Wednesday! MN Brain Injury Alliance with Phil (forgot pic with Alec)

December 20, 2023

Oh my God, I'm just clearing all the text from yesterday. Yesterday was INSANE. Today was on the less insane side, but still really cool. Might be the first day in months that I've only included one photo in my "photo of the day." Anyway, now I've changed its title to "photos of the day" anyway.

Tbh now, I generally like to jump to the best part of my day. The good part of my day was honestly these two conversations that I had at the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance. First, I met a guy named Alec, who talked to me about potential public speaking opportunities. We set up two planned events, the first watching someone else speak on February 20th, and potentially speaking myself on March 19th, two days after my 26th birthday. I gave him both of my business cards, the photo card when he took the photo of Dr. Kaszuba, which I said was the only pre-TBI photo I'd included in the set, and also the card where I publish my blog now. I think I mentioned that I give that one out less frequently, but this is clearly a good place to do it. There was some talk about a chance I could maybe take photos for them at some tabling events too. I certainly also told Alex, "This has been a huge thing that I've been looking for."

Then, the person who was planning on interviewing me got there. His name was Phil and I also had a great talk with him. Apparently, Phil was interviewing me for some article that was being written. Like good, I desperately needed to be even more famous than I already am! I actually showed Phil my draft of the 12/19/23 photo of the day, which I hadn't finished yet because yesterday was so insane. Didn't even post it til like 2:45 pm. I also gave Phil both of the business cards, and I forget which one he took. At any rate, I also showed him my website and scrolled through my entire "recovery" story on it. I also scrolled through my "thater" page, which is the only page on my photography site that has post-TBI photos on it. Today I did the thing that I've always wanted to do, where I scroll through and note whether each photo is pre- or post-crash. I also literally wrote down, "Phil is clearly the right recipient for the blog card." At some point, I also definitely remember telling him that in a way, having the restrictions placed on me by the cancer has actually helped me to recover from the TBI, far from thinking that it meant I'd never be happy again. 

Anyway, then we went home and I finished my photo of the day from yesterday, which I hadn't completed yet even though I worked on it for like 10 minutes before talking to Phil. We went home, and then Mom and I stopped by my house to pick up more things that would be nice to have over at Papa's house while I am staying there. It actually felt very productive, and was also a bit funny because we went through my fridge and emptied a ton of expired stuff and took some things that we could use at Papa's maybe for Christmas, like a cheese platter. Then we went back home, and before writing this, I had a brief but productive call with Papa. During that call, I remembered the gist of something I know I'd said to Mom earlier today without writing it down, which was something like: "IF I'm going to already have this awful cancer, it possible the TBI might actually have served to benefit me because the TBI has helped me to slow down and accept the cancer, and also being forced to track the amount I eat with medications has pushed me to take notes," which is key for TBI-recovery.

Speaking of meds, I did morning meds at 8 am and I'm doing my night ones pretty much right now around 6:45 pm with more of Kathy's leftover pot pie. Posting this today because I was so freaking late yesterday. Also, just had a fairly good conversation with Talia right now, before she's leaving to stay at the house of someone she's dog-sitting for. We talked about pretty much all the important conversations I had today, including the two MN brain injury alliance people and Papa. I also kind of stated that a HUGE thing I'd love to get more involved in is more public speaking-type things, and the Brain Injury Alliance might be perfect for that. The other random thing is that today when I was talking to Phil, he said that he too passionately loves public speaking and he doesn't get to do it quite as much as he'd like to with the organization, despite working there for like 18 years. 

My excellent suggestion to Phil after he told me that, was that he should try getting a serious brain injury, and then he could do as much public speaking as he wants! I thought that because Alec had told me a bit earlier today that they always like to have survivors speak at events or do "tabling," but they don't always get to have them there. Just get a brain injury and you can do as much public speaking as ya like, Phil! Ok, finished the pot pie and now I think I'll take a quick shower!