Tuesday, February 23, 2016

LENS and Life, week of 2/16/16

One site this week, and a new supplement to add to the usual stuff.  Vitamin D.  Michigan, even in as sunny a winter as this, is depressingly grey and dull at this time of year.  Normally, humans produce vitamin D naturally, through our skin when the sun shines on us.  Even for people as indoor-centric as me, 15 minutes usually isn't hard to get.  During winter, though, it can be downright impossible.  The sun doesn't shine, and we're all bundled up, skin covered, because it's cold.

Vitamin D deficiency can have a lot of vague symptoms, but lower mood, aches and pains, and tiredness, are a few.  Given that the bottle was $15 for a 4 month supply, it's not that big a waste if it doesn't help.  I am a little bummed about having to remember to take something else, though.  At present, my lineup includes a multivitamin, magnesium, and melatonin.  The first, and now the vitamin D, I try to take with food because I'll get an upset stomach otherwise.  The magnesium gives me low blood pressure, so I take that at night with the melatonin to help me actually sleep through the night.  I'm not even 30 yet, which means as more things go wrong, I'll be getting closer and closer to a massive handful of pills.  Ugh.

I checked the scale this morning out of morbid curiosity.  I'm down about 5 pounds from my average weight in the past, ~10 pounds since the Christmas holidays.  This is both cheering and depressing.  Cheering, because something's actually happening, but depressing because it's definitely the low-sugar diet.  Which means the extremes I'm having to go to, and avoiding sweets and some of my more favorite foods, are going to have to become norms.  A life without cake is a sad, sad thing for me.  (I'm being dramatic; I could have cake every once in awhile.  It's just best to avoid it entirely whilst trying to lose weight, rather than keep a steady weight.)

In other good/bad news, I have two interviews this week.  Neither potential job will earn me steady money, or be any kind of significant weekly time expenditure, but they're both potentially important steps toward being a better advocate and getting involved in the disability community.  The first, happening tomorrow, will be for the Community Reviewer position Mr. John Elder Robison publicized.  With the help of the director of the Autism Support of Kent County, I managed to get a resume and the appropriate paperwork together and submitted.  It was accepted, and now I have lots of nerves about the interview. 

In all honesty, writing resumes is something I completely despise.  "Grandiose" is the word I tend to apply to the style of writing needed for a good resume.  That's really more a commentary on me, I think, rather than the way my resume actually came out.  I hate having to figuratively toot my own horn.  I understand the necessity of it, because it's not like someone who's never met you has any idea of your value as a person (or cares), but it just rubs me the wrong way.

The second interview is one for a board position in local organization called Self-Advocates of Michigan.   They seem to be based in Lansing, which hopefully won't be a huge problem.  Regardless, I believe strongly in self-advocacy, because no one knows what it's like to be you better than you.  Your talent for conveying that state may vary, but it's always good to try.

I'm a little more and a little less concerned about this second interview.  It'll be in person, which means fancy clothes (blech).  But it's also not something I'll be hugely crushed about if I don't get.  I think I could do their board some good, and I'm willing to put in the effort to do a good job.  But if I don't get the position, that's okay.  I'll find other things to fill my time with. 

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