Another hodgepodge update, but this time with a genuine medical diagnosis!
I'm pretty harried these days: I owe a prof an index by Friday and I owe somebody else an encyclopedia article by Monday. And then two sets of papers for grading come my way on Monday. Meanwhile, signing on for my usual gig with Nameless Summer Program has become much more complicated than usual and working out those issues is taking up a lot of time I don't really have.
Fortunately, it looks as though it's going to work out okay. That's very good, since not working for the Nameless Summer Program would make a difference of $6000 in my income, and I still need to pay my taxes, repair and insure my truck, and pay off some credit card debt. Meanwhile, it's becoming all too clear that my cheap old futon couch is about to give up the ghost, Mouse needs to have some expensive dental work done, and I've got some medical bills to pay, too.
On that last point, I have at least found out why I've been having all those "dizzy spells" and other weird symptoms. Turns out it's all in my head, after all--but in a very literal sense.
After three office visits, many phone calls, and working my way through a whole pile of red tape, I finally got an appointment with a head and neck specialist yesterday, and he's certain that I'm having atypical-symptom migraines. Whee. I'm on meds for the next month to see whether that clears them up, and alcohol is verboten. Guess I'll have to take my slushies without rum for a while.
Which is a shame, because I may not have mentioned it, but I heartily hate Big City's narsty summer weather, and slushies spiked with rum do make it a bit more bearable. It's been godawful lately, too. I've had to spend more than one night sleeping in the living room because my bedroom was just too oppressively hot. I am not built for this kind of weather: it's making me cranky and unproductive, as well as giving me what I now know to be migraines. People look at me funny and make comments about my supposed affectations when I walk around in big-brimmed hats and carry parasols, which doesn't help with the crankiness. Folks, I cannot help it that I was born virtually melanin-free, and I'm not imitating Nicole Kidman because I read some interview in Vogue or trying to look like a Southern belle. I'm just trying to avoid writhing in agony from a sunburn that requires me to mist myself with vinegar until I smell like a pickle.
Fortunately, the department has new TA work stations which are well air-conditioned (as my library carrel is not), so I've spent parts of the last few days settling in there and am planning to start spending a lot of time there, just getting stuff done and soaking up the free environmental control.
Anywhoo, though I plan to post something for Friday Shoe/Cat/Poetry Blogging, this site is likely to be particularly quiet for a while. I know it's been a good, long time since I posted anything truly substantive, and I'm feeling like a Very Bad Blogger Indeed. But, perforce, a Wiseass must eat, pay rent, and manage not to piss off faculty members who have hired her to work for them. So there we are.
----------------
UPDATE: Funny, the doctor and the pharmacist both failed to warn me that my new meds apparently also work really well as sleeping pills. I am, therefore, incredibly drowsy and discombobulated on a day when I desperately need to get a crapload of work done. Oh, joy.
Fortunately, it looks as though it's going to work out okay. That's very good, since not working for the Nameless Summer Program would make a difference of $6000 in my income, and I still need to pay my taxes, repair and insure my truck, and pay off some credit card debt. Meanwhile, it's becoming all too clear that my cheap old futon couch is about to give up the ghost, Mouse needs to have some expensive dental work done, and I've got some medical bills to pay, too.
On that last point, I have at least found out why I've been having all those "dizzy spells" and other weird symptoms. Turns out it's all in my head, after all--but in a very literal sense.
After three office visits, many phone calls, and working my way through a whole pile of red tape, I finally got an appointment with a head and neck specialist yesterday, and he's certain that I'm having atypical-symptom migraines. Whee. I'm on meds for the next month to see whether that clears them up, and alcohol is verboten. Guess I'll have to take my slushies without rum for a while.
Which is a shame, because I may not have mentioned it, but I heartily hate Big City's narsty summer weather, and slushies spiked with rum do make it a bit more bearable. It's been godawful lately, too. I've had to spend more than one night sleeping in the living room because my bedroom was just too oppressively hot. I am not built for this kind of weather: it's making me cranky and unproductive, as well as giving me what I now know to be migraines. People look at me funny and make comments about my supposed affectations when I walk around in big-brimmed hats and carry parasols, which doesn't help with the crankiness. Folks, I cannot help it that I was born virtually melanin-free, and I'm not imitating Nicole Kidman because I read some interview in Vogue or trying to look like a Southern belle. I'm just trying to avoid writhing in agony from a sunburn that requires me to mist myself with vinegar until I smell like a pickle.
Fortunately, the department has new TA work stations which are well air-conditioned (as my library carrel is not), so I've spent parts of the last few days settling in there and am planning to start spending a lot of time there, just getting stuff done and soaking up the free environmental control.
Anywhoo, though I plan to post something for Friday Shoe/Cat/Poetry Blogging, this site is likely to be particularly quiet for a while. I know it's been a good, long time since I posted anything truly substantive, and I'm feeling like a Very Bad Blogger Indeed. But, perforce, a Wiseass must eat, pay rent, and manage not to piss off faculty members who have hired her to work for them. So there we are.
----------------
UPDATE: Funny, the doctor and the pharmacist both failed to warn me that my new meds apparently also work really well as sleeping pills. I am, therefore, incredibly drowsy and discombobulated on a day when I desperately need to get a crapload of work done. Oh, joy.
posted by Ancrene Wiseass | 12:34 PM
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