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20 Jan 2020 02:32 PM
#8651
Member
Unless it's a nightmare, I really do like to dream, and even moreso if I can remember at least a bit of the dream when I wake up.
TNP has had a particularly vivid dream in the past month.
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20 Jan 2020 03:20 PM
#8652
Oliphaunt
Yes. I don't remember the details, except that they were boring things about work. Definitely vivid, and definitely inversely proportional to how much I've had to drink before retiring.
TNP thinks knowing ASL (American Sign Language), or another signed language, would be both neat and surprisingly useful and is therefore considering learning the basics soon.
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21 Jan 2020 12:14 AM
#8653
Member
I suppose, but I don't think I have the gray cells, attention span or time to do it right. I do have a good friend who's an ASL interpreter, though.
On a similar note, TNP had not seen this British news story before: https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalt...sign-language/
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21 Jan 2020 12:23 AM
#8654
Oliphaunt
True. I'd not seen or heard about that before. Prince William is the good one, right? Apparently!
When TNP is typing up even an abbreviated CV or some similar bit of document, it takes him or her about three or five revisions to get it right.
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21 Jan 2020 02:28 PM
#8655
Member
Oh, at least.
TNP has revised his or her CV in the past month.
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21 Jan 2020 08:28 PM
#8656
Oliphaunt
Yeah, in a sense. Just made a condensed and specific version to fit on one page a "(Semi-Truck)-Yard Specialist" manager (L3, they call it) job. Wasn't difficult, but I still habitually fiddle with precise wordings and all that, so it took a few minutes of reflection and editing.
TNP has ever personally noticed some of the ridiculously specific HR requirements for various jobs, especially in the tech industry. It's plainly ridiculous, which I think is well-known by the general public at this point. But some companies seem to be more absurd than others, let's say.
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22 Jan 2020 12:38 PM
#8657
Member
I haven't, but I can't say I'm particularly surprised.
TNP will be going to a fundraiser this week (I'll be going to two tonight!).
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23 Jan 2020 07:46 AM
#8658
Oliphaunt
Nah, don't go to many, thank God.
TNP is in a bit of a rut.
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23 Jan 2020 09:28 AM
#8659
Member
Sometimes it feels like that, but no, I don't think so.
TNP has been kissed today.
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23 Jan 2020 12:36 PM
#8660
Oliphaunt
Nope. Not even the remotest fantasy. I did have a day yesterday full of unusually friendly encounters, but purely of the Platonic ideal of friendliness.
TNP is kind of involved in a soap opera, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the daytime TV things or whatever.
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23 Jan 2020 01:37 PM
#8661
Member
I've been on the fringes of a few of those, but not lately, thank God.
TNP knows someone who regularly watches a particular soap opera.
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24 Jan 2020 04:48 PM
#8662
Oliphaunt
Sure. A bartender is really into one of those daytime ones, I can't remember which. I'm pretty sure my mother still watches some of those. I'm a repeat viewer of Buffy and Twin Peaks, which I think count.
TNP had no idea until today that Roger Federer was still playing, currently at the Australian Open (tennis). That's an old boy, right there! He's like my age!
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24 Jan 2020 10:33 PM
#8663
Member
No, I didn't, but I really don't follow tennis.
TNP has played tennis in the past two months.
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24 Jan 2020 11:06 PM
#8664
Oliphaunt
Mmmm....hmmmm....well....you know, what with the weather and all and...hmmm....you know, the club isn't what it used to.....mmmm....well, I'll say, old boy, I haven't played a set in since I can't remember! Jolly rogering good of you to bring that up: I will have my boy said he is to bring it up again, next meetings, he shall.
TNP imagines fancy people speaking in posh British accents.
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25 Jan 2020 08:57 AM
#8665
Member
Heh. Yes, I do, now and then. And sometimes I do it myself.
TNP has watched the British Prime Minister's Questions on TV in the past year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_...%27s_Questions
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26 Jan 2020 09:32 PM
#8666
Oliphaunt
Can't say as I have.
TNP knows useful things in the events of a landslide closing a major highway, or tracking a tailgater to his or her house, namely, knowing the backroads and lesser-travelled streets like the back of one's hand.
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27 Jan 2020 10:47 AM
#8667
Member
Yeah, I know my way around here pretty well, although landslides aren't really an issue, fortunately.
TNP enjoys New Yorker cartoons.
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27 Jan 2020 01:26 PM
#8668
Oliphaunt
Mostly, but I have an occasional "Huh", or "Christ, what an asshole".
TNP reads at least one comic strip every day.
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27 Jan 2020 08:44 PM
#8669
Oliphaunt
No. Pretty rarely.
TNP occasionally looks at comic Twitter tweets.
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28 Jan 2020 02:00 PM
#8670
Member
Yes, if someone sends them to me. I'm not on Twitter myself.
TNP isn't on Twitter, either.
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28 Jan 2020 08:53 PM
#8671
Oliphaunt
I think I made an account a while ago, but I don't remember the login details, so false. Yeah, I just check out things people occasionally mention, like "Nihilist Arby's" or whatever. I don't follow any celebrities or reality TV hosts.
TNP knows at least one or two people who drive Mini Coopers and admits they're pretty slick little cars, even if you do see them everywhere on the roads.
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29 Jan 2020 12:29 AM
#8672
Member
I just know one, actually, but yes, I like those cars.
TNP has driven a Mini Cooper in the past month.
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29 Jan 2020 07:07 AM
#8673
Oliphaunt
Nope, never driven one nor ridden in one. Sat in one: with the driver's seat all the way back, I could hardly reach the clutch pedal, and I'm 6'3.5" tall. Shocking.
TNP takes over four types of pills every day, such as ibuprofen (prescription-strength Advil), pseudoephedrine (prescription Sudafed), loratidine, diphenhydramine. In other words, TNP is a pill-popper.
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29 Jan 2020 07:50 AM
#8674
Oliphaunt
Yeah, I guess I generally take five pills a day, mostly prescription. Being old and coming from a family with a history of heart disease sucks.
TNP has high blood pressure that needs control through meds.
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29 Jan 2020 10:26 AM
#8675
Member
Fortunately not. When I give blood the nurse almost always remarks on my low blood pressure.
TNP has seen a doctor professionally in the past month.
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29 Jan 2020 04:02 PM
#8676
Oliphaunt
Naw. I should make an appointment with my dentist soon. (Dammit, they are doctors: rule number one, don't piss them off. Well, the hygienists...I think they're always angry).
TNP thinks the best thing to say to some shrimp-dick cockbiting prick with an unruly dog with whom one has to interact on occaion is to say, "If you need a man to train your emotional support animal, I can give you the number of a man who knows how." If not, do a better veiled insult.
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29 Jan 2020 11:24 PM
#8677
Member
How about "Y'know, I just can't decide which of you is the bigger bitch"?
TNP listened to some Mozart this week.
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30 Jan 2020 02:34 AM
#8678
Oliphaunt
Not a recording, but I've recalled some fragments of various pieces of his music, certainly.
[Yes, sure, right, calling a contract driver a bitch would not be what I'd call veiled. I'm often extremely rude or dismissive to them, which is fine, or mutter things like "go fuck yourself you stupid cocksucker" within earshot, but there's a difference: the latter I'm allowed to do, but the former, probably not really.]
TNP thinks pain in the heels of the feet is worse than pain in the toes.
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30 Jan 2020 09:17 AM
#8679
Member
Not really. I'd rather have a little pain in the toes than a lot in the heels, and vice versa. It's the degree, not the location, that matters to me.
TNP just bought new shoes.
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30 Jan 2020 09:34 PM
#8680
Oliphaunt
No. I have a giant mound of shoes already that I rotate through. If I get this job as Truck Yard Manager, I might upgrade to a professional-grade pair of work boots.
TNP has been noticing more and more people smiling (in a friendly way) to him or her lately. Particularly women.
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30 Jan 2020 10:54 PM
#8681
Member
No, about the same as usual.
TNP had some chocolate today.
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30 Jan 2020 11:22 PM
#8682
Oliphaunt
Actually, yeah. I threw out a pretty high-class bar of 88% cacao that'd been in my cupboard for apparently too long. It was edible, I suppose, but maybe on a desert island or in Haïti or someplace dire. So I just ate about six mini Hershey bars left over from Halloween (no, I don't get trick or treaters, but I can't resist a sale on stuff I don't usually buy). Apparently chocolate does go pretty foul after a number of years in a cupboard. I guess that wass 24-36 hours ago. Not sure. In my mind that's pretty much "today."
TNP doesn't really care about KC or SF in the superbowl this Sunday, so instead will privately think of the day as Candlemas, which it is. Also, screw the Niners.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 30 Jan 2020 at 11:25 PM.
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31 Jan 2020 02:21 PM
#8683
Member
Don't care about the Super Bowl at all this year, it's true, but neither will I be thinking about Candlemas.
TNP has a candle burning right now.
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31 Jan 2020 06:43 PM
#8684
Oliphaunt
No. Given my frequent falling asleep at my desk at home, sometimes waking to find the entire place filled with smoke from something I left on the stove, I should probably not use candles. I would like to die in a fire, though, like Ingeborg Bachmann, so maybe I'll keep that in mind when I find out I have stage IV cancer. If I'm lucky, I can take out some neighbors too in the conflagration: they kind of suck. No, please do not SWAT me with the pigs: AFAIK I do not have cancer yet, so I am not a threat to myself or others, any more than usual.
TNP would be pretty suspicious if some guy at work seemed to make a point of starting conversations. "Do you like the Rolling Stones?" "I heard you playing that jazz in your car before work." "So you're from X but were born in Y: you still have family down in Y?" [On reflection, nah, some people are just like that, working from memory of some good friends from the past, but I'm still interested in TNP]
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31 Jan 2020 09:59 PM
#8685
Member
I suppose it'd depend on that person's demeanor and affect. If he already seemed a little creepy, yeah, that might make me suspicious.
TNP has a pretty good memory for other people's little life stories.
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31 Jan 2020 10:18 PM
#8686
Oliphaunt
Yeah. It's not conscious, but I seem to recall pretty much everything someone tells me in passing conversations. It's kind of a curse, because I sometimes find people's stories don't quite add up. "Oh, yeah, the 1960 Chevy Nova you mentioned is your prized possession, completely restored with stock parts..." Which...actually...probably exists about as much as that diving certification, your welding experience, and your fiancée in Nebraska. (Chevy Novas didn't exist in 1960, AFAIK). But, it can be handy for making small talk...once I remember little unimportant details like people's names and things.
TNP has never found the "memory palace" trick for deliberately remembering things to be useful.
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01 Feb 2020 12:22 PM
#8687
Member
Agreed. Despite it now having become a Hollywood cliche, it does seem to really work for some people, though.
TNP has been inside a real palace.
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01 Feb 2020 11:12 PM
#8688
Oliphaunt
If you mean a "working" palace with royalty or functionaries using it actively, then no. The other kind that are more for show nowadays, then sure. Some of them are pretty big! But some are more modestly sized, just kind of out in the middle of nowhere. "Oh, check it out, that's a fucking palace!"
TNP has ever recently been somewhat depressingly excited to receive a somewhat rare coin or bill as change: for example, a fresh two-dollar US bill.
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02 Feb 2020 08:34 PM
#8689
Member
Not too recently, but yes, I've had old or relatively rare coins given to me as change a few times over the years. It's a small treat.
TNP owns at least five crisp $2 bills.
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02 Feb 2020 08:50 PM
#8690
Oliphaunt
What? You must have called ahead to the bank! No, I just have the one. Used to see them pretty often, but not in a dog's age. And trust me, brother, this is one crisp as hell motherfucker of a Jeffersonian! I'm going to give it to my nephews, since I can't imagine spending it. I imagine younger people wouldn't even know what the hell it is!
TNP is thinking, or has thought about, buying a non-fancy shotgun, like a Mossberg 500 in 12 gauge...or perhaps already has one.
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03 Feb 2020 12:17 PM
#8691
Member
No, never had a shotgun, and probably never will.
TNP prefers using a camera to a gun.
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03 Feb 2020 02:35 PM
#8692
Oliphaunt
False. I just don't enjoy photography at all, although I can appreciate others' works. However, I don't live in the country, so I can't exactly step out on my balcony and start firing away whenever I want, so chances to fire a gun of any sort are pretty far and few between.
TNP dubs this interregnum between the feast of the presentation of the lord and ash wednesday: "The season of paperwork."
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04 Feb 2020 01:12 AM
#8693
Member
LOL. It sometimes seems like that, but no, I have not thus dubbed it.
TNP already has plans for Easter.
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04 Feb 2020 01:52 PM
#8694
Oliphaunt
Sure. I plan to attend mass, and if I can make it to the two-hour window on Saturdays to reconcile, receive the eucharist. After that, I'll go to work in the afternoon. Depending on my mood, I might play hooky from work and go out to see my parents and uncle and, maybe, depending on my sister's plans, the nephews.
TNP shall give an everyday, benign example of "rules-lawyering," and say if it's good or bad.
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05 Feb 2020 12:25 AM
#8695
Member
I will admit that I will jaywalk if the road is safely clear in both directions. My rationale is that, although I'm breaking the law, that particular law is intended to protect lives, and if no life is endangered, there's no point in me walking all the way down to the corner just to cross the street. Don't you judge me!
TNP jaywalks with some regularity.
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05 Feb 2020 12:51 AM
#8696
Oliphaunt
I suppose so, when it's the best option. IME it's often safer to jaywalk than to wait for a "walk" signal, and almost certainly have drivers violating the crosswalk while dumbly initiating a turn before it is legal and safe to do so. Similarly in driving, for example, in a parking lot. Just signal intent and proceed accordingly and defensively. I was just having a brief conversation earlier today about some new legislation in my state allowing bicyclists to roll through controlled intersections that are, nonethless, free of traffic. (No, I don't believe the average cyclist has the ability to judge during times of continuous traffic, but it's probably OK on a deserted street in the middle of the night, provided they never, ever hit a pedestrian, nor even come close to it). Anyway, yeah. Both as a pedestrian and as a driver, I think it's OK if one has truly "cleared" the proposed pathway of all reasonable hazards.
Do people actually think before they act, most of the time? No, but sometimes. All of the time? Absolutely not. Do what you got to do, but do it right. Yeah, that's some cowboy wisdom.
TNP has already filed his or her taxes for this year, or is a lazy slug like me who is still "getting around to it."
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05 Feb 2020 10:07 AM
#8697
Member
No, not yet, but I'm gathering the paperwork together.
TNP has an accountant help with his or her taxes.
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05 Feb 2020 01:12 PM
#8698
Oliphaunt
Yep, money well spent once your life gets complicated.
TNP often uses the concierge services at hotels.
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05 Feb 2020 05:55 PM
#8699
Oliphaunt
I have a few times when I was much younger and staying in real hotels, not just flophouses or hostels. I doubt I did it right, but they were nice. Can't remember why I talked to them, probably just for directions or something.
TNP would rather stay the night in a fleabag hotel or motel than in a "youth" hostel, given the choice.
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05 Feb 2020 11:41 PM
#8700
Member
Well, neither, given the choice, but if I had to choose, yeah, probably the fleabag hotel or motel.
TNP spoke to a childhood friend today.
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