The Myth & The Majesty

It has been approximately six months since my stroke. ... It feels weird to say "approximately," but the truth is ... I'm not sure I can pinpoint exactly when it happened. I have my suspicions that it was not two hours before I went in to the emergency department, although that's the accepted time. Ish. Anyway. It's been approximately six months and I've been reflecting (as one does) on how things in my life have changed. Sorting out the why is a bit more of a hornet's nest (too many things happened in 2025) but this is what I've come up with so far: Things That Having a Stroke Changed: - What I eat, or more accurately what I don't eat. I do not especially miss the garbage. - My interest in bacon. Much lower. - My eyesight. That's been a wild ride, but at this stage it's actually vastly improved than it was two years ago. - My level of paranoia. Example: Like many people, I seem to break fingernails in groups (as in three in one week, or I...

It's still a little astonishing to me, twenty-some years later, how this one came about. I had applied the previous spring for an undergraduate research position and did not get it. Life moved on, I got through the summer at camp, started my (incredibly demanding) junior year at school, and then learned of an opportunity to go to Russia the following summer to spend a month teaching English. There was, of course, one big catch here: you can't disappear for a month in the summer and expect to get a job of any note. Still, I couldn't pass it up. I'd do what I could to make money that summer but Russia was not something I wanted to pass up. Only about two weeks after I told my parents my intention, I got an unexpected email. It was from a biology professor I had never met; she wanted me on her research team that year. "I read your application from last year and I was hoping you'd be interested this summer." I was thrilled but had to tell her that I intended t...

As you may have gathered from my last few posts, 2025 was a bit of a bear. Rabid badger? Belligerent drunk? Ooh, belligerent drunk. The evening started off well enough, then things got a little moody for a bit, then there was a nice placid phase where it seemed like maybe events would pass in relative peace, and then he decided to start a fight with an innocent bystander and now you're finding yourself at the opposite end of a phone call, refusing to post bail because he's had it coming for a long time and could just use a couple nights of "time out" to think about his decisions. But that relationship is behind you now and you get to try again with 2026. Seems nice enough. Might turn sideways but hey, been there, done that. I'm not sure I've ever felt quite like this: relieved to put a year behind me but absolutely not trusting the year ahead, either. Which brings me to my only real goal for the year. Roast some marshmallows on that dumpster fire. [Note: The A...