What You've Done Today - But you… have elected… the way of… pain!

[Guard Dog]

58 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

The last thing you want is Huawei 5G kit, and if you do ignore all the security concerns dont complain when you wake up on day and you notice your laptop default language is Mandarin 

Let Zora keep learning Mandarin, he is fine with Huawei equipment 

That brand is definitely out of favor in the United States. For a lot of  very good reasons.

[Azdeus]

I demand my surveillors be CE-marked.

[ShadySands]

I miss Elton John Goodman demanding backdoors

[LadyCrimson]

The new house is supposedly ours now (title).  The previous owners had to wait for a death certificate to come through. So we're likely going up tomorrow to take a longer look at it and figure out what we're going to do re: any small repairs/changes and moving.  So today I'm slouching about wondering if I'm going to go up there and realize I hate the place. HAHA.

...sigh. Did I mention already that I hate moving? Although, it does appear we have good timing for once - one of our current next door neighbors appears to be building an in-law type extra dwelling room/apt. structure in their backyard, close to our side of the fence. Which would be honestly annoying to live next to, with these small lots here. So instead we'll let some renters live next to it.

[Gorth]

8 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

The new house is supposedly ours now (title).  The previous owners had to wait for a death certificate to come through.

Please explain again, *how* exactly did you go about acquiring that property???

[majestic]

2 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Please explain again, *how* exactly did you go about acquiring that property???

[Hurlshort]

My son started on a swim team this last week. He is 11, and we spent a number of years enrolling him in YMCA classes over the summers, but he never really picked it up and was very nervous in the water. A few months ago my wife arranged for him to have 1 on 1 lessons with an excellent coach, and after 2 weeks he was way more comfortable. He could now backstroke and freestyle a bit and no longer was afraid to put his head under water. 

A couple weeks ago it was pretty nice out and I asked him after school if he wanted to go to the High School pool with me so I could get some laps in. He seemed happy to go, which was a big change from before the lessons. As we were finishing up, a swim club was getting ready to start, and they have a beginner group. I know the coach, and he said my son should join the club. I asked my son, and he was interested, which was another surprise. My kid has pretty much only wanted to play hockey, but this last year he had taken tennis and was now interested in swimming. I was excited to see him expanding his interests a bit.

So anyway, we get him signed up, get him the swim jammers, and he starts swimming 45 minutes a day with this team. Monday through Thursday went well. Or rather I should say, he enjoyed it. I was anxious as hell. I was also on a swim team at his age. It was super competitive and I always felt like the slowest kid on the pool deck. I'm pretty comfortable in the water, but I definitely have some weird anxiety around swim coaches and teams. I told my wife I was getting anxious watching him and she told me to calm down.

Friday rolls around and my son has a rough swim practice. It was cold and windy. They also moved him away from the shallow end. Monday through Thursday when he struggled, he could just stand up. He can't really swim a full length yet. But Friday it was basically swim 10 years, grab on to the lane line, then struggle for 15 more yards. He got out and was quiet. I couldn't tell if he was upset or just cold, but once we got in the car he totally teared up. He was upset. I tried to comfort him and told him it was the first week, and it will get easier.

So now I'm all upset and can't sleep. I mean, obviously I will talk to the coaches and let them know it was hard for him to be out of the shallow end. But I don't want to traumatize the kid. I don't know, I'm probably letting my own anxiety get in the way here. He enjoyed Monday through Thursday and had one rough day. Ugh. 

[Gromnir]

9 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

My son started on a swim team this last week.

our mom, when we were still too young to remember anything, took us to one o' those baby swim classes at a local chicago ymca. as such we have literal no memory o' a time when we were unable to swim, which is, in retrospect, kinda kewl. our mother were scared o' the water, so she had to force herself to go to the classes. we were not particular close with our parents, for a variety o' reasons, but we always admired our mom for taking us to those classes at the y and we appreciated the fact we were taught to swim likely before we were able to walk particular well. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gorth]

I remember how i tried swimming the first time... my dad had been giving me basic instructions for a while and we had practiced every now and then at the beach in the summer. The North Sea is considerably colder than anything most people outside Scandinavia associate with "the beach" 

Anyway, on this particular day, my dad was keeping me afloat at the surface, holding both his hands underneath me (being a lot bigger than me, he could stand on his feet) and I was making some approximation of swimming moves when he let go and told me, there you go, now swim! And I swam... like a rock!

After much sputtering and splashing (and panicking), I eventually got the hang of it and made it to the surface, keeping myself afloat. I must have been around 6 or 7 years old at the time. I got a lot better at it since. I remember feeling a bit proud the first time I did a 1000m in an indoor swimming pool. Can't really live in Denmark without learning to swim I suppose. Nowhere in the country is more than 50km away from the sea.

 

 

[BruceVC]

2 hours ago, Gorth said:

I remember how i tried swimming the first time... my dad had been giving me basic instructions for a while and we had practiced every now and then at the beach in the summer. The North Sea is considerably colder than anything most people outside Scandinavia associate with "the beach" 

Anyway, on this particular day, my dad was keeping me afloat at the surface, holding both his hands underneath me (being a lot bigger than me, he could stand on his feet) and I was making some approximation of swimming moves when he let go and told me, there you go, now swim! And I swam... like a rock!

After much sputtering and splashing (and panicking), I eventually got the hang of it and made it to the surface, keeping myself afloat. I must have been around 6 or 7 years old at the time. I got a lot better at it since. I remember feeling a bit proud the first time I did a 1000m in an indoor swimming pool. Can't really live in Denmark without learning to swim I suppose. Nowhere in the country is more than 50km away from the sea.

 

 

Geez you Nordic people are hardcore, shame Gorthfuscious I am sorry you were treated  so harshly  by your dad

Nowadays that is known as the famous " sink or swim " approach and many child experts and child psychologists will say this is not the best way to teach kids lessons in life. I learnt the same way to swim but in a pool and I do support aspects of the " sink or swim "  approach to certain life lessons and being the most beneficial and effective 

[Azdeus]

2 hours ago, Gorth said:

I remember how i tried swimming the first time... my dad had been giving me basic instructions for a while and we had practiced every now and then at the beach in the summer. The North Sea is considerably colder than anything most people outside Scandinavia associate with "the beach" 

Anyway, on this particular day, my dad was keeping me afloat at the surface, holding both his hands underneath me (being a lot bigger than me, he could stand on his feet) and I was making some approximation of swimming moves when he let go and told me, there you go, now swim! And I swam... like a rock!

After much sputtering and splashing (and panicking), I eventually got the hang of it and made it to the surface, keeping myself afloat. I must have been around 6 or 7 years old at the time. I got a lot better at it since. I remember feeling a bit proud the first time I did a 1000m in an indoor swimming pool. Can't really live in Denmark without learning to swim I suppose. Nowhere in the country is more than 50km away from the sea.

That sounds about right though I was a bit younger. I spent every summer with my grandparents and they lived next to the lake, like, door to water is 4 metres, so they taught me and my sis how to swim really early, I know I could swim well when I was around 5 without floatation devices.

Did you guys also have swimming medals?

[LadyCrimson]

I apparently liked water enough as a wee lass that my mother was worried I'd accidentally kill myself and stuck me in swimming lessons when I was maybe 5. I remember being awarded "tadpole" or something. Spent a lot of time in friends pools, rivers etc.

Then somewhere I had a bad outdoor swimming hole experience and now I'm a big fat water weenie. I can swim - I just generally will avoid it/stay on shore. Well, open water anyway. Pools are ok.

Edited November 6, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[ShadySands]

I'm not a strong swimmer but I was as a kid because I lived at our local pool. My dad also took the sink or swim approach and tossed me in like the Nirvana baby which I don't remember because I was like 2. He said I took to it right away and really I remember loving swimming underwater and would do laps like that. I wasn't nearly as good swimming on the surface and mostly resorted to doggy paddling. That's probably mostly due to never being taught.

I avoid open water and have never been in a lake or ocean past where I could easily stand and 99% of the time I never go more than waist deep.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

Then somewhere I had a bad outdoor swimming hole experience and now I'm a big fat water weenie. I can swim - I just generally will avoid it/stay on shore. Well, open water anyway. Pools are ok.

Wow, you saying this brought back a sudden rush of memories from when I was...~13 years old and was swimming out on a California beach and didn't realize I had gotten sucked out way past what was safe. I only noticed because I had been out there for a while and realized I was quite exhausted and turned around back to the shore and saw just how far away I was. My mom told me later that she had been screaming at the top of her lungs to come back, but I hadn't heard her because I was too far away. Maybe the closest I ever got to dying (or at least being aware that I was going to), although perhaps I would've been rescued...I'm not sure. I remember it feeling like it was impossible to stay afloat, and just a kind of utterly complete exhaustion when I finally got back.

Don't recommend. Still happily went back later, although I was definitely a lot more hyper-aware of where I was from then on.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[BruceVC]

I had one of the BEST days I have had since the pandemic started

It started with a great and protracted lunch with my family at a hotel called Hout Bay Manor

https://houtbaymanor.com/eat-hout-bay-restaurants/

Then I went home to only find load shedding at 6pm so I went to my one of the local bars called Tigers Milk to watch the Springboks win against Wales ...what  a day and the best part about it was this was first time in 18 months I have been to a  festive bar but now that I am fully vaccinated I am prepared to socialize again  

Met lots of friendly and gregarious people 

[LadyCrimson]

This empty house is loud. Concrete foundations are so much quieter and better at not transferring room to room sound.

Might need to sound insulate some walls. Maybe carpet the bedrooms. Covered patio is always nice, can finally sit out while its pouring and watch listen to rain on the pool.

Pluses and minuses.  I dunno. Ill get used to it eventually...

 

[majestic]

35 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

I dunno. Ill get used to it eventually...

Story of my life with any changes. I empathize.

Swimming lessons were always a sore spot for me for various reasons. I can swim, but I'm not good at it. Don't really like the beach as such, but it's sort of hard to swim (or just jump in an enjoy the water) in the sea without getting to a beach of a sort, huh?

Edited November 6, 2021 by majestic

[Guard Dog]

There is something positively sublime about the silhouette of trees against a twilight sky long after sundown as the sound of day birds change to the cries of night birds and crickets. 

This is something so few people get the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate. I thank God every time I do.

[Azdeus]

I actually start up theHunter Call of the Wild some nights and jump to the African map just to have it as background sounds while I fall asleep

 

Not today, but yesterday I went to the garage to fix a missing bolt on my cars exhaust and the valve cover gasket. I managed to break the boots latch. It's a sedan. FML.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Azdeus said:

I actually start up theHunter Call of the Wild some nights and jump to the African map just to have it as background sounds while I fall asleep

 

Not today, but yesterday I went to the garage to fix a missing bolt on my cars exhaust and the valve cover gasket. I managed to break the boots latch. It's a sedan. FML.

What a brilliant way to fall asleep, sleeping outside in the bush is  very soothing and restful 

[LadyCrimson]

It's nothing fancy but main reason for this house (besides the pool hubby wanted):

Big spot for a garden. There's a 2nd covered patio/storage on the house-side, too.

...and could still put a big/long workshop on the other side. Also, outdoor couch and I can sit here with a laptop all day, rain or shine. Maybe I should wall it in and turn it into a "woman cave?" Probably too humid tho. Haha.

The actual basic room for my "cave." It's 13-14 feet long. Currently planning for efficiency and function. Think the window wall is going to be all desktop attached to the wall, with an L/desk that sticks out towards the door. I could have four  monitors plus the TV!  Or two big TV's and two monitors! Hm...needs more thought...must be perfect cause once done it's not changing. Maybe I should make it a U instead. Walking space? I don't need that.

Edit: also ... no trees on our side or big street trees. No more tons of raking/being knee deep in leaves. The neighbors have enough greenery to stare at - saw squirrels and lots o' little birds, so they'll be around like I like.

Edited November 7, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

Wow, that backyard has the potential to be amazing. Looks like you are hosting the next Obsidian Forumites BBQ, LC.

[Malcador]

That house is a mansion to me.

[Raithe]

There are times you reaaally can pick up that the Recruiter is going through the social motions without actually paying attention...

Recruiter:  "How was your weekend?"  
Me: "Oh well, juggling a few things, dad's latest batch of chemo and dealing with that, all that sort of joys."    
Recruiter:  (enthusiastically and up-beat) "Lovely, glad it sounds good."

[BruceVC]

22 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

It's nothing fancy but main reason for this house (besides the pool hubby wanted):

Big spot for a garden. There's a 2nd covered patio/storage on the house-side, too.

...and could still put a big/long workshop on the other side. Also, outdoor couch and I can sit here with a laptop all day, rain or shine. Maybe I should wall it in and turn it into a "woman cave?" Probably too humid tho. Haha.

The actual basic room for my "cave." It's 13-14 feet long. Currently planning for efficiency and function. Think the window wall is going to be all desktop attached to the wall, with an L/desk that sticks out towards the door. I could have four  monitors plus the TV!  Or two big TV's and two monitors! Hm...needs more thought...must be perfect cause once done it's not changing. Maybe I should make it a U instead. Walking space? I don't need that.

Edit: also ... no trees on our side or big street trees. No more tons of raking/being knee deep in leaves. The neighbors have enough greenery to stare at - saw squirrels and lots o' little birds, so they'll be around like I like.

Im really excited for you guys, now their really is no reason I cant come and stay with you because you have a much bigger house