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[lenniel]

Hi all!

Just got back from being out of town and I have enjoyed reading the new thoughts posted here.  Healing vibes to all, and I hope the beginning throes of the semester aren't causing everyone too much stress.  Welcome to veleda, and I am impressed you read all the pages here!  Well, I'm compulsive enough to do the same, and there is a lot of great advice here. 

It is a bit eerie to me that the recent conversation has been about success and how we measure it, as that has been a topic much on my mind these days.  I needed to read this - thank you!  Western culture is so tied to the paycheck and position as a measure of success, and those of us who do something different or don't care are considered failures.  Combine that with a lot of emotional stuff and it is complicated.  I'll have a doctorate from a less than stellar university in a totally rare field soon, plus will be in a lot of debt.  Whether I get a job or not remains to be seen, but i do have other skills to fall back on if necessary.  I did go back to school as a result of my illness, and though I did not get the "best" aid package or am not at the "best" school, simply finishing this is important to me.  I'd like to think I can then teach in my area or related areas (I'm interdisciplinary), but if not, so be it.  I'm flirting with danger by not having health insurance every other semester (can't afford it) but I do have family who can help.  I'm just too stubborn to ask.  Anyone have sage advice on getting rid of the monkey chatter in one's head about asking for help?  I've been in AA for years and still suck at it - ms turtle, the Serenity Prayer is a good lifeline!

I'm a bit incoherent today so I'd best stop there...cats kept me up most of the night, happy to have the cat-mom back, I suppose. 

Be well, all, and take good care!

[ms_turtle]

Can you arrange for a web-link, so you can be there in web-space if not in body?

How about a cell phone camera?

Technology is quite advanced.  Use your imagination!!

This sounds like an excellent suggestion. MsP, any time you need someone for a virtual whining party, let's head down to sonic and have hot fudge sundaes.

Hi all!

It is a bit eerie to me that the recent conversation has been about success and how we measure it, as that has been a topic much on my mind these days.  I needed to read this - thank you!  Western culture is so tied to the paycheck and position as a measure of success, and those of us who do something different or don't care are considered failures.  Combine that with a lot of emotional stuff and it is complicated. 

I'm a bit incoherent today so I'd best stop there...cats kept me up most of the night, happy to have the cat-mom back, I suppose. 

Be well, all, and take good care!

It's one of those days where I just want to hide in bed. But there are these little things like a job to do and getting the kids to school. I'm feeling totally useless and just want to quit. Then I walked to my lecture this morning and by the time I was done, I'm feeling like I am better than National Geographic and the Discovery Channel rolled into one. Then I help the next instructor learn how to work the media system. Then I help an advisee, a transfer student, rework her schedule. I am cool until the zing wears off. Then it's back to my normal.

The doorstep kitten is now fully entrenched in the household and has her first vet visit this afternoon. The poodle wants to "play" with the kitty as much as the kids, and the birds couldn't give a flying flip about it all.

[gourmetless]

Interesting thoughts , Lenniel.

I must say that once I understood my limitations, I changed my standards for success.  Even if I had to turn down things I wanted to do, I decided needed to plan how to work to be successful rather than how to work to fail.  And that's how I think about it.  I plan and schedule my time very stringently, and deliberately do NOT overload.  I learned to say 'no'.  Getting through the week without flaring is how I term success.  It is no longer working to get ahead to be termed a success by another's standads, but assigning and adhering to my own meaning.

Beginning of the semester energy!  Ah, yes!  If onyl we could bottle it!

Classes start tomorrow here.  HAve a rough three weeks at first with rehearsals taking up a lot of time, but then life will relax.

Be well all!

[msparticularity]

I'll have to explore the weblink option - thanks, all, for the suggestion :)

And Ms_Turtle, our newest kitty was totally feral until the Poodle took over. Now (two years later) she's very sweet and loving, although she shares all of the Poodle's odd little behaviors! I think poodles are very cat-like in some ways anyway, and ours seems to have acquired a lot of habits from the cats, too. So now they all inhabit a sort of common poodle-cat realm together.

[psychdiva]

I think poodles are very cat-like in some ways anyway, and ours seems to have acquired a lot of habits from the cats, too. So now they all inhabit a sort of common poodle-cat realm together.

Yes! Yes! Does your poodle try to groom the way the cats do?

[ms_turtle]

I think poodles are very cat-like in some ways anyway, and ours seems to have acquired a lot of habits from the cats, too. So now they all inhabit a sort of common poodle-cat realm together.

Yes! Yes! Does your poodle try to groom the way the cats do?

Oh yeah! I was wondering if he was basting the kitty for a while, but no, he was grooming the kitten. Then the kitten just wants to bat at the poodle's tags. I guess it's too late to leave the poodle-cat realm...

[msparticularity]

I think poodles are very cat-like in some ways anyway, and ours seems to have acquired a lot of habits from the cats, too. So now they all inhabit a sort of common poodle-cat realm together.

Yes! Yes! Does your poodle try to groom the way the cats do?

Oh yeah! I was wondering if he was basting the kitty for a while, but no, he was grooming the kitten. Then the kitten just wants to bat at the poodle's tags. I guess it's too late to leave the poodle-cat realm...

Yes, and mine washes his face by licking his paws and using them to groom his face, too!

[psychdiva]

I think poodles are very cat-like in some ways anyway, and ours seems to have acquired a lot of habits from the cats, too. So now they all inhabit a sort of common poodle-cat realm together.

Yes! Yes! Does your poodle try to groom the way the cats do?

Oh yeah! I was wondering if he was basting the kitty for a while, but no, he was grooming the kitten. Then the kitten just wants to bat at the poodle's tags. I guess it's too late to leave the poodle-cat realm...

Yes, and mine washes his face by licking his paws and using them to groom his face, too!

Ours does that too! He learned from Beloved Kitty.

[namazu]

Are poodles this year's must-have accessory for people with chronic conditions?  I missed the memo!  ;)

[msparticularity]

Are poodles this year's must-have accessory for people with chronic conditions?  I missed the memo!  ;)

You do seem to have missed both the memo and a whole lotta conversation on the Introverts thread. Can I guess that you're an Extrovert? In any case, have some chocolate and a nice warm blankie (the other essential items) ;)

[namazu]

In any case, have some chocolate and a nice warm blankie (the other essential items) ;)

These I'd appreciate very much.  Thank you.

I am fighting, apparently not very successfully, to get my head in gear for the term (which begins tomorrow, but I have no on-campus obligations until Monday).  I have at least been getting some exercise, which is good.

[rubygirl]

I want to send out love and peace to all.  I've been doing okay, although the past couple of days I've felt my brain revving up to the Bad Anxious Place and I have to talk myself down.  I've been able to do that, though, so I think I'll choose to be grateful.

I need to exercise...but stuff gets in the way. You know? Work that I *have* to do, takes longer than I thought, people interrupt me, then my "workout window" is past.

I know I need to make it THE priority.  I'm hoping that as the semester settles into normalcy, I'll have a bit more room to make that happen.

I also need more sleep, but that's another story.

Welcome, Veleda.

[gourmetless]

Schedule, schedule, schedule.

I have to work in me-exercise-time from the beginning, otherwise it gets lost.  And without it, I flare more often and with more intensity.

Not sleeping well recently, for no good reason.  Likely wound up by the beginning of the semester, and the attendant work.  Or just have too much on my mind.

Happy Beginnings!  Keep in the good place.

[spork]

[. . .]

Not sleeping well recently, for no good reason. 

[. . .]

Sometimes this can be caused by a worsening of anemia, specifically iron deficiency.  I call it vampire syndrome -- inability to sleep at night.  If you have anemia, it's worth getting checked.

[lenniel]

I've been sleeping poorly too, but figured it was due to anxiety and stress.  Vampirism is a much better choice, and I will look into increasing my iron and going out and draining the blood of the living.  Thanks, spork!  Maybe I'll change my handle to "Vlad the Nervous".  There was a ruler named Ivan the Boneless, but that doesn't have the same umph as Vlad.

Sounds like everyone is coping reasonably with the opening forays of school, or at least getting mental structures in place to stay healthy.

Ruby-girl - gourmetless is absolutely right.  If you schedule even a short walk into your day, it will become a habit.  I used to run every day and now am happy if I can haul my buns out for a walk.  Since I do a lot of productive thinking then, I find it is something I look forward to!

Is everyone else doing well so far?  Joints okay?  My primary goal for the start of school is to stay focused, reasonable and not project.  I've been having a hard time sleeping due to anxiety - my fault for worrying about things I have no control over - and am paying for it with a bad migraine.  I took a walk and that helped, but I'll just have to cope.  Hopefully, it will diminish soon.  I have to drive home on Sunday for the first week of school to meet with my committee, so I'll be fine as long as the headache is not too bad.

The poodle grooming is a new thing to me.  My cats would certainly participate, though.  They lounge in piles and groom one another, though they also do the same to me at night.  One of them seems to think he can get inside my face, or under my head.  We share a pillow every night.  Geez, no wonder I can't sleep...

Stay well, all!