My Second Home

I first visited Chicago when I was in the 5th grade.  It wasn't my first trip to a big city as my family had vacationed to both New York and Los Angeles before, but it was my first memory of a big urban metropolis.  It was breathtaking and amazing.  And that sense of awe hasn't ever gone away or faded in the least little bit.  I specifically remember going to China town and having my first sit down experience at a Chinese restaurant.  Pepper Steak. Yeah, I wasn't exactly adventurous back then food wise, but it was still amazing.

They Ain't Getting Better

This is just a quick update on my migraines.  The title kind of says it all... they're not only NOT getting better, they're getting worse.  I last updated you on June 11th as I was tapering up and down on topamax.  I had taped up to 100mg a day under my neurologist's direction and had decided to go back down to 75mg a day under my own choice.  Well, 75mg wasn't really any better.  Like every dose of topamax it was different, but not better.  I did have fewer migraines, but they were far worse than my 'normal' migraines.  I have to put the air quotes on that as I still don't really have a 'normal' migraine.

Debt, Payment, and Forgiveness

I write fairly often about the things I spend money on.  Travel, my computer, my car, my mom's car, little trinkets and do-dads... but on a month to month basis, the biggest thing I spend money on is debt.  Some of that is debt for the things that I'm talking about.  I put most of the computer on a credit card and had that paid off in a few months.  I put the appliances on various credit cards and had them paid off within a year.  Even my car is a constant payment.  But the biggest payment I make each and every month isn't my car payment, my credit card payment, or my store credit cards... it's my student loan payment.  My student loan payment is the primary financial reason I'm not out on my own.

Borders

On Independence Day I wrote up an Obscura on the other blog called Crossing the Border.  It was an odd moment for me as I both wanted to write 'as Caitlyn' but I also wanted to vent about the situation going on at the border.  Now, days later, I actually regret putting that there on the blog.  Sure, its a fairly good obscura and it works as a straightforward tg story, but I spent hours researching the asylum, refugee, and citizenship process while writing it.  I put a lot of information into a cap that could be boiled down to 'guy gets transformed into girl and has to go through the lengthy naturalization process to get his body back'.