How was your summer.

[Nic]

I've just read @mzy12 saying he had a strange summer. @MichaelW is back after having a rough summer/year.

So, kind of curious, what's a strange summer? How was your summer? I myself think I had the best summer of my life, or at least of my adulthood.

So much beautiful summer days, time to accomplish a lot, nice bike rides, not taking the kids to daycamp every morning, a nice trip in Italy...

How was your summer.

 

[Harry Klippton]

Sucked.

 

[Nic]

Sucked.

What sucked? Everything I suppose?

 

[bean]

Shoot, summer is still happening here in middle Tenn. I'll get back to you in another 3-4 weeks.

 

[jcpst]

Some bad, some good

Had a knee surgery so I was laid up for a while. I can walk again, but can’t do any of the outdoorsy things I would normally do.

I stopped drinking two months ago. It was getting out of hand and I didn’t see a way out. I’m on meds for the cravings, I feel so much better.

My job is , but I can’t justify complaining about it. It’s just not as good relative to before we laid off a crapload of people.

 

[Stickman393]

Fuckin hot and miserable.

Still is.

Some bad, some good

Had a knee surgery so I was laid up for a while. I can walk again, but can’t do any of the outdoorsy things I would normally do.

I stopped drinking two months ago. It was getting out of hand and I didn’t see a way out. I’m on meds for the cravings, I feel so much better.

My job is , but I can’t justify complaining about it. It’s just not as good relative to before we laid off a crapload of people.

I've adopted a bit of a modified sobriety in recent months. Was 100% sober for a good 7 years.

Now, I'll allow myself a beer with company. And psychedelics should the opportunity arise.

That's in comparison to when I was in my late 20s and would drink about a third of a liter of whiskey every night. No good.

Naltrexone worked pretty well for me. Plus getting on antidepressants and stimulants to help with the ADHD. Alcohol...and a bunch of other stuff...was my self-medication before. It didn't work nearly as well as I thought it did.

Sobriety is better. Even if life is a big ball of stupid that you kinda have to bat at like a cat that has caught sight of a laser pointer.

 

[jcpst]

Naltrexone worked pretty well for me. Plus getting on antidepressants and stimulants to help with the ADHD. Alcohol...and a bunch of other stuff...was my self-medication before. It didn't work nearly as well as I thought it did.

Sobriety is better.

Yep, Naltrexone is what I’m on.

When both my kids were diagnosed adhd and asd and started getting treatment, I started getting help. I was like “What the fuck am I doing? I need to fix my shit.”

Anyway… Sorry you all are still balls deep in hot weather. Especially if you live somewhere humid.

 

[jimilee]

I quit cold turkey 18 years ago. The cravings still come up every now and then, I just have to not let myself get into situations that could allow me to drink.

My summer? The usual, 3 or 4 new guitars, few new amps, very little playing. Little trips here and there and spending time with my family. It’s a different kind of better now that they’re all grown.

 

[Band of Dans]

Naltrexone worked pretty well for me. Plus getting on antidepressants and stimulants to help with the ADHD. Alcohol...and a bunch of other stuff...was my self-medication before. It didn't work nearly as well as I thought it did.

Lots of ADHD-folk in these parts, myself included. Maybe not too surprising given how deep of a rabbit hole this hobby is. Glad you’re figuring it out, though. Self-medication is extremely common among ADHD folk (as you prob already know) and it takes some real introspection and not a small amount of courage to recognize it.

 

[Stickman393]

Lots of ADHD-folk in these parts, myself included. Maybe not too surprising given how deep of a rabbit hole this hobby is. Glad you’re figuring it out, though. Self-medication is extremely common among ADHD folk (as you prob already know) and it takes some real introspection and not a small amount of courage to recognize it.

Not so much.

More like a therapist that goaded me into giving going clean and sober a shot.

Caught me at just the right time too. Cause I was just like WELL FINE, I guess everything is so shitty that I guess I'll take away the thing that gets me through it all too. How about that, smart guy? Im serious. I'll give it a shot and I'll PROVE to you that trying to make anything better is just a waste of time!!!!

Then, I did. And then I started feeling better. And it was really...*really* annoying.

 

[mzy12]

I had an unexpected summer in my helping out of someone near and dear to me. They ended up spending most of the months couch surfing, mainly on my own couch. Thankfully they're quite literally in a better place now and have a mostly stable living condition

Lots of ADHD-folk in these parts, myself included. Maybe not too surprising given how deep of a rabbit hole this hobby is.

Haha I got diagnosed with ADHD myself at the end of the summer! Managing the combo of autism and ADHD is definitely a unique challenge

College is back for me now and I'm learning how to manage my brain long term with all the various health problems I have. Thankfully the course is right up my wheelhouse (Electronics Engineering) so I'm able to take the information in very quickly, if I don't know it already! (Hello autism! )

 

[Stickman393]

Haha I got diagnosed with ADHD myself at the end of the summer! Managing the combo of autism and ADHD is definitely a unique challenge

It's important to take the 50,000 foot view here too.

I mean, ADHD and ASD are both part of the aneurotypical bucket. Which is really just a way of saying "processes information differently than most folks"

The only reason it's a problem is because everything in our society is designed for neurotypical folk. Specifically by those who are inclined towards the behaviors that get one into positions of power: Competitive, self-aggrandizing, greedy, win-at-any costs attitudes. Because of course those that are highly driven towards our metrics of success would need to engage in the world this way: it's just business. It's what the market rewards.

Problem is, anybody who isn't inclined towards the same sort of success-and-clout-chasing needs a little something to hold onto in order withstand what can be a neverending onslaught of the brutality of just how unsafe our position in society is. After all: you don't want to end up like the masses of homeless camped out on the streets, do you?

It's no wonder that drug companies have stepped into the gap, and why antidepressant and other medicines associated with psychiatry have seen such widespread use. Because we're treating the symptoms of a sickness that our hyperindiviualistic society is too afraid to face:

That Capitalism, as it currently exists, is destroying our planet, our bodies, and our minds.

But as much as I may desire a different world: I gotta live in this one and make my wage just like everyone else. Drugs help with that.

At least until the DEA continually refuses to increase the supply of the raw materials required to manufacture said drugs, and name-brand pharmaceutical companies hoard said raw materials because they can sell their name-brand variety at like 3-4x the cost, which causes a shortage of said medicines and then a bunch of adults and parents of ADHD children have to scramble for hours every month to find alternatives while still upholding the expectations placed upon us by our workplaces. At least, that's what they have to do because their insanely expensive health insurance won't cover the cost of anything but the generic medication. Those who can afford to pay out of pocket are barely affected at all.

Cause that's how a *good* system works.

 

[joeyd]

This conversation has me wondering how many hobbyist communities are propped up by neurodivergent people. It's funny how, on most pedal building forums, you can ask a question about a circuit and get an extremely detailed response. Like detailed to the point that it's basically indistinguishable from something an electrical engineer would write but it's qualified with "I'm just a hobbyist." I really wish I could turn the hyper focus/fixation on when it was convenient.

More on topic - asking the list of hobbies that I do, rock climbing is one of my favorites. This was my first summer since having kids that I managed to continue climbing through. I had been taking a break between May and September (local gym hours change) and absolutely suffering (physically) when I started again. It's my main social outlet (the sport is like 80% chatting with friends) so I felt much less isolation through this summer.

 

[andrewsrea]

Summer was productive. Lots of science project type amp and guitar repairs. Family is happy and healthy. Got to travel a little. Enjoyed the longer hours of sunlight.
Now enjoying fall, but not really looking forward to winter.

 

[jcpst]

That Capitalism, as it currently exists, is destroying our planet, our bodies, and our minds.

In a lot of cases I see what people call “neurodivergent” as people who are in touch with their primeval senses. Aware of their place in the tree of life. They see modern society for what it is. They see people as equals, which clashes with authority.

Obviously an over-generalization.

But I will keep helping my c-level lords collect their billions in exchange for having enough monetary units for my slice of peace, knowing that a majority of people don’t get that.

I really love that the topic of this thread is like the typical small talk “so how bout that weather”, “summer is over eh?”, and it goes off into an existential tangent (partly my fault).

Right now is this perfect little slice of weather here- 50s low 70s high. It won’t last long, but it’s my favorite.

 

[Stickman393]

I really love that the topic of this thread is like the typical small talk “so how bout that weather”, “summer is over eh?”, and it goes off into an existential tangent (partly my fault).

Something that Stickwife has graciously tolerates in her husband:

That the most innocuous comments will often send me careening into a soapbox rant about how incentive structures dictate what behavior is rewarded, and how all our incentives are fucked because so much of our political and media ecosystems are finely tuned towards the interests of those who have the most, because we've decided that money is speech and those with the most money get the most speech, which also ties the idea of speech to the idea that it is something that one must "earn" and those without the speech to spend simply have not worked hard enough to make enough extra speech to spend on a $10,000 super PAC donation that nets the company they own an extra billion in revenue cause the candidate they backed in the primary is super into you not having to do neighborly things like not polluting the drinking water in an entire zip code.

How's my summer, you ask me?!?! How's my FUCKING summer?!?!?

 

[MichaelW]

Lots of ADHD-folk in these parts, myself included. Maybe not too surprising given how deep of a rabbit hole this hobby is. Glad you’re figuring it out, though. Self-medication is extremely common among ADHD folk (as you prob already know) and it takes some real introspection and not a small amount of courage to recognize it.

This......

 

[RetiredUnit1]

Warm. Very warm. With humidity and 68f dew point on the side dish.

And I'd take capitalism any day over slavery-ism which is what socialism is. Ask anyone from Russia in the 70's. They told you what you could eat, where you would live, what you would do for a living and you cannot own anything. The government owns *everything* including your liver if someone more important that you needs it. Remember, you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.

 

[joeyd]

And I'd take capitalism any day over slavery-ism which is what socialism is. Ask anyone from Russia in the 70's. They told you what you could eat, where you would live, what you would do for a living and you cannot own anything. The government owns *everything* including your liver if someone more important that you needs it. Remember, you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.

lol

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]