Had a weird dream where I accompanied Ellen Degeneres to the Emmys as a platonic date and then went home to my old apartment in Raleigh. Then my late parents and late sister came home with groceries.
This is a day after I dreamed that I was dating a Padres pitcher. What the hell is going on with me?
My daughter is a high school senior. F wants to go to art school and become an animator – or maybe a voice actor. Or both. She founded the Dungeons & Dragons club at school. Her report cards are largely dotted with As and Bs.
F is also autistic. Proudly so. She attended a district preschool that specializes in working with special needs kids, and she flourished with early, non-ABA-type intervention there. She has learned over the years how to manage her time and energy and not burn out under the kind of academic pressures she and her classmates face, even though she’s been in honors courses throughout high school.
The more we learned about autism, the more we saw that (a) it is not a death sentence, and (b) it is hereditary. C and I realized that we are likely both neurodivergent, sharing multiple tendencies associated with ADHD and autism. My late sister often mused that she was probably ADHD and possibly autistic; the latter part of her life bore that out as she struggled with severe overwhelm and basic living. None of us have been officially diagnosed, but our experiences align with those of actual neurodivergent people.
And yet. Here we are in 2025 and we have to hear this administration screech about vaccines and – horrors – Tylenol causing autism, and that everything villainized in relation to autism must be stopped because the president and his anti-science flunkies have “very strong feelings about autism” and say it must be stopped.
Fact is, autistic people have always been around; they’ve just not always been identified as such (and often were institutionalized before – or even after – scientists first identified autism). This so-called epidemic stems from greater awareness of autism and expansion of diagnoses beyond the stereotypical white males long identified with this neurotype. (Also, it should be noted that autism was first diagnosed in 1943; Tylenol was invented in 1955.)
It’s deeply unsettling to know the president and his ilk don’t believe people like my daughter should exist or are not fully human. She and all autistics deserve to live their lives as they see fit with the love and support that all people should have.
I just noticed there is Y2K nostalgia on Taco Bell’s menu. It just triggered my sciatica.
Belated Padres 11th inning video link. #clinched
More art. #ArtistTradingCards
One of the biggest conundrums of my job before I was laid off. It was no fun being sacked, but it did free me from this prison.
Catching up on some art. #ArtistTradingCards
I’ve applied for dozens of jobs since last spring. That’s not counting the scammer who approached me and had me jump through a few hoops before asking me to purchase a $15,000 Mac setup to begin working as a contractor.
Maybe I should have applied for far more positions since I was laid off in March. But, I realize now, I’ve spent much of that time recovering from severe exhaustion and overwhelm from the managerial job I lost.
I hate what happened to me. But maybe it saved me; at least now I have a chance to pivot to a healthier way forward.
I don’t turn off the news spigot entirely these days, though God knows I’ve tried. Another good reminder here from the ‘stack.
I appreciate having this space for Substack encouragement notes that might be useful for others.
I think I’ve found a new purpose for this space. My compulsion to collect useful info has found a new place to harvest in Substack.
Okay, I went and got all Substacky. Find my first publication here.
I just noticed I’m on Substack. I don’t think I’m involved enough to add it to the new omnibus page (garciabuxton.com) … at least not yet.
Hi. 👋 How ya doing?
Did a little digital housekeeping. Changed the look of this place. More importantly, the blog now resides at fluffbucket.blog, and garciabuxton.com goes to an omnibus webpage with links to everyplace you can find me online.
More later.
Applied for a few jobs today and checked in with the state unemployment folks. Shipped my first Etsy order. Guess this is my New Normal.
Now in bed watching the first innings of this afternoon’s Padres victory over Cleveland, waiting for my new muscle relaxant to kick in. Tired of the chronic back pain of the past few months.
Starting my day earlier than usual. (Not shown: Red Rose tea, a Canadian product, in the mug.)
Does eating a large bag of all-dressed Ruffles count as supporting Canada?
I spend entirely too much time on Temu.
It’s 11:30 a.m. and I’m still in bed. I’m fine once I get out of bed, but 2 weeks after That Day, I’m still inclined to be horizontal until late in the morning during the “work” week.
I’m tired. I haven’t even been jobless for 2 weeks and I’m tired. At this point, I’m largely giving up on whatever Lenten practices I was aiming to do this season. I still need to recalibrate, but probably won’t do so through the customary Lenten fashion (the fasting-from-stuff part, anyway).
After a blissful hour yesterday at the library (where I paid nearly $30 for a book I apparently held hostage for 2 years), I am at a Laundromat processing three loads of long-festering clothes.
We do have a washer/dryer at home, but it’s in the basement, and I’m curbing my stair climbing with my arthritic knees. Also, I enjoy Laundromats for some weird reason.
One cool thing about getting laid off: I can spend part of this weekday St Patrick’s Day recalibrating with a pot of tea and a notebook at a Muslim-run coffeehouse during Ramadan. So, there’s that.
I ate bacon and sausage breakfast pizza knowing full well it’s a Friday in Lent. And yes, I plan to go to confession about it this weekend.
Not proud of myself, even as I muttered, “It’s been a shit week, Jesus would understand” as I ate.
After losing my job because those DOGE fuckers canceled enough federal contracts to deplete my company, I only have enough energy to repost angry memes on social media and think about all the stuff I want to do before job seeking in earnest.
Post-layoff immediate to-do list: