Some days just get written off as a total loss around here, and this was one of them. I got absolutely shit all done. I slept in until way late, didn’t do anything but check up on email and work stuff for a couple hours, took a nap, took a long shower, changed the litter and futzed around “organizing” and doing little else. Meanwhile Joelle cleaned the kitchen and baked brownies and emptied the dishwasher and is doing laundry (I did carry the dirty laundry baskets to the laundry room). Despite the prettiness of the day, I am tired, sore, and a little sinusy. I’ll just get to it tomorrow.
We bought thundercoats for Thurston a couple years ago and it worked so well that Joelle bought me a terry cloth “pool/cabana” shirt that acts the same way as a thundercoat on me, so much so that when I get home it is the first thing I put when I get home and is perfect for days like this. That’s another thing she is really fucking good at- finding really expensive shirts (like these shirts are close to 100 bucks) and finding them at ridiculous sale prices from the online components of places like Macy’s and Dillards and what not. I just get too pissed off dealing with the department store’s shitty web design and all the pop-up bullshit offering deals to ever do it, but she got these for like 20-30 bucks, which is a reasonable price for a shirt.
No big dinner plans, just making up leftover burritos that I made the other night, I made this “crema” thing for shrimp tacos the other night and I need to use up the last of it. It’s super simple. I deseed two jalapenos, clean a couple cloves of garlic, wash a bunch of cilantro, throw it in the blender, then squeeze in two limes and some of the pulp, add a jar mexican table cream (I just use cacique because it is ubiquitous in Kroger/Frys/Ralph’s/Harris Teeter family of groceries, and blend it. Personally, I only add one jalapeno at first because jalapenos can be hit or miss and you don’t want to screw up and put two nuclear jalapenos in, this is just supposed to have a nice layered little kick to add with the cooling freshness of the other ingredients.
Joelle turned her left over stir fry into legit restaurant quality fried rice- it was really superb and I am not a big rice eater.
Why am I writing this? Why are you reading this. I have nothing substantive today other than that in a really shitty world I managed to carve out another in a string of pretty decent days.
I’m gonna go watch tv with the wife and pet the cats.
Medium Cool – All Things Snow!
Scout211
And that’s a really good thing.
Eric
“I’m gonna go watch tv with the wife and pet the cats.”
That sounds like a perfect night to me…
MagdaInBlack
It’s just that kind of day. I never unsealed the vault, because nothing I needed “out there.”
I did turn some tough boneless pork chops into a pretty decent shredded pork black bean chili-like substance, so there’s that.
also too, catching up on podcasts, I learned Joe Rogan thinks Jesus might come back as Ai.
I got nuthin’
chemiclord
It’s actually rather rare that people I see in one form of internet media that I wind up interacting with on different sites.
So needless to say, when I saw I got the Professor Bigfoot seal of approval on Bluesky, it brought a smile to my face.
Math Guy
Another perfect day in this best of all possible worlds . . .
Jackie
Cole, could you give more detail on this human thundershirt?
frosty
I have days like this. Ms F says “You don’t have to do something all the time.” OK … maybe just four hours a day, then.
Professor Bigfoot
Some days are just like that.
Remind yourself that as a human bean, you are entitled to days where you get shit-all done.
Relaxing and chilling with the wife and petting the kitties is all the accomplishment you need right now.
You’ll get at it.
Es posible por mañana, mi amigo. Sientate.
Downpuppy
Fresh potato soup & leftover lasagna.
We only have 1 dog.
And he was tired from larking about in the snow.
But rather large.
Professor Bigfoot
@chemiclord: <blushes> 🙏🏾
Socolofi
Good sports weekend, so there’s that.
Hijacking thread… so I saw the other day the Supreme Court will take on the birthright citizenship case. It reminded me of this from Tad Stoermer: youtube.com/watch?v=tCeWssrKuRk
TL;DR: SCrOTUS is gonna do what they want, and they don’t care about precedent.
My hope, jaded as it is, is that they decide just that people who are undocumented at birth don’t automatically get citizenship, and let stand that people who are born here of people on visas are citizens – otherwise that totally flips Ark which may be a bridge too far (not that they cared in flipping Roe but unlike Roe there hasn’t been a long steady drumbeat of people trying to overturn it because they didn’t like the decision). I see zero reason they’d let undocumented people get citizenship, and I suspect they’ll define “subject to the jurisdiction” as “owing allegiance” and just flip it.
This said… I wonder what the right argument is, TBH. Most countries in the world don’t do citizenship by birth but by parentage. I suspect if you asked most people if two undocumented parents have a child in the US whether that child should be a citizen of the US or a citizen of the countr{y,ies} of the parents, they’d pick the countr{y,ies} of the parents by a wide margin (GOP by 90+% but Dem over 50%). Parents here legally but on visa… I dunno. If our current state was “not a citizen” there’s no way this law would pass.
But what it also means is that to implement this… we turn into a “papers, please” country – when a woman gives birth, the hospital will need to prove citizenship of at least one parent. Now again, lots of countries have national ID cards that do this, the US is one of the few that doesn’t.
So just kinda curious here… how do others feel about this? How do we feel about undocumented getting citizenship? And would we want mandate a national ID? (note: this would effectively be a “Real ID” or equivalent but it’s what the Fed Gov’t has been pushing for decades and from latest stats on airlines they’ve already got most people here).
Redshift
I’ve spent a chunk of the past few days helping an older friend find a new Medicare plan. I don’t want to give away personal info, but they have a chronic/progressive illness, and we found a plan last year that covered new medications if it was party of a “step” process where you can switch to a newer/more expensive med if you’ve tried the cheap generic older one and it didn’t work.
This new drug is a big quality of life step up – going from getting around with a walker to using a cane, or even nothing for short distances. But it’s expensive so of course the plan cut it for next year.
There was one plan that covered it but it involved moving from Medicare Advantage to Part D. I find the Medicare open enrollment site quite good, but that’s one change it doesn’t explain well.
Fortunately our local assistance like is also very good and was able to get me straightened out, but it was still deadline-stress and took time.
I need to remember to ask on David’s next post what the odds are that my friend is the only person in their zip code on this drug, and the plans are dropping it because she signs up, because it sure seems that way.
(Sorry for the excessive length. Brevity has never been my forte.)
bigredwookie
@Socolofi: For me, if you are born here, undocumented or not, you are a citizen.
prostratedragon
@bigredwookie: Yes, though I expect the torturers on SCOTUS to try to wring something else out of the plain words of the 14th.
Professor Bigfoot
@bigredwookie: Absolutely; and anything else devolves into some kind of “blood and soil” (sound familiar) definition that will go back to “where were your grandparents born? Were any of your grandparents Jewish??
Redshift
@Socolofi: I am just not willing to engage with what flavor of scotus decision that is clearly wrong on the merits is acceptable. The text of the 14th Amendment is absolutely clear despite the meeping of right wing think tank bigots.
If the Roberts Court over again decides to make up law, all I want to hear from Dems is that it’s more proof of their partisanship and corruption, and when the Court gets the reforms we desperately need, this decision should be treated with all the deference they have earned – none.
Wapiti
@Socolofi: Almost all nations in the Western Hemisphere have birthright citizenship. It’s like there’s a consensus that most of us are the descendants of immigrants, legal, forced, or otherwise.
Not allowing it for one group of people opens the door to not allowing it for another group of people. And you know the racist Republicans want to do exactly that.
frosty
@Socolofi: What about people like me? My entire genealogy is undocumented, some going back before the American Revolution. From more than one country. Without birthright citizenship, what country am I a citizen of?
I have a birth certificate and a passport but the only thing that makes me a citizen of the US is the birth certificate from NY State. This is an enormous can of worms they want to open.
zhena gogolia
@Scout211: That’s about all we can hope for these days.
We started to read the Olivia Nuzzi thing in Vanity Fair. IT IS THE WORST WRITING I HAVE EVER SEEN.
Marc
And that’s the whole game, right there. The moment they decide to go retroactive, and you must know they will if they get away with at birth, they will start picking and choosing who has “adequate” documentation to have obtained citizenship in the first place, likely using their hand-picked “immigration” judges and paper bags. Fuck all of those people.
satby
@zhena gogolia: why would you torture yourself like that 😂
lowtechcyclist
If you’re born here, you’re a citizen. The Seditious Six better not fuck with that.
Also, we need to be letting a lot more people immigrate than we do, including from those ‘shithole countries.’ Anyone who left behind everything they knew to come to the U.S. should be someone we want here – they’ve demonstrated that they’re the sorts of people who will go way outside their comfort zones to make better lives for themselves. They’ll work hard in crap jobs so their kids can grow up to be doctors and civil engineers and the like. And for those already here, any noncitizen who’s been here 10 years or more without getting into trouble with the law should get automatic citizenship if they want it.
Oh dear me, that might make us white folks just a plurality rather than a flat-out majority? How awful! ///
Central Planning
@frosty: Doing nothing is doing something.
Ramalama
I’m wondering if Joelle would offer up a tutorial in how to find Joelle-type deals.
satby
@JGC: I had an active weekend: 3 holiday markets in 3 days, two requiring me to tote lots of my wares to other places. Soap is heavy!
And I had to drive to Chicago for my youngest son’s 40th birthday on Saturday, stay the night because I can’t drive after dark, and then leave at dawn in a snowstorm to drive back to South Bend for the third holiday market. On about 2 hours of sleep, because though I went to bed, the others didn’t.
There are times I can’t believe I’m 70 either. Right now I feel about 80 😂
80 and in need of my bed. Good night all.
Scout211
@zhena gogolia: LOL!
I wonder why their new west coast editor didn’t review the writing. ;-)
Lapassionara
@lowtechcyclist: agree. And that was the common law of England, so the law here from the beginning. That is why the Dred Scott decision was so bad and why the amendment was intended to overturn that decision. From our beginning, people born here were citizens, with exceptions for Native Americans who were subject to tribal authority.
Another Scott
Watching TV and petting cats on a Sunday evening is a good exercise in time managment.
Meanwhile, there are still writers out there who are willing to point out the lack of clothes of a few of our “leaders”. Electrek.co:
(See original for embedded links.)
Grr…
Click over and read the whole thing, and add January 20 to your calendar of deadlines for things to do.
We have to let the monsters know that we see what they’re doing and we dissent.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jackie
Did anyone watch the Leslie Stahl interview with MTG on 60 Minutes? It’s just starting here (PT) and wondering if it’s worth the time to watch.
CaseyL
Today was an at-home day for me, but I got a fair bit done. Made some soup, did some laundry, spoke to relatives who live very far away…
I have too much accrued vacation time, so for the rest of December I’m taking long weekends, which is quite nice.
Madeleine
Why am I reading this? Because even when you have a nothing day, what you write makes it much more than nothing. Magic.
WTFGhost
See, we decided to be different. I don’t care if part of our thought was to make sure everyone born of slaves was a sure-as-hell citizen, we didn’t say that, and the Republicans don’t get to swear they love the Constitution they’re trying to shred.
To remove birthright citizenship, to do so much as say we can erase the evidence of birthright citizenship, should demand a Constitutional Amendment, and if the SCOTUS says otherwise, it proves just how corrupt they are, and it will be another one of those turning points, where our descendants will say “how could anyone see this, and not say the US has full-on fascism?”
Kayla Rudbek
@Ramalama: I second this!
Jay
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli
The White Supremacy House is also going after dual citizenship.
Kayla Rudbek
Trying to decide if I go to Walmart tomorrow for new Christmas tree lights, or whether I send Mr. Rudbek out to Target/Ace Hardware/etc. instead. I do need to pick up Barbies and Lego for the toy drive at work, so maybe I’ll go after work.
Jackie
@Jay:
That would impact Melania, Barron, and her parents. Hmmmm…
And possibly Ivanka, Jr, and Eric? I have no clue if Ivana kept dual citizenship, or insisted on dual citizenship for her spawn.
Timill
@Jackie: Not to mention Calgary Ted…
Jackie
@Timill: I believe he gave up his Canadian citizenship.
Does Rubio have dual citizenship with Cuba?
Oh, the cans of worms this could open…
Timill
@Jackie: At the time of their birth, Ivana held three citizenships: Czechoslovak, Austrian and Canadian (but not US).
Timill
@Jackie: And his Cuban citizenship? Since he gets US from his mother, a True Originalist like Ted won’t recognise it…
Trivia Man
@Marc:
And from the kindness of their hearts, you may stay. Subject to good behavior and the protection of a patron from this list of acceptable leading (male white) citizens. If they withdraw thst protection, OFF YOU GO!
Trivia Man
@lowtechcyclist:
yes, more immigrants. But I have a caveat that I think is non-negotiable. We respect your religious beliefs but only if you respect EVERY OTHER religious belief. The insular Jewish law enclaves, Muslim honor killings, local ordinances prohibiting gay people – not OK.
frosty
@Marc: I figured it out. They redefine everyone who can show their ancestors were here before 1776 as settlers not immigrants and settlers get a pass.
Jay
@frosty:
And First Nation’s don’t count.
Wapiti
@lowtechcyclist: Yup. I’d rather we take in someone who risks everything to be here than some millionaire who wants another passport.
Gloria DryGarden
@Another Scott: perhaps that’s worth a front page thread
cain
I think it’s because it’s your blog ;)
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: right?
hey, I wrote you a comment/ reply late on a dead thread. Was it last night, or Friday night? It was something I’ve been thinking about, as a bodyworker. And you described the physical details of your injuries/ patterns, and it gave me a clear look. Maybe you’ll go back and find it.
coin operated
@frosty: I have not read the rest of the thread yet, but you make me consider a really good question…what constitutes documentation of a natural born citizen? coin’s dad will turn 95 next week, and never had a birth certificate. Born in rural Wisconsin, the only thing testifying to his birth is a certificate of baptism from the local parish.
And I see Marc is quicker than I am….
Gloria DryGarden
@Trivia Man: you have a very good point. It would take some fine tuning.
WTFGhost
I’ve been dealing with enormous amounts of pain all weekend, but I’ve done a lot of writing up my experiences, which I hope might be of use, if not to me, then to others.
I think I’ve wrapped up my hypothesis of “Marionette String Syndrome (MSS)” with the basics fleshed out in text. That means I can start fiddling with the edges as needed. Even if I’m full of shit on MSS, I think I know a lot about neurological pain, because most people haven’t had the chance to observe their own brain go crazy, with the detachment needed to say “that’s not inherent craziness….”
So that’s something.
Kayla Rudbek
@coin operated:
@Marc: I saw in a craft history magazine (Piecework) that the US National Archives has stitched samplers that were sent to the government as evidence for claiming pensions for children/widows of military veterans (birth dates and marriages records when all else failed, I would guess)
Jackie
Crib notes to those maybe interested in MTG’s 60 Minutes interview:
mediaite.com/media/news/marjorie-taylor-greene-tells-60-minutes-that-it-would-shock-people-to-hear-h…
WTFGhost
@Gloria DryGarden: Yes, that’s what I’ve been writing up all weekend. I believe the squeezing of my face caused my shoulders to curl in, but, that forces the hips to curl in, too, and….
Listen, in my brain, I’d mapped out the fascia, up to and including there being four quadrants, and the squeezing between them seeming to be the big issue. If I’d been injured elsewhere, the situation wouldn’t have been as bad, but right up in the TMJ, with stickiness able to stick to my *shoulders*, well, that is why I felt a burning, neuro pain in my left hip.
This weekend, it’s felt like I’m undoing that through the fascia, and, I’m hoping I’m writing up a description that other people, doctors and laypeople, can work from.
He he… I’ve had a lifetime of teaching people to understand strange stuff (technology), so I think I just might be able to be able to help a lot of people. I can’t think of a better epitaph than “he helped a lot of people.” (Well, “she saved the world a lot,” but you have to save the world a lot for that one.)
What’s crazy is, I know that neuro pain (which military folks can have from injury) can mimic PTSD (which military folks can have from a different type of injury), and just knowing that – “it’s the pain, not the PTSD,” or, “this PTSD event is no worse than a bad episode of neuro pain” – can help with survival.
Ain’t never been anything I wanted to do in my life so much as help PTSD, because we damage so many good people by making them do stuff no human should ever have to do. Anyway, friend, thank you for caring!
prostratedragon
Somalis, trolling
Poe Larity
When is the chatgpt happy filter button being added?
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: yes! You can unwind back this fascia stuff. I so wish you could hook up with a cranial osteopath, or an ortho-bionomy practitioner, some of whom are also even trained in fascia release work. Or even a feldenkrais person. They could probably help you a ton. Even your bone, that got squished as a kid, has still got a plastic quality to it, at a deep level, and can shift.
It is so cool to hear of you finding a doorway into your fascia, that lets you unwind it. I’m rooting for you!
Socolofi
@Lapassionara: so…. this is pretty factually incorrect.
Pre-revolution, it was British law, which basically gave rights to white, male landowners – similar to Britain. The huge difference between Britain and the US is that in the US, a lot more people were landowners because land was cheap and plentiful. But women had no rights, nor slaves, etc. And there were lots of classes of white people (almost all forms of “poor”) that had few to no rights.
Article of Confederation kinda let states do their own thing, which promptly turned into a mess.
The Constitution set federal standards for citizenship, but there was a lot of discussion around nationals / inhabitants and citizens.
This is still true today. For example, people born in American Samoa are Nationals, not Citizens. They get US Passports but don’t get to vote, and lots of gov’t jobs are limited because they require US citizens. The argument in the Supreme Court (which holds) is that United States means a State – not a territory. It’s changed in places like Puerto Rico and Guam just like for Native Americans – by statute, but not because of the 14th.
And even with the 14th, there were laws passed afterwards – for example, the Chinese Exclusion Acts, which said that people of Chinese descent couldn’t become citizens, with part of the justification that the Chinese were still subject to the Emperor of China. Yes, that was overturned by the SCOTUS in Ark.
All of this just to point out that birthright citizenship, with nearly no exception, is a recent, not original, point of view. Further, our Supreme Court loves to go back to “original intent” – which i agree is legal bullshit for saying, “This is what we want and you can’t argue because the people who said this are dead.”
Jay
‘Mercan “Culture”,…………………
bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3m7ftus3qkc27
Msb
Take the joy that comes. Even in dark times. So glad you’re happy, John.
WTFGhost
@Jay: I’m glad I’m not in MN. I’ve had enough anguish recently that there’s a big piece of me that would want to dive in front of any car that did that, and would literally camp out.
That part of me is the same size as the part of me that wants to die going “COME ON YOU CBP PUSSY! YOU AIN’T GOT THE BALLS!!! OH! I’m so sorry, I truly shouldn’t have said that. COME ONE YOU CBP DICKWAD! YOU AIN’T GOT THE OVES!!!”
In the right context, of course. Context is important.
WTFGhost
So, if I may ask of lawyerly types here:
If *I* thought an ERISA-not-SSDI-Disability attorney told me we’d go to % of back benefits, ONLY if we went to litigation, and then, they’d pay me part of the attorney’s fees I’d already paid (while paying for testing), okay, you get that in your head? First, foremost, ERISA – not Social Security.
We’d apply, and appeal, for an ERISA-disability benefit, and, I’d pre-pay for testing, and some attorney’s fees, but, if we went to litigation, they’d refund some fees, and go to %-back-benefits.
Okay, then, they slip a standard, %-of-back-benefits, the moment we go to *appeal*, not *litigation*, under my wife’s hand, and I, not understanding the difference, sign it. I had informed them of my inability to carry on, e.g., even a 15 minute conversation, and retain the information, and explained that was the basis of my disability.
They do insufficient testing for my initial application to work. Appeal is so obviously necessary, I’d have to be a fucking moron to think we wouldn’t have to appeal, still, the ERISA plan had the chance to do the right thing.
I prepay for testing (and, I believe, some measure of attorney’s fees, but I’m factually incorrect).
We win on appeal.
I feel more betrayed than I’d ever felt, in any professional business relationship, when I find that we’d assigned them at least 30% of back benefits. But, I do recognize that 30% of back benefits was not an unfair approximation of the costs, especially when measured against the risk of no recovery at all. Still, I thought that all I lost was at most 30% of back benefits.
GhostWife thinks we assigned them 30% of benefits going forward for some number of months. Now: if they cheated me, by making me pay 30% of back benefits, rather than an hourly rate, that’s an honest-but-dishonorable score. They duped the brain-gimp by swapping out contracts, and putting their standard under his wife. It’s like prison rape, you hope it doesn’t happen to you, but you know it happens.
Before I would have assigned a single dollar, of any but BACK BENEFITS, I would have (unhappy scene involving self destruction while my life was insured, elided), because no fucking leech gets a hold of my only earning power going forward. The only way anyone could have gotten me to sign a contract saying that anyone gets a percentage of my payments, from the date my appeal succeeded, going forward, is by defrauding me.
So: I’m talking about legal action involving the attorney, I hired to advocate for my ERISA disability.
I know: first, we read the agreement. But, y’all might be thinking “OMG, that’s bog-standard, of course he owes 30% of the next N months…”. Now is a fine time to tell me. Remember, I can’t read! (Seriously. I need help reading legalese, even though it sounds like I shouldn’t.)
Next, if the agreement says 30% of N months, I decide if being shat on that much is acceptable. Sometimes, accepting being shat on is better than fighting being shat on.
But if it’s not acceptable: the legal community probably already knows whether we … what do y’all call us, mental defectives? Whatever you call us, whether we have any recourse against lawyers who take advantage of us
WTFGhost
@Gloria DryGarden: Well, now that I know, I can work more on this.
I’ve gone through different people. The one person I went through, who I didn’t trust, was a chiropractor. She wanted a lot of money up front, and maybe that’s normal – I don’t know maybe it is! – but if you want me for four months, I want to pay you over four months, and if you can’t convince me to keep coming back, that strikes me as a “you” problem, not a “me” problem. I’m tough – you can tell me “stick it out, one more month.” But if you know, up front, you don’t expect me to make it through month four, I won’t pay through month four.
The other reason I refused was, it felt like working the spine is the wrong direction. It feels like my TMJ/neck/shoulder got jammed together, which twisted my hip a bit. It felt like big bones – my femurs, my collarbones, etc., were displaced, so I didn’t trust squeezing the teeny-tiny bones in the spine.
I saw an anime, where a Japanese “doctor” manipulated a person by moving their limbs (including their neck, shoulders, etc.), and it felt a lot like what my unwinding feels like, just, it felt a bit like, I was working from the inside, and the doctor would be working from the outside, and we’d meet in the middle. He’d work my arm one day, the next day, I’d work my hip and the smooth muscle connecting hip-to-collarbone/shoulder/tmj, and suddenly *POP*, everything would fall into place.
Or, again, the specialists you mention, who I want to talk to, now, even if only to help add my information to their body of knowledge.
In the meantime, I’m in a lot of pain, and sublimating by pretending that something good will come of it, which might never happen, but, hey, I’ll still be alive to see nothing happen, which will be disappointing to me, but, well, hopefully someone will be around to care.
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: I agree, not the spine, not a chiropractor. Maybe network chiropractic, which I don’t know anything about, but I know people who were helped by it, after a car accident, which does a doozy on fascia and joints and muscles. Lots of micro tears, and shock absorption, sprain strain stuff, cranial system stuff. I’ve experienced it, and I’ve helped lots of people with it, and gotten good referrals for people.
if you want to request my email, I can get into stunning detail, but I’ll need to give Watergirl my B email, since my A email account is still not fixed.
Meanwhile, here’s an Ortho-Bionomy trick for you. It’s several steps, so mrs ghost can help you. Basically this is a position release. This works for all sorts of body tightness, because it resets your proprioception, how cool is that. Read all the steps first, so you can decide how or if to try this.
1. pick a spot in you body, or an area, to work on. Call it location x. From here, listening to your particulars, I’d start with the upper neck, base of skull, for you. Or something w hips, femurs. Or your shoulder. Do a baseline check, for science: pain 1-10, and any descriptors. Find a way to create a position that makes location x feel better, more ease, less pain. You need pillows, cushions, rolled towels to support this position, so you can stay there for 60-90 seconds, perhaps longer. You can’t use your muscles to stay in the position. Has to be your partner, or soft objects that hold you.
Say it’s your shoulder/arm, where is it easiest? You test a few shifts in angle, rotation, position. Higher, lower, rolled forward or back, extended, flexed- ie raised forward of yr torso, or a bit behind. Which way is easier, has the least tension. You find the place, you park there, all supported. Maybe mrs ghost holds your arm, just so, in a position.
2. while you’re parked, and passive, esp for upper body, roll your eyes around gently and find if there’s an eye position, that your eyes like, and that makes location x have a bit more ease. That’s eyes. And now tongue, a very undulating part of your body. Is there a configuration of your tongue that also helps create more ease. Higher, lower, softer at the back, where you place the tip. Yes I know it’s weird, but it often helps.
3. getting out of your magic position is the most important part, because you have to be passive. Don’t engage any muscles that were involved in getting happier. You can flop, or fall, or roll, but better if you let someone help you. They lift your arm and remove pillows, and you do not help, do not engage those muscles. You return to a “neutral position” which for you might be different with all your contractures. Something like standing straight, sitting straight, lying down straight, arms at your side.
3b you can do position releases for several more places, if you wish. Steps 1-3.
4. it can take a day or two, for the reset, so no push-ups, don’t carry groceries, if lifting a pound of butter is heavy for you, don’t lift it. You get the idea. It’s like the cake is still in the oven for 2 days. Don’t go mountain climbing. Easy does it.
trick #2 is from the cranial work model. You have diaphragms, horizontal planes of tissue, through your torso. Your breathing diaphragm. But also, pelvic floor, and thoracic outlet (shoulder girdle), and the base of your skull. And also, between your temples, in the bones your lovely jaw articulates with. You can imagine them, tune in to one, breathe, relax, invite it to soften, to widen. Normally a practitioner puts hands gently, front and back, for the lower three, and waits, breaths, invites. I have a strong sense you’ll be able to access these, and create some space. If I were there, I’d do it for you, and teach mrs ghost.
The diaphragms are a way into the fascia system, and sort of into the fascia around nerves and spinal cord.
The upper two diaphragms are trickier; I’m not clear on them yet, how to be safe, but you can tune it in, visit internally, see what you get, ask if there’s any tiny shift in position makes it seem more spacious in a safe way. You seem to be getting more inner sense of stuff to try. Be gentle.
for starters, you’re going for even a tiny, 5-10% improvement. Maybe with time, and practitioners 50% more ease, perhaps way more, which I believe may be possible.
trick #3, I would tell you in an email.
does all this count as balloon juice after dark? An odd use for the time when most people are away sleeping.
WTFGhost
@Gloria DryGarden: We should definitely try to get this conversation done offline if possible. For one thing, I only have limited time during which I can read and write each day, and it’s more limited than usual.
The first thing you talked about – that sounds like what I call “the unwinding dance”. I feel tight parts in my body, and then, I find the ends of them, and peel them apart. The peeling feels like fascia-stuff. The tangles feel like fascia stuff, and I think it’s because it was my face, squeezed at a young age, *right* where the boundary between TMJ regions was smallest, with the TMJ region doing, and affecting, so much.
The second part… I’m still reviewing it, but it feels like my understanding that, yes, this is all anchored in my face, and absolutely *in part* due to the facial assault. I might have done some damage myself, through ordinary youthful stupidity, too! The way it feels like I’m undoing the injury is overwhelming, and I’m remembering “yes, this is exactly the kind of earache I used to have, this is exactly the kind of runny nose I used to have…”. Since the earaches, runny nose, and other neuro symptoms seem to coincide with the face squeeze, I try hard not to blame the girl who did it, but I do place my problems as starting then (even if I worsened them later, and, even if I’m dead wrong, and I did ’em all to myself somehow).
See, the other thing I could believe happened would be, bad experiences on stuff like the Monkey Bars (as they were called in my day – climbing apparatuses for children). If I decided to do something stupid on them, young enough, I could have twisted both arms backward, just right….
The point is, I don’t really know the origin, but, I do have an iconic memory of pain, and it was like a lightning bolt to my brain, so, I choose to believe that was the true origin of my issues, while both reminding people not to point fingers at people in the past, and, to remember that other, purely accidental, issues could cause the same effects, which is another reason not to point too many fingers in the future, either.
But I just traced from the base of my skull, to my jaw/TMJ, and I think there’s much to learn there.
Front pagers, you have my permission to share my e-mail address, but, I hope to provide a different, better, address if requested.