Day #111

[shadowkat]

It's in the 90s, it's humid, I decided to stay indoors with my air-conditioning. Didn't feel like wearing a mask or being hot at the moment. It is pretty out. I've got tomorrow off - have it off instead of last Friday, because my workplace is quirky and likes to take Monday's off. Note, the rest of crazy workplace had Friday off, it's just my crazy-ass workplace that decided to do Monday.

Not complaining - it's nice to a have a day off that no one else does. I can take a walk around the Cemetery or Park, while they are all working. Of course we're in Phase 2 or Phase 3 of re-opening during a pandemic, so there's that. Although some folks seem to be blatantly ignoring the pandemic.

Cousins in PA cancelled plans to visit family in Michigan and Missouri - decided with all the recent spikes, it wasn't safe.

Mother was trying to talk me into visiting my brother again.

Mother: If you can brave the trains..
Me: Considering I'm not braving them for work at the moment.
Mother: Once you do, you can visit him -
Me: That's going to be difficult.
Mother: He said it's not really worth it for a weekend, but I told him you have unused vacation time you could use. You could go up and stay in his barn.
Me: Yeah with spiders and the critters...his barn is kind of open to the elements. And I'd have to social distance by 6 feet. How would this be fun?
Mother: We'll you'd still socially interact.
ME: I'd need to fix my own food and get it -
Mother: I'm sure you'd eat together -
ME: I'd be quarantining for 14 days first - I don't have that much vacation
Mother: It would get you out of the city and into nature outside of a Cemetery - and being confined.
ME: I'm not that confined. I go to grocery stores, I do laundry, I pick up packages, I walk around a 546 acre Cemetery and there's a park -
Mother: Okay, I'm not going to bother you any more about visiting your brother, that is between you and him.
ME: Can I get that in writing? (Okay I didn't say that. I said - yes, that makes perfect sense.)

Wales as predicted, forgot to call me back.

Quiet day. Did the church thing via Zoom. After the worship service they split up into chat rooms, which I skip. Because I don't like video chat in Zoom. (Which begs the question how am I going to do this fanboard gathering chat on Zoom? Also, it's probably worth mentioning - that I couldn't get myself to go to the fanboard gatherings when they weren't on Zoom without someone guilting talking me into it. Social anxiety raises its ugly head, what can I say? It is what it is. If I can avoid socially anxiety inducing situations - I will.)Also my vanity can't handle looking at myself on camera.

The church thing had great music, but the lecture was kind of hard to focus on. Due to two problems - the feed was wobbly - this happens with Zoom, and
the speaker was talking about her experiences teaching dance to middle school students, as a white dance instructor with POC middle school kids who didn't care all that much about learning about dance, during a pandemic and the protests on Black Lives Matter. She was concerned, and rightly so, about culturally misappropriating the movement. Black Lives Matter - she felt wasn't about White People. She's wrong it actually is - if it weren't for White People we wouldn't have to do the Black Lives Matter Movement. Which I think she kind of figured out. Black Lives Matter is about learning NOT to suppress one race to further your own (in this case the White Race suppressing the Black Race to further its own power and privilege.) It's not about cultural misappropriation. But I digress. Anyhow, I liked the music - the summer music director is fantastic. I actually like her better than our current one - she can sing, he can't.

The story time was rather good - Something Happened in Our Town via the Niagra Falls Underground Railway Museum.

I have to admit - I don't like lectures. It's very hard to do a good one - it requires some ability at improve, performance art, and stand-up comedy.
Most people suck at it. It's honestly an art.

Then went back to watching Hamilton - I finished it today. Rather brilliant. Plan on watching it again soon, straight through without the closed captioning. I'm sorry my parents can't see it - but I know my father would be completely lost - his poor brain isn't what it once was, rear-brain Alzheimer's - is a painful thing. After Hamilton, I checked out the Disney animated film Atlantis - the Lost City - which is mostly interesting in regards to who was involved with it. Joss Whedon is credited with coming up with the story idea, and the vocal talents include James Garner (as the villain), Michael J. Fox (as the hero), and Claudia Christian and Leonard Nimoy. The animation isn't bad. The story unfortunately is kind of...there.
Whedon didn't write it - but he was apparently involved at some point - it was back in 2000-2001, around the time that he was working with Pixar on Toy Story and a ghost writer.

Hope all is well in your world and the pesky virus hasn't hit you yet. A spot of good news? Apparently the US is in danger of running out of fireworks soon. According to CNN America is running out of fireworks - dare we hope? Honestly this is something I really really hope we do run out of for a very long time. I don't think Americans deserve fireworks, they misuse them.

Here's a photo from National Geographic...that I found on Facebook for all the adrenaline junkies out there...would you climb out on this ledge? Come on, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow! Live a little.





Here's the article it was taken from Climbing with No Strings Attached



Personally? I don't think it is for anyone who is afraid of heights, has vertigo or balance issues. Also, as one of my uncles put it - do you have any idea how many people die each year trying to get to that ledge? Answer? A lot. But then there are people out there not wearing masks and not thinking COVID is a big deal...so..hardly surprising. They call them the Darwin Awards for a reason.

I leave you with..

Comments

Look out below

[cactuswatcher]

Though I didn't see the picture in the article, I'm pretty sure that's the Half Dome ledge mentioned in it. A lot of lunatics adventurous folks climb Half Dome. Not me. Never would have. I'm acrophobic. I'll take my chances with the bus. (Captain Kirk fell off the side of Half Dome in Star Trek V. Watching that the first time was enough adrenaline for me!)

Re: Look out below

[shadowkat]

I looked it up..."This 12m long sliver of granite is located at Half Dome Yosemite, California. Named the "Thank God Ledge", it is the only way to get beyond the Visor, a massive roof that looms over the Regular Northwest Face route of the Yosemite National Park."

So yes, it's the Half Dome Ledge - at Yosemite, California not Yellowstone.
No wonder I was confused. It's in the Yellowstone Mountains.

I'm with you, there's no way I'd climb it. I'm acrophobic too - or I get a kind of vertigo when I'm high up. Zip-lining was bad enough, and I'm NEVER doing zip-lining again. Nor am I sky-diving. Walking over rickety bridges...maybe but unlikely.

And wait, Captain Kirk fell off the side? I do not remember that.

I'd like to go Yosemite someday. It's on my bucket list - assuming I survive 2020 of course. LOL!

Apparently this guy, Alex Honnold is among the few in the world whose managed it. He climbs things without any pulleys or ropes of any kind.

Re: Look out below

[cactuswatcher]

Maybe it was El Capitan Kirk fell off of. Start of the movie. Kirk is free climbing. Spock zooms up beside him with a jet pack and starts bugging him with meaningless statistics and such. Kirk loses his concentration and falls. Predictably Spock saves him. The movie ends with them back at Yosemite singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Not the best Star Trek movie. ;o)

The best time to visit Yosemite is late May-early June when the waterfalls are at their peak.

[wpadmirer]

There is no way I'd go out on the ledge without a harness and a well-anchored rope. That's just madness - and I rock climb.

[atpo_onm]

I have this odd thing where I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of falling, because I tend to be 1) clumsy, and 2) unlucky. I'd climb out on that ledge, think, "Wow, what a view!!" and a bee would come along-- the only one in miles-- and start buzzing around my head.

WwwhhhoooooohhhhyaaaAHHH!!!!! ..........

But, as long as I know I'm secure-- like there's a nice, sturdy railing between me and a precipice, I have no problem with the height itself.

I'm going to look into researching the Zoom thing a bit this week sometime, see if it's something I want to get into enough to attend the ATPo meetup. I'm not camera-phobic, I just don't have one for my PC or have a smartphone. I could probably connect a microphone to the PC, but that's one thing I'd investigate, for specifics re: this application. But if voice alone can work, I'll see if I can give it a try, but investigate first, because I inherently distrust the internet.

[mtbc]

I'm the same with heights: I'm happy to stand on the glass floor in a high tower or take an airplane flight, what I fear is an unexpected gust of wind or muscle spasm or whatever. In practice this means that I walk mountain trails in a mild state of terror while the seniors jog on past me. (The trail isn't level, the surface has small stones, I could slip!)

My social anxiety is better than it was. I still find such experiences taxing but I have at least gained faith that they can go only so wrong.

[petzipellepingo]

Cousins in PA cancelled plans to visit family in Michigan

Good idea. If I remember correctly your family is on the west side of the state and that's a current hot spot.

[shadowkat]

This guy, Alex Honnold is amazing, I think he just has no fear? Although he said that he was a bit shaky after doing the Half Dome ledge. That he knew if he leaned forward at all, he'd tip head first over the ledge, and the only way was to lie flat against the wall, look straight ahead and shuffle his feet to get across it. It's 12 cm in diameter. He's what is called a solo climber - a small group of climbers who climb without any harnass, rope or pulleys. A lot of them have died. And he is among the very few who did Half Dome and survived.

There's no way in hell, I'd do it. Not even with a harness. Zip-lining was bad enough.

[shadowkat]

Or, you could just phone in. There's a list of telephone numbers - that enables you to just call. That's how a lot of people do it at my church, they just call in on their phones, no camera, no picture. Just phone in.

Personally, I think the problem may be with the hosting - they all have wobbly internet connections. So do I. Mine likes to jump from 4G to 5G.

I have balance issues - and a bit of vertigo - it's why heights bother me, I look down and it appears as if the ground is coming up to meet me. It's the spatial orientation thing that makes it difficult for me to drive, bike ride, and play any game that includes small or big balls from pool all the way up to Soccer and Basketball. Objects often aren't where I think they are in space. And my hands shake really badly when I get nervous - which made zip-lining impossible - they had to taxi me across. Outside of my hands I appeared relatively calm.

[shadowkat]

They are in Chelsea, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Not sure if it is a hot-spot or not? My uncle got elective surgery on his hip about a month ago. And is doing fine. They are following the protocol - social distancing, masks, etc. And staying restricted to their 11 acres or confined. But my cousins were going to visit them, along with other family members (not related to me at all nor that I personally know) - including a few not following the guidelines in Missouri - and Missouri has been bad. So my Aunt was worried and about to tell them that while she wanted to see them, she'd have to renege on her offer to let them stay with her. It just wasn't safe. Then my cousin told her - eh, we've decided to cancel our trip after this phone call - it's not going to work and it's not safe for us to do.

So many people cancelling plans. My Cousins in Chicago cancelled their summer trip to Europe and NYC - it was supposed to happen this month. They cancelled it in May, when they realized, finally, eh, not happening.

[shadowkat]

More or less the same. I did zip-lining, my difficulty was that my hands shake really badly when I get nervous or upset and I can't control it (essential tremor - genetic quirk). So I got taxied across on the zipline. Outside of the hand shaking - I looked fine.

No, my issue with heights is that I can't always tell how far or how close things are in space. So ground looks closer to me than it actually is. And my balance is always slightly off. I'm fine with railings, and I can do mountain trails, and for the most part bridges. Also no issue with glass elevators. A glass floor in a high tower may however give me a touch of vertigo.

And, my social anxiety depends on the situation. I don't like Zoom chats - I've figured that out over time. Microsoft Teams for business doesn't bother me. But idle chat? Ugh.
Awkward silences and me are unmixy things. People who know me are often surprised that I'm socially anxious - because I'm not shy. Social anxiety and shyness aren't the same, a lot of folks don't get that. You can come across as very outgoing in a situation, but be anxious. My anxiety comes out as nervous chatter, a very dry self-deprecating wit, and my hands shake.

[wpadmirer]

Honnold had had is brain PET scanned and he has a very low fear response center. His amygdala is abnormal, in terms of average human response.

[shadowkat]

So, I was right? He's fearless or has a very low fear response. That makes sense. Most adrenaline junkies - have a lower fear response than average human response.

It's kind of how some people are more sensitive to pain than others? My grandmother has a high tolerance for pain. It was not necessarily a good thing. Same with my mother.

[petzipellepingo]

Chelsea not so much, Kalamazoo is close to the hot spots right now.