The remainder of March in pictures

Rare day in contact lenses

I like to try new sodas if I run across them.
I think this one was at Publix Supermarket.

I bought a granny gown! It's comfy.
(I was originally looking for a bathrobe.)

I attended a book sale to benefit the library.
Five bucks for the whole lot! I love a good deal.

I hosted St. Patrick's Day festivities at my apartment.
My brother, sis in law, and her mother joined me for dinner.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the dinner, ha!
But here's the bread. AHHHH THE BREAD!

Here's a closeup. :-)

My stepdad took me to lunch on my birthday.
Everything on this plate is diet-forbidden except the mushrooms.
I was bad. So, so bad.

So, so, so bad. :-)

I could knock somebody out with this thing, ha.
I ran out of Old Bay, so I bought a larger container.
All cooks should have Old Bay in their pantry.

My brother gifted me with a Sam's Club membership so I could
start buying seafood, healthy snacks, and drinks in discount bulk.

I appreciate my stepdad for helping me out while I was on the walker in spite of his own physical troubles. He could use some well wishes. It's concerning.

And now, some food I made:

Bayley's West Indies Salad (Crab Ceviche)

Crunchy Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Asian Shrimp Roll

Cajun Shrimp, Dirty Rice, Carrots

I'm about 75/25 pescetarian right now. Once I eat the last few meatballs from my freezer, and make a ham and cheese quiche, my kitchen will be fully pescetarian. I still try to digest other meats sometimes, but it's not going well. I'll keep trying, but I intend to eventually be 80/20 pescetarian, if not 90/10, for health reasons.

I never did write about internal medicine clinic. I'll get to that on the medical blog soon, and post the link here when I do. Renal clinic is also in 2 weeks.

Talk to you in April.

March update, and a little bit of February too.

Books read:

Complementary Approaches To Pain by NIH and NCCIH (quick summaries of alternative techniques such as acupuncture...not terribly useful in my opinion)

Women In Sports by Rachel Ignotofsky (good)

Women In Science by Rachel Ignotofsky (highly recommend)

The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King (bad, lazy, not King quality, possibly ghost-written or either written on a day he was really bored)

Love Poems by Pablo Neruda (nice enough, a bit sexual at times, very Song of Solomon)

Books in Progress:

Stillllll working on Anam Cara. It's spiritually heavy, and it's going to take a while to get through. It's pretty, I will say that.

I started Learn French with Paul Noble. I seem to understand it well while I'm listening to it and speaking along, but I don't believe I would understand more than a few words if I visited France, or even the hometown of my 8x Great Grandfather in Quebec (that would be Montreal, yes, he was a founder and trustee). My brain is mush, but I'll continue studying to see if I can improve.

I have Beauty For Ashes by Joyce Myers in my possession, but I haven't made it through a chapter yet. I do intend to read it. If I can find it in eBook or audio form, I'm more likely to do this sooner (vision-impaired). For now, my local coffee shop let me borrow the hard copy.

Someone very kindly sent me three audiobooks on Amazon as a gift today. I will be reading all three as soon as possible, and will elaborate when I do.

Art Stuff:

Credit:
https://twitter.com/twitrartexhibit/status/1105397743634313217

The folks at Twitter Art Exhibit received my postcard (top middle) in Scotland! I was excited to see it among the others. The reception is in May, and I'll give more info when I know it.

I have other projects I want to work on, but I have been too weak and tired to do so. I'll update my art blog with work whenever I'm able to crank it out.

I'm done with the Bob Ross company. I haven't been able to teach since my disability, but I don't like seeing how they're handling business these days. It appears that instructors are being thrown under the bus, so to speak, and a lot of them are quite unhappy with the changes. Rightfully so. Instructors have invested thousands of dollars and an incredible amount of time into doing what they do, and they make the company a lot of money. Good luck to them all. I'm sad to be disabled, but I'm glad I'm not a part of this new drama. No thanks.

I still get questions and comments and get asked for favors sometimes. I no longer teach art, and I do not do commissions. I want people to stop asking or expecting this of me. I feel the need to throw that out there, because I'm not kidding. Find somebody else, preferably someone with consistent motor skills and the ability to follow a schedule. Seriously. I'm done.

Food:

I'm super frustrated with my multiple diets and their associated conditions. I will talk about it all in a separate post.

Misc:

I went to therapy and Internal Medicine. I'll have to make my visit with Dr. B a separate post. It was more eventful than expected. Coming up: the eye doctor who I have not seen in three years (he's great), and nephrology (he's great too).

My birthday is in 10 days, and I have zero plans. I do hope to raise $100 for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, though. Feel free to check out my Facebook on how to help, if you're on there. You don't have to be my friend. It's public. :)

I'll ramble on about social media at a later date. I'm weary.

Systemic disease is a beast. It's not even 7 P.M. but I'm curled up in bed. That's become my normal again. Hopefully better days are ahead. Good night.

These books are important.

This has been my life since childhood.

I was neglected, falsely accused, mocked, shunned, misdiagnosed, abused, and refused treatment because I was a woman who hadn't achieved my doctors' sexist ideals.

I suffered greatly. The damage was done and is now irreversible.

This is my story and countless others'.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/books/review-doing-harm-maya-dusenbery-ask-me-about-my-uterus-abby-norman-invisible-michele-lent-hirsch.html

People love to victim-blame and make ableist statements in an attempt to discount someone's injustice, especially in regards to their health, safety, and quality of life. The fact of the matter is, this is my truth, and nothing you say will make it not true. My one life, the only one I will ever have, has been permanently impaired by a patriarchal society.

You don't get to tell me how to feel about that, no matter who you are.

I hope women will continue to speak out. It may be too late for many of us, but, God willing, future generations of women will benefit from our horror stories as some doctors learn how to treat them with the respect and care they deserve.

Another Round of Books, and Completing My Goal

Fiction

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (heavily abridged) audio book
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea original manuscript (translated from French) by Jules Verne
Around The World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

I enjoyed reading Jules Verne, and felt that his writing style made his outrageous ideas believable and endearing. I will count him as one of my favorite classic authors from now on. Who doesn't love Passepartout? What a great character. This is the best in early Science-Fiction.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by J.K. Rowling

This was the Hogwarts textbook, not the screenplay. Therefore, it was pretty much only an encyclopedia of creatures (Thunderbird, Ozark Howler, Jersey Devil, Niffler, Hungarian Horntail, Peruvian Vipertooth, and many more), where they're from, and what they look like, with a few brief stories. The book is narrated by Hufflepuff Magizoologist Newt Scamander, whose life predates Harry Potter by more than half a century.

I did watch the movie, and wasn't as excited as I wanted to be. I found it on the boring side. I will say that I am interested in what happens between Jacob and Queenie, but that's about it. I don't intend to see the sequel in a theater, but I might watch it at a later date online.


Non-Fiction

The Courage to Create by Rollo May

This is a series of essays about creating, and he touches on everything from sculpture to sex. It was nothing particularly mind-blowing, but interesting enough to listen to twice. I will eventually look for the eBook version so I can read it at my own pace.

Marcus Off Duty by Marcus Samuelsson

Samuelsson is one of my favorite chefs. I always enjoy his stories, whether verbal or in written form.

How To Stay Sane by Philippa Perry

Decent advice, for the most part.

How To Change The World by John-Paul Flintoff

Not very helpful. It was mostly idealistic thoughts and repetitive quotes (be the change you wish to see, blah blah), but not a lot of practical ideas on how to make the world truly better as an individual.

This I Believe: Life Lessons by Dan Gediman, Mary Jo Gediman, and John Gregory

This is a series of essays by regular people (which is nice, because it's relatable) sharing stories about life and what they learned from it. This was originally a public radio broadcast.

Poetry

The Complete Works of Emily Dickinson

1775 poems, people! It took reading a few pages each day for five weeks, but I got through Dickinson's entire writing collection. Her nature, death, and eternity poetry far surpasses her life and love poetry. I may elaborate at a later date.


Abandoned for reasons

You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero

It didn't start off so bad, but then she dove into new age frequencies and law of attraction crap and I checked out immediately. I dislike that nonsense, in fact, you may Google my thoughts about the law of attraction by searching for my Amazon review of a book called The Secret. It's brutal, and I don't regret a word. I feel that Sincero was only trying to capitalize on the same concepts, and she probably succeeded because humans are desperate and gullible.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Wealthy woman wants her life to be even happier and more perfect than she thinks it already is. The book isn't very good, and the audio book is even worse due to her voice sounding like it's in a perpetual state of condescending sarcasm. This is the kind of thing the 1% writes from their comfortable world of privilege. My review on Goodreads was a lot nicer, but if you look at the other reviews, you'll see that others there share my disdain. In spite of it coming across as frequently patting herself on the back, it probably inspired someone, or maybe plenty of someones. Not me. I ended up skipping several non-applicable chapters (don't yell at your husband, your kids are perfect, get a job that pays well) and blank-stared at the rest (including "money can buy happiness, so go ahead and buy that thing you want"). Seriously. Get real.


Currently Reading

- Anam Cara by John O'Donohue
- The Tell-Tale Brain by V.S. Ramachandran
- The Stress Solution: Using Empathy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Reduce Anxiety and Develop Resilience by Arthur P. Ciaramicoli

I will talk about those three later. Goodreads is telling me that I've completed my goal of 52 books in a year. Due to the fact that I abandoned some, I am reading a few more than I originally planned in order to achieve that number authentically.

See you soon.

More Books!

It took me a little longer than I planned to share the books I've read over the last few months, so I ended up adding to it several times. I feel like I'm finally at a stopping point while participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, so I thought it was a good time to post the new list. I've divided this into three categories: completed, completed series, and abandoned. Most are hyperlinked to Goodreads. Feel free to add me to your Goodreads if you want to be friends there.

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Completed:

The Poetry Hour, Volume 1
I've been trying to get back into poetry. This helped a little.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Eat Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
No movie on this planet makes me weep like The Color Purple. I know this is an extremely unpopular thing to say, but the movie was far, far better than this book.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
I greatly disliked this story. The only point of it was to attack religion. Heaven knows I have my own issues with the church right now, but I'm not anti-religion. This definitely is, to the extreme. As I frequently say, it is entirely possible to be an atheist without being an ass about it, but some people clearly didn't get the memo.

The Black Penguin by Andrew Evans
Andrew is my favorite world traveler. I've been following him for years, so I knew when he released a memoir, I'd want to own it. He talked about growing up in a strict (in my opinion, abusive) religious atmosphere. He was eventually excommunicated from his church and family for homosexuality. Hired by National Geographic to travel from Washington, D.C. to Antarctica, he gives us his account of the adventure. He's a good writer, and I'm glad he told his story.

Lethal Licorice: An Amish Candy Shop Mystery by Amanda Flower
If you like clean mysteries for general audiences, this series is a decent choice.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Definitely a chick read, and I admit I like the movie a lot more. This may or may not have something to do with my beloved Alan Rickman. You knew I was gonna go there, didn't you? He's my Colonel Brandon and I'll love him for the rest of my life. Just putting that out there, universe.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


Completed Series:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (5 books)
I don't know if I've ever enjoyed reading a series of novels so much. I really loved them. I will say that the editing is horrible to the point that it's practically non-existent. However, the plots were strong and never failed to entertain me. I laughed and cried. Having some knowledge of Greek Mythology is helpful, but I think these books would be a fun read regardless. I will probably read them again!

The Chronicles of Narnia (7 books)
Where do I begin? I've always liked The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe. It's a solid story. I read the book and saw the movie, and thought both were great. The prequel, The Magician's Nephew, was also pretty good (I think a movie is in production now). Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader weren't bad. But the rest...were bad. They were so bad, in fact, that when I reached the end, I cried I was so upset. Some of Lewis's decisions were offensively sexist and unnecessary. The Last Battle was a lazy, terrible ending to what could have been a strong series. I am so disappointed.

Harry Potter (7 books)
I finally finished the Harry Potter series! The audiobooks with Jim Dale were great. Very long, mind you, but well done. I also have the eBooks, so I frequently followed along. As I mentioned last year after watching the movies, I love Harry Potter far more than I expected to. The series exceeded my expectations, and deserves the hype it has received for 20 years. I joined Pottermore on my 40th birthday, and I'm an official Hufflepuff. :-)


Books I partially read and abandoned for reasons:

Shopgirl by Steve Martin: I hate to be so harsh, but this was trash. It's all about "big breasts", "wet panties", and "limp penises"...just...WTF. I wanted to bury myself under a mound of intelligent literature within 15 minutes. The book would be nothing if Martin wasn't a celebrity. It's garbage. 

Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore: This is satire, but I found it utterly unfunny. An hour into the audiobook, I just wanted him to stop talking to me.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: I had no idea how dark and demented this would be. I ditched it when someone started getting raped, and the fact that Burgess stated that he felt excited while writing such scenes tells me all I need to know about him. No thanks.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty: Sex, abuse, desperate housewives...meh. It didn't keep my attention. Halfway through, I decided I didn't care who died, how they died, or why they died.

I didn't hyperlink these, but they're easily Googleable (ha).

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No offense to those who suggested the books I didn't like. I always appreciate the input - I really do!

I've got plenty of other books in queue, including more non-fiction which is usually my preference. I'll share a new list in a couple of months!

Diving Into Books

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I had a goal of reading all of the books in my possession, and I also downloaded a ton of classic books from Project Gutenberg. In addition to that, I have the Hoopla and Overdrive/Libby apps so I can borrow ebooks and audiobooks from libraries. Thankfully, I have access to my local library as well as my family's library in Louisiana, so what I can't find at one, I can usually find at the other. It has worked out great, and I have read 30 books in 8 weeks.

I'm going to be talking about some of them here, or at the very least, list the ones I've read.

But before I go any further, here's my Goodreads account. If you happen to be on there, feel free to friend me to follow my progress.

What I've read since November:

The Shack

I recommend reading the author's interview/commentary after reading or listening to the book. It helps to explain some things. I thought it was ok, although I dozed through part of it. I am sure it made a great movie.

A Christmas Carol

I read it on Christmas Eve.

The Magician's Nephew

Who knew there was a prequel that described the creation of Narnia and the wardrobe? Apparently everyone but me. It was good.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

I love this story and it feels different now that I know the back story. I'll read the rest of the series soon. (I did watch the movies already).

For One More Day

Plenty of crying, just like the last Mitch Albom book I read.

Turtles All The Way Down

Absolutely fantastic book that I recommend to everyone. Everyone. Read it.

Sherlock Holmes: A Baker Street Dozen

Doyle was racist/prejudiced to a disgusting degree. That aside, I've always liked Sherlock and Watson. Hound of the Baskervilles is still my favorite after all of these years.

Marjorie's Three Gifts

The Secret Lives of Introverts

Much validation found here.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Nature

Idealistic nonsense. He writes pretty sometimes, but there's little substance.

Doctor Who and the Creature From The Pit

Heart and Brain

Heart and Brain: Gut Instincts

Heart and Brain is my favorite comic.

Eat, Pray, Love

I could say so many things about this book, but I won't ramble on. I think it's good that she finally became honest with herself about who she was, and made an effort to do something about it. I don't know whether or not she actually changed in the long run, but her journey was interesting enough to carry me through to the end. I appreciated her honesty in spite of not relating to her needs. I think she was lucky to have been given the opportunity to travel the world and write about it.

Murder On The Orient Express

Boring and racist. I stopped listening an hour in.

Emotional Intelligence

"In a 1985 study, blah blah blah..." over and over. Zzzzz. Disappointing.

Assaulted Caramel

Rated G and a fun read. I'll look for the rest of her books.

A Bear Called Paddington

I finally know who Paddington is.

The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life

Minimalism: Essential Essays

I'm studying minimalism, as per my 2018 goal.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Sad and memorable.

Creative Journal Writing

You'd think I would have loved this, but I felt that much of it didn't apply to me. Maybe I'll use some of the writing prompts someday, but otherwise, it wasn't terribly useful.

Astrophysics for People In a Hurry

Meh, this wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. He's kind of condescending. I felt the same way about Douglas Adams, so maybe it's an atheist thing. I think it's entirely possible to be atheistic without being an ass about it, but some people clearly didn't get the memo.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

This lady is overboard, but she has used her obsession to her advantage. Overall, I think her efforts are very successful.

How We Eat With Our Eyes and Think With Our Stomachs

This was a long audiobook and somewhat forgettable, although I will probably buy small red plates someday to test one of their theories.

Anne of Green Gables

I know very few people who don't love Anne by the end of the book. I am no exception. I thought she was a bit ridiculous in the beginning. By the end, I was crying and looking for the TV show.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The grammar is seriously lacking in the first book, but this stuff is legendary. I loved the movies, even the ones that made me mad. I'm now on book 4. I'm reading the ebooks as well as listening to the audiobooks (which are very well done). HP fan 4 life.

In Progress:

Anam Cara

Fed, White, and Blue

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Golden Compass

P.S. - I don't get paid for anything I share here, ever.