This week began with the annual Mayfair Theatre Oscars Watch Party. A friend wanted to share the trivia wealth and let me grab a prize. I thought I was selecting a piece of a horror film reel.
I suppose it's about a horrifying piece of women's health history made extra by being turned into a Rom-Com. I haven't seen the movie, but the concept seems a bit tone deaf considering all the difficulties women still have being taken seriously by the medical community.
Speaking of women's history, last week ended with International Women's Day and this is Women's History Month. One of the events I went to didn't sit well with me. There were no women like me there. Butches deserve representation. A lot of women have no interest in looking like a Kardashian. There was an American woman who proceeded to tell us that women should always do things with grace. I felt like telling her, "Honey, the only grace I need in my life is Grace Zumwinkle." It's long passed time that women should just be able to be who they are and not be told by anyone else, including other women, that they have to dress or act in certain ways to be valid as women.
Arts and Crafts
I did get my Fairy put back together properly and I've been making steady progress on the rest of this project. I'm aiming to get the darkest colours out of the way as they are the most difficult to work with on navy blue Aida. I promise she's all in one piece. The ring just makes it look sus.
I've finished sticker bombing my cabinet doors. I will be sealing them sometime soon. I just haven't felt motivated to do that kind of messy thing. I'm hoping they'll all stick a bit better after it.
Decluttering and Minimalism
Some of this week has been a virtual declutter as I wanted to reduce some blog tags. Fitness, Health, Wellness, PWHL, Sports, Skating, Travel, Roller Derby, Food & Drink, and Budo are now under Lifestyle & Sports. There are two Writing related tags now instead of three. It's possible some are under the wrong one and I'll fix them eventually. Writing (General) is focused on general stuff like updates. Writing (The Craft) is about writing skills, tips, editing, and tricks. I've also combined Teaching, School, and Language Learning into Education. There were a number of others that I cleaned up as well.
I also got some of my bedroom more organized and my rowing machine is in a usable place.
Lifestyle and Sports
My muscles were not healing while I'm on stimulant meds. It's common for muscles to tear when exercising. Then they should repair in 24-48 hours. It's usually safe to exercise a muscle group every two days. I had more days in between, yet I was not healing like I should be. I talked a bit about this last post, but since I stopped my meds, the pain is reducing and my arm is healing at a much more normal rate. I suspect it will take a bit though. The massage therapist felt a lot of scar tissue in my upper body. I'm annoyed, but at least it was caught before I could end up in such a state that I'd have to miss the rest of the curling season and be screwed up for softball in the other half of the year. I see another massage therapist on the 19th and will see how much things have improved then.
Why would that happen? Well, stimulant meds can change one's ability to notice their muscles are being overworked. You don't get the same warnings like the discomfort of lactic acid. It's actually one of the reasons they are considered performance enhancing by many sporting competitions. To me, it's not worth the cost to my physical health longterm. This also likely specifically happened to me because of my autoimmune condition making it a little more difficult to stay properly hydrated. Hydration is super important in healing.
Unfortunately for me, the non-stimulant options aren't good. They are either antidepressants or drugs that lower blood pressure. I can't stand brain zaps and my blood pressure is normal, so some of them could be quite dangerous for me. But, CBT, meditation, good nutrition, sleep hygiene, exercise, and some supplements can be an alternative option to meds for ADHD. Looks like I'll be glad I have a copy of Scattered Minds by Gabor Matte afterall. I don't regret trying the meds out. I think people shouldn't shame ADHDers for using the meds if they work for them. I learned more about myself in the process and was able to finally figure out what I had been reacting to in food.
In PWHL this week, Boston was shut out by Minnesota. Grace Zumwinkle got a powerplay goal and Heise got an empty net goal. Minnesota is at the top of the league once more. Ottawa and Boston were tied for fourth place, but Ottawa lost to Boston in a shootout after a game that had a lot of unfortunate post hits. Hopefully Ottawa can pull ahead and snag a playoff spot.
Friday was that special day in a queer human's life in Ottawa where softball registration opened up. I was eager to get back to the field and the routine of the warmer months. I was also looking forward to seeing friends who don't curl.
Edit: I forgot to talk about where things are at for my tongue tie! I got more exercises. At my next appointment, I will be given the exercises that are for the release. It looks like I'll be getting it done in early May.
Gaming & Streaming
Diablo IV continues. There is still about a quarter of the map that I haven't uncovered. I've been doing many of the side quests in the rest of the map before venturing on. I figure when I get close to having only the quests that can't be completed alone, I will find a guild to join.
I began putting together a puzzle. Back when I visited Kingston with friends for a Spooky Vacay, we stopped by a store and I bought a jigsaw puzzle. But it's not just a puzzle. There is a mystery involved in it. This particular one is the Alfred Hitchcock mystery puzzle. The puzzle inside doesn't match the box and, once it is complete, there is a mystery to solve. I've been wanting to try these puzzles as jigsaws are too easy for me. Even the all black one I finished in about a week. The Wave puzzle was 4 days. After one day, I'm halfway done the 1000 piece puzzle. I have been enjoying that I don't know what it is and that I'll have to figure out the clues. It comes with a 12-page case to solve.
There seems to be a couch with a body, a fish in a sleeping bag, and a bird cage, plus a carpet runner with some blood on it.
Writing
I don't like the chapter I'm working on right now and I think I will be cutting a lot of things out that don't matter to make it better. Sometimes, I'll get lost in weeds that don't matter to the story and when I'm not passionate enough about what I've written, it's not well executed. That's how I feel about the current version of Chapter 10. It sucks when I get to a chapter and I feel that way on editing it because I dread all the work it needs to fix it. I end up enjoying it at some point during the rewrite, but it always takes a bit to get going on it. Story changes in one chapter may create a ripple of changes everywhere else, so it can be a lot more work than just the chapter at hand.