Beautiful

What book from your childhood would you want back?

Mine would be my copy of a 1st edition paperback of 'The Sword of Shannara' by Terry Brooks. It was given to me by a high school teacher and has an inscription. It had a pull-out artwork by the brothers Hildebrand, which was quite lovely and not included in subsequent printings.

I wound up accidentally putting it in a group of books that I donated to the Stanford/Lincoln County library. It is still listed in their catalogue. I wrote them at one point to see if I could get a copy of the inscription at all, to no avail. I'm tempted to drive down there (about an hour away) just to see if it's still there. I love the idea that others have read it and perhaps developed a love of fantasy from it--I just wish I hadn't let it go due to the inscription and the artwork. I do have an omnibus of the first three books of the series, and I'd hoped the artwork would be duplicated, but no. But the inscription is really what I'd like to 'get back'.

'Only a quid': woman reunited with childhood book in museum shop

50 (yes fifty!!) Things You've Never Been Asked....

I always enjoy reading these and seeing a quick glimpse into my friend's lives. (Just copy this & change the answers..💁)

1. What is the colour of your toothbrush? Bamboo
2. Name someone who made you smile today. Ahavah
3. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Reading Facebook on my laptop in the break room
4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Listening to YouTube videos on strange phenomena
5. What is your favourite candy bar? Mounds
6. Have you ever been to a strip club? No
7. What is the last thing you said out loud? Hmmm...
8. What is your favourite ice cream? Homemade brand coconut almond chip
9. What was the last thing you had to drink? Water
10. Do you like your wallet? Yes, it is a phone case
11. What was the last thing you ate? Challah with blackberry jam
12. Did you buy any new clothes this weekend? No, I haven't for months
13. The last sporting event you watched? Ice skating, maybe two years ago
14. What is your favourite flavour popcorn? Caramel
15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to? My uncle Terry
16. Ever go camping? Yes
17. Do you take vitamins daily? Yes, Centrum Silver Chewables
18. Do you go to church every Sunday? No, not my faith
19. Do you have a tan? Not really, I just turn red and then back to pink
20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza? No
21. Do you drink your soda with a straw? No
22. What did your last text say? Thanked my uncle for a package.
23. What are you doing tomorrow? Working
24. What terrifies you? Pretty much everything; I am a ball of anxiety disorder.
25. Look to your left, what do you see? A portrait of my friend's great-grandmother
26. What colour is your watch? Purple
27. What do you think of when you think of Australia. Poisonous things.
28. Favourite soda? Diet Sunkist
29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? Both
30. What is your favourite number? 13
31. Who's the last person you talked to on the phone? Jay
32. Any plans today? Sleep
33. How many states have you lived in? 5
34. Biggest annoyance right now? Our president
35. Last song listened to? Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran
36. Can you say the alphabet backwards? I have never tried
37. Do you have a maid service when you clean your house? Ha, with what money?
38. Favourite pair of shoes you wear all the time? Sandals in the summer, Mary Janes otherwise
39. Are you jealous of anyone? No
40. Is anyone jealous of you? I doubt it
41. Do you love anyone? Yes
42. Do any of your friends have children? Yes
43. What do you usually do during the day? Work
44. Do you hate anyone that you know right now? No
45. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Yes
46. What colour is your car? Champagne (that's what the title says)
47. How many kids do you have? None
48. Are you thinking about someone right now? A friend who very ill
49. Have you ever been to Six Flags? No
50. How did you get your worst scar? Hit by a car and the subsequent ankle surgery

Hmmm....

This Is What Millions of Monarch Butterflies Sound Like

Interesting article on the acidification of books and paper

The Little-Known ‘Slow Fire’ That’s Destroying All Our Books: Chloe Vassot on the Relentless, Inevitable Process of Decay

Concerning

Youth Suicide Rate Increased 56% in Decade, CDC Says

There are always risks in any medical treatment, but they have to be weighed against the benefits. I can't imagine making these sort of life and death decisions on a daily basis (the main reason I did not pursue a career as a doctor or nurse), and pharmacology can be extremely tricky. But short-term studies are not foolproof, and if I had a teen with major depression, I'd seriously consider putting him or her on anti-depressants on the condition of close medical and parental monitoring. Of course, with my mental health history, I'd also make sure it was major depression and not bipolar, as SSRIs can make a person with bipolar disorder manic, triggering that phase of the disease, which can be just as devastating as the depression.

FDA’s continuing use of ‘black box’ for antidepressants ignores the harms of this warning

At work today

My new motto should be 'Will move heaven and Earth for chocolate.'

Hahaha

The folks that mow the yard apparently came. At some point, the downspout of the gutter got run over by them and was in the yard but someone thoughtfully put it on the back porch (although they did forget to latch the gate properly, something I always check when I let the dog out). Fast forward to when I let her out after her supper and she's done her business and I go to let her in, and I ask her to sit and she does, right on top of the cold, crushed metal spout, and she jumps about three feet in the air, startled. I so wish I'd gotten a video of it when her butt connected. The look on her face was priceless.

This should be heard; this should be shared; this should be proclaimed from the mountaintop

Listen.

We did not play the game today, although I prepared and we all got together

We watched the latest episode of 'Perfect Harmony'--which is a really good show, and the movie Coco, which I loved very much. The animation was wonderful, as was the story. I knew what was going to happen most of the time, but that doesn't really bother me. In fact, I love it when a story falls into the place with the various pieces like a puzzle.

Grrr...

Warning: I am about to vent mightily.

I am Southern, which means I tend to bury anger and try not to show my emotions. As a result, things sometimes boil over.

I am very proud that I kept it together going through Kroger's five-deep lines for my one item today because while I was justified at being angry, it wasn't anything that had to do with the place or people I was dealing with, and I really just wanted to scream at somebody...anybody.

So what got me so riled? I went to the pharmacy Saturday because I was almost out of my insulin and they told me that the endocrinologist's office had sent back a denial for a refill request they'd made, saying I never had been on the medication, even though I have been on long-acting insulin for years, mostly through this office. I had a little left of my pen, albeit less than I estimated, so I was calm and said I would call the doctor's office on Monday, which I did. I spoke to someone and the doctor is out this week, as is her nurse. She said she would route it to another nurse and they would call me back, but I didn't get any sort of phone call. At 2:30 I called the pharmacy to see if they'd heard anything. I took my last dose this morning (only because I skipped last night, otherwise I'd have had none today), and they told me that they'd sent over another request and it, too, had been denied. They suggested I ask my PCP, so I called and spoke with his nurse, gave her the dosage (he'd prescribed the same dosage years ago, so it's not like he wasn't aware of the condition or anything), and she said there shouldn't be any problem. I left work at 5 and called the pharmacy to see if the medicine was there, and they hadn't heard anything from his office, so I went home (stopping at the aforementioned Kroger), as there wasn't much point in going and the pharmacy was going to close at 6 pm.

After I got home and explained things to my roommate, the pharmacy called and said the prescription had finally come through as an e-script about 5 minutes to 6 and they didn't have it in stock but would order it and it would be in tomorrow afternoon. So on the one hand, I will have it tomorrow after work, but on the other hand, I'm going to miss three doses total.

I really want to know why my endo's office keeps denying the request as I have been on that medicine for years, with them having a prescription that lasted all the way through last month. I see the doctor in three weeks and I am definitely going to discuss it with her. Also, while I'm glad my PCP apparently came through, waiting till the end of the day, when I'd specifically said I was out of the medicine was not the best, especially as they know my pharmacy is a small, independent outfit which closes early. Finally, while I love my pharmacy, I'm irked that 1) the original denial was 9/10/19--almost a month ago--and they didn't say anything while I still had pens left and if they had, I could have taken care of this weeks ago. 2) They knew I was going to call today yet didn't put in an order for the insulin until they had the prescription, rather than putting it in when I came in on Saturday.

So anyway, I'm feeling better now that I know I can get it tomorrow, but I don't like this cluster of circumstances that is mucking with my health. If it were something like a cholesterol pill, that's one thing. This is insulin we're talking about here.

Okay, thanks for letting me vent!

It's very quiet in the house

Just the sounds of my fans going above my head and nearby. We finally have some relief to the heat (it's been in the 90s with little to no rain for weeks), with rain in the forecast tomorrow, but I'm hot-natured, so even though it's in the 70s now both inside and out, I keep the fans on in my room whenever I'm there. But the quiet is nice. Sometimes it's good to only hear your own thoughts.

Today  I did many things but I did not go to the YMCA and do exercises in the pool like I meant to.  I haven't given up, I just had a lot to do today.  But I did have some time to myself and some relaxation time, as well as game notes and laundry and errands.

I went to the pharmacy today to get my roommate some medicine and see if they had my Lantus, as I started on my last pen of the pack.  Turns out they'd sent a request to my doctor's office for a refill and it had been denied.  The reason? They said they had never prescribed it.

Now, I have been on Lantus for a couple of years, Basaglar before that for a short time when it was on my insurance's formulary, and years of Lantus prior to that, including quite some time of it from this office, continuously up till this past month.  So obviously there has been a mistake. I'll have to call them on Monday.  I'm hoping I have enough to last me through Monday so we can get it taken care of, a pen only lasts a few days--I get 10 per refill, and they last about 3 days each.

On Habitica, the task/productivity 'game' I play, there was a reading challenge I took up to read a book called The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.  Now I like Ray Bradbury, and it's actually a children's book, so I thought it would be good to read some fast-moving fiction. It's been such a struggle to read fiction (even non-fiction has its challenges), for several reasons.  For one thing, I think being on the Internet has made my attention span that of a gnat.  I've also apparently been a little off in how I use my bifocals, and it's hard for me to find a nice comfy place to read--I can't read in bed easily, and the comfy chairs are in the study (where my friend is often watching streaming stuff) or in his room.  Reading in bed requires lots of pillows, a folding lap desk, and a study pillow with a neck bolster.  I can read at the kitchen and study tables, when it is quiet, but the chairs are wooden and really need cushions after a while.  Still, I managed to read the whole book in a very short time, maybe an hour or an hour and a half (it's 145 pages long).  I enjoyed it--I knew all the various cultural ties to the practices of Halloween, but that was fine. And I'd figured out what happened to one of the characters.  I guess the only real thing I had a bit of an issue with it--not a lot, just a bit, were that there were no girls at all in the characters, and little to no character description or development, really.  But it is a product of 1972, and while Bradbury's writing deviates poetically from standard writing styles, he shares a common thread you find particularly in male writers of the time, and especially in science fiction writers, somewhat tilted towards action and away from characterization.  (Women, by contrast, tend to over-describe and have a lot of emoting going without driving the action forward at all)--a good writer balances both.  Still, his description of the settings and experiences are very good, and this story actually needs somewhat blank characters, as they represent certain timeframes of history in their costumes and with the exception of the one character from whose perspective the story is told,  there's no real personality among the children, and I guess there really doesn't need to be.  Anyway, I did enjoy the story, and it was a little chilling there at the end, so suitably Halloweenesque.

Later, we ate dinner from Subway with a friend, who had a couple of Pierce Brosnan 007 movies on, and then we returned home and I took up finishing the laundry.  I've done my clothes and I'm working on my friend's bedding right now. I'm going to do mine tomorrow.

Tomorrow I think I'll try to get up early.  I was supposed to do a couple of shelves, pulling off the books and dusting them.  I didn't, but I can today.  I did do the game notes, which were more timely.  If I could get that and my normal Sunday pre-game chores are done really early, I might still be able to go to the Y and do some exercises in the pool and work out in general for maybe an hour, total.  Then Monday I can go back for the low-impact pool class that I took this past week.  I did really well with everything (and have been in much less pain and been able to move and bend better as a result) except this thing where you put the foam dumbbells under your knees and then balance above them.  I need something to hold on and even so couldn't do it.  The instructor suggested getting a lighter pair of dumbbells (I had the heavy ones) next time.  People were really nice and non-judgmental, though, and I enjoyed it.  The instructor was very good.  We ended with a mindfulness exercise.  So it starts out easy, gets the heart pumping, puts you through all sorts of movement, but it isn't extremely intense--just right for my level of conditioning.

I  also need to run by the library while they're open and pick up a book on hold on the zero-waste home--I've been on the list for a while.  It must have been there when I picked up The Halloween Tree earlier, but I didn't realise it was in, so I didn't look.  I also checked out CDs by Sam Smith and Rush.

Okay, I'm going to get ready for bed.  The laundry's still in the dryer, but at least I'll have my teeth brushed, etc.  Hope you're having a good weekend.