As I mentioned in my last post, I'm moving to Vegas. (Yeah, baby!!!) One would think that, since I'm spending so much time at home instead of out in public, that I'd be trigger-free.

WRONG!!!   %')

I was fortunate that the friend who was taking care of Tooki (my bird) when I went to Vegas to look for apartments kept him for a few days beyond when I got back; but once I picked him up, I knew packing was going to go much more slowly. What can I say? I spoiled the little guy, so now all he wants to do is sit on my shoulder and nuzzle. That in itself is a comedic scene - especially when I'm constantly moving around and he's trying to keep his balance. I remember when I was packing in DC to come to the Midwest, I was on my hands and knees at one point, so he walked down to my butt. Anyway, the first day I had him back from my Vegas trip two weeks ago, he whined over and over and over... for a LOOOOONG time - even when he was on my shoulder. (He really must've been afraid that I'd leave him again.)  I love him to pieces, but he's the one trigger that usually drives me away from my apartment. Unfortunately, I had to put up with it for the first day so that I didn't lose any momentum packing. I'm sure he missed me, even though he had another cockatiel playmate while I was gone, and he probably sensed something was up, given that it looked like a tornado hit inside the apartment. Luckily though, after a couple of days home with me, he relaxed a bit and was quiet when I put him on top of his cage with a treat while I packed a couple more boxes here and there.

I'm doing my best to not get too stressed out, knowing that stress increases my sensitivities to triggers. As I'm sure many of you know though, moving is more often than not EXTREMELY stressful. Between the fact that this is probably the worst time to move - with students going back to school - and other Murphy's Law things happening, I find myself trying (unsuccessfully) to practice my mindfulness meditation. Hopefully, once the movers pick up my things in two weeks and I get on the road, I'll be able to unwind. I find driving to be very relaxing, and given that it's going to take me at least 20 hours on the road (not including gas/food/stretching stops) to get there, I'll have plenty of time to meditate. (Don't worry... I'm going to stay

Yes, you read that correctly. In less than a month, I'm going to move from the low key Midwest life to the flashy hustle and bustle of Las Vegas! Vegas may be a lighting designer's paradise, but if I'm not careful... It might become a misophonian's nightmare!

Since this will be the first time I've moved to a new location knowing about my misophonia condition (up until now, I've lived in ignorant "bliss," if you can call it that), I've been diligent about setting up certain criteria when looking for a new place to live. Knowing how frustrating it was when I first moved to Iowa and lived in a walk-up with neighbors above me, I knew that if I did move into another walk-up apartment building, I'd have to live on the top floor - preferably a corner with as few neighbors as possible. I wouldn't want to live near the complex's pool, since that would be a very active (noisy) area. I'd need to be careful about the building's orientation because I usually try to situate Tooki (my bird) at a window where he could look outside, but given how hot it is in Vegas, I wouldn't want to come home from work to a roasted bird. Between those factors, as well as the minimum square footage I wanted and my approximate move-in date, my options quickly became severely limited.

I also knew I'd have to be careful about noise from my surrounding environment, so I tried to get as far away from the Strip and the airport flight paths as possible. I thought I found a perfect place in the northwest part of Vegas, in a corner apartment at the top level facing the mountains and only 20-30 minutes away from my office (which is mid-way along the Strip). A friend in Vegas, who has been my mentor throughout the majority of my career, dissuaded me from that location and  I'm actually glad he did... In the dozen years that I've traveled to Vegas  least once (if not two or three times) every year, I didn't

Happy July, everyone. I hope everyone had a festive (and trigger-free) holiday weekend.

I was looking at my Twitter feed and noticed an interesting post by someone who mentioned the sounds of fireworks being annoying. It made me think that might be an interesting poll question, so I've added it here at the bottom of this entry. (Figured the two on the home page are still relatively recent, and this one is so specific to the holiday, I'd just leave it here.)

A big part of my holiday was spent doing major clean-out of my apartment, in preparation for a job move (once I decide on which offer to accept). Let's just say that this negotiation process is a real pain in the butt!

One of the considerations I've had to make when considering the offers is where I'd live in each of the potential new locations. This is the first time I've looked into housing options since having been diagnosed with misophonia. Definitely a different experience than in previous years... Now when I look at apartments or houses, I'm not only looking at commuting distance/times, the cost of rent, and minimum square footages, I'm keeping an eye out for potential sound issues, how close are neighbors (or the adjacent houses), is there a school/dog park/airport or other high activity places nearby. I'm also mindful