SCOTUS and Women's Health

I'm going to say upfront this is a reactionary piece. The below opinions are mine and mine only. Sarcasm, bitterness and emotional assertions may follow.

Page break because cursing. A lot. Probably results in NSFW.

Mmmmm Mead

So Husband, Friend and I were at a food and wine fest yesterday, and Husband and Friend got roped into talking to the one Christianist set up with a friendly young lady doing the “missioning”. I was tipsy as the nominated drinker of the group, so when I meandered back over to them right at the “Do you believe in God?” Part of the conversation, I merrily went “No!”. This seemed to be muse her greatly and she went, “So, not really, then?”

Turns out its extraordinarily difficult for me to say “No, not “not really,” not at all.” Took me three tries. Which is also when I realized I’d had more to drink than I was feeling.

She seemed quite bemused. Husband was laughing. Not sure what Friend thought.

***
On a related note, pumpkin spice mead is amazing.

Binge Reading

One of these days I will learn that binge reading is not a good idea. But I always seem to forget this every time I start a new series with more than 3 books in it.

This time the culprit was Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series. I think i started the first one a hair over a week ago. I finished the most recent one at 2:30 this morning. I know better than to do this as the result is invariably me tired due to lack of sleep and grumpy that I am once again fresh out of things to read.

As far as the series goes, they were pretty good. Delt with some themes I'm not used to seeing in Urban Fantasy, like being a stepmom.

Soooooo....anyone got some suggestions for me?

E3!

It's that time of year again, E3 has started, so we'll get to see what direction gaming is trending for the next year. I'm following along via IGNs live blogs.

So Far, Microsoft has announced Forza Horizon 2, Halo Master Chief Collection, and a new Assassins Creed. They bed also touched on Sunset Overdrive and project Spark.

I'll update and or post more as we get more information this week.


Update: yes! We're getting a Platinum Games exclusive on XBOne. Title is "Scalebound"
Also Crackdown 3 was announced.

Maleficent

So I went and saw Maleficent last night with a group of friends. It was better than I expected. I intentionally did not read any reviews because I didn't want to be influenced.

I thought the raven Diaval pretty well stole the show. He was a clever, sweet and a sympathetic character. Several times he was clearly able to anticipate what Maleficent was planning or needed.

Angelina Jolie did a much better job than I expected based on the past movies I'd seen her in. However, I actually liked "young" Maleficent better. She had a lovely Scottish accent that just kinda disappeared when we jumped to Jolie.

There were some cute callbacks to the Disney Sleeping Beauty, like the crazy messy cake for Aurora's birthday.

Phillip made an appearance, but they subverted the 'rescued by a White Knight' a couple of times. To the point that except for the few laughs his character gave, he really added nothing to the story.

I feel that there were several plot holes, but none so egregious as to ruin the movie.

Thankfully they did not add any blatant sequel-bait.

It was funny and cute, with no Disney singing or acid-trip  sequences. I would say see it at a second run/dollar theater or rent/buy when it comes out on DVD or digital. I don't feel like it was worth the $24 it cost me to see it at a theater. I should also note that I did not see it in 3D as I can't stand 3D movies.

I've Been the Lucky One

We have another report of harassment in the skeptic-atheist-sphere. Link Here.

I wish I could say I was surprised, but honestly, I'm just not anymore.

I wish I could say I was disapointed, but honestly? I'm just not anymore.

I wish I could say I wanted to go to skeptic or atheist conferences. But I don't anymore.

The pattern of harassment has become the pattern I expect. 

I've often heard it said that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. Yet women are regularly expected to roll with, walk past, and accept standards of treatment that are unethical, unacceptable and downright frustrating.

I want to be outraged, to have something witty and brilliant to say. I want to add something to this conversation.

But all I can manage is sadness, and a lingering feeling of being a poseur.

I haven't dealt with the career-altering levels of harassment we keep seeing again and again and again. Maybe it's because I'm not in organized skepticism/atheism. Maybe it's because I only just started blogging and talking about these things.

Probably? I've just been damned lucky.

I wrote several days ago about a co-worker of mine who we had to set up an escape plan for since she occasionally rides the train with a harasser. I've never had to do that.

I haven't written about my friend in high school who couldn't go anywhere alone--at school or public--because the school and police didn't take her ex-boyfriends threats of killing her seriously. But it wasn't me.

I've never been turned down for a job to my knowledge because I'm a woman. And at previous jobs, a lack of perceived authority was more likely to come from my age and height, although I'm sure being a woman was also a subconscious factor.

I've only been cat-called to my awareness once.

I've slept over at male friends houses and gotten drunk with them, yet I've never been raped.

I've been the lucky one.

Mental Health-Anxiety, a Background

So I said a few days ago that I was going to start posting about my anxiety and the treatment I'm receiving for it.

So to expound on the background, I was diagnosed in October of 2011 with generalized anxiety. This came about because I'd had a panic attack while alone in a hotel room, and didn't know what it was. Our end of year self-reviews for my job were due that night, and I just started shaking and crying and it felt like someone was sitting on my chest, and I thought I might be sick. I called my mother who had experienced the same kind of attack, so she talked me through it.

Once I had a name for the sensation, I realized I'd had several over the past months, but none so severe as to be debilitating, prior.

I went to see a gynecologist because as far as I could tell they appeared to loosely line up with my period. She figured that between timing and my friends (rightly) considering me rather bitchy the week of my period, that it could be PMDD, so she started me on Zoloft and a pill birth control so that I would be able to take the Zoloft the week prior and during my period. She also told me that I could take the Zoloft daily if I felt it was helping more than just the week prior to my periods.

I wound up taking it daily, as it helped even my moods out a lot. But as can happen with meds, I was one of the people who had side effects with Zoloft, so she switched me to Prozac.

Prozac was magic. I'd not realized it, but I'd had worry and anxiety buzzing in the back of my mind pretty much constantly. The Prozac silenced that. After I started the Prozac I had one more panic attack then they just stopped.

As a result of changing jobs and thus insurances, I allowed my prescription for the Prozac to lapse for the first time since I'd gotten it back in 2011. So from February this year to late April, I was without my security blanket of the Prozac.

Whole I did manage to go those months without a panic attack, it was a stark reminder that my brain does not function "normally". I like me and my personality better with the help of the medicine. I don't stress over my job nearly as much, and I feel like I am much happier overall.

With the new health insurance I actually had to go see a psychiatrist to get a sign off on the medicine, and I am now seeing a therapist as well. The psychiatrist updated my diagnoses to "generalized anxiety", which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

My therapist is having me start to meditate. Which as an ex-Christian, feels kind of odd as there is some overlap between the discipline for meditation and how I was taught to pray. So far the most difficult part of that for me has been getting my mind to focus on a single thing: breathing. I'm supposed to work on only focusing on that. Problem for me is that I have the ability(?) to hold multiple thought in my head at a time, provided my attention isn't being further split by something like a conversation. So while I'm trying to focus on breathing, I'll have one part of my internal monologue going, "breathe-in....out...." And simultaneously I'll wind up with a second part going, "ooh Squirrel!"

I assume that means I need more practice in getting my mind to shut up an focus on one thing.