Couch 219: The Goose Drank Wine

welp time to log onto class. laters couch.

oh no. no no no. prof is using our class time to have a "guest speaker" who is trying to force everyone to vote and wants to start a discussion about the stupid debate last night. I did not pay for this class to be lectured to about voting and I will make up my own damn mind about who I am voting for, thank you very much.

I mean i wouldn't care if it was something voluntary for after our class period, but I'm here to learn the course material damn it.

Yes, Artie is in a crabby mood. Apparently therapy hangover is kicking in already.

Insurance has been messing around with paying T since June so she got a lawyer. They finally paid her. It looks like they caught her all up. Now she's thinking about dropping that insurance. The insurance hired a 3rd party group to do some kind of review/audit or something. They were asking for my notes on many visits. I don't know how many but it sounded like they had started asking for every visit then claiming that they were not getting them. Who knows who has my notes now.

T is trying to say its not my fault but this all started when I added a 4th visit a week and T started charging for the full hour (which I often go the full+ hour). So yeah, it feels like it is my fault that they even started looking at things.

T also says that we'd work something out from a pay perspective. I do have out of network coverage so that's helpful but I'll probably end up having to pay her and get reimbursed from insurance. Even though I make good money, there's no way I can afford to pay her for 4x a week completely out of pocket.

Man 2020 has really sucked.

oh good. back to class material. bye again

Re debate: EVERYBODY agrees it was a dumpster fire. Whats to discuss??? It wasnt a debate. It was 3 people talking over each other. No new information could be gleaned, if there even was any offered, which there wasnt.

I shouldnt help you cheat on your homework like this, but i cant resist!

The vet's preliminary diagnosis before bloodwork: Crotchety old man cat is old.
Definitely an anti-inflammatory for arthritis, and see what the tests tell us. He's actually in ok shape for a 17 y.o. kitty.

I ordered him a fleece cat coat so he won't be cold.

I hope you got a complementary color in a flattering fit for him.

(Seeing Info has taught me a great deal about fashion.)

Hugs, Elio. Cuz for me, it was the 4th session that made the difference. Heaven forbid they should support what works.

It totally was a dumpster fire!!


I was just mad last night that our prof wasted our precious class time on political crap. We get an hour of actual time with her learning and asking questions, and then the rest of the class time is quote lab time where we independently work on our discussion posts. So giving half of our learning time to that was stupid. To me, anyway.

Artie is feeling full of gusto this morning and also much more opinionated than usual!! Damn that was a good session yesterday. Uncomfortable as hell but good.

I shudder to think what Info-designed cat outfits would look like...though maybe that would only be for female cats.

It would plunge multiple times to show off all their nipples? Probable wouldn't be very good for keeping warm....

Online school is such a nightmare for D (and us). Yelling, "I don't want to!" and stuff at the computer... Not sure if her mic was on at that moment. We are scheduling a meeting with her special educator to discuss what the bare minimum requirements might be, like are there parts we can just skip (well, we're sort of doing that by default at times), etc. She does have some accommodations, but they only translate so well to virtual learning....

ETA: I know the teachers are doing the best they can, not blaming them, blaming the whole virtual school model. And fearing it will end up being the full school year instead of just through January, because our school board is being weird about planning for spring--well, some members are pushing to plan for it, others aren't.

LT—are private schools open in your area? Around here, most private schools are in-person, while the public schools vary but are mostly remote. The private tuition could be tough to swing, but if in-person would help her (and you) it might be worth a shot.

For male cats, maybe a codpiece? (I love that word.)

Thanks. I think some are? The issue is, I think she'd lose her IEP going to a private school. I'm not sure how it would work if she, say, went private for a year then went back to public. Not sure if she'd have to go through all the testing again. And we really like her special educator, who we've been working with for a couple years. The issues is the classes that she's mainstreamed in (which is most of them, but she's pulled out for small groups for parts of some of them, like half of math class is with full group, half with just a few kids, for example).


There was talk of bringing small groups for in-person learning later this fall, and we got a survey about it a week or two ago because my daughter could qualify. But I have no idea what the timeline is on their making a decision about that. From what I understand, they asked the parents through the survey, which was due back maybe yesterday? Then, they have to see how many special ed teachers are willing to go back. I know in a neighboring county, they were trying to start hybrid (two days a week in person) school for all students soon, but a bunch of teachers either resigned or else refused to do it, so that may not be happening. And I worry the same might happen in our county, if most teachers refuse, even just for the small groups. There was a survey option of having one's child go to another school for small groups (if not enough teachers and/or students at home school), which I said we'd be open to. So, we'll see...

And I know some parents in similar situations in my county are opting to homeschool, but I think she'd also lose her IEP, and she also doesn't really want to do any work with me or H, so not sure how exactly that would work...

wouldnt that be like catnip for them?!

Maybe you could tell your prof how you felt about it?

I'm going to vote and I know who for, I know what's going on, I even have a lawn sign. But honestly I am so sick of feeling stressed out about the election, and I feel like it's hard to get a break from it. Even if I'm offline I'm getting text reminders. I went to the fabric store the other day, somebody was wearing a mask with a campaign logo. People need to lay off and stop badgering everybody.

I'm going to talk to my friend from DC today and maybe make some pies. I'm tired so I just want to sleep though. I was hearing voices last night and it kept me awake longer than I wanted to be. Unemployment finally gave me the first back payment. I'm just glad I have a little more money coming in because this was getting ridiculous. I hope I am back to Full time at work by January 1. That would be awesome!

Honestly good for you! You could send an email and have been told in advance about the nature of the talk instead of using up class time for it.

P.s Thanks for also being my personal cheerleader.

Got a Covid antibody test as part of my bloodwork today--had to sort of give my doctor a pitch as to why I wanted one--basically, suspecting H may have had it back in March--he traveled to New York City then via train, plus was in a stadium there, had what we now realize could have been Covid symptoms a few days later (fever, headache, GI issues, followed by what seemed like a bad cold), and I had a milder set of symptoms later that week. I know antibody tests aren't totally relaiable, and even if I test positive, I'm not gonna go around like I'm immune. But just curious. Like maybe I could rest slightly easier if I think I may have already had it.

Also, I tend to get anxious during blood draws and have found that breathing deeply through them helps. Which is difficult while wearing a mask...But I got through it, plus the flu shot.

Hoping my EKG results are OK because I've had a high resting heart rate lately. Had sort of a meltdown on way to doctor's due to fears. (Also didn't help that they're like a stone's throw from Dr. T's office....I avoided taking the one route there that would have taken me past it.) They said I should get all the results tomorrow, most likely.