Hey there. I hope everyone's okay. I loved reading about your textile history, SS. I applied to Parsons and they wanted me to develop a larger portfolio. I hadn't done anything with textiles at that point, and my talent hadn't really emerged, given all that I was dealing with at that age (mom's craziness, dad's cancer, bro's drug addiction and abusiveness, and being raped during my last year of H.S.). I have to resist much remorse about the creative career I didn't get to have. I'm sure that I idealize it a great deal, and the reality may not have matched it. I always loved costume. I did for a while a few years ago, make and sell fleece dog jackets. I still have the domain name doggedpursuits.net, but never created a web site. I just keep renewing the name year after year, ever hopeful that I'll get well enough to do some small business, or even Etsy.

I've also done a lot of knitting, made about a dozen sweaters. There's an original design posted among my photos. I've done some felting, but mostly sculptural needle felting. I want to do nuno or cobweb felting on top of some silk organza that I bought for interfacing. I keep seeing a Tibetan panel coat in mind a la Folkwear. It's so cool that we have this interest in common. I'd love to learn from you. Wish you were down the street. But, I can't get techniques to stick in memory. Every time I want to do welt pockets or bound buttonholes or whatever, I've got to look up the same Threads articles.

Sundog, I'm sorry that you've had such physical anxiety lately. I know and hate that feeling of not being motivated to get into any activity. I've always fantasized about working with my partner in a family business, thinking it would be safer than the work world, but I can see that it could feel like a trap, constraining in ways. I hope for you that you will find some opportunity that would excite you and make you want to take that risk. Though, I so well understand the fears around it.

Wednesday at 9 PM Eastern would be fine for the next meditation. Could you post the guided meditation link again, or else I'll try to find it here. Also, SS, you referred to an article with treatment ideas, for tinnitus? Where is the article located? The music continues to make me crazy and I just can't meditate anymore because I can't ignore the music. Yesterday, the car radio played "Soon It's Gonna Rain" from the Broadway show, The Fantastiks. I wasn't familiar with it, but tonight my brain started replaying it very accurately, and won't stop. When I hear real music, and then it stops, it'll replay verbatim in my head note for note. I can't believe this is happening, and that I'll have this every day of my life all day long. My life was so challenging before. This is like a bad cosmic joke. Sorry for the griping. Compared to events on the other side of the globe, this is not a life or death matter I'm dealing with.