A good sort of Monday

Today involved...

sleeping until woken by coughing (not fun, though it ended a stressful dream)

getting a good morning call from my mom (very nice)

not having to rush to get ready for my early class

sitting in the sunshine while reading a book

discovering the mildewy smell in my apartment (turns out my humidifier mildews in just a few days), and cleaning it all out (tiring, but fulfilling)

watching a lot of TV episodes online

getting the good news that Netflix can now be watching on my Wii!

having pretty fast response on a help question for my math software

a pretty walk with friends in the sunshine, past many flowers and the closest waterfall

cuddling with my new favorite cat in the world, much of the day

a surprise package from the parents :)

and now time for dinner!

Ella!

"Honey, there's no such thing as crazy. There's just degrees of interesting."

I particularly enjoyed this line from the new book I'm reading. And I'm particularly enjoying lying in the sunshine, reading a book, with my new cat curled up and purring with me.

Ella is the sweetest, most cuddly cat I've ever met, and she's warming up to her new home splendidly. She came home with me from the SPCA yesterday afternoon, and she's already playing, eating (a lot!), and cuddling with me when she's not playing with me. It's delightful. She doesn't meow really at all, unless it's the middle of the night... I woke up last night thinking a child was crying, when in fact it was Ella. And it was especially startling that her meow sounds a whole lot like my name... it probably had something to do with the fact that I was half asleep and trying to figure out why a child was crying in my apartment, but still. She has incredibly soft fur, the cutest tiger stripes, and her eyes change color. She wasn't really happy with the flash of the camera, for the picture, but she has big round eyes that are sometimes brown, sometimes green, sometimes hazel, and sometimes almost orange.

I must say I'm a little scared, given my previous cat experience, but here's to hoping she doesn't go crazy on me.

Two updates in one day? This is unheard of!

I just want to put out there in the cosmos that my memory and being on top of things seems to be disappearing these days. For the first time in my life, I'm not entirely on top of everything. I can't rely on simply remembering everything and not having something fall behind. This evening, as I was trying to catch up, I realized just how much I hadn't done, and yet I'm exhausted after doing a tiny sliver of it. I feel like I've bit off more than I can chew with keeping up with school, doctor's appointments, friends and family, taking time for myself and my health, and the other commitments that I had before this semester and the illness happened. Send prayers and good thoughts please.

And if I forget to do something, please be patient with me.

A personal health day

Today, I took a personal health day. Having not gone to sleep until after midnight, and waking up many times due to my cold, I slept until almost 11 am this morning, since I turned off my alarm. After deciding not to go back to the Health Center to see a doctor again, I realized that the rest of the week would be worthless unless I took today to recuperate from the last week and all the traveling of the weekend.

After breakfast around lunch time, I headed out to take a walk outside, as the sun was finally out. It was a beautiful day, and I found a new trail that ran across what I think becomes the Cascadilla Creek. The walk was wonderful, the sounds of the wind were incredible, and the view of the river/creek in the sunshine and the landscape were wonderful.

Then I headed over to the SPCA to play with the cats. I spent over an hour and a half just petting and playing and getting to know the cats they have there. It was absolutely delightful, and I'm getting closer to choosing a new cat. I'm going to visit a couple more times before finally deciding!

After playing with kittens and cats, I got delicious food at Wegmans and now I'm attempting to get some work done for my teaching class. I hope tomorrow will be filled with mathematical productivity!

spring break!

This break has been wonderful! First of all, it was sunny and in the 70s on Friday - Sunday, and that alone would make the break fantastic in my book. But then, I also got to do a lot of fun stuff with great people!

However, it seems I was having too much fun, and yesterday afternoon brought a cold to slow me down. I'm trusting that prayers and lots of medications and some rest will make me feel better so I can still enjoy myself for the rest of the break.

Am I in a movie?

This morning, when I came into my office, I looked up at the window and saw what looked like fur... Turns out, there was a kitten outside my window! Then, after the kitten ran away (apparently I'm scary) there was a rabbit just beyond it! Plus, on my walk in, I saw the tiniest chipmunk I've ever seen. I felt like I was in a movie for 2 year olds - here are the baby animals of the world... Yay for furry creatures outside my window :).

How to deal?

Today's been one of those days full of questions about my latest health issues... Since Sunday, I've been sleepy and weak (like taking notes in a 50 minute class took 6-7 pep talks), and I'm not over it yet. The problem is: I don't know what to do to get better. With the celiac, it was straightforward (not easy). Eat gluten-free food, feel better. If I felt ill, I could wait it out, rest, eat "sick" foods, and feel better in a few days. It wasn't easy, but I knew what to do. With all of this now, there's so many questions... Do I rest? How long do I rest? How much do I push myself to do schoolwork? How much do I push myself to exercise? When all I want to do is curl up in a ball and go to sleep, how much caffeine do I drink? If I push myself, will it catch up with me later? How much longer is this going to last? Am I doing too much, or was it walking too far and messing up the sleep schedule? How do I realistically go to bed between 9 and 10 at night, when all the fun stuff usually happens after 8? What should be the priority things I do around the house?

So many questions, so few people to answer them. Do I find a specialist somewhere? What if that specialist is only questionably legitimate? I am seeing a rheumatologist on Monday, but there are limits to what he'll be able to offer me. (More prescription drugs - mixed feelings about that, given to what some of the recent ones have done to me - NOT FUN.)

On an odd note - it seems the Story of the Day from storypeople.com now has 5-6 days in a 24 hour period, so I get many emails a day instead of just one. It's on the verge of becoming annoying, but not quite there yet.

I've been loving the sunshine and "warmth" of the past 5 days though. Yesterday, I sat on a park bench in the sunshine and pretended to be a sponge, soaking up every last bit that I could. Everyone else was out enjoying the sun too - it's like hibernation is finally over :). Only a month-ish left of possible wintry weather, and I'm excited.

Wow...

It's a scary world out there to try to get a job as a math professor... I was looking into universities in the places I want to live, and let me tell you, there aren't many. Fortunately, I have two more years!