Monday, February 16, 2015

Weeklings Are Back! W.16 - Valentine's Day and Pre-Lent Edition

For previous posts in this series, go here: Weeklings 

 A few months ago I stopped writing these because they became repetitive.  Every week was pretty much a new health problem, going crazy without having a job, and basically just stressing. 

Some of that is still the same.  I'm not in good health yet and I had to move and have not found a job yet, but it feels different because at least some of my health stuff has been handled (had surgery) and so I can look for a job without worrying about needing to take off for medical procedures all the time.  So that's cool and I guess it might be time to bring these back.

Happenings

Like I said, I had surgery.  That was probably the biggest thing.  They diagnosed endometriosis.  The surgery was mostly successful, but there was more growth than they anticipated and some of my organs are still "stuck together" which leads to a lot of pain.  The hope is that I don't need another surgery, but my doctor did warn that there was a solid chance I might need a more extensive surgery involving an additional surgeon.  Thanks, Obama.

I needed to move to North Carolina.  I'll probably be here for a year, year and a half.  I miss New York and that's where I really want to be, but wow the weather here is amazing.  It was 65 degrees the other day.  In February.  Swoon.  

I'm also watching all the Star Wars movies, so there's that.  Probably the most important thing in my life at the moment, no?

  
Also, Valentine's Day.  Nothing special, really, since I'm single (and probably not that special if I wasn't) but I do like any reason to bake pretty things.  I wasn't going to do anything, but there are more people here than we were expecting (winter break), so FOOD. 


Thankful for

Aforementioned beautiful weather.  The best fitting jeans ever, making it possible for me to dress without hurting the incisions from surgery.  My friends, Olivia who is always entertaining (and pulled me out of freezing water after I fell through ice - I forgot to include that in her post) and Liz, who is joining me in some penances for Lent even though she is Jewish.  What a friend. 

Books I'm reading now

Currently working through Red China Blues.  

Random

On Saturday (Valentine's Day) I started having chest pains.  I've had chest pains before, but not like these.  But, I didn't want to be a drama queen and I figured it was nothing so I ignored it for 10-15 minutes until it got so bad that I couldn't.  At that point I woke up my grandpa and it was so bad that I hardly got the word "hospital" out.  My hands got tingly and numb and then my hearing got muffled and I got really dizzy.  

I've been scared plenty of times, but I have only been that scared a few times.  The single worst time was when my sister was taking a bath.  I knocked on the door or called her name every few minutes to check on her, and one time she didn't answer.  So I said her name again, louder.  (My palms are getting sweaty just thinking of this again.)  She didn't answer.  I freaked so bad.  I threw the door open, putting a hole in the wall with the knob in the process, and saw that she was under the water, eyes closed.  That was the single scariest thing I've experienced.  I pulled her up out of the water and she was fine.  In fact, she said she was just relaxing and she yelled at me for ruining her bath.  I could have killed her.  I told her she'd never take a bath again.  Reasonable and Rational are my middle names.  (She has taken baths since.) 

Another time was recently, when another little sister and I went to the movies, and at the end this man in the front near the exit stood up and pointed his hand toward the rest of the theater and started yelling.  It was obviously pretty dark, and no one could see well, but the way he was pointing his hand, combined with the facts that he was yelling and was near the exit, made everyone think the worst.  The first thing that came to mind was the theater shooting a few years back.  I felt numb and started putting Rebecca to the floor, telling her to get down and other people in the theater started doing the same with their kids and friends.  It turned out to just be an angry man yelling about something pissing him off (after the movie he was in the hallway complaining about getting hit with popcorn).  That was another terrifying thing.  

This Saturday was the third scariest thing I've experienced.  After the pains didn't go away and once my hearing got muffled I thought that I had been wrong, it wasn't nothing, and that there was a chance I was going to die.  It was horrible.  

Turns out, I had the perfect cocktail of way too much caffeine paired with post-surgery medicine and that little combo triggered something very similar to an anxiety attack, causing the exact symptoms of a heart attack.  Fun, fun, fun.  

To-do

Ah.  No fun DIY things.  I need neeeeeeed to find a job. 

Links worth looking at

Watch this video of a host implying that a Muslim man is incapable of writing anything valid about Jesus.  (And, the way he describes his book and talks about Jesus as a revolutionary makes me want to go get read the book right now.) 

Do you ever need help with Lent?  I usually need help with Lent.  This ended a lot of confusion for me. 

I read this and gave an "awww" and then ignored the advice come Valentine's Day. 

I love this kind of stuff.  

So I've seen a few of these commercials and they always give me feels.  Whoever is behind the commercials is doing his or her job right. 

More of this, please.  

I love Snape, but this article is on point.  He's a good character and all, but the worship is a little much.  And the article is right, he probably would be uncomfortable with Harry naming his son after him.  

Jesus is Not My Personal Savior - Becoming Peculiar 
I looooove this.  "So I don’t feel right saying things like “Jesus is my personal lord and saviour.” For starters, I almost never feel like he speaks directly to me in private. I almost exclusively know him through you folks, and he only enters my heart through interactions with you... Jesus is our lord and saviour. We are saved collectively."  On point. 

Accurate x10, unfortunately.  

Random 

Valentine's Day - Maybe I should have concentrated all of my Valentine's Day-themed stories for one spot in this post, but hindsight, right?  The day before Valentine's Day, I decided I'd throw myself a little pity party and went to the store to buy myself some chocolate.  Then, when I got there, I was like, "Is this really treating yourself or are you just making excuses and doing something you'll be annoyed with yourself for later?"  And then, probably for the first time ever, I turned away from the chocolate aisle, left the store, and went for a walk.  I told myself that was probably actually treating yourself and whatnot.  And then I did a little research on some vitamins, because I'm sick of feeling lousy all the time. 

Lent - I already mentioned that Liz is "doing Lent" with me this year.  We just made a semi-plan.  She's giving up candy and not eating meat on Fridays.  And she's taking up exercising a bit.  (She recommends morning yoga.  Bunny edition...)

On top of fasting and of not having meat on Fridays, I'm giving up Coke completely.  I wasn't sure what to do, because I've already tried giving up or at least decreasing the amount of bad crap I do.  I eat and drink way less sugar (and wow, am I ever going to enjoy coffee again?), I don't buy as much stuff, etc. etc.  So I think not drinking any Coke at all (as opposed to letting myself have some, but not as much as I used to) is good.  I'm also limiting myself to one cup of coffee a day, but that's something I was going to need to do for health reasons anyway.  Liz and I also agreed to work on doing some of these every day: 25 Science-Backed Ways to Change Your Life by Taking Better Care of Yourself.  Annnnnnd I'll be reading some of this every day: God Is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter.  

Bonus 

That nice weather I was just loving on?  Yeah, it just started snowing.  


 __
Charlotte
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