In the late ’70’s, for about one year, I lived in a group residence for troubled teenagers or teenagers who could not live at home for a variety of reasons. The building it was housed in was an architectural standout even if it didn’t date very well, and won a couple of awards for architecture in its time. (I’d post a photo because there is one on Google images, but I don’t want to give away too much information so I won’t do it).
One of my weird geeky hobbies is taking “virtual road trips” using Google maps. I decided to “visit” the old ‘hood, and the address typed in took me to a building I have never seen before. I thought I made a mistake, but nope, the address was the right one. I did some further sleuthing and found out the building was demolished in 2003 because the enterprise that bought out the address didn’t think the building suited their needs. The residence center closed shortly before the demolition. I had no idea this happened until about an hour ago. I was gobsmacked by how grief stricken I felt–over a building I lived in for one year in the late 1970’s that has been gone for 13 years. I actually had some great memories of that place and felt that it helped me. I had a great counselor there. I fell head over heels in love with a boy who lived there the same time I did. We were both kicked out and sent back home because of “PC” (physical contact) on the premises. I found out several years back that he died sometime in the late ’90s. Life marches on, things change, or even disappear, and then they are forgotten. Life is full of fleeting moments like that. Someday in the not too distant future, even my memories will be lost.
I noticed WordPress has made three new share buttons available: Skype, Telegram, and WhatsApp (which I have never heard of). I added the Skype and Telegram buttons. I wonder why there isn’t an option for Instagram, with it being as popular as it is right now.
I don’t know about other areas, but with the exception of a few warm, almost hot days, April and May have been exceptionally chilly, making jackets and sweaters necessary, even during the day. Today was more like mid-November than mid-late May–overcast, rainy and only about 60. It’s windy too, making it seem even colder. Earlier this month, there was actually snow in some higher elevations (and this ain’t exactly the Rockies). Two nights ago we were down in the low 40’s. I’m actually running the heat right now. It’s so fall-like I half-expect the leaves to start changing colors. It’s also been very dry–so dry there have been fires in some places, which is unusual in the spring. My area is finally getting some rain, but it’s still not exactly warm.
The year 1816 is remembered as the “year without a summer.” Temperatures in the northern hemisphere were much lower than average all that summer. The bizarre weather was a “volcanic winter” caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies. While I haven’t heard about any volcanic eruptions and there’s no reason to think this summer won’t be as hot as always, right now I’m tempted to pull out the fall decorations.
I’m planning to spend Memorial Day at the lake, so I sure hope it warms up a little.
The theory of six degrees of separation–that every person on earth is separated from every other person on earth by no more than six people–is interesting to me. It’s also extremely creepy. But it could also be sort of comforting. I suppose the same claim could be made for anything on earth, not just humans. We are all connected? Maybe. It’s just one of those odd things I always think about.
Things to ponder:
How does the Internet play into 6DOS? Would there be fewer “separations” between us all now that most people are online? Were there more than six degrees of separation back in the days before electronic communication of any kind was possible? Or less, because there were fewer people? Or does only IRL contact count?
I remember the game based on this theory called “The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” in which actors–any actors, be they in TV, film, or the stage–are linked to Kevin Bacon with the theory that no more than six individuals are between Bacon and anyone else.
Oh, and I came across the concept of 6DOS by reading about rickrolling. Is any topic on the Internet only separated from any other by six degrees or less too?
ETA: A commenter just informed me that the number has been reduced to four and it’s probably because of Facebook. I always suspected that Facebook was evil. This proves it. Pretty soon there will be only one (or would it be zero?) degrees of separation between every person on earth, or at least those with Internet. Oh, joy. We can all hold hands and sing Kumbayah together.
Also see When My Worlds Collide.
I know some of you have been wondering why you cannot access my other blog, Down The Rabbit Hole. It’s still there, but due to some trolling, I was forced to set it to private for the time being. I hope to make it public again soon but am not quite at that point yet. Right now it’s accessible by invitation only. You can request an invitation by clicking on this link.
https://downtherabbitholeblog.org/
Please keep in mind I cannot grant a request if I do not know who you are. Hopefully this matter will be resolved soon and the blog will be public again. You are free to contact me in private also (via my email) if I did not grant your request.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.
PPD, though more common than NPD, is often ignored or overlooked and I think can be (and often is) mistaken for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). The symptoms are remarkably similar and resemble the way a narcissist acts when in defense or attack mode. These are not very nice people. Someone with PPD acts like narcissist who is perpetually suffering narcissistic injury (must be fun!). They are combative, controlling, envious/jealous, unforgiving, and quick to project blame onto others. Also like narcissists, they are unlikely to think they have a problem so they rarely try to get help.
I wonder if PPD should actually be classified as a Cluster B personality disorder, since it involves a weak sense of self, hypersensitivity to real or imagined slights, and resultant abusiveness toward others and lack of insight/inability to accept blame. Other then a tendency to avoid social interaction, PPD doesn’t seem that much like the “odd/eccentric” (Cluster A) disorder it is currently classified as (it’s in the same subcategory with Schizoid and Schizotypal Personality Disorders, neither of which bear much resemblance to PPD).
I’ve known people who I thought were narcissists and who were definitely abusive, but their behavior actually more closely resembles PPD than NPD.
One thing that’s unique about people with PPD is that they are more likely than others to have a parent with schizophrenia.
Source:
http://www.mentalhealth.com/home/dx/paranoidpersonality.html
Almost every article that lists do’s and don’ts for bloggers says that having too many widgets and plug-ins in your sidebar is a big no-no. They say they make your blog look cluttered and unprofessional, and even worse, they slow down load time, so that potential followers grow impatient with waiting for all your digital doo-dads to load, and go elsewhere.
It’s said that if you have too much “flair” in your sidebar, it makes your blog look amateurish. It screams “newbie.” New bloggers love widgets. They’re eye-catching, colorful, and they’re a novelty that hasn’t had time to wear off. Sometimes they also give a blogger bragging rights (such as those blog awards that only new or new-ish bloggers accept) or information that may be of interest to the blogger but probably not to anyone else (those little maps that you can click on for a real-time traffic report).
I’m guilty of having a lot of widgets. I might even have too many widgets (oh, the horror!) I like widgets. They’re fun and I like the way they look, dammit. But I certainly don’t want to be seen as a “newbie” or someone who has tacky taste. Or the blogging equivalent of some attention-hog on the road whose car bumper is obscured by bumper stickers. I also hate the possibility of people growing impatient with the slow load time and going somewhere else in exasperation. So last night I decided to say adios to some of my beloved widgets.
But I couldn’t do it. Well, not much anyway. I got rid of “community” and the friend faces under the Facebook Like box. Also the captions under the awards because they were redundant. And that’s all. I simply couldn’t bear to part with anything else, no matter how useless or annoying they may be to my readers. I love my widgets! So they are going to stay (for now). Suck it up, readers! I probably won’t add any new ones though.
Here’s a man’s perspective on emotional abuse which elaborates even further on the sneaky tactics abusers often use to get others to see THEM–not the actual abused–as the victim. There’s even an acronym for this I was not aware of: DARVO (Deflect–Attack–Reverse Victim and Offender)
In various articles and blogs I’ve read about abuse by invalidation. This has been a huge part of my experience, and is ongoing in a big way because I’m unable to leave my abuser at this time. Invalidation is a tactic that hurts the victim by way of frequently rejecting the victim, disallowing even the basic acceptance that people rely on for normal functioning. It involves questioning or denying the truth of their pain, experience, perception, memory, et cetera.
To be clear, I am not talking about having a difference of opinion, or even a heated disagreement. I’m talking about abuse, which entails a pattern of behavior that is injurious.
Invalidation is one of the most insidious ways to abuse a person. It causes a tremendous amount of strain and damage in the victim. I suspect this is largely because it can go on for so long without being detected…
View original post 1,057 more words
Lucky Otters Haven 