Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1119)
Hello Everyone!
Linux on the Hive blockchain and beyond, Good hobbies encourage good hobbies, Digital crossroads & Dental discomfort!
Alright, the hours are slipping by tonight and although I made the file for this entry... I kept focusing on other things that I have more or less been working on all day. In other words it was tricky to pull myself away from it all... which was largely due to how intricate things had become... and me not wanting to lose sight of the workflow while I took a break from it.
It may seem like I often get 'distracted' or something... but what is usually going on is that I am spending time persistently focusing on a single goal... and anything that falls outside of that scope gets deemed a distraction. It seems like it is always when I set time aside to do something... that any real 'distractions' get in the way... but all too often of late... the time set aside is in and of itself a distraction to my other projects.
A lot could be said about 'priorities' when it comes to all of that... but thankfully I do manage to pull myself away from my other activities to devote some focused time on these entries. Lately it has just been tricky to do... because I have been bingeing out coding and working on my technology projects.
Thankfully, the coding hobby actually encourages me to do some writing... unlike when I was doing the old gaming hobby (that the coding replaced) because during it... it was incredibly hard to break away from the gaming long enough to do any writing. Then if I was successful at breaking away... I had pretty much nothing to write about (unless it was gaming content) because a hundred percent of my attention (and experiences) were wrapped up in long hours clicking away with the mouse slaying demons!
In other words at least the technology oriented activities are helping to perpetuate my writing endeavors and in some ways it has been cool blending them together. I have yet to use those custom GPT models (that I made with my Hive and Facebook content) a whole lot but they are excellent examples of my various endeavors having some overlap.
Anyways, last night I continued my efforts to get my sleep cycle back on track... and fell asleep (after forcing myself to) around the same time that I did the night before. I was really proud of myself but I was also incredibly fatigued... and mentally exhausted after days and days of pulling eighteen to twenty hour shifts on my coding and/or technology projects.
Well, I think that I slept for a total of forty minutes before I awoke with my tongue pressing into that new gap between my teeth... and what turned out to be two other teeth on the opposite side of my mouth hurting. It was not the 'pull your hair out and scream in agony' kind of pain but it was rather uncomfortable and made falling back asleep (or doing anything else) pretty much impossible.
Eventually, after many times of briefly dozing off and waking up in pain... I grabbed each tooth the best that I could and pulled it directly upwards... to the best of my abilities. It took me a few tries of tugging on them before I noticed a difference but once I did notice a difference (once the added discomfort faded) I then took some ibuprofen and tried to get back to sleep again.
Once the medicine kicked in I faded off to a fitful sleep but after an hour or two I settled into a rather deep slumber. Although I vaguely recall waking up at some point this morning... and opening the cabin door for the dogs... I do not recall much else until late in the afternoon when I finally woke up all the way.
I must have really needed the uninterrupted rest because it is not very often that I just leave the door open for the dogs to go in and out while I am napping. My big hope though was that I could 'sleep through' whatever was going on with my teeth and when I woke up (after however long it took) they would 'be okay' and I would no longer be in so much discomfort.
My strategy seems to have worked because ever since waking up for that final time... I have not been feeling much in the way of pain even though both the teeth (and my gums in that area) feel a bit sore. It is worth noting that I had been outside a lot breathing in the cold air while they were mildly sore so that may have agitated things somewhat over the previous few days.
What I think is going on is that once that other tooth fell out... it made room for all the other ones near it to shift. One of the two that were paining me last night is similar to that one that fell out recently... because it has also been crowded out and is now behind the other teeth beside it.
Hopefully once they all finish 'shifting around' I can go back to having little to no dental discomfort... because whoa that stuff last night started giving me the worst kind of flashbacks. I know that it is kind of meaningless to anyone who has not spent the bulk of their life dealing with one form of dental pain or another... with no end in sight... but it frigging sucks.
As with anything that is a chronic pain in the proverbial butt... I have my coping strategies for it... and if things get dire I always find a way to get to a dentist as quickly as I can. As far as the rest of it goes I just 'take it all in stride' and do my best not to dwell on it all... nor let the pain/discomfort consume my life like it once did.
On a different note. The weather did a big 'switch-a-roo' and warmed up considerably compared to how it has been of late. If anything I would call it the 'perfect climate' given that there is hardly any bugs and it is neither too hot nor too cold to be comfortable.
Okay, wow... after trying to segue with that last paragraph... I just set off a change reaction that I regret. While I was writing I noticed my chin was feeling a bit sore... so in my infinite wisdom... I gently pushed on it. Not noticing much at first... I pushed a little harder and ugh everything clicked... because in doing so I could feel that the 'sore spot' was all along the area where those two teeth have their roots.
After further investigation, I found that the area around them is super inflamed... which means they are probably infected. After the 'chain reaction' of sheer utter pain lapsed (and me literally crying) I took some more ibuprofen and started myself on a round of amoxicillin for good measure.
To be clear on what happened... when I pushed around on my chin I agitated the already agitated area... and accidentally caused one of the problematic teeth to shift slightly. The wave of pain is still subsiding but eventually I sloshed some mouthwash around in my mouth... grabbed the tooth and got it tugged back into a position where it did not hurt like frigging wildfire creeping up my craw.
It was so bad that I need to use the mildly clear headed time that I have now to finish this up... before it returns or I just will not be capable of doing so in a reasonable fashion. I am apparently also running a slight fever... so all the signs are pointing for me to deal with the scenario... and not let it get out of hand and completely train wrecking me.
When it comes down to it, I think that I have achieved a dramatically improved head space and... although my morale could be better... I do not want a bunch of dental discomfort undermining my recent progress. It also robs me of my ability to focus on anything else... and at this stage of things... I cannot afford to let my projects languish while I cope with the inconveniences that bearing so much discomfort introduces.
One way or another, I will make it through it all and will tend to it the best that I can along the way. For now, I am going to wrap this entry up and do my best to get it all edited and shared. If over the coming days I cease posting (or begin making very short entries) it is because I am still sorting out the infection going on in my mouth and/or dealing with the subsequent fall out. Per usual, I will do my best to 'stay on track' but given the level of discomfort I may not have the wherewithal to pull it off. I can also feel a heck of a lot of 'angst' when dealing with such things... which is why in general I become even more digitally aloof than I usually am!
On a serious note though, I used to tell myself 'pretend like there are people that care about you' and after years and years of that... it gradually became 'remember the people that care about you... and more importantly that you care about them' or words to that effect. For all of you out there... Much Love and Respect... and as to whether or not there will ever be an end to pain... I will have to crib from one of my favorite authors and say: There will be water if God wills it.
I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice time. Be easy on yourselves and each other.
P.S. These are some of the recent coding projects that I have been working on. They are all in the main hive-fc-linux repository and are part of its umbrella project.
hive-fc-linux
A short intro from the README:
An experimental V86 (browser) Linux to be stored on the blockchain that uses the hive-file-chunker method to gzip, base64 encode and chunk local files into JSON format to fit in a single block on the Hive blockchain.
This code was built with the help of the Hive GPT model and has gained several more capabilities lately (like the file explorer, media players and toolbox) which are not in the documentation.
Hive_FC_Linux <- Boots linux.iso with v86.
Hive-FC-Freedos <- Boots freedos722.img with v86.
Hive-FC-Freedos-Tiny <- Boots freedos.boot.disk.160K.img with v86.
Hive_FC_File_Explorer <- A simple blob file explorer for reconstructed files.
Hive_FC_Audioplayer <- Plays audio from reconstructed files.
Hive_FC_Movieplayer <- Plays videos from reconstructed files.
Hive_FC_OS_TOOLBOX <- Miscellaneous tools and a sandbox for testing.
https://peakd.com/c/hive-114308/created
Let me know if you get the infection under control and want to see a dentist, I will try to help you.
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