Bit of Ivory

Went to bed at 9:00 last night, so I could read for a while and get myself nice and tired and able to fall asleep by 10. Well, I fell asleep shortly after 10, woke up all. night. long., and woke at 6:30 this morning just as tired as when I went to bed.

Why, oh why, am I all of a sudden reverting to just after my mono days? I’ve actually been doing pretty well lately– I woke up, to be aware of it, once or twice a night, and although I was tired, it wasn’t the headache-every-day-just-barely-able-to-function kind of tired. It was a normal kind of tired. But now my eyes don’t want to stay open, my head is beginning to hurt (I’ve taken some ibuprofen, but it hasn’t kixed in yet), and– GAH. This is not fair.

I’m sorry my entries have been so boring lately. There are so many fun discussions going on, lots of fun memes, so much I want to do and say– and I’m just too tired. I don’t even feel like going on Y!M in the evenings because I feel like I’m dull and un-witty.

I hate this. I hate this. I really, really, really hate this.

Anyone know where I can find some asphodel and wormwood? Or maybe you can tell me what the ingredients are for that dreamless sleep potion Harry takes at the end of GoF. Because I can’t take much more of this, and Muggle remedies are not helping.

I took three ibuprofen shortly before posting yesterday. It took more than an hour to work, and in the meantime my stomach became upset. Lilac may be right, it could have been a migraine. I used to get them all the time in junior high, but I grew out of them (like my doctor said I would). I hope they’re not back, and that it was just a lack-of-sleep induced headache.

So I did go to bed early last night, but it took a while for me to fall asleep. I did get to sleep early enough to get eight hours– that is, if I hadn’t kept waking up all night. I even woke up at 6:00 instead of 6:30, so my last half-hour was just dosing. I really, really hate this. And it’s just getting worse. And because of this project at work, I can’t take time off to go to the doctor until after Wahleecon– a month and a half.

Gah. I don’t know how I’m going to survive.

Oh, and look! Headache coming back. Time for more ibuprofen. *sigh*

It was pricking behind my eyes the last hour or so of work, and exploded on me about an hour after I got home. I’ve spent the night curled up on the couch, moaning. Well, not moaning. But close.

I think I’ll return to the curling up on the couch part. Bedtime early tonight.

Ow.

This is more because I’ve had a busy day than because I didn’t sleep well– although, I didn’t sleep well. Bleh. But I did watch what I ate (mostly, it was my grandma’s birthday, so I had cake), I exercised, and I accomplished much.

I also go to meet my new cousin, and he is adorable.

Hey, all you New Yorkers!

I am insanely jealous of you people. Because The Real Group, the greatest a cappella vocal jazz group EVER, are giving a concert at Florence Gould Hall on April 28. Tickets are available through their box office and through Ticketmaster. If you love vocal jazz, if you love a cappella music, if you just love good music, or if you’re just bored, or if you’re none of these things but can possibly attend this concert, GO. You will not be disappointed. They’re from Sweden, they almost NEVER come here, and they’re ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Siriusly.

The rest of you should buy one of their CDs. You can get them all from Primarily A Cappella, and some of them are available through Amazon. You can find sound clips at all three sites I’ve linked to.

Go. Listen. Be Amazed.

And then buy tickets to the concert if you’re in the NY area. If I had $400 to burn, I’d be there in a heartbeat.

One, the senior editor at work had a heart attack on Friday. He was in the hospital last time I heard, but that was Saturday morning, so I don’t know the latest. I don’t know what this means for our project– I can’t do anything until he finishes his part. Monday morning is going to be interesting. But even beyond that, it’s really quite amazing to me how much I care about these people, even though I’ve only been working with them for a month and a half. I really do have awesome coworkers. This whole thing has me a little shaken.

Two, going shopping last week for a blouse made me realize just how overweight I am. It’s so discouraging to try on the cute fashions and discover that they make you look like a frumpy cow. I’ve been “trying to lose weight” all year, but I haven’t really been trying lately. I wasn’t doing too badly until my grandpa got sick, and then I fell so far off the wagon it felt like I could never get back on. Food became a matter of convenience and comfort, and I ended up not only gaining back the 4 pounds I had managed to lose, but also to gain two more. The perk of free membership at the gym was great, but I came up with so many excuses not to go. And eating well was so difficult, when there’s a vending machine full of yummy snacks and you forgot to bring anything healthy to eat.

No more.

I can exercise self-control. Most of the things I eat that are fattening are things that I can do quite well without; I just eat them because they’re there. Plenty of healthy things taste good to me, and those things that I love but that aren’t that great for me can be worked into my diet. I refuse to give up things that I love, I just need to learn to plan for them. If I can cut my caloric intake to 1500 calories a day, and burn 200-300 calories exercising, I can get rid of these extra pounds I’ve been carrying around far too long by the time I start grad school.

And it will truly be a new start.

Wow! Thanks for all of your questions. I’ve answered them all, and I’m slowly working my way through asking questions to everyone who asked *me* some, and who posted the meme on their own LJ. If I forget you, give me a shout out.

There’s an announcement and an important poll on the Wahleecon LJ. Connielane’s post contains the poll, mine below it contains the announcement. Don’t want you to miss either.

I got my wand yesterday, and it is BEAUTIFUL. I’m well pleased with it. It’s much longer than my old one (14 1/2 inches), and just looks ever so much nicer. So now I’m prepared for Wahleecon!

I went to the gym yesterday, despite my tiredness, and I plan on going again today (once again, despite my tiredness), though I don’t think I’ll make my workout as intense today as it was yesterday. I brought OotP on CD along with me, and discovered that it makes the time go much faster when you’re interested in what’s going to happen next.

I’ve been doing a lot of copying and pasting today, and my left hand is starting to ache. May take an ibuprofen before long.

Considering how much I’ve been referred over to the CoS forums lately, I decided it was time to register. Much easier to keep track of things that way, even if I don’t post. I have no intention of doing so at this point, but you never know when the mood will strike me.

And because I am both a sheep and an attention whore, I think I’ll do this meme too:

On the theory that we could all use a hearty dose of positive energy and general warm fuzziness while we wait, none too patiently, for spring and better times; that no one I know is getting told often enough what a good job they’re doing just getting through this crazy, lovely world. Take a second, and mention something you like about me (if such a thing exists) in the comments. Then repost this to your own journal, and have some goodness for yourself.

First (gacked from half my flist):

I want everyone who reads this to please ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want, and I promise to answer truthfully. Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends (including myself) to ask you anything.

Second:

Happy Birthday Teri!!!

In other news, I’m not quite as tired today as yesterday. I made sure that I got to bed in time to have 8 full hours of sleep. I still woke up quite a bit, though, and woke feeling less than refreshed. I’ve also had a bit of a headache all day. Gah.

Gilmore Girls was pretty good last night. (skip if you don’t want to be spoiled).

The Paris/Rory kiss was rather disturbing. When it happened, I went “Eww! Femmeslash!” They also mentioned that a set of twins had learned the kissing technique, and I went “Eww! Twincest!” I remarked to Rachel on Y!M that I found it amusing that fandom has given me a vocabulary for stuff that I’d like to ignore exists. Anyway, GG. Don’t like Jason still. I also told Rachel that Jason/Lorelai is GG’s Harry/Cho. I guess that would make Luke/Nicole the equivalent of Ginny/Michael Corner. Heh. Anyway, glad that’s over with. They sure dragged that out, didn’t they?

And last:

Translation of the beginning of the Swiss JKR article we got the other day, translated by the amazing, wonderful Perceval:
[Read more →]

I’ve been approved!

Next semester, I’m going to be taking “Tolkein and Friends in Text and Film.” Taught by my favorite teacher!

You see, Dr. Walker is teaching a Senior Course on Tolkien next semester. Usually Senior Courses are reserved for, well, seniors. But I talked to Dr. Walker, and he said he’d love to have me in the class (I was his research assistant, and we collaborated on an article on fantasy and religion). So I e-mailed the Graduate Secretary and asked if taking the class would be a no-no, even with teacher approval. She said that while the class is usually reserved for seniors, I could apply to take the class as English 590R, which is an individual readings class. She warned me, though, that only 50% of 590 requests are approved. I figured it was worth a shot, so I submitted an application last week. Today I got the word– I’m in!

Really looking forward to grad school now.

And, in other news, new Gilmore Girls tonight!

Not in frustration– in exhaustion. I’m literally having difficulty keeping my eyes open, in while doing other things. I seem to be reverting back to the Good Old Days of having trouble falling and staying asleep. Dran. I thought I was passed that. In any case, I’ve been waking up more exhausted than when I went to bed, and this is with being absolutely dead when I fall into bed. It’s incrediby annoying.

Have you ever been tired so long that you can’t remember what it’s like to feel awake? That’s what it’s been like for me these past 4 years. I honestly can’t recall what being awake feels like. Frankly, it frightens me, because when I’m tired I simply don’t perform up to the level I know I can perform at. What if I’m still this tired when I start grad school in the fall? Will I be able to handle it? Will my memory continue to go downhill? School as always been easy for me– I really did very little studying for my entire undergrad. I’m scared that I’ll get into school, find it much harder than what I’ve been used to, and either kill myself from stress or flunk out.

In the meantime my eyes are closing of their own accord at work, and I know I don’t have the energy to go to the gym again today.

Being tired SUX.

So on Friday I noticed that my e-mail inbox was getting rather large. Comcast gives you 10 MB of storage for your mail, and I was at about 98%. So it was about time to turn Harry on again and download all my e-mail from the server to my desktop. It takes a long time to download 1113 messages, even when 387 of them are LJ comment notifications. I really need to start deleting unneccesary e-mails before I download them to my machine instead of after.

Too Young to Fall Asleep Forever has been uploaded to SQ, and has already gotten 14 reviews! It’s been helped, no doubt from a *very* flattering rec on the Lucky You thread by Ella W. It’s nice to know one’s work is appreciated.

Everyone should go over to the Wahleecon LJ and help us pick a caption for the official Wahleecon T-shirt. We need your wittiness!

I will be calling Jordan Commons at lunchtime. Gah!