1. I've gotten so used to working all the time lately that I kind of find myself at a loss when I'm NOT working. This is not good.

2. Trying to figure out how to save money. So far I canceled Showtime and Netflix. Trying to get out of my $80/month gym membership and join one that costs a lot less and is closer to where I live now.

3. Going to a surprise birthday party for my friend's mom at a bar tonight. Not sure if I should be bringing a gift.

1. In about 30 minutes I'm going to McDonald's and movies with my kids, sister, and nephew.

2. Tonight I'm going to a place called Tony's New York Pizza with my in-laws and husband's aunt and uncle.

3. Tomorrow I'm visiting my parents in the day and going to my in-laws for dinner.

1. Coffee & homemade scones. Waiting for the washing machine repair guys with the cat in my lap.

2. Plan to try a trial bike ride to my NEW OFFICE later today or tomorrow.

3. Planning to do some serious housecleaning so everything seems as clean and shiny as my outlook.

Hm, lots of "planning"; I guess really I'm really just basking this weekend, missing Guy (who I hope is enjoying all the snow they keep getting on the slopes), and enjoying the feeling of being back on track.

Adapted from an email I sent to Orange Swan yesterday. I'm not going to yell because I'm really quite sick. I actually posted this in last night's shouting thread, but I'm thinking this is a better place for my tale, because #2 and 3 can be positives. Mods, if you think this a double-post, please delete!

#1 Trying to heal myself - I've been suffering a bit for the past two weeks. Much worse than cold/flu that I originally thought. I'm on Dr. ordered bed-rest this week due to a suspected case of Guillain-Barré syndrome *or* an adverse reaction to the H1N1 vaccine (I'm in a high-risk category for complications). I'm hoping it's just an adverse reaction and not GBS. Out of 46+ million H1N1 vaccinations thus far, only 4 cases of GBS has emerged (CDC/VAERS Citation), so it's still very safe. A lumbar puncture (spinal tap) within the next few days will confirm or deny the neurologists suspicions!

Long story short, I've been in and out of Toronto General ER/Toronto Western Neurology Dept. this week and don’t have much energy for anything this week. When recalling my malaria relapse in 2008, please note how hilarious it is to think of me on bed-rest. It's day #4 (of 7) and I'm definitely going stir-crazy. I’m not *bored*, I just miss being outside (I even attended a 2 hour web seminar hosted by PAHO/WHO on epidemiology and equality in societies. How insane am I? I guess should mention that I'm attempting to finish up my thesis is on H5N1 - avian influenza...). Cabin fever is definitely starting to set in, but I'm not allowed to do much until the spinal tap has been conducted (*sigh*). Did I mention I have a secondary infection (cold) on top of my GBS-ish symptoms as a result of the 4 hr visit to the Toronto General ER I had on Monday, which started this medical adventure? The incubation period is perfect for onset from expose to symptoms, and I've otherwise been in "Quarantine" (neurologist delaying LP until next week due to this).

But seriously - what are the odds of an H5N1 researcher developing an adverse reaction/potential autoimmune disorder to the H1N1 vaccine? Statistically it seems very improbable, but the sample pool is small.

#2 - I'm going to put on my N95 mask (seen here - yes, that is me when living in Vietnam) and go to a friends *very* lowkey birthday party (buffet/dinner) tonight for 2 hrs max if my body is up to it. It'll be a lot of energy, but I really miss humans (my housemate has been sweet enough to let me sleep, we've been communicating mostly by notes this last week due to my excessive sleep schedule).

#3 - Sleep. Read. Watch movies. Stay hydrated. Prepare for week #3 of constant hospital visits. Wheee! Actually I'm in really good spirits about all of this (according to housemate), as it's good to be zen about these things (extra stress won't help me get healthier). C'est la vie. Que Sera Sera!

1. Spending today cleaning and cooking, and then I have two parties I'll make a cameo appearance at tonight.

2. Found bunches of old friends on Facebook yesterday after going through some old mementos from college. I still think it's so neato to have a centralized way to find people!!

3. I'm continually aghast at how much cleaning I do to keep this house in a non-horrible state. It's OK, though, because I'm still in love with it. LOVE. HOUSE!

1. Had fun last night eating at a great Oaxacan place with a bunch of friends. I was really hungry and was glad that everyone pretended not to notice when I ordered another taco and finished everyone's beans.

2. Mom's in town! Meeting her this afternoon for tea and shopping and then taking her on a chocolate tour tomorrow.

3. Left my phone at bf's house and feel naked and useless without it.

2a. Oh, and I'm selling stuff on ebay!

amro's #1 rings very true for me as well -

1. Took the weekend off from the clinic as my sister's in town. Lazing about the house doing my chemistry homework off and on. It's mostly getting done.

2. Headed to Stillwater tomorrow to have lunch with my great aunt Lena. To the best of my knowledge, there's nothing major wrong with her health, but she's getting up there (somewhere in her 80s) and a bit overweight, so she's having a hard time getting around. I hope it's not too depressing.

3. Okay, fine. I guess I'll knock out some more of my chemistry homework. Then I'll load my dog up in the car and run a couple of errands.

Yikes to carabiner. Hope you heal quickly!

1. Going to buy a cast iron skillet today and also a dutch oven as we have been surviving for about a year with one pot and one frying pan. This has lead to odd timing when cooking, inability to cook some recipes, and conversations where I refuse to cook dinner as both The Pot and The Pan are dirty, and that's just ridiculous.

2. Have to write a C++ program today that was due last Thursday. It didn't get done because my math class is taught by a guy who just got his B.A. and is still bit more interested in the girls in the class than actually teaching. I'm sinking some significant time into teaching myself, grr.

3. Going to see Where The Wild Things Are at a second run theater with some good beer tonight! I was too busy with school and being sick to see it earlier.

1) work again - day 13. Tomorrow off.

2) get paint and supplies for major interior repainting.

3) be a sloth. I've been working 6-7 day weeks since July. Uck.

1) Went to the park with a five year old and the pup. Both of them have an amazing sense of direction on the trails behind the playground.

2) Now eating macaroni and cheese, watching Yo Gabba Gabba (Biz Marky's Beat of the Day is the best stuff!), while the CHOCOLATE CAKE is cooling that we are gonna have for dessert. Yeah, I spoil the hell out of the little ones in my life. It's only because I like to torture their parents.

3) My husband is an assistant coach for the basketball team at an alternative high school for high risk teens. Tonight is one of their last home games, so I am gonna go cheer them on.

4) Stewriffic mentioned finding college friends on Facebook. I was found yesterday by a group of girls I was friends during undergrad, and found out that one of my crazy old girls is now a semi-famous cookbook author and food journalist! So cool.

1) I'm bloated from having lived in a too urbanized part of hometown city for four months.

2) Exercise on Monday is run three miles.

3) Not unlike an old car; I will either blow out a lot of carbon and (heh) run well; or I will freeze up and puke debris.

I'm prepping my mind for Monday this weekend.

It started out easy, and ended up profound.

1. Writing, writing, writing. I can't tell yet if it's going well, but at least I'm doing it.

2. 1. Cooking, cooking, cooking! The whole apartment smells lusciously like roasted red peppers.

3. And then it all kinda crashed down around us: The Fella came into the kitchen where I was merrily cooking and told me that an old college friend, a friend he'd just re-established contact and whom we'd invited to his birthday party next week, had died suddenly. He re-connected with this friend through Facebook, and that's also how we learned the sad news.

We stopped everything and just held each other for a bit, thinking how awful for his family, and how precious every day is.

I just want to say that again: how precious every day is.

1. Lonely

2. Heartbroken

3. Poor

4. Bitter

1. I really don't feel like doing ANYTHING. My mood has been like this for a couple weeks now. However, I made myself take Binky on a three mile walk...hoping that I'd maybe feel better. Not sure if I really do but at least the dog is happy.

2. Thinking about hooking up the scanner. Which takes almost no effort at all but I still haven't done it. (Seriously, this involves me clearing off a space and plugging in a usb cable. NOT DIFFICULT AT ALL.)

3. Getting ready to put in some comedy cds so that at least there will be funny in the room with me.

4. Working on a cross stitch that says, "I don't want to be FRIENDS" and has a heart with a knife through it + a border. (Yes, Lady Gaga related and yes, more mood related than I'd like.)

1. This weekend has been very productive and successful. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the sunshine and opening my curtains. I really need to quit procrastinating and just replace the blinds in the second window because I tried to get the cheapy DIY kit and that just didn't work at all.

2. I'm allegedly going over to my brother's at some point later today. I'd sure like to know when, but he's been out running errands and I'm tired of being called every hour by my parents wondering if I've gone over there yet.

3. I think it's time for a detailed sit down and actually figuring out the counts for this one DVD I'm trying to learn. I've got most of the moves down, but I can't get the timing for the second section, which proceeds to fuck up the rest of it.

a. This weekend I am just going to stay put at a coffee shop and read a book. Not going to drive anywhere.

b. May catch up on tv shows or whatever movies I have from Netflix.

c. Also might do a little bit of work related reading.

1. Opiated
2. Caffienated
3. Deflated

1. going on a second date tomorrow
2. with a woman who's over 6 foot (yay for being similarly tall)
3. she'll be showing me the center of the ancient city she lives in. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Grote Kerk for instance.

(((((((j_p)))))))

1. So good to get out after a week of often-heavy rain in Californium. With the big hole where a sunroof should be, had to keep the car parked and covered all week. Didn't realize how Cabin Feverish I'd gotten until I got out. Woot!

2. My general immobility was increased by falling in the bathroom and banging my shoulder against the toilet, so I didn't do much of what I could at home. But this first outing proved to me that it's healing properly; if it hadn't been raining I probably would've wasted time and money going to the doctor's.

3. Reminded here and at #bunnies how damned lucky I am to be "healthier than I feel" (see my comments in 'you don't look sick' thread).

4. Errands out included grocery shopping at two places, national chain megamart for bargains, local 'fresh market' for good stuff. Came home with big (but cheap) deli roast beef sandwich to which I added local tomato and onion and DILL relish (a semi-secret ingredient) to achieve sandwich awesomeness. Ate my fill with enough left over for tomorrow lunch.

4 1/2. But I realize I left my massive coupon organizer in my cart at the megamart (I had a clerk helping me carry out to the car; didn't HE notice it? It's bigger than a breadbox!). One more errand to get me out tomorrow before the next storm moves in on Monday (if I had a 9to5 job, I'd be so happy the break in the weather covered the weekend).

Restful weekend so far, with too much computer gaming and not enough chores.

1. Haven't had any alcohol for a couple of weeks (I like to prove to myself now and then that I can take it or leave it, plus I'm wondering if quitting will improve chances of conception). I was never a drunk, but I'm still appreciating the clearheadedness.

2. Am ludicrously overcommitted for February and wondering how I'm going to get it all done and keep various parties happy.

3. Loving my house at the moment. No particular reason why.

1. The best thing about California is getting real Mexican food. Lunch was a fish taco, a spicy chicken taco and a tamarind Jarritos. We were the only ones speaking English, and the cashier was whipping up a big vat of guacomole for the evening crowd.

2. This new anti-depressant seems to have fought back most of the bypass post-op depression I have had since August. I may even play some guitar and/or synth later this evening. Luckily, sadness is not one of my symptoms but I make up for it with utter lack of motivation.

2a. Bought a new (cheap) set of headphones after the cat gnawed the cord off the old pair.

3. Experimenting with using a lid on a skillet lately with interesting results. All my life, I had been an open-skillet man except to melt the cheese on cheeseburgers.

1. Rough week. Miserable rotten cold. Miserable rotten cramps. Had to go to work to give students their finals this week. Kept getting less and less sleep each night. Six hours, five, four. Utterly punch drunk by Friday. Slept till noon today. Feel a little better.

2. Watching M*A*S*H with Jon. Couple of Wrecks of the Hesperus we are. Left work early to go see the boo at the Beth Israel ER on Thursday. Luckily, they ruled out anything cardiac. He has bruised rib cartiledge, maybe from falling in the shower awhile back. Poor boo.

3. One of my brothers (the lawyer) is very sick and in the hospital with Crohn's disease and will likely need surgery, poor guy. He's lost about a hundred pounds in the last year. I want to go see him (he lives in Connecticut near my mom), but not with this cold.

1. Back from oz, slept 18 of the last 24 hours.

2. Finally got a haircut, wife has taken off with dad to go to a scottish dinner thing in the city that I managed to dodge out of.

3. Planning to start about 3 months worth of chores and clean up...3 months in oz really makes having a normal life hard.

1. Had a fabulous day exploring- Mitsuwa in NJ, dinner & a show in the village
2. I want to know what amro is selling on eBay!
3. Tomorrow, I must be good and go to the gym and the grocery store.

TPS, at the moment I am selling a Ren & Stimpy collector's edition DVD box set that I bought for my boyfriend-at-the-time last year for his birthday but we broke up before it. If this sale goes well I will sell some other stuff, including a gorgeous designer cocktail dress, never worn, too small for me.

My aunt saw on Facebook that I was selling stuff on ebay, and she sent me a message and said, "I hope you're not selling your grandmother's things." Unbelievable! I had even specifically said on Facebook that I was selling things that I had bought and that it was too late to return. But this woman, who really barely knows me, jumps to the conclusion that I am selling the things that I inherited from my grandmother when she died in December. That when we cleaned out her apartment, and I pointed out a few things that I wanted, I was all along planning to PROFIT off of them?? I am really freaking insulted. I have blocked her from seeing my Wall from now on.

1. I woke up from a dream of a previously unimagined character who announced himself very firmly as the narrator of one of the novels I've been working on. He would not let go of me until I sat down and wrote ten pages and sketched out the rest of the book and the explanations for several problems in the world I was creating. It was somewhat freakish and I really hope it happens again.

2. Went upriver with my dad (who needed some disposable suitcases) to my favorite Goodwill store, where for $33 I bought enough shirts and things to last me through July. Among my finds was a certain cardigan, a drab navy/brown/aubergine/white Fair Isle sort of thing on first glance... but a second reveals that the design is actually rows of NZNZNZ alternated with freaking KIWIS. Which, in my eyes, elevates it to the status of the best sweater I have ever seen. It is magnificent. It is mine.

3. Sad tonight to be missing Burns Nicht supper (aka scottish dinner thing!). The ones up at school, hosted by my philosophy professor and attended by a fascinating and far-traveling group, were some of the best nights of my life. Perhaps in the next few years I can either find a good new group or try to put together one of my own.

*hugs pips, jonmc and carabiner*

1.Had very weird , gross NSFW dream involving the woman who wrote Heather Has Two Mommies, caramel corn and a cow.
2.Debating what I want to do for the bathrooms: pre-made vanities or cabinets?
3.Want out of town, but can't go anywhere until the rugs come back.

That's made-to-order cabinets.

1. Finalizing last-minute details for A Winter's Tale premiere tonight.

2. Trying not to whinge too much about the poor sound quality of new Sennheiser earbuds.

3. Thinking every ten seconds about how goddamn grateful I am to have so many caring people around me, who support and heighten the projects I bring into this world. It's stunning to go from "Wouldn't it be cool if we....?" to literally seeing what that looks like filtered through an entire community.

Humbling.