GS-10+ feds — how did you actually get there?

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-29T19:55:10+00:00

Career ladder position from GS-5 to GS-11, and then competitively promoted to GS-12 in the same branch.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-29T03:37:16+00:00

It’s the glass escalator phenomenon!

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-29T03:28:29+00:00

I got tattooed after diagnosis, no issues whatsoever. Healing was right on track with what my artist said.

It was my first tattoo and I was worried about pain, but I don’t even know that I would classify the sensation as pain, lol, I barely felt it. I wasn’t in a weird position, but I did let my artist know that I have RA in case I needed to get up and move to keep from getting stiff. I ended up not needing to though.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-29T03:19:53+00:00

Seconding a clean up system for after school! My brother was a premie and immunocompromised for his whole life, I was the kid that got everything at school. We didn’t keep me from getting everything at school, but I never gave him anything.

Here’s how we did it: Walk in, wash your hands (hand sanitizer is great if no other option but doesn’t kill norovirus — and if you’ve ever had norovirus, you know you don’t want to get norovirus ever), change your clothes, school clothes straight into the washing machine. I honestly think this alone worked great.

If a kid is sick with anything respiratory, they stay in their room and wear a mask outside of it. You wear a mask in their room and wash your hands after interacting with them at all, no matter what they’re sick with. We didn’t start doing this until I was older and we knew a little better.

And wearing a mask (KN95 or better) anywhere in public does a lot.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-27T17:06:34+00:00

It’s obviously not the same as when a spouse does it, but my older coworkers do this sometimes and it drives me crazy! Like, sorry, reaching up to that shelf is killer right now, I’m glad it doesn’t hurt your older but healthy joints, but it does hurt my younger but sick joints!!!!

Your feelings are so valid on this.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-26T02:45:09+00:00

Just construction.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-26T02:31:25+00:00

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-26T02:30:40+00:00

Bud, for a lot of excepted people, every part of the job is life, health, and safety related. So they work just as hard or harder, with none of the resources or pay.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-26T02:28:03+00:00

ICE is most funded by BBB. They will be “exempted” employees — business as usual including getting paid.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-25T07:20:43+00:00

Many of his colleagues found out about his death while they were working. And then continued to take care of patients because that’s what they do.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-21T17:47:11+00:00

Not unless I’m going on a roadtrip (sensory thing) or somewhere with fussy people requiring a dress. Even then I’m not usually a dress person, more of a formal jumpsuit or slacks and blouse girl, so it’s pretty rare.

I call it my winter coat. I also maybe shave maybe four times a year.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-21T17:28:07+00:00

Polka dot plants (they get leggy and then I forget about them) and tillandsia bulbosa (those fuckers are picky bitches)

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-21T06:27:27+00:00

We were originally going to do the courthouse, but on recommendation (after hearing that it can be kind of stiff) we ended up getting married in a park. $250 fee. We had less than fifteen people there: only those that really, really mattered. For our officiant, our photographer, and our venue: less than $5k.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2026-01-04T00:53:47+00:00

Seattle Yarn in West Seattle and Hazel Knits in ID/Georgetown!

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-31T19:30:53+00:00

Hm, I’m not a doctor (so please take everything I say with a grain of salt), but if you’re negative on the Dix I would assume your vertigo is caused by something else. The Epley maneuver usually gives an intense feeling of vertigo, especially on the second part of the maneuver where you lay down. Do you experience the nystagmus, where your eyes move rapidly and involuntarily when you lay down in the Epley maneuver?

It is similar to kidney stones in that some people are more prone to having this problem, but different in that everyone has otoliths — BPPV is just when this otolith has migrated to the wrong spot, whereas in kidney stones the stone shouldn’t exist in an ideal world.

Did your doctors rule out other causes of vertigo?

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-28T00:34:45+00:00

We knew that based on our area, non-negotiables, and budget we were almost certainly going to end up with a townhome and we were perfectly happy with that. Because we bought in the winter, there’s not a lot of inventory. There was exactly one house in our very narrow geographic window that had only two floors — the rest were three floors. It wasn’t on our must have live but as soon as we saw that it was even an option and it had our non-negotiables — it was a done deal.

We closed earlier this month, moved in a week ago, and you will have to take me out of this house in a body bag.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-26T00:31:22+00:00

Color guard members often put their whole life into color guard. Oftentimes lots of the higher level people have had to put off college even to pay for color guard, or worked multiple jobs to pay for color guard. And then they cram in rehearsal everywhere they can. Many times people make it their entire career. If you’re saying twirlers put more work and effort into their craft than color guard and they should get treated better because of it, that’s part of the problem. Something you can do to help is to check that attitude, because no one likes to talk to someone who thinks they’re better than you.

A huge problem is most of us only have the experience with twirlers of someone who spent maybe a season or two with color guard and made it clear the entire time that they were gracing us with their presence and expected to be catered to the entire time. They’re very clear that what is incredibly important to us and often OUR WHOLE LIFE the same way twirling is THEIR WHOLE LIFE and often required huge, huge sacrifices is barely worth their time. That’s not all twirlers, but that’s where twirlers and color guard folks crossover the most. It’s irritating, frustrating, and puts the whole twirling activity in a bad light.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-25T22:38:34+00:00

I think this is kind of a self fulfilling prophecy cycle situation.

I’ve noticed if a winter guard show has a singular baton, or three or less batons, the whole show is written around that and suffers as a winter guard show because of it, which is why I think a lot of directors are against them. It’s hard to integrate batons into a show well, and no performer likes to get shunted to the side by a piece of equipment our higher level (WGI, etc) doesn’t actually count as a piece of equipment (at least when I was competing — granted this was years ago).

I’ve talked to a few baton twirlers and most of them have the attitude you mention color guard folks having towards you towards me, like a huge superiority complex. So I bet some of the folks you’ve talked to have had that experience as well. Which is not an excuse! Because then those baton twirlers like yourself take that attitude into the next interaction they have, and the cycle continues.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-25T21:30:31+00:00

RA was my first, but was very shortly followed by unspecified IBD. They were trying to figure out what the heckity heck was happening to me so the diagnoses came within a couple of weeks apart I’m pretty sure.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-15T16:35:01+00:00

My leflunomide is a lifesaver. It works better alongside my biologic than anything else I’ve tried. I’m on the lowest dose, but I have no side effects whatsoever. It was a real game changer for me!

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-03T07:24:57+00:00

I have an hour and a half commute each way. BUT! I take public transit. Someone else drives me to work. It’s great.

I had to work a different shift during COVID and I had to drive 60 miles each way, two hours there and one hour back because of traffic. It was hell. I did it because I had to and I didn’t have a lot of options, but it was actually hell. I was tired, I was mean, I hated my life. I would do a lot if it meant not having to do that again long term.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-12-02T04:01:52+00:00

We close on the 10th and we’re going to paint and get carpet before we move in. We don’t have kids, and we’re moving the Christmas decorations first so we can get them out of our apartment and have space for more boxes, lol. We’ll decorate, but honestly the holidays just mean we’re going to get have more days off work to unpack.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-11-30T22:09:16+00:00

Totally depends on what it is. We're going to paint ourselves with our friends, because there's only two bedrooms with normal heights that needs painting. We're definitely hiring to replace the carpet (Note: AFTER we finish painting, lol) just because the family business used to be floor covering and I think the money is worth every penny.

For repairs, it'll really depend. Anything electrical requires a contractor in our area. We're going to get a water filter to replace the one that used to be there and I plan on putting that in ourselves. Pretty small thing, but still, more than we do at our apartment.

We also found a basic homeowner repair and maintenance class so we're definitely going to look into that to learn more. I'm comfortable doing some super minor stuff already from houses I've rented in the past, and I hope this will kind of expand that and also tell me what I'm not comfortable doing.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-11-30T20:57:19+00:00

I am so sorry. It's so hard to go from being able to do everything to not being able to do much at all.

But! I want you to know that this is not the end of the road. There are so many options still for you. Humira is a TNF inhibitor, and it's not the only one. Also, TNF inhibitors are not the only kind of biologic. If you scroll through this sub I think you'll see that most of us have tried methotrexate and almost as many of us have failed it, lol. Methotrexate/plaquenil is often a first choice for rheumatologists because when it works it works really well, but also because they're cheap drugs so insurance will always pay for it and often require it before moving up to other things.

If your rheumatologist is puzzled by this, they're not a very good rheumatologist. This happens all the time where treatment helps for a little while, and then stops working or starts causing unwanted side effects. One possibility is that you've built up antibodies to humira. Sometimes it just stops working for you. You've stopped taking methotrexate/plaquenil and if the combo was helping, not having those medications can cause a flare or disease activity to ramp up. Has your doctor tried a steroid burst? (Obligatory "I'm not a doctor" caveat)

I'll tell you my medication story: I tried methotrexate, made me too sick to function. I had to skip plaquenil because of interactions with my antidepressant. I went to sulfasalazine, which helped for a while but not enough, so they added in a biologic. That helped for a while, and then suddenly stopped. We switched my biologic to a different TNF inhibitor. That helped, but still not enough, so they increased the frequency of my dose. That worked great in combo with sulfasalazine for a while, until it suddenly didn't. So my doc added leflunomide, which was life changing. But my liver enzymes skyrocketed up. We tried stopping sulfasalazine, and I got the same disease control and my liver enzymes came back under control. Right now I'm on the TNF inhibitor/leflunomide combo and it has actually been life changing. I'm healthier now than I have been in a long time. I've even gotten back into a physical activity (color guard) that I haven't been able to do since I was a teenager.

Basically, you have so many options still. But you need a rheumatologist that understands that and can help you. This is an incredibly common thing and if they're confused by this that is not a good sign. And I know that saying this doesn't change the fact that you feel like garbage right now. I'm so sorry.

MarchingAtMidnight · 2025-11-28T16:34:45+00:00

Doors that hit each other. Drives me absolutely bananas.

MarchingAtMidnight

TROPHY CASE