So apparently we're moving again, this time to a house in Dorchester. Those of you who have been around for more than a year will remember that moving is, to put it mildly, not my favorite. It generally turns me into the Simple Dog. I never have any money, and have spent my entire adult life being either thrown out of rooms because the semester ended or priced out of apartments because the landlord jacked the rent. I am moving with Jazmin again, because she asked. She was actually nervous when she brought it up. I don't know what she thought I was going to say -- "Well, I've only spent years finding people I can actually stand to live with, I think I'll strike out on my own and do it all over again"? I have no idea why she and her boyfriend seem to enjoy having me around the house, other than I help with bills as much as I can, and I do a lot of the dishes.

These rats have never moved before, and consequently have no idea what's going on. The longest trip they've ever been on was the 90 minute train ride home from Revere when they were very small, which has almost certainly faded from their memories by now, as there was no food involved until I got them back to Brighton and immediately fed them french fries. (A distant second was the afternoon the fire alarm here would not stop going off. I threw them into ../tmp/bin/rat and walked them across the street to sit on the synagogue lawn while a middle-aged man who unfairly got to wear ear protection fixed the panel.) They are mildly interested in me banging around the room moving things, but otherwise have not let any of this disrupt their daily routine of long naps, petty squabbles, and meticulous testicle grooming.

I've also done something to my right shoulder. I have no idea what, but it hurts like something that was kept contracted for too long, and has knotted up beyond all hope of repair. I shambled along carrying stuff exclusively on my other shoulder for a couple of weeks before getting fed up with it one evening and taking one of everything in the hopes of getting to ignore it for a while. Two of a couple of things. Amazingly enough, a lot of naproxen, a moderate amount of dextromethorphan, and a very small dose of etizolam seems to have fixed it, at least temporarily.

In the short term, this is not a great solution. Double NSAIDs plus dissociatives plus minor tranquilizers is not a combination I want to be knocking back on a regular basis. One of those things will definitely engender tolerance if used too often, one of them might do if I'm unlucky, and the remaining one stands a chance of making my kidneys unhappy.

Moreover, if I have to be that doped up to stop things hurting, I'm just going to have to spend my days in pain for a while, because that combo is not compatible with consciousness. Objectively, it's not really a lot of drugs, especially for a pain patient, but on me it hits pretty heavy. Just to give you some idea, I had to give up on my book about twenty minutes after I took it, because I was too useless to read. Then I decided to have a little lie down while the worst of it wore off, and came to nine and a half hours later. It's not an OD, but it is definitely one of those cases where all repairs are effected in sleep mode.

In the long term, on the other hand, it's great news. If I can fix the issue with a load of anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants, that means the problem is muscular -- I have not somehow managed to ruin an important joint somewhere. And that means that if I can just convince someone that a massage therapist is medically necessary, I can likely keep it from coming back. Failing that, I can probably get someone to dry-needle the worst bits, or stab me with saline or lidocaine or something. I expect I can provide a convincing argument for this, especially when I point out that after taking all my drugs, just lying down flat made parts of my back spontaneously pop, including several of the thoracic vertebrae up around where the biggest problem lives.

In nicer, if pettier, news, I've started teaching dance, because apparently you don't actually need any qualifications to do that. I have a student who's learning hoop and some other assorted props. To that end, I bought a pair of cheap dance fans, with the trailing flags on them. They're endless fun, although they will absolutely kill your arms if you're not already in decent shape. I want them in every color. Can't justify buying any more of them until 1) I have some more money and 2) I'm safely ensconced in the new place and can have packages sent there from China, which is where they all come from. My student wants a set of rainbow ones for Pride next year.

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