Well hello! Here's my first quarterly update. Let's hope I can be consistent with this kind of thing.
I thought I'd use some of the extra time I have over winter break to finally make my Neocities. I've been wanting to make one for a long time, but HTML was too overwhelming before.
First and foremost; I went on Vyvanse for ADHD. I'd ignored the symptoms of ADHD for a few years now, since I already have autism, what are the odds I'd have it too? 30-70% apparently, depending on the study. These meds are honestly the only reason this website is getting made at all, so that's great.
I had a lot of trouble with work because of various stress and school and other stuff, and I ended up losing a client due to this. I ended up getting more hours with my primary client, so things evened out financially, but I'm really ashamed of myself for losing another job to mental illness. I feel like I can't do anything right, and I'll just be stuck in a rut of doing something for a little bit, then running into a wall. But, I'm pursuing school now, and I've got enough grants that even if I blow everything up, I'm not paying anything yet.
I had my first college term start in October with two classes: Composition and Intro to Bio. I'd actually thought about pursuing this degree before last year but weenied out, so when I came back this year I was surprised (happily!) to find that the school had updated the prereqs to be a little less intensive. I didn't end up having to take chemistry this term too, which is great because I get so scared thinking about it.
I had composition in person, which is fun because I live in a small town far away from the main college. There's a tiny campus branch out here, and they just started doing credit classes out here. Most of my classmates for this were online, but I had one other physical classmate and I got his contact info to try and be friends. We went exploring in the forest once but idk if we'll be friends, we'll see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Professor was super nice and I loved the textbook. I'll link it over here if you want to have a look, I really liked the example essays putting the analyses into practice. I also got an A+, just to brag
In Bio, I had a little trouble with the material since it was A Lot At Once, but I got an A in the end so I'm not going to beat myself up too much. I had a lot of trouble with the tests specifically, so I'll need to work on practice tests over the break. I really liked one of my tutors, and he linked me some great stuff. Check out this Biology website that my tutor says "looks like a highschooler made it" "looks like a highschooler made it"
My mom had a major surgery in November, and she's doing great afterward. It was stressful and scary getting it done, and her surgeon was a huge ass about fulfilling his medicine promises after the fact, but it's all taken care of now. Also, unrelated, but my mom found out she has 9 ulcers. Isn't that fun? Wrestling with all of her specialists is kinda a nightmare, but her health is improving pretty well.
I also had a couple of scary-but-ultimately-nothing times where my healthcare was threatened by a mistake at DHS, my mom's aforementioned nightmare specialists, and financial aid leaving me scary notes but ending up giving me more aid.
I'm trying to get my house in order & start some repairs. This also means I need to interact more with my nasty HOA, but I'll make it through. I'm an adult now, and things aren't working like those Richard Scarry books, as much as I want them to.
I went to the aquarium for my birthday <3 I had soooo much fun and admission was free. They also gave my mom free admission since her birthday's 2 days after mine. I have some pics here here and here for you. I got a big otter plushie yayayay remind me to add pics later
I found out the nasty things regrowing on my body are just warts! And I finally have a treatment for my keloids in the works.
I'm also doing great with my weight loss goal! I started at 207 pounds, and now I'm *drumroll please* 207 pounds! I know I've gained a (small) amount of muscle over this time and that's skewing it a little bit, but I'm just so happy about it (through gritted teeth)
My cats are little weirdos, as usual. They're unhappy that I'm spending so much time away from them, especially my daughter cat, but they're doing okay. I love them to bits, and I'm going to start sharing a room with them at night, so I can start shoving my face in them when I wake up.
All in all every year is better than the last despite the lows, and I'm reaching out and putting myself out there in scary ways. Like right here.