Episode 227: Cassie Sneider

[melalerve]

For me, this was possibly the episode I could relate to the most of all the ones I've listened to so far. This one really made me feel like I'm not alone. I'll have to let it sink in, probably listen again. I wasn't familiar with her before, but she has a YT channel with some crazy weird stuff (including air guitar, and a beautiful and weird rendition of Sitting on the Dock of the Bay).

[SpookyGhost]

http://mentalpod.com/Cassie-Sneider-podcast

The writer and graphic artist (and karaoke DJ) talks with Paul about her parents alcoholism, gambling and shopping addictions, being bullied, becoming violent in her 20s and eventually finding therapy and support groups for her codependency. They also bond over their intense love of dogs and how much easier it can be to love them than people. - See more at: http://mentalpod.com/Cassie-Sneider-pod ... oPQUo.dpuf

[oak]

Yes, this episode hit close to home with me.

She seems like a lovely, generative person. I wish her the best in her creative efforts.

I can tell she's Been There, Man, Been There because of her eyeglasses story.

One thing I remember about my poverty experience was using the same pair of glasses from 2004 to 2013. Broken, out of style, even with tape!

I also identified with her stories of people who just show up to live. Although I hasten to add, speaking strictly for myself, that I was welcomed into the home of a poor family readily and naturally, while my middle class friends would have nothing to do with me. While I can't romanticize "the poor", I have found people experiencing poverty to be incredibly generous, in a natural and effortless way.

(If you will indulge me getting off topic, and relating how I got proper glasses!

(I was working most of the time through the nine years I had those awful glasses. After a bout of unemployment, I got this awful third shift minimum wage temp job resetting one location of a well know fabric chain. The job was hellish. I somehow endured it, and got these awful checks. I vividly remember getting:

1. My teeth cleaned (for the first time in seven years. And remember, I had been working most of that time. I find that obscene that a working person can't afford dental care.) when I found out the local community college did training cleanings for $15.

2. A super basic Android phone for $100 from one of those non-contract places.

3. I went to a well-known "2 pairs of glasses plus exam for $65" place and before I knew it, with the lenses and frames, it came to $250, which I could somehow afford. The one pair never fit, but I have worn the other pair constantly, and am wearing them right this instant.

Thinking about it, the student cleaning, crappy Android, and discount glasses, all objectively sucked, but each accomplished exactly what it could within its limited scope, which turned out to be pretty awesome:

My teeth were cleaned, I had a smartphone, and I had glasses I could wear to job interviews.

All three came together when I had an interview three months later: I used the phone GPS to arrive on time, and my clean teeth and proper glasses got me my first above minimum wage job in ten years. Was it the deciding factors that no phone, uncleaned teeth, and broken glasses between unemployment and minimum wage on one hand, or employed above minimum wage on the other? I can't say, truthfully, but I do know that while I don't fear being poor again, I want to avoid and/or escape it ASAP.

Alot of poverty is Just Making It. And then things start to get a little better.

[melalerve]

One thing I remember about my poverty experience was using the same pair of glasses from 2004 to 2013. Broken, out of style, even with tape!

I can actually one-up you on that. I'm still using the same glasses I got back in 2003. At some point they broke apart in the middle, I'm using superglue to keep them going.

Alot of poverty is Just Making It. And then things start to get a little better.

Or worse. Or a lot worse.

[klen dool]

Cassie Sneider described something that sounds like sleep apnoea to me. I am not a doctor, but I do have sleep apnoea, and sleep apnoea can be quite dangerous. Even at my low level of apnoea, it can worsen depression, and cause you to not sleep properly and be stressed out all the time. I am not even close to being overweight - about 10% of people with sleep apnoea are not over weight (although the weight does exacerbate it).

I got one of these https://www.fphcare.co.nz/products/icon-autoplus/ and it helped a lot. Also its really quiet. I know its not an option for a lot of people, as that cost me $1800 NZD, but if you can afford it, its well worth it.

Everyone has apnoea events, and most people have apnoea events once every couple hours - the body notices the apnoea is happening and releases adrenaline to start the breathing again, the person snorts a little when they start breathing again, and its over. I was having 4 events per hour, so the adrenaline was constantly in my system meaning I could never get properly asleep. If I had 5 events per hour, I would have qualified for surgery paid for by my government, but I didn't qualify. The opinion of the sleep doctor was that the surgery is worthless so I guess its good I didn't qualify.

People that have it pretty bad are up to 10 or so events per hour. People that have it REALLY bad have it 20,30 times an hour. It was bad enough for me, but I cannot imagine what 20 or 30 times an hour would feel like.