Work in progress: a set of three olive utensils. This is all very hard scrap wood that's been hanging around for a year so there are definitely power tools involved. Last step is my favorite: a very close rubdown with cabinet scrapers, which leave a super-smooth tool-finished piece that can be oiled without any sanding at all because the scraper cuts the fibers instead of tearing them. #woodworking#carving#spoons#wip
Did you know that #algorithm based platforms like #insta have "tools" for creators to know when their audience is usually active so they can plan when to post for more "engagement?"
Guess who can't access those kind of "helpful tools" because it's inaccessible - cognitively broken me
More in this hoot train
Love a #Mastodon rant from my janky insta posts...
As a #DisabledCreator I make "content" when I am able, when I have the energy or #spoons and because of my #CPTSD I cannot plan when to push out or even #create future content especially when I'm fighting my #survival mechanisms daily
I make shit when and if I can, the more safe I feel the more I can do what I need and what I love
I lack the #spoons (as they say) to write a description that would do this masterwork - which I now hold as an unofficial compendium to #HowardZinn's #APeoplesHistoryOfTheUnitedStates - the justice it deserves. Rather I implore you to to listen to #AmyGoodman and #JaunGonzalez introduce it. If you like what you hear, stick around for a 30 minute interview with the author that is an excellent appetiser.
A neighbor brought over some milo wood to play with; I roughed out a ladle and discovered a bunch of things in the not-quite-done / needs-attention pile that wanted a coat of Howard's butcher block conditioner.
Feeling very happy with the olive-wood spurtles; they are a great all-purpose tool in the kitchen and stand up well to re-finishing.
Friend feels exhausted yesterday, complains of a cold, goes for a nap.
Four and a half hours later, they wake, still feeling lousy. Up a few hours, then back to bed. Wake 15 hours later. Think they have flu.
They've had confirmed #covid19 ten times now; yet #mourning#normalcy is hard work—harder all the more in society that demands we never #grieve what we've lost.
So it's a cold. It's the flu.
Yet normalcy is dead.
Yet we have yet to bury it.
We only got so many #spoons.
This is a great explainer on the importance of not just adding alt text to all images, but on adding accurately descriptive alt text.
I sometimes get overbearing regarding posts that lack alt text or that don't include alt text that's fully accurate and descriptive.
For example, "Cat", or similarly vague text, is absolutely not good enough when posting an image of a cat, read this to better understand why that's so:
Sustainability tip: instead of using and reusing plastic utensils, just go to your local thrift store and buy real forks, spoons, knives (they're usually 50 cents or at most a dollar each), and wash them. They're affordable enough you don't have to worry about losing them, no plastic leaching, and they don't break when you try to use them! #sustainability#forks#spoons#cutlery#lunch
@consumableJoy@knitting@fiberarts
I'm lucky to have room for a dedicated blocking table, so I just need to pick a day with enough #spoons
As I loathe sewing (fiddly, sharps, makes my teeth feel furry), I tend to use yarn joining methods which avoid loose ends. They're unavoidable with colourwork, so I use a smaller gauge crochet hook to weave them around floats.
Actual unavoidable sewing is done to favourite music fairly loud or - better - at knit group.
Just had one of my worst experiences since having #LongCovid - I felt so poorly this morning too after a bad night sleep, but dragged myself to an online video group chat with the NHS Long-Covid Hub. Basically the facilitators said a load of shit about how the symptoms aren't often based on anything actually being physically wrong and there is often no lasting damage (yeah, they said that with confidence) and that it is about "reframming" the brain and its response to symptoms when doing various activities. They tied this into Somatic tracking etc. I was the only one in the group that spoke out on this by saying that I was concerned they were suggesting the symptoms are in our mind rather than being the physical reality they are - for instance, they were citing that tests often say we are fine or the fact symptoms fluctuate as evidence for what they were saying. They responded by coopting terms like #PEM and #pacing but the message was for the majority of people with Long-Covid there is nothing to really worry about as it's not physically harmful and rather about retraining the brain.
I was so mad and angry and felt so isolated. Then the facilitators spent the rest of the session periodically saying things that seemed directly related to me challenging them, for instance this included: "[to the group] I am so glad you have taken it on board and seen it for what it is." "It is neuroscience" "Not going to resonate with everybody" "we are providing evidence based options". Sadly noone else spoke out and backed me up and actually people in the group backed them if anything about how useful it was (I know this will sadly include people that are new to this shit and won't know the history of this well documented by the ME/CFS community). It just added to the sense of isolation I felt. Horrible experience.
This is something I haven't experienced at the Long-Covid Hub before and seems to clearly tie into the government's agenda around Long-Covid and how they want people with Long-Covid to get back into work, as they argue being out of work for longer makes it worse etc. Retrain and reframe those symptoms at work to see the "benefits" of being a "productive" part of the system kind of BS. Oh and of course, the main facilitator has had Long-Covid and they said they used these techniques/approach to recover from it.
I am glad I said something but sad I was the only one. I also feel gaslighted. And the Hub is the main source of support I get as someone who has had Long-Covid for 3+ years. Thankfully, but also sadly, I know that there are a lot of people here on Mastodon that understand how I feel and why I feel this way.
So, I had a friend come visit to help me out, but it was the wrong kind of help and the disruption of that just destroyed me for a few weeks. Am starting to rebuild now, but it is gonna have to be slow and gentle.
My cognition is really fried, and it was interesting to watch myself blow out my brain repeatedly via stress, overstimulation, inflammation, autism... I learned a lot from that I hope to be able to share at some point, but right now still processing.
@vlrny that is very well put and sounds familiar. Ideally we can be heard when throw our hands in the air and say #ImDone or I'm outta #spoons when we feel that brain blowout coming. Don't always happen though. Restful #processing to you
@tshirtman@skooter_gay Tbat book looks great, just scrolling through and reading all the comments and recipes (yes the comments are the best about this book :) )
really like that there is a great variety of "difficulty" levels.
would be nice to have a quick indicator for difficulty, but at the same time i feel that its quite difficult to assign because everyone has #spoons for different things.
I sat last night talking to @wonderpusgospel and it was nice but it was a constant reminder of “am I actually doing anything right now and do I even have the spoons to attain that?”
I had a lot more spoons and gave more of a shit when I worked part time. Now working full time and still having to do housework and cooking on top…it’s rough.
Most evenings I’ve barely got the energy to play games, so I either read or watch tv :/
And now I feel guilty for not having the spoons. I went for my guitar lesson yesterday and I think that was all the #spoons I had for doing anything extra.
I don’t know if it’s general overwhelm, laziness or something else.
At a recent outside (#CovidIsAirborne#CovidIsNotOver) family gathering, which despite pacing and restrictions regarding location and time I spent I still haven't recovered from, when my #LongCovid did come up (which doesn't happen often) the word "tired" was mostly used. "Oh, you get tired from things like this", " I hope you didn't feel too tired from it". After facing gaslighting from people close to me these last 3 years of having Long-Covid - especially when there wasn't even a term for it and how this relates to widespread, dangerous gaslighting and 'treatment' for people with ME/CFS - I felt agitated and angry, with my experiences and identity minimised/ignored. I do feel I need to do more to challenge when people close to me do this whilst not taking up too many spoons.
Relating to this, it felt cathartic and reaffirming to read this article (paywall bypassing link below) and be like, yes that's what it's like, that's how I have felt for so long now. Definitely recommend reading (as a note, the article is quite long - I needed several pacing breaks to finish it but it was worth it):
@audhd I got a surprise today! There are real people out there who have signed up for my Low-Spoonz Newsletter off of www.BZBrainz.com after my April release. I have not yet sent out a newsletter, but I will within Quarter 3. It's titled the "Low-Spoonz Newsletter" for a good reason! You won't hear from me often, only if I have something to share and as I have spoons to share them. #chronicallyill#actuallyautistic#adhd#spoons#spoontheory
What do you do when you run out of spoons? I mean: how do you spend this time when you no longer have the resources for any meaningful action and before you regenerate them?
I'm really struggling with this one, and I'd love to know how you deal with that time.
Today I ran out of #spoons before a social event and had to cancel. Do I feel guilty? Oh heck yeah. But I’m choosing to be kind to myself in spite of it.