moominmuppet

Phones are insane today, and we're badly understaffed, but I wanted to get out a few quick notes, even if they're a bit incoherent.

So, typical of me venting here, the next few days were all about figuring out practical ways to improve life, and that's gone pretty well (largely assisted by this flare continuing to taper down to pretty manageable levels, thankfully). I'm feeling a lot better for having managed a day of housecleaning on Saturday, and for finally being social again.

Friday night was Margaret Cho with Casey, Bill, bec76, zodarzone, syrinx_77, and xhollydayx, with a bonus chance to see jen_tel as well. Margaret was hysterical, and it was great to see everyone, especially since without escorting or patient-instructing I've been missing seeing Casey and Liv a great deal. Casey also made me yummy cake, so yay for that!

Saturday was cleaning, and Sunday I had a birthday-date, in line with deciding to stop being so reclusive, so that was fun.

Yesterday I got my card from my folks, a gorgeous and fun book, Naked Geometry, from cjdoyle (aw, thanks!), and the puzzles eris_esoteric is sharing with me (also, thanks, they look like fun!)

Currently reading A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis, which is by turns amusing and horrifying (although sadly lacking in footnotes; I hate that in histories), and spend a good chunk of the weekend watching the first season of Psych on DVD while I cleaning and organized (handy cleaning tip for folks with health issues -- get a big, big box, pull all the junk from around the house into it, and then you can sit and clean/organize, rather than having to be up and down as much). I'm also working on a jigsaw that's driving me insane, in a mostly good way. It's the photorealistic map in this set (the other was relatively easy, although a lot of fun). I've finished all the continents, and am now down to an ocean of blue pieces, rather literally. Oy. I'm really liking Educa's puzzles (this is my favorite so far), and that they have a lost piece service, and even include a packet of puzzle glue in the box, although I wish they were more creative with piece shape. Ah well; can't have it all.

Last night I finally managed to make schedules work with my counselor again for the first time in several months. We had a good talk about the stresses from this flare, and worries about work stability, etc, and frustrations with my doctors about getting my FMLA paperwork handled and all that. Good stuff to hash through with her; I'm hoping my doctor appt next week goes well in that regard; that'll alleviate a whole lot of stress.

We also have a couchsurfer coming in this week for a few days, and then both grf and forestfire coming through for Thanksgiving, so I'm looking forward to all of that.

Now it's time to catch up on email.

And Greta Christina (whom I adore) hits in on the head in terms of the effects of working with sexually oriented material

My favorite bit:

In the years that I've worked and written about sex products and sexual issues, I have not become jaded about sex.

I have become relaxed about sex.

And jaded and relaxed are not the same thing.

Being jaded means you've lost your capacity to be excited and moved by something. It means that you've been made dull, apathetic or cynical by experience or by surfeit (to quote Merriam Webster). It means you've seen so much of something that you just don't care about it anymore.

Being relaxed, on the other hand, simply means being at ease. It means being comfortable. It doesn't mean that you've seen so much of something that you don't care about it anymore. It means that you've seen so much of something that you think of it as normal.

I'm fascinated by the assumption that exposure to sex will make people bored with it. After all, sex is one of our deepest, most fundamental animal drives. Our interest in it is not going anywhere. I mean, we're exposed to food every day, several times a day, and we're not showing any signs of becoming jaded or bored with it. Why do we think being exposed to sex all day would make us jaded or bored with that?