Joys & Sorrows 2023

[jesse_the_k]

Instead of stressing over making a perfect essay, I’ve numbered this summary so it’s easier for you to ask for elaboration.

Joys 2023

1. MyGuy and Bella are healthy
2. I was able to be useful in a crisis (sasha_feathers’s seizure)
3. My great therapist left my HMO and was willing to continue to work with me, now WEEKLY! Together we’ve identified many false beliefs I’ve been lugging around for 60+ years. I finally understand that I’m not broken nor inherently unlovable. My parents were ill-equipped to handle a kid like me.
4. My wonderful doc prescribed twice-daily Serevent (aka salmeterol) and my highly reactive airways haven’t been this happy in decades. I’ve only had to use my rescue inhaler five or six times since the fall.
5. MyGuy got me a variable- temperature teapot and it’s wonderful. Making tea at 160°, 185°, or 212° no longer requires I dink around with ice cubes or pouring it between vessels.

Sorrows 2023

1. I’ve been riding the bus here for 50 years, and I knew my city well. I’m a transit geek — for a decade I served on the city’s Transit Board. This year’s bus system redesign, while necessary, has totally crumbled my mental model. I don’t know if I have the cognitive skill to recreate it.
2. My wonderful primary care doctor, who I’ve been seeing since 1990, retires next week.
3. Reading fiction is hard, often so hard I have to give up.
4. Even through my insistent news wall, just a handful of stray facts from the Israel/Palestine war break my heart

Comments

[celli]

I'm glad for the good things, but the sorrows are a lot. Sending love!

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks <3

[j00j]

I'm glad for the good things-- those are some heavy and all too common false beliefs to finally shed-- that's amazing.
I'm sorry for the sorrows. Hoping some things become easier and that you get a good new primary care provider-- I haven't had the same one for more than a couple of years since childhood; someone who knows you that well is hard to lose.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks! Sending warm breezes your way

[wendelah1]

♥ I am having a hard time writing comments right now but I wanted you to know I'm still reading.

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks for letting me know ... you've got a ton on your plate right now.

[bibliofile]

Those good things are pretty good!

<3

[jesse_the_k]

Indeed! On the whole, I think I'll stick around for 2024.

[sonia]

\o/ not broken! inherently lovable! All the good things are YAY!

And the hard things sound really hard. Here's hoping for a pathway to a new mental model for your bus system, and a pathway to another good doctor. I still miss the doctor I had in Portland, and I (only) had her for 5 or 6 years.

Thanks

[jesse_the_k]

On the doctoring front, the chances are excellent that whoever I find will have learned that doctors don't have all the answers.

[motorharp]

I sympathize with losing a primary care doctor. I hope your search is short and easy.

Thanks

[jesse_the_k]

that sounds like the best possible search!

[isis]

I wish you many more good things and fewer sorrows in 2024!

[jesse_the_k]

You've already given me a joy boost to begin with, thank you very much.

[luzula]

Late comment, but hey, thanks for the update on what going on in your life! <3

GIP

[jesse_the_k]

I'm always happy to hear from you.