I'm so stressed and angry that, because of this hellscape of an administration, I have several different text threads going with friends and family who are trans, telling them how much I love them and promising that I will use my privilege to support them and keep them safe. It's such fucking bullshit. They're terrified right now.

I'm just going to keep text banking and driving for block walkers until nov 6. I'm so mad at the administration right now. It is just non stop assholery.

And on a less serious note, the hike I went on Saturday was 3.5 miles (ish -- more than 3, less than 4), and had very little elevation gain. And it took us about 3 hours to complete the hike, because we kept stopping for pictures and to try to figure out what different plants were, and because a core tenet of the Fat Girls Hiking group is that the pace of hiking is set by the slowest hiker (I love that).

Anyway, it wasn't a tough hike, though I was tired by the end of it. And I exercise regularly enough that I'm not an athlete, but I can wander through the woods. (In fact, I was impressed that when we went up the few small hills on the trail, I never got out of breath and just toodled on up them.) So yesterday I was fine, not sore, nothing. I went to the grocery store yesterday and then mowed the damn lawn for what had better be the last time until spring.

But today my legs are so damn sore that they think a life of floating around on hoverchairs like in Wall-E is a damn fine way to go. Delayed soreness is weird. And extra annoying for being unexpected. Not being sore on Saturday lulled me into a false sense of security.

I honestly don't really understand what's fun about opioids?

For me, it's the blessed relief of pain combined with opioids making me feel warm and fuzzy at the edges. I don't understand taking them recreationally, but they are THE BEST for me when the pain is really bad.

opioids making me feel warm and fuzzy at the edges

This. My family is chock-full of addicts, and I 100% admit that I loooooove that moment, about 10-15 minutes after taking an opioid painkiller, when that floaty fuzzy feeling kicks in.

So, you know, I am pretty vigilant about that shit because our family needs one outlier who doesn't tumble into active addiction.

Most politicians not only fall on the extreme end of extroverted, they usually have a boatload of charm, too. Their policies and political stances are sometimes entirely unconnected to their ability to be personally interactive with or even care about a member of a group that they are politically opposed to.

Note how fucked up the American political landscape is that there are prominent Teapublicans who actually aren't charming, personable, able to at least fake caring, and yet get cheered on by the Deplorables.

Most politicians not only fall on the extreme end of extroverted, they usually have a boatload of charm, too.

I've always admired Lyndon B. Johnson for being such a cranky dude. (Seriously.)

Last night after going out to dinner and a movie and going to my house to collect just a few more things (which also involved going up a full flight of stairs on my butt), I got home and hadn't had a pill in like, 6 hours and my ankle was hurting and I took one and was trying to go to sleep and it wasn't working and I was so mad and thinking about taking another one, and then looked at my phone and it had only been 30 minutes since I took the pill, and thankfully like, 15 minutes later I was asleep.

Today my whole lower leg feels swollen and tingly (various bits of my leg have felt tingly at various times, the past couple weeks, it comes and goes) and I do not like it one bit. And of course every time, I'm like "oh god what if it's a sign of something awful??" (a DVT, something came loose, the fracture is not repaired, they accidentally screwed up my nerves, whatever). I hate that.

I was on a synthetic opioid for several years - I have arthritis - and it did help. The doctor cut me off late last year and I was able to cut back gradually. Then another doctor told me that Advil was bad and I wasn't to take it ... leaving me with Tylenol, which does nothing. Said that physical therapy would help ... with arthritis (it's especially bad in my lower back). Um ... so when I go in and they ask, on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad my pain is and I say "5" or "6" ... what next?

If there were warm fuzzy floaty feelings involved I might feel different, but for me it is extreme nausea and inability to function at any level.

Going to have dinner with Bobby & Tate, which nice, but grumbling in the direction of my eldest who has not acknowledged my return yet.