You know, a few months ago, I would have been physically unable to do what I am doing right now. I would have constantly hurt myself as I moved. Today I was doing some repetitive waist-twisting and realized I could actually do it without blowing out my chest in an extreme manner and been down for the count for months afterward.
Find your blessings where you can.
I was able to get off today and tomorrow to work on the madness.
We are both moving a LOT slower today. My back is screaming and rat's feet are screaming. Right now he is resting his feet and doing a little Kingdom Hearts I Coliseum fighting - Hades Cup - because he says he needs to kill things for a little while. I can relate. It has been difficult to be motivated the last couple of hours. Plus, my lack of sleep has caught up with my intestine and it is NOT happy. I still haven't been eating much but nothing appeals to me.
This helps me keep my head straight.
rat has taken two trips to half-price and probably four to goodwill. When we hit the bedroom, a lot books will go bye-bye. Gave up the serger, the dressmaker's dummy and the five seasons of official Highlander VHS tapes to them. I will probably be giving up a lot of my clothes when I finally get to the closets. rat commented about what would I wear if I got a job interview? A suit I go out and purchase was my reply.
I am sending many bags filled with costume elements to the church for their costume closet. Some pieces were never worn. Our Court stuff, some peasant stuff and our Victorian stuff survived the cull but that's about it. My mother will be by to pick the stuff up this evening after they return from a wedding shower. She didn't want to go but it was pointless to stay around at her place and wait for us to bring stuff. rat doesn't do much loading cars/detrash during the day because of the horrible heat.
The a/c now leaks a full inch of water into a wash pan in about eight hours or less. The pan isn't big enough to catch some drips so the carpet around the pan is wet. And they said the leaking had stopped...
The smoking neighbors walked by at one point while rat was loading and asked if we were moving. He commented about the smoke but not that we were moving. They are either out today or being nice because the air has been clean all day.
I suspect we will go down to about one-fourth of our original possessions. Then we have to keep it that way.
Mother came over and we loaded up a bunch of stuff, like the dolls and some holiday ornaments.
I still have not slept a wink and all I have eaten today is the sausage and egg off a McMuffin, a third of the hashbrown that came with it, two milk jugs, a large cherry limeade and finally a single taco. rat finally saw the gag reflex in action today, first at home when I tried to eat leftover BBQ (which I promptly spit out) and at McDonalds, as I choked down my medication between bites. I had to force myself to eat the rest of the meal so some padding was around the drugs.
I am off to throw away some of my artwork and my most of my handmade pottery now. No room at the inn. No, fanart is safely stashed.
We haven't been able to talk to the office yet. She ran off with her kids until 2pm after having the office shut before then. Can we say avoidance dance?
Lutra, the box is on its way. It is REALLY heavy so watch yourself.
Mother is going to help with some temporary storage. When I first asked, the first comment out of her mouth was to bring the boys over. I think I WILL get them out of here, along with the American Girl stuff and I will not worry about them.
I have been awake for over 24 hours now. I can barely choke down food and only a few bites is all I can take when I do eat.
I know I unloaded a horrible email onto imayb1 who was sweet enough to send me one, but it is just happening more and more. It wasn't an email, it was a puke mail... Sorry! The frustration was getting to me at that moment.
The next bit was fun happened with otaku decided it could not find its hard drive when I booted up. I had been using it to look up ebay stuff I had to determine if it was worth trying to sell. I have an almost mint Planet of the Apes Cornelias (sp) model kit and things like that.
After trying and trying and squeezing the damned thing all over (sometimes I squeeze the case and it just shuts down...) I finally got it up - but now I had to do backups to save everything like all the manuscripts, betas, anime downloads. So, I put a cd in to burn and it CANNOT FIND THE DRIVE. Yep, little buddies, it does not recognise D drive now. The hell if I was going to try a reboot again so I am still up, slowly moving files over to last gasp via the lan line.
I am just dumping a hell of a lot of shit. Gone will be the expensive sewing magazines, the expensive photoshop magazines, the expensive gaming magazines... rat is going to try half-price tomorrow with tons of hardback craft and cross-stitch books, the magazines, lots of paperbacks and the like.
We have run out of trash bags so now I am just piling trash on top of trash and trying to find boxes for some things. The doujinshi collection is a monster to deal with, almost as bad as all the anime collectables.
I have a few tiny islands of 'clean' done and almost one half of the front room has been cleared or bags labeled for different things. I think I am going to give up on any ebay items now, except a few pieces, and just send it all to goodwill.
rat is asleep because he ran out of steam. He also hauled a hell of a lot down to the trash and to the car tonight. I am in PAIN but I get to live with it, whoopie.
Talon, thanks for the photoshoot. I want to go hug and cry on Shuichi right now but I don't have the luxury to do it. It will take at least another hour to complete the file transfer, so I am off to throw away more documents that are probably important but will just have to leave here.
Every night I pray I will die before rat. I think I have gotten my wish. I shook my head, said something to the fact about interesting ways to get the job done, and accepted it.
There is nothing we can do now except what we are doing. We are doing the best we can, too. We shall see what happens...
We now have 72 hours to completely clean up the clutter I haven't been able to handle for years because of my illnesses. We didn't even get the boxes unpacked from the last move because I was so ill at the time.
Pretty much they are trying to evict us for lease violations, one of which is to keep clutter down and for damages. We moved in with crappy carpet, damnit!
I don't know what we are going to do.
There is only the two of us to handle this and even if we did have any friends to help, they would not know what to throw out and what to keep.
I was finally starting to feel better and I WAS making dents in the clutter to the best of my ability. Now my lungs are shot again because of the smoke and I am severe pain from all this activity and I have lost all the good I had recently gained. I am back to square one and my nerves are to the point I want to scream.
rat says it is time to move because this is basically them saying they are not going to do anything about the smoke, so instead they are going to get rid of us.
I have no idea yet how many days we will have before we get kicked out.
We are frantically throwing things away left and right but rat says he knows we are going to fail. I am sobbing while trying to pitch things.
rat says we will rent a house. I don't think we can afford it but he says we can.
Every waking hour will be spent dealing with this until the deadline. Tomorrow we need to talk to the office for specifics.
Obviously, I will not be around here in the evenings after work and for weekends for probably a while.
I cannot even guarantee emails except during my half-hour lunch at work.
We are pretty much screwed at the moment, so now I am going to pull rat off the phone (I suspect it is my mother and we don't have time for chatting about this-we need to get ON it!) so we can get back to it.
So we now know the new neighbor is the one who smokes (the one next door, not the one below us), plus, the stink is coming from the shared attic, because the other night we were under the outside vents in the ceiling of the front walkway and the stench was pouring out.
The office says they cannot have no smoking buildings anymore, which is bullshit. You can have restaurants, why not apt. buildings? Are you willing to pay my doctor bills because you are allowing someone to poison me in my own home?
Last night our place had a haze in it, I was coughing and my lungs hurt. rat was feeling dizzy. The stuff we have been doing to help keep it from getting bad is not working. We have no AC on because it only helps bring it into the apt.
I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night with my nose clogged up. I work all day feeling like something is eating me up inside. I am losing work every few days because it twists my gut around.
They keep saying they will come up to look into it but we keep telling them they will find nothing during the day that stinks. It happens at 6:30am to about 8am and anywhere from 9pm to 1am. They won't come by when the crap is happening.
rat is going to talk with them today about sealing the plenum (sp) and putting vents in the attic that actually meet code. The vents they 'say' they have obviously do not work.
We also looked at rent houses online last night - nothing we can afford. We definitely cannot afford to purchase a house.
Slept most of today because yesterday was so long. Did a lot of stuff with my mother, mostly dealing with dolls.
Been re-watching Mirage of Blaze since the last time I saw it was years ago and half of that series was in raw Japanese. I need to purchase the ova soon.
Read and completed the second Gravi novel. It was okay - better than the first one. It was still written by someone other than Maki Murakami but it seemed a little more in-character. But why do some fanfiction pieces I read now have more meat to them?
By 9:45am we had picked up my mother and were off to Fort Worth for the doll meetup. (I will go into it more over at the doll lj.) We ate about 11:15am at the nice restaurant at the Botanic Gardens and had a great time.
We left the Japanese gardens about 2:30pm and got back in time to rendezvous with our mutual friends who came into town to chat with rat and my mother's husband about laptops with WiFi before actually going out and purchasing one.
Three stores later, they finally made a decision. They also had to shop for stuff so the two pcs will be networked, get the WiFi box, get a new printer, blah blah blah.
I was REALLY fading badly by then.
Then we finally got to dinner about 7:30pm and I felt a little better after getting some torilla soup in me. I am not used to not eating at regular intervals anymore because of my health. I do a lot of mini meals instead of two or three big heavy meals.
Then it was back to the folks' house for them to try and get the WiFi box talking to the laptop (failed) and them discovering missing software and us eating the homemade peach cobbler our friends brought, made with peaches from their own trees.
It was about 11pm and I was now feeling some pain (I took a pain killer earlier in anticipation). We packed up the dolls and came home to the stinky apartment (more about that later) and finally crawled into bed about 12:30am.
Suffice to say, I am feeling it in my back (not so bad), in my shoulder sockets (pretty bad) and other bits and pieces (hips, neck, bad foot, etc.). I missed two and a half days of work last week because of the air poisoning so I cannot really stay home today and try to recover.
The bottom line is, though - I would NOT have been able to do this kind of day a month ago.
I will attempt to get caught up with everyone this evening.
I had to leave the office today around 2pm because I was still so sick (twisting gut, et al). I met the a/c guy, who changed the filter and fixed the freeon (sp) and yet again I was told it could not be cigarette smoke coming through the system.
Naturally, just a few hours ago the stench came pouring in, even into the bedroom this time and I was gagging while my nose burned and my head ached. I had gone to bed early because I felt so bad and when rat came to bed at midnight he woke me up and I smelled it strongly. He cannot smell much of anything - his nose is really dead (as well as his taste buds) but he went to sleep complaining of a headache.
It only happens at night now and it does not happen at all during the day if I am here being sick or during the day on weekends.
We have been trying to think of various alternatives - like moving to a house (too expensive), moving to another apartment in the same complex (but only if the same floorplan-it has the most closet space per square foot), moving to another apartment elsewhere (nothing will be as good as all the closet space we have now), turning off the air at night during the peak bad hours and turning it back on before we leave the next morning(what we have decided to do for the moment), using fans if we need to so we don't die of sweat at night.
The building is NOT smoke-free after all, even though we had been told it was before, and while no one believes me, I still think someone is smoking early in the morning before work and late at night before going to bed and it is somehow getting into the system and into our place.
Tonight I stuffed empty cardboard boxes up in the area in the ceiling where I detected the smoke coming from - it's not coming from the other side. We are trying to think of a more permanent solution to that but nothing has come to mind yet.
Right now, my sinus cavities are burning and I can feel it creep through my system, slowly poisoning me again.
I stayed home today - still trying to shake off the smoke poisoning. I was running a cold sweat fever last night and a regular fever this morning. Stomach a mess, exhausted to the point of insanity...
I do feel a little better at the moment, but whenever I get up, I grey-out, oh joy...
I was sick most of the day at work yesterday because of the smoke smell we had dealt with on Sunday. I had a headache, upset stomach, churning intestine, running nose, sneezes, hot and cold sweats and a fever. - all the typical signs of cigarette smoke poisoning.
But I had to be at work - it is only myself and my officemate there right now. The Snake actually WAS sick and Friday had to get ye olde appendix removed. The Dean won't let the Snake come back to work without a doctor's release note. *laughs* I find that amusing...
I also had to be at work because why stay in a place that was reason for the poisoning? I really wanted to go home and considered it many times throughout the day.
The stench had stopped before I left for work yesterday morning so i turned on the a/c before leaving. It was going to 98 with a heat index of 115 and I wasn't about to come home to an oven. I put the Febreze bottle by the front door in case I needed to pick it up and 'squirt' my way into the apt.
Anyway, I talked to the office before heading off and the front desk person said she had been told the stink was not coming from the a/c but coming through the pipes. They would send someone to seal up the plumbing. I did find that unbelievable because the stink poured out of the a/c and the vents closest to the main vent were the ones expelling the most stink - my bathroom and the living room.
Oh, nothing in the lease states the building is non-smoking - this could be a problem...
Luckily, the fix-it guy showed up late in the day (a/c emergency kept them away most of the day) when rat had gotten home from the office already. The guy sealed my bathroom sink and the kitchen sink and told rat to call if it did not work.
When I got home I smelled a weird burning dusty smell but no smoke. The dusty stink wasn't as bad as the smoke but I still febrezed the air a few times. I shoot it toward the main vent and watch it being sucked into the system.
We went to bed in a cold apt again and that was good.
Kingdom Hearts is going along fine. We don't play every night and are taking it easy.
We watched the first movie of a live-action Saiyuki - how funny! Sanzo is a WOMAN! The costuming is good, it has a lot of humour and we are enjoying it. for the romp it is.
We are still keeping up with Ouran High School Host Club (Tamaki amuses me greatly), Princess Princess and Gakuen Heaven.
I am trying to work on more con photos and doll photos. There is only so many hours in a day and so much energy I can expend.
I am still not very well but things are better. I remain tired all the time.
We had to turn off our air conditioning this morning.
Why?
Some dipshit in our apt. building is SMOKING and the smoke is pouring into our place! This is a non-smoking building, too.
I am SEVERELY allergic to cigarette smoke - my body reacts like it has a stomach flu and the headache is terrible. My nose wants to crawl off my face and scratch itself into a bloody mess.
We went downstairs and talked to the new neighbor but she is not smoking - and is allergic to a lot of things, too.
The three apts on the second floor with us did not answer their doors. They may be home but since this complex does not have doorbells, knocking on doors cannot be heard if you are in the back bedroom. They could also be at church. I didn't knock on the three other apts on the first floor, since I was not getting results upstairs.
rat has called the office and left a message twice. The office is not open on Sundays so we are up the creek until Monday.
We shlepted to the grocery store and got some Febreze. I stepped back into the apt and almost gagged so I pulled out the bottle and squirted every few feet I walked. The air is now fresh again but having the a/c off is going to kill us in the Texas heat.
I have things to do today around here so leaving my own home because of someone's blatant inconsideration is not an option.
If the rules have changed and the building is now a free-for-all where people can smoke, we are going to have to move...
Yesterday was rat and I's "Troth Day" anniversary. It was the day we pretty much promised to be faithful and said vows to each other. How long ago was that? Well, we know it has been a decade because that long had passed before we signed the legal papers. When did we sign the legal papers? Don't know, and cannot find the license right now. I suspect it is close to 20 years.
And it still feels like we have just begun...
rat and my mother's husband have been working on a computer commission all week so we are going to celebrate sometime this weekend. In fact, he is over at my folks' house now, still banging on it. They have been having trouble getting brand-new motherboards and hard drives to recognize each other. That's what they get for buying cheap boards - they have taken them and exchanged them a few times already and when they finally picked more expensive parts, things started working.
The movie, "Kung Fu Hustle", is hilarious! Kung Fu, cool special effects, 30's gangster costumes, great sets, wild characters - check it out and laugh a lot!
I stayed in bed yesterday with a flaky stomach and cramps. rat went over to the folks' house and worked on a computer they are building. I napped too much yesterday so I only got an hour sleep last night. Fun time at the office today!
It sprinkled here yesterday. It poured in Ft. Worth and the main Dallas area got over an inch. Rain is threatening for the rest of the week. I really wanted to take one of the guys to the office at least once this week but I don't want them to get wet.
Tomorrow is the deadline for the next semester's schedule, Spring 2007. Has it been worked on? Nope. Will I push hard to get it in on time when it is finally given to me an hour before the deadline? Nope. They have had the first draft for a month and a half. I have no sympathy.
The rheumatologist called Friday afternoon about changing my Friday afternoon appointment to today in the morning. No one answered the phone when I called on Monday but I told them I don't do morning appointments, only late afternoon ones. We shall see what they say when they/I call today about rescheduling.
While most people are off both Monday and Tuesday for the holiday, the school is open and so I will be there with my officemate while the rest of the full-time staff is gone on holiday.
I love how they always assume I will be always be there. I wish a great job would open up elsewhere on campus or even better, someplace not related, so I could just drop everything and go bye-bye and leave them scrambling. Some people have no clue about all the bits and pieces I pick up and handle.
Anyway, rat is going to come up with lunch, then partition my office hard drive and maybe use the lab computers to look for some downloadable music with our gift cards, if he can find the cards.
One of my long-time friends (and ex-lover) is an absolute dolt when it comes to computers. I believe he is in his 60's now and his abilities with technology is in the 19th century. He is terrible at email and can barely surf the web. He cannot type except for a very slow hunt-and-peck and mousing is completely alien to him. This is all really strange since he is an artist and most artists I know have taken to the artistic side of computers like otters in water.
Anyway, he and one of his friends came by the office yesterday and we discussed the art website I have been working on for him. I know the friend casually, too, and we were the ones talking about the finer points for the site while my friend just looked back and forth at us and blinked stupidly. It was funny and we all laughed about it. I keep telling my friend to take a keyboarding class so he will be more comfortable on the computer and he keeps putting it off. Well, we cannot make the horse drink...
The out-laws are in town this weekend so yesterday after work we all met at the local BBQ place for dinner. This included my folks and rat's sister and brother-in-law. They all kept commenting how much better I looked. It's true - I have been feeling crappy for months now and it showed on my face and body. After dinner, I sent rat on back with them so he could socialize and I went home to crash.
My arm still hurts, along with my heel. Looks like I get to live with this for a while.
I need to start getting moving - need to get to the bank and get money moved around, then go to the post office and pick up packages - more clothes for my Shuichi!
Thanks: --> to Lia, my sensei, who has inspired me to draw again. I
wouldn't be doing this without your support, Domo Arigato!
--> to Talon, for sending me her fabulous fics, inspiring me with her writing to draw my first
illustration for a story and actually liking what I drew.
--> to Dasia, for her words of encouragement when drawing her original chara.
--> to Joules, a wonderful epic fic writer, for liking my art enough to want to post them with Talon's
and her own stories.
--> to Lutra, the other half of the epic team, for being so supportive.
--> to Jacque' & Becca Raddittzu, we met on eBay as bidder and sellers and now we are face-to-face
friends. You showed us the real DBZ with your fansubs. It's all your fault the house is full of
doujinshi! *LOL*
:: welcome to bakayaro onna's mindless ramblings, rants & raves :: 
