Well, Sharon has decided to leave her job as a school custodian.

Between her reluctance to get vaccinated, and the fact that her doctor has told her she needs to cut back because of heart issues, she will be leaving Edmonton Public Schools at the end of December.

She has arranged that in the new year she will be working as a cleaner in a home three days a week.

I hope she's thought this all through, and knows how to get extra support if she needs it, as I simply do not have the funds to help.

today, I managed to go swimming for the first time since COVID began.

It was great, but now I feel like an astronaut coming back to Earth after a week in space.

have you ever been in a situation where you have so many things wrong with your brain you can't be sure which one is acting up?

That's me at the moment.

Okay so I've been trying to be mindful of my emotional state during my current manic phase, and I think I found out something. I'm more suspectable to anger while manic.

I guess this makes sense, since I've seen people who are normally mild mannered turn angry and hostile after say having a few drinks.

So that's something I'm going to have to watch out for, but at least now I know it can happen.

Well, I got some things done today, but at a cost.

I helped sweep out the grate, and went to try and get my meds. I got the one med, but the blister pack wont be ready until Friday. By the time I was coming home I was crying from knee pain.

Then I had to somehow get things under control so I could drive south and pick up Sam at work.

Ah, well.

I've been trying to monitor my emotional state in terms of my bipolar issues, and I think I have discovered something.

I had assumed that my cycle followed a simple pattern - a slow curve up during my manic phase, followed by a slow curve down during my depression phase.

Apparently, its a bit more complicated than that.

During my current manic phase, I've had a couple of what I'm going to call "quick drops" - times when my mood suddenly went way down.

Chapter 3 of Portal Problems is up. Sorry its so short.

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/91978/portal-problems...

a while back I wrote a story called "Rose the Bunny", inspired by a conversation I had on Discord with Rosey Redd. after it was published, she left the comment, "OH god, what did I do? *hides*"

I thought she was joking but since then she's all but vanished.

So if you're out there, Rosey Redd, I'm sorry, and come back.

I'm starting to think I shouldn't drive anymore.

I had 2 scary moments driving today. I was in a turning lane that had a red light while the straight ahead light was green. And somehow both times all I saw was the green light and took the turn anyway.

sighs . . .

So I had a very painful day doing the taxi thing yesterday,

I actually had to call things short, as my knees and my hip were hurting so bad even painkiller couldn't touch it.

Not only that, because we spent about six hours without being able to stop for food, my sugar levels were screaming at me,

Sharon and Sam understood, but I still feel bad for letting them down.

I just had a nightmare while sleeping on my couch.

In it, some guy had me pinned to the ground with his knees holding down my arms. I pushed and wiggled, and even tried to bite his equipment through his pants, but I couldn't move him off of me.

needless to say, I'm kind of shaky

So today was a brain-fart day.

I wanted to go to Costco, because we had bought a new cell phone there, and I wanted to get automatic payments set up.

Only when I got there I discovered I had not brought the phone, the phone number, or the account number.

So back home to get the stuff and go back, and they gave me paperwork to take to the bank.

Go to the bank and they say all they can do is give us paperwork and send us back to Costco.

Well, a brand new story woke me up today and demanded I share it with you all

hope you like it:

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/91628/its-just-clothes

check it out!

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book-page/90137/dd-portal-pro...

Well, it appears I had spoken too soon.

I talked to my insurance company, and I had not let my insurance expire, as I had feared.

Still will have to pay the damage on the other person's car, since it will probably less than my deductible, but still, its a big load off my mind.

So, I took advantage of my manic phase yesterday. I got groceries, took some stuff to the Eco Station bought some books at a used book store. We also bought a new toaster, cause our old one died.

the toaster was one of the items that went to the Eco Station. I also bought an accordion file folder and some labels so I can go through the pile of paperwork in one of my dresser drawers

so I feel like girl who accomplished stuff.

Chapter 2 of Portal Problems is up:

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/91394/portal-problems...

well, It was after noon before I realized today is Thursday.

Sighs, I'm really starting to worry about my brain

Well, once again, reality turned out to be less scary than anxiety had made it out to be.

I got the brakes fixed on my car today, after stressing over it for more than a week (my repair guy was on holiday).

And instead of the thousand-plus-dollar expense I was expecting, the actual price was $460.

It takes out the last of my reserve fund, but that's what that money was for, and now I can start slowly rebuilding it.

(Breathes a sigh of relief ….)

Its weird to have a revelation about yourself at 55.

But I did yesterday, as I finally realized I am super tactile.

I'm always stroking my blankets, or my stuffed toys, or just about anything I can reach.

Thing is, even now being able to acknowledge this, I still have no clue why I do this.

ah, well.

in case anybody isn't tired of me talking about my dreams, here is last night's:

I dreamed I was an assistant to a young man, who looked like an athlete. I was following him, taking notes on a notepad, and after entering a hotel room with 2 beautiful women on the bed, he announced he was going to take a bath.

Because he also wanted me to keep taking notes, he had me follow him, and in the swimming-pool sized tub were 3 more women who I ignored as I kept taking notes.

okay, its dream time again.

last night I dreamed I was working in a place that kind of reminded me of Black Mesa from the game Half Life. But unlike the game, we were not evacuating, but we were moving.

After helping a woman with some offices, I went to see if I could help anybody else, when one of the senior people there told me we had a spy somewhere in the facility, and asked me to do a search.

I'd like to take a moment and give a fellow author here a bit of a push.

I've been reading RobertaME's autobiographical work, "For God so loved the world", and while a lot of it is painful, it is ultimately a story of faith and survival.

If you're so inclined, she'd love feedback on the piece, which is found here:

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/90781/god-so-loved-world

spent some time with my friend Cheryl Teddy Thomas, and it was wonderful.

Her little dog fell asleep on my chest, and I confessed that my mom's paranoia is draining me of spoons, something I've avoided confronting.

I needed both.