Is… To write more! Not just in the blogosphere, but for my own personal enrichment.
My main NYR is to go a whole year without buying any clothing. This may sound daunting for some, but I seriously have too much clothing. I even have clothes with the price tag still on them. I wear a uniform 5 days a week and the other 2 days, I’m wearing the same pair of jeans (again) and any one of my many hoodies or some workout clothing.
I hope to save lots of money and prove that we can, in fact, make due with what we already have. I’m no fashionista (see the aforementioned jeans and hoodie combo), so its not important for me to stay up-to-date on the latest fashion trends. Besides, with my wardrobe, I can improvise just fine.
Alone, Apathetic… Appreciative.
Written in my poor handwriting yesterday:
Today is Tuesday, October 30, 2012 and its just about the coldest day I’ve ever experienced in Carmel. I’m surrounded by a thick fog; both literally and figuratively. The fog outside is so thick I can barely see across the street. Its the kind of fog that’s so cold it goes all the way into your bones. The fog inside is thick and stagnant with a generally apathetic attitude towards people and things and life in general.
Its nearly 6pm and I have yet to have a customer. I see people on the street milling about wearing down coats, hats, and scarves. They peer inside the windows but probably assume I’m closed. Wouldn’t you? This place looks like a tomb. It also doesn’t help that I’m hiding behind the counter trying to cram for what will probably be another failed physiology test (re: apathy).
Today is the kind of day when anything can make me sad. Even seen a tubby little English Bulldog waddle by in a pumpkin costume made me sad. Now that I have my first customer here, I’m sad. A little old lady sitting by the fire, alone, with a glass of Chianti and book by William Faulkner. I’m sad that she’s alone, that I’m alone, that we’re both here together, but alone.
Addendum: Wedneday, October 31, 2012
Looking back on yesterday, I realize that I was clearly feeling down. I know that attitudes can shift. Mine certainly have since yesterday. The fog has lifted (inside, not outside). I know I can be down sometimes, but my life really isn’t something to be sad about. True, I’m not where I want to be, but I have time to get there. In the meantime, I just need to look for the positive in every day and be appreciative.
Things to do when you’re feeling like crap; either mentally, physically, or both
“Did you know that every species has a way of anesthetizing itself, even if its banging its head on a rock?” (‘Mumford’ 1999)
I wish that when I’m feeling down or run down, that I could just go to sleep. But since the root of most of my issues is that I can’t sleep like a normal person, I’ve devised a few different ways to cope:
1) NO NOT go on Facebook. For me, its just a reminder that I’m not cool enough for invites out with the social circle that I’m barely in anyway.
2) Take a Xanax
3) Take a Xanax and have a drink
4) Take a Xanax, have a drink, and watch ‘Fight Club.’ While its not the most uplifting movie ever, it makes you feel better because you are not in that situation (minus the insomnia).
5) Look up HIlarious texts gone wrong at http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/
Yes, I’m sure most of them are made up, but their still freakin hilarious.
6) When the Xanax, drinks, and ‘Fight Club’ have kicked in, try to get some rest. If not, appreciate what you have. Seriously, no matter how bad you’re feeling about life, there has to be about one person out there that has it worse than you.
7) Remember: this too shall pass
LAX and Televangelism
On a recent trip coming back from San Diego, I had the misfortune of having a 2-hour layover at LAX. Not only was I stuck at LAX for two hours, but I was in the most ghetto of remote terminals for American Eagle. And not only was I stuck in at a ghetto remote terminal at LAX for two hours, but they had the nerve to turn ALL TV screens in the terminal to some televangelist station… followed by Fox News. I followed this with a letter of complaint, which I’ve cut’n'pasted below.
Ahem.
To whom it may concern,
I would like to voice a complaint during my recent layover at LAX. I was relegated to the small remote terminal for American Eagle on Sunday, October 9, 2011. While I was there, for nearly 2 hours, I noticed that ALL televisions in the terminal were tuned to a televangelist Sunday morning program. If this wasn’t bad enough, once that was over, Fox News was displayed.
Was this really necessary? I think it was a poor choice to have this type of programming displayed in a public place. Not everyone has such extreme viewpoints and I would hate to think that LAX has some kind of religious or political agenda.
Now, you might be asking “why didn’t you simply turn away?” Well, I tried, but it was very difficult when (as I’ve said before) ALL screens had the same show on at a higher than reasonable volume.
Would it be so hard to have a variety of programming on the many TVs in this terminal? While some people may very much enjoy televangelism followed by Fox News, the majority of people do not. I know this may be hard for you to believe.
There you have it. I hope you understand the nature of this complaint and I hope it doesn’t fall on deaf ears, so to speak. I’ll hope for a change, but I’m really going to try to avoid LAX at all costs from now on.
Sincerely,
J.Felton
I Live in London Time
I’ve recently returned from a trip to England. I have friends and family over there that I’ve kept in touch with over the years since I did a year abroad and I try to make it back every couple of years or so.
There is an 8-hour time difference between Greenwich Mean Time and Pacific Standard Time. When I was going to school in the UK, I made a little chart of the time difference so I wasn’t calling people in the middle of the night and just as general reference. For example: “when it is 8am here, it is 12am in California; when it is 6pm here, it is 10am in California…etc…” you get the point.
Basically what this means, is when people in the UK are getting up in the morning, we’re considering turning in for the night. Conversely, when they are going to bed, we’re probably close to getting up. So what does this mean? When all you normal people on PST are going to bed, I’m ready to start my day! I slept like a normal person while I was over there! It was amazing!
Its just a theory, its probably wrong.
All that aside, I had a wonderful trip. I got to run around London dressed as a pirate, see some great sites, visit lovely friends, see the British countryside of Devon and East Sussex, and drink plenty of cider!
Here are some pictures to amuse you:
My British Fam
PIrates in London
Friend Street
British Museum
Sneaking in a Photo at the Tate Modern
A Very Touristy Shot
Lucy and I in Picadilly Circus
Visiting My Buddies in Exeter
Wrong-Side-of-the-Road Road Trip
Bodiam Castle
A Jolly Good Game of BadmintonChalk Farm Road
How Do You Get Pneumonia?
Note to Reader: this is a post started on August 10 that I only bothered to finish and publish today. Enjoy!
YES another post about pneumonia! Why? Because I still have it and it is therefore still very much relevant to my life.
Naturally, people have noticed my lack of presence in various places i.e. work, social scenes, gyms, etc. When they ask of my whereabouts I simply tell them that I’ve had pneumonia (I’m also becoming a PRO at spelling it) and this is where the question comes in: How do you get pneumonia?
Seriously?
I don’t know why, but to me, that’s right up there with asking “Where do babies come from?”
My best guess is that I picked up germs from somewhere (perhaps said work, social scenes, gyms, etc) and they made there way into my system. These germs were able to latch on somehow (I took microbiology last semester so I could nerd out and explain exactly how this happened, but I will restrain myself). Since I have a pretty weak immune system, the germs were able to multiply and colonize and my body reacted with the appropriate inflammatory response that manifested in the signs and symptoms of pneumonia.
I now realize that explanation is still a bit nerdy.
So the bottom line is: if I know how/where/why I got pneumonia that I would have gone looking for it?
I’m going to have to go with no on that one.
Pneumonia Makes Me Pnocturnal
So for the 5 billionth time, I’m sick this year. Is there some kind of Guinness World Record that I’ve broken? When do I get my award? This accomplishment should not go unnoticed.
This time has to be the worst: Pneumonia. Your lungs basically feel like they have a swimming pool in them and doing menial tasks, such as peeing, are enough to make one exhausted (and when I say one, I mean me). I’ve felt this coming for quite some time though. Over the course of the past 2 weeks, I’ve felt lethargic, achy, and my asthma has been out of control. I just thought it was just general tiredness due to my party girl lifestyle, the workouts, and of course work itself.
Sunday night, it hit me like a truck. I was flying home from San Diego and in the course of the hour long flight, I went from “la la la that was a fun weekend” to “Oh my god I’m going to die tonight.”
The next morning it was confirmed that I did, indeed have pneumonia. Despite my thousands of times being sick, this is only the third time that its been with pneumonia… and every time I get it, its never any easier than the time before.
I’ve taken the whole week off of work for recuperating, which has been very nice. I spend my days sleeping, eating, and then sleeping some more. Then when it comes time for me to actually turn in for the night (around 10ish), I’m completely wired. I can’t sit still, I feel like I actually want to get up and do things (laundry, write a book, reorganize my room, etc), things that during the day would make me tired even thinking about them. I think the past few nights I’ve finally drifted off at about 3am to wake up at 11am and let the whole cycle of laziness repeat itself.
Its Thursday and I’m finally starting to feel a little bit better. I’m still definitely going to take it easy in the next week because soon I’ll be going to England on a 2 week adventure! I can’t wait!
