Makes friends easily?

In kindergarten, we didn't get A's or B's. We got M’s, P’s, and N’s for most of the time, part of the time, and not yet. 

I got M’s consistently, except for one — makes friends easily. That was a part of the time, the bane of my kindergarten existence, which stayed with me through life.

Until I reached college, I would say I maybe had three friends. Sure, there were others I would say hi to and chat with at school, but no one else I’d really call friends. Even the three are kind of a stretch. 

In college and grad school, I got a bit better, but making friends is hard.

Getting a service dog helped, but even then it has not been easy.
This is all to say that making friends is a struggle for me, even without the crap of Friedreich's ataxia.

I went into the office a few weeks ago just for a couple hours to talk to my boss and see some people. It was wonderful. My closest friends at work weren’t there, which was too bad, but it’s hard to dispute how much people, even those with Friedreich's ataxia or perhaps especially them, need connections with people you aren't related to.

A lot of people would telework every day, I have no doubt. And it does have benefits. I get up 20 minutes before a log on and I don't shave every day. Nevertheless, if my body were my own instead of Friedreich's ataxia’s, I would go into the office daily. 

A nice breeze

 I don't really remember either of my grandfathers. They died when I was like 7 and 10. 

I really just have images, which might not even be memories but things  I heard about or photos I saw. 

For instance, I remember getting a little slot machine game from one of my grandfathers for Christmas. My parents had bought it because he didn't shop, and I remember him opening the present himself and being like ‘“let's see what I got you.”

The other one, who died when I was 7, I don't have many memories or even images of him. 

I do see him lying on a chaise  lounge in a jacket, but I have seen pictures of that, so I suspect it's just a memory the photo.

Nevertheless, I have been thinking about that grandfather a lot recently. With my temperature regulation issues, it is more comfortable for me to sit out in the 95-degree, humid-as-all-get-out weather than it is to sit inside. 

I am sure this is not a memory but something I have been told by Mom. Apparently, in the summer he would sit outside, and when someone would ask him if he was hot, he would say a nice breeze was blowing to keep him cool. 

It was obviously much much cooler 40 years ago when he would have been sitting in the sun than it is today. But I feel the same way. 

I suspect he would not be sitting outside on days like today given that he did not have Friedreich's ataxia, but I do like to think he might be out there with me. There really is a nice breeze.

The worst

 It is bad that I have sleep apnea. 

It is worse that the apnea has advanced enough that I need to use a sleep machine. 

It is also rotten that the sleep machine I use was recalled in June  2021. Apparently pieces of the insulation were disintegrating and going down people's throats. I read somewhere that the company knew of this problem for a ticket but did not move to recall the machine or fix the problem until it became well known. If true, this surprises me not at all. I hold companies in general and this company specifically in very low regard. 

Mine was OK. 

In fact, my machine was not replaced until November of 2022. As requested when they sent the new one, I returned the old one using their pre-paid, pre-addressed label. Obviously, I didn’t request any tracking or keep it if I did.
 So this happened like 20 months ago. 

They eventually settled and are supposed pay each person who had a machine at least $100.

If you are like me, however, you might have an issue getting the money, and that is the worst. 

I'd began receiving email that said I needed to return the recalled device to get my money. The first time this happened we called and spoke to someone who gave us a claim number and said everything was OK. But I continued to get the email. And time is running out, so we called this week. 

The upshot was they are not gonna pay me because they say they have no proof it was returned. They want a tracking number from 20 months ago. 

I wonder how many people this huge, multinational company is screwing over.

Not inaccessible but ….

As I rode around town this past week , it was hard not to get a bit depressed.

I was off last week, and it was really nice out -- not too hot but really sunny. The sun made the bike trail out of the question, so I spent a lot of time on the streets and sidewalks and grass. 

It's not that my town is particularly inaccessible. I suspect is as good as anywhere. But what passes for accessibility is kind of a joke. I could get anywhere I wanted, provided I was willing:

• To go around poles and trees in the sidewalks.
• To put up with bumps caused by various covers or sidewalk sections that were inexplicably almost an inch below or above the next section.
• To accept sidewalks that dropped off sharply on the side or curb cuts that were pretty close to 90 degree angles when compared to the sidewalk next to them.
• To accept a bumpy ride to get through the parks because the paths are either packed gravel, packed dirt or nonexistent. Not to mention, my city loves cobblestones.

Mom suggested that I tell the city to help them make things more accessible. I have two thoughts on this. As I said before, I do not think my city is particularly inaccessible. So I imagine they honestly don't care.

In the "they don't care" vein, shortly after I got Fame, a TV reporter did a story on me trying to reached the bike trail from my house. I cannot reach the cross walk button and there is a utility pole in the middle of the sidewalk. They told the reporter they would fix the issue. They didn't.

Saved

 One of my uncles almost never wore shorts. He did work outdoors, but even when he got home, he didn't put on shorts. I never understood this because he had an awesome tattoo on his calf. He died five years ago last week. Still hard to believe.

On my walk today, I went on a repaired sidewalk near the bike trail. The sidewalk was repaired, but the the area next to the sidewalk had not been, meaning there were little gaps on the left and right of the sidewalk.

I accidentally went off on the right, then overcorrected and went farther off the left. They are doing a bunch of work near the place where I was, so I was going to call for a worker or two to come help me. But even before I could say anything, one of the workers started running toward me. He wound up helping me back on the sidewalk no problem.

He looked nothing like my uncle — he was a different ethnicity for one thing — but all I could think of when I saw him running over was my uncle. I have decided that it was because of his long pants. I don't know if he had a cool tattoo though.