Audre Lorde on self-preservation
I’ve been a Momo fan for years, and just rediscovered him on YouTube. Want a motivational coach who’s a literal rock star as well as a pretty insightful dude? Then you want Momo. Here’s his advice for people whose work week grinds them down so they don’t have the energy to change the world on their time off.
Now I don’t feel so bad about never taking the weekend off.
Human gerbils
You wouldn’t think there’d be a lot of paperwork involved in being a hippie. You’d be wrong. It just comes with bonus hard physical work and holistic “Namaste” garnishes.
By Monday, I will have walked 15 miles because of government cutbacks. #FACT. I have certain paperwork that has to be completed “within five business days” at a certain government office in Not-Ucluelet. This deadline was assigned Wednesday. On Thursday, I walked in to Not-Ucluelet, 2.5 miles, to find out the office was closed. I walked back to OpHippie Global HQ, disgruntled and somewhat fried, for lo I am middle aged and fat, although 4″ around the waist less fat than I was when I got here.
OHO! I thought. I will be cleverer tomorrow! I will phone and ask if they can do this before walking into town.
I did so today. They confirmed that, yes, the paperwork had to be done in that office, it was open, and the paperwork, in fact, COULD be done at that office today.
I walked into the office. Another 2.5 miles. The only staffer there said she hadn’t been trained on that software and could not help me, so could I come back on Monday.
Ty. Pi. Cal.
I walked back, 2.5 miles. And on Monday, I get to do it all again, hopefully minus the futility. Meanwhile, the actual client work I’ve already been paid for has to wait for all this goddam walking to be over, which naturally the clients are not thrilled about.
For this and other, Going Completely “The Beach” Related Reasons, this phase of OpHippie is drawing to a close. The ecovillage has essentially been kicked off the land, as in we are all welcome to stay here, but we have to spend our daily work ration working for the landowner, not the ecovillage, which means that the entire reason I moved here is suddenly entirely gone, replaced with two hours of literally shoveling shit and planting and weeding a day, while being denied the opportunity to do my own work, because the only room with wifi closes early, and I do my best work at night.
And the only cafes in town close – get this – prior to 5pm.
So.
While I am still committed to the ecovillage idea, this particular iteration is collapsing, the core group is splitting up and heading in different directions, and I need to find another home and another way to support myself until The Sikrit Projeckt is launched. I have an interview down the road at a resort on the beach for a night auditor/manager job tomorrow, as well as a freelance opportunity that’s up in the air, and a job audition for a great opportunity in Vancouver (literally, the ONLY job I would consider moving back to Vancouver for). If I get the job tomorrow, I’ll be living in staff accommodations right on the beach. If I get the second, I’ll rent a room in a shared house in Not-Ucluelet. If I get the third, I’ll get a room in a shared place in Vancouver, and I happen to have a line on one that’s good.
Next week, I’ll be back in Vancouver to do some pet-sitting, and after that? Who knows? The uncertainty, at least, is a totally hippie experience. Man.
PS: Propane leak in the kitchen tonight, and the window is still missing from the office after the break-in, so I have a choice of poisoning myself or not getting my work done tonight.
So, that’s the state of OpHippie. Anarchy. How fitting.
The Grand Haul
Well, there it is, as promised: The Grand Haul of my shopping trip.
So that’s the haul that my esteemed donors bought for me. You know who you are, and I cannot thank you enough.
From the sounds of it, my friend Brenda will be coming up-Island soon bearing fresh bedding for me (Shahee has loaned me an awesome sleeping bag which keeps me so warm some nights I don’t light a fire at all), plates and cups and the like, and some camping equipment to make life easier. Another very kind person whom I met on Twitter has bought me a Swiss Army Knife, destined to be useful every single moment of its existence. And tomorrow the newest arrival to camp is going to see about putting a window into my cabin; he’s handy with construction projects and mechanical items and may even fix the starter on the Beautiful Bus.
As distinct from the Magic Bus, which is an entirely different modified schoolbus a little farther along the trail. No, I’m not kidding.
The workshare here is about two hours a day, six days a week, which is not onerous but has a great deal to do with why I’m losing weight. Okay, so does having to walk two miles to the liquor store and not having any money when you get there. And the amount of meat I’ve consumed this week is: two bison sausages. Period. Otherwise, my protein comes from cheese, lentils, and free range eggs (no chickens here, but wait for it). And I’m not eating much that’s been fried, not even eggs, and the condiments I use are limited because I have to carry them in here from town: sambal, peanut butter, ponzu sauce, soy sauce, Major Grey Chutney which can render even quinoa edible or almost, and that’s pretty much it. Got some pasta, got some peppers and onions, got some rice noodles and quinoa and all the bloody kale you could ever eat.
The work itself is things like: breaking up tiles rejected from the factory, turning them into gravel, and spreading them in the potholes. Cutting up the tree trunks in the woodpile to manageable chunks. Bringing deadfall wood into the woodshed to dry out so it can become kindling. Picking up the garbage left behind by overnighters etc and cleaning up campsites in general in preparation for spring, working on the occupancy agreement (which I have been avoiding as it is already 41 pages long and I’d rather work on a simplified version, but the consensus model means a geometric increase in paper every time you make a change of any kind), breaking down and moving the old, full latrines and setting up new ones using the humanure composting system. It’s pretty basic: you have two pails. One is full of sawdust and a scoop. You put a toilet seat on the empty pail and do your thing in it, then you cover that with sawdust. Eventually it turns into compost.
When I was talking about coming here I thought what I’d be doing was basically setting up systems for workshops and marketing those workshops to whoever…and there are a lot of people interested in this sort of thing. We have people here who can teach, people with skills. We’ve got some musicians, we’ve got a civil engineer who can design shelters for people (who can then build them as part of the workshop), we’ve got Shahee who can teach raw vegan food preparation and do massage and lead yoga and meditation, we’ve got surfers who can teach, we’ve got me, and the new guy in addition to being a competent mechanic is also a tai chi instructor.
Yet.
At the moment, Symbiosis Ecovillage is a concept and an agreement but not yet a corporation, nonprofit, or registered society. So all of that is up in the air until some sort of legal framework is in place. Yes, I can work towards putting that legal framework in place, but there are things I’d rather do.
Like sit by the fire and share some Jameson’s with my friends.
Like go down to the beach (which I’ve done only once, and I am ashamed of myself for that).
Like do a hike on one of the local trails. Like take a kayaking tour of Clayoquot Sound. Like build my own rocket stove and hot water system, and install a thermal converter so that one little wood stove can give me power, heat, and hot water.
Not that there aren’t other distractions nearby in the great metropolis of Not-Ucluelet.
Keven Spacey is as confused as I am
Well, I may get whiplash from this rollercoaster life (if I don’t get it from doing yet another faceplant trying to walk on the slippery boardwalk). As some of you know, the Daily Dot and I have parted company. That was planned and a very long time coming, but it had to be done and it was done last week when I sent in the final invoice and, well, it was sad but it was better if you know what I mean. Then I moved to a place where my rent is paid with two hours a day of wood chopping, compost researching, boardwalk repairing, etc, started losing weight automatically, and all was well.
Yesterday, raincoaster.com celebrated its eighth birthday! I still remember all 64 of my first day’s hits, which I got by begging in the comments section on Boris Johnson’s blog.
That left me with Ayyyy.com as my sole paid gig.
Guess what happened to Ayyyy.com today.
Hello, welcome to WordPress.com. How may the men in white coats help you? Perhaps with the “Bunny Jacket”?
From time to time, as regular readers of the ol’ raincoaster blog may be aware, we volunteer in the WordPress.com technical support forums. One uses the Royal “We” here, you understand. One understands. Hopefully, given the stats on this blog, at least several of you understand.
And in the depths of the technical support forums, we occasionally encounter a type which requires technical support more than most; it requires, in fact, medical intervention. As long as they remain polite, they get help. Once they lower the bar, however, they become my lawful prey and learn just what real, true, bar-lowering looks like up close and/or personal.
Behold.
Member
Feb 7, 2014, 3:31 PM
Please noteth that unless by the fourteenth of February of the year twenty fourteen WordPress.com does not remove the personal information of and not exclusive to names, addresses, dates of birth, names of children, names of spouses on the blog known as kevgreen1950 or ‘the man behind the mask’ then you will leave no choice under the courts of human rights than to remove such information.
Save as for any credible information contained upon said site, every other defamatory or illegal insert should be deleted, namely names, addresses, ages, occupations, spousal details and any other offending inserts or postings relating to minors especially. Failure to do so could in Immediate terms be classed as supplying information as to provocate or at least attract paedophile attention due to the content of minors involved – this would be seen as a ‘pimping’ or offering a minor/s for targeting.
I am sure you would not wish to be associated with such activities and I am confident of a successful conclusion.
I can grant you audience at [email redacted]
Regards
Kate Jones
The blog I need help with is mildredpilchard.wordpress.com.
These matters are not discussed on public support forums available to everyone with internet access as this one is.
See here http://en.support.wordpress.com/private-information/
Then use this form http://en.wordpress.com/abuse/
I’d like to add that you first must determine whether or not the site is a free hosted WordPress>COM blog or not. Many people assume WordPress.ORG installs are hosted by WordPress.COM when they aren’t.
2) Determine whether or not the blog is hosted at WordPress.com.
If you see a link that reads “Blog at WordPress.com” in the footer of the blog (linked to http://wordpress.com), this normally means that it is hosted here (although external blogs may place this in the footer, if they choose to). Also, if you are logged into WordPress.com, you will see your gray-colored admin bar at the top of your screen.
See also: http://wordpress.com/complaints/
Member
Feb 7, 2014, 3:56 PM
I am not here to look into the ins and outs of any wordpress blogs, indeed that is for wordpress to investigate as the onus as any future Defendant will be upon them. I have given the specifics, I can only suggest wordpress looks into this matter as a course of urgency since this is a wordpress.com site in question as per information previously supplied.
I now think you are trying to deflect responsibility which does not good to say the least!
I have a screenshot of your response thus far.
No one will investigate a complaint that has yet to be made and therefore does not exist. Hopefully, you are clear on that.
See also: http://wordpress.com/complaints/
Member
Feb 7, 2014, 3:59 PM
Oh and Court Orders are not allowed to be emailed, they need to be sent to a bona fide address – allowing one exists of course.
I suggest to WordPress that they seek to rectify this matter forthwith to reach an amicable conclusion. I am not so naaive as to think that absolutely nobody in the employ of WordPress does not read this forum (whatnots).
End of communication. Over and out.
Click the link and locate the court order address please. If I post it here the software will redact it. http://wordpress.com/complaints/
Court orders: Official, signed court orders can be emailed to
court-orders@wordpress.com.
Member
Feb 7, 2014, 4:09 PM
Member
Feb 7, 2014, 4:12 PM
Only your report button seems to spew this out relentlessly!
Is it some ‘spook site of imitation’? I reckon not.
Anyhow at ten past midnight I am not in the frame of mind to be entering into a to-and-fro.
My position is clear is it not? No deviation, no quarter.
I am truly out of here.
“Please noteth?” Sounds legit.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 6:25 AM
Oh I do apologise raincoaster for my grammar, I had originally written something else with the word ‘forthwith’ in it, the two words became strung together.
OK for everyone’s benefit it should read Please note – is that better now?
Anyway the message remains the same, the information on the blog I have linked to contains the personal information of other people, obviously you find it acceptable for people to do this especially when the details of house addresses are posted up where minors (children to you) reside.
These people are now having to move home and it is perfectly obvious that wordpress supports the actions of those posting up this information. It needs removing immediately.
The Police have of course been informed, maybe wordpress could check it out with North Wales Police to see if it is really ‘legit’ as you say.
What does wordpress intend doing exactly? You have now received a complaint wordpress, so it needs acting upon does it not?
Please use the links that @timethief gave you above and file a report using that process. yes the process is formal, but that is to protect everyone that has a blog here from someone just showing up in the forum with a rant demanding that a blog be taken down.
The process does work. Endangering someone’s safety is against the Terms of Service. You need to make a very solid case on why a blog should be removed, that case can not be make by making the demands as you have done here and expecting us to do research half way around the world.
Until you file the formal complaint with solid evidence in the submittable nothing will happen and eventually we will get tired of trying to get you to do the correct actions. Threatening legal action will do nothing either. Quite common for people to threaten legal action because they failed to read the Terms of Service. Also at some point this thread will be closed by the staff.
If you have a valid complaint, the Terms of Service group will deal with it, continuing to post here will get you nothing. Sorry but that is just the facts of life and the law.
If you refuse to follow instructions and pull legalese out your ass you will not be successful at achieving the objective. TT gave you the link which leads to success. Use it, don’t bullshit and try to pretend to be a lawyer, and staff will look into the case. Otherwise they will not.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 2:51 PM
OK everyone – whoever you are????
anyway absolutely nobody has confirmed that the link I gave you belongs to this site.
Do they or not????
This is the first point of action since some entity called timethief interacted and formed contract with me.
Tell ya wot (is that USA enuf 4yaz?) Why don’t you contact the blog instigator and ask them to take the details off the net?
Don’t try to threaten me because you are a faceless nothing entity – tell ya wot ya’ll I’ll go to alternative social media in the UK to warn not to subscribe to your site – howz that grabya?
We can carry this on in the USA if you prefer since me brother and a credible relative of the children living in the UK is concerned?
All you people want to do is be obstructive – I wonder why that might be???
Answer the credible questions of why it is acceptable to publish the details of people under witness protection, or give me an address to complain to. San Fran Cisco PD??
Ban me if ya like ta, it will be outed in the UK to avoid you if you like…
Roll your dice – take your choice – formality ‘don’t’ work obviously because ‘wordpress’ is full of seemingly antagonistic factions.
The question to ask is why ‘wordpress’ don’t answer under their own steam, why do they need to hide behind ‘people’ probably dragged in from the net??
oh and as for some people jumping onto ma grammar – I am wot’s known as a dyslexic – yes that’s right – just like ‘The Fonze’ strangeness eh?? So you like to discriminate against people with a mental stigmatism – go figure..
I am not enjoying having to translate my postings into American – I am convinced you understand English of which ‘noteth’ is actually a word
believe it or not!
@mildredpilchard
I’m not sure what part of this you fail to comprehend and this is the last time I will post here because
(1) I provided the correct information above, and
(2) this thread has turned into a gong show.
To determine whether or not the blog is hosted at WordPress.com you can look for a link that reads “Blog at WordPress.com” in the footer of the blog (linked to http://wordpress.com), this normally means that it is hosted here (although external blogs may place this in the footer, if they choose to). Also, if you are logged into WordPress.com, you will see your gray-colored admin bar at the top of your screen.
If and when you complete the form I provided the link to above http://wordpress.com/complaints/ your issue will move forward. If you fail to do that the complaint does not exist.
Click the link and locate the court order address please. Court orders: Official, signed court orders can be emailed to
court-orders@wordpress.com.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:00 PM
Oh and was that IT?? why not say as such??
Much to hide eh? eyh for you Yanks.
In fact why not be up front and state that you are in the US?
There is more than one way to skin a cat isn’t there? – so the saying goes in the UK.
Okay!!! You sound hysterical!!! And unable to follow instructions!!!
I, personally, as an investigative reporter who is also a WordPress.com consultant, will be happy to undertake the investigation you request, but my fee is $2500 payable in advance.
Otherwise, use the fucking link you were provided to contact staff instead of giving us laughing material here in the forums, where all of your interactions are public, connected to your username and the allegations and blog you are complaining about, and archived by Google.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:03 PM
err look at the link I sent you ta- is it wordpress or not? you seem to be unable to answer my question – why??
gong? what does that mean please? Is that an Amerivcan term because English people don’t have a clue what you mean!
Speak English please – not rocket science is it?
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:04 PM
err look at the link I sent you ta- is it wordpress or not? you seem to be unable to answer my question – why??
gong? what does that mean please? Is that an Amerivcan term because English people don’t have a clue what you mean!
Speak English please – not rocket science is it?
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:05 PM
Nope just answer, is the link I sent ya one of yours or not
Is that a MENSA question to you?
Sure. Like I sayeth unto thee, crosseth mine palm with argent and yea verily I shall render unto you the answereths to thine questionones.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:09 PM
Oh and by the way I do not give a Thrupenny bit about who or what you claim to be.
Do you exist in the UK – no you are unremarkable! If you can ‘blag’ that amount from your ‘clients’ then jolly good for you, otherwise I expect you are nothing
Have you filed the complaint form yet?
I expect if you don’t know who I am you don’t have Google where you come from.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:15 PM
Well until thou cometh from The Riding Knowneth as Yorkshire – please do not try to insult me by your faux what? English are you trying to spout at me?
Anyway, you confirm my prior thoughts, this wordpress stuff is an internet sham whereby no-one will answer a credible question like does the link I previously sent belong or come under wordpress – why the heck will nobody answer this?
If you need me to resend the link then you only have to request and I shall oblige – it is not a difficult question so why all the deflection one wonders?
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:20 PM
Oh here we go ‘Don’t you know wqho I am?’ = fascetiosness and particularly ugly in the UK
Do you know with whom you address? blah-blah words already!
I do not care one jot who you are only what will you do about
It seems to me that you would very much argue the toss than be integral and act upon what I present to you.
Why don’t you answer my question – ego or no ego?
If you still haven’t filed the form it will appear that you aren’t distressed about the actual issue you created this thread for. You will leave us convinced that you were merely seeking a soapbox to broadcast from.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:23 PM
Declined to answer then because you can’t! Say no more because silence speaks volumes
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:25 PM
Err nope timethief, you have neither confirmed nor denied that the link I sent you belongs to wordpress ie YOU
I CANNOT SPELL IT OUT ANY PLAINER SORRY
Does it or not?
I don’t give a toss what you think and no one else will either until you follow the instructions and complete the form. Until your act on that there is no complaint.
I know for a fact they teach reading comprehension skills in the UK at the public school level. As I see no indication of higher learning in your responses and as the complaint form is a simple document that any school kid could master, I’m sure you can manage to complete it any time you want to.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:29 PM
Is this a wordpress blog or not??? what is difficult about that question to answer and I will re-phrase it to make it as simple as possible
HERE YOU ARE –
DOES IT SAY wordpress at the end or not? Am I blind now too because I can get my dog to read it to me if it doesn’t
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:31 PM
Flipping useless waste of time if you ask me – a tip for ya, don’t bite the hand that feeds ya cos some of you are suffering the recession more than others
Oh, don’t you know who I am?
If and when you complete the form I provided the link to above more than once now http://wordpress.com/complaints/ your issue will move forward. If you fail to do that the complaint does not exist.
Click the link and locate the court order address please. Court orders: Official, signed court orders can be emailed to
court-orders@wordpress.com.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:37 PM
Oh did I not already say the form spewed this out = there is a fault with your reporting system. Bah
Still not a single reply to my ONE question – not too taxing for you I hope?
OK here goes in baby language – does a blog ending in wordpress belong to you?
Yes or no will be the answer
Give mummy a yes or a nod, or give mummy a no a shake of the head, there’s a good baby, mummy loves you – here’s a biscuit for being a good baby
Thanks so much for convincing me that you do not have a serious issue that merits the completion of a complaint form. This thread is tagged for closure.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:42 PM
OK I have yet again=yawn tried to submit this it goes from submit to immediately validating and it quite obviously is not getting through to wordpress – a fault?
Not my fault because I have tried submitting lots and lots – next excuse?
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:43 PM
YOU STILL DID NOT ANSWER MY QUESTION – BUT YOU WON’T WILL YOU????
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:46 PM
Oh carry on and close this down , I notice the other participant soon elected to leave lol.
Much to hide? = yes
Protectors = yes
Draw attention to your wordpress = yes
Over to you
Auf Viederhoeren
Oh, Yorkshire. That explains it.
I can access and complete the form at http://wordpress.com/complaints/ using Chrome 32, IE 11 and Firefox 26. My husband and 2 employees here can also access it. However, we have no court order so we won’t be emailing. Here’s what I’ll do for you. I’ll copy and paste the form here for you.
We host millions of blogs on WordPress.com. We have no control over what content our users decide to post on their blogs, but we do have a set of rules about what content is and isn’t acceptable on our service. If you have an issue with a blog on our system, please select one of the following to route your complaint:
Spam blogs: Please this form to report spam blogs. We will immediately suspend any spam blogs.
Mature blogs: Please use this form to report blogs with mature topics (erotica, porn, etc). Mature blogs are welcome on WordPress.com, but we will mark them in our system so they don’t show up in public listings.
Copyright violations: If one of our blogs features your copyright protected material (and you did not authorize your content to be published by the blog in question), please use our DMCA reporting process.
Defamation, abuse, threats: We suspend content for inciting violence or threatening or impersonating a private person. Please see our abuse process for more information.
Court orders: Official, signed court orders can be emailed to court-orders@wordpress.com.
Law enforcement: If you are a member of a law enforcement agency, please contact us at law-enforcement@wordpress.com.
FILL OUT THE FORM BY THE WILL OF ASGARD
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 3:58 PM
yeah raincoaster you carry on talking like you know what you are on abbart eh?
Well timethief my windows 8 don’t want to entertain you, I found that part just fine thanks, maybe Bill Gates needs a tug eh?
PS you only had to say to use Google Chrome
We just booted up my old Windows XP PC. My employee used IE8 and had zero trouble reading what I posted here in this thread and accessing the form either when compatibility mode was enabled or disabled.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 4:04 PM
I have no idea of what you are talking about – ASGARD wtf??
Anyway you can still answer my question, Google or no Goggle!
We don’t all reside in America, thankfully.
They are currently booting Windows 8 and I’m expecting there won’t be any issue with it either. Moreover, all you need is this Court orders: Official, signed court orders can be emailed to court-orders@wordpress.com.
So you’re dismissed.
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 4:07 PM
Well perhaps it’s my Norton but one thing’s for sure it flicks over to validating at the speed of lightening, tomorrow I will record it with my phone so you can see. Will that appease you??
Oh and you didn’t answer my question yet, why would that be??
Member
Feb 8, 2014, 4:09 PM
Yes I could post it onto You Tube so the world and its uncle can see – just so they don’t make the same mistake of course
Night Then, you have not answered my question nor taken any action. You are quite simply……
An ellipsis abuser? A Yorkshirian? Don’t keep us in suspense!
You have been provided with everything you need to make your complaint, which appears to be a very low priority to you given what you have posted here. However, if you want to keep bumping this thread then we can do that. I wouldn’t to leave you all alone and suffering here because you lack what it takes to email the correct Staff department because that wouldn’t be nice.
Virt, I like your style.
Seconded.
Some days, in the tech support forum, you’re just like…
OH FUCK NOT ANOTHER WOULD BE LAWYER
raincoaster 