On Cures

[roadrunnertwice]

I'm mildly notorious for loving cures that are worse than their disease. I mean, obviously I don't think they're worse! But my friends routinely disagree for some reason.

The Tacoma Hiccup Cure

Everybody hates this and IDK why because it totally works and hiccups are the worst.

I eventually figured out how to do this on myself, by taking breath cues from an aleatoric sound source like "Listen to Wikipedia".

The Argonne Anti-Jet-Lag Diet

Instructions here. And yes, that's Argonne "Look at Our Fucking Death Ray" National Laboratory.

Actually, a few friends now swear by this too. It seems to work for most everyone, so it's just a question of tolerating a day or two of not quite enough to eat. And if jet lag melts you into a miserable puddle, the price is fair.

If you don't jetlag quite that hard, the reduced versions still help a lot. Ruth does that, because semi-fasting affects her worse than me. (Weirdly, I don't get hangry if I have a day's warning.)

But a few years ago I finally met someone who's tried both the diet and melatonin, and she said they were about the same. So maybe try melatonin if you can get it. And if you don't get jet lag, I guess go fuck yourself. :)

Dvorak

I'd heard urban legends about Dvorak being better (but SUPPRESSED by the MAN) since I was twelve, and in I think 2007 or 2008 I finally couldn't stand the curiosity anymore.

Is it better? Well, I like it. It didn't make me much faster (I top out at ~90 wpm), but it's way more comfortable. I don't get fatigued, and I don't need a wacky expensive ergo keyboard, and I had been headed in that direction until I switched.

(If you're about to tell me Colemak is better: it probably is! But not better-enough, and I can use Dvorak with my Alphasmart because even ancient garbage has it built-in.)

Once, a philosophy bro at a party mansplained to me that the benefit was all in my head, and I actually wasn't more comfortable at all. I blame myself, for being at the kind of party where keyboard layouts even come up in the first place.

Left Mousing

I had some tendinitis in my right wrist around age 22 or so, and it put the fear in me. I didn't like what my doctor had to say. ("Do less computer stuff, use a brace, take ibuprofen, good luck.")

After some reading, I was pretty sure I had a mouse problem: moving my hand at the wrist (instead of my arm at the shoulder/elbow) was fucking me up. Buuuuut I couldn't seem to make myself not do it.

Eventually I realized the hard part was the un-learning, so... what if I just skipped that? My left hand couldn't mouse to save its life, so there was nothing to un-learn! Start from zero instead of from negative-twenty.

It worked great. The ache comes back in about an hour if I ever use someone else's computer with a right-handed mouse, so it's more a peace treaty than a victory, but I can also use chopsticks and my phone with my left hand now so I'm well on my way to being the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Handkerchiefs

This old Johnny Wander strip about perma-stubble really speaks to me. 😭 And I made my peace with the aesthetics of stubble a long time ago, but no one ever talks about the way it shreds kleenex!! It leaves white crumbles stuck to my upper lip and I look like a coke fiend.

I was bitching about it on Twitter one day and Max was like "well, there's always handkerchiefs." And I was like "ah yes, the nuclear option." Then Ruth bought me a 15-pack of cute floral ones after I continued bitching about it.

Anyway, handkerchiefs are great! Just soak them in Oxyclean for a bit, then rinse before throwing them in the wash.

Anything Involving Construction on Floors

Don't get me started.

Comments

[roadrunnertwice]

I knew I was going to forget a big one:

Cutting My Own Hair

By my early 20s I still hadn't figured out a way to convince a barber that I didn't want to look like a fucking android, so I took the scorched earth approach.

Obviously the real answer was "go to a real salon instead of Supercuts, you cheap fuck," but I didn't know how to do that or how to learn, never mind where I was going to find the money for a $60 haircut in 2006. Anyway, I guess I still cut my own hair.

[roadrunnertwice]

Oh, and one of these days I need to add that ice bath thing to this post.

[roadrunnertwice]

The Ice Bath Thing

I think got this one from yeloson's writing about martial arts. Right after finishing an unusually tough workout where you just KNOW you're going to be sore for a few days, take a 10m ice (or as cold as you can get it) bath followed by a hot bath.

What it seems to do is skip the first and second recovery days, and jump me directly to the third day. (Which is especially worth it because the second day is just the worst.) I don't do this very often, but there are times where it can save me a lot of bullshit.