Sick in Paris or Sucked into Paris?

Sometimes it feels like your home away from home really has become too much like home. We had a two week vacation that would have ordinarily been 1 week in Italy and 1 week Paris that became about twice as expensive for half the trip because of a passport 3 month date expiration miscalculation SNAFU. Long story short, and too many learning lessons, too many sick days on vacation, a run in with the French undercover po-po when we made the mistake of going into an unregistered Uber, and too many couples spats and farts later, we're safely back home. On the bright side, we have some beautiful pictures, unforgettable moments, and I can't imagine anyone else I would have rather done it with than the people I was there to see.

Author

Sandra Cheng
April 11, 2025

Creative Hump Conspiracy

As someone who has recovered from the symptoms of a severe mental health issue, I know how important it is not to accidentally hurt others in any community by using words that shame us. We rely on each other to meet each other where we’re at, being each other’s role models with person-first language. Let’s motivate each other by conspiring with one another to only steel each other’s hearts with words of encouragement.

How do we create a larger audience for mental health?

Welcome to the another issue of CREATIVE HUMP, your curated journal for modern creative thinking. It’s about cultivating the language for building a community that supports itself no matter what stage of recovery we are in, no matter how much ability we sustain, and no matter how old we become.

Age Appropriate Topics?

Setting the Stage for ALL AGES to get COMFY talking about IDENTITY with regards to HEALTH

From a French Craft Fair in the 10th Arrondisement

Emotionally, children may be exposed to drama very early. Sometimes, they may be seen as the “cause” of the drama, where fights begin just outside the womb. As the first to be witness to these arguments, they will often know more than they let on, and children can share wisdoms that you didn’t realize you needed to hear. Their uncanny knowledge might feel like you’ve just met the post-apolocalyptic witch’s child whose eyes turned blue from insight as a fetus by drinking from the prophetic waters of sandworms of Dune. Many people, including children, naturally turn to selective mutism to deal with trauma.

Selective mutism is different from shyness. To outsiders, it presents the same way, but internally the conflicts are different. Then there is the possibility that you have both, which is a bit more extreme. This can mean that the person will not communicate verbally, and they will also avoid non-verbal gestures.

Shyness is caused by fear and anxiety that prevents someone from speaking up, and selective mutism is a position that the person takes to deal with the situation, where that person may still communicate non-verbally, in whispers, or simply chooses not to talk. Like any mental health diagnosis, you must explain what both terms mean, and ask that person at a time when they can actually answer you. It might behoove you to let them know if you want to ask that person the same question again later, and possibly ask if they would allow you to record a future possible event, for clarity.

Can you imagine if doctors were liable to be sued
when they accidentally misgendered a baby from the sonogram reading?
What would the legal work look like if the baby was asked to sign, too?

For the Birds


Have you ever heard of a Cloaca? Before looking it up, I thought it was a collarbone, or possibly that thing that roosters have that looks like a dangling chin ball for its pecker. It’s actually the one thing that is very different for birds than women sexually speaking, that would make it impossible to have safe sex if we were built the same way, although it does seem physically possible. I’ll not go into gory details, but if you do want to read on, there’s a great article here at Enviroliteracy.

Where the babies come out, simply put, for a bird, but where it ALL comes out, too.

And the Bees

Lets say you have one bee who has four eggs- Two of those eggs have been saved in the refrigerator, left unfertilized, And she left the other two out in the bedroom where another drone could get at them. Now those in the kitchen, one of them could be a future queen after a nice long stint as a worker for a week or two. The other one stays a worker for the rest of her life, foraging flowers for that sweet sweet nectar and bringing it back to the hive. The drones are the rockstars who protect the nest, mating with the queen, and flying fast, willing to sacrifice themselves during the harvest season. But the nuptial flight story gets a bit sexier than I’m willing to write about here.  

Parthenogenesis is a way to lay eggs that involves no mating.

SEE iRescueBees.com → on Parthenogenesis


The Essentials

Things We Just Had to Share

Must try the Queen "B” Bacon at this downtown San Francisco restaurant.

Meditation in the warmth of a latte.

MEDITATION Message

Real Talk. Sometimes nothing seems to work for pain. That’s what meditation is for me. It’s a prayer to end the suffering. It’s nothing more, nothing less.

When you find a meditative practice or ritual that works for you, you know it’s working because you start to sleep better, your pain slowly, gently decreases, and it does eventually dissolve into a good day. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes hard work.

I hope that this message finds you where you are at, and if you are in pain (like me) that you are able to resolve it at some point with your own resources, with your own words, and especially under your own volition. You deserve every peaceful moment.

May you have a restful time especially when it matters the most.

Robo-MiniMe (HeyGen)

Why am I still sharing this flat HeyGen Minnie Mouse Video?

This Mac&Cheese Ultimate cheddar bacon burger from Burger King in Paris came complete with a Health risk warning below

Fast Food Francais

“Pour Votre Sante, practiquez une activite physique reguliere.”

Birthday Haiku

Hearing Voices while Feeding my Gut

A New Favorite Eatery- Holy Belly

One of the things I purchased as a memento this time was Martin Ketchup.  

I know. Why, right? Well, honestly, I’ve made my own homemade ketchup before, and this is probably the closest thing to it in a bottle. It takes too much work to make ketchup, and this one would also be a wonderful memory of a great little place in Paris that we love, a place called “Holy Belly”.  We went to this place twice, and we loved it so much we really didn’t mind the extraordinary long lines both times.

The Short Cut 

PARIS DISCOVERIES 2025

This month, we learned through trial and error that traveling abroad isn’t always a walk in the park. To preach to the choir:

Aaah, the French.

☕ Passports

Make sure they don’t expire the same year of travel for safety.

Expedited options are available at a cost if you can afford it provided you already have proof of purchase of tickets for travel.

Be careful especially because different countries have different policies about their needs for those expiration dates if you’re cutting it close.

Subway boobs

🛋 Uber or Taxis

Make sure your driver is who they say they are by asking and checking for signs.

Fear not.

🖼 Hotels

Even if you have to purchase the day of, it is always possible in a budget safely.

Airbnb is also a safe option, as long as you’re careful about reading the details.

A Final Note

NOTES FROM SANDRA CHEESE

“I Like Cheese, EveryBody!”

Until next time,

Creative Hump

We hope all is well where you are.