(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
KosAbility: Big or small, critical or frivolous - what was new for you in 22? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-12-25
My first change is something I only noticed retrospectively one month after November 22nd passed by unremarked. For the past 22 years, that date has triggered awareness of how much my life has been altered by one tick bite, mingled with regrets that I didn’t nab that tick as soon as I felt it walking on the back of my neck.
On Nov. 22, 1999, I was driving a back road through NorCal rice fields, heading home to the Sierra foothills after conducting botanical surveys along Stoney Creek. The road was narrow, edged with ditches, and huge harvest season trucks rocketed past me so I hesitated to stop immediately. By the time I found a wide pull-out spot along the roadside, the tick was embedded near my navel. I yanked it out and smashed it under my boot. The next day, I found the CDC’s info stating that a tick has to be embedded for at least 24 hours to transmit an infection and, if infected you WILL have a bull’s-eye rash at the bite site. I believed the CDC and thought, “whew, no problem!” The tick couldn’t have been embedded more than five minutes and the redness near the bite site was an irregular polygon, nothing bull’s-eye about it. Two weeks later, however, I felt the first symptoms of what has become two chronic illnesses (Lyme disease and Babesiosis) that still shape my daily life.
Letting go of that trigger, the day my life went 180, is liberating, although I’m still pissed off at the CDC—now with pandemic-related new reasons. (Note: There is no minimum attachment period required for transmission, nor is a bull’s-eye rash always present.)
The second “new in 22” is both trivial and revolutionary—I bought legal cannabis for the first time. The paradigm shift was how it all played out. I’ve had many opportunities to visit dispensaries, particularly while living in Seattle and SoHum (America’s Cannabis Heartland), but I’d been given enough black market cannabis to meet my needs and couldn’t justify the expense. Now, I live in a NorCal town that banned dispensaries. Thanks to California law, however, the town couldn’t completely ban legal sales so deliveries are available.
After months of insomnia and poor sleep, I wanted to acquire specific relaxing, soporific cannabis strains, so I went to Google maps and searched for “cannabis delivery near me.” Wow, so upfront, no need to keep it on the downlow. I found a supplier with acceptable prices and two strains I knew could help me sleep (Mendo Breath and Northern Lights), and ordered online. Twenty minutes later (20 MINUTES LATER!) the delivery woman was at at my front door. As I took the bag from her hands, my clandestine cannabis past flashed before my eyes—I rapidly revisited all the secretive, dangerous, and thrilling adventures I’ve experienced over the past few decades just to cultivate and possess these flowers.
In that moment, standing in the sunlight on my front porch, accepting a bag of the buds I’d bought online—legally—my world shifted. I fully realized that legalization erased the paranoia and subterfuge associated with cannabis. Plus, this was a key step in managing insomnia—now I’m getting eight straight hours of sleep most nights!
Next step is to find a good vaporizer. I had one of the OG table top models in the late 1990s that was destroyed in the Camp Fire. Now I want a smaller, hand held version for dry herb (not for cartridges or concentrates) with a small “oven.” I’ve checked online reviews and narrowed it down to the Xlux ROFFU and Planet of the Vapes’ XMAX. Anyone have any recommendations?
KosAbility is by and for
people living with disabilities,
those who love someone with a disability, and
anyone who wants to know more about the issues.
Our discussions are open threads within the context of the disabled community.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/25/2143553/-KosAbility-Big-or-small-critical-or-frivolous-what-was-new-for-you-in-22
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
