stuff

it's been a few weeks, and I'm honestly too tired to think long enough to write anything significant (as if anything I write here is significant. psssh.), but here's a quick recap of the last couple of weeks:

WORK
I've been at the new job a little over a month now, and it's been going really, really well, and so far I really enjoy it.  Of course, it's a little different in ways and exactly the same in other ways as my previous job, and I'm smack dab in the middle of a totally expected adjustment period, so I go from feeling extremely confident to being completely stressed about the smallest things. It's weird being the "new" kid - it's been almost 7 years since I've been "new" anywhere!  Everyone is super nice and very patient and helpful, and as soon as I get over my fear of royally fucking up, I'll be fine.  I just tend to get fixated on doing things exactly the way each specific doctor I'm working with prefers it, and that in itself can be a little stressful (but only because I make it stressful!) I'll totally find my bearings and hit my stride pretty soon and be totally fine.  It's nice to have a reason to get up and get going every morning, and it's great to be making a bit of money again.  Being productive is really helping pull me out of my funk that I've been in for the last 5 or 6 months, and it's good to interact with people besides Gene on a regular basis.....

GERMANY
Gene and I are taking a little weekend trip to Germany next weekend, and I'm getting very excited about it.  I have no idea what we will do or what we will see, but at this point, I don't even care.  I'm just looking forward to finally getting to go somewhere and see anything that isn't in Thetford/Cambridge/Bury/Lakenheath/Feltwell/Brandon/etc.......

ILLNESS
Last week, I was struck with some super gnarly mystery illness.  my week went something like this: "a little nauseated-and-kinda-pukey Monday",  then "not-as-pukey-but-twice-as-nauseated Tuesday", followed by "violently ill wednesday" which is the day that I spent half the day lying in my bathroom floor wishing for death, wishing for my mom and crying. Initially I suspected that either (a) I'd unknowingly eaten something I was allergic to, and was having a moderate reaction, or (b) I'd gotten food poisoning, but as the week went on and I saw no real improvement, I ruled both those theories out, and just chalked it up to some horrific stomach bug that was accompanied with 5 consecutive days of the worst headache I've ever had in my life.......fun, right?  thursday and friday weren't AS bad, but I still wasn't feeling "good"

throughout the week, I did find humor in the fact that things that normally wouldn't make me nauseated were the very things that triggered my nausea (and sometimes, the puking).....an example of this would be Owl City. I know I've said some not-so-nice-things about Owl City in the past, and it's obvious that I'm not a fan. If one of the dude's songs comes on the radio, I change it...quickly....but on the drive home from work last tuesday, the song "fireflies" came on the radio, and I literally had to pull my car over from the nausea.  call it coincidence, but it totally happened.  However, in retrospect, I don't know if it was the song as much as it's Adam Young's nauseating desperation to be Ben Gibbard. you be the judge.

other highlights from the "things that made me nauseated" list:  cats hissing at me (by far the most bizarre), looking at the floor (or just looking down at anything for that matter), freshly cut grass, the sound of the ultrasonic machine that cleans the surgical instruments at work (bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz), morningstar farms breakfast biscuit sandwiches (which is a shame, because i used to love them, and now I can't stand the thought of eating them),  and showering (thank goodness THAT'S over)

anyway, after 5 days of nausea, vomiting, and other digestive pyrotechnics, I decided on Friday that it was time to call the doctor - go figure that waiting til the last minute gets you nowhere, and I was told that their earliest opening was "next Friday"  - since I was nauseated and weak from being a sick mess, I couldn't even muster up the energy to make any kind of bitchy remark to the appointment scheduler lady (and believe me, on the car ride home that afternoon, I came up with plenty of things I should have said), and I just decided to accept defeat, but told myself that if I threw up again, I'd be going to the Emergency Room......thankfully, that's about the time my body decided to cooperate.  I'm feeling tons better now, but I'm in constant fear that I've spread my illness all over the clinic, and I'm just waiting for everyone else to get sick......

HOME:
I'm going to America for two and half weeks next month, and I'm totally excited.  My trip happens to put me home a couple of days before my family's big 4th of July weekend get-together, so it will be fantastic to see everyone! I'm bummed that Gene can't come with me, but I'm so happy to be going.  This is the longest I've gone without seeing my parents in my entire life, and even though my homesickness is all but gone, I still miss everyone and everything so much.   I've been making lists of things I want to do and places I want to go, and they all revolve around two things:  food and shopping.  luckily, I have family and friends who love to eat and shop, otherwise I might not see anyone but the staff at cupcakes on kavanaugh or sephora the whole time I'm there.



HAIR:  I had 4 inches cut off of my hair a couple of weeks ago.  It's what I asked for, and it's what I wanted, but I wasn't mentally prepared for what it would look or feel like to have a year and half's worth of grown out hair chopped off.  I was in shock for a couple of days, and walked around grumpy and bitchy and saying things like "I hate my hair" or "WHY DID I DO THIS TO MY HEAD," but honestly, it looks much healthier and it doesn't look bad at all, so I'm cool with it.

so that's been the last couple of weeks, and a small glimpse into the near future. hopefully soon I'll have enough energy and brain power to make a better entry.