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Where's Glee, aka Where's Luster, aka What the Heck?
12 months ago
TL;DR - Back pain sucks. It hurts to write. I'm still doing it anyway. I've been sort of hiding away, because I don't want to be a drag. I'll do my best to brush those feelings aside and start sharing stories again this week.
For many years, I've had some back trouble.
For two years, I've had chronic, significant back trouble.
For five months, I've had constant, serious back trouble. The kind where waking up pain-free is super rare, where feeling 2 out of 10 pain is "comfortable," where you can't go to the movies with friends because you don't want to risk the seats not being the right kind of supportive and it ruining your entire week just because you wanted to go see a good movie with nice people...
As you can imagine, sitting down to write hurts and I feel it for days. Writing on my side starts hurting pretty quickly. Lying on my back is the least painful, and most of the monthly writing I still accomplish for Patreon is done in a weird on my back, knees up, laptop propped on my stomach, position.
It really sucks that the creative art I enjoy doing, and enjoy sharing with others, and helps pay my bills, is causing me pain. I don't like hiding things from people, but I also don't like dragging other peoples' moods down seeming mopey when I don't even want to be mopey, and I very rarely am, but I'm also worn down and tired more often. It's a confusing knot of "I kind of want to hide away but I really like being around cool people" feelings. I get some time with friends who come over more than once a week, so that helps a lot, but also spends up a lot that kind of mental energy. It's led to me drawing away from the internet.
But, I don't want to draw away. I like being a kinky weirdo with my kinky weirdo friends!
So, I'll post a story this week, and I'll keep posting. At least two a month, okay? And when I work up the momentum, I'll hop back on Discord, too.
PS: if any of you out there have, like, a rubberification ray, please let me know so I can send you my address? Thanks. <3
PPS: I see I have notes. When I come back on later this week to post a story, I will look at them. For now I really want to lie down, sorry!
For many years, I've had some back trouble.
For two years, I've had chronic, significant back trouble.
For five months, I've had constant, serious back trouble. The kind where waking up pain-free is super rare, where feeling 2 out of 10 pain is "comfortable," where you can't go to the movies with friends because you don't want to risk the seats not being the right kind of supportive and it ruining your entire week just because you wanted to go see a good movie with nice people...
As you can imagine, sitting down to write hurts and I feel it for days. Writing on my side starts hurting pretty quickly. Lying on my back is the least painful, and most of the monthly writing I still accomplish for Patreon is done in a weird on my back, knees up, laptop propped on my stomach, position.
It really sucks that the creative art I enjoy doing, and enjoy sharing with others, and helps pay my bills, is causing me pain. I don't like hiding things from people, but I also don't like dragging other peoples' moods down seeming mopey when I don't even want to be mopey, and I very rarely am, but I'm also worn down and tired more often. It's a confusing knot of "I kind of want to hide away but I really like being around cool people" feelings. I get some time with friends who come over more than once a week, so that helps a lot, but also spends up a lot that kind of mental energy. It's led to me drawing away from the internet.
But, I don't want to draw away. I like being a kinky weirdo with my kinky weirdo friends!
So, I'll post a story this week, and I'll keep posting. At least two a month, okay? And when I work up the momentum, I'll hop back on Discord, too.
PS: if any of you out there have, like, a rubberification ray, please let me know so I can send you my address? Thanks. <3
PPS: I see I have notes. When I come back on later this week to post a story, I will look at them. For now I really want to lie down, sorry!
If you'd like early access to my stories and rough drafts, want to commission something for yourself, or would like to support my writing habits, please visit my Patreon. Thank you!!
My Patreon || My Tip Jar
My Patreon || My Tip Jar 
Also I like writing in bed laying back with a laptop on my raised knees too, even without the back pain. Just helps me focus, somehow.
And, well, for me, the laptop isn't lying on my legs, as much as the front of the bottom is propped against my torso, the back is on my thighs, and I'm typing on it at an angle? It's weird. Whatever you gotta do to be comfy, though, right?
We'll see if my upcoming first appointment with the surgeon ends with the same conclusion. n.n;
I suffer from severe eye strain from modern displays for twelve years and nobody can ever really figure out why I do. I took a week off work to upload furry art last week, but my Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday was spent with a severe vision headache where I couldn't look at screens at all. Instead, I visited the science museum and went golfing so that I could look at a lot of green and do some distance viewing. I wanted to work on art, as that was the whole reason I worked so hard all year to take vacation time to do it, and here my body had other plans. I can not only sympathize with your frustrations, but empathize.
The way you're describing your back pain, it sounds like it's lower back pain. Although it doesn't sound very fun, I've heard people swear by standing desks (or at the very least, sit/stand desks). Hopefully you've also had the opportunity to get your back checked out by medical professionals or practitioners.
It's definitely lower back pain, which also spreads to mid and upper back muscular pain whenever it damn well pleases. Unfortunately, a standing desk won't help me. If I stand in place for more than ~10 minutes, nerve impingement leading to my right leg starts going from nothing, to loss of sensation, to prickling, to burning.
Luckily, I _am_ seeing professionals. I have a first appointment next week with a back surgeon my pain manager recommended and my family has good experience with. Here's hoping!
It sounds like you've done all the right things so far, and are on the right track! I'm confident that this will all just be a painful part of history soon!
That said <pokes Glee tummy> Hope you feel better, I very-very much know about the back pain... I have multiple issues, but I injured my sciatic nerve back in the day, and I have to do special daily exercises to make sure the pain is minimal... Hope things get better. <hugs>
*hug* Thank you for the well-wishes! I'm glad you have a way to manage your situation. Physical therapy hit a plateau for me, and that was before the most recent explosion of problems, so we're moving on to procedures. Fingers crossed!
Also I like this idea about a rubber spine, I feel like there's some interesting possibilities there!
Rubber spines are definitely useful and good. I would like to order a baker's dozen to go, please, and I'll take the gag and the straitjacket, too, thanks. <3
Speaking of coming, I sure hope these rubberized spines don't block some particularly important physiological reflexes...
I know standing while playing games helped me. Have you tried a standing desk with a comfy mat or something similar?
The idea of a rubberfication ray is fire. That needs to be made ASAP so we can all enjoy the many benefits
Unfortunately, standing in one place for too long causes me nerve issues down my leg, and just pacing around a little every few minutes is only enough to delay it.
Sounds like I'm gonna need that rubberfication! Or, maybe the medical professional I'm seeing next week can help? Honestly, I'd prefer the former, but don't tell him that. >.>
Hope your back can give you a deserved break as far and soon as possible, lets hope for a speedy recovery.
Take care!!!!
P.D: wait, are you not made from latex irl? That's weird, what are you made off then, bones and skin?
Aaand, sadly, I am indeed made of bones and skin, but at least there's some fluff, too! That partially makes up for it, right?
I'm also sorry to make you wait! I regret the timing of taking your commission; if it had been a week or two later, I don't think I would have, because I wouldn't have known how long it would be before I could get to it. I do want to complete it, however the option to get a refund is still open, if you want it, no questions asked. No pressure in either direction, the ball is in your court!
Take the time you need to. Make sure you take care of yourself. Your health is the most important.
tl;dr: w e h
Hopefully this new diagnosis works, and the new technique helps.
Do take care of yourself, I hope you can get some good treatments for your back.
keeping everything crossed for you bunny :3
Thank you! <3
Just glad you're still around hun >n.=.n< <3
That said, while writing is a skill that for many is much faster speaking, maybe consider giving dictation a try? Apple's dictation function as gotten shockingly good, and can handle things like in-line punctuation if you just hesitate slightly before/after the spoken punctuation. Don't need a apple computer, just an iphone that's new enough, and dictate directly into say, google docs and sync with your laptop.
I'll have to give some consideration to voice dictation. It's not something I've really thought about, but sometimes things change...
What to know if there's a feature that does X? call and ask. Call and ask how to do mundane quality of life things, find out how to do things easier if they bother you. While the team is small, they do generally work real hard at knowing the tools inside and out.
And depending on your preferences, but reports and feature requests can be done over the phone (preferred) or you can send them an email. and i'm not kidding when i emphasize the only requirement is to have an apple device that you're working with. Doesn't need to be a computer (though, if you plan on doing a lot of working, there's cheap-ish ways to get a really decent PC setup. Without going into specifics, i had a customer who used velcro to attach a cheap keyboard/mousepad to a piece of some kind of wall insulation. Think mouse was a trackball. 99% of everything was done by dictation to their mac mini, which you can get a used one for ~300 USD depending on specs. Set mac to automatically log in on startup, have a big enough screen/projector, and use Voice control to switch between Dictation and Control modes when you need to do things like navigate menus or change apps, and you can do 99% of your mac tasks without touching hardware at all.
Take care!