The ICI Experience:

Ed Robertson from the Barenaked Ladies (one of Canada’s finest bands), singing “Who Needs Sleep?” My Theme Song. Sleep Disorder (as in I CAN'T sleep!) is a major component of FM. Although if you listen closely, Ed's main problem seems to be the lady he sleeps with--she's 300 degrees and he's freezing when she throws the sheets off. I totally relate, though, because I HAVE been awake since WW II. In the interest of full disclosure, I take prescription medication to help (read: MAKE) me sleep. So currently I don't feel that I've been awake since WW II very often. If my mom had anything to do with it I would, though. She's one of those lucky peeps who don't have much trouble sleeping, even though she's almost elderly now. It was suggested to me recently that those who don't experience insomnia just can't understand it. See http://www.cfssquared.com/2007/05/25/who-needs-sleep/. Anyway, Mom tell me to just go get in bed around 11 p.m. and...

Went to the local DFCS office to apply for food stamps and medicare again. Bad enough having to do this, but now I know everyone in the office since I used to work there and it's exponentially embarassing. I told the lady who was doing my intake that, and said I just felt like crying. And then I did cry. I'm sure menopause isn't helping with the situation. I cried last night about the season finales to Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. But I laughed too. That was good. The welfare office was not good. I have to go back tomorrow to talk to the actual case worker. I also talked to three different social security offices today RE: SSDI app. What a mess. I'll have to write about that later, if I feel like it.

This is a history of my blog/journal attempts prior to this one. I started out at http://sherrillynn.greatestjournal.com/, as a record of the process I was going through in applying for Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) in 2004. Then I was able to start working and the journal laid unused for a couple of years. I worked part time in 2004-2005, then got a full time job in July of 2005. This summer of 2006 I was terminated from the full time job which I really liked, because I was sick with invisible (or concealed) chronic illnesses. Then I decided my blog should be a record of the claim I was filing on the discrimination of my employer on the basis of my disability. Then I (quite wisely) decided it probably wasn't too good to be posting stuff about my discrimination claim against my former employer, while the investigation was going on. Now the blog is about what happened, what's happening, and how I deal with it. I'm trying to channel my feelings into som...