Couch 248: Curiouser and Curiouser

I'm not good with plants and just bought a big peace lily, which is supposed to help with mold/mycotoxins (as long as I don't overwater it, which shouldn't be an issue, as I'm much more likely to underwater--note, this is not the case for animals, like my guinea pigs!). We'll see how I do with that. It's lasted 2 days so far...

I have become surprisingly good with houseplants. Much easier to care for than human relationships - simple needs until overcome by pestilence. Hmm, maybe more similar than I thought ...

LT- His office looks very eclectic. This fish is smaller than I was expecting and very funky. I like it. I also like the plants with trailing vines. Personally, I think plants in an office are nice (unless they are dying or look neglected). Healthy green plants bring some life to the indoors. They say green is a calming color too- which I do find to be true.

Glad you like the fish! And yes, I like the plants, too. They won't all make it to the new office. I was touched when he said the ivy was a cutting from his grandmother's plant.

My parents have a bay window in their house that was filled with plants when I was growing up. Plus another cart in the living room filled with plants. I used to like watering them. Flowers (daisies and snapdragons) and vegetables (green beans and tomatoes) outside, too. They don't really have indoor plants anymore, though still some outdoor flowers.

Hm, maybe that's part of why I connect to his office? I did just buy a peace lily for my new home office (we shifted rooms in my house)--Dr. T doesn't have one of those, but I read it's good for filtering the air.

You can also see lots of trees out the window (second floor)--older, tall trees. There was a tufted titmouse in one the other day--I noticed the bird, and he showed me what it was on his phone. Also, squirrels and an occasional hawk (not at the same time!) The new place only has one small tree lower than the window. He said recently that he'd miss the trees and wildlife, too. Which helped to hear.

So, it's occurring to me that maybe part of why the Dr. T couch thing is hitting me so hard is that just before the session, I realized my car had been gone through overnight, about 15 feet from my house (parking lot--townhouse without a driveway), presumably because I accidentally left the door unlocked. Like, someone went in, went through my glove box and the center console storage thing (stuff was on the seat that's normally in there), presumably looking for money or drugs or something. They may have gotten a few quarters, but I don't keep any other cash in the car. Not aware of anything being stolen. But I still felt violated.

In response, Dr. T shared a story of his car being stolen years ago. And it being recovered, but the thieves having chewed his gum and thrown it in the back, along with chicken wing bones. Which felt disrespectful. He said that bothered him more than the theft. (See: example of helpful disclosure.)

Anyway, it struck me just now that two safe spaces for me--my car and Dr. T's office--are changing or were violated. Plus the mold in my house we remediated recently. Like, is any place safe anymore? But maybe that's why I'm reacting so strongly. It's helping me to understand it that way (and keeping me from sending an email to Dr. T where I'm just rambling about a couch). Like, this is a natural reaction to all of those things. I can just cry and get it out. Write about it here and maybe for the memoir. Maybe listen to some music in a bit. I'll be OK. (And don't need to contact him.)

Progress. (I'm making that statement,not a question as I normally would have.)

That going through unlocked cars happens all the time out here. There are weekly discussions on NextDoor on whether it is better to lock or not to lock. The not-lockers claim it saves them from getting their windows broken. But the riffled almost always forgot to lock.

Im sorry that happened to you.

Would motion-sensitive lights help?

We have people using some electronic thing to unlock cars if your fob is near enough that they can steal the signal - I have a garage but live in an urban neighborhood that is old so I have a tiny garage but my partner has to park on the street and my friends who live in the neighborhood do too so I got a bunch of faraday bags and they all now keep their fob in it when at home.

I know some criminal defense attorneys who suffered burglaries and while they don't blink at representing murderers, etc, they will not take on a burglar because of the feeling of violation that having your home invaded creates.

i love that whole anne rice book series. i didn't know there was a remake of the movie? i see there's a series now?? wow. I simply loved brad pitt as louis in the movie, don't think i would want anyone else in that role.

I think my favorite from the movie though HAS to be Antonio Banderas as Armand.

I also really like her series about the Mayfair Witches.

Hey LT - you said something about Dr T's couch and it reminded me of this. One time L mentioned getting a new couch. I had an immediate reaction before I could stop myself and said "nooooo! this couch is an old friend!" It's kinda funny as she has always had a plain white cover over it, so I have no idea what the actual couch looks like, and if a new one was similar enough in height and stuff, with the same cover, I'd never know but still... I reacted. I totally get it.

Anne Rice also wrote under a couple of pseudonyms. During the Rosie O'Donnell era - RD and Dan Ackroyd were in Exit to Eden - a movie based on one of Rice's s and m novels.

omg yes i have the "Beauty" series under A.N. Roquelaure too and loved them. Heh. how could i forget.

What kind of pests are your plants getting?

I didn’t know it was originally a book.

Lestat is soooo dreamy. I loved the New Orleans 1910 fashion too. You’ll know it when he walks on screen : “ I love you, Louis. You are loved. I send my love to you, and you send it back round to me.” *swoons*

I didn’t like the new Armand though- he just annoyed me every time he was there. He didn’t seem like the love of Louis’s life. Maybe just because it was stable and minus the passionate hysteria.

Just a warning though as it is a vampire series, it’s very gruesome and it has too many sex scenes.

OK, that makes me feel a bit better! It is funny that she could have just switched it out, though I imagine if she got a new one, she might not have had a cover on it.

I do think part of it for me is that, when he first started seeing clients in person after the pandemic, in early 2022 (well, and for a few weeks in 2021), I had to sit in the chair across the room to be a safer distance (we didn't mask). I think it was 8-10 feet away maybe (I am horrible at distance). It was a long time until he let me sit on the side of the couch where I sit (sat?), which is maybe 4 or 5 feet from him.

I think I asked to sit there during a particularly emotional session regarding D, then he said it was OK if I just kept sitting there from then on. So I guess this takes me back to that time. Though he said he'd either move the chairs or else move *his* chair closer once the couch is gone.

It occurs to me that with the smaller new office, maybe some clients who prefer to sit further away will feel uncomfortable with less space.

I sort of wish I'd said good-bye to the couch, though I felt awkward enough taking a bunch of photos of everything.


I do hope he gets different waiting room furniture. It's wicker, and it just annoys me, creaking if you move. He said at one point that he was trying to go with an outdoors theme. I'd figured he got them on sale somewhere! Oh, I guess I'll need to find "my spot" in the new waiting room, too (not till late next month). There's a particular seat I prefer in this one, and he'll be like, "Oh, you got your spot!" sometimes when he retrieves me. Hm, maybe next time I'm in the waiting room and it's unoccupied, I'll take a few pics of that, too. Though I typically only spend a few minutes there, as I wait in my car if I get there early, and he's generally very punctual.

Oh, that's scary about the electronic unlocking thing. Do those bags block the signal?

That's interesting about the attorneys not taking on burglars. My car felt violating enough--I'm sure my home would feel much worse. Many years ago, friends had their house broken into while they were on vacation, and they were really upset by it (they did steal some stuff, mainly electronics, I think).

Marie Kondo says you have to thank the item before saying goodbye. There’s no reason why you can’t do that on your own in your head.

Anne Rice was not my kind of writer - I like happier/wittier writers but my person taught a class where she used one or two Rice gothic novels (not the s+m ones -the vampire ones). I only know about the beauty ones because after seeing the (not good but for me -not scary and reasonably okay to play in the background) ODonnell/Ackroyd movie - I thought I might finally enjoy an anne rice novel. I was wrong.
It was not quite as awful as trying to read the Gregory Maguire novel that the broadway show Wicked was based on (so loosely about all they have in common is a green protagonist).

Yes -the bags block the signal - I got mine off of amazon. Aluminum foil works as well from what I have heard - we just use a bag

Tin foil? As in hats? That’s why no one has ever stolen ex-hankster’s brain!