Isn't this a sort of living the dream for you..slumming it with no mod cons? Well, no mod cons but with internet access, sounds pretty much perfect. I will look forward to your return in June-ish, ive missed you. What is the new job? Something woodsman-y, i guess. I will miss our chats on the fire escape but maybe there is something equivalent at the lodge, maybe access to the roof, or something. As for me, well basically think lots of walking and dogs everywhere..have been fostering a dog for 5 months while his owner has leukeamia treatment. Have taken up yoga and am very bad at it. Also went to see a Fleetwood Mac tribute band that was excellent. Oh yes, and my son is living at home again having got a job just down the road. He is supposed to be looking for a flat but i see no signs of it so far. He loves his home..aaah.
Thanks
I'm am absolutely going to try to live a dream.
I'm going to do as much work as possible to build my little empire while I still have my strength, and then drift into some kind of dream. I have, obviously, decided to refuse all treatment. Which the doctors say will not go well for me. But I've had enough of them. I have seen my last doctor, no matter what.
The closest hospital to here is Whitehorse, probably 10-20 hours from first call to evac by helicopter, if the weather cooperates...
I WILL NOT die in a hospital.
but enough gloom. I feel good today. I've lost the ability to sense and control temperature (which led to the diagnosis) it's weird and scary, but no pain or weakness. I have a winter log-jam to remove from a river (for the lodge guests to get to another lake) I'll hunt up some food and then I'm "going to ground" until the black-fly hatch out is over. Black-fly season is worse than any disease.
So, I'm going to be around for a bit. But on an old mac running safari. Since chess.com brought out V3 90% of the computers I've tried barely function with it if the function at all. There's an airport in Old Crow with decent computers, but it's a few hours by boat from here. I don't understand. Is chess only for phones now? There is no cellular service for hundreds of km's here. Am I the only one having trouble? I can't see notes, games, teams, messages....
but forums work fine
im still using v2 which works fine, but v3 still only works on my laptop or up to date ipad. Iv you can gdg go v2 you will be ok. Can i send you a gift? the one id have sent you before. any address you
give me would be safe as i have no idea where Yukon is, or anywhere else in canada. I totally get you ditching the treatment, although it saddens me a bit too. You must find your peace where you can, and know there is a hamster across the ocean who is rooting for you. Please give me an address, or not..no pressure. I am imagining you unjamming logs, thats good exercise..actually yoga might help you..it clears the mind and hdlps relaxation. It doesnt cure the temperature control thing..that must be weird. Take the greatest of care, sarge.
I've done yoga before.
But you're right it sure couldn't hurt. I always worked to stay lean and flexible in the army. Now I'm a lot thicker and stiffer (ha ha)
I still have a few good years left I reckon. Maybe I'll stay here, maybe I'll wander. Maybe I'll get a dog.....hamsters are even more scarce in the Yukon than yoga teachers
I fond the - switch to old site (V2) -button but no matter how many times I click it, nothing happens
Chess.com have created an anomaly. They have kept v2 for people with older devices, but you can only activate the switch to v2 button if you have an up to date device. This is why computer people shouldn't programme computers. Dogs do have some advantages over hamsters..longer legs to get through all that snow, a certain guarding quality that hamsters lack, are generally more trainable than your average rodent, plus they hardly ever get stuck in a drain. I am in the process of getting a second dog..his name is Milo and he is a lab/collie cross. We just have to be home checked..which is always amusing as the home checker has tò trip over 3 dogs to get in to check if our home is suitable for a dog. What are the symptoms of your MS cos i googled it and it said the symptoms vary from person to person. Also, do you still visit Olgard and are there any developments there?
MS isn't really a disease in the classic sense. any one can get a sclerosis anywhere. it's just a hardening of tissue. if you got a sclerosis on your knee, or ear, you'd never even know it. But a sclerosis on an organ, an eye, or heart valve, can be big trouble. A sclerosis in your nervous system is worse. If they find at least two sclerosis on your brain AND at least two sclerosis on your spine, you are declared to have MULTIPLE sclerosis.
But everyone with MS has a different number of sclerosis in different places. So, they will each have different symptoms. The only thing that's universal, is sclerosis on the nervous system are very damaging, and the problems they cause will be serious, permanent, and life shortening.
I'm not worried, I have known for some time that something was seriously wrong, I assumed my shrink was right and it was related to my mental health. Now it turns out that my government enforced "care giver" not only offered no help at all, but may have severely delayed a proper medical diagnosis.
Anyway, far worse things to have.
So far, my symptoms (remember you asked, I don't intend to be one of those people that bemoans my health in gory detail) insomnia, INSANE diarrhea for months now, so much so that I'm having trouble keeping weight on, and the grocery bills are astronomical. I'm not complaining I like to eat....but I spend half my day, and night, on the toilet. Then there's the temperature thing. I get really cold, or really hot, to the touch without realizing it. Or I think I'm really cold or really hot, but my temperature is completely normal. At night under a dozen wool quilts, I'm freezing. Sometimes between my knees and ankles I'm so cold it's excruciating, but if I reach down and touch my calf, half the time it feels like a frozen salmon, and half the time it feels warm to the touch. But my feet are still warm (that's what led to the tests for MS).
During the day I run so hot people can see the heat coming off my skin. Then, in an instant, the sweat on my brow, the moisture in my eyes, and the saliva in my mouth is so hot I think it's burning me. Like drinking tea that's too hot, I have to spit it out. But it's quickly replaced like a boiling faucet.
That's it so far.....
I assure you the black flies are worse.
I can't post a picture...
I think I'll be spending a lot more time in Olgard
If I'm lucky senility, or delusion, or divine intervention may transport me there (their public medicine is unsurpassed)
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Olgard's medical system (which I've changed from orange to red) and forestry/natural resources, for obvious reasons.
But also a lot about criminal justice and how to keep people out of prison unless there is absolutely no other option. For some reason.
I have experienced Scottish midges and I'm pretty sure black flies are worse, so my sympathies are sincere. I remember thinking that i didn't know my hair could itch until i encountered midges..used to smother midge repellent on my face and arms and the little bastards loved it. Black flies should not be allowed to exist unless they have some really good reason. Thanks for the MS info. Blimey, that's a lot to cope with but you are so great, as your poem says, you arent giving up and you're grabbing life by the goolies. How is the log unjamming going? You didnt mention Olgard..is it still going strong? whats happening there?
so you want to keep people out of prison..(i only just discovered that message)...i think prison just makes people better at being a criminal, plus they can form a network of contacts. I'm now contemplating the alternative. How about "work farms"? These could be based largely in wilderness areas. Each person has their own room, albeit small, and shares all other fascilities..but no bars or locks, just very burly supervisors and nowhere to run to. These farms could manufacture things needed by the government, from simple mail bags to more complicated stuff. Also growing crops and breeding animals. Everyone works a 9 hr day but gets fed well, from produce they have grown etc. It could include lectures and learning opportunities. it would be expensive, but people might not reoffend so much.
I think you're on the right train, but going the wrong direction.
I think FIRST we need to decide what we want a "justice system" to accomplish. What kind of world we want to create. Then we need to work BACKWARDS, from the positive resolution to the motive for the crime.
If we can figure that out...the criminal is merely a pawn in the middle.
Crime will never be reduced to zero. BUT there are definite factors that increase or decrease crime rates. Unemployment, minimum wage, poverty, education, health care etc. Guess what has NO positive measurable effect on crime rates? Level of punishment.
Being "hard on crime" has never reduced crime rates. In fact, one sure way to INCREASE crime rates is to increase incarceration rates. The two are directly proportional. Someone I respect recently tolsd me; "nothing good ever happens to a man inside, so how can he come out anything but worse?"
i agree..i was focusing on alternatives to prison rather than what causes crime. i dont think prison does any good at all, and probably a lot of harm too. Education and Poverty are hard to tackle..presumablh Olgard has free education for all, but some kids still fall by the wayside..so education has to be for non academic kids too, maybe doing other training in different areas. If everyone could get a job, then that would be a start..with a minimum wage you can live on. Drugs cause crime, so i assume Olgard has strict regulations about drugs. This all sounds a bit obvious, but you've got me thinking. How does health care affect crime levels?
it didn't work
I got the lodge satellite connection going on a brand new i-mac-pro, logged in and switched to V2, but it didn't take!
ANYWAY....
I'm headed to Toronto for a bit. My mum thinks she's found some stolen sister (thats HUGE in native families) so I "have to" meet her. OK
Keep in mind, the 21st is BoK, Olgard's cloud festival, and in Toronto, it's gay pride fest that week. I might just eat a hundred mushrooms and go to pride. Is there anything a hamster would do?
i was thinking of trying a new episode of GOT to give you something to read in between log jams, but now you are off partying with gay pride..can you find me a nice athletically built guy in mid forties, who isnt particular about what hamsters look like? mayb e the mushrooms would help. Good luck with the lost sister!
.
so, I have set my C.c account to V2 on a nice new mac. We'll see if I'm still on V2 when get up north again.....
Now, it's time to eat all sorts of things I normally wouldn't but aren't availlable in the north so what the hell...
chip-truck chips and gravy first
if you find yourself back on v3, you have to press something to get the switch symbol up..its two arrows on the left hand side but they don't come up until you have gone into a game, of a forum, or messages or whatever. they don't come up on the first screen. Chips and gravy sounds lovely..have some for me..with beer to wash them down. Actually, if we're going to be piggy, stick em in a sandwich. Its my birthday next week...i will be 59 ☺
I'm getting pretty settled now. I don't have Internet access at what's to be "home" (or electricity, or running water) but there is an old mac at the post office,
the lodge that has offered me work has a satellite link, so their guests can have wi-fi, that they will power up in june
so I plan on being around a bit. chatting with hamsters, slandering the religious, skewering the political...
you know, same old, same old
how have you been? I've kinda lost track of time, the past is all a bit jumbled at the moment