weekly retro: garbag'ino, garbag'outo
weeks can go in like a lion and out like a lamb, and not just in the month of may. if i could (and i will) describe the first half of last week in a photo, it would be this:
the throes of a hashimotos flareup and my period starting was enough of a test of my patience, will, and ambition. then news of a friend's passing hit, and THEN i remembered last minute i was on the hook to host jerseyscript when really i just wanted to crawl under the covers and sleep until my endocrinologist appointment that friday.
but responsibility is responsibility, and i made it outdoors to do the things i'm responsible for. i can't say that i showered for any of them though lol.
i went and voted in the local assembly and governor primary election. i often enjoy "getting out there" and voting in person, but when i'm at my most "perceive me at your peril" state, it's tough because of everyone circling polling locations like vultures telling me "don't forget to vote" as i'm clearly walking into a school looking like a gray woman in a tampon commercial. to vote. i'd been voting in this polling location for 12 years and this was the first time someone handed me an "i voted" sticker. for a moment, i felt like a human.
my gift for making it out to jerseyscript, besides the nice company of 2 of our regulars and the lavender mocktail, was getting to see my "other cat" who i'm sure is seen as "my other cat" by all the other locals who pass by it. this is "nature" to a lot of us city folks.
on the topic of nature, has anyone seen where the local puma has gone? i keep trying to get him to join me on my somewhat-daily weekday streams but he's camera shy and adjusting to the air conditioners being on.
as my period crawled over its peak and i started to feel less like a large pile of hot, wet towels, things started to turn around a bit. i got to introduce potch and pumagreg in real life vs. over zoom or youtube. while i regret where we ordered food from, it was a heavy enough meal to knock me out so i'd be able to get up early for my 30 minute walk up-hill to my doctor.
when i publish this retro, i'm off to the pharmacy to pick up my larger dose of thyroid hormone, and i hope in a few weeks i'll be out of this fog - the thyroid takes awhile to adjust. all the incline intervals on the treadmill were felt as i walked up a steep hill, not losing my breath once and even being able to stop and pick up litter i'd find without losing energy.
on the way home from the doctor, feeling great about how my "kidneys look beautiful" and my doctor giving me tips on how to better advocate for myself at the pharmacy (who is also my insurance company), my demeanor only dipped - as it often does walks home - when a car sped by me as it tried to miss a red light. this is why humans were born with middle fingers. a few hours later, a young boy riding his bike at the corner was killed when struck by a truck. may his memory be a blessing, and may this tragedy not be in vain from the people in power who seemingly refuse to make our roads safe from motor vehicles.
as a significant portion of the nation was protesting on the streets, my resistance came in the form of patronizing my library and making art. more empowering than having my new thyroid prescription in hand was spending an afternoon in a room with a diverse group of women from the area, chatting about our complex lives and making books. my weekend ended with me finishing the very good a physical education and starting braiding sweetgrass.
things that did not make my shit mood worse
- gifcities has been relaunched with improved search and gifgrams.
- i'm starting to collect blog posts in memoriam to glitch - please send any you write or find to me! marty wrote this one and it lead me to see loren's archive of the glitch community code jam. i'm obsessed with their entire site, actually.
- "it's time for something new" for anil
- kglw's phantom island is out. this is summer barbecue rock and roll and it rips.
- my buddy mark vigeant is bringing his Best Man Speech show back to Edinburgh Fringe. i've seen the show multiple times, it's really funny and clever and has won the awards to speak to that better than i can. btw, he's performing his new show at hollywood fringe basically now.
xoxo jenn