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Persephone Lounge is Open for Business: Open Thread for 7/25/12

Another week almost done, kids. 

Come on in, pull up a comfy chair, grab a drink, and tell us what’s new. Or old. Or exciting. Or boring. Just chat. I could use some good stories.

22 replies on “Persephone Lounge is Open for Business: Open Thread for 7/25/12”

Some distant relative (didn’t even know they were related, tbh, famous name!) has been updating Geni a lot, with my mom’s paternal line now going back until 1715. Which in itself is pretty neat, but good grief, Geni is such a depressfest. I knew my Mom’s grandma had a rough life, but seeing it written out with dates and names, and Mom adding details that weren’t in there…

Born exactly 100 years before me, in 1877. Married at 19. First child stillborn. Widowed with 5 living children at 32. Oldest son dying just months later at 8 years old. Some years later, affair with a young farmhand, resulting in another baby boy. Second son dying at 26 of TB. Oh, and battling hubby’s sister in court over inheriting the farm for 16 years after his death, and surviving two world wars. The only part in her life that was regarded as getting lucky was that her 2 living sons came back from WWII alive and well – however, she never saw them again, as she’d lost her eyesight during the years they were gone. And that’s just one woman, who lived until 75 and was survived by 4 well-adjusted adult children, which technically still makes her life a success story. A couple of generations back, there are families with 9 registered births and just 2 children surviving until at least early adulthood.

Oof. Wow. Tough, tough life! In a way though, it’s good that someone remembers how much she went through and she still had a good life.

One of my relatives had at least seven pregnancies (1950’s and 1960’s), of which she had four late miscarriages/premature births, 1 baby died as a toddler, another daughter died of cancer in her 20’s, and one daughter is still alive and healthy (in her 50’s) – I knew about the daughter who died in her 20’s but nobody in my familyever mentioned the baby or the miscarriages until her funeral. So, so sad.

That is heartbreaking. It’s good that we live in a time where just being silent about these things isn’t seen as the right thing to do any longer.

Past tragedies may not have been the choice dinner conversation in my extended family, but yeah, they were never hidden away either. I’ve sort of been brought up with the knowledge that my ancestors were completely badass just to survive against the odds, and I owe it to them to not be a wuss.

So my husband came home from a work trip at 2:30 last night. Problem was his phone had died earlier in the day and I thought he was coming home sometime today, so when the door flung open at 2:30 last night I went from peaceful sleep to terrified panic in about 1/50th of a second. A couple of things occurred to me in that micro-frame of time- 1) I have nothing in my nightstand to defend myself. 2) I can’t jump from the window because we’re on the second floor, but also because of the way that it opens.3) Maybe he won’t head straight to the room and I can charge the door. And 4) Fuck it, if he does head straight back, I’ll jump out of bed, charge him and hope a charging, screaming crazy woman is enough to shock him so that I can get out.

I swear all that went through my head so quick I didn’t even know I could think that quick. Also, I’m putting a knife in my nightstand when I get home from work.

Possible TMI to follow regarding sexy things and health things that are less-than-sexy.

1. Because I recently ended things with gentleman friend and am seeking new gentleman friend, I decided to go to PP and get tested for STIs.  Like an adult.  There was one woman on the sidewalk outside with a picture of Jesus and a sign about all women regretting abortion.  She looked really sad.  It was sort of Juno-esque.  Anyway, I had to wait almost an hour past my appointment time to see the doctor, but she was awesome, so it’s okay.

2. The TMI part.  HPV warts.  :(  Ex-gentleman friend told me right off the bat, and I knew the risks, but it still kinda sucks.  Apparently, the treatment is to put acid on the warts to encourage your immune system to attack the area and take care of the warts while also healing the burns.  This sounds way more painful than it actually is.  The doctor made it seem like it was going to be SUPER AWFUL, but it was mostly just mildly uncomfortable.

3. I mentioned I am looking to find a new gentleman friend, but I am a little nervous about bringing up HPV.  From what I understand, the warty kind is not the cancer kind, and basically the only negative is the warts, but do people tend to shy away from relationships because of HPV?  I fully intend to bring it up if sexytime approacheth.  But, I’m pretty excited about the gentleman I am currently messaging (we’re planning to meet soon), and I would be sad if I got rejected because of something 70% of people will get at some point and which isn’t dangerous. (It is, I will admit, not so attractive at the moment…especially after the acid…)

Yeouch, that sucks:( If the freezing-burning treatment doesn’t do the job, ask about getting Aldara (also sold under other names) – it’s a cream which does the same thing immune-system-wise without the burning. It might not be much help right now, but also look into getting the Gardasil vaccine – there’s some new research suggesting that it may reduce the risk of a second flare-up even though you’ve already been infected. It might be something worth mentioning to future gentlemen friends as well, they can get it off-label.

Honestly, *I* would take it very seriously if someone told me they had had genital warts, because I have had baaad experiences with wart viruses in general, and because it’s the type of STD that never fully goes away. But all you can do is be calm and honest about it – it’s certainly not the worst STD out there! – and hopefully they will be too. Best of luck.

 

I kind of rocked today. I got all manner of things done at work today (important things). Plus my bossman came into my office this morning and told me that one of our grants was just about to end, thus we had to spend a whole lot of money on equipment and supplies (otherwise it would go away). So: productivity and super-nerdy spending spree on lab equipment! Today was a win.

Next week: business trip to Colorado! (yes, exclamation point even though it is super toasty over there right now. mountains!)

Depending on where you go in Colorado, it might actually not be that toasty, especially if you are up in the mountains.  I was in Breckenridge about a week ago, and the weather was glorious.  Either way, enjoy your trip!

Also, yay work productivity!

Gotta agree with Lauren. Colorado is my homestate and while it’s pretty hot down here in Boulder/Denver once you get up in the mountains the temperature drops right off. Went hiking at Rocky Mountain on Sunday and we got snow, went backpacking this week and had mid 50 temps after the rainstorm. So it should be great if you can escape to the mountains at least for a little bit!

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