iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Someone reminded me there is a here. I am not yet here exactly but I feel like it's not impossible anymore. I'm still healing and it's still up and down but there's more up than there is down. I'm tentatively trying to figure out how to come back to everywhere and everyone I've left. Here:

A black cap conure named Maggie who is swaddled in a white t-shirt with her eyes closed.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

I'm certain I can't fully update in 300 characters, but I did want to boop everyone. I have been wishing, quite frequently, that I had the ability to get back into this. But I'm still working through so many things. I'm tired of the "healing isn't linear" mantra, but it's excessively true. Flower:

A big bunch of fuchsia pink blossoms in a bunch on a single stem, with many large green leaves in the background. It's called "pigsqueak"!

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

I tried reading here, but part of my recovery is managing all the things that will make me feel even more hopeless and helpless. As I subject myself to some of the most invasive, painful, and traumatizing treatments, I have to tell myself it will all be worth it when I'm done.

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Margaret Mitchell @mmitchell.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

🪶 Happy Big Migratory Bird Day!! Today, if you can, spend some time making spaces around you more bird-friendly, and reporting birds you see & hear so scientists can know how bird populations are changing and migrating. Here’s how to do this!! 🧵 1/n

Colored drawing of a bunch of different shapes and sizes of birds, surrounding a pool of water with city skyscrapers behind them. A house is to their right, where a cat watches through a window dotted with white circles (which keep birds from smashing into the glass).
Bottom of image says “Shared Space: Creating Bird-friendly Cities and Communities”.
Art by Annamaria Savarino Drago of Mexico

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Trying to break the ice I've accidentally covered my account in. I'm not sure I am ready for social media yet. It's been a very rough seven months. I am told the total recovery time is more like 18 months. (And I'll likely need another surgery, so I'll have to reset the timer again!) Eh. Bird:

A spotted towhee poking out from behind a trunk of a camellia bush.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 11/11/2024

So, I really love acorn woodpeckers. 🪶

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 28/10/2024

I'm home now and it's weird. I've had so many ups and downs. The trip home was really painful for me. I don't think I was ready to go. I'm sure I'm not ready to be here, where there are so many things to do that I feel I must, but still can't (yet). I gather I missed a lot while I was gone, huh?

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 06/10/2024

Welp my skull is now officially attached to my C2 vertebra so we'll see how that goes.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 18/07/2024

Also, a bit of joy. This is from much earlier this year of course, in spring. While I was out of state having my procedure, my aunties came over and planted some flowers where I would see them from my window. These purple pansies looked so cheerful.

A bright purple flowered pansy plant in a green wooden planter. There are at least six flowers, and the most mature is mostly purple, with a few yellow and white bits in the center, surrounded by even darker purple. One of the younger flowers has bright white surrounding the extra dark purple blotch on the lower petals.

A closer look at the most mature blooming pansy flower. The purple petals look so delicate, and the white pollen covered anthers look soft and fuzzy. Some pansies sometimes look like faces, but this one looks more like a butterfly than a face.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 18/07/2024

Normally I post a nice photo anytime I post some kind of despairing sentiment but I was really not able to then. So here's something today: a bumble bee on a dandelion. Mask wearing benefit #53,247: you can get VERY close to a bumble bee without breathing on it (they don't like our breath).

A bright yellow dandelion flower with a bumble bee feeding on it. Her wings obscure her lower abdominal fur so it's impossible to tell what species, but she's got yellow fur and a bright black shiny spot on her thorax. She's face down into the dandelion's compound flower structure, slurping nectar.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 17/07/2024

I'm not entirely sure how to be here, or be anywhere really. And I mean anywhere, anywhere. I always thought that a sliver of hope for my health would tether me but boy am I not okay. Which of course makes me feel like I'll sound ungrateful or a bummer so shhhh, me. So. I dunno how to be. Still. 🤷‍♀️

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 26/04/2024

I. Love. My. Nextdoor. Neighbors. Seriously, getting an email titled, "There is a duck in my neighbor's yard." made my evening. She was genuinely worried she'd need to drive the duck back to the lake. I love these people so much.

A screenshot of an email sent to me from Nextdoor, telling me about a post titled, "There is a duck in my neighbor's yard." They are apparently a mile from the lake. There's a thumbnail of the photo of the duck, a female mallard, sitting in the grass.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 10/04/2024

Box box box box box box box box box

Niko the gold cap conure digging into a wooden foraging box full of natural materials like shredded brown paper, sola sticks and banana leaf bundles. He's buried pretty deep into the box.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 08/04/2024

UPDATE: COVID wastewater levels are low in most US states. If you've been holding off on healthcare or other activities, now is one of the best times of the year to go. Note that even in low periods you are still at risk of COVID exposure, so it makes sense to take precautions.

Chart: COVID-19 Wastewater Levels by US State (April 2024)

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 08/04/2024

I'm ok with having seen one solar eclipse. Not totality of course but I got a few 'eh' photos and then started taking pictures of birds instead of the sun anyway. The photo of the bird is WAY more interesting.

A photograph of a female Anna's hummingbird drinking nectar from a scarlet runner bean flower.

A photograph of the sun during a partial eclipse, taken with a filter to protect the lens, so the coloring is all amber.

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It's ME(Jaime) @exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social · 05/04/2024

This is an initiative with real, measurable outcomes & could be a true inflection point for ME/CFS care. Hope you'll join the fight with us, and thank you for all you do every day to further the work! ✨https://meaction.net/donate✨ #TeachMETreatME #MillionsMissing /fin

meaction.net

Donate - #MEAction Network

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It's ME(Jaime) @exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social · 05/04/2024

But we can't press on without you! If this work is important to you, I hope you'll consider making a donation and/or quote-tweeting this thread with why this work matters to you + a donation link. We know you can't always donate, but sharing matters too! (5/6) #TeachMETreatME #MillionsMissing

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It's ME(Jaime) @exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social · 05/04/2024

The #TeachMETreatME campaign is turning out to be an incredibly successful campaign for #MillionsMissing this year! Local and state groups are doing in-person #MedEd events; #MEAction is also engaging in longer-term partnerships to create products to transform #MECFS care. (1/6)

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 06/04/2024

I'M GOING TO GO LIVE UNDER A ROCK NOW AND JUST GIVE UP ON ALL THIS DIFFICULT BULLSHIT AAAAAaaaaa How the fuck is anyone supposed to try to get better when all the doctors are quitting HOW every day I think about all the patients who have already given up and I just... salute them, I guess.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 02/04/2024

My complex disease specialist is dropping me (and most of the rest of his patients) so I am feeling sad and betrayed today. This makes things so much more difficult to face. I don't know what I'll do. I'm racing to try to find someone but he was The One, I thought. :(

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AF the Virologist @afthescientist.bsky.social · 01/04/2024

The Razz flower opened more today. 🌱 #Pinguicula #CarnivorousPlants

Hand holding a decent sized Pinguicula- a plant that has sticky leaves to trap small insects like gnats. It has a flower stem coming out of the middle of the plant with a white flower bloomed. It has a magenta pink/purple in the center of the flower and on the inner edges of the flower. It has 5 petals: teo on top, two on the sides/bottom, & one on central bottom. The far edges of the flower are curvy.

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AF the Virologist @afthescientist.bsky.social · 01/04/2024

Masks also prevent flu transmission. We had a whole lineage of flu disappear when everyone was masking.

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Effin' Birds @effinbirds.com · 01/04/2024

A painting of a bird beside the text "that was craptacular"

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 02/04/2024

Every time people say, "it's just the flu" I'm like, JUST the flu?! Just the flu mopped the floor with me!

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 01/04/2024

Stargazer lilies are extravagant 🌱 (my squirrels ate the bulbs I planted 🐿)

Stargazer lilies in all their pink and reddish speckled glory

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Ilene Goldman @ilenegold.bsky.social · 01/04/2024

It’s happening! www.ilenegoldman.com/books

The cover of Outlaws by Ilene T. Goldman under a banner that says “Available for Preorder”

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 27/03/2024

Random thought, but both our flights had what felt like really chaotic TSA screenings, even the flight that was relatively late in the evening when the airport was not busy. It didn't feel like that the last times I flew. Is it my imagination or is it just a really terrible NOT secure shitshow now?

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 27/03/2024

Nothing is working quite right today so I'm staying in bed and it's hard to internalize that it's okay and necessary and to accept and blah blah blah I just wanna get out of bed and also while I'm at it I want a pony and a million dollars

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Constance Lee Menefee @conniemenefee.bsky.social · 27/03/2024

Rookie Red-bellied Woodpeckers are delightful - I know "my" nesting pair is around - they typically have two fledglings 🌿🪶

Very young Red-bellied Woodpecker clinging to a cypress trunk

Young Red-bellied Woodpecker twisting head around

Young Red-bellied Woodpecker leaning back from tree trunk

Red-bellied Woodpecker youngster twisting head around, looking down

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 27/03/2024

"In the distance, a salmon is barking."

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 26/03/2024

Reading this article made me 🤔 because of the part where cream itself doesn't provide the same protective benefit ice cream appears to. As someone who's been self medicating with ice cream bc it's like an internal ice pack, I'm feeling less weird about how I can't find anything else that does that.

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Daniel Martin @fizbin.bsky.social · 22/03/2024

I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases) projects.propublica.org/claimfile/

projects.propublica.org

Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claim

You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file f...

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 26/03/2024

To everyone in a similar scenario: the tactic my doctor's office has taught me is to ask, in writing, for: 1) the name, board specialty, and license number of the doctor making the determination the treatment was not medically necessary;

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Reba LBH @rebalbh.bsky.social · 25/03/2024

I love inflorescence or cluster of flowers. I am trying to collect such plants that put out flowers in bunches not only for their beauty but because they attract butterflies and bees and birds🐝🦋🐦‍⬛ Presenting one such plant which is blooming called bridal bouquet or Sweet Autumn Clematis🌱🌿✌️

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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 25/03/2024

KITTENS

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Taylor Lorenz @taylorlorenz.bsky.social · 25/03/2024

Oop! www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 24/03/2024

There’s so much pain in the world now. But let’s hold on to this for some light: This is the first time EVER that it is Purim, Ramadan & Palm Sunday all at the same time. 🌙 Ramadan Kareem, 🌴 Palm Sunday blessings, & 🎉 Purim Sameach, all. ♥️ Thx to erev rav Talia Kaplan for pointing this out.

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Kate, Queen of the Squirrels (she/her) @pavlovcat.myatproto.social · 24/03/2024

I cannot get this absolutely chonkasaurus rex to play with any toys lately. Apparently he's been longing for a roll of paper towels.

A cat, his body curled around a tattered roll of paper towels, looking at something over his shoulder like gollum protecting the ring of power.

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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 24/03/2024

Chag Purim Semeach. Go fuck yourself Haman!

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 24/03/2024

I answered one of my own questions on Twitter and it has gotten a few RTs and now I feel that anxiety in my chest again. If people RT that shit far enough out of my front yard that I get a goddamn Nazi in my mentions, I will have to go private again and I hate that because then I can't search shit.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 24/03/2024

Also, Jesus Hyacinth Christ, I go back there to write to my friends for a second, and the fucking Discourse has NOT CHANGED AT ALL. It's still literally the exact same issue that started to drive me away from That Hellsite in earnest. It's not compatible with good mental health.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 24/03/2024

Sadly, it's still so much easier to write longer threads at That Hellsite, and I still have so many beloved friends there, so I wrote a long thread about the thing I've been talking about in clipped tones for a while. If you want to read: twitter.com/jmatwood/sta...

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 20/03/2024

Do you all remember Bunhouse?? The game where you're a bunny growing plants? The author is making Cinnabunny, a bunny who runs a bakery! It looks like there's way way way more content than just that, though. Watch the video, it's adorable. www.kickstarter.com/projects/pat...

kickstarter.com

Cinnabunny - A Bunny Baking Game

A cozy couch co-op life simulator game where you play as a bunny who runs a bakery.

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Julie is a REAL BIRD @joolie.bsky.social · 23/03/2024

My cape sundew trapping a conifer seed bug:

A black bug with antennae trying to get free of a long leaf with many red "hairs", each with a small round "dew drop" at the end. The drops are incredibly sticky, and the bug's movement has caused the hairs to curl up around/under it, trapping it in sticky goo.

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