Sherlock-Raq, that's pretty cool!

freedom~ma, Callaluna!

Callaluna, I'm sorry for what you've been through, and I'm glad you have found a way out of it. Luna is absolutely beautiful.

Happy for you, Callaluna. And seconding that your daughter is a beauty.

Hello friends! Life has been ... interesting.

I've been going back to school, working on an economics/business degree to extend the research I did on my masters' thesis several years ago, which was kind of a surprise all around. I got a scholarship, but wasn't expecting to engage as deeply with the subject matter as I did. And I thought I'd finished with my masters' work, only to discover that I've been secretly keeping the flame alive in the back part of my head, waiting for an opportunity to dig into it again. That's been pretty great.

The last two years have been a Period of Diagnoses. To wit:

• Major learning disorder!
• Attention decifit disorder!
• Major sleep disorder!
• Fibromyalgia!
• Sensory processing disorder!

Among dealing with the other health challenges, adding in the time and effort in addressing the above big things has occupied a lot of my word. Especially the first two have led to significant adjustments in my learning environment, and adapting to alternate tools. Oh how I wish this had been available for all my previous academic life.

To top this with cherries, in June I was hospitalized for a ruptured cyst in my abdomen. I was on bedrest for 6-7 weeks, and it took another two months to fully recover. On the bright side my books-read list is in the three hundreds. For evident reasons.

Because I wasn't employed during my year at college, I burned through all my savings in the three months of recovery, and wasn't able to work during that period. I've been teetering much closer to the edge than I would like. Which sucks!

I've got several applications out there now, and three interviews scheduled this week, so I'm positive about the direction things have turned. But as so many of you know, it's a long road back to stability after an event like this.

I'm still in Portland, with my wonderful dog, and even though my world has kind of shrunk, it's okay. I'm grateful that I can keep up with so many of you on FB, and I always love coming back here to the board. ♥

::smishes esse::

I was reading along, thinking, Wow, I've never seen that lurker's name before! Hey, they live in Portland, just like __! Hey, they have an awesome dog too! Hey, they've been fighting with diagnoses and school and they should totally meet __, they live in the same city and they have so much in common and they ... oh. Never mind!

Anyhow, ::smishes::!

Ha! ♥ JZ.

Wow, esse, Raq, and Callaluna, such big news!

I am glad you are getting your freedom, Callaluna, and getting to embrace that beautiful you.

esse, it sounds like a big two years for you too, and lots of up and down. In my head, you are a lifelong learner so there is something beautiful and perfect about your being back in school. Hope it all works out.

Callaluna, may the rest of this transition be as painless as possible. I know many of us look forward to having you on this side of the pond again.

esse! I'm sorry about the obstacles, with delighted to see you pushing forward. Jealous of the reading! Each time I have been bedridden I thought I would have that benefit, but drugs/pain/focus made it impossible and I was not pleased.

esse! So good to see you! Wow, that is a lot.