Just a short post today so I keep in the habit of writing. Things have gotten rather chaotic back in the real world (whatever that is, lol).
Yes, I’m doing my best to stay calm and collected about it all.
Aside from the standard holiday busy-ness, there was an interesting turn of events with the lawsuit over the falling apart house that we got conned into buying. The judge, it turns out, only dismissed the suit against the home inspector and he’s called a hearing the middle of next month to hear where everyone is regarding the seller’s part in the lawsuit. If we can get the sale reversed, everything changes for us.
Do I have much faith that will happen when the same judge said that deliberately misleading photos and lies both factual and of omission were NOT fraud on the home inspector’s part? I don’t know… I’m trying to remain hopeful, but it’s not easy given how everything has gone thus far.
I have to admit, I’m still… confounded by my last couple of blog posts’ stats also. My cooking posts used to be my most popular and hardly anybody even opened the email, much less came to the site to read to read the Mongolian Beef article. After 5 days, it’s got 11 email opens and 6 visits. By comparison, after 2 days, the UFC post has 45 email opens, more than the 3 posts before it put together. Same amount of likes as the Mongolian Beef, which equals a lower percentage of views.
Lesson for the day there; never mock others’ sacred idols. :P Questioning the validity of cage fighting is blasphemy to many, lol.
I’m still solidly of the mindset that I’m blogging for myself, so I’m OK with everything. I do find it interesting that sex and violence seem to be my two highest ratings getters. Not sure what that says about society and the blogosphere, BUT it’s the holidays. I’m going to stay positive.
Lots of other minor scraps of drama that we’re dealing with, but it’s all good. I’ve even almost got the hard drive mess with my computer straightened out, so life is good. 🙂
Today I’m taking a quick break from my new theme, for lack of a better word, and I’m trying to get some input on a couple of real life choices. I’ve tied this twice before and gotten literally nothing, but maybe third time’s the charm. 🙂
Two Related Decisions:
What I’m weighing seems simple on the surface, but it’s less so on an emotional level. It’s whether to continue the fights regarding work and our house debacle. Straight lawsuits are impossible in the case of work, and already lost in the case of the house. Alternate paths are what I’m contemplating now.
In the case of work, my only real option is trying to draw down federal regulators on the company. It’s a slam dunk that they’ve violated HIPPA Laws in a few ways. Insurance fraud complaints are another option. Likewise I can file complaints with the medical license review board for the company doctors, their hired goon of an outside specialist, and the workman’s comp insurance company.
With the house, I believe I’ve got enough evidence of fraud or misrepresentation that I can file a judicial misconduct complaint against the judge for not even allowing a hearing on said fraud… among a few other ideas that stay within the bounds of the law.
The Drawbacks:
The first and biggest drawback is the emotional and mental drain the fight will cause and has already caused over the last few years. Movies and TV shows always make trying to be the hero look glamourous. The fact is, it’s alot of work that takes a great deal of energy on every level. I’m not sure it’s worth the figurative beatings anymore.
I never really wanted to play superhero anyway, just simply to live a quiet life where I was treated reasonably fairly.
An even bigger concern is that I may create more trouble than I fix. In both cases, the problems are systemic in nature; they’re part of the culture here. Even if I succeed, there’s no telling what sort of retaliation I could end up dealing with.
Half of me has my Scots-Irish and German blood ready for a fight. The other half realizes that for all Leonidas’s bravado, “No Retreat, No Surrender” still got him killed.
The big counter to all the whining is something I’ve always believed though:
I guess the real question is then “Do I really have any power to change it?”
It’s been almost a month since I posted anything here (or at the other self-hosted blog). I’ve intended to post several times, but as reported last post, work has been exhausting me. After that last post, I got curious about how much of the fatigue was real and how much was mental, so I wore a pedometer to work. What I found was that I alternated between a brisk walk and a light jog for 13,842 steps that day. Most websites say that converts to 6.5 miles or 10.46 Km. Never let anyone tell you an assembly line isn’t work.
Granted, that “light jog” of 6.5 miles isn’t much if you’re in great shape. I hadn’t been for a long time thanks to my spinal problems. The decompression therapy I did about 2 years ago really helped, but attempts at rehab after that resulted in me hurting myself a couple of times. Long story short, I started the job at far from ideal physical shape for the job.
I had a couple other strikes working against me also. First is I had BAD shoes pushed on me by the company store. They were not only really heavy, but hurting my feet badly also (serious neuropathy). Last week I went out and bought new shoes and I’m getting feeling back in my right foot. The left wasn’t as bad to start with.
THEN CAME RED-S
My biggest issue turned out to be a more subtle one. I was coming home increasingly tired and in greater pain each morning (I’m now on graveyard shift). My sleep pattern was almost nonexistent as well. LONG story short, alot of research turned up that the problem was that I wasn’t getting enough calories and especially protein to keep up with my new activity level. This can create a condition that looks superficially similar to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that’s called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports or RED-S.
As the name would imply, it’s a condition that’s most common in athletes, especially endurance athletes like triathlon competitors and marathon runners. It can occasionally impact people like me who are working at a physical job but not getting enough quality food to support the job’s demands also.
The frustrating part is that my body wasn’t telling me I was hungry. That MAY have been at least partially due to how much water I was drinking (80 to 100 ounces a shift) to stray hydrated though.
At any rate, I’ve modified my diet the last almost a week and have been doing alot better. Less body aches, better sleep, etc… so life is better in that regard. The biggest challenge moving forward is figuring out enough healthy food that I can bring to work to eat on breaks to keep in shape. It’s not like I need a ton of food, but junk food definitely will NOT fit the bill here.
THEN THERE WAS THE HOUSE THAT WOULDN’T DIE:
Long time readers will recall our battles here over a house that we were defrauded on. The home inspector we hired apparently conspired with one or both of the realtors involved in the sale to completely mislead us on the condition of the house. THEN we got defrauded by a lawyer who took several thousand dollars from us and after 10 months hadn’t even filed motions for initial discovery in the case. That’s the first step in a civil lawsuit here in the US for those who didn’t know. Essentially, you present the other side with legal documents requiring them to officially identify themselves for the purposes of the trial, and to give the very basics of their side of the issue.
Well, after running out of money and figuring the case was dead months ago, the home inspector’s lawyer recently filed a motion to dismiss the case against them and included a falsified home inspection as a part of the motion.
In said report the inspectors claim they documented numerous deficiencies in the home, that it was unsafe, they strongly advised us not to buy it and we did anyway. Also, that it was our fault we were stuck with a structurally unsound, asbestos and radon contaminated house with numerous building code violations.
Do I even need to say THAT got my temper up? Guess they didn’t read the warning label:
I’m doing my best as a non-lawyer to answer the summary judgment request and request that the court charge the inspectors and their attorney(s) with Perjury and Fraud on the Court. I think I’ve also got the evidence now to go after the inspectors’ and realtors’ professional licenses by using the falsified evidence as proof of fraud on their parts, MAYBE even conspiracy to commit fraud.
Am I optimistic? Not really. More like neutral. The laws in Georgia are so crooked that I have doubts that even with all this evidence that I’ll be able to get ANY level of justice from the system. I’m going to at least try though. If I don’t, these people will take it as a free pass to lie and cheat everyone they come across.
And If That Wasn’t Enough Drama…
I find out my half-sister outside of Nashvillle possibly has advanced breast cancer, AND missed her appointment to get proper screening and verify what it is (and thus enable her doctors to work up a treatment plan). In a bit of irony, I was catching up on the last couple of episodes of Superman and Lois on the CW Network the night before I got her email. Lois was similarly skipping chemo treatments for her breast cancer. Unlike Lois in TV land though, missing the appointment cost my sister another month before she got a new appointment.
She misses the next one, it’s going to be boots to asses:
I’ve got enough drama to deal with without my sister being too afraid to get her butt into the doctor before it becomes something that medicine can no longer overcome despite all the advances the last decade. Selfish? Yes, somewhat. Just once, I’d like to make a personal post here and NOT have to detail about some aspect of my life being out of control. She has young kids she needs to think about as well.
Never let it be said that I’ve lost my flair for the dramatic, LOL.
Side Note: Film Symphony Orchestra is AWESOME. Check them out on YouTube
OK, so let’s get down to what’s REALLY been going on.
Much of my free time the last couple of weeks has been spent indirectly on the new WordPress.org site. A bit of behind the scenes tweaks, tuning and editing for starters. Most of my work has been spent storyboarding my planned reboot of my Witchfire story series. I was far from happy with the original attempt and I want to knock it out of the park this time.
To give you an idea the amount of work that’s gone into this, I have a 7 page spreadsheet of data comprised of 8,326 filled cells on character info, mapped out locations, etc… I’m determined to maintain consistency, keep the characters unique and weave an entertaining plot.
A small part of me wonders why I’m bothering using Danger Babe Central’s universe as a backdrop. Recently, I almost gave up on the idea.
I know why I’m doing it though. I have something to prove to myself. I’ve doubted my writing and so many other areas of my life… let others tear me down too easily. If I can take this setting and these characters; turn them into a real story and fix the inconsistencies and barely existing canon… I’ll know I can handle anything the world of writing can throw at me.
In Other News…
Yeah, this will be one of the greatest examples of burying the lead in history…
I FINALLY got a new job!
Only those who have been truly following me for a long time know the story here. I’ve had a bad back and neck that kept me out of action for over a decade. Before leaving California, I had a job as a Realtor, but lack of support from my office / broker and lack of money really made that a job in name only.
After getting treatment for my back and neck almost 2 years ago, I had hoped to be back on my feet sooner. My road of self-rehab was a LONG one though. I hurt my back again a couple of times along the way and had to learn to take it slower.
Truth? I’m scared to death I’m still not ready for this, but we’ve had a brutal couple of years and really need this to work out. I’m determined to make it work no matter what.
Along those lines, I’ve stepped up my training / rehab trying to build back up my endurance and strength. Hard to believe I used to be somebody that trained 3 1/2 hours a day. I’m being careful not to overdue it while still trying to push myself. Beginning the first of next month, we’ll see if I’m up to the task.
This is a slightly modified copy of the post I just made at my other blog. I announced there my intention to continue blogging, but that I wanted a different format. I’m switching to self-hosting and using WordPress.org. I’m also going to be narrowing my focus on my blog posts. I’ve been hard at work on the new WordPress.org self hosted site. It’s getting close to finished at this point, but there are still some behind the scenes things that need to be polished and tweaked. Things like making sure all my pictures have proper names for searching my media library, and descriptions to help search engines. Soon though…
Thinking over the site, and past experience here, I’ve decided that the new blog is going to focus entirely on writing. Absolutely no more social issues, political talk, personal drama (nobody cares), product reviews or even cooking posts. Just everything writing:
Vanilla Creative Writing; nothing over PG-13
Reviews of “How To” products on writing (books, videos, websites, etc..)
Critiques of movies and TV shows from a writer’s perspective; what works and what doesn’t
Erotica
Part of my creative writing is going to be going back and finishing or continuing stories that I left hanging, such as my alternate Star Wars version based on the meme where Luke killed himself with his new lightsaber:
Hell, I *may* even rewrite the prequels and sequels just to show how I believe they SHOULD have been done.
Erotica and anything “Adult” related will be in a separate section of the blog, and will be behind an age verification pop-up. I’m going to do a better job than I did with this blog in terms of keeping anything NSFW behind that age check. That means NO racy pictures or backgrounds in the primary section of the blog.
Creative writing of all flavors will have separate pages, and the blog posts announcing new stories will only have links to those pages with a note regarding whether it’s NSFW or not.
Realizations
Part of the process with the new blog has been moving some of my more relevant past posts and existing stories from the two old blogs to the new. I want to rewrite damned near everything also, and already have in a couple of cases. I noticed something though as I went back through my lists of pages and posts.
I jumped around WAY too much on the focus of each blog. With the actual creative writing, it was self doubt and too much real life drama killing my mojo. The stuff I tried to do as filler too often took over though. Not only that, I jumped from idea to idea as I tried to keep things fresh and attract new readers. Even when I tried to have a structured theme for daily posts I flopped. I just need to focus on the writing and stay consistent. THAT is my pledge with the new blog.
AND that I’ll also be upping my game across the board. No more holding back on my writing.
In Other News:
This isn’t the new blog, so I can sneak in one or two QUICK personal updates here.
First, the house that we got defrauded on is back on the market, at $50,000 higher than we bought it for. All the mortgage company or listing agents did was the most basic of house flipper cosmetic repairs to hide the defects (patching the cracked mortar, fresh paint, clean the carpets, etc…). It pisses me off that somebody else is going to be put in a likely world of financial trouble as well living in a toxic house. I have precious little idea what I can do to correct the situation though. The laws in Georgia are completely corrupt and promote screwing the buyer. I could get sued for tortious interference with a contract with most options or charged with trespassing if I put up signs, try to talk to people during open houses, etc…
Most people nowadays would sadly be content to sit back and let things unfold, especially if it meant the house would sell for enough money to put them in the clear. This level of injustice literally makes my skin crawl though. Likewise, it’s not right to be made whole at the expense of an innocent party.
And lastly, I *MAY* have a new job; a real one for the first time in a decade. I had the realtor job for a while during that time, but between my health and lack of money, I was never able to really make a run of it. I’m in the final phase of the hiring process. All that remains to be seen is if they will accept the fact that I’m a virtual blank. No social media presence, no credit history now thanks to following the Dave Ramsey plan, and really no recent job history as well.
I’m just glad that the spinal decompression and physical therapy got me to the point I can work again. The prospect of being a contributing member of society has been a huge morale boost.
This one is largely going to be a personal update, but I am going to solicit some opinions from readers on one matter. For what it’s worth, this will also be much more calm than my COVID rant, LOL.
Where I’ve Been:
The last 8 months or so have involved ALOT of introspection, as well as all the drama I’ve mentioned in the last few posts. It’s been brutal emotionally. It’s not just dealing with everything that’s happened the last few years, it’s realizing that the system is completely screwed and people don’t care in the slightest.
Every time we had a problem like the movers who defrauded us and broke half our belongings all the way up to the drama with the house and lawyer, it was always the same thing: Nobody wanted to get involved, the law said it was OK, etc… It didn’t matter how much evidence I dug up and documented, everything that happened was OK. Contractors and engineers didn’t want to get involved even though they feigned outrage to varying degrees over what was clearly happening.
Suffice it to say that it’s all been a major reality check regarding how far civilization has fallen, the impact that disintegrating morals has had on society, and just how corrupt the system is on both sides of the fence.
That last point is something I’ve been saying for a while. I lived in California and I saw the corruption, greed, graft and exploitation of the hopes and fears of the public. I lived in Georgia as well back in the 90s, and saw plenty of pro-wealth, pro-corporation, screw the little guys stuff there. How deep it ALL runs never truly hit me until the last couple of years though.
The experience DID bring me some clarity about my blogging burnout. The frustration here was simply the manifestation and smaller piece of a bigger issue. Society is tearing itself apart in mindless “Us vs Them” divisions that have been played upon and built up by the media. Yes, the political and social issues are real. We’re at the point of tearing ourselves apart all across the West however.
Why? Simply because people have had their fears and ego played upon to the point where they won’t even consider dialog with “the enemy”. They’d prefer to delude themselves that they’re “right”, and wish utter destruction on whole other segments of society instead.
Even here at the blog, I couldn’t seem to get through to anybody. People would pretend to understand and go right back to hating some other group in their own blogs. I never had delusions of becoming some sort of Gandhi-like figure with my pleas for people to wake up and stop the hate. I’d hoped to at least start a conversation though, and perhaps if we were all lucky, have somebody far more capable than me pick up the ball and run with it.
It got to the point that with all the negativity regarding our situation and attempts to get help with it, along with the CONSTANT parade of hate by the media on all sides… I just didn’t want to get online anymore, for any reason.
I also didn’t like the way the whole prolonged ordeal was changing me. I needed time to re-group, center myself and let go of the hate I was soaking up (the joys of being a real Empath). I feel like I’m in a better place than I’ve been in many years. Better… Not perfect, but better.
So, that brings us to the giant jackpot question of the day:
To Fight or Not To Fight?
The few of my followers who actually read my posts know from recent posts that I felt beat down and bitter over everything that’s happened. For the last few weeks I’ve been debating if it’s worth it to continue. Normal legal options are exhausted thanks to the useless lawyer we hired that ran out the statute of limitations AND our cash.
That pretty much leaves a social media, regulatory agency and possible mainstream media blitz to make life hell for everyone involved in the transaction. It would be a TON of work, with no guarantee of anything positive coming out of it. Just for starters, I’d have to set up a separate blog with all the pertinent facts, documents and pictures, as well as telling the story there. I’d have to delete any posts here directly connected to the house also, since my former idea of being a romance/erotica writer would destroy any credibility I had. THEN we get to all the efforts of writing to and printing copies of documents for various media people and government officials (none of whom I really trust any farther than I can throw that decaying husk of a house).
Believe it or not, the biggest worry for me at first was keeping my own emotions in check if I did this. I’ve joked in the past about wanting to do this:
That’s not the person (or monster) I want to be though. Once I got centered, I figured out that the way to keep centered would be to focus on doing it for the greater good and not letting it become personal. Maintaining that 100% would doubtless require a Zen master, LOL. I’m pretty sure I can do it well enough to keep the fight from consuming me however.
Either way, if I don’t at least make an effort to stop them, there’s nothing keeping them and those like them from destroying the finances and lives of others.
Do I have the drive? This mess wasn’t the first time I’ve been knocked down. I always eventually get back up also. Being Scots, Irish and German… Well let’s just say I love a good donnybrook, LOL.
So, for me, the real question is, is it worth the fight OR are we better off just focusing on trying to rebuild our lives? Best that happens is we may recover some money. Worst is we get threatened with lawsuits. To THAT I’d reply: “We’ve got nothing left, so we’re judgment proof and I’d LOVE to get into all your files as part of discovery.”
Oy vey… It’s been one of those days, and a LONG one to boot. Why? We brought THIS home:
Do NOT be fooled by it’s appearance!!! Tis a dread, snarling beast with a foul temper and long sharp teeth!
I should have known when the other people at the adoption agency were all like:
LOL, If she could read, she MIGHT have a complex by now.
Seriously though, this little tornado was all over the house from one end to other for almost 5 hours straight!
You name it, she attacked and chased it. The poor octopus toy there never stood a chance. 😀 She was up and down both cat trees, frequently jumping from the top of the one that’s inside the house proper (the other is in the sun room).
She tried to jump on top of that book case also, LOL.
At 1:30am she finally settled down. It’s now 2:30 and she’s running about again.
She’s a cutie, but we’re going to have our hands full with little Trinity the Tortie here. She’s batted water out of her bowl all over the hardwood floors, and goes from “Pet me, NOW!” to “Now I’m going to bite and claw your hand or foot” in .0005 nanoseconds too.
Kidding aside, it’s apparent her foster home didn’t have the kind of accommodations (and toys) that’s she’ now enjoying. We’ll have to see how she gets along with our other cat Machi.
So far, it’s been interesting. When Trinity was first taken out of her carrier (at the adoption center) she ran into Machi’s and hid curled up next to her. Then when we took them both out, Trinity growled and tried to swipe at Machi (who is twice her size). Once we got them home, Machi hissed at Trinity, who was still in her own carrier. Since then, they’ve avoided each other. More like Machi has avoided her.
So yeah, the next few days will be interesting. Both in terms of seeing if this 14 week old wild child ever powers down, and if the two cats can get along.
Ever feel like that picture above? I’m sure most of us have. If you haven’t, you’re likely new to writing, or not analyzing your work and growing as a writer.
Needless to say, normally we’re talking about writer’s block here. Maybe that actually IS what I’m dealing with, in a warped sort of way. I know what I want to write, that’s the irony here. I’ve had numerous posts all worked out in my head. I just can’t get to the point of putting them “to paper”.
I’ve been staring at the screen for this post for a few days now actually. I wanted to figure out the “why”, and have something more to write than complaining. Long story short; I feel like I’m chasing my tail here AND that I’ve got other obligations.
Chasing My Tail:
This is much akin to previous posts I’ve made discussing my frustration with blogging. It’s been a TON of work, and the “ROI” (return on investment) has been pretty minimal. On anything but a very short post (ie Book of Boba Fett – Chapter 2), I spend about an hour working on the post. Hunting pictures, researching and fact checking to various degrees, proof reading and editing, etc…
I’m subscribed to numerous other blogs, which I actually DO read also. That can take another couple hours out of my day. What do I get back? A dozen likes out of 777 followers, with 2/3 of the “likes” being from people that never read the post. They’re just trying to trade fake “likes” as if this was Facebook or Twitter.
My original goal with creating this blog was to build an audience for books I’d write and sell. I’m sure not accomplishing that here. Somehow I have to get that whole goal back on track.
As much as I’d like to make it all about the fake likes and followers who don’t follow, there IS the other side of the coin to look at. Put out a better product and people will want it. I’ve spent the last few days pondering how to improve the blog.
WordPress supposedly just released a vast new array of customization options. Exploring those tools and trying to make heads or tails of them is on the agenda. How successful will I be? Who knows. Every new “improvement” to WordPress seems to just turn it into a bigger mess. I actually miss the “good old days” of LiveJournal.com… sort of. LOL. My current template has a few things I don’t like though, especially the fact it puts the reply button at the TOP of a post instead of the bottom. The biggest variable will probably be what features / tools are paid (isn’t everything on WP anymore?).
The actual writing itself… I realize I’ve been writing just to write (filler essentially), and I’ve been overly concerned about self-censoring to keep an audience. I have to write for ME first, otherwise there’s no authenticity. Readers can tell when that’s the case.
I’m still going to make every effort to be polite, etc… What will change is that I’m not going to avoid doing topics like martial arts because I think nobody is interested. There’s more to life than recipes and nature pictures. Those will still be here however. 🙂 I’m going to experiment a little with social issue posts and calling out the media as well. I want to do it in a calmer, more productive way than previously however. Focusing on where and what the manipulations are, for starters.
I don’t know if I’ll actually change anyone’s mind. I hope to at least make people think however. There’s just so much BS out there anymore. Most of it is just pointless ego aggrandizement also. For example, I saw an article online today that talked about how psychologists are coming to appreciate all the contradictions in Buddhism. Trouble is, there aren’t any. Some stuff, such as “If you see the Buddha on the path, kill him”, has a deeper meaning and is meant to provoke thought. More often the apparent contradictions are simply warnings against both extremes.
Somebody needed to feel intellectually superior by attempting to discuss Buddhism and psychology together though.
So, bottom line is that I intend to do quite a bit of experimenting and try to find what feels right (write? lol) for my blog.
Better Things To Do:
OK, so the video doesn’t have much to do with the topic, beyond the name… Well, and I suppose the major argument I had with my almost-ex spouse over the state of our lives. Suffice it to say somebody is far too comfortable in their comfort zone and is FAR too poor at communication and working together. Spending time trying to meet my own ends of the change I insisted upon IS part of what I’ve been occupied with though.
There’s our whole housing situation as well, which is still hanging in limbo.
My recent spider bite situation let me know just how deteriorated my overall health is also. The antibiotics had me sleeping for almost 2 days straight. I was wiped out for a good week afterwards too. I need to finally get back out into the real world and get a job to help out. I need to get my health back to the point I can actually work a full day though.
That’s a hard realization for somebody who used to train 3 hours a day at two different martial art studios back in the 90s. The ex and I were pretty fit back in the day.
So yes, priorities are readjusting. At the same time however, there’s no reason I wouldn’t have enough time to do my blogging too. I just need to be a little better organized than I have been previously. 🙂
And congratulations if you actually made it all the way through this rant. 😀
It’s been a hectic last week plus here. Initially, it was last minute holiday preparations and cooking two different holiday dinners (the things we do for family). The previously mentioned spider bite slowed me down just a little as well. More on the meals in a separate food post. 🙂
During the prep for the bigger, second dinner, my Microplane box grater decided to take a chunk out of my thumb instead of leaving it at the smoked gouda cheese
If you’ve never used this goodie, or the more well known Microplane graters:
I highly recommend them. They work amazingly well on anything from lemon skin (for zest) to coconut to thumbs. 👍🤨 Dark humor aside, they’re FAR superior to the typical grater.
After the dinners, presents and festivities, it’s been a combination of clean up and (mostly) what I can only assume is a reaction to the antibiotics for the spider bite; I’ve been dead on my feet for days. Worst case of fatigue I can ever remember. Yesterday, I was only awake for 7 hours or so and I was dead on my feet the entire time.
I’d almost attribute it to the Onmicron variant (which is supposed to cause severe fatigue), but I’ve felt fine otherwise. Even the spider bite is healing nicely. So with no other suspects or symptoms, the now finished off antibiotics seem the most logical suspect.
Despite it all, I’ve managed to keep the new positive outlook. Can’t say I’ve been perfect. Last minute grocery shopping certainly worked my last good nerve, lol. I’m sure hoping that I’m done with the fatigue now as well. I’m managing to keep an overall positive attitude about everything though. 🙂
Presents and meals you ask? Next Time. 😉 Here’s a hint though:
Time for another brief personal update. The post’s tile is partially a pun. I’ve been sidetracked and away from the blog not only due to holiday stuff, but because I also literally got bit by.. something.
My suspicion after doing some internet research is that it’s a spider bite, likely a black widow or brown recluse. I never felt the bite nor saw any spider though. The first day I noticed it, I wasn’t sure what it was and it didn’t look TOO bad all things considered. I decided to wait a day and see how it progressed.
This is a pic from the internet. For new followers, I’m paranoid about personal photos online, hence this pic as a stand-in. My apparent bite is on my calf and looked similar but the center is darker and hard like a scab.
Getting back to the story, by the end of the day, my calf was showing some swelling, and I wasn’t feeling so good. Long story short, we spent almost 3 hours waiting in the local ER, got literally one minute of face time with an actual doctor (who barely looked at the alleged bite), and sent with some antiseptic wash and a prescription for major antibiotics.
Aside from the lousy ER experience though (and they were not that busy BTW), the whole event has been pretty mild for what was likely a bite by a dangerous spider. I felt lousy for a few days, and slept ALOT, but the wound is slowly healing as opposed to the horrific click bait pics out there of widow or recluse bites just rotting away huge areas of flesh.
At this point, the worst of it all is that the Doxycycline antibiotics make me sick to my stomach, even if taken with food. That’s minor in the grand scheme of things however. 🙂
The big trick is going to be catching up on all the Christmas stuff I still have to do. We’re hosting not one, but TWO dinners this year. Christmas day will be five people, and then Sunday will have 11 of us after the out of state in-laws finally make it to town.
I could have just left everything at Sunday only but Christmas is supposed to be celebrated on Christmas, dangit. 😀 😀
Silk Chatters 