Compare: http://www.unfogged.com/archives/week_2013_05_12.html#012972
It's okay, neb. Nobody reads all the posts.
It's ok. I thought the actual links didn't get enough love in that post. I was pretty sure most people didn't even realize they were ignoring two! two links.
"I can tell you the exact date that I began to think of myself in the first-person plural -- as a superorganism, that is, rather than a plain old individual human being."
Aaaarrrrgggggggggghhhh. Punch punch kick punch stab gouge choke kick knee stab shoot stomp.
Previously, I didn't even know what the link I ignored was even about.
The second link on my post was a Mother Jones article about how decreased gut biodome diversity is implicated in our collective fatness. It's interesting. Shouldn't at least one person click through?
I am neither my body, my gut flora, nor the combination of those things.
9: I eventually read the second link, which was indeed quite interesting. I never did get around to clicking through to the first, and didn't even know until I saw this new post that it was by Pollan. I think I'll still pass.
I am neither my body, my gut flora, nor the combination of those things.
What about a form said of a combination of those things? And if not that, what are you?
Here is a blurb about the tangentially related finding that lower back pain, like ulcers, is likely to be a bacterial infection. (Is this the Von Wafer bat signal?) A long course of antibiotics seemed to be more effective than back surgery. The obesity findings look pretty legitimate and interesting, too, and would explain a lot.
Shouldn't 7.1 read:
"We can tell you the exact date that we began to think of ourself in the first-person plural -- as a superorganism, that is, rather than a plain old individual human being."
Which doesn't sound crazy at all, nope, no how.
I am neither my body, my gut flora, nor the combination of those things.
Wohl kaum bin ich die Summe des genetischen Materials, als wäre die Musik im Schaltplan des Radios.
Flippanter has turned from coughs to violence. I blame us reprobates.
9: "Gut" is in the mouseover URL for the second link, so I had a better idea what that was about.
Somewhere I read recently where gut-deprived-reduced-whatever mice acted more autistic than other mice.
I don't know why I am commenting on a deleted post. Or, actually, how.
But here we are.
My home life currently really, really sucks. How is yours?
It's OK, thanks. Why does yours suck?
I thought comments about the biodome would get Pauly Shored.
Vent away if you need to, Grumbles, presidentially or otherwise. (You can probably get someone to delete 20 if you choose option one.)
There is a fascinating war in the Pollan piece between his need to make the science conform to his doctrines and his grudging willingness to recognize ambiguity and uncertainty. "Like me, she was proud of her prevotella, regarding it as a sign of a healthy non-Western diet, at least until she began doing research on the microbiota of H.I.V. patients. It seems that they, too, have lots of prevotella. . . . The overall biodiversity of my gut community was significantly higher than that of the typical Westerner, which I decided to take as a compliment, though . . . my skin harbors bacteria associated with plants, soil and a somewhat alarming variety of animal guts."
Also: "You want to keep your toothbrush a minimum of six feet away from a toilet." Eat shit, tiny house evangelists! (Does anyone here keep toothbrushes by the kitchen sink rather than in the bathroom? This only just now occurred to me, but perhaps it's common.)
I really have to get my average comment composition time below 45 fucking minutes. Or well above. If I gave each comment a full three hours, they'd all be far shorter.
My home life is apparently teeming because nothing is six foot from the toilet. Maybe the ceiling.
That is, nothing in the bathroom. We have other rooms.
Sorry, I'm bad with Fermi problems. How many toilets are in your house?
It's late. Nothing in the bathroom can be more than six feet away from the toilet. Anyway, I have two toilets, in different rooms from each other. One of them is the room with the toothbrushes.
I don't have a toilet in my basement, unless you count the floor drain, which is somewhat disappointing because everybody else in Pittsburgh has a toilet in the basement.
A friend of lourdes kayak's is an itinerant photographer who lives in LA. One year he sent us a photo he'd taken of a front lawn in... maybe Beverly Hills? Anyway, there were about a dozen copies of Michelangelo's David, all standing in a row. It was hard to tell how tall they were -- probably not 1:1, but at least person-sized. I was picturing your house as the Duchamp version of this. I'm crestfallen.
I don't think I've ever lived in a house with a bathroom big enough to keep toothbrushes six feet away from the toilet.
There was about a month when potty training put us close to your vision.
A nearby bar is advertising its Rusty Nails, Moby. Should I try one?
Oh, venting would likely just be boring, so I'll just do it a little. Summarize as relationshit, bundled with money issues, and a very fair complaint about feeling scared about having moved across the country.
Mayhap that last one is worthy of discussion. I've done it too often to get stressed by the notion. But I understand that it is a big deal to people who are not as pathologically mobile as I am, and who put down local roots, like buying property you actually live in, say.
Huh. I've moved across the country several times, so obviously I'm similarly pathologically mobile and don't see it as a big deal. I suspect that demographic is heavily overrepresented at Unfogged, actually.
I think my moves keep getting progressively smaller.
Eventually you'll be totally paralyzed.
Perhaps we need a baseline to decide pathology. I don't mean this as a who-is-cooler/more-mobile/whatever. I just wonder if I'm actually an outlier or not. This is my second time in SF (first, just shy of 10 years, now coming on two), with an eight year stay in Brooklyn, ~2.5 years in Ohio, and a strange year in Germany. Arguably, I also lived in Connecticut for about three months, although that was under protest and never to be permanent. (Family: at least they die at some point.)
I went to school in Middletown, Bremen and Denver (and yet failed to actually get a degree). But I don't count school, as that was less elective, and anyway, it was school, not life. (With apologies to those who are in academia. I just mean that school was a very different life than work for me.)
Counting school (which for me was every bit as elective as non-school and not necessarily all that different), I spent four years in Ithaca, then about two years back in New Mexico, then two in New Jersey, then a few months in NM again, and now I'm going on two years in Alaska. So that's four or five cross-country moves, depending on whether NM-AK counts.
That totally counts. We are disturbingly mobile.
In the tally, I forgot to note that I was born in Ohio, and my family moved to Tennessee when I was 11. It was useful to be a smart person in a place that literally featured more cows than people. Among the cohort I grew up with, I can note an AUSA, an especially talented divorce attorney, and a studio musician who deserves more praise than he gets.
I do not endorse them. But we did all collaborate on an art film mocking U2 (if you can find a copy of Sniffle and Wheeze, please post). So, at least we did something positive.
Between the ages of 9 and 44, all of my moves have been within a roughly 20-mile radius covering two counties.
Having been pretty mobile for the first 35 years of my life, I found the idea of settling down in one place increasingly attractive. I take an old fashioned pleasure in vaguely knowing the neighbours.
That is, we moved to NC when I was 3 and then to Durham when I was 9. Since then, I've just shuttled back and forth across the Durham-Orange county line. Including college.
Barring school and the Peace Corps, I'm Apo. Childhood on the LES, year in Bklyn, year in Chelsea, rented in Inwood then bought in Inwood. Never anyplace out of reach of the subway.
I was super mobile for a while when I was younger, but now the prospect of moving all my stuff is daunting. It's not that I have more than most people, just that I don't want to move it.
46- and the last came with a t-shirt.
We moved about 20 miles when I was 2, then I moved to college at 18, and have stayed in the same city since (same dorm 4 years, then same grad school apartment 5 years, then same half house since then.) Huh, unless you count the dorm, I've never rented a place.
That gave me a moment of "Wait, you weren't at the party" before I remembered Flickr exists.
I guess there was a month I lived in girlfriends apartment in emdashville the summer before grad school, and I did get mail there so it's in the address history results when you search those stalking websites.
47: I moved 6,000 miles nearly 2 years ago ... and I still haven't moved my actual stuff.
Actually I've just been going through your dresser while you're at work.
48: And a mantra as well."Inwood, Inwood..."
I've lived in 11 counties in 5 states, also DC and, briefly, Germany. 5 houses with parents, 12 addresses since getting married 30 years ago.
35: I realize I'm probably too late, but why not.
At this point, I want to move back to the west coast and stay there, even if I have to change profession. I like my job, though, plus I need it, plus it has a fixed term, so I'm just going to wait and see if something changes my mind before I'm back on the job market.
5 counties only - and the only reason that isn't 4 is that my undergraduate campus straddled a county line.
Barring college, I lived in the same house until I was 17, the same apartment for six years of grad school, and the same house ever since. But I did move cross-country (N-S, at least) twice.
I've just gone up and down the Thames - London to Oxford to Reading.
I lived in the same hours for ten years now. I've even installed a new toilet, not that the previous toilet had to be replaced because of wear.
I lived in the same hours for ten years now.
You are Phil Connors IRL?
My moving was all early in my adult life. Ohio-Houston-Pittsburgh-Houston-Pittsburgh-Houston-SoCal-Pittsburgh (only 5 different counties in total). I recall chuckling inwardly when the real estate agent pointed out the high school my kid would attend. But we've now been in the same house for 26 years.
My real estate agent pointed out that we didn't need to worry about long term maintenance costs because the world was going to end in 2012.
31.1 -- that was known as the "House of Davids" and was blocks from where I grew up (not in Beverly Hills). The house was owned by a crazed gay black wannabe r+b singer named Norwood Young (it was never clear where his money was from) who put up the Davids and had insanely painted cars and got into about a 20 year war with the very stuffy neighborhood association over it. Then he ran out of money and had to sell the place and so the House of Davids is no more. It's too bad, it was one of my favorite places to take out of towners by and really had a good old fashioned insane LA architectural vibe. The Davids were about 1/2 life size.
On mobility, I was very mobile for a while in my 20s (8 cities in about two years at one point) but now have settled down and basically can't possibly leave Los Angeles ever. I think that's a pretty common pattern, at some point most stop moving, with kids being the key factor.
Oh, and the best part of the House of Davids was that at Christmas time each of the Davids would get a little Santa hat, to keep their nude bodies warm.
Hmm, let's see:
Small town I happened to be born in - Mpls suburb - Mpls proper (4 houses) - 4 months in college in Wisc. - Mpls (2 houses) - Maine - Mpls - LA - Omaha - Mpls (1 house, 1 apt) - Omaha - Mpls (3 apts, 1 house) [the Mpls locations were in 9 different neighborhoods in S. Mpls]
I would really love it if I didn't have to move again. Just thinking about moving the books out of my room so that I can replaster and repaint it is very tiring.
If you've got enough upper body strength, sure.
Most of the moving I've done has been since I started commenting here. Also, most of the long-distance moving I've done until the last two years has been shortish-term where I didn't move much more than I could fit into checked luggage on a plane/train.
No moving as a kid, moved from LA to Utah when I was 18 and have been here ever since. Moved around up here a bit the first couple years, but all within a 25 mile radius or so of our current house. Our job situation makes any moving unlikely in the next two or three decades.
Our job situation makes any moving unlikely in the next two or three decades.
As my husband's job is location specific, I'm in the same position. Having moved far too many times in my past (I think I must be at 20 moves or so, by now), it's rather liberating to think -- this is it! I'm going to be somewhere in the surrounding 15 miles or so for multiple decades! (Though, we do occasionally bat around the idea of moving back to the US for a few years at some point, so who knows.)
We moved semi-frequently when I was a kid, but always the same corner of the same state. With one exception, always in or near the same small town. Then to college--same state, different region. From there to Southern California. Lived maybe six places there over 8 or so years, all in the same town. Then to Northern Virginia, where we've lived in two places in four years.
I think that's something like... 21 houses or apartments.
Well a couple in that count were trailers.
Aside from my time in Chicago, and counting stays less than three months long as not really living somewhere, I've only ever lived in Chicago or California.
I had obviously forgotten how I began the sole sentence in 77 by the time I finished it.
If we had lived in Chicago, we could have lived in Chicago and California, if we had lived in California.
Moving physical possessions is unpleasant. I tended to not have many what are heavy, bulky, or fragile. That has changed as I've gotten more involved with art. There is a surprising amount of weight I now own. If anyone wants a cherry picker, please. Although I'd suggest looking into the costs.
Leaving Texas for DC (and 1/3 the space) led to kind of awful wailing and fighting and my wanting to everything away and buying new crappy stuff to replace the old crappy stuff. A friend swears by his policy of not owning anything he couldn't bear to throw away, and I'm starting to believe this is wise.
When I was looking for the apartment I moved to when I divorced, I thought I'd take a year to have a better idea of my longer-term plans and then maybe move again, but fuck that. Beyond the initial packing/unpacking, it took me nearly the entire year to get things properly furnished and settled. I signed a two-year renewal when it came up last summer.
As a kid: Montreal, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington (DC), Cleveland.
As an adult: Madison (WI), Vancouver (BC), Providence, Vancouver (BC) New Orleans, Providence, New York, Norman (OK), Denver, Davis (CA).
We've been in California for going on eight years now, and this is the longest I've ever lived anywhere. Although I love the West Coast and can't imagine leaving, I'm finding the stasis relatively uncomfortable, so I keep myself occupied by creating a peripatetic work life for myself.
Most of my moves have been long distances - TX to NYS, NYS to DC, DC to Bay (not counting the extended trip to India or the move between neighboring cities). I suspect that part of my life might be over now, though.
Oh, and NYC to TX at a very tender, pre-memory-forming age.
83: You know what would be a great way to address your wanderlust? A book reading in Austin.
now the prospect of moving all my stuff is daunting.
Togolosh, itinerants know the absolute best part of moving is getting rid of stuff.
I've moved a ton as a kid and adult. Each of my kids was born in a different university town. It makes me a little dizzy to recount it, though, so I won't. I think my wife and I are running out of moving steam so we may stick here in Italy or at the next job for a while.
Oh, yeeps.
Childhood: Austin 1 yr Oklahoma 5 yrs fairly small Kentucky town 8 yrs Lexington 4 yrs.
Adulthood (for some values of): Austin 7 years (7 apartments/rooms/houses) Upstate NY 2 months NYC 9 months Bay Area 7 months Chicago 4 yrs (3 apartments) NYC coming up on 9 yrs (4 apartments) Bay Area: ...?
I have been called the Wandering Jew by certain friends.
I had a conversation yesterday about what the hell I say when I'm asked where I'm from, because I have this conversation a lot. Apparently I am supposed to say Kentucky but kind of fuck that.
Honestly 9 years ago I meant to settle down for good because starting over gets old but then I started thinking about leaving a year or two and then life said "sure, yeah, let's get on that."
From day to day I'm either calm about the bigness of the move or anxiously certain everything will go wrong and I will arrive broke and my cat will go the way of all cats, en route &c &c. I could go on about this for long enough that I might as well just start a blog so I will shut my virtual piehole.
I like Lexington a great deal, but I was only there for one horse race, so maybe I don't know the real town.
Lexington is an ok town. Pretty-ish, not a total backwater, less conservative than rural parts of the state. Alright then I am out of faint praise.