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Aisntllecxtual

I just returned to this site after a good time away - since daveb's birthday (just checked, post made on 3 Oct.). I'm looking to jolt the conversation back to life. I was unaware that this particular "topic" has been acting more like a steady stream/forum of discussion going on with those 50 and older (I am 54). I posted and then flitted off like a pollinating bee, oblivious to the continuous interaction. I haven't set up my email to get notifications of this site's activity. Maybe, I should look into doing that.

I just wish to welcome all of the new(er) members that recently posted since I briefly landed here at the beginning of the month. I wish to invite you all to a big pie feast (cake? Thought of it, but oh what sugar overload! Can't be responsible for the medical complications! :lol:) - and I mean big, so gorge yourselves No inclination, nemainraven, Rockblossom, GeorgiaBL, Westcoaster, Janneene, AnneyAardvark, TheLastOfSheila, Jan-Au, and bluemuse. I think I listed you all. If I didn't, apologies to those I overlooked, you're welcome too! And to you comparative AVEN veterans: daveb, Finding Myself, cdrdash... I wish to give my sincere thanks for making everyone feel so welcome, making for a vibrant dynamic sub-form that is inviting of us more advanced in age aces, in general making AVEN more than a electronic network but an embracing supportive community. :)

The light, the bomb going off in the brain that was mentioned. I can relate so much. What a feeling of freedom, the ecstasy of realizing there is a whole community of people who can relate to how you are feeling! To No inclination, I hope, I pray you are better. I particularly wish to tell you, in emphasis of previous postings, that you are not at all alone. You have us here in the community who really care. If there are members that are depressed, it saddens and concerns me too - goes out to any one, to all members.

As a hopefully resuscitating spark, I was wondering how many of you have reflected upon your past and gone, wow, how come I didn't realize I was asexual back then? A very simple fundamental question. My obvious answer is that asexuality wasn't even recognized as an orientation in time not that long ago and this provides, in part, an explanation of the cold dark closet of unawareness. But, I think - indeed, I am sure - it is a lot more complicated than that for each and every one of us. I look forward to any/all in comment.

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Honestly, I didn't even think about it. It was entirely a non-issue. I just came across AVEN one day when my wife mentioned it to me and was like "Awesome. That sounds like me. Cool." And then I stayed and lurked until I felt comfortable enough to talk, which amazingly didn't take that long (for me), and speaks highly of the AVEN community. :D

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The weekend is almost here. It will typically be full of hiking for me. On Saturday I lead a hike at Henry Coe State Park if it is not raining. I wouldn't ordinarily hope that my hike is cancelled but we really need rain in California so ... hopefully I will have to cancel. Then on Sunday, bykenut and I are going to explore some new trails at Russian Ridge Open Space preserve (rain or shine).

Tonight, Friday, I'm off to watch a Stanford women's volleyball game. They play UCLA. Then on Sunday at 5 pm they play USC. Both should be close exciting matches. Stanford is undefeated so far this season and ranked number 1 in the NCAA in the USA.

Between hiking and watching volleyball, I'm not quite sure when I will have time to just relax :o .

Hi Aisntllecxtual. Good to see you back here!

daveb and Blue Cat ... hope you both are feeling better.

Cathy

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Thanks, Ais! Yeah, this thread is more like a "slow chat" - the conversation ebbs and flows according to people's schedules and interests and life.

Glad to have you here, Spooktastic!

No rain expected down here, but I hope you do get some, Cathy! I was thinking about you and your hikes since the latest Suburu magazine had a couple of articles about Coastal Redwoods and the parks up north, including the John Muir one just north of SF. Sounded lovely!

I did go into work today, although I'm still not better better (and my voice let everyone know I really have been sick). Now the weekend is here so I can hopefully continue to rest and recover. :)

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Hi becky1562. Welcome. Just read a while if you don't know what to say. Not sure I can answer every question but I'm always game to try if you have questions to allay your confusion.

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Aisntllecxtual

daveb, I send you a lot of positive energy, good wishes to get better. :) Try to take it easy as much as you can.

Cathy, thanks for the welcome back. I took a look at pictures of one of your hikes, beautiful view of the coastline, somewhat surprised by the lack of trees. I am sure hiking in that sort of open-air landscape would be cooling with a breeze - thankful on a hot day. Awful, in info. from you and daveb, California has been going through some pretty extreme weather (humid heatwave and now lack of rain - is it drought yet? Hope it gets better. Although for me, I love the heat - must have been reincarnated from previous life as a camel or lizard, or, perhaps, a freakish engendered combination thereof. :lol:). As you, I like hiking. And for volleyball, it is my second favorite sport - tennis being first. I look forward to playing some beach volleyball if my relocation to Kaua'i works out - if I receive offer of employment there.

Interestingly, when I posted yesterday, I did not see more recent posts - posted from 20th onwards. Maybe, I didn't scroll to the end to view the more updated posts. Anyway...

Welcome becky1562. Have some :cake:. Hey, it's still confusing to me too and I've been here for over two years. I don't know what that says about me - gives me away as computer illiterate perhaps. Oh well, just relax, and don't be afraid to join in the bewildering avalanche fast changing stream of postings. No fear of drowning, at worst you'll helplessly float downstream, or take awkward unstable steps on the rocky riverbed (like me) while the current rushes uncontrollably far behind you. :lol:

Also, welcome to SeattleGal. Join in and have some :cake: as well. Blue Cat from Seattle, cdrdash from the San Francisco area, and daveb further south in the LA area. All west-coasters, interesting. I probably will be coming in your direction shortly. Perhaps, a brief transfer landing in LA (if possible, not to be prohibitively expensive, I would love to spend a little time in LA before heading further west across the ocean) I am guessing before the tropical jaunt to paradise in the middle of the Pacific. I lived in the San Francisco area (a little east of it in the Fairfield/Vaccaville area) when stationed at Travis AFB in 1980-1. I went to Stinson beach (told it is an area dangerous for swimming, frequented by sharks, true - anyone knows?), Lake Tahoe (nice), Sausalito (beautiful town, quintessentially California mellow), north into the Redwoods (amazing), and San Francisco (outside of D.C. and Boston, one of my favorite cities in America). Southern CA, Oregon, Washington, never been, but being the insatiable traveller as I am I have interest of course.

Spooktastic, thanks for reply to my posting. I am, by nature, an introspective person. Interestingly, I think we had a very different experience in finding our way to AVEN. It is absolutely unthinkable that my wife would have directed my way to AVEN. The first impulse I had to that is that I wish that (what happened to you) had happened to me. My way has been more interactively turbulent - conflictual. But, in further contemplation, all of the experience I have had - good, bad; affirming, upsetting - has made me what I am. And to this forging of character I am contented: in the midst of whirlwind, storm, I have no regrets. I look forward to encountering you more on this expansive network.

Frankentan, almost 36,000 posts. Wow!! I'll be dead in the ground before I even come close to that quantitative scale of participation - post/type way too slowly, and, I must admit, I am a shameless wordy wad windbag! :lol:

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Frankentan, almost 36,000 posts. Wow!! I'll be dead in the ground before I even come close to that quantitative scale of participation - post/type way too slowly, and, I must admit, I am a shameless wordy wad windbag! :lol:

I'll have been around for 10 years next month - not so frantic :D Welcome back, have some welcome back :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :D

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Aisntllecxtual

Frankentan, almost 36,000 posts. Wow!! I'll be dead in the ground before I even come close to that quantitative scale of participation - post/type way too slowly, and, I must admit, I am a shameless wordy wad windbag! :lol:

I'll have been around for 10 years next month - not so frantic :D Welcome back, have some welcome back :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :D

Thanks Frankentan for the welcome back. You are an invaluable fixture for this fantastic network. And as far as the epicurean call to the stomach, I finished dinner about an hour and a half ago and I could go for some tongue pleasing :cake: :P

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Yes, Ais, most of California is in "Extreme Drought" - that's the official designation. I think many of us are hoping for an El Nino event this winter that would hopefully bring some much needed precipitation.

This cold/sore throat is still lingering - I'm starting to wonder if I should go see a doctor. The main person I visited on my travels a couple of weeks ago has come down with strep throat. (so I wonder if I have it, too, and maybe I'm the one that brought it to them :( ) I think I will see how I'm doing at the beginning of the week.

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Well, I cancelled my hike today because it was raining at 8 am when I got up. Of course now, 10:45 am ish, the sun is out and there are blue bits of sky among the clouds. We could have been hiking. Oh well. Its hard to predict these things. Scattered thundershowers are predicted for late in the day and I didn't want to be hiking with lightening strikes possible so that was another factor in cancelling the hike.

So anyways, yay for rain in the SF bay area which is really needed. Instead of hiking today I'm going to a movie with my buds Sharon and Meg. We are going to see a movie called Pride. It sounds good. Perhaps I'll report in about it later today.

Tomorrow the rain should be over and I'll get to go hiking with Sharon at Russian Ridge. Then later in the day I'll be watching another Stanford women's volleyball game vs USC at 5 pm.

Cathy

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Wow! There's been a population explosion here! :o

I was going to list the new folk with a welcome, but there's too many. :P Welcome All! :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake: :cake:

I also had to go back to daveb's birthday to catch up.

Deja Vu - How are you and Fizz getting on?

Cayce - Still settling in? Have you got your Coffee House spots sorted out?

Finding Myself - How's college? Hope the estate settling is going well for you.

Cathy - Sorry about your hike being rained out. I love long walks in the rain, but, I'm sure the hikes are much more demanding.

Blue Cat - How nice to witness a proposal. How is Bentley doing?

Techie - Wish I could bike more. Too big a hassle to bring the bike on the road with me.

daveb - Gosh, aren't you feeling better? Sorry to hear you're still under the weather.

Spaghetti Munster - Hay-on-Wye sounds awesome.

HI Spooktastic and Frankentan!

I think that catches up :unsure:

Just got to Pensacola, Fl. Don't know what my schedule is, yet. Weather's nice.

Hope all is well for everyone here!

(less than 2 months until I'm legitimate :P [50 years-old])

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Aisntllecxtual

Hmmm, the weather throughout the world seems to be getting more and more unpredictable, extreme. Global warming? El Nino's been a pretty common event in the winter for the last decade in California, hasn't it? So, there may be a good chance that it will occur this winter as well - hopefully.

Yah, I would definitely go to the doctor daveb. It does sound like strep throat. :( Keep me updated as to how you're feeling.

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I looked up strep throat symptoms on the web and I don't have most of them (no fevers, chills, swollen lymph nodes, etc.), so I think I'm back to my original guess - that it's just a nasty cold and the doctors couldn't do much about it that I'm not already doing.

Good to hear from you Tja! I hope everything goes well in Fla.!

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@tja - There really has been a new people explosion. I saw in the AVEN Digest that asexuality has been in the media a lot lately, so maybe that has something to do with it...

Also, I was stationed at NAS Pensacola when I went through school for the Marine Corps. I learned the basics of aviation electronics there. :D Nice place, although I wasn't allowed off base much while in school.

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SeattleGal -- I lived in FW for over 35 years! That's where I went all through school. And had my cat Shakespeare who was 1/2 Abbyssinian and 1/2 Russian Blue!

TJA -- Bentley is awesome! Thanks for asking. He's the happiest baby imaginable, always laughing.

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Finding myself

I have either missed or totally forgotten about Bentley. Sorry Blue Cat, who is Bentley please?

Hi Tja, good to see you.

College is going ok. I am especially loving my Art class.

Currently waiting for Probate to come through for my Dad's estate.

I have been away for 3 days. Stayed with my Aunt, who is a very physically and mentally fit 80+ year old. Had lots of laughs with her.

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Sounds nice, Finding Myself. Good to have laughs whenever possible.

Pensacola is nice, Spook. Weather is great!

Hey, Blue Cat, Bentley sounds like a sweetie!

Hang in there, daveb! Feel better!

Got my schedule. Not staying in Florida. No one is answering my calls or texts. Blood is percolating, but not yet boiling. *Deep breaths* *Calm thoughts* *Drinks beer* ;)

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Happy Asexual Awareness week. :cake::cake::cake::cake: for all!

My weekend was full. On Saturday I had to cancel my Henry Coe hike due to rain and instead went and saw the movie Pride with friends Sharon and Meg. I recommend the movie. I really enjoyed it. It had a nice mix of politics with personal stories. Its a movie about a group of lesbian and gays in the early 80's in the UK that supported the miners who were striking.

I hiked with Sharon on Sunday and then went to the Stanford volleyball game so I was out of the house from 9:30 am to 7:30 pm. Phew. It was a fun day but long!

Pictures from my hike at https://picasaweb.google.com/105234689104952250166/Russian_Ridge_10_26_14?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPyYmpCd-ZbxzgE&feat=directlink

Yesterday, I forgot to set my alarm for my usual 6 am rising time and overslept to 7:20 am. Despite the extra sleep I felt discombobulated all day. After work, I hurried home and met a good friend for dinner. We ate at a new place in my town called the Veggie grill. I had fake crispy chicken (made of Tempeh) with mashed potato and kale. It was tasty and it really did taste like chicken to me.

I had a really good visit with my friend. She is a super busy friend and its very difficult to get on her schedule! We both were really glad that we made the effort to get together. We caught up on each other's lives!

Cathy

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Cathy, I feel a bit obsessed with tracking my sleep. If I don't get enough, I am so foggy-headed and can't be "brilliant" or creative. When I oversleep, discombobulation!

I don't have the opportunity to oversleep much. But the opportunities for under-sleeping seem endless. When I was on vacation two weeks ago, I overslept every day. It was wonderful! When I got home, everyone at work said I looked "well-rested". Wow! I actually looked rested! That really made me take a look at my sleep patterns at home.

I tend to go to bed when I'm really sleepy, which sometimes is as late as 2 a.m. I always get up at 6 a.m. I am absolutely stupid on 4 hours of sleep! Now I make a point of being in the bed by 9:45. I am now a little more consistent with my "brilliance" at work. And I'm told I still look rested.

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GeorgiaBL, glad to know I'm not alone in feeling discombobulated (isn't that a great word!) after over sleeping!

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Crap, crap, crap ... Mom is in the hospital with a possible bowel obstruction. Her friend Sandy took her to the hospital last night and Sandy got a hold of us (me and my siblings) this morning with the news. Sandy and another friend Candy are currently sharing the duties of taking care of my Dad while Mom is in the hospital. I'm a bit befuddled as to what I should do right now. I confess to hoping that big sis or big bro will take the lead in how we should handle this current crisis as a family. I do have time to fly to Michigan if needed but would rather not if the situation can be handled by Sandy and Candy (... oh look the names rhyme ...).

Mom is having more tests this morning in the hospital to confirm if it is indeed a bowel obstruction or if its something else. There is a little niggly worry that it is something more serious. Sandy will contact us again when she gets the news of the test results. I am worried about Dad also with his care giver in the hospital but so far Sandy seems to be having an easy time caring for him. She has stopped in at meal time to be sure he gets something to eat and takes the right medicine. Between meals he seems to be able to care for himself.

I find myself curiously not too worried about Mom as she has had a bowel obstruction before and although it is a serious thing to deal with it seems to be curable but they have not diagnosed her yet. I keep thinking I should be more worried than I am. Oh my gosh ... I'm worried about if I'm worrying the proper amount. Aren't I an odd creature!

Cathy

p.s. for the newbies to this thread ... my Dad is 90 years old and has been recovering from brain surgery this past year with my Mom being his primary care taker. Mom is 86 years old and, till now, was quite healthy and able to care for Dad just fine in their home.

p.p.s. OK I didn't mean to make a funny in that first paragraph. I really was going "crap, crap, crap" in my head with no regards to how it is connected to "bowel obstruction".

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Cathy - If my wife doesn't have anything to worry about, she worries about that. I can totally understand that. I hope everything turns out fine for your family!

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The latest news from Sandy about my Mom is that Mom told her it wasn't necessary for one of us to fly there and that Sandy and other friends could care for my Dad till Mom gets out of the hospital. At best Mom will be home on Saturday. We are still waiting to hear if the diagnosis of obstructed bowel is correct.

There has been a bit of a hail storm of email going between us siblings and we are discussing making a plan for future things like this where Mom can't care for Dad. Maybe something like hiring a in-home nurse who can be on call to go take care of Dad in the event Mom is incapacitated. Or perhaps formalizing with Sandy that she is willing to care for Dad until one of us can get to Michigan.

I personally wish that Mom and Dad would either move into an assisted living facility in their town or move to a town closer to one of us so it would be easier for one of us to care for them in emergencies. But I really don't blame them for wanting to live in their own home for as long as they can. I would too.

Cathy

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Best wishes to your mom, Cathy!

My parents are "only" in their late 70's and so far not looking like any need for any sort of care in the foreseeable future, but I'm sure the day will come. Fortunately I have several siblings who live in the same area my parents do (unfortunately 1 or 2 of those siblings aren't the most reliable sorts, but the other 2 are).

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