The Monkey And The Plywood Violin

Sun, 04 Feb 2018 18:46:51 GMT

Why are all my tender spots in the "wrong" places, a fibromyalgia question.

(Winter is terrible! I will probably be back here eventually, though.)

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A positive thing, for once

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 21:49:58 GMT

I am not working today, I have a coffee and a plate full of oven-pancake, and the Spoon Fairy allotted me a few extra today. Also, ( cut for potential weather-bragging )

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I maaaay have done precisely this a couple of weeks ago

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 20:01:10 GMT

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It's been a while

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 01:08:15 GMT

Which is one part my usual problem with social media: I don't filter well or gracefully, and I have learned to err on the side of silence. The other part is that I've been having a fuck of a time, fibro-wise, but so it goes. Today I Did Things despite the things my body had to say.

It is a great and good thing to have one's books neatly upon the shelf again. And a balm to an ex-library worker's heart for them to be be sorted by subject and roughly alphabetized.

It does occur to me that, in this age of ebooks, it's no longer possible to go judge people by the contents of their bookcases - even me. Before this move I converted roughly half my books to digital copies (the ones I won't miss if I screw up and delete them).

It feels odd.

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Today's surprise

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 05:02:57 GMT

Is that it's giant-house-spiders-come-indoors season now. I can safely say that is more arachnid than I am used to seeing outside of an aquarium. While I'm not actually afraid of most creepy crawlies, it did give me something of a moment.

Hang out under the bed, spider. Eat all the bugs, but please don't socialize. You're very fast and look hard to escort outside.

In other news, I'm still more productive than I was in Wisconsin, but it has been a Week in the chronic illness department. I will be very happy when it stops being randomly hot.

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Victory of the day

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 00:36:53 GMT

Today, three and a half months after I got here, I was finally able to talk a short walk around the neighborhood. It's still really pretty here, but I wish to protest that 85 degrees is too hot by far.

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On pizza

Sun, 20 Aug 2017 01:26:10 GMT

It's been a rocky few days in the Spoon Department, but I did manage to get the bed raised up. Just have been too sick to actually do any of the unpacking that needs to follow that.

In semi-related news, I have ordered a pizza today. I am not a person who believes in the One True Pizza or anything, but I can safely say that Seattle pizza falls short of exciting. Not unpleasant by any means, and reasonably tasty, but I'd be just as happy with frozen or chain-restaurant fare.

Perhaps this winter I will be able to experiment with homemade pizzas again. Or just eat a lot of Vietnamese food.

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Bought myself a Halloween present today

Sun, 06 Aug 2017 02:09:30 GMT

By which I mean I backed the Kickstarter for Ursula Vernon's Summer in Orcus (a thing I read half of when it was updating in serial format and then wandered off cause everything was on fire). It is supposed to arrive in October or so, which will be pleasant. By then the Grey Time will be coming upon us and I may need pleasant reading.

I am also enjoying a lower-pain evening - sitting up in my desk chair (still at a makeshift tv-tray desk), messing about with the apartment and everything! We are still in for another week of doom-heat, but not quite so bad, and hopefully things will eventually stop being on fire. For the moment, things don't suck and my brain isn't even trying to convince me that they do.

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Modes other than shouting at the sky

Sun, 23 Jul 2017 07:21:48 GMT

Okay, so I can convince myself to write here, I guess. Now, can I convince myself to do more than just narrate my day, complain about what my body is doing to me, and gripe about things?

Well, today had some good bits, at least. One of the things that is pretty great about this apartment is the fact that there are feral blackberries all along the alley and the property edge next to the building. A lot of that is sloped or otherwise uneven, but there are some bits where I can walk without my ankle potentially doing terrible things. So I went out and was exposed to actual sunlight for a while (after which I fell over, because bright sun makes me very tired). While I was out there, I picked these: ( Is it still understood that a polite journaller puts pics under a cut, or is that now passe? )

Which I taught L to make a crisp/crumble with later on. (No corn starch makes them a bit damp, but otherwise, easiest possible dessert.)

Otherwise, today has been pretty lazy, and I am practicing not beating myself up about it. (I have also read enough UK text lately that I've lost the ability to spell practi(c/s)ing.)

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Two good days is all you get

Fri, 21 Jul 2017 02:10:15 GMT

Cause yesterday was... not awful, because I have new standards for awful, but not good. Today is also not fantastic in the pain and mood departments, but the function level is up! I've laundried, bulk cooked, done some work, etc. So that is nice at least.

Took a "what state should you live in?" meme-test. It believes that I should live in Maine, but sort of skipped those important questions like "do you need to live somewhere that the neighbors aren't hostile to you and yours?"

(I don't actually expect it to do so, but I was nevertheless reminded of when my more normative/passing friends talk about living in NC/Arizona/rural anywhere "because it's affordable.") I'd love to, miss the woods something fierce. Let me know when the politics clear up.

In other location-related news: getting things out of the closet in Seattle has about a 300% spiders increase over Milwaukee. Thankfully, I am not bothered by such (wolf spiders, mostly, though we have a variety!) Also I escorted a slug out of the bathroom today. I have no idea how he got in there.

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Wed, 19 Jul 2017 07:25:45 GMT

Well, Internet, that's two actually pretty good days in a row. Still pretty tired-tastic and mildly sore, but it has kept to that and I have been able to both work and do other things. It's a miracle.

Today was my own work, which was pleasant and of course led to the freelancer's cry of "I will never have work again!" (I am in fact waiting for an approval mid-commission.) Hopefully I'll be back to paying work again tomorrow, but if not, I wouldn't mind starting color on that mermaid drawing.

Things are difficult, but they are not terrible. (Something I often have trouble wrapping my brain around.)
To bed with me, and perhaps tomorrow I will be more interesting!

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Tue, 18 Jul 2017 02:20:13 GMT

So, today I actually got my painting work done and it didn't take till it was time to go to bed. I should be doing other work in this time, but the relief of not having to keep slogging is enormous. We will see if I can bribe the executive function monster to let me do more than absolutely required.

In body news, I am not feeling horrible today! I hope that this decides to become a trend, because I have things to do. There's a winter coat to take apart for patterns, a murphy desk to build, bed risers to build, things to unpack, a desktop to set up, etc. This thing where I can only do like 1/3 of what I used to be able to is really getting in the way.

And sewing. Wow I really miss sewing.

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Unexpected spoon shortage

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 04:20:25 GMT

So, the number of things I did today? That was actually too many things. Sadly, it was just getting up at 7:30, letting the plumber in, walking through a grocery store, briefly being in a Barnes & Noble, eating at a restaurant, taking Mere to the beach, and driving back. But I'm kinda wrecked and I'm definitely not getting any work done today.

In good news, we should no longer have a sump pump spraying water under our apartment!

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Five Things, a Post

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 05:56:21 GMT

1. I am allowed to walk again and I got my cane in the mail. These things are pleasing.
2. It's been migraines and body aches all the way down for the past week.
3. M's interview went well and she's now officially doing backroom box hoisting at BigBoxStore, which is barely in city limits, so $15 minimum wage, hurrah.
4. I'm poking at some writing work again because it's faster, more quantifiable, and pays better than painting, though Time remains a factor cause I wanna do both.
5. Bonus square.

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Real post tomorrow

Sun, 09 Jul 2017 06:05:30 GMT

I was gonna say a thing, but you know what? Don't try to force through the melatonin, Self.

Anyhow, I got my package, I finished a commission about 3 days later than I wanted to, I've had a heck of a pain week. Learning experience: I can either do a full day of shopping/erranding OR I can come home and do a full day of painting. Not both, Internet, not both.

G'nite all.

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Fri, 30 Jun 2017 07:09:25 GMT

So today was set on challenge mode, apparently, but a lot got done. Not a lot of paying work, though.

I successfully called the pharmacy about my incredible disappearing meds refills, then took the car down the street to the used tire place. They were very nice and replaced my blown out one and its mate on the other front wheel for about half what I have tended to pay at the dealership. However, when time came to pay, it turned out their credit card machine was down.

So, M went down the street to the nearby ATM with my card, discovered that it was limited in the funds it would give, and had to walk home (a couple blocks) in the sun to get some cash. I now owe her a hundred bucks or so. She also managed to schedule a job interview for 6 am tomorrow, so hopefully that turns out.

Picked up meds at Walgreens, first dodging the plethora of cop cars with their lights on in the parking lot. Went to the grocery store and used one of their motorized carts. About halfway through, it ran out of batteries and I just barely managed to dock it before it stopped entirely. Finished groceries, M promptly developed a significant migraine. Made it home through the gauntlet of excitable children.

My own migraine and accompanying non-consensual nap kicked in around 7 or so. Given that L was already home with one of her own, we have been a very flat household today. But at least I have a working car again?

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The Plumber Never Comes

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 05:21:17 GMT

Oh, Internet, Internet...

(It occurs to me that years of article-writing has me capitalizing that automatically. Yet they tell me that the AP Stylebook and the NYT have abandoned it. Shall I have to re-train myself?)

Anyhow, this has been a Day. Turns out the guy who was in charge of scheduling the plumber, and who called me on Friday (we're about four person-who-calls-a-person deep now) told me wrong. I was up at 7:30 today, my god, my god, and no plumber appeared. He/she/they are due tomorrow instead.

I've got a print order to fill, and set up the big printer accordingly, at which point it informed me that it was dangerously low on ink. I promptly ignored this and it printed two very nice images, which are safely signed and packed away. What the printer did not wish to do, after the way of its kind, was print the very simple shipping label immediately afterward. I will be forced to buy new ink remotely and send M out to pick that up tomorrow.

Since my fight with Etsy and then the printer was futile, I had another round of angrily moving things. It turns out that I can find spots for a surprising amount of stuff if I'm just adequately pissed off at it. I've got access to my desk chair again and I've unpacked the tower; after this I'll just need to actually build/acquire a desk. Preferably one no more than 16 inches deep, which may be a challenge.

I wrote another $40ish worth of article, which hopefully was not in the Incan monkey god's simple but beautiful language, flatted Morpheus while watching B99 with my Wisconsin buddies, and was rewarded with the gift of Korean blackberry wine by M. My mood is oscillating wildly.

Poor L went through a bureaucratic mess today to get her car registration up to date and legal in WA, and was promptly pulled over by a cop 20 minutes later. May the little god of stupid coincidences still be with us tomorrow, when our heroes try to get the plumbing fixed, print a goddamned label, call back after a job interview and mail a package.

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Mon, 26 Jun 2017 05:52:27 GMT

Okayyy, so today was a challenge! 90 degree weather is no one's friend and I am currently real happy to live in a little hole in the ground. I actually did not feel as bad as I might have, though the roomies were both knocked pretty flat (they also get weather migraines, but they don't have meds for 'em).

I've just been a bit crazy and sort of wound, which isn't the best when you can't actually move around much. At one point I just went in a circle in the living room, before I scuttled back here cause it was too hot out there. This did, however, lead to productivity.

I managed to do a reasonably detailed sketch from scratch, including lots of reference gathering, and wrote a 325 word article that netted me $16. Got a real live standing-up shower, which did wipe me out but was possible. Moved a few boxes around for more floor space, took five whole steps without the walker, checked CL on M's behalf for jobs, tried to research fat-friendly PCPs and then gave up again, and did some impromptu career-planning with L. Now I am winding down, cause there's a plumber due at 8:30 am and that is not a time in which I am usually conscious.

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Paperwork will be the death of me

Fri, 16 Jun 2017 02:01:46 GMT

Late (a bit too late) last night I finished up my current big commission, and that client wasn't likely to pay the invoice for the next one till this evening. Thus, I had the day to do things that weren't painting-for-money.

I had hoped that I would get to do some sketching or speed drills (I don't want to do speed drills, but good god am I slow...). Unfortunately, today turns out to have been eaten up by admin work and attempting to wrangle social media. My god is social media exhausting, even though I barely post, post almost nothing but artwork, and barely interact. And now it looks like a lot of the people I wish to read are attempting a migration to Mastodon, which is just baffling as a service.

If you are wondering, dear reader, Dreamwidth doesn't really count. It's not quite social media as we've come to understand it, and the pace on my feed is very much slower. Also, the risk of accidentally getting picked up in a site search by hateful minions is much, much smaller.

I may still manage some sketching tonight if I can force productivity rather than mindless video games. And thus far today, I've:

- done all the appropriate repetitive steps to get old art into postable format
- reactivated my Etsy store and put up all the art from the past few months
- made (unfortunately ambiguous) post on Twitter announcing same
- made post on Tumblr, DA, etc announcing same (different formatting concerns!)
- reformatted most recent commission and sent print file to client
- invoiced said commission plus deposit for next one
- performed job opportunity search for girlfriends
- collated said opportunities into emails
- stared at Mastodon, willing it to make sense

Which all feels like it ought to have taken like, an hour or two. But lo, it was more like five or six.

Also today: Meredy made me really good fried potatoes, it has rained in a really pleasant-sounding way all day, and my extremities are attacking.

Considering renaming this account and going pseudonymous again, since it's about 10-15 years too late to be an effective place to show off art.

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This weekend, I accomplished none of my goals

Mon, 12 Jun 2017 04:42:47 GMT

Instead I played video games for a period of time in excess of 16 hours. After which I got very angry at my room for still being a mess, my furniture for being in the way of unpacking, and my body for being broken in so many ways. And now my bed is on the other side of the room where it should be and I can start trying to figure out where things go.

Success?

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4 disappointments and a joy

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 04:41:32 GMT

I am somewhat less sick today, though it was a near thing earlier.

1. I made it to the orthopedic surgeon for a check up. My bones are all in the right place but still broken, apparently. I am to continue to stay off the ankle for another week, then switch to the walker or crutches and put gradually more weight on it. This is frustrating, but there are worse things. I miss walking!

2. I slept badly last night, with a round of our fun fibro-related friend, mandatory anxiety attacks. No matter what you might want to think about, you will come up with the worst possible scenario and spend the night sweating and full of doom-thoughts. This did not make the wake-up for the doctor my very favorite.

3. Upon returning to my den post-doctor, I endeavored a nap. Apparently this is a mistake, 'cause I woke up with a crushing migraine and a buncha fibro stuff. That cleared up around 5 or so, and I got a tolerable 4ish hours work in today.

4. I am out of chocolate muffins. Boo. I shall need to convince M to do some shopping for me soon, or else bite the bullet and order grocery delivery.

-----

1. My head does -not- hurt much anymore and I should be allowed to actually walk in some form in about another month. Work went ok after I could see straight. Tonight seems like it'll be all right!

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Thu, 08 Jun 2017 18:41:26 GMT

Generalized pain level is pretty damned high today, so I write this in lieu of a real post.

Ow.

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Too late

Wed, 07 Jun 2017 18:18:09 GMT

Well, I definitely missed posting yesterday. Also failed at doing any unicorn drawing, since I started losing my oomph around 7 pm and then a migraine hit. Didn't remember that either existed till about midnight or so.

In actual accomplishments: another job app in for Mere, flats done on my current commission plus some flailing at a background, and two whole posts to Instagram without choking. My family has turned up on there, which is a matter of some consternation. Thankfully it's a feed I already self-censor on pretty heavily. Just a reminder to keep some pseudonymous accounts, I guess! (I wonder from time to time if I ought to pseudonym this one again, but I think that might only be a matter for concern if regular posting continues.

As I've become a more chronically ouchy person, weather has become a greater concern for me, and that's part of why I've run away from the midwest. Nevertheless, today's high is 20 degrees more than tomorrow's. I am not yet feeling it in the head regions, but fibro wants me to know it is here. Also, it possibly wants me to sleep for a week. I am going to try not to let it, cause there is work to be done!

Today, hopefully: One or more unicorn busts, lights and shadows in on Mithras, a round of work-at-home job research. Who knows if I'll succeed?!

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Run, rabbit, run

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 04:29:39 GMT

I am always and eternally playing catchup. But I've decided to participate in Junicorn-type things when I am not wiped out with commission work or health stuff. There are a few sketches in progress, but today I've just finished the one:

Unicorn via Instagram

Edit: first picture iteration failed; I've had to link to more modern social media for now.

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Later than expected

Mon, 05 Jun 2017 06:11:40 GMT

I actually tried to write this earlier, but was stymied by weird difficulties in logging in AND the inability to change the password on the off chance I forgot it. Thus, you're going to get a less-wordy me this evening.

Highlights of the day: spending almost all of it playing Don't Starve: Shipwrecked. I have made it into year 2 for once.

Low points: Ankle, please do not engage in that sensation. It is helping no one.

Accomplishments: Presuming my video game mightiness doesn't count, I did manage to help Meredy get a resume revised and another job application in.

Unrelated: My Y key keeps sticking...

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