skjam

Last month was very weird and stressful. It started with a very nice bang--I got Time Capsule recorded, mixed, and up on Bandcamp. (And yes, getting the album done was stressful, albeit in a good way). Then I started hanging some of my "extra" tomato plants in pots outside, giving them the sun they need to thrive even though I'm out of sunny places to put them into the ground. I plan to do this earlier next year.

I had planned for the next few days (or more) to be for relaxing, since I predicted (correctly) that as soon as I let the hyperfocus on recording go, my brain would be pretty useless due to the long covid. Instead of being able to do that, the very next day there was a very different bang.

My partner, who was visiting Michigan, was in a car accident, and she called to tell me my car was not driveable. I had to figure out how to rescue her even though the rental places and my insurance company were closed, and then deal with all the insurance and rental foo-frah.

Happily, my partner was fine, physically (though a wreck emotionally). We went in to her doctor anyway, to talk about her health and meds and whether she should continue to be driving. In the meantime, I'm doing all the driving, until the various tests the docs recommended have been completed and evaluated. That's frustrating too, since driving uses up time and requires a significant amount emotional and mental focus.

They initially guessed, since the air bags did not go off, that I would get my car back once repairs were completed. Sadly, I got the word that my car was totaled on my birthday, which was decidedly not the birthday present I'd hoped for.

So then I had to deal with getting a new car in what felt like a huge hurry, unless, of course, I wanted to start paying for my rental car myself. (The contract gives me a week from notification.) Ugh.

I settled on a used car both to get more space (the formerly brand-new car was smaller than the previous one, which was already less space than I ideally wanted) and to get a lower price, but with the current state of things, was told my interest rates would be higher, so my car payments will also be higher. That was not what I wanted to hear!

The new-to-me car is silver, which is not one of my least favorite car colors--but is also not the purple or bright blue I prefer. So I ordered some purple decals, which I'll talk about in a separate post.

I'm becoming convinced that emotional stress is just as big a stressor for the long covid, at least the version I'm dealing with, as intense or prolonged mental exertion. In short, I feel like I lost a whole month of creativity to fatigue and brain fog, instead of the few days to a week (or two) I'd expected.

However, I'm still here, still making music, and still planning the next fiction project. Wish me luck!