Last Saturday it was really nice outside… the first genuinely nice day of Spring 2021. So the boy and I decided to venture out to see if we could sit outside and grab some food. We parked and walked around and then… encountered a picnic bench of drunk people who were all staring at us […]
Category: Life Story
Beware of Milwaukee Drivers: The Rant To End All Rants
I was in a bit of a funk last weekend so, on Saturday morning, I decided to take the car to run a couple of errands because I like driving. Driving relaxes me. Until I remembered that I live in Milwaukee. I try to avoid the interstate interchanges or “highways” in Milwaukee because they feel […]
Maybe I’ll Have a Happy Electrified Ending
This blog is a little late this week because I spent Monday and Tuesday doing “real” work aka editing a grant application (for a friend but she paid me my rate and it was the closest thing I’ve done to “real” work in a long time). So that felt good. That update is for those […]
Monday: Electrodes, Needles, Nerves, Static, a Bed and Four Men and an Epileptic Crammed in a Tiny Room
I’m not going to lie. That 👆 sounds like a very messed up porn. Gross. Which is why I don’t feel a lot of people could do an EMG test. Because if you’re not “good with” needles, or have an issue with claustrophobia or with being electrocuted, or being essentially naked on a bed in […]
Hey Brain Wars Subscribers… Got a Minute? 😺
TOMORROW (THURSDAY 3/3/21) IS PITCH MADNESS! Otherwise known at #PITMAD. And I am once again pitching my graphic memoir WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU WEIRD AT PARTIES. UPDATE: Thank you so much for your help! Special shout out to Naomi, Gabi, Meredith and Jesse. Here are tomorrow’s pitches: #1 Diagnosed w epilepsy at age […]
Brain Update: To Fall or Not to Fall
“Are you afraid of falling?” “No.” The neurological specialist nodded thoughtfully and I redirected my thoughts to reflect on how “Stephen Hawking” fell a lot in the beginning of the movie The Theory of Everything. ☹️ The reason for this rant is how I went to the dreaded appointment with an ALS specialist because I […]
Helping: A Dark Art
I’m one of those people who feels compelled to help other people. If I don’t feel like I’m helping other people, I feel as if I have no purpose. And this is why I often have had jobs which paid very little money because helping people is not what people do to make money. In […]
If I Was Rich, I’d Have To Get My Cardio Elsewhere: A Shoveling Tale
Milwaukee got pummeled by snow this weekend (church was canceled even) which meant the weekend was largely spent shoveling. I like shoveling because it provides me with cardio and the gratification that comes with putting work in and having it pay off. Immediately. Our apartment is on a corner so, as we are to shovel […]
Going to Prison
Well, I was called back for a second interview for one of the two Education Director positions I had interviewed for the week before. I’m going to tell that story this week because my brain is consumed by thoughts of this role and as such I am incapable of thinking about anything else. A bad […]
True Crime: A Stabbing in Tourist Town
This week’s blog is a chapter I’ve cut from the book I’m working on. So, yeah, my blog is a kind of recycling bin because it’s important to recycle. This is a story about the early days of email and that one time my co-worker was stabbed which occurred while we both worked in tourist […]
HIT AND RUN BUT STILL NOT DEAD 💪
Well Monday didn’t go as I had hoped. Does Monday ever go as anyone hopes? I dropped my husband off at work and soon after set out to Oak Creek for a long awaited appointment with my neurologist. I was dreading it as I haven’t seen her since she ordered all the tests and I […]
😫? Escape With Me to Spain: Misadventures in Málaga
You never know when a grief attack will hit. Yesterday I had a full-blown, out-of-left-field grief attack when listening to a song I always listen to but, for whatever reason, when the song lyrics came to this certain part yesterday… I completely lost it. It’s like all the oxygen was sucked out of my body […]
All Lab Rats Go To Heaven: An Epileptic Puts Her Foot Down
2020 has not been easy for anyone. After all, even those investors and tech CEOs who made a shit ton of money in 2020 off the public health crisis like war profiteers couldn’t just roll down to their local to get a beer or bottle of Cristal without assuming some risk. Tough times for us […]
Escape With Me: A Budget Weekend in Paris
Sometimes it’s healthy to reflect on memories, especially when the present feels overwhelming. A mental staycation of sorts. So I’m reflecting on the single weekend my husband and I spent in Paris for my 30th birthday. The reason we were able to do something so seemingly extravagant is because we were already living in Europe. […]
SYSTEM ALERT: Is What Happened to My Mom Going To Happen To Meeeeeeeeee?
Why have a blog if you can’t use it to openly discuss the potential manifestation of your absolute worst fear? 😺 Yeah. This is the blog post I really avoided writing and here it is. In this post I’ve tried to bedazzle my worst fear and all my fretting and freaking out with pictures and […]
Sometimes You Just Have to Take a Day or Two
Amiright?😺 And if that doesn’t fix what’s wrong you need to move to more extreme actions. I’m currently in between the two stages. And, as long as I’m asking questions, I’ll also query: does anyone else feel like they’re living two lives at once? When I hear the phrase “two lives at once” I first […]
Latest EEG Produced “Unexpected” Results
I started this blog last spring after experiencing my first ambulatory 72 hour EEG. Accordingly, this entry provides some updates for the health tests I’ve discussed here in previous posts and also includes my proposed take-it-into-my-own-hands solution. In addition, it presents a reminder that you never know what you’re going to get when trying new […]
Halloween in September and Improving My Street Cred
I have found the best pharmacy. And that isn’t street/code for anything… I mean I have genuinely found the best pharmacy. You know you’re old and/or sickly when you regard this as a major achievement. Maybe I’m so excited about my new pharmacy because I had such a terrible pharmacy before… so it’s relative. My […]
Genetics: Gene, Gene, Gene, Gene… GOOSE!
Pour a glass of something strong because I’m inviting you to embark upon a potentially life-changing genetic adventure with me. Or don’t read this and drink your whiskey in peace. Either way, my GP referred me to a genetic counselor last winter after I received somewhat dodgy mammogram results but the geneticists never returned any […]
Monday Morning Blues and Brights
I remember when it would be Sunday night and I was short and I’d be watching TV and I’d resent seeing Jessica Fletcher’s dumb face on Murder She Wrote because it meant that the next morning it would be Monday and school would start once again. I didn’t have any significant problems at school beyond […]
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