Heidi: Araphael, Redux

[Heidi]

1 hour ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

That was awesome. You are a gifted writer. It's also a great bonus to finally hear your voice.

Totally going to go hide and blush now.

[SkyGirl]

Hi @Heidi!! As promised, popping over here at @Tanktimus the Encourager's suggestion and so excited to get to know you a little bit. I'm intrigued by your neurological symptoms, as I was an audiology / neurology student in a previous life, and eager to follow as your doctor(s) continue treatments and exploration of what will work best for you.

 

So happy to meet a fellow writer too - though I have much to learn from you!!   

[Heidi]

2 minutes ago, SkyGirl said:

Hi @Heidi!! As promised, popping over here at @Tanktimus the Encourager's suggestion and so excited to get to know you a little bit. I'm intrigued by your neurological symptoms, as I was an audiology / neurology student in a previous life, and eager to follow as your doctor(s) continue treatments and exploration of what will work best for you.

 

So happy to meet a fellow writer too - though I have much to learn from you!!   

Hi, @SkyGirl, so pleased to meet you! I found sound bowl meditation on my own, and it really seems to be the only thing that helps -- and it works like magic, but only lasts about three days, then the decline happens and a week later i'm back to a total reset, with each day without sound healing after that being an active decline. Acupuncture helps dramatically as well, with the same three-day benefit, week-long reset. My doctors aren't opposed of course, but they think it's kind of hoodoo. They might not be wrong; hoodoo might work.

 

I'm on 1000 mg of Keppra twice a day. I have double vision with my headaches, and a neurological optometrist did some amazing things with corrective lenses that have prism adjustments to bend light. I have to have binasal occlusion or the world starts to go wonky, and apparently I've had a midline shift that not only is to the left but also at an angle. It's a real clown car inside my head.

 

❤️ Ask me anything.

[Tobbe]

8 hours ago, Heidi said:

I'm recording some of the pieces from my memoir. It's goofy and has zero production quality.

Here it is anyway.

I love William Goldman:

 

That was a beautiful reading. I wish I could read like that for my kids! So captivating. And your voice is super pleasant to listen to.

[darkfoxx]

The forums won’t let me repeatedly go back and ❤️ your post, so I’m going to do it myself: ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 

[Heidi]

On 1/25/2020 at 12:17 AM, darkfoxx said:

The forums won’t let me repeatedly go back and ❤️ your post, so I’m going to do it myself: ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 

Awwh!!!

You're the best🙂

[Heidi]

Went to a Philosophy Roundtable on the Ethics of Parenting, then had breakfast with a PhD department instructor. I *really* like where this department is going.

 

Napped, which helped my head and then gym before meeting a Philosopher for Pizza (Lila!! She's so wonderful!). My Adventure Companion and I are having a great time and finding out that we mesh well on the road.

 

I'm going to Duke next week, and stopping by the meditation community on the way in on Monday and out on Friday.

 

Love and peace, y'all.

❣️

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

3 hours ago, Heidi said:

a Philosopher for Pizza

Philosophers can make Pizza last forever if they only eat half of the pizza, then half of what's left, then half of what's left...

[Heidi]

Kentucky.

Virginia.

North Carolina.

 

Cemeteries, Philosophy, music, companionship.

Life is beautiful.

(I'm fresh out of the tub and exhausted but happy.)

[darkfoxx]

So, I’m guessing my assumption that “Duke” is the Duke I imagined? 
 

 

[Heidi]

4 hours ago, darkfoxx said:

So, I’m guessing my assumption that “Duke” is the Duke I imagined? 
 

 

Duke U area. Not hospital, tho.

I'm in RTP atm. 🙂

[Heidi]

The head is freaking out in response to Cha he's in pressure - elevation or weather.

 

All flights and trips are canceled until after the hospital assessment, and I'm looking into a train / rideshare to Chicago just in case.

 

I am sitting in acceptance with this.

It is not comfortable, and that lets me know there is an opportunity here 

I am trying to be still enough to hear the message the universe is sending me.

 

I'm pretty certain it involves taking a nap after taking a bath.

 

❣️

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

It absolutely stinks you are under such restrictions. I applaud you for finding the opportunity in them.

[darkfoxx]

On 1/28/2020 at 10:37 PM, Heidi said:

Duke U area. Not hospital, tho.

I'm in RTP atm. 🙂

That’s what I was thinking  I’m half-from that area - Cary/Raleigh rather than Durham. DH is from Wake Forest, so we know the area well. 

[darkfoxx]

That restriction is rough, and something to be watched as the RTP transitions into Spring. The plants are brutal in both Spring and Fall in that area and always wallop my head pressure due to sinuses and histamines. 

[Heidi]

On 1/30/2020 at 12:40 AM, darkfoxx said:

That restriction is rough, and something to be watched as the RTP transitions into Spring. The plants are brutal in both Spring and Fall in that area and always wallop my head pressure due to sinuses and histamines. 

I live in the mountains of Virginia, so I hear you! The weather patterns are a havoc.

[Heidi]

I canceled my flights.

 

I focused on what I *can* still do, and played chess with a friend while drinking delicious mocktails and discussed tarot cards with a young Reader. 

 

A story that has been lurking in the wings keeps exploding through my thesis writing. It's compelling, interrupting, and distracting. The only way out is through, so I've resigned myself to writing two pieces at once. On the upside, my thesis advisor and one of my readers think I'm in just the right space and need to keep doing more. I'll submit the final rough in the coming month.

 

I stopped by the meditation Community on the way back into town. I live being there. The evening meditation blew the doors off and I feel as though I'm operating at a whole new octave. I did t want to leave.

 

I go visit Vivian this morning, and then I see a lot of rest on my horizon.

[Heidi]

The thesis draft is up to 83 pages, crossing the minimum.

I still have at least two slices to write, probably 3-5 pages each. Technically it's not due until the 24th, but I'd like to send it no later than the 14th, when I decamp NC for VA again. I'll probably send it off to an editor I know and ask which agent wants to help shop it around for publication.

 

In Virginia, I'll be visiting Vivian on the 15th, then supervising moving furniture from the attic to storage that afternoon. Might spend all day Sunday sleeping before checking in to the hospital Monday morning for a weeklong brain scan during which I plan on finishing the presentation for the Chicago Conference.

 

I went to see live music last night at what has become my favorite haunt in Durham, an underground lounge with velvet couches, mocktails, chess, and live performances. I'm just fetched by the place, honestly.

 

[Heidi]

Also: submitted application for Teaching Assistantship.

Feeling pretty solid right now.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I hope you get some answers during that scan. Say hi to any hospital chaplains that may stop by that week.

[Heidi]

28 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I hope you get some answers during that scan. Say hi to any hospital chaplains that may stop by that week.

By the time this transformation is over, I might become a hospital chaplain!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

2 hours ago, Heidi said:

By the time this transformation is over, I might become a hospital chaplain!

You'd be great at it. You intuitively understand what a lot of us, myself included, had to learn the hard way about the importance of being a healing presence, rather than doing something.

[Heidi]

2 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

You'd be great at it. You intuitively understand what a lot of us, myself included, had to learn the hard way about the importance of being a healing presence, rather than doing something.

Why thank you, @Tanktimus the Encourager.

Your opinion means quite a bit to me.

[DarK_RaideR]

Curious what song you were performing there. Might be the torn jeans, but I like to imagine it was a Concrete Blonde tune

[Heidi]

2 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Curious what song you were performing there. Might be the torn jeans, but I like to imagine it was a Concrete Blonde tune

No no no.

That wasn't me!  That was Feather, a singer-songwriter from NY. She did mostly original tunes and a few covers. 

But you know I belt out Concrete Blonde in the truck, of course.