Still not fully “functional”

I’m only working on 6 of 8 cylinders today. It feels like I have too much blood in my caffeine system, but conversely not enough blood in my circulatory system. I’m having trouble concentrating and my vision is obstructed by flashes of light, and I had to go back several times since starting to compose this post to correct spelling errors.

I know it’s not a lack of calories or protein, because I had something to eat and a protein shake just 2 hours ago. My blood pressure was high normal range before I ate so I skipped my BP meds but took my supplements and blood sugar meds. Just to be sure I ordered a tester and 30 day supplies of testing materials from Amazon when I blanked out several times while trying to compose this post, because that’s not supposed to happen, and I really should be monitoring that at least once a day. My BP doctor even said so. And the nurse said so again when I called my doctor yesterday and said I could get blood sugar monitoring supplied over the counter without a prescription.

This isn’t the first time my sugars were low. I deliberately forced my sugar low to force my body to metabolize body fat for energy back in the Aughties by bonk training. But this is the first time I could use one of these blood sugar testing kits to monitor my levels.

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I thought I had a gig lined up, but I was wrong

Regular readers of this blog know I take writing jobs as they come to me. Well yesterday I went on an interview for a steady gig writing for a “news” outlet, I signed an NDA so no names, but this is an online “newspaper” much like a gig I had back in ’09-11, only with fewer ethics. And by fewer I mean “none”, because that other gig did not require any verification of facts or anything, just putting words on the screen.

The other “fun” thing about this interview was they got tossed from the motel room rented for the interview and I had to change the destination of the trip while I was in the Lyft. I dunno why they got tossed from their room, but from what I understand it wasn’t them but the room next to them did something that required emptying the rooms on either side. Anywho I had to edit the dropoff in the Lyft app which raised the cost of the ride significantly. Round trip was in excess of $60 with tip. The extra cost for the return ride was because it was right in the middle of rush hour. It took me almost an hour to get home from the interview.

Anywho, the takehome from all this is I don’t want to work for these bozos unless we’re talking top tax bracket takehome pay. There are things even I won’t do for money. And this job comes really close to that line, if not exactly over it all the time. Basically I would be tiptoeing up to the line daily, and some days getting way over that line, and I’m getting too old for that shit. So me and the job are not hanging out.

My body is sending mixed signals

My body is telling me I don’t have enough calories to keep going, my BP is borderline but high enough to take my BP meds, and I keep losing my train of thought like I have too much blood in my caffeine system. So far I’m on my second cup of tea, I had a bowl of oatmeal, a serving of applesauce, a protein shake, and a PBH sandwich after getting up around noon again after getting up around 0800 yesterday and not getting to sleep until after 0500 this morning. My meds to shut down the monkey mind didn’t work very well as my mind was racing for hours after I went to bed at 0300. I was literally planning on how to race the Sprint-T at the typical Goodguys autocross course until I fell asleep and I think even after. This iteration had the 2 speed conversion of the T-10 case, sold by Richmond Gear.

I think it’s telling that what used to be a race-ready transmission for high-level pro racing on the Cup level is now marginal for street use. The 2.43 first gear version is rated at 375 foot-pounds of torque, and the 6.2 liter version of the LS engine for trucks (L87) can destroy it at 460 foot-pounds of torque. Heck the 5.3 liter LT truck engine is rated at 383 foot-pounds and is considered to be the “Baby” LT. The T-10 that I would need to use to get a decent cruise RPM is only rated at 286 Ft Lbs., that being the 3.42 first gear version of the “Super” T-10 with the reinforced case. I don’t know what breaks if the rating is exceeded, but I don’t wanna risk it. If it breaks while racing I could be stuck hundreds of miles from home with a broken car, and limited tools for removal and replacement. Basically the only way to get the transmission in and out is inside the car from the top. You have to remove the seat and the trans cover and unbolt the trans from the bellhousing and back it out until the input shaft clears the bellhousing. Replacement is the reversal of removal.

And that’s pretty much all I have to say today, so Imma put this baby to bed now

Lots to unpack today

First I’m still getting used to my dentures. The lowers hurt and also cause irritations on my lower jaw but not actually on the gums, and I have trouble drinking from a cup with both of them in because my lips are impeded from closing on the cup to prevent spillage. That will come with practice.

Second, there was a Tweet I can’t respond to because I’m not allowed to since I quote Tweeted Agent Orange and said he should get what he suggested for BLM protestors (if IIRC) and Twitter booted me for suggesting violence. Anywho, the tweet was saying we live in unprecedented times, but we don’t, this is 1930s Germany with two people trying to out-Hitler each other, trying to control what’s left of the GOP after Qanon and MAGA took the party over making it the GQP. The only thing unprecedented is the depths each side is going to, to prove they are the one that “deserves” to run the country. My opinion on which side deserves to run the country is neither because both are not just evil but borderline maliciously evil and cruel, DeSantis demonstrably so.

I think I might have stated a few times on social media that the GQP should have to live with the same treatment they have forced on women and trans people, denial of medical care and constant harassment over using the toilet in public restrooms being the easiest to enforce. Of course there would have to be some way of telling who these people are so they can be instantly identified and their sanctions enforced. Maybe a red “Q” tattooed on their foreheads? Of course the tattoo would have to be done poorly and under unsanitary conditions so that infection sets in and they would need immediate medical care that would be denied as a matter of course because that was why they were getting the tattoo. But that would be cruel, maybe too cruel because the purpose of the tattoo is to make these loons suffer as much as they want women and trans people to suffer. So just have a red “Q” and prohibit them from seeing a doctor or using a public restroom, or maybe trying to vote since they are working so hard to prevent young people and minorities from voting. Or maybe allow them to get shot on sight because they keep voting against preventing school and mass shootings. Or any of a litany of things that the Q wing of the Republican party has been voting to restrict or prohibit. I would add entering a public library since they are so gung-ho about banning books, but they don’t read anyway so that wouldn’t impinge upon them in the slightest.

And I really don’t want to continue this rant, so I’ll put this post to bed.

Still not firing on all cylinders

BP when I took it this morning was in the normal range for me of 120/74, diastolic still low, but what are you going to do about that?

The other issue I’m dealing with is not enough Calories to maintain my body. I’m surrounded by food that I can’t eat because my mouth is still torn up from losing all those teeth to make room for my dentures, and I’ve been living on ramen, oatmeal, and protein shakes. Problem with that diet is I’m not getting enough calories to keep the body running, and that causes my BP to drop and also my blood sugar. And that makes me dizzy, and not write good. And to compensate I have been sucking on hard candy, which helps a little while the candy is actually in my mouth. But a few seconds later I’m crashing again.

What has been consistently effective has been the protein shakes. A few minutes after taking one my dizzy spells are ended, for a while. then as with any intervention that relies on biological functions eventually even that runs out.

And I have run out of things to say again, so I’ll put this one to bed now

Today has been a rough one

I’ve been feeling like something the cat tried to bury in the litterbox for a while now because not enough Calories, but this morning when I checked my blood pressure it was actually down to the top of the low BP danger zone, 90/62. Another 2 points on the diastolic and I would have been calling 911 for a trip to the ER because I don’t think I could have walked out the door to take a Lyft. I didn’t take my BP meds this morning because I measured my BP before I took them, and good thing I did.

Among other problems I have been having in tandem with the low BP has been trouble completing a thought, which delayed writing this blog post for several hours and also prevented me from doing the Sunday morning Shadowrun game, but that got canceled because a lot of the players were with their mothers celebrating Mother’s Day. I was just out of it, not away from my computer like everybody else. I think that can be laid at the feet of “not enough calories” in tandem with the low BP. And I can put the not enough Calories in the same boat with the no teeth because I haven’t been able to bite or chew since I got the temp dentures. And that’s nobody’s fault because everything has been changing around since the teeth got pulled, especially on the lower jaw as places that got abrasions when the teeth got pulled swell and contract.

And because I felt like crap most of the day Imma put this post to bed and then me.

Are ther any web comics still using Jenny Anywhere for cameos or short arcs?

I was reading Devil’s Panties today, and one of the commentariat spelled Jennie’s name as Jenny, when I realized it had been a long time since I had seen the massive crossover character Jenny Everywhere. For those who don’t remember her this is her Wikipedia entry.

Anywho, none of the comics I read are using her now, although from the Wiki she’s the subject of many fanfics of wildly varying degrees of “Safe For Work” from innocuous to outright porn of varying degrees of, oh Hell, let’s just say she’s Pan and anybody or sentient thing is fair game as long as consent is freely given. Fanfics are gonna fic, and characters are going to engage in slashfic aka sex.

And this has been another random observation post.

I’m feeling kind of Meta today

A link to show you what I mean:
Today’s (5/11/2023) Ozy and Millie

And I realize that a slice of life blog writer needs to have a life to take slices from to be interesting, and I’m just an old man trying to survive as best he can and take care of his wife when he can barely take care of a cat. The most interesting thing I’m doing is trying to survive on ramen noodles and protein shakes, and sometimes a bowl of plain oatmeal.

Current writing jam: Jacob’s Ladder from the Exit Stage Left album by Rush.

And I think I’m going to make another bowl of plain oatmeal for dessert tonight because I’m still hungry, and Calories, I’m running low on Calories. And I forgot to put on my fleece neck wrap, so my neck is bit sore and stiff.

Is that a big enough slice of my life, or do you want more?

Superhero comics have one thing that is not realistic

I mean aside from there are not actually super speedsters or flying tanks or people with the proportional strength of ants or spiders, there’s one thing that’s totally unrealistic. I’m 64 years old, and aside from the three times I was hit with trucks, I have never been in a situation where a super power would have been useful. I’ve never foiled a robbery, or any other kind of crime. I mean I’ve been a victim of crime, but it never happened directly to me. Crimes always happened while I was somewhere else, never directly in front of me. Closest I’ve been to a crime was when an armed robber came into my store and bought a pack of Pall Malls and left, with police spotting him on store surveillance tapes the next day.
Seriously, an armed robber who was later convicted of murdering a store clerk like me, changed his mind about murdering and left my store after he saw me.

But in comic books and cartoons and big-budget movies, the heroes are constantly catching low-level street crooks between titanic battles against other supers. Batman does it all the time. Superman, not so much but there are constant bank robberies to be thwarted, and even Squirrel Girl talked a few bank robbers into giving themselves up. The number of bank robberies I’ve seen not on TV or in a comic? Zilch. Number of other street-level crimes I’ve seen IRL? Zilch. Number of babies I’ve delivered that weren’t mine? Zilch. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, it’s just that the odds of it happening repeatedly to one person are so minute as to be Powerball unlikely.

And that’s all I have to say today.

I had another dentist visit

I went to the dentist again for an adjustment, but my lower still hurts my mouth. On the plus side, all the meditation I’m doing to block the pain is having a major effect on my blood pressure, my diastolic is in the 70s and my systolic bounces between the low 100s to above 130 when I get a pain spike. Like I said, pain spikes are daily, but Ibuprofen and meditation lets me deal with it.

Current writing jam and meditation jam is Occam’s Laser – The Divine Trilogy. It’s about 2 hours long, so I don’t get any jarring changes to take me out of my trance.

My other difficulty is getting enough calories in a form I can get through my mouth since I can’t actually chew. I have been eating a lot of oatmeal, ramen, and applesauce and drinking protein shakes. I originally bought the shakes to help Mrs. the Poet get some stuff to heal her skin grafts and maybe put some weight back on, but she can’t handle the soy in them and also the taste turns her off, but I love them. And they help keep my weight from dropping too much as I can’t actually eat until my mouth heals up some more. The biggest problem I’m having besides the lower plate jabbing the inside of my mouth is I’m having a hard time keeping my lips closed as I eat and also using my lips to take the food off my spoon since I can’t use my teeth to do that at the moment.

My dilemma with the lower plate is I need to have it in so my gums are protected from food but I need protection from my denture. It it a conundrum.

And that pretty much covers everything I had to bitch about today.