Well, it has certainly been a week. I'm sleeping a bit better now, in part because I finally got a new pillow, and in part because I sprung for an electric blanket for my birthday, with the help of my mother-in-law and my grandmother. The pillow I'd been using was well over a decade old, which I have since learned is heresy. You're supposed to replace them every 18 months, I guess. I went to the chiropractor on Monday and he ended up having to adjust different parts of my spine, so I'm going to guess my misaligned neck was partially because of the ancient pillow. Oops.
The electric blanket, though, I'm guessing is the bigger part of my better sleep. I grew up having an electric blanket available for cold nights, and while I didn't think it was an essential part of my sleep, I have been feeling much better when I wake up since adding it and the pillow to my bed. It's very comfy and nice for naps and being cozy, too. Chris has an electric mattress pad, but even though heat rises, it's just not the same. You can't wrap a mattress pad around yourself on a cold night.
In other happy news, Monday was my wedding anniversary. Chris took the day off of work, and we spent the entire day together. He went with me to the chiropractic appointment, and we got dinner at a local bar that specializes in fantastic burgers and whiskey. The meal was free, thanks to a generous friend of mine, who'd given me a substantial gift card. So we enjoyed that. Chris also made some rosemary bread for us that day, which was nice because the last loaf didn't survive the meal it was baked for. He'd made another loaf the day before (Sunday). We had friends (a younger married couple) over for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. It was a relatively simple dinner: beef stew, rosemary bread, apple slices, and some macadamia nuts for snacking. But it seemed to go over well, despite one of our friends being sick.
We also broke out the top layer of the wedding cake, which we had saved according to tradition. We put it in an airtight container and froze it, keeping it in the chest freezer for the whole year. I'd promised our friends ice cream if the cake was terrible, but to my delight, it actually had kept quite well. It wasn't particularly dry, either. The only major annoyance with the cake was that the frosting on the sides started falling off as it defrosted, but since the frosting with our names and the year was still intact, it was good enough.
On Thursday last week, I went to see my hair-person for the last time. It was just a simple haircut this time, which has left me with naturally-colored hair on the sides and blue on the top. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. But more important, my hair-person is leaving! I am saddened. Happy for her, but saddened for me. She's finished her schooling, and has gotten a Real Job at a salon in Chicago. Her dream job, in fact, so I can't even be too salty about her disappearing on me. It sounds like she's going to have proper benefits and good tips and further training, etc. So hopefully she'll do well there.
I'm just sad for me because it's hard to find people that like me and like my quirks and eccentricities, so when I find one, as I did in her, I want to keep them nearby so I can enjoy them. She's a pretty interesting, somewhat quirky person herself, so we developed a type of friendship. Hard to quantify. Anyway, it was suggested that I could drive to Michigan City and take the $6 train into Chicago, and from there navigate the city to get to her salon once she starts work there and I need a haircut. At least for the first year, her haircut rates will be quite reasonable.
That seems like a lot of time and effort for a haircut, but I'm considering it just so I can keep in touch with her. I'm kind of crap at keeping up with people if I don't see them in real life. It just doesn't occur to me to say hello and ask after them and their family. It's not that I don't care, I just don't remember in the slew of other things I'm trying to do. And my lack of scheduled 9-5 job means I do have some flexibility in when I do things.
She graduates next week, which is to say, she clocks out for the last time at the school and then never comes back. I guess they don't have a graduation ceremony. She invited me to come, if I have time, etc. I've already picked up a card, I'm just trying to decide if a balloon and some form of chocolate cake would be a reasonably not-weird thing to do. I know it's not like a college graduation or anything, but it's lame that they have no ceremony whatsoever. And I'm unsure about how exactly to quantify the relationship, so balloon, card, and cake might be going overboard. Maybe if it's a tiny cake? Except her family's going to be there, so I should probably at least get one large enough for them to share. Bah. I'll figure something out.
Back to the hair-care thing... while I figure out what to do about haircuts, she did recommend a relatively new student to me, who could continue my inexpensive haircuts and (relatively) inexpensive dyeing sessions. I guess she thinks this student is a reasonable enough match to my temperament. Or... something. I don't know how one makes those judgements. I assume it's relatively intuitive, but I was somewhat bemused when my hair-person commented that I was talkative. I don't really consider myself super talkative, and particularly not when the comparison field is literally hairdressers, who often seem to talk just to talk while they work.
Finally, I was walking and talking with a friend of mine last week, and she suggested I consider holiday work. Retail, the post office, etc, really need part time workers right now. There'd be no benefits, but you do get paid, and she strongly suggested that it's a good way to see how well you do with regular jobs. I haven't had a normal-person job for like five years, so the concept makes me rather anxious. But it's not a bad idea, because you know when the holiday time is up, you're going to be done and never have to come back. So if it's a bad job, you're not stuck there.
It's honestly not a bad idea, and Chris and I could use some extra income. In addition, LENS has changed my brain a decent amount, to the point that it might be possible to manage a job like that. Maybe. My major concern is that I don't necessarily get everything done that I should be doing in a week without a part time job... I'd hate to have to stop doing this blog just to stock shelves or something at a grocery store...
Either way, I think this year is not going to be the year I try it. I've already signed myself up for 40+ hours of work with the federal government this December, regarding research applications. Which... I guess in theory is going to pay money. Just, not, like... tons. It's something, I guess. And unfortunately kind of important. The US government is rather busy funding tons of studies that try to discover what autism is... but not studies about what would improve the lives of people who already have it. So as much as I am not looking forward to reading grant applications for 40+ hours... the chance to get up in peoples' faces and tell them flat out that I don't care why I'm autistic, and that I want to live better and be happier and have a social life... is kind of invaluable. And I'm more than verbal enough to do it.
I guess maybe this year, trying to personally enlighten some researchers and other community reviewers is my part time job.
The electric blanket, though, I'm guessing is the bigger part of my better sleep. I grew up having an electric blanket available for cold nights, and while I didn't think it was an essential part of my sleep, I have been feeling much better when I wake up since adding it and the pillow to my bed. It's very comfy and nice for naps and being cozy, too. Chris has an electric mattress pad, but even though heat rises, it's just not the same. You can't wrap a mattress pad around yourself on a cold night.
In other happy news, Monday was my wedding anniversary. Chris took the day off of work, and we spent the entire day together. He went with me to the chiropractic appointment, and we got dinner at a local bar that specializes in fantastic burgers and whiskey. The meal was free, thanks to a generous friend of mine, who'd given me a substantial gift card. So we enjoyed that. Chris also made some rosemary bread for us that day, which was nice because the last loaf didn't survive the meal it was baked for. He'd made another loaf the day before (Sunday). We had friends (a younger married couple) over for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. It was a relatively simple dinner: beef stew, rosemary bread, apple slices, and some macadamia nuts for snacking. But it seemed to go over well, despite one of our friends being sick.
We also broke out the top layer of the wedding cake, which we had saved according to tradition. We put it in an airtight container and froze it, keeping it in the chest freezer for the whole year. I'd promised our friends ice cream if the cake was terrible, but to my delight, it actually had kept quite well. It wasn't particularly dry, either. The only major annoyance with the cake was that the frosting on the sides started falling off as it defrosted, but since the frosting with our names and the year was still intact, it was good enough.
On Thursday last week, I went to see my hair-person for the last time. It was just a simple haircut this time, which has left me with naturally-colored hair on the sides and blue on the top. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. But more important, my hair-person is leaving! I am saddened. Happy for her, but saddened for me. She's finished her schooling, and has gotten a Real Job at a salon in Chicago. Her dream job, in fact, so I can't even be too salty about her disappearing on me. It sounds like she's going to have proper benefits and good tips and further training, etc. So hopefully she'll do well there.
I'm just sad for me because it's hard to find people that like me and like my quirks and eccentricities, so when I find one, as I did in her, I want to keep them nearby so I can enjoy them. She's a pretty interesting, somewhat quirky person herself, so we developed a type of friendship. Hard to quantify. Anyway, it was suggested that I could drive to Michigan City and take the $6 train into Chicago, and from there navigate the city to get to her salon once she starts work there and I need a haircut. At least for the first year, her haircut rates will be quite reasonable.
That seems like a lot of time and effort for a haircut, but I'm considering it just so I can keep in touch with her. I'm kind of crap at keeping up with people if I don't see them in real life. It just doesn't occur to me to say hello and ask after them and their family. It's not that I don't care, I just don't remember in the slew of other things I'm trying to do. And my lack of scheduled 9-5 job means I do have some flexibility in when I do things.
She graduates next week, which is to say, she clocks out for the last time at the school and then never comes back. I guess they don't have a graduation ceremony. She invited me to come, if I have time, etc. I've already picked up a card, I'm just trying to decide if a balloon and some form of chocolate cake would be a reasonably not-weird thing to do. I know it's not like a college graduation or anything, but it's lame that they have no ceremony whatsoever. And I'm unsure about how exactly to quantify the relationship, so balloon, card, and cake might be going overboard. Maybe if it's a tiny cake? Except her family's going to be there, so I should probably at least get one large enough for them to share. Bah. I'll figure something out.
Back to the hair-care thing... while I figure out what to do about haircuts, she did recommend a relatively new student to me, who could continue my inexpensive haircuts and (relatively) inexpensive dyeing sessions. I guess she thinks this student is a reasonable enough match to my temperament. Or... something. I don't know how one makes those judgements. I assume it's relatively intuitive, but I was somewhat bemused when my hair-person commented that I was talkative. I don't really consider myself super talkative, and particularly not when the comparison field is literally hairdressers, who often seem to talk just to talk while they work.
Finally, I was walking and talking with a friend of mine last week, and she suggested I consider holiday work. Retail, the post office, etc, really need part time workers right now. There'd be no benefits, but you do get paid, and she strongly suggested that it's a good way to see how well you do with regular jobs. I haven't had a normal-person job for like five years, so the concept makes me rather anxious. But it's not a bad idea, because you know when the holiday time is up, you're going to be done and never have to come back. So if it's a bad job, you're not stuck there.
It's honestly not a bad idea, and Chris and I could use some extra income. In addition, LENS has changed my brain a decent amount, to the point that it might be possible to manage a job like that. Maybe. My major concern is that I don't necessarily get everything done that I should be doing in a week without a part time job... I'd hate to have to stop doing this blog just to stock shelves or something at a grocery store...
Either way, I think this year is not going to be the year I try it. I've already signed myself up for 40+ hours of work with the federal government this December, regarding research applications. Which... I guess in theory is going to pay money. Just, not, like... tons. It's something, I guess. And unfortunately kind of important. The US government is rather busy funding tons of studies that try to discover what autism is... but not studies about what would improve the lives of people who already have it. So as much as I am not looking forward to reading grant applications for 40+ hours... the chance to get up in peoples' faces and tell them flat out that I don't care why I'm autistic, and that I want to live better and be happier and have a social life... is kind of invaluable. And I'm more than verbal enough to do it.
I guess maybe this year, trying to personally enlighten some researchers and other community reviewers is my part time job.
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