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Jan. 1st, 2026 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cupcake_gothWe hung out with friends for a low key NYE, which is exactly what we wanted. There was takeout Indian food; over the past few years, both the Stroppy One and I have developed a sensitivity to something in Indian food, but this was from a pace we hadn’t tried before. It was delicious, and for the rest of the evening I felt fine!
The awfulness apparently decided to wait until I was trying to fall asleep. Even tho’ I took Benadryl, Pepcid, and some Tylenol, I ended up with ferocious acid reflux; not only did it keep me awake until almost 5am, but it was bad enough that I now have a phlegm-filled cough, and it brought back all the horrible symptoms I endured from the Covid vaccine. This isn’t how I wanted to start my new year
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Speaking of the new year, I decided to state some resolutions!
- Do more witchcraft. Even if on some days it’s only lighting some candles with focused intent. That still counts. I nd to wrap myself in my own power and comfort.
- This is the big one: I’m going to try to not buy new clothes during 2025. I’ll buy fabric for dresses if it’s truly amazing, and things like bras, knickers, tights, and socks are exempt from the no-buy. I’m curious if I can stick to this, as I’m a magpie who likes hitting the shiny “add to cart” and getting packages in the mail. Buuuuuuuuutttt I will confess that I have an overwhelming amount of clothes. Thanks to the Madwoman in the Attic, I have enough dresses that I could wear a different one every day for more than a month. So! No clothes buying! Okay, except for this dress, which I plan on buying with the money I save by not buying anything else.
Covid causes lung cancer, might cause other cancers
Dec. 31st, 2025 09:42 pmcvirtueI saw a statement online [with no citations, you fool writer] that Covid causes cancer, so I read several research papers from the past year to find out if this was true. There are two quoted and linked below. Papers from earlier in the pandemic have a lot of "we need more data/time" sorts of conclusions.
It looks to me that it causes lung cancer but other cancers are not yet proven. Note: there are several other viruses known to cause cancers.
September 2025: The double-edged sword: How SARS-CoV-2 might fuel lung cancer: Investigating the potential oncogenic mechanisms of the novel coronavirus in lung carcinogenesis
“It has been proven [other research] that although the SARS virus is not capable of integrating into the host genome, it uses the mechanisms of other human oncoviruses to cause lung cancer.”
“the emerging hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 infection might actively contribute to de novo carcinogenesis or accelerate the progression of existing, previously undetected, or dormant cancers. This proposition is supported by observations of increased cancer-related deaths and accelerated metastatic lung disease among cancer survivors who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. The mechanisms underpinning this potential oncogenic influence are multifaceted and are currently a significant area of active research(Chia et al., 2024a, 2024b).”
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0098299725000779
………..
April 2025:
The viral oncogenesis of COVID-19 and its impact on cancer progression, long-term risks, treatment complexities, and research strategies
“definitive evidence directly linking SARS-CoV-2 to tumorigenesis remains elusive.”
“even patients with less severe disease—those hospitalized but not requiring intensive care—show increased risks for HER2-positive breast cancer, esophageal cancer, and stomach cancer” [Rundown of cancer types and evidence follows Table 3]
www.explorationpub.com/Journals/em/Article/1001314
Whining
Dec. 31st, 2025 02:32 pmcupcake_gothI don’t know if it’s menopause, weight loss, or meds, but I’m losing a lot of hair. I’ve been shedding more for a few years, but over the past few months, any time I run my hands through my hair, I come away with A LOT of strands. It doesn’t matter if I’ve already brushed my hair, which makes me shed enough that if I lightly roll it together, it would fill half a prescription bottle, I’ll have 10-15 strands wrapped around my fingers. If I have my hair in a ponytail, I can gently tug on the end and come away with the same amount of hair.
I’m freaked out and angry about this. Really freaked out, to be honest. I have an appointment with a menopause specialist at the end of January, and you can bet this is something I’m going to discuss with her.
Theres a part of me that wants to shave everything off except my bangs. The main reasons I don’t right now are 1) I’m not sure if it would look good, and 2) I’m pretty sure that the Stroppy One would lose his entire mind. Yes, my body my choice, but the two of us discuss if either wants to make a major change to their appearance.
(no subject)
Dec. 30th, 2025 03:32 pmcupcake_gothRemember that serious back spasm I had around three weeks ago? Things haven’t really gotten better. In fact, I’m having random shooting pain in my sides, hips, and down my thighs. So for once in my life I’m doing the sensible thing and have canceled my trip to Arizona for the week-long company kickoff. Airline travel + wrangling luggage + hotel bed is a perfect combo to cause even worse spasms, and I don’t want to run the risk of having to go to the hospital while I’m away.
I am, of course, feeling MASSIVE guilt about this. Even tho’ I know my new boss and team will support my doing this. This decision is also triggering my ever-present imposter syndrome about I don’t really know how to approach things for my new position and that all of this will lead to me being fired. Logically I know that’s not the case, but whoo the Brain Raccoons are loud
Covid still low in eastern Mass, not so for Flu
Dec. 29th, 2025 04:01 pmcvirtueAt present, transmission levels are low in my area. Standard flu is high (not on this chart - v high in NYC and other areas.). Note that Eastern Mass levels are not representative of the whole state or of New England generally.
NB: it looks like at least one of my public health newsletters is using the term SARS2 instead of the probably-filtered-by-some-platforms "Covid-19". rolls eyes
The full term would be SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2)
Other infectious:
If you go looking for news on Bird Flu, you should search for “highly pathogenic avian influenza” -HPAI- which is the term many sources are using because bird flu is several different individual viruses.
The USA is still not assertively testing for bird flu; it's entirely up to individual farms and/or states to report anything to the Feds. I think this is just ASKING for a huge human pandemic of bird flu to happen soonish. Especially as bird flu is transmitted between farms on the WIND.
You'll see bird flu strains noted with the initials-and-letters scheme such as H5N1, H5N4, H5N3. Standard human flu also has designations with the same scheme; for example, the influenza type that is surging now in the US (and causing a lot of ER visits) is H3N2.
The designation of "200 RNA copies per ml" (X axis) as "low transmission" is something I figured out by reading a lot of articles and also text/English opinions about eastern MA transmission about a year ago. I doubt you could find anyone official saying "X level on this wastewater chart is low transmission."
[image: Current COVID wastewater chart Dec 2025.png]
(no subject)
Dec. 27th, 2025 05:45 pmcupcake_gothMy back is still randomly spasming, with a side of other muscle groups getting angry. I’ve been wearing lidocaine patches day and night, and occasionally breaking into the heavy meds at bedtime. Luckily I had an appointment with my doctor 5 days after the first round of spasms, and now have orders for three different MRIs of my back, a referral to a back specialist, and a prescription for REALLY heavy muscle relaxers. Heavy enough that I’m only going to take them at bedtime.
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I got my COVID vaccine today, which means I’m going to be miserable for the next few days. But not only was it time, vax schedule-wise, for me to get it, but I also wanted to make sure I’d had it before I head to Arizona for the giant company kickoff week at the beginning of January. Whee?
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Christmas was very low-key. We had already gotten and given each other presents, so there was nothing to unwrap. We spent the day having food with some local friends, and then binge watched the new episodes of Stranger Things. I have some suspicions about things that will happen in the finale; I hope they won’t happen, but there are some big narrative anvils dropping
(I’ve come to the conclusion that Eleven is my least favorite character; she’s a walking collection of superpowers needed for the story, but other than that, she’s not that interesting.)
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Now I will go make a sweet potato and ham gratin so there is easy food for the next few days while I’m miserable. My holiday time off is packed with excitement, yes.
Book-gifts
Dec. 26th, 2025 02:38 pmmikroThe other one I received was Fashioning Japanese Subcultures(second edition), by Yuniya Kawamura. This one I asked for, from my Mother. I started it as soon as I could, and I plan to read it for a few hours on the plane/at the airport tomorrow. Subculture is a topic I am very interested in, and very probably why I end up doing things like wearing lolita fashion, and having a neocities website. Kawamura, who studied sociology, now works at FIT. She is the "de facto head of the schools Japanese department" according to a person in my local fashion community that was in one of her classes. But anyway, she has a great new and well researched perspective on subculture/neotribes and it is so so very interesting. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes academic writing or niche fashion.
I am not a great writer, and I have a hard time with words. I feel like that comes across in my posts here, but I want to be able to improve my speech and writing, so I will keep trying without becoming too word jumbled.
I hope everyone has a Happy new year and had a good holiday week!
Holidays
Dec. 23rd, 2025 04:48 pmmikroThere are a few stores there I am excited to go to, mainly being the John Fluevog store.. I have always wanted boots from there but never done it because I worry about the fit and don't want to go through the whole buy and send back to get another size fiasco. So hopefully if they fit well, I will be able to buy a dream pair of shoes :].
I finished a few embroidery projects for gifts for people over there I am excited to give, I may talk about later in Jan. in some kind of big crafts I did in the past month and a half post. When I get back I plan to make a bead tapestry thing for my sister, and I want to get fabric to make myself a new dress. We will see...
That's all for now, I am a bit burnt out and discouraged the past few days. Running around with family can be fun but is very very exhausting.
