Good day! [Business card, therapy, selfie and Spanish with Rhys and Carlos]

December 18, 2023

ALRIGHT I was like three seconds away from just skipping my entire day and jumping to my last photo, which was definitely the highlight of my day, but then I remembered that earlier in the day I’d succeeded in getting a BeReal with my therapist Jesica waving on a Zoom call, and also BeReal of myself redesigning my business cards. Gotta include that stuff too, so here I am. Maybe I should stop narrating through my entire day starting with the meds. I like what I did yesterday more,  going straight to the important parts. 

Ok, lemme do a tiny summary of the earlier part of my day. I started a new notebook today! It’s #16, and haven’t labeled it yet. Papa found it for me in my purse today, along with a portable phone charger, little sticky notes and a pen from Half Price Books. [Meds at 7:56 am with Papa’s yogurt and granola.]

In the morning, I decided to go to the coffee shop Sister Sludge. There, I worked on some Spanish, and also decided to create a new document of for my photography business cards. They look almost the same, and I didn’t change much yet, but this will actually give me the power to edit the content, instead of just editing one line of text over a saved image. I had mom take me and pick me up, since I’m still not driving after the surgery, and she got me in perfect time to get back for my Jessica appointment. Unfortunately, they had some issues with connection and she tried to call me, but it was my dad’s number attached so she wasn’t able to. The appointment was like 15 minute late because of all the confusion, and fortunately she added 15 minutes to the end to make up for it. 

After the appointment, Jessica also sent me some documents on suggestions related to social skills, and we also had talked about the differences between occupational and speech therapy. She suggested I might wanna look into some potential speech therapy just to work on communication and something I forget.

THEN, I got a group WhatsApp message from an organizer of the Spanish group that meets at Mojo Coffee on Monday nights. At that moment, I decided I would LOVE to go. Mom and I decided that I should take my night meds early just so I’d be free to eat if there was food. I even said there usually wasn’t food, but I did the night meds kinda early anyways, around 4pm.

At my Spanish meetup, I definitely had one of the best conversations that I’ve ever had there. The first part of it was with two guys, Rhys and Carlos. I’ve spoken to Carlos before, and already had him on WhatsApp, and I learned that Rhys pronounces his name “rice” not “rheese.” There is no way in hell I can remember everything we talked, about but it was incredible. I told them extensively about my blog, and explained one reason I’m doing it is the awful memory caused by the crash. I think Rhys made a comment that the possibility that languages are in a different part of your brain. I also definitely talked about how the language of Spanish has become MASSIVE for me in my recovery, and also about being a photographer. It’s almost like being a photographer has become more a part of my identity now #thanksTBI.

Then, Rhys stepped away to a different table and I continued talking to Carlos extensively for a few hours. He’s a native from Peru, which I learned when I was going through my website and talking telling my photo story of Venezuelans living in Peru. Turns out he’s actually from Lima, the only city I’ve visited in the country. So, he taught me quite a few words, including $100,000 and other big numbers that I often use to tell my story. Most importantly, he taught me the Peruvian word for “fanny pack.” It’s canguro, which is also the Spanish word for kangaroo, since they have built in fanny packs. Pretty sure I also literally showed him my resume and photo site when I was talking through my whole story. 

At the end, he told me to try to appreciate things, and I said I was working on gratitude, which I learned was “agradecimiento.” He definitely also said a few things that would have definitely hurt me if I’d heard them before I started to accept my life, like, “be happy with what you have here right now,” which would have been hella painful two months ago. 

Anyways, I definitely gave both Carlos and Rhys business cards, and I think they took Heidi’s wedding, and my Dr. Kazsuba portrait, which I explained was the only old pre-crash pic I have in this set. I definitely also showed them my blog cards, but one of them said something about it feeling a bit personal to take one of them. I see their point, but I’m fine with being open about things tbh. 

Walking out, I also talked a bit to this other guy named Luis, a Mexican I’d met before. He was also gifted with a business card, but I forget which photo he chose.