So I'm officially two and a half weeks out from the end of the semester! In the last week, I managed to pull off some pretty huge assignments. I finished two annotated bibliographies (haven't gotten the grades back for these yet), a speech about how Rachel Carson manipulates grammar to enhance her rhetoric in Silent Spring (A), and a paper analyzing my own use of grammar (A). I feel like I'm finally on the downhill slope of things. All I have left is an 8-10 page research paper on Don DeLillo's White Noise, a 10-15 page research paper on the role of women as veterinarians in 15-17th century literature, an Advanced Grammar final (should be a cake-walk), and a 400-question Practical Meteorology final. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but the end is in sight! Yay!
Just a week after my last final, I fly out to Alabama to see my sister graduate high school. She's pretty amazing. If everything goes according to plan, I will also be watching her first ballroom dance competition on May 22. The plan, my friends, can be viewed here. If you love me (and especially if you don't) you will see what she has to say.
While anxiously awaiting my upcoming trip, I've found myself having a lot of obnoxious migraines -- all of which are, I believe, related to my massive amount of stress. For instance, on Sunday, I left work early to have Easter lunch with my family at Grandma's house. I felt fine. When I got home, I sat down to watch my fish and check for any guppy babies (sadly, I still haven't found any). I still felt fine. Fifteen minutes later, I was in my room with the door closed, shades drawn, and covers over my head because of a ridiculous migraine that pretty much made me want to die. This same migraine delivered two aftershocks on Monday and Tuesday, rendering both days useless homework-wise. I used to never get headaches like this. Now I'm averaging 1-2 a week.
Today has been much better, however. I only had a tiny headache this afternoon, but as soon as I ate, it quickly dissolved. I also used my $10 off coupon at JC Penny's to buy a new pair of khaki pants; my one pair of work pants developed a hole in the knee last night, so I needed to replace them. I was pretty excited to see they were having a huge sale on anything, and almost walked out of that store with way more stuff than I needed (or could really afford). My better judgment prevailed for once, and I simply left with the one pair of pants for ten bucks. So yeah, no headache, a great shopping deal, and only 4 hours of work scheduled for this evening have me in a pretty good mood.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Happy Easter, everyone! In true Colorado fashion, I woke up to find snow on the ground this morning. We never seem to have snow on Christmas or New Years, but it is pretty much a given on Easter and Halloween. By noon the snow was melted, but at least it was there this morning.
I was scheduled to work today from 9-6. I'm not sure why; who the hell is going to feel like working out on Easter? Even people who don't observe the religious side of the holiday are going to use it as an excuse to gorge themselves and hang out with friends and family. As usual on Sundays, I worked the front desk. By ten o'clock, we only had about fifteen kids. It was so predictably slow. My boss started sending people home around noon, and I was the first to go.
After I stopped by my house to change out of my uniform and put the dog outside, I went to my grandma's house for lunch with all the extended family. It was great to see them on a happy occasion for once (earlier this month -- on my birthday, no less -- we gathered for my great aunt's funeral). While the energy was a little different without my Aunt Sharon's physical presence (I'm sure some part of her was still there), we still had a great time just being family.
It is weird to see all my second cousins' kids growing up. The house was full of toddlers today, and three more babies are due in the next couple of months... one of them being my first nephew! Needless to say, the epic Easter egg hunt was a success, as usual. Since most of us older children were unable to attend, the eggs were all filled with candy and pennies. Two years ago the eggs were pretty much all stuffed with money.
I drove away from Grandma's thinking how lucky I am to have such a huge and loving family. My family is so large that I literally don't know everyone's names, nor do they all know mine. Despite this, at each family gathering the air is so filled with loving energy that it practically crackles and hums. You may not feel well when you get there, but somehow you always manage to have a blast.
After Easter lunch, I went home to get some homework done. I have another annotated bibliography due tomorrow evening, so I needed to knock that out tonight. However, within about fifteen minutes of crossing the threshold, I developed a massive migraine that put me out of commission for the next five or six hours. My head still hurts a little, but I'm trying to gear myself to at least work on some of my bibliography. I'll have four hours tomorrow to finish it up, but I'd like to have a pretty large chunk completed tonight.
These migraines are driving me bonkers. Right now, I'm averaging about two a week... not good when you have as much homework as I do. The really difficult thing is how quickly they show up. I literally went from feeling great to hiding under my covers to block the light in a quarter of an hour. That doesn't give me much time to head it off. Once one hits, all I can do is take some medicine and try to sleep it off; I'm so sound and light sensitive that my roommate can't even do anything at this end of the house without making me absolutely miserable. I wish I could figure out what causes these migraines and how I could prevent them. I never had them before, so I think a big part of it is that I have too much on my plate right now. Hopefully my smaller work load after this semester will be enough to keep me from getting any more migraines.
Do you get migraines often? How long to they take to develop, and what do you do to prevent/treat them? Leave a comment in the box below.
I was scheduled to work today from 9-6. I'm not sure why; who the hell is going to feel like working out on Easter? Even people who don't observe the religious side of the holiday are going to use it as an excuse to gorge themselves and hang out with friends and family. As usual on Sundays, I worked the front desk. By ten o'clock, we only had about fifteen kids. It was so predictably slow. My boss started sending people home around noon, and I was the first to go.
After I stopped by my house to change out of my uniform and put the dog outside, I went to my grandma's house for lunch with all the extended family. It was great to see them on a happy occasion for once (earlier this month -- on my birthday, no less -- we gathered for my great aunt's funeral). While the energy was a little different without my Aunt Sharon's physical presence (I'm sure some part of her was still there), we still had a great time just being family.
It is weird to see all my second cousins' kids growing up. The house was full of toddlers today, and three more babies are due in the next couple of months... one of them being my first nephew! Needless to say, the epic Easter egg hunt was a success, as usual. Since most of us older children were unable to attend, the eggs were all filled with candy and pennies. Two years ago the eggs were pretty much all stuffed with money.
I drove away from Grandma's thinking how lucky I am to have such a huge and loving family. My family is so large that I literally don't know everyone's names, nor do they all know mine. Despite this, at each family gathering the air is so filled with loving energy that it practically crackles and hums. You may not feel well when you get there, but somehow you always manage to have a blast.
After Easter lunch, I went home to get some homework done. I have another annotated bibliography due tomorrow evening, so I needed to knock that out tonight. However, within about fifteen minutes of crossing the threshold, I developed a massive migraine that put me out of commission for the next five or six hours. My head still hurts a little, but I'm trying to gear myself to at least work on some of my bibliography. I'll have four hours tomorrow to finish it up, but I'd like to have a pretty large chunk completed tonight.
These migraines are driving me bonkers. Right now, I'm averaging about two a week... not good when you have as much homework as I do. The really difficult thing is how quickly they show up. I literally went from feeling great to hiding under my covers to block the light in a quarter of an hour. That doesn't give me much time to head it off. Once one hits, all I can do is take some medicine and try to sleep it off; I'm so sound and light sensitive that my roommate can't even do anything at this end of the house without making me absolutely miserable. I wish I could figure out what causes these migraines and how I could prevent them. I never had them before, so I think a big part of it is that I have too much on my plate right now. Hopefully my smaller work load after this semester will be enough to keep me from getting any more migraines.
Do you get migraines often? How long to they take to develop, and what do you do to prevent/treat them? Leave a comment in the box below.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Another Day, Another Accident
So I got sent home from work an hour early today. Unlike yesterday and the day before, it wasn't because we were overstaffed and I volunteered to leave. Rather, I got to go because a kid peed on me! I am so not a fan. Luckily, I have my hoarding tendencies to fall back on and I had a pair of sweats in the trunk of my car. I changed in the front seat with a jacket over my lap; there was no way I was going to stay in those pants any longer than I needed to. I was upset at first, but then I realized it was the Universe using its sense of humor to get me out of work so I could get homework done (which I'm going to work on as soon as I'm done with this post). The only thing I'm really bummed about is I when I threw my work pants in the wash, I forgot about the Pokewalker I had in my pocket. I have it sitting out on the windowsill in the guest bedroom. Hopefully it will dry and return to working order.
I'm in the most relaxing room of my house right now, surrounded by my two fish tanks and my dog. In my 77, I have a bunch of peaceful community fish who swim around lackadaisically. My 55 is filled with much more active fish who zip about from place to place. Admiring the contrast between the two habitats leaves me feeling balanced and centered. I don't need to be as crazy as my giant danios, but I should be less lazy than my wandering guppies.
I'm still having trouble getting myself motivated to do my homework. I know it is due by five tomorrow, but I'm struggling with convincing myself to care. I'm so exhausted at this point that a nap sounds divine, and just about everything else sounds like way too much work. I've been procrastinating more this semester than I ever have, and that is saying a lot coming from me. My big problem is that I can't figure out how to force myself to cut it out and get my work done. In the past, I've always been able to pull things off at the last minute. I just feel like that won't work this time.
I'm in the most relaxing room of my house right now, surrounded by my two fish tanks and my dog. In my 77, I have a bunch of peaceful community fish who swim around lackadaisically. My 55 is filled with much more active fish who zip about from place to place. Admiring the contrast between the two habitats leaves me feeling balanced and centered. I don't need to be as crazy as my giant danios, but I should be less lazy than my wandering guppies.
I'm still having trouble getting myself motivated to do my homework. I know it is due by five tomorrow, but I'm struggling with convincing myself to care. I'm so exhausted at this point that a nap sounds divine, and just about everything else sounds like way too much work. I've been procrastinating more this semester than I ever have, and that is saying a lot coming from me. My big problem is that I can't figure out how to force myself to cut it out and get my work done. In the past, I've always been able to pull things off at the last minute. I just feel like that won't work this time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)