One Girl Revolution

I'm feeling better, but this bug seems to have taken a major toll on my stamina. It's barely 11:00, and it feels like it's closer to 2:00.

I'll get out of this hole yet, though. I'm determined. Being sick sucks, but I'm going to get over it. Sometimes it just helps to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Ok - time to write an e-mail, then scoot to bed.

Juno's leading lady? The second most handsome man in Ireland? Oh yeah - I'm there.

Here's hoping it comes out at a time when theycallmeboy and I will be together to see it.

Also - this evil cold/death virus thing I've contracted? It can go away any damn time it wants. This is no longer an endurance challenge. It's an all out war.

Ugh. Still an hour and a half of work left, and my throat will NOT. STOP. HURTING. I just two Aleve in an attempt to knock it out - it's that itchy, hideous, scratchy, persistent pain that makes me want to claw out my trachea with my bare hands.

I HATE having a sore throat. It's one of the very few symptoms of illness that I cannot endure for long. I can deal with congestion, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, nausea...just about anything except a sore throat. It most likely goes back to my junior high and high school years, back when I was quite the singer. There's nothing worse, after all, than a damaged instrument.

Though I was hoping to just head straight home today, it looks like I'm going to have to stop off at the nearest organic/natural food store and pick up some of these. On one hand, I have been curious about slippery elm since I first heard about its use in easing sore throats. This will be a good opportunity to try them and report back to the lot of you. On the other hand, I don't particularly like the fact that I'm going to need these because of a painful sore throat because, as stated above, they are not fun. Naturally, my first inclination at a time like this is to clench my jaw, so in addition to trying to stay awake at my desk and endure the scratchy, I also have to remind myself to relax my jaw and not bite down.

If you couldn't tell, it hasn't been a very fun day.

I know, of course, that all of this is due to the weather. We've been slammed with winter here in NEO, and the temperature has been steadily dropping for the past week. By Monday and Tuesday, we're looking at highs of 2 and 6 degrees Fahrenheit. 2 and 6. (That's about -17C and -14C, for my international readers.) By the way, that's without the wind chill. Someone told me today that we can look forward to the wind chill bringing temperatures down to about -10F (-23C) starting this weekend. All of this is going to wreak havoc on my sinuses, my throat, my immune system, and my commute to work. And if this season follows the normal patters for weather here, we won't start thawing out until early to mid March. To borrow a phrase from Bender, anyone who claims to like winter can bite my shiny metal ass.

Yesterday might have been Imbolc, but I sure don't feel like a goddess. Mostly I feel like crap. And like curling up in a ball under some warm blankets until February 28.

The Aleve isn't working.

theycallmeboy wants Valentines. Go to his profile page and send him some!

He deserves Valentines for being teh awesome. :)

In other news, a virus is attempting to invade my system. To which I say nay. NAY!

I demand soup and tea!

My poor Boy is ill. He assures me that he'll be alright, but I still wish I was with him so I could fuss over him like a fussy, fussy thing.

I'm going to compile a list of home (and herbal) remedies so I can send them along in an e-mail. So far I have:

-saline spray (for to break up drainage)
-vitamin C
-zinc cough drops
-garlic (a natural antibiotic and immune booster)
-onions (ditto)
-chicken soup (anyone have a good recipe?)
-miso soup (surprisingly effective, though difficult to obtain)
-honey (immune booster and good for soothing sore throats)

If any of you kind readers have any more advice, suggestions, or remedies, please pass them along so I can relay the information to him, or to trytobegood, in the event that he gets really sickly and can't leave his bed. (Don't laugh - I had that a couple of weeks ago.)

In the meantime, I fuss and wibble ineffectively here at my desk. *flails*

Still feeling not so wonderful. Thinking it's a sinus infection. To that end, I have a doctor's appointment for later this afternoon. I'm hoping he can take care of it.

The worst part about it is the body aches. Everything seems to hurt, or at least has flares of pain. Right now it's my lower back, which makes it hard to sit comfortably. The crippling fatigue from yesterday has abated a bit, but it still feels like a huge effort to do just about anything that involves moving. No coffee this morning, either - instead, I had tea. It felt really, really strange.

I'm also unsure about what to do come lunchtime. I'm...sort of hungry, but not really. I haven't had much of an appetite since Monday, and the only reason I've been eating is because I know I should. In fact, I probably won't have eaten at all yesterday if my mom hadn't brought soup to me for lunch and dinner. I estimate that I was only awake for about four hours total, which means I missed my favorite holiday. Hope you all had extra fun for me.

God, I hope this goes away one way or another. I have too much to do right now to be sick.

ETA: I didn't get to collect anything for UNICEF, either. I wanted to, but walking from my bed to my computer was exhausting. Walking around the block probably would have killed me. Yet I still feel bad.

How the Republican party in general - and Fearless Leader in particular - uses homophobia as a campaign tool.

Why charity, microloans and teaching citizens of the developing world to be self-sufficient matters:because all of those things could save children from becoming another child labor statistic.

I find this interesting, since it appears that my symptoms have decreased since I started working out on a regular basis and (presumably) losing weight. Granted, I still have the occasional, "Oh my god I can't breathe I'm being strangled by my own respiratory system" moments, but they're relatively few and far between these days.

Halloween weekend was fun, though I didn't get a change to beg people for their spare change. It's hard to do that in insanely crowded, extremely loud bars and pubs. I did get to dress like a Clash fan and dance to "Rock The Casbah" with friends old and new, however, so that was nice. I wore my Duke Special and "Don't Panic" pins in honor of my lovely Boy, who couldn't be with me due to his being back in his native land. However, he did tell me that he dressed as Arthur Dent, further cementing his status as the Best Boyfriend Ever. When we're finally together, we're still planning for the Nick Cave/female Robert Smith Halloween costumes. I also told him I'd be Yoko to his John Lennon, but he said my voice was too good to be Yoko. Tell me again how much I love this man.

I'm feeling a bit crap today though, for two reasons.

The first is emotional rather than physical - I fear I'm a bit selfish. I've already had people asking me what I want for Christmas, and once again, I'm torn. I really don't need more crap - god knows I already have more stuff than I know what to do with. With that in mind, I should ask people to give whatever money they'd spend on me to Heifer International or a similar program. (I know Oxfam has one.)

However, the music calls to me. I've already added five or six CDs to my Amazon Wish List in a 24 hour period, which makes me feel pretty greedy. Sure, that stuff would be nice to have, but I don't really need it in the same way a family in a developing nation needs livestock. Though I may say otherwise, I will not die from lack of "Get Your Wings" or "A Rough Guide to Feeling Rough". Even though they're both awesome artists. (Bad Kiji! Bad!)

The second reasong I'm feeling a bit crap today is because I have a doom virus. Or something. I do think that I could fall asleep right here, if given the opportunity, and my doctor couldn't fit me in today. If I'm still feeling this bad or worse tomorrow, I'll try to go in. Hopefully this'll pass quickly, as I hate feeling sick.

Hmm...I should go pick up lunch or something. I don't have much of an appetite, but the thought of chicken noodle soup is comforting.

The Good News- I'm not at work! YAY!

The Bad News- And it's because I'm still ill! BOO!

After waking up feverish and faint, I dragged myself to the first official doctor's appointment I've had since college. So now I have a primary care physician, and that's good. And I have insurance, which is even better.

But according to said doctor, who read the carefully constructed time line of events and symptoms (Yes, I typed one up. Yes, I'm a geek.), listened to me breathe (and cough/gag), and looked in my nose, throat and ear, I have something called acute sinusitis.

In layman's terms, this is a disease that occurs when bacteria set up camp deep within the cavernous recesses of your head. In my case, the bacteria have even gone so far as to set up microscopic yurts, as well as sending out scouts to look for fertile grazing lands for their sheep. Had I waited much longer, they could have started constructing crude permanent settlements and making their first forays into a structured social hierarchy. And that would have been bad. You never want your bacteria to start getting organized. That's how wars get started.

I have medicine now, and lots of it. Frankly, I didn't think they made prescription bottles that big. And I also didn't know that you could take that many antibiotics in one day. I'm going to have incredibly sterile innards.

And that's not even counting the other bottle of medicine, this one for to make me both breathe and cough, though not at the same time. I'm more pleased about that one, really. It's been about a week since I've had sufficient oxygen, and I kind of miss the feeling. I just wish I wasn't coughing so much. It makes the already painful left side of my face hurt even more.

But at least the yurts will be gone. Hopefully.

Ok, I'm going to go lay down. I feel like a slacker, since I should be using this time to write, look for a new job, clean my room, or otherwise be productive. But I just want to close my eyes and attempt to sleep. For like, two minutes. Even two minutes would be nice.

I'll have to go into work tomorrow anyway, so I might as well be rested up. Stupid work. Stupid bacteria. Stupid yurts.

Well, that's one way to get a date.

It's sort of amazing that more rock stars don't have osteoperosis...

How homophobia can cross cultures and destroy lives within an already oppressed minority.

***
I've decided that the worst part about this cold/infection/ZDV/whatever the hell it is isn't the coughing. It isn't the coughing, the sneezing, the goo I keep hacking up...no. The worst part of it is that it's severely irritating my lungs. And that doesn't sound like much until you consider what comes next.

I have a lovely condition called exercise-induced asthma. Basically, under the right conditions and with a high rate of physical activity, my lungs decide that they no longer like me and shut down. It's gotten better over the years (most likely a combination of more physical activity and a little less weight on my frame), but it still flares up from time to time. The onset can be pretty sudden; there's usually a split second between normal windedness and a full-blown attack where breathing is a struggle. This is sometimes accompanied by coughing and goo.

Basically, living with this...malady has been like living in that split second for about two days. And it SUCKS.

I'll be very happy when this goes away.

A weak but tenacious variant of the Zombie Doom Virus has been attempting to sabotage my holiday. The closest it came to succeeding was Christmas Day, during which I spent most of my time asleep in bed.

I finally broke down and took some generic Robitussin so I could sleep without a) choking on drainage, or b) coughing and gasping for air. To further ensure the demise of this viral invader, I will be sleeping with both socks AND a hat on tonight. Beat that.

In other news, my voice is now low and raspy enough that I could probably do a decent Axl Rose impression. And I'd try it, too, if my throat didn't hurt so damn bad.

Time for shower and bed now. I need to go to work tomorrow. Stupid work.