Posts Tagged ‘life’

Opening the Floor: Yes, I Am Autistic, Folks

Because of the amount of W*ncest shippers that viewed my blog in a twenty-four hour period (we’re talking, like, thirty), I decided to open the floor to all who wanted to ask me questions to give me something to blog about. The least I can do is give them something to read. Of course, I won’t be identifying who asked what.

The first question that I was asked was about my autism “diagnosis”, which is a story in and of itself.

I began to participate in autistic-led communities when both of my children were formally diagnosed autistic because I wanted to learn as much as I could to appropriately and effectively parent them. At first I did not identify, or self-identify, as autistic because I did not know that I was autistic. As I began to make autistic friends in these communities with the advice that I occasionally gave as a parent being given clout, autistic adults began contacting me and speaking to me. A lot of them said that they believed that I was autistic, that they saw autism in me. A variety of ways to say it were used. I began to mull it over as the count of autistic adults telling me that they thought I was autistic increased, and I realized that I was comfortable not only with being an autistic adult but also self-identifying as such. In some circles I joke that the Internet diagnosed me, but it is the honest truth. I don’t feel ashamed of being an autistic adult, nor do I feel bad. Now, in these autistic-led circles, I self-identify as autistic and I try to give the best advice possible to neurotypical parents of autistic children. Autistic adults continue to see the fact that I am autistic in the kinds of advice that I give, and some of them tell me that. So yes, hello — I am autistic, and I am not ashamed.

I will get around to updating the about me section of this blog in due time, or probably seconds from now.

We shall see.

Did I forget to queue a post up in here or something?

Apparently I did. And I had convinced myself that I had posts queued for the next few days, too…

I’m supposed to be sitting here looking for more video games for Bub, ones that he does not already have, but even that is proving to be difficult because I’ve already pre-ordered him much of what I would want to pre-order him. I mean, not that I’m complaining about making a lot less work for myself… but now I have to find him things that he doesn’t already have. I would consider getting him Pokemon plushies, too — ones that he doesn’t already have — but the going prices on some of these, the ones that I’ve found on Amazon and eBay, are absolutely obscene. I’m not going to pay $35.00 for a Pichu plush. I would have no problem paying a reasonable price for one. However, I am not paying $35.00 for one when it is not even that rare.

It might also be that Pokemon plushies in general go for exorbitant prices, which would (and is) making me reconsider purchasing them. I’m not about to cut off my arm or my leg to afford maybe… one plush, two at the most. Admittedly, some of them don’t have the worst prices, but a lot of them are marked up to almost unbelievable prices, and it makes us want to develop a Funko Pop collection rather than a Pokemon one if this is how things are going to be. But between this and the fact that my head has hurt for going on two days now in spite of the medication that I’ve been prescribed, I want to limit my consumption of things that are probably going to frustrate me… and the idea of these things being marked up as high as they are is definitely on the list. Let’s not, please. Let’s actually price things appropriately so that people purchase them.

I guess it’s that time of year… again, y’all.

Since the renewal for my medical insurance has come due for the second time this year, I anticipate having to continue to fight the state over leaving my children’s child support orders in non-enforcement. Normally this is a requirement for the kind of medical insurance that I have, but if one can prove to the state that enforcement efforts could cause some kind of harm to come to parent or child(ren), the requirement for enforcement can be waived with what is called a good cause waiver. I have pursued and kept these waivers for as long as I have had medical insurance under the state, although I was not made aware that Bub’s case qualified for one until 2014. Then came earlier this year when I had to fight for both of these waivers to be put back onto their cases because they were mysteriously “lost”, and I had to contact a lawyer in preparation to sue the state to make sure that Bub’s good cause waiver stayed on his case. Funny how all of that worked though — as soon as HHSC and the OAG were informed that I had begun to consult with a lawyer, both cases had good cause waivers applied to them that have stayed to this day. I don’t screw around with this.

As much as I hate reliving the incidents — the trauma — that causes these waivers to need to be sought, I will continue to do so again and again to protect both of the boys and keep us safe for obvious reasons.

The mystery behind the elusive Google PageRank.

Almost a decade ago (which makes me feel old just typing it), Google PageRank was everything.

You wanted to have PageRank if you wanted to monetize your blog, let alone be taken seriously in search engine results. With a bit of work it wasn’t very hard at all to get something like a two straight out of the gate. But in recent years, it has seemed more difficult to actually get that coveted PageRank… and then, not too long ago when I ran a PageRank checker on my own blog and other blogs and sites that were known to have it, suddenly they were all gone. This has left many people scratching their heads trying to figure out what the best metric to measure website popularity (“importance”) was, or should be, especially since Google hasn’t really… said much on the whole matter. I mean, I run Google Analytics behind this blog, but it’s mainly to let me know if two very specific people (Bub’s paternal grandmother and his great-aunt) ever actually access this blog, that way I can go to all of the trouble of IP blocking them and do it as many times as becomes necessary until they get the point. Aside from that, I don’t really mind how many hits it gets…

Although it could have done with improvement, if PageRank is gone that’s sad (and the end of an era).

I got these results on Saturday morning.

I suppose that this is what Texas gets because our governor “forbid” any business, organization, or school that receives federal funding from imposing a mask mandate, and the fact that a bill funding virtual schooling (under nefarious select circumstances) is just now managing to make its way to the governor’s desk. And somehow, some way, our governor is giving interviews with news agencies and websites stating that “we are improving” on COVID-19 cases. This hardly looks like improvement at all. (Actually, it doesn’t.)

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