Hoping today is an improvement

[missdiane]

Yesterday wasn't a fun one.

I started the morning checking to see whether my friend Kimberley Rector posted on Facebook since I hadn't seen her posts come up in a while and she usually posted daily. I know that Facebook is absolute shit at showing you what you actually want to see (which is why I don't go there as often) so I went directly to her page only to find out that at the end of February she was found unconscious on her front lawn and later passed away at the hospital. I don't think anyone on my current f-list was friends with researchgrrrl but she was a LJ user. I'm going to miss her. Although she honestly was the unluckiest person on Earth - no exaggeration - she'd tell funny stories about her ferrets that were her life and reminisced about goofy instances she had in her life.

My back has been ramping up for several days and yesterday my lower back felt like someone tied a anchor to it. It has a deep ache that pain meds and lidocaine are struggling to get to. I'm taking today off to rest more since I have a 3 hour online class tomorrow morning.

Then later in the day I foolishly decided to look at Facebook again - mostly to read the tributes that people are now posting for Kimberley. Not so long ago, I followed my aunt on there who I hadn't communicated with in many years and always found her to be cheerful and nice to talk to. Not anymore. She had been posting fringe anti-vax support videos which I'd block the source of those so I wouldn't have to see them. There's no point in trying to sway the opinion of anyone that posts them since they're in too deep at that point. Then yesterday was the straw. She posted a "funny" video by Jim Breuer with hateful rhetoric being nasty to liberals. I unfriended her and messaged my (fellow liberal) cousin to warn her. I had thought that maybe she went off the deep end when my Dad's brother died last year but evidently no, she's been like this for some years. Sad but I have enough stress in life not to have to interact with anyone that posts that nonsense. Thankfully I never gave her my email address.

Comments

[halfmoon_mollie1]

I hope your back is better with the rest. It's upsetting when people you know - or know of - pass the way your friend did. We are hunkering down for a storm, here.

[missdiane]

I'm wondering whether the back is hormonal and the festivities haven't started. Either way it needs to GO

It really is and I feel even worse not knowing for a couple of weeks. I at least was able to confirm for folks that her LJ (she left in 2015 more due to not feeling safe since she was being stalked) was still around.

Stay hunkered! We have a chance of something here but hopefully it turns out to be mainly rain

[threecee]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend. It happens more and more as we get older.

Have you tried lying on the floor with your knees over a stool or low chair? Thighs have to be straight up in the air, not slanted. A doctor once told me to do that for my back because it straightens and supports the lower back. Never helped me, but maybe you will have better luck. Gives the kitties a bit of novelty at least.

[missdiane]

I've been doing a modified version laying on my side. It's helping just a little. If I laid on the floor, I wouldn't be able to get back up.

Thanks. Yeah, this getting older thing and sudden thing of friends dying is rough. Not looking forward to more of it but better prepare, I suppose.

[spiffikins]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I think about this occasionally - if something were to happen to me, where I wasn't able to post for a long time - I'mnot sure how or if my online friends would find out what happened?

I don't have a ton of overlap between DW/LJ and Real Life - mostly on purpose - but that means that people in meatspace wouldn't really have any idea that they should somehow notify the online friends about what is going on.

I guess, hopefully if I disappear, someone could email my dw username@gmail.com and hopefully someone will be reading my emails and responding :D

OR IT WILL BE A MYSTERY FOREVER!

Honestly - while the internet is great for keeping in touch with far away family and friends - one benefit is the ability to just...block and unfriend - you don't need to be bombarded with that nonsense. I'm sorry your aunt has gone to the dark side :(

I hope your back appreciates the day off and behaves better tomorrow for you!

[missdiane]

It's kinda scary, isn't it? I'm thinking if she doesn't go first, Emily will probably update LJ and Twitter but Facebook will be left in the dark (which honestly, thinking it's not a bad thing). Maybe we should leave paperwork with our logins somewhere so that people can find out?

There was no hesitation to block the now cray aunt. She can go rant at a wall.

[spiffikins]

Partly this is why I moved to using the little Keepass app on my computer to hold ALL my user accounts and passwords. I just need to make sure the master password for Keepass is available - and that lets whoever is handling my affairs (should be my brother, M) - log into keepass, and from there, see all the accounts for all the sites - and access the passwords (and security verification questions and the answers).

[vysila]

Oh my goodness, how awful about your friend. It's frightening how many friends we are losing these days.

Sorry about your aunt. It's difficult when family and friends fall down a crazy rabbit hole. My brother is the same and it makes me so sad and angry at the same time.

[missdiane]

It's pretty disturbing how it's happening faster. While this one was somewhat unexpected, at the same time, it wasn't. She always had crazy health issues and just the day before that, she posted that she fainted four times. But people knew that if they told her to go the hospital, she likely wouldn't for fear of being admitted and not having anyone to care for her ferrets.

Yeah, I don't talk to my sister or brother in law or my sister in law. When I do talk to my brother, I do NOT bring up politics or much of anything that could be seen as controversial. People sadly can be so self centered and hateful.