I have a 6-week-old baby. It’s 3:30 am and I’m attempting to rock her to sleep for the 8th time already tonight. If I place her in her bassinet, she unleashes screams that no living being with such small lungs should logically be able to produce. She’s possibly loud enough to wake the dead in this town and the next two over. I’ve forgotten what sleep is. Also I’m out of caffeinated drinks. Please send help.

They’re still active. They’re organizing a “Good Trouble” protest (as a nod to John Lewis) on July 17 across the country. I think what’s happening is that the media has stopped talking about 50501 (gee, I wonder why they would do that?), but the protests are definitely still happening.

I’m glad to know that show wasn’t just some sort of fever dream I had at 5 years old. No one I know remembers it.

My state decided it was a great idea to switch from allowing you to go to your local county clerk’s office for licensing to requiring you to go to a regional driver’s licensing office, which there aren’t enough of in the state. They make you schedule appointments at least a month or two in advance, and when you show up for your appointment, you still have to wait in a long line. It can take hours, and of course they’re only open at inconvenient times for anyone who works a full-time job. They also accept walk-ins, but the line for that is even longer, and there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to be seen that day. Top it all off with the extra documents you’re required to bring with you (birth certificate, etc), and a lot of people I know just haven’t bothered with it yet. I don’t blame them.

TIL Mocha and I both enjoy the Dark Tower series. Great taste, Mocha.

My dog howls whenever she hears Piano Man by Billy Joel. That’s the only song she’s ever reacted to, and she does it every time. Her ears perk up as soon as she hears the piano in the intro, and she starts howling when the harmonica starts. She doesn’t stop until the song ends. I have no idea why she does this, and when I told her vet about it, the vet just shrugged and said, “I’ve always liked Billy Joel, too.”

To make things even harder, a lot of people don’t really have much of a choice which insurance provider to use because of cost. I can’t afford insurance outside of what my employer offers.

I hope you’re wrong and you have a lot more time than that left

I love Robert Browning. Love Among the Ruins has always been my favorite, although I’m not sure why. I honestly don’t think it’s his best work.

I’m sorry for your loss. My dog is getting older and I don’t know what my family will do without her when she passes away.

I emailed my representative here in KY about this and his response was, “I don’t get lunch most days during Session.” JFC How about writing a bill to ensure representatives are allowed to take a lunch break, instead of supporting one that takes away everyone else’s right to one? What an asshole. By the way, his name is Daniel Fister, in case any other people stuck in this hellhole state want to look up his email address and let him know how you feel about how much of a twat he is.

Sometimes people will say something negative about themselves because they’re hoping you will say something positive, instead. I used to do the same thing. Whenever I was feeling insecure about my looks or weight, I would say something negative about myself, because my husband would tell me it wasn’t true and would give me compliments that would boost my self-confidence. I don’t do that anymore, because it’s not a very healthy way to be confident in yourself, but it certainly was effective. Do you think maybe your girlfriend is just feeling insecure about herself? I would talk to her about that to see if maybe it’s something she’d like to work on in herself. You can also try to give her honest compliments on a regular basis. It’s hard for a girl (or guy!) to feel unattractive if her loved one is telling her twice a day that her shirt looks good on her, or he loves her laugh, or he thinks she’s pretty.

The state I live in has Medicaid waivers that pay (with tax dollars) for people who have developmental disabilities to get home-based help. So basically we send a Direct Support Professional (DSP) to the person’s home for a set number of hours each week, and they work on goals with that person. Goals can be things like learning to cook for themselves, working on their social skills, going out in the community to find hobbies, enrolling in classes, etc, etc, etc. We pay the DSP by the hour, and then Medicaid reimburses our company. So it’s free for the person/family who needs our services. I’m pretty sure that most states in the US have waivers like this set up. It’s called the Community Living Supports Waiver in my state. If you live in the US, you can just look up Medicaid waivers in your state, and it should pull up companies like the one I work for. Unfortunately, I’ve found that not a lot of people know about the waivers, including families and individuals who could really use them.

I work for a company that helps people with developmental disabilities (autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc) become more independent in their daily lives. Recently, one of our clients successfully earned her vet tech certification. She wants to help sick animals, especially cats. This is a girl who could barely write her own name when we started working with her. Now, she’s going places. Makes all the hard work worth it.

Steve Yzerman