“Sail on silver girl*, sail on by, your time has come to shine, all your dreams are on their way…”

Did anyone else get to witness the amazing auroras? I love how they're (weather and light pollution permitting) visible almost everywhere in the world. The Aurora Australis is really important to me. The first time I saw it, I didn't know what it was and it was entirely by accident. It was 31 March, 2001, …

Would you rather…

I have a question for you to ponder. How much quality of life are you willing to trade to get through the mundane tasks required in your life and home? Would you be willing to give up your entire weekend's socialising and activity because you vacuumed the living room floor on Thursday? Would you be …

Being informed isn’t always helpful.

I think it might be a good time to remind people that if you find that the news and world events stress you out or trigger your anxiety, you can turn it off, stop watching, reading, or following and ignore it.*If following what's going on in the world is harmful to you, then stop following …

Life, Death, and Library Books

It feels like I write about death a lot. I suppose it's because a Lorem Ipsum Life is a bit like dying. I lost everything and everyone I was when I got sick. Dealing with the grief of that 'death' is an important part of continuing to live. This morning I took a wee girl …

I have Hipster Long Covid (I was doing it before it was cool), here’s my advice on how to avoid becoming like me

In March 2020 the scientist of the ME community predicted that Covid-19 would cause ME, a lifelong post-viral fatiguing illness, in a portion of those who recovered from infection. They estimated roughly 5-10%, based on SARS1, would struggle to return to pre-infection energy levels, and that many of these would never recover. It didn't take …

Heads it wins, tails I lose

Am I depressed or flaring? I'm tired and can't get the energy to do anything. I feel sick. I have a headache. My stomach hurts. My mood is low and I'm having panic attacks and anxiety. I can't get to sleep but when I do I can't wake up. I want to cry but can't. …

Why would you willingly risk becoming like me?

I'm so baffled by vaccine reluctance, especially in populations old enough to remember polio. Covid causes long term damage and disability in a devastatingly high proportion of the infected. Severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-Coronavirus-disease-2019, aka SARS-COV-2, AKA Covid-19 attacks the organs, blood vessels, and nerves. It's not just a respiratory infection, it's a systemic disease. We are seeing data …

Time to say goodbye

We have to move out of our house. We received notice back in March and have until June 14th (we can leave sooner, if needed). I don't want to go. I love this house. I love the area. I love my room and my bath. I love the view from my bed, and the sunny …

The danger of feeling good

I'm having a good day today. Days like today are dangerous. I woke up groggy but feeling ok. The sun was shining and the weather warming up. I've been sleeping better, making myself stick to a "normalish" day/night cycle. I have also been eating a little better lately, making a conscious effort to undo the …

I’m out of lockdown, so now you can buy me a coffee.

While the rest of the world is seeing continued growth of COVID-19 cases, I'm safe in my bubble in the South Pacific. New Zealand spent 5 weeks in what appears to be one of the strictest lockdowns worldwide, a few more at what seems to be the most common version of lockdown, then 2 weeks …