![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Sep. 1st, 2009 11:15 amOn my way in to work today, I finished the Sword-Edged Blonde. Toby had recommended it a while ago, and I'll admit I was highly dubious, even after I started it. It's basically noir detective crossed with Conan, and yeah, that sounds really hard to do well. But I liked it. I don't think you really need to know more than that when you pick up the book, so go forth and do so.
Story draft!
Aug. 18th, 2009 09:59 amLast night, I wrote an ending to Hoc Vale, also known as Exposing the Dead. I'm pretty sure it's not *the* ending, and it probably needs some significant pruning in the middle, as well as a scene or two before the end. But I consider it a draft, just the same. And it's about 400x better than the ending of Light Up, Light Up (ie, no one gets eaten by bears). I suspect I will print it out, and leave it lying around until I feel like revising it. It's in present tense. That's probably a mistake. It is also missing some motivation. On the plus side, I had temporarily lost this draft, and was reading an older one thinking "omg, I know I'd come up with better reasons than this." And then I found this draft, and I totally had! Yay! It is 6220 words, which is 28 pages. I believe it's my longest story yet, and that's not counting the suck that needs to be fixed.
In other news, the smoke alarm went off at 5:30 or so for about 4 minutes. Nothing gets the heart pumping quite like that. It then went off again at about 7:30 (just before I was going to get in the shower) and again at 8:30 (as I desperately rinsed conditioner out of my hair). I believe it's another battery failure issue, as it was last year--there was a little red blinky light on the one in my bedroom. So the battery has been removed (leaving it meeping angrily at me), and hopefully it will not go off repeatedly all day today. But just in case, I left a note at the main door apologizing. Last year, it went off periodically while Hannah and I were at work, but others in the house were at home. We'd come home to polite little 'your smoke alarm's been going off for 30 minutes" notes on the door. Of course, it never did that while we were home, so we had no idea what they were talking about, or ways to troubleshoot it.
Also, the heat index in Somerville is 4 billion again today. Well, 4 billion, 108 to be exact. I do so love working in an office with air conditioning on days like today. Sure, it's kinda freezing because I am wearing a skirt, but I can breath, and move without sweating, and it's just nice.
In other news, the smoke alarm went off at 5:30 or so for about 4 minutes. Nothing gets the heart pumping quite like that. It then went off again at about 7:30 (just before I was going to get in the shower) and again at 8:30 (as I desperately rinsed conditioner out of my hair). I believe it's another battery failure issue, as it was last year--there was a little red blinky light on the one in my bedroom. So the battery has been removed (leaving it meeping angrily at me), and hopefully it will not go off repeatedly all day today. But just in case, I left a note at the main door apologizing. Last year, it went off periodically while Hannah and I were at work, but others in the house were at home. We'd come home to polite little 'your smoke alarm's been going off for 30 minutes" notes on the door. Of course, it never did that while we were home, so we had no idea what they were talking about, or ways to troubleshoot it.
Also, the heat index in Somerville is 4 billion again today. Well, 4 billion, 108 to be exact. I do so love working in an office with air conditioning on days like today. Sure, it's kinda freezing because I am wearing a skirt, but I can breath, and move without sweating, and it's just nice.
Hello Stress, Goodbye weekend.
Aug. 17th, 2009 10:53 amI am ever so very grateful that my breathing drugs are working as well as they are, and that my mom makes me drink my soy protein in the morning, because if I was handling today with low blood sugar and no air, I would be in the er already, I think.
And classes start over the next two weeks. I predict approximately 45 million bugs, on top of everything else I am working on.
And classes start over the next two weeks. I predict approximately 45 million bugs, on top of everything else I am working on.
OMG, Summer.
Aug. 16th, 2009 12:14 pmWhat is up with this? Do I come over to your house and breath on the back of your neck?
It is 104 outside. I would shower off yesterday's 98 degree sweat and party fun, but that would require standing up, and I'm right in front of the fan, so I'm only like 90 or so at the moment. Any moving, though, and it will be hot and sad.
(new cat game for the day: attempt to chew on the cord for my hands free headset. Bolt when I say "hey!")
It is 104 outside. I would shower off yesterday's 98 degree sweat and party fun, but that would require standing up, and I'm right in front of the fan, so I'm only like 90 or so at the moment. Any moving, though, and it will be hot and sad.
(new cat game for the day: attempt to chew on the cord for my hands free headset. Bolt when I say "hey!")
(no subject)
Aug. 12th, 2009 10:15 pmI have grown used to the dog looking at me in a disgust/reprobation blend and walking out of the room when I cough as he was trying to sleep. It is one of those little quirks that makes us love pets, like how for the first few weeks he was here, Okie would sniff my feet as he was walking by and then recoil in horror.
But Casey just got up in disgust and walked out because the cat sneezed, which seems a bit extreme.
But Casey just got up in disgust and walked out because the cat sneezed, which seems a bit extreme.
Posted using TxtLJ
Aug. 11th, 2009 07:05 pmI don't know what exactly is coming but it'a cold grey and damp and already engulfed boston
Weather channel weather:
Weatherunderground weather:
It's not that I blame the weather channel (and the weather on my workMac dashboard). I too would like it to be 77 degrees, even if that came with high humidity. But it is still a mean trick to play on people.
Weatherunderground weather:
It's not that I blame the weather channel (and the weather on my workMac dashboard). I too would like it to be 77 degrees, even if that came with high humidity. But it is still a mean trick to play on people.
Technically this is a spoiler
Aug. 11th, 2009 12:15 amthe new Karen Chance has the strangest threesome in a SUF yet. Pythia/mostly human girl, Vampire A, and Vampire A two weeks before.
Timetravel threesome.
Stephen Hawking, eat your heart out!
Timetravel threesome.
Stephen Hawking, eat your heart out!
Why July was extra sucky for me.
Aug. 6th, 2009 11:41 amRight now EVERY TIME it is hard to breathe, I start getting anxious and having obsessive thoughts (I will be alone forever/never meet a boy is today's theme) and want to cry. And being as it is a really evil sucky summer, there have been some very bad days in the past few weeks. I think I spent most of the weekend of the 18th crying, obsessing, and hating things--I didn't want to eat anything, I didn't want to read anything, I didn't want to watch anything, etc. And a couple of days later, I spent the whole day feeling like I'd been exercising too hard and was shaky, even though I didn't actually shake (nor had I exercised at all, other than emptying the cat box the once). That was when my mom (who has asthma, and must have mentioned 40 times while I was home with her that she's usually better, but it was just so humid, she had problems breathing, but apparently I paid no attention at all to them.) suggested it was a lack of oxygen, aka return of my exercise/allergy induced asthma, and most of the previous week plus started making sense. I'd thought it was anxiety attacks, which I have a history of, and my biofeedback mechanism for dealing with anxiety is to sit up straight and take deep breaths in and out--calms the system down when it's anxiety, and thus also works when it's lack of oxygen, which appears to be the cause of a lot of my anxiety. By the end of the bad weekend, I'd started taking deep breaths every time I started worrying, and it would work for a while, and then I'd get distracted again, etc.)
So at this point I've been dealing with this for like three weeks now, since the weather got hideous and humid and sucky, and i've got some coping skills in place. When I start getting ditzy or anxious or obsessive about how alone I will be forever or want to cry--I just sit up straight and take deep breaths, and it goes away just like that. It's kinda like magic.
Work has also been slightly triggery lately--Fun fact: when I am concentrating on things, I apparently hold my breath. This does not work so well lately. And I've also felt bored of everything, and unable to concentrate. These are all also things that lack of oxygen will get you. At the doctor's office Monday, which was a very good day, lungs-wise, the 'peak flow meter' (used to measure how much air your lungs are holding) was measuring about 300-350. Normal is like, 450. When they tested me at the ER last week--after I'd been sitting in the air conditioning and relaxing for an hour or so, I was measuring 200. I don't have any idea what I would have been at if I'd been measured while I couldn't catch my breath at all (which was why I'd gone to the hospital.)
And it's also been nearly impossible for me to eat, since the post nasal drip has been putting me off my food for a while (feeling queasy always makes it hard to care about food). I think it was aggravated by the fact that breathing through my nose has been extra hard lately, so eating anything that required more than 5 seconds of chewing started making me worry about not being able to breath. Lack of food doesn't help with the feeling crazy and sick, obviously, so like I said, not a good few weeks there, even with the coping skills and the cold, easily chewed food (I have had a lot of salad, soy protein and milk, and beverages, just trying to get enough calories into my system that I feel okay.).
The doctor gave me Flovent for my lungs and Flonase for the stuff that wants to run down the back of my throat, and I have the rescue inhaler I got after the emergency room. And yesterday and Tuesday were pretty good--I actually could eat food, which is more than I've done in a while. And the weather is cooler and dryer than it's been in a while, so I should be fine, and I thought I would be when I woke up, but as soon as I was getting ready for work, I started fretting and my stomach started grumbling and meh. It's not as bad if I do remember the deep breaths, but it's a lot more work than it has been all week. I think most of it is just that I am overly tired, as I stayed up too late last night, and apparently my still not 100% body just can not deal with that, so I am a wreck today--I think I keep slouching out of tiredness, and that makes it harder to breathe and starts triggering the anxious behavior.
So I am going to go downstairs, and get a fruit salad and eat all the melon out of it, and sit up straight in my chair, and pull my keyboard closer so I don't have to lean forward over my desk, and find work I can concentrate on on. And in a little bit, it will be 1, and I can use my rescue inhaler again, and will stop coughing intermittently, and feel better again.
So at this point I've been dealing with this for like three weeks now, since the weather got hideous and humid and sucky, and i've got some coping skills in place. When I start getting ditzy or anxious or obsessive about how alone I will be forever or want to cry--I just sit up straight and take deep breaths, and it goes away just like that. It's kinda like magic.
Work has also been slightly triggery lately--Fun fact: when I am concentrating on things, I apparently hold my breath. This does not work so well lately. And I've also felt bored of everything, and unable to concentrate. These are all also things that lack of oxygen will get you. At the doctor's office Monday, which was a very good day, lungs-wise, the 'peak flow meter' (used to measure how much air your lungs are holding) was measuring about 300-350. Normal is like, 450. When they tested me at the ER last week--after I'd been sitting in the air conditioning and relaxing for an hour or so, I was measuring 200. I don't have any idea what I would have been at if I'd been measured while I couldn't catch my breath at all (which was why I'd gone to the hospital.)
And it's also been nearly impossible for me to eat, since the post nasal drip has been putting me off my food for a while (feeling queasy always makes it hard to care about food). I think it was aggravated by the fact that breathing through my nose has been extra hard lately, so eating anything that required more than 5 seconds of chewing started making me worry about not being able to breath. Lack of food doesn't help with the feeling crazy and sick, obviously, so like I said, not a good few weeks there, even with the coping skills and the cold, easily chewed food (I have had a lot of salad, soy protein and milk, and beverages, just trying to get enough calories into my system that I feel okay.).
The doctor gave me Flovent for my lungs and Flonase for the stuff that wants to run down the back of my throat, and I have the rescue inhaler I got after the emergency room. And yesterday and Tuesday were pretty good--I actually could eat food, which is more than I've done in a while. And the weather is cooler and dryer than it's been in a while, so I should be fine, and I thought I would be when I woke up, but as soon as I was getting ready for work, I started fretting and my stomach started grumbling and meh. It's not as bad if I do remember the deep breaths, but it's a lot more work than it has been all week. I think most of it is just that I am overly tired, as I stayed up too late last night, and apparently my still not 100% body just can not deal with that, so I am a wreck today--I think I keep slouching out of tiredness, and that makes it harder to breathe and starts triggering the anxious behavior.
So I am going to go downstairs, and get a fruit salad and eat all the melon out of it, and sit up straight in my chair, and pull my keyboard closer so I don't have to lean forward over my desk, and find work I can concentrate on on. And in a little bit, it will be 1, and I can use my rescue inhaler again, and will stop coughing intermittently, and feel better again.
(no subject)
Aug. 4th, 2009 10:44 pmMy first world problems are many at the moment, let me just tell you. First off, I wanted yogurt and honey. But not Lemon Verbena Honey, cause I just had that earlier, and not Lavender Honey, or Mint Honey, or Dandelion Honey, or Australian Honey, *or* local raw honey. So I put Orange Blossom honey on my yogurt instead.
AND I broke big old chunk of my nail off during the honey choosing. (I don't know how, that's not important.)
AND I have serious problems getting the stupid corticosteroid inhaler to let me inhale vs spray my tongue with really nasty tasting that probably works better in my lungs than on my tongue. No wonder this supposedly takes a few weeks to start making a difference. (I think I need to get an extender tube thing for it, which should make the inhaling easier.) The albuterol must be lighter, since I don't have this problem with it, as much.
AND my cat is glaring at me and chewing on my library book.
AND I have to use my tiny computer to log into my work Mac so that I can use the virtual machine to open IE because the program we use to track tech support bugs ONLY uses IE 6 and 7.
AND I broke big old chunk of my nail off during the honey choosing. (I don't know how, that's not important.)
AND I have serious problems getting the stupid corticosteroid inhaler to let me inhale vs spray my tongue with really nasty tasting that probably works better in my lungs than on my tongue. No wonder this supposedly takes a few weeks to start making a difference. (I think I need to get an extender tube thing for it, which should make the inhaling easier.) The albuterol must be lighter, since I don't have this problem with it, as much.
AND my cat is glaring at me and chewing on my library book.
AND I have to use my tiny computer to log into my work Mac so that I can use the virtual machine to open IE because the program we use to track tech support bugs ONLY uses IE 6 and 7.
(no subject)
Jul. 31st, 2009 05:00 pmAt 4:45 when I got home it was not raining. And at 4:50 when Hannah left the house, it was not raining. And at 4:55, the heavens opened up, and the rain came down, and then the rain went sideways, and the rain went up, and the rain went around in circles.
I'm impressed. Hannah, presumably, is not so much.
And now, ironically, I go to take a shower and wash the 8 pounds of sweat off of me. (sure, I could just step outside, but there is a time and place for nudity, and the back porch is never the place.)
I'm impressed. Hannah, presumably, is not so much.
And now, ironically, I go to take a shower and wash the 8 pounds of sweat off of me. (sure, I could just step outside, but there is a time and place for nudity, and the back porch is never the place.)
Posted using TxtLJ
Jul. 31st, 2009 02:36 pmPeople have been draining water from places for thousands of years. Why does the mbta not yet know how to build stair landings that don't slope downhill?
(no subject)
Jul. 29th, 2009 11:11 amMy hands hurt SO MUCH today. I think the albuterol, a side effect of which in with the crazy (well, as part and parcel of the crazy) made my hands tremble and lock, managed to stress them so much that they're doing their nerve damage pain thing today. SO SORE. And they're hot. I keep wanting to find cold things to hold onto, or flatten my hands against. My right hand, which for whatever reason took to the drug worse than my left, is also muscle-sore as well as nerve sore. At least that hand pain should respond to motrin. The nerve-damage-pain won't, but will go away in time. And THANK GOD I have 4 hours of meetings today, so I can just sit with my hand on a bag of ice for most of that. It doesn't really help it get better, but it helps keep me from asking for amputation.
Also, my cranberry muffin, while not overcooked, is overmixed. CURSE YOU, MUFFIN GODS. (no, not really. I love the muffin gods. I learn from the example of the overworked muffin.)
Also, my cranberry muffin, while not overcooked, is overmixed. CURSE YOU, MUFFIN GODS. (no, not really. I love the muffin gods. I learn from the example of the overworked muffin.)
(no subject)
Jul. 28th, 2009 08:04 pmSo, the ER verdict is Asthma without Status Asthmaticus, which is a complicated way of saying problems breathing that responds to treatment.
I got kinda out of breath walking down to get lunch and back, and couldn't get my breath back, even in the air conditioning. And when I called my mom (she was with someone, and I said, "oh, it's okay, I'll call back later, I just can't breathe." She said that was not the way to do things again.), and she told me to go to the emergency room. So, I did. Of course, I felt 95% better by the time I got there, but, as my mother pointed out, better to deal with it then than to end up having a really bad attack at some other time.
And they didn't say you're a loser, what are you doing wasting our time. They checked breathing sounds and all that, which of course were basically back to normal. And they made me do one of those breathing test things which I FAIL big time. Which you would think means something except they usually just look disappointed in me. They then gave me albuterol.
Understatement of the day: "This may make you a little anxious."
OMG. It was more than a little anxious. It was like, mostly crazy. OMG.
But then it wore off, thankfully, and it did help the breathing. So I have an inhaler for rescue breathing, and my mother defined what that means while I was talking with her, and an appointment next week.
I got kinda out of breath walking down to get lunch and back, and couldn't get my breath back, even in the air conditioning. And when I called my mom (she was with someone, and I said, "oh, it's okay, I'll call back later, I just can't breathe." She said that was not the way to do things again.), and she told me to go to the emergency room. So, I did. Of course, I felt 95% better by the time I got there, but, as my mother pointed out, better to deal with it then than to end up having a really bad attack at some other time.
And they didn't say you're a loser, what are you doing wasting our time. They checked breathing sounds and all that, which of course were basically back to normal. And they made me do one of those breathing test things which I FAIL big time. Which you would think means something except they usually just look disappointed in me. They then gave me albuterol.
Understatement of the day: "This may make you a little anxious."
OMG. It was more than a little anxious. It was like, mostly crazy. OMG.
But then it wore off, thankfully, and it did help the breathing. So I have an inhaler for rescue breathing, and my mother defined what that means while I was talking with her, and an appointment next week.
