My friend has gotten into investigating for MUFON and he's trying to tap my SO and I as "ghost hunters" with him.
Fuck. My. Life.
I kind of want to know what that is, but also generally don't type random shit from MSB into my Google search. You jerks are how I learned what incels are.
....We have five cats. We didn't want to have five cats. We wanted to have two cats, but we live in West Philly where cats just kind of happen to you. The little bags of food are adorable and I presume used solely for a light afternoon snack.
@Ganymede and @Testament
I hope your kitties get better. I really, really do. One of ours got out recently and was gone for several days and I was an ugly snot-crying wreck, so I know the feeling. But....
As for prescription food? Chewy.com, for reals. Our little runaway is on a prescription diet because he got several urinary blockages in a row, badly enough that they, uhhhh, switched up some of his little kitty plumbing. He needs special food to keep the problem from recurring still, and we uploaded the prescription once, set it to autoship, and got a discount for having stuff sent to our front door. Cheapest I could find it and I don't have to do a damned thing except recycle the shipping box.
@surreality said in RL Anger:
@Aria That is completely fucking brilliant.
I am stealing your therapist's advice, and would absolutely watch the thriving talk show she sincerely deserves to have.
Ohhh, that was my idea. She just thought it was hilarious and also very effective. Apparently there's some fancy-schmancy psychology name for responding to/overriding your negative thoughts that she tried to teach me with visualization (something about a stop sign at a crossroads and turning left or something), but it wasn't really helping as much as we'd hoped. So I decided to just..... roll with the idea of how much I hate those intrusive mental criticisms and depression/anxiety brain tricks and turn them into a person I hate and can think of as not-me and not how I really feel.
She leaves shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot. She starts sentences with, "I'm not racist, but." She demands to speak to managers about her coupon that expired six months ago. She is the worst and I don't have to give a shit what she thinks.
@Meg Sometimes brains need to punched right in their big stupid face. 
My advice -- and my last therapist thought this was both hilarious and super effective -- was talking back to your negative self-talk like it's someone you not only dislike, but have zero respect for. Give it a name and shitty personality you just despise and next time, that little voice going off in your head can go like this.
"None of your friends actually like you. They're just being polite."
"Well, you cut filled donuts in half and leave them in the box, so no one likes you either. So you can just shut up about it, Brenda."
A friend of mine has had a super shitty six months and today was his 50th birthday.
I got to turn me yelling at him about how he's not buying his own birthday cake and to stop it and let his friends love on him instead of worrying about "putting anyone out" into a hilarious little production involving three other friends. One quite literally trumpeted in the arrival of his cake that another carried, while a third recited the absurd and pun-filled "quest" that I went on from bakery to bakery to hunt down the particular flavor he wanted while all the locals were panicking about some especially miserable incoming winter weather.
In a room full of SCAdians, relating the tale of how "I braved the Doom-Singers of the Snowstorms of 2019, defeated the Hoarding Hounds they have unleashed upon the land to scavenge every bit of its 'bread' and 'eggs', and navigated the labyrinthine Maze of Minivans to deliver to my lord and Baron his carrot cake" reduced everyone to giggle fits.
He was all smiles and delight. I am smugly pleased. ^_^
For a brief, wonderful time I was able to do the telepsychiatry thing through my insurance. It was nice. I could see my psychologist from the comfort of home through video conference and it was like, $20 a session. It was great.
Then my insurance dropped that benefit, those fuckers. At least the teledoc is still only $5 each time and is available 24/7 (that's been really great the times I've needed it).
ETA: I will warn they can't prescribe certain things, however. BUT. They can usually send a note to your primary care doc with their recommendations, etc., to work in tandem with them so you CAN get it.
I really hope that's not going to be the case. I mean, seriously. I specified on the drop-down box on the intake form that I'm looking for medication management. I am on the most prescribed psychiatric medication in the US, on the second lowest dosage that they make, for completely on-label usage, my prescription hasn't changed for years, and I have the paperwork to prove it from the last two doctors that have provided it to me. There is no reason this should be so goddamn hard.
I gave up months ago for similar reasons.
It's a PITA. Everyone's like 'Just pay up front and bill your insurance for reimbursement.'
Yes, because I have $300+ just floating around to pay for each appointment.
I had one lady tell me that the initial intake appointment is a 90-minute assessment and very thorough, and also costs $450.
I burst out laughing.
And am now looking at this telepsychiatry thing in the hopes that I can get just a few months of meds until June. This whole "my primary care doc was willing to fill my prescriptions as long as I continued therapy!" thing was amazing until it turned into "and now she's retired and her partner won't write me a refill despite knowing that I have exactly 32 pills left", which is a nightmare. I even asked if they could just give me a one month refill as a courtesy while I look for another doctor thinking I could cut them in half and stretch out until June if I get desperate enough. It was suggested that if I keep asking, I should find another primary care office instead.
"America, BEST HEALTHCARE IN THE WORLD. "
Jesus tittyfucking Christ.
Why is it so hard to find a new psychiatrist? Every single place I have called on my insurance company's list of of doctors who are in-network and accepting new patients in fact tells me they either aren't accepting new patients or don't accept insurance at all. The least expensive out-of-pocket option was $275 for the initial appointment and $140 for every 15-minute checkup after that, and requires them every two weeks for the first three months of a 'new' medication -- which mine would be, despite the fact that they haven't changed in four years.
I found one -- ONE -- place that accepts new patients and insurance. Their next open appointment is in, like, June.
....Unless I am seeking drug rehab at any of these facilities, in which case they will all accept new patients and my insurance.
I am starting to think that it would be easier and cheaper to develop a coke habit than continue taking Zoloft and hey, bonus, I wouldn't be exhausted all the time!
@surreality The world's stonedest pervert puppy, and I can't stop laughing every time he's on screen.
....I'd probably punch him in the face after 15 minutes in real life.
@Testament said in Good TV:
The Umbrella Academy - Nothing like the Dark Horse comics at all, but honestly, I think I like this televised version better. It actually makes some amount of sense.
Klaus is my favorite thing.
After five days of being loose roaming around and me slowly devolving closer and closer to Howard Hughes level crazy as I kept weird hours to be out searching for him at the times of night cats tend to roam and avoided eating because my stomach was in knots.....
OUR CAT CAME HOME. Like, an hour before a snowstorm started.
He managed to lose 10% of his body weight in that time and is absolutely filthy, but he is home and the vet said he was fine. I have ugly-cried with relief, like, three times today.
Obligatory Cat Covered in Gross Pic:
@moth said in RL things I love:
I apologize to your wallet. (But not really.)
Also, if you're a BPALista....Lupercalia's dropped yesterday. They are my favorite update. If I had not just dropped a stupid amount of money buying @insomniac7809 a custom suit for the wedding, I would be piling things in my cart literally right now.
I keep telling myself it's okay though, cause he gonna look goooooooooooooood.
@moth said in RL things I love:
@Aria said in RL things I love:
@Cobaltasaurus said in RL things I love:
On the upside of life: I ordered my first perfume from BPAL and it's amazing. It came with a sample that is ALSO amazing ... so I guess I'll be buying more perfume on my next payday, lol.
Take care. BPAL quickly becomes a string of wildly irresponsible orders that builds into "I need a box for this", she said three boxes later.
Allow me to make it worse. Here are a few more places with smell-goods that I've thrown money at:
https://sixteen92.com/
https://arcanawildcraft.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Alkemia
https://www.poesieperfume.com/
https://www.hexennacht.com/products
There's also:
Nocturne Alchemy
Whisper Sisters
Latherati
Possets Perfume
@Cobaltasaurus said in RL things I love:
On the upside of life: I ordered my first perfume from BPAL and it's amazing. It came with a sample that is ALSO amazing ... so I guess I'll be buying more perfume on my next payday, lol.
Take care. BPAL quickly becomes a string of wildly irresponsible orders that builds into "I need a box for this", she said three boxes later.
@Alamias said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
We got a bit of flack and hurt feelings from the people that we didn't tell right away, but tough shit for them...we had a limited budget and didn't invite the world.
Ding.
The average price of a traditional wedding in our city is up to something like $45,000. I can't even book a full day photographer for less than $4,000. Sorry we're not willing to wipe out most of my 401k or take out a loan the size of my student debt so I can meet some bullshit expectations for one day??
@Auspice said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@Sparks said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
So in a pinch, remind Aunt Karen that if she doesn't like the way you're planning things, you could always just elope?
Seriously. I wish I had.
My first mistake back when I got married was telling family I was getting married. I wanted to just go and see a judge. And I told them this. So 'Well, shouldn't your parents at least be there?' became 'But what about your siblings?' and '...you grandparents?' and eventually every extended relative under the sun.
^ We sooooooooort of are? This is what she's complaining about. We're going to City Hall and getting married by a judge. The building is gorgeous, but old, so the rooms are small. You're only allowed eight guests in chambers. So that's my parents, his parents, his brother, and his brother's long-term partner. Probably also my two closest friends, who are practically like sisters. City Hall here only does weddings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I assumed that outside of his immediate family, none of our Midwest/Rust Belt relatives would want to take three days off of work to drive 9-12 hours to come to a 15 minutes ceremony on some random Thursday afternoon and go to dinner after.
I also assumed that this would likely be disappointing for our extended families, so agreed to let his parents throw us a big semi-catered, semi-potluck, low-key bash in their backyard six months later. Everyone gets to see us in our fancy clothes (which I feel less stupid spending money if I get to wear more than once), get drunk on someone else's dime, eat cake, have some photos snapped, and generally celebrate with the added bonus of the two introverts not having to stand in front of ~200 people being stared at while they talk about their feelings.
UNACCEPTABLE.
Apparently I'm now supposed to explain to her what sort of place I'm getting married in that has such a policy and why and, after peppering me with questions, she wants to 'take it to private chat' so we can discuss it.
Be glad we're doing anything for extended family at all. I live in a state where you don't even need to have an officiant if you pay an extra $10, so we could've just filed the paperwork and never even told anyone except the IRS if I'd been able to convince the boy.
Also, thank you for the well wishes and (sincere) marriage advice. Keep 'em coming. I'm going to need them to make it through October without murdering any relatives. The Knot really should add a section for "bride and groom's coping booze" in the budgeting tool.
