My network (my insurance is with an HMO so it’s all centralized with all the physical and mental healthcare providers I have access to) has you click on your appointment in the app or online, and then it opens Zoom.

I have to use Teams for work and the idea of using that for therapy is kind of funny for some reason…

You expressed my feelings pretty well. Will I be completely safe? Maybe not, but for the time being I am relatively insulated from what is going on.

Even so, I am filled with grief for all the suffering that has already happened and that which is yet to come.

I don’t really believe in karma but part of me cynically wonders if this is the price our country pays for exploiting the rest of the world so long. Not paid by those who caused it, but the common people as scapegoats.

They do have a saying about things built on Indian burial grounds… sigh. Perhaps the system has to be broken to be rebuilt, but how many must be crushed under the boots of progress?

Not universally true— with my healthcare network there is a consent form that allows you to decline the use of AI for online appointments, and for in-person they request verbal consent. I make sure to decline every time.

Just wanted to share so that people can check if opting out is possible (for now at least).

Yarn. I started out like most knitters and crocheters, grabbing stuff on sale from Joann (RIP) and using affordable tools. Then I discovered boutique yarns and had a hard time going back to anything acrylic.

Of course, fancy yarn is expensive, so I rationalized learning to spin my own on a spindle, then acquiring an electric spinning wheel, and it’s like I woke up one day surrounded by hand-dyed fiber braids and raw fleece to wash and comb myself. I’m not an expert at it, but I am past the lumpy yarnfails I started out with.

Have I saved money? Hell no. But I do like spinning yarn, and I have made peace with the craft clutter… mostly. I also have been making forays into weaving after a long hiatus.

Yarn: not even once. 🙈