And then, there's a bearded fetus.

"Whoa, we're halfway there..." It's Wednesday y'all! Let's see what today brings! (Honestly, the last 10 days has been so buck wild in politics, maybe I shouldn't say that. But sure, lets see)

Yesterday was busy at work, but not horrible. I took 50 calls, which isn't bad. I still had some quiet stretches where I could not talk. I got someone who had a breast lump in for a mammo same day, which always makes me happy. She had called on Monday and I sent a message to put her on the wait list, but then I was scheduling another patient for the same thing. She took an appointment on Friday, but I saw that same day appt, so the moment I got off the phone, I pulled up her chart and gave her a call. And I was able to put her right in. I sent a message to the add on email to let them know that I was able to pull it off. Soon after, I got kudos from my manager, which is another case of "why?" I mean, she was my patient. I had the email in my inbox where the site said "we've got nothing." Why was it surprising that I'd remember that the patient needed an appointment?

The doggo is having allergies like whoa, and I wasn't able to get him an appointment until Tuesday at his normal vet. I'm going to try an online vet. We'll see how that goes. He's just so itchy and uncomfortable, and I feel bad for him. Last night, I was ready to go to the ER vet, but he perked up, so we waited.

My paycheck will be about $200 more than usual thanks to my overtime, which is not bad at all. I'll definitely take it. I'm working on this Saturday, and then off for two weeks, then working the last two of August. Unless people aren't able to work, in which case I'll pick up a couple of more shifts. I'm nothing if not flexible.

We have Blades in the Dark tonight, which will be fun. The team is in the middle of a heist, so we'll pick that up and see where they go with it.

When it comes to being the DM/GM, I'm definitely a rule of cool DM, in that the rules have a certain amount of flexibility if my players want to do something truly awesome. I'm also a fuck around and find out DM. I will remember the shit you pulled three years ago, and it will come back to haunt you. I say this apropos of nothing, obviously.

Still checking my email every five minutes to see if my beef share is ready yet. I want. I have been dying for a really good steak, so I'm planning to choose the bag that contains a nice ribeye or two.

I will say, after buying locally sourced meat, I'm having a really hard time contemplating ordering from Aldi or Costco again. It was such a profound difference in taste and texture. Since the first round of Covid in 2020, meats have been dicey, with pork and chicken frequently tasting vaguely rancid. So far, none of the farm raised stuff has tasted bad. It's all tasted like normal everyday meat.

Okay, time for me to get myself together for work. Everyone have a wonderful Wednesday!

Somehow, Monday has returned. I can't bitch because it was an excellent weekend. I had a lot of fun, and relaxed some. It was a good time.

Today shall be busy at work, then psych appointment, then they're coming to get the old car, so a somewhat busy evening. Then I will probably go to work to deposit the check or cash that they give me for the car.

With the psych appointment, I'm debating on a slight increase in the dose of the Vyvanse. On one hand, I love what this has done. I'm much less irritable and prone to getting overstimulated. On the other, since it hasn't jacked my blood pressure, I'm wondering if a slightly higher dose would help even more. He actually started me below the normal dose to verify that it wouldn't fuck up anything else, so there's plenty of room to go up. The max dose is 70mg, and I'm currently on 20. Normal start dose is 30.

I figure it can't hurt. If it does nothing, I drop back to 20mg next month. If my BP is a problem, I drop back to 20 immediately. At worst, it costs me an extra copay. (Which will suck, because this shit is expensive. But I'm willing to take the shot, because I almost feel normal.

I have energy to care and the focus to do something about the caring. Granted, it's also revealing that I'm the crunchy kind of queer who's all about buying local food and supporting small business, and possibly volunteering for a candidate? Yeesh.

Yesterday, I went out to get a couple of things of meat, and since I didn't feel like wandering the full farmers market for a roast and maybe some chicken breasts, I tried a new place. Bowman Butchers in Harford County. It was a long ride, but not a horribly bad ride, and before too long, I arrived at a small red building. It was tiny inside, maybe a 15x15 foot room. There was a couple in front of me, who were getting one of their "meat bundles" which certainly sounded interesting. It took a while to get that together, and another dude came in behind me. Mine also took forever, as I asked for ribs, and the counter staff, of which there was one, had to go get me ribs.

It was not cheap, I will admit. But we have meats for the week, at which point our share of beef should come in and we'll be driving to Frederick to get that.

Dad was especially annoying yesterday. The Vyvanse could only tamp my annoyance down so much. We did get him up, and then he had difficulty getting out of the chair. Which was terrifying. I thought we were going to be calling the ambulance to come get him up. Hopefully, he's a little less sleepy today. We checked his oxygen sats and his pulse, and they were perfectly normal, so who knows what his issue was.

Okay, time to get myself together. Everyone have the very best Monday!

Saturday, and I'm getting myself sorted for work. Whoo! $100 of OT after taxes! This will pay for either our cow share, or possibly the new D&D books.

Yesterday was a long, tiring day and I'm a little wiped this morning. First up, I had work. It wasn't too bad. I took 52 calls, and mostly had sweet patients. Of course my last call of the day was an escalation. Gen X dude got his Karen on, because his insurance require's special authorization to go to the hospital based radiology center, which is the only place that they do the procedure. Nothing I can do there. His doctor needs to get authorization. He insisted on a manager telling him this. Fortunately, the manager who took it is awesome and was just like "Yeah, I don't know what you want me to do. It's *your* insurance.

Once I got done work, it was time for a nice hot shower, and then to get myself together for the work thing.

As usual, I got to the venue 35 minutes early. So I sat in my car and chatted with friends for a while. I fear the combination of this news cycle/election and being on Vyvanse is bringing long suppressed tendencies to the surface. The old me, the 2001-2004 version of me was prone to wading into flame wars and tossing gasoline. I was active on fandom wank, and could argue and shit talk like no one's business. And I'm feeling that urge coming back. Where I just want to wade in to things and just start a total flame war. So far, I'm being good with minor slips, but deep down, there's a small part of me that wants to go scorched earth.

The work get together was fun. Not a ton of people showed up, but the ones who did were a lot of fun. One person brought conversation cards, which had cute thought provoking questions on them. Then we played a PG version of Cards against humanity called How do you Meme? Or something like that. Mostly, I just relaxed a bit and we shit-talked the patients. My manager wants to refer me to their leadership training class, which I will definitely do. It's probably not for a while, but it's something they want me to do, and I'm all for career advancement, so if they have a spot for me, I'll take it.

I didn't stay too late, was home by 10 since I knew I had to get up at 6 this morning.

At some point, I need to go out and get the shit I left in the car out. I've got a box of white port wine and tonic water in the trunk. I saw a drink on a video of Portugal with what's basically a less disgusting gin and tonic. Add some fruit and you're golden. I wanted.

Busy day again today. I've got work til 12, then Mad Mage at 12:30, then Deadpool at 4:50, then come home and collapse. Go to bed early and sleep until I can't stay horozontal any more.

Jess has their acupuncture appt today. Hopefully they're feeling better than yesterday. The tetanus shot they got on Thursday was kind of kicking their ass.

Okay, time for me to get myself in gear for work and game. Everyone have a wonderful Saturday!

We're past the hump and sliding down into the weekend! Today I have a short day, which is nice. I'll get off work at 2, and Jess will go to their doctor appt, and then we'll have an early night.

I'm very sleepy today. We had Brindlewood Bay last night, which was a lot of fun. We're doing a baking show mystery. We're all contestants on the in game version of the GBBO, and someone just murdered Paul. It's up to us to solve it. The game is very much. Murder She Wrote, with just a touch of eldrich horror. Anyway, as usual, it took me a few minutes to wind down when we were done, so I'm slightly sleep deprived today. Nothing horrible, I'll be fine with coffee.

Yesterday, work was super slow. I barely made it to 40 calls. I had some really nice people who called, so that was nice. It's always good when you feel like you made a difference to someone.

I forgot to take my Vyvanse first thing yesterday, so I got about an hour or so in the morning where I was unmedicated during work, and it's definitely helping. I do still think I'd like to up the dose slightly, but if the doctor doesn't want to, that's okay. I'm pretty happy with where I am now, I'd just like to see if we could kick it up a notch more.

It's funny, I knew intellectually that stimulants could help people with ADHD, I just never quite applied that to me? I thought maybe it would help my focus? But it has done so much more. I've barely had to take any anti anxiety med during the the day. Actually, I don't think I've taken any. It levels me out and makes me feel less irritable and anxious and less prone to doom spirals.

Actually, I'm feeling pretty good mentally right now. I still get irritable with Dad, but to be fair, he can be a total butt nuggget. But overall, I feel like I'm a much easier person to be around on Vyvanse.

Okay, time to get pants on and think about the (shortened) day. Everyone have a wonderful Thursday!

That subject just seemed appropriate. I gave myself a day to be freaked out by Biden stepping down, but then a funny thing happened. The Democratic party did a pivot and snapped to attention, rallying around Kamala Harris. And I watched the donations pour into ActBlue. And I wemt on TikTok, and saw a lot of young people who were suddenly energized and engaged where before they were apathetic. And I watched the Republican party start flailing and scrambling to find something to say about Kamala. And aside from a few non-starters, they failed. And today I'm feeling a little bit of hope. I don't know if it'll work, but it's definitely given us the millennials and Gen Z back.

Yesterday was a busy day at work. 61 calls. My voice was tired by the time I stopped. Hopefully today won't be quite as slammed.

Today, Dad's primary care doctor comes to see him for his monthly appt. Dad's been a bit fussy the last couple of days, so I'm glad that the doctor will check him out.

Jess is waiting for their text books and headset/footpedal to come for transcription training. They're very impatient to get started. Their first day is Monday, so that should be cool.

I did not sleep well last night due to repeated kitty interruptions, and I'm feeling it now. I'm achy as hell and just exhausted. Not sure why the kitty needed to come claw at the covers and bite at me when I didn't immediately pet her. She just wanted to sleep on my hip, but good lord, she was very needy.

And now, I shall get ready for work. Everyone have an excellent Tuesday!

In honor of the one day I could sleep in this week, I got up early and went to the farmers market and bought so much food. It wasn't bad at the beginning of our trip, but towards the end it was getting very hot.

We got meats for the next week or more, plus some fruits, milk and cheese. I also got some tomatoes from another vendor in search of a perfect home grown tomato flavor. It was a long walk around, but I feel like we did pretty good. Tonight we shall have a loin tip roast, which sounds lovely. I shall put some red wine in the pan and mushrooms and garlic and have a tasty nom.

Yesterday ended up being a busier day than expected. I worked my four hours with a total of 12 calls, and then we went to lunch.

Sadly poisontaster wasn't feeling well, and had to cancel the game she had planned. So, of course, I offered to run something. I grabbed one of the one shots I'd gotten from Roll20 and set it up and we all had a good time for three hours. It was a better use of my Saturday than I had otherwise planned.

Sadly towards the end of the game I started to feel really nauseous, so when we were done, I went to bed and stayed there.

It seems a bit better today, tummy is a little dodgy, but I'm able to eat, so that's something. I don't know if lunch was too rich, or what the problem was, but it was annoying.

Today, I shall relax for a bit, and then take my sister up to do laundry, then we shall play another game, and it shall be awesome.

Tomorrow, it will be back to work, for another fun filled week.

Okay, time for me to get the laundry together. Everyone have an excellent Sunday!

It's Friday!! We have Curse of Strahd tonight, which excites me. I'm going to be very interested to see what the characters do next.

Tomorrow, I shall work, and make money to pay for the pile o'shit I just bought from Roll20's Christmas in July sale. I allotted myself $35, but I may have gone over a bit. But there were just so many good things!

Yesterday, work was a bit quieter. I still did 51 calls, but once in a while I had a little bit of breathing room between calls. It was nice. Hopefully, today will be more of the same.

Yesterday was good for my brain. I kept finding those last minute spots that I could just stuff patients in right away. I love that. It makes my inner competitive self happy.

Jess did their first test of the Medical Terminology course. They were having wicked test anxiety, and felt like it was better to just get it done. They got a 100% of course. I'm very proud of them. I've been in the medical field for 30 years, and I didn't know some of those abbreviations or suffixes! So for them to nail it in 2 days is awesome. Now they're in the dermatology module, which they said is a little easier.

All of this is via Coursera, which seems pretty awesome. You can audit courses from a ton of different places for reasonable prices.

After they finish up the terminology course (which should be a couple of weeks, they'll be starting a course from Hagerstown Community College on medical transcription, and a bit later, a certification test on the same. Then, they can do some freelance shit if they want, using my office once I'm done work for a couple of hours.

This is obviously for the post-dad plans, but maybe for now, too? It might be good for them to have something that brings in their own money. I know they hate asking for things, and not being able to contribute financially. So this might be helpful?

Okay, on that note, time for me to go get my ass in gear. Everyone have an excellent Friday!!

Halfway point of the week! It's Wednesday! And barring a bank snafu, it's payday!

Work was a little slower yesterday--I actually had time to breathe between calls, which was nice. I had some very sweet patients who were perfectly lovely to work with. I did 50 calls, which is still considerably higher than 34-40. I'm not sure I'm capable of going that slow, honestly.

My sister wanted something sweet, so we tried Cinnaholic. Verdict: SO good. I was going to be a good diabetic and only have 1/4 of my churro roll, but it came warm and soft and I just tore into that thing.

We made the first meat from the farmer's market. Last night was a lovely brisket. It was just the right size, and tasted so good. Probably could have cooked for another hour or so, but it's a fine line between perfect and tender and dried out. Next time, I'll put it in the crock pot for 5 hours, then bake it for the last hour. Still the flavor of the (slightly tough) meat, was so good. I really enjoyed it. Plus, it's a different cut than what they have at Aldi, which was a nice change. I'm thinking the pork ribs today. I got two racks of them, though they're small, so we'll see if that's enough. Downside, I have no bbq sauce.

Tonight we have Blades in the Dark, which should be fun. Once I finish this, I'll go review my notes so I'm ready.

Our bug out plan to Spain has hit a roadblock. Spain requires a form from your government that you're paying Social Security taxes there, so that they don't double tax you. The US government doesn't supply that page, so we can't go to Spain at the moment. Now it's between Malta and Portugal. It seems like Portugal is a little more liberal, so that'll probably be the plan. Plus, their residence permit can lead to citizenship. And if we got that, we could go live anywhere in Europe. So, more research.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have an awesome Wednesday.

And, we're back to Monday and there is coffee. Sweet coffee. I slept really well, but waking up is going slowly. I'll get there, but another hour of sleep would not have been a hardship.

Yesterday was a nice day. After the farmer's market, I relaxed for a while, and then we slipped out to grab lunch at the Indian Buffett, which was delicious, but rather spicy. Then it was off to grab some prescriptions, and then home to get dad up.

After that, I putzed around online for a while and then we had Rise of the Ice Dragons. The last game had left us in a tough spot, with three of our five party members stunned by the harpy screech, and our tank surrounded. Fortunately the harpies didn't do a ton of damage, but as one of the remaining unstunned members, it was pretty stressful, but so much fun. We finally did get out, but not before my charachter, Irsu who is a red dragonborn and thus resistant to fire, dropped a fireball on himself to take out the harpies surrounding him. It's become a bit of a theme.

I continue to look at places to move in the future. Spain is still looking like the front runner. It has a relatively low cost of living and is very safe. Violent crime is low. Most of the crime are things like pickpocketing, which is prevalent in all of Europe. I've reactivated the Babble account, so I can begin learning Spanish. I'm not very good at languages, but I'm going to do my damndest.

I've been researching and watching youtube videos, and I think we're probably going to aim for Valencia, Spain. The climate may be a little warmer than what we're used to in the summer, but we are 100% getting a place with AC. And the lovely Mediterranean Sea is right there if we need to take a dip. (Sidenote, I have never seen an ocean other than the Atlantic.)

Honestly, even if the US doesn't get bad, I'm still considering a move. The cost of living is SO much cheaper over there. Even in the third largest city, I can find an apartment for about $500 less than I can here in the suburbs of Baltimore. Seeing as my work can be done everywhere, I'm thinking it might be an option.

Jess is also thinking that they would like to get back into the workforce after dad passes, so they're going to be taking medical transcription classes. They'd previously done some regular transcription, so it wouldn't be too different. They can do a couple of hours a day to start, using my office after I get off work, and then when dad is gone they can scale their hours up from there.

It's not amazing money, but it's not bad, either. We could honestly live off just my salary in Valencia, but if we have theirs too, we can live a somewhat luxurious life. Which would be lovely.

Okay, time to go get dad up and think about putting on pants for the day. Everyone have a wonderful Monday!

It's a lovely Saturday! One of my coworkers wanted to swap shifts, and I offered to do so, since I have two games set up today. A little time in the morning to prep sounded like a good plan. So instead, I will work next week, when we have no games currently scheduled. I enjoyed sleeping in a bit.

Yesterday the patients were much less annoying. I ended up taking 58 calls on what felt like a relatively slow day. I think after 3 months on the phone, I'm just used to it. I don't feel like I'm rushing, I just seem to take a lot of calls. I think, honestly, a good chunk of it is that I don't fuck around when I'm on a call. I don't make stupid small talk like I hear other companies do. (T-mobile, I'm looking at you.). I struggle to use the customer's name 3 times, because it annoys me when call center people do it every goddamn sentence. My average call time is hella quick for an average patient.

And then we had Frostmaiden after work, which was very fun. The players managed to get through two sets of beholders to get down to retrieve Sparrow's missing sword. During our next session, the giant battle is going to kick off with the thief who stole it, and is mind flayer lich captain. It should be fun! Once that's done, it's off to the world where slavery is legal and state supported. This will go fine, I'm sure.

Today we have Odyssey of the Dragonlords, and Into the Frost. I've got them all prepped, and ready to go.

We had someone come out to give us an estimate for the tree. It's going to be nearly $1500 to get it trimmed back to a safe level. But on the plus side, the fence is only about $500. So we're okay.

Okay, time to grab more coffee. Since I don't have to work, we're doing Brunch today. Jess has a accupuncture treatment at 10, then brunch, then back for game! Everyone have an amazing Saturday!