Well, a bit of potentially good news. I just got off the phone with a doctor who had requested some rare blood testsfor me to have done while I'm waiting forever to see the genetics person. Apparently, one of my tests came back higher than it should be and the other came back lower. What makes this good news is that they may be one step closer in figuring out what's been going on with me. These markers point to a mitochondrial thing, which is why they want to have me go through genetic counseling. I have no idea when this will happen, but the initial referral from my neurologist was made about a year and a half ago. It would be nice to finally start getting some answers. I honestly don't care at this point if they can't fix anything. I just want to know why. Sometimes I think just knowing why something is the way it is is helpful. It's like when I received my ADHD diagnosis. The meds help to an extent, but knowing that there's a reason I do certain things just helps to understand myself better.
Caroline Toews
- 11 Followers
- 151 Following
- 3.2K Posts
Lots of randomness, since that's how I am. I don't do politics. US citizen with permanent residency in Canada. I love crafts and collecting recipes and reading. Learning the ins and outs of ADHD as I was recently diagnosed. Follow me if you want to learn more.
I used my Meta glasses to shoot this video of me with marshmallow. Hi there! Let's explore this video together.
The video shows a person's hands interacting with a small, light blue, plastic hamster carrier. The carrier is rectangular with a transparent top and sides, allowing a view inside. The top has a yellow bar handle. The hamster carrier sits on a black, flat surface, possibly a table or desk.
The person has fair skin and is wearing a black band watch on their left wrist. They also have a tattoo of two birds on their left forearm. Their hands are clean and appear to be those of an adult.
The background shows a portion of a kitchen, with white cabinets, a stainless steel sink, and various kitchen items visible. The overall setting suggests a home environment.
The person in the video is talking to a hamster inside the carrier. They call it "Marshmallow" and speak to it in a soft, gentle tone. The person opens a section of the carrier and gently interacts with the hamster, attempting to get it to crawl onto their hand. They repeatedly say "hi" and use other endearing terms while speaking to the hamster, indicating affection and care. The interaction is calm, with no indications of stress for either person or animal. The person also moves their hands gently along the sides of the carrier to make noise so the hamster can hear. App link: https://sparklingapps.com/PiccyBot/
I don't know if trauma is too strong of a word to use here, but this is what it's felt like for me so I'm using it. I don't usually tend to show a lot of my vulnerability here, but I'm doing it today.
About a week and a half ago I took Winnipeg Transit Plus, our paratransit service here to get to an appointment for an eye cleaning. Somehow, I managed to schedule the ride with the completely wrong address, so the service is not to blame here. Unfortunately, the address I gave them, and where they had to drop me off was a locked building. The driver attempted to see if he could do anything to help me, but he had to leave, which meant that I was left sitting outside in my chair in an unfamiliar area. I finally got through to a human on the phone, but unfortunately they weren't able to send another vehicle to get me any earlier, and if I was going to go to my appointment they couldn't do that for four hours. I have to say here that it didn't even occur to me to call an accessible taxi, so again, this is on me. But, as someone who identifies as Deaf-blind, and as a wheelchair user, I was basically a sitting duck. There was nobody around, (that I knew of), and I couldn't wait inside anywhere. In the days before the chair I would have attempted to see if there was something around where I could have gone, but things are much more complicated now because it's not easy to use a cane and the chair at the same time, and our sidewalks around here aren't always very even. I have always considered myself to be a confident traveler until recently, and with the additional loss of hearing over the past several years and now with the chair for the past six months or so I've unfortunately lost a lot of my confidence. I'm the kind of person who needs to feel like I'm in control of a situation, and in this case I had no control. With the traffic going by on the street where I was sitting I wouldn't have been able to hear if someone came up behind me, and anything could have happened.
The next day I was supposed to go to an appointment, but I ended up canceling and doing it over the phone because the thought of getting on that vehicle again caused extreme anxiety for me, even though I was going to a place I've been many times, and where there were plenty of people around. I've taken a few trips since then, but I'm still finding it very difficult to work up the courage to get myself ready and waiting for these trips. It's probably irrational to still experience so much fear and anxiety, especially when I'm taking rides to places where I've been many times so I'm not going to be in this kind of situation, but that doesn't change how I feel. In some ways there's a part of me that would almost consider getting a dog guide, but these days I don't do enough outdoor travel on my own to justify it for any reason other than for safety. I don't know what the answer is here, and I'm not looking for answers. I'm just putting it out here in case someone else has experienced something similar.
About a week and a half ago I took Winnipeg Transit Plus, our paratransit service here to get to an appointment for an eye cleaning. Somehow, I managed to schedule the ride with the completely wrong address, so the service is not to blame here. Unfortunately, the address I gave them, and where they had to drop me off was a locked building. The driver attempted to see if he could do anything to help me, but he had to leave, which meant that I was left sitting outside in my chair in an unfamiliar area. I finally got through to a human on the phone, but unfortunately they weren't able to send another vehicle to get me any earlier, and if I was going to go to my appointment they couldn't do that for four hours. I have to say here that it didn't even occur to me to call an accessible taxi, so again, this is on me. But, as someone who identifies as Deaf-blind, and as a wheelchair user, I was basically a sitting duck. There was nobody around, (that I knew of), and I couldn't wait inside anywhere. In the days before the chair I would have attempted to see if there was something around where I could have gone, but things are much more complicated now because it's not easy to use a cane and the chair at the same time, and our sidewalks around here aren't always very even. I have always considered myself to be a confident traveler until recently, and with the additional loss of hearing over the past several years and now with the chair for the past six months or so I've unfortunately lost a lot of my confidence. I'm the kind of person who needs to feel like I'm in control of a situation, and in this case I had no control. With the traffic going by on the street where I was sitting I wouldn't have been able to hear if someone came up behind me, and anything could have happened.
The next day I was supposed to go to an appointment, but I ended up canceling and doing it over the phone because the thought of getting on that vehicle again caused extreme anxiety for me, even though I was going to a place I've been many times, and where there were plenty of people around. I've taken a few trips since then, but I'm still finding it very difficult to work up the courage to get myself ready and waiting for these trips. It's probably irrational to still experience so much fear and anxiety, especially when I'm taking rides to places where I've been many times so I'm not going to be in this kind of situation, but that doesn't change how I feel. In some ways there's a part of me that would almost consider getting a dog guide, but these days I don't do enough outdoor travel on my own to justify it for any reason other than for safety. I don't know what the answer is here, and I'm not looking for answers. I'm just putting it out here in case someone else has experienced something similar.
A birthday gift to @mcourcel from @bruce_toews and me. May all your eggs be cooked and all your vacation days be so full that you can't possibly torment your followers. https://suno.com/song/41872175-b3fa-4d99-8dfa-0c1d1895295f
Happy Birthday Martin2 by @technolass | Suno
male vocal, upbeat 80s pop, furry song. Listen and make your own with Suno.
So many things I should be doing, like getting ready to go out for a while, yet here I am procrastinating like a pro. I present to everyone my latest creation, Marshmallow Love. I can't take credit for the lyrics this time other than one word I changed, but this will get stuck in your head. https://suno.com/song/6b739435-d3fb-4170-8c76-cadeb0563fa5
Marshmallow Love2 by @technolass | Suno
lively happy playful song. Listen and make your own with Suno.
The other day someone here said that they used one of the AI services to have it draw a picture for them. I don't remember who it was, or which AI service offers this, but if anyone could please tell me how I can get AI-generated images I'd appreciate it. I want to try an experiment. Thanks for any help with this.
Question for those who have Amazon Prime in Canada, does anyone know if the movie It Ends with Us has the audio description track included? The DVD isn't out until November so I'm not asking about that, but specifically Amazon Prime, and in Canada since the US and Canada sometimes don't have the same options available. I want to rent the movie since I pretty much missed it while it was in the theaters, but for $25 I want to know if it has descriptions. I have to leave for the morning so thought I'd throw this out before I go in case anyone knows or could find out. Please only respond if you have something helpful to add. Thanks in advance for any help!
Unfortunately, almost a year after having to have the mode switch on my BS6 replaced, it needs to be done again. Now that I know I can get it repaired here in canada I'm not worried about that, but I'm going to have to use the BrailleEdge that was given to me last year when this happened and pair it with my phone. I used to have a Focus 14 connected to my iPhone pretty much all the time, but it's been years. I know how to get all the commands and things, but I'm wondering if anyone might have any tips for moving around quickly. It doesn't seem that first-letter navigation is a thing from within apps, and because the brailleEdge has so many buttons there are some really cool ways of doing some things like switching the rotor quickly, scrolling, things like that, but without always having to use the rotor to move to different things are there any other tips for getting around the screen quickly and efficiently?
I want to play with the poll feature, so have a completely and totally pointless poll which always sparks very strong opinions from everyone. Pineapple on pizza. Go:
Bring it on!
I'll eat it if it's there
Um, no!
Pizza? What's pizza?
A totally pointless poll deserves a totally pointless answer so this is it
Poll ended at .
I've gone and done it now. Yesterday I adopted Marshmallow. She's a mostly all-white hamster, and I think she's going to be the perfect companion. I'm not supposed to really handle her for a week or so, but then I intend to socialize her and eventually take her with me to meet @Bruce_Toews. This breed is supposedly the most cuddly of all the hamsters, and although hamsters are always on the go, her breed is slower than some of the others. I can't remember the name of the breed though. She's very camera shy, so this picture was a challenge to get.