there's been things going on. good things but with a big enough learning curve that any writing of substance has not been a thing.

one of those good things gets underway today. I am off to New Orleans and will be back in a week. I won't be seeing much of the city though, because I am getting an initiation while I am there.

See you all on the flip side.

My favorite Soundgarden song. <3 Chris Cornell <3

So far this week I seem to be doing a little bit better than usual. This is the second time I am writing it in two days and again hoping to avoid anything jinx-like. But that may have already been handled. I left for work early in the hopes of making a quick pop in at the post office to buy a stamp. One little stamp. Only I got there and had a line of about 7 people waiting for stuff. There was no way I'd be on time so I walked right out. Thankfully the bookstore here sells stamps so my need was met. (The post office, like the Democratic party, seems not to get that if you can't deliver on promised services people are going to turn away from you.)

Paganicon was a wonderful weekend and nowhere near enough of everything and everyone I wanted out of it. Er, and not like that either. There are some people I see way too little of for my liking. Stupid distances. My presentations went well, I finally met jenett (!!!), and managed not to spend too much money. New policy for such events is I don't want to buy things I can easily get anywhere else. This mainly applies to book but it worked out well for the con. I ended up spending some money but it was well spent. Got one stone, a new long silver chain (serious need), a small one of a kind artwork and decorated journal from Shauna Aura Knight, and an awesome orthoceras "pillar." Though I suspect that is why my suitcase got searched on the way home.

And speaking of home, last Monday I came home to no hot water. A short, but expensive visit from a plumber revealed that my water heater got unplugged. When no one went into the basement. and nothing could have touched the plug. Ohkay then.
(also there were plumbing problems here at work yesterday to the tune of an issue with a urinal. that was fun.)

Toe has healed up well. Thank Gods. Took me long enough and it turned out not to be so bad.

Still behind on Middle Egyptian and feeling crappy for it. While my energy levels are a little better right now this does mean that when I am home I am trying to make the house look better more than worrying about ancient language. It'll come, or so I hope.

I'm at Paganicon this weekend! And way way behind on reading here because I have the brain I do. Kick me if I do not do a catch-up post next week.

So I feel like I have some business writing a post.

1. I saw a podiatrist today. Been having some issues with a toe and now that I have a PCP I can get referrals for this sort of thing. The problem turns out to be irritation from ingrown toenails. Things Were Done, which, while minor, might squick some so I will leave out details. But said toe is now wrapped up and has the potential to fix itself up from the ingrowns. Also I feel a sense of relief that I did not somehow do this to myself.

2. Friday I had my first physical in I Do Not Know How Long. We went over my bloodwork and the summary is that it was all good. Iron, D, and B12 levels are good, I STILL do not have hypothyroidism but am showing a small amount of thyroid antibodies (which needs to be monitored now), and the biggest news is I do not show for having any of the breast cancer genes! For newer people, both my mother and one of her sisters died from metastasized breast cancer. Got major things checked, including my first EKG, and those were fine. Still no answer on whatever ails me. Last time I tried to do this it seemed to be a stop point at no hypo. Now, it's me having to get more bloodwork, look for or rule out other possibilities, and then my RN will *gasp* CONSULT OTHER DOCTORS IN THE PRACTICE. I can dig this.

3. Also on Friday I almost did a dog rescue, having come across a brown bulldog on the way home. She (definitely she) had a collar with no tags and no person around. She was quite friendly and wanted to play, but as I was consulting with my vet on what to do she disappeared. I called animal control, left a message, they called back and were going to search, but I have not heard anything else.

4. Saw Logan on Saturday with siduri. We both loved the film, though after dinner we started to realize that the usual plague of plot holes had happened. Still was a good finish to this particular envisioning of the X-Men universe.

5. Inspired by one of my students who is giving up sleeping in for Lent, I am back to working on my sleep hygiene. The last few weeks have apparently not been great, because last night I cut out electronics earlier and felt more rested than I had in a while. This was with getting into bed around the same time and waking up well before the alarm because sunlight is getting past my almost blackout curtains.

6. Bullet journal CONTINUES to be effective, so I am getting myself a few little accessories to spiff it up some. I have skinny/washi tape to live it up and tomorrow should have stenils I can use to make nifty little designs around it.

7. Still need to catch back up on Egyptian and get Paganicon presentation going. At least I have done it before so I need to weak more than make something new altogether.

One of the drawbacks to being Facebook friends with some of the students at the school here is that I can't vent about other patrons with the illusion of anonymity. I did just get a nice reply from the student I want to vent about (bit of a drama queen) but when you're near the end of your time here some things should not need to be explained.

After feeling run down for almost two weeks I woke up last Thursday feeling like garbage, so I called out for the first time since August. I don't know what it is about a sick day but it does a lot for me on every level. The previous Thursday, when the uni got shut down for snow, wasn't anywhere as restful.

Frustration with the state of my life continues. This weekend the usual cycle played out, that I hit my bottom, had a meltdown, and once that was cleared out I could function again. It's weird and frustrating as hel but until someone can provide me with something like a steady stream of Red Bull (which does not work on me) it seems to be the only way I can get past the humps.

On trying to pass the humps, I am finding I like the bullet journal thing. Mostly because I had having loose pieces of paper I need to keep track of. Now if I could just get my brain to kick in faster in the morning...

I'm behind on my Middle Egyptian homework, kinda. I did the original assignments for the first two lessons last year when we started the class, but I have an addition set of exercises for the first lesson I need to do. And I kinda want to redo the homeworks anyway so they are fresher in my mind. Plus, there's the regular review of glyphs and learning the "order" of the phonetic alphabet which will help as I need to look up things in dictionaries.

I wish I had something more exciting to share, but my politics spoons are getting spent in FB and I never think to link things of potential interest here.

I have a busy day ahead because
1. I have to take the car in this morning. Sunday night it got iced over and to test if it actually was I first tried with the trunk. Not only iced over, but instead of the trunk simply not moving, the panel where the latch for the trunk is came off. (Prius has a hatchback design for the trunk.) Thankfully I took my ice scraped in when I got to work that day, so I scraped the door outline to open the car and start it so I could run defrosters. Scraped windows, headed home, and the car thought a door was open because of the trunk issue. This also means I am unable to lock the car because it thinks a door is still open. I managed to get out of bed quicker than usual today because of the appointment (at 11am) and I also had delusions of making some other food this morning. That plan got nixed and I am glad I did that. Now I just need to take my pills and get clothes on. It takes longer than you'd imagine. :/

2. Also busy because as soon as I get to work (and hopefully getting in early) I have a meeting down the hill at 3pm. It should not be too much of a mental stress, save for getting around the icy patches.

3. Started a bullet journal. So far it's handy because it means I am less likely to misplace a to-do list.

4. Having a potential 2 hours idle (I don't bring the computer or iPad when I get the car serviced) is going to translate into time to work on Egyptian. What an idea, doing the homework before the day of class. That would be Friday, for anyone keeping track.

For the first time in far too long, my lack of posting has been due to being busy rather than being too tired. The first two weeks of the month I was working days, which meant both boss behind me and gearing up for the start of the semester. It would have been so much easier had professors not waited until the few days coming up to the spring semester to put in their course reserve requests. But there is also something satisfying about being busy like that. Or at least there is for me.

The big news here is that on Friday I went for my first doctor appointment in about four years. November's election results were the big impetus for me to try to remount the horse of "what exactly is wrong with me and can it be fixed?" I'd been dreading it for so long and still so pissed at the bint of a doctor I had the last time that once this appointment was over I felt such a weight lifted off my shoulders. I told her (a nurse practitioner) what had been going on, the last round of "oh you don't test for hypothyroidism you're just fat so lose some weight," ordered a lot of bloodwork, and in a few weeks I will have a formal physical. If I do turn up as hypo I may cheer and cry at the same time. But this time I am confident that if I read as "normal," she'll keep working with me to figure out what is wrong.

Last weekend siduri and I did our Candlemas/Imbolc rite and it was just good. G couldn't make it but we blessed her candles from the previous weekend of candle crafting and they are ready for her. Then yesterday I missed out on going to a demonstration downtown because I had to work. Somehow I am over 40 and never been to one. This year is probably going to change that.

In checking off stuff news: today I changed my bed sheets, did laundry, got the kitchen a little neater, finally booked the hotel for Paganicon (yes!), and stubbed my right little toe totes hard 40 minutes before coming to work. Doing all that stuff left me feeling tired but not drained. It's rare when I feel that way and this time I embraced it. When I get home tonight I'll tidy a little more and put out the bins for garbage and recyc in the morning. Gods please let me keep up this momentum.

Blogging will hopefully happen tomorrow, and I will say if it does.

Working days this week, which means work time had to be that, and I've come home tired the last two nights. So no posting or blogging just yet.

In the meantime, this happened after work today. It's my first. Yes I want more.

I am so, so glad to see 2016 disappear. If I had the energy I'd do some kind of execration/burning ritual to get rid of everything possible I don't want to carry forward. Instead I just have to act like it's gone. Went out to dinner yesterday evening, and made people drool with my photo of the passion fruit flan I got for dessert. Spending NYE eating good food and drinking a killer mojito beats a whole lot of other options for the evening.

I got back from my annual Florida holiday trip late Friday night. It was a good time overall, and more fun because eldest niece is 13 and now getting interesting. For her birthday earlier in the month I got her a Tarot deck and the book Tarot for Teens. She still wasn't quite sure of the purpose of the cards so I explained them during one afternoon. The book looks pretty good too, and at some point I'd like to look through it more.

So, 2017 is here. I texted a friend last night and said it's time to for tyranny in fabulous shoes. (Yes I will be backing up my journal privately soon, saw the news about the servers moving to Russia. Have also seen mention of buying back the servers to keep in the US. Canada might be a better option, given the way things are being backed up to servers there...) I'm over 40 and all out of fucks to give.

For this year, my key word, er, words, are heal/th. Can't wear fab shoes when I can't walk in them well due to eternally low energy. Praying my visit to a new doctor at the end of this month bears more fruit than my visits of four years ago. (Super short version for everyone new: I've been dealing with chronic health problems since mid-2011 when I finished my Master's degree. Symptoms a lot like hypothyroidism though I did not test positive in 2013 and was told it was just my weight. Yeah, because one suffers from massive exhaustion six months BEFORE weight slowly starts to climb. Sounds legit, right?) If this doctor proves to be another bust, I may stay with them so they can handle my acute stuff and then check out a local naturopath several local friends have had success with.

In the meantime, today's plan is to unpack, clean as much as I can, do some divinations, blog, and figure out what to prep for lunches this week. I don't go back to work until Tuesday, so tomorrow I'll go out to buy whatever I nee to make lunches. (and again, for those who are newer, I hate figuring out things for lunch because sandwiches bore me to tears fast. Plus I have a gluten intolerance and gf breads aren't always great either.) I'll have two weeks of working standard business hours then it's back to evening shifts.