But They Gave You A Hat! (The Great Birthday Bust, x2)

This is one of a series of vignettes I am publishing as part of “The Boundary Project”: the process I am undergoing in which I develop personal boundaries. This is the incident where in writing about it many years after it occurred, I finally at long last connected the dots on why this — and a lot of other shit — happened…and more odd bits of recovered personal history. 

 

The Boundary Project

As a first step in my recovery from surviving and extricating myself from an abusive, toxic marriage, I immediately set about finding an answer to the pressing question of “How in the f*ck did I let that happen to me?!”, and its logical follow-on of “How do I stop this shit from ever happening again?”. 

 

So It’s not “Just Me”…

So financial poverty really does make you stupid. Who knew? And more odd bits of recovered personal history.

It’s really not my imagination.  According to this article: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/08/how-poverty-taxes-brain/6716/

FTA:  “In a series of experiments run by researchers at Princeton, Harvard, and the University of Warwick, low-income people who were primed to think about financial problems performed poorly on a series of cognition tests, saddled with a mental load that was the equivalent of losing an entire night’s sleep. Put another way, the condition of poverty imposed a mental burden akin to losing 13 IQ points, or comparable to the cognitive difference that’s been observed between chronic alcoholics and normal adults.”

 

Blergh…Meh!

Our recent loss of Pink (youngest of the Panache Cats) to renal lymphoma focused me on paying more attention to my lifestyle and how unhealthy it has become.  This is some of what I have been doing….  

 

The story of the Panache Garden – Prologue & Stage 1

The story of the Panache Garden and assorted odd bits of personal history….

 

WTFkng F?!!! (A conversation we just had tonight as we were finishing dinner)

Occasionally I get a clear insight into the routine communication breakdowns Chi and I have on an ongoing basis.  This was one such instance.

 

Getting More Proactive in the Fight to Save Pink

As Pink began losing ground in his fight against Renal Lymphoma, I began more seriously researching his condition and becoming proactive again, looking into complementary therapies and natural remedies to support the conventional treatment he was receiving.