Recent Events

After a spurt of activity, vestige.org may be going dark again for a few weeks, and I thought I’d tell you why. First, there are health issues, and then there are job issues. Let’s start with the health issues.

For years now I’ve been sick with a disease that I thought was Ulcerative Colitis. Recently I started seeing a new doctor who believes I have something far less severe. He ran some blood tests and scheduled some other things. So far all I’ve got are the results of the blood test, but he determined that I’ve had a severe vitamin B12 deficiency, probably for the better part of a decade, and that judging from my symptoms it’s been getting worse recently. The side-effects of this deficiency include: severe fatigue, severe depression, forgetfullness, difficulty sleeping and focusing, and a bunch of similar things that have made doing anything other than my day job and a few (paid) freelance gigs all but impossible. I was napping twice a day, almost falling asleep at my desk at work, and even doing something simple like washing the dishes was so exhausting it would put me out of commission for days. The blog was not a priority in such a situation.

My doctor put me on 1000mcg (that’s micrograms) of B12 per day, and I feel like a new man. I’m sleeping well for the first time in years, I have a full day’s worth of energy, my moods have improved dramatically, it feels like a fog has lifted from my memory, and I can feel my thinking getting sharper and clearer every day. I feel stronger, more capable—hell, smarter—than I have since I was living in Sudbury in 2004. This is why there’s been such a flurry of activity on the blog lately. I suddenly not only have goals and ambitions, I also find myself with the energy and confidence to achieve them.

Which leads me to the job issue, and why the blog will probably be silent again for a while despite all this good news about my health. I got laid off on Thursday. It wasn’t just me; two-thirds of the staff where I work were laid off. There’re no hard feelings about this: my boss had some tough decisions to make, and the circumstances were entirely beyond his control. Nobody’s happy, but my split from my employer is entirely amicable. I still believe in the project, and I wish them all kinds of success in the future, and I get the impression they feel just as much good will towards me. But I’m still out of a job in a little over a month, and I don’t make enough money to put the job hunt off by even a day. All my energy will be going into finding work, be it a full-time gig or more freelance writing assignments. The blog is important to me, but paying my rent is even more important.

The good news is that thanks to my doctor, I now feel like I’m able to take on this challenge, and maybe even find something that will help me get closer to achieving loftier goals than simply paying the rent. Thanks for hanging on all this time; I’m optimistic that I’ll be back to posting in short order.

August

Writer. Editor. Critic.

3 Comments

  1. hi there, i honestly suggest you may at least 2: kill yourself or 1: give up that domain in regards to you and your sickness. best regards

  2. As someone who suffers from B12 deficiency, I’m glad to hear your doctor found it and is working on it. I’m on monthly shots nos and they do make such a difference. All the best with the health and with the job hunt.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.