u/Stayathomewifi

The other day, my husband and kids were walking to a baseball game in the middle of the afternoon. Walking ahead of us was a transient talking to himself and kind of walking in circles and zig zags. We were like 6 feet behind him on a walking bridge. To get where we needed to go, we could either slow our pace and stay behind him or speed past.

I grabbed the kids a little tighter as we decided to walk past, but just as we caught up, maybe 2 feet behind him, he pulled out of a gun.

He turned and swung it at us then turned around and swung it in another direction.

We turned around and quickly walked off the bridge (we were close to the start of the bridge). We called the cops. They showed up immediately. They arrested him on the other side of the bridge.

It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. As I walked away, I thought, he could shoot me as I’m walking away right now. My husband could be shot. We had our kids in front of us to try to protect them.

I just needed to vent. When did walking to a baseball game in the middle of the day become unsafe? I feel so blessed to be alive. I feel blessed that no one was hurt.

I lasted a few months this time. The longest I have gone without an episode. I’d have to look at my last post to know the exact time.

It’s mild right now. I took a nausea pill, set a timer for 30 min, then taking a Valium.

Send cat pics and memes. Thanks.

Update: it’s been 7.5 months since my last attack. I had a short drop episode in July. Lasted a couple minutes.

I was paying for standalone service for my Apple Watch that has a cellular plan and realized after forgetting my phone at home, my watch did not work at all on its own.

After many hours with multiple representatives, my issue was not resolved and I was told by multiple people that standalone service isn’t something ATT offers. What ATT provides is the ability to connect your watch to your phone, which is what you can already do without a plan via Bluetooth.

You don’t need service for that.

What I needed service for was to be able to use my watch without my phone being present. Say if I forgot my phone at home. That’s exactly what happened. I forgot my phone at home and had no service. I couldn’t make calls or anything. That’s when I realized my cellular Apple watch wasn’t working as a standalone device, even though I had it set up to do so and was paying for it to do so.

I called ATT and they said the watch needs to be near the phone to work. Wrong. What was I paying for, if that’s the case?

I asked a friend and she said her Apple Watch also stopped working without her phone and she has a cellular watch and pays for standalone service.

After being on the phone for 4 hours with the least knowledge customer service representatives I’ve ever met, I canceled my watch service and strongly suggest everyone else does the same. Make sure you’re not on a plan that doesn’t allow cancellation. My watch wasn’t purchased through ATT.

If ATT isn’t providing standalone service, then what are we paying for? You don’t need service to connect a watch to a phone. You can do that via Bluetooth.

Edited to add details about account.

1. I have a watch with cellular service.
2. I pay for a cellular stand alone plan for this watch.
3. My watch is set up correctly.
4. ATT reps told me they no longer offer a standalone service where the watch works without being next to a phone.

Test your watches. Put your phone on airplane mode. Call your watch. See what happens.

It’s been a blissful 3 months of no Menieres symptoms. They came back yesterday! It was bound to happen. Still I can’t help but appreciate the time I’ve had feeling like a normal person. Trying to trial and error with migraine medicine. The last time I got ear fullness, I took Nurtec and it went away within 30 min, but I also got hives. Not bad hives, but hives nonetheless. I can try taking it again and see what happens. So far I’ve taken a triptain, but the fullness persists. 🥴

I had 76k in student loans. My parents couldn’t help me with school, and the easiest way was for me to take out loans. This included my BA, teaching credential, a semester of an MA program I dropped, MA in Education, and one semester of a PhD program that I couldn’t commit to.

Was it worth it? Yes and no. If I could go back, I would have skipped the credential program. I made very little money for the amount of effort that went into the teaching program. I would have made better choices around my MA. The first school I went to was expensive and the professors weren’t very knowledgeable. I finished the semester with a 10k debt knowing it wasn’t for me. I should have asked to sit in on a couple classes before attending.

My MA was 💯 worth it. I was able to double my salary before even graduating and within a couple years, I more than doubled it again after going into Bio Tech (160k). I wish I started the program as soon as I finished my BA, instead, I waited 10 years. I recommend not waiting.

The Ph.D. was a pipe dream. Four of us were accepted out of over 350 applicants. I can celebrate that win. I didn’t account for how much of my life it would take. I knew it would be a sacrifice, but I didn’t really understand what that meant in practice. I’d go from work to classes until about 8pm. After that, I was reading until 11pm every night. I quickly realized I was missing out on my family. It was a 5-7 year program. It’s something I should have started in my 20s. That’s what I recommend, at least to those who have young kids. I didn’t take out loans for that program, but it did cost me $6,500 for the one semester.

I learned later that schools offer payment plans where they split tuition costs over a few months. I really wish I would have done that. It took me two decades to pay off these loans.

I feel like I’ve earned some kind of celebration! A firework display in my honor! I got a confirmation email and a zero balance. That works too.

Good luck to all of you! You got this!