Wondering what’s up with all of the above-mentioned reviews on my blog? Well, I’m finally making progress on cataloguing my Star Wars Expanded Universe books and comics! Don’t forget DVDs, video games, and LEGOs. You can view the catalogue on my Listal site and see the reviews there, too. Oh, and on the iRead book application in Crackbook.

OK, so I’m only up to TPM, but that’s because I’m also reading everything as I go! ECT has made me forget a lot of what’s happened in the EU, so I figured I’d give myself an update. I’m pretty good with the OT, though. Uh, yeah.

See more progress on: catalogue my Star Wars Expanded Universe books and comics

(click to enlarge; click here to see all the pics)

Well, while backing up my computer, which took for-fucking-ever, I finally finished building my LEGO A-Wing (in between reading HP2). Now it’s stored in a Ziploc baggie ’til we can find a decent glass display case for my Star Wars LEGO collection.

We learned the hard way at our old apartment that keeping them on bookshelves and stuff does not keep them safe from cats or even worse (I think), dust!

I think I’ll start a SW LEGO album on my Flickr, just don’t know when yet. This is the only picture so far that uploaded from Brian’s phone since we have such God-awful reception at home.

Today’s our anniversary. (l) The lump sum was deposited a month early — like a great anniversary present! I can’t believe it came in on our anniversary. I swear, that Maneki Neko in the sidebar works!

So guess what we got??? Take a look below. They look kind of goldish in the picture, but they’re actually platinum and…from Tiffany’s. But I figure they still cost less than a wedding would have.

I’ll write more about our “wedding” and post pictures tomorrow, if I can find them!

Because of my recent ECT, I can’t remember what, if anything, has happened since my last “apply for disability” post seven weeks ago. I do remember having to fill out another SSDI Evaluation, which I never did. Then I was supposed to see one of their doctors again, though that could have been for SSI. It just so happened that I was having inpatient ECT at the time, so they decided that I didn’t need to see their doctor after all. Go figure.

I found out yesterday that I’ve been approved for SSDI! I applied in frickin’ December! I mean, can you believe this whole process barely took three months? Nor did I have to see their doctors. Guess I’m pretty disabled, eh?

My monthly payment will be about $1k, which will cover the rent with some change left over. I’ll get a year of backpay, which amounts to five figures. (If you want to know the approximate amount, Contact Me, but I’ll only answer if I know who you are and not just a lurker, either — personal friends are exempt from this; so be sure to include your blog title.) They’re going to direct deposit it when they deposit my first check; they pay out on the third Wednesday of each month and are a month behind. So my March check will be deposited in April.

As for that SSDI evaluation I never completed? I talked to my adjudicator in Springfield, and she said I can toss it out! Sweet.

The local SSA office wanted me to come in so they could process my SSI claim, which it turns out I don’t qualify for because Brian makes way too much at his new job. Still, they wanted to make sure they didn’t owe me any money so I stopped by yesterday to drop off the requested paperwork, as instructed. The…counselor (?) I spoke to on the phone told me not to take a number; rather, give the guard my name and tell him I’m just bringing in documents. So he took my paperwork to the counselor, but when I had questions he couldn’t answer, she was nice enough to see me at her window and explain everything, even though I didn’t have an appointment.

This is such a relief! And of course I’m going on a shopping spree! We’ll finally be able to get wedding rings. The ones I want are super expensive, but we never had a wedding, so we deserve it! I only wish we could get them in time for our anniversary, but better late than never!

Obviously, the Maneki Neko in my sidebar works!

Of course I’d still like to write a novel, but ECT has really messed up my memory, particularly things like vocabulary, some cognitive abilities, and teaching different writing styles. Know that feeling of having a word on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t think what it is? Well, that’s how it is for me all the fucking time. And if I can’t fucking teach writing, let alone remember words, how the hell am I supposed to write? I don’t mean blogging, but like, specific writing genres like personal essays, research writing, poetry, and so on.

At least the ECT procedure is much more humane and refined in this century, and unlike Hemingway, I had ECT voluntarily (well, there wasn’t much left for me try in terms of meds). In fact, I’ve had more treatments than he did, but he ended up committing suicide because of them. I know I’ve quoted this here before, but I feel that it needs to be mentioned again.

According to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights:

Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway was tricked into admitting himself to a psychiatric institution. He was given more than 20 electroshock treatments. The result devastated him. Shortly afterwards, he told a friend, “Well, what is the sense of ruining my head and erasing my memory, which is my capital, and putting me out of business? It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient….” In July 1961, days after being released from the Mayo psychiatric clinic, Hemingway committed suicide.

By the way, according to Neil A. Grauer, in the article “Remembering Papa” published in the July/August 1999 issue of Cigar Aficionado, Hemingway supposedly bought the gun he used to off himself from Abercrombie. I shop there sometimes. How fucked up is that? At least they don’t sell weapons anymore.

See more progress on: write a novel