by Allegra
Brace Yourself
by Laura and Allegra, June 8, 2016 11:15 am
We've had a wrist brace on our left (dominant) hand for several days. History of tendinitis in both wrists, actually. This time exacerbated by:
- Lifting heavy bags of lawn clippings from the house (where the landscaper leaves them) to the curb. Our landlord has dementia and has moved in with his daughter, so there is no one else in the house.
- Lifting 12-packs of Snapple, which we always buy at least two of when they go on sale
- History of carrying a too-heavy messenger bag on our commute to work (bag contains a bottle of the aforementioned Snapple, which would cost us $2.00 each in NYC as opposed to the 86c each or so when we get cases on sale).
Muscles in our left arm, left side of back, and left shoulder are strained. Dug out the rolling briefcase that we bought before having unrelated surgery in 2008. The rolling briefcase and the brace help; we'll see how we're doing by late Sunday. If we need another week with them, we'll do so.
Spending $2.00/day to buy our Snapple is not an option. Forgoing Snapple altogether is also not an option.
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Brace Yourself, Part Deux
by Laura, June 10, 2016 11:17 am
Stayed home from work yesterday. Rolling briefcase requires use of muscles that normally don't get used so much. We were pooped. Not sure if we'll need to use the roller next week; depends on how we feel Sunday evening.
This week we moved the bag of lawn clippings to the curb by literally kicking it there. Random dude walked by and didn't bat an eyelash. We would have refused help as a matter of principle.
TGIF.
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Salute of the Day, 6/14/16
by Laura, June 14, 2016 5:52 pm
I'm starting this thread as "The Two-Finger Salute of the Day," a place where folks can give virtual middle-finger salutes to whoever is p*ssing them off. (No disparaging other community members, please.)
Today I have three salute recipients. First is the US Postal Service, for insisting that all callers to their toll-free customer service must give their name and zip code, even if asking a general question where their identity has no bearing in the matter. You get extra middle fingers for stating that it's company policy, for refusing to transfer me to a supervisor, and for hanging up on me. F*ck you, b*tch.
Next recipient is our local branch of the Better Business Bureau, for hanging up on me when I said that I wanted guidance on filing a complaint. You too get extra fingers, for hanging up on me again when I called back. So I submitted a complaint to the central BBB about the local branch. F*ck you too.
My final recipient for the day is our health-insurance provider, who processed a claim incorrectly not once, but twice. You get extra middle fingers for taking nine months to resolve the matter, and for the fact that our doctor now owes us a credit of over $200.00. F*ck the entire U.S. healthcare system.
Next? >:-(
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Brace Yourself, Part 3
by Laura and Allegra
Tue Jun 14, 2016 6:35 pm
Arm is feeling some better, and our psychiatrist said it was okay if we took Aleve even though we're on Prozac and BuSpar. We'd thought that we couldn't. Pharmacist confirmed what our psychiatrist said, so we bought CVS naproxen. Haven't taken it yet; it's supposed to be taken with food, so we'll take it at dinnertime.
We really want to be back to our brand of "normal" by the end of the week. But even our small backpack feels heavy, so our regular briefcase/messenger bag probably still does too. Hoping the naproxen will relieve the soreness and whatever else is wrong with the muscles, tendons, etc.
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Salute of the Day, 6/19/16
by Laua and Allegra, June 19, 2016 8:23 pm
[To an online friend whose bank lost $400.00 from his checking account.]
[Laura:] Sorry you're going through this.
Several years ago, Yahoo! had a bill-pay service, which we used for quite some time. About nine years ago, we tried to make a $400.00 payment to our MasterCard account, and Y! debited our checking account $40,000.00. That's Forty. Thousand. Dollars. :-O
It took us over two months to unfreeze our checking account and get resolution from the yahoos at Yahoo!. And at about that time, their bill-pay service mysteriously shut down for good. >:-)
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[Allegra:] On a better note, a woman from the Manhattan BBB called us back. She said that the local office (where the person who hung up on us twice) is a satellite location of the Manhattan BBB, and the local office's phone number forwards to the Manhattan office. So the woman who hung up on us twice was actually located there. We gave her as much of a description of Hangup Woman as we possibly could, so that she could investigate.
She also recommended that she's had better results contacting the Postal Service via their website contact form rather than by phoning Customer Service. We thanked her for the tip.
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Sense of Self
by Charity, June 19, 2016 8:53 pm
[To an online friend who said that he didn't have a consistent sense of self over time.]
I don't have much of a sense of self, either. I used to think I knew who I was, but now I know that much of who I thought I was was actually a combination of (1) passive influence from other insiders and (2) my naive beliefs about myself, the world, our system, life....everything.
And I was totally disconnected from a lifetime of trauma until a couple of years ago, when I tried to unburden the others in our system from any trauma that I'd dumped on them. Reclaiming the trauma worked all too well, and the pain has been unbearable. :-(
I don't want to distract from or minimize what you're going through. I just want you to know that I can relate to it, and that I hope that you find healing and peace.
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On Being Validated
by Charity, June 20, 2016 11:08 am
[On depressed insiders who won't talk.]
I'm not silent, but I've been chronically depressed for quite some time. Because of my place in the system and its history, I feel that the others with me have higher expectations of me than they do for others inside. It doesn't matter whether this is true; what matters is that it feels that way to me.
We talk. They listen. Most of them validate my feelings and my right to my point of view, but their efforts to help me through the feelings and to heal usually feel like they're trying to "fix" me. I don't want to be fixed. I only want to be heard and validated, without feeling like I'm not good enough the way I am, or that I have to heal quickly enough to suit other people.
Just my thoughts. I hope that you all find peace.
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