Woo, I survived! And without going to jail for strangling anyone. Truly, a red-letter day. Maybe even a red-letter week? We'll see how the rest of it goes.
That evening actually started the meeting out very poorly, as I was in a bad mood going in, and was then required to sit still while needing to be positive, awake, and intelligible. In terms of Spoon Theory, I was borrowing spoons from the ether, pretty much from the start. After the actual meeting concluded, people naturally (unnaturally to me, I just wanted to crawl into bed) opted to be social. So I spent a small amount of time doing that, but I also needed to help the support staff register the domains for the website. After doing that, I'd promised someone to help them with their email, which they said was buggy or something. And it was one of our new board members, who I wanted to make feel welcome and included, and specifically, it was the board member I'd opted to mentor. So, much as I really wanted to just curl up in bed, I went and helped them sort out the email thing.
Only after all that was done was I able to go to my hotel room, close the curtains, and try to wind down for the night. As is my tendency when I dread the next morning, I stayed up about 45 minutes longer than I should've.
Fortunately, the next morning wasn't nearly as bad as the evening before. I didn't wake happy or anything trite like that, I woke up neutral, tending towards grumpy, and with the knowledge that I had a lot to do to be ready for the meeting. So I packed up, moved things out to the car, ate breakfast, and got settled before the meeting actually re-began. Taking care of myself helped, possibly, and I'd been pretty religious about taking the elderberry/zinc immune system boosters my doctor had recommended. It's kind of interesting, actually. You're supposed to take them every three hours, so I kept track of the time, but I was able to tell about when I needed to take the next one regardless. My nose and throat would start to feel icky.
Beyond taking care of myself and the zinc boosters, I suspect it also helped that the meeting almost proceeded on schedule. In past times, the agenda items would be handled all out of order, and people wouldn't stop talking, and everyone got off on tangents, until I basically wanted to start throttling people. There was still some tangents and people-that-won't-shut-up, but in the end, the meeting only ran over a bit, as opposed to hours. So I guess this won't be the month that the word "meeting" starts me foaming at the mouth. Always next month, I guess.
Another cool thing that happened during that appointment was a free scalp treatment for my dusty head. I get these haircuts and such done at a school for beauty, so the students invariably end up throwing in free "etc." into your haircut for practice. For instance, I've gotten a hand massage all three times I've been there, and a scalp massage nearly as often. This visit, I asked after something I'd heard mentioned in conjunction with my hair-dust problem, and they opted to try it on me. It's... basically a specialized scalp massage, using a special brush, and then a special shampoo and a scalp treatment afterwards.
It's not that I have dandruff, precisely, since there aren't giant skin flakes, I don't ever have "snow-capped shoulders," and I haven't needed a special shampoo. My head just seems to produce a lot of tiny dust motes and lint, which then sit in my hair and get into my combs and brushes. It's been an irritant to me for years. I can definitely say their treatment has helped, at least temporarily. I bought and took home one of the special brushes. Instead of bristles for straightening your hair, it has loops so the hair isn't really involved and you can just focus on the scalp itself. I've been using it every time my scalp itches, and in the shower to help with the scrubbing. I'm hoping that with regular use, I can say goodbye to the problem entirely.
Meetings...
The thing I'm celebrating is surviving the latest Self Advocates of Michigan board meeting. While many of the board meetings are virtual, and only a couple hours long, the in-person meetings, like this one, tend towards full days. This particular meeting opted to be a day and a half, meaning I had to drive down to Lansing in the evening, sit through 4-5 hours of meeting, sleep restlessly in a hotel room, and then get up bright and early for another 8+ hours of meeting. In addition to all that, I was starting to get sick.
That evening actually started the meeting out very poorly, as I was in a bad mood going in, and was then required to sit still while needing to be positive, awake, and intelligible. In terms of Spoon Theory, I was borrowing spoons from the ether, pretty much from the start. After the actual meeting concluded, people naturally (unnaturally to me, I just wanted to crawl into bed) opted to be social. So I spent a small amount of time doing that, but I also needed to help the support staff register the domains for the website. After doing that, I'd promised someone to help them with their email, which they said was buggy or something. And it was one of our new board members, who I wanted to make feel welcome and included, and specifically, it was the board member I'd opted to mentor. So, much as I really wanted to just curl up in bed, I went and helped them sort out the email thing.
Only after all that was done was I able to go to my hotel room, close the curtains, and try to wind down for the night. As is my tendency when I dread the next morning, I stayed up about 45 minutes longer than I should've.
Fortunately, the next morning wasn't nearly as bad as the evening before. I didn't wake happy or anything trite like that, I woke up neutral, tending towards grumpy, and with the knowledge that I had a lot to do to be ready for the meeting. So I packed up, moved things out to the car, ate breakfast, and got settled before the meeting actually re-began. Taking care of myself helped, possibly, and I'd been pretty religious about taking the elderberry/zinc immune system boosters my doctor had recommended. It's kind of interesting, actually. You're supposed to take them every three hours, so I kept track of the time, but I was able to tell about when I needed to take the next one regardless. My nose and throat would start to feel icky.
Beyond taking care of myself and the zinc boosters, I suspect it also helped that the meeting almost proceeded on schedule. In past times, the agenda items would be handled all out of order, and people wouldn't stop talking, and everyone got off on tangents, until I basically wanted to start throttling people. There was still some tangents and people-that-won't-shut-up, but in the end, the meeting only ran over a bit, as opposed to hours. So I guess this won't be the month that the word "meeting" starts me foaming at the mouth. Always next month, I guess.
Hair Improvements
In other news, I got my hair re-cut, or whatever the correct word for that is. It was supposed to be just maintenance, since short hair gets shaggy and grows quickly. But on closer inspection, Aynsley opted to change the style into something even easier to maintain. I now barely need to touch a comb to my scalp in the morning, which is completely amazing. It is very short now, and can be styled in about four basic ways. My head seems to prefer one in particular, so I've been letting it do that. I think it looks decent. People more fashion-savvy than me think it looks good. It's less work than either of the two previous hairstyles. I'm going to say that my stylist-person is awesome, and everyone is winning here.Another cool thing that happened during that appointment was a free scalp treatment for my dusty head. I get these haircuts and such done at a school for beauty, so the students invariably end up throwing in free "etc." into your haircut for practice. For instance, I've gotten a hand massage all three times I've been there, and a scalp massage nearly as often. This visit, I asked after something I'd heard mentioned in conjunction with my hair-dust problem, and they opted to try it on me. It's... basically a specialized scalp massage, using a special brush, and then a special shampoo and a scalp treatment afterwards.
It's not that I have dandruff, precisely, since there aren't giant skin flakes, I don't ever have "snow-capped shoulders," and I haven't needed a special shampoo. My head just seems to produce a lot of tiny dust motes and lint, which then sit in my hair and get into my combs and brushes. It's been an irritant to me for years. I can definitely say their treatment has helped, at least temporarily. I bought and took home one of the special brushes. Instead of bristles for straightening your hair, it has loops so the hair isn't really involved and you can just focus on the scalp itself. I've been using it every time my scalp itches, and in the shower to help with the scrubbing. I'm hoping that with regular use, I can say goodbye to the problem entirely.
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