Now I Know How a Vampire's Victim Must Feel...

i saw two specialists this week: a doctor of infectious disease (and doesn't that just sound like a fun thing to devote your life to?) on tuesday, and a rheumatologist on thursday. after my appointment on thursday, i stopped by a quest diagnostic to have my labs taken care of. eight vials of blood later - yes, i said eight - i headed home to get ready for the ptsa's christmas party. needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of "getting ready" to be had. i sat on the couch for 45 minutes trying not to fall asleep and then dragged my carcass to the tavern. (free food is a great incentive...)

the point of the labs is to rule out any other serious conditions. the infectious disease guy said that it's definitely an auto-immune problem and was glad i was seeing the rheumatologist. the rheumatologist (who i really like and instinctively trust - a key thing for me) said that he doesn't think it's lupus, and that if the other labs come back negative then it's probably fibromyalgia and we'll treat accordingly. of course i would have the disease that has unknown origins and is incurable because of that whole we-don't-know-what-causes-it thing. luckily, the symptoms are treatable, and hopefully the pain and fatigue will soon be down to a manageable level.

by the way... thanks for the concern and well-wishes. i really appreciate it. and i really am sorry for sometimes not getting back to you right away. it sucks not having the energy to go out with friends or leave the house or grade papers (well, i never seem to have energy for that...). i was supposed to go to a christmas dinner tonight and slept right through it. i didn't even hear my alarm go off. so irritating. but i'm not going to complain. i'm thanking.

and if i don't get back on here before christmas, have a happy and safe holiday! :o)

I Am SO Over This...

so i've been sick for almost two months now. we know i have remnants of an EBV virus that's making me feel not so pleasant, but that doesn't explain all my symptoms. the lab finally sent my doctor the rest of my results last week. apparently things were elevated that shouldn't be elevated. (i'd tell you what they are, because joanna told me the technical names, but i had no idea what she was talking about. i look intelligent, so people tend to explain things as if i was on their level. i have a degree in theatre, people, not medicine, and i teach english. oy)

anyway, what it all boils down to is that it's probably an auto-immune problem. this means that for whatever reason, my body is attacking itself instead of the things it should be attacking. i have an appointment with a rheumatologist to diagnose and/or treat me, but the first available appointment isn't until december 20. which means another month of this crap. today, i had to leave school early because i was falling asleep in first period. luckily the kids were taking a state-mandated writing exam, so no one noticed. elaine found people to cover my classes the rest of the day (i LOVE my department) and so i went home. i changed back into my jammies and promptly fell asleep around 10 this morning. i got up at 4. and i slept for nine and a half hours last night. and i'll probably go to bed around 7 or 8 tonight.

this is getting ridiculous

My Giggle For the Day

i stopped at walgreens before heading over to mobile mud for the cabaret party (at which i had too much fun and stayed out way too late - i should have been in bed hours ago.... but that's not my point). as i'm grabbing the few things i needed, "two out of three ain't bad" was playing over the speaker system. now, meatloaf is just not my cup of tea (or my dinner of choice for that matter) so i was very happy when it finally faded out to make way for a walgreens plug. (why are you plugging the store? we're already here.) as the song faded out, i heard someone continuing to sing the song over the fade. i glanced over to see who could possibly like this song enough to sing along to it, and found somebody's grandma - and i'm talking grandma, or maybe great-grandma... she was at least 80 or so, in her mid-calf flowered skirt and blue sweater set - rummaging through the cover girl lipsticks and singing cheerily along to the music while swaying slightly to the (fading) beat. it was just too cute. i can't imagine either of my grandmothers even knowing who meatloaf is, let alone bopping along to it. it made me smile - thought i'd share.


oh, also (for some strange reason) the song that came on after the commercial was "cult of personality". really random music for a drug store...

The Friends and Family Pre-Opening Events at IKEA

ah, ikea. i love this store. i have been buying cheap and innovative knick-knacks, lighting, and kitchen supplies there for years, ever since john and i discovered it on a shopping trip to pittsburgh. it's been painful living many, many miles and several states away from the nearest ikea. i have had to do my shopping while at home visiting family. what i couldn't pack into my suitcase would have to hang out at my parents' house until they made a road trip to see me and could load it up in the van.

but no more! happily, i now have an ikea in my backyard. it opens on wednesday. but thanks to james who is working there, i got to attend the pre-opening friends and family event - which means i got to shop at ikea TODAY (4 days before the rest of you can) and more importantly, i got to avoid the craziness that is sure to ensue next week when it opens. floridians are deprived. they have never been to an ikea store, being confined to using catalogs and online orders. they are excited. they are hungry for swedish design and meatballs in a cup. they will start camping out on monday (when they are allowed to start such things) so that they can be one of the first 100 in the store - these lucky ducks will get a free Poang chair (a value of $89 - please see below).


james, a.j., kristin, and i journeyed through the store. it was kristin's first time to an ikea, so it was especially exiting for her. we perused. we tested. we oohed. we ahhed. we took pictures. we bought stuff. 'twas a good time had by all.

so welcome, ikea, welcome to orlando. may you always be there for me when i need a new chair, silverware, or picture frame. i am glad you are here.

The Latest Fad - And I Swear I'm Not Making This Up...

the latest fad on our high school campus? no, it's not what the teens are wearing, it's something they're playing with. you may ask, is it a new cellphone, perhaps? nope. a new high-tech mp3 player? not even close. the newest craze - to the point that i have to tell them to put it away because they need to do work - is the rubik's cube.

what's that, you ask? have we somehow landed in 1983? (it wouldn't be hard to draw that conclusion given the footless tights, day-glow shirts, and ballet flats that all the girls are wearing, but i digress...) no, it seems that since these kids weren't alive in the 80's, they missed out on the entertaining and puzzling color cube. they have now found it, and it's the latest thing to see how long it takes you to solve it. they have races. i am not making this up. and these races are not being done by the nerdy social pariahs. oh, no, these are the normal, fairly popular, main-stream kids.

it just boggles my mind.

Things I Have Learned This Weekend:

1. in mandarin, the phonetic sound 'ma' means mother. however, if you drag it out an extra sylable and raise the pitch of your voice at the end, it means 'horse'. use and abuse with family members accordingly.

2. teachers take their beer pong seriously. it can become particularly vicious if you pit two super troopers against beth the bounty hunter and the devil. sitting several feet away is advised.

3. this virus is no joke. yesterday i had to carry in four - count 'em, four - bags of groceries, only one of which was even remotely weighty with canned goods. i quite literally had to sit down for almost ten minutes to recover enough to go out and get the 24-pack of water. after which i had to sit down next to the fridge in order to take them out of the plastic and refridgerate them. i didn't even have the energy to stand there and do it. ridiculous.

4. i like port wines. actually, i really really like port wines. particularly tawny ports. specifically aged tawny ports. i'm not a big wine drinker, and i'm really not a fan of red wines, so i wasn't thinking port would be something i'd like, but it turns out that if you throw in some brandy, it makes everything a little better. no, it makes everything a lot better.

5. also, port wines have to come from porto, portugal to officially be port; otherwise it's just a blended wine. just like real champagne has to come from the champagne region of france, or it's just a sparkling wine.

6. besides having no appetite to alert me when i'm hungry, i also seem to currently be without the ability to tell if i'm full. this means that if i sit down to eat, i don't know how much my body needs. i will eat whatever's in front of me until my stomach feels as though it's stretching like a balloon filled with lead. this (by the way) is not a comfortable feeling. i'm going to have to start weighing and measuring my food like a beauty pagent queen from here on out...

it's been a very educational weekend.

After 5 Weeks of Being Sick, I Have One Part of the Answer...

so the third round of blood tests have come back, and it turns out i have an EBV virus - one that is similar to mono. at least i have one answer; it explains all the fatigue and general ickiness. unfortunately, it doesn't explain some of the other symptoms and some of the other lab results, so the search is still on for added explanations. hey, on the bright side, this virus doesn't typically last more than four months... woo-hoo, just two and a half more months of crappiness to go...

on a very helpful note, the lab that my doctor's office sends their blood tests to has been screening all samples for an additional test - i have tested positive for it. problem is, the lab has not explained to the doctors what the test is for, or what that result means. i have been advised not to worry about it... yet. they'll let me know when they learn something...

Why I Am Visciously Jealous of Anyone Who Owns a Jeep Today:

it's freakin' gorgeous outside - perfect for driving around with the top and/or doors off...

sigh.

English 1 - Open-Book Quiz: Question 16

Please complete the "Quickwrite" on page 220 in your textbook.

Quickwrite: What is your most prized possesion? What is most important to you? If there was a fire and you only had time to get one thing out of your house, what would it be and why?

there were lots of garden-variety answers...

"I would save my photo album of all my friends and family."
"My family is most important to me, so I would make sure I had them first."
"I'd save my cat (dog, bird, etc.) first."

there were some sweet, sentimental answers...

"I would save my gold necklace that my grandma gave me because I don't get to see her very often."
"I would take the photo of me and my sister - we'll probably never be as happy as we were in that picture because our lives changed shortly after it was taken."
"It might sound weird, but my cellphone. My cousin gave it to me, and he died a few months later."
"My blankie. I've had it since I was a month old and just having it in my room makes me feel better. We've been through a lot together."

some were practical...

"I'd take my laptop, because first, it has all my pictures and music on it, and second, because it was expensive and my parents would kill me."
"I would grab my cell phone because that way I could call for help."

and then there were these two...

"I would make sure to save my dog because I love him. (But my most prized possesion is my PS2)"

...and my favorite...

"My most prized possesion is my Xbox. Without it, I wouldn't be able to play Halo 3, and then what would I do?"

well, at least he's honest...

Emmett Otter and His Pond-Side Friends

sometimes i am so caught up in the heat and humidity and swampiness of florida that i forget that nature can be beautiful - even here. i was reminded today as i walked past the pond in front of my apartment building.

there were my ducks, of course, haning out poolside and enjoying the day. (ok, they aren't actually MY ducks as i don't own them, or feed them, or shelter them in any way. but they always seemed pleased to see me, and when i call out my habitual "hello, duckers!", they bob their heads at me and the male usually squawks a cheerful response.)



in addition to the usual ducks, there was another with three little baby ducks. Mamma duck went for a walk with one of her kids while the other little duckers took a nap in a nearby bush. (they were little hams, too, waddling right past me and stopping to pose.)


and then, just for fun, there was a family of four otters playing about in the pond today. (actually one of them was tormenting one of the ducks by swimming under the water and scaring the shit out of it... it was pretty amusing, really.) they frolicked in the water, then frolicked on what used to be the base for a water fountain, then frolicked in the water some more. they were overall pretty darn adorable.














and last but not least was the blue heron hanging out in the sun as well.


i had a veritable menagerie outside my door today. it made me happy. just had to share... :o)