Pokemon, ice cream, retinols.

After playing Pokemon Go daily for about 3 months, I’ve slowly realized that people like having 2 different accounts (at least) and also that (I think) very few people actually walk to the pokestops/gyms. PoGo primarily is a walking/exploring game – it gives you rewards for going places. But lots of people (most?) trick or “spoof” their phones into thinking they are somewhere they are not. But Vince and I promised we wouldn’t “spoof” and we wouldn’t spend money on the game. But the thing about having 2 accounts is nice because you need a friend who is right with you to trade pokemon with you, you can’t do it if you are physically apart (unless you spoof, I guess) – and sometimes there are bonus points or rewards for trading pokemon. But I didn’t want to open 2 accounts because that seemed like out of bounds of the self-imposed rules. So I sheepishly asked Jeremy to open an account on his phone to trade pokemon with me. He agreed and I thought it was going to be a simple – open account, trade three pokemon and then Jeremy wouldn’t open the app again until I need a trade again. But then it turned out that Jeremy needed to reach level 10 to trade with me which is about 3-4 days of play, so he did that. And then we traded my requested 3 pokemon and then…Jeremy kept going. He’s kind of into it. Jeremy texts me about getting coins, about reviving his fainted pokemon, finding new pokemon. He texts Vince about leveling up. Jeremy, even though he is the sweetest/goofiest guy ever, can sometimes come across as serious and intimidating (especially if you get him going about anything about work) – to watch him try to catch pokemon on his phone is actually very amusing and adds levity to the days. He might even curl his tongue across his lip in that look of concentration.

I have been trying recently to be more helpful to Rett research, signing up for various surveys, participating in medical history gatherings. When I was younger and we were doing the fundraising circuit, I wondered where the older parents were. Now I know, they are all tired. I’m tired. Anyways, one of the surveys was about communication. I would still like Edda to communicate better, but honestly, I don’t think she thinks complicated thoughts. Maybe just – my family loves me and I love my family. That is enough. Her clearest communication honestly is about ice cream – Dad, I would like that ice cream. That look is never mistaken. We need to get her a Pokemon Go account so we can all play together with our little avatars.

So I need some skin help. This has been the coldest, driest winter ever and is probably the first winter where my estrogen levels have plummeted. I’ve never use anything on my face. I hardly even use sunscreen (which was probably a bad move given the amount of time I spend outside running around). But now I need to do something. Mostly, everything is dry, dry, dry and I don’t want that tightness across my face. I tried a drugstore retinol cream for night a few weeks ago, and it sent my skin into a flaky red mess (which apparently is pretty standard – one has to build tolerance to it) and I’m still recovering from that. So I stopped the retinol after one use and ever since then even plain moisturizer burns my skin. I’ve never, ever had that problem before, but then again, I never used moisturizer on my face. Maybe I should go back to using nothing and then my face won’t burn or flake and will just go back to “regular”. I’m loathe to spend money on this. I like the way my grandmothers and my mother have aged, they all grew into their 70s and 80s into super cute Asian grandmas. (Your grandma is so cute! Your mom is so cute! Of course they are – super cute.) Of course, they had/have wrinkles, but one earns all of them. I don’t think they used retinols. lol.

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