ACE in the Hole

CW: Discussions of childhood ACES. Mentions of alcohol use and verbal abuse during childhood. Read safely! Partner (on phone): "'Always,' 'Never,' 'I don't know how to answer that. It was 'Always' when we still lived there, but 'Never' now because we have public transportation? Well, okay, not 'Never.' Public transportation isn't perfect out here, and …

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 #16: 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 …

We Should All Be Tired

"I’m so very, very tired" I first heard this spoken by a colleague of color this week trying to explain the toll that seeing yet one more blatant murder of a black man in America had taken on him. Then I saw it posted by others of color on Facebook. Then, once I'd seen it …

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 …

Our New Normal

This month is always a weird time for me. Too many negative memories all clustered in one frustrating birth month. So, it's no surprise in hindsight, I suppose, why I've been feeling more dissociated, weird and generally "floaty" than normal recently. I always feel more dissociated, weird and generally "floaty" on Hallmark holidays, during my …

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 …

Brevity is the Soul of Apathetically #6: Blame Canada!

Specifically, blame one particular Canadian, Ashley from Mental Health @ Home, for this. She wrote a lovely post about how we might expect the pandemic to change our lives. And, I tried to comment thoughtfully on the spirit of the topic. I really did, I swear! Except that our President melted down even more than …

Improv #21: Seven Week Twitch

*Knock Knock* "Who's there?" "Making a living at comedy" "Making a living at comedy who?" "Who, me? No, not me at all. I'm nowhere near talented enough to ask people to pay to watch me. But, there *are* people that talented, and, lucky for us, they have taken those talents to Twitch. Also, in completely …