On 2014-03-31 14:23:30 +0000, Ophelia said:

> Any idea what happened to him? Has he disappeared or have I just missed him?

Disappeared. Thanks for noting it.

I found "hanging with the crew" to be something that had too many
moments of irritation and occasional nausea, with nothing to show for
the investment. The bona fide trolls are to be expected of course, and
were kill-filed on a daily basis. But that aside, I note a ceaseless
level of negativity, bitterness and angst of a very mundane and
quotidian variety. It becomes almost invisible.Throughout the ng, It's
like a scent that never gets vented. Too many vendettas per topic; any
topic, all topics.

That's not fun, but after a while you begin to accept it as "normal".
You try to read around it and think you are "ignoring it". But that
shit seeps into your consciousness like a negative parent or co-worker,
like winter cold.

I'll keep involvement to direct and impersonal questions when I need
info and hopefully get something before it turns into a another kabuki
drama. As I scan many of the questions I've asked over the 2-3 years I
find only a few of them accurately addressed, anyway. So maybe that
says better things about my cooking that I realized.

In any case, my sudden revulsion for the pointy-toothed was well-timed:
The wife retired in late February, we've been traveling more, cooking
more, and I have markedly less time for aimless rumination at the
computer, making the meager payback all the more obvious.

When the wife is gardening, or weaving in her office, or reading in the
den while I'm in here spewing unread words into the ether it makes a
significant contrast with my use of time.

Responding to that, I've read 5 novels in as many weeks.