Why are you mad right now?

[RevDrucifer]

What a fucking mess. From what little I know about you, you seem like a cool dude and don't deserve this shit. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

I appreciate that, thanks. Ultimately, I know it’s not him talking. Whether it’s the mania or the addiction I don’t know, but it’s not the person I’ve called my brother for the last 20 years.

Still got to me a few times during all of it, but I guess I kinda look at it like a priest trying to exorcise a demon.

 

[RevDrucifer]

This sounds a lot like one of my mother's roommates. She's bipolar, and unfortunately a self-medicating bipolar at that. She can be humming along perfectly fine for weeks, then some trigger events happens and she goes right into manic hysteria. It's wild to witness. For the most part, her husband tries to corral her when she goes into those episodes, but when he can't shit gets real weird real fast. Chatting with him, he says its a constant, daily struggle, and has been for as long as he's known her. He's locked herself to her and will remain her keeper during those times. I wish him all the best for what he's doing, though I know I wouldn't have what it takes to be what he's being for her. And deep down, I think she respects it because he can, sometimes, pull her back from the edge without things getting physical.

I wish I had advice, but just wanted to share that I've seen similar behavior from someone diagnosed bipolar.

That’s gotta be absolutely brutal for him. I hope there’s some kind of payoff for all his efforts because I coudn’t handle that either.

This is absolutely going to be something he battles with for the rest of his life. Even if he can get the mania to subside a bit, there’s still a raving addiction going on and most people are lucky to make it through life without just one of those taking you out.

I did have two times with my bro where I know he was coming through, just very tiny glimpses, but at two different point I knew he was aware of what was going on and as fast as they came, they were gone again. I’m sure your mom’s roommate has had a couple of those and values him considerably as a result.

 

[MFB]

If you dont mind, id like to offer up my perspective as a recovering addict. Back when I was addicted to pain meds (my teeth were destroyed from years of improper hygiene and constant military deployments)

Completely off-topic, but I assume you got a full fix on the chompers since then, and if so, how much of a PITA was that? As an adult, I'm so fucking negligent of my own oral care, between depression and then the pandemic, and now I'm stuck in this "well I know it's going to be bad, but they're not screaming in pain now so why bother?" loop even though I should care.

 

[Demiurge]

Completely off-topic, but I assume you got a full fix on the chompers since then, and if so, how much of a PITA was that? As an adult, I'm so fucking negligent of my own oral care, between depression and then the pandemic, and now I'm stuck in this "well I know it's going to be bad, but they're not screaming in pain now so why bother?" loop even though I should care.

Question wasn't posed to me, but as someone who went through a period of extended neglect, get to someone before anything really starts hurting. I waited until things went sideways and quickly discovered that the veneer between 'well-adjusted person with good pain tolerance' and 'thinking about throwing self down the stairs get pain meds in the ER' was thinner than I thought.

 

[MFB]

Question wasn't posed to me, but as someone who went through a period of extended neglect, get to someone before anything really starts hurting. I waited until things went sideways and quickly discovered that the veneer between 'well-adjusted person with good pain tolerance' and 'thinking about throwing self down the stairs get pain meds in the ER' was thinner than I thought.

I want to overhaul the whole damn thing, like, just doing cavities feels like a waste since the exterior is shit too, but I'll have to see what a professional says about doing more natural looking veneers because I'll be in the ground before someone gives me some Miley-ass looking ones

 

[RevDrucifer]

Completely off-topic, but I assume you got a full fix on the chompers since then, and if so, how much of a PITA was that? As an adult, I'm so fucking negligent of my own oral care, between depression and then the pandemic, and now I'm stuck in this "well I know it's going to be bad, but they're not screaming in pain now so why bother?" loop even though I should care.

I can chime in a bit here, I had some horrible dental work done as a kid by a dentist that had his license taken away, long story there.

It’s more costly than anything, insurance doesn’t cover shit for actually replacing teeth, just removing them. It’s amazing how so much about your teeth/mouth can affect your physical and mental health negatively, but too bad, so sad if ya don’t have $3K to drop a new tooth in….after a couple grand on getting the jaw bone worked on the accept the new tooth.

When I went to my current dentist I told her what occurred when I was a kid and why I was willing to deal with the pain of a tooth breaking over the course of years instead of getting it fixed, she made sure I didn’t feel a fuckin’ THING! I’ve had impacted teeth extracted, veneers on the top 8 teeth, any of my deep cleanings, etc, didn’t feel a thing!

Speaking from experience, it IS better to go and try to get something taken care of before it gets worse. They’ll tell you right away if you’re going to need a root canal or if something is salvageable and it’s definitely worth it to get ahead of it. They might be able to fill a cavity that could turn into a fracture down the road that turns into a root canal that turns into an impacted tooth, etc.

Before I started getting mine fixed I had a bit of a “Fuck it, they’re already fucked” mentality and my dentist was like “Nooo!!! Don’t think that way!!! We want to save them all we can!”

 

[RevDrucifer]

I want to overhaul the whole damn thing, like, just doing cavities feels like a waste since the exterior is shit too, but I'll have to see what a professional says about doing more natural looking veneers because I'll be in the ground before someone gives me some Miley-ass looking ones

Oh dude, they can do some pretty cool shit with that. They matched my top veneers with my natural teeth and you’d never know they weren’t the same age. The whole process is actually pretty cool and there’s some art involved in how they shape the teeth to look natural after.

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

Funny that dental talk bubbled up...guy I've been seeing for nearly the last 15 years retired and sold his practice a few months ago.
Not sure how I feel about the new owners yet. I made one visit and they scheduled me for more dental work than I've ever had in my life.
I also criminally neglect my teeth and am a 1~3 cavities a year guy. One visit and they want to put me in for 8 fillings and a crown. Kinda feels like they're ringing up work to ring up work but at the same time, what do I know; maybe the original guy wasn't catching / addressing things that should have been addressed. And it's not like there's a lot of options around here either.

Wish I wasn't such a cynical bastard; whole family's just had so much bad luck with the medical industry as a whole it's tough not to be.

It’s amazing how so much about your teeth/mouth can affect your physical and mental health negatively, but too bad, so sad if ya don’t have $3K to drop a new tooth in….after a couple grand on getting the jaw bone worked on the accept the new tooth.

This also is wild; up until the aforementioned spree of work I had no idea just how bad dental insurance usually is. Like yeah you're all good for cleanings and maybe a few fillings but if you need any actual work done....buckle up, buttercup; you're on your own.

 

[soldierkahn]

Completely off-topic, but I assume you got a full fix on the chompers since then, and if so, how much of a PITA was that? As an adult, I'm so fucking negligent of my own oral care, between depression and then the pandemic, and now I'm stuck in this "well I know it's going to be bad, but they're not screaming in pain now so why bother?" loop even though I should care.

if you arent wildly in pain yet, then you still have time to save them. I got all of my remaining teeth removed (about 13) when my pain management doctor said he wasnt going to be prescribing pain meds anymore for me to slowly get them fixed. was on 180 Hydrocodones(aka vicodin/lortab) a month just to be able to function at my job and had to stop cold turkey with about 6 exposed nerves left to be repaired. I couldnt stand the pain and no pain management doctor would even see me, so on top of having to deal with opiate withdrawal, i got all 13 pulled at the same time. that was about 20 years ago, and I still havent gotten my dentures yet.

 

[LordCashew]

Every goddamn time I try to finish painting my xiphos build something goes wrong. Shit drifts onto the still wet finish, it drips, or it cures somewhat and then gets fucked up by the painting wedges I use to keep it off the plastic wrap. Yesterday I was spraying and the damn spray tent stuck to it and left white and slime green residue in only one area. So tired of this shit, I'm about to buy a sprayer setup and build a dedicated spray booth just so I don't have to constantly deal with this shit.

For my last refin, I made a "spray booth" by taping a bunch of painter's plastic around a big ladder. There was just enough room to hang the body inside without risk of it touching an edge, and it was quite effective at keeping dust off (especially considering I had it setup outdoors). Also it was small enough I could move the whole setup inside at night so the paint could continue to dry with the body suspended.

 

[phillybhatesme]

Again with this 8pm USPS delivery bullshit.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

For my last refin, I made a "spray booth" by taping a bunch of painter's plastic around a big ladder. There was just enough room to hang the body inside without risk of it touching an edge, and it was quite effective at keeping dust off (especially considering I had it setup outdoors). Also it was small enough I could move the whole setup inside at night so the paint could continue to dry with the body suspended.

My little pop up spray tent works fine except for when it's windy (which it was on the day where it stuck to my xiphos). I'm honestly at the point I'm going to buy some fucking mdf/acrylic sheeting to make a dedicated booth. This kind of shit is why 99% of hobbyist luthiers just do natural stains/oils. Actual professional looking paint jobs are WAYYYYY more work.

 

[LordCashew]

Actual professional looking paint jobs are WAYYYYY more work.

True that! I ran in to a number of issues using rattle-can lacquer from Lowes that made my refin pure hassle. Ended up stripping my first attempt and starting over at some point. The second attempt came out looking pro and I was SO proud.

...only for a couple small areas to bubble and peel when my band's trailer got hot the next summer.

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

My work made very clear a while back that they want to be very strict about following the call-in policy for sick time etc. This includes any request to work from home.
Said policy is to reach out to your direct report ASAP and inform them of your scheduled tasks, meetings, etc for the day and receive approval. No approval, you better show up.
Recently, a new position was created for me that reports directly to the CEO. He's kind of an eccentric guy. This means he's nigh-impossible to reliably get ahold of.

So this morning I woke up feeling not excellent. I'm in IT though and can easily do my whole job remote and I'm not feeling bad enough to take the whole day off, so I ping him about 2 hours before my day starts to see if he'd mind if I worked from home today on the off chance I was coming down with something. He's out of town right now so he's 2 hours ahead; in my mind, no reason he shouldn't see the message. You know; sticking to the policy.

Crickets.
I get ready and head out to work once the time rolls around where I'd need to leave to get there on time.
And of course I get pulled over and get a ticket on my way into the office. So I ping him again to let him know I'm going to be late and why; and this time, I get a response right away.
"That sucks."

Yeah. Yeah it does suck.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

True that! I ran in to a number of issues using rattle-can lacquer from Lowes that made my refin pure hassle. Ended up stripping my first attempt and starting over at some point. The second attempt came out looking pro and I was SO proud.

...only for a couple small areas to bubble and peel when my band's trailer got hot the next summer.

Over the years I've managed to figure out that painting is like 90% prep and 10% fervently praying to whatever deity controls the weather and gnats to give me an uneventful spray session.

Outside of automotive grade poly I've yet to find a good off the shelf spray clear coat option. Crystalac works great but it's not nearly as durable as a 2 part automotive clear.
The first couple of guitars I made the mistake of using Rustoleum's poly and that shit never fully hardens. I had to use a heat gun and a scraper to get it off. Most spray can lacquers are garbage ime.

 

[nightsprinter]

I'm gonna have to make one to pay for all these fkn tools

Gotta show your tool to get the tools, sorry bud.

 

[LordCashew]

that shit never fully hardens

Exactly the issue I encountered with "Valspar" acrylic lacquer. It's like a harder vinyl wrap or something...

I'm going to refinish that bass properly at some point, but time is at a premium now that I have a kid. Not to mention multiple stalled home improvement projects. So for now on the rare occasion I actually play the thing, it's a "heavy relic."

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Exactly the issue I encountered with "Valspar" acrylic lacquer. It's like a harder vinyl wrap or something...

I'm going to refinish that bass properly at some point, but time is at a premium now that I have a kid. Not to mention multiple stalled home improvement projects. So for now on the rare occasion I actually play the thing, it's a "heavy relic."

Yeah I gave up on my xiphos for now while I rip out all the carpet upstairs and replace it with hardwood flooring. I miss when I could just fixate on guitar stuff and not house stuff

 

[LordCashew]

Yeah I gave up on my xiphos for now while I rip out all the carpet upstairs and replace it with hardwood flooring. I miss when I could just fixate on guitar stuff and not house stuff

Looool I resemble this comment... I just re-floored most of my house from carpet to vinyl plank. Just one closet left to paint and floor, but it's Tetris'd full of cased guitars and basses and I need to clear a big enough place to pile them elsewhere...

 

[nightsprinter]

ITT today: