The void howls back?

[Samantha]

I'm tired of social media being a psychic drag. What's everyone up to in this bizarre time?

Reading: Not going to lie, I'm not on my game. Sticking mostly to memoir and YA. Current read is Kiersten White's Bright We Burn (Vlad Dracul reimagined as a woman).

Watching: Got through the entirety of Z Nation and it was deeply stupid, but it's always nice to see Henry Rollins pop up.

Doing: Grudgingly working, alas.

[Erith Romycin]

I am working. No extra grudge.

Social media is difficult when it's the only medium of socialisation.

Watching? Not enough. I find it hard to concentrate sometimes. I miss
the cinema a lot.
--
erith - .sig

[Corwyn]

I'm working on a couple of online events and they've sucked most of my time
(and brain, whatever was left). Occasionally work in an online cocktail
hour(s) or part of a stream. Not much else. Maybe next will be easier.

c

[Samantha]

On Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 11:21:24 AM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:

> Social media is difficult when it's the only medium of socialisation.

For sure. I'm really feeling the many ways it manipulates the old serotonin. Muting my relatives helps.

> Watching? Not enough. I find it hard to concentrate sometimes. I miss
> the cinema a lot.

Oh I'm not watching anything intelligent. What makes me sad about cinema is that I can't say whether I'll risk it even once they're open again, at least until we get a vaccine.

--
Samantha

[Erith Romycin]

On 23/05/2020 19:36, Samantha wrote:
> On Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 11:21:24 AM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:
>
>>Social media is difficult when it's the only medium of socialisation.

>For sure. I'm really feeling the many ways it manipulates the old serotonin.
>Muting my relatives helps.

I find seeing them (my parents are both old enough to require shielding)
difficult.

>>Watching? Not enough. I find it hard to concentrate sometimes. I miss
>>the cinema a lot.

>Oh I'm not watching anything intelligent. What makes me sad about cinema is that
>I can't say whether I'll risk it even once they're open again, at
least until we
>get a vaccine.

Fair. I am watching rubbish, and feeling worse.

The whole nature of public spaces has me uncertain. I miss the cinema,
the pub, football, and none of those will be the same.
--
erith - nor am i

[Samantha]

On Monday, June 1, 2020 at 8:33:41 PM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:
> On 23/05/2020 19:36, Samantha wrote:
> > On Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 11:21:24 AM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:
>
> >Muting my relatives helps.
>
> I find seeing them (my parents are both old enough to require shielding)
> difficult.

My mom is, thankfully, taking it seriously. Not sure what I'd do otherwise - I don't live in the same country anymore. It's more the other relatives who can be... challenging.

> Fair. I am watching rubbish, and feeling worse.
>
> The whole nature of public spaces has me uncertain. I miss the cinema,
> the pub, football, and none of those will be the same.

I try not to think about it too much because I can't see how anything will be the same for a long time. It's really tough not having events to look forward to, or people to vent with. My reading has slowed down enormously too - where I'm usually at a book or two a week, it's now taking me a couple of weeks to get through one. Brain just won't cooperate.

--
Samantha

[Erith Romycin]

On 02/06/2020 13:20, Samantha wrote:
> On Monday, June 1, 2020 at 8:33:41 PM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:
>> On 23/05/2020 19:36, Samantha wrote:
>>> On Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 11:21:24 AM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:
>>
>>>>Muting my relatives helps.

>>I find seeing them (my parents are both old enough to require shielding)
>>difficult.

>My mom is, thankfully, taking it seriously. Not sure what I'd do otherwise
>- I don't live in the same country anymore.
>It's more the other relatives who can be... challenging.

I am lucky in that my relatives, from youngest to oldest, are taking it
seriously. THough it was pretty bleak seeing the oldest member of my
family meeting the youngest member of my family through a photo app,
with nobody able to hand out hugs. The last time we had a new arrival we
had four generations in one room.

>>Fair. I am watching rubbish, and feeling worse.
>
>>The whole nature of public spaces has me uncertain. I miss the cinema,
>>the pub, football, and none of those will be the same.

>I try not to think about it too much because I can't see how anything will
>be the same for a long time. It's really tough not having events to look
>forward to, or people to vent with. My reading has slowed down enormously
>too - where I'm usually at a book or two a week, it's now taking me a
>couple of weeks to get through one. Brain just won't cooperate.

I find myself just not wanting to. It's a yawning abyss. Can't escape,
and somehow can't bring myself to escape.
--
erith - .sig

[Samantha]

On Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 7:47:29 PM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:
> On 02/06/2020 13:20, Samantha wrote:
>
>
> I am lucky in that my relatives, from youngest to oldest, are taking it
> seriously. THough it was pretty bleak seeing the oldest member of my
> family meeting the youngest member of my family through a photo app,
> with nobody able to hand out hugs. The last time we had a new arrival we
> had four generations in one room.

I guess at least it's not a death? Cold comfort, though.

> I find myself just not wanting to. It's a yawning abyss. Can't escape,
> and somehow can't bring myself to escape.

I think we're all doing a fair amount of doomscrolling. Just trying to get by. I don't like to let my brain have free time at the moment.

--
Samantha

[Matthew King]

Somehow I'd never realized until reading this thread what a great mechanism the "lockdowns" are for sorting extraverts from introverts. I mean, normally it's easy to delude yourself into identifying with whichever you think is cooler. But when it comes right down to mandated isolation, either you like it or you don't.

--
Is that you, John Wayne? Is this me?

[Samantha]

On Saturday, June 6, 2020 at 1:08:46 PM UTC-4, Matthew King wrote:
> Somehow I'd never realized until reading this thread what a great >mechanism the "lockdowns" are for sorting extraverts from introverts. I >mean, normally it's easy to delude yourself into identifying with >whichever you think is cooler. But when it comes right down to mandated >isolation, either you like it or you don't.
>

I'm not totally sure that's true--I'm very, very much an introvert but also very, very tired of quarantine. I want the option to venture into the world, even if I don't always do it. I wonder how much of it has to do with whether you're living alone or with family, too.

--
Samantha

[Corwyn]

On 6/6/2020 12:49 PM, Samantha wrote:
> I'm not totally sure that's true--I'm very, very much an introvert but
> also very, very tired of quarantine. I want the option to venture into
> the world, even if I don't always do it. I wonder how much of it has to
> do with whether you're living alone or with family, too.

Ya, that. (And I do live alone, well, with one cat.) I've been venturing
forth for at least a half hour walk every day and my neighbors have informal
BS sessions across the hedge, OTOH I probably haven't been more than 2 miles
from home in the last two months except for weekly trips to check on a
building I manage. GoToZoomJitsi only goes so far for social contact (on the
flip side, you don't have to drive home).

And I don't have good speakers off my computer so the streaming DJs (is that
a band?) don't help as much is they might.

feh.

me

[Samantha]

On Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 10:59:33 PM UTC-4, Corwyn wrote:
> On 6/6/2020 12:49 PM, Samantha wrote:
> > I wonder how much of it has to
> > do with whether you're living alone or with family, too.
>
> Ya, that. (And I do live alone, well, with one cat.) I've been venturing
> forth for at least a half hour walk every day and my neighbors have informal
> BS sessions across the hedge, OTOH I probably haven't been more than 2 miles
> from home in the last two months except for weekly trips to check on a
> building I manage.

Sounds very sensible, but perhaps not the most fulfilling. That's about the distance I've been from home too. I've only gone out on brief shopping expeditions on foot and my neighborhood is very much not my demographic so it's not a ton of social contact (elderly and ESL, by and large - they're great, but we're not having epic conversations).

> GoToZoomJitsi only goes so far for social contact (on the
> flip side, you don't have to drive home).

I am so burned out on Zoom. By the end of the week I don't want to see any more video anything.

> And I don't have good speakers off my computer so the streaming DJs (is that
> a band?) don't help as much is they might.

I've been listening to recordings after the fact occasionally. I can't manage to stay up late enough to listen live, so I miss any chat action there.

--
Samantha

[Erith Romycin]

On 06/06/2020 18:08, Matthew King wrote:
> Somehow I'd never realized until reading this thread what a great mechanism the
>"lockdowns" are for sorting extraverts from introverts. I mean,
normally it's easy
>to delude yourself into identifying with whichever you think is cooler. But when it
>comes right down to mandated isolation, either you like it or you don't.

As with most things, it's probably not binary but a spectrum. Some
people can cope with more, that's for sure.

--
erith - by which i may mean less

[Erith Romycin]

I think some the introvert/extrover thing is about expression of control
of socialisation as much as it is about desire. I know 'introverts' who
are happily the soul of the right parties, and extroverts who remain in
their shell in the wrong company.

Losing the ability to choose is pretty hard. General wrong-un' China
Mie-(me me me)-ville was onto something interesting with the whole
"Choice Theft" crime angle among the Garuda, but saw fit not to practise
with similar clarity in his own personal life. Not getting to set the
terms is difficult.

I was excited to get food from my local Italian deli place the other
day, today KFC - the prosaic and quotidian elevated to novelty by
absence. That the bars have bounced back as hard is a function of an
inability to deal with delays to gratification, perhaps?
--
erith - .sig

[teasmoke]

Still, questions about Samantha's hands, which might one day hold *my* Myst book, are unsettling to me:

> I'm tired of social media being a psychic drag. What's everyone up to in this bizarre time?

Stumbling back into Usenet after a 20 year absence, pleased to find that alt.gothic has died in exactly the fashion one would expect. Still a NotAGoth, fending off homeless with grace and a plum.


Signed,
--
Kerne

[Erith Romycin]

Nothing like a damson in distress.

alt.gothic's not dead, it's just resting.
--
erith - it's very good at resting

[Samantha]

On Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 6:11:39 PM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:

> I think some the introvert/extrover thing is about expression of control
> of socialisation as much as it is about desire. I know 'introverts' who
> are happily the soul of the right parties, and extroverts who remain in
> their shell in the wrong company.

That's a good point. In general I don't enjoy crowds and parties,
but I certainly can be gregarious in the right company. A lot
depends on whether or not it's acceptable for me to tell people
to fuck off if I don't want to talk to them. Worst case scenario
is a work-related party populated by sales reps. I find it really
difficult to keep my mouth shut.

That said, I think the theory that it's about whether you're
energized by people or need recovery time is also a big part
of it. I need prep time before an event and rest time after.

> I was excited to get food from my local Italian deli place the other
> day, today KFC - the prosaic and quotidian elevated to novelty by
> absence.

Takeout is the most joyous event in my life right now.

--
Samantha

[Samantha]

On Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 3:11:09 PM UTC-4, teasmoke wrote:

> Stumbling back into Usenet after a 20 year absence, pleased to find
> that alt.gothic has died in exactly the fashion one would expect. Still
> a NotAGoth, fending off homeless with grace and a plum.

L'alt.gothic est mort, vive l'alt.gothic?

[Erith Romycin]

On 14/07/2020 15:21, Samantha wrote:
> On Sunday, July 5, 2020 at 6:11:39 PM UTC-4, Erith Romycin wrote:
>
>> I think some the introvert/extrover thing is about expression of control
>> of socialisation as much as it is about desire. I know 'introverts' who
>> are happily the soul of the right parties, and extroverts who remain in
>> their shell in the wrong company.
>
> That's a good point. In general I don't enjoy crowds and parties,
> but I certainly can be gregarious in the right company. A lot
> depends on whether or not it's acceptable for me to tell people
> to fuck off if I don't want to talk to them. Worst case scenario
> is a work-related party populated by sales reps. I find it really
> difficult to keep my mouth shut.

I am very lucky in that I don't have work parties to worry about because
the organisation was distributed previously, and now there's no risk.
Also I have a curmudgeonly reputation, which helps.

> That said, I think the theory that it's about whether you're
> energized by people or need recovery time is also a big part
> of it. I need prep time before an event and rest time after.

The preparation and recovery time vary - but in general yes, socialising
is exhausting except for a very select few.

>> I was excited to get food from my local Italian deli place the other
>> day, today KFC - the prosaic and quotidian elevated to novelty by
>> absence.
>
> Takeout is the most joyous event in my life right now.

I made some very good macaroni cheese (it wasn't macaroni cheese, it was
occhi de lupo) and that was a celebration and a half.
--
erith - five cheeses isn't too many

[John Carr]

On 2020-07-12, Erith Romycin <erithr...@ananzi.co.za> wrote:
> alt.gothic's not dead, it's just resting.

It would stop resting if we'd just buy all the damn Adderall that we're told we can get for a fair and reasonable price with cheap shipping.

Oy - where's the a.g.s.f. when you need them?

[John Carr]

On 2020-05-22, Samantha <redspri...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm tired of social media being a psychic drag. What's everyone up to in this bizarre time?

Oddly, the plague times hasn't affected me too much; I've been trying to keep my routine. The upside is that we moved into a new place ~3 weeks before everything went into
lockdown, so we've spent a good chunk of the time decorating the new place and otherwise distracting ourselves.

Like a lot of people, I've been finding myself getting sucked back into retro computing and retro other things. If I'm stuck in the house for days on end, I may as well rediscover
everything I used to love.

This has been rough on my daughter though. She's an extrovert and a middle schooler without much contract with friends (not all have phones, few are on social media, etc.). She
hasn't heard from anyone in months.

[John Carr]

I think it also has to do with how the "setup" is. My wife is a mega introvert, and this has been miserable for her. But, it's mostly because there are people in her house 24/7.
She can close the door to a room, but she's never really "alone." She's _hating_ this.

[Octavian]

On Sunday, November 1, 2020 at 8:12:35 AM UTC-8, John Carr wrote:

> On 2020-07-12, Erith Romycin wrote:
> > alt.gothic's not dead, it's just resting.
> It would stop resting if we'd just buy all the damn Adderall that we're told we can get for a fair and reasonable price with cheap shipping.
>
> Oy - where's the a.g.s.f. when you need them?

sounds about right! I've been doing pretty well once I settled into isolation until this last week or so. Looking for a new job will do that to you :/

0ctavian

[John Carr]

How goes that right now? I know that in my world (IT), there's a been
crap-ton of job jumping lately. Everyone in retailers and hospitality
have been bouncing over to other companies that have gladly taken them.

I've been sarting to question my sanity during this whole thing since
the lockdown/isolation/whatever hasn't really affected me all that much.
Aside from not driving into work, my routine and life has been mostly
exactly the same aside from wearing a piece of cloth on my face on the
rare occasions I go out.

[Samantha]

> > On 2020-07-12, Erith Romycin wrote:
> > > alt.gothic's not dead, it's just resting.

> On Sunday, November 1, 2020 John Carr wrote:
> > It would stop resting if we'd just buy all the damn Adderall that
> > we're told we can get for a fair and reasonable price with cheap shipping.

I mean, at this point adderall sounds like it might help make things easier.
As long as it's not actually pressed arsenic, which I wouldn't count on.
On the plus side, if you were using a killfile it'd be an easy one to wipe out.

On Tuesday, November 3, 2020 Octavian wrote:
> sounds about right! I've been doing pretty well once I settled into isolation
> until this last week or so. Looking for a new job will do that to you :/

Oof, it's a rough time to job hunt for sure - my husband hasn't seen much of
anything coming up lately. Best of luck to you.

--
Samantha

[John Carr]

On 2020-11-04, Samantha <redspri...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sunday, November 1, 2020 John Carr wrote:
>> > It would stop resting if we'd just buy all the damn Adderall that
>> > we're told we can get for a fair and reasonable price with cheap shipping.
> I mean, at this point adderall sounds like it might help make things easier.
> As long as it's not actually pressed arsenic, which I wouldn't count on.

That would definitely make alt.gothic do a lot more resting. I'm not sure
if that's what we're really shooting for though...

> On the plus side, if you were using a killfile it'd be an easy one to wipe out.

For sure. I'm just lazy on setting them up. It's easier to just hit "D" and
move past them. I'm part of the problem and not the solution. :)

[Octavian]

On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at 5:50:54 AM UTC-8, John Carr wrote:
> How goes that right now? I know that in my world (IT), there's a been
> crap-ton of job jumping lately. Everyone in retailers and hospitality
> have been bouncing over to other companies that have gladly taken them.

It's a lot of feeing over-qualified for shitty low-paying jobs I don't want, doing HR screening calls that go well but ultimately not getting the job. The best sounding one so far went good until they picked out the one item in the 0-50 item skill matrix and said 5 years DBA was a non-negotiable :/

I did a phone screening for a company hiring both a junior and regular SysAdmin, so here's hoping... the junior position is below my abilities and compensation range, but I might have to go with it and hope for better later

> I've been starting to question my sanity during this whole thing since

[Octavian]

> >> On Sunday, November 1, 2020 John Carr wrote:
> >> > It would stop resting if we'd just buy all the damn Adderall that
> >> > we're told we can get for a fair and reasonable price with cheap shipping.

> On 2020-11-04, Samantha wrote:
> > I mean, at this point adderall sounds like it might help make things easier.
> > As long as it's not actually pressed arsenic, which I wouldn't count on.

On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at 7:57:48 AM UTC-8, John Carr wrote:
> That would definitely make alt.gothic do a lot more resting. I'm not sure
> if that's what we're really shooting for though...
> > On the plus side, if you were using a killfile it'd be an easy one to wipe out.
> For sure. I'm just lazy on setting them up. It's easier to just hit "D" and
> move past them. I'm part of the problem and not the solution. :)

I usually have done digest in email then look at it in Google Groups for actual content, but I might swap back to individual messages for a while. I also noticed I can mark the messages as spam on the web interface so I have a bunch of lines of <marked as spam> when I look at it now :)

[John Carr]

On 2020-11-10, Octavian <gets...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at 5:50:54 AM UTC-8, John Carr wrote:
>> How goes that right now? I know that in my world (IT), there's a been
>> crap-ton of job jumping lately. Everyone in retailers and hospitality
>> have been bouncing over to other companies that have gladly taken them.
> It's a lot of feeing over-qualified for shitty low-paying jobs I don't want, doing HR screening calls that go well but ultimately not getting the job. The best sounding one so far went good until they picked out the one item in the 0-50 item skill matrix and said 5 years DBA was a non-negotiable :/

Oy - yeah. I've heard a lot of that lately. I think a lot of employers are
starting to realize that they have the upper hand in hiring and they're
getting _really_ picky. Way different than a year ago when you couldn't
find good talent anywhere.

> I did a phone screening for a company hiring both a junior and regular SysAdmin, so here's hoping... the junior position is below my abilities and compensation range, but I might have to go with it and hope for better later

Good luck!

[Samantha]

On Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 2:23:43 PM UTC-5, Octavian wrote:

> It's a lot of feeing over-qualified for shitty low-paying jobs I don't want,
> doing HR screening calls that go well but ultimately not getting the job.
> The best sounding one so far went good until they picked out the one item
> in the 0-50 item skill matrix and said 5 years DBA was a non-negotiable :/

Best of luck to you, honestly. I was starting to search just before everything
went to hell and now I'm not even trying. Just hoping we can all bounce
back when it's over.

--
Samantha

[Octavian]

Forgot to post but I got a new job, started Monday. After technical hurdles with the new equipment I'm working through my training materials and getting started on day 3 at home :)

[Samantha]

On Thursday, December 3, 2020 at 1:03:47 PM UTC-5, Octavian wrote:

> Forgot to post but I got a new job, started Monday. After technical
> hurdles with the new equipment I'm working through my training
> materials and getting started on day 3 at home :)

Congratulations! :)

[John Carr]

On 2020-12-03, Octavian <gets...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Forgot to post but I got a new job, started Monday. After technical hurdles with the new equipment I'm working through my training materials and getting started on day 3 at home :)

Congrats!

[Michael Cardell Widerkrantz]

John Carr <cran...@NOUCE.poethecat.com>, 2020-11-01 16:12 (+0000):

> It would stop resting if we'd just buy all the damn Adderall that
> we're told we can get for a fair and reasonable price with cheap
> shipping.
>
> Oy - where's the a.g.s.f. when you need them?

Yes, there seems to be quite some spam around here.

Speaking of which... Would it be a good idea to create an alt.gothic
mailing list? I can do it on my server. Or are there some good goth
mailing lists out there? Which ones?

--
MC, https://hack.org/mc/

[Ennev]

To: Michael Cardell Widerkrantz
> From Newsgroup: alt.gothic

> Yes, there seems to be quite some spam around here.

> Speaking of which... Would it be a good idea to create an alt.gothic
> mailing list? I can do it on my server. Or are there some good goth
> mailing lists out there? Which ones?

sound like a good idea !
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Linux NewsLink 1.113
MtlGeek - Geeks in Montreal - http://mtlgeek.com/

[Octavian]

I suppose now is as good a time as any to plug the 2x discord servers we have set up. 1 for alt.gothic and 1 for Corp.Goth. If you want an invite hit me up off here, I'm not going to post it so that bots can mass spam us there too!

0

[Ennev]

To: Octavian
> From Newsgroup: alt.gothic

> I suppose now is as good a time as any to plug the 2x discord servers we
> have set up. 1 for alt.gothic and 1 for Corp.Goth. If you want an invite
> hit me up off here, I'm not going to post it so that bots can mass spam us
> there too!

Yeah. I could check it up :-)

[Samantha]

On Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 5:10:54 PM UTC-5, Michael Cardell Widerkrantz wrote:
> Speaking of which... Would it be a good idea to create an alt.gothic
> mailing list?

Do people even do mailing lists anymore? I'd join one as long as it wasn't just a million event notices.

--
Samantha

[John Carr]

I'm still on a couple, and they're pretty sparsely used. But, I think
that's more the fault of the folks on the list and not the medium, itself.
I still like email for non-immediate stuff. I mean, really, my favourite is
still USENET, followed by email, and then Reddit. The other platforms
really push immediacy or currency above all else, so if a conversation is
more than, like, 12 hours old, it doesn't get seen.

I'd do an email list. And, I guess I could check out the Discord server
too...