jesse_the_k: text: Be kinder than need be: everyone is fighting some kind of battle (Default)

Comment below and I'll ask you five questions. Drop me a link to your answers in your own journal. Offer to give the first five commenters their own sets of questions, and let the cycle continue!

Thanks for these great questions, [personal profile] boxofdelights

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of "best friends". Do you have a best friend? Did you, as a child? What do you think about the concept?

Read more... )

Tell me about one of your best memories of WisCon.

Read more... )

Do you play games? If so, what is a game that you like?

Read more... )

Tell me about your first dog.

Read more... )

When you are stressed, how do you like to make yourself comfortable again?

Read more... )

Back to the pool

Tuesday, May 4th, 2021 06:32 pm
jesse_the_k: Me backstroking in Flannery Lake Northern Wisconsin (JK 63 backstroke)

It’s been fifty-nine weeks and a day since I last swam. My pool has created elaborate routines to minimize infection: one-person per lane in 45 minutes blocks; entry at staggered 10-minutes intervals to minimize shared time in locker room. The pool is part of a cardiac rehab clinic, so they've been open to patients but not exercisers.

It’s delicious to be in the water, and I do remember my routines and my strokes.

Last March I’d achieved a 27-minute swim thrice weekly. I’m too impatient to limit myself as much as I should. I did 16 minutes today and then spent four hours just staring straight ahead. More, again on Thursday and Sunday!

How has your body program changed? Any recent signs of improving access?

jesse_the_k: unicorn line drawing captioned "If by different you mean awesome" (different = awesome)

Take A Walk

on spotify

apple podcasts

on YouTube, with colorful abstract motion graphics

This lovely 32-minute audio offers walking talk from a wide range of people and places. There’s a parent walking with her just-learning-to-talk-toddler. Disabled walkers include a guide-dog handler and a wheelchair user. An astronaut talks space walk, an adventurer walks up Kilimanjaro, and a drum majors twirls his way forward. It showed up as the latest 99% Invisible https://99pi.org episode this week, but it’s part of the Fall 2020 issue of Pop-Up Magazine.

https://www.popupmagazine.com/watch/

This issue combines film, sound, photography and music. I loved all of it; some of it’s mind-blowing.

[Closer Captions]

Deaf artist Christine Kim Sun focuses on sound in her work. Here she writes a poem about one day, creating the kinds of captions she’d like to see instead of boring tags like [music]. There’s only ambient sound in this, since Christine presents in ASL with open captions.

direct link
embedded 8-minute video )

Check out her other stuff at https://christinesunkim.com/works/

BBC sound effects archives.

Sixteen thousands sound effects in WAV files available for personal, educational or research purposes. I’ve missed the homely mechanical sound of a little hammer bashing a copper bell. Here are 115 loops associated with telephones-- dialing, rings, answer machine tones at https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=telephones

jesse_the_k: White woman riding black Quantum 4400 powerchair off the right edge, chased by the word "powertool" (JK 56 powertool)

One of the good things that happens every week is a pal (massively offline) and I go for 20 - 40 minute excursions: she walks and I use my powerchair. Walking together supports a casual and low-key conversation.

But that's not possible now: neither the sidewalks nor even the bike path that's near my door are wide enough for us to maintain true 6ft/2m separation.

She's just invented: parallel-separated-walk-and-talk PSWAT pronounced "peeswat."

We have a phone date this evening: she's riding her indoor bike and I'm walking my treadmill.

I'll let you know how it goes.

jesse_the_k: Professorial human suit but with head of Golden Retriever, labeled "Woof" (doctor dog to you)

Weight lifts, breaths, hide-and-go-seek, hand washing: I have many opportunities to count during the day. When I count with digits, I get lost because I forget whether I’m counting down or counting up.

While exercising in the pool the word "chlorinate" came to mind, and I noticed that all ten letters were unique. I realized I could count to ten by spelling out the word. I don’t get lost, because words have a fixed direction. If I forget what the next letter is, I can picture the complete word to remind me.

Thanks to the internet, there are lists of words grouped by length and by letter frequency repetition. There are hundreds of ten-letter words at that link, but many are technical terms I’ve never seen before and wouldn’t remember.

Hence: 75 unique ten-letter counting words, clumped in intuitive bunches.

count off! )

Energy shortage

Sunday, January 13th, 2019 06:55 pm
jesse_the_k: text "my God being a physical being is such total baloney" in typewriter font on crumpled paper (physicality stinks)

I got a virus towards the end of the year and started coughing & sneezing uncontrollably on 25 December. My voice is finally back--being unable to sing for three weeks was remarkably disconcerting. I have been able to swim twice. I don't know if it's the humidity, or that I always puff up on my albuterol sulfate before I jump in, but there's nothing like being eight feet under to improve my breathing.

This moaning is just to let you know I'm way behind on all the juicy new content here on DW.

As you are!

jesse_the_k: My black mutt totally blissed out, on her back, paws folded (BELLA on back)
downward facing dog and human )

include some stretching. Bella likes to supervise. In the photo, I'm on my yoga mat in downward facing dog, and Bella echoes my posture. Whenever I pull out the mat, she always comes over and stretches like this. Made setting up this photo much easier!
jesse_the_k: Flannery Lake is a mirror reflecting reds violets and blues at sunset (Rosy Rhinelander sunset)
We're finally into the vacation spirit, doing almost nothing and feeling the bliss.

Sunday I rolled to the Gulf Coast YMCA branch. The water was deliciously warm at 85°. I neglected to bring my flippers, so only swam 8 lengths in my allotted time, but that's why I exercise to time, not distance.

The pool may be filled with filtered sea water: it's certainly soft enough.

I streamed the first half hour of the final Sherlock to my massive disappointment. As always, [tumblr.com profile] plaidadder nails it

begin quote
I think that I may fairly make two postulata:
  • 1) Whatever about series 5, this episode was designed to be the last episode of Sherlock that Moffat and Gatiss would make.
  • 2) It should be.
http://plaidadder.tumblr.com/post/155952044114/the-perfect-metaphor-the-final-problem-and-the
end quote

We walked over Mississippi Sound on the 2 mile bridge connecting Biloxi and Ocean Springs. The view, the sun, the breeze, were exhilarating. My traditional direct attention to the water photo memorializes one stop:

Sitting on the walkway, framed by intense blue sky, woman in powerchair points to Mississippi Sound )

Home to nap, and finish The Final Problem. Wow, that was terrible. (As with most Sherlock canon, there were a handful of wonderful moments, but...thank god for fanfic. I heartily recommend all of [archiveofourown.org profile] plaidadder's.)

We then drove back to Biloxi to assess what was where. The beachside road is furnished with a wide array of architecture: brick Waffle Houses; massive casinos; 1940s apartment buildings; humble 900 sq ft shotgun houses, Frank Gehry's typically bizarre Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, and the Biloxi Visitor's Center, a majestic three-story former mansion.

In my brief time here, I've seen scores of historical markers, displays, websites, pamphlets. Based solely on the ones I've seen, the only people on the Gulf Coast have been the immigrant waves of French, English, Spanish, and "Americans." Africans aren't mentioned anywhere. This is what it looks like to be written out of the narrative.

The third Monday in January has officially been "Robert E Lee's Birthday" in Mississippi, until this year. Twitter shaming played a part in the Biloxi City Council voting unanimously to bring the holiday in line with the Federal designation of Martin Luther King's Birthday.

We finished our day with a promising but ultimately dull meal at Mosaic. MyGuy liked his pulled-pork quesadilla. My ceviche & rice-stuffed portobello was tasty, but not enough to write home about, although I seem to have done so.

Time to swim!

jesse_the_k: Swim fins which are also high heels. (shoes are swimmer deluxe)
Dave Hingsburger speaks to my experience as a wheelchair user who can also walk. He relates being called names by a neighbor who finds him walking the hall:
How Dave Handled It )from Rolling Around In My Head: Wall Walker
http://davehingsburger.blogspot.ca/2016/03/wall-walker.html

I've only encountered direct confrontation a few times. But even after 23 years using a powerchair, I still hear a vile inner voice, saying "you're just not trying hard enough, if you were in better shape you'd use your rolling walker everywhere." My experience )
jesse_the_k: Due South's RayK and Fraser both rubbing their foreheads (dS F/K headache)
This question has popped up many times in the last few years. Obamacare encourages "wellness programs," employer-sponsored activities which some disabled people simply can't do. So what's the law?
quote begins
There is a new conflict in town: employer-sponsored wellness programs and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On several occasions the EEOC has sued employers for allegedly forcing compulsory and intrusive wellness programs aimed to improve the general health of employees. Is there a possible compromise for employers to foster employee wellness while avoiding unlawful medical inquiries?
quote ends

You can hear an expert lawyer's understanding and pose questions
FREE NEXT WEDNESDAY
November 18, 2015 2:00pm to 3:30pm eastern time
Use this link to register
http://www.ada-audio.org/Webinar/ADALegal/Schedule/

The regional ADA centers provide "webinars" open to all on many topics. Archives here:
http://www.ada-audio.org/Archives/ADALegal/index.php?order=ascending&source=FiscalYears#FiscalYears

signal boosts welcome
jesse_the_k: iPod nestles in hollowed-out print book (Alt format reader)
Some of my favorites since the last time it was cold (because it will be cold again soon).


A BRIDE’S STORY
—Kaoru Mori4 of 5 )
Swimming Studies—Leanne Shapton 4 of 5 )
Good Kings, Bad Kings—Susan Nussbaum 4 of 5 )
Fading Scars—Corbett Joan O'Toole4 of 5 )
jesse_the_k: Baby wearing black glasses bigger than head (eyeglasses baby)
Alien spore entered my body when I was young. In my teens, it blossomed, crawled out and sunk its pincers into my shoulders. I've been carrying it ever since. This "alien baby"[1] may be easier to recognize as my atypical bodymind, where the goulash of pain and limitation resides.alien psych insights )
jesse_the_k: BBC John Watson looks puzzled with white puzzle piece floating above him (JW puzzled)
SO, in the long term, we're thinking of moving someplace where there is No Snow.

SO, in the short-term, we want to explore those no-snow places for two-week (or more) vacations November - March. We don't need to stay in a fancy hotel (or rental vacation zone) because we'd probably be living in a house in town, not on the beach.

We do want to be somewhere where I can swim and MyGuy can cycle/golf and we can wander around together and enjoy being outside. I like water, but can cope with inland lakes (see: current location), seashores, large rivers.

The other minimal critical specifications:
  • Good air quality

  • At least three hours of sunlight every day: no month-long monsoons

  • Sidewalks or ubiquitous bike paths or traffic so low I can go in the street

  • Public-access pool (it could be a private health club, but I can join).



  • [ETA to clarify what I need re: sunlight.]
jesse_the_k: Close up of clean young weasel's open mouth and teeth (screaming brain weasel)
So back on Valentine's Day I talked up my new exercise-and-meditation routine. I embraced the possibility of strengthening my muscles, increasing my aerobic capacity, smoothing out my moods.

In the past two months I've realized not all are possible. One stroke forward, one stroke back, one nose full of choking chlorine )
Make those weasels laugh! I had tripped myself, yet again. But I also reset the timer for 21 minutes, and maybe I'll spend a year just enjoying the swimming as I'm doing it. Lose the aspirational nonsense for a while, let the pool be a place I go and let go, flow, float, flutter, and visit with my gym-sisters.

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