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“Too Early Old, Too Late Smart” (personal news)

By
October 16, 2019
Mental Health, Patreon, personal, updates, writing

The Crash And The Recovery: I’m still digging out from a computer crash last week. We were able to get in and recover everything, eventually, but it was a nailbiter for several days I spent on the phone with tech support typing lines of code they dictated to me (People, I do not know how to code, at all) as we coaxed my poor overloaded hard drive to remount itself long enough to fish the good stuff off it and then give everything a good cleaning. I am thankful for file backup habits forged in the fires of video editing (iCloud AND Dropbox AND an external drive) and for Blog Friend Hypatia who provided both moral and informational support.

Mr. Awkward Writes Stuff: If you’re hungry for Awkward House Content while I catch up, Mr. Awkward has started chronicling his plan to learn/do/accomplish ten things in the next year. You can follow/subscribe here. I am biased, obviously, but it’s good writing. Plus, this week is the anniversary of a really hard time for him, so I’m especially enjoying it as a marker of recovery.

Upcoming/In Progress Here This Month: October Search Terms, the next chapter in the story of the boyfriend who angered the birds, a post to help all the cheaters in my inbox find their way back from the Dark Side, plus “is it mean to not want to hug certain people even if you are okay with hugging other people in a group/family?” (Spoiler: Nope!).

Cats! Would you like to look at some buddies who were VERY GOOD at the Vet and who now have all their shots? Here’s some purring video of Henrietta, a short film about breakfast, a visual representation of how LW #1226 felt about her creepy boss who wanted to intrude on breastfeeding, and some recent photos of the cuddlebeans.

Daniel wanting to be held like a baby while I write
Both cats snuggling
Both cats snuggling
Daniel wanting to be held like a baby while I write

Hope everyone’s having a good week in Awkwardland.

Letter Writer Update and A Graduation

By
September 9, 2019
Accessibility, boundaries, COMMUNICATION, Disability, Families, family, marriage, self-care, updates

There was a lovely update in my inbox last week, from LW #1204, who was adjusting to hearing loss and having to drag-adjust everyone else in her life. Shared with permission:

“I got my hearing aids a couple weeks ago, and since then my life is inestimably better!  I can hear everything so well, I feel like Daredevil.  I’d never realised that the clock in my lounge (which I’ve had over 8 years) audibly ticks, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

With regard to husbandly, he realised how important subtitles were to me when he wanted to introduce me to a film.  We tried it without subs at first, and I was straining to hear the voiceover (Morgan Freeman’s voice is better than warm caramel, but it’s also kind gravelly and quiet!) – so he switched the subs on.  I was able to watch, and hear, and fully engage with the rest of the film.  It was beautiful and made me cry.  We talked about it the next day and he asked what I would have done if the subs hadn’t been on.  I told him – truthfully – that I would have given up on engaging, and gone to bed.  He then set subtitles to be on as the default option every time we watched anything together, and apologised for sometimes switching them off if he was watching something on his own after I’d gone to bed and forgot to switch them back on, until I got my brand new shiny magic ears.  Now I don’t even need the TV as loud as he does.

With regard to not-my-step-mother (yes, I’m deliberately creating a distance between her and me in my mind, it might not be the healthiest thing to do but it helps me), hubs and I have agreed that she will not be invited to our house again.  Any interactions that we have with her will be at a location we can – and will – walk away from.  That might be a nice restaurant, or my dad’s house, or recently a garden centre, so we can hang out and have nice “family times” but also we decide when time’s up and that’s when we walk away.  We also sometimes see my dad on his own; he understands that she can be frustrating, and isn’t going to force us to spend time with her for the sake of it.

I’ve chosen not to engage with any hearing impaired communities, online or offline, for the moment at least – but I know the option exists, so I might in future.  There is someone at work in a similar situation so I’ve reached out to her for advice on equipment that helped her with using a phone headset with hearing aids (I work in a call centre, and any time I cover my hearing aids – including with a headset – I get feedback…equipment is coming, it’s going to take a few weeks maybe, apparently it’s the best thing since sliced bread).”

What a relief! I never push for updates, since what people do with the advice is their business. I want people to use what’s useful to their own situation and feel totally free to reject what isn’t, and I don’t want to create pressure to have life come out a certain way or on a certain schedule. But I’m always excited when I hear someone is doing better, so, thank you for letting us know and I hope things continue getting better for you.

I am also pleased to report that your husband has graduated from #ThisFuckingGuy status and will be known as a #ThisFuckingGuy no more now that he both apologized and fixed the problem.

 

Short Questions & Answers For July 26, Part 2

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July 26, 2019
Book Club, boundaries, crushes, family, Manners, Mental Health, Patreon, Reader Questions, self-care, Short Answer Friday, updates, writing
248 Comments

Part 1 is here. This is a feature where patrons of the blog have first crack at getting short questions answered, it lets us cover a lot of ground and have interesting discussions. Please consider supporting the site at Patreon or via other channels if you can, I appreciate it greatly.

Onto the questions! In this batch: What happens when your family gets mad you wrote about them, quelching an inconvenient crush, fictional recs for healthy conflict resolution, heading off body criticism around tattoos, habit trackers for ADHD folks, and resources for improving positive body image.

Read More

Friday Updates & Open Thread

By
April 12, 2019
Advice Columns, Culture, Open Thread, personal, updates
91 Comments

Hello readers! I’m excited to get back into the blogging swing next week, but first, some chitchat!

Medical News: Surgery went fine, all is well as can be though last week sucked so bad as my body tried to decide between “pain regulation” and “all other bodily functions.” I’m back to my normal routine, got a clean bill at the follow-up visit. Now we just wait for “Guillame” to shrivel and die and do more imaging in a few months.

Random Culture News: I watched a rough cut of my friends’ upcoming movie Monuments last night and it was so, so, so good. They’re still in post-production and I don’t know the expected release date, but anyone out there who thinks “I’d like to see a kindhearted Coen Brothers-y, David Lynch-y sort of comedy about love and death and mythology that is a journey through the middle parts of America and it is sometimes a musical” are gonna like this one.

Kitten News: Daniel Striped Tiger and Henrietta Pussycat will be a year old at the beginning of May so time to switch over to Cat News officially then, but we’ve got two weeks left, right?

Sleepy Cats

Henrietta (L) and Daniel(R) are cuddled together asleep.

Lenée Appreciation News: This week ends the current guest-blogging stint by Lenée aka @dopegirlfresh. It was such a gift to have her help so I could recuperate, and it was a gift in other ways, like, how interesting it was to see someone else step in and do my job and watch that process up close. We did a little Q&A to close out her time here.

CA: When you said that you wished you could take over CaptainAwkward.com for a week was there a specific topic or letter that made you think “I have Things To Say about that”?

L: I found myself wondering whose internet-job I’d like to do. Would I want to tweet for Fat Kid Deals? Would I be able to field customer service on Wendy’s Facebook page? The answer was a resounding no; I realized I like talking to people and decided that being Captain Awkward for a week was right up my alley.

CA: You’ve stared directly into my inbox and lived to tell the tale. I’d love to know what you thought of the experience as a whole. Were there any trends you noticed, things that surprised you?

L: I noticed that people really, really trust you with their deepest and most intense stuff. I love that you’ve been able to build such a great space for people to get support and reassurance. Nothing surprised me; perhaps because I’ve been on the internet a looooong time, there’s next to nothing that surprises me.

CA: Do you have favorite advice columns or sites? Are there advice columns you wish existed?

L: Honest answer: I only read and consistently enjoy CA. I’m an occasional reader of the Redditships Twitter account and always read screenshots from AITA on twitter as they come down my timeline.

I wish there existed an advice column that focused on trans and queer people of color. (Somebody please start one)(CA: YES HARD AGREE I will help in any way I can) 

CA: We’re surrounded by tips, “life hacks”, and advice from all sides. How do you sift out the good stuff from the useless stuff from the actually harmful stuff? What do you wish  advice-givers did more of (and less of)? Why do you think people are so into the idea of advice?

L: I often consider the source of a tip. For instance, I never read stuff in Cosmo or any similar magazine. It couldn’t be any less inclusive of me or anyone I care about. I would never take advice from, like, anyone affiliated with Fox News. And I don’t believe in anything Lena Dunham says, because Lena Dunham.

L: They can read my Twitter (@dopegirlfresh) or find me on Medium (same user name). In a few weeks, I’m launching a monthly column and will happily share that link with everyone as soon as my first post goes up!

CA: I can’t wait to read your work and I cannot thank you enough for your help and support. I know you’re also a member of Club My Uterus Went Rogue, so I’m going to promote the shit out of your medical fundraiser right now. Hopefully you can come back and hang out with us soon.

Comments Update: COMMENTS ARE OPEN. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. COMMENTS ARE OPEN.
It’s good to be back.

 

 

Personal Updates & Introducing This Week’s Guest Blogger

By
April 1, 2019
personal, updates, writing

Hello Gentle and Attractive Readers!

I’ve got a mix of very cool and very weird stuff to announce.

COOL: I’m working with Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary to get a series of book projects into the world. CaptainAwkward.com-based books. Essay books.

WEIRD: Tomorrow I am having a minor surgical procedure to hopefully take care of “Guillaume,” the giant uterine fibroid tumor who has been stealing my life force. I am very excited to get to the bottom of a long medical mystery involving nine-day periods, having to pee all the time, and many many many invasive and expensive tests but I’m also going to taking it very easy for a few days.

COOL: We’re hosting a very excellent guest blogger this week. Meet Lenée!

Here’s her bio: Lenée is a fat, Black, queer femme who lives in Philadelphia. She’s a lover of Black music, Steven Universe, true crime, and doing the electric slide whenever possible. A new plant mom, Lenée writes on occasion and usually tweets as @dopegirlfresh.

Here’s the story: Lenée and I know each other from Twitter, where I could not tell you exactly what first brought us together or when. Did I come for her wise, compassionate, and knowledgeable writing about mental health, race, politics, bodies, sexuality, feminism, and pop culture and stay for the jokes? Wherever it started, it turned into one of those lucky social media friendships where you enjoy someone’s feed and then you exchange a few cautious bread crumbs like you’re in the first half of that Emily Dickinson “I’m Nobody, Who Are You?” poem -and then suddenly it’s like this [a loose adaptation & extreme distillation of a years-long process]:

“You seem like you don’t suck! A rarity on this hellsite!”

“You also…don’t suck? Novel indeed!”

“I saw you have some weird body stuff going on. Wanna talk about it?

“Yeah DM me”

“Ok we’re friends now just so you know <3”

“Obviously <3”

A few weeks ago Lenée tweeted something about wishing she could take over my site for a week and I knew I was gonna be out of commission early this month so we hatched a plan. She wrote a series of posts for the site and I’ve scheduled them to go up while I’m recuperating. Comments will be off [you lot are wonderful but I wouldn’t let anyone do this without backup] but we’ll have an open thread  to close out the week when I’m back at my desk.

One benefit of collaboration is seeing how other people approach the work you do. I didn’t assign her questions, I just let her at the unfiltered inbox for a few days, and it was fascinating for me to see what she would choose. I’m very happy with the results and I hope you’ll enjoy reading her perspectives as much as I did.

P.S. ALSO COOL: I’ve been meaning to link to this excellent “Ask A Fuck-Up” column on “closure”  forever now, here it is, I think Brandy nailed what makes it so hard to let go of someone.

There you go. If that’s not enough to tide you over and you need jokes, here’s a (no spoilers) recap I wrote of every episode of Queer Eye on Patreon  which should be public by now. Be sweet, see you all soon I hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you notice? :) :D

By
June 1, 2017
updates

It’s “no ads on the blog” day!

Hopefully the first of infinity “no ads on the blog” days!

Thanks to the Patreon supporters and other donors who made this possible (and who have literally changed my life with their generosity), and thanks to Daryl and the rest of the WordPress.com “Happiness Engineers” and fans of the blog who have been so kind and helpful.

Lyrics: Thank You Friends by Big Star

Open Thread: Updates

By
January 5, 2017
Advice Columns, updates
288 Comments

As a Letter Writer to the blog, you are never obligated to update us. Use the advice that’s useful to you, ignore what isn’t useful, and go live your (hopefully) happy life where you are hopefully able to use your own bathroom whenever you want to. (This letter haunts me to this day and I really, really hope you are okay out there!). I don’t usually do updates although I love reading them at Ask A Manager partially because I never want to create a sense of obligation for Letter Writers.

That said, if you’d like to update people on how things are going since you wrote in, this thread is for you. You may want to try commenting from a different browser than you normally use or taking other steps to make sure you’re logged all the way out of WordPress to keep things anonymous.

Comment moderation note: If you are not updating us about a past letter, this is a good time to either stick to “Yay for you!!” comments or hang back and just read. Talking directly to Letter Writers in a thread you know for a fact that they are reading and participating in is a little different from commenting on the situation in general. People don’t owe us updates, they don’t owe us the decision that you would have made or advised, they don’t owe us a happy ending, they don’t owe us a breakup or the whole new lease on life that we rooted for. If they are generous enough to share how things are going now, hey definitely don’t need deluged with more advice or to have their decisions picked apart. You can hear the ending to the story OR you can be right about everything and today we’re only about the stories. Good? Good.

:chinhands:

Let’s do this.