Non-geology-related catchup

[stephbg]

Medical
The agomelatine trial continues. I've been at the higher dose of 37.5mg for 12 days now and while I haven't reached the heights achieved when I first took it, there's definite improvement over baseline. Still not sleeping especially consistently, but it's definitely better quality overall. Naps are still required, and are noticeably more effective. Several times I've woken up and assumed I must have slept for a couple of hours because I felt better, only to find it was a standard 1 hour sleep.

Have some relief from pain again, and the head is definitely clearer than it was before the trial. At my massage last Friday my masseuse N was very pleased to report that my muscle tone felt normal human (albeit very tight through the fascia) with no weird electrical effects. Nor did I flinch, jump, yell, twitch or curl inappropriately, or feel any inappropriate sensations (stabbing, burning, referred).

So that's good.

Work
I have now found and recruited my apprentice. She is a friend but I'll not ID her here yet in case she wants that level of privacy. Very excited about training her up and frankly changing her life. Colleagues expressed concern/amazement at the similarities between us. Muahahahaha.

As for actual work I still can't sit at a computer for any appreciable length of time, but I can hopefully do enough of the planning, training and management work to keep things ticking over for both apprentice and client.

Cats
Have just trialled crushing Princess' meds in butter rather than cream, as suggested by a vet who is also a stand-in pianist for one of Husband's bands. Next time I'll melt the butter to make it easier to work with, then maybe chill it to achieve the critical consistency required to avoid losses through spitting and the more cunning drooling. So yes, she still requires steroids and will probably continue to do so.

Pumpkin has been having trouble with his furballs. It's hard to get him to eat enough of his special food to be effective.

Cally reacted very badly to the shift to winter conditions, but seems to have stabilised now. She continues with the monthly Cartrophan and occasional Metacam as required.

The local Coles (and every damned supermarket in the area) has stopped stocking the clumping kitty litter we use. This was the poor second to the really fabulous kitty litter which no longer comes into the state. The next level down is not at all acceptable. In desparation I tried a bag of Coles brand (allegedly) clumping litter, encouraged by the picture on the bag of a really fine-grained texture. There's no option but scented, which is an insult to the cats, but I was running out of ideas. The product picture was clearly taken from orbit, because it's the roughest chunkiest stuff I've ever seen. The advertised citrus scent is fortuitously also not as advertised, so that's a bonus.

So, off to City Farmers today to search again for something suitable, and have picked up a 15kg box of what might be the second-best product we've been using for a while. It's hard to be sure when the packaging is different. I use pattern recognition at the supermarket which sometimes lets me down. I miss having supurb cat litter.

After City Farmers went to the vet where happily the proper hypoallergenic crunchies were back in stock. The 'sensitive' variety wasn't quite sensitive enough, but there was no alternative.

Garden
Also while at City Farmers picked up some parsley and chives. I have a planter box and a bag of potting mix so small beige-friendly herb garden, here we come. One day.

Books
One of the more noteworthy signs of improvement on the new drug is that I've been able to read again, and have finished Peter F. Hamilton's Void series with The Evolutionary Void. Odd series, with complex time lines guaranteed to make you wonder if you've missed a memo. On occasions dull and confusing, with the traditional lull in the middle, but a definitely interesting ending as a reward for those who've stuck it out and still remember who all the characters were. To do that, one must have also read the other Commonwealth Saga books Pandora's Star and The Other Pandora Book (or whatever), which totals up to a hell of a lot of shelf space and dead trees. Still, good test of working memory for which I appear to have scraped a pass.

Other
Used all my spoons yesterday to diy-purple the ends of my now very long hair. The colour came out well although the placement was clearly amateur. I separated the hair into bunches in lieu of foils, and ended up with some sharpish transitions, but I'm not wildly concerned. The bathroom is still a bit tinted, but it no longer looks like a massacre in a plum orchard.