Waiting it out for now.
O wow, two weeks with no proper update. Tho I did use Dreamwidth to take notes on my tummy history, b/c I finally saw the new GI last week, yay! After losing her number and forgetting to call since late January. Dumb brainfog.
Not much happened the week before my friend's wedding (weekend after my last update) b/c I was busy prepping and overall being stressed about travel. But it ended up really nice :-)
First, the road to PA is really nice at this time of year. Then I got to reconnect with lots of old friends and meet some new people. And finally, there were so many gluten-sick folks going to the wedding that the chef decided to just make *all* the entrees gf, so I actually got to eat yummy duck and desserts at a wedding :-D.
I didn't sleep well Saturday night, b/c I found a tick on my hand (which as far as I can tell, never managed to bite me) and it freaked me out, and then my stomach freaked out, so between 11pm and 9am I only got about 5 hours of sleep. Meh. So I was a bit strung out for the wedding Sunday afternoon, but ironically the briskly November outdoor ceremony woke me up instead of making me feel worse. After that, lots of fun :-) I did spazz and forget the wedding present at my house, but at least I didn't lose it, so will just email the couple when they get back from their honeymoon.
And my pseudo-Regency costume was great! Between tummy and sleep dep, was very glad I went with a no-corset outfit, and it was a very fun and a-historical bunch of costumed guests, so all good. I brought the cat-headed cane I picked up at DCon, and didn't have to use it nearly as much as I expected. Yay?
Oh, and unfortunately a weird skin irritation cropped up on Friday, and was *not* just a new kind of chapped skin reaction my body wanted to try out, so that was uncomfortable. But my costume covered the full extent of my legs and arms, and it wasn't chicken-pox level bad, so I got through it. And eventually got a fix for it.
Last week was ... mixed. Was high on wedding goodwill, but because of the skin irritation the rest of the week put kindof a damper on me. And I had to make a trip to Wallmart for Rich Ppl Whole Foods to get gluten free body lotion and shower stuff. But at least the SoHo location keeps that in its own little area away from most of the annoyingness.
Wednesday I took a half day off so I could finally see my GI, and she is very nice. Didn't dismiss my "oxalates" discovery out of hand, and wants to do the standard list of uncomfortable diagnostic tests. She was actually pleased that I already knew a lot of what she was talking about (other doctors have gotten annoyed with me about that in the past). So the first uncomfortable test is next Monday, before Thanksgiving, b/c I just want to get it over with.
As for oxalates, I cross referenced dates & sweet potatoes, which give me tummy aches, and found out that they're both high in oxalates. Apparently thats the stuff that gives ppl kidney stones. I found a comprehensive list comparing Very High-High-Medium-etc ox-noms (albeit on the internet, so grain of salt too), and the VH section also included almonds, unfermented soy, amaranth/quinoa, and a couple other things that also give me immediate tummy aches. Oxalate-intolerance isn't supposed to be a thing, but some speculate that it doesn't just bother the kidneys. It *may* get its crystals into cells all over the body, exacerbating any inflammatory illnesses.
In my case, almond butter doesn't *seem* to give me the same horrible IBS flareup that 'raw' almonds do, but if I have consistent tummy problems every week, and I eat almond butter most weekday mornings, maybe its something I should try avoiding for a bit. The less awful thing here is that *if* my gut every properly heals up (assuming that's the problem, the ox's may have been not letting it heal) I can go back to eating it again. Unlike gluten, which will hate me forever.
And its hardly a scientific study, but I also found several anecdotal accounts of "Tried paleo. Replaced wheat baking with sweet potatos, dates, and almonds. Kept getting worse stomach probs and couldn't figure out why." So I feel less bad for breaking with that. And oxalates are a thing that build up in one's system over time, so its continuing to make sense. After the problems with quinoa I figured I had a fiber problem with veggies, but this gives me a new direction to follow. Maybe. Stupid Paleo. If I'm lucky, I just have to avoid the Very High category for a while, but the lower categories are all full of veggies I'd like to get back to (tasty/cheap).
After the GI I had a therapy session scheduled, but I had a big block of time and there was an urgent-care facility between the offices, so I got my skin problem checked out. Weird rash, but only on my thighs and arms, with a bit on my trunk and calves. I could breathe fine, and didn't have a fever. Actually the rash didn't look that bad but was sho itchy I had to slather myself in goldbond every night before bed and morning before work. So not pleasant. To be honest it looked kinda like acne, but my face looked normal. And ironically the google search didn't really show up anything that looked like it. When I got home from the wedding I checked my bed area for bedbugs and found nothing. So the discomfort wasn't even as uncomfortable as not knowing why this was happening to me, with all the product label-checking I do. Ugh.
The UC doc took a good look and told me it was a viral rash, which I didn't realize was a thing without it being chickenpox-level-bad, so he gave me a week of steroids. And warned me that it could last weeks even with Rx, but after starting the pills Wednesday night I didn't need the goldbond on Thursday night, and Friday the red spots were no longer bumpy. There are a few marks from all the itching, but as of Saturday it seemed to all be gone, yay. My one concern now is that if this is/was viral, and I was just at a *wedding*, I REALLY hope it wasn't contagious :-/ But at least it was short lived. And it wasn't bedbugs, phew.
Thursday I still felt skin-yuck, but teh Pooka managed to get me out of the house for the evening with another new friend. Leading to a WTF? moment at Bareburger on Laguardia, where there was a string of mixups about whether or not my *salad* was actually gf. And the confusion started *after* I'd eaten some of if. In the end, they comped my certified GF salad b/c of all of the freaking-me-out that happened. Not as bad as the dead-grasshopper-salad incident, but still, wth Bareburger? And then we went to a nice cafe in the East Village, where the server was very kind about all my food issues. Ironically, feeding me gets *more* complicated in a vegan place b/c of my issues with dates, soy, and gluten. But overall a nice evening out :-)
This weekend started out OK, but kindof sputtered out. The plan was to do normal chores, plus laundry, plus clean the bathroom. B/c I'm tired of the bathroom not being clean. Maybe make a necklace for the "Saturn Return" pendant I got from Wyrding Studios too. I managed to do all the important lunch-cooking on Saturday, plus some experimenting that didn't turn out to well (oh chicken hearts, at least you were only a $4 mistake, next time livers). And I got my necklace made, but it honestly felt just as much of a chore as anything else that day. So will be putting all my jewelry supplies away again (taken out for this and my friends' wedding presents) without remorse.
Tho I didn't get around to that on Sunday, b/c ALL THE BRAINFOGS hit me full force. I did play with making meringue cookies (but the humidity made them stick on the outside, although I finally got the inside texture perfect), and then tried to turn the yolks into mayo, failed and turned the resulting nice looking custard into a kind of yellow cake. But in the process a lot of custard ended up on the counter and kitchen floor, so some spazzy cleaning had to happen.
Otherwise, it was a lot of staring into space and/or at the internet if it was in the direction of my staring. Remembered to do my outfits for the week just to see if I could get away with skipping laundry, I was so tired. No cleaning aside from the dishes and the extra egg mess I'd made in the kitchen. Ugh. I did remember to watch last week's new Lost Girl episode (in part to cushion the oncoming Doctor Who fail next week). And then slept really badly all night, b/c if I'm in zombie mode all day, of course I won't actually be properly sleepy in bed. *headdesk*
So today I'm still in zombie mode, but with a shiny new necklace at least. And somehow I made it to therapy on time which is not normal. Does not compute. I think the prednisone I was RX'ed is making me feel weird, but I want to finish out the bottle (Wednesday morning) to make sure the skin problem doesn't come back.
Its weird how I feel like I've come off a really rough week of something, and I really haven't. Its not even been a difficult Monday. Meh.
Realized I should start picking up Xmas gifts for teh fam while I'm having a fiscally responsible month with an extra payday. So that should be fun once I waketheFup. Tho it may be mostly gift certificates, b/c low spoons. If that changes right before Xmas I'ma feel like a jerk tho. Just trying to finish that necklace for *me* was a huge chore, I don't even want to think about making shinies for other ppl these days. Tho maybe that's the Rx talking again?
Also considering a BPAL order, but not a gigantic one. Maybe for Turkey Weekend. At first I thought it was stupidly crazy to type up my full collection into a .doc file, but it's actually been pretty useful for the last week. "That sounds nice, but do I have something similar already? Was that a note I didn't like?" Helped me whittle a list down to two items instead of six. Yaaaaay. I will take any excuse to feel clever these days.
Overall I think I've become steadily less stuff-oriented this year. Between being two tired to shop (and too tired to craft), the easy joy of not overspending my extras-budget, and the regular realization that I can go three weeks without doing laundry, its getting OK.
And focusing my crazy-collector habits to something small and compact has been good in some ways. Even tho my BPAL collection is expanding, it still only takes up a few not-huge boxes that stack on my dresser. Not so much with fabric, craft supplies, framed posters, lightsabers, books, big bulky costumes, etc. Also realized I could probably hook up my harddrive full of movies to my blu-ray player, instead of bothering with the flash drives. Yaaaay. Well, aside from just borrowing stuff from my neighbor, but I've been forgetting to do that lately.
And with the oncoming cold months (which sometimes keep me indoors more, sometimes wake me up, will see this year), thoughts are hovering over Autumn Cleaning and my Discardia bin. B/c by winter break it will have been there in that state for a whole year, and I want that 2x3 ft patch of space back pls (my apartment is tiny, this is a bigger deal than you'd think). And I want the laundry basket back. Dumb brain fog & fatigue slowin me down :-P
The Strand wasn't really that worth it after the first few trips, so I may just hand most of the books off to my parents over the Turkey holiday to give to a regular charity shop. Cuz they have a minivan for that sort of thing. That's also why I typically give them all my give-away clothes, its just easier, and they get the tax write off in exchange for helping me out.
I still wonder if I would be in a better financial place now if I'd tried reselling items (Ebay, Craigslist, etc) instead of just giving them away. But then, look at how unsteallar my Etsy business turned out (as far as sales go at least). I would just have had a big box of stuff to throw out when I left Astoria anyway, after months of making listings and entering data and taking photos and lugging stuff to the post office. Also, while I was doing better with $$ by the end of my Astorian occupation, I still ended up back in credit card debt after buying the RP place and then taking lots of improv classes. I don't think it would have made much difference, it would have just made me hate Ebay.
Clothing swaps just don't work out for me. At the last one, a woman that was half my size kept grabbing the plus-sized items out of my hands to throw to a friend of hers. I went home with a bunch of ugly things that smelled like mothballs (which ended up back in a charity shop after), after having to lug my gear to upper Manhattan. And trying to organize one at my house? Just no thanx. I used to really want the clothes that I'd enjoyed over the years to continue being enjoyed by ppl I knew, but sizing was always an issue, and eventually you realize its just junk.
It really helped to put the non-fitting clothes in a hidden area for a few months, and then when going through it again you realize you've lost your emotional ties to it. On the upside, the last time that happened (purged in July, the parents dropped by to take it after DCon, ugh clutter) I found a few shirts I didn't like before, b/c back then I hadn't realized "Wait, its not that the shirt makes me look fat, its that I *am* fat." So now I quite like them. Yay closet shopping.
Every time I notice I can get away with going 3 weeks without doing my laundry, I realize I don't need any more normal-day clothes either. Will still ask Santa for some gc's this year, but now I'm more likely to 'freshen up' my wardrobe with two new things instead of 10. Tho in that case, it also helps that my weight has normalized so I don't have to do any more wardrobe overhauls. Ugh. Another reason I have no interest in weight loss right now.
I did manage to purge some old but pretty jewelry displays to give away (they just don't fit my style anymore), will photograph them for ppl to look at ... eventually. And I still have boxes of books and equipment to ship to friends who called dibs in *March*, so I really need to haul my butt to the post office. Ugh. My mail-scale still isn't working right, so maybe they'll be OK if I send them an invoice for s/h instead of checking with them first :-P
Last week I had new inklings for a puppet/video/youtube project but ... ugh. I really don't want new projects. I wanna finish the old projects. So am keeping this under my hat for now, tho I'll happily take notes in case I ever have that much energy again.
This week's tarot is very OMG BOOM DRAMA CHANGE OMG!
BIG change, great hope of renewal afterward, but its probly gonna hurt somewhere. But I've been looking to shrug off my current lifestyle for a while now, so not bad news. Would probably be stranger if it didn't hurt, so I should just relax and get it over with.
Despite tarot forecast, I kinda just want to take it easy now. Tho that could still be the short-term Rx talking. I have my GI diagnostic next week, for which I'll have to spend the weekend in preparation (ugh), and then Turkey Day after that, and probably not much happening that weekend either. So there's still a part of my brain that's going 'OMG HAVE ALL THE FUN AND CREATIVE STUFF OR ELSE' but really... I just want to chill. I won't *know* anything new about my tummy until December anyway, so not interested in doing more dietary research.
I was hoping November would be a lot more productive in terms of projects and socializing after WeddingCon, but I couldn't help being sick, and now I want to get this medical stuff over with, so its being productive in its own way. I'm trying a controlled, temporary measure of "F#$% it, I give up" for a couple weeks until then. If I socialize or write stuff, awesome, if not then whatevs.
Unfortunately, I'm also starting to rethink my '2014 MOAR CONS' plan, but again that could be from not feeling well *today*. I've got Arisia set up, so not bailing on that, but WeddingCon and DragonCon both took their toll on me (not to mention, costumes). And travel is more complicated with my dietary issues. So will see how it goes.
On the upside, if I decide to just do DCon from now on, I can put the extra "Other Cons" savings into useful things. Like, IRA useful, not BPAL useful. Sadly, going on a proper vacation-to-somewhere is just as complicated as going to con, and without the benefit of finding friends to go with and meeting new geeks when I get there.
Now that I think of it, taking a couple of weeks off from actively trying to restart my life may be the change I actually need. Then I can start fixing things again if I feel better after that. But then if it takes me *this* long to recover from a trip to PA, maybe more cons isn't such a great idea afterall.
<3 Chrysilla
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, http://chrysilla.dreamwidth.org/
Not much happened the week before my friend's wedding (weekend after my last update) b/c I was busy prepping and overall being stressed about travel. But it ended up really nice :-)
First, the road to PA is really nice at this time of year. Then I got to reconnect with lots of old friends and meet some new people. And finally, there were so many gluten-sick folks going to the wedding that the chef decided to just make *all* the entrees gf, so I actually got to eat yummy duck and desserts at a wedding :-D.
I didn't sleep well Saturday night, b/c I found a tick on my hand (which as far as I can tell, never managed to bite me) and it freaked me out, and then my stomach freaked out, so between 11pm and 9am I only got about 5 hours of sleep. Meh. So I was a bit strung out for the wedding Sunday afternoon, but ironically the briskly November outdoor ceremony woke me up instead of making me feel worse. After that, lots of fun :-) I did spazz and forget the wedding present at my house, but at least I didn't lose it, so will just email the couple when they get back from their honeymoon.
And my pseudo-Regency costume was great! Between tummy and sleep dep, was very glad I went with a no-corset outfit, and it was a very fun and a-historical bunch of costumed guests, so all good. I brought the cat-headed cane I picked up at DCon, and didn't have to use it nearly as much as I expected. Yay?
Oh, and unfortunately a weird skin irritation cropped up on Friday, and was *not* just a new kind of chapped skin reaction my body wanted to try out, so that was uncomfortable. But my costume covered the full extent of my legs and arms, and it wasn't chicken-pox level bad, so I got through it. And eventually got a fix for it.
Last week was ... mixed. Was high on wedding goodwill, but because of the skin irritation the rest of the week put kindof a damper on me. And I had to make a trip to Wallmart for Rich Ppl Whole Foods to get gluten free body lotion and shower stuff. But at least the SoHo location keeps that in its own little area away from most of the annoyingness.
Wednesday I took a half day off so I could finally see my GI, and she is very nice. Didn't dismiss my "oxalates" discovery out of hand, and wants to do the standard list of uncomfortable diagnostic tests. She was actually pleased that I already knew a lot of what she was talking about (other doctors have gotten annoyed with me about that in the past). So the first uncomfortable test is next Monday, before Thanksgiving, b/c I just want to get it over with.
As for oxalates, I cross referenced dates & sweet potatoes, which give me tummy aches, and found out that they're both high in oxalates. Apparently thats the stuff that gives ppl kidney stones. I found a comprehensive list comparing Very High-High-Medium-etc ox-noms (albeit on the internet, so grain of salt too), and the VH section also included almonds, unfermented soy, amaranth/quinoa, and a couple other things that also give me immediate tummy aches. Oxalate-intolerance isn't supposed to be a thing, but some speculate that it doesn't just bother the kidneys. It *may* get its crystals into cells all over the body, exacerbating any inflammatory illnesses.
In my case, almond butter doesn't *seem* to give me the same horrible IBS flareup that 'raw' almonds do, but if I have consistent tummy problems every week, and I eat almond butter most weekday mornings, maybe its something I should try avoiding for a bit. The less awful thing here is that *if* my gut every properly heals up (assuming that's the problem, the ox's may have been not letting it heal) I can go back to eating it again. Unlike gluten, which will hate me forever.
And its hardly a scientific study, but I also found several anecdotal accounts of "Tried paleo. Replaced wheat baking with sweet potatos, dates, and almonds. Kept getting worse stomach probs and couldn't figure out why." So I feel less bad for breaking with that. And oxalates are a thing that build up in one's system over time, so its continuing to make sense. After the problems with quinoa I figured I had a fiber problem with veggies, but this gives me a new direction to follow. Maybe. Stupid Paleo. If I'm lucky, I just have to avoid the Very High category for a while, but the lower categories are all full of veggies I'd like to get back to (tasty/cheap).
After the GI I had a therapy session scheduled, but I had a big block of time and there was an urgent-care facility between the offices, so I got my skin problem checked out. Weird rash, but only on my thighs and arms, with a bit on my trunk and calves. I could breathe fine, and didn't have a fever. Actually the rash didn't look that bad but was sho itchy I had to slather myself in goldbond every night before bed and morning before work. So not pleasant. To be honest it looked kinda like acne, but my face looked normal. And ironically the google search didn't really show up anything that looked like it. When I got home from the wedding I checked my bed area for bedbugs and found nothing. So the discomfort wasn't even as uncomfortable as not knowing why this was happening to me, with all the product label-checking I do. Ugh.
The UC doc took a good look and told me it was a viral rash, which I didn't realize was a thing without it being chickenpox-level-bad, so he gave me a week of steroids. And warned me that it could last weeks even with Rx, but after starting the pills Wednesday night I didn't need the goldbond on Thursday night, and Friday the red spots were no longer bumpy. There are a few marks from all the itching, but as of Saturday it seemed to all be gone, yay. My one concern now is that if this is/was viral, and I was just at a *wedding*, I REALLY hope it wasn't contagious :-/ But at least it was short lived. And it wasn't bedbugs, phew.
Thursday I still felt skin-yuck, but teh Pooka managed to get me out of the house for the evening with another new friend. Leading to a WTF? moment at Bareburger on Laguardia, where there was a string of mixups about whether or not my *salad* was actually gf. And the confusion started *after* I'd eaten some of if. In the end, they comped my certified GF salad b/c of all of the freaking-me-out that happened. Not as bad as the dead-grasshopper-salad incident, but still, wth Bareburger? And then we went to a nice cafe in the East Village, where the server was very kind about all my food issues. Ironically, feeding me gets *more* complicated in a vegan place b/c of my issues with dates, soy, and gluten. But overall a nice evening out :-)
This weekend started out OK, but kindof sputtered out. The plan was to do normal chores, plus laundry, plus clean the bathroom. B/c I'm tired of the bathroom not being clean. Maybe make a necklace for the "Saturn Return" pendant I got from Wyrding Studios too. I managed to do all the important lunch-cooking on Saturday, plus some experimenting that didn't turn out to well (oh chicken hearts, at least you were only a $4 mistake, next time livers). And I got my necklace made, but it honestly felt just as much of a chore as anything else that day. So will be putting all my jewelry supplies away again (taken out for this and my friends' wedding presents) without remorse.
Tho I didn't get around to that on Sunday, b/c ALL THE BRAINFOGS hit me full force. I did play with making meringue cookies (but the humidity made them stick on the outside, although I finally got the inside texture perfect), and then tried to turn the yolks into mayo, failed and turned the resulting nice looking custard into a kind of yellow cake. But in the process a lot of custard ended up on the counter and kitchen floor, so some spazzy cleaning had to happen.
Otherwise, it was a lot of staring into space and/or at the internet if it was in the direction of my staring. Remembered to do my outfits for the week just to see if I could get away with skipping laundry, I was so tired. No cleaning aside from the dishes and the extra egg mess I'd made in the kitchen. Ugh. I did remember to watch last week's new Lost Girl episode (in part to cushion the oncoming Doctor Who fail next week). And then slept really badly all night, b/c if I'm in zombie mode all day, of course I won't actually be properly sleepy in bed. *headdesk*
So today I'm still in zombie mode, but with a shiny new necklace at least. And somehow I made it to therapy on time which is not normal. Does not compute. I think the prednisone I was RX'ed is making me feel weird, but I want to finish out the bottle (Wednesday morning) to make sure the skin problem doesn't come back.
Its weird how I feel like I've come off a really rough week of something, and I really haven't. Its not even been a difficult Monday. Meh.
Realized I should start picking up Xmas gifts for teh fam while I'm having a fiscally responsible month with an extra payday. So that should be fun once I waketheFup. Tho it may be mostly gift certificates, b/c low spoons. If that changes right before Xmas I'ma feel like a jerk tho. Just trying to finish that necklace for *me* was a huge chore, I don't even want to think about making shinies for other ppl these days. Tho maybe that's the Rx talking again?
Also considering a BPAL order, but not a gigantic one. Maybe for Turkey Weekend. At first I thought it was stupidly crazy to type up my full collection into a .doc file, but it's actually been pretty useful for the last week. "That sounds nice, but do I have something similar already? Was that a note I didn't like?" Helped me whittle a list down to two items instead of six. Yaaaaay. I will take any excuse to feel clever these days.
Overall I think I've become steadily less stuff-oriented this year. Between being two tired to shop (and too tired to craft), the easy joy of not overspending my extras-budget, and the regular realization that I can go three weeks without doing laundry, its getting OK.
And focusing my crazy-collector habits to something small and compact has been good in some ways. Even tho my BPAL collection is expanding, it still only takes up a few not-huge boxes that stack on my dresser. Not so much with fabric, craft supplies, framed posters, lightsabers, books, big bulky costumes, etc. Also realized I could probably hook up my harddrive full of movies to my blu-ray player, instead of bothering with the flash drives. Yaaaay. Well, aside from just borrowing stuff from my neighbor, but I've been forgetting to do that lately.
And with the oncoming cold months (which sometimes keep me indoors more, sometimes wake me up, will see this year), thoughts are hovering over Autumn Cleaning and my Discardia bin. B/c by winter break it will have been there in that state for a whole year, and I want that 2x3 ft patch of space back pls (my apartment is tiny, this is a bigger deal than you'd think). And I want the laundry basket back. Dumb brain fog & fatigue slowin me down :-P
The Strand wasn't really that worth it after the first few trips, so I may just hand most of the books off to my parents over the Turkey holiday to give to a regular charity shop. Cuz they have a minivan for that sort of thing. That's also why I typically give them all my give-away clothes, its just easier, and they get the tax write off in exchange for helping me out.
I still wonder if I would be in a better financial place now if I'd tried reselling items (Ebay, Craigslist, etc) instead of just giving them away. But then, look at how unsteallar my Etsy business turned out (as far as sales go at least). I would just have had a big box of stuff to throw out when I left Astoria anyway, after months of making listings and entering data and taking photos and lugging stuff to the post office. Also, while I was doing better with $$ by the end of my Astorian occupation, I still ended up back in credit card debt after buying the RP place and then taking lots of improv classes. I don't think it would have made much difference, it would have just made me hate Ebay.
Clothing swaps just don't work out for me. At the last one, a woman that was half my size kept grabbing the plus-sized items out of my hands to throw to a friend of hers. I went home with a bunch of ugly things that smelled like mothballs (which ended up back in a charity shop after), after having to lug my gear to upper Manhattan. And trying to organize one at my house? Just no thanx. I used to really want the clothes that I'd enjoyed over the years to continue being enjoyed by ppl I knew, but sizing was always an issue, and eventually you realize its just junk.
It really helped to put the non-fitting clothes in a hidden area for a few months, and then when going through it again you realize you've lost your emotional ties to it. On the upside, the last time that happened (purged in July, the parents dropped by to take it after DCon, ugh clutter) I found a few shirts I didn't like before, b/c back then I hadn't realized "Wait, its not that the shirt makes me look fat, its that I *am* fat." So now I quite like them. Yay closet shopping.
Every time I notice I can get away with going 3 weeks without doing my laundry, I realize I don't need any more normal-day clothes either. Will still ask Santa for some gc's this year, but now I'm more likely to 'freshen up' my wardrobe with two new things instead of 10. Tho in that case, it also helps that my weight has normalized so I don't have to do any more wardrobe overhauls. Ugh. Another reason I have no interest in weight loss right now.
I did manage to purge some old but pretty jewelry displays to give away (they just don't fit my style anymore), will photograph them for ppl to look at ... eventually. And I still have boxes of books and equipment to ship to friends who called dibs in *March*, so I really need to haul my butt to the post office. Ugh. My mail-scale still isn't working right, so maybe they'll be OK if I send them an invoice for s/h instead of checking with them first :-P
Last week I had new inklings for a puppet/video/youtube project but ... ugh. I really don't want new projects. I wanna finish the old projects. So am keeping this under my hat for now, tho I'll happily take notes in case I ever have that much energy again.
This week's tarot is very OMG BOOM DRAMA CHANGE OMG!
BIG change, great hope of renewal afterward, but its probly gonna hurt somewhere. But I've been looking to shrug off my current lifestyle for a while now, so not bad news. Would probably be stranger if it didn't hurt, so I should just relax and get it over with.
Despite tarot forecast, I kinda just want to take it easy now. Tho that could still be the short-term Rx talking. I have my GI diagnostic next week, for which I'll have to spend the weekend in preparation (ugh), and then Turkey Day after that, and probably not much happening that weekend either. So there's still a part of my brain that's going 'OMG HAVE ALL THE FUN AND CREATIVE STUFF OR ELSE' but really... I just want to chill. I won't *know* anything new about my tummy until December anyway, so not interested in doing more dietary research.
I was hoping November would be a lot more productive in terms of projects and socializing after WeddingCon, but I couldn't help being sick, and now I want to get this medical stuff over with, so its being productive in its own way. I'm trying a controlled, temporary measure of "F#$% it, I give up" for a couple weeks until then. If I socialize or write stuff, awesome, if not then whatevs.
Unfortunately, I'm also starting to rethink my '2014 MOAR CONS' plan, but again that could be from not feeling well *today*. I've got Arisia set up, so not bailing on that, but WeddingCon and DragonCon both took their toll on me (not to mention, costumes). And travel is more complicated with my dietary issues. So will see how it goes.
On the upside, if I decide to just do DCon from now on, I can put the extra "Other Cons" savings into useful things. Like, IRA useful, not BPAL useful. Sadly, going on a proper vacation-to-somewhere is just as complicated as going to con, and without the benefit of finding friends to go with and meeting new geeks when I get there.
Now that I think of it, taking a couple of weeks off from actively trying to restart my life may be the change I actually need. Then I can start fixing things again if I feel better after that. But then if it takes me *this* long to recover from a trip to PA, maybe more cons isn't such a great idea afterall.
<3 Chrysilla
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, http://chrysilla.dreamwidth.org/