Update

Just heard on the news that a 13-year-old boy was shot just outside the middle school I used to go to. Investigators don't know yet if this shooting is related to the other recent shootings. At least the boy is still alive.

This was going to be a cheery post about the fact that I survived turning 33 yesterday. Of course I can still be grateful for that, perhaps even more grateful than before. My birthday was quiet, as my weekends usually are. The weather was beautiful, cooler than it has been with a mix of sun and clouds. I'd gotten a package from a friend in the mail on Saturday, so I could spend yesterday munching on dried cherries. Mmmm. (Thanks, Un!)

Today I'm back to stressing out over finances and a seemingly endless round of phone calls. A state office wants me to send them information on how my disability has affected my life so they can make a decision about me and send their opinion on to Social Security. Thinking about what fibromyalgia has done to my life always depresses me, so I'm not getting this essay written very quickly. I'm tempted to avoid this chore entirely and let them use the information they already have (which should be enough), but I should probably make the effort anyway. Ugh. I'd rather focus on what I can do than on what I can't do.

I had a dream that I woke up in near-total darkness, looked at my clock and saw that it was 10 in the morning. I woke up from the dream at 6:30 to a much brighter world and couldn't get back to sleep. If this update is dull and/or depressing, let's blame it on lack of sleep, shall we? Or maybe we can blame it on the fact that even my dreams these days are uninteresting. At least I haven't dreamed about getting shot yet.

(no subject)

Taking a good long walk on a beautiful autumn day is one of the best possible ways to deal with stress... unless you've been hearing newscasters all day long telling you how much that increases your risk of getting shot by a sniper. "If you absolutely must go outside, make sure you go with someone else. Otherwise, stay indoors if at all possible."

Riiight. One of the shootings took place in Spotsylvania County, for Heaven's sake (think Mayberry with more shopping malls). Is everyone living within a sixty mile radius of the District of Columbia expected to confine themselves within walls for the foreseeable future? I don't think so.

If some coward with a gun wants to shoot me while I'm out admiring the sunset, well, there are worse ways to die.