sinisterporpoise

 The third week of classes is down, and I managed to approach the Networking Fundamentals professor and tell him that he was going to fast. I must not have been the only other person with that complaint, because he did slow down the next week. He even places the 32-bit version of Cisco's packet tracer in the class sessions for next week.  It's a good start.  I'm still not enjoying the class, but I can see it's usefulness. However, I plan on working on servers, not dealing with the cabling or the Cisco routers. Let someone else do that. Laying cables is a lot of physical work I'd find taxing and extremely painful.

Secondly, well, if anyone else reading this has EDS, except for the one person I *know* who does, can help with a problem, please do so. (I won't stop this person from providing advice, but last I heard from them, they were still running on a severe spoon deficit.) I've thought I'v'e suffered from dyscalcula for years, but now I'm wondering. After taking a quantitative reasoning course, I'm wondering if my problem isn't related to something else. I have the same terrible handwriting I've always had, and I think this causes many of my problems I've had with math over the years.  I know from previous experience that larger diameter writing utensils work.  (My third grade teacher tried this approach with many of her students with poor penmanship. This is the only time in elementary school I got VGs and Gs (As and Bs) in handwriting in elementary school. Too bad it would take three decades to figure out the reason for this.)  So, can anyone help me out here?

My hand should be entirely free of the brace soon. I've been using this time to get some writing in, but much of my time needs to be devoted to my school work. I just wish that the ODAR office would schedule my hearing soon. It would also help if the new adapter for my Dell would get here soon, but Fedex shows it as being in California.   There's another item I'm waiting for, and I'll be extremely upset if the folding cane I ordered from Amazon does show up on Friday. (Read on to find out why...)

For the past few weeks or so, I've been having difficulty accepting that I am about to turn 40.  I don't mean that I'm flat-out denying it, it's just that I've been trying to stave off the psychological blows that usually come with it.  Anyone who has or is about to reach this age knows what I'm talking about. Has my life so far made a difference? My life is half over,  what have I done with it?  Do I need to rush out and do more?  Heck, I'm no longer young. TV is no longer catering to *me.*  All of these things have run through my head at some point. Worse, is the thought that someday I might be gone and nothing I did will be remembered.  This is the case for most people sooner or later, however, and I at least can redirect my thoughts when this happens. 

There is one thing I am worried about, however, I told my roommate I wanted a Colt 1911 for my birthday. This was a ploy to get her to search and get a job. It worked. She's now teaching at the same community college I am attending.  However, I don't really *want* a handgun. In part, this is a matter of personal responsibility. I don't think I'm the type of person who should own a handgun, and I really think my roommate needs a gun safe. I've asked her not to keep her loaded pistol by her bed, but I can't do much about that.  At least I don't think she's planning on buying one.  If she is planning on doing this, I'll have to lie in the bed I made.  If she's concerned for my safety, a can of pepper spray would serve the same purpose.  She also needs to get over the idea that increasing firearms rights are going to fix the fascism of the Trump administration.  I can't get her to accept that firearms don't fix everything and that I'd rather not go out in one last blaze of glory. (She has some bizarre ideas that come from her siege mentality psychology.  I want to get the hell out of here if the Trump administration's fascism becomes a problem.)

 September is Chronic Pain Awareness Month. (Although I have to ask, how many people aren't aware that chronic pain exists?) I'll be posting something on them daily and trying to promote these posts. Given the events of the last few weeks, I thought it'd be time to revisit this photograph.  The next two days will focus on diseases I've been diagnosed with.

[Description: A brown-haired, blue-eyed woman on a beige background. She wears a purple shirt with a back and white-striped ribbon. Braces adorn her wrists, knees, and right ankle.]

Captiion:

• Do you suffer from Crhonic pain?
• Have you been told or do you feel you have fibromyalgia?
• Easy or unexplained bruising?
• IBS, Acid Reflux, or other Gastrointestinal issues?
• Do you have hypermobile joints or  are you double-jointed?
• Do you injure easily or have unexplained fractures or bruises?
• Fragile skin that tears easily or poor or slow wound healing?
• Do you injure easily? Unexplained dislocations or fractures?
• Problems with balance? Are you the clumsy one?
• Velvety smooth or stretchy skin?
• Are doctors stumped or clueless when they try to figure you out?
• Have you heard of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome?

And the answers for me  right now are: yes, yes, yes (although I still believe this is PLMD in most cases), yes, no, yes -- ankles, yes, not that I've noticed, and I think my primary care physician has no idea what's wrong with me exactly.