Bingo

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have made bingo across Row 1 of my 8-1-20 card for the Five Moments of Intimacy fest.

This inspired the free-verse poem "The Best Understanding of Their Differences." Calliope and Vagary work their way through intimacies, some awkward and others enjoyable.
461 lines, reserved for prompter

I haven't posted it yet, as the prompter is still mulling over how to budget it.

Comments

Re: Yay!

[zaniida]

Got reminded of your comment here as my friend and I were discussing possible reasons that I feel so low-energy tonight. We went over basics -- sleep, food, hydration, general need-a-break -- but nothing's changed that much since yesterday, when I didn't feel such a slump.

Then my friend asked if I'd been really eager to see people for the church session that was going to happen Sunday (for the first time in ages) but then got canceled.

And, like... no. No, I had had all sorts of negative feelings about the details of that get-together. Attending online has been a blessing and lets me sleep in a couple hours later than normal (which clashes less with my normal productive hours) and there were a number of reasons that I was not looking forward to getting back together in person in this specific way. And the cancellation was not just "not this Sunday" but "not for the foreseeable future until our usual venue is back open to the public," which is a load off my mind.

So it should've felt like a positive, right? But then I remembered this conversation, and: Yeah. That's almost certainly what's doing it for me tonight. My brain had been trying to rearrange a lot of details around how this change would affect me, and now the change has been removed, and my brain is running some sort of weird damage control that is taking up all my processing power (making it very, very difficult to focus on writing, but also difficult to enjoy games and also difficult to just go rest).

So... thank you for making more clear to me what's going on in my brain. It's still not pleasant, but at least it's good to have a fairly clean explanation to pin this feeling on.

P.S. Why do so many members of my family (read: all of them) respond to "let me finish typing this thing before you can do the other thing (e.g. reset the router)" with "let me talk at you and/or loom over your shoulder and then wonder why you can't get it done any faster"?

P.P.S. Sorry for not responding to your PM about the poetry yet; it was a little bit of an info overload but I'm looking forward to going over it once I've got time to take a breath here.

Re: Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>So... thank you for making more clear to me what's going on in my brain. It's still not pleasant, but at least it's good to have a fairly clean explanation to pin this feeling on.<<

I'm sorry the situation sucks, but glad I could help. This does give you an action plan: minimize other things that drain your energy, and look for things that restore your energy or help you resettle your mind.

Do you know what kind of things help? If not, consider getting a long list of coping skills and trying different ones to see what does. Some things I use when I need to reset or recharge:
* walking outdoors
* having a snack, especially fresh fruit
* listening to nature sounds or soothing music
* rereading a favorite story (usually not something new)
* folding laundry (takes energy but is good for organizing thoughts)
* taking a nap (if nothing else will reboot the brain)

>> P.S. Why do so many members of my family (read: all of them) respond to "let me finish typing this thing before you can do the other thing (e.g. reset the router)" with "let me talk at you and/or loom over your shoulder and then wonder why you can't get it done any faster"? <<

1) Some people's brains are wired differently, and what is distracting for you might not be so for them, so they fail to grasp that what they are doing may cause delays or crankiness.

2) They may be unable to entertain themselves for 1-2 minutes while you finish.

3) They may think that if they pester you, then you will in fact finish sooner to make them stop.

This is careless and disrespectful behavior, but is rarely malicious. Sometimes just pedantically repeating "I will give you my attention as soon as I reach a stopping place; it will take about (X minutes)" will work, as in teaching a toddler to wait.

>> P.P.S. Sorry for not responding to your PM about the poetry yet; it was a little bit of an info overload but I'm looking forward to going over it once I've got time to take a breath here.<<

That's fine. Now does not sound like a good time for you to be tackling mentally fiddly things. Though if you want to get a head start without getting into analysis, many people find nature poetry a soothing thing to read. It tends to have a slowing, calming effect.