Year's End: 2013
Dec. 31st, 2013 03:51 pm2013. Stuff happened. The only reasons I remember are Livejournal and Facebook. No, really.
Erm.
Highlights? In no order, due to disintegrating memory.
1. Getting Medicare. So, hey, if you are given a a helpful advantage, use it.
2. Autism! Nobody was surprised. Finally things clicked into place re: my brains. I actually like putting names and labels to medical diagnoses. This was like relief.
3. I wrote a lot of stories and got a lot of rejections. I collected those letters in a folder.
4. I became, officially, a disability activist, advocate, and outspoken cripple. I became an advocate for the use of pharmaceutical drugs as needed for different people, which led to so much snark. I became skilled in the art of snark.
5. Re: above. I joined a support group for Cerebral Palsy. Best decision of the year. I met so many amazing people who became my good good friends. And I learned about many factual scientific medical things, like cerebral palsy and aging.
6. I started talking about the things I learned, to spread knowledge, and was smacked down hard. Nobody cared and also people told me I needed to stop talking. This just increased my resolve to keep talking. That's the type of person I am. "Stop doing that! It annoys me!" "Okay, I'll stop." *pause* "FYI, I'm still talking about it, but you don't need to know. Ha ha."
7. The Year Of Chronic Pain Flares. Maybe it was just one massive flare all year.
8. My cat died. My beloved beautiful cat Rose. She died of congestive heart failure. She was only five years old. I have dreams about the twenty-four hours watching her gasp for breath and not knowing what to do because I wanted to wait until Adam came home to take her to the emergency vet hospital. She was so critical that she coded immediately and died instantly. And all the doctors had to convince me that no matter what, I did the right thing. She was dying. She was dying of congestive heart failure and we never knew why. It ripped a burning hole in me so deep and so intense that I was swallowed by emptiness.
9. Two days later, Adam and I casually checked out the humane society. I wound up being chosen by a year-old female brown tabby with Egyptian Mau mix. I had to take her. She needed me. She held my hand.
Some might call it too soon, but this had nothing to do with replacing Rose. Calliope is not a not-Rose cat. Calliope is Calliope. We are bonded hard.
10. My physical health declined. I learned why and how it was connected to cerebral palsy. People told me I was thinking too much about it and that my "negativity" was making it worse. I hate that book, "The Secret." I am going to activist their faces off in 2014.
11. I read so many SF/F books. It was beautiful. Supernatural. Paranormal. Yes.
12. My varied colorful canes went everywhere with me, because my muscles were too spastic.
13. People have attempted to steer me away from my pharmacy drugs completely. I kept reminding them of my history re: pharmaceutical vs holistic. It is a balance now. Shut up. Leave me alone. I will still talk. Maybe you will learn?
14. My favorite supplement is still MSM. And various plants, herbs, and antioxidant food extracts.
Erm.
Highlights? In no order, due to disintegrating memory.
1. Getting Medicare. So, hey, if you are given a a helpful advantage, use it.
2. Autism! Nobody was surprised. Finally things clicked into place re: my brains. I actually like putting names and labels to medical diagnoses. This was like relief.
3. I wrote a lot of stories and got a lot of rejections. I collected those letters in a folder.
4. I became, officially, a disability activist, advocate, and outspoken cripple. I became an advocate for the use of pharmaceutical drugs as needed for different people, which led to so much snark. I became skilled in the art of snark.
5. Re: above. I joined a support group for Cerebral Palsy. Best decision of the year. I met so many amazing people who became my good good friends. And I learned about many factual scientific medical things, like cerebral palsy and aging.
6. I started talking about the things I learned, to spread knowledge, and was smacked down hard. Nobody cared and also people told me I needed to stop talking. This just increased my resolve to keep talking. That's the type of person I am. "Stop doing that! It annoys me!" "Okay, I'll stop." *pause* "FYI, I'm still talking about it, but you don't need to know. Ha ha."
7. The Year Of Chronic Pain Flares. Maybe it was just one massive flare all year.
8. My cat died. My beloved beautiful cat Rose. She died of congestive heart failure. She was only five years old. I have dreams about the twenty-four hours watching her gasp for breath and not knowing what to do because I wanted to wait until Adam came home to take her to the emergency vet hospital. She was so critical that she coded immediately and died instantly. And all the doctors had to convince me that no matter what, I did the right thing. She was dying. She was dying of congestive heart failure and we never knew why. It ripped a burning hole in me so deep and so intense that I was swallowed by emptiness.
9. Two days later, Adam and I casually checked out the humane society. I wound up being chosen by a year-old female brown tabby with Egyptian Mau mix. I had to take her. She needed me. She held my hand.
Some might call it too soon, but this had nothing to do with replacing Rose. Calliope is not a not-Rose cat. Calliope is Calliope. We are bonded hard.
10. My physical health declined. I learned why and how it was connected to cerebral palsy. People told me I was thinking too much about it and that my "negativity" was making it worse. I hate that book, "The Secret." I am going to activist their faces off in 2014.
11. I read so many SF/F books. It was beautiful. Supernatural. Paranormal. Yes.
12. My varied colorful canes went everywhere with me, because my muscles were too spastic.
13. People have attempted to steer me away from my pharmacy drugs completely. I kept reminding them of my history re: pharmaceutical vs holistic. It is a balance now. Shut up. Leave me alone. I will still talk. Maybe you will learn?
14. My favorite supplement is still MSM. And various plants, herbs, and antioxidant food extracts.