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I am bad at updating
I promised I would update on all the things, and then never did so. So, uh, I'm going to try to do this succinctly. I will very likely fail at that too. Succinctness (succinctitude?) has never been my forte, as you all know. ;)
Health
I had an actual, honest-to-goodness doctor's appointment today. The verdict for the vertigo that's been coming and going with increasing frequency is likely Meniere's Disease. All the symptoms point to that.
The good news is that I have a diagnosis and a prescription for Serc as well as a brand new box of Gravol to help with symptoms. The other good news is that, neurologically, there is nothing wrong with me. No swelling on the brain, no stroke, no aneurysm, nada.The bad news is that there's no cure, no real treatment, and the odds are very good that I'm going to end up losing some or all of my hearing in my right ear. For someone who has incredibly acute hearing (I score off-the-charts during my routine audiograms for work), this is pretty distressing. On the plus side, I'm affected only unilaterally, so I'm not going to go completely deaf.
I need to make some other adjustments in my life in the meantime, which is making me twitchy, as they're all dietary changes, and anything food-related is... problematic, these days. So I'm giving myself permission not to freak out and try to change everything at once. Mainly I need to eliminate caffeine and, more importantly, salt. I've cut back almost entirely on coffee (I drink decaf, which still has a small percentage of caffeine, as I recall), but I do still drink pop, which I haven't quite managed to eliminate. The next step will be slowly cutting back on my sodium and checking things for MSG, which can also apparently be a trigger. This is all stuff I got directly from my doctor, so it's not the internet being wacky.
Work
We're undergoing an "efficiency review" at work, which is a PITA. Next week I get to have someone come and do a "desk audit," which means the guy will be shadowing me for two days straight, watching my every move and documenting every step of my work with a clicker/timer. Joy. That won't be stressful at all, I'm sure. >_<
My job isn't in jeopardy, but the review might wind up causing us a lot of trouble. We could be losing jobs through attrition (i.e. not replacing people who retire, etc.), and we're already pretty critically short-staffed. So here's hoping they make the right choice. *fingers crossed*
Okay, that's basically the only bad news I have. Everything else is pretty good! Onward.
Volunteering
Holy shit, I have fallen in love with volunteering at Shepherds of Good Hope. The staff and other volunteers in the soup kitchen are really great. The first day I got there I sort of got thrown in the deep end because there was a snow storm and the kitchen was short-staffed (heh, I'm sensing a theme in my life), but I managed pretty well anyway. I peeled a gazillion hard boiled eggs, made several dozen sandwiches for lunch, helped to clean after the lunch prep was done, and then handled the "slop station" afterward, which is where the clients (we're supposed to call them something like "facility users," but whatever) bring their trays, plates and cutlery when they're done.
I learned a lot on that first day. One thing that surprised me was that there was a lot of food that didn't get eaten. I threw away a lot of full plates, or almost-full plates. They weren't the majority, but there was more unconsumed food than I was expecting. Of course, once I thought about it, it made sense. For one thing, not everyone is going to like or want what's being served. The whole "beggars can't be choosers" thing is for the birds. Also, a lot of the clients go hungry on a regular basis, and so many of them have shrunken stomachs and they simply can't manage more than a few bites. Many of them have health and drug issues, which also impacts appetite. At the risk of sounding incredibly self-absorbed, it made me challenge my preconceptions (again), and for that alone I'm glad I was there.
Another thing that hadn't occurred to me is that these places need plates, cutlery, bowls and mugs, and they get all of these through donations. Cutlery in particular is hard to come by, and they end up having to use plastic cutlery, which then gets thrown out immediately because it can't be sanitised properly. I found out that the organisation spends something like $800** a month on plastic cutlery alone. It's insane. Right now I'm super strapped for cash, but the moment there is actually money left at the end of the month (rather than month left at the end of the money) I'm planning on a donation of cutlery from the dollar store.
I've been twice so far (I go on Monday mornings three weeks out of four, when I'm not working), and it's been great. Each time more than 350 people came through the kitchen for a meal. It's incredibly busy, and the work is hard, but it feels very rewarding to be doing something tangible. If all goes well, I might up my attendance to Wednesdays as well, which would come to about six days of volunteering a month. That's still pretty manageable, given my work schedule.
Religion
There's not much to report here. I've been attending Meetings on Sundays of the Society of Friends, and people there are slowly starting to remember my name. ;) I've been making my way through Quaker Faith and Practice, which is a hell of a ponderous read. I'm not quite halfway through, but I'm chipping away at it, bit by bit. I'm hoping to get more involved with the community as time goes by, but I'm letting things flow organically there, trying not to force anything.
Adoption
I went to the adoption information session last week at the Ottawa Children's Aid Society, and now have an application packet in my hot little hands. The information session was actually not super informative, since I'd already been researching obsessively beforehand, so nothing that was in the presentation was news to me.
The woman giving the presentation was very anxious to stress to all of us there (we were seven people in total) that the kind of adoption we were thinking about wasn't the kind where you get a cute baby to take home and coddle. Going through the CAS means adopting older children (anywhere from a few months to 17 years old, but rarely infants or even toddlers) and, as she said, pretty much all of the children have special needs of some kind or another. The problems range from behavioural issues to ADHD to Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (super common, apparently), to any number of physical disabilities of varying severity. Many of the kids have been victims of abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and/or neglect. A lot of them have attachment disorders.
In short, it's not a picnic.
That being said, all the kids are wonderful in their own right, too, and all of them deserve a family who will love them. I have a form as long as my entire body (or it feels like it, anyway) to fill out, in which I get to explain in detail what sort of emotional, physical and mental challenges I think I can handle in a child. (For instance, I wouldn't be able to take in a child whose mobility was seriously impaired--my house has stairs everywhere; I also wouldn't be able to take in a child with animal allergies, since I have pets, and I would like to avoid having to rehome them at all costs).
Most adoptions through CAS are open ones these days. Some form of contact is expected with the birth parent(s), although depending on the circumstances it could be as little as two emails a year with photographs, or as much as four visits a year in person. The birth parents have lost all their parental rights, but if it's in the best interest of the child to maintain some sort of relationship, then all parties are expected to make the effort. It's everyone's responsibility to make sure the kids are nurtured and happy and feel connected.
All that being said, it's entirely possible that the CAS will reject my application. They may see my status as a single woman working shifts as a dealbreaker, and that will be that. I haven't decided what I'll do if that happens. If I go the private adoption route, I'll end up tens of thousands of dollars in debt (the minimum cost, as I understand it, is about $15,000), which I can't afford on my salary. It just wouldn't be a financially sound decision. International adoption is even more expensive. I'd probably have to go with having my own children, but quite honestly that's not what I'd prefer. There are children out there already who need a family, and as an adoptee myself I feel strongly that adoption is the right course of action for me.
Blood ties are overrated: family is what you make it.
Varia
The next few months are going to be pretty full. I have lots on my plate. Some writing projects (urgh, I'm not doing as well as I'd like on that front), and a trip to Barcelona in March! My parents are going to be there as my father is guest lecturing at the university, and they have offered me a ticket and lodging! All I need to do is pay for the dog's boarding and my own pocket money. I am very excited about this trip. I haven't been to Europe in nearly four years. :)
I adulted today and went to the passport office, since I'd stupidly let my passport expire last year. I got a new ten-year one, however, which is scheduled to be delivered to me in February. So I won't have to worry about renewing it until I'm 46! Ack. That feels both very far away and alarmingly close. Also, a fandom convention in October!
Originally I was planning a trip to Hawaii to visit![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zolac_no_miko, but I'm going to have to check my finances and plane ticket prices before I can absolutely confirm that. But, you know, HAWAII. Also, FRIENDS! \o/ So I'm definitely going to try to make that happen if I can.
** I misunderstood the amount spent per month on plastic cutlery, and have amended the number accordingly.
I think that's it for now. Thank you for bearing with me if you made it past that wall of text. ;)
Health
I had an actual, honest-to-goodness doctor's appointment today. The verdict for the vertigo that's been coming and going with increasing frequency is likely Meniere's Disease. All the symptoms point to that.
The good news is that I have a diagnosis and a prescription for Serc as well as a brand new box of Gravol to help with symptoms. The other good news is that, neurologically, there is nothing wrong with me. No swelling on the brain, no stroke, no aneurysm, nada.The bad news is that there's no cure, no real treatment, and the odds are very good that I'm going to end up losing some or all of my hearing in my right ear. For someone who has incredibly acute hearing (I score off-the-charts during my routine audiograms for work), this is pretty distressing. On the plus side, I'm affected only unilaterally, so I'm not going to go completely deaf.
I need to make some other adjustments in my life in the meantime, which is making me twitchy, as they're all dietary changes, and anything food-related is... problematic, these days. So I'm giving myself permission not to freak out and try to change everything at once. Mainly I need to eliminate caffeine and, more importantly, salt. I've cut back almost entirely on coffee (I drink decaf, which still has a small percentage of caffeine, as I recall), but I do still drink pop, which I haven't quite managed to eliminate. The next step will be slowly cutting back on my sodium and checking things for MSG, which can also apparently be a trigger. This is all stuff I got directly from my doctor, so it's not the internet being wacky.
Work
We're undergoing an "efficiency review" at work, which is a PITA. Next week I get to have someone come and do a "desk audit," which means the guy will be shadowing me for two days straight, watching my every move and documenting every step of my work with a clicker/timer. Joy. That won't be stressful at all, I'm sure. >_<
My job isn't in jeopardy, but the review might wind up causing us a lot of trouble. We could be losing jobs through attrition (i.e. not replacing people who retire, etc.), and we're already pretty critically short-staffed. So here's hoping they make the right choice. *fingers crossed*
Okay, that's basically the only bad news I have. Everything else is pretty good! Onward.
Volunteering
Holy shit, I have fallen in love with volunteering at Shepherds of Good Hope. The staff and other volunteers in the soup kitchen are really great. The first day I got there I sort of got thrown in the deep end because there was a snow storm and the kitchen was short-staffed (heh, I'm sensing a theme in my life), but I managed pretty well anyway. I peeled a gazillion hard boiled eggs, made several dozen sandwiches for lunch, helped to clean after the lunch prep was done, and then handled the "slop station" afterward, which is where the clients (we're supposed to call them something like "facility users," but whatever) bring their trays, plates and cutlery when they're done.
I learned a lot on that first day. One thing that surprised me was that there was a lot of food that didn't get eaten. I threw away a lot of full plates, or almost-full plates. They weren't the majority, but there was more unconsumed food than I was expecting. Of course, once I thought about it, it made sense. For one thing, not everyone is going to like or want what's being served. The whole "beggars can't be choosers" thing is for the birds. Also, a lot of the clients go hungry on a regular basis, and so many of them have shrunken stomachs and they simply can't manage more than a few bites. Many of them have health and drug issues, which also impacts appetite. At the risk of sounding incredibly self-absorbed, it made me challenge my preconceptions (again), and for that alone I'm glad I was there.
Another thing that hadn't occurred to me is that these places need plates, cutlery, bowls and mugs, and they get all of these through donations. Cutlery in particular is hard to come by, and they end up having to use plastic cutlery, which then gets thrown out immediately because it can't be sanitised properly. I found out that the organisation spends something like $800** a month on plastic cutlery alone. It's insane. Right now I'm super strapped for cash, but the moment there is actually money left at the end of the month (rather than month left at the end of the money) I'm planning on a donation of cutlery from the dollar store.
I've been twice so far (I go on Monday mornings three weeks out of four, when I'm not working), and it's been great. Each time more than 350 people came through the kitchen for a meal. It's incredibly busy, and the work is hard, but it feels very rewarding to be doing something tangible. If all goes well, I might up my attendance to Wednesdays as well, which would come to about six days of volunteering a month. That's still pretty manageable, given my work schedule.
Religion
There's not much to report here. I've been attending Meetings on Sundays of the Society of Friends, and people there are slowly starting to remember my name. ;) I've been making my way through Quaker Faith and Practice, which is a hell of a ponderous read. I'm not quite halfway through, but I'm chipping away at it, bit by bit. I'm hoping to get more involved with the community as time goes by, but I'm letting things flow organically there, trying not to force anything.
Adoption
I went to the adoption information session last week at the Ottawa Children's Aid Society, and now have an application packet in my hot little hands. The information session was actually not super informative, since I'd already been researching obsessively beforehand, so nothing that was in the presentation was news to me.
The woman giving the presentation was very anxious to stress to all of us there (we were seven people in total) that the kind of adoption we were thinking about wasn't the kind where you get a cute baby to take home and coddle. Going through the CAS means adopting older children (anywhere from a few months to 17 years old, but rarely infants or even toddlers) and, as she said, pretty much all of the children have special needs of some kind or another. The problems range from behavioural issues to ADHD to Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (super common, apparently), to any number of physical disabilities of varying severity. Many of the kids have been victims of abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and/or neglect. A lot of them have attachment disorders.
In short, it's not a picnic.
That being said, all the kids are wonderful in their own right, too, and all of them deserve a family who will love them. I have a form as long as my entire body (or it feels like it, anyway) to fill out, in which I get to explain in detail what sort of emotional, physical and mental challenges I think I can handle in a child. (For instance, I wouldn't be able to take in a child whose mobility was seriously impaired--my house has stairs everywhere; I also wouldn't be able to take in a child with animal allergies, since I have pets, and I would like to avoid having to rehome them at all costs).
Most adoptions through CAS are open ones these days. Some form of contact is expected with the birth parent(s), although depending on the circumstances it could be as little as two emails a year with photographs, or as much as four visits a year in person. The birth parents have lost all their parental rights, but if it's in the best interest of the child to maintain some sort of relationship, then all parties are expected to make the effort. It's everyone's responsibility to make sure the kids are nurtured and happy and feel connected.
All that being said, it's entirely possible that the CAS will reject my application. They may see my status as a single woman working shifts as a dealbreaker, and that will be that. I haven't decided what I'll do if that happens. If I go the private adoption route, I'll end up tens of thousands of dollars in debt (the minimum cost, as I understand it, is about $15,000), which I can't afford on my salary. It just wouldn't be a financially sound decision. International adoption is even more expensive. I'd probably have to go with having my own children, but quite honestly that's not what I'd prefer. There are children out there already who need a family, and as an adoptee myself I feel strongly that adoption is the right course of action for me.
Blood ties are overrated: family is what you make it.
Varia
The next few months are going to be pretty full. I have lots on my plate. Some writing projects (urgh, I'm not doing as well as I'd like on that front), and a trip to Barcelona in March! My parents are going to be there as my father is guest lecturing at the university, and they have offered me a ticket and lodging! All I need to do is pay for the dog's boarding and my own pocket money. I am very excited about this trip. I haven't been to Europe in nearly four years. :)
I adulted today and went to the passport office, since I'd stupidly let my passport expire last year. I got a new ten-year one, however, which is scheduled to be delivered to me in February. So I won't have to worry about renewing it until I'm 46! Ack. That feels both very far away and alarmingly close. Also, a fandom convention in October!
Originally I was planning a trip to Hawaii to visit
zolac_no_miko, but I'm going to have to check my finances and plane ticket prices before I can absolutely confirm that. But, you know, HAWAII. Also, FRIENDS! \o/ So I'm definitely going to try to make that happen if I can.** I misunderstood the amount spent per month on plastic cutlery, and have amended the number accordingly.
I think that's it for now. Thank you for bearing with me if you made it past that wall of text. ;)