Clever Manka is dressed and undressed

What gives? It's been over a week and I'm still dragging. The Monday I returned from work after my (glorious! blissful!) vacation, I thought it was just body-clock readjustment, but obviously not. I have perhaps two or three moments during the day when I feel awake, but for the vast majority of time, I am on the verge of falling asleep. I wake up tired, I slog through my day tired and and I go to bed tired. This morning I couldn't get up at 6:00 a.m. to exercise. I just...couldn't. I reset the alarm for 7:00 and laid my head back down for what felt like two minutes before the alarm went off. I still didn't get out of bed for another fifteen minutes. Allergies? I don't feel ill. I hope it's allergies, because the other likely possibility is that my thyroid meds are failing. Bleh.

I'm going to give it another month before I make an appointment with the endocrinologist. I'm not supposed to see him until September, but if something is out of whack with my T3/T4/TSH, I need to get that fixed sooner rather than later. Suffering through another month of this seems torturous, but the worst of my spring allergies will be over by then and I'll be able to tell if this really is just (ha!) allergies.

Things I don't like that have come up in conversation twice in the past 24 hours, resulting in my assertions and re-assertions that I don't like these things, it is not a personal judgment on someone else's character who does like them, I just don't like them myself: KU basketball, outdoor dining, jellybeans. The fact that I was annoyed by said conversations is a testament to just how tired I am at this point. Testy. Very testy.

This is weird. I'm going to put it here so I can tag it.

For lunch, I had leftover Egg Foo Yong (one of my favorites). Fifteen minutes later, I had some unpleasant stomach/intestinal issues--which are still present, but not as bad--and now, about half an hour later, my nose is very stuffed up and I've got some incredibly drastic bloating around my stomach. To the point where the waistband of my skirt is very uncomfortable.

How annoying.

I made it for two of the three faire days this weekend. Sunday night when I got home, my nose started bleeding from both nostrils and I felt pretty rotten. While in the shower, I noticed some hives on my sides, and my waist itched more than normal from just the snug bodice.

Monday morning, my eyes were bright red (but not swollen) and they hurt to blink. It was like the eye muscles were sore or something. Weird. I had hives on my scalp that ran down my neck and behind my ears. My nose was still bleeding a little, and my head was throbbing. I'm still a little itchy, even today, and the headache is back.

Oh, also, mckitterick took me out to lunch (there was no way I was going to cook something) and I was completely comfortable, even a little warm, in the restaurant. Which means I was also running a fever, since mckitterick said it was kinda cool in the place.

Wah!

So I didn't make it out for Monday's faire. Thank gods I did an Angel contract this year. If I'd had to go out yesterday, it would've been awful. I've got to figure out something to do about these allergies. It's getting ridiculous.

One thing I'm going to try is washing the bodices and mini-yak at the end of every weekend, instead of only doing it once or twice during the run. That might help with the hives. I'm not sure what to do about the vampire eyes and bleeding nose, though.

The good news: Gonzales Resigns. Thanks to everflame and mckitterick for being the first two to bring me the news.

The bad news: Sunday morning I woke up with swollen, itchy eyes. My right eye was so gummy and swollen, I thought I might have pink eye. But no, both eyes were clear and white, but incredibly swollen and puffy. It's mostly gone now, but still noticeable.

I really hope I'm not allergic to Faire.

I'm going to start back on Claritin to see if that helps. I'll call my doctor today to ask if I can take the Claritin with Astelin since the Astelin helped with my nose issues.

Allergies are back with a vengeance. I've been coughing so much that my throat is sore and scratchy. And my lungs actually burn. Like I've been smoking a lot. Which I haven't. And when I cough, I feel a rattle about halfway down, which means I've got stuff building up in my lungs. It's not just post-nasal drip. Lovely.

In happier news, my personal life is taking a definite turn for the better. It's good to be stood up for--and comforted. Thank you to all who helped with either. I hope that the coming weeks will result in less stress, and perhaps result in better sleep.

Tomorrow, nottygypsy and I are going to start working on her second round of faire garb. I've managed to find some lovely green bodice fabrics for her. Let's hope they match her existing chemises, etc.

I'm going to try to write up the disappointing Suhaila workshop experience later today. Work's been crazy busy this week and there's been no time. If things go well (meaning people get back to me about stuff), I'll be busy today, too. But seeing as it's Friday, I fear that most folks have already started their weekend. Lucky bastards.

Because this is the way my life works. I was finally sleeping not too bad (nose-breathing possible: Check!). I only woke up three or four times during the night, but this morning's thunderstorm woke me a little before six. The storm hadn't hit yet, but the lightshow outside provided enough stimulation to rouse me--despite the curtains on the window and the curtains on the bed. Light sleeper much?

I'm still exhausted, but happy to report that I have moved out of the mouth-breather column, at least for the time being.

Here's hoping I'm breathing OK next weekend or I'm going to be completely fucked at the Suhaila workshop in St. Louis.

I got up to get my mail from the room across the hall. When I came back, my head started to swim and I felt so awful I started to cry a little bit. Then I realized how ridiculous that was and started to giggle.

Then I got giddy and laughed so hard I did actually cry. My officemates feel bad for me, but I think they're also a little worried for their safety.

Wow, I feel worse today. I didn't think it was possible to feel this shitty and not actually be ill. I couldn't fall asleep last night because my throat hurt so bad. Then I would cough and it would hurt more. Miserable. I woke up this morning and my eyes were so swollen I didn't even consider putting in my contacts. This is crazy. Obviously Claritin (well, Loratadine--the generic) is not cutting it anymore. This might be the year I cough up (no pun intended) the money to see if Mikell Adams can help me with my allergies. Because this is a ridiculous way to live.

I so want to make one of these (the bag, not the kitten) for Fetish. Think she'd really use it, though? It would be so fabulous if she did, but I suspect she'd just lie on top of it like she does with everything else (box lids, pattern instructions, my face). In which case I should just skip the sewing effort and toss the material on the floor. Because she lies on that, too.

When I came to work today, I thought the betting pool would be on if I lasted the day. Now I think it's going to be whether I last until noon.

UPDATE: The Graduate Director just called me and the moment he heard me croak my greeting, he said "Go home!"