Open Road Song

For some reason, my last post decided that it was posted on March 15th, instead of March 7th like it actually was. For those of you following along at home, today is March 15th, and that post was about two weekends ago, so I was a bit confused... Anyhow! Adjusted the date, all is right with the world, and now I can talk about this past weekend.

Friday was a bit of a clusterfuck - this professional group that I'm in did a night at a local theater to benefit that theater's program for high school kids. The play was fine, super depressing, and about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be. More annoying than that was the fact that only ONE OTHER PERSON from our group showed up. I mean, really? GAH! So afterwards we went to a restaurant I've been wanting to try, only to discover that Surprise! It is super expensive! Not horrifically so, but more than we were planning to spend. So we got the cheapest option (pasta) and then got the fuck out of there.

Saturday was good. Got brunch at our favorite spot in Silver Spring, ran some errands, took Coco on a nice long walk. Then that night was our friend Eric's birthday party, which was fun. Got to hang with that group, eat three types of Mac & Cheese, and try Guinness' new "nitro" IPA. It's pretty good!

Sunday I felt like shit. Palmer's been fighting a cold for the past week and apparently I caught the same one. The bummer was, we had concert tickets for that night. I rallied, we went to dinner (which was tasty) then headed to the concert. During the opener I thought I was going to pass out, I felt so badly. I almost just called an Uber and went home - but I'm glad I didn't! When the band came on (Metric) I started to feel better. Not great, but well enough that I could stand for an hour or so and enjoy some music that I like. We got home and I immediately passed out.

Yesterday was a bit of a waste. I had to go into work cause I had a phone call that afternoon with a potential client. Well guess who never called? And then we rescheduled for today (with the understanding that he would call me) and guess who didn't call again? At this point I'm kinda over it. Anyhow yeah, yesterday sucked, felt like poop, went to bed very early. Thank god for Nyquil. Today I'm feeling better, but still clearly sick - its just moved all up into my head, which is very clogged. I've taken some Sudafed and I'm staying hydrated, but still - no fun.

I got accepted onto a committee I applied for, which will be nice resume-builder. (God I got old. When did that happen?) I also dyed my hair blue! (There, that's better.) Palmer and I are planning to paint the living room a fun teal color, then our big house project for the year will be to re-do the floors. Well, first check to make sure that we do in fact have hardwood under the carpet, then hire some folks to rip up the carpet, sand the floors, and stain them a nice dark finish. Yay, modernity! (Seriously, right now we have builder beige walls and beige carpet, its a PROBLEM.)

And that's about it. What have you been up to?

I've had anemia for years. Over a decade, in fact. First manifested in my teens, and has persisted since then. Other than preventing me from donating blood, it hasn't been too big a deal. Until, apparently, now.

My GP has had me on an iron supplement for the past year or so, trying to get my iron levels up and get rid of my anemia. Iron deficiency, after all, is one of the most common causes of anemia. So I faithfully took my iron pills daily, and went back in for bloodwork, sure that the problem would be fixed. Except it wasn't. So then I faithfully took TWO iron pills a day, sure that this time, the anemia would be gone. But it isn't. And my iron levels are normal. Yet I still present with anemia.

Not a big deal, I thought to myself. After all, I've had anemia for years and nothing has come of it! Sure, recommend a hematologist, once you send me the referral I'll make an appointment just so you don't worry. Because there's nothing to worry about!

Huh, why am I getting head rushes all of a sudden? Why are they even worse than the ones I got back in high school, when my anemia first manifested? Why am I getting them after mundane activities, like stooping to pick up a pen from the floor? I eat healthily, I've been reducing my drinking, I've been cutting back on smoking, I exercise... why am I getting head rushes?

Traipse on over to WebMD and the list of potential causes for anemia is enormous. And includes fun things like celiac, Crohn's, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and more! So.

Got the list of referrals yesterday, and I'm going to spend some time tomorrow calling and trying to get an appointment with a doctor that takes my insurance. Because if its just a vitamin deficiency, great, I will take a multi-vitamin. But I really need to know if its something worse. And these head rushes need to stop. Before I fall over or vomit, or both.

Ok, lets not talk about how much I fail at updating, despite repeated vows to get better. We'll pretend that I'm awesome at updating, or that I don't make repeated vows, and we'll be just fine, yes? Great!

So, I had the death. It was terrible. I am on horse pill sized antibiotics now, which seems to be doing away with the death. But let me tell you, going to bed one night with a mild cold and runny nose and waking up the next day with your ENTIRE FACE hurting from sinus pressure is not so fun.

Cards will be going out over the next few days- didn't really have the energy while I was sick, and now I need stamps. So. Stamps will be acquired tonight, cards will go out by Saturday. So you might get your card a little later than I'd intended, but certainly before the New Year!

I am going to savagely beat a coworker, and I don't think a single other coworker would blame me. This guy is always late. I mean, always. By at least 20 minutes. And three times in the last month, he's been an hour and a half late. And since he's my relief, I can't leave until he gets there. So yes. Savage beatings will commence, and then this little fuckup will learn not to let his shit infringe on other people's lives.

Ok, no actual savage beatings. Just savage glee when he's fired in the new year. Bastard.

On a positive note! Christmas shopping is all done! Wrapping is all done! We didn't actually decorate this year, mostly out of laziness, but the spirit is there! I have candy cane nails, that counts for something, doesn't it?

Alright. I potentially have some exciting news, but I don't want to jinx it- so I won't post about it until it happens. But please think good thoughts for me, ok?

Much love!

Random observation- idly watching VH1's top 100 songs of the 00's hosted by Pete Wentz. We're up to Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl, and PWentz is all "And here I thought we were over the pseudo-lesbian pop culture moment. Nope!" Damn, Wentz. BURN!

Broken toe is broken. Wore the post-op shoe to work yesterday, but those things are not made to be stood in for 8 hours. After about 4 hours, my alignment was thrown off, the sole of my foot hurt, and all my muscles ached from compensating for my foot. So I called Palmer and asked him to bring me my other sneaker. In case I haven't said it, Palmer is a prince among men.

Today, I wore my normal shoe, but brought the post-op just in case. Didn't end up using it today, but did have to move quickly to the back room to cry and curse after Buddy Coworker accidentally kicked my broken toe. Well, not kicked. Rather, turned and stepped back just as I was passing, and our feet collided. It hurt like hell. I seriously had to hurry to the back so that I wouldn't be spewing f-bombs behind the counter. Buddy Coworker felt really guilty, but it wasn't his fault. Just a stupid accident that hurt like a motherfucker.

Still been doing a lot of couch sitting. But at least I'm getting out the apartment between sessions on the couch. Classes start on Tuesday, so this is my last free weekend. Must. Celebrate. Exhaustively.

Sorry for the TMI, but Palmer and I totally bought diaper cream on Saturday due to the wicked chafing we had from moving all our furniture to the new apartment on the hottest day of the year. Seriously, it hurt to wear underwear. Not fun. But diaper cream? Wonder drug! Put it on and instantly felt better! We were able to go back to the old apartment and move even more stuff! So yes, in case of godawful chafing, use diaper cream. You're welcome.

Anyhow! Friday was our official move-in day. We managed to move everything from our storage unit, plus the 55" inch tv we had left at his mom's place, plus all the furniture (except the bookcase) from the old apartment to the new. Saturday we went to Target for much needed supplies, then moved a whole bunch more boxes. Today we completely packed up the kitchen, then cleaned the hell out of it. How did I accumulate so much crap?! Whatever. We have through next Sunday to finish moving, and we're going to use all of that time so that we don't burn out. Tomorrow I'll be cleaning out the bathroom and disassembling the bookshelf (and doing laundry), and we'll tackle the bedroom and the living room after that. It'll be all good. Meanwhile, we definitely have the new place set up to be livable, though our clean clothes supply is running perilously low, hence the laundry. Basically, super busy for the next week. But by the end of this coming week, we should be both fully moved, and fully unpacked. Rock on!

Things we still need to buy:
-A second dresser. We decided on the long, low 6-drawer model, but we want to measure my car and make sure it'll fit in it before we actually spend money on it. It should fit, we just want to make sure.
-Another utensil holder. The drawer space in the kitchen is not optimal, and silverware takes up most of the one available drawer. Another countertop utensil holder is necessary.
-A kitchen workstation. There is also minimal counter space in the kitchen, and Ikea sells an awesome workstation for about $200. We just need to measure and double-check that it'll fit, but I am optimistic.

So yes. We've gotten the place livable, and over the next week we'll move everything else over and clean the shit out of the old place. Once everything is done I'll post pictures, but trust me, the new place is awesome.

Til next time!

I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to injure my right arm in such a way that it hurts to perform any movement involving the tricep and bicep muscles. Typing? Fine. Pointing to something without moving above the elbow? Also fine. Reaching out to pick up a coffee cup and have a sip? OH GOD, WHY DOES IT HURT SO BADLY?!?!?!

It started yesterday, about half an hour into the store being open. I had been fine, then suddenly (while working the espresso bar) I realized that my right upper arm was really starting to hurt. It was all downhill after that. Duante suggested that I not move it, Abey wanted me to have one of them try to massage out what he thought was a knot, Tanisha suggested I just "pop it back" to normal, and Judith tried to pressure the knot away only to cause more pain. Basically, everyone had different ideas, none of them worked. Well, holding it still worked pretty well, but since I was AT work, in a COFFEE SHOP, I couldn't realistically do that for long. So I mostly just gritted my teeth and groaned at any extended movement. Fun times!

It still hurts today- feels like a tendon is popping back and forth over muscles, which I'm not sure is possible. If it doesn't feel better by tomorrow morning I'm going to a doctor to get checked out. I'm ok, its not that I am UNABLE to move, just that it hurts to do so. :(

Anyhow, the rest of today's plans include homework. And that's it. Thankfully, doing homework does not involve a lot of upper arm movement. GO ME!

(If anyone corrects me on the spelling of ya'll I won't be held accountable for my actions.)

I have spent the morning listening to music and resizing all the photos my mom took in Turkey and sending them to her. Damn was that repetitive. However, she took some lovely pics and she'll be glad to have them.

Now I'm going to fix a sandwich, then I'm going to move all the music I just got onto my external hard drive, iTunes, and my iPod. Good times!

So I got a 3.92 for the semester overall. I aced the Urban Watersheds exam, which is totally awesome. I was really confident about it, but it was still nice to see 94/100 on the website. Now I'm trying to figure out transfer stuff for the University of Maryland. If its a straight-forward transfer then I have 8 days to complete it. If its an application for reinstatement then I have two months to complete it, but my GPA will take a dive once I get back into UMD. Bah.

Still quite irritated at a group of people irl. Whatever. Fuck em.

Seeing Empires tonight in Baltimore! Quite excited and plan to take copious pics.

I do wish my face would stop breaking out. It is quite painful and unsightly. Also, I don't understand why I had lovely skin throughout my adolescence but I get to adulthood and suddenly I'm Craterface McGee. WTF?! Maybe I should get ProActiv, see if that shit helps.

Whatever, more shit to do, off to go do it. Kisses!

My uterus has decided to attempt a hostile takeover of my body, and is basically doing a blitzkreig of cramps on my poor midsection. It has been going on for 12 hours now, and my heating pad-defense is barely working. WHY, URSULA?! (By the way, Ursula is totally the name of my uterus. It is nicely alliterative, and also descriptive of the evil sea-bitch she can be when angry.)

On a brighter note, Palmer and I had our first physical training session today. It went well! Was completely exhausting and we're still recovering, but we definitely got a workout. I really do like our trainer, she's a nice woman who works us hard but jokes around and knows our limits. Our next appointment is in two weeks, but we have to go to the gym several times between now and then, so wish us luck!

I've amazed all my local friends with tales of the Victoria Bitter/Andrew Blake wank, which truly is the wank that keeps on giving. Regarding the latest bullshit, I don't know which option is worse- that Andy has his followers believing that evil undead Shamans are attacking AND that Andy and the DAYDians (and wouldn't that be a great band name?) can defeat them, or that Andy and one minion decided to use the incredibly personal information of someone who considered Andy a friend in order to fuck with someone else. They are both shitty, shitty options and I am so glad that I backed out of that friendship before I got sucked into all that bullshit.

That's about it! More tomorrow on the heating situation and thinking about resolutions.