We've been following "Callahan's law of joy and pain" (Shared pain is lessened, Shared joy is increased, thus do we refute entropy) here, with a lot of shared pain, and I wanted to share some joy.

I had my disability hearing this morning via phone, and it couldn't have gone better. The Judge announced he was planning to issue a "Fully favorable" disability claim. (meaning that he agreed I AM disabled, and have been since May of 2018 (when I wasn't able to return to working from home).

This means so much to me. There's the financial side, my family has been paying all my bills for over two years, and this will allow me to pay them back for their support.

And then there's the emotional side. For two years, I feel like I was told "No, you could really work if you wanted to enough, if you tried hard enough." It really fed my depression, for lack of a better phrase, that the government was calling me a liar.

So, it's like a 9000 lb weight off my shoulder. And I wanted not to only share the good news with you but thank you guys for the support you gave me during this whole thing

Awesome, Foz!

And to add to the good news. My wife is almost done with the first draft of her first novel. There's still a long way to go (major edit, beta reads, etc.), but most of us live our entire lives and never produce a piece of art as complete as a novel. So I am unspeakably proud of her.

And to add to the good news. My wife is almost done with the first draft of her first novel. There's still a long way to go (major edit, beta reads, etc.), but most of us live our entire lives and never produce a piece of art as complete as a novel. So I am unspeakably proud of her.

Grats! I know the pain of writing and the muse's fickleness, so I can understand what a relief it can be :)

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/HauntingDirtyDragon-size_restricted.gif

We've been following "Callahan's law of joy and pain" (Shared pain is lessened, Shared joy is increased, thus do we refute entropy) here, with a lot of shared pain, and I wanted to share some joy.

I had my disability hearing this morning via phone, and it couldn't have gone better. The Judge announced he was planning to issue a "Fully favorable" disability claim. (meaning that he agreed I AM disabled, and have been since May of 2018 (when I wasn't able to return to working from home).

This means so much to me. There's the financial side, my family has been paying all my bills for over two years, and this will allow me to pay them back for their support.

And then there's the emotional side. For two years, I feel like I was told "No, you could really work if you wanted to enough, if you tried hard enough." It really fed my depression, for lack of a better phrase, that the government was calling me a liar.

So, it's like a 9000 lb weight off my shoulder. And I wanted not to only share the good news with you but thank you guys for the support you gave me during this whole thing

GARTS, Foz! Continued good luck!!

And to add to the good news. My wife is almost done with the first draft of her first novel. There's still a long way to go (major edit, beta reads, etc.), but most of us live our entire lives and never produce a piece of art as complete as a novel. So I am unspeakably proud of her.

What kind of novel is it? GARTS, too!!

GARTS, Foz! Continued good luck!!



What kind of novel is it? GARTS, too!!

Romance. Set in 1990s Charleston, SC.

That is really good news man. I was thinking about you this morning hoping that things were going to go your way. I know that things have really been a struggle for you and I'm happy that you got some good news that you could share.

Congrats to Fozzie and Mrs. Albion!

Maybe I should write the romance/coming of age story set in a zombie apocalypse that I've had kicking around in my head for years.

Congrats.

I can only imagine what pressure you were under and am sure that weight is off your shoulders.

Thanks for sharing and congrats on the good news Foz and Mrs Albion! Remind us when the book comes out, my mother might be interested since its in Charleston.

Congratulations both of you! Our little piece of good news:

https://i.imgur.com/gedIyXl.jpg?1

Little Brooklynn James is now three weeks old, and came into the world at 6 lbs, 3 oz and 18.5 inches long. She's incredible, and my wife and I are now dumb and only talk about how perfect and beautiful she is.

*hugs* AWESOME FOZ!

yay Vince and family!

Cute Baby Alert!

Congratulations both of you! Our little piece of good news:

https://i.imgur.com/gedIyXl.jpg?1

Little Brooklynn James is now three weeks old, and came into the world at 6 lbs, 3 oz and 18.5 inches long. She's incredible, and my wife and I are now dumb and only talk about how perfect and beautiful she is.

Congratulations, Vince! She's a cutie! :)

That's so awesome Vince! GARTS!

I finally received my almost full refund on my flights to Poland/Ukraine for me and my brother. From my initial request to now has taken almost three months.

I was originally offered a travel voucher for future travel but I wanted my money back when international travel looked increasingly unlikely in the short to medium term. When I pushed for my money, they then said they would charge 10% of the cost as a "fee". I pointed to their terms and conditions which stated a full refund is due if my flights are canceled which they were. I finally got most of my money back (AU$5000) less $75 which I can live with.

The whole process was stressful. I tried to not let it worry me but I became more and more irritable as time went on. It was only after I complained on Twitter that things started moving - I started by making my request on the airline's website. Now that it is over, I am so relieved.

(I'm not mentioning the airline because, even though I was messed around for a long time, I am still grateful that they came through in the end. I neither want to demonize nor applaud them)

We've been following "Callahan's law of joy and pain" (Shared pain is lessened, Shared joy is increased, thus do we refute entropy) here, with a lot of shared pain, and I wanted to share some joy.

I had my disability hearing this morning via phone, and it couldn't have gone better. The Judge announced he was planning to issue a "Fully favorable" disability claim. (meaning that he agreed I AM disabled, and have been since May of 2018 (when I wasn't able to return to working from home).

This means so much to me. There's the financial side, my family has been paying all my bills for over two years, and this will allow me to pay them back for their support.

And then there's the emotional side. For two years, I feel like I was told "No, you could really work if you wanted to enough, if you tried hard enough." It really fed my depression, for lack of a better phrase, that the government was calling me a liar.

So, it's like a 9000 lb weight off my shoulder. And I wanted not to only share the good news with you but thank you guys for the support you gave me during this whole thing

YES! Congrats.

Congrats to all, the novelist, Foz for that amazing news on his disability and Vince for the best pic in the thread.

Maybe 2020 isn't as bad as we all thought

And to add to the good news. My wife is almost done with the first draft of her first novel. There's still a long way to go (major edit, beta reads, etc.), but most of us live our entire lives and never produce a piece of art as complete as a novel. So I am unspeakably proud of her.

As you damn well should be!;)

Congrats to her.

Congratulations both of you! Our little piece of good news:

https://i.imgur.com/gedIyXl.jpg?1

Little Brooklynn James is now three weeks old, and came into the world at 6 lbs, 3 oz and 18.5 inches long. She's incredible, and my wife and I are now dumb and only talk about how perfect and beautiful she is.

Congrats!

We tried to warn about the effects of that lack of sleep.

That is a sweet turban aesthetic.

Congrats Foz, Mrs. albion, and 21C.

Welcome to the world, Brooklyn! We're doing our best to clean it up. (We were thinking about Brooklyn for our youngest.)

Thanks all! She's a dream. Sleeps 7+ hours a night. We knock on wood every time we tell someone / they ask about her sleep. We know it very well may not last :)

Enjoy every minute. Even when you don't think you can, step back and just revel in amazement of your new life. Congrats. Being Dad is the greatest job there is.