Friday open thread: changes

[dolorosa_12]

This is the final of my planned Friday open threads — I decided to do these as a trial run for the whole month of August, and gauge interest. From my perspective, people seem to have enjoyed them, so I would like to hear from you in the comments if you would like me to continue to do these in an ongoing way.

In addition, I have a prompting question, brought to you by the fact that I had my first day back in the library since mid-March this week. So my question is: what changed for you this week? It can be a big change, or a small change, as long as it's some kind of change.

You know about my change — so what are yours?

Comments

[kore]

I did something small but very important (and also extremely personal and a bit embarrassing) I had been putting off for three freaking months, so I'm pretty jazzed about that.

I really like your open threads! They make me think, even if I don't reply.

[dolorosa_12]

Well done to you for doing the thing! It must be a relief to have done it after all the procrastination!

I'm glad you appreciate the threads. I like writing them, although some weeks it's harder to come up with a prompt, which is why I wanted to check in with everyone about them.

[bruttimabuoni]

I've really liked the open threads. No pressure, but if you want to continue I'd be glad.

I feel like autumn is really coming, not just the rain but a general feeling of back-to-school work getting more urgent; which means I'm back in the mood to cook. That's a positive change for me, and one I'm looking forward to indulging in the coming months. I think the other thing that's shifted for me is that I'm now thinking about *when* I go back to the office rather than just vaguely letting it go on. I'm not planning to for another month, as there's a week I am working elsewhere in late September. But I guess after that, I'm probably going to be doing a thing. Lastly, I've just been given a major piece of work that's basically sketched in the next 3-4 years of the programme I manage. Only sketched, but I can see a path ahead. Not easy, but good. It's been quite a changey week, which is probably why I'm now so sleepy!

[dolorosa_12]

I'm glad you like the open threads. I like making them, but sometimes it's an effort to come up with the prompts, which is why I wanted to check before continuing.

That definitely feels like a week of changes for you. Autumn is definitely more of a cooking time than the heat of summer — there were some days where all I wanted to eat was gelato and watermelon, that's for sure. Most of my favourite things to cook involve slowly roasting them in the oven, which is much more suited to autumnal temperatures.

I'm kind of in the same place as you in terms of a return to the office. As I said in my previous post, I was meant to go in as a one-off to teach a class that no one else was able to teach, but I have otherwise no official date to return. But I can sense that it's on the horizon, and all the various meetings and HR forms have escalated in response.

It definitely sounds like a changey week for you, and feeling tired is very understandable!

[shadaras]

I've enjoyed these open threads, and would be happy to see them continue! I don't want you to stress about them, though, and wouldn't mind it being a 'most weeks but not necessarily every week' thing.

As of Tuesday of this week I am living in an apartment with no other humans in it, and that's hella strange. Not bad at all, but it's the first time I've been living alone. (I've been alone in apartments over holidays and such, but that's different.)

[dolorosa_12]

I'm glad you like the open threads — that seems to be the general consensus. I like making them, although sometimes coming up with the prompts is difficult, which is why I wanted to check in with people.

Living entirely alone for the first time ever is a big change — no wonder it feels so strange for you! I'm like you, I've never lived alone, only with my family, or in sharehouses, and for the past eight years with my husband, and changing from that so abruptly would be a really big deal. I hope you're finding it okay.

[shadaras]

Thus far I don't find it bad, just quiet—and that makes me wish I'd begun living alone in any other year. :)

[dolorosa_12]

I'm glad things are going fine so far, although yes, it must be particularly odd in 2020, given it's a year whose circumstances are forcing us to be in our houses for such long periods of time.

[likeadeuce]

I do love an open thread and I appreciate seeing these and sometimes having something to say!

I am not really in a changey state right now, working from home and a bit static in the way I am interacting with people. I did end up with a big deadline push to get some work product out the door (a little rushed because my boss wanted it done before heading out for a very well deserved vacation, but also because I've been dragging my feet in a bit of stasis without having deadlines); so overall having a faster paced, more collaborative work week, while still not seeing anyone face to face was a good change. Not sure what I'll settle back into next week.

Also decided to stick with the lower dose of psych meds that I've been on -- I went around a larger dose (by coincidence) around the start of lockdown and while it definitely helped me the cope with being home alone, scaling back has really affected my energy levels / has me wanting to write and talk about creativity and fandom more than I have for a while (i hesitate to talk too much about this because I don't want to promote the generality of meds killing creativity or anything, and it's very much been the change in my focus and activity since the 2016 elections that's been the main driver in my not writing/ fanning for a while, but there's also definitely some brain stuff going on and I need to look for the write* balance of positive energy and anxiety, but for now I'm hopeful about the current state)

*i meant 'right' but will enjoy the slip

[dolorosa_12]

I'm glad you like the open threads — I definitely enjoy making them, although sometimes I struggle to come up with the prompts, which is why I wanted to check and make sure it was worth the effort.

From the sound of things, while this might not have been a week of changes for you (either in terms of work or in terms of the meds), it was a week which confirmed that choices and changes you made earlier were the right decision for you.

It sounds as if you have found the right kind of equilibrium in terms of both the meds and in terms of environmental factors, and that it is the interplay of both, rather than one or the other, which has sparked your current fannish creativity and burst of writing. I'm glad for you.

[lyr]

Classes started and I'm having to learn to teach a ton of baffled, anxious freshmen online, so that's new.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, that must be really stressful — for you and the students. I hope it's going as well as possible.

[lyr]

Up until it got derailed by a hurricane, I thought it was going okay. But that's 2020, right?

Also, I meant to say: keep up the open threads!

[dolorosa_12]

Oh no! I hope you're all staying safe.

And noted re: the open threads.

[nyctanthes]

I've had access to a pool since early July, and have been swimming several times a week. This week I should manage two and half hours of swimming. A first for me!

[dhampyresa]

OMG CONGRATS! That's a huge achievement!

Are you keeping track of distance at all? What swim strike are you doing? /misses swimming

[nyctanthes]

Thank you! I don't think I've been in this good shape for years.

I haven't been keeping track of distance, just time and sometimes number of laps. Though once I find out the length of the pool it'll be easy enough to roughly calculate. I didn't want to get myself down by finding out how slow I probably am!

I focus mostly on the breast stroke. Much easier for me than the crawl/freestyle; though I'd love to take a lesson or two at some point and learn to do that. So much more efficient than the breast stroke, I think. And I want to learn how to kick turn!

[dhampyresa]

What part of crawl are you having issues with? I remember having trouble with the breathing rythm when I started out.

In fairness to the breast stroke, it is the only swim stroke that works underwater.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh, how lovely! I've had access to a pool for the whole of August, but it is closing today and won't reopen until next northern summer. The pool I normally swim in is an indoor pool attached to a gym in my workplace, and I haven't been going since March. This month of swimming reminded me that there really is no other exercise I enjoy as much, and that running (which is what I'd been doing between March and the start of August) really is no substitute. I'm not sure what to do — the indoor pool in the gym is open (with limits on numbers and bookable slots), but I feel that anything that necessitates spending long stretches of time in a changing room with other people, even masked, is a bad idea. And it's too far away from my house to go home in wet clothes and change/shower at home.

But I digress. Lucky you, and I hope your access to the pool continues!

[nyctanthes]

I've been enjoying your posts on swimming. There's something deeply meditative about it that I love and keeps me coming back.

I highly doubt I swim as well as you do, I'm basically self-taught and focus mostly on the breast stroke. If/when this all blows over, I'd love to take a lesson or two. But I agree with you that swimming doesn't compare with running; I can totally see the difference swimming has made for my yoga practice (improved it, made me noticeably stronger *and* more flexible) while running is the opposite. I feel so tight and crotchety after even short runs, and it immediately brings my practice down. Another reason I enjoy swimming is that it allows me to use the breath control I've developed through yoga. It's been fun to see that element translate into other medium.

I hope you're able to come up with a solution for the swimming! My pool is attached to a gym that is right across the street from me, so that makes changing, etc. a lot easier.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, that's incredible that it's caused such visible changes to your yoga practice. I will have to try and be more observant the next time I do yoga, and see if I notice anything similar. I'm glad it's had such a profound effect on you! And there's nothing wrong with being self-taught, or doing only breaststroke: whatever works for you, and makes you feel happy and well exercised is perfect!

I'm definitely not a self-taught swimmer. I never did it competitively, except at the 'swimming carnivals' that were a yearly event at my Australian primary and high schools. But swimming seems to be a much more standard thing in Australia — we got a number of free lessons through the school (this was at public/state school), and my sister and I also had private lessons for several years when we were small children, as did most of the other kids I knew, growing up. It seemed to be a kind of expected thing, that you would learn to swim at least until the point of being able to swim at least a length of freestyle fairly confidently and competently — and the expectation was that this was a sort of basic skill that every child would learn, almost on the level of reading and writing. After I became an adult, I had a long gap where I never did lap swimming at all, just went to the beach fairly regularly — I only really picked it up again in the wake of a trip back to Australia to visit my family, only to discover that my mother, sister, one of my aunts and one of my cousins were all going regularly to this gorgeous outdoor pool, joined them, and then continued swimming once I returned to the UK.

At the moment, to be honest, I'm leaning towards going back to my indoor pool at the gym, but just walking home in wet clothes and showering there. The problem is that in winter, this will be a lot less appealling. The local COVID infection numbers are very low, but the country as a whole is obviously not handling the pandemic well, and I keep agonising over whether swimming indoors is a selfish and unnecessary risk.

[nyctanthes]

My kids have had much better formal training in swimming than I did, and swim at school. It's a great skill to have. My daughter was going to join the swim team before...

and I keep agonising over whether swimming indoors is a selfish and unnecessary risk

Purely my opinion of course, grain of salt, etc. etc. but I don't think it is; exercise is so important for mental health. And as you said, the numbers are very low where you are. Perhaps you could try it out once, maybe even a quick change into dry clothes but no shower, and see how it makes you feel?

[dhampyresa]

I enjoy the Friday threads, even if I don't always participate. If you have trouble with prompts, maybe asking for people to submit some would work?

I've had three changes this week: I now have a bedroom blind again; there are nesting pigeons right outside my window (I GOT TO SEE THE EGGS TODAY -- during the "changing of the guard") and for the first time ever the blood donation place had not available platelets slots so I went with whole blood.

[likeadeuce]

i agree about submitting prompts, collecting them could be a fun exercise.

[dolorosa_12]

Those are all good changes! The nesting pigeons in particular sound amazing, and I hope you get to see the babies when they hatch!

I'm thinking that asking for prompts might be a good idea, although I wonder if people would be so keen to do that. Maybe the prompt for next week's open thread can be 'what would you prompt?'

[dhampyresa]

I GOT TO SEE (A?) BABY TODAY! So tiny!