The Devil You Know

mckitterick sent me this mashup:


Thanks to daasgrrl, I'm adding London Spy to my watchlist for my convalescence.


Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, November 17: Raccoons. Fact: The word "raccoons" is difficult to type, much less to type 30+ times. I kept putting "raccooons" as the tag.

I got the picture of my live blood analysis, finally. So here's what healthy red blood cells look like. Here's the sort of thing you find when you do an image search for Rouleaux. Here's what my blood looks like ( behind the cut )

Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, November 3: Squirrels.

Once upon a time, I did Things. Lots of Things. redheadfae once remarked that I was the busiest person she knew. I did yoga, bellydance, went to concerts, socialized/partied--all in a week's work! My planner (I've always had a planner) was filled with activities and events. I always had something going on. I loved it.

Last night I got home from work, ate dinner, and was so worn out that even though I didn't want to sit in front of the television for the rest of the night, that's what I did because I had no energy for anything else. I wanted to do some yoga god damn it, but I couldn't do strength poses (low energy + strengthening poses = bad combo) and I'm on a no-forward-bends diet right now because last week I indulged in some restorative forward bends and fucked up my right SI joint/sciatic nerve again.



mckitterick was a doll, though, and listened to the first disc of Hamilton with me. He enjoyed it but I'm not sure how tonight's experience of Disc 2 is going to go. Act two is just kind of a train wreck, emotionally. Alexander Hamilton, man, you made some really bad life choices.

For your reading pleasure, today, I give you from today's Toast Link Roundup this charming story about an antique dildo and some great real life ghost stories.

mckitterick and I had a great conversation about ghosts after we saw Crimson Peak. He posited that ghosts might just be things/beings/energy that we cannot see/perceive because they're so far from our spectrum of visibility. Rather like dark matter. All around us, but unknowable. I am unsure if that's a comforting thought or an unsettling one. Maybe a little bit of both?

I easily admit that I'm not convinced that ghosts (insert your own concept of unknown manifestations of energy here) aren't real. I'm pretty sure I lived with one in the house on Tennessee. It would regularly hide my birth control pills and other things. Occasionally it would pour water in the middle of the kitchen floor. And the back of the house always had a creepy vibe (both the downstairs back, which was the mudroom that led to the basement and my almost-outdoor back bathroom and the upstairs back, which had a window that looked onto the alley and a door that led to the attic).

Who's got their own personal ghost story to share?

Oh! And today Tumblr is Tuesday, October 20: Creepy Buildings.

Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, October 6: Decay.

I have some content/updates, but I gotta wrap up some job-related things first. Hope to talk with y'all this afternoon.

Because I was dealing with fatigue and brain fog last week, I opted for another due South collection for today. The due South bar has acquired a few new people over on Tumblr, and the number of new posts is inspiring and happy-making!

Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, September 1: Blades.

JFC what happened to August.

And this is why I drive all the way to fucking Kansas City, Missouri to see Tim the PT guy.

I don't like to think of my avoidance of certain things as boycotting because I don't usually encourage others to do the same. That shit is personal and nobody needs to feel bad for shopping places when that's all that's available/affordable. But I do believe my dollar is my vote and if you want to know why I don't buy from Amazon and I why request that people don't buy me things from Amazon either, here's yet another reason why. Fuck you, Amazon.

Mad Max Meta about different ways to be a mother.

Patrick Stewart, out there destroying toxic masculinity one person at a time.

Ronda Rousey, god damn. Just. God. Damn.

On the physical self-care front, there is definite movement in the positive direction. My energy levels are much better. This past week I had energy to do stuff after work three out of five days (well, I hope three out of five--I'm thinking positive because there's an event I want to attend tonight). My physical stamina is improving, too. I walked from first to fourth floor on Wednesday and wasn't wiped out at the top! I got winded going up just one flight the very next day, but these things go in cycles and an occasional victory is better than no victories at all. Pain-wise, things are definitely better. I have only small aches in my left hip instead of lightning bolts of despair (the labrum injury) and my right back twinge is lessening thanks to Tim the PT guy deciding it's definitely a nerve injury issue and starting treatment for that. He thinks it's possible that when I pulled my back on the deadlift (god that seems so long ago), my sciatic nerve and a disc got pulled slightly out of their grooves along with the soft tissue injury and while the soft tissues healed, the nerve and disc are still rubbing each other the wrong way. All the mobility work I've done on it has actually been detrimental (ugh) which explains why I've been feeling worse on days after I do yoga. So we're working on getting them to play happily with themselves and sometime soon (perhaps as soon as September) we're staring prep work for returning to lifting heavy things.

You guys I got a bit choked up and teary thinking about being behind a barbell again. Seriously, I am almost crying at my desk here.

The people at the State Fair were kind enough to refund my tickets so I'm buying tickets to see Joan Jett at the Sprint Center in December. No travel, no hotel expense, no worrying about food, and mckitterick can go with us. Also, she's the opening act at that show, so unless my concert buddies want to stay for The Who (unlikely), we can skedaddle out of there early. It's win all around.

I hate that even such a small thing as a day trip to a city three hours away presents such an ordeal for me. I don't know that I'll ever be able to enjoy traveling just to travel. I need to have a reason for travel beyond just sightseeing and that reason needs to be pretty damn motivating. This is a little sad-making because I believe travel is wonderful and important for self-development, but god it's just such a trial for me (for various reasons).

With my energy levels (I hope) improving, though, I look forward to doing more things close to home. Workshops, shows, even more regular hang-outs with locals.

Tonight I'm going to Dances With Hippies (provided I am not absolutely dead on my feet come quitting time). It's been ages since I went to one of these things and I'm especially excited about this one. The Sunday morning one I used to attend has shifted music focus to stuff I'm not always wild about, but from what I was told, the DJ for this event leans more toward electronica so Fuck Yeah. Also, Westside Yoga is my favorite open movement space in town, with good ventilation and a high ceiling so the patchouli funk won't be overpowering. It's where they hold the occasional kirtans I attend, too. Such a nice place.

Final good thing for today: My hair looks FANTASTIC. Perhaps alas, I don't yet know how to get a photo off my phone (or even...take a photo with my phone?) and also my hair doesn't photograph well. You'll have to take my word for it.

You Don't Need Fancy Stuff to exercise. Look how graceful this dude is! Also, that just looks fun.

Looking for a good article on cultural appropriation? Look no further.

Today's Tumblr is Tuesday, August 11: Red.

Today's Tumblr collection is Tuesday, July 28: Mad Max Meta.

Today's Tumblr is Tuesday, July 14: Beautiful Men.

Most of them are just shirtless, but there are very few that might be NSFW.

My office building has no AC. It was out yesterday, too, I hear. No ETA on repair.