Migraine
After my last migraine, I went eight days without one. That, I believe, is a new record for me. The last time I went more than 8 days without a migraine was between 12/17/2022 and 12/27/2022. Just in case that's not in perspective enough, I haven't gone eight days without a migraine for almost two straight years. That's huge as far as I'm concerned.
That being said, sharing migraines with this dental pain is truly maddening as they both hit in the same area. Right now as I write this post, I have a migraine going on but could tell the tooth was really hurting too. So I took some ibuprofen and acetaminophen and that should take care of the dental portion of the pain. But the pain hasn't reduced. So, is it the migraine that's hurting this bad behind my left eye and down my left jaw into my left neck? Or is it the dental pain that isn't being treated by the acetaminophen and ibuprofen?
I'm just about a month away from seeing the new neurologist and I'm honestly curious as to what he'll recommend. I mean, the biggest change to my migraines over these past two years has been the addition of the Paxil and that wasn't done for the migraines themselves. So is HE going to mess around with my mental health meds?
Mental Health
Everything is going well here. I still have the same complaints about the side effects, but they've all lessened to a degree. I still have the tremors. I occasionally have night sweats but it's not every night. And my physical sexual side effects are less, so I can experience more orgasms.
I had a good session with my psychologist a couple weeks ago. It was our first appointment where I didn't have a migraine and felt truly in a good mood. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get out of the therapy sessions though as we just sat there and bullshitted for an hour. If that's all this is, I think it would be a waste of time.
We'll see. I have my appointment with him tomorrow (assuming I don't get called up for Jury Duty).
Physical Health
Everything is going more or less well. I'm obviously dealing with the side effects of the meds, but I think those are fair trades. So far at least. The only other ongoing thing is the dental pain. I had the appointment to get my permanent crown placed, but once I told them the type of pain I was experiencing they immediately directed me to an endodontist for a root canal. That's now scheduled for two weeks from today.
What sucks is that I had two options for endodontists. I've worked with both and don't really have any care as to who does it. The first endodontist is good and takes my insurance. The second one is often quicker, but doesn't immediately take my insurance meaning I'd have to pay upfront.
Normally that would mean using the first one. BUT my dentist mentioned that the second one also does implants and there is a chance that this tooth might not be worth saving at all. In which case it would be better to just go to the one endodontist. I wouldn't be concerned about getting an implant but this is the sole molar on my lower left side. The wisdom tooth behind it was removed years ago and the molar in front of it was my original abscessed tooth that brought me to a dentist. It had to be removed and insurance wouldn't cover an implant or bridge. So, now I might be thousands of dollars out of pocket for a root canal and/or dental implants.
Finances
I expect to hear from my long term disability in a week or so, asking if I need an extension, but that might not happen until January. I realized last week that I'm covered THROUGH December so they might not ask until after my last payment.
When I bought Layla, I intended to not spend more than I had in my savings so that I could pay her off. At that same time though, I had some extra credit card debt that I hadn't calculated in and spent a little more on the loan that I intended, leaving me a couple grand behind. It's not a big deal as I could pay the loan down for a few months and add some additional savings in to catch up. That 'catch up' point happened with this payment at the end of November. I now have more in my savings than I owe on Layla. It's great, except for the dental work. I might seriously need thousands of dollars in dental work that is all out of pocket. I could either put that on my credit card and pay it off slowly, paying like 10 or 16% interest, or pay it in cash (put it on the card and immediately pay it off) and then continue to pay the car loan at 6% interest.
Fingers crossed, I can get the dental work done and my dental insurance eventually pays for it and that will leave me with enough money to pay off Layla.
Family/Friends
We had a good Thanksgiving. I was concerned as Mom didn't want to use one of the 'Thanksgiving dinner in a box' deals from Cracker Barrel or Bob Evans like we have the past couple years. Instead she bought a big Turkey breast and planned out a full meal. I just imagined her wearing herself out and me having bad migraines so that I couldn't offer good assistance.
I checked in with her on the days leading up to Thanksgiving and helped with some of the prep work. She still had three deserts, but it was a store bought bake-and-serve pumpkin pie, a thaw-and-serve chocolate cake and her homemade chocolate pie. Her pie is probably R's favorite desert she makes. I didn't want it because it takes a lot of effort on mom's part. A lot of it is stirring the pudding like pie filling and judging it's thickness and trying to get the lumps out. I'm a good helper in the kitchen with tasks like "get that out of the oven" and "flip that over in the pan" but I'm not a cook like mom and my judgement is nowhere near hers. That means she has to stand next to the oven, hold the pot with one hand, and stir with her other hand. She has trouble standing, let alone standing without leaning on something while stirring a thick chocolate pie filling.
The pie did wear her out, but it wasn't overall that bad. Thanksgiving morning I ordered us some IHOP breakfast through DoorDash and then helped her all day in the kitchen. I actually intended to help her then go into my room until she needed help again as that would be the best play to avoid a migraine. But Mom is gonna mom. Once we got the turkey breast prepped and in the oven, we were 'done' for two hours. But as soon as I got comfy in front of my computer I heard her rumbling around in the kitchen. So I went out and saw that she was getting the stuff ready to go in the oven two hours early. I helped her but after a minute she said that she was done and we'd start back up in about an hour and a half. So, I went into my room and then heard her rumbling around the kitchen again....
This repeated several times so I gave up on being in my room at all and just sat out with her watching the Thanksgiving Day parades on TV.
The day was almost perfect. The very last bit of prep work was problematic as Mom, R, and me all had to be in the kitchen at the same time. Mom was making the gravy, R was carving the turkey, and I was mashing the potatoes. It wore mom out as she didn't have the room to stand and hold herself up, but we got through it, got dinner on the table, and had a wonderful meal with each other.
All in all, a good Thanksgiving that didn't wear mom down to the bone.
Entertainment
After Band of Brothers I intended to finish Top Gear but I'm realizing that while I love and adore Top Gear, it's not something you can watch non stop. My brother R had mentioned recently watching Rogue One so that got me in the mood to watch that as a changeup. As long as I watched that, I watched the other Star Wars Story movie, Solo. Afterward, I was in a Star Wars mood, so I watched all nine episodes in episodic order (Phantom Menace first, Rise of Skywalker last).
During this week's football Saturday B and I talked about the Star Wars movies and he wanted to know what I thought was the best film. Specifically without using the "...for it's time" as an excuse for special effects.
Now, my normal response to this question has always been Empire Strikes Back. There is so much good in that movie and so little bad. But the special effects really don't hold up, even with the special edition put out in the 90s. For example, the light saber fight between Luke and Vadar is pretty good but it's nothing when compared to the light saber duels in the prequels or the special effects in the last three movies. Even the fighting style is just slow and methodical and off. Beyond the effects though, I stand by Empire.
When I consider the effects, I have to look at movies and see if their bad parts put them below empire. For example, Phantom Menace is good and I really do like the movie, but I absolutely HATE Jar Jar in particular and the Gungans in general. The same thing takes Return of the Jedi out of the running as I hate the Ewoks. The last three movies are taken out as they don't fit together as a single story. Episodes I, II, and III make a perfect trilogy. The same goes for episodes IV, V, and VI. But episode VII tells one story, episode VIII changes it a bit, and IX changes it back and brings back the emperor for no particularly good reason.
That leaves Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. While the special effects are getting a little old now, they're both modern movies when compared against the original trilogy. I followed through both movies and liked almost every part of them. My only real problem with Clones is Anakin and Padme's budding relationship. Anakin's is understandable as he's been enamored with her for a decade, but she goes from barely recognizing him to marrying him in the space of a single movie. As for Revenge, I only have one minor problem. The last bit of the fight between Anakin and Obi Wan where Anakin tries to jump over Obi Wan and gets his legs cut off. I don't know how I would have done it better, but it was a little anticlimactic to me.
That leave Revenge of the Sith as my favorite movie, when not considering the age of special effects. Otherwise, it's Empire Strikes Back.
That leaves me back with watching Top Gear. And after watching about four episodes in a row... yeah, I'm ready for something else. Again, I want to watch all of Top Gear, but I think I need to mix it in with other stuff. I just now need to figure out if I want to finish Billions or start something new.
I think what I'll do is watch the next episode of Billions and see if it pulls me back in. If it does, I'll keep watching. If not, I'll put it back up on the shelf and move on to The Americans.
New Tech
Still no new tech. I'll say that I've noticed my phone's battery isn't lasting as long as I'd like. My normal process is to wake up and charge it up to around 80%. It then sits next to me on my desk most of the day without much use. At night it has around 60% battery and it lays in a different part of the desk so that I can grab it at night if need be. In the morning its generally around 40% and I repeat by charging it up to 80%.
But then there are days where I actually use the phone. For example, on a football Saturday B and I sit in the living room at 10 AM and go over our bets for the day. I'm using the phone for a solid two hours as we go over teams and records and bets. Then, throughout the day, I'm using the phone to keep up on scores especially during the Michigan game when we don't change the channel that much even on commercials. By the end of days like that, the phone might be down to like 20%. The problem is that I'm ready for bed, leaving me with the choice to leave it and risk it turning off in the night or charging it and letting it charge up to 100% and then stay there all night. Neither is good.
While I'm home, this shouldn't be a problem. But what about travel? Is the phone going to get me through a day of travel? How about a day at my destination where I'll be out with it.
I looked it up and I still have December, January, February, and March payments on the phone as I financed it through my cell phone bill. If I replace the phone, I have to pay it off AND lose the last bit of discount credits I got. And the phone I'd want to replace it with, the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, goes for $1,800.
I think if I can get through March, I'll consider getting a new phone then. But at that point, I might also try to wait until the fall when I suppose the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold might come out.
I'm also having a worsening problem with my mouse. The left button is starting to stutter. By that I mean I will click on something and try to drag it, but the button will 'release' before I'm done. Often, since my finger didn't move from the button at all, clicking again and continuing the motion. That's freaking annoying as I try to move an icon around on the desktop, select somethin in photoshop, or even play my New York Times games every morning. Now, I just got this mouse 18 months ago for $99. It still goes for that and there isn't a newer mouse out yet. And understand, with it's thumb scroll wheel, I'm absolutely addicted to this mouse.
I'm not on the bandwagon of getting a new mouse yet. Yet. But I know it's around the corner.
Writing
Since my last update I had a mini burst of writing and got three chapters of Gamer Girl: Evolutions out. But I published the last chapter over a week ago now. I have 3/4 of the next chapter written, but I'm honestly a little stuck. I have my outline and know what I want to do but I'm having a hard time getting all my characters and their respective emotions in line. I didn't even think about it before, but I have Sadie, Sarah, Marley, and Louis all meeting at the same time for a conversation. It will be the first meeting between Marley and Louis and will be the first time Sarah interacts with them for more than a moment.
Eventually, I just need to push through it. If it turns out bad, I can always re-write it but I can't let it keep stopping me as the story gets fun again soon after this.
Michigan Football
Well, Michigan creamed Northwestern good 50-6. The biggest problem was trying to figure out if Michigan was putting it together and was actually that good, or if Northwestern was just falling apart and was actually that bad.
The one good thing I knew at the end of the game was that Michigan had 6 wins on the season. They were bowl eligible. They were likely to lose to Ohio State the next week and at 6-6 for the season they could get a bowl and move on to next year with all these super start Freshmen coming in.
That was the fist big story before The Game. Michigan flipped Bryce Underwood from his commitment to LSU. Now, I've never followed recruiting all that much, but evidently this Bryce Underwood is the number one recruit this year. He's considered a "Generational" quarterback. Some college and pro quarterbacks he's been compared to are Vince Young, Cam Newton, Terrell Pryor, Pat Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson. He's even been compared to Lebron James for his demeanor and competitiveness. That's three Heisman winners, a Heisman candidate, an NFL MVP, and one of the best athletes in all of sports.
And where coach Harbaugh didn't really use the NIL system to get players, coach Moore evidently did. Supposedly Michigan got several of its high end donors to cough up ten million dollars in a multi year NIL deal for Underwood.
And since Underwood flipped, several other 4 and 5 star players have flipped or committed to Michigan. I think Michigan is ranked #7 in the country for recruits right now. Hopefully coach Moore will also get a transfer quarterback as most of our quarterback room is leaving and isn't all that good. It would be great to have an experienced quarterback to help Underwood out.
But the big news for Michigan Football is of course, The Game.
I went into Saturday honestly hoping that Michigan didn't embarrass themselves. Ohio State got their seniors to stay because of 'unfinished business'. They evidently paid twenty million dollars for this roster. They had three goals for the season: Beat Michigan, Win the Big Ten, Win the National Championship. They were favored by 20+ points. I seriously just hoped Michigan could keep it within that 20 points.
When B and I started setting up our bets, we figured this was the end of the year. Sure, we'd probably bet on some bowl games, but we were already an extra $50 down. We only had a total of $100 to bet with and were nervous as we'd done so badly this season. B suggested that we go through the games normally but if we don't get the full $100, we spend any remaining money on Michigan for the money line. That means we'd be betting on Michigan to win outright. If we put $10 down on Michigan plus the points we'd get our $10 back and also win around $9. If we put $10 on the Michigan money line we'd get the $10 back plus about $100. We took seven $10 bests leaving us to put $30 on Michigan.
When we got to the fourth quarter, tied 10-10 with Ohio State I was ecstatic. The story, win or lose, would be how Michigan kept up with Ohio State. They could barely run on Michigan defense. Their star transfer quarterback threw two interceptions. Sure, our quarterback also threw two interceptions, but our quarterback is a former walk on that had to battle cancer his first few years in college.
A few minutes later and I was jumping up and down for joy with B. Michigan beat Ohio State! For The Fourth Time In A ROW!!!!!
Michigan is now 7-5. Even if they lose their bowl game, they will have a winning record for the year. And there is talk about Ohio State firing their head coach. Ryan Day is 66-10 over 7 years. That's a .868 Win%. Most schools would KILL for a coach that good. But since he's lost to Michigan 4 times in a row, he might get fired. And this isn't just fans talking about this, it's serious college football journalists. That is the very best schadenfreude I can have right now.
Now, I couldn't write this out without addressing the fight after the game. This game was at the Horseshoe, so after the game Ohio State's players went over to their band and started singing their alma mater Carmen Ohio. While that went on, the Michigan players went to the center of the field to celebrate. They brought several Michigan Block M flags and started to "Plant" their flag in the middle of the Ohio State logo. Ohio State players noticed this and ran over to stop it. They grabbed the flag away, started shouting and yelling and Michigan responded. A full on fight broke out. It only ended when the police separated the teams using pepper spray. While coach Moore was in the fracas, trying to pull his team away from the fight, coach Day was off on his sideline just looking blankly around. He literally had to ask one of his players what went on and didn't know what to say in his post game press conference except that his players were prideful and weren't going to let Michigan plan a flag in their field. Coach Moore, by the way, immediately said in his press conference that fighting is unacceptable on both sides.
So, what do I think about it. First, I think planting a flag on an opposing team's field is disrespectful. It shouldn't be done. Get together, jump up and down on their logo, celebrate together, wave the flags around... but don't spear a flag through their field. That being said, Ohio State's football team absolutely over reacted. Their emotions were high but that's no excuse. Michigan had planted their flag on that same field two years earlier and no fight broke out. Both Texas and Oregon planted flags on Michigan's field this year when they beat them. Yes, it's a rivalry but there has to be limits before they make rules preventing anything like this.
Computer Issues
I think I'm looking at another format and reinstall of windows.
I'm using that Shmoozy app for monitoring my moods and I really like it, but I'd prefer to type it out on my keyboard and mouse as opposed to my phone. Sadly, it's only available on Android and iOS. So I searched through for an Android emulator and found one that should work. As it was installing though, it started looking more and more sus. And then my system crashed. And while it was installed, it would crash when I tried to run it. And it didn't show up as an installed app. Not even for Revo Uninstaller.
I finally found the program's uninstall exe and ran that and I believe it's all gone, but something remained. Something that's screwing things up and slowing the system down. It's bad enough that when I open Chrome, I can watch the window draw itself. This is on an intel 14900k with an Nvidia RTX 4090. Very little at all should slow my baby down.
I just don't want to go through that again. Especially since the whole bios/intel thing has come up and might change how Falcon Northwest wants me to set the system up.
Bah. I'll think about it. For now, it's good enough to go.
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