Glass Houses, Stones, and Double Standards

I have really got to stop reading about the campaign because they get me so keyed up. I could write a long entry every single day about the craziness that's going on, which would certainly be annoying to all of you, and although a release for me, not so much fun on this end either. I'm going to let my title stand on its own today and not expand on it, at least for today.

I have a sinus headache that is threatening to work its way out of my face, Alien-style. I don't get migraines, but I do get sinus-triggered migraines, which I expect this to be by tomorrow morning. What gets rid of a really bad sinus headache? In my experience, the key ingredients are a good decongestant, advil, and caffeine. All of which are forbidden to me for one reason or another, but tomorrow, I'll probably start a nasal spray decongestant for a couple of days; I don't think it'll do much, if anything, to my blood pressure. If I'm really in pain, I'll have a cup of real coffee, too; again, one cup won't hurt me that much. Advil, sadly, is all in the past for me, because that would have an immediate and very bad effect. So that's my story.

K is stressing out over the lesson plan she has to write for this week, and I'm being drawn in one way or another. Now, thinking up creative-type lessons is really one of my favorite worky things to do, but trying to meet the requirements of her assignment which wasn't explained well to begin with is not my idea of fun.

It's after six, so I suppose I should eat something or other. I'd like to get my lunch together tonight too, but I think I've done that once since school started, so I probably won't. Not so hard to do in the morning, anyway.

I Love Lucy is on, which is a show I have been watching for literally all of my life. Is this a universal thing? I mean, has everybody born since 1951 been watching I Love Lucy all of their lives? I still think it's funny, that Lucille Ball was a genius (of that sort of thing) and that it was so incredibly well-cast and well-made. I'm just saying. I mean, if there's nothing on, watching I Love Lucy is like putting on a comfortable old robe. I'm just saying.

WATCHING I LOVE LUCY :: ENTRY #1871
READING: Dear Senator by Essie Mae Washington-Williams

Yes, Scarlet

Today is, indeed, another day. Let's see where the day took me.

Hey, here's a suprise. I woke up with my good ear all blocked again. Looks like this year, the lovely spring allergies have decided to attack me in the form of inner ear blockups, and hives. I'm adjusting my allergy meds tonight -- taking a benadryl instead of a zyrtec, that's for the hives -- and I started a three day course of prednisone this morning, although if I wake up this deaf tomorrow, I'm making it a four day course. This deaf thing is wearing very thin.

I didn't have to be at work today until 8.30; usually I get to school at 7.00, so that left me with time to kill. I Walked Away Some Pounds -- really -- and then reported to the Board of Ed. office for my workshop. It was as I anticipated, and yes, I will be facilitating at the all day workshop in October, the one I usually skip. Guess I'll have to skip the May in service next year. I'll be the one talking about using library resources.

I came home for lunch, by which time I had a killer headache, probably sinus, so there's that going on, too. Tell me, where can you live that allergies won't bother you? Not Alaska, I know; Alaska has its share of grass and trees and pollen. Maybe Antarctica, but of course, the ground is disappearing beneath your feet there, so that doesn't say much for property values.

Here's a quirky thing. When I was a kid, what I thought of as "apple" is what most people think of as a "Macintosh apple." I had no idea that there were other kinds, because my parents only bought Macintoshes. (They had a very limited menu, which I've described before somewhere.) Now that I am all grown up, I only eat Golden Delicious apples because I looooooove them. But today after the workshop, I was oddly motivated to go the produce market and buy a whole variety of apples, just a couple of each, to see if I like them. Now I will probably fall in love with Gala apples or something, and eat only them. I'm weird that way. I'll let you know.

Cosmic asked an interesting question: do I sign? The answer is that I do not (although it's a language I always wanted to learn), and it wouldn't help me if I did because no one else in my world signs, either. Signing -- and anybody, please, correct me if I'm wrong -- is the language of people who live in the deaf community, or who live with people who live in the deaf community. I do not, and the deaf community, I'm pretty sure, is not interested in people like me. I lost a substantial part of my hearing as an adult, but not all of it. I hear well enough to function in the hearing world the same way I did before I lost it, and even if I were to become completely deaf at some point, I would still live in the hearing world. I might learn sign at some point as a lark, or to help me along if I ever do lose a substantial part of what's left, but that's unlikely anyway. If I spoke sign, I'd have to have an interpreter with me all the time to sign to me what other people are saying, and I don't need that (and it would be really, really strange.)

The other deaf thing I don't have and don't want is a cochlear implant. For one, it's not suited to me because it's my actual acoustic nerve that's damaged, and that's what a cochlear implant implants to. There is some new thing, similar, called a "brain stem implant", which would work in my case. However, on December 17, 1991, I made an extremely serious vow that no human being was EVER to see my brain stem again while I lived (that's where my tumor was), and baby, I am sticking to that one like velcro. Like glue. Like crazy glue. I'm keeping my damn brain stem to myself from now on, thankyouverymuch.

Tomorrow is K's last day of the summer session, and she is studying like mad for her economics exam, which I think she will pass, because she exceeds expectations academically, but I think she is also genetically incapable of knowing this stuff. The Hubs, who was actually an economics major, has offered to help tonight when he gets back from his meeting. (Her mad math skilz come from me, of course.)

My headache is a bit better, and I'm having some shrimp for dinner. Maybe I'll take a quick run to the supermarket after that, since neither the Hubs nor K will be home for awhile. I didn't see R today, which is an achievement considering she doesn't live here anymore.

Okay.

watching Still Standing :: entry #1480

Reaching Critical Mass

I don't believe I can eat any more broccoli. Ever. I have reached the end of my rope with broccoli.

You know, I've got these strange eating habits. As it is, I have exactly the same thing every day for breakfast, and exactly the same thing every day for lunch. We had Chinese food on Saturday, which we do nearly every Saturday, and I had steamed shrimp and lobster -- very low points, good protein and fiber -- and I decided that it was good, and that I would have steamed shrimp and broccoli every day for dinner from then on.

I made it through four days. Tomorrow, on to other things.

So, K was indeed offered the opportunity to be a graduate assistant, and she was going to accept today, but the next step is submitting her resume (which she did today) and waiting to see if a professor or two picks her. So it's not a done deal, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't. She's got a great background in doing research, if they need a research assistant (which wouldn't be her first choice) and if they want her to help teach, that would be great experience for her, and she's up to it. I think, though, that she'll probably be grading papers and stuff like that. Which is also good experience. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

So I went to see Harry Katz the Sinus Man today, and to avoid my horrible long-wait experience of last week, I arrived prepared to wait, and armed with The Half-Blood Prince. But today, I was in and out in a flash, first to see the doctor, then to get a hearing test, and then to see the doctor for the results. I don't think I finished a page during any wait, and, not surprisingly, Harry Katz turned out to be a huge Harry Potter geek, and we discussed previous books, the upcoming book, and all that, at great length. He used to be a huge Star Trek geek, too (as am I); I was talking to him in his office once (as opposed to an examining room) and he had a micro-machine Enterprise and a micro-machine Borg cube on his desk. (Yeah, well, I had them on my desk at school too. Takes a geek to know a geek.) Anyway, he gave me a rx for prednisone to have on hand if my ears go weird again, and said to keep taking the zyrtec for allergies, instead of allegra. So, I'm there.

This also meant that I took the afternoon as a half sick day, and you know what? I could totally get used to working half days. (It's not an option.) I could work another ten years if I only had to work in the mornings. It was very pleasant. Of course, it was a beautiful day today, so, no hardship being out and about in the afternoon.

I'm going to spend a little more quality time with Harry now.

watching Reba :: entry #1466

Too Excited to Shut Up

It is incredibly premature for me to say anything -- not that it matters, really -- but I'm excited and the Hubs isn't home yet and the Sibs is out with her brood for a birthday dinner (hers), and this is so cool.

K called before, between classes, to say that she's been offered a graduate assistantship for the coming year. Do you know what that is?

IT'S A JOB.

Okay, it's not a high-paying job, but it would provide her spending money and even better, it would pay her tuition for the year. !!!!!!!! The only drawback, she said, and it was a quick conversation, is that it would delay her student teaching, and thus, her entry into the world of Real Job. And she has to decide tonight, and give her answer tomorrow. She won't be home from class until about 9.30. I have a feeling that I'll be watching the end of Heroes off the recording tonight.

Anyway, I guess I'll have the results tomorrow, but she sounded very excited, and I think it's an honor to be asked. Stay tuned.

I was pretty busy at work today, which was fine by me. I'm only going in for the morning tomorrow, as I have an appointment with Harry Katz the Sinus Man at 1.45, and may or may not be seeing the audiologist before that (for a change.)

Change of subject: I picked up Q's ashes at the vet's before. I have no idea what to do with them. For now, it's a little box on the back seat of my car. I only opted for what they called "private cremation" because I wanted to make sure ... well ... that the right thing was done, if you know what I mean. You hear stories about animal crematoria that just ... don't do what they're supposed to; I really don't want to put any nasty images in anybody's head, but I just didn't want that for little Q, so I figured if I did it this way, I'd know that everything was done properly. (I don't know why I think I know that now, but I guess I do.) *sigh* So now I've got a box. I don't think any of us are looking for ceremony here, but I don't want to just spread it on the ground where the Hubs is planting his tomatoes, either. I knew this would happen. Ah, maybe around the base of the Japanese maples out front. Yeah, that's it. Now I just have to decide whether I should just do it, or tell everyone or what. Eh, I'll see what the Hubs says. Outside the house is his domain anyway.

Speaking of the Hubs, he's going to Minneapolis for a few days on Sunday. He does hate to travel, but I think it's better for him now that there's someone else in his office, his protege of sorts, who goes along, too. He'll be gone for two nights, I think, leaving Sunday and coming home Tuesday. And now for these three weeks, K is in class four days a week from 1.00 to 9.00, so it looks like I'll be on my own a lot. As long as I don't eat; I eat when I'm bored. But I seem to be losing again a bit after gaining when I was sick, so that's self-motivating. I was thinking of walking to and from school today, but I had too much stuff to bring in; maybe Wednesday. I'll have to check the weather.

Back to Harry. I have about 150 pages to go in The Order of the Phoenix, and then The Half-Blood Prince.

watching Reba :: entry #1465