Calandale's turn in the spotlight

[DirtDawg]

Have a tiny meerschaum that my wife
picked up in Turkey.

I forgot to mention a number of mideast pipes, but they were not really very good for tobacco, except for one handcarved out of soapstone with an amber mouthpiece. I also collect "Peacepipes" and over the years I have made eleven of them out of maple, cherry, hickory or apple wood. The longest was over three feet long, made out of cherry, and I made a leather slip cover for it which I decorated with holy symbols and shredded the bottom into fringe in a wavy pattern.

I made them all as gifts, except one I kept for myself, which is decorated with beading, quills, and feathers. I also dyed the wood with various flower pollen and berries for coloring. I made it as holy as I could. It still needs to be blessed, before I smoke it, but I don't know any Holy Men anymore.

[Calandale]

Wow. They sound beautiful.

My mom's got a nice water pipe,
but I can't smoke out of it without
cleaning the pot resin out completely.

Ever try clay?

[Calandale]

do you like my new, likely shortlived moniker?

No. It makes me think that I'm dealing
with someone more annoying and coherent.

i got pwned, dipite your AS.

Damn you! You Tricked me.

[DirtDawg]

Wow. They sound beautiful.

My mom's got a nice water pipe,
but I can't smoke out of it without
cleaning the pot resin out completely.

Ever try clay?

You mean like a churchwarden?
Yes, I like them, but they are too fragile for a clutz like me. I broke my favorite pipe a few months back (a fancy-pricy Jarl) and had to repair the stem. I disturbed its mellowness, quite a bit.

[Calandale]

I always figured that they'd get too hot.

I can't really trust myself with good pipes.
The one in the photo, I bit right through
it's mouthpiece. It's easier to just order more
than try and find a replacement, but that bugs
me so much, that I just keep going with it
busted.

[Lucifer]

that sounds like grey thinking to me.  i am sure that you don't have it.

The only reason that I wouldn't,
is disqualification due to other
conditions. NPD, in particular.

do you like music?  or art?  or reading?  or anything else created by someone else?

[Calandale]

do you like music?  or art?  or reading?  or anything else created by someone else?

Yes. But I project with them.

[Lucifer]

??

elucidate?

[Calandale]

They become a part of my
delusions. At least temporarily.

Thus, they are mine.

[Lucifer]

fair enough.  NPD it is, then. 

[Lucifer]

joking apart...

it's a bit of a blurred line between AS and NPD though, isn't it?  are you actually diagnosed with NPD?  if not, what are your reasons for thinking you have it?

(i'm interested, cos NPD was one of the things i and my therapist [sadly, no longer practising] thought i might have, before the AS thing came along.  we decided i haven't got it, but the way).

[Calandale]

I'm diagnosed with nothing.
I ran across AS, noticing the
attention that it's gotten in
press within the last year or
so (didn't know anything about
it before), and realized that it
seemed to describe me perfectly.
I seem to meet all the criteria,
and many of the offbeat traits.

Still, mention was made, here and
there, about NPD, and that it
is a disqualifying factor. I thought
I had already looked at it, and judged
that it didn't apply. But, it sure looks
like it does. I meet some 7 of 9 requisites,
where only 5 are necessary. And, those that
I miss (empathy based) are only a matter of
internal perception. What empathy I have is
mainly (but not entirely - else I would have
kept playing with something I was liable to
hurt) suppressed.

[Lucifer]

it is difficult, isn't it?  i'm still waiting (and waiting...) for an official diagnosis of anything, although i have - at long last, and after several years of trying - finally got a referral for AS assessment.  someone asked me the other day what else "They" could come up with, if it isn't AS, and NPD is the only alternative, as far as i can see.  but i know i'm not that.  "just generally fucked up" isn't something i relish the idea of, vis a vis diagnosis, cos that's what i thought i was for 40 odd years, until AS became a possibility.

or perhaps i'm just bonkers.

[Calandale]

The thrill that I get off adoration
is really my biggest cue.

[Lucifer]

but don't an awful lot of people - if not the vast majority - have that, to some degree or another?  surely responding positively to an expression of esteem isn't pathological?  i'm not doubting what you say, by the way, just nit picking and playing devil's advocate.