Made it to Texas!

Well, I'm here in Texas and mostly settled in.  There are a few (huge, glaring) problems, notably a broken air conditioner (I dare you to look up the average temperature in College Station right now.  I dare you!!) and the shocking revelation that when I called and specifically asked if this unit came with a fridge the answer was merely, "Yes", with no mention of the fact that it is indeed a MINIfridge.  Also, the pool is bright green.  So much for the crystalline pools advertised by the complex's website.  And, on top of all that, the toilet is highly temperamental and I've had to reach into the tank a half-dozen times at least to adjust the seal.  Grrr...I suppose I should be grateful that I know what to do...but I'm not feeling super generous right now, while I sit here in shorts and a tank and still sweating like a pig!

Here are some pictures from the trip and my new place:

The name made me giggle!

Fueling up!  We did a lot of this...

 Outside some coffee shop in New Orleans.  I kept thinking of that Scooby Doo on Zombie Island movie, and wishing I had it on DVD!

I was trying to capture how spooky the moon and the abandoned house were.

Sadly, even moving away from the pillars didn't really illustrate it the way I wanted.

 The guy hugging the dog kept trying to buy it from it's owner (the sitting guy).  Sitting Guy was unimpressed.

 No idea who this guy is.  Just liked the random shot!

 My new place!  I did not take a single before picture because it was just TOO DEPRESSING.  Anyway, that couch pulls out into a bed and will be my bed for a month or two until I can afford to get one from Macy's or somewhere.

How I'm going to cook a Thanksgiving meal in this pathetic excuse for a kitchenette, I just don't know.

 I mean, if it weren't for the table and shelving that I added, I'd have NO space at all!  To store or do anything!

I'm going to eat there too.  In case you can't tell, on the middle of the table is a vase my little sister got me, filled with the origami cranes she can make half-asleep and with her eyes closed.

  

This is my awesome green desk and my awesome green chair.  WOO!

 The bathroom is much worse than it looks.  I'm going to have to scrub like hell and figure out some genius way to tart the place up.

Where I'm sleeping right now, and where my bed will eventually go.


That's all for now!

Oh, Monday

Well, I had all sorts of lovely plans for today and they all flopped, mostly because I flopped.

Went to Leu Gardens this morning, and slipped and fell on a wet path.  Felt my knee twist and was on the ground and in pain for at least 5 minutes. Took me a good 10 minutes before I made it to a bench, and a dozen people walked by without offering help even though I was bleeding down my leg and had dirt and leaves all over my khaki capris. Managed to get to another bench where I finally got some help from some gardeners who saw me. They got a golf cart for me and got me back to the main place and cleaned me up a little with a first aid kit. Getting to my car was awful, and the drive nerve-wracking. Finally got home and managed to change into shorts, collect my crutches, and get to the bathroom to wash my knee.

Called my sister, who brought my mother and some Chinese food home for me.  Then she took me to the doc (hooray for the CentraCare app where you can make no-wait appointments!!!) who checked me out.
Holy moly having the doc manually test my ligaments HURT! I thought I was pretty good with pain but that was awful. Testing my ACL was worst.  I had to lie down, put my foot down on the table, and hold my thigh firmly while he pulled and pushed my calf.  I was so sore, I'm amazed I only groaned and didn't scream.  Then I had x-rays and the doc said everything looked great (thank GOODNESS) but he'd give me a cd with copies of my x-rays on it in case I decided to go to my old knee surgeon for a further checkup.  I only will if my knee doesn't get better in a week or so. 

Came home and spent the rest of the evening on the couch - you try eating your dinner while balancing a plate on cushions - and now I'm in bed where I will probably remain all day tomorrow.  At least I can make phone calls and and handle some of the moving business in bed, and even work on my thesis.  I have a lot to be grateful for...but I am feeling pretty sore and grumpy right now.  I would love it if someone magically appeared with a cheeseburger.  That's all for now, folks.

It's the end of July?

Where has the summer gone?  How are we now in the dog days?!  I'm sick yet AGAIN (seriously, if I were in a Victorian novel I'd be lying on a couch, feebly listening to a chatterbox nurse and attempting to ply a needle in some delicate embroidery), but the doctor says if I take the antibiotics she gave me and some mucinex and cough drops, then my ear infection will clear up, and the upper respiratory infection should go away instead of developing into bronchitis.  Let's face it, I bronchitis three times in 2 1/2 years in California, and I've been in and out of doctors' offices and hospitals my whole life...infections aren't something I can monkey around with.  Blah.  Healthy people are so lucky!

I think I'm also going to start taking Allegra again daily, just to see if allergies why I've been so exhausted all the time.  Last night I fell asleep at 9 pm (while reading), woke up at 10, got into my pjs and went to bed properly, and then I couldn't sleep until 4 am.  Woke up at a quarter to 8, slept again until 10 am, and then felt so rotten I just stayed in bed with a book until noon when I dragged myself into the dining room for some food.

I've been planning out the move to Texas, and happily the drive will only take two days (it's 15 1/2 hours, so I could even do it in one day if something happened that I needed to rush about it), so my sister will drive out with me and fly back after I'm settled in.  I guess we should book her flight, three weeks isn't any too long to make plans, hopefully we can get a good deal. 

Tomorrow (illness and weather permitting) I'm going to Wal Mart to get a day planner (sorry mistreated workers, but I'm broke and their stuff is cheapest), and then I'll call the College Station cable/internet and electricity people to arrange for my apartment to get set up.  Thank goodness I have a smartphone now so being without internet won't be so awful and LIMITING the way it was when I moved to Cali!  Once that's done, it's back to the thesis.  I keep praying one day I'll wake up and suddenly understand EXACTLY what I need to do, so that I can do it.  That'd be so great.

I should also sort out the stuff I want to take with me - never want to endure another road trip where my car is cram-jammed so high you can barely see out the windows!!  I'm leaving my easel, my paints, and my jewelry-making supplies behind which should make a huge difference.  My place is pretty much going to be monastic - Mom and Dad are getting me a bed, and I've decided to get a bunch of those IKEA end tables to use as a desk and table (yay sitting on the floor), but that's going to be it, other than a bookshelf or two, until I can afford to get stuff on my own.  I'm also going to leave behind all my nice wineglasses and martini glasses I got as presents, and I'll just buy a 6 pack of those IKEA glasses when I get there.  That should do me just fine.  Problem is, I'll have to bring quite a few textbooks with me...but Lidia is great at packing and without the paints, easels, canvasses, my guitar, boxes of jewelry supplies, etc, etc there should be a lot more room.

I'm going to miss painting :(

Enough for now, I need to get some reading done.  Oh the joys of graduate school!

Steroids suck

Been sick and in bed most of today.  Feeling better now so I'm going to read some morphology papers, but I'm overwhelmingly thankful there's just two more days of this crap.  I don't know how athletes do it, unless the steroids they take are completely different.

Hand's on

A few days ago I was in my garden, taking a breather from Phillips, Ford, and Griffin when something bit my right forefinger.  It looked like a normal mosquito bite, but it started spreading all over my finger, and my hand started getting red, so I called my mom, took a zyrtec, and went to lie down.  I woke up an hour later, and my hand looked like that (above) and I finally decided to go to the doctor.  Made an appointment with the CentraCare app (so useful), and got looked at.  The doc was convinced I broke it, but x-rays proved me right and I was loaded up with some prescriptions and told to begin taking them ASAP.

Turns out, steroids really suck.  They taste awful, they make you (me?) tired, and having to take them with antibiotics and zyrtec for 6 days is no joke.  Can't wait til I'm done, just 3 days left.  It also means I can't drink, and although I never really feel tempted during the week, not getting a glass of wine with Friday/Saturday dinner, and not having a beer while Dad is grilling, can be constituted as torture per the Geneva convention.  As if my forced sobriety due to the concussion this January wasn't bad enough for one year!

Anyway, as nasty as the steroids are, they're working and my hand looks almost normal.  My chest feels all pressed in though, so I thought I might be starting bronchitis (again, ugh), but you'd think the antibiotics I'm taking would fight it, wouldn't you?  I'm not sure.  My chest isn't any too happy, and I don't think it's allergies because I'm also taking zyrtec.  I hope whatever it is goes away.  If I get bronchitis or pneumonia yet again then my thesis will be even farther behind and it'll make my life even more miserable.  I told the doc at the clinic my chest was feeling tight and she listened to my breathing, but didn't say anything, so I guess they're clear for now anyway.

Today is Sunday, so I'm spending the day working on my Coursera art class.  Tomorrow I have errands to run, so there won't be much time for art on top of thesis work.  Still, what else are Sundays for?

May Update

Well folks, it's been a tough month.  Thesis reading, thesis writing, and trying to stop my body from shutting down due to stress. Things are not going well.

In positive news, my mother sent me to a painting class at Crealde for a few weeks to help me destress and improve my skills, and I think I did a good job.

I had lots of fun in class!  Regret that it's over, but now Mom is going to pay for me to take yoga classes in an attempt to reduce my stress, floods of tears, acne breakouts, upset stomachs, headaches, and everything else that my career is grinding me down into.

Back again!

Well it's been something of a hiatus.  Between my job (which I have quit to focus exclusively on my thesis), my thesis, my novels, and my attempts at a social life, I haven't had much time for blogging, or even really thinking much.

I've been ill twice too, and I find it highly frustrating - I've had quite a few mornings where I woke up feeling sick and although it usually passes off towards noon it's a lot of time wasted.  But being horribly sick (as I was, twice) is worse than spending the morning in bed.

I've been going to the gym four or five days a week but my weightloss has stalled.  Maybe I really should give up cardio.  All the articles online say that regular cardio makes your body hang on to fat harder, which I say is massively unfair.  Now I have to find a new way to get my old body back! 

Right now I'm in bed trying to get myself on a decent sleep schedule, but I know I won't be able to sleep for hours so I thought an update was in order.

Tomorrow I have some errands to run and then it's back to the books!  Can't wait til I get my thesis done!