I think "little one" = your child and not a passport card? If so, minors can't renew the way adults can and must meet with an agent - similar to an adult getting a new passport. Idk how these standards are set, but unless something changes, renewing online will likely be limited to adults.
Agree with your sentiments about the current process and hopes for improvement.
That and for some crazy reason my son who has had a passport since he was six months old, has to apply for his first adult passport as a brand new applicant. He has never had a lapse in holding a valid passport but since he's is now 18 he's a new person apparently.
I think this is right. A lot of my favorite music finds ways to rotate what's repeating. It finds a balance of keeping the groove while still playing with the listener's expectations. But, to your point, if there isn't enough repetition, there's not enough to grab hold of. Obviously, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish, but for most applications, you want to give the listener engaged with your music.
Beyond, or beneath, song structure, I've noticed that experienced songwriters repeat notes in their melodies more often than people starting out.
mpv skips forward a minute with the up key (sometimes to keyframes by default, but not with flac it seems) and it surprises me a bit how often you can do that and the music doesn't change at all, or only changes slightly :/.
Music for airports is my favorite ambient Eno. I have this part of my brain that notices odd (to me) choices, and some of his ambient stuff has sounds/patterns that break me out of the zone, but music for airports works as intended. Love Eno, and I think this is a "me" problem, rather than an issue with his work.
Unless I need a sense of urgency, random recordings of bird songs (especially mockingbirds) are my go-to for background noise for work.
Outside of music critics, I don't see him talked about much at all. I love his work as a producer for John Cale, David Bowie, and the Talking Heads in particular. Iirc he also worked on the two Iggy Pop records (the Idiot and Lust for Life) that Bowie produced. I also like his solo (non-ambient) work and work with Roxie Music, but the style of singing isn't my favorite. I know he didn't do vocals for Roxie, but the style of singing is similar to me.
He had a great conversation with Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast.
Anecdote: I've never seen someone suffer anxiety from an Indica strain, but I have seen plenty of bad trips from Sativa strains.
Medical is legal where I live, and I like both (and hybrids) depending on what I'm doing. In the evening, I would stick to Indicas and Indica-dominant hybrids. Since I work, and I never use while working, I use Sativas far less, but I like them for weekends - walks, chores, etc.. It's a bright feeling and more of a head-high, but under the wrong circumstances, that bright feeling turns dark.
Particularly in the evening, Sativas can make you buzzy and unsettled. My gf thought she hated herbs until she tried Indicas. She knows how and when to use now, so she can enjoy Sativas under the right conditions.
Again, this is just my personal experience, but it tracks with my understanding of the strains, and I hope it's helpful to someone.
>The difference between Indica and Sativa is to a large extent imagined.
Can you elaborate? This is very contrary to my experience.
. . . NM I looked it up and see what you're referring to. I'll have to look into it more, because, again, it doesn't sync with my experience.
>Even if it's not most of the strains you buy today are hybrids.
I've never had an ounce of difficulty finding Indicas or Sativas at dispensaries. Maybe there are more hybrids (never took the time to count the options), but if there are quality options available for all three, I don't see how it matters. And, within hybrids, there are Indica-dominant and Sativa-dominant strains.
>of difficulty finding Indicas or Sativas at dispensaries
Finding things they call Indica or Sativa. Afaik given that there's no objective difference between the two you can call it anything you want.
I'm a relatively inexperienced smoker so take the following with grain of salt but this is what I've noticed.
Since it's a plant there's definitely differences seed to seed, soil to soil, season to season, flower to flower, etc.
Weed these days is so potent small differences in flower smoked add up to large differences in THC/CBD/etc consumed. Like you're not carefully weighing out the amount you put in a bowl. It's done by eye and by volume which both have a large margin of error.
Then there's smoking technique. How you hold the lighter, how you inhale, how much water in the bong, and so on all impact how much smoke is produced and consumed.
Then we're talking about perception. How high you are is really how high you perceive you are. And that can be affected by mood, tiredness, what activity you do after smoking, and so on.
In my experience same flower, same technique, same amount, etc can lead to wildly disparate outcomes. Most of the time it's about the same. But every so often I find myself blasted to the moon or not really feeling much.
But all that said, Sommeliers can repeatedly recognize specific vintages where I can mostly just recognize broad categories. Maybe there's weed sommeliers out there that can do the same.
I can't tell the difference between the types and have had anxiety with weed labeled as both. Individual strain and thc, cbd and other canibinoid percentages have a bigger effect then anything ime
Your inner critic can be shaped to what you need it to be. First, I'd change, I'm not good enough, to I want to get better at X. Seems like semantics, but perspective is everything. When possible, frame things in the positive (hit the ball, rather than DON'T miss).
When you do this, I think it will be easier to convince your inner critic that you need rest (not just sleep but time to pause, other activities for your brain/body, etc.). Whatever balance is for you, you can train your inner critic to prioritize that over a cruel checklist.
Also, I think it's unhelpful to describe yourself as incompetent relative to everyone else or not. If you are behind some others, there are reasons (most probably related to experience), and if you understand them, I think you should be at peace with where you are. That doesn't mean stop improving. It just means, I am here; to get to Z, I must do X and Y.
Basically, zoom in and out of your situation enough to understand it, and do the best thing for you. It could be helpful to frame it as though you are setting up the parameters for a friend rather than yourself. A lot of people aren't as kind to themselves as they are to people they care about. Care about you; be kind to you.
I think you’re forgetting natural talent (it is their Acceleration to your velocity), commitment, energy, lack of distractions, luck and so many other things you can’t account for. Feeling left behind is inevitable even if you’re on the top of one field - there are going to be others you’re not at the forefront of. The billionaires pay a ton of money to play tennis/golf for example - ask them how they feel when they watch pga/open events.
The crux of the answer is making peace with getting left behind and constructing meaning where you’re. Or use that as motivation. In a connected world the Jones are way too many in number to match and exceed.
I think we as humans need to and will find the ability to have a thick skin for this. We have had to historically build resistance to various distractions - this is just the latest where all the celebs are very interested in making you feel like they are regular humans as well and what they do is very much achievable for everyone: in short it isn’t and we just need to get with the program.
The replies to this are very good. I'd just add that - like anything - it takes practice. You have to train your mind to work this way, and you need to continue to do so. So, don't judge yourself too harshly when it doesn't come easy. Recognize it and continue to practice.
There's a new musician, Reggie, who is remarkably talented and deals with mental health in his music. Most of his five songs come from the perspective of overcoming his issues/environment/demons, but I Don't Want to Feel No More is similar in theme to Heroin by the Velvet Underground. Anyway, his attention to detail - lyrically and musically - makes for very relatable, enjoyable experiences, and if you're going through it, I could def see it helping.
Agree with a lot of your points, but I think you're asking for an unrealistic amount of self-sacrifice. Not to equate film to rl, but we're all familiar with Serpico, right? You think these power-hungry bullies are just going to let you infiltrate their gang and make changes for the greater good?
Maybe you're talking about leadership/management positions? But, even then, you're talking about one of the stronger unions in country and a group of employees who will fight your attempts at progress.
Again, I agree with just about everything else, and there isn't an easy solution, but I think your criticism is either unclear or misplaced.
It's interesting that you focused on leadership/management as an option--no, I actually really am talking about going to the academy, learning about escalation of force, patrol work, and basic procedural law, and then manning the city streets.
I'm not expecting left-leaners to go in and "take down the corrupt cops from the inside", just to go in and do police work. Most cops that get away with murder don't appear to be nakedly corrupt or part of an overt/explicit conspiracy to commit murder and theft; they're just incompetent, malicious, and protected by the brotherhood.
I have the same criticism of left-learners in other fields, like business and engineering. I come from a very left-leaning community and family; they will talk up one wall and down the other about things like bank loan disparity, police response disparity, treatment by retail employees disparity, etc. but very few of them actually consider becoming a loan officer or a police officer or a grocery store owner and then choosing how to treat people that would normally be treated poorly. People in my familial and social circle want to work $70-100k white collar administrative jobs and tell everyone else how to run society, when it would be far more effective if everyone with their same viewpoints simply become part of society and ran it themselves.
More self-sacrificial behavior and working in "real" jobs would also solve a lot of problems with what I saw as a flaw in liberal/left thinking. It's hard to be friendly and forgiving to thieves and violent robbers when it's your retirement plan that's getting jacked up twice per year and losing a third of profit to theft and another third to taxation.
Agree with your sentiments about the current process and hopes for improvement.