Blarg

Blarg, I say, blarg. That's pretty much all I've had to say for the last, oh, two weeks.

More accurately, I've been saying "meh." I've dragged myself to class and to work, waiting to hear back from my doctor (who took Thanksgiving off because it was a National Holiday, or some such flimsy excuse), and people, seeing that I am as pale as a repeated victim of a vampire attack, keep asking me how I'm doing. So my answer has been "meh" because anything else would require way too much effort.

Moral of this story: blood is very important, do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

I finally have a diagnosis (anemia, Dr. Mom figured that one out, why did I need to see an MD again?) and the appropriate drugs (go go gadget iron supplement), so life is slightly improved here at the hovel.

The bug-killer guys have been dispatched by the apartment and will be here tomorrow to eradicate our pests with many chemicals which I probably would not want in my apartment if I had any say so in the matter.

I had my follow up meeting with the Registrar today. They conceded that my major does exist, and that I might have a degree. I am on track to graduate, and I do not need to do anything weird, such as take an inter-term class. Life is good, and I am now officially a degree candidate for a Baccalaureate of Arts in German and Comparative Literary Traditions with a Concentration in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. I am pretty sure that come May, no one else will have a degree that sounds anywhere near as impressive as mine. Heck, it even goes onto the second typed line. You should see it hand written: that's when it really gets imposing.

Now that I'm assured of my degree, I may get on with other important things, such as grad school applications. None of which I completed before Thanksgiving (as per my original plan) because there was no point in applying to a master's program if I wasn't going to have my bachelor's degree.

On the NaNo front, I am afraid that this year I am going to have to throw in the towel. I don't like quitting, and I really like winning, but this year it is just not to be. I am going to let my brain reset for a few days as I do school work (see below) and then finish Pearl Dust before I pick this year's project up again. I'm at a little past the 30k mark with 9 Revolutions, but the past week and a half or so I've been so sick I couldn't write. I couldn't do anything else for that matter.

I passed out at work last Friday, and went home early, which was an adventure in its own right. I ended up paying more for the pair of shoes I bought that day than I got paid that entire week. I may try to return them, if I can find the receipt.

Now that I'm feeling better, I find that tons of work has crept up on my while I was curled up in a ball on the sofa, waiting for the vampire to come finish me off. I have tests in French and Linguistics tomorrow, for which I am totally unprepared. I have not read a word of Kant, but since I'm doing quite well otherwise in Philosophy, I may sacrifice a level of my grade there in order to prepare properly for everything else. I have a paper due for History on the 4th, which is next Tuesday, for which I have done not one whit of research. Also on the 4th, I have a test in German Grammar, another thing for which I am not yet prepared, but I must do well on it in order to get any grade higher than a C for the class. [The vampire also apparently took my ability to remember the past participle of any irregular German verb, even the easy ones like haben and kommen.] If that weren't enough, I also have a review of an article for Linguistics due the week after that. There I have at least made the step of choosing my topic, but that's as far as I've gone. I'm pretty sure there is supposed to be additional work for Philosophy in there somewhere as well, but if Dr. R has forgotten, I am sure not going to remind him. If I live through all of that, then there are still final exams to contend with, and I'm done on the 19th.

Then I'll be able to rest my brain, but not the rest of me, because I work retail and we are officially in the busy season.

So, until noon on the 19th, St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for me.