Corrective Lenses

I'm relatively lucky. I didn't need corrective lenses until I was in high school. My wife was in glasses at five.

And the thing about eyes is this: if you need corrective lenses, you have three options, none of which is good.

You could go without and be blind. For some people, it means reading at arm's length or squinting at books. For others, it means riding public transportation because they can't drive.

You could get glasses which sit on your face and collect dust. They scratch easily and make photography difficult. And it's relatively easy to get them knocked off your face.

You could get contact lenses which require daily cleaning and - quite literally - poking yourself in the eye every time you try to put them in or take them out. And that's operating under the assumption that they fit correctly.

It's a pain. And changing from one to the other is disorienting and weird, so - unless you have someone who can drive for you - you're pretty much stuck at home until you adapt. And taking your contacts off in the evenings and switching to glasses is unwise at best, as you'll spend your evening miscalculating distances and stumbling over things.

Cold Bathrooms

It generally doesn't get very cold in Seattle. People here complain when it hits the 40's, but it's really not that cold. We rarely have frost on the ground, even in the winter.

I don't turn the heat on in our apartment very often - I just don't feel the cold keenly enough to need it. I'll occasionally wrap up in a blanket or lure a cat into my lap. We'll throw an extra blanket on the bed during the winter.

But I absolutely cannot cope with a cold bathroom in the mornings. It is the one room in the house where I'll run the heater even during the summer.

I just can't handle cold feet on the way to the shower. Or on the way back out to the bedroom.

I'm honestly not sure if it's the cold bathroom that bugs me or if it's the cold floor - the only uncarpeted rooms in the apartment are the bathroom and the kitchen and I don't go into the kitchen until I've put my shoes on, at which point the cold of the floor doesn't much matter. And I have no intention of testing it, either.

Back Pain

I'm really not a fan of any sort of pain, but the most regular and reliable pain for me is that of my back. I first threw it out at the age of 12, and have been regularly in pain since.

I can function with a sprained ankle. I can handle it when my knee slows me down. But when my back decides to go completely out, I'm reduced to helplessness. And I hate it.

Not only that, but back pain has cost me more missed work than illness. By a lot.

And I really dislike that.

Poorly Moderated Forums

Yes, I know that "Fora" may be more correct than "forums," depending on who you are talking to. I should really talk sometime about English Usage and Foreign Words.

But today's post is about internet forums.

I'm involved in a number of them - I'm very active on BoardGameGeek, and am less active in several other game-related forums.

Every forum has its own feel, which is handled in part through moderation. If I insult someone on BGG, I will probably get a suspension (and will be informed of this quietly). If I insult someone on RPG.net, I will receive a red text warning in that thread. If I persist or continually cause problems, I will be suspended - and the moderators will start a threat in the "Trouble Tickets" forum to announce to the world that I have been suspended.

Neither forum is immune to flamewars, but both have avoided the worst of them. And the flamewars that DO erupt follow the "Attack the idea, not the person" pattern that RPG.net explicitly encourages.

Most other forums tend to degenerate quickly into name-calling and flame wars. To the point where I just don't go there because theres no useful content.

Pranks

It's true: I dislike pranks.

I like practical jokes, though.

A lot of people will tell you they're the same thing, but they are dead wrong.

What's the difference?

Thought.

A prank is ill-thought-out, usually very short-term, and often destructive in some way. They require little to no preparation, and are often difficult to clean up. Pranks often make one person look foolish in a way which cannot easily be dodged or evaded.

They're unfunny and not worth the time spent.