Never drink CBD tea at work...or prior to a commute

[shadowkat]

So, I bought some CBD Chill Tea- mint flavored, 16 mg (or so it said) from Harney & Sons (at a local health food store). Brought it with me to work today - it was quite tasty, minty.

Except for one small problem - by the time I was ready to commute home? I was feeling a tad off. Sweating profusely. Cold and clammy. Slightly dizzy, not enough to faint. Or woozy. Like I'd had a severe drop in blood sugar.

And the commute was from hell...

The first part was okay, just seemed to take forever for the train to come.
But it did. And I dosed. Got off, walked to the second train, feeling increasingly off, or woozy, got there...and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. Also the platform got more and more crowded (as it often does if you've been waiting a while). It was 4:58 pm. I'd been waiting since 4:35pm. The electronic board stated the train would arrive in five minutes - it had been stating that since 4:35pm. I checked my "In Transit" App (which by the way is the best transit app - and far more useful than the MTA's - it's put out by a private company and gives up to date information, and details. Also covers everything including ubers.)
Anyhow, it informed me that "due to signal issues at Church Avenue, there were significant delays in both directions. And G trains weren't running past Bedford -Nostrand Avenue. The F was running on the D line." (I was five-ten stops south of Bedford-Nostrand and my stop was not on the D line.) So I high-tailed it out of there, still feeling very woozy, and walked the three blocks back to Atlantic Avenue Terminal, down ten flights of steps, and onto the Q platform. Got on the Q (an old yellow and orange bucket seat train (apparently they do have a few still in operation) )and had to stand until the first stop, when I got a seat. Which would have been fine - except there was a woman with no mask, standing near me, laughing her head off, and spitting as she did so everywhere. So, I curled into myself, and prayed I wouldn't faint anytime soon. Fortunately she got off two stops later, and I got off two stops after she did.

The Q is outside on a lower level, almost an outdoor tunnel of sorts. With huge walls framing it, and the houses staring down from above. When it stopped at Beverly Road - and I disembarked - I had to climb three steep flights of steps, and narrow ones at that, all outside, then through a turn-stile and through the station proper. Once outside, I walked with a bunch of other people, pushing and shoving their way past for about six blocks, until they melted away (down various side-streets), and I walked by myself (for the most part) for the next six or seven blocks, across busy streets, and finally home. The whole way feeling kind of off or woozy.

Got home around 5:33 pm. Immediately drank some celery juice (it's a combo of juices), and had a piece of chocolate, prior to changing clothes. I was soaking wet.

Took a while to feel better. But I finally did by about 9pm.

Mother and I decided it had to be the CBD, whatever they put in the tea with it - did not agree with me, or it was a more intense brand than I was accustomed. While I can have some mild forms of CBD, I can't have THC at all or anything too potent - without feeling woozy.

**

On Twitter...someone posted that "lots of girls find serial killer shows comforting or true crime.."

Interesting. I find romance novels, Bridgerton, Julia, and cooking demonstrations comforting.

Of course I'm prone to anxiety - so that may explain it.

Mother: I get it. I could never get into Criminal Minds - I'd burned out on the whole serial killer thing.
Me: I couldn't watch Criminal Minds - the second episode turned me off. Want to know why? The second episode featured a rapist who put women in a coffin with spiders, the spiders would paralyze them, and then he'd rape them.
Mother: What? Oh dear god.
Me: I couldn't get past the spiders. That was it for me. I decided I didn't need to watch that. (Well also the rape, I can't watch sexual violence any longer on television - it's why I can't watch Outlander.)
Mother: I never even tried it. I burned out on serial killers and was never really into it. I read Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, which were good, but after a while..
ME: It's an overdone trope.

I'm guessing people who like this sort of thing are either not prone to anxiety or not the same types of anxieties that I am?

***

Informed Project Manager - that I was going to wear a mask throughout the site tour on Thursday. And would prefer that we don't have a crowded vehicle. Also, if anyone gave me any troubles about it - I'd leave and we would not have a site tour. (There's nothing I can do about everyone else.)

Project Manager: The most important part is we find a great place to have lunch.
ME: Can you just drop me back at the office first? With my dietary restrictions and the whole COVID thing...
Project Manager (who is trying not to sound disappointed): Yeah, we can do that.

***

Mother informed me that her hairstylist came down with COVID (she's triple vaxxed and everything) but she went to Nashville - and it was crowded, with lots of folks traveling, most not wearing masks, the planes were packed, and well she got COVID. And was really sick with it - in bed for a few weeks, but thankful that she'd been vaccinated or it would have been a lot worse.

Sigh.

You ever feel like the world is constantly trying to kill us? That is when we're not trying to do it.

***

Just..listened to this song by Sand Sheff (former housemate and college buddy, although we've not stayed in touch) today...

Last Night - it's kind of a flip on the affair song, with the woman trying to gently tell the guy off.

And here's the guy I dated in college's album containing Long Journey

I wasn't really into country-western until I ran into them. Although they also loved folk music - and sing and play it.

Currently listening to... Come and Get Your Love by RedBone - it's from the Guardians of the Galaxy 1 Soundtrack.

Comments

[threemeninaboat]

That CBD sounds TERRIBLE, I'm so sorry.

[shadowkat]

Thanks.

CBD is weird. Winged - actually has a brand that I can use. No problems. Calms me with no nasty side effects. Joy Organics isn't bad either.

But everyone else ...either it's too potent or not there at all. Some make my lips numb, and kind of dazed. Others woozy. It really depends on the brand and the mix that they use.

[mtbc]

Good luck on being the one weird person at work trying to be safe. I was hoping to have a chat with someone on campus on Thursday but I need it to be outdoors (not that even that's wholly safe) and the forecast looks showery at the least.

[shadowkat]

Well, the good news is I'm not alone - there's a small group of us, who are all doing the same thing. I've learned to hand-wave folks who won't wear masks in the workplace. But I wish they would on public transportation at least - it's more annoying there than anywhere else.

[elisi]

I'm guessing people who like this sort of thing are either not prone to anxiety or not the same types of anxieties that I am?
Generally I believe crime stories are cathartic? The system works, the detectives/the police are dedicated and care deeply, and the criminal is brought to justice. It's a fantasy, just like romances, just playing with different issues.

[shadowkat]

I guess it depends on the crime stories? I'm talking about true crime or serial killer stories - where the culprit is often not found. Or the focus is on the killer not the detectives hunting them down.

I like them when it focuses on the detective figuring out the crime, although I did burn out on those in the 1990s and early 00s. Saw and read way too many. (I basically binged on them.)

[raincitygirl]

The world is DEFINITELY trying to kill us. And, just to stereotype, I suspect folks in Tennessee are probably more “I do what I want about masks and vaxxes. It’s my FREEDOM!” than in New York. So not too surprising your mom got COVID in Nashville. Even if she was taking precautions, if nobody else was taking precautions, then she’s more at risk.

I find even here in Vancouver, there’s much more mask discipline in the city than in the suburbs. I took transit out to South Surrey (exurban, conservative, with the occasional libertarian fringe elements) last weekend to visit family, and a man on the bus actually MOCKED me for still wearing a mask, when they’re no longer mandatory. I edged away and just didn’t engage. I’m not getting into a shouting match with a stranger on the bus, no matter how aggravating he is.

Although I suspect part of the discrepancy between mask discipline in the city vs the suburbs also has to do with race. Lots of East Asian people living in my part of Vancouver, and East Asia had a culture of mask wearing as a public courtesy LONG before the pandemic. South Surrey is much whiter. My fellow white people can often be extremely inconsiderate when push comes to shove. Their individual freedom not to wear a mask definitely trumps my unreasonable desire not to come down with a virulently infectious airborne virus.

Serial killer stories are like horror movies, for me. I get that other people like them, but I don’t see the appeal. The one serial killer book I really enjoyed (and actually finished) was Agatha Christie’s “The ABC Murders”. Which was published in the 1930s, and is way better than 99% of this serial killer crap nowadays.

[shadowkat]

So not too surprising your mom got COVID in Nashville. Even if she was taking precautions, if nobody else was taking precautions, then she’s more at risk.

No, no...mother's hairstylist. Not mother. Mother is currently recuperating from a knee replacement. She can't go anywhere. This was her hairstylist.

I took transit out to South Surrey (exurban, conservative, with the occasional libertarian fringe elements) last weekend to visit family, and a man on the bus actually MOCKED me for still wearing a mask, when they’re no longer mandatory.

I've yet to run into this - thank god. Either I intimidate folks, or they are just nice to me. My work place's edict right now - is you can either wear a mask or not wear one - but be respectful of your co-workers (inside offices and outside) - on trains, everyone must wear one (since its a federal mandate).

Although I suspect part of the discrepancy between mask discipline in the city vs the suburbs also has to do with race. Lots of East Asian people living in my part of Vancouver, and East Asia had a culture of mask wearing as a public courtesy LONG before the pandemic.

I think it's more cultural than racial, to be honest. Why? Well, I've noticed that most Eastern Europeans won't wear them. Some do. But a lot won't - particularly the Polish for some reason. I think, if I were to hazard a guess, it has something to do with a blatant distrust of government and science, due to how it was used to control them for years.

African, Carribbean, and Black Americans of a certain age - also won't wear them - for some of the same reasons. They don't trust the authority figures.

But, the other reason - is for some, they just can't tolerate the masks. Either they have severe gastintestinology issues - GERD - which results in bad breath. So smelling their own breath is kind of toxic to them. They are asthmatic (which is my super) and can't breath with it on. Or their nose or face just doesn't fit the mask.

Culturally though - the two ethnic groups who refuse to wear them in NY see to be older black Americans and Eastern Europeans. Also Hasidic Jews (who hail from Eastern Europe). To these cultures - masks represent cultural oppression in some shape or form, I think?

Then of course there's the conservative nit-wits, who care more about their freedom to be nit-wits, than much else.

Serial killer stories are like horror movies, for me. I get that other people like them, but I don’t see the appeal. The one serial killer book I really enjoyed (and actually finished) was Agatha Christie’s “The ABC Murders”. Which was published in the 1930s, and is way better than 99% of this serial killer crap nowadays.

Christie wasn't as graphically violent in her novels. Nor as descriptive. So that helped, I think?

Agree. I don't see the appeal either. They are kind of like slasher horror flicks. I've seen a few, they haunt me afterwards, and give me nightmares. And anxiety. And honestly enough things give me anxiety...so why add to it? I may read the ABC Murders at some point though - I read all of Agatha Christie in High School, but I can't remember any of them, except possibly Curtain and Sleeping Murder, which were my favorites.

[raincitygirl]

Gotcha. Knee replacement, not going anywhere right now. My dad had a hip replacement last December, so I know all about that. I suspect the knee would be worse, actually. More moving parts.

That’s fascinating about the cultural breakdown of the masks. I hadn’t analyzed it properly (was content to stereotype instead). But looking back at the people I meet who wear or don’t wear masks, actually, yeah, you’re right! There’s a lot of cultural/regional nuance in terms of who’s wearing (or not wearing) a mask and their reasoning. And good point re people who are asthmatic etc.

To be fair, that one guy on the bus is the ONLY time I’ve been mocked for still wearing a mask now they’re no longer mandatory. And I think he might have been drunk. But it was unpleasant and stuck in my mind much more than the hundreds of interactions where nobody mocked me or even mentioned it.

[shadowkat]

Most folks hate conflict - so it's unlikely they'll say anything. Unless pushed.

Mother had a total hip replacement in August - it took longer, and was more difficult. But it was also more intensive. The hip is more problematic, because you can't drive at all - when it's out. Knee you can actually move around on, and more mobile.

She was immobile for all of 2021, until they did a total hip conversion replacement - they had to remove a rod that had been put in previously. Age also may be a factor? Mother is turning 80 this year. We figure the knee will be healed by July.

[raincitygirl]

Ai yai yai, your poor mother! Good luck to her with her recovery.

[raincitygirl]

Note to self: don’t ever ingest anything with CBD in it. Ever! Especially if I’m not at home and planning to stay home the rest of the day. I’m super sensitive even to caffeine. I shudder to think what CBD or THC would do to me. I have learned from your bitter experience, so you have done a public service.

[shadowkat]

Well, maybe not. I think it might have been vertigo brought on by shifts in barometric pressure and allergies. (Because I had it happen today.)

Also it depends on the CBD. Winged is actually good - they have oils, soft gells, and gummies. And I've never had a negative reaction. Also the cremes work well.

Just stay away from THC - that's the addictive element or marijuana.

CBD is medical portion, and more calming. But, figure out who the manufacturer is - and how much. I think I did two cups of tea - with the barometric pressure shifts, and the allergies, it was a bad combination.

[yourlibrarian]

I hear that about the hairdresser with Covid. I have an appointment next Friday for my bi-annual cut and it is the most exposure I have to anyone other than the dental hygenist. Plus, my new person has already moved salons so I've no idea how crowded the space she's now in is.

[shadowkat]

I need to figure out what to do with my hair soon. My stylist moved and I kind of lost track of her. The old salon shut down. So, I need to find a new one - which is all sorts of anxiety right there.

[yourlibrarian]

I understand quite a few stylists have quit the business too, but you can try to hunt her down as an individual online. Lots of them started working from home and have stayed there, but some just have a dead trail due to salon closures.

Of course, if she's got a common name it's tough in as big an area as you live in. But a lot of them have their own pages online to get clients.

[svgurl]

Oh, no, what an awful experience! I'm sorry you had to go through that.

I am with you on not being able to watch anything with rape (or graphic violence) in it. I think I probably would've quit Criminal Minds too, because that episode sounds really creepy. I don't even watch Law & Order: SVU anymore. It was too much for me.

[shadowkat]

At some point, I just couldn't do it any longer. It's why I gave up on Outlander. I'd liked the first half, but couldn't do the second half - due to the rape. (I'd read the book - so knew what was coming.) And then I found out every lead character in the series was raped, so thought okay, stopping now.

It didn't always bother me, but within the last ten years or so, I just can't do explicit or graphic sexual violence - such as torture and rape. Or anything "gory". I can do gun fights, and comic book violence, but it's not the same. Or action scenes.