All the Crazies

I had planned for the weekend to be completely relaxing but Sunday was stress city. The pharmacy replaced their system. It did not recognize my prescription and kicked it out, so I have to ask for a new one from the psych office. I was ready for a fight but someone actually answered the phone! I hope I will have my prescription today and be able to pick it up!

Today was supposed to be productive but after being up one hour, I ran out of steam. I still got a good amount of things done but they were small things. But alas, it is not even noon yet so the day is still young. I made smoked salmon using liquid smoke so we could try those bagel sandwiches Mikey saw on Steven Universe. It took a day and a half but I think it turned out okay. I love smoked salmon and cream cheese. It has been my main sustenance this morning. I am trying not to finish it off so Mikey can have more. I may or may not make myself sick today. It is probably going to be a day off today save the dishes and trying to get one more Chicken Soup story out before tonight's deadline.

Several YouTubers are playing Until Dawn, a game like Heavy Rain or Life is Strange but with a classic slasher film story. Most of the characters are douche-bags and catty bitches that normally you would want to see die, but you have to play them so there is a bit of motivation to keep them alive. Peter Stormare is in it too. At first I recognized his face but it turns out not only was he in Fargo (which I just saw last week) but he's the German dude from those epic VW commercials that I loved so much.



I am watching the girls from The Geek Remix, Cryaotic, Markiplier, and Two Best Friends play it. I might watch JackSepticEye play it also. None of them are killing of nearly as many assholes as I would have. Still, I am in love with this game and seeing people make different decisions along with solving the puzzle of the game. The Geek Remix girls finished it. I hope to watch all their videos tonight if Mikey can join me.

Cat Stuck Up A Tree

A freak glimpse at Facebook on Monday morning informed me, via ARI, of a cat stuck in a tree less than a half mile away from my house. Witnesses claim that she had been up there for weeks. I spent an hour looking for her. The moment volunteers parked their car to help, I saw the cat. She was swaying and leaning against the tree but was not that far up.

The volunteers told me that the fire department laughed at them and hung up on them, so they called the news and tree companies to help them get the cat down. I did not see the news show up although they might have shown up once the cat was at Pet ER since there are a few news stories about it in smaller online newspapers. Tree Health Care, LLP was the first to show up and got the cat down. Another tree company showed up right when we were finishing up. I called a tree company as soon as I found out about the cat but he said "Nah, I'm afraid of cats! They bite and scratch!"

I am a Baltimore City Resident and the idea that they laughed at our rescue is appalling. I am going to complain when I get a chance (I have had so much to complain against this week). I doubt it will do anything so I will spread the word and ask other residents to complain. A volunteer fire fighter with access to a tall ladder could have gotten the cat down.

This cat is going back to her owners but I wish the rescue did not have to. If they left the cat up there for that long, they should not have a cat. But that is just my two cents.

That very night, we had a bad storm and a giant tree branch fell in our yard so I need a tree company! Already some publicity for them!

By the way, the cat is fine after major re-hydration and some nourishment.

A Week in Review: Movies and Medication

Before the fiasco with my medication, I was zooming through the day nearly every day. The house was getting cleaner and I was able to get some more hardcore cleaning done. I am trying to get back to that pace again soon. I can fly through one day but the next I am utterly exhausted. For that next day, it is all about getting started early, taking a big break once I get tired, and getting back up to finish for the evening.

Mikey got a free trial for Hulu+ so I have been trying to watch as many movies as possible. I started in the Criterion Collection. Some of the movies were a bit too artsy for me, but The Great Dictator will probably end up as one of my favorite movies of all time. I had never seen a Charlie Chaplin film.

Sharknado was painful to watch. It was not even so bad it was good. It was just bad. It had a lot of potential to make fun of itself and it didn't. They played the whole movie straight. Hellraiser, however, was better than I expected, true to the traditional horror movie and aged well. I wish I had time to watch the others before the free trial is up, but sequels are not a priority. I have it on good authority that the second one is decent but the rest are not.

On Tuesday, I watched Monster which I had heard of before but had never gotten around to seeing. It is about Aileen Wuornos, the serial killer, and her life/killing spree with her girlfriend. Charlize Theron did an amazing job with the eyes. Wuornos was completely psycho by the time she was executed and her eyes were nothing but haunting. Her life sucked, she did what she thought she had to do to survive, and paid the price for it. I am not a fan of the death penalty for several reasons but most of them not the typical argument. I plan to go into all that with my books of essays.

Which reminds me, I am thinking of writing a book of essays as a forerunner to my researched book on socioeconomic and political issues made simple. It will mostly be my thoughts (with no reports cited, just thoughts), related stories I have, and maybe just some general wisdom on daily life. Maybe I just want to publish something!

And such finishes up my week in review. That is probably not all that has happened since I have been gone but that is what has happened most recently that has made me want to start blogging again. Here's to more entries in the future and making this a regular thing as part of therapy.

A Week in Review: Titan

We have an older neighbor who despite being a nice lady just loves to talk. I do my best to maintain eye contact and listen but it is hard knowing she will go off on a tangent and repeat information she has already said. She feeds stray cats on her porch and lets me know when there is a new lost cat so I can check them out, see if they are domestic, and if I can find them a home. A couple weeks ago, not even that, she knocked on my door and told me about a kitten wandering around her property. It was from the same house that had the black cat with no food or water. That cat's kidneys ended up failing despite this lady's best efforts. The house is supposedly one full of druggie squatters so we would have to be sneaky about taking away the cat.

I followed her up to her house but the kitten was nowhere in sight. However, it did not take long for this kitten to come over and check me out. She was quite trusting and loving to this stranger. I picked her up, carried her home, and put her in Zombie's kennel. Khaleesi was all too excited to greet our visitor, scaring her. She tried to get to the cage to send her love to the kitten. I had to put a blanket over the cage which seemed to calm the kitten down.

On the way home with her, I decided to call her Titan. My neighbor kept calling her a "he" and I did not check until later. But the name stuck so well that I could not change it. She was named after Attack on Titan. She seemed to be healthy. I just wanted to make sure she did not have any hidden sicknesses that my other animals could catch. Once she became comfortable with her surroundings, she was no happy being in her kennel, so I transferred her to the closet in the third bedroom. Sometimes we would let her out into that bedroom to run around but she had plenty of room and a small cat tree to play on in the closet.

After getting checked out at the rescue, she could get spayed that week and then she would be ready for an adoption event. That day could not come fast enough because she wanted to play with my five other cats. Roxy tried to play with her but she's 11. A kitten is a bit too rough for her. Khaleesi liked to play but it was hard for her to roll around with a tiny kitten. Titan also loved to go behind our desks where important wires hang like tasty vines. She never chewed on wires or cords but I did not want to take that chance.

The spay went great and I took her to Petsmart that weekend to show off. People took interest in her on the first day! We had a surprise adoption, so there was an open cage for Titan to stay. Most cats are terrified when they first go in their cage and stay away from the door. Titan wanted out to play with everyone and tried to stick her nose out to sniff anything that came by. People were still eyeing her as she sat in her cage. It was the first time I came home with an empty carrier.  It took about a week and a half from capture to being done fostering, the fastest foster I have ever done. Poor Khaleesi was heartbroken when her friend did not come back.

Of course I checked on her the next day and she was all over the place with the other kittens. She would even be gentle with the older cats. I think she was more happy at the rescue than here which is unheard of. Most cats act out in that environment. Titan was too busy to say hi to foster mama. Whoever adopts her is going to have a sweet and loyal pet.

A Week in Review: New Ink!

With all the drama that went on with my neighbors and preparing to do some major socializing with the family that weekend, Mikey and I decided that we would get our long awaited tattoos. Screw finances, we deserved this. Before we left for the weekend to go back to our hometown, we gathered the images we would need to show the artists. My tattoo was going to be a memorial tattoo to Justin. Mikey had always wanted the last panel of Calvin and Hobbes' final strip. Calvin and Hobbes are on a sled going down a hill with a speech bubble saying "Let's go exploring!"

Mikey's parents went ape when we told them we were getting tattoos after my aunt's birthday party. They basically said if we wanted a good job, we cannot have tattoos, especially mine because it is on my forearm. Though it not be written down, let it be known that my father in law has a tattoo on his bicep that he got shortly before retiring. His mother just went nuts though about tattoos in general. When I got the rose on my shoulder blade (which I will eventually have transferred to my other forearm), she showed me all kinds of articles on how nasty tattoos are. I just smiled and laughed a little. They should know by now that I am going to do what I am going to do. I love my job at home and at 28 I am pretty sure I will never work for another person who cares that I have a tattoo again. Justin meant almost as much to me as Mikey does. He said if someone were to get a tattoo, it should be somewhere people can see it and he put his hand on his forearm, so that is where I got my tattoo. That and I have been craving more ink since I got my first one eight years ago.

We waited three hours to get done since we were walk-ins. They had an appointment available but it was during my aunt's party. They had to close super late since people just kept coming in right before they closed. Red Octopus is always busy since they are a Prince Frederick staple. They do a lot more of what you would stereotypically consider a tattoo if you did not know much about them (skulls, devil hearts, knives with angel wings, rockabilly) but they do great work and the artists are super nice when it is your first time. Duffy is now on Ink Master! Super sweet! I love getting tatted there because it fits well with where I grew up. we're a bunch of rebel hillbillies. There was a tattoo shop further north on route 4 called Eternal Buzz but they ended up being mostly a drug house. My friend Kara got a tattoo there and they botched it. Now there is another place on the hill called Battle Scars and Beauty Marx. You need an appointment to get a tattoo there, so now we have both kinds of awesome tattoo parlors! I will probably end up getting my Pyramid Head tattoo there if I do not get it up here in Baltimore.

Original concept

Final result. I let the artist take liberties on a few things since I am not visual artistically inclined. It was Mikey's idea to put the rose laying on top of the brim and it was her (Julie) idea to put some light blue around the hat to make the colors pop against my skin. She was using my Wario hat as a guide so I had to tell her that the W on Justin's hat was purple and not blue. All the while I was trying to talk to her about Justin. I thought I would tear up talking about him but I barely could. This tattoo stung more than I anticipated. It was not that bad but being tired and my forearm being evil (it swelled a good amount), it was a bit intense at times. It made me laugh because that's just how I deal with pain. Laughing is one of the best ways I have found to handle pain.

Mikey went back before me since his was just copying an image whereas the artist had to draw mine. Poor thing, we teased him about it being his first time; the other customers and some of the artists. The guy tattooing next to them said that Clark (Mikey's artist) was gentle with first-timers whereas he was called "The Butcher". I think the artist he got was awesome though because he loved Calvin and Hobbes though and was happy to do a tattoo of the comic. Mikey's tattoo also took more time than mine and I had to wait for him. It turned out amazing though. I do not know who loves it more, Mikey or me. Kinda sad that I did not hear any screaming.

A Week in Review: F*ck the Police

My neighbors at the end of the street have two dogs. One is a vicious little old white dog. When I say vicious, I mean like rabid vicious. The other one is a juvenile pitbull that they have had for awhile. I recall them having another pitbull which was nice but slowly started to turn mean. I knew this one would do the same but I could not prove that they were mistreating the dog in any way. The pitbull started being able to nose his way under the fence and get to Khaleesi to attack her. He would never cause her injury but attacks like that (which have happened several times with other dogs in the neighborhood) cause her to distrust other dogs. I finally saw one of the teenagers in the house strike that poor dog. Still, I did not want to cause trouble but I felt horrible for not reporting it. The lady who lives there told me not to walk my dog on that sidewalk anymore. When I saw the dog out, I would cross to the other side of the road usually, but I would give them mean looks and tell Khaleesi how good of a dog she was, unlike the other dog and his rotten owners.

Last month, I was walking in the middle of the road because the sidewalk was closed due to construction. The dog still growled and managed to get under the fence. I pulled my dog away and yelled at the dog who then proceeded to go in the front yard and on the porch. A young adult female with cornrows and a young boy went to go in the house. I told the adult what had happened. She stated that it was not her dog. Against my best judgement, I did the same to the boy, hoping he would tell his mother but ultimately upsetting him (which I felt bad for but did not go back to apologize because I did not think it would be a good idea to return there). The adult asked why I had not called law enforcement, so I walked my dog home and called Animal Control.

The very next day, I was walking my dog on the opposite side of the neighborhood nowhere near the house with the dog. A teenager, looking about 14 or 15 years of age, drove up to me. Her friend in the passenger side, who looked about the same age, asked my name and if I was the lady who called the police on her dog. I admitted to it. The driver and passenger got out of the car and began talking to me. Then we began arguing and they were talking over me. Passenger proceeded to go chest to chest with me, screaming in my face. She began poking my right cheek really hard, so I grabbed her wrist in a defensive maneuver and said in a clear tone "Don't touch me." I emphasized every word. She told me to "get the fuck off of her" which is when I let her go. She threatened to attack me again, called me a fatass bitch, and she and her passenger got back into her car and sped away.

I got information from my witnesses and one walked me home. Needless to say, I had kept my composure until then. I burst out crying and could not breathe. It was the conflict and drama that had started. All I wanted to do was scare them into fixing the fence and stop hitting the dog.

I dialed 311 and told them what happened. An officer arrived but did not write up a report, which I thought was strange. He told me I had to go downtown to press charges. I drove back to where the incident happened and talked to one of my witnesses. He told me that the officer did not follow protocol, call 9-1-1, and make him give me a report. I called 9-1-1 and they sent the same officer who would not write anything down until I got a pen and paper to get his name and badge number. I still did not get a report though. He said there was nothing to report because no one was home at the residence where the passenger lives. He also said that since she is a juvenile, the only thing they would do at the commissioners office (where I have to go to press charges) would be give her a citation. At first I wanted to press charges but honestly if these children were bold enough to do that, who knows how many guns the adults have in that house? I carry around mace when I walk my dog now and I don't walk her anywhere near that house..

My MAIN concern is the police officer who did not follow protocol (as confirmed by a higher-up who recieved this and the next paragraph of "chew out"). He would not take any contact information of my witnesses and did not even give me one of those "victims" pamphlets with his information on it. I had to DEMAND his info and he was set on giving me as little info as possible. This worries me because it was a small incident with little protocol to follow. What happens when something major happens? And he told me that even if I were to press charges, not much would come of it. So, it once again sounds like a waste of my time to report this kind of thing to the police.

I know there is a lot of pressure on the Baltimore City Police but when an assault seems to be better handled without the police, that's a problem. We need to work together. The community needs to be able to trust the police, and the police need us to cooperate and support them. But small incidences like this which are not properly handled makes me think if something more serious had happened, I would not be able to trust the police to handle it. It would just cause more trouble for me.

Our neighborhood association found out that the house is rented and contacted the landlord. I have yet to hear back from anyone, but it sucks that I have to have mace prepared when someone comes to my door too. Like I needed something else on my plate.

A Week in Review: Heil der Kaiser!

Due to my psychiatrist's office being ass and Kaiser Permanente's apathy towards behavioral health, I have to do whatever it takes to stay sane all by myself. All I have left is my medication and even that is nearly impossible to get. So, I'm picking my blog back up. At least I am trying to. The past few weeks have been brutal on my mood. There have been lots of changes in my life, but I will start with my insurance issues. I will just copy and paste what I reported to NAMI and some other mental health advocates.

I am on three medications that work well for me. Those medications were prescribed to me when we were on a better insurance. My husband works for the city and though they offer several benefit packages, Kaiser Permanente is the only one we can afford since the rates went up.

My therapist is only available every two months if I am lucky, so I do not use her because I do not think it would do any good and it is a 20 minute drive. I would rather not waste the gas. Trying to get an appointment with my psychiatrist is even worse. I probably have not seen her in a year because I would call to get an appointment, she would be booked, and the receptionist would tell me to call next month. It was an endless cycle. I learned to live with this as long as I could get my medication. I had to ask for refills through email because recently (the last few months at least) no one has answered the phone when I called. Not once. It can take up to a week for my psychiatrist to refill my prescriptions because she has to read my email. She has advised me to call and I explained that no one answers when I call. That conversation went nowhere.

I emailed her for a refill on the 7th for my ADHD medication. My pharmacy also faxed them a refill request. They did not refill my meds for more than a week. I cannot function well without my medication, especially for that long. If the same were to happen with my mood stabilizer, it could be life threatening. The mood stabilizer quiets the suicidal thoughts. When I went to email her via the Kaiser Permanente site, I noticed she is scheduled to be out of the office until 2018. There are no other Kaiser psychiatrists within an hour's drive. I have been dealing with my issues by myself and learned to cope as long as I have had my medication. This is something I should not have to do, but it was not worth dealing with. Now that they are not giving me my medication and I cannot get ahold of anyone, I'm stuck.

After some serious phone tag with the Kaiser member representative, she did not believe that I could not get ahold of anyone at the office and was quite apathetic about the entire situation. I will be complaining to whomever I can about this and might be seeking the free consultation of a lawyer or two.

But I will not let it ruin this week. That is what my clients are for.