Yes. You are right to be proud of that, but it’s not a skill anyone should be needing to develop.

Went to Target; in lieu of happy hour I got a cold bottle of ginger ale.

Thirding this emotion. just like working the system to get benefits does not feel like a compliment.

Yes, also a skill that should not be required!

I'm good at it, but instead of proud advocacy, it really feels like winning a shit-sandwich-eating contest. you don't want your kids to grow up and learn that!(except that sometimes learning to shut up and keep your own counsel is not a bad strategy, )but other than that, I hate what it's taught me. About people, my own value, the epic personal issues that appear to be the drivers for entry into helping professions, you name it.

Also, the energy that got me A's in high school? Makes me a fearful suck-up in almost every other context.

The trick is to learn the protocol and find ways to help the flow rather than hinder it.

Not cool to have to expend limited energy resources on these efforts.

I'm at my sister's house. I'm the young healthy one here so I keep extra busy. Also, driving over alligator alley yesterday resulted in lots of bugs on the front of DH's car. I tried to get them off, but wasn't real successful. He said they should come off easily with all his wax and sealing stuff on the vehicle, but maybe easy for him and easy for me are not the same.

We drove down the beach road to look at the recovery progress from Hurricane Ian. Pretty much all of the older beach homes are just gone. Only the ones built in recent years survived. All the condos were standing, but were empty so maybe they have structural damage or just still too much to fix. All the vegetation, trees and so forth on the inland side of the road was dead. Maybe from the salt water intrusion? Mostly the debris is gone from all the destroyed buildings, but still a whole lot of repairs needed on those that survived. A lot more empty lots.

In exciting local news, the latest report on the giant seaweed mass headed our way shows it is 5000 miles long and weighs 3 million tons. They will clean the beach in the city, but mangrove areas like the keys are going to stink horribly. Our beach will too, but to a lesser extent, maybe? This may help me decide when to head north for the summer.

Laura I read that and was like “but surely by the time summer is here….oh shit, it’s May” I am not ready.

I don't want to be a nudge with the nurses and the coordinator and the doctor

You absolutely have to be an advocate and making sure that JZ's health is the priority (and yours) and that means making noise and double checking things. There are ways to do this without being rude or overbearing and I know you'll figure it out.

Laura, I'm so glad that my section of the beach seems to have been spared the seaweed monstrosity but fleeing up North for the summer sounds like a good plan.

I messed up. I came home and had a check from worker's comp and deposited it and picked the free wait 3 days before you get it option. And then I had a notification about money deposit and I went and checked and since the banking app has changed for some reason I thought the mobile deposit was the direct deposit and promptly forgot about thigns until I checked my account today.

So now I've had to email the lawyer and say --oops I made a mistake and I haven't gotten any thing direct deposit from worker's comp even though this should have all been cleared up when I was in Florida. It doesn't seem that direct deposit means I get my money any faster. I also haven't heard anything about the dr's note for more hours. It's been about a year and a half of this fuckery.

And I do like slinging gin for the greater good.

I just needed to see that sentence again; it's so delightful!

Last night an all-new experience: woke up shivering and soaking wet, having just suffered a full-body sweat that soaked through my PJs and the comforter and the mattress. No other bodily fluids, no flop-sweat stink, just water shooting out of every pore. I've had occasional night sweats before, but never this bad.

Mid-morning now, airing everything out now and wearing a soft long-sleeved top snagged from Nordstrom Rack yesterday, getting ready for another trip to Nordstrom Rack for new PJs and maybe sweatpants. The shirt I'm wearing isn't my style at all, but it is exactly the kind of thing my oldest friend would wear and I find that comforting, like she's here with me now (instead of in London where she actually is now, how dare she).

Almost done with Men At Arms and sad to have it nearly over; will next read a Roz Chast graphic memoir and an Edward Eager. What are other folks reading? Including fic?