Misc Stories
More stories, carried on from background stories. To give general information that changes people’s point of view.
So your health got messed up?
What did you do with your time?
I had my spine messed with really badly from 2012-2016. It had something to do with the inner muscles of my torso (iliacus and psoas).
So I’d just listen to stuff. Stuff like podcasts, radio shows, audiobooks, and university lectures.
I didn’t graduate from university, so I thought I’d make up for it by just listening to some university lectures. I found some from Yale, Stanford, Harvard and Oxford and just listened to them until I had consumed about one and a half years worth of lectures (12 lecture series’ worth - each series is about 24 - 36 lectures long). I figure that makes up for the one to two years of university I didn’t finish.
I also listened to shows like “hardcore history” by Dan Carlin (a good show about military history, from the point of view of normal soldiers, sort of), some design podcasts, and some tech podcasts. As well as dumb/funny podcasts like “total party kill”. Between my podcasts and university lectures, I got a pretty decent education. There was a lot of history and technology.
**
But before that (2009 - 2012), I had a lot of health problems - abrade related (sleep, night sweats, very severe constipation, fatigue, some torso tightening) - that sidelined me. I was too sick/fatigued to do anything, so I just did a lot of reading. I read as many books as possible. Lots of criminology, economics, and history, a fair bit of architecture, and miscellaneous or whatever. (I read about 9 really good academic books of criminology). I kept records of whatever I read during this period of time. I also played some video games, but was losing the capacity to play video games and read books comfortably. I was also losing the capacity to play board games or card games with my friends comfortably.
My preferred positions to read in were lying down on my side (in bed) or on my front (on the ground). Back when I was still at university, I even used to study lying down on the ground, resting my weight on my left arm and using my right arm to write.
Ummm. I started to lose the ability to do these positions while reading or studying (please don’t ask me to explain how it happened, I don’t know).
By one point I had lost the ability to even lie down to rest on my back properly, in bed. And I lost the ability to read while laying down in bed!?!?!!!? This was a catastrophe for me, because reading is one of my favourite things to do in life!?
I didn’t know at the time why I couldn’t lie down properly. But in hindsight, I can see that it was caused by “electronic abrade technology”, which was messing with the level of tone in muscles of my inner torso. In hindsight, I think that the iliacus, psoas, trapezius, sternocleinomastoid and other muscles of my throat were being manipulated. As well as some other muscles of my upper back. I also had lost the ability to exercise (and benefit from it) by the age of 18/19.
I also had massive sleep issues. I’d wake up overheating, soaked in sweat. Then I’d have to get up to use the bathroom. Then I would try to get back to sleep, and I’d be so cold that I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t get warm. And so I would have to eat before I could sleep again, to get warm. I know this sounds strange, but it was what I was dealing with. I guess they caused me a lot of problems over the years. I also had very severe digestive problems. Sleep issues were frequent. Very frequent.
Sometimes I’d have sleep problems every night of the week. I was exhausted. My energy levels were nil, I had back pain and other back problems, my digestion was horrible also. Those were the three main areas of symptoms.
**
Back to 2012 - 2016… ==> I couldn’t socialise properly. When I tried to socialise, (i.e. have a decent conversation) my back would hurt. It would tighten up. I’d get worse at breathing, and I’d end up exhausted. I actually just couldn’t socialise normally. The consequences of socialising too much really harmed me. And I felt that I as to pace myself. And so I became quite isolated, and lacked a normal amount of socialisation.
I didn’t realise it at the time, but someone was tightening my inner muscles (such as iliacus, psoas, trapezius, throat, sternocleidomastoid) when I tried to have a conversation with someone other than Amanda, or the usual set. I’d try to have a conversation with someone, like a friend over the phone, or someone who came to the door and my back would hurt. So I was getting conditioned against conversation!!? They made it all but impossible to have a normal social life.
Here is one quite obscure (but genuine) example, a couple of priests from the Catholic Church showed up once, to try to find/visit the people who had previously lived there (pastoral care). And I ended up talking to them for a while. I had a conversation and enjoyed it, but it wrecked my back!? Yes, that’s right, I was so deprived of social contact that even a 20 minute talk with some priests was really enjoyable! But it cost me. I received “pay back” for that, including multiple days symptoms. I felt it for days. Or I’d talk on the phone for 45 minutes. And then I’d feel awful afterwards. I was actually hurting my back with these things! And hitting my energy levels, and sleep quality. Sometimes I’d even end up with digestive symptoms as a result of the strain to my body (which sounds hard to believe, but it really is true).
I really wasn’t socialising back then. It is too difficult to explain. Socialising is difficult. There were physical limitations etc.
Then to 2017-2022: I can’t read books.
And I can’t really listen to spoken word audio (podcasts, audio books, radio documentaries, or lectures) because it causes issues/tightness with my back leading to breathing/pain related issues. I don’t understand why at the time (I just think that it is an automatic nervous response thing). Somehow I can listen to the radio without issues. But not audio books.
They conditioned me against consuming spoken word audio.
I will explain. If I sat down on my chair to relax, and listen to an audiobook or a podcast. Or anything with spoken words instead of just music… then they would interfere. They just plain didn’t want me to listen to podcasts. So if I did, and I set a timer to listen to podcasts for 10 minutes or 20 minutes. They would tighten certain muscles in my body, and cause me to feel some strain or tightness. And this tightness got worse and worse the more I ignored it. Which meant that I wasn’t able to relax by listening to podcasts. And so they pushed me to stop listening to podcasts. At the time I wasn’t sure why audio books cause this effect, but it meant that I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t listen to spoken word audio. I thought it was an automatic nervous system reaction relating to mirror neurones. And at the time I had to do so much just to survive.
I just didn’t listen to much spoken word audio. Almost none, for four years.
Hard to explain, hard to understand. But it’s part of my overall story.
**********
Childhood 7-11ish
I had a pretty normal childhood in a lot of ways. Most/many ways, probably. I did things like making banana cake from the Edmonds cookbook, my brother and I liked Simpsons references, and disassembled and reassembled fireworks with my friends. I was a tree climbing fanatic, and obsessed with building a treehouse (never did, because we didn’t have the right trees for it). I loved the local swimming pools (ac baths), and swimming at the lake. I liked normal stuff like getting launched out of the water at the pools and into the sky by my uncles and father. I liked trying to compete with others in swimming under water, holding my breath and swimming for distance under water. I wrestled with and enjoyed dunking the other kids. I consider this to be normal stuff. I liked video games too much. I liked real time strategies when young, but loved first person shooters when I was older. I always wore the same polar fleece hoodie that my mother made; camouflage polar fleece on the outside, and black micro fleece on the inside. It was warm and thick. I loved the clothes my mother made for me. I know it’s lame, and I the time I knew it was lame, but my mother made good clothes! She once even made a hat with pockets in it, for me to store lollies. It’s silly, but my mum was fun?? I was into RTS like red alerts. Ago of empires, Caesar, and 3d platformers like hex the gecko at the time.
**
Two childhood snippets:
My parents were sometimes pretty cool. For example, my parents surprised Matthew and I with a new kitten when they picked us up from Lake Taupo Christian Camp once. We had been at camp for 3 days. They arrived at camp to pick me up, and had a kitten in the van. That was pretty cool. We named her Fluffy. We later adopted her sister from the same litter. We named her sister Smokey.
**
I remember once getting hooked on a video game called “Caesar 3”. And I was so addicted that I got up at 5:30am to play it. At like 10 years old. It’s crazy
I couldn’t get enough of it. And I didn’t want to wait until after school to play it. And I didn’t want to share the computer. So I woke up early. 5:30am, it was cold, so I was wearing a hoodie. My kittens were using me as climbing frame. 11 years old. This was in Oronui Road, farmhouse, Taupo (place a little bit worn down, but still tidy, used to be for farmhands). How do you put that into words? That was “peak David” at that age. Walking about our freezing cold house at 5:30 am, wearing a double layered polar fleece hoodie, up early so I could play games, and letting my kittens use me as a climbing frame (the fleece was so thick that I could let them do it).
*********
********
I was a genius when I was young. And I knew it. I was really smart, and used to read a lot.
It’s an awkward topic.
*********
*********
I always admired inventors, when I was young, like Edison. I wanted to be like him. I would read books about inventors, and invention. I even would day dream about inventions, patents and selling my inventions. I kept “ideas books” and read up on how patents work. But knew I needed money and better tools to really do something fun. At age 8/9 years old, I wanted to be an inventor. Who also sold and/or licensed his inventions.
I wanted to be an inventor and/or mad scientist at the age of about 8/9. I also wanted to make video games (did I mention that I loved, nay, adored video games - my dad also used to sell games and consoles at his computer shop).
********
********
Audio Content
I love spoken word audio content: Including radio shows, documentaries, storytelling, podcasts or lectures.
TwiT: this week in tech was a bunch of easy to listen to misc tech news and discussion. Great show. Really long episodes. You’d get genuinely good tech tips and advice. But you have to be willing to figure stuff out for yourself.
I listened to a lot of technology podcasts, and adjacent. 5x5, relay, wired, back to work, Roderick on the line
99% Invisible. Great podcast on design. Needs no real introduction.
Total Party Kill was funny, and dumb. It's just people playing DnD
I like Thinking Aloud by Laurie Taylor on BBC radio 4. It's a radio show about sociology. I listened to a bunch of it. It forces you to think. It is really great. I listened to a boatload of it. Maybe 30-50 episodes?
When I like a podcast, I go through the archives.
Hardcore history - Dan Carlin (I listened to so much of this). The quality is excellent. It’s all about military history.
Honourable mentions:
In Our Time by Melvyn Bragg. Good intro to a variety of topics by solid academics in a panel discussion.
Freakonomics podcast. It's fun if you like economics.
History of Rome - Mike Duncan was just a way of filling in time. But gave a non professional sounding person's take on history. There was a lot of explanation etc. really good, but not super professional I listened to the whole thing. 73 hrs run time.
I listened to a ton between 2012 and 2016, because I was functionally an invalid.
*********
*********
School, other
Edit: this segment needs a harsh rewrite. But the gist of it is that the school I went to as a youngster wasn’t very good. And the curriculum was stupid (Google ACE system). And I pushed to get myself moved to a better school. Seriously, Google ACE system.
Lake Taupo Christian school was used to undermine my education, and to isolate me. It was actually really pretty much okay when it first started. And it was still okay at the soccer club rooms. But it stopped being okay towards the last year(ish) that I was there.
Umm. The school was stupid, and had stupid rules. [Also, The curriculum was simultaneously better and worse than mainstream schooling. It doesn’t mesh well with future educational options. It’s complicated.]
I complained bitterly, and engaged in a campaign of non violent resistance (slight sarcasm there) against the schooling I received. I ignored the rules, failed to follow them, and eventually managed to get kicked out of class into the library. Where I got more work done. I was shifted to a new school the following year. I spent my first form year at Taupo Intermediate school. It was great.
****
My family used to move me around to undermine me? And to keep me isolated. e.g., we moved from Taupo to Taradale, Hawke’s Bay, just when I had managed to get settled in at a decent/normal school in a good class!?
Why did they move? Ummmmm. [My dad blamed my Mum. It was kind of implied. She was stubborn, difficult, and fussy. Then she was sleeping around, and they needed a fresh start. It was really weird and complicated. Or.. she had always wanted to live on a farm, or he didn’t make good enough money. Or wasn’t good at DIY. He often criticised her in front of me. It was weird.]
And then they disrupted my life by getting a divorce (which was mostly about me afaik. No, I’m not joking). My parents divorced so they could screw my life up!? They did it on purpose lol.
[Edit: my Dad told me that my mother was cheating on him. And that is why they split up.]
****
This is a slightly twee vignette:
*I think it was the Sydney concert, but idk.
*****
Places I have been: Brisbane, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo, Kyoto, Port Vila, Rarotonga, Rue de Pacy, France (it’s a small village close to Rouen, just north of Paris; my mother used to live there), Munich, Salzburg, Venice, Barcelona.
*****
I'd like to talk about my paternal Grandfather Ivan.
We all called him Papa, not grandad. He was Hungarian. He was from Hungary and he spoke fluent Hungarian. I think he was part Jewish as well. His family switched their name from Spiegel to Solt when he was young.
His first wife (my Nana, Carol) is from Wales. His second wife was from Hungary. He had six children. Four from his first marriage. Two from his second.
Papa and his sister and parents all had to leave Hungary in 1956 after the failed Hungarian Uprising (see Wikipedia). He was in his early 20s at the time. They left in the night, taking nothing but what they could carry. They wore gray because it stands out less on the horizon. And they took a bunch of bottles of vodka in case they needed to bribe the border guards with it. In Hungary they were wealthy. After leaving, they were poor. I think Ivan worked as a taxi driver in NZ, or sold welding rods as a job.
Their country tried to have a revolution against the ussr (sort of), which failed, and then he has to flee. Umm. The situation was actually a lot more complicated than that. But you can read about it in Wikipedia.
He was a bit eccentric, but otherwise okay. Very smart, good at chess. Ate too much. Kind of loud. My Mum hated him.
Ivan Thomas Brody-Solt
*******
We had a vegetable garden put in at 5 Weka Road. Raised bed, wooden sides. I planted it with herbs and vegetables the first year. But then seldom used it, because I was too unwell to tend to it properly. It became overgrown with weeds.. and then I couldn’t weed it to replant it. Issues with my back+exhaustion. Such fun 😅.
*****
***
My mum was fun sometimes. I really enjoyed playing "the dictionary game" with her and my Uncle Andy. We both enjoyed word games, puns, and silly definitions for words. We were both pretty good at games like that, and she had a better sense of humour than most. She’s good with words. I love word games. I like scrabble, upword, boggle and a few others. As well as stuff like Hashi and sudoku.
Comments
Post a Comment