Those sinus problems I was having a few days ago? They became identifiable as a full-blown sinus infection by Saturday night. By Sunday night, I felt like a big pile of shit, and called in sick to work. I ended up not going to class this morning after a light-headed/feverish spell made me fall in the shower (more embarrassing than painful), and the little sparklies in my vision wouldn’t fade for about five minutes, despite cooler water, putting my head between my knees, etc. I couldn’t get a sub for work tonight, so I went in, sniffled all over the microphone, and left after a half-hour. My temperature about a half-hour ago was just over 102 F, and I can feel this moving into my chest, as I’m developing a cough as I type. Unless I can kick this fever by tomorrow morning, I’ll be missing two days of class, which is not at all zesty, but this dizziness, double-headache (a sinus headache combined with one of those icky neck-aches), blurred vision (which, when combined with the dizziness, makes it difficult to walk through doors without banging up shoulders, and makes for much laughter as I weave down the hallway to the bathroom like a drunkard), spacing out, and ridiculous exhaustion while doing the simplest tasks (like getting dressed, or showering) ain’t gonna cut it. Ugh. My profs were very understanding when I fired off my 07:00 e-mail this morning, though.

I haven’t even been down to get my package, or the pen pal letter I know is waiting on me, dammit. It’s fucking snowing outside, too.

To top it off, I think I got Bridget sick. Poor Theodore.

The trip in was typical. Meaning, bad. Lots of quality car time with the Old Man, who likes to wander into other lanes or off the shoulders of the highway or go ten miles an hour under the fucking speed limit (and that was before the weather got at all bad, and not due to the limitations of Johnny, who does get a bit… “floaty” above 75 miles an hour) or not use turn signals to warn of an abrupt decision to get off the highway (my mother was following us in their car). I wasn’t allowed (!!!) to drive, due to it raining. Not sleeting, or snowing, or even particularly pouring, but raining. Yes, hydroplaning is a threat with my tires (new, but not particularly high traction), but shouldn’t I learn the limits of Johnny now, when I’m with someone that knows about cars, that has a cell phone, that can call for help should the fecal matter hit the rotary impeller, and when we have a second car as backup? Apparently not.

I did, however, get to see my older sister, and my nephew and two nieces. I’m not, by any means, a kid person, but those three are the cutest little kids I’ve been around for a while. If I were of a doting age (or of a doting financial ability), I would definitely dote on them. The oldest (a girl) of the three is only a year older than my younger sister (her aunt), and the youngest (another girl) is about two years old. My brother-in-law, a friendly, talkative guy that seems like he can actually take care of the kids when my sister is working (she’s a night-shift nurse) or sleeping just sold his first art piece to a gallery (or wherever one sells art) for what seems (to an art ignoramus) to be a nice sum of money (for a first piece). It looks like things are taking off for them, or rather, settling down from financial instability, the hectic-ness of having three young children, etc. I’m so happy for them. And I really like her kids. The little boy was so sweet–he never said a word, just kept staring at me with sleepy-sad eyes just like his father’s, then would go off and bring back something to show me, like, you know, his sister’s bicycle (he was about as tall as the handlebars), and put it in front of me, resuming his staring and waiting for my reaction with a sneaky half-smile. Très cute.

Am I completely jaded for my immediate thought of men taking care of children to be distrusting–for thinking that men don’t know how to take care of children, and will feed them shit or not feed them at all, put them off all the time so they won’t interfere with whatever they want to do, etc.? I felt bad for my first thought about my sister’s situation being, “Oh my god, you leave him to take care of the children during the day while you sleep? Geez, they look happy and healthy…” I didn’t say that, of course. That’s probably something I should work on, though.

Disclaimer: Any incoherentness (is that even a damn word?), misspellings, and utter lack of interesting material/links/commentary in this post (and I have been reading interesting things…) is due solely to Typhoid Mary, her boyfriend, and my punk-ass immune system.

My mother had the bright idea yesterday morning of making a dress for the dressy New Year’s party I would be attending that evening. She had a pattern for a simple (ha!) dress, and all we needed to get was a zipper for the back from the store. I began working on the pattern and fabric cutting while she bought the zipper, and was ready to start assembly by noon.

Eight and three quarters hours later, I had a dress (ill-fitting, but a dress, and salvagable at that). I would like to find the names and addresses of the people that write the directions for these patterns–surely things could have been worded much more clearly. Tried to hunt down Jenny’s phone number to warn of a late arrival, but realized I left my address book at school. So I threw on tennis shoes, grabbed my heels, sleeping bag, and overnight bag and headed out for the party. In my car. With my license with the grinning mug shot.

The party was mucho fun. I got to see Hannah and Will-yum again (always a pleasure). Hannah left me in stitches with her recitation of the opening of that End of the World moobie–she got the guy’s voice down pat. “Oh-khay, so… Here is the Earth. It’s just chillin’. Damn! That is a sweet Earth, you might say…” Oh, dear. Très funny.

I also got to see Typhoid Mary Rebecca and her boyfriend, who was looking cute with his brisly goatee. Both were sick as dogs, and probably managed to infect everyone else (I can’t tell if my sinus problems are from the weird sleeping conditions, dog allergies, or actually being ill). That’s some shit, as I managed to avoid getting sick all this winter, despite hugging Luke when he had bronchitis, hanging around Bob all night while doing the paper when he was ill, sitting next to Kitty Cat in class around the time her fever sent her to the hospital, and living in the same house as my little sister for the past week. Sums of beeches, getting me ill. But it was good to see them again anyway.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions, but I am at something of a halfway point right now, and it seems like a good time to set some goals. Goals for the next several months (say, by the end of summer):

• Be able to run a sub-thirty minute 5K. I’m not ambitious. [Edit: Why did I type 26 when I meant 30? Le sigh. I even proofread this.]
• Study more and care a bit more about homework. There was no call for those B’s in Calculus I and Physics. For rizzle. Concrete goal for the next seven weeks: get straight A’s.
• Start getting a concrete idea of what I want to do post-undergrad. And get an intership that reflects that.
• Try my hand at some creative writing. There’s an idea floating for a long story (novel-length, probably), and even a plan for implementation created a couple of years ago, I just need to get on it.
• Shed the remaining thirty to fifty pounds I need to lose. Anywhere in that vicintity would make me a happy camper.
• Finish the work I want to do on Johnny. Get a Chilton’s or Haynes’ manual, buy a set of rear speakers and wire them up to my existing tuner, buy a digital FM transmitter for use with my portable electronics, and learn Johnny’s engine and be able to do oil changes, check and change spark plugs, etc. Oh, and buy a replacement light cover for one of the “reverse” lights from Ford.
• At the beginning of my sophomore year, consider taking up a martial art. Self-defense is good.

Mandarin “Happy New Year” courtesy of EnchantedLearning.com. Blame them if it’s wrong.