today's window into another world
Jul. 10th, 2025 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
(I am continuing to think a lot about sensory systems; today I have mostly been discovering how many of the things I thought I half-remembered about nerves are wrong.)
(I am continuing to think a lot about sensory systems; today I have mostly been discovering how many of the things I thought I half-remembered about nerves are wrong.)
Exeter was great. I saw an old friend C who I'd forgotten had moved there years ago! Lovely to see his new life: his partner and how cozily entangled their lives are, carving out queer space in a city that otherwise doesn't have much; his drag queen persona (I love trans men as drag queens so much); his new and very different career.
The meeting this morning that I was actually in Exeter for seemed to go as well as it could have.
I made good friends with my Guide Dogs counterpart for the day. He covers the southwest and we don't currently have a person to cover the southwest which is why I was there. But he lives so far from Exeter he had also traveled up last night -- we got Told that our meeting was at 10am, even that clearly wasn't ideal for either of us! -- staying in the same Premier Inn as me (it's perfect, you come out of the train station and it's right there ahead of you with a giant sign, most accessible hotel ever). We ran in to each other waiting to board the same bus to the Bad Bus Stops we were here to look at: him with his guide dog and me with my cane, both wondering if the other one was who we thought it was.
We made a good double act, backing each other up on our less well-received points. I'm sad he's so far away! But he's in the part of the southwest I'm more often visiting and I'm super tempted to invite him for a drink if I get the chance!
I had a long journey back, not as crowded or overheated as yesterday's until Birmingham, but with delays it was still two hours after that before I got home.
I stumbled in, drank a lot of ice water, had a shower, ate some dinner (lovely angelofthenorth had made mushroom risotto!), drank some more water, and now I'm lying in front of a fan.
I'm glad to be back home, where there are fans and ice. I bought an iced coffee this morning and there was no ice in it. It wasn't even cold! It was, like, I forgot about this cup of coffee cold, not iced-coffee cold. Ugh. I drank it anyway, but I pined for ice all day. It was 84°F in Exeter, and the first half of our meeting did involve walking up and down a road to look at its terrible bus stops (they really were terrible too -- really did have to be seen to be believed).
I've agreed to go camping this weekend, so I'm enjoying the ice and fans while I can!
At least for camping I won't have to wear my work clothes! I wore a proper shirt for the meeting this morning but immediately afterward took it off of course. I considered jettisoning the binder as well, but the t-shirt I had grabbed to change in to is a tank top and I didn't like that. The binder, my new white one, was extremely visible under the black tank top as it has a higher neckline and wider straps, but I decided that I did not care at all. It was much more comfy and it just looked like I'd layered two different tank tops. The train staff who provided my assistance and checked my tickets didn't misgender me or act weird about it or anything.
Yknow? Food was one of the things I associated most with summer fun. From the cotton-candy from the carnival to the carrotcake my mom would make. I'm sure others have their own snacks or drinks they like to relax with, so We're curious about yours!Summer foods for me tend to be associated with either fairs or specific road trips.
Challenge #3:
Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?
Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes.
The sun is just starting to disappear behind the horizon and crickets can almost be heard over the music and the laughter echoing through the carnival night. You can't see any stars yet, but the twinkling lights of an amusement ride are highlighting the graceful curves of a swan boat and the high arching hearts of the entrance. Grab the hand of a sweetheart or a sweet friend and embark on a journey through the…Sentiment and love are…weird for me. Heart pumping is much easier, but that's usually related to fear and anxiety than happiness.
Challenge #2:
Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like.
It's time to bring some light to your journal! Now you can do this in two ways, though you can twist the light in whatever way helps you along ^_^ I know to some it can be intimidating to shine a light on yourself. But know somebody will appreciate you for it!I appreciate the two different approaches, as I have in the other versions of the sunshine variety.
Challenge #1:
Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.
I had a first-thing physio appointment, so I dragged myself over to the hospital for that and then nestled down in my Surrounded By Green and... mostly read Murderbot, with occasional fruit harvest and weeding.
(I have also had lots of opportunities to practise self-compassion, both in re the number of things I did not manage to harvest before they went over and in terms of having realised within the last half hour or so that one of my pens has vanished from all of the bags it was nominally in; I hope that if I go and poke around the table etc tomorrow it will rematerialise...)
The first thing I heard anyone say when I got to Exeter -- anyone who wasn't a staff member of either the train station I wad coming from or the hotel I was going to -- was "all right my lover!" In exactly the accent that I've always heard in parodies of that.
It could not have been more stereotypical. I love it when these things happen. It's like that one time when I actually heard someone from Yorkshire say "there's nowt as queer as folk."
I wrote this on Bluesky last week, but wanted to save it in slightly longer form
As a well off, educated, active person, who likes food including healthy things, but still has a lifelong struggle with my weight I do find even the best intentioned discussions around obesity hard. I'm currently heading towards a healthy weight/waist size using Wegovy, but that's a short term aid. What happens when I stop taking it? The advice from my practitioners is that obviously unless I keep up enough healthy changes I will gain weight, and I know that. But I don't know *how*. How to not eat when I'm hungry. How to never want to eat the foods that other normal people eat. I can book in some one-to-one sessions with a dietician and psychologist when I'm closer to trying to maintain my weight, but I honestly don't know how much it will help.
The first time I lost a big chunk of weight I was *sure* I wasn't going to be one of those people who gain it all back again. But I found it so so hard to stay where I wanted to be that eventually I couldn't face trying any more. I do wonder if in future a very low dose of GLP1 agonists or similar will be a long term maintenance option for people like me. Its not an option now. When I hit a BMI of 23.5, or reach 2 years of taking them, I'll be cut off. Then we get to see what realistic help is available at that point. I don't want to have to battle my weight forever, and right now it's not a battle. But how do you even prepare for that?
Apparently I'm not writing up a detailed version of this, so in brief...
I had to present on my work for my team and some other people this morning, and it felt impossible to pitch it at a level that would reach both the people who know next to nothing about the work I lead on and the people who have been most intimately involved in doing it with me.
I missed a section, even with notes, which I think could've made it make a lot more sense. But also my line manager sent me a message immediately to say I spoke very well? I don't get it but I hope she's right!