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What are you doing right now? Part 2
message 951:
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Marina
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Jul 29, 2018 12:17AM
What a great surprise, Esther!
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Esther wrote: "This Friday was Tu B'av (Love Day) so we were supposed to be going to a festive meal at synagogue.We did considering some more serious celebrating as on Thursday our daughter finished her military..."
What a pleasant surprise!
It was a wonderful surprise! He stayed so long on base that even my daughter was beginning to get worried that he would have to ask for special leave to say goodbye to her before she flies to England.
Esther, so nice that you were able to see your son and daughter. I love the idea of Love Day ❤️!
Sound simp!y wonderful, Esther.Love the pics Greg, though not a Potter fan myself.
Sound simp!y wonderful, Esther.Love the pics Greg, though not a Potter fan myself.
Good luck with your guitar playing, Pam.
I can’t see your pics Greg since I’m on the App but I’m going to have to go to the Wizarding World one of these days, but probably in FL. Esther - Sounds wonderful! Glad you had that time together! #Family
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Tomorrow I start playing the guitar again, after almost a year of not playing! I have about 6 weeks to develop some basic skills like chord changes, before our next festival in Red River, NM. I gotta get busy! ."
I wish I could hear you play Pam! I had guitar in college but forget practically everything. I do love live music - hope you have a great time at the festival!
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We did considering some more serious celebrating as on Thursday our daughter finished her military..."
How fantastic Esther, and what a wonderdul thing for your son to do! Happy Love Day!!
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Haven't been on this thread for a while!Greg, nice photos! I've never read the Harry Potter series :)
dely, kudos to your son for getting involved with helping unfortunate women!
Esther, what a pleasant surprise! Sounds like you had a wonderful family reunion time.
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Greg, nice photos! I've never read the Harry Potter series :)
dely, kudos to your son for getting involved with helping unfortunate women!
Esther, what a..."
Thanks Alice!
I'm so excited for you in your writing successes too. Many congratulations! :)
Pam wrote: "Universal and the beach sound awesome Greg! Those would be my next favorite things to do, if I lived anywhere near either one of them. I’m sure you all had a fabulous time! Lucky!Tomorrow I start..."
Good luck with your practice - finger picking or with a pick?
I haven’t listened to bluegrass is years; You’ve reminded me to listen more broadly.
It’s too easy to get into narrow, repetitive ruts.
Greg wrote: ""YIKES!!
Looks like fun.
Greg wrote: "Alice wrote: "Haven't been on this thread for a while!Greg, nice photos! I've never read the Harry Potter series :)
dely, kudos to your son for getting involved with helping unfortunate women!
..."
Greg, you're kind! It's the ride that I enjoy most, not the destination :) I try not to pay heed to the result (sales)!
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Greg, nice photos! I've never read the Harry Potter series :)
dely, kudos to your son for getting involved with helping unfortu..."
Definitely the right attitude to have Alice! :)
I am currently (9:30 pm here in New England) drinking a glass of red wine and watching an old episode of Lewis on TV, trying to unwind after a long day preparing for the movers to come tomorrow to my parents' apartment. They are taking what is left to donate to Habitat for Humanity and the rest to the dump. It has been a grueling few weeks going through all their belongings, deciding what to keep, what to donate and what to get rid of. Financially, this is the least important part of the estate but the hardest emotionally.
I still have several thousand slides of my Dad's to go through and keep running across ones which make me wish that I had done this before Mom died. For example, I ran across some from 1964 in Italy when my mother was pregnant with my brother - I don't recall ever hearing about this trip but I do remember my parents talking about when I had been to Italy as a very small child and picked up enough Italian that people thought I was Italian myself (wish that I had retained some of that!). I guess that this was the trip but I didn't know that it was in 1964...
Now I am looking for a converter to change those slides I am selecting to keep as digital images. Do any of you have any experience with this?
Leslie, you must be physically and emotionally exhausted but it sounds like you’ve made progress. Take care of yourself.
Mod
What kind of slides Leslie? Dylan has some experience with a lot of AV stuff, and maybe he can help - he's here with me this week. Are they old-style photo slides with negatives? Or something else?
Leslie wrote: "I am currently (9:30 pm here in New England) drinking a glass of red wine and watching an old episode of Lewis on TV, trying to unwind after a long day preparing for the movers to come tomorrow to ..."It sounds like you definitely deserve a rest and that glass of wine.
We also have a ton of slides which I should go through again with my mother.
I found two ways of converting them.
You can buy a slide scanner (either independent or linked to a printer/scanner) or send them to a professional who will do it for you.
The professional is easier, quicker and costs a lot more if you have thousand of slides like we do.
Also some of our slides are so degraded there is no point so I will have to go through them anyway before converting.
ETA I understand 'slide' mysteries.
I didn't meet my Dad until I was 10 and although I had an impression of what he looked like I was sure I had never seen a photo.
Then when I was in my 30s we went through some slides and there was a slide of my Dad. It looked somehow familiar so I must have seen it when I was a child but the slides were so inaccessible that I had only seen it once or twice and had completely forgotten about it.
Dear Leslie, it's so good to hear from you. I'm sure this was (and probably still is) a very stressful moment in your life. Take care and be gentle on yourself.
Esther wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I am currently (9:30 pm here in New England) drinking a glass of red wine and watching an old episode of Lewis on TV, trying to unwind after a long day preparing for the movers to co..."I am thinking about buying a scanner if it isn't too expensive. I would like it to connect to my laptop so I don't need printing capabilities for the scanner itself.
Greg wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I am currently (9:30 pm here in New England) drinking a glass of red wine and watching an old episode of Lewis on TV, trying to unwind after a long day preparing for the movers to co..."
Mostly 35 mm slides (you know, with the cardboard frame). Not many negatives; they're not in the packets that prints come from the store in but in boxes and about 20 carousels.
Leslie wrote: "Esther wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I am currently (9:30 pm here in New England) drinking a glass of red wine and watching an old episode of Lewis on TV, trying to unwind after a long day preparing for t..."Slide scanners often work for negatives too.
Amazon has quite a range but I would read some reviews and 'How tos' first so you know what is available and what you want/need.
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-E...
I did that for my dad's large collection of slides. Ended up getting the Epson V600 which was about $200. It does color correction, will scan photos, slides and negatives. I am very happy with it.
Thanks for the info on your experience Laurel. I have discovered that I might be able to check out a converter free though my public library! That would be great but I need to find out if it is for in-library use only or actually something that I could take home.
Leslie, take good care of yourself and don't stress out. It must have been emotionally taxing to go through your parents' personal stuff. I hope you'll be able to use your library's converter.
Mod
Sounds perfect Leslie - hope it works for you!
Pam wrote: "Tomorrow I start playing the guitar again, after almost a year of not playing! I have about 6 weeks to develop some basic skills like chord changes, before our next festival in Red River, NM. I gotta get busy! "I don't envy you the process of getting your callouses back; I hope that part goes quickly.
Esther wrote: "This Friday was Tu B'av (Love Day) so we were supposed to be going to a festive meal at synagogue.We did considering some more serious celebrating as on Thursday our daughter finished her military..."
Ah, yes, we now have to consider The Boyfriend with one of our daughters.
How lovely to be surprised by your son!!!
Leslie wrote: "I am currently (9:30 pm here in New England) drinking a glass of red wine and watching an old episode of Lewis on TV, trying to unwind after a long day preparing for the movers to come tomorrow to ..."I hope it won't be too heartbreaking for you to face this last huge step. Take good care of yourself!
Laurel wrote: "I did that for my dad's large collection of slides. Ended up getting the Epson V600 which was about $200. It does color correction, will scan photos, slides and negatives. I am very happy with it."Thanks for the recommendation.
Karin wrote: "Esther wrote: "This Friday was Tu B'av (Love Day) so we were supposed to be going to a festive meal at synagogue.We did considering some more serious celebrating as on Thursday our daughter finish..."
She had one boyfriend for 3 years. My son only likes chocolate desserts so that is what I make but after 6 months the boyfriend had the courage to mention that he didn't really like chocolate so I started making fruit crumbles as well.
This was the second visit of this particular boyfriend and DD mentioned that he doesn't like chocolate either so I am back to the fruit crumbles.
You will never believe what happened to my son. Sooner or later I will have a heart stroke or I will land in a madhouse because of a nervous breakdown (and usually I have selfcontrol, so it isn't easy that I despear).I try to make it short. You know he is in India, in Chennai. On Sunday he decided to do a day trip to Bangalore (that isn't that near to Chennai). Well, during the trip he finished his cash but thought that he would do a withdrawal at an ATM as soon as he arrived in Bangalore. The problem is that he couldn't find a working ATM. To pay the rickshaw driver, he brought him shopping. The rest he paid with the credit card.
At the end of the day he messaged me that he wasn't able to find a working ATM, that he couldn't buy the bus ticket online because his card wasn't accepted by the site, so he was "lost" there. It was since the morning that I asked him if I should send him money through MoneyGram (if there was an open office seen that it was Sunday), but he told me that he was sightseeing and hadn't time to find a MoneyGram office. Already this made me angry, but he always manages to survive somehow so I didn't worry too much.
When it was late evening, he was totally lost because he wasn't able to find a solution. I told him to go to a police station to seek some kind of help, but he said that he was without passport and without visa. Argh!
Though late I contacted a couple of GR friends that live there, but it was night, they were sleeping and they saw my messages only the next day. Well, my son at the end was able to find a hotel.
The next day, yesterday, the receptionist bought him a bus ticket online. I run to a MoneyGram office to send money for this kind guy (I couldn't send money to my son because without a document they don't give you the money). My Indian GR friend recharged the credit on his phone, because my son had also no credit left! In addition to the money for the bus ticket I had send also some extra money: a part for my son to receive cash, and a part as a thank you for the kind receptionist. The problem is that this guy didn't go to pick up the money so he didn't want to give the cash to my son! At least he gave him the bus ticket and also free lunch and dinner thanks to the extra money. Now I also told my GR friend to go to this hotel and ask for the money for the recharge he did. I hope everything will be worked out smoothly: that the receptionist goes and takes the money, and that he gives a part of it to my friend (seen that from all the extra money I had sent, my son received only 200 rupees, so there is plenty of extra money left).
Sorry for the long message, but I had to vent out. Now my son arrived again in Chennai and let's hope everything will go on smoothly.
Dely, that must have been horrible! You were lucky to have a friend out there who was ready to help. The receptionist was also very kind. But I was wondering... how come your son didn't have neither passport nor visa with him? Things would have definitely been much easier that way... Your son is very young, so he maybe doesn't think about these things, but I'm sure he will learn to listen to your advice from now on.
dely wrote: "You will never believe what happened to my son. Sooner or later I will have a heart stroke or I will land in a madhouse because of a nervous breakdown (and usually I have selfcontrol, so it isn't e..."Your son is very lucky to have you running around after him.
I agree with Marina about the passport and visa. I would advise you insist he takes them with him. I haven't travelled in India but in quite a few places you can be arrested if you don't carry them with you.
Esther wrote: "Your son is very lucky to have you running around after him. I agree with Marina about the passport and visa. I would advise you insist he takes them with him. I haven't travelled in India but in quite a few places you can be arrested if you don't carry them with you."
Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "how come your son didn't have neither passport nor visa with him?"
At this point I should say a lot of swearwords about my son. He told me that he never has the documents with him because he is afraid of losing them or that he gets robbed. But he should have at least a copy of both documents and he knows it. He is only 20 years old, but this is not an excuse because he travelled already a lot to know that a person should never be without documents above all while abroad. As Esther said, in some countries people are arrested if without documents.
I stopped giving him advices because his answers were: I know / I'm not stupid / I travelled more than you / Don't bother me.
dely, how scary ! Thankfully for your son , he has a mom like you. I agree he should at least carry a copy of his documents. Glad he’s safe !
Dely, I'm so sorry that his answers are those you quote... He might have traveled more than you have, but you're his mother, you're older which makes you undoubtedly wiser than he is - he should listen to you. I'm very sorry that is not the case. But he's bound to understand when he's a little older himself.
Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "Dely, I'm so sorry that his answers are those you quote... He might have traveled more than you have, but you're his mother, you're older which makes you undoubtedly wiser than he is - he should li..."It's typical of a lot of young people to give those replies, so I don't worry too much. I think he "learned the lesson" this time because he was scared too.
Btw, weird things continue to happen. He was finally able to do a withdrawal. This morning my ex husband called me telling me that my son's and my bank called him to say that they have seen that he was trying to do a lot of withdrawals with no results from India. My ex husband told them that he isn't in India and that he even hasn't a bank account with them; that his son is in India (my ex husband didn't know anything about the problems of these last days). They told him that for India and other countries there are a lot of limits in withdrawals and the maximum a person can take is 250 euro in a month, and not more than 50 Euro every time for only two times in a day.
First of all I was angry with the bank because I don't understand from where they took the name and the phone number of my ex husband. And then I'm angry with them because the first week of July my son already had problems and I contacted them; they told me that there is nothing different in India, that he can do withdrawals all around the world. They didn't tell me about these limits. I called them immediately telling that I want to know why they called my ex husband and why they gave me wrong informations when I asked! I was so angry, but they weren't able to tell me from where they had the number of my ex husband. He even doesn't know this bank (it's a pretty small one) and we never gave them the name or the number of my ex husband. Thankfully we still hear each other so he called me to tell me about these limits and to know what happend to our son. But it is absurd and surreal that a bank calls the wrong person, and a person that hasn't a bank account with them!
Sometimes there happen really weird things. I'm thinking about changing bank for my son, but I have to wait that he comes to Italy to do it.
And in all this my mother is going crazy for other things, but this would be another long story. My father, my sister and me don't know what to do with her, how to reason with her.
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Goodness, what a nightmare dely! i'm glad things mostly worked out, and hopefully your son learned his lesson. But I hope now you will have some good luck and a little relaxation!
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So Dylan & my sister will be pushing me in a wheelchair at Disneyland tomorrow most likely. Hopefully I'm wrong & it gets better overnight, but if not, at least it happened toward the end of the vacation!
Here is Oceanside:
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I'm trying to cope with this difficoult Summer, waiting to start for my real holidays by the end of next week.
Last week end I managed to go a couple of days to Tarquinia, a delicious little town of Etruscan origins. Only two days, but we relaxed a bit!
dely wrote: "Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "Dely, I'm so sorry that his answers are those you quote... He might have traveled more than you have, but you're his mother, you're older which makes you undoubtedly wi..."That sounds so wrong and very careless of the bank, especially as they couldn't offer you an explanation. Does Italy have a consumer service bureau? If so I would contact them as this sounds like a breach of privacy. Your husband shouldn't be informed about your son's banking activities unless your son has signed an agreement.
Greg wrote: "Had a great time at Universal and at the beach in Oceanside, but today in a spectacular feat of clumsiness at Disneyland I think I might have broken my toe. So Dylan & my sister will be pushing m..."
Ouch!! Now confess, how did you do it? Were you kicking Mickey Mouse? :0)
dely, I'm so sorry that the situation is getting so difficult to handle! I hope things will improve soon. When is your son coming back? Is he going straight to the Netherlands, or is he coming to Italy for a while?Greg, ouch! As you say, it's lucky this happened toward the end of the vacation, but it's unfortunate anyway. You never want a broken toe, much less so during a vacation! Keep us posted, and I hope you were wrong and there's nothing broken.
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Esther, haha, no, I was trying to get in a rollercoaster car in a hurry, and the bottom of the car had a dip in it I didn't see. I tripped over the entire car and smashed all my weight on my toe against the metal wall of the other side of the car. Quite a feat! :)
Laura, that town looks beautiful - love the Etruscan ruins!
Greg wrote: "Thanks Marina, Esther, Laura!Esther, haha, no, I was trying to get in a rollercoaster car in a hurry, and the bottom of the car had a dip in it I didn't see. I tripped over the entire car and sma..."
Double ouch!! I have never been on a roller coaster. I would love to try but I am so motion sick and feel it would be extremely discourteous to vomit all over my fellow passengers.
Greg wrote: "Had a great time at Universal and at the beach in Oceanside, but today in a spectacular feat of clumsiness at Disneyland I think I might have broken my toe. So Dylan & my sister will be pushing m..."
Thanks for sharing the pics! I really hope you didn't broke your toe and that tomorrow you will already feel better.
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