Been busy this evening, with a chain-reaction of events.

I got my #3DPrinter working again - nozzle was blocked, and I couldn't get it unblocked, so I ordered some replacement ones, which arrived nearly a week ago. For multiple reasons, I haven't had the opportunity and/or energy to fit it, until tonight. Got a great test print run off, first try with the new nozzle, so tomorrow I'll be able to set off the ~15 hour print I was trying to do when it blocked.

Also been thinking about a re-spin of the #MakerSpace concept that hopefully won't be so fkn horrible to run. I've been ruminating on this for the last couple of years - especially since I rage-quit running my local makerspace in the summer of 2023, when I had an #AutisticMeltdown due to having to leave our premises because the landlord was a rogue. Tonight I was able to actually get some good ideas down, some basic principles: virtual; non-hierarchical; no committee/board; distributed inventory; premise-less; nomadic - meeting in various venues around the area; organised online (pref using something federated); self-organising; plus a bunch of other things.

As a result of *that*, I ended up looking at #ActivityPub based applications, looking for things that might help with the "virtual makerspace" idea. Found three that I feel I need to check out: Hubzilla, Mobilizon, and NodeBB.

Looking at those three, NodeBB stuck out as it actually mentions FreeBSD as a supported platform, so *that* made me update my #FreeBSD-based mini-NAS, so I could test it. So I've just got it back up to scratch, because it WAS running FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p5 GENERIC, but after running freebsd-update, I found it's now no longer supported. While I've been typing this, it's just finished installing 14.2-RELEASE-p3.

Oh, and also been talking with my wife about how her #AutismAssessment went this evening.

And posting about British Chips and Mushy Peas.

Good morning fr #Pasadena. Went to #LaCrescentaValleyDogPark again this AM. Last minute decision bc tomorrow Saturday, husband has weight watchers at 7 &I cannot leave Finn alone :(

After only 10 minutes #MosesTheServiceDog was quite tired from the running. Not a lot of other dogs, but he loves the running!

I'm personally really enjoying this new dog park. I'm glad I no longer go to the Pasadena Park; too much upset, disappointment, and other issues there. It's becoming a trigger so I cannot go there for safety reasons… PLUS it's much more social that sometime I find it can become overbearing.

This is a BIG change I've made to avoid meltdowns: changing dog parks. When a situation is out of control (like issues with dog park hours and lack of maintenance), but complaining makes Pasadena employees & management hostile, it's unsafe because of triggers. My complaints are fair and do not deserve hostility.

Triggers can create an unsafe situation for #ActuallyAutistic people due to the high risk of emotional meltdown. And I've found out the hard way in SoCal that most southern Californians, when confronted with an #AutisticMeltdown, resort to aggression and hostility. So it becomes plain dangerous. Californians aren't as relaxed as they claim to be. They are just like New Yorkers except pretending to be chill.

Thank you #FediFriends … (#Fediveeps or #Fedipeeps…?)

I just took a break here & recovered from a nasty (though quiet) #AutisticMeltdown.

Dog park trip was rough. It opens at 6am like all parks in Pasadena but for ~8 months the city has been armwrestling dog parents into a 7am opening. They even put false signs (but real hours has still posted online)... to make a long-story short it was still closed when I arrived there at 6:50am today.

People were upset & said so to the staff person who called the park superintendent who came to tell us that we were racist (the staff person is black) & abusive. He said we were racial-profiling. They always say “It starts at the top" and it does.

But one dog-parent snapped at me because the dog superintendent got upset at me for filming what he was saying. And this is the 2nd time that guy snaps at me in a week.

I don't like people snapping at me. That's one thing many neurotypicals, on whose nerves we get on, do & I just cannot tolerate anymore. People who think it's ok to be rude an impolite to autistic people because we're annoying to them have no place in my life. So I left.

And I had just started befriending that group. I’m even supposed to go to dinner w them Sat (I’d promised myself: no more friends) And now one of them I don't want to see again!

Weird #ActuallyAutistic dynamic after a self-diagnosis a year or so ago: I think I am melting down slightly less. I only say slightly because now I know I am having the meltdown and know I am getting to a meltdown point now, and they're just unavoidable. But I think a part of it is that I have #Alexithymia and I would not realize I was getting to the point of needing an #AutisticMeltdown to re-regulate, so I would just reach uncontrollable boiling points a bit more frequently by virtue of not realizing I am getting mad and doing something about removing myself from the trigger

That said, with the awareness I am now actually accepting of the meltdown and leaning fully into getting the emotions out now instead of trying to stifle them, and I am recovering from dysregulation way faster now which is nice (a day or two instead of stewing over it for a week), and obviously avoiding triggers more often.

Makes me feel that Autism education is very, very important to people newly diagnosed, self-diagnosed or questioning. I don't think I would have learned the skills to improve my life like this without the internet communities and resources out there.

In the last day my breathing has become more juddery and abrupt, I am also sighing a lot and I had a meltdown last night. #AutisticMeltdown
#Autism #autistic #neurodiverse #lgbtqi #ActuallyAutistic

There are many ways and situations that could trigger an autistic meltdown. How we feel or a type of situation or often times when we mask too long. How does an autistic meltdown feel like to you? #neurodiversity #actuallyautistic #autisticmeltdown

Give yourself some compassion around the meltdowns that you have had and how you struggle. You are not "bad" when this happens, it is not a choice and you’re not insufficiently trying. It is a signal that you are struggling and in distress.