mariness.bsky.social
I write things. Occasionally they get published.
Also occasionally on other sites, including marikness.wordpress.com, https://medium.com/@marikness, https://www.patreon.com/mari_ness. Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/mari_ness
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(full apologies to Sting but with the world turning circles running round my brain I just don't have the ability to become the King or Queen of anything, much less pain. I'm going to stick to chocolate.)
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Also obviously that should be "I'm old" not "I'd old" but did I mention the age thing?
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Yeah, the communications about Medicare telehealth have been less than clear, to put it mildly.
Introducing telehealth in the first place wasn't universally popular, but removing it requires clearer communications which doesn't seem to be happening.
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It turns out that Elon Musk is also the supervisor from hell. WHO COULD HAVE GUESSED?
(ok, virtually everyone)
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Anyway, apart from being dead boring, it was a good job, with good supervisors, and we got paid extra for working on Sundays and for the night shift.
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And we all agreed to keep the census info private and confidential (which in my case was very easy because I never saw anything even remotely interesting, but it's at least possible that a form from a celebrity or two came through our office, maybe?)
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That too. The main rules of the United States Census Bureau at the time were:
1. These forms are private; you may not tell ANYONE about the info on them.
2. Everything here is government property, including the pens. You can't take them.
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Oh, sure.
But the reality is that at least some government jobs are not going to fit into the "five tasks accomplished" thing.
Medicare billing clerks, for instance.
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I feel it's fairly safe to say that at least SOME current government employees are in similar situations.
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Depending upon how you want to count this, I either accomplished one thing (data entry!) or thousands of things (every form that I entered.)
Not five.
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I have a mental image of the ghost of James Buchanan saying, FINALLY, I AM NO LONGER AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT LIST.
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I don't think that was the only factor, but I do think it may have been a contributing factor.
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.....yeah. I don't think it helped that many of those programs expired in 2024; for instance, the student loan repayment pause ended in August/September 2024, just in time for it to be fresh in people's minds for November.
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In the case of L.M. Montgomery/Anne of Green Gables, her journals clarify that she was a deeply, deeply, closeted bisexual, thus the coding.
With the others...I don't know the background as well, but I keep saying, hmm.
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The romantic language between girls in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Anne of Green Gables, The Story Girl...
....it's all quite something, isn't it? And not unique to those books.
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(nods) I'm also struck by how many of the books of that period are coded, either deliberately or accidentally, as queer.
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Queen Zixi of Ix MIGHT qualify - she's hundreds of years old and not in a romantic relationship of any sort - but it's not clear if she's actually aromantic or asexual, or just held back because she knows the difference between her real face and what people BELIEVE is her real face.
(also, age gap)
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Baum does have the occasional character here and there express a complete lack of interest in romance, but this is usually because, in text, they have no hearts and/or are not capable of love in general for whatever reason - so basically unemotional/repressed, not aromantic.
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Yeah. I don't think Baum was particularly interested in aromanticism, but he was definitely interested in gender roles, and the effects of technology/modernization on those gender roles. This is also a theme in many of his Oz books.
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On a similar note, everyone in JOHN DOUGH AND THE CHERUB (1906) appears to be asexual or at least aromantic; the Cherub's gender is deliberately never specified, with people unable to tell if the Cherub is a boy or a girl.
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Probably not precisely what you were looking for, but L. Frank Baum's THE MASTER KEY (1901) is essentially science fiction despite the terrible science; the daemon is aromantic/asexual.
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Yeah. In my own case, I have to be extra careful this month because of various unexpected medical bills, and I'm looking at what I can trim back in March. (Probably shortening my stay at a convention, for instance.)
I think this sort of thing eventually adds up.
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Though honestly even if it just ends up being a nod to the books it's still pretty cool.
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I'm not sure if it's an Easter egg or a real thing.
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Plus, and I'm trying not to get my hopes up, did you see that twisted red doorframe decorated with snakes and foxes in the background????????
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I think by April, yes.
Purely anecdotal data here, but I'm hearing from a number of folks who have either lost jobs or are worried about losing jobs, putting off all sorts of major and minor expenses.
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Ugh. Hope you get better very soon!
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Oh. I knew I was forgetting someone - Bethany Jacobs, eligible in Best Novel and Astounding, I think?
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Me too!
But all of my 2024 publications were in VERY competitive categories - short story (which, full disclosure, I'm rooting for Caroline Yoachim) and poetry (TOO MANY PEOPLE TO ROOT FOR). So. Um.
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....would it be awful to say me? It would probably be awful to say me.
More seriously, Marissa Lingen, Premee Mohamed, R.B. Lemberg, others that I'm currently completely blanking on.
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But not everyone can afford these transport services.
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At least here in central Florida there are various private medical transport services - I know a couple of people who have used them because they can't get someone to go with them for various medical visits/procedures. This includes people who can drive, but not after the procedure.
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That seems all too plausible.
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Pandora is so beautiful!!!!! Look at those eyes!
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(ugh, what it is with me and subject/verb agreement today? I swear that I used to know the rules of standard English grammar. Really! Not that today is providing any evidence of this!)
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Left out of this, once again, is the issue of transportation. Many Medicare recipients don't drive; telehealth appointments not only help triage their medical care and ensure someone sees them, but also frees up disabled/medical transport services for others.
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(She's doing that cat kneading thing on a nearby blanket and apparently she can't do this - or can't do this properly - unless someone is simultaneously scratching her little head.)