My internet psych service is desperate to prove to the FDA and AMA that they're a really real medical provider. As a result, they're asking all their patients to get an EKG "before" they prescribe stimulant medication.

I mean, I get it.

They suggested that patients, if desired, could buy a home EKG monitor and have the results reviewed by a physician, then send the review along.

As a result, I am now the proud(?) owner of a 6-lead EKG monitor.

In times of trouble, people are quick to offer words like these:

All we have is this moment; it's important to live each and every one.

It's a truth, but it's not The Truth, and to think so is to do your life a disservice.

We all recognize – well, most of us – that Twitter was a pretty rough place sometimes, and has gotten worse. We know that social media is training our brains to crave validation, and we know that the businesses who run these sites want us to stick around all day so they can show us ads.

People stick around, though. They want to talk about their lives. They want to see what their friends are doing. They'd like to gush about the movie they just saw, or describe their terrible experience. They want to call people to action when Something Needs Doing.

You can do all that on the Fediverse; it was made to connect people. And I'm going to try, as so many others have tried, to lay it all out for you – in a way that doesn't focus on the tech. If the words are with me, you might even get to the end and want to be a part of it.

While I was volunteering over the weekend, I spent several hours with a mom and her #ActuallyAutistic son.

I'm #ActuallyAutistic also, to different degrees, in varying ways.

The old, still somewhat pervasive, idea that people whose autism looks like his – that they live in some private, unknowable world? It fucking KILLS ME.