Post of Minimal Interest: General Update

Anne and Jason are hosting an Oscar party next weekend and I've volunteered to put together a ballot for predictions. I'm trying to get the damned thing to fit on one double-sided page so I don't have to blow my school copy budget on a TV game. The last category--technical something-or-other--is up for the big cut. I doubt anyone in our group has thoughts on editing. There is an exciting prize for the winner though.

Speaking of prizes, I went to a bbq at Tricia's man's house last night. He has his own construction company and is restoring a 1912 Craftsman on the other side of town. When I told him I was impressed with his attempt at keeping the structural integrity of the house, I thought he'd get down on one knee. Usually my love of crown molding and grout work is met with blank stares. I digress. (This is SUCH a Sarah story...) Anyway, one of the guests shows up with a pinata filled with adult goodies. We strung it up from the garage to the house and Brian (the man friend) stood on his roof pulling the rope for everyone's amusement. Picture many drunk girls being spun around five times and given a nine iron to swing at the night air. Someone eventually cracked the code and candy, mixed with mini liquor bottles, condoms and other party-store finds fell to the ground. What fun. But the Oscar party will involve a different crowd. These pinata prizes won't suffice on Oscar night.

On a side note, my favorite part of Sunday is getting the paper, chucking the news and spending an hour sifting through the coupons and inserts. I go slowly and try to savor each page of Target's circular and Rite Aid's two-fer-one deals. It's really a production and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Over and out.

Reef News...New Reef

For the divers in the bunch--and the lovers of Thailand--I found this article on the front page of Yahoo reporting on an "undiscovered" coral reef right off Khao Lak. Faith and I spent a third of our trip in Khao Lak and dove the Similan Islands mentioned in the article. I am _so_ happy to hear that this area of Thailand, that desperately needs revenue, has another draw for tourists.

Procrastination

I could be correcting papers written by undergraduate engineers or working on my comp. exam reading list. But who cares about that when I can sip coffee and provide you with minimally entertaining factoids about me? Have at it.

FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
1. Bank teller (for those who know me--this is fucking hilarious!!)
2. Camp counselor
3. Counter girl at an upscale bakery (first job ever)
4. Teacher :)

FOUR MOVIES YOU WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. The Big Chill
2. American Psycho
3. Swingers
4. Dirty Dancing

FOUR PLACES YOU HAVE LIVED:
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Allendale, Michigan (very different from #1--like "Gods dead v. Bible-beating" different)
3. California
4. Ireland (total tourist time equals about five months--that counts, right?)

FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
1. Grey's Anatomy (recent addiction)
2. Most Haunted (every Friday night at 6 on the Travel Channel)
3. Anything cool on Discovery Health, TLC, HGTV, etc.
4. Bad taste reality TV (MTV's Made, E!'s Dr. 90210, etc.--for shame!!)

FOUR PLACES YOU HAVE BEEN ON VACATION:
1. Thailand
2. Ireland
3. Mexico
4. Italy

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Anything out of 128 Elm Park's kitchen, minus brussel sprouts and bloody meat
2. Ethnic food: Indian, Thai, Middle Eastern...
3. A greasy reuben sounds good right now
4. Sweets

FOUR PLACES YOU WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. Wrapping up my dissertation and going on job interviews (fast forward today by one year)
2. Getting a massage at a fancy spa
3. On vacation -- damn-near anywhere
4. In the arms of someone special

Loose Ends

Follow up on the latest in nerdville. I'm damn near cured people! I can walk a flight of stairs and not be winded!! Hooray! The weather in SB has been chilly and wet. Believe it. There was even a dusting of the white stuff on the mountains this past weekend. The locals are claiming the freeze of the century and pulling out the fur-lined parkas. I've just thrown on one of the seventy-four wool sweaters I've had in storage for six years.

In other news, I have confirmed plans for the trip to Chi town in March. I present at the Cs on a Friday, and plan to bond with the parents for a few days before and after. Funny how I grew up just a day's drive from Chicago, but don't remember ever doing the tourist deal there. I'm pressing mom and dad to consider checking out Sear's Tower, Navy Pier, etc. I've participated in the shopping fest on Michigan Ave, so I'm not chomping at the bit to do that. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it isn't five below during the conference. But as previously noted, I don't have a shortage of sweaters.

I continue to press on in my studies. The current plan is to take exams in April or May. I've been underground for a month because of the plague, but once exam time rolls around, you may as well cut me from all social calendars permanently. I will resume hermitage in an effort to pass the comps on my first try. Good times.

Other gossip: Anne accepted the job at Penn State. She and her hubbs Jason are moving to college town USA in June to buy a house and start real adult life. So jealous! MBP, my dearest MI friend, is coming to visit at the end of March. Her amazing beau bought her a ticket to the Barb for a long weekend as a token of his VD affection. He'll be protecting the homestead and caring for Miss Anna while momma and I drink mass quantities of vino and reminisce about sorority life and the pains of grad school, part II. Greg's SIL Linda is due to deliver in the next few weeks. I had lunch with her on Friday and the house is ready--all that's missing is the infant. I'm excited. I believe that's the scoop here in my world. Hope my many fans (hi mom) are well.

VD is Bad

I see my future...shout out to Cleveland Love for the pic!

It's true--VD is bad. But STVD (St. Valentine's Day) is worse, especially for the single. Knowing that I'd be single, I bought tickets to a concert in town for tomorrow night. I will be attending with my awesome fellow-grad student compantion Anne who is chilling with me instead of her husband. Now that is a friend!!

In other news, I spent the weekend in my old stomping grounds, the IE, staying with Jennie, Dan and the kids, 5 and 2. Moreno Valley is still brown. Glad I left. There are few good reasons to visit. I played with the kids, which is good for my soul, and got some mothering from Jennie, which is good for my health. Then I saw an old flame--good for my heart--because he reminded me that I was funny, smart and beautiful. I had forgotten.

It has been a week since my brush with death and I'm feeling better. Although with the amount of meds coursing through my veins, you'd think I'd feel stellar. Sadly, another trip to the doc may be forthcoming. Boo hiss.

Trauma: Life and Death in Student Health

I think I may have mentioned in previous posts that I have not felt quite like myself since returning from the land of smiles. I'd have a runny nose for a week, then it would get better, a nasty cough, which would eventually dissipate and sinus pain that I covered with overdoses of generic Sudafed. I even lost my voice at one point, a blessing for my students who thoroughly enjoyed writing instruction via pantomime. My energy waned, dishes piled up and I even (don't read this part mom!) slept on my bed without sheets for one night because I was too tired to properly dress the mattress. For shame!! A normal person would seek treatment, but I have been cursed with a "once you get up and get moving" and "if there isn't blood--you're fine" mentality. [And a slight distrust of western medicine, ie--hospitals are where people go to die (Yes workers of the DMC, I can see your toes curling from here...)]. But when I woke up at four in the morning with mystery pains in my joints, earlobes and hair folicles and snot pushing out through my tear ducts from behind my eyeballs, I knew it was time.

I went to the Student Health Clinic and sat in the sick bay with the rest of the leppers. I couldn't sit still, as everything hurt and I wanted to cry. They called me back, took my temperature--102*--and the girl called me "one sick kid." I would have laughed, because she couldn't have been more than 18, but it would have been too painful. They took me to an exam room, where I quickly shoved two tissues into my nostril and slept while waiting for the doctor. She came in and asked me when and where these hints at death developed. My response, "About a month ago--after my return from Thailand." Sirens went off and the clinician grabbed her belly and stood up. Yeah, she was barely pregnant and I had probably killed her fetus in those ten minutes of diagnosis. Before I knew it, the clinic was reenacting the E.T. "house quarantined under clear plastic/people in full-body protective gear" movie scene. I was whisked to the front of the line of people waiting for blood work (those common whores can wait another minute for their positive clap results), had a few vials of the goo drawn and was whisked to a dark room in the back with a cot and kidney-shaped barf basin and door plaque reading "Detaining Room." But seriously, I DIDN'T FUCKING CARE where the hell I was. They could have put me on the front lawn and I would have been happy. I was so grateful to have that crinkly white protective tissue paper pressed to my cheek--it was like that glorious and protective feeling of the stone-cold bathroom floor on your face you've had too much to drink. (Don't pretend--you KNOW what I'm talking about...) I rocked back and forth in the fetal position and moaned for a good hour while waiting for the results.

They ran my blood for evidence of malaria, the hiv, Dengue fever, pregnancy and other infectious diseases (that last part was not a typo). After nearly four hours of pain and suffering, it was determined that I had a "nasty" sinus infection, amongst other respiratory ailments, that could be cured with forced fluids, bed rest and two weeks of horse pills that came in a bottle so large I've only seen geriatrics with that size. I took a pill right there, drove home, prayed for death, napped on the couch all afternoon and woke up in a sweaty t-shirt. I felt better than I had in weeks!!

The moral of this story is to go to the damned doctor when you're not feeling up to par. My waiting may have caused permanent damage to my sinuses and now I have two prescriptions to battle my illness and one for the side-effects of the primary medicine. You know it's bad when they give you something more to counter-act what you've been given in the first place.