Friday OT - IDK

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Angie

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I don't really have it in me this week to come up with a fluffy bull**** "what was your favorite game as a kid" style thread when people are just ****ty to each other, so much is awful and we are helpless in so many ways to make real changes, and we're politicizing everything from medicine to human rights. I don't know.

I guess just to have a thread - how are you doing? I mean, at a real level, how are you doing? How is everyone around you doing? What can we all do to help each other?
 

NWICY

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I don't really have it in me this week to come up with a fluffy bull**** "what was your favorite game as a kid" style thread when people are just ****ty to each other, so much is awful and we are helpless in so many ways to make real changes, and we're politicizing everything from medicine to human rights. I don't know.

I guess just to have a thread - how are you doing? I mean, at a real level, how are you doing? How is everyone around you doing? What can we all do to help each other?

Hey you read Jeff Johnson's letter yesterday. ;)
 

Angie

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Doing okay. Helping my wife through it, which helps me in a weird way as I can focus on her more. On top of everything else going on, she lost her dog of 16 years, and her father has terminal cancer. This year has been a lot for her, to say the least.

I'm so sorry. I think sometimes focusing on other people is the best way we can deal with things.

Hey you read Jeff Johnson's letter yesterday. ;)

Oh my gosh, I actually hadn't, but I just searched it! That's crazy, I hadn't read that.

But it's true. Right now isn't about how I feel at all, and my job is to listen right now to the others who matter in the arenas that matter. But OMG, it's horrifying - everything going on is horrifying. It's a lot to process.
 

NWICY

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Been doing ok, markets are rough but work still needs to be done so I've had no trouble keeping busy, making a profit may be a different issue. Been blessed with my family's good health. 2 nieces graduated this spring and another gets married soon so yeah life is ok for me. Hope all the rest of CF finds a way to get through what ever problems they may be having.
 

NWICY

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I'm so sorry. I think sometimes focusing on other people is the best way we can deal with things.



Oh my gosh, I actually hadn't, but I just searched it! That's crazy, I hadn't read that.

But it's true. Right now isn't about how I feel at all, and my job is to listen right now to the others who matter in the arenas that matter. But OMG, it's horrifying - everything going on is horrifying. It's a lot to process.

That's pretty funny, your topic just summarized his letter into fewer sentences.
 

SCyclone

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We have been struggling with my wife's parents....they don't seem to grasp the severity of the threat to them, and have still been going to stores, out in public, etc. It's tough.

Plus, a few weeks ago I received a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis, which is a progressive and terminal lung disease. I am taking a med that has shown to slow its progression, and Tuesday I go to Iowa City to see what the pulmonology people there are doing for people with IPF. I have also investigated a couple holistic possibilities that I intend to ask the doctor about.

Trying to stay positive, and leave it all in God's strong hands. I wish people could have more empathy and compassion. Too often we tend to look inward instead of projecting ourselves outward, to share together our communal issues and understand what it's like being someone else.

I do know that CF is a real refuge for me. I have been befriended by some real special people here.

But then, what would you expect from Cyclone fans??!!?? :p
 

Angie

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That's pretty funny, your topic just summarized his letter into fewer sentences.

I am wondering if it is a more common feeling than any of us realize. It really was close, wasn't it?
 

Angie

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We have been struggling with my wife's parents....they don't seem to grasp the severity of the threat to them, and have still been going to stores, out in public, etc. It's tough.

Plus, a few weeks ago I received a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis, which is a progressive and terminal lung disease. I am taking a med that has shown to slow its progression, and Tuesday I go to Iowa City to see what the pulmonology people there are doing for people with IPF. I have also investigated a couple holistic possibilities that I intend to ask the doctor about.

Trying to stay positive, and leave it all in God's strong hands. I wish people could have more empathy and compassion. Too often we tend to look inward instead of projecting ourselves outward, to share together our communal issues and understand what it's like being someone else.

I do know that CF is a real refuge for me. I have been befriended by some real special people here.

But then, what would you expect from Cyclone fans??!!?? :p

I'm so very sorry. You are in great hands, but I can only guess how hard right now is. I'm here if you ever need to just blow off steam or anything.
 

CloneLawman

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Wherever I go, there I am.
I don't really have it in me this week to come up with a fluffy bull**** "what was your favorite game as a kid" style thread when people are just ****ty to each other, so much is awful and we are helpless in so many ways to make real changes, and we're politicizing everything from medicine to human rights. I don't know.

I guess just to have a thread - how are you doing? I mean, at a real level, how are you doing? How is everyone around you doing? What can we all do to help each other?
Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly.;)
 

Angie

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Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly.;)

I think that is so precise and succinct! Right now (and always) is about those struggling, and how we can help them.
 

jbindm

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OK, all things considered. I certainly feel better today than I did last weekend and Monday, which was about as low as I've felt since the world lost its mind last February/March. How are you holding up @Angie ?

I don't know. I wrote a long-ish post in another thread about how my wife and I have agonized all week over sending our kids back to daycare and finally decided to go through with it starting Monday. I think that there will be immediate benefits to it, but that fear of one of them getting sick or bringing the virus home to infect someone else is always going to be lurking in the back of our minds as well.

It's just hard times. I'm grateful for CF but I wonder if I'll ever care about sports and other things that used to be distractions and hobbies that I really enjoyed as much ever again, even when this is all behind us.

I'm constantly reminded of the old Onion headline that came out not long after 9/11.

download.jpg
 

CloneLawman

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Wherever I go, there I am.
I think that is so precise and succinct! Right now (and always) is about those struggling, and how we can help them.
Absolutely! It staggers me to the core even trying to wrap my brain around all the hurt, pain, and struggling going on. And, of course, there are no simple solutions to anything. Corny as hell , but I keep thinking about Gandalf telling Frodo "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
 

cyson

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Absolutely! It staggers me to the core even trying to wrap my brain around all the hurt, pain, and struggling going on. And, of course, there are no simple solutions to anything. Corny as hell , but I keep thinking about Gandalf telling Frodo "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Been giving thought the last few days to reading Lord of the Rings again. Usually like to start it in the fall.
 

CycloneRulzzz

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I'm physically and mentally exhausted. Tired of all the division and hate. Wish I could trade places with any of over 100,000 who have lost their lives this year because I truly feel that where they are is a better place than I am. I'm nothing special.
 

CloneLawman

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Wherever I go, there I am.
I'm physically and mentally exhausted. Tired of all the division and hate. Wish I could trade places with any of over 100,000 who have lost their lives this year because I truly feel that where they are is a better place than I am. I'm nothing special.


Dude, there is only one Rulzzz, and CF (and the world in general) is a much better place for having you. Hang in there!!
 
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Gonzo

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Behind you
Wifey works in health care and a month or so back I was seriously concerned. She was highly stressed out and there was a lot of uncertainty. She works with providers who are very cool, calm, don't get rattled. And with this whole thing, seeing them rattled, it freaked her out. Luckily things have smoothed out greatly since then and she's in a much better place.
 
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CoachHines3

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going through the process of buying a 13 acre farm that's been in family for 80 years. good/bad thoughts.

try to block everything else out. positivity!
 

Angie

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OK, all things considered. I certainly feel better today than I did last weekend and Monday, which was about as low as I've felt since the world lost its mind last February/March. How are you holding up @Angie ?

I don't know. I wrote a long-ish post in another thread about how my wife and I have agonized all week over sending our kids back to daycare and finally decided to go through with it starting Monday. I think that there will be immediate benefits to it, but that fear of one of them getting sick or bringing the virus home to infect someone else is always going to be lurking in the back of our minds as well.

It's just hard times. I'm grateful for CF but I wonder if I'll ever care about sports and other things that used to be distractions and hobbies that I really enjoyed as much ever again, even when this is all behind us.

I'm constantly reminded of the old Onion headline that came out not long after 9/11.

View attachment 72493

You're so kind to ask. We just had that same struggle last week, as daycare reopened this past Monday for our youngest. I messaged the pediatrician, I sent her the new guidelines for the center, etc. - basically trying to make myself feel better about a decision that sucks. Because the choices are between making him able to thrive when he starts school in the fall by giving him structure (since he's had none while we work from home), or potentially exposing him to life-threatening illness. WTH, that's a crap decision.

But yes, I think that is exactly it - things like racism and poverty and such don't affect me personally because I was born middle-class white in the midwest. I am pretty damn lucky, and there is so much time when I'm able to NOT think about it, but others sure can't. I am able to not think much about COVID, because nobody in my home or extended family has been affected yet - and if we are, we are lucky to have access to healthcare. These aren't political proclamations, they're just physical facts of my existence. Right now exposes more than ever how much I have to learn. And the absolute last thing I want to do is to share these feelings with anyone, because DUDE none of this is about me right now. So I focus on trying to teach my kids and make them better.

Absolutely! It staggers me to the core even trying to wrap my brain around all the hurt, pain, and struggling going on. And, of course, there are no simple solutions to anything. Corny as hell , but I keep thinking about Gandalf telling Frodo "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

There is so little that I can actually do - so I'm trying to work with my kids a lot, and to expose them in age-appropriate ways to what is right and wrong (at least in my eyes). To how we can help and not hurt. And do small things - donate to funds and entities, be a part of local movements, etc.