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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1264 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for February 25, 2026

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

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There are water drops in the bathroom of my apartment from the ceiling. This might unironically lead to my suicide as the last straw of my downwards mobility.

What is above your bathroom and who is responsible for it?

A bathroom of another apartment and its owner, respectively. I can't summon any energy to go find out who that would be and how to get in touch. What's one more failure in the pile.

Coffee Haters Club

I'm in the process of trying to roast and drink my way through all of my older coffees as well as testing my olfactory senses versus the expected flavor profile of said coffees. This week's roast is a Rwandan coffee from yikes, several years ago. My first go 'round, I got a lot of "generic good pourover" flavor initially, that mellowed into a more generic sweetness with some citrus tartness on the side. I wondered to myself if my senses were dulling or, more charitably, if they were just a little rusty. The next day, when preparing my coffee, I realized that I had my water temperature set to 200 degrees, which could definitely flatten the more delicate flavors, so I dialed it down to 195 and had my second cup. The initial flavor mellowed more quickly, of course, and again the sweetness was there right away, along with the citrus and some tantalizing fruitiness that I couldn't put a finger on. Okay, time to face the music and compare my own tasting notes to the notes of the cupper and... "base sweetness of sugarcane juice, spiced Darjeeling tea aroma, fruited hints, lemon citrus accent, acidic impressions, elegant pourover."

Huh. I guess my olfactory nerves aren't so badly calibrated after all!

Next up is likely to be an old Guatemalan that I never got around to trying before I disassembled my roaster for cleaning. I'll be doing the same blind tasting and hopefully I'll still be on the same page as the cupper!

I ordered more beans. Still waiting for one of them, a Mexican, to arrive. I was amazed by one new variety: Monsooned Malabar. Holy crap. There's a LOT going on in this bean. After grinding, there's so much spice, several kinds of spice, and perhaps some nuts and other things, in the aroma. It's pretty full bodied in the cup.

Ooh, nice, that sounds lovely and the flavor profile definitely checks out. Indian and SE Asian coffees in general are bigger on the nut and spice notes and have an earthy taste to them that most other coffees don't have. They're excellent coffees, especially for those that enjoy darker roasts. I actually thought a lot about getting an aged Sumatran in my latest order (yeah, I caved, what can one do?) but I'd already loaded up on a bumper crop of good looking Ethiopian beans so I chose a different Indonesian coffee instead. Always good to have some Asian coffee in the mix for variety!

If color is anything to go by, these monsooned beans are actually lighter than anything else I've tried.

Does anyone here have any personal experience with the management of migraines?

As I've mentioned before, mine have recently become significantly more frequent (annual to maybe twice or thrice a month). I think, but am not entirely sure, that they're much more debilitating. The visual aura was usually standalone, but these days it's followed by a headache that, if not awful, is still bad enough to be debilitating. I also feel queasy and loopy, which means I have a hard time getting anything done for several hours afterwards. All I seem to want to do is lie in bed for most of the rest of the day.

I've tried sumatriptan, 50mg x 2, taken as soon as I notice the visual aura. Augmented by the odd paracetamol or two. I think it helps a little, but I wouldn't call myself fully functional afterwards.

If they become even more frequent, then I'm open to starting preventative medication like beta blockers.

I have no experience with treating migraines professionally, and I am also incredibly lazy about seeing other doctors unless in imminent fear of death. Yes, yes, laugh at me if you want. I know my flaws.

Both my wife and my father have had great success with guided progressive muscle relaxation. It's something one needs to do fairly regularly though and as a response to the early signs of an ongoing migraine, doing it during an actual episode still helps but it's far more effective at stopping a migraine before it fully develops.

For me, the visual aura usually precedes any actual pain, and if I find it I take two paracetamol (and drink lots of water), it usually prevents the part of the migraine that actually hurts, and the visual aura generally subsides shortly thereafter.

One important thing I've learned is that I have some very specific triggers for migraines. One for me, for example, is blood sugar fluctuations.

Have you managed to nail any of those down? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of laying in a dark room.

I'm unsure. There's one I have in mind, but I'm unable to consistently pin it down as the cause.

My wife gets bad migraines fairly regularly and she finds an icepack on the back of the neck to be the most effective relief.

Read this as "icepick" and was briefly amused by your wife's sense of humor.

Got the results back from my semiannual health assessment. Almost 45, 6'2", 205 lbs, BMI 26.6, and my (clothed) waist at bellybutton was 35". BP was 108/62, and according to the bicep-placed impedance device my bodyfat percentage was 11.4%. Lol to that last one. I wish. Probably in the 13-15% zone at best.

Curiously, my A1c was the lowest it has been for a winter test in years. Usually, my summer one is lower (5.4-5.5) than winter (5.6-5.7), and I assume it's because I'm doing way more cardio and spending more time outside in the summer. My cardio falls off by late November when it's cold and dark out, and my Feb test usually reflects that. This time, though, it was 5.3 despite my cardio following the same pattern as every year. I did change my eating pattern around that time and I'm no longer eating lunch, so all my food intake is 7-7:30am or 6-7pm, so maybe that's the cause.

Experimented with so-called "hostage tape" because I am worried about becoming a mouth-sleeper-breather.

So far it sucks. It manged one good nap with it but, at night, it seems to lose its adhesiveness and fall off. Then, to add insult to injury, in the morning it looks like I was snacking on Oreos in bed. There's a noticeable black reside about my lips.

Silver lining; the breathe right nasal strips really do work, imho.

Anyone have any history in converting themselves from a mouth breathing caveperson to a nose breathing patrician?

I got diagnosed with sleep apnea and have a CPAP machine. It's done wonders for my sleep quality.

It's good that the nasal strips work for you, my blockage is in the back of the throat.

If you have medical insurance it's worth getting checked out for sleep issues. There are some magical phrases you can look up that will allow a regular physician to recommend you to a specialist.

I have to say, Hostage Tape is the one thing I have ever seen an ad for and thought "that's in poor taste, what with the Gaza thing and whatnot..."

So congrats to Hostage Tape on making me wokescold.

What's to stop your nostrils from clogging up during sleep, while your mouth is taped shut?

You're not supposed to actually seal your mouth - you put just enough tape on that it's annoying or difficult to open your mouth while awake, so that while asleep you won't mouth-breathe by reflex. If you (say) roll over and your mouth would otherwise fall open, the tape keeps your mouth closed or compels you to roll back over and keep breathing through the nose - but if an assassination squad of tiny spiders tried to kamikaze up your nose to suffocate you, you could still snap awake, force open your mouth, and take the tape off.

I don't know if I'm a convert yet, but I bought medical tape for this purpose and you don't see any residue after the night and I wake up with clear nose. It stays on the majority of the time. The clearness doesn't last but I also don't have nose-breathing as my singular focus so I go into automatic mode again.

Don't wanna wait for friday fun thread and laughing is part of wellness so here's my conversation starter:

What are your favorite comedy films in the post Tropic Thunder era where most things became overly boring and safe? Did anything break away from the mean and turn out surprisingly hilarious? Whether due to sharp satire or elseways.

I Give it a Year is a silly British romcom from 2013 that always cracks me up.

The Machine has some funny over the top action comedy.

I also enjoyed the Deadpool films.

I really enjoyed seeing Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie in theaters recently. Very funny movie, and the first time in a long time where I spent so much time afterwards thinking how they managed to do the various things in the film. You'll probably have to wait until it's on streaming because it's a niche Canadian release with limited theatrical rollout, but I'd definitely recommend it

I Love You, Man is a fairly safe and predictable comedy, but the chemistry between Paul Rudd and Jason Segel is strong and endearing, and I laughed plenty of times.

Will try watching this one.

The first one to come to mind is The Nice Guys, from writer-director Shane Black, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. His 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang holds a special place in my heart for being laugh-out-loud hilarious, meta before being meta itself became a tiresome cliché, and featuring a romance between two believably flawed characters with amazing chemistry who I genuinely wanted to end up together. The Nice Guys doesn't quite live up to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang but is nevertheless a consistently funny movie, Gosling and Crowe bounce off each other very well and the 70s nostalgia is a fun vibe.

It's funny you mention Tropic Thunder, this came up at work the other day.

two zoomers got all huffy because

Isn't that the film where Robert Downy JR does Blackface? Ewwwww.

Yes, it's a movie making fun of movies, the joke is that it's in bad taste.

You obviously don't know the history of oppression suffered by people of color and the emotional damage of-

No, I do know the history, I just don't think anyone was genuinely emotionally scarred by that film. People have just been told they're supposed to get mad when they see a pale face with something dark smeared on it.

That's what slipped out before I shut myself up, because I have to work with these people for a while. Downright disheartening.

Observe and Report from 2009 got mixed reviews, was not a box office smash or anything, but the climax of the final chase scene is one of the only times I've ever been in a movie theater where everyone organically stood up and cheered and yelled. The entire movie is "holy shit that's fucked up." One of the last big mean/shock humor movies from the "Vulgar Age," and somehow it really worked. At least when I was 19.

The only movie I've ever seen with a date-rape sight gag. And it works. And the movie got away with it.

I love this movie, super underrated. It's the closest thing to a Taxi Driver comedy.

New year's resolutions check-in:

  • Posted my fifth blog post of the year on Monday, offering my two cents on the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge. It was expanded from a comment I wrote here after the Annunciation Catholic shooting last August. I'm sad to say the points I made remained exactly as relevant six months later as they were at the time.
  • Went to the gym three times last week, again on Monday, planning to go this evening. Can deadlift 1.8x my bodyweight for 4 reps, squat .98x for 9 reps and bench press .82x for 7 reps.
  • Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.
  • Have completed 8/11 modules in the SQL course.

How goes it, @thejdizzler, @birb_cromble and @oats_son?

  1. Work: Committee meeting went great, can graduate whenever apparently. Starting to look for postdoc and/or biotech jobs this summer!
  2. Fitness: Another great race this weekend. Just under 58 for 10 miles on a hilly course. Negative split too which was awesome. Feeling a bit tired now, and have been able to sleep extra, so maybe time to back off next week. 10.5 hours last week, and will be ~11 this week.
  3. Intellectual Stuff: 2nd blog post of the month (Spanish update) is up. Marx is done, and Spinoza is close to being done so things feel more under control.
  4. Finances: Spending is way down this month, going to be well under $3k, which feels good. The main thing has been no big-ticket expenses. Hoping I can save equivalently in April and May.
  5. Dating: Went on a date with a med student this morning. She was very into me but I was more tepid. Will hang out with her one or two more times to get a better idea of if I actually don't like her or was just tired. Taking a new approach with porn: trying to quit just porn but not masturbating, which seems to be helping. Part of the reason I may not be super into this girl is porn brain, which would really suck.
  6. Tarot: Didn't do it this week.
  7. Socializing: Didn't do much of this this week because I have been cooked at work and with fitness and book clubs.
  8. Screen time: 1.25 hours.

Committee meeting went great, can graduate whenever apparently.

Congratulations

Great blog post, by the way. Always very well reasoned.

  • I got the flu, or something like the flu, and went off my diet for a number of days and didn't leave my apartment for like, four days. Naturally, it's difficult and perhaps inadvisable to lift weights or go jogging in this state. I recognize that my life feels like it has less point to it if I'm not doing something semi-regularly at the gym. I still have a headache even today, though. At least the coughing is subsided. Interestingly, I actually lost weight, despite not tracking my calories. I weighed 174.2 lbs yesterday, 174.6 lbs today. I don't really look that different.
  • I managed to listen to 4 hours of Comprehensible Input last week. I think I need to start throwing in some "Intermediate" level content. I also read a couple articles. I think I want to take the article goal down from "1 every day" to "like 2 or 3 every week or so". Native articles are very taxing to me, especially on complicated subjects. My favorite articles have to do with murder or people threatening each other or evicting people or immigrants being bad or something. The other day, I actually learned more details about the Mar-a-Lago trespasser from that site. I guess Japanese news is actually news, rather than just study material, huh.

I missed out on a fun time on Saturday doing a bowling pin shoot with my 10/22 at the gun range, which was pretty sad. I skipped out on a pistol league yesterday so I could get my oil changed. Also that rotisserie bone stock went pretty well, the resulting stock is quite gelatin-like. I guess I should freeze it.

I got a job out of college, but it feels like every day I spend at this job, the possibility of me ever getting another computer science job dwindle, even as the computer science industry dwindles itself. I guess I'm no striver. Really, I apparently lack quite a bit of motivation. If you wanted a job that AI can't replace without going back to school, what would be good? I'd like to leave this state someday, it sucks.

I think I'm going to stop posting on this account. I've posted a lot of personal things, and to do that, I had to trust that no one would use those things against me. I no longer trust this.

If you wanted a job that AI can't replace without going back to school, what would be good?

I've been asking myself the same question a lot recently. Right now, it seems like my best bet is "bartender". I've done it before, and if you're good at it the pay can be decent by the standards of unskilled labor. Waiting tables also isn't bad if you can find the right place. The pay is good enough that I could live on it

Anything beyond that is probably going to require some sort of certification, outside of sales, and sales is its own special kind of hell.

Thanks for keeping me honest.

Spending for the year so far is $1200.77 less than the same time last year. Month over month spending is $153.02 higher, spread out over gas, a quarterly utility bill, and taking my partner out for dinner and a margarita.

I'm a little disappointed that the spending was higher, but I'm reminding myself that I can't be a complete miser all the time. Being able to go out and do something nice for someone you love is worth it.

I'm still hitting a 60+% personal savings rate for the year by the federal definition. That will likely get blown to hell next month when the dental work comes up, but I tell myself that's why I'm doing this now.

I'm a little disappointed that the spending was higher, but I'm reminding myself that I can't be a complete miser all the time.

I have the same dilemma. I look at my spreadsheets and lament spending, but then I look at the cause, and it's generally social eating. Unless I want to never leave the house and subsist on oatmeal, beans, and peanut butter, then I'm going to have to spend some.

Although I've looked back to compare to past years (and by this I mean pre-2020), and eating out is just expensive now. Even accounting for inflation, it's expensive. A diner breakfast for 2 anywhere near me is going to push $50 with tax and tip.

I'm still hitting a 60+% personal savings rate for the year by the federal definition.

Seems solid to me.

eating out is just expensive now.

God it really is. I remember when I used to be able to hit an all you can eat Chinese buffet for $5. That got me through the first couple of years out of college.

A professional chef of (legit) Chinese cuisine once explained to me that in Chinese thought there are two categories of object: food, and rocks.

With this in mind I expect that you might field very low-cost Chinese food for yourself if you're brave enough.

"If it has got four legs and it is not a chair, if it has got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane, and if it swims and it is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." – Prince Philip

This was included on a list of Phil's worst "gaffes", but no Chinese person I've mentioned it to has been offended by it, or even contested it. They really will eat anything that moves, and more power to them.

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