Sick @ MindSay

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After shitting myself all weekend - the coursework discussion with Sarah today wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be. Last night I'd managed to find the two Rammstein music videos I was using as focus texts on YouTube - one of them even had subtitles. :D

The two I've chosen are Mein Teil and Rosenrot - both chosen for their lack of performances, controversial lyrics, imagery and the narrative-style of the video. Watching them with Sarah, we've both agreed that my Spieluhr video needs to have a lot of fast cuts, lots of alternating shot types and a slight control over the lighting.

Going on what we all learnt from the film trailer - we've concluded that there's one rule I need to follow:
"Film more than what you need." - do clips more than once, film extra bits, film stuff just for the sheer idea that it might come in handy.

I was also relieved to get the approval from Sarah that my script is fine - it's not TOO focused on the narrative, but there needs to be slight less straight shots of lip-synching and some somewhat obscure things adding. On that note, I need to have a think about it.

Photography was a wasted effort - though it did amuse me that Shelly had came in for no reason - Paul wasn't even there so we were sat about doing shite all. Thus, Michelle, Shelly and I spent the whole lesson fart-arsing about on Facebook. Though the college PCs have a cocked up flash-player so it never lets me post status updates to my wall. It's rather annoying, amongst other things. :/

This cunt of a kid decided to be sick on the bus on the way home - right in the fucking middle of the gangway - I had to practically long-jump over it. Bear in mind, this is while the bus is still fucking moving.
I fucking hate kids like.

Just about a month ago I posted this blog where I talked about how sick I have been since quitting smoking. In that post I said, "I sure hope this isn't going to get increasingly worse since we're now passing into the winter months." Turns out, I probably shouldn't have tempted fate like that.....

I have been seriously sick for the past eight days. Seriously sick. Not just "I have a cold" sick but running a fever, chills, dizziness, too weak to get out of bed kind of sick. Very little fun as it turns out. I did, while laid up in bed, visit the CDC's website relating to H1N1 out of morbid curiosity and this is what I found.

Symptoms include:

Fever* - ???
Cough - Check
Sore throat - Check
Runny or stuffy nose - Check
Body aches - Check
Headache - Check
Chills - Check
Fatigue - Check
Sometimes diarrhea or vomiting - Check (at least to the first part)
 *not everyone with H1N1 gets a fever

As to the fever, I may have had one. I never checked it but I was feeling warm and combined with the chills.....who knows?

So, I am not at all hypochondriacal and I am not assuming that I had H1N1 but I guess I am not ruling it out either. I didn't go to a doctor (no health insurance and since I didn't work for a week and don't get sick pay.....you do the math) and I don't believe in self-diagnosis. There are just too many variables. But I could tell that this was more than the common cold and since I did have ALL the symptoms. Yeesh.

Well, I am back at work today. I do not have a fever and many symptoms have subsided. The stuffy head and the cough are persistent. Also the fatigue. I get worn out by going to the bathroom. But I need to get back to life and so I am trying for a "mind over matter" thing here. I'll let you know how it works out.

For those of you keeping score at home, this is now the SIXTH illness I've had since quitting smoking; which is eight months ago--today. Happy Anniversary to me!

And in other housekeeping:

My little buddy, Dylan, turns 2 years old today. Happy Birthday Dylan!



He's the little blond guy with the fauxhawk. That's his sister Jaysa and my nephew Simon also pictured.

In other news, Eastwick was canceled this week. They will be showing the original 13 and then no more Paul Gross for me. Sad.

And I just found this story online. Is that cool or what? Returning books from 51 years ago? Who would bother? And actually figuring out what the fine would be? I thought that was a cute story. Even though library systems max fines out at a certain point and just charge you the replacement cost for the book....no $745 fines. But still a very cute story.

Okay, I think that catches everything up. I'll try to keep up but my days are pretty much comprised of: sleep, take medicine, sleep, watch tv, sleep, take more medicine, sleep. Who wants to read about that?

Hey Mindsay.

To be completely honest with you guys, I really don't want to blog today. I've been sick since Sunday night, and I  just feel all around crappy.  Thankfully I don't have the flu, but I do have the most severe cold I have ever had in my life. Not cool, rhinovirus, not cool. I think I'm going to try to go to class tomorrow (for the first time this week, ugh).  I have a 4-5 page paper due in my one class that I've only written one page of, so hopefully I can get the rest of that done tonight. Michael's had this cold as well, but I think his immune system is fighting it off a little better.  He seems to be feeling better today than I am. My head is still full of disgusting green mucus.  TMI? Probably. Anyway, enough whining about my pitiful state, I'm a fucking baby when I'm sick. The point is, I feel obligated to fully participate in the Mindsay Reunion Tour, so here I am.

Luckily for you guys, I think today is a John Mayer kinda day.  His winter tour was officially announced last night, and I will soon be acquiring tickets to his March 8th show in Austin Texas!  Unfortunately, he's way too big name to consider playing in crappy New Mexico, so I'll venture to Texas for him.  The first time I ever saw him was actually right here in Las Cruces at the Pan Am center on the NMSU campus, which is like a mile from my apartment.  *sigh*, those were the days. 

There are only 13 days until his newest album, Battle Studies, drops!  I still haven't heard of any leaks as of yet, has anyone else? (eh commntyblackman ???)  I preordered it from the JM site because along with it came a code that enables me to buy my concert tickets before they go on sale to the general public.  Unfortunately that means that I won't be getting it until a few days after the 17th, so I'm REALLY hoping for a leak. If not, I may just have to break down and buy a copy on the 17th anyway, then give it to somebody. There's nothing like sharing a little JM love though, right? I'm sure my sister would appreciate a copy. 

I gotta say guys, I'm still the pee-my-pants-at-mention-of-John's-name-fan-girl I've been since I was 16, and I really don't see that changing anytime soon.  And you know, maybe there are better artists out there.  But there is no one whose music means more to me. Period.

I literally woke up vomiting. Probably one of the grossest things that have happened to me in my life. That was at about 2:30 a.m. Every half hour I would have to run back to the bathroom. Finally at 6 I fell back asleep and then the cycle started all over again when I woke up at 9. What an unfortunate day to be sick. I had a meeting at BSC's campus today.

I called my mom, who called my dad and now my dad thinks I have H1N1. I sincerely doubt it, I believe it would be a lot worse than this. Then again, I've never had any flu of any kind so I wouldn't know.

Hey guys.  So for day two, I'm just going to go into and start talking about my day and my life like you all know what the fuck is actually going on with me. Bear with me if you're a little lost, mmkay?

Last night I was up all  night coughing my face off. Like literally, I have no face right now. It's not pretty. Especially since Halloween is over. So anyway, I hauled my ass out of bed at like, 10:15 for my 10:30 class, but it just wasn't going to happen. I mean, I had no face.  The problem was, I had an exam in my Experimental Research Methods class at 12:30.  Luckily, my professor has missed like three solid weeks of class, so he really has no room to chastise students for missing class due to illness.  So I e-mailed Dr. Rice and he thankfully granted me a make up test, which I will take on Thursday. 

I'm not sure what I have, but I think it could be the flu.  I never got around to getting a flu shot because the school clinic was out of vaccination the time I went by to try to get some.  I definitely had the opportunity to pick something up this weekend since I went to the doctor on Friday (for a completely unrelated reason). I didn't see anyone looking too sickly, but this time of year, you never know. Then on Saturday I went to a huge house party for Halloween where not only was I exposed to half of the population of Las Cruces in close quarters, but I was also drinking, which I'm sure was not helping my immune system out at all (excuse that run on sentence). 

I'm kind of freaking out because I cannot afford to be sick.  This week is probably the busiest yet of the semester.  I have two exams and two five page papers (neither of which I have started) along with other small assignments and duties.  As of now, I have a really sore throat, a runny nose, and a cough, but I'm not feeling too bad. I'm just concerned it's going to escalate to the point that I'm achy and feeling like complete shit. 

In other news: here's my Halloween costume.  I was a (slutty) Harry Potteresque witch. 




This is my "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" pose.


I made Michael a head shot victim.

The party was pretty fun, but it was over crowded for my taste.  A friend of mine who is very musically talented played a set with his band that I really enjoyed.  Most of the guys Michael and I usually hang out with were there and I enjoyed the times I could actually hear them. Michael went a bit deaf from the loud music (hey, he's not as young as he used to be ;))

Okay well. See you kids tomorrow. Hopefully my face will have regrown by then.