2021 Goals / Resolutions / Whatever You Want To Call Them.

[Tawmis]

So, hoping to all the gods, that 2021 looks better than what 2020 gave us...

As such - do you have any goals, New Years Resolutions, etc., that you have in mind?

For myself, this year I started (re)reading the Hobbit for the zillionth time in my life; and want to continue through, read all of the Lord of the Rings, and then continue to all the other books that Tolkien's had his hand in, some of which his son Christopher Tolkien helped finish and put out (I had a few of the Lost History books on my Christmas wishlist for this reason).

With the insane amount of time consuming hobbies I have, this should take me about 10 years to complete.

[Rath Darkblade]

I want to avoid this guy.





All kidding aside, I'm just going to keep working -- and hopefully keep my contract. Work is so important. Not to mention scarce.

Other than that, I haven't really thought about it. Keep writing, keep performing ... maybe look into publishing.

[BBP]

Partly inspired by Lucas, I decided to finally conquer my arachnophobia this year. I never was too fond of any of my phobias but my arachnophobia is something I worked on before - it had gotten somewhat better in that I stopped my daily spider hunt, but it had gotten worse when a daddy-longlegs spider had found itself on the wall of the toilet - I had broken my ankle and going to the bathroom was hard since it was a small place to maoeuvre, and I had a leg in a cast with my toes peeping out - and said spider had located itself a few centimetres away from about the only place where I could put my injured foot. I was terrified it would crawl in and of course it's not so easy to go away once you get started. So that experience made it worse - combined with the dozens of house spiders we encountered at my great aunt's residence later that year brought back the phobia.

So, before this year is out I intend to pick up a Pholcus phalangioides and have it walk over my hands and let it live. And ideally keep all their legs since they have a tendency to let go of their legs when they're trapped.

[Tawmis]

So, before this year is out I intend to pick up a Pholcus phalangioides and have it walk over my hands and let it live. And ideally keep all their legs since they have a tendency to let go of their legs when they're trapped.

Just in the wild find one?

And living in Puerto Rico made getting over spiders very easy; especially during hurricane season.

[Rath Darkblade]

You're much braver than I am, BBP. Just looking at a picture of any spider (on google or where-ever) is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies. *shudder* I know it's irrational, I know a "daddy long-legs" is probably harmless, but ... *shudder*

It's probably to do with the fact that, when I was little (maybe 7-8?) and on camp, at one point some guy pointed and said "Hey, look -- a roach!" So I looked up, just in time to see something black fly out of somewhere (not sure where) and land on my Adam's apple. Obviously, I immediately panicked and screamed (as any little kid of my age would do). Equally obviously, he thought it was very funny. (Oh, yeah -- friggin' hilarious).

Anyway, after that, I could never stand the sight of any creepy-crawlies, even "harmless" ones. Being stung by wasps, stuck by mosquitoes and bitten by spiders obviously didn't help.

And yet, here I am, sharing my living space with the biggest variety of things that could kill me, including this lovable critter:



Oh, well ...

[BBP]

My phobia battle was doing reasonably well but unfortunately I had a relapse in April.
These are tough times now that I am also cornered by my other unhealthily bad phobia, needles. With a vaccination in the near future and my sister getting a nasty allergy with unknown trigger I had a nasty encounter with needles shortly before my birthday, and of course then I had a massive spider scare.

Calmed down a bit and am now pretty much back where I started. Still haven't killed a spider all year so I'm doing well on that end.

[Rath Darkblade]

*offers BBP many, many hugs*

I don't like needles either. Of course I have to face that at some point (e.g. yearly flu shot), but still. *hug*

[BBP]

I'm at a rough spot now considering my job (and that of pretty much all my co-workers) will be outsourced to India, but just like five minutes ago a spider walked on my keyboard - and I let it walk on my hand and took it to safety.
I have a favourite spider now - the Poecilotheria Metallica - I know quite a few Latin names... In June I had a panic attack after removing one from my room didn't go as well as I hoped.

Had my vaccinations a few months back and it didn't just go well - I didn't need a special doctor that specializes in administering injections to people with severe phobias, I didn't run, squeal, cry or throw up afterwards.

It's been a crap year for some things but at least I have conquered two of my demons!

[Tawmis]

It's been a crap year for some things but at least I have conquered two of my demons!

Congrats on conquering two of your demons! Most can't even conquer one!

The last year and a half have been some of the most difficult years of my own life, as well. Especially this last year. Too personal to even go into on the forums.
I have had an easy life, over all - but the last year ... I've always described life as running through brush. There's roses and branches that will scratch and scar you, but you will come into a clearing every once in awhile.
This year felt like I was just running in endless circles through the brier and thorns.
But it's shown me the measure of my strength.

That said, I've not really accomplished much of what I'd set out to do. Still not finished The Hobbit (for the zillionth re-read). But I did end up coming back to play some of these Sierra games I've not played in awhile and brought that to my channel. So that's been fun to discuss on here.

One of the things I want to try to get back to in 2022 is writing. Other than my D&D games (and writing character backgrounds for people for D&D) - I've not added to my own (several) stories in over 5 or 6 years.

[Rath Darkblade]

Good job on conquering those demons, BBP! *smile* Good luck with your job!

*shudder* about the spider. Spiders here in (M)ozzie-Land are no joke.

How will your company cope with everyone being outsourced to India? No-one in India will have your knowledge of Europe, European languages etc.

I've made arrangements to start vocal training as soon as the lockdown is finished here. (Part of the restrictions mean that I cannot travel to where the trainer is, nor can he travel to my place).

I've been performing music for 15 years (mostly as part of a choir) but without any formal training. Hopefully, the training will mean that I'll be able to perform solo pieces with greater precision, power and so on. I don't know. I've never tried. But it's exciting to think of the possibilities.

[BBP]

I'm worried about things biting back but let's say that the guy who took over the company last year and is in the process of moving everything to India is not working to improve the business, I think he's just trying to pry more money from investors by showing how much overhead he cut.

Legally we may not work for more than 5 days on end, we may not work more than 2H 45 minutes without a break, breaks must last 15 minutes at least. In a full working day of 8 hours we must have in total 1 hour of breaktime.
We talked to some of our colleagues in India. They work 13-hour days, from 8:30 to ten o'clock in the evening - and they get 1 break. Of ten minutes.

[Rath Darkblade]

Sigh ... sounds about right (i.e. the guy who took over the company). "Look at me! I'm driving this company into the ground!"

What's happening in India sounds like abuse. Your colleagues in India work very hard. One break of 10 minutes? From 8:30 am to 10 pm? Don't they need to eat lunch/dinner, go to the toilet etc.?

The only way I can see that working is if they work in two shifts of 6.5 hours each (so the morning shift go home at 3:30 pm, then the afternoon shift take over). Even so, they both need a break to eat, at least. Anything less sounds like a recipe for poor health.

[Tawmis]

What's happening in India sounds like abuse. Your colleagues in India work very hard. One break of 10 minutes? From 8:30 am to 10 pm? Don't they need to eat lunch/dinner, go to the toilet etc.?
The only way I can see that working is if they work in two shifts of 6.5 hours each (so the morning shift go home at 3:30 pm, then the afternoon shift take over). Even so, they both need a break to eat, at least. Anything less sounds like a recipe for poor health.

That's India work force. I hear similar stories from our counterparts there.

[DeadPoolX]

Sigh ... sounds about right (i.e. the guy who took over the company). "Look at me! I'm driving this company into the ground!"

What's happening in India sounds like abuse. Your colleagues in India work very hard. One break of 10 minutes? From 8:30 am to 10 pm? Don't they need to eat lunch/dinner, go to the toilet etc.?

The only way I can see that working is if they work in two shifts of 6.5 hours each (so the morning shift go home at 3:30 pm, then the afternoon shift take over). Even so, they both need a break to eat, at least. Anything less sounds like a recipe for poor health.

Workers in this case are seen as replaceable and disposable because of the huge numbers of people vying for jobs. India has a gigantic population where poverty is quite common. They don't have nearly the same options available to them there, so they'll take a low-paying job at hours we'd balk at and that's highly appealing to companies and their shareholders.

Remember, at the top, a company's primary concern is not their employees or customers, it's their shareholders. Why? Because the shareholders can decide to replace the CEO or even tank the entire company by causing a panic on Wall Street by withdrawing stocks quickly.

In the end, there are only three ways (that I can think of) to fight this:

1. People in those countries being exploited have to rebel against this and no longer accept it. That probably won't happen because there's always someone or some group willing to undercut others. This isn't always related to greed as sometimes it's caused by desperation.

2. People in western nations need to accept that if we really want jobs to stay in our countries and not get outsourced, we have to pay higher prices for goods and services. I can tell you right now that this will absolutely not go over well. People somehow want jobs to stay local (and earn a "living wage"), but keep prices the same as if products were created in a third-world sweatshop. It doesn't work like that.

3. Western nations need to enact laws that prohibit outsourcing and severely limit bringing in foreign workers. This won't happen because people want their stuff cheap, there too many lobbyists, and there are way too many ties between law-makers and business. Even if it did happen, chances are it wouldn't be watched and policed very well, so it'd end up looking nice on paper, but meaningless in practice.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. Yes, of course you're right, DPX. But it shouldn't be like that in places like India.

Also, of course, the Indian rupee in relation to the USD/CAD/AUD is very weak. For instance, 200 rupees is about $3.59 AUD, $2.67 USD or $3.30 CAD. 200 rupees won't buy very much in Australia, America or Canada, but it might buy quite a lot in India.

Still, an 8:30 am to 10 pm workday, with one break of 10 minutes, sounds incredibly tough. I can't imagine it. (I've done similar hours myself -- i.e. 8:30 am start for my regular job, with a 5 pm finish, and then going on to rehearsals 'til 10 pm. But I only do it once a week, and even then I get more breaks than that.

When I worked in theatre, the week before a show used to be called "hell week" because everyone would come to the theatre after work and rehearse 'til 10-10:30 pm. But we all put up with it for the sake of the show. The day of the show used to start about noon and finished about 11:30 pm.

When I do concerts now, the day of the concert starts about 9:30 am with a dress rehearsal and finishes about 8 pm. That's slightly more manageable, but you certainly feel very footsore afterwards.

Still, there's certainly no comparison).