Elise Matthesen
Recovering from a traumatic brain injury is a bigger project than it seemed at first. Tell me something good? A thing you did, or know, or are working towards? A place you got to go, a little bit of shared joy? A moment like a poem or a song? Someone that you celebrate? Thanks. The concussion clinic sees me in a few weeks. They've been really booked up this year, apparently. The physical therapy…
There were thunderstorms going flickaflick kaBOOMba in the Twin Cities much of the night, so I am awake. Now that doesn't mean awake enough to make a proper post on how things are, but here's the basic stuff: On May 10, I unexpectedly surfed down a collapsing retaining wall which then yeeted me headfirst into the side of the house. I got a concussion and a double-fractured ankle. And now I'm…
It's nice to have good news to share. As of May 1, I have health insurance again! In all directions available! (Medicare is complicated that way, and explaining it takes more words than I have time for, but the TooLong,Didn'tRead of it is: if your Medicare lapses, any supplemental insurance is also voided until you get the Medicare back. Which took from January 25th until now, in my case.) Anyhow,…
How did it be April? It seems simultaneously sudden and somehow like it took a million years. Guess I'd better catch people up; sorry about being out of touch. State of the Me: Still waiting for my insurance to be reinstated. (There's a whole saga that I'm too tired to retell right now, but rest assured that Things Are Being Followed Up On.) It's been eleven weeks and one day since my mother died.…
Whoops! It was John Henry Newman's birthday the other day, and I missed the opportunity to post this again. It can be sung to at least one version of John Henry, though things may have to be adjusted here and there. Here ya go: When John Henry Newman was an Anglican He went down to the Holy See Said I wanna see the Pope 'cause I got a crazy hope That they're gonna make a Catholic out of me, Lord,…
There's someone who is trying to raise funds for memorial services and to bury his brother who died of exposure last weekend. I'll just say what I said on bluesky: His family wants to do memorial services in Minneapolis and in Wisconsin where he was born and will be buried. If you've felt grief, if you've comforted people in grief, please help these folks. (My own mother died this morning. If you…
Here's where I am today, I guess. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InyT9Gyoz_o comments
After some trouble getting ahold of me, my sister has let me know that our mother died this morning. (So maybe don't assume I remember anything I'm supposed to remember this week?) My sister and her husband continue to be awesome in these matters. As does Juan. OK. Gonna go have food and meds now. comments
...EXTREME COLD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THURSDAY TO 11 AM CST FRIDAY... ...EXTREME COLD WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING... * WHAT...For the Extreme Cold Warning, dangerously cold wind chills of 35 to 45 below expected. For the Extreme Cold Watch, dangerously cold wind chills as low as 35 below possible. * WHERE...Portions of central, east central, south…
(Whoever hellseries on AO3 is, this is for them, because it was their comment on https://archiveofourown.org/works/75916086 that made it happen.) Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning Millay Says the reader to the poet, “Your verse fine and wild My attention has caught, and my senses beguiled” Says the poet to the reader, “Are you going my way? I am Edna St. Vincent Black Lightning…
I have met the deadline and posted the thing! Now we just have the week between today and Reveal Day, also known as "the week where I find all the hidden typos and fix them." Main Collection Reveal Day for the fics is the 24th, and is followed by Author Reveals on January 1. This year was more work than previous years, for a very particular reason. I got COVID for the first time in October, and…
Yes, I am cutting it close. I blame getting COVID Halloween week, and having to rest like a potato. Which I am still doing, but I have advanced to the stage of literate potato. I hope. Because this thing is due in, what, fifty-some hours? Anyhow, I came here to post that I have reached the milestone in writing the current draft where I just reread a section and said out loud, "OK, so there are…
Um. I tried to write an intro for this, but all I can do is gesture incoherently. No, I wasn't a Baldy, I wasn't a skinhead, but the milieu affected my life for Reasons. If you watch this documentary it may give you a better understanding of (some of) what made Minneapolis in the 80s what it was. Or maybe you were there too, and this will be an interesting tour of byegone days. I really want to…
So, just a few minutes ago in one place or another, I was reading what someone had to say about style. In the course of exploring a particular writer's habits and style, they said that they themselves weren't sure they knew what style was. A long time ago, a sentence came into my possession that has been both comforting and humbling by degrees. It is this: "Style is what you can't help doing." The…
He were brilliant. Mr Ford took me to London (first class, yet, as he had to use up a lot of frequent flyer miles on a reorganizing airline, so we went fancy) to see Arcadia at the NT. It was stunning. Glad we had him on the planet. He will be missed. comments
I test negative for COVID these days, and feel a lot better. As directed by many people who learned some of it the hard way, I continue to rest LIKE A POTATO. And no, the giggle-inducing power of that phrase has not worn off. Juan has a way of intoning it at various sleeptimes that brings even more amusement due to the solemnity. And these things are good. HOWEVER, what is not so good is that I'm…
tl:dr Silly body is silly. I continue resting LIKE A POTATO. Whatever's going on in there, COVID (or something) has apparently been playing with the sliders and the lit-up buttons on my disabilities and chronic ailments. The good leg because the bad leg for several days. Really bad, pain-wise. Now that seems to be easing up a lot. The bad leg is doing something with sensations on the part of the…
The status around here is STILL RESTING LIKE A POTATO, though yesterday I did give in to "this needs to be done, it is a safety issue, and I'm the only one who's likely to do it." Thus the two small stumps at the edge of the yard are now decorated with strips of rag tied around them in a way that, one hopes, will convey the notion that there is something here which should neither be mowed over nor…
Apropos of recent attic archaeological finds (no, I mean from my actual attic*), there was a time when Mike and I were talking about funnymen and who-knows-what, and I conflated two names. This yielded "Victor Borges" instead of Victor Borge, and THAT yielded a good several minutes of improvisatory Fordeana covering labyrinthine comedy and surrealist punctuation. Anyone else remembering points of…
At our house, Opportunity Food is defined as what you can make when you can't stand up that long today. Currently, is Bowl o' Cronch: take bowl spread some nut butter on bottom/sides of bowl (note: INsides, not OUTsides) - today is peanut butter throw some dried fruit at nut butter if you got some - today is raisins and some crystallized ginger put in puffed brown rice (or whatever you got) add…
We are still getting through COVID. We are still resting LIKE POTATOES. (Still funny. Every time.) A helpful person pointed out it is still open enrollment time for health insurance. Well then. Have inquired with health insurance broker. (It doesn't cost anything. If you are in Minnesota or Wisconsin, and need one, I have references.) There are things that can be done, it looks like. For right…
Have had food. (Soup!) Have had meds. Vented on Bluesky, where I am lionesselise.bsky.social . Am about to rest again for a while. LIKE A POTATO. If a potato could crochet, anyhow. I'm in a mood for a little crocheting before sleepage. Love you all. You are the best. comments
Because I recently turned 65, there were changes in my insurance. I now have Blue Cross Blue Shield, which I used to have some years ago before I got switched to a different insurance. They have now denied a med that is a cornerstone of why I am feeling better and breathing better these days. The switch happened after my August birthday. All the other meds are (allegedly, and I do believe them) on…
Still have COVID. Still continuing. Still resting like potatoes. (With the caveat that I do get up and sit in a chair for a while each day, because my body needs that for some things.) Today's things included talking on phone with multiple people at new insurance/pharmacy/et cetera. Cried twice. This is harder than it actually needs to be. Told them, when they asked if med was medically necessary,…
The "rest like a potato!" protocol continues and so do we. comments