The only thing keeping me sane right now is running. I’m a fat, slow runner so all of the oxygen goes to my heart and lungs and muscles leaving my brain with nothing to use on despair.
Eating and sleeping work well too. 2 Xanax and a half-dozen benadryl gives me 12 hours of untroubled sleep, only disturbed when my chihuahua starts chewing my fingers.
Be really careful with Xanax. 4 hours after having one you can get withdrawl from it and have worse anxiety or a panic attack. I'm hoping that you can find better coping mechanisms since we will really need them for at least the next 4 years and it's easier to resist their evil crap if we are all healthier.
Yeah, when I was 30 years younger they had that effect on me. Also made me psycho when I drank with them. At this point in my life, dgaf, and with the benadryl makes all problems go away. It's a beautiful thing.
Running a bit and biking and drinking but not as much as I expected to…A little better each day unless I look at news . Keep on keeping on is all we can do. Probably need to have a good cry
You're right. It's shit, and we've all been fucked. We're in for a hellish four years. As of the moment, he's just appointed Elise Stefanik UN ambassador. The consequences may last longer than our lifetimes. I'm a number of years older than you; I may not live to see a woman president. This is not what we signed up for in the 60's when the government PAID ME tuition, room, board, AND a stipend to go to grad school.
But you've got Rachel and Molly and Lexi, and I've got my beloveds. And so did all those German folks in 1933. A hell of a lot of folks are going to die who might not if Harris had been elected. And that could have been otherwise. But read a book called When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron who is an American named Deirdre Something, if you haven't already. It's not very long. Its message in a nutshell is Rest in Uncertainty Cheerfully and See What Happens. It's not anodyne self-care advice; it doesn't tell you to stay positive and look on the bright side. It tells you to start with a broken heart and then it tells you how. We're neck deep in the big muddy, and nothing else has worked. Love to everybody who reads and writes this Gene Pool.
martha baine - totally agree, especially about all those jewish german folks with families and dough and art and jewelry to protect them. we are in for more than four hellish years. i cannot imagine that our future elections will be very different from putin's and hungary's. why should they be? cheaters cheat and liars lie and thugs thug. f them.
What keeps me sane is I continue to call voters who've had their ballots rejected in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Fixing it ("curing") is really easy and they have time still to do so, but somebody has to tell them how.
California will be next. Many races hang in the balance.
In AZ, unfortunately the state Supreme Court has rejected an extension of the 5-day ballot curing window, even though counting is so slow that some ballots (signatures) weren’t even checked before the curing deadline.
I am definitely sufficiently distracted. On October 31, my computer would not shut down. Windows just kept restarting. So I force-shut down. The next morning, Windows wouldn't load. Needless to say, I had not gotten around to finding a backup solution (the computer was new in January). My PC repair shop managed to pull most of my data off the HD (though not everything I asked for), but I've been limping along on my laptop (without most of my software and devices), waiting for a replacement HD from Dell (supposed to come today, but held up in Memphis by weather). I have spent sleepless nights remembering the month-long agony of setting up that computer in the first place and contemplating the uncertainty of the process to come. More distraction than I want.
At least when I hear about all the lackys and incompetents swarming around Palm Springs looking for a Trump Administration job, it reminds me of flies buzzing around a pile of s--t.
I think you mean Palm Beach. There is a Palm Springs, Florida, which I hope no one mixes up with Palm Springs, California. I live two towns away from Palm Springs, CA, in Palm Desert. Our Palm Springs loves tourists, but, if they want to stay, they'd better be on the left side of the political spectrum. And they'd DAMNED well better not be homophobic or transphobic!
I lost my job the Friday before the election. Contract gig, no warning at all. A bunch of us had our contracts canceled - we were supposed to be there at least through the end of May 2025. Then came Tuesday. Life is pretty much just a bowl of crap.
I've been in legal technology for most of my career - in training and eDiscovery. I'm plugging away, but it is especially hard under these circumstances.
Allow me to clarify that my “like” conveys moral support and appreciation for your sharing, not any pleasure in the circumstances you currently experience.
I feel sad for you feeling so much despair. Letting him control your entire being. I can't do that. I can only hope things will ultimately be ok. I know it will be for me because I'm in control of how I feel everyday. I choose to be happy every morning and keep going even when I woke up in the hospital last year on a ventilator, I was happy because I was surrounded by my family. All my brothers and sisters and all 11 of my nieces and nephews came to see me. I am so blessed to have them all and those are the things I focus on. Focus on Rachel, your brother, your dog, your son, and all your Loser faithful who are here for you. "Don't let the bastards get you down!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8gwU3kjY5y4
Yes, we're in for a real shitshow, but we left-leaning people have to be honest in admitting that we've played a part in creating this dreadful outcome--and we've done so by closing a blind-eye to (or not pushing back strongly enough against) some of the idiotic ways that out-of-touch elitists on the left have almost pushed "regular" people, working-class people, and people in the Latin communities in the direction of people who don't give a crap about them, but who are masters at capitalizing on their deepest fears and most pressing concerns. Now is not the time for moping, but for helping to "right the ship." We'll never win unless we heed the words of Michelle Goldberg, who once wrote that it is better to seek converts than to punish heretics.
Eh, not buying it. Inflation is 2.4%, unemployment is 4%. I paid 2.99 a gallon for gas last time I filled up. Harris had policies to make things even better. These are people who didn't know how good they had it. Vs. history, vs. the rest of the world. The only way to bring them around is to punish them with the policies that they voted to implement. Which will occur. If it wasn't for the self aware people getting screwed, it'd almost be perfect.
Of course Harris had better policies for regular folks. Since FDR, the Dems have always had better policies for them. But when you talk with so many of these recent right-shifting regular people, the buy right in to the right-wing media's characterization of Dems as elitists who care more about proper pronouns, transgender rights, and protecting shoplifters from felony convictions than about them. The Dems have forgotten one of political history's most important lessons: Never let your enemy define you.
Oh, I think it goes far deeper than messaging. Democrats and liberals in general assume rationality in the electorate, and that even with ideological or political blinders on, enlightened self-interest will always carry the day. The problem lies in defining self-interest as beyond what is directly in front of the average voter in terms of day-to-day concerns (i.e. self-interest > best interests) --- in other words, how the commonweal, or the "enlightened" element, supports this all too common (if understandable) short-sighted focus. This philosophical view by its very nature tends to minimize, if not ignore, the very real impact of tribalism when, in fact, however noble the theory of individual rational choice in political decisions, it is usually a collective identity that leads to those decisions. A sense of belonging or emotional ties to others tends to trump (pun intended...) traditional policy or even consistent, let alone coherent, positions on issues. However efficient and praiseworthy was the Democratic ground game in getting to voters where they lived individually from a practical standpoint, the party will have to up its game to reach voters where they "live" collectively in future.
Around the time of the conventions, I was driven in a cab by an immigrant who had become a citizen and had a daughter. He said he worked 14 hours a day, and he said he was voting for Trump because he'd gotten $600 a month when T was president whereas only $300 a month from Biden. I suppose the driver won't be swept up in the mass deportation festival we're about to experience. But it reminded me of the reasons people used to vote for Marion Barry--he got them a job.
I'm afraid you are right. We haven't supported schools enough. We haven't kept civics lessons in the classroom... and ignored the men who weren't getting educated. Now we will all have to live with what they voted for. It will change in two years.
Almost certainly, the gang that couldn't shoot straight will not have improved its aim but still manage to regularly put a round or two in its collective foot. The infighting and elbowing has already begun. May it continue.
I feel strangely terrible and resigned. I felt worse the day of the election, when I took to my bed with sleeping drugs and did not listen to the returns.
I awoke at 5 am, full of fear and hope and chewing up my insides with uncertainty. Schroedinger’s election, if you will.
The terrible news brought a wave of nausea and relief. I was no longer wondering if the diagnosis was terminal. I knew, all my worst fears were confirmed, and there was no going back.
I am still working at my job processing early ballots in Arizona. (No, not the big county). My coworker, who is of a different party but did not vote for him, is gentle and kind. We do our jobs.
I have never struggled with addiction, but I am learning the meaning of one day, one hour, one minute at a time.
Yes your experiences are relatable! Sorry about that.
I'm emerging from the fog resulting from shock. We do not get any 24-hour news channels at my house thank goodness. Also my spouse built me a special contraption that will HIDE THE TV BEHIND THE COUCH when we're not watching a show.
I'm gathering my thoughts about how best to use my energies given what we are facing. I did e-mail my blue state Governor to tell her what I expect to hear from her about protecting the vulnerable.
The only thing keeping me sane right now is running. I’m a fat, slow runner so all of the oxygen goes to my heart and lungs and muscles leaving my brain with nothing to use on despair.
Good. I walk and swim, at least for that amount of time, as you say, I can force my body to ignore my brain.
Eating and sleeping work well too. 2 Xanax and a half-dozen benadryl gives me 12 hours of untroubled sleep, only disturbed when my chihuahua starts chewing my fingers.
Be really careful with Xanax. 4 hours after having one you can get withdrawl from it and have worse anxiety or a panic attack. I'm hoping that you can find better coping mechanisms since we will really need them for at least the next 4 years and it's easier to resist their evil crap if we are all healthier.
Yeah, when I was 30 years younger they had that effect on me. Also made me psycho when I drank with them. At this point in my life, dgaf, and with the benadryl makes all problems go away. It's a beautiful thing.
I should try this.
Running a bit and biking and drinking but not as much as I expected to…A little better each day unless I look at news . Keep on keeping on is all we can do. Probably need to have a good cry
You're right. It's shit, and we've all been fucked. We're in for a hellish four years. As of the moment, he's just appointed Elise Stefanik UN ambassador. The consequences may last longer than our lifetimes. I'm a number of years older than you; I may not live to see a woman president. This is not what we signed up for in the 60's when the government PAID ME tuition, room, board, AND a stipend to go to grad school.
But you've got Rachel and Molly and Lexi, and I've got my beloveds. And so did all those German folks in 1933. A hell of a lot of folks are going to die who might not if Harris had been elected. And that could have been otherwise. But read a book called When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron who is an American named Deirdre Something, if you haven't already. It's not very long. Its message in a nutshell is Rest in Uncertainty Cheerfully and See What Happens. It's not anodyne self-care advice; it doesn't tell you to stay positive and look on the bright side. It tells you to start with a broken heart and then it tells you how. We're neck deep in the big muddy, and nothing else has worked. Love to everybody who reads and writes this Gene Pool.
martha baine - totally agree, especially about all those jewish german folks with families and dough and art and jewelry to protect them. we are in for more than four hellish years. i cannot imagine that our future elections will be very different from putin's and hungary's. why should they be? cheaters cheat and liars lie and thugs thug. f them.
so, i just bought the book. thanks for that.
Buck up, Gene. Rachel deserves a clean boyfriend with all she is going through now.
Lost her fingernails?? Shit, how strong is that chemo! Much love and comfort to Ms. Manteufel, what a time to be going through this.
What keeps me sane is I continue to call voters who've had their ballots rejected in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Fixing it ("curing") is really easy and they have time still to do so, but somebody has to tell them how.
California will be next. Many races hang in the balance.
Important work.
In AZ, unfortunately the state Supreme Court has rejected an extension of the 5-day ballot curing window, even though counting is so slow that some ballots (signatures) weren’t even checked before the curing deadline.
Yes AZ is done.
Been calling into PA today. We've knocked out more than 50 lists.
Doing better as long as I’m sufficiently distracted.
Let’s not get too distracted. Paying attention is hard but necessary. We have to be ready .
The only way to stop complete destruction is to step in and make sure it doesn't happen.
I am definitely sufficiently distracted. On October 31, my computer would not shut down. Windows just kept restarting. So I force-shut down. The next morning, Windows wouldn't load. Needless to say, I had not gotten around to finding a backup solution (the computer was new in January). My PC repair shop managed to pull most of my data off the HD (though not everything I asked for), but I've been limping along on my laptop (without most of my software and devices), waiting for a replacement HD from Dell (supposed to come today, but held up in Memphis by weather). I have spent sleepless nights remembering the month-long agony of setting up that computer in the first place and contemplating the uncertainty of the process to come. More distraction than I want.
Exercise also helps.
Our experience with Dell was poor (understatement). If you replace it, recommend Lenovo.
At least when I hear about all the lackys and incompetents swarming around Palm Springs looking for a Trump Administration job, it reminds me of flies buzzing around a pile of s--t.
I just saw the phrase "The Turd Reich" and I think it is so *chef's kiss*
Who came up with that? And can we make them president?
I think you mean Palm Beach. There is a Palm Springs, Florida, which I hope no one mixes up with Palm Springs, California. I live two towns away from Palm Springs, CA, in Palm Desert. Our Palm Springs loves tourists, but, if they want to stay, they'd better be on the left side of the political spectrum. And they'd DAMNED well better not be homophobic or transphobic!
I lost my job the Friday before the election. Contract gig, no warning at all. A bunch of us had our contracts canceled - we were supposed to be there at least through the end of May 2025. Then came Tuesday. Life is pretty much just a bowl of crap.
I'm so sorry Erika. In what field do you work?
I've been in legal technology for most of my career - in training and eDiscovery. I'm plugging away, but it is especially hard under these circumstances.
Very sorry to hear, hoping you get something else soon, it's a solid field.
Allow me to clarify that my “like” conveys moral support and appreciation for your sharing, not any pleasure in the circumstances you currently experience.
Don't worry - I understood the sentiment. And thank you.
I feel sad for you feeling so much despair. Letting him control your entire being. I can't do that. I can only hope things will ultimately be ok. I know it will be for me because I'm in control of how I feel everyday. I choose to be happy every morning and keep going even when I woke up in the hospital last year on a ventilator, I was happy because I was surrounded by my family. All my brothers and sisters and all 11 of my nieces and nephews came to see me. I am so blessed to have them all and those are the things I focus on. Focus on Rachel, your brother, your dog, your son, and all your Loser faithful who are here for you. "Don't let the bastards get you down!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8gwU3kjY5y4
Hi Gene. I'm sorry to hear you're doing poorly. Remember that history will look kindly on you, and very poorly on those who are making you miserable.
(Sound of gibbering) Pull yourself together man (sound of slap)! The unit is counting on you.
Yes, we're in for a real shitshow, but we left-leaning people have to be honest in admitting that we've played a part in creating this dreadful outcome--and we've done so by closing a blind-eye to (or not pushing back strongly enough against) some of the idiotic ways that out-of-touch elitists on the left have almost pushed "regular" people, working-class people, and people in the Latin communities in the direction of people who don't give a crap about them, but who are masters at capitalizing on their deepest fears and most pressing concerns. Now is not the time for moping, but for helping to "right the ship." We'll never win unless we heed the words of Michelle Goldberg, who once wrote that it is better to seek converts than to punish heretics.
Eh, not buying it. Inflation is 2.4%, unemployment is 4%. I paid 2.99 a gallon for gas last time I filled up. Harris had policies to make things even better. These are people who didn't know how good they had it. Vs. history, vs. the rest of the world. The only way to bring them around is to punish them with the policies that they voted to implement. Which will occur. If it wasn't for the self aware people getting screwed, it'd almost be perfect.
Of course Harris had better policies for regular folks. Since FDR, the Dems have always had better policies for them. But when you talk with so many of these recent right-shifting regular people, the buy right in to the right-wing media's characterization of Dems as elitists who care more about proper pronouns, transgender rights, and protecting shoplifters from felony convictions than about them. The Dems have forgotten one of political history's most important lessons: Never let your enemy define you.
Oh, I think it goes far deeper than messaging. Democrats and liberals in general assume rationality in the electorate, and that even with ideological or political blinders on, enlightened self-interest will always carry the day. The problem lies in defining self-interest as beyond what is directly in front of the average voter in terms of day-to-day concerns (i.e. self-interest > best interests) --- in other words, how the commonweal, or the "enlightened" element, supports this all too common (if understandable) short-sighted focus. This philosophical view by its very nature tends to minimize, if not ignore, the very real impact of tribalism when, in fact, however noble the theory of individual rational choice in political decisions, it is usually a collective identity that leads to those decisions. A sense of belonging or emotional ties to others tends to trump (pun intended...) traditional policy or even consistent, let alone coherent, positions on issues. However efficient and praiseworthy was the Democratic ground game in getting to voters where they lived individually from a practical standpoint, the party will have to up its game to reach voters where they "live" collectively in future.
Around the time of the conventions, I was driven in a cab by an immigrant who had become a citizen and had a daughter. He said he worked 14 hours a day, and he said he was voting for Trump because he'd gotten $600 a month when T was president whereas only $300 a month from Biden. I suppose the driver won't be swept up in the mass deportation festival we're about to experience. But it reminded me of the reasons people used to vote for Marion Barry--he got them a job.
Exactly.
I'm afraid you are right. We haven't supported schools enough. We haven't kept civics lessons in the classroom... and ignored the men who weren't getting educated. Now we will all have to live with what they voted for. It will change in two years.
Almost certainly, the gang that couldn't shoot straight will not have improved its aim but still manage to regularly put a round or two in its collective foot. The infighting and elbowing has already begun. May it continue.
I feel strangely terrible and resigned. I felt worse the day of the election, when I took to my bed with sleeping drugs and did not listen to the returns.
I awoke at 5 am, full of fear and hope and chewing up my insides with uncertainty. Schroedinger’s election, if you will.
The terrible news brought a wave of nausea and relief. I was no longer wondering if the diagnosis was terminal. I knew, all my worst fears were confirmed, and there was no going back.
I am still working at my job processing early ballots in Arizona. (No, not the big county). My coworker, who is of a different party but did not vote for him, is gentle and kind. We do our jobs.
I have never struggled with addiction, but I am learning the meaning of one day, one hour, one minute at a time.
Doing better than a co-worker trying to pass a kidney stone. At least there's an end in sight for his pain...
Yes your experiences are relatable! Sorry about that.
I'm emerging from the fog resulting from shock. We do not get any 24-hour news channels at my house thank goodness. Also my spouse built me a special contraption that will HIDE THE TV BEHIND THE COUCH when we're not watching a show.
I'm gathering my thoughts about how best to use my energies given what we are facing. I did e-mail my blue state Governor to tell her what I expect to hear from her about protecting the vulnerable.