The Spam Thread!

[cpd2009]

But now....the thing is...why?

That line doesn't sound like a closure to me. Unless we are at the end of a mystery movie or such.

Weekend again, complete with heavy rain and storm.

Alright...to be more specific...closure has come to how my friend is and only that. Now, another mystery has started, and until we find out why, there is no closure for this particular mystery. We may never find out though if he chooses to stay offline.

[RAMChYLD]

I just bought a cabinet from Ikea.

And it turns out to be a bad idea.

Seriously, it's so filmsy it tilts at the slightest push.

Will be returning it tomorrow.

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Also, no sign of this week's episode on Youtube. *Sigh*, Hasbro has really done it. Took an arrow in the knee.

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NVM, found a link on EqD. But I don't feel at ease at EqD with all the "bronies" (the troll ones that pops up every now and then) and fanfics there. Unruly bronies not too much if I ignore comments. Fanfics, have been avoiding them since reading the one where Cassie dies. Guess I have to at least get used to them...

[cpd2009]

Got a new combo VCR/DVD recorder to reduce unnecessary loads when moving around. No longer do I need two separate units to record DVDs or play VHS tapes.

The best part? The new DVDRecorder/VHS combo, a Magnavox ZV427MG9, has NO input lag at all, meaning I can play video games and record them direct to DVD. My Sony DVD recorder unit has input lag, making games nearly impossible to play well, and making RPGs with perfect timing unplayable.

Oh, and I also got a new portable DVD player since the hinge on my old one decided to break, and the screen no longer stays where you set it. The new one has SD/USB drive support too, meaning I can load up DivX AVI files and play them on the go.

[Stella Grapes]

You realize people's mental and emotional health is important... just as much as their physical health is, right?

No, he isn't dead in a ditch from a tornado. Yes, he is physically fine insofar as we know. That does not mean he is all right! Anything could have happened or be happening to him! Knowing that his sister's blog post was in 2009 gives less closure.

Aaaack.

Well, I was reluctant to post it's name because said friend who unearthed that was reluctant to post it to the thread discussing said friend's disappearance at another forum I'm in. Plus, apparently in the US, this condition carries a mixed connotation. Perhaps anywhere in the world for that matter. I'm considering undergoing diagnosis myself given that I realized how some of the symptoms listed on Wikipedia applies to me, but then someone pointed out that if positively diagnosed, I may lose my job. May, because I do not know what is my company's policy towards employees with special needs. Right now they just think I'm a bit of a weird mad scientist genius.

Unfortunately, people associate it with being a selfish jerk, which isn't what it is at all, hence the discrimination added to the prejudice given by default of being disabled.

The thing that qualifies me for the work I want is the same thing that makes people not want me to get involved. That is just plain suspicious. "But isn't that illegal?" Yeah, but I'd have to prove discrimination and, regardless of if I could, I'm not going to work for people who clearly do not want me around.

I'm not even a mad scientist genius, not by a long shot, which is kind of bad for me since that is all the majority thinks we are worth due to society valuing so-called male qualities over so-called female qualities. You at least are in the "proper" field for us. Ben at least has some engineering background. I am too feminine to function. *throws hands in the hair*

Every job I have ever worked and every job I have ever applied for is a pink-collar job, and the same applies to my teenage daughter and our mutual friend who is my distant relative also on the you-know-what spectrum. The same applies to most females in the western world, in general. Pink-collar jobs pay less than blue-collar jobs and certainly less than white-collar jobs.

Pink-collar jobs are very social in nature. I wouldn't want to work outside this zone because I would be so much more useless. But because pink-collar jobs are social in nature and you-know-what* is misinterpreted as primarily a social deficiency (as opposed to being a cognitive disability that doesn't impact academic performance**), guess what bunches of women are usually jobless?

Now add that to the fact that most people are not wealthy enough to get the college degree(s) to have a white-collar job even if they are male and even if they are good with technology. Supposedly, I'm friggin' worthless because I am the most pink-collar oriented ASD woman I know who also has ridiculous ADHD impulses and a math disability, so yeah, I'm the most freaking worthless person in town according to the world who thinks we are only worth something if we know anything about advanced math and science and technology which I do not and only if we are always logical which I am not!

Oh, I know I'm not really worthless. I at least hope I know I'm not really worthless. It is hard not to feel that way.

I'm going to trudge off and be sour now.

* Why are we suddenly calling it this???? We didn't before!
** Most people's academic performances are not impacted; I also have an unrelated math disability

[cpd2009]

You realize people's mental and emotional health is important... just as much as their physical health is, right?

No, he isn't dead in a ditch from a tornado. Yes, he is physically fine insofar as we know. That does not mean he is all right! Anything could have happened or be happening to him! Knowing that his sister's blog post was in 2009 gives less closure.

Aaaack.

Let me try to clarify things even more. My definition of closure may be different, but we shouldn't be talking about what one's definition of closure is. The important issue is our friend.

Ever since my friend disappeared online in June, I became very worried. He never told me goodbye. He never said he was going to go anywhere or go offline in advance. He never told ANY of his friends goodbye or that he was going offline. This brought upon the initial issues; where is he? Is he alright? Did something horrible happen to him?

Eventually on the other forum I am in with RAM (and said friend was also a part of) we did find out through blog posts from this past December that he is alright, at least in person. So, seeing as how we know that he still exists in the physical world and is presumably alright health wise, that brought closure to the mystery titled "Where is he?" and "Did something horrible happen to him?". I no longer worry about those two issues, hence why I said it brought closure. I may not have completely thought about the issue thoroughly at first, and I didn't even divide it up into these three questions unit now to be more specific as to how I felt it brought closure. I was somewhat excited when I heard the news That excitement soon wore off though because of two things....the question about "Is he alright?" is still unanswered, and because you said that this news didn't bring closure at all. That offended me a little bit at first, but I shouldn't have took that personally. Yes, it's not complete closure since one more question remains answered....why did he go offline? We can't contact said friend at all either through e-mail or snail-mail, and he appears to be completely ignoring these attempts at contact. Until he decides to come back online someday and explained what happened to cause his online disappearance, we will never know.

And yes, I did not think about his actual mental health, and it was stupid of me to do so. But usually when I post stuff out of excitement or frustration, I don't really go over all the details and think about them hard enough. It's still possible that he may have had something happen in his life that has affected him emotionally and is suddenly afraid to talk to us. We don't know, and we may never know until he comes back, if he ever comes back that is.

Sorry for the long winded reply, but seeing how you said that the sisters blog post from 2009 brought less closure, that initially frustrated me. I'm not trying to be rude, but initially, I didn't believe it. Now, as I am typing this...I'm starting to think it over a bit more. We never know he had this disorder (still afraid to post it's name here due to privacy reasons), and he never told any of his friends either. Perhaps his sudden disappearance online is caused by this? Who knows? Again, we will never know until he comes back.

I hope he does come back. He was a really great friend, and we even exchanged DVDs and gifts in the mail over the years.

[Stella Grapes]

What didn't you believe?

This whole situation is confusing and trying to make sense of it is making way for more confusion.

[cpd2009]

What didn't you believe?

This whole situation is confusing and trying to make sense of it is making way for more confusion.

Well, the part I initially didn't believe is when you said that the sisters blog post brought less closure. I believe it now after I thought about it a bit.

But yeah....this is becoming very confusing, but honestly, I explained it the best I could. In a nutshell, here is the issue as it stands...

Is Agent0042 alright? Yes. Closure there.
Is he healthy? Presumeably, yes. Mentally, we don't know.
Why did he drop offline? We don't know. No closure there.

That is as simple as I can get about the issue. Perhaps we should move on to other subjects before this gets more confusing.

[Stella Grapes]

It is the other subject that is also really irritating me, the implied shame from people who are so much more fortunate than I was. We're talking about that in the chat now.

[RAMChYLD]

Just got back from returning the cabinet

[cpd2009]

No more dot crawl. Better color reproduction.

The new DVDRecorder/VHS combo unit has the ability to output SVideo for both VHS and DVD. My old DVD/VHS unit only output SVideo for DVDs.

Even with Ruby II and an RF modulator box, the picture quality difference is still noticeable. The colors seem more balanced, and that (not really) annoying dot crawl pattern along text and lines is gone!'

It will be so nice to get back to Madison on Tuesday....to be reunited with Anna-Lena. She has direct SVideo input too, so she will have an much higher quality picture than ever before!

Granted, component video is even more high quality than SVideo, but I'm not an HD person. (yet)