Trust in Mental Health Treatment #7/Messages in a Bottle #18: Meda-Analysis

Do you ever get handed such comedy gold that it’s actually kind of intimidating? Like, the low-hanging fruit is so low-hanging that you suspect it’s a trap**?  It’s terrifying, isn’t it? I mean, with a joke so easy it writes itself, how can you possibly screw it up?! So, of course, you panic freeze and …

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Meteorological Misanthropy #8: Rock Me Like a Labor Pain?

CW: Puns worse than my title ahead. Also some vague allusions to where Hypothetical Future Babies might hypothetically come from in some hypothetical future. Tornado Warnings from Tropical Storm Isaias spring up in the Northeast. Lavender: "One and a half hours. There is an actual tornado on the actual ground, and Google says we're a …

Cue the Waterworks

CW: emotional abuse, threats of self-harm (made by others, not me) and references to past childhood abuse (without details) I have a tradition I like to call 'Crying on Christmas Eve.' In the Before Times, when Americans were still welcome in the rest of the world, it was an annual pre-trip ritual I had to …

Brevity is the Soul of Apathetically #8: This is What They’re There For

Work has been particularly busy this month because it's budget season. I have recently been reminded that busy times at work are what most people at most functional places of employment consider to be the height of workplace stress. (That does make me kind of wonder what those same people would think if they only …

Social Eye-solation

Lavender: "Okay, much as I like your hair longer, I feel sympathetic pain. Split ends suck. My hair is crunchy. If your hair is also crunchy, you are allowed to cut it." Partner: "No. I mean, I don't think it is? I can't tell. Maybe I just don't know what to look for? You could …

Compassion is Not a Zero-Sum Game

CW: Descriptions of multiple types of systemic abuse and personal crises. Be safe while reading! The Poor People's Mass Assembly and Moral March on Washington is happening today. It has been planned for two years to draw attention to the plight of the poor and of systemic racism in the U.S. I wish I had …

Messages in a Bottle #17: How to Dilettante with Dysautonomia

CW: Mentions of consuming alcohol in a safe and responsible way. So, uh, how about what is going on in the U.S. right now? Which part? Well, uh, all of it. Plus whichever thing has most recently happened as of the time you read this post. The U.S. was a pretty systemically horrible place in …

Improv #22/Where’s Whoopsie #25: Middling Management

"If-then statements: 'If we do X, then Y not?" "Bread Metaphor --> 'engage the clients in the discussion'" What does this even mean? I have absolutely no idea! These are actual notes I took about some meeting recently. I give it even odds whether it was work or improv, though, as I've seen a couple …

Putting a (telephone) ring on it?

CW: Discussions of evangelical religious beliefs and horrible beliefs about the causes of, and appropriate responses to, covid-19. Discussions of managing challenging relationships with Partner's high-risk older evangelical grandparents as his birth state re-opens. Reminders that - while we have been fortunate (so far) not to have anyone we personally know have had covid-19 severely …

Do We Really Need to Put a Label on Things?

Useful Background Knowledge: As of the time of this writing, our county has more confirmed covid-19 cases than over two-thirds of all U.S. states.*We don't own a car. This makes "avoiding public transportation or ride-share services" challenging. Our "primary medical provider" is one of those commuter rail trips we are supposed to avoid if we …