What's bumming your stone today?

[Griff]

Any chance of shaking things up a bit? A road trip to sunnier environs might be an assist.

[glatt]

You just lost your mom. It's the bleak mid winter. We're in the middle of a recession and you don't have a job. You would be insane not to feel down about it all.

But you know intellectually that things change, and this too will pass eventually. It's hard to see that when there's so much shit right now. But it will get better.

Meanwhile, it sounds trite, but think about the positive things. It's hard to see them, but they are there. Your family. Your nieces.

And this also sounds trite, but are you getting enough exercise? There is a connection between mind and body, and getting moving will make you feel better mentally as well as physically. It's not a guilt thing. Don't feel guilty if you aren't active, just view it as an opportunity. At least one thing you can take control of.

[Griff]

I don't think that's trite, it's all about getting your body chemistry right.

[glatt]

I love that song!

edit: actually, I love the original version of that song from the first movie.

[Griff]

I put this on the Smart Board for my kids sometimes. Picture an integrated classroom of little kids break dancing.. pretty damn cool.

[footfootfoot]

ShitFuck.

I rolled over a deer the other day, ok two weeks ago, and I just heard from the adjuster. The car is totalled and they'll give me about $2500 for it, and I get to keep it. (I want to since I just put new snows on it to the tune of 750.) I get a new title showing that the car was junked.

I could drive the car around but there is no exhaust and it is as loud as the hammers of hell. Putting a new exhaust on it would only solve part of the problem, the deer ripped out the undercarriage because it was all rusty and would not have passed inspection anyway.

So now I have to find a new car and I've only got $2500 to spend. Even though I have steady work I doubt I could get a bank loan since my monthly nut is about $100 more than I make.

I'm seriously thinking about moving back into my house and just ignoring my wife.

Crap shitfuckpiss and corruption.

balls

[glatt]

Damn deer.

I'm sorry foot.

[Griff]

ShitFuck indeed.

[fargon]

Sorry about your car Foot.

[Undertoad]

im, the spring always does come around, and it always renews. You can count on that.

footer, what a treat you have been given! For a while I thought I might have to buy a $2000 car and I studied the Craigslists and how they operate. I found it was great fun. In that price range, most are people who are hopeful they can get any dollar for their absolute piece of shit... but then there are that 5%, people who have a diamond in the rough that they don't know the value of.

My favorite, and I almost pulled the trigger on it, was a Subie with 100K that was only 7 years old and had a bad head gasket. The seller wanted $1000 to get rid of it because they were clearly annoyed at the car. Sounded like it had a bunch of issues all at around the same time, and then this big one.

Well, that's kinda what happens a lot at 7 years in, but sometimes you put in all the fixes and it's good for another 100K. I thought: $1000 for the car, $75 to tow it to my mechanic, $1000 for the repair and it would be worth about $5000. Not bad.

If you could find enough of these, you could make a living at it. But that is pretty rare right there.

[footfootfoot]

Just for laughs I looked at the Hyundai Elantra GT which is a fairly sexy car. I was bummed to see that it is only 4 cyl and 2.0L engine. WTF? do they think I'm only going to be driving downhill?

I don't think they make a 6 anymore and 2.4L is the biggest engine they've got, mostly they are 2.0L

I miss my 2.7L already. The rental car I've got is a 2014 VW Jetta and that is faster than a motherf*cker.

eta: I just checked and that is a 2.0L 4cyl, so who knows?

I've got some figgerin' out to do.

[orthodoc]

Damn, foot, that really sucks. I'm sorry.
But those 2.0L 4cyl engines can make it up most hills ... test drive that Elantra before you give up on it. And knowing what you do about cars, UT's suggestion is a good one - you could pick up something easily fixable that someone else is ready to junk through ignorance.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Griff

I don't think that's trite, it's all about getting your body chemistry right.

Agreed.

And even if you can't (immediately) change your body chemistry, you can get your body POSTURE right.

We can't be the alpha dog all of the time. Whatever our personality, most of us experience varying degrees of feeling in charge. Some situations take us down a notch while others build us up.

New research shows that it's possible to control those feelings a bit more, to be able to summon an extra surge of power and sense of well-being when it's needed: for example, during a job interview or for a key presentation to a group of skeptical customers.

"Our research has broad implications for people who suffer from feelings of powerlessness and low self-esteem due to their hierarchical rank or lack of resources," says HBS assistant professor Amy J.C. Cuddy, one of the researchers on the study.

“It’s not about the content of the message, but how you’re communicating it.”

In "Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance", Cuddy shows that simply holding one's body in expansive, "high-power" poses for as little as two minutes stimulates higher levels of testosterone (the hormone linked to power and dominance in the animal and human worlds) and lower levels of cortisol (the "stress" hormone that can, over time, cause impaired immune functioning, hypertension, and memory loss).

The result? In addition to causing the desired hormonal shift, the power poses led to increased feelings of power and a greater tolerance for risk.

"We used to think that emotion ended on the face," Cuddy says. "Now there is established research showing that while it's true that facial expressions reflect how you feel, you can also 'fake it until you make it.' In other words, you can smile long enough that it makes you feel happy. This work extends that finding on facial feedback, which is decades old, by focusing on postures and measuring neuroendocrine levels."

[Sundae]

Gotta change my hair colour.
I knew I'd have to really, but I did hope I might have dodged the bullet, given I've worked two shifts already.
Nope, was called in for a "chat".

Luckily it was with O, who I think is the gay.
He loves my hair. And I love him.
He is currently using brown tinted dry shampoo to tone down his own bleached blond coiff.

They expected me to change it before my next shift!
Excuse me, I came in to do overtime today and I'm starting at 06.00 tomorrow (more overtime, which is YAY for me) but really?
We agreed I would do what I could before tomorrow morning, but I would sort it by Sunday latest. What I can do tonight is post on the Cellar, maybe watch a bit of TV and sleep.

What I can do by Sunday is....
Well, beg the 'rents to add hair colour to their shopping list.
I have enough to keep Diz and me on our collective feet until the end of the month and that's about it.

Why did I not make back-up plans when I knew I'd be asked to change my hair colour?
Okay, it does turn out that it's a little more stubborn than I expected. I'm piebald at the moment - the back is close to silver, which I think would be acceptable, but the front is still lilac. And like I say, I had an outside chance that because it's a pastel shade it might be winked at.
Oh yes, and did I ever mention I'm stupid with money and wanted to pretend the rest of January didn't exist when I was on my holiday

[Lola Bunny]

Awwww.....so what color is acceptable for them? Pink, maybe? Hehe.....