The vinhale thread?

[mamselle]

This is the place for those dualistic, good news/bad.news events that require posting just to help get at the perplexity of life from more than one direction.

My inhale: The new little ice  cream shop near me does both to-go/carry-out and delivery, and is open until 2 AM.

My vent: They have no non-dairy options.

Looked at another way (with a 90-degree twist, maybe?):

My vent: They don't have the ice cream I can eat. Boo hoo!

My inhale: I dont need to eat raspberry sorbet at 2 AM anyway....at least, not .if I'm trying not to gain weight...



-=-=-=-

You?

M.

[paultuttle]

Vent: I'm not feeling well (allergies), yet I have to go to work.

Inhale: No one else is here yet due to the rainstorm, so I'm able to think without being interrupted by loud voices or telephone calls.

[mamselle]

Inhale: Yea!!!! Blog article finished, sent in, and accepted. In fact, they're going to use it in the newsletter and not just the blogsite.

Vent: Now I have to go do all the stuff I left undone in order to finish the article.

A-hem.

M.

[mamselle]

Arggh!

Vent: Just because upsetting things have happened and you're feeling down doesn't change the fact that we have all these deadlines facing us, and I'm working towards them but you're not.

I mean, you know I'm very sympathetic, and all, but the work still expects to be done, and I'm doing my share...plus a bit.


Inhale: Saying "When we meet, I need us both to set aside whatever else is going on so we can focus on what's before us," did have a positive effect, and was acknowledged as helpful.

I just wish that a) the upsetting things weren't happening to begin with (I do sympathize, really), and b) I didn't have to keep being the adult in the room every time something depressive occurs (now going on 5 years or so). It makes ME grumbly, too!

At least the willingness to shake oneself off and make a better start is there.

OK, back to work.

Thanks for listening.

M.

[paultuttle]

Inhale: The hotter-than-hell weather has broken!

Vent: Via a succession of thunderstorms. Lovely.

[mamselle]

Inhale: The hotter-than-hell weather has broken!

Vent: Via a succession of thunderstorms. Lovely.

That was us yesterday.

Echoed in its entirety...including the two instances of simultaneous lightening and thunder in which I said, "Oh. That means it's right overhead. Hmmmm..."

Stay comfortable!

M.

[ergative]

Reviving, because I had a heckuva vinhale today.

Vent: Absolutive's computer froze and he needed to attend an online conference today.
Inhale: I had no classes/meetings scheduled, so I let him use mine, and went for a walk
Vent: I took a very long route, and at one point heard something clatter to the ground. I paused and looked back, saw nothing obvious, and kept going. When I got home, I discovered my key was gone.
Inhale: I remembered where I had heard the clatter, and when I got there, I found my key on the ground right away.
Vent: I now have to work late into the evening to make up the time I lost while Absolutive had my computer.
Inhale: Absolutive made me tea when I got back, and I can hear him making dinner now.

[FishProf]

Vent: Our environmental microbiology lab was a colossal failure.  Students got essential no growth from swabs of doorknobs, elevator buttons, lab counters, fridge handles or bathroom fixtures.

Inhale: Students got essential no growth from swabs of doorknobs, elevator buttons, lab counters, fridge handles or bathroom fixtures. (So yeah cleaning protocols)

Vent: Professor CrankyPants yelled at the staff b/c the lab didn't work and blamed the agar in the plates.

Inhale: Staff showed growth in the control plates, making PCP have to apologize.  Publicly.

[mamselle]

Inhale: just now invited to do an interview on my work for a dance instructor's site in another (well-placed) town.

Vent: Yikes! Time to prepare stuff will have to be fitted into an already tight schedule!

Inhale: I've wanted to do more public info stuff, and to find out how to do my own.

Vent: MORE work will be needed for that!

Inhale: The pool of work I feared could become stagnant has found an outlet and can now flow....

Vent: They want to book this in the next 2 weeks! Aiyiyiyiyi!

M.

[AmLitHist]

Vent:  Recent Voluntary Separation Incentive Plan (VSIP) means we're not in rosy financial shape. Let's see how soon the RIF follows.
Vent:  Though I qualify, I can't afford to take the VSIP (both because I want my partial lump sum payout from my pension, which I can't get til 2024, AND because ALHS isn't old enough for Medicare til then and I won't be until 2025, AND because the financial incentive offered is a joke).
Vent: For years I've said there are fewer than 10 people at work that I trust. The last VSIP took several of those, and the ensuing RIF took another two (both of whom died within a year of being RIFed), and now three more are retiring.  That leaves only two of that "trusted" group still here with me until I/they retire.
Inhale:  Two of those taking the VSIP are very dear (and trusted) friends, and I'm genuinely happy for them both.
Inhale:  Chair is also taking the VSIP. I will NOT miss him. (He used to be on that "trusted" list until he sold me, and the rest of our faculty, out about a year ago, so good riddance.)

The VSIP/RIF are becoming routine,so at least I'm happy some of my friends are able to get out with a little cash. I'm busy making retirement gifts!

[ergative]

Inhale: Local river walk is lined with raspberry bushes (and blackberry bushes in one place), and they are ripening. I had a day off today, and took a big old tupperware with me, loaded up my podcaster, slathered on the sunblock and donned my massive wide-brimmed straw sunhat, and filled that sucker to the brim with fresh berries. We snacked on some, selected the most attractive one to save for breakfast tomorrow, and dumped the rest in the freezer for smoothies and raspberry lemonade.

Vent: Apparently the optimal growing conditions for raspberry bushes are identical to the optimal growing conditions for stinging nettles. Despite my best efforts to avoid them, I am still stinging in (i) the first knuckle of my left ring-finger (ii) the underside of my left wrist (iii) the side of my right pinkie (iv) the knobby bone part of my right wrist (v) the underside of my right wrist, and (vi) the outside of my right forearm, about halfway up.

Inhale: In my travels, I have confirmed the best spots with the largest berries, and also confirmed that there are many, many, many bushes with unripe berries still to come. I think I'll be doing this regularly this summer. How have I never learned that I live in berryland? I took this river walk all the time last summer. How did I not notice the bounty? BERRIES!!!

[mamselle]

Also good mixed with a bit of maple syrup and honey to go on pancakes, to be made into a layer of cinnamon/nutmeg/clove cornbread, or to be blended with some butter, a tiny bit of flour, and said honey, as a topping for coffee cake.

That's 'way off-topic, but.... it's not:

Inhale: The mulberries, likewise, are coming out, here (long ago, sericulture efforts were a "thing," and the trees are still with us).

Vent: I keep forgetting to bring a container with me on my AM walks....

M.

[Harlow2]

Inhale:  car doesn't need new brakes before our long road trip.  Amazing mileage on this set!
Vent:  needs 2 new tires, and another appointment to get them. Don't understand why 2 of 4 wore out so much faster than the others, which were all bought and installed at the same time. 

[mamselle]

On the same side, or front/back?

Or some other array?

Alignment issues could be what's doing that.

M.

[ergative]

Vent: Absolutive brought home a respiratory bug from school and gave it to me.
Inhale: It's almost certainly not Covid. We have a bunch of rapid at-home lateral flow tests and he tested negative twice while maximally symptomatic, so it's probably just a cold. Certainly feels exactly like a cold in my head. Stuffy nose, sore uvula, general malaise.
Vent: Absolutive gave me the first cold I've had in two years. Stuffy nose, sore uvula, general malaise. Also, he's sick too (our onsets are offset by about twenty-four hours, so we're both overlappingly sick).
Inhale: I'm beginning to feel better, and so is he. Not 100%.
Vent: If this cold is like all my other colds, then I have about 24-48 hours between the time my sore throat resolves and the time my nose becomes completely, miserably blocked. I guess I'll try to get some housework done in this window before I deteriorate again.

Absolutive doesn't like it when I start to feel better but prognosticate the coming nose-blockage. Why borrow trouble? he says. You're feeling better now, he says. Maybe it won't happen, he says. But I'm pretty sure it will happen, so I'm telling you all now: Sometime Sunday evening or Monday morning I'm going to be back here with the following inhale/vent:

[prediction]
Inhale: I was right!
Vent: I was right.
[/prediction]