Rhi among falling leaves @rhiannonrevolts@wandering.shop

a wee bit of context for non-UK folk--'the i' is the daily inexpensive digest version of The Independent, the furthest left mainstream paper here. It's doubtful an anti-vaxxer would read it.

Grousing about Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks not being able to agree on anything makes my anxiety over my train ride this morning less poignant, so I'm here for it.

Maskless younger woman plunked down in the seat kitty-corner (no lanyard or badge). I try not to judge but it was awkward. She was reading the i, so I hope she's vaxxed at least.

And then there was the small child coughing...there's a cold going around town, so I'm extra anxious.

I had forgotten just how frustrated I am that Buckingham/Nicks (1973) has never been rereleased.

It's a frustration I've had for 20 years and I am still not over it, but it's a pleasant frustration.

Going through the cites...apparently there's some evidence of heightened empathy? Small study, but I anecdotally experience this in my own life: https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/papt.12358

Heightened empathy is often an ASD thing too, not trying to minimise that.

I need to read this more thoroughly, and see if there's been any more research as a result of this--and I dislike the concept of 'deficits'. But at first glance, this could explain why I experience a lot of similarities to autistic folks with regards to some aspects of neurology, while diverging dramatically on others.

Basically: a review of the literature shows social cognition differences in people with OCD.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00118/full

I am knitting socks* for the first time in ages, and I forgot just how sharp the KnitPro/KnitPicks sock needles are. My index fingers are now painful. I gotta build these calluses back up.

* For my grandma! because she's worth it.

I'd not read the story because, at the time The Traitor Baru Cormorant came out, I was feeling A Way about a cis guy writing lesbians. I still sort of do, but there's a lot of water under the bridge since 2015.

(I'd already read a Dickinson piece where the MC is a Kurdish woman, and I really didn''t know how to feel about that one. Revisited last night and still don't.)

I'd add to my TBR, but it's reaching Peak Book due to my inability to read longform lately.

Then I got to the bio and discovered Dickinson worked for Bungie on the original Destiny lore.

Matt's been playing Destiny 2 lately, so I've been absorbing lore snippets. It's fascinating and I am kind of holding myself back from going down a wiki rabbit hole.

Unrelatedly, yesterday, I finally went and read Seth Dickinson's original story about Baru Cormorant (only a decade after publication, and I'd been spoiled for the end of the first book anyway). It was good but I had a weird stylistic deja vu vibe.

Wishing my fellow bi+ folk a very happy day of being visible.

My usual quip is that Kel Mitchell bit from Mystery Men ('Look at me! I'm invisible! Can you see me?')

The last few years have really done little to improve my generally cynical outlook, but also haven't managed to completely kill the small frisson of hope I always seem to have. It's weird.

My anxiety wasn't impossibly high, but I was exhausted and still am after a night's sleep. And of course, paranoid I'll get sick anyway.

I also really need more behind-the-head masks--the ones my MIL made last year are perfect, but they're pre-Delta 2-layer ones without a filter pocket, so.

Sensory issues and worrying about the fit make ear loops kind of a pain. I've ordered some ear savers so we'll see if that helps.

I was in town (Glasgow city centre, rather) yesterday to go to work for the day, for the first time in nearly 18 months. It was part of the segue to hybrid working and there weren't many of us in.

My anxiety was still wicked high, but my therapist feels I needed to try a relatively low-risk activity as I've been at home or local for the duration.

And of course I wore a mask except when drinking the very occasional liquid or adjusting it in the loos (alone).

Happy Friday to everyone except the person playing weird videos on the train home yesterday without headphones.

Actually, they can have a happy Friday too, but seriously, friend.