An open thread for personal stuff, continuing from here.
As usual for these threads: no trolls, no MRAs, no I’m-not-really-an-MRA-buts, don’t be mean.
Categories
We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
We Hunted The Mammoth
RE: cassandrakitty
The social and political systems are designed to create and maintain a permanent underclass.
YUP. And it’s horrifying as hell. Ugh, poverty is ASS.
On the positive news end, I managed to fulfill my meal plan and wash my dishes today. I had a wonderful morning with my husband, before the post-con energy hangover hit like a truck. I have also discovered a new TV show I liked and doodled a comic strip.
On the whole, today has been a successful day, even if I feel crappy. Just because I FEEL bad doesn’t mean I’m DOING bad.
Oh! Oh! Also, since we will be living in a place of our own within the next six months (exciting!)…
Sneak has been asking about getting a pet, a dog or cat. I know a lot of Mammoths here have experience with animals; our family had pets, but the parents were usually the primary trainers/caregivers, and I’m wondering whether we have any right to get an animal if we’re poor and may not be able to afford major vet bills.
LBT: there are low-cost spay/neuter orgs, and the shelter should have resources to point you towards low-cost vet care.
LBT,
Cats are usually inexpensive if they’re healthy. If you keep it as an indoor cat you’ll pretty much never have to make a trip to the vet until it gets old. A kitten can get expensive because it has to be spayed or neutered and get a lot of shots but if you get one that’s a year or two old at a shelter, the shelter will have taken care of all of that.
Dogs on the other hand, are pricy and high maintenance. I love you doggies, but you know I’m right!
blahlistic:
One of those things that transcends death!
I hear ya. I’m lucky Melbourne has a halfway decent public transport system. I don’t drive and even in my best-paid job couldn’t have afforded a car. It sure limits where I can look for work now, though. The rail lines radiate from the city centre; getting in there is easy, but going across the outer suburbs means buses, and the services are just too infrequent and the distances too great to be a realistic means of commuting.
Are there any no-kill shelters around where you are at all? 🙁
hellkell:
Damn, damn, damn. Specialists, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Sigh.
Speaking of matters gastric, cassandra, how did sleeping elevated work for Mr C?
LBT: With my rescue volunteer hat on, I would advise you not to get a pet at this point, while your situation is so unstable. Having an animal makes the housing question a lot more complicated and if you end up needing to move unexpectedly, I don’t want you to end up in the dilemma of choosing between housing that allows animals but is way too expensive vs housing you can afford but you have to get rid of your animal (or hide it and hope the landlord doesn’t find it).
With my friend hat on, however, I appreciate that it’s not like you can “simply” have a more stable lifestyle, so that advice might boil down to “you never get to have a pet, ever.” Which isn’t fair to you. So in the end, I will just ask you to make sure you’ve thought out all the worst-case scenarios and what you would do in them.
Regarding the intersectionality stuff & 2nd vs 3rd wave stuff, I’m pretty much in between cassandrakitty and kittehserf, so there’s not much I can say without repeating everything they’ve said already.
I also haven’t done a lot of official feminist reading, but then I was raised feminist by a 2nd waver, so a lot of it seemed like a no-brainer. I think my reading list includes The Beauty Myth,Starhawk’s books, and When God Was a Woman (waves @ Unimaginative), and a handful of articles from my long ago uni days.
I find intersectionality is a stand-alone concept, which can fit into any type of feminism so long as you aren’t an asshole. Of course, assholes try to use intersectionality too; it usually shows up as a method for playing Oppression Olympics. It really frustrates me to see it being used to silence people who apparently just aren’t oppressed enough to matter (usually women, regardless of race).
WWTH:
Well, you should have annual checkups for shots and possibly getting teeth cleaned, and even indoor cats can get nasty conditions.
Puddleglum:
I’m seeing us three sitting on a couch here. Preferably with popcorn and a movie. 🙂
That would be so awesome, lol.
Wouldn’t it? 🙂
But, but, BOOTSTRAPS!!! Glarglebrarg!! Socialist menace!! ::falls off chair, foaming at mouth and quoting Ayn Rand::
@ kittehserf – I really hope it’s not GERD! Have you heard of the BRAT diet? (Banana, Rice, Apple-sauce, Toast) Boring as Hell, and not terribly nutritious, but it might help things settle, a bit, if you go with it for a day or two. Also, all the usual obnoxious advice about limiting fat, alcohol, chocolate, caffeine, and spices. And don’t eat for a couple hours before bedtime, and the elevated pillow thing is good.
Why, yes, I am a blast at parties, thank-you very much. Seriously, though, good luck! If it persists for a few days, please seek medical advice.
grumpyoldnurse, thanks! I hadn’t heard of the BRAT diet (except when it means what Maddie’s eating). Toast I have for lunch, rice I don’t think we’ve even got in the house since we never eat it, not sure if apple sauce is much of a thing here, but I bought a bunch of bananas this afternoon! So, um, two out of four at least. 🙂
I’ve been reading up on the various tips for dealing with it. Caffiene’s not a big problem; when I drink coffee it’s decaf, and I mostly drink tea (Orange Pekoe, which seems not to be too heavily caffeinated). I don’t smoke or drink alcohol; cutting back the chocolate’s going to be the tragic thing! I’m going to exercise more (ie. “at all” given how sedentary I am these days) and get a proper wedge thingy for the bed.
I will get a referral to a GI. Luckily there’s a clinic in walking distance of where I live.
Nah, I don’t think it has to literally be BRAT, just bland, low fat, low protein, moderate fibre, smallish portions, and easily digested. The bed wedge thingy will probably be a great help.
I hope the doc’s tell you some good news!
Bland is my middle name! There’s no spicy stuff to cut out, and we eat mostly chicken (not fried) or lean meat anyway. I am cutting down my portion sizes (sigh … one less spud).
Ye gods, the prices of some of these bed wedges … $200 + D8
BRAT?
There be an RN in this here thread.
The only other person I’ve ever heard use that acronym is RN Mother Dearest…
Dang! Outed again!
Did your mom also RICE sprains and strains?
Mr C hasn’t tried the pillow thing yet cause he needs to get another pillow (and also doesn’t believe it will work), but he has been downing a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar first thing in the morning, which is helping.
Argh. The NaNoWriMo site only did a partial wipe of the forums this year. So we have lots of crap from last year. 🙁 The mods all love it, but users… not so much, lol.
@cassandrakitty, if apple cider vinegar is helping, he might also try papaya enzymes (they’re chewable tablets that taste pretty dandy) after meals.
Puddleglum, are you NaNoWriMo-ing?
I don’t usually have time for nano. Seeing as I’ll be spending most of November not working for medical reasons, I’m seriously entertaining the idea this year. Silver linings!
If Mr C does try the pillow thing, he’ll need to make sure his back’s straight – extra pillows will make things worse if his back’s curved.
@GrumpyOldNurse,
Yuppers!
Sorry to intrude but I thought others might be interested in this article by Grayson Perry in the New Statesman: The rise and fall of Default Man
Passages like this:
‘When I was at art college in the late Seventies/early Eighties, one of the slogans the feminists used was: “Objectivity is Male Subjectivity.” This brilliantly encapsulates how male power nestles in our very language, exerting influence at the most fundamental level. Men, especially Default Men, have put forward their biased, highly emotional views as somehow “rational”, more considered, more “calm down, dear”. Women and “exotic” minorities are framed as “passionate” or “emotional” as if they, the Default Men, had this unique ability to somehow look round the side of that most interior lens, the lens that is always distorted by our feelings. Default Man somehow had a dispassionate, empirical, objective vision of the world as a birthright, and everyone else was at the mercy of turbulent, uncontrolled feelings. That, of course, explained why the “others” often held views that were at such odds with their supposedly cool, analytic vision of the world.’
Seem very relevant!
I have to admit that the first time I saw Grayson Perry (when he was accepting an award) I thought he was a prat. But everything I have read about him saying, or watched on tv since has proved he is actually a very intelligent and socially aware person. Also, he loves his teddy bear, which is always a good thing.