The Swamp

I just went down to my hotel lobby to get some coffee....and...it turns out there's a Furry convention going on....

Spokanthro 2019

Always wondered...do Furry conventions have a separate sub-convention for the 2% of people who are something other than a fox?

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Aug 24, 2019 11:25 am I just went down to my hotel lobby to get some coffee....and...it turns out there's a Furry convention going on....

Spokanthro 2019

At the port hotel in Vancouver, we got on the cruise during a huge Anime convention. Like a thousand Japanese cartoon people running through the hallways. Then when we got back it was the 58th Annual Conference of Metallurgists.

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Aug 24, 2019 11:25 am I just went down to my hotel lobby to get some coffee....and...it turns out there's a Furry convention going on....

Spokanthro 2019

Holy fuck, start posting pictures! Think of all the bizarre sex going on in the hotel right now!

The Sybian wrote: ↑Sat Aug 24, 2019 11:07 pm

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Sat Aug 24, 2019 11:25 am I just went down to my hotel lobby to get some coffee....and...it turns out there's a Furry convention going on....

Spokanthro 2019

Holy fuck, start posting pictures! Think of all the bizarre sex going on in the hotel right now!

Looks a bit under-populated.

Had my 2nd ever panic attack last night - woke from a nightmare (which thankfully, I can't remember) and could not breathe.

A nightmarish 30 minutes or so - but easier to deal with than the first one I had. Checked my heart rate - normal. Splashed my face constantly with cold water and deep intense breathing exercises and was able to calm down after a while. Like anything, it's easier to deal with once you know what is happening, but Jesus, the shortness of breath was horrifying.

Calming music, deep breathing and eventually able to get some sleep. But I've felt hungover all day today.

But (like last time) I am now afraid of having another one. Since it's been maybe two years since it happened before, I shouldn't worry, but man - literally the scariest feeling I have ever had.

Damn Pruitt, that’s scary.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:02 pm Damn Pruitt, that’s scary.

What frightens me is that it was clearly triggered by a nightmare - like am I now featuring in a middle-ager's version of "Nightmare on Elm Street?"

Just thankful that these are rare occurrences for me.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:05 am

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:02 pm Damn Pruitt, that’s scary.

What frightens me is that it was clearly triggered by a nightmare - like am I now featuring in a middle-ager's version of "Nightmare on Elm Street?"

Just thankful that these are rare occurrences for me.

In the days before my heart attack last year, I had been stressing out about a conflict with a neighbor. Your nightmare isn't an altogether different experience.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 10:14 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 5:05 am

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:02 pm Damn Pruitt, that’s scary.

What frightens me is that it was clearly triggered by a nightmare - like am I now featuring in a middle-ager's version of "Nightmare on Elm Street?"

Just thankful that these are rare occurrences for me.

In the days before my heart attack last year, I had been stressing out about a conflict with a neighbor. Your nightmare isn't an altogether different experience.

THAT'S NOT HELPING!!!

-Pruitt

I don't know if it was a panic attack or what, but I woke up mid-flight of my red-eye back to Houston from Vegas after the most stressful airport experience of my life and losing my only pair of headphones, and started silently freaking out. For a second I seriously thought I was going to be one of those people they've had to make an emergency landing for because I was about to climb over the people next to me and go running down the aisle.

Giff wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 12:41 pm I don't know if it was a panic attack or what, but I woke up mid-flight of my red-eye back to Houston from Vegas after the most stressful airport experience of my life and losing my only pair of headphones, and started silently freaking out. For a second I seriously thought I was going to be one of those people they've had to make an emergency landing for because I was about to climb over the people next to me and go running down the aisle.

I think the essence of it is that you feel like you have lost control - and not in a "seeing red" way, but in a way that you feel totally overwhelmed. My previous incident a couple of years ago came when there were obvious work and home stresses. This one was triggered by something in my subconscious.

Either way, if you feel the panic, whether you're having trouble breathing or your brain is just ricocheting thoughts around that you can't control, start breathing deeply and focus on the breathing by counting. Cold water was a help to. I read that jogging or intense activity can help.

The good thing is that after the first incident, I began meditating and trying to deal with stress in a different way.

Deep breathing helps, I think.

Damn Pruitt glad you've somewhat recovered, and SC... I find your avatar makes me feel like your neighbor.

Rush2112 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 3:12 pm and SC... I find your avatar makes me feel like your neighbor.

Abe is much better at externalizing rage. I tend to swallow it most of the time.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2019 4:13 pm Abe is much better at externalizing rage. I tend to swallow it most of the time.

DaveInSeattle's avatar: "Along with a lot of pizzas."

So I'm in Reno for the Best In The West Rib Cookoff and I have to tell you this shit is crazy. This is like the Super Bowl of rib cookoffs.

I get comped tickets every year for the VIP tent where you can sample all of the competitors (face value is $150 ea.), but it's like Thunderdome out there on the streets with all of the rib vendors and beer trucks and other entertainment (Crash Test Dummies tonight, yo!). A LOT of Trump supporters from all over rural Nevada crawl out of their hovels and make this the one time a year they turn off Fox News and actually interact with the general public. It's a bizarre collection of people and always interesting. (If I'm being honest, this is probably one of the most likely mass shooting targets for the West Coast when you factor in the sheer number of people and the clientele.)

I mostly stick around the casino, but I like to walk around the Rib Village at night when it cools down and the drunk freaks are everywhere.

mmm mmm mmm mmmm sounds good.

A_B wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:07 pm mmm mmm mmm mmmm sounds good.

I see what you did there. There's a couple of competitors from Kentucky here.

Everything I know about Reno comes from Hard Eight, The Cooler, and that examplar of mid-aughts good-bad movies Smokin' Aces.

And a side-note, they really missed a huge opportunity not calling that movie Splitting Aces.

C'mon, now. Reno 911.

Sorry, never saw.

Reno is hilariously provincial, but it's somewhat understandable when you realize that even as recently as about the early 1960s, it was the political, cultural and tourism capital of the state, only to see itself relegated as an afterthought even within Nevada as Las Vegas has developed into a world capital of tourism.

That said, there's some cool stuff to do here, even on a random weekend. Tahoe is incredible and a must-see for every American at some point and that's only 45 minutes away.

I know a few people with kids attending UNR. Cheaper for Californians than many in-state schools and they pretty much accept any kid with a pulse.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 1:12 pm I know a few people with kids attending UNR. Cheaper for Californians than many in-state schools and they pretty much accept any kid with a pulse.

Not far at all from a lot of places in Northern California either. Sacramento is only two hours away if traffic isn't bad, can do suburban San Francisco in three hours.

I wish I could adequately convey just how trashy a scene this is. There’s a guy in a wife beater playing craps with a cooler behind him. This is absolutely Trump country.

Did you ever watch Reno 911!?

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:07 pm Did you ever watch Reno 911!?

No, I probably should one of these days.

brian wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 2:52 pm I wish I could adequately convey just how trashy a scene this is. There’s a guy in a wife beater playing craps with a cooler behind him. This is absolutely Trump country.

I'm trying to figure out whether you mean a Coleman full of beer or William H. Macy.

L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:38 pm

brian wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 2:52 pm I wish I could adequately convey just how trashy a scene this is. There’s a guy in a wife beater playing craps with a cooler behind him. This is absolutely Trump country.

I'm trying to figure out whether you mean a Coleman full of beer or William H. Macy.

The former, but I understand the confusion.

I've been working with an overly obese lady on a project. She's as nice as can be, but lord I cannot get the smell of cheese out of nose for a few hours after being around her..blech.

Just got a robocall from 867-5309. I shit you not. This assholes are getting brazen.

brian wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:26 pm Just got a robocall from 867-5309. I shit you not. This assholes are getting brazen.

I'd answer that. Just to see if it was Jenny.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:34 pm

brian wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:26 pm Just got a robocall from 867-5309. I shit you not. This assholes are getting brazen.

I'd answer that. Just to see if it was Jenny.

Carpet cleaning.

Gotta screenshot that next time!

This whole "Storm Area 51" bullshit is so symptomatic and emblematic of how fucking stupid this country is.

The whole thing starts as a stupid Facebook page and then goes viral and millions of people like it and then it occurs to some people to actually go there (presumably not to actually try to invade one of the most heavily guarded military institutions on the planet) but because "hey, it'll be fun and look good on Instagram!" not realizing that where they're planning on going is an area the size of fucking Vermont and New Hampshire with literally almost zero infrastructure for handling even a few hundred tourists much less tens of thousands.

So yeah. We're fucked. (I don't think that many people are going to show up but the god's honest truth is if even like only 10,000 people show up it'll make the Fyre Festival look like the Ritz-Carlton. That's how desolate these areas are.)

Joe Rogan had that Bob Lazar dude on his podcast with the documentary about Area 51 and then some other dude who looks exactly like you think he would made some group to Naruto run the site.

Anyone with half a brain would see that it was a joke, but yeah, there are enough people in this country who are serious about it.

I'm ready for the shit to happen. And so is the Air Force, apparently.

You know, if there really are aliens and they want to speak to us, you'd think they'd go to New York City or something, instead of rural New Mexico.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:40 pm You know, if there really are aliens and they want to speak to us, you'd think they'd go to New York City or something, instead of rural New Mexico.

What makes you think they haven't done so already?

<Cue Theremin sting>