Y'know? Cause I Don't.

About a week later, I got a questionnaire, on paper, through the post. As though I were living in 19ThePast. It had a letter asking me to fill it out and post it back. It took me three weeks to buy an envelope. It took another to actually fill it out. When I did, I inserted the questionnaire, carefully wrote out the address on the envelope, stamped it, sealed it, and looked down to see the questionnaire still on the sofa. I had tried to post them back their own letter requesting I fill out the questionnaire. I, for one, consider this part of the diagnostic criteria.

Anyway, I finally sent it a week later, so it took five weeks in all. That was, as I say, three years ago.

Today, I had to go to the doctor for unrelated reasons, and I was like, "By the way. Do we know what's happening with the ADHD assessment? I know it's a long waiting list, but it's been three years and I literally never heard anything back. Thoughts?"

And today's doctor (a different one) pulled up my history to have a little look, and discovered that a week after I'd initially gone in - during the time I was supposed to fill out the questionnaire but was still vaguely trying to remember to buy an envelope - the referral people had responded to my GP and said "She hasn't done a questionnaire so we can't assess her." At which point, my GP was supposed to call and share this with me so we could discuss

He did not.

And then, of course, they did get my questionnaire, and he should have forwarded THAT to the assessment people at that point to advance the process.

He did not.

Which means I have just wasted three years and a week waiting for an assessment that was never coming. The whole thing came to an end. That was that. At no point did that first doctor ever reconsider any part of my case. He was told they couldn't proceed, and didn't even think to tell me; he just thought "Well, sucks to be her" and then moved the fuck on with his life, I presume.

And you know, I don't want to be too damning towards the NHS; apart from anything else, last year I found a lump in one breast, and from the day I noticed and called the GP to the hospital staff going "That's a cyst, let's drain it. You're cured." was... 6 days? No, 5. Start to finish. I called on the Wednesday, they removed it on the Monday. And even that was a delayed time, because of the weekend in between, AND it didn't cost a penny.

Turns out in the instant after I gave my questionnaire to the receptionist and walked out the door - my beautiful, hard-won, twice-completed, and above all essential questionnaire - it somehow vanished from this plane of existence and was immediately lost.

It has not been scanned. It has not been added to my file. It is simply lost. Gone. Missing. A questionnaire-shaped hole in the world. No more questionnaire for Elanor

"I'm so sorry," the doctor said. "I've made them look through every piece of paper in the building, but no one can find it. So, I've printed off another. Come in ASAP - it's waiting behind reception for you, and they've all been instructed to treat it with the utmost care and priority."

So that's tomorrow's job.

Weirdly, I am feeling zen about it. Encouraged, actually. This doctor noticed the problem because, one week after she was told about the three year failure, she herself cared enough to chase it up and so was able to discover the second crack in the system I had managed to find and fall in. Also, she's not posting me another paper copy for me to take five weeks to find a stamp over; she's arranged for me to go and do it in person. She's impressed upon the staff at the surgery that they must treat this questionnaire like it's news from Marathon, so that it instantly takes priority the second it leaves my hands. So like... I actually think that's a positive thing and a good sign that she's actively fighting my corner. Shout out to Doctor Lee, she's a real one

Yesterday I was pressed for time so I drove to work instead of walking (it's about 45 minutes to walk and the weather is currently Delightful). I then had a full day in work, and then at the end of the day, I had a lovely walk back home in the sunshine

It was outside my house that I looked around and went "Has someone stolen my car WAIT A PISSING MINUTE"

So today, I need to go in and rescue my car, which I accidentally abandoned in work, and then go and fill out my third ADHD questionnaire at the doctor's

Elanor: having a delightful walk home

I am a pretty competent cook, so don't worry about that bit. I just want to know if this dish sounds familiar, so someone can fill me in on the parts I don't remember. It's a chicken dish made with flat chicken cutlets. I think she used to hammer them a bit with a kitchen mallet, dredge them in flour, and pan fry them in a little butter so they would brown nicely. The sauce is the part I am a little lost about. She used white wine (probably chardonnay) and sour cream, that part I am sure of. There were canned peaches too, which were slightly browned and served on top. I'm sure there was something more to it than that, any thoughts? The flavor was tangy, not particularly sweet except for the peaches, and the sauce was opaque and kind of a beige color. Does this sound like a dish you are aware of? While her food was great, her dishes were usually pretty simple. It is likely that this is not something she invented herself, but it might be something that she simplified. Does anyone know what this is or what it is called so I can look it up and try and get it right? She used to serve it with grilled zucchini brushed with garlic butter. Thank you. Edit -- I am blown away with how helpful and kind you all have been. I have taken little hints from each of your posts and a lot of them have jogged my memory. I think some sort of composite from these suggestions will produce something close. I am going to try to make it when I have the chance, and I will update when I do. Thank you, reddit. <3

Update 6 days later:

My mom passed away a few years ago. I needed help trying to recreate a chicken recipe of hers that I have been craving, because I could only remember a few ingredients. You amazing people of r/recipes came through and gave me so many wonderful suggestions. With a mix of all your advice, I made it tonight. I was nervous as I was putting it together. I felt like there had to be something more to it, but I went with using just the ingredients I knew (as suggested by Ethril). I felt like there was something I was forgetting. Something about brown specks in the sauce. I went with it anyway, and figured I would know what to add at the end by taste. I took chicken cutlets and hammered them flat. Dredged in flour and sauteed in butter (high heat). I burned the butter a little. I remembered my mom saying that butter is the one thing that is ok to burn (as long as it is not smoking furiously) so I left it alone, and smiled at the memory. I was pleased to see the chicken brown to the color I remember. When I flipped the chicken I added the zucchini spears and browned those too. When the chicken was done (just a couple minutes) I set it aside and covered it in tinfoil to keep it warm, then turned the zucchini and browned the peaches in the same pan. It only took a few minutes to brown everything and when the zucchini and peaches were done I put them aside with the chicken. I deglazed the empty pan with chardonnay. My mom wasn't a big wine person, so I went with the cheapest they had. I suddenly remembered that sound the wine would make when it hit the hot pan, a huge hiss. Mom used to tell me to step back before she poured it in, because it would splash a little. I felt like I was nine years old again. I added three big dollops of sour cream and dissolved it in the hot wine. I didn't know what I was going to do next, this was all I had planned. Then I saw the little brown flecks come up. It was that burned butter! I just about cried. I tasted it, and suddenly in my mind I was standing in her kitchen as a kid watching her cook. This was it. It was that simple. I added a couple spoonfuls of the liquid from the canned peaches to take away a little of the wine's tartness, and the sauce was perfect. Just like she used to make. Keep in mind that I am no food stylist, but I assure you that this tasted 10x better than it looks: http://i.imgur.com/Qgk6u.jpg The whole thing took less than 20 minutes to make. And I fucking nailed it. Thank you so, so much reddit! You brought me back, and I love you. The smell is still lingering in the house.

"how dare you say we piss on the poor" in response to someone misinterpreting your post

"_ isnt gonna fuck you" for suck up behavior

"woah. should we tell everyone? should we throw a party?" for who the fuck cares

"and what if the world was made of pudding" for when would this ever matter.

"and sharks are smooth both ways" for a group of people heatedly arguing with 1 guy who is fucking with them all

“30-50 wild hogs” for someone making ABSURD excuses for violence.

“what were YOU doing at the devils sacrament” for how do you know that without being a part of it.

“anyone in this thread smoke weed” for the shit you people are saying is so off topic this might as well be a general discussion forum

“dogs are boys and cats are girls” for ooh ur mindset did not grow past 4th grade, huh

“color theory in a childrens hospital” for bending over backwards to not agree that YEA, that thing Came Off Weird

“you are a tar pit” for someone finding any reason to respond with outrage.

“is the __ in the room with us right now?” for I Don’t Think That’s Real.

“bean soup? im allergic to beans!” for ik this doesn’t work for you, but that’s not a flaw. not everything can be for you.

"I don't want to be a burden anymore", your hat answers. "You are always carrying me around, and I can't carry you. That's not fair."

"I don't mind carrying you, little idiot", you tell your hat, "you hardly weight anything at all, and you shelter me from the sun."

"But that's different", your hat protests. "I don't mind the sun scorching on me. That happens anyway. It's literally no trouble for me to shade you too."

A plotter acted as sort of a 3D printer but for 2D images. There was a ball point pen that could move up and down, and the paper underneath could be moved in and out. Using CAD based programs you could plot points in 2D space and the plotter would draw the lines between them and even do geometric shapes!

When it came time to do The Great Mouse Detective, the animators at Disney wanted to do more dynamic shots for the climatic battle inside Big Ben. Drawing all those gears and cogs would be a nightmare for the animators, so they experimented with using 3D animation.

But this was still the early 80’s. There was no digital ink and paint program, no way to merge the 2D animated characters with the 3D animated backgrounds digitally. So how did they get the 3D animated backgrounds out of the computer?

By drawing each frame on the plotter.

Every frame was printed out on the plotter, and then xeroxed onto animation cels, and then hand painted like traditional 2D animation cels are.

But why the plotter? If they were gonna have to export every frame anyway, why not use a printer? Well… because printers back then just weren’t very good. A plotter uses points and physically draws the line between them, much like how vector graphics work. It yielded a much smoother and higher fidelity line than if they just printed them out.

This was still a massive undertaking, but it was probably the best solution to getting the dynamic camera moves they wanted out on paper. 2D animation was drawn over top and then both layers of animation cels were filmed frame by frame.

And that’s how you got dynamic shots like this in the mid 80’s! 3D animated backgrounds, printed with a plotter, xeroxed onto animation cels, hand painted, and then re-photographed with the 2D animation on top!

Yeah, about that. Seven years prior, this was all drawn by hand:

The key differences between the two are camera movement and shifting perspective. In Cagliostro the backgrounds remain static 2D, meaning the animators aren’t trying to redraw every frame with a moving shifting perspective. They aren’t doing the sweeping dynamic camera moves Disney wanted for Great Mouse Detective. That reduces a lot of the work load on Cagliostro because they only need to animate the gears on 3-4 frame loops per scene.

Disney wanted more dynamic movement, where the camera could sweep in and around the scene. That places a HUGE amount of work on the animators to ensure that everything is being drawn in perspective while it’s moving. I can’t even begin to think about how much work and effort would’ve had to go into this sequence if it was done entirely by hand. It would’ve been a nightmare!

Please don’t get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE Castle of Cagliostro. It’s an amazing movie, especially knowing its history and the crunch they were under to get it made in such a short time. But it’s not exactly a 1:1 skill check comparison. Cagliostro used the fact the camera wasn’t moving much to reduce the work load and relied heavily on looping animation.

But if you’re looking for a 1:1 comparison skill check I’ve got you covered!

See, the purpose of this post was to talk about how the computer was making it easier on animators by not making them have to draw every frame in perfect perspective. If you wanted a comparable skill check then I would instead suggest comparing the clock tower sequence in Great Mouse Detective to the airplanes in Porco Rosso.

Every single shot of the planes in that film was done by hand. Miyazaki famously refused to use CGI for the longest time on any of his films. If Porco Rosso had been animated by anyone else, those planes would’ve been CGI planes. So every shot, every dogfight, every moment of these planes flying around and turning slowly in perspective was done meticulously by hand, and it looks absolutely AMAZING! That’s a technical marvel in and of itself!

Oh and if you want more examples of animators being absolutely INSANE and doing everything by hand, I strongly recommend the works of Richard Williams. Not only was he instrumental in making Who Framed Roger Rabbit look so convincing, he’s also the insane artist who animated things like this:

You wanna talk insane skills? How about animating every single card in a deck of cards as they fly about the screen? The guy was a technical perfectionist!