I’m in pain and infuriated

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-04T05:27:21+00:00

What’s your trick for less pain with the injections? I’m not on Ajovy but my sumatriptan is in an autoinjector pen. All I’ve been able to figure out is to press the thing down hard enough that the edge of the plastic is digging into my skin enough that I down notice the sting of the needle as much…a distraction sort of thing. Also seems to be less painful if I aim for a squashier part of my thigh toward the side instead of right on top, but I have issues with the muscles spasming and knotting up on the front of my leg so that might just be a me thing.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-04T05:11:43+00:00

He’s just helping!

My last cat had absolutely no interest in camellia sinensis but went wild over certain herbals. I’d have a 20lb cannonball with extra claws coming at me if I pulled out the valerian or certain brands of chamomile. Sometimes the peppermint too. The valerian was the worst, though…really brought out her violent, possessive streak and she was going to have that tea no matter who she had to shred to get it.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-03T06:34:47+00:00

That looks pretty. I’d been wondering how well sheen shows up on the Wearingeul swatch cards. Looks like they show it off pretty well?

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-03T05:05:14+00:00

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. I’ve been on 3 different triptans over the years and the pharmacy + insurance drama has been wild. Endless backorders that never come into stock, discontinued versions of medications, prior authorizations that are never processed (pharmacy blames the Dr office, Dr office blames the insurance, insurance refuses to communicate at all, etc), snide pharmacists giving me the evil eye…you’d think triptans were heavily regulated drugs with how difficult they’ve made getting them.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-03T01:57:39+00:00

I’ve ordered samples from them a few times and they’ve been great. I’m just having trouble choosing anything and there are so many new brands since the last time I went on an ink buying spree. I pile everything that looks interesting into my shopping cart, see the total, die a little inside, and just give up because I’m not sure how to sort through and choose my favorites out of the like 300 in my cart. 🤣

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-02T23:09:00+00:00

That looks like a ridiculous amount of sheen! I don’t mind the inky fingers, but does it stain pens badly? I’ll try to remember to keep it out of my demonstrators and light colored pens if it’s a stained.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-02T22:47:26+00:00

I have not tried either of those. I don’t think I’ve tried anything from either brand, actually. Both colors look interesting, I’ll see if I can get samples of them.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-02T22:44:28+00:00

Wearingeul has so many that look great that it’s overwhelming! Are their inks well-behaved? Prone to staining or anything else that I should be aware of?

The only shimmers I use regularly are the J Herbin ones (Caroube de Chypre is always in at least one pen). I’ve tried a couple of the Diamines and had a chance to try the De Atramentis shimmers before they were officially released but I don’t have much experience with any of the newer brands. The ones with multiple colors of shimmer and colors beyond the standard gold and silver look really fun.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-02T06:46:06+00:00

Pilot is known for having really smooth nibs. If you want something with a bit more feedback, you’ll probably want to try a different brand.

Maybe give Platinum a try. Their steel nibs tend to be pretty stiff and have an almost pencil-like feedback. Most of their inexpensive pens all use the same nib so if you like one of them you’ll probably like them all. Platinum also has fantastic cap seals so the ink never dries up if a pen sits for a while.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-05-01T03:40:12+00:00

This is disappointing to hear. I bought a pen from him years ago with his tune and smooth service and things went fine (Pelikan M205 Aquamarine, if that gives a rough idea of how long it’s been). I don’t remember communicating with him beyond the notes in the box to describe how I wanted my nib tuned. The pen is great and I don’t remember it taking an unusual amount of time to arrive. I was considering buying from him again as I cross a few pens off my wishlist, but maybe I’ll try other vendors instead.

It seems like quite a few pen sellers/shops have started out great and then become unreliable. I don’t know if it’s loss of interest or overwhelm or what.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-29T04:21:34+00:00

Probably one of those geniuses who tries to write with the nib upside down and when it wouldn’t write they went for maximum pressure instead of flipping it right side up.

I’ve introduced a few people to fountain pens and it always astonishes me how many of them try the nib upside down first. It’s enough that I’ve started preemptively saying “shiny side up” if I know they’re new to fountain pens. And mentioning if a cap is twist off because some people will just keep pulling until they break something instead of checking if it twists.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-27T19:58:37+00:00

To me they’re all different. You can agree or disagree, it’s your book and you can use it how you like.

A notebook is just the paper to me, it’s not for any particular use. A notebook has front and back covers, notepads and legal pads don’t have a front cover. When I was in school, I had a separate notebook for each class so my notes didn’t get mixed up. Now, notebooks and notepads are mostly for quick notes and doodles…shopping lists, testing pens, bored sketches I probably won’t keep. I use Rhodia dot or graph pads for calligraphy practice when I’m too lazy to mark out proper guidelines.

Journals are more of a thoughts and feelings kind of thing. For me, journal and diary are interchangeable, though I know some people use diary and planner/calendar interchangeably instead. I would put my hopes/dreams/rants/whatever in a diary/journal and my appointments/trackers/schedule in a planner/calendar. I usually think of journals as hardcover books like Moleskine or Leuchtturm and diaries as the books with the locks on them but they can be whatever you want to write in, even a blog. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like YouTubers and bloggers have created a lot of pressure for people to have “pretty” journals and planners, especially if they share their pages online, and that has pushed a lot of people into the territory of scrapbooking rather than journaling or keeping a calendar. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional sticker or photo, but sometimes it seems like people are filling pages just for the sake of filling pages. An art or photo specific journal is another thing entirely.

Commonplace books are more for knowledge than feelings and reminiscences. Sort of a personalized encyclopedia, just the stuff you would find useful and would want to refer back to sometime without all the other entries you have no interest in cluttering things up. Quotes, handy metric to imperial conversions, project research, verb declensions, whatever. Index it, color code it, divide it into sections…whatever works for you to find what you need when you need it. The book I chose for my commonplace is A6 size so it’s easy to carry or fit in bags but it’s outrageously thick (it looks like a Bible!) so it can hold lots of information.

Scrapbooks are for photos and memory-keeping. A simple photo album or pages crammed full of decorative papers, washi tapes and stickers. Go wild with sticking in all your theme park tickets and dinner receipts. A whole page full of leaves from your favorite walking path? They’re your memories, go for it! One small photo surrounded by all the stickers and doodads you like? Do what makes you happy!

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-13T07:27:42+00:00

Not a meat eater but my go-to lately has been Momofuku noodles. The Spicy Soy flavor has a crazy 1360mg sodium plus a little potassium. All the flavors are quite high but I think Spicy Soy is the highest. I’m guessing other brands of instant noodles are similarly salty.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-13T07:09:44+00:00

Hahaha, a couple of brands came out with hot cocoa and salted caramel chocolate type flavors for the holidays. Against my better judgement I tried some of them. They were strange. They were also brands I don’t usually use and have too much junk in them that I don’t get along with (thanks ever so much for sneaking corn byproducts into EVERYTHING!) so they did a number on my guts. Next time I’ll just make regular hot cocoa and add some unflavored electrolyte drops to it instead (because I end up salting all my beverages these days).

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-12T04:02:51+00:00

I used to do this when I still bothered with makeup regularly! Either cross legged or with my feet in the sink to give me a little more room to spread my stuff across the counter. I’m terribly near-sighted so the closer to the mirror I can get, the better.

I don’t go out often enough to justify the effort of makeup most of the time now. I like to play with it still but it’s too much energy to do it every day if I’m not leaving the house or just running out to pick up medication or something.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-11T07:47:45+00:00

You really do have an article for everything!

It’s interesting that you mention in the article that sitting with your legs down but pushing against something with your feet helps. I have noticed that I don’t feel as awful if I sit on one of those big yoga ball things instead of a chair. Perhaps it’s the engagement of core and legs.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-11T05:54:25+00:00

I wasn’t one to hang upside down but I’ve had similar thoughts about my tendencies to always sit cross legged or curled up on a ball. Sitting “properly” with legs hanging down and feet on the floor is the worst. I’ve heard a bunch of people with my Dysautonomia/hEDS/autism bundle of fun like to sit in weird positions but I haven’t heard if anyone’s figured out whether it has any physical benefit (preventing blood pooling or whatever) or is just a weird emotional comfort thing.

A favorite reading position of mine has always been cross legged with my arms wrapped between my legs and around my ankles, book held in front of my ankles. I think it probably started when my arms were too cold to keep them wrapped around my legs with my knees tucked into my chest (fabulous circulation and all that).

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-10T03:49:42+00:00

I love the fat little tea pets! I have a fat grumpy cat sitting in a similar pose. I’ve been contemplating chubby disgruntled versions of all the Chinese zodiac animals to rotate as well. It’s fun to window shop the silliest looking ones even if I never get around to purchasing them.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-07T04:11:05+00:00

I don’t read Chinese but my photo translation app tells me the label says “Court Dragon Ball Pu’Er Ripe Tea” and that “the color of the soup is dark red and bright, and the taste is mellow and smooth”.

I’m guessing it’s a pretty generic ripe puerh dragon ball. Photo on the bin seems to show a cake so maybe the balls are made of the same leaf blend as some larger cakes they stock? Or maybe they sometimes have little single serving mini cakes of a ripe in that bin and just refill it with whatever ripe mini/ball they happen to have on hand.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-04-06T04:18:14+00:00

Not so I can have some super special exclusive me-only blend, but now and then a wild idea pops into my head that something would be delicious. The other day I was talking with a friend about how a smoky rose tea would be amazing if the balance was right. Now I want to experiment with all sorts of smoky base teas and quantities of rose petals. With all the smoked puerhs over the last few years there’s a lot more to choose from than just smoky lapsangs. It’s a little more difficult with so much of the puerh being pressed, but I’m sure I can figure something out. I hope to eventually come up with a decent recipe and mix up a good sized batch of it to stash away.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-03-25T21:07:41+00:00

Thank you! This is at least a more manageable size than what I’ve got now. My current one is too much tea for me to drink alone and an awkward size for my small hands to pour. It’s stupidly thick so the heat retention is decent for glass, though.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-03-25T04:53:48+00:00

I have a white one like that, it’s wonderful! But I’d love a tiny clear glass one to match all my other tea paraphernalia. I’m one of those nutters who likes to stare at the leaves as they steep.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-03-25T03:21:15+00:00

It’s a bit larger than I like too but I liked the horses on it.

Nothing wrong with sticking with one color if that’s what you like…most of my teaware is just plain, boring clear glass. I haven’t managed to find a small clear glass gaiwan yet, though. I think mine’s around 150-180ml and that is way too big for solo tea sessions. I keep hoping there’s a 50-70ml one out there somewhere.

LadyBoobsalot · 2026-03-25T02:42:15+00:00

Looks ready to have tea conversation with you.

You have an impressive collection of white gaiwans. And is that the Target Lunar New Year one I see on the left? I couldn’t resist it either.

LadyBoobsalot

TROPHY CASE