I haven’t posted here in over a week. Life has been a little weird during that time — mostly not bad and all far from terrible, but not conducive to simultaneously keeping up with this blog and my obligations to writing clients. A lot has been going on. I’m adjusting to having Pet so close; she is living here at Avocasa while she gets on her feet. It has been a rewarding experience and I am happy to have her so close, and not have to go weeks without physical contact but there have been the minor adjustments and slight friction that I expected in this situation. We continue to communicate well and are learning live so close to each other while having a lot of fun together.
All of my polyfam are working at the same technical support call center job, and I’ve been doing what I can to support them in their stresses at that job. Unfortunately far too many of these positions live up to their reputation as geek sweat shops, and in this job market they know they have their workers by the short hairs.
My cat, known here as the frumious bandersnatch, has also been a source of stress. She has a growth in her mammary gland which appears non-cancerous but still needs removal. Unfortunately I can’t afford to do so immediately, because the antibiotic they were giving her to reduce the fluid around the lump made her vomit so much that she required an expensive hospitalization. Apropos of nothing, fans of this blog occasionally wonder how to show their appreciation; for the curious, there are a number of options available at the Support Kit! link at the top of every page.
As a result of some stresses and the whims of my illness, I have been in a fair amount of pain recently without as much energy for writing as I would like. It has been hard to focus; on the days when I am not in very much pain my mind suffered from the infamous ‘fibro fog.’ So my thoughts drift through random things, which sometimes leads to fertile brainstorming at least. One topic on my mind a lot lately is fermentation, and the relationship it has with humanity.
This thinking is largely inspired by a gift of a kombucha mother culture (a.k.a. SCOBY) I got from Grace, who made a special drive from San Marcos to bring it to me. The first batch finished recently and is delicious, and I am already experimenting with two more batches (reusing the original mother and the new child the first batch produced). Though I am dubious about the Amazing Healing Properties ™ ascribed to this stuff by my hippie friends, I do feel that drinking it gives me a little boost when I need it and can clear up some of the mental and fatigue effects of my fibromyalgia. It’s a lot of fun to make it, like raising alien jellyfish jar babies in my kitchen.
I’ve kept reading and consuming media too, despite not writing as much. Recently I finished Speed, Ecstasy, Ritalin: The Science of Amphetamines by Leslie Iversen. It was an enjoyable and very readable account of the history, pharmacology, and effects of this family of drugs, including the effect they have on society. The author takes a balanced view of the field, and overall avoids the FUD so prevalent around this topic. I was not able to follow every single bit of the neurochemistry but if, like me, you’ve spent many happy hours wandering around Erowid‘s drug vaults then you should get the gist of most of it.
Pet and I have kept up with the new seasons of Breaking Bad and Weeds. We’re also catching up on all the awesome Jon Benjamin shows that have been on the air lately including the newest season of Archer, Bob’s Burgers, and Jon Benjamin Has a Van. The ensemble casts on both of the animated shows continue to impress and Benjamin remains one of my favorite performers, one I have followed since he was on Dr Katz and Home Movies.
I’m looking forward to Grace’s impending move to Austin and for all the bumps in the road, the future looks bright. More writing about Burning Man, polyamory and the usual kinky stuff will follow this post in the near future.
