The Usual Suspects

I slept a lot again today, so I didn't get much done. I've reduced my Valium dosage to 0.5 mg/day, so I'm hoping the sedation will abate a bit, but that might take a few days. I have a mounting list of things I need to do (deal with a PayPal dispute, research dental insurance, write some emails, make optometrist appointments, etc.) but not much energy/alertness to do them. I'm crossing my fingers tomorrow will be better and I can get some of these things done.

I was talking to my therapist today about the writers' group I'm planning to go to next week, and she asked me if I have any plans for what I'd like to write next. I had been vaguely sketching the idea of something autobiographical a while ago, but I'm thinking I'll probably go with more fictionalized stuff based on my own experiences. So ... autobiographical ... but fiction. One of my ideas I was kicking around a while ago was a very ... parable/myth-like telling of some of my life experiences. Take events from my life but tell them in very metaphorical ways. It's hard to explain without starting to actually write it. That's where I'm most leaning at the moment, though.

I've also been wanting to write something about my dad. I started a novel ages ago, when I was in grad school, with a main character based on my dad, and it might be interesting to do something again with that character. I might even want to write something with a fictionalized version of my mom as the main character! I always find it interesting to try to imagine the world through someone else's eyes by making them the viewpoint character in a story.

I'm just spitballing ideas with myself right now. I'll see what sparks my imagination. But I would love to get back to writing!

My therapist listened to what I'm thinking about writing and was like "Uhhhhhhhhhh ... that sounds like a lot of stuff might come up, so let's talk about things along the way." I'm sure she's right.

I was upset about Elmer when I wrote yesterday, but really we just need to do a better job of managing the transitions between him being upstairs and him being downstairs. That's on us. It shouldn't be too hard, because he's fine with being picked up (as long as it doesn't turn into a game of "you can't catch me"), unlike Megara. So one of us could pick him up, give him some love and scritches, and then put him on the stairs and close the gate.

The biggest problem is that Megara is very difficult to trick into safety in the bedroom when Elmer cries at the gate because he wants to come upstairs. I have a theory that we could use an additional Churu (lickable snack that Megara goes BONKERS for) to lure her into the bedroom when we want to keep her safe from Elmer. He usually only wants to come upstairs for 5 minutes or so before venturing back down to his dungeon lair, but we don't like to deny him access to the upstairs for those short visits out of fear that he'll resort to figuring out how to get over the gate on his own.

But Megara cannot resist these Churu treats (that's how we give her anti-anxiety medication each evening, mixed into Churu paste), so I think they might be helpful in luring her when we want her in the bedroom for safety. I don't think she would be able to resist. And that might help keep her safe from Elmer's insanity. And, heck, it might help train her even more to identify the bedroom with tasty tasty Churu and make it easier to get her in there.

Once she's in the bedroom, it's easy to let Elmer roam around upstairs and just go back downstairs whenever he's ready. A problem only really arises when Elmer cries at the gate and we can't get Megara into the bedroom, and so we let Elmer up and he goes into the bedroom and we shut the door (keeping the two cats safely separated) ... and then when he's ready to come out we try to shepherd him back down the stairs without him encountering Megara while the two of them are both on the loose upstairs. That's our danger scenario. But we can try to manage it better.

So there are things we can try. I think we can manage to keep the two cats separate.

Tomorrow I plan to email these thoughts to the animal behaviorist we've been working with to see what she thinks and if she has any additional suggestions. I'm too tired to do it tonight. It was a long day today—especially with my sedation from Valium—including FaceTime with a friend, Paratransit issues, a yummy acai bowl, my water exercise class (in alternating pouring rain and bright sun), and multiple stops of shopping in Lihue with Shannon.

The water exercise class seems like a good amount of effort for me right now, because my muscles end up tired but not sore. I think I would like to be working maybe a little harder, maybe be a little bit sore, but I'm happy to wait and discuss it with my physical therapist next week, since I'll be seeing him a week from Friday.