Kansas, Graduation, and the rest of April and May in the pooper
I kept telling people that I was heading to Kansas for my Grandfather's 97th birthday, and they'd get this precious look on their faces like, "awww, family, yay!" Each time I'd have to pause and correct them. Not all family birthdays are joyful occasions. It's not that my family is terrible, they're not. They don't drink, there's no outright fighting or anything, and the most they do is say passive aggressive things as asides. And everything happens fast - they don't really "hang out" per se, they eat, they drink sodas, they do cake, they go home. But they definitely drive my mom up the wall - she gets triggered pretty much every time we visit, and I'm mostly there to do emotional triage and support. That is what makes it the least fun of things to do. Which is fine, just emotionally exhausting. On the good side, this was probably the best celebration we've ever had since my aunt brought musical toys and all the adults ended up using noisemakers (since my cousin with all the kids didn't show).
See the image of my Grandfather shaking noisemakers as proof.
Since then I've felt like I was in recovery from the slew of events and visits and trips and airplane flights. I've had low-grade depression making certain types of motivation, including writing motivation, very difficult. I think part of it has been that I haven't had weekly place to be/things to do (either social or school-related) and have been largely lonely. I've mostly puttered around the house and watched a lot of TV.
And cleaned every day or every other day trying to get rid of a flea problem - apparently the fleas in my area over the last several years have developed immunity to the normal flea prevention drugs that I have the dog on. According to the vet, they've developed immunity to Frontline and Revolution both. And I had to have the "are you cleaning enough?" conversation with three vet techs, a vet, and two different pet supply store workers/owners. It reached ridiculous levels after the second conversation. Because apparently what you're supposed to do to get rid of fleas is clean ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME: your dog. And any loose cloths that can be washed should be. And vacuum your couches (under cushions and everything). And mop your floors. And clean your drapes. And baseboards. And do it every day so that the eggs that can stay live up to two months will be picked up as they hatch. And spray with anti-flea spray. And spray your dog with organic anti-flea spray. So I've tried to do that, mostly. Washed every scrap of cloth that could be taken down at the laundromat. Cleaned every day, when usually I only do that once a week. It only takes a couple of hours, but it's ridiculously tiring to do it every day.
It's made it hard to motivate about a lot of things, one of which is Summer of Giles, which is celebrating it's 10th frigging year. And sadly right now needs sign ups like crazy.
These last couple of days I've been able to start the day with translating, which is so so good. And do other things.
But I have been walking the dog, despite her itchy problem. That's the best part of my day as of late - getting out into the sunlight and walking the dog. The tough part is that every day it's a little bit of a mental struggle to get myself together and do it, but every time I'm glad I do.
also posted to katekat on dreamwidth | you can reply here or there
See the image of my Grandfather shaking noisemakers as proof.
Since then I've felt like I was in recovery from the slew of events and visits and trips and airplane flights. I've had low-grade depression making certain types of motivation, including writing motivation, very difficult. I think part of it has been that I haven't had weekly place to be/things to do (either social or school-related) and have been largely lonely. I've mostly puttered around the house and watched a lot of TV.
And cleaned every day or every other day trying to get rid of a flea problem - apparently the fleas in my area over the last several years have developed immunity to the normal flea prevention drugs that I have the dog on. According to the vet, they've developed immunity to Frontline and Revolution both. And I had to have the "are you cleaning enough?" conversation with three vet techs, a vet, and two different pet supply store workers/owners. It reached ridiculous levels after the second conversation. Because apparently what you're supposed to do to get rid of fleas is clean ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME: your dog. And any loose cloths that can be washed should be. And vacuum your couches (under cushions and everything). And mop your floors. And clean your drapes. And baseboards. And do it every day so that the eggs that can stay live up to two months will be picked up as they hatch. And spray with anti-flea spray. And spray your dog with organic anti-flea spray. So I've tried to do that, mostly. Washed every scrap of cloth that could be taken down at the laundromat. Cleaned every day, when usually I only do that once a week. It only takes a couple of hours, but it's ridiculously tiring to do it every day.
It's made it hard to motivate about a lot of things, one of which is Summer of Giles, which is celebrating it's 10th frigging year. And sadly right now needs sign ups like crazy.
These last couple of days I've been able to start the day with translating, which is so so good. And do other things.
But I have been walking the dog, despite her itchy problem. That's the best part of my day as of late - getting out into the sunlight and walking the dog. The tough part is that every day it's a little bit of a mental struggle to get myself together and do it, but every time I'm glad I do.
also posted to katekat on dreamwidth | you can reply here or there