Onerous tasks I have wrangled today (in addition to editing an interesting article* for my job): (1) called dentist's admin with our new dental insurance info; (2) called primary care doctor's office because they fucked up my zepbound refill not once but twice (ordered me pens instead of syringes, and then sent the refill to the wrong pharmacy entirely); (3) ordered the zepbound refill once the doctor's office unfucked the refill and sent it to Lilly Direct; (4) washed, dried, and put away a load of towels; (5) washed a load of dishes.

*The interesting article is a randomized clinical trial (ie, the highest level of evidence) showing that self-hypnosis for menopausal hot flashes can reduce their severity and frequency by at least 50%. I love when I get articles to edit that line up with my ailments du jour!

Surprising absolutely no one, I am (as the kids say) hella depressed. Yes, husband with cancer, but also I realized today it's pretty late into September and I haven't pulled out good ol' Ray, my trusty SAD light box, in the mornings. So I need to start doing that ASAP.

Anyway, this weekend is my 40-year grade school reunion, which I had been planning to attend just because I'm a trash goblin who craves drama. But that plan was hatched before Cancer 2025 showed up. The thing is, the person who's hosting the reunion lives a 45-minute drive (one way) from my house, and while I was willing to make that drive before things got shitty, now I'm 80% sure I'm not going to go. The trash goblin side of me is sad about that, but the rest of me (who is depressed and exhausted and low-key scared all the time and ALSO still has some pain in my arthritic hip and ALSO doesn't want to leave Tim at home alone when I'm a 45-minute drive away) is like "Fuck yeah, Superman is streaming on HBO Max, stay your ass at home." I really do have to decide soon. Or, I don't know, maybe I won't decide until Saturday morning.

(Am I maybe using Tim as an excuse to not go? Yes. But am I also legitimately depressed and exhausted and don't want to leave him alone at home? Also yes.)

Sometimes you have to disappoint your inner trash goblin as self care

Plan on not going and if at the last minute you somehow just can't stand to miss it, go.

I hope you spent time with Ray today, Teppy.

I'll be reviewing my streaming services again when I get back to FL. We have cable included with the building, which is helpful. I think Only Murders in the Building is my only Hulu requirement at the moment.

It was PCP visit day, which is once a month. Since June, I hadn't been in person, so I stopped by rather than doing a televisit. All's well. I complained about only dropping 13 pounds in 16 weeks, but he was delighted. Claims if I lose faster I probably risk losing muscle and would gain it back easier after I go off the shots. Blah, blah, stay the course, exercise, don't starve myself.

Yeah also if you lose too fast you’re probably not eating nearly enough and will feel like absolute crap (btdt). Keep it up that slow and steady!

Claims if I lose faster I probably risk losing muscle

Losing too fast can make the gallbladder unhappy, too.

We've had Netflix since they were strictly a mail option, and we're keeping it. Just caught up on two seasons of Dark Winds, after a marathon of European/Scandinavian murder mystery miniseries. So much tastier than the latest Hollywood mystery fare. We did get and loved Knives Out and Glass Onion on Nflx. We don't do in-theater movies anymore so catching ones we missed on Nflx is good, as is the occasional standup or things like Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, or My Octopus Teacher. We also have a Britbox sub, but we're having trouble accessing it. Something changed in our home setup so we need to get that worked out. We do have Prime, and it's worth its cost for several reasons. I'd love to get Acorn, but we can live without it. I find myself not watching network shows at all, and aside from our two-three (usually Netflix) hours after dinner, DH doesn't watch tv at all.

And I finally, by neglect, kicked my HGTV habit. We get basic cable with our lot rental, and only have to upgrade a little for internet, which comes with higher tier TV. We could no doubt do better but we still have to pay for basic, so it is what it is.

I actually miss the Netflix mail DVD days, because I LOVE commentaries, and cut scenes, and stuff like that. Well, good ones. I miss DVDs. I mean, I know they still exist, but I don't have a player or watch them anymore, and I miss them. Not enough to do anything about it at the moment.

We do watch a fair amount of sciencey, mathy, history-type stuff on YouTube + Seth Meyers' Closer Looks and Corrections. And the occasional movie. We pay for premium there, too -- it cuts out so much annoying ad content. I don't mind the creator ads, but the rest of it? Ugh, and no thank you.

I continue to depend on late-night hosts and editorial cartoons to maintain my sanity in these times of absurdity.

I'll peek into the broadcast news with the FOMO and see that today it is all Comey all the time. Yes, it is an abuse of power, a waste of time and taxpayer money, outrageous and unwarranted. Bottom line, I won't shed a tear for making Comey miserable. Karma.