give a little whistle

[phosfate]

Psych appointment today. We did it on the phone because plague, and it worked okay even though the thing I really hate about my phone is that it has a phone in it. I hid in the break room, which is mostly empty because everyone's working from home. I was happy not going into the office, because they've moved into a former cornfield that is further away than the end of the nearest bus route, in one of those areas where there's no way to tell if a particular site is a wine shop, Eckankar, or plastic surgery practice.

Now, it's never good when you have to start a story to a psychiatrist with, "I swear to God I'm not making this up," but I told him about my recent issues with street/bus harassment. He recommends something called the Storm Whistle, which he and his wife gave to his daughters many years ago. It is designed to be loud enough and water resistant enough that if you are on a boat and get washed overboard, your pals can hear it and find you, and hopefully haul you back in unless you're a huge dick. "But it is REALLY LOUD, so you will need to plug your ears." I told him I have my earbuds in most of the time when I'm out, so it shouldn't be an issue.

"Also you should consider a different CVS." I told him I'd taken care of that.

So. Storm Whistles all over the Internet. On Amazon they run $7-$10 depending on the package, and will hang on your lanyard or keychain. I will probably never have to use it, but the point of these things is to make you feel better.

Comments

Verständnisfrage

[ashenmote]

My search engine suggests that Eckankar is some religious thing, yes? I'm less successful with 'CVS', is that a pharmacy perhaps?

I think we had a storm whistle at home. Which would make sense considering that my father spent most of the wartimes on sinking ships or that's what I gathered from his accounts when I was little. Maybe it was just one ship and it was just something of an impactful experience? I have no idea.

Yeah get one. The breath to noise ratio is way better than yelling.

Re: Verständnisfrage

[phosfate]

I am not sure what Eckankar's beliefs are, but yeah, it's a cult or hardcore self-help or something. They tend to use retail space instead of churches. A famous one is in the Crossroads of the World in Los Angeles.

CVS is a pharmacy chain. Currently, in the US, they are in a huge rivalry with Walgreen's, to the point where they will tear down one of their buildings and rebuild it a street or two away so that it is directly across the street from a Walgreen's. (I changed to the one that's inside the Target where I buy my groceries.) Walgreen's will then construct a bigger, fancier store somewhere that has no CVS, preferably near a medical complex. The really hilarious thing about the CVS-Walgreen's rivalry is that nobody actually enjoys going into either of them. They've both instituted loyalty card programs that will not allow a customer to buy any marked-down item unless they have the card. Their regularly priced items are higher than other stores. The general solution to this issue is to say fuck your stupid cards and buy non-medical items elsewhere.

Amazon sent the storm whistles in under 24 hours, so I picture them having their own little seat on the plane, since there aren't any passengers.

Part of me really wants to go to Chicago and see what nearly-abandoned O'Hare airport looks like (it has a brontosaurus skeleton!), but all the good stuff is past security now.

Dad2 was in the Pacfic. He never had many wartime stories (I don't blame him, since two of his brothers were killed and he got Private Ryaned back to stateside duty), but apparently there was a lot of seasickness involved, and he picked up some sort of jungle disease that would occasionally come back and kick his ass. He never mentioned any sinking, but it's possible he was just embarrassed. All of this was still better than his pre-war occupation of Appalachian coal miner. But I'm pretty sure homeless alcoholic and involuntary sex worker are also better than Appalachian coal miner.

Anyway, don't be a coal miner unless it's a genuine calling.

Re: Verständnisfrage

[ashenmote]

Well, if I found a cult I will see to it that it doesn't sound like some guy's first D&D character.

Shop chain wars are ridiculous. I have accepted that anti monopoly laws are a thing of the past, but I still wish there would be laws that require shop chains to behave like grownups.

Some security that must be, letting a brontosaur through.

I'm very hazy on details but maybe the pacific was bigger and not as full of mines so maybe they sank somewhat less regularly there and spent more time dying in other horrible ways.

Oh god yes, I used to live in a former coal mining city before I moved here. Quite a bit of the city's disposable income went into pumping water into the former coalmines on penalty of the city dropping quickly into said coalmines instead of slowly. Yeah no. I'm sure coal mining paid well and you get your own mining culture and your own mining diseases and everything, but it is not for me.

[crantz]

Ann used Sonic Attack