Overcooked
25/5/14 23:22![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeraldsIt's been a peculiarly stressful week, beginning with a short visit from my brother, who flew up from Santa Barbara for our oldest sister's milestone 60th birthday.
(First of all, oh my god how do I have a sixty year old sister?)
I both love and like my brother, and we get along well. We had a nice time together.
from left to right: DarkEm, niece, younger sister, niece, niece, Mom, niece, brother, the birthday girl
But everyone was aware that the number of times our mother will see him again in her life is probably quite small, and there were the logistics of car rental and getting around town, and there was attending a big noisy party where people I went to high school with FFS were present.
As much as I love my family, I've got a permanent trigger warning stamped on large gatherings of them. I don't know why, but there it is. I needed a day to ramp down after that, because I was pretty activated.
Then came the Supernatural season finale. I loved it--don't get me wrong--but it was One More Thing.
Then I was reduced to tears by a fire in a building 6000 miles away that I visited once three years ago.
And then the Portland Water Bureau found E. coli in one of our reservoirs and issued a citywide boil-water alert. Stores were emptied of bottled water, misted produce was discarded... It was more of a shame and a hassle than anything else (nobody got sick) but it felt apocalyptic.
And then came the shooting in Isla Vista.
Now, as an American, I'm numb to mass shootings. They upset me the way traffic fatalities upset me. I try not to get involved because, again, I just get activated, and there's not a fucking thing I can do. My outrage-o-meter is broken.
But somehow I got drawn into the whole #YesAllWomen hashtag event on Twitter. And it was wonderful, it really was. It clarified a lot of things for me, and it seemed to do the same for other people, some of them men. (A good article about it appeared on Time.com.)
But I'm feeling kind of overcooked, you know?
On the positive side of the ledger, I at least knew that I was activated and took some steps: tapping, extra sleep, quiet days, a couple of good bike rides. And, of course, I have the priceless blessing of not having to go to a stressful job anymore.
And chocolate. And Netflix. I'll get by.
(First of all, oh my god how do I have a sixty year old sister?)
I both love and like my brother, and we get along well. We had a nice time together.
from left to right: DarkEm, niece, younger sister, niece, niece, Mom, niece, brother, the birthday girl
But everyone was aware that the number of times our mother will see him again in her life is probably quite small, and there were the logistics of car rental and getting around town, and there was attending a big noisy party where people I went to high school with FFS were present.
As much as I love my family, I've got a permanent trigger warning stamped on large gatherings of them. I don't know why, but there it is. I needed a day to ramp down after that, because I was pretty activated.
Then came the Supernatural season finale. I loved it--don't get me wrong--but it was One More Thing.
Then I was reduced to tears by a fire in a building 6000 miles away that I visited once three years ago.
And then the Portland Water Bureau found E. coli in one of our reservoirs and issued a citywide boil-water alert. Stores were emptied of bottled water, misted produce was discarded... It was more of a shame and a hassle than anything else (nobody got sick) but it felt apocalyptic.
And then came the shooting in Isla Vista.
Now, as an American, I'm numb to mass shootings. They upset me the way traffic fatalities upset me. I try not to get involved because, again, I just get activated, and there's not a fucking thing I can do. My outrage-o-meter is broken.
But somehow I got drawn into the whole #YesAllWomen hashtag event on Twitter. And it was wonderful, it really was. It clarified a lot of things for me, and it seemed to do the same for other people, some of them men. (A good article about it appeared on Time.com.)
But I'm feeling kind of overcooked, you know?
On the positive side of the ledger, I at least knew that I was activated and took some steps: tapping, extra sleep, quiet days, a couple of good bike rides. And, of course, I have the priceless blessing of not having to go to a stressful job anymore.
And chocolate. And Netflix. I'll get by.
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