Couch 233: Nothing’s Ghana Stop Us Now

Ugh, I'm sorry about the meeting, @@. Is there no sort of penalty for them for not complying?

And I guess good to know that Info would check on you if you no-showed?

Doing my best to ensure that there is.

I recently changed departments at my job. I didn't realize how awesome my boss and my bosses boss were until today.

My bosses boss (boss 2x I guess) texted me a photo of my work area that she and my boss spent hours cleaning up. It wasn't because of me - this all predated me - but they really made it a clean and welcoming area. I hope I can do them proud by maintaining.

I thanked her and she said "we've got your back". So nice to have support when I was feeling pretty bad because I've got some crappy coworkers and wasn't sure I was doing an adequate job.

I'm sorry your employer is being so difficult @@

ATAT, I am so sorry you are going through all of this. I couldn't even imagine.


On another note, I got a prescription for a muscle relaxer for my jaw pain/headaches. First dose seemed to help, so hopefully I have enough to last me until I get my $700 dentist made mouth guard. UGH.

I am gobsmacked.

I'm glad you got some relief. Yikes at the price of the mouth guard!

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There was a celebrity that died recently, Dean Stockwell. I knew him from a favorite show of mine, Quantum Leap. After he died, all these twitter accolades poured out for him. He's dead. He can't appreciate them. Why don't we do this kind of thing before they're dead? Shouldn't we appreciate people we admire before they die?

We dont do it for them, we do it for us. It is us that feels the loss, who need the healing ritual - not the deceased. We find solace in the shared commiseration of those we were attached to in some way. Keyword being attached.

People also speak a lot of sentimental falsehoods about the dead. When Prince Phillip died, people were bigging him up as some kind hearted comedian and borderline feminist. He was a nasty, privileged racist but that became diluted after his death. When I die, I hope people talk honestly about me. "Here lies comrademoomoo. She was quite ordinary ... Right, who is for a sherry and a sandwich?"

Doing better. My regular therapist will help. Have to juggle stuff but not in danger anymore.

I'm glad, QM.

Glad to hear that.

My therapist informed me today that she is taking two weeks holiday over the Christmas period. Of all the instances when she exercises free will, her taking time off is the one which enrages me the most. Two weeks!! What is she planning on doing?! Apart from drinking whisky, I mean. I hate this so much. I told her that I don't think she should be celebrating Christmas and she laughed. Yeah right lady, it's funny now but just wait until I turn nasty. I hate the lack of control. And the fact that it highlights that I will miss her and that I need her, or at least I believe myself to need her. This is an utter abomination. Time off at Christmas. Who does she think she is?!

Hugs, QM. I’m glad you’re doing better.

Love Dr. T--we were talking early in session today about reasons I don't like Thanksgiving, and one I mentioned is that I'm a vegetarian, and it all centers around a dead bird in the middle of the table. At the end of session, after wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving (tomorrow, for you non-Americans), he added, "Good luck with the bird carcass!"

They cancelled overtime for today woohoo! And, offered VTO even so I took them up on it. Instead of just going to lunch now, I am done working until Sunday morning! (tomorrow is thanksgiving in the US so we are off for the holiday, and my normal off days are Fri-Sat)

I'm sorry, LT. A festival that centres around a dead bird must be really hard as a vegetarian. I hope there are still things that you find delicious to enjoy. Dr. T's remark was very, very funny. Thank you for sharing.

I'm alone in the office today and I can feel the aloneness. It's palpable. It's also eerie. Usually this type of event hypes up my hallucinations but they seem to be staying quiet. Maybe the newish medication is helping. But then starting tomorrow 5 days off. We get Thanksgiving and Black Friday off, then the weekend, then I took Monday off as a personal day. I need to take Helen to the vet. She's not sick. It's just time for her wellness exam. So that's Monday. And a session with my new T Julieanne.

To me Thanksgiving has never centered around a dead bird. (We never had turkey when I was growing up.)

It centers around family, biological or created. Maybe that’s the underlying problem?

(I know I was very, if not unusually, lucky in my biological family.)

We're doing thanksgiving over at our friend's house tomorrow, another of our friends is in town visiting for a couple weeks, and he'll be there too. Should be fun, since we moved we're only like 5 minutes away, so that's nice. We're all fully vaccinated so it will be lovely to enjoy a relatively 'normal' holiday. We'll probably still eat outside just to be on the safe side, but the weather here allows it and they have a nice big patio table so that will work!! I am trying to plan what I'll eat - I've been doing SO well since July with eating healthy, I don't want to wreck it just because it's a holiday! I'll figure something out!

Hm, could be, re: centered around family. I think it's also a case where Thanksgiving was never that big of a deal with my family--Christmas was the event (where I know in some families, Thanksgiving is the big one). It felt like it was just the day when they made turkey--we sometimes went to my grandmother's (she literally lived 5 minutes from us).



One good thing is that since I've gotten into football, I can just spend part of the time watching that. Which saved me a bit going to my sister-in-law's, which also includes some of her husband's family, who are just...very socially awkward. Like acting as if I'm not even there, like I'm invisible (even if I speak to them). So I could just sit and watch football in awkward silence with them. (It's an every other year thing, alternating with my parents, though we get out of seeing sis-in-law this year because her husband refuses to get the vaccine, and my D won't be fully vaccinated for another couple weeks.)

That sounds like fun! And I think it's OK to be a bit unhealthy for one day.

Thanks, Lost. I'm generally OK with the presence of it, and thankfully, my parents (and in-laws, when I spend it with them) are understanding of it now. It's just a bit weird to me when the electric knife (in my parents' case) comes out, carving up the bird.


There do tend to be a lot of good side dishes, like mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, this green bean casserole thing (Dr. T and I got into a brief discussion about that today), and cranberry sauce, which I'll be making. And usually pumpkin and/or apple pie for dessert, though I'm not a big dessert person.

Do you exchange gifts at Thanksgiving? Apart from the food and family contact, how else is it celebrated? And has the celebration changed from its traditional roots?