Yeah my eye appt was cancelled but I didn't get the memo, since i'd opted out of their AI software after confirming my appt. B has appt Thursday, so I was able to get in at noon on that day. If things aren't too crazy in town, maybe we'll eat lunch somewhere. Traffic was INSANE yesterday - based on my years of living there; years ago. It was only the first, so I figured it was just early Christmas shopping or people buying what they needed to bake... until B mentioned the milk & bread panic run before the "storm".
We were forecast to be right on the edge of it. Which we are. Yeah, there's a little ice on the deck - but we have been getting mostly rain, which we desperately needed! The pond level is still down 6-8 ft.
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About that cheese and cracker situation... this year, we're hearing a LOT of stories from people going through pretty hard times. Sometimes emotionally; sometimes financially. It's hitting home more: one of our forum members, older gent - got divorced last year. So he moved to Montana. Then his job evaporated... and he couldn't find another. So he's going nomad. That forum usually has a gift exchange every Christmas and this year we all donated to his cause instead - to get him south of the winter weather. Another member, offered the gift of a good sized travel trailer - that member is going through persistently awful medical stuff. But we had to get the other member from Montana to a straight shot further south. It is now possible, as soon as there's a break in the weather. He said our willingness to help - even with just moral support - is what is keeping him going.
Hol's BF is in some kind of crisis or breakdown. She is TRYING to be supportive of him, but she can't be around him when he's in that state - which has been constant since he got back from being around family - a couple weeks ago. So it's been phone harassment instead. We were having a hang-out afternoon with one of her friends and when BF called (again - sigh) she put him on speaker. He descibes himself (when he's more coherent) as depressed - but this is not any kind of depression I'm aware of. He kinda reminds me of the other friend, that she took to the mental ward at the hospital, because he was suicidal. That guy had me on pins & needles. BF's talk is cognitively incoherent. Makes zippo sense, since he goes from topic 1 to 35, as if they're connected.... back to trying to identify root causes (a techie term, which I've connected with him sometimes using)... and he's clearly in agony.
She will not invite him here until he gets some longer term help for himself, which isn't her. She won't go there - coz he threw her out on Halloween night at 3 am. Both he and her are convinced they're neurodivergent (the fashion of the day; self-diagnosed) because they have some characteristics of high-functioning autism. SIGH. No one listens to mom's common sense or experience. Which doesn't bother me, but I would like to help.
Maybe he's dealing with unresolved trauma, poorly. Maybe there's more to it. She gets upset if I do research into symptoms, and try to diagnose tendencies. But whatever is eating his cracker - he isn't functioning and THAT'S a problem. When he is functioning, he's talented, skilled, and a pleasant human being to be around. So next stop, I'll be looking at symptoms of some existential mental illnesses.
I'd like to hit whomever came up with this "neurodivergent" idea, with a rock. It's convincing young people who are "different" that there's something wrong with them and actually exaggerating those differences beyond practicality. Yes, WE'RE ALL DIFFERENT, FFS. SIGH. Measuring sticks, continuum, degrees.... are simply discarded & dismissed; it's either you are or you aren't. Total B&W thinking.
I hope TikTok goes bankrupt.
