.:reflections of twilight:.

I gotta say, I've been jumping through so many hoops these past few days, I feel like I should join a circus.

Apparently there are absolutely no records of me having gotten my MMR immunizations from when I went to undergrad. I know for certain I had boosters done in '99, but UCF doesn't keep records longer than seven years. Naturally I can't sign up for my final class unless I have this dealt with, as I explained in more detail in my last post.

We searched high and low (literally, since we have files both upstairs and in the basement) for these damn things, only to come up empty. So I thought I'd go and get the MMR Titer test done so that they can see that I did indeed get my immunizations, only to discover that they damn thing costs $107.00! Screw that!!

So, I thought I'd just bite the bullet and go to the Health Department and get immunized again so that there can be documentation that I'm not riddled with disease. I called them (which I loathe since I have to talk on the phone with my voice the way it is) and talked to someone who made me an 'appointment' for today at 9:00.

I show up, and after it took them awhile to even find me in the system (turns out whoever I talked to on the phone took down my birth date wrong), I discovered my appointment wasn't until TOMORROW at 9:00.

Now, I distinctly heard the lady on the phone say "Tuesday at 9:00", which I even put in my calendar on my phone so I'd remember. How the hell they had me down for tomorrow I'll never even know.

And now I have to traipse alllll the way back to the health department tomorrow to get injections which I've had twice already, then haul ass back to the school so that they can have documentation that I did all of this, just so I can FINALLY finish registering for classes and am eligible for the GA job I'm pretty sure is in the bag. That is, if this whole debacle hasn't sabotaged my chances.

*siiiiiiiiiigh*

I just gotta keep focus on the larger goal here, which is to get my Master's Degree and have a career that I actually might enjoy rather than a soul killing job.

Then I find out that the kid who shot up his school in Colorado this past week was looking for the school librarian... Fantastic.

Remind me not to head the debate team.

In better news, I did manage to get the Christmas tree up and decorated a mere eleven days before Christmas. Which means it'll probably stay up until April.



And no, it's not crooked. It's just the angle at which I took the picture.

I'll probably not be able to send out the letters until the New Year, since I need to buy ink so I can print them off. Maybe next year I can actually send out cards instead of lame-o letters...

Well, I've been laid up since Friday with what turned out to be a case of bronchitis. Hence my longer than anticipated absence. I had a nice Dragon*Con post almost completed when I somehow deleted it without saving a draft. It was a pretty well written one too. Hopefully I can get back into the right mindset again in order to rewrite it.

So this weekend was a pretty brutal one. I had had a bit of a nagging cough since the middle of the week or thereabouts but I didn't really think anything of it. I just attributed it to seasonal allergies as per usual. But, it kept getting more and more persistent and then Friday I was feeling very hot and I found out I was running a slight temperature. I took some OTC stuff to help rein it in somewhat, but it didn't really do much except dilute the symptoms.

Friday, mom had gone to a cemetery in order to take a photograph for Find A Grave, and I went with her because I was a little curious about the whole process. Yes, it's basically taking a picture of a headstone, but there are parameters that have to be followed it turns out. Pretty interesting. I was feeling so-so buy the time we started, but back to feeling miserable by the time we ended and having to stop in at Walgreens for Mucinex for me to take.

By Sunday, I was over it. I was tired of the coughing and the yo-yo temperatures and the sleeplessness, so mom went to see if my COBRA was caught up for September to see if I could get into a Walk-In Clinic somewhere and nip this thing in the bud. It was, so we did.

I've never had bronchitis before, so I had no idea what it all entailed. Something with the lungs, I think? Anyway, since I tend to be a massive hypochondriac I was thinking I had all kinds of things. Tuberculosis. Yellow Fever. The Plague. ANYTHING!! All I knew is that I wanted this thing GONE! I did wonder a little if it was a case of the Con Crud, but I didn't hear that my companion I went with had been sick, so it most likely wasn't that.

We found the urgent care place, which is open until 6:00 on weekends, and signed in. Mom called ahead of time to double check that they took my insurance since it's out of state, which luckily for me they did. So while in the waiting room, I had to fill out a phone book's size amount of paperwork before the long wait. Luckily the wait wasn't terrible or anything, not like some places I've seen.

I was called back and taken to an exam room and had my vitals taken. I did find out I lost some weight since being up here, probably due to hauling ass up and down the stairs everyday. Then I waited some more. Then the student Nurse Practitioner came in, did a small exam, took some notes and then left. Finally, the provider on call came in, who was a regular Nurse Practitioner and she examined me and I got a diagnosis and she wrote me some prescriptions. Luckily there was a 24 Hour Walgreens not too far where I could get them filled so I didn't have to wait until the next day to fill them since it was early evening and most everything else was closed. Mom and I wandered around the place while they were getting filled. I saw a cute stuffed Jack Skellington in there that I wanted and dammit if I shouldn't have gotten it!

So today I've been taking my meds and taking it easy and I've started to feel a little perkier, except for the damn cough. I don't know why coughs feel the need to hang around longer than necessary. Especially the hacking kind of coughs where you feel like you're gonna rupture something every time you cough.

I am sick and tired of life kicking me in the teeth.

We found out today that the condo we wanted is not going to be available because the owners want to move back in. Well, thanks a lot! There are other ones available in the complex, but since they're independently owned, they're being leased through different agencies and who knows how to find any of those.

Why is it that we found a place we liked in an area we liked only to have it collapse on us? Our friends did find a nice, reasonable house for us that's available, but we don't have the money to stake our claim, as it were. Ideally we'd like to actually go up and look around, but again, that takes money we don't have and won't get for another couple of weeks. We're running out of time.

I don't want to stay down here for another year or so. I can't. I know this is something we need right now, but we keep getting waylaid by one thing or another. Why does this keep happening? Why can't everything come together like it needs to? why do I have this overwhelming feeling like I want to scream and cry? I hate it.

I came home early today due to headache and then I found this out. Not a good day. Maybe tomorrow will be better. I dunno.

Looks like I'll be staying home from work tomorrow.

The air handler in our A/C unit froze over again, so someone has to stay home and wait for the maintenance people to come and fix it. Again. It was 'supposedly' fixed last time, but obviously it didn't work. It's a shame because the guy that worked on it seemed really nice and wanted to be helpful.

What really needs to happen is our apartment complex needs to buy a new air conditioning unit for our building. We've had so many problems with it ever since we moved into this new apartment. In our previous apartment (which is in a different part of the same building) we didn't have any issues mostly because it had a newer unit. With all of the complaints and 'repairs' that have had to be made in the years we've been here, you'd think they'd actually get around to replacing the damn thing instead of always having to come and repair it. I have to be the one to stay home since where mom is at, they are extremely short handed personnel wise and she'd be dead meat if she called out. I can make up the majority of my hours during the week.

Normally this time of year it wouldn't be a major issue, but we've been having an unseasonably warm winter, so we've been running the A/C more often than usual. I'm still wearing my summer pajamas in December. It kinda sucks, but what do I expect from Florida. It'd be nice to be able to sleep at night without having to run the A/C any. Meh...

So, I have to wait around tomorrow until the repair guy shows up. I have no idea what I'll be doing. I suppose I could start cleaning out my closet, but it tends to get super warm in there and with the A/C being on the fritz, I don't want to be holed up in there doing sweaty work. So, I'll most likely watch movies or read. Or nap. Maybe I'll finally get around to putting up my Christmas lights.

I ordered my Christmas cards and according to the tracker on the FedEx website they were delivered... to the Post Office. Why they delivered them there as opposed to my door is baffling. I mean, FedEx usually delivers to the residence. So, I guess I'll be getting them in hand tomorrow. Now I just need to get stamps.

Here's the cover picture, btw:



It was one I took while on vacation a few months ago that I fancied up using a cool photo editing program called Be Funky. I've been having waaaaaay too much fun with it. I used to use a program called Picnik, but they don't exist anymore, so I had to look elsewhere. All of my contact pictures on my phone I ran through filters and stuff just for fun. I am easily amused by the smallest things...

Met up today with cosmic_reverie at a charming local coffee shop. I hadn't realized we talked for almost two hours! It was fun! I enjoy making new friends! Especially ones who live locally! We talked about a wide variety of subjects, like Star Trek, NASA, the future of the space program, places we want to go in Florida, cameras and the like.

Mom and I bought the Blu Ray combo pack of the Nolan Batman trilogy, so we made a day of watching all three movies yesterday. It was pretty fun! Today we watched the Blu Ray of the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert, which is always excellent. Makes me hyped even more for the movie coming out in a couple of weeks. I just know it's gonna shred me emotionally, so I need to make sure I bring tons of Kleenex. I tried to buy the soundtrack to the movie, but apparently it's not available yet. At least not on iTunes. *rawr*

Well, I'm gonna close out and try not to go into heat stroke over night. Sweet dreams!!