Casting into the void --- is anyone there?

So I've been contemplating my worth recently.

I am undergoing therapy for a sexual assault that happened when I was in my early teens. I'm 54, almost 55. My therapist sees a lot of young children, too, and that breaks my heart. She says the little kids take to therapy much better than most adults. They're resilient and believe what they're told. She tells them the sexual assault is not their fault, and they just believe it. She tells me my experiences are not my fault and it's ... it doesn't make sense that I don't have some culpability in the scenario.

Winter is approaching. Summer is over. I'm thankful for that. As has been mentioned in this space previously (a lot) I don't fare well in the heat. It's cold enough to need a fire in the wood stove. I'm back in my bedroom with the door closed, so it's a good bit cooler here than in the living room. I'm comfortable in a short sleeve dress. Ahhh.

My sleep quality is poor these days because my obstructive sleep apnea has gotten worse. I had a sleep study last month that determined I need increased pressure on my CPAP machine. The doctor gave me a prescription for a new CPAP with the increased setting. The supplier has all the necessary information. Then they told me it'll be 3-5 weeks before I get my fucking CPAP. Bastids. I'm snoring through my current CPAP, having apnea episodes, waking up with a sore throat from snoring so hard, and I'm tired all the time. Speaking of which, it's almost time for a nap. I love naps.

A couple of years ago I lost a good bit of weight, around 60 pounds. Well, I've gained most of it back. I should get back to the gym. I need a new gym membership, though. I'm strongly considering the local YMCA. I looked into it a few months ago and found that membership fees for people over 55 are discounted. Since I'll be 55 in January I figure I'll wait until then. I also had the bright idea to do some yoga in the meantime, to get limber and possibly strengthen my core, or whatever. I visited the yoga studio, got the business card of the woman I need to talk to. But alas, I haven't taken it any further. Yet. Maybe after Thanksgiving.

I'm very good at procrastinating. It's one of my greatest talents. (Note that it's been nearly six months since my last post. I occasionally think of posting, then something else happens.)

Sproing was in the county jail for 5 blissfully drama-free months. It was a bogus arrest, though, and he didn't deserve to be there. He was there awaiting trial for a piddly little charge, and didn't get a court date for a ridiculously long time. He was charged with auto break-in and petty theft. He allegedly opened an unlocked car and took some loose change from the ashtray. Why anyone would leave their car unlocked in that neighborhood I do not know. (It's "the projects") The only thing they had on him was the testimony of one of his hoodlum friends, who probably did it himself, the little punk. Sproing says he didn't do it, and I believe him. Yeah, he's a liar, but he's been pretty honest about the crimes he's committed. And really, auto break-in and petty theft and they leave him to sit and wait for five months? Geez. He didn't get a trail, either. The solicitor's office assumed guilt and offered him pre-trial intervention (PTI), which costs $350 (which he doesn't have) and 40 hours of community service. He doesn't even mind the community service. And it'll be good for him. After the completion of the PTI his record will be expunged. All very well and good, but he didn't do the crime in the first place. Shit. The criminal "justice" system is fucked up.

Superman, Twitch, and I are going to visit my in-laws for Thanksgiving. This year Thanksgiving happens to fall on my father-in-law's birthday, so his kids have decided to make the whole thing into a birthday party instead. I mean, it'll be Thanksgiving with the whole feast thing, we'll just call it Grand Dad's birthday. It's cool. BUT, it's the in-laws. They are ... well, they have social and political and religious views that are different from mine. They also disapprove of cussing. I'm fucked. (Actually, last time I visited I managed to go three days without cussing in their presence once!!) My m-i-l voted for Trump. F-i-l voted third party. To their credit, neither of them likes Trump, but they preferred him to Hillary. I'm hoping for no political discussion. They have a lovely screened back porch to which I can escape if the discussion gets too uncomfortable.

And speaking of complicated discussions, they want to hear all about Light's new boyfriend. Yes, Light has a boyfriend. Superman and I visited them in late October. He's a wonderful fellow, about three years younger than Light's 27 years, will graduate from IUP next month with a dual degree in English and religious studies. That's what the in-laws will like. That he's from western Pennsylvania, not a plus to these southern rebels. Grand Dad dreads that his great-grandchildren will be Yankees. Yes. Really.

Here's the rest of the story. The religious study the bf concentrated on is Buddhism. Not protestant Christianity which is the only acceptable option in their opinion. We won't tell them that. The "boy" part of boyfriend is his gender identity which doesn't correspond to his DNA or body morphology. No unplanned pregnancies in this monogamous relationship! So no Yankee grandchildren unless they do the sperm donor thing. Which Light is considering. I'm thrilled that she's in love with a wonderful young transgender man. There's a lot we won't be telling the grandparents.

There's a cat sleeping on my arms, making it difficult to type. The whole nap idea seems more and more appealing.

Road Trip! With pictures!

Hi! I had too much caffeine this morning! I am hyper!

The ADD is on overdrive because of the caffeine, which makes little sense. Stimulants are used to treat ADD symptoms. This caffeine is making me hyper-spastic.

Light and I are in Indiana, Pennsylvania. She will start grad school next month at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). We're here to secure housing and some kind of part-time employment for her.

We got to Indiana yesterday (Saturday) late afternoon. It's a quaint little place, seems like a college town, but I'm not sure yet. It isn't big; smaller than Greenwood SC where we live. We've been to Wal-Mart twice already (sigh). We're staying in a rustic, quaint little place on the east side of town. "Rustic" and "quaint" means cheap and old. I kinda' like it. Do you remember the trip I took last summer to Massachusetts with C? He would HATE this little motel. The place reminds me of my grandmother. It smells old and musty, but in a good, nostalgic way. It's plain, but clean and functional. There's an air conditioner, a very noisy window unit that cools slowly but well. We turned it off this morning to get some peace and quiet. It makes good white noise for sleeping. I will have to take some pictures of the place to show you. I'm particularly fond of the shower stall and the tile pattern on the bathroom floor.

So I've been taking road trip pictures to share with you. Let me tell you about the no-tell motel where we stayed Friday night. It's a Knights Inn in Ghent, WV. OMG, West Virginia! It reminded me forcefully of South Carolina, but with cooler temps and prettier scenery. I was amused. We were on I-77. We saw quite a few "adult entertainment and novelty" establishments, more so than I've seen in SC. So, this Knights Inn: a large gravel parking area with plenty of room for truck parking; an "adult books and video" store in front of the place.

Here's a pic of the Lion's Den

Panning left, the hotel

You may need to embiggen this to tell, but landscaping is not high on the priority list.

View of the Lion's Den from our room

View of the large gravel parking lot with huge pot holes; Lion's Den entrance on the left

Moving down the road a bit, this is the ladies room in the visitor's center at the New River Gorge park. IIRC, it's a national park. I'll show you more of that shortly. The sign taped to the wall says "Hand Washing ONLY." Why? What other kind of washing are they precluding?

Does this mean I can hand wash my delicates in these sinks?

Moving on from the bathrooms, here's a picture from the little museum area in the visitor's center. The area along the New River was used in the mining industry back in the early 20th century. This is an example of a homemade mandolin. Cool, huh? Makes me want to get my scroll saw out try it myself.
There is an overlook of the New River Gorge and the bridge that crosses it. This visitor's center shows the history of the mining industry as well as the process of building the bridge. The bridge is pretty impressive!

A pretty flowering bush (mountain laurel, maybe? Rhododendron?) on the way to the overlook

The bridge, looking south.

We of course were driving north, so we crossed the bridge then came upon the park. I couldn't resist. Light humored me, we stopped. She was in a hurry to get to Indiana. I am all about enjoying the trip. She's a very patient daughter.

The bridge is very high. I'm not fond of being on bridges, but the engineering aspect of bridge design and construction fascinates me. This bridge, as you can see from the diagram below, is as high as the Washington Monument plus two Statues of Liberty. Cool, huh?

Looking east into the New River Gorge

The place is beautiful. Superman has been to the Pacific Northwest and seen the Columbia River Gorge, which I understand is logarithmically more impressive than this, but this is what I saw, photographed, and am telling you about. Interesting factoid: The New River is actually very old, and flows north. In the northern hemisphere most rivers flow south. The St Johns River in eastern Florida flows north. It is one of the largest north-flowing rivers in this hemisphere, and is at sea level. The New River in West Virginia runs through the mountains, so I'm pretty sure the northward flow is all about gravity and downhill. Not as impressive as the St Johns*, imho. Here's what Wikipedia says about the New River.

I've been sitting here in this Starbucks for a few hours now. It's time to move along. Haven't had internet access in two or three days, so I'm catching up a little bit. Haven't had a chance to look at other blogs in almost a week. HOPEFULLY I'll do some of that later this week.

*OK, according to Wikipedia, the St Johns flow is about gravity, too, but it's a minor drop in elevation.