It’s time to play catch up again before my handwritten notes get recycled. The chief point of interest is the walking stick that visted my back patio recently. But I’ll save that to last, or almost last, depending on where it ends up, because I want to work chronologically.
On Tuesday, April 14
(Yeah, I know I’ve posted since then, but I didn’t report much, if any, of the stuff that’s the handwritten report, so…)
… I got my COVID booster at Mercado Municipal. I got the Moderna vaccine this time. It made my arm semi-sore for at least five days, and it kinda kicked my butt some, too. Nothing major, just a degree of lethargy for a few days. But the lethargy could have been partly due to the fact that I had another UTI at about the same time. More on that in a bit.
My IRA balance has been transferred to my credit union
… and I will have it put into a credit union Traditional IRA within the next few days. I don’t want to try to get a live helper on the last or first day of a month, because I assume they’re inundated then, so I will do it on Monday or as soon as I can get an appointment to get on the line with a live rep while I fill out the paperwork.
Registered to Get My US Ballots Emailed to Me
…so I can vote in the upcoming elections. WHEEE! Only missed one vote last November, so my info was still on file.
They confirmed the receipt of my info and say I’ll get my first ballot around June 20th for the August primary election. I’m back in action as a voter again!
(The November 2025 one is the first one I ever missed in my life. It felt pretty horrible.)
I Asked Jackie to Ship the Susana Reel to Autumn McKenzie
Jackie was able to find it so Autumn ought to have it soon. (For those scratching your head over this reference, the Susana reel contains DeForest Kelley’s portrayal in an acting school film. It’s silent and De is about 18 years old in it. He looks like a young Leonardo DiCaprio. The DVD copy was lost in the mail between California and Texas, so she asked if I had another copy of it, and I said no: I only had the original reel. Jackie has insured it and kept the tracking number to be sure it gets there!)
On April 15 I wrote
Walked 7889 steps today despite feeling kinda puny from the COVID booster. I’m feeling better as the day progresses, though.
I’m cooking another chicken breast in the crockpot for dinner and drinking lots of water today. My blood pressure was a little high this morning but it’s in range after drinking more water, so it was dehydration that caused the spike. Easy enough to remedy!
On April 26 I Wrote
Vegging big time today although I did get 7500 steps in (all on the back patio) this morning by 8:05. I’m on an antibiotic for another UTI and on another medication (daily pill) to rehab my kidney function numbers, so I want to be near a toilet at least until the UTI regimen ends on Tuesday. I feel better now that I’m on these meds and staying hydrated.
Charli isn’t as clingy
…as she has been recently. She knew I wasn’t feeling my best. She has radar about my wellbeing and lets me know when I am sub-par, sometimes even before I notice it!
I Hope This 3-Month Kidney Pill Regimen Rehabs My Kidney
I’m fatigued more than I should be and think the kidney may be the culprit. I don’t have any other “failing kidney” symptoms, though, and my bloodwork results didn’t indicate anything wildly alarming; they’re about where they were a year ago, as mentioned in an earlier blog post (I think).
I Have an Idea for a “Normalize Versus Humanize”
…blog post in mind about transgenderism that I want to write at some point, but I’m not ready to write it yet. The skeleton is good but I want the meat that goes onto the bones to be just right so it’s both powerful and potentially viral. My hope is that allies and other trans folks will want to share it widely. So, I’m waiting for my Muse to weigh in. This is something I don’t think I can handle on my own.
Also thought of a blog post based the message from the alien in A SAUCER OF LONELINESS:
“There is in certain living souls a quality of loneliness unspeakable, so great it must be shared as company is shared by lesser beings. Such a loneliness is mine; so know by this that in immensity there is one lonelier than you.”
― E Pluribus Unicorn
The quote has haunted me since I was a teenager, because that’s how lonely I felt as a trans kid without the words to describe how I was feeling (beyond “estranged” “depressed” and “utterly alone”). Not sure it requires an entire blog post, but it might be helpful to other trans (or otherwise marginalized, neurodiverse folks) who have felt — or are feeling — this uniquely alone.
So few people seem to understand the breadth, width and depth of loneliness that one can feel when we know that so few people actually “get” us and our ache just to be accepted for who we are at our core. Not feared, not mocked, not shunned, not “other”ed. We’re just other human beings with brains that are insisting on our genders despite upbringings that tried to tell us that what we were feeling was “wrong.” Our brains aren’t wrong!
I don’t hate my body
I used to think I did. But my body is robust, trustworthy, ambulatory, amazing, and miraculous to be able to keep my heart beating and my blood pumping without me having to even think about it. It’s just the wrong make/model, according to my brain. My brain says it’s supposed to be a “sire”, a “spark” not a host/creator. I can’t change that. Our brains tell us who we are, not our bodies.
But expecting a cisgender human to understand this may well be a fool’s errand. Would I be able to understand it if I hadn’t LIVED it?
I can try (and have tried, diligently, for decades), to understand (and embody personally) the Black/Brown experience in the USA, but I’m sure my understanding is anemic when measured against their lived experiences of the constant micro- and macro-aggressions of racism and white supremacy.
No one can fully understand another’s lived experiences; we can only take a keen interest in them and to listen to them. Empathy is pretty automatic when we understand another person’s history.
There is no rock solid definition of “normal” when it comes to the human brain.
We’re shaped by our cultures, our experiences, and by our feelings about them, and we each absorb what we know in different ways depending on how damaged we have become by those cultures, experiences and feelings.
Fear keeps far too many people stuck and protracted, so they severely limit their outreach to — and cursiosity about — the “unknown.”
Others embrace learning everything they can about the cornucopia of adventures and experiences that are available to each of us.
Imagine how different these folks lives are from each other!
I’m Not Afraid Usually
…and when I AM, I don’t let fear have the last word. I recognize F>E>A>R as False Evidence Appearing Real in most cases.
I don’t get stopped. I get intrigued. I pay attention to my intuition, which has never steered me wrong (to date).
Dog-Sat Again on Tuesday April 28th
I rode into Grecia with friends to Jon’s and Francisco’s. Dear Adilio brought me back at 2. We stopped to get some Pollolandia chicken on the way back, too.
Saw two Costa Rican porch lizards while I was at Jon’s and Francisco’s and read a book.
On April 29 I wrote…
Walked 6718 steps before 10:35 a.m.
Took the 7:15 bus to Grecia to stop at Pali and Peri for groceries and cat food. Also got a knee brace at Farmacia Central after several failed attempts to find the Chinese tienda that Jon told me about (which has knee braces for three or four dollars).
Asked several ticos for directions when I didn’t find it where Jon said it should be, and was directed to various “tiendas de Chine” but none of them had knee braces, so I splurged and got one for $22 at FC. Glad I did! It has made a big difference in my comfort level and is stabilizing my knee so it recovers faster.
It smells a little smoky outside
I assume it’s illegal sugar cane field burning, but am not sure. I do love the smell, though!
Downloaded BRAINWAVE RESEARCH UK’S 2-DISC CLASSICAL MUSIC
…two days ago and have been enjoying them ever since. II is playing in the background right now as I type this.
My mind and body needed a re-set. I’ve been caring too much –doom-scrolling/hope-scrolling. It’s not good to do too much of that. We aren’t built for chronic distress and dischord. My nervous system can’t take it.
But I do see and share the latest governmental overreaches and outrages on FB. It’s the least I can do.
Zoning out entirely is dangerous to democracy: far too many zoned out folks (non-voters and cult followers) have brought us to the brink of losing it. Luckily, I think they’re finally waking up to the shitshow the U.S. has become.
Sadly, MeidasTouch Headlines
…have taken on the flavor of THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER these days. It’s off-putting as hell to me, but it gets the clicks it needs to grow the audience — and that’s the goal: to get more people to understand the pickle we’re in (in the U.S. and around the world) because of the current whackadoodle regime.
Fortunately…
I’m here in Costa Rica, as safe as anyone CAN be from what’s happening in the U.S.
I have a life to live, far away from T-Wrecks.
PURA VIDA!
The Rainy Season Has Arrived
…but gently (so far) and mostly quietly. There has been a little rolling thunder but no thunderclaps to send Charli under the bed. There has been some sheet lightning, too.
Finally, The Walking Stick Encounter!
Yesterday April 29th, I was sitting oustide on the patio when I spied a walking stick that had appended itself to the sliding glass door on my back patio. I was thrilled!!!
Grabbed my phone and took a picture of it there:
It was there for well over an hour, not moving an inch. They behave kind of like praying mantises. They stay still until an insect gets within reach and then they nab it.
Watch these videos to see it in action
Walking Stick Crossing Patio Video:
https://www.facebook.com/674337914/videos/pcb.10165134413392915/1247266520519769
Walking Stick Active on Plant Video:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1321297069861200
And here it is after it’s journey across the patio:
When it stays still, you would never be able
to tell it’s an insect.
Perfect camouflage!
Me encanto Costa Rica totalmente!
My crockpot is smelling WONDERFUL!!!
That’s it for this time.