Well… once again since nobody reads this blog, I feel free to say whatever I want. Please please give me an IM or a comment, if unexpectedly you read this 🙂 .
My Social Security Disability hearing was on Wednesday of this week, and it was in my estimation, a home-run (haven’t heard back from the lawyer, but he did write “good job”). My assessment of whether this is going to be approved went up from about 1/3 chance to 2/3. They reset the “onset date” to February of 2020 — not as good as originally expected, but it will still give me a significant chunk of change (24 months worth) if it would get approved. It takes some time to get the decision and even more time to get the money, so now I must be patient.
The thing that was funny, is that there was a vocational expert in attendance at the hearing. After interviewing me, the judge asked the vocational expert what jobs I would qualify for? And she said “sweeper, janitor, laundry room attendant…”, along with their occupational categories. My heart surged and I made an inward high-five, because at my age all that needs to be proven is that I can’t go back to my previous work. To seal the case, the lawyer asked the vocational counselor “what if the employee was absent two days a week” [I told them i have insomnia and barely function 2-3 days of the week, which is true] and the vocational counselor said “no, an employer would not tolerate that”. So it appears that I do not qualify even to be a janitor 🙂 .
It’s been a big week as I also did a lightning trip to Philadelphia over the weekend. Monday I saw both my new Primary Care Physician (yay) and my dentist. The PCP did some blood work and EKG, said everything is okay but that i need to watch my cholesterol (what??? I weigh 125 pounds and I am 5′ 10″. I took it as an incentive to get more exercise and eat more vegetables). The main point was to get a PCP in case an emergency arose. It also opens the door to seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist (which I haven’t bothered setting up since my medical insurance changed and I could no longer see my previous practitioners, whom I was very fond of). That too was a bit funny, as when the doctor heard of my bipolarity she gave me the “bipolar test” and asked me “Do you have inflated self-concept” (or something similar). I replied something like (this is exaggeration, but only slight) — “Of course not! What self-respecting bipolar would agree with that?” [Unspoken: I merely plan to save the world from boredom, loneliness and horniness 🙂 ]. Both the doctor and the dentist, incidentally, were attractive young women, one lebanese (I thought, name “Farrah”) and the other Vietnamese or maybe Korean. The PCP visit was quite fun, which i thought very auspicious as I will likely have many more of these doctor visits going forward 🙂 . If I had really been on top of my game, I would have asked them out, both of them. We old horny bipolar guys must entertain ourselves as best we can.
Other than that, the weather here in Wyoming is beautiful and unexpectedly warm. The days are still in the 60’s. Its cold in the night – high 20’s or low 30’s typically — and temperatures inside the RV are about 40 degrees when I wake up, but that actually suits me. It looks like I won’t be running the wood stove until it gets significantly colder during the day, which may not be until December.
I still can’t believe how happy I am in this climate and in my new home. It remains to be seen whether this will translate into productive activity during the long winter coming (this is my hope). I am easier on myself (I mean less obsessed with my production) now that i have learned that I would be a failure as a janitor. As of right now there is a tremendous amount of activity in my business life and networking (I am about to launch some new program), and I have decided that “slow and steady wins the race”. I am also getting involved with the local community. I have joined a Toastmasters group, a writer’s group, and considering becoming obsessed with pickleball (its like a mini-indoor tennis, in case you are not aware). At least I am going to try. Gotta watch my cholesterol, you know.
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