But I think I'll be staying in Cincinnati for a while

Yay!!!

Went to a protest against Mitch McConnell this morning

I'm so glad you were there. Thanks for going!

Don't hug the Aryan Brotherhood guy.

I saw your pictures, too, and -- what the shit, man? Punch Nazis, not hug!

I'm really not good with crowds, so at protests or marches, I usually end up hanging around on the fringes of the crowd and taking photos. I met someone there who was really excited to meet me at first -- she works on health care policy stuff, and her group has been looking for someone who can say, "I'm a person who could end up in a high-risk pool without the ACA, and here are the reasons why that would be terrible," and I apparently had all the right stuff to say, but then she found out that I live in Ohio, and she needed someone who lives in Kentucky. I also talked a bit with a father whose son needs a heart transplant, and a grandmother who was very frustrated that she has to yet again protest to protect her health care, because she feels like she's been doing that forever.

And one very irritating woman who was surprised that I could leave the house by myself and drive (I was sitting on my walker, and I think she thought it was a wheelchair), and she thanked me several times for being at the protest, like it was some huge incredible thing that I had done. Ugh.

But Hil, you must be so brave! And you're, you know, overcoming stuff! All by yourself, like a big girl!

Went to trivia for the first time in a month or so, and apparently word is out--it was a madhouse! 38 teams!!!!! There was nowhere near enough room for that many people. When it was an hour in and we'd only hit the first scoring break, and my friend still hadn't gotten the burger she ordered, we bailed. We are going to try a new place, next time. Trivia is not fun if you can't sit down and order food and hear!

Protesting yesterday may have been too much for my ankle. Not walking too well now. And I have no painkillers -- I called my doctor on Tuesday to get a refill, but I just called again, and she hasn't signed the prescription yet. The person I talked to said that she'd put the request in again and label it urgent.

Well, the Australian expat lungfish died, but the National Zoo now has a brand new porcupette. Gender will be determined later ... assumingly by someone wearing thick gloves.

Definitely not getting my painkillers today, which means not getting them until Monday. Which means canceling pretty much everything I was planning to do this weekend -- protesting tomorrow morning, going to a "We support immigrants" vigil tomorrow evening, going grocery shopping on Sunday -- because, at the moment, I can't stand up for more than a minute or two, and driving will aggravate my ankle even more.

In more animal news, a sweet sixteen party ... for a red panda.

RED PANDA!

I kind of wish that I had a wheelchair that I could use on bad days, so that I wouldn't just be stuck at home because it hurts too much to walk. Though, on the days when it hurts too much to walk, it usually also hurts to drive, so I'm not sure how well that would work, if I couldn't drive to anywhere.