By: Revanche

Truths on a Sunday, with links

March 2, 2014

 

Recalibrating

It’s been over a year since I last had to work from bed. Had to meaning, it was too fatiguing and painful to sit up, forget getting up and dressed to sit up at a desk and take meetings or make decisions. Which is great, as far as milestones go!

But I broke the record, alas, this past week. It turns out that working from 10 am to 2 am every day for weeks is not something I can do without penalty anymore. In fact, there was a significant penalty: 5 days bedridden, unable to cook, clean or fend for myself or the dog; 2 more days slowly improving.

Work chaos dictated it, which is a bit ironic on the heels of my vacation post I’ll admit, but there IS an end in sight at least. Unlike previous jobs where the end of any chaos just bled into the next one, this is something that, with a lot of long hours and troubleshooting, will end.

These episodes are always a bit hard on PiC who has to pick up my slack. (And do absolutely nothing good for my guilt complex about being useless or becoming useless with the progression of this … lifestyle or whatever you want to call it.)

To compensate for the inevitable brain death and aggravation that comes with the pain and fatigue, I’ve been taking really short breaks to do silly things. Handmake postcards to send to people who are feeling as bad as I am. Cutting up old towels to hem into little hand and dishtowels. Making address labels. Finding recipes for rich foods that I want to make “when I get better”. Screwing around with the blog. Ahem. New theme. Again.

On a given day, the saddest moments are in the few hours after energy reserves dissipate and I’m sitting in front of the computer again, working because I can’t physically do anything else, because the memory of Being Able is so fresh.

So after a long layabout? You have no idea how much excitement spikes whenever recovery starts and I can, say, sit up in bed without waves of dizziness, or walk out of the bedroom without severe nausea from pain. Naturally, the first morning that I feel actual energy, I run to do laundry. Laundry is how I celebrate recovery.

Money is also how I celebrate recovery: I’ve been thinking a lot on investing and making ways to make our money work for us. There’s nothing like semi-temporary physical deficiencies to remind me of being mortal and all that other stuff. My company doesn’t offer short term or long term disability, which is, of course, a concern for me on these really tough days so I have to figure out how to make our own!

For the record, I’m not a cheerful spoonie. I hate life when my body is full of exposed nerves, heavy with the weight of all that I can’t do, and every decision, to sit or lay down, to eat or rest, is a bad one with worse outcomes. I hate life. But it passes. And I have to be grateful for that much even if I don’t have it in me to be gracious when I’m struggling through the shambles.  Also, internet distractions are wonderful.

Interesting things

PiC always insists that Costco is the best deal for everything, just to get my price-comparing goat, but here’s a quick guide to what Costco’s pricing indicates. It’ll help you get a sense of what it means for your deal right there in store, though not necessarily how the price stacks up against other stores.

Tungsten Hippo on reading and discussing race.

I loved this NYTimes interview with Sheila Talton, on Helping Employees Up the Ladder. Being held back by someone who doesn’t have my best career trajectory/growth at heart burns me up, no one is indispensable and that’s a crap reason to hold on to your star performers if you’re really just holding them back. Sheila’s reason for promoting her stars out of her group is so sensible & definitely in line with my philosophy:
Well, eventually you’re going to lose them anyway. You may as well be proactive, because people don’t forget that. Then, if you need anything in that part of the organization where they’re now working, they will help you.

Hattip to save.spend.splurge for sharing this: Babies in Finland come home with a Baby Box and sleep in them too. I love this. Our Swede friends have their new baby in a bassinet by their bed, no crib or fancy baby room, and I think it’s awesome. Pretty sure Doggle would accidentally step on any kid sleeping by our bedside because he wanders at night and my side of the bed is his favorite nesting spot, after his crate (you know, with an actual bed).

EEmusings on being ready for kids. Or not. Or are you?

Cute Things

VH is doing a giveaway to name her soon to be new addition, the only prize I’d want is a good snuggle with the pup.

A pony meeting a corgi pup

Bottle-feeding a kitten

hattip: Carnival of the Random

7 Responses to “Truths on a Sunday, with links”

  1. Millle grazie for the link love!

    And for the for the headachey report of life of late. You could be reporting about the craziness hereabouts. “…working because I can’t physically do anything else” Dear god. Make it STOP.

    Oh WTF. I suppose we, not God, are the only ones who can make it stop. If only we could figure out how.

    When you do this for clients, especially for Type-A clients, they get the idea that you will work for them any time of the day or the night, seven days a week, 365 days a year…just because that’s what they do. Trouble is, they get paid in the six figures. You don’t.

    We need a union..
    Funny about Money recently posted…PUPPY NAMING GIVE-AWAY: The 4-Month Diet Cookbook!My Profile

    • Revanche says:

      But of course. I have to remain grateful for having the work at all, since the fear of being a baglady or a crippled lady with no way to hold up my end of the marriage is still ever-present.

      We really should unionize! Or perhaps join forces!

  2. Cloud says:

    Sorry to hear you have been unwell. I am glad my little Tungsten Hippo post helped distract you. I’m coming across a lot of interesting and good posts about race right now- may need to do my first ever Tungsten Hippo link love post this upcoming weekend! Or maybe I’ll make it my Wandering Scientist link love post. So many options… (I seriously debated which identity to post this comment under… the multiple online identity thing is harder than I expected it to be!)

    I hope you feel better soon!
    Cloud recently posted…Thoughts from Quiet TimeMy Profile

    • Revanche says:

      Thanks Cloud! It turns out that my comment on your last post disappeared (I’ve been hitting some mysterious combination of keys that deletes everything I just wrote lately… GRRR!) but I meant to sympathize about the multiple identities thing. I have 3 (3 Twitters, 2 blogs… and a partridge in a pear tree!) Juggling makes my eyes cross!

  3. Clare says:

    I am thinking of you. <3

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