kaberett | mass spec theatre

Yesterday was immensely frustrating - the machine behaved beautifully Thursday, I was all set to get data yesterday, and then there was a two-second power cut at 1am and it's spent the subsequent 24 hours sulking and is finally finally finally giving me numbers that look as though they'll be usable - culminating in forgetting to take my bedmeds last night, which means I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms. (They tend to start 12-18 hours after a missed dose, and involve going weird and light-headed and fuzzy. They're trivial to get rid of - take another tablet - but unfortunately there are reasons I take my psych meds at night, viz, they do a pretty good job of knocking me out; and I'm not sure which of "crashing out" and "brain zaps" is worse given the work I want to get done. So I am playing it by ear a bit, and if I decide it's necessary I'll split tonight's tablet, take half of it now, and catch up this evening.)

In any case, this means I'm going to be babysitting the mass spec today, if all continues well. What this means in practice is that I'm going to have very brief bursts of activity interspersed with a lot of sitting around by myself in a cellar, ergo it's time for: any questions answered.

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I don't know if you've posted this elsewhere, but -- how do you cope with sensory overload?

And how do you recharge after a day of All The Stimuli?

(also, ugh, all the sympathies with medication bs)

Badly, heh.

Things I know I can do to help:

get myself under something heavy (hence my weighted blanket)
tap out of the conversation and hide somewhere dark without other people around
rocking
making pressure-patterns with my fingertips in my hands
fiddle-toys - I've got a couple of rocks that are very good shapes for holding, and I've got a heavy chrome Tangle toy (which is weight + temperature, for all they're racist and woo-y)
make repetitive (normally high-pitched) noises to myself
... or, to look a bit more sane, reciting poetry (other talking out loud to myself also helps)
white noise recordings, or Very Familiar Music

As for recharging -- Days When I Don't Have To Put Clothes On Or Leave The House are a thing. Currently I try really hard to spend some time sat outside with plants (getting some more seedlings started or whatever). Maybe rewatch an episode of something very familiar as a way to tap into known feelings in a time-delimited way. Take some time to move slowly and thoughtfully. Savour some food - the making and the eating. Trying to make time for a ten-minute loving-kindness meditation.

Thank you for writing this list. I occasionally have a bit of sensory overload go on (usually in grocery stores or large store-warehouses like Ikea or Costco) and what you suggested is really solid. I am going to put those in my drawer of tools to combat the overload.

Also I like how you said "Very Familiar Music." When I hit hard times and my brain is fritzing, I can only listen to music that I KNOW, because the surprising sounds and breaks in unfamiliar music just makes everything inside that much more jagged.

Thank you for this; needs must ponder but omg much of this sounds sense-making and also fitting.

Much sympathies.

(I'm sending you a PM with pesky logistical questions.)

Thank you! :-)

Apologies if you've answered this before -- What's your favourite rock and why?

so hard to piiiiiiick!

Basalt is the stuff I work on, but it covers a multitude of sins, heh.

Garnet because it is in a very real sense why I am doing geology.

Plagioclase feldspar because it's beautiful under thin section.

Blueschist because it's blue, and also nobody knows how we ever manage to see it at the surface.

Probably some other stuff too, but those'll do to start with :-)

<3

I do believe we were clambering over basalt fields on Saturday. But the heat (35degC) and my lack of having eaten kinda ruined the fun. (And we missed the waterfall :( )

You grow things, right? What are your current plants & how are they doing? Do you have anything you want to grow when you have time to spend years cultivating a single garden? Do you have a favourite foodplant (herb, fruit, veg) to grow and to consume?

Yes!

My sweet peas I planted out are sadly straggling some and I'm not sure how to make them happier. The herb pot (parsley/sage/rosemary/thyme) is doing brilliantly. The aloe vera are ALL OVER THE SHOP AUGH PLEAES SOMEONE TAKE THEM AWAY. Five of the tomato seeds (of six) germinated, but they're now flolloping a bit and I need to work out how to make them happier (in order to "harden off and plant out"). Basil seedling continues doing its thing; chive seedlings are Sad and I want to plant them out and see if it makes them happier; ditto the mint plant. One of three pepper seeds has germinated and I'm hoping it will become happier.

I think the poppies and ox-eye dasies are germinating; I'm just waiting for them to actually do anything.

The thing that makes me feel most like I'm at home is having parsley. But I also really, really like having raspberries and alpine strawberries around.

Oh man, sweet peas are awesome! I <3 them, they are so pretty. We're actually considering planting some indoors at work, after our last agricultural foray went so well (remind me to send you a picture of that, when I get one - we grew a lawn on a co-worker's desk. it grew so quickly that we had to go after it with scissors one week in.). Did you plant them out into the ground, or in a pot? We (by which I mean, my parentals) tended to use a large pot with beanpole frame, sitting on a wheely thing, since then we could move them around for maximum sun and fussiness protection. But then, it does get chillier/windier Up North... You could possibly try warming them up with plastic? But if it's drainage from the rain, there's not much to do if they're already in the ground :(

Do you have a greenshelf or DIY materials for such? Could do interim stages for the tomatoes, get them started under clear plastic and then let more cold in in stages.

How are you getting basil to happily anything?!! Witchcraft! (We tried for multiple years to Basil, and failed every single time. Even growing indoors failed!)

Man, Too Old chives are the best. They have the most adorable purple pom-pom flowers.

With poppies, it was more, 'oh look this seedhead by the roadside looks properly dry, I guess I'll take it home and shake it on things' '...wait, why are there poppies /everywhere/' XD I can't remember actually buying poppyseeds... but there were somehow always poppies nonetheless.

Raspberries are my favourite. They're the most satisfying thing to eat straight off the bush, except perhaps bilberries (have you met bilberries? they pretty much only grow wild) and maaaaybe mange touts. But those, purely for the texture. Do you have any strawberries growing currently? I know we have a few plants kicking around the bottom of the garden (wild, if not alpine - tiny and sweet). If it were a different season, I'd offer to try'n source some while I'm here (btw, I'm in London this week, hi).

The aloe vera are ALL OVER THE SHOP AUGH PLEAES SOMEONE TAKE THEM AWAY

Actual LOL.

Which reminds me that I need to bring mine in before the frosts get well and truly started.

What's the weather like at the moment?

I do hope you've managed to recover.

Rainy - though up til this morning it'd been gloriously sunny! And it's not even "April showers", either - today it is sullen grey drizzle that's Here To Stay.

I spent most of today in bed and sulked this evening about the mass spec not behaving. I'm going to give it one last go tomorrow but I am resigning myself to not getting any data this run.

Sounds like pretty gloomy weather :(

I was glad to see that you managed to get some data in the end.

mass spec theatre

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