things i hate about colds

Every year I get at least two colds. I can count on one in December and one in April, or thereabouts. And this year’s cold started this week (early, obviously).

To a large extend, I don’t mind these colds so much. I guess I see them as a necessary part of life. And honestly, if I never got sick, I’d never have a good reason to sit at home and do nothing. Right now, though, I’m very annoyed.

I woke up Tuesday with a horrible sore throat, which developed into a chest cough by the next day. I was hoping I’d be feeling better by today, but the cough has only gotten worse. I’ve pretty much spent the day bonding with my new laptop: updating bookmarks, downloading software, and restoring as many of my music files as possible. Which has also given me a lot of time to think about what I most hate about colds.

1. The nasty burning feeling I get in my throat when I drink Vitamin-C-laden drinks.
2. Having to run to the bathroom every 20 minutes.
3. The large pile of used tissues that grows in my immediate vicinity.
4. The dried-out feeling in my nostrils — or, alternatively, the overly goopy feeling in them from putting stuff up there to try and prevent them from getting dried out.
5. Feeling run-down enough that I can’t get anything useful done, but not tired enough to fall asleep.
6. The ripping in my chest when I have to cough.
7. Waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep.
8. The taste of cough-drop build-up after sucking on Honey-Lemon Ricolas for hours at a time.
9. Having to use homeopathic medicine all day for days on end. I guess, technically, I don’t have to do this, but it’s my medicine of choice for colds.
10. Constantly drinking and never feeling quenched.
11. (Related to #5) Not feeling up to doing cool things — like going to Pocatello to watch the Clumsy Lovers live at a local club. Wouldn’t hesitate at any other time, including during finals or on a night when I have to get up early, but with a cold, it’s a whole new ballgame.

 

what’s going on

I know it’s been forever since I really updated my blog, so here’s the run-down.

computer troubles

Soon after Mom and I got home from babysitting in Colorado Springs, my hard drive died.  Meaning that I couldn’t do anything on my computer.  I was so sick of putting more and more money into that computer, that I decided to just get a new one.  I’d really been wanting a Mac PowerBook … but I decided instead to have it custom-built by a local computer shop, for about the same price as my Mac would’ve cost.  I’m crossing my fingers, now, that I won’t regret that decision.  So in the meantime, I’m using my mom and dad’s old laptop computer.  It’s not too bad, but it’s not mine.  It doesn’t have my music on it, and it has a habit of freezing up when you’ve been on the internet for a while.  Meanwhile, I haven’t heard anything from the computer shop about my new machine since I ordered it last week.  Pray for me, folks.

new calling

Just after getting home, I also got released from my old calling as FHE coordinator.  Instead I was called to teach the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class.  Which I love.  I’m not so comfortable with the New Testament, but I only have three more lessons of that, then some General Conference talks to round off the year, and then we start Book of Mormon next year. But, the really funny part: Mom and Dad have also both been recently called as Gospel Doctrine teachers.  Which makes three of us — or the entire household, whichever way you want to look at it.

sick

I’ve been feeling really sick lately.  Some of you know that I’ve had this recurring problem with nausea.  Well, My Brother The Chiropractor recently suggested that it might be my gallbladder.  We’ve checked a couple of things, and that does, indeed, seem to be the problem.  So I’ve been taking pills (mostly made of beet-root) to help thin the bile, and things are so much better.  I won’t go into detail, but my appetite is more regular these days, among other things.

However, I woke up this morning with an awful sore throat.  It’s been one of those days where I feel too sick to work — headache, tired, and coughy — but not tired enough to just sleep.  It really stinks.

holidays

I had a good Thanksgiving, with plenty of family.  My brother and his sister came from Colorado, so I got to see The Princess again — since I got pretty attached to her recently, that was very nice.  I also went to Pocatello with my oldest brother, along with Damber and their family, where we walked around downtown to do some children’s holiday activities — The Queen got a reindeer painted on her face, among other things — and then watched the annual Christmas parade.  That’s always a fun time, since absolutely everyone in Pocatello knows Kip. He got waved at a lot during the parade, not to mention getting tons of extra candy.

Now I’m all pumped up for Christmas.  Although I’ll be mostly working on my dissertation and my teaching plans for next semester.  Which brings me to my last point:

working

I’ve been hired to teach part-time at BYU-Idaho, starting in January.  I don’t know how long the arrangement will last, but I at least have a job lined up for a few months.  I’ll be teaching two sections of English 111, freshman composition.  I’m getting pretty excited about it.  Plus, Mom’s been helping me shop for some new clothes, since they have a fairly strict dress code for teachers.  And a new wardrobe is always good.

 

tending tails

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, I’d like to tell you about one more thing I’m now tending: my tailbone.

This morning, as I came down the stairs at my brother’s house, I took a foul step and fell right onto my bottom, hard.  I then continued to fall down the stairs in this way, my coccyx (aka, tailbone) hitting just about every step on the way down.  I also managed to grab hold of the picture of The Little One that hangs in the stairwell, pulling it off its nail, and pulling the nail downward in the wall, so that the picture no longer hangs there.

Mom was in the living room, right below the stairs, when this happened, having just finished changing The Little One’s diaper.  They heard me go crashing down the stairs, and Mom was seriously alarmed — she was terribly afraid that I would end up with a concussion or a broken leg or something.  The Little One was also highly upset and came over to the bottom of stairs, where she stood crying and stamping her feet in her alarm.

Happily, nothing was hurt too badly.  My back ached a little when I first stood up, and my tailbone continues to be sore.  Mom said I looked awfully pale when I first got up, and just before she left with The Little One to pick up The Big One from pre-school, I did indeed feel extremely pale, faint, and a tad nauseated.  But it passed.

In the meantime, I am afraid I may have seriously injured my tailbone.  But I looked up info on WebMD, and found that it is not particularly distressing.  I will have to check for bruising in the next few days, and I am supposed to avoid sitting for prolonged periods (oh, joy!), but such injuries apparently heal quite easily, with proper care.  I am seriously hoping that I won’t have to buy a donut cushion — it just seems so humiliating!

 

the percy senility fund

I’m sorry to say that my faithful Dell Inspiron 600m laptop computer (aka Sir Percy, aka Ladislaw) has officially become senile.

I just had a new hard-drive installed last Christmas, which more than doubled my disk space. But ever since then, things have only been getting worse. The power cord has frayed right near where it plugs into the computer. Around May, near the end of the semester, I finally bit the bullet and bought a new cord, out of fear that I would lose all my data and have no way to retrieve it.

The universal power cord worked fine for a while, except for one thing: it couldn’t charge my battery (which is, itself, a hand-me-down from my brother-in-law when he bought a new computer). That wasn’t too awful, since I have become accustomed to not using my battery much. And I could still pull out the original power cord from Dell and plug it in for a while, just long enough to get the battery charged up. But it was still annoying.

Then the universal power cord started having trouble of its own. I’m not sure, but it seems that part of my laptop where the power cord plugs in has become loose, so that the cord doesn’t fit it right. That was a very annoying problem all during the summer (mind, this started only about a month or two after I first bought the cord — which was pretty pricey, too). Still, things worked all right.

In the meantime, besides all the power cord drama (which is by no means finished yet … stay tuned), my computer has just plain been running slowly lately. Even when I clean up my files and de-frag the hard-drive, it doesn’t help much. I’ve been thinking for a while now that I would like get more RAM, but that is both expensive and difficult. So I’m making due instead.

Now, to finish the power cord drama: It’s recently been getting harder and harder to get either power cord (the original or the universal) to stay in the right position, so that they are actually providing power to the laptop. That means that, unless I either command the luck of the gods or decide to sit with my hand pressing the cord in just the right place, the battery runs down to critical levels. This has happened a number of times in the last few weeks, but today it’s been worse than ever. I have sat all day long with my hand pushing the cord, and after leaving it for a mere hour and a half (while I ran Mom for an emergency chiropractic visit — seriously), it had already run down the battery completley. As in, 0% battery remaining. Clearly the battery is getting old, too.

I’m not sure it’s worth it at this point to upgrade everything. Actually, I’ve been thinking that for quite a while now, but I have been holding off on looking for a new computer because I didn’t want to buy another until I could afford a MacBook Pro. And I was far from affording a MacBook Pro. Still am.

So, in hopes of raising awareness about Laptop Senility Dysfunction (LSD) — and also some money — I am establishing the Percy Senility Fund. Should you wish to contribute, please send me an email, and I will provide donation details. (If you don’t know my email address, I don’t know you well enough to trust an email from you, so … I guess we’ll have to figure out some other donation possibility. Maybe a PayPal account.)

Plain? It’s as ugly as a parson’s widow! (22 points)

 

updated, plus my top twenty favorite lyrics (part two)

I have to explain what’s been going first. My parents recently purchased and installed a new VoIP phone system, but once we got the phones working, then the internet wouldn’t work. We’ve been trying for the last week to get the problem fixed so that both the phones and the internet work, which is partially obstructed by the fact that my mom can’t seem to decide whether she wants to just cancel the service or not. In the meantime, I’ve been mostly living offline … except for really big tasks (such as applying for jobs), for which I go over to my brother’s house.

But for the evening, I have the phone line knocked out and the internet hooked up again while Mom and Dad are at the temple, so I’m taking advantage of the time to update my blog and write some emails.

I’ve decided I want to start doing a weekly music moment, where I can share my favorite lyrics, musicians, and songs. I plan to normally do this on Mondays (musical Mondays — gotta love the alliteration!), but this week I’m pretty behind-hand, owing to the above-mentioned internet problems.

So, with apologies for its late-ness, here is the second half of my favorite lyrics list:

10. Do you have the time to listen to me whine about nothing and everything all at once? I am one of those melodramatic fools, neurotic to the bone, no doubt about it. (Green Day, “Basket Case”)
9. Delilah, I can promise you that by the time that we get through, the world will never, ever be the same, and you’re to blame. (Plain White T’s, “Hey There Delilah”)
8. Feels like lightning running through my veins, every time I look at you. (David Gray, “Please Forgive Me”)
7. Couldn’t take the blame, sick with shame; must be exhausting to lose your own game. Selfishly hated, no wonder you’re jaded; you can’t play the victim this time. (Evanescence, “Call Me When You’re Sober”)
6. I won’t be seeing you for a long while, I hope it’s not as long as these country miles. (Camera Obscura, “Country Mile”)
5. Don’t believe that the weather is perfect the day that you die. (Armor for Sleep, “The Truth About Heaven”)
4. I should, I wish I could, maybe if you were I would — a list of standard-issue regrets. (Ok Go, “A Million Ways”)
3. I need your grace to remind me to find my own. (Snow Patrol, “Chasing Cars”)
2. The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair. (Relient k, “Be My Escape”)
1. I am a writer, writer of fictions. I am the heart that you call home. And I’ve written pages upon pages trying to rid you from my bones. (The Decemberists, “Engine Driver”)

So there you have it — my favorite lyrics. As mentioned, this list is by no means complete, and you can be certain you’ll be getting lots more of this in future weeks. And thanks, NM, for sharing some of yours!

 

My future plans

Well, folks, here it is. The decision of the moment. After much debate and summer’s worth of attempting to be decisive about my future, it comes down to this: I’m moving home. As in, with my parents.

I hate the thought of it, I really do. I can’t stand the idea that I’m 28 and have multiple college degrees, and yet I will be living with my parents. Again. But the fact is that I just can’t afford to move anywhere else right now, financially speaking. And, even though I’ve had many, many kind offers to live with various friends (thanks, guys!), this is actually the decision that feels the most right to me for the time being. I’m worried that I’m going to start acting like a bratty teenager. Oh well — at least I’ll relate better to my nieces and nephews.

And, on the bright side, I will still get to see Muse in concert in Orem on September 12th! Can’t wait. About once a day, as I’m listening to them, I briefly hyperventilate in anticipation of said event.

So don’t waste your time trying to make anything cool or pure or awesome, ’cause The Man’s just gonna call you a fat, washed-up loser and crush your soul. So just do yourselves a favor, and just give up!! (31 points)

 

some good news

I’ve been pretty down lately, feeling like I don’t have real plans for the fall and that nothing is going to come through. Today, especially, it was a real struggle to keep myself afloat.

I have to admit — though it will make me sound a tad foolish — that this is partly due to a mild depression over the end of the Harry Potter series. I always get slightly depressed from reading a really good book — it’s my test for what makes a book “great” — and this one was a little worse because it’s the end of a whole series. No more Harry. Well, not new Harry, anyway.

Also, I’ve had a hard time sleeping lately. I’m not sure how much of that is from staying up late at night to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, how much is due to the stress of filling out applications, and how much is just plain insomnia. But it doesn’t help my mood during the day, I’ll just say that.

I really hate all of my viable options for the fall. Every one of them involves living with someone — sponging off them, basically — and I really hate that. I’ve had a good time in Kansas with Margo, but it stresses me, too, to know that I’m mooching off her and her family. But the plain fact is that I’m going to have to live with someone else for a while. I’m in no financial position to be finding my own place right off the bat. So I’m coming to terms with that.

But there are glimmers of light among all this darkness.

First, I got my hair cut today. Margo’s cousin has a cosmetology license, and she cut it for a very reasonable price. I’d heard rave reviews about her work — although admittedly all from her family — so I was looking forward to having it done well. And so far, I’m very happy with it. Margo tried to convince me to chop it off, but I just got it trimmed, so it’s still pretty long.

Second, I finished two of my applications today. Well, mostly at least — I still have to get letters of reference and transcripts in for one place. But the other application (which only required a cover letter and CV) is completely done. I’m planning to mail it tomorrow. On Monday I’m going to call up to … the first place … and ask whether it’s OK with them to have references and transcripts sent directly to the department.

So, all is not lost. I will go on, and I will enjoy life, and somehow things will work out. And tomorrow I’m going on a temple trip with the local branch, and I plan to have a good, long talk with Heavenly Father about all my options and frustrations — and that will make things better, whether in one way or another.

Optimism is always harder than pessimism. (Not a direct quote, but it’s a philosophy espoused by … 25 points)

 

missing matt

Well, Muse is no longer in Texas.

They were in Houston last Saturday and San Antonio on Monday, supporing My Chemical Romance. In between those, they played in Frisco (near Dallas) at Edgefest, a big annual rock concert sponsored by one of the local radio stations. Unfortunately, that was a Sunday, and with it being such a busy week, it was impossible — well, at least unplausible — to go to Houston or San Antonio.

It took major effort to refrain from going to see them in Frisco. Only the fact that it was a Sunday kept me.

Oh well. After all, they were only supporting MCR, who I don’t really care about anyway.

Now I have grand visions of going to Chicago in August for Lollapalooza — the next US gig they’re playing — but it’s really not practical. Oh well. Maybe they’ll hang around in the States for a while after that and I can catch them elsewhere.

This life could be the last, and we’re too young to see. (37 points)

 

My 10-year high school reunion is this summer. And the queasiness in my stomach is not from the utter lack of food consumed over the past two days.

I remember, back in 2002, worrying that we would have a reunion. Same feeling then.

I’m not sure just why this is such a terrifying thought to me. I enjoyed high school — I truly did. I was happy, for the most part, I had friends, and — although I admittedly did some really stupid things — it was not the angsty experience for me that it is for so many.

I think I dread the idea of a reunion largely because I have felt so much more content after high school. I loved college from the first minute I set foot on my new campus. I loved the classes, the teachers, the freedom, the people I met.

Most of all, the people. I have found so many people after high school who understand me so much better than the small circle of friends I had then. My truly best friends — the ones I can talk to about anything, even when it’s been months, the one who appreciate my nerdy-but-fun character, the ones who make me feel at home even when I’m not home — have been the ones I’ve met after high school.

I’ve found so much of myself after high school that I almost want to deny that part of my life ever happened — and I’m even willing to throw out all the good things about it to have that wish fulfilled. Even though I consider myself quite a confident person, for the most part, just the thought of facing high school again makes me want to cower in a corner.

The wrenching in my guts reminds me of the feeling I get when I contemplate the possibility of living in my parents’ ward (the one I grew up in) for any length of time. There is something about that time of my life that — despite all the happy, good times I had then — makes me feel deeply unsettled.

Whew! There is a lot of angst in me over high school.

I may have to stay away from that reunion.

Declare this an emergency! Come on and spread a sense of urgency! (22 points)

The last quote … well, no one has really had time to comment on it, so I’ll let it stand for now — points are still up for grabs.

 

huzzah! & grrr!

Huzzah! Margo is here visiting. Good luck on comps, Margo.

Grrr! Erin didn’t make it after all. I have no idea when I’ll see her again. (Sniff!)

The last quote, which so many of you astutely and accurately identified, was from “While You Were Sleeping,” a personal favorite of mine.

Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself. (17 points)