1.

I am sleeping an alarming amount of time. I wake up, and after a few hours I can barely keep my eyes open, so I go back to sleep for a few hours, and then after lunch, I nap again for another couple hours, and I might doze off again before dinner. I am so tired all the time, and I genuinely cannot tell anymore what is depression and what is physiologically based.

I never understood that ticky box on the depression screening tool about moving more slowly than usual until recently.

I really thought that when the spring semester ended things would get better, but they just seem to have gotten worse. I thought I'd do a big rest up and shake the semester off and slowly get more energized, but instead it's like I'm slowly sinking down into a vat of molasses. I can hardly make myself do anything I'm supposed to be doing for work; I mean, it's getting done, but I'm continuing to procrastinate to the very last second, and this is all just not going to be tenable in the fall. It is going to be frighteningly untenable.

2. Josh is having surgery on the bottom of his foot on July 10. We thought he had a ganglion cyst, but after the whole X-Ray/MRI rigamarole, turns out he has a torn tendon that needs surgical repair. He'll have to stay completely off the foot for 3 weeks following the surgery. That is going to be interesting.

3. I have continued to receive incredibly generous birthday gifts. misbegotten sent me some Sharpie S-gel pens (so smooth!) and a book about living with chronic pain (review below!) and executrix sent me some more books and a collection of lip gloss.

I had a birthday party with my RL friends and received glorious stationery items and a gift card for books and a beautiful napkin holder I've been coveting for some time.

A dear fandom friend (if they wish to can identify themselves) sent me enough money to fill my Nurtec RX. Y'all, I cried and cried when I opened that card. I am surrounded by such kindness and generosity and love. I am so grateful, always.

4.

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a wonderful collection; most of the stories are a bit unsettling in some way, but this is not a horror collection, and the stories are not about monsters in the traditional sense (although perhaps they explore to some degree what is monstrous in each of us--but even that I think goes too far; I don't find all the protagonists or characters in these stories to be monstrous or monsters).

The writing is beautiful and thoughtful. Highly recommend.



View all my reviews

The Writer on Her Work by Janet Sternburg

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Excellent collection of essays published in 1980 on the writing process: what it means to be a writer and a woman and a woman writer. Very interesting snapshot of the late 20th century and would make useful reading for a course about women's writing.



View all my reviews

Promises, Promises : Essays on Literature and Psychoanalysis by Adam Phillips

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Psychoanalysis is weird, man. And not in the good way. LOL

I really enjoy the essays in this collection that are reviews of books; there's one that reviews a book written by a disciple of Freud who took psychoanalysis to disturbingly misogynistic places, places that disturbed Freud and the other practitioners of this burgeoning field. There's also another really interesting essay that looks at anorexia through the lens of Bartleby's "I would prefer not to."

I'm glad I read this collection because I was superficially familiar with psychoanalytic concepts but not how they'd morphed over the last hundred years in practice. I think I'll just reiterate--weird, man.



View all my reviews

Not Weakness: Navigating the Culture of Chronic Pain by Francesca Grossman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a good overview of the way chronic pain impacts women's lives in many domains and contains the personal stories of multiple women. Some of the data here is pretty depressing (the impact of a mother's chronic illness on her children's mental and physical health, the propensity of medical professionals to dismiss women's pain and misdiagnose conditions based on weight, the shame and guilt and anger associated with chronic illness), but there is also a reminder of how kind people can be and the joy that is still available even in a life filled with pain.



View all my reviews