usual, and I don't have insomnia if I remember to take it early in the day. I do feel more focused and calm. It's not a cure-all but it seems to be a somewhat-cure-some, and I'll take that right now.

The challenge is to make something of this window of opportunity before bad habits drive me back into the same troubles. Since my big problems are with things that are problems for everyone (exercise, routine, organization, chores, bullshit), and I've had a lifetime of being a total fuckup at this stuff, it's going to take a lot of work to improve things.

The EMDR, or as I like to call it the Mesmeric-Optical Phrenotherapy, is useful too. It feels like voodoo, but slowly I'm chopping away at the big nasties. Situations, images, problems that triggered me into a full-blown phobic anxiety fit are increasingly accessible without as much fear and loathing. Unlike 20 mg of stimulant, this is a slow technique, but the changes seem to be permanent. When I'm dealing with something I've fucked up, I still feel nauseous and helpless and enraged, but it doesn't take me right down to the ground. I just get grumpy instead. Pretty good result so far.

The reduced appetite from the Adderall is a benefit, too. Especially since I need to lose about 30 more pounds over the medium term or I'm going to DIE.

I would like the Quarter Pounder with Duck Butter please.

coulrophobia notice: miss_education do not click through.

( worst milk moustache ever )

via metafilter

Dating services are one of the leaky corners where the truth drips out about how we treat each other. In this case, it's American "Christians" trying to avoid dating pathetic loser poor people. Maybe there are too many people at their churches who make crap money.

Where Christians Meet, as long as you don't make less than $25,000 a year!

"Our members are intelligent, attractive professionals in search of meaningful relationships." Well, scratch the Prophets, the Apostles, the Holy Family, Mary Magdalen, and the LORD then. You might want to give Pontius Pilate or the Pharisees a call, though.

The rest of their "web properties" are 581% sleazy, too.

SPOON.

As a consolation prize for not going out of town to friendly_bandit's wedding, I'm going to see Spoon at the Avalon in Hollywood on the 21st. I have an extra ticket. Anyone interested in going? Comments screened for privacy.

Sample of what Spoon is like: Me And the Bean (4.9M .mp3).

mother flickr

I just found out that my Flickr photos had been marked as "no one sees your tags" because I had stuff up there that wasn't mine, grabbed from the web etc. They're totally within their rights because you agree not to do this when you sign up, and I'm a doof for forgetting that and just using them as a generic image host.

Unfortunately you don't find this out until you wonder why your stuff isn't showing up in a tagged stream and you complain, and then they tell you that:

Your photostream has been marked NIPSA (Not In Publics Site
Areas) as you have a number of photographs in your stream that are lifted from the web (copyrighted). If you remove them, we can review your stream again.

So they stealthily scan your photos, or respond to complaints, or some other method they don't reveal, and then they stealthily mark you as "not for public consumption" and don't tell you until you ask why it is that you've been censored. That's really flicked-up. My guess is that they decided that notifying people who are on that list would result in a shitstorm of complaints and customer service contact and expense and stress, so they're just going to do it silently and only deal with the small number of people who notice.

You know, I bet a lot of Flickr's customers don't pay attention to that rule, and I bet a lot of them are "NIPSA" and don't know it. And I bet that makes their whole system less effective.

Once again I agree completely that their terms of service make sense and that people should follow them. But can't they come up with something better than the Homeland Security No-Fly List model? Way to inspire paranoia, guys.

She nails it once again.

mcbrennan sums up a lot of how I feel about my age group in this country. We were caught in between two times in American history and got SUCH a pinch.

Pop culture overload, cynicism, forced irony, and passivity are our demons.

Innervisions: go read this if you care about these things.

If you like the crazy

See my post in psychoceramics about the Polleys. Whoo-ee, that's some quality.

I'm just sayin'.

Has anyone in mainstream politics or media, anyone with access to a loud mic or a big transmitter, anyone who can make a dent got the gonads to publicly say that we're in the midst of a no-apologies, unfiltered, classic revival of fascism?

Anyone?

Oldest living Menudo widow tells all.

klikitak just revealed her childhood career as an interpreter of the music of Tiffany. Ask her about it today!

continuing shoe fetish

Just ordered:



The shoe was not only about half off and what I needed, but had one of the best customer reviews yet:

Good working shoe - this shoe is comfortable and has great traction on most surfaces. I work in nuclear security so there is a lot of sitting with sudden bursts of intense activity.

VICTORY SHOES!

Tag you're it.

Livejournal uses tags now, so you can tag an entry with things like: cats, politics, lolurinmybutt, etc.

I use tags on my delicious and on my flickr, not sure how much I'll use them here. I have set my account so that others can tag my entries, in case you feel like CATEGORIZING ME.