Negative Covid test yesterday, and I had my acupuncture appointment, which was absofuckinglutely awesome.
Company announced they’ll pay travel expenses for anyone needing to go out of state for abortion services. No idea how they do this and have it not be a privacy nightmare, but it’s something. Alternatively – they could give everyone a raise so they can afford to get out of state and not have to tell fucking HR about it. Or give everyone an annual cash grant to handle medical travel or whatever and then no one has to worry about the legal department handing names over to the cops. (Do I trust our legal department? No, no I do not.)
I also would have liked a sincere acknowledgement that over half the employees have lost or are about to lose their civil rights. And that we’re not going to have our conference in Tennessee. But we didn’t get either of those.
And we really need to talk about how some employees of child bearing age are going to have to relocate just to continue with non-reproductive medical care, because there are places where prescriptions are are no longer being written because some meds carry a risk of miscarriage. Might be time to let up on the whole “you need to get permission to relocate” policy.
So overall, it was “well, this is something but still so very disappointing” – which seems par for the course.
At least I have this goober.
Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female. 
I’m really glad you’re getting relief from the acupuncture.
Is the Tennessee conference at the Gaylord Opryland by chance? I was just thinking last night about how Gaylord hotels are basically the most popular conference locations in the U.S., and the most popular Gaylords are in trigger ban states. Hopefully more companies will shift events to the Maryland and Colorado locations.
Yep, the Gaylord. They’re really nice other than being in shitty locations.
I think no small part of the acupuncture is “lay still and chill in a dark room with zero interruptions for 45 minutes” – it’s freakishly relaxing.
As a veteran of several Gaylord conferences, I agree. Though I’m always bummed that they’re in such remote spots within their cities!
I’ve long had an anti-acupuncture bias due to lousy teenage experiences, but I’ve had literally like a dozen neurology appointments in the past two months with no relief, so you have me reconsidering it.
I’d say give it a whirl – I was unusual in that I had pretty much instant release from the tension, but even if it had taken a few sessions, I would have stuck with it. I went about every 2 weeks for the first 2 months I think, and now I just go once a month for a “tune up”. My practitioner is lovely and I felt instantly at ease with her and I felt she really listened to what I wanted to work on, and she can change things up as needed. One time I was all “yeah, feeling good, tune up time” and as soon as I laid on the table, realized I had a super tight spot on my lower back (dont usually lay in that position so I’d not noticed it) and she just worked that right into the session.
Well, I looked up the nearest practice to me that takes my insurance, and it turns out they treat humans *and* penguins, so I am now fully sold and will call them tomorrow: https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/penguins-receive-acupuncture-therapy-at-mystic-aquarium/520-04f3dc38-2066-477b-9530-bdbc51b13885
WELL HELL YES, CHECK THEM OUT!
Mine doesn’t work with penguins as far as I know. I may have to ask next time.