BOO on the Textbook Publishers who are refusing to enable Text To Speech!!!

BOOOO!! I say, very poorly done, textbook publishers. You were given the “yes” option to enable Text To Speech in your recent textbook editions and you CHOSE to disable the feature. You didn’t just ignore the question — you CHOSE to deny folks from being able to read your textbooks with our ears.

I’m talking to you right now, Cengage Learning.

Here, I’ve sent off my cranky request to them:

“I am a student with reading disabilities. I wanted to rent my textbooks through Amazon’s website this semester. But your books say there is no Text-To-Speech enabled. What can I do about this? I cannot get through a textbook using my eyes. I need my ears.

Must I rely on the Disability Support Services of my school to scan each page of my textbook for me, run it through their own software, and hand me back the audio CD, when it is right there in front of me, in your e-text content, if only you would enable the TTS ability?

If I rent a textbook through your CourseSmart site, will the TTS be available? How do I know?

Thank you,
[innerdragon]”

Assistive Technologies for READING (with your ears)!!!!!

There are some truly amazing technologies out there to help a person READ (or in my case, to HEAR-read).

I want to share a couple of my searches with you guys.


  1. First of all, there is the smart phone voice itself. I can only describe this from the perspective of an iPhone user — but it is quite easy with the iPhone. Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech > And you will find all sorts of wonderful options here!! You can turn on features to speak highlighted text to you, and/or you can turn on a “2-fingered swipe” down from the top of your phone screen to automatically read aloud whatever text is on your screen!! (I LOVE IT.) And most importantly, to me, you can adjust the speed of the voice, and the gender, and even the accent they use! Personally, I find the male voice for U.K. English the least distracting/easiest to follow for me.
    When I 2-finger-swipe down from the top of the screen, a very easy menu pops up so I can adjust the speed of the reading even while it’s reading to me. I can also pause and rewind and such. Fabulous invention.


  2. Next up, I have only tried a couple of apps so far that will READ ALOUD whatever text you happen to have laying around!!! Say you are trying to read a book — you can just use your smartphone, open up this app (my favorite so far is called TurboScannerOCR), and use it to snap a picture of the book page. Then you have the option of adjust the boundaries of the page you want read (for example, maybe you only want a single paragraph read to you, not the whole thing). Then you click OCR on the app, and it turns the picture into text — editable, savable, READ-ALOUD-ABLE words. I am then just 2-finger-swiping down my screen and voilà! It’s all read aloud to me!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!

    This app is FREE and you don’t have to upgrade to use it!!! I personally did pay $2.99 to remove the ads, however, because I love the app so much. I am planning on using it to read aloud any part of my upcoming textbooks that I will need help getting through this semester!!!


  3. This one doesn’t count — it’s not for ear reading. But I want to mention this here really quickly anyway. There are other devices that can help. I wish I’d had this in grade school — I have the “Rivers” reading disorder and this would have been SO wonderful. As it was, I improvised for myself eventually by using a sheet of paper above and below the line of text I was reading. But look at this! Too perfect! And actually, I would still find this useful today. I usually get lazy and use my own hand to block text below the line I’m reading, but this is fabulous and colored layouts are supposed to be useful for some people. This one’s about $20.

    They do come in other colors from other companies, however, and some are only a few dollars (but do not block as much text). There are many options out there — even colored tapes that you can lay down to make your own sort of line highlights as you read.


  4. The Intel Reader, sometimes marketed for people with Dyslexia but also good for other vision/reading issues, looks fabulous. It’s is the most portable I’ve found of these types of devices. It basically snapshots your paper, book page, whatever, turns it to text, and reads it to you. It also displays it on the screen and you can increase the font size or whatever you need to do. This picture doesn’t show how small and basically awesome it is. I watched a video on it in use and it’s pretty amazing. BUUUT it’s going to run you at LEAST $500.


  5. Reading pens. These look just super cool, and SO portable and usable. I’m hesitant to buy one, however, just because it’s only able to “read” the line you’re scanning, obviously. I can’t imagine wanting to go over every line of my textbook like this. I wanted something that can snapshot the whole page and read it aloud to me. But for smaller things or daily things, wouldn’t this be awesome??? I think they’re going to run you like $200. Of course, these have really cool features, like you can look up a word you don’t understand right then and there. It is a dictionary and can give synonyms and all kinds of neato stuff! Some can translate English to Spanish. I’m not sure about other languages.


  6. Now for the ones I wish I could afford because they’d be so EEAASSYY to use once set up!!!!! I mean, check this sucker out. Just set down your book and boom. Text to speech (and magnified or highlighted text on the screen, if you wish to eye-read along). And BOOM, minimum $1700, sometimes MORE.There are other devices along this same line, but they’re all very expensive like this one.

So that’s my list for today!!!!! I think this covers the basic gist of the assistive technologies that I would personally find really useful and great. ENJOY!!!!!

Log: May 16 – 18 (Sat – Mon) down and back up

May 16 (Sat): Cooking and dinner w/ “Peter’s” folks 2p – 9p @his mom’s house
May 17 (Sun): Hiking w/Peter and one of his friends
May 18 (Mon): Work 9:30a – 5:30p; Go to uncle’s house

Hi all,

The last time I wrote was regarding Saturday, I believe. I had a mood crash. I’m pretty damn certain it was the blood sugar because I had missed lunch and then ate junk for a while until a very late dinner. I overdid the refined sugars and all kinds of bad things. I got so insecure during dinner. They’re all biomechanics or something on a microscopic level and everyone was discussing DNA sequencing and all of this really, really amazing stuff but then me and this high schooler who was also there were suddenly asked if we’d understood everything being said for the last however long and of course, everyone at the table understand except for me.

I have a pretty big insecurity due to my lack of academic accomplishment but it’s part of what drives me to want to go back to school now. I’m going to harness this and use it. I have felt like the least academically achieved member of my family since 2003 when non-academic circumstances interfered with my ability to finish college.

It isn’t what other people say. It isn’t what you can say to me. It isn’t what my 2 year Associate of Art degree says to me. There is nothing you can do or say to assuage my very, very strong feelings of inferiority. I have to get a degree because I want to prove something to myself. I want to prove it to the world. But it’s me who is berating me and me who belittles me and puts me down.

I want to do it. I want to be capable of doing it. I know it will take special accommodations like the audio books and note takers and help through the school, but I want to do it for me.

You know, I should let you guys see my typing without the use of spell check some time. That would just be kind of funny. I am not stupid but I’m a phonetic speller and nothing is ever spelled the same way twice.

The reading is just painful. I mean, it is physically painful. I was asked to read a little brochure the other day. The font was small and narrow and must have been freshly printed. I don’t think I made it through a page. I don’t know how I could get through a course. The words and spaces between words still move on freshly printed paper. What the hell would I do?

Am I discouraging myself now? No, don’t do that. I am going to take some college classes. I am going to do this. Not for you. Maybe in spite of you. But for me.

Log: Saturday was good aside from my mood dive. Stayed up talking with Peter until at least 4:30a. That’s how bad my mood was. Explained how I was worried what’s going to happen when he realizes how much more academically intelligent he is compared to me. (He’s AMAZINGly academically-smart). I need to come up with my other strengths. The ones that are not school or knowledge related. Because that day really crashed my self confidence. The day had been briefly at my aunt and uncle’s house, then the rest of the day was spent at Peter’s mom’s house. It was a cooking and dinner event. My mood went insane; I hid several times just to self-isolate. Everything was fine; don’t know why I got so stressed. Mood went off almost like an extreme PMS. Like just suddenly on the verge of crying and no idea at all why. Mood ranking on previous posting.

Sunday: Fun day. Bicycled and went hiking along a beach. I even got to take my shoes and socks off. One of Peter’s coworkers attended, and Peter’s father attended. It was really fun and I took lots of pictures I hope to dump to my computer one of these days. Mood: 4.5 – 5 – 5.5

Monday: Work. What a weird day. Nobody came to work, nobody emailed or called. I vacuumed the office. Made the coffee, got the tea water ready. Nothing. I feel very strange now (I love chunks of solitude, but an entire day of solitude can get me a bit weird, to say the least). Going to go home now; I’m not going to stop for ingredients. That means cold, canned soup for me tonight. I don’t really feel like caring. I think I am tired. Oh, also I spent much of today going through my Facebook and finally blocking the people I needed to block. There were a lot. It was sad. But I can’t have a security breach. I do miss certain people on Facebook who still post the bulk of their photos there. That includes the woman who is taking care of my horse. She called me today to let me know she has started to work with my horse and is doing well. She sent me a funny vid of my girl prancing around a big pen. I stay at my aunt + uncle’s place tonight, alone. Mood: 4.5 – 5

Log: May 5 (Tue) Lots to do!

May 5 (Tue): NO Therapy; Work 10:00a – 4:30pVisit w/ Shelly maybe for lunch; Music practice w/”Peter” 6:45p; (I haven’t yet decided)

Dinner Plan:
*Complete Protein: (Maybe brown Jasmine rice) + (Unknown nut equivalent) …SUCCESS (brown Jasmine rice and pine nuts)
*Vegetable: Steamed green beans …SUCCESS (boiled green beans) Also had some carrot + hummus, and half an avocado, and a little bit of salmon

To Buy:
*Bread for lunch PBJs …SUCCESS
*Carrots for lunch …SUCCESS
*Hummus for lunch …SUCCESS
*A non-broken watch with multiple alarms feature

To Do:
*At work: Invoice#1wj (3/4 done; waiting on supervisor’s revisions)
*At work: Invoice#2sur (3/4 done; waiting on supervisor’s revisions)
*At work: Invoice#3dc (3/4 done; waiting on supervisor’s revisions)
*At work: Invoice#4gas (3/4 done; waiting on supervisor’s revisions)
*Any time: At least 2 Accounting lectures (completed 1)

*Any time: Apply for Music Workshop scholarship
*After work: Rinse and chop up carrots and bring to work
*After work: Make six more PBJs and bring to work
*After work: Practice music
*Any time: Write and send thank you letter to my aunt & grandma

To Pick Up From Uncle’s House:
*Last month’s therapy bill to submit to insurance
*My VitaMix
*My birth certificate, for passport application
*My back-up drive
*Some earrings
*My hairbrush

The log part for today: It was hard for me to get out of bed this morning. I had taken 1 mg of clonazepam last night and also we’d been doing our computer work and went to bed too bloody late. I’m going to fall apart soon, for real. I’m actually going to leave work now, 1.5 hours early, and just go to my uncle’s house and crash. I’ve had enough social time for now. I love “Peter’s” presence but I find I’m not relaxing into it enough yet. I’m still in a mode too intense to be sustainable. Like, too intensely trying to learn, too intensely trying to observe, too intensely trying to listen and understand. Just too intense and my energy’s depleted. I need to go home, alone, in a dark room, by myself, and just recharge my battery. De-stress. De-worry. De-neurotic-ize myself. It’s my fear-of-failure coming at me, btw. It’s driving me insane with its intensity. I’ve got to chill the fuck out.

Oh yeah, but I’d done the bulk of breakfast this morning, I think. I was pretty fast. Made it to work at an okay time. Today’s Mood Ranking: 4-5

UPDATE!!! I left work an hour early. I biked nearly all the way to my uncle’s and then “Peter” let me know he was going to be back a bit early, too. I was feeling a lot better thanks to the bike ride, so I went there after all. We grocery shopped and cooked and then it was too late for practicing music. Got ready for bed and went to sleep. Evening Mood Ranking: 5, 5.5

Log: Fri, Sat

I’ll have to fix the formatting and dates for this post later. I haven’t had the time for updating. I wrote a post for Friday but it’s save-drafted right now; it was a fine day, but I was a bit grouchy. It turned out to be PMS; my period started today, which is five days early. WTF, body. WTF.

Oh well. Anyway, so Friday was a little stressful. It wasn’t too bad, but there were moments of tension as two employees were finishing up a report that had to go out. Anyway.

Friday night, left work late, biked to grocery store, grabbed some items, waited in a long line for checkout. “Peter” got to train station very shortly after I did. Biked from train with him to my uncle’s house. Made dinner! (Veggie burgers)

Today (Saturday), confusing day. I’ve been tossing a lot from what turns out to be cramps, “Peter” was too tired to go tree planting this morning, so we opted to rest a while longer. Then got a couple of chores done around here and then went to his city and met his folks, and we all went on an interesting city walk with a fantastic view. I don’t know them well enough, but was overjoyed at a completely random stop at a playground where I got to swing for a bit and his dad tried to see about using the pull-up hangy handle things (like the old monkey bars but different). So fun. Swinging is one of my favorite activities. Someday, I’m going to buy a $1000 swing intended for autistic adults, but that’s a different story.

Then we ate out and that was complex because my gluten-free item that I ordered arrived and looked exactly the same as everybody else’s regular item… So I checked on it and sure enough, it all had to be remade for me. I hate that my food stuff has me standing out quite a lot at times. It’s frustrating. I just want to blend in and order like everybody else.

Anyway, then we all went to his dad’s house and talked for a while. It got pretty late and now we’re back here at my uncle’s. “Peter” is asleep; I am waiting on a load of laundry to finish drying because I had decided to wash the sheets earlier this morning, before we’d been invited to spend the evening with “Peter’s” folks. Today’s Mood Ranking: 4-4.5-6 (I had a moment of panic earlier this morning when I started to realize how old I’m getting and I don’t even have any money invested or any chance of a steady income, etc etc, it was a pretty bad anxiety attack for a bit there, actually. I freaked.)

Dating and thoughts on emotional associations / OCD mental contamination

Some of you probably remember that I have extremely strong associations/ mental contamination issues, and that my dog and a particular counselor (linked strongly to someone in my past) are the only post-college beings I’ve emotionally connected with since I left for college (i.e. since 2001). Here is the post I’ve already written on this topic: CLICK HERE.

So I noticed something a while back that is pretty astounding. “Peter” actually reminded me so strongly of someone pre-college, that I was able to connect emotionally. That’s the third living being I’ve connected with since 2001, and the second human. He’s linked in my head as feeling “pure” / “untainted”. Even when I’ve talked about some really bad things with him, I felt nothing slip.

I haven’t told you guys but he was actually able to come on part of the bicycling trip with me and my parents and family friends. My brother and his gf were also there for a day. I got used to “Peter”‘s daily company in that brief time and I cried ridiculously when he had to leave at 4a one morning for France (work conference). I didn’t tell him that. I did write to him something heartfelt but I’m trying hard not to be overwhelming.

But what will be, will be. “Peter” is important to me and that’s nothing I can/will hide. I hope for the best but I’m not going to get sucked in, no matter what my obsessive tendencies try to convince me to do. My heart is in a position to be hurt and that’s just what it is. If this pans out, great. And if not, I’ll be back to meeting new people, complete with more memories of positive times and the knowledge that I do actually have the ability to feel connected to a new human and a bit of lingering sorrow for something that could almost have worked out but didn’t.

In the meanwhile, I’ll continue to enforce time boundaries of how many days a week I will see any particular person, and I’ll continue/begin again to find my upcoming schooling and apartment. I have to make these decisions with the mental image of me living without him in my life. I have to set up my life for complete independence. I cannot repeat past mistakes. And he very well might not be a part of my future. I have to plan my life that way. I must expect it. In reality, either of us could decide the other is not what we’re looking for at any point. It’ll just be.

Log: Apr 8 – Apr 10 (Wed – Fri)

Apr 8 – Apr 10 (Wed – Fri): Visiting with my parents

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret, today

I haven’t had a chance yet to write about the bicycle trip with my family and friends. It was wonderful. I can hardly wait to write about it in a bit of detail and include some pictures. I took a lot of pictures, some of which I’m excited about.

Anyway, so tomorrow is the 10th and my parents will leave. I wasn’t going to write until after this trip time period was completely over, but my mood is iffy these past two days and I worry it’ll get worse tomorrow after my parents leave.

It was a very large emotional let-down when the bicycling trip came to an end and we found ourselves back here. The trip was a vacation for me in every way. I’ll write about it soon (it’s hard not to right now).

But now my mood is wavering. I’m okay. I’m stable. Then I feel my smile start to crack and some anxiety to come to my face. I want to stay upbeat but this is going to be so hard to watch them leave. I love every moment I spend with my parents. I have for many years. I had lived with them post-college very happily up until I got married. I would still be living with them right now if not for my being afraid of my ex/ not feeling safe out there anymore. So I must stay away.

Now I’ll confess I have a second interest out here: “Peter”. If I knew beyond doubt that somehow my ex no longer lived in my parents’ state and would never return, and it was completely safe for me to live with my parents again, I would hesitate at this time. I’m very interested in letting things play out for me and “Peter”. I still don’t know when or if I can/will ever see my beloved dog again. Life is strange.

Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Tussock Moth Caterpillar, yesterday

So here’s the log part of this post. My parents and I came back from the bicycling trip. We had to drop stuff off, return the vehicle, and then I actually had to go to work for a brief time, to add the finishing touches to a report and mail it out. I showed my parents around my workplace, showed them the area, and then we walked all around a lake to kill many hours while waiting for my brother to finish work. We got to see many birds, the beautiful lake area, and a huge garden. My dad had a beautiful Tussock moth caterpillar crawling on his back at one point there. I looked up its food and returned it to a tree that looked like what it likes to eat, in spite of them being considered somewhat potentially invasive.

We ate out with my brother and viewed his apartment and chatted with him for a bit.

Today, my parents and I went to the city my brother works in and I showed them my old workplace and the gardens I ate lunch at on some of my work days. Then we met with my brother for lunch at an amazing restaurant with a view of the water. He had to go back to work but my parents and I walked and walked and walked the entire rest of my brother’s work shift. We traveled the shore and I saw some really pretty birds and then my dad pointed out a sea lion. We looked over and saw a sea lion swimming up to us and staring at us. It was amazing. He just swam in one place, staring right at us, snorting and yawning sometimes. One woman exclaimed how she wished she’d brought some “num nums” with her. It was adorable. He was definitely expecting us to drop him food. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people feed the sea lions.

Sea Lion

Sea Lion, today

So then my brother got off of work and we all took the train back to his place. Imagine me with my brother and our parents, all taking the train. I begged my brother to take a picture of all of us and he did. It’s a pretty funny picture. So then he took us to a dessert place to pick up treats for later, and then headed to my aunt & uncle’s place. My uncle is very ill but cooked us all a delicious soup. We all chatted for a while and then I freaked out because I got a letter from the state saying they didn’t accept my tax return after all and are requesting all kinds of documents to prove what I’d submitted via TurboTax. I knew it was too good to be true that I didn’t owe any state taxes. How did TurboTax lead me so wrong, though? I put in all of my information very carefully.

So then my brother left. My mom showed me one episode of Doc Martin, a TV show. And she’s even gotten to tuck me in tonight, for the first and last time for who knows how long. But I couldn’t stay in bed because my mood was so iffy. I wanted to come here to write and sort out some things from my brain.

I think you can see that this time period will be hard for me. I wish that my parents and my dog lived near me here. I don’t want to say goodbye to them. It’s going to be very sad and very hard. And frankly I think I balance them, too. It’s hard for people to understand my dad correctly a lot of the time. Even my mom has expressed some things that kind of shocked me. He’s been alienating a lot of people lately with the very, very blunt things he sometimes blurts out. She thinks it’s getting much worse and he’s saying very offensive things and that maybe it’s a chemical imbalance or maybe he’s trying to alienate everyone and her on purpose. I don’t believe that one for a second. I suggested she take them to a marriage counselor. i know her well enough to know this can’t get any better; she’ll only fret more and more about it unless she’s able to talk with someone about it and get some kind of answers or suggestions. I hope this gets worked out. I got to see a lot in action during this trip. Some things were very, very interesting.

Brown-headed Cowbird

male Brown-headed Cowbird, today

I just wrote a ton of things but I deleted them since my opinions on it don’t really matter. I love both of my parents so much. But it’s more than that. It’s also that I can’t see my dad surviving without my mom. So it’s very scary to think of her leaving him, which I’m not at all saying is going to happen. But I can also see that she has been living for a very, very long time with someone unable to offer any kind of emotional support, comfort, or a hug. Literally. And although I root for them 100%, I can also say that I personally seek a kind, gentle soul with understanding and external heart. But he has so, so, so much to offer in other areas.

Anyway. So after they leave tomorrow, I have to go back to work. Vacation will be over. I cannot believe how overcome with dread I am at the thought of going back to work there. I had to go back briefly yesterday, as I mentioned, and I was really shocked by the STRENGTH of my aversion to being there/ doing that work. I seriously MUST find a new job SOON.

Back to the topic of my parents. I like living with both of my parents together. I like living with my dad when my mom’s gone. And I like living with my mom when my dad’s gone. That felt important to point out. How much I like them both and together.

I have a whole ‘nother topic I wish to write about soon, as well. I’ll leave you in suspense. Apr 8 – Apr 10 Mood Ranking: 3.75-7.25 (Up when with my parents; down when thinking about work)

One brief moment to process the weekend.

Tree

Tree

Hi all,
This will be a difficult weekend to process. Unfortunately, I will not share all of the details here. So I’m not sure how to process what I cannot admit. I will lay on the bare bones structure.

On Saturday, I volunteered time to help prune city trees again. I love it. I love the upbeat people, I love that we are helping take care of trees that haven’t seen care in three years, and I love the interactions with the neighborhood folk in the various areas I’ve seen so far – many people become very engaged with us as we work on the trees in front of their and their neighbors’ houses.

I will make a special note of a group of young men who, perhaps being high at the time, were QUITE concerned with protecting the trees of “their” street. My group’s leader did such an amazing job of explaining exactly what we’re doing and the reasons (how it helps the trees in the long run), the connection with the different programs involved, etc. Meanwhile, one of the young men in the backseat of the car started naming some of the tree limbs that were marked for removal. He named one limb after himself and started to shout out the car window: “OH NOOO, MY ARM! MY ARM! DON’T TAKE MY ARM!” Meanwhile flailing his arm out the car window, along with saying all kinds of stuff that had me cracking up. He named the next limb God. You can imagine how that went, perhaps.

Okay, back to my story. Then, I and one other person went walking around the city. I walked until I had a blister on my foot but still didn’t feel like stopping, which is odd for me. But it was such a beautiful day. In the end, we decided to visit a dog park, so I suggested that it would be a pity to view a dog park without dogs, so we walked to retrieve my aunt and uncle’s dogs. By this point, it was sunset. The dogs had a BLAST. I am not sure if it was a safe decision to stay out so late, in hindsight, but everyone we met was very friendly. It was completely dark before we returned the dogs home. I would never stay out after dark by myself, but I suppose I felt safe because I was not alone and we had two large dogs.

Sunday, I was due for a challenging conversation with someone I had stressed out quite a lot. I shut down partway through so I am afraid it is not complete. But I think the stress has dispersed. Of course, a moment of how person had dealt with the stress triggered me because the scenario seemed suddenly identical to a very terrible scenario between me and my ex. So I am having some difficulties processing this still. I have the lingering feeling of having done something so terrible and unmentionable. Yet I can SEE that the reality is that the worst thing I did was to be unclear about when I would and would not be available to respond to texts and cause a lot of worry for my personal safety as well as anxiety for a change in the normal texting routine and communication. The rest is something else entirely, and I think a very natural human reaction in spite of the spoken rules of open dating, which is not something I am very familiar with to begin with.

Although I do not mean to hurt anybody, my typical nature is very prone to hurting other people. I lose track of time when I am in the present moment. I forget obligations and other versions of reality. It’s like where I am is where I am, and everything else is somehow on pause. | But it’s not. I hear about it. How many times have I upset my mom because I failed to check in at times when she was concerned for my safety? How many times did my “the one” “soulmate” express to me the sorrow and loneliness he felt because I was part of all kinds of activity clubs on campus and wasn’t sitting at my computer Messengering him? He was THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME ON THE PLANET (aside from my folks, too), and I couldn’t drag myself out of the present moment to spend that quality time with him that he needed. (I did Messenger and phone call with him most nights, and I hand-wrote him all day long, but I don’t think I ever actually sent most of the letters, and the Messengers and calls were so late at night, I was too exhausted to connect very well. There were other issues as well.)

So is hearing that someone was worried sick about me new to me? No, I have stressed people out before. (I’m not excusing it.) But this had some additional circumstances that makes it much more complex and I don’t know how to process the entire thing quite yet.

I won’t be processing it tonight. I am, in fact, not quite myself tonight. It would be hard to explain, but I do not feel like the same person tonight as I was just a few days ago. How to explain to people in your life that you will not be connecting with them in the same way at this moment, because you(me) are a different person right now?

Maybe everyone around you feels hollow and puppet-like, to boot. So you can feel no emotional connection to them. Something could probably catch fire next to me and I’d hardly find it out of place, now that I think of it. Self-protection mode? Check. Dissociation? Yup.

P.S. Friday: I walked 17,000 steps after music practice. (Oh! I forgot to mention another music practice! I played poorly but it was nice.)
Saturday: I walked 25,300 steps!!! That is a crazy-big number, for me.
Sunday: I bicycled a little.

P.P.S. I do not know what from, but I have bruises all over my body right now. They started to develop last Wednesday. I don’t know what from; I was not helping move anything that day. I would have understood if they had developed after Monday, when I was helping move things, or even Tuesday, when I helped carry some heavy items. But nothing on Wednesday that would explain this. One in particular is very large.

Update

Flowers

Verbena Flowers

I just have a few things to share. Today was better. I’m going to finish this post and then vacuum, if nobody comes home first. I’m alone right now and it’s nice. No pressure. No eggshells.

I think my mom figured it out, though. She knows her brother pretty well and she has helped me to understand other people’s motivations a lot over the years. She thought about it all night (actually, she had insomnia last night because this was on her mind; I may have expressed my frustrations to her yesterday). She thinks a big chunk of why my uncle has amped up his vocalizing of his disapproval and his side comments toward me is because of my tardiness to work. He probably feels like he can’t fire me, but since January 1 of this year, I have been very bad at showing up to work at any decent hour. So obviously, with any other employee, he’d want to fire their asses. But he probably feels like he can’t fire me, so instead his frustration and disapproval is coming out at me in other ways, in personal life.

I don’t plan to be tardy now that we’re at the new location. I was freaking out since back then because of the impending move, but the move has happened now (P.S. “Joe” did nearly all of the packing. I did the two cabinets of office and shipping supplies, since that’s like my little “happy place” of office life, but basically nothing else. Even when it came time to pack up my own desk I just froze and didn’t do it). I have been showing up at the same time as my uncle since we moved, except for today, when I had therapy in the morning and then waited a little extra time so I could meet “Joe” at the train station and walk with him the rest of the way to work. (My uncle never went to the office before, but will be doing so now that it is in this new location.) (P.P.P.P.S. Today was “Joe’s” last day of helping out at the office.)

I do not plan to be late, but I know myself and some of my negative qualities. If I feel like I’m being micro-scoped about what time I leave the house, I’m going to get later and later because I’ll be afraid of showing my face / opposed to showing my face.

So what I need to do is take this into my own hands and basically leave the house without being noticed and show up like it’s just any other job, not an analyzed “thing”. You know what I mean? If it’s a big “thing”, I’m going to end up avoiding it like the plague. If it’s ignored, it won’t be a big deal to me either.

In therapy, we decided that I need to move out, because I *am* dependent on my aunt and uncle right now, and so I will be treated as a dependent.

If I moved out, I could even stay at that job, hypothetically. If I went back to full time work, I could even switch to their benefits. But then I’d have to switch doctors, therapist, psychiatrist. But I just don’t know.

I got excited at the thought of finding other people to rent a room from, if I can find someone who would allow me to get a DOG. Can you imagine? I know, I said I had to sell my pony before I let myself get a dog. But can you just imagine it? Me and a hypoallergenic dog? What if I found a place near an animal rescue site? What if I could work and live near animal rescue? What if I could work AT an animal rescue place? Ah dreams!!!

I know I’m in a pretty good mental state right now because I’m able to think of being alive for the next several months. That’s so much better than when I first arrived here and could only project ahead a few days tops. Now that I’ve pictured getting a dog and living independently, I don’t know if I can shove that back down. Imagine me having my very own refrigerator??? I don’t cook but I can put together sandwich ingredients. I can keep carrots and hummus in stock. Etc. I think I’d survive all right food-wise now (I didn’t feel I could do that when I first arrived, either).

So I know that being here has been very healthy for me. But now that I’m feeling so much better, I feel that itch for independence and adulthood again…

This time, I’ll get it right.

And OMG I want my own dog again. I miss my baby. I want to get the same breed as him because he was so much the perfect match for me. But my previous therapist was quite certain that I should get a wheaton terrier, because they are apparently the top-rated service animal for people on the autistic spectrum. Apparently, they are hypoallergenic, large enough to not be fragile (my favorite breed is very fragile), and are supposed to have a very good temperament. She said they are much more level-headed and calm than any of the -doodles (labradoodles, goldendoodles, etc), making them very good for people on the spectrum.

My baby couldn’t be a service dog because he is just as sensitive to loud sounds and sudden movements as me, and is also fragile enough that I have to worry for his safety each time we pass by another dog.

BUT I like a little dog. First, their poops are much easier to address. Second, I figure that if I am ever out on a mountain with my small dog and he were to get hurt, I could easily carry him back. Third, I’ve always wanted a lap dog. Fourth, I could easily crate a small dog for travel. (In fact, here, I would only be able to take a small dog with me in a crate on the train, unless a big dog was certified as a service animal.) [[ADDITION: Fifth, they eat less.]]

But, why would I get a dog if not for being certified as a service animal? So I don’t need to be concerned about that part — the travel part. Whatever dog I were to get would be a service animal.

Then there is another catch, which is that I do not want to support a breeder (except for the woman who bred my beloved dog. I know her and she’s not a mass breeder and not in it for the profit. But on principle, I don’t really want to support a breeder). I want to support rescue animals. But because of my allergies, I am rather stuck with pure-breed animals. I would have to find rescue groups for either of the two dog breeds I decide between, both of which, I think, are a bit more rare than a lot of other breeds. There are plenty on PetFinder, though. So it’s possible. | Okay, I am looking at all the dogs on PetFinder, now [i.e., I’m “in my happy place” and will be there a while] (although I must rehome my pony first anyway, which will be killer hard emotionally). ‘Later everyone.

Very Stressful Day

I keep trying to sugar-coat how I’m going to talk about today. I’m just going to lay it out there, though, because I’m exhausted and I’m going by the theory that I feel worse when I try to make myself think my day is more silver-lined than it is. Today was mostly shit. Not all of it. But a lot of it.

Yesterday, I thought it was Wednesday all day. So naturally I asked my uncle for a ride for today, because I had an abnormally timed and abnormal day of the week for my therapy appointment. So I got up, although I had been in a very deep sleep this morning, and got to my uncle in time to actually be on time to therapy. Except I hadn’t realized that my aunt was also waiting for a ride for a very important meeting, and my uncle must have decided to drive us both at the same time, and I must have delayed her departure. So you can guess that it did not go over too well when, partway there, it somehow occurred to me that it was not Thursday today after all, and so in fact I was now along for the ride.

Lovely. Annoyed my aunt for no reason? Check.

So my uncle and I dropped her off at the location and then the two of us continued on to work together. The entire time, he lectured me about tardiness and accountability and responsibility and you know, my general chronic fuck-ups. He said he wasn’t mad about me not knowing what day it was, but just the overall, blah blah, you know. How I rush everywhere at the last second and how if HE were scheduled to meet someone at 9 and they arrived at 9:05, he would be PISSED. He would fire them instantly. It’s so disrespectful. Etc. etc. etc.

I brushed it off for a few minutes. I wasn’t going to let that shit talk sink in. I then snuck out my phone and even texted my friend, “Joe”, for a bit (well, we were supposed to be meeting at a certain time for work– he’s helping us organize the office right now. So I had to let him know that I was totally off schedule, too), and tuned out the lecture altogether. But then it floated back to me again (I was still in the back seat after dropping off my aunt). I tried tuning it out again, to some success. But eventually it came back and I felt too guilty about ignoring him literally so I listened again, trying not to let it sink in. But by the time we’d arrived, it had sunk in completely and my heart was dropped and I felt like I didn’t have the energy or desire to be alive anymore and all that crap.

At work, the morning was very hard. My uncle said many things that were very disrespectful of me. For example, one coworker had questioned me about placing the printers in my cubicle. I expressed opposition and explained some potential for health hazard. Shortly thereafter, I heard him and my uncle speaking, and my uncle said we’d place the printers in my cubicle, and the coworker said that I was opposed because I worry they’re dangerous to my health. And my uncle got really mad and said back that he didn’t care about my psychotic bullshit, this is a business, these are business decisions.

In the end, oddly, that same coworker, who has a lot of sway because although technically he’s only one step above me, has been around long enough that he’s really one step down from being a co-owner, and he’s pretty damn important, he later said like one sentence to my uncle about wanting to have the printers over on the other side with the big tables, for needing more space to put together his reports as he’s printing, and my uncle conceded instantly.

Things just went that way. I try really hard not to make any suggestions at all because if I do, they will be done the opposite way. That’s just the way it is right now. So I was pretty upset all morning.

But by afternoon, I think I’d cleared my head a lot. I was still prickly and I have no trust right now. I can’t be open; my walls are up. If you see my hackles up, it’s because they are. It sure puts the things around me into a negative light.

This evening was rough, too. My brother also came over and I got to hear yet again how Asperger is a bullshit diagnosis (from my uncle this time, my brother actually didn’t respond much for some reason, this time), some other really rude comments, and then some teasing about how I’m a man eater and balancing “all these guys” and other shit. Whose business is this? “Joe” and I have discussed our relationship more honestly to each other than I’ve ever discussed a relationship with anyone before. And the guy I have referred to as Shy Guy previously, to my understanding we are just friends, although I do need to confirm that that’s how he views it as well. He’s made no indication that he thinks of me as more than a friend, unless the very fact that he is male and we have spent time together automatically means something more than friendship. Which is basically what my brother tells me: No guy and no girl spend time with each other in an entirely platonic sense.

Well whatever. If you’re right, then sue me. If I hurt someone, that’s on me. If I don’t, then get your fucking nose out of my personal business.

Wow, I need to calm down. I’m going to sleep shortly but I’m not sure how with all of this bitterness in my head. I will refocus on positive things, like pictures of my baby boy, who had to be taken to the vet today, but they think it was nothing, or possibly some kind of nasal infection, but they’re not really sure.

I’m tagging ‘dissocation’ because later in the day, I was dissociating for at least 40 minutes, some time after my brother had arrived.

P.S. They ended their time together by making fun of my mom, who often text-messages back very quickly if either me or my brother write to her. They even timed it. She’d written a response and sent it within 32 seconds of him writing her. To me, that is sad and heartbreaking when put in that light, because it seems obvious it’s from love and missing us, but they just laughed a lot and made fun.

ADDITION: How did I forget this special gem??? ALSO TODAY: My ex contacted my mom to let her know that he has contracted some kind of disease that he’s sure must have come from me (obviously an STD then), and that he wants me to know and hopes I’m healthy. … But he didn’t say what disease or anything. Okay. Well I’ve had a LOT of tests since then, very, very thorough testings, and nothing showed up. So I’m going to go ahead and venture that it “must have” maybe not come from me but from one of the people he connected with during/after the divorce. ((I guess it is hard for me to interpret this in a way that I can appreciate his concern for me, because he didn’t say what disease. So how much concern could he have? Or is it rather a hook dangling in the water to try and connect with me…?))