things that have been up with me

[pebblerocker]

I'm now getting clothes that my niece has outgrown instead of the other way around. She's twelve, and starting to get into Star Trek TNG after having finished TOS. Anyway, the kid is very nearly as tall as me and that's somehow surprising without being surprising at all, because I do know I'm short.

On the job front, I have given up doing my job because of physical incapacity, and I'm very glad I spent all that time earnestly reading people's Writings upon Disability because that took the edge off some of the feelings that caused. I have also given up applying for less physically demanding jobs because apparently ten years of turning up to the same job and being good at it isn't a useful thing to put on a CV. Instead I've enrolled in a free three-month full-time course in computers, starting next month. Wish me luck because I'm not sure I'm capable of the classroom thing.

My car has died. I'm very sad. It's still drivable but structurally unsound; it's very tempting to sneakily drive it one last time and hope nobody sees. But I can get to university on the bus, so it's not a situation that desperately needs rectifying.

I'm massively into writing Thunderbirds drawerfic and playing Sims 2, partly out of feeling dread that very soon I'll be studying and won't have time for hobbies. I'm also lifting weights a bit and finding that I actually have more visible muscles than I did as well as being able to lift heavier things, which is tremendously motivating.

Comments

[capri0mni]

I have also given up applying for less physically demanding jobs because apparently ten years of turning up to the same job and being good at it isn't a useful thing to put on a CV.

Grr. Argh. *Shakes fist at late-stage capitalism"

I'm glad some of my writing has helped. That's why I write it (and that's why I hope my voice reaches outside the "Disability Community")

At first, I read 'car' as 'cat,' so it took a beat or too to process "still drivable." I'm glad you have a bus available.

Tip I learned from a 'navigating college while disabled' course I took, after graduating college: break your studying into ten to fifteen minute chunks. For example: immediately after class, take ten minutes to go over your notes while everything fresh in your mind, and rewrite them legibly -- translating fragments into sentences, etc. Then stop, take a break. An hour or two later, go through your textbook, and spend ten minutes checking the headings and chapter sections that cover the material in your notes. Then stop, etc.

That way, you're more likely to remember everything (We tend to remember the first and last things we study, and forget the stuff in the middle -- so make "the middle" as small as possible). And you're less likely to burn out.

Good luck!

[pebblerocker]

I didn't know I would really need that education quite so soon, but I'm glad I was reading. Thank you for everything you've written and what you've linked to. The concept of Pan narrans was one of the most helpful things, when I was in despair about not being a real person because I couldn't DO things - I can still think and write.

Thank you so much for those study tips! I do have trouble maintaining concentration for too long at a time, so breaking it into shorter chunks will really help. That's a great strategy.

My three cats are all chipper as anything, but I have great difficulty driving them anywhere. They go where they please, and insist that I facilitate their movements by opening doors for them. Any door is automatic if yowled at loudly enough...

[capri0mni]

The concept of Pan narrans was one of the most helpful things

I never actually used that phrase, but a quick Internet search reveals that I have been hammering on about it for a while, now. I love it.

(And of course, one of the founding members of the Pan Narrans Theater is named Oisín!)

Any door is automatic if yowled at loudly enough...

LOL!

[pebblerocker]

I wasn't sure you'd introduced me to the concept, but you must have started me on the link-wandering that did!

[capri0mni]

Heh!

I'll take that (as a compliment).