Again, I am a legless wonder

For those who have been wondering where I've been for the past few days, they should refer to this post from my early days of blogging. Actually, the swelling this year is also in my shoulders, my neck and my jaw. Which has just been fabulous for my productivity. (Actually, I've gotten a shocking amount of work done. Just not as much as I would have liked to have done.) I don't know if it's that my allergies are worse because I'm under so much stress, or if it's the fact that I've dragged out my "build-up" process for so long, but this year has been much harder than the last few.

And so, in honour of my Legless Wonder days, and because I'm apparently incapable of talking without whining lately, I'll give you everything else in simple question/answer format.

Time: 10:52pm

Current Soundtrack: Chris finishing up washing every single dish in the house. (It's been one of those weeks.)

Good parts of the last half of my week:
a.) Structuring entire days around the teas I would drink (my biggest motivator is tea);
b.) Organizing an entire referendum campaign over the course of my lunch break at the university on Wednesday;
c.) Both of us taking a break at supper every day (read: between 7-8pm) to watch M*A*S*H and Scrubs reruns;
d.) Being sucked back in to Top Model in time to see the (horrific as usual) makeovers.
e.) Finally starting to feel like I'm getting things together for my exams.

Ambivalent part of my week: Finding that library book that was presumed lost (and especially presumed to be left at the hospital when I was visiting a friend), wedged in a weird place behind a piece of furniture. After I had to pay all those lost book fines and replaced the book.

Tea of the day: Wild Strawberry Green tea, from T. (A birthday present from Meg.) Actually, first it was a big mug of seamist from Silk Road, because the food allergies had given me a tummyache.

When I'm done with my comps, I will miss the least: trying to parse the impenetrable prose of 1980s film historians who have decided that they're going to use semiotics and structuralism. (Okay fine, I'll have to deal with them again when I'm writing my dissertation. But I get a break from them for a few weeks, right?)

Most recent method of annoying Chris: Singing the terrible Burlington Coat Factory jingle, which mostly consists of a woman endlessly shrieking, "Family VA-lues! Family Va-Lues!"

Legless Wonder Once Again

So, I'm going through the "build-up" phase of my new batch of allergy shot serum. This is always an adventure, because until you reach the "maintenance dose," you're getting too little of your allergy shot, and instead of it making you feel better, it makes you feel terrible. You get the symptoms of that particular allergy rather than relief from it. So, last week, while I was getting the build-up shots for my the dust and mold allergies, I got hives and a scratchy throat. But now I'm getting the build-up shots for my food allergies. This is always the weird time, because my reaction is never what you'd expect from food allergies: my joints get so swollen that it gets hard to use my legs.

Yep, I'm a legless wonder again.

So, because words aren't forming very coherently in my head right now (tiredness is the other symptom; also, it is nearly my bedtime), I'll structure the rest of this post in my old blog format. Question time!

Time: 10:54pm

I am wearing: grey cardigan, bright blue t-shirt, charcoal dress pants, rubber-soled slippers.

Tea: Library Tea from Murchies.

I am procrastinating from: cleaning this messy house, and going to bed.

I am most pleased about: how today I managed to find excuses in four straight seminars to sing part of "Mack the Knife." In the third seminar, several of my students sang with me. (Excuse: a student said "The book keeps talking about this song like everyone knows it. What is 'Mack the Knife?'")

I love: Being in a field where you spend your day teaching students about Peter Lorre, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and "Mack the Knife."

Speaking of teaching: Maybe I'm so tired because I taught the same seminar four times in a row today. It's a strange and draining experience, having the same conversation over and over.

Oddest moment of my evening: I had to explain to my nerdier-than-me husband what "pwned" means.

Most pleasant thing I can think of at the moment: bumblebees. Is there a better word to say? Bumblebees. Why are theoretical bees so pleasant? (Not that I enjoy being around actual bees.)

Having read the above few lines: I see some clear evidence that I ought to go to sleep now.

From the Desk of the Legless Wonder

Subtitled: "I have no legs!"

Okay, that's exaggerating. For the past few days, I've been claiming that I have no legs, because mine have been pretty stupid/useless. It turns out that one of the ways in which I react to food allergies is with swelling in the joints. Didn't fully notice after Monday that my joints had swollen up (because I was always sitting at my desk), but then I went to yoga on Wednesday and... I was a mess. I couldn't sit up straight, much less make my legs bend in the way we were supposed to. And then after that I got my second food allergy shot (until I get up to full dosage -- next Wednesday -- I just react to everything in my serum). I could barely walk after that. And so, I've been laying low at home since then. Sleeping a lot. Not getting a lot of work done. (Not good.) But I had the third shot today, and I think it's getting better. Still walking like a duck, but not as much so now.

So, that's essentially where I've been the past couple of days: being a whiney mess. Poor Meg.

On the up side, on Wednesday night, when I was fairly incapacitated, Meg, Karl and I watched the new Manchurian Candidate. (Yay, Liev Schreiber!)It was much better than I'd heard it was. It kind of dragged in places, and didn't always flesh out some of the plot points, but it was interesting. Now I have to watch the first one. And I love Frank Sinatra, so I'm not complaining about that!

Where I'm working: at my desk (which is currently covered in dirty dishes -- gross).

What I'm wearing: bowling sweater, layered over my University of Delaware t-shirt, with the grey baggy pants. Yesterday I was far more interesting -- I was in navy from head to toe!

I am procrastinating from: looking up some more political information to fill in the blanks in chapter one.

I am thankful for: the sun shining through my window!

When I try to type my name with my chin it looks like this: mARYAnnew (That's the best I've done it so far! I got that from a forward my cousin sent me.)