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kindkit1) Well, my back is still fucked. I am getting better, but very very VERY slowly. I tried to go to work last Friday and only managed an hour, and then I was in such severe and obvious pain that a colleague volunteered to drive me home (because sitting = bad, which makes driving a challenge).
I'm going to try again tomorrow. I'm a bit more functional now and if all goes okay I should be able to make it for a few hours.
Meanwhile, my PTO that I having been saving up since the last time this happened (because when I get top surgery--I was hoping for next year--I'll need to take at least a month off) is pretty much gone. And HR wants me to request FMLA leave but hasn't sent me the damn paperwork. *sigh*
2) I haven't been capable of much reading/viewing etc., because my concentration's gone all to hell. Even though I'm not constantly in pain, it's hard to sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time. So mostly I dazedly scroll Twitter, which these days is bursting with TERFs and fascists, plus a goodly portion of the people who are neither TERFs nor fascists are goddamn irritating. (For example, there's currently a massive kerfuffle because someone said that refusing to engage in very basic formula small talk--such as replying to a "Hi, how are you today?" from a retail worker or restaurant worker--is extremely rude. Predictably, the replies of "OMG I'm actually autistic and why do you want me to die of small talk?" and "OMG if you ask how I'm doing I'm not going to lie, so you better be prepared to hear about how my cat has cancer"* came in like a missile barrage.) Ugh, Twitter is so awful, and yet so perfectly designed to keep you refreshing when you're bored but not capable of anything more demanding.
(*In my experience as a retail worker, this happens pretty often. And it's TERRIBLE. I'm at work, I asked "how are you?" because it's a politeness formula, and I am not equipped, emotionally or in terms of time, to hear about your actual problems. Why are so many people unable/unwilling to distinguish between "meaningless polite noises between strangers" and "question from friend who actually wants to know"?)
3) I did manage to watch Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. It's a perfectly fine undemanding movie, and I didn't know Hugh Grant was in it so that was a pleasant surprise. But I feel like it's suffered from a sort of reputation paradox. When it came out, everybody was expecting an absolute dog. So when they saw that it was an okay fun movie with some nice moments, they all went, "Wow, it's so good!" And that inflated its reputation enough for latecomers like me to be disappointed that it's not really as good as all that. It's fun, it's silly, it's not going to wow anybody.
4) Also I've been catching up on This Podcast Will Kill You, which suits my mental state right now because it's not narrative. I also managed to listen to the second episode of Malevolent, which is narrative and which I'm still not loving, but I'll keep trying because I am assured that it gets better. I'm stalled on Old Gods of Appalachia, but eventually I'll get back to it. Part of the problem (with this and with Malevolent) is that I prefer to listen to horror podcasts while I'm outdoors walking in the nice bright safe sunlight. It gives me a needed bit of distance from the story. But I'm not up to taking walks just yet.
I'm going to try again tomorrow. I'm a bit more functional now and if all goes okay I should be able to make it for a few hours.
Meanwhile, my PTO that I having been saving up since the last time this happened (because when I get top surgery--I was hoping for next year--I'll need to take at least a month off) is pretty much gone. And HR wants me to request FMLA leave but hasn't sent me the damn paperwork. *sigh*
2) I haven't been capable of much reading/viewing etc., because my concentration's gone all to hell. Even though I'm not constantly in pain, it's hard to sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time. So mostly I dazedly scroll Twitter, which these days is bursting with TERFs and fascists, plus a goodly portion of the people who are neither TERFs nor fascists are goddamn irritating. (For example, there's currently a massive kerfuffle because someone said that refusing to engage in very basic formula small talk--such as replying to a "Hi, how are you today?" from a retail worker or restaurant worker--is extremely rude. Predictably, the replies of "OMG I'm actually autistic and why do you want me to die of small talk?" and "OMG if you ask how I'm doing I'm not going to lie, so you better be prepared to hear about how my cat has cancer"* came in like a missile barrage.) Ugh, Twitter is so awful, and yet so perfectly designed to keep you refreshing when you're bored but not capable of anything more demanding.
(*In my experience as a retail worker, this happens pretty often. And it's TERRIBLE. I'm at work, I asked "how are you?" because it's a politeness formula, and I am not equipped, emotionally or in terms of time, to hear about your actual problems. Why are so many people unable/unwilling to distinguish between "meaningless polite noises between strangers" and "question from friend who actually wants to know"?)
3) I did manage to watch Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. It's a perfectly fine undemanding movie, and I didn't know Hugh Grant was in it so that was a pleasant surprise. But I feel like it's suffered from a sort of reputation paradox. When it came out, everybody was expecting an absolute dog. So when they saw that it was an okay fun movie with some nice moments, they all went, "Wow, it's so good!" And that inflated its reputation enough for latecomers like me to be disappointed that it's not really as good as all that. It's fun, it's silly, it's not going to wow anybody.
4) Also I've been catching up on This Podcast Will Kill You, which suits my mental state right now because it's not narrative. I also managed to listen to the second episode of Malevolent, which is narrative and which I'm still not loving, but I'll keep trying because I am assured that it gets better. I'm stalled on Old Gods of Appalachia, but eventually I'll get back to it. Part of the problem (with this and with Malevolent) is that I prefer to listen to horror podcasts while I'm outdoors walking in the nice bright safe sunlight. It gives me a needed bit of distance from the story. But I'm not up to taking walks just yet.
