Day 108 - second Monday

 Today is the 3rd day of the 16th week, the 18th day of the 4th month, the 108th day of 2023, and:

• Adult Autism Awareness Day
• Holocaust Remembrance Day - the 27th of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar
• Income Tax Pay Day - yes the IRS needed more funds because filing taxes is so complicated
• International Amateur Radio Day
• International Day for Monuments and Sites
• Laylat Al-Qadar 
• National Animal Crackers Day - I always think about Shirley Temple on this day
• National Lineman Appreciation Day - my mother's father, who died two years before I was born of a heart attack, was a lineman for the county
• National Transfer Money to Your Daughter's Account Day
• National Velociraptor Awareness Day - Alexia's comment was that by the time you were aware of a velociraptor, it was too late
• Newspaper Columnists' Day
• Pet Owners Independence Day
• Piñata Day

Construction update:

The work on the parking lot has been proceeding - lots of sandblasting and some cement pouring.  I am already dreading the inevitable time when they start to tar the service, the smell is going to be terrific!

It is becoming progressively more difficult to see the details of the work being done as the leaves on those two trees come in.  

As afternoon approaches, the jackhammers have started up as they make more holes.  I wonder what in the infrastructure of the parking garage roof they need to reach?  

Once again I am VERY grateful I am on the 20th floor.  The noise thru the open balcony door is terrific even up here!

Had a follow-up visit with the endocrinologist today via tele-visit.  I rather like this mode of touching base with the doc - having to go into the office for a 15 minute consult because they want to review your stats every quarter is rather burdensome, and seems to me a waste of time

Altho I am classified as a type II diabetic, because apparently my body does still produce insulin [just not enough to manage the blood sugar], I still am taking 4 - 5 shots a day.  One in the morning and one in the evening of long-term insulin and 2 - 3 jabs during the day of short-term, fast-acting insulin tied to actual meal consumption.  I thought the daily tests showed an awful lot of variance, but the doc says it is the time-in-target figure that means the most, and the goal is to be in range for at least 70% of the time, with less than 4% of the time with low blood sugar levels.  

Of course the target range is lower for folks without diabetes, but at least my blood sugar is finally under control.  

Now to get the lung inflammation resolved.

Quote of the day:

"Who are you?  Which of all the things that make up your mind and body is you, the true you?

~ John Dunne, 'The Essence of Awakening'

One of the things we all live with are masks that often correlate with the different roles that we fill.  Just off the top of my head?  I am a mother, a grandmother, an orphan [formerly a daughter and an only child, the only grandkid on one side of the family and the oldest of six grandkids on the other], a cousin, a friend, an employee, a manager, a blogger, a Roman Catholic, and a cisgender female.  I could keep adding to the list as anyone of us can.  Even the most authentic person acts differently depending on which role they are in at any one given instant - you don't interact with your coworkers they way that you do your family, for example.  You dress differently, you even talk differently!

Living a 2nd life - whether in world or in games - means that you can step outside those roles.  You don't have to be male or female, you can be totally non-human.  You can understand and participate in different cultures, whether one that exists in "real life" or a fantasy one .  You can form deep and abiding relationships with others - and some of these spill over into RL.  But there is a contingent of folks in world that feel a/s/l  [age/sex/location] must be shared in order to form any kind of commitment.  

I go in world to be me without the masks and roles I am forced to play in everyday life.  If my being older or fatter or living on the East Coast of the US is an issue, then quite frankly?  I don't need the weight of your expectations.    And quite frankly, I am more "me" without them