A New Year's Revelation

Another year gone. Yipes. I know it's cliche, but it's true: the older you get the more time flies.

When I was little, days and weeks and months stretched out like I had all the time in the world! I wanted time to pass faster. I wanted to be older. So I could do more things. I wanted to be sixteen, because thanks to Sound of Music I believed it would be the most romantic year of my life. (It wasn't. It was just awkward.)

But now? Zoom! Goodbye, 2012! Hello, 2013!

I have the usual New Year's resolutions. I'm planning on doing some in-depth Bible study with the help of commentaries. I want to make better eating choices. Keep up with the gym, especially strength training. Do well in my classwork.

But there is one last resolution that I've got to be HARD-CORE about:

No more self-diagnosing myself online.

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a hypochondriac, but thanks to the help of Dr. Internet, I've experienced those moments of panic.

I need to do myself a favor and stop googling alleged issues. All I get to see is someone with similar symptoms ask a question on Yahoo Answers and receive feedback from any old crazy with a computer. Someone who can't even spell cancer correctly probably isn't qualified to provide any real answers. Just sayin'.

The internet is helpful for many things, but sometimes the overabundance of information can hurt you rather than help you. I'm sure our doctors would rather we skip the online diagnosing and obsessing and instead go straight to them. Of course, if you're just looking for some general information to point you in the right direction, just use common sense and only check out the reputable sites. (This is an excerpt from the pep talk I gave myself last week....)

Oh, and here's another tip. Stay away from Google Images if you're typing any body or medical-related terms.

You can thank me later.

Singing, Sneezing, Super Bowl

So yesterday was my birthday.

I celebrated by going to church, having a bad cold, watching the Super Bowl, and getting a lot I repeat a LOT of chocolate. This seems telling...

So yay for a birthday filled with chocolate! My friends and family know me so well. Actually, complete strangers could probably tell how much I love chocolate by how much I talk about it/eat it in front of them. The Super Bowl party I went to included a chocolate fountain *swoon*. Can you think of anything better than dipping potato chips and strawberries into liquidy chocolately delight?

It was kind of a bummer that I was sick, though. I started sneezing on Saturday, and then yesterday got all stuffed. Usually, I'm sneezing because of book dust or something. Now, my nose is just tickly all the time. I'm feeling pretty drowsy too, so no gym today. I had kind of a hard time taking deep breaths on the machines yesterday, and I don't feel like I have to put myself through that again today. And on the day after my birthday, too!

Hope you all had a great weekend, whether you watched the Super Bowl or not. As for me, I had my eyes glued to the screen practically the whole time, and yet still managed to miss the promised second Hunger Games trailer. Did I miss it, or did they not show it? Luckily I saw it online a few days ago. Otherwise my birthday would've ended in a fit of tears and pouting.

And that sounds like a previous birthday, quite a few years ago. Musical chairs, anyone?

Thar She Blows!

I've been sneezing a lot the past couple weeks. Maybe allergies, maybe my cold, maybe the miserable yucky weather... So I've been "blessed" numerous times this week. Does it help for five people to call out "bless you!" from all over when I sneeze? Not really, but it makes me feel pitied.

Anyway, since I've been sneezing so much, I've been sneezing everywhere. And everywhere includes the car.

So basically, my eyes are closed for a second while I'm driving. That freaks me out a little bit, especially if I'm coming up on a certain obstacle or I'm going to make a turn or something.

Have you ever tried to keep your eyes open while you sneeze? Can't be done. If anything, it just makes you look more like a deranged rodent. Lips curled, nose wrinkled, eyes bugging until the last possible second.

And having my eyes closed while I'm driving? Now that's living life on the edge. I mean, things can change in a second when you're driving. I do NOT want that life-changing second to be when I have my eyes closed.

Yikes.

Sickie Sick Sick. I'm Sick.

I'm sick. Again.

I was JUST sick a couple weeks ago. Stuffed up. Achy. Miserable. The whole bit.

Then, a couple days ago, I started sneezing.

Last night, I finally accepted it. I'm sick.

Why? Why me?

Am I developing allergies? Is it all this lame weather? Warm and sunny a couple days, then rainy and muggy and cold for a week?

It's probably all these library patrons. I give them their books; they give me their germs. Really?! This is the thanks I get for imparting my bookish knowledge?

I'm feeling sorry for myself. And also, being sick makes me mad.

But, life goes on. So I get up, blow my nose, wash my hands, squirt some hand sanitizer, sneeze, try to sneeze, squirt some more hand sanitizer...

And hope it's over soon.

Sneeze and Thank You

"Achoo!"

"Bless you."

"Thank you."

What sort of odd ritual is this? Does anyone else think about how weird this is every time it happens? Or is it just me?

Not only do I feel compelled to say "bless you" if someone around me sneezes, I also have to say "thank you" if someone "blesses" me. I've tried to stop doing both, but end up feeling rude. Have you stopped to think about this?

I checked out my valuable resource, Wikipedia, to find out about this little exchange. There are two versions of the explanation of "blessing" someone who sneezes. The first one has to do with an outbreak of the plague in Rome in 590 A.D. Sneezing was thought to be an early symptom, so you had to pray and bless people who sneezed so that the disease would not spread.

The second possible explanation is from the old belief that sneezing had to do with evil spirits. Like, your soul could be tossed out if you sneezed, or sneezing was a way to expel evil spirits. So "God bless you" was used to fend off evil.

My question is, how in the world has this stuck for so long? Why are we so stinkin' polite for no particular reason? Why do we give special treatment to sick people who are spreading their nasty germs?

These are the questions I ask myself late at night...the important issues I ponder...

Orange Juice, And Other Miraculous Cures

Do you know the saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? The point is that if you prevent something bad from happening in the first place, you won't have to put so much effort into a cure.

I'm still sick, by the way.

All stuffed up and groggy.

I'll try to be brave at work today, but I'll accept sympathy if it's offered.

Anyway, I just finished drinking a glass of orange juice. I only seriously drink it if I'm sick. I think a part of me believes that if I show my body how well I'm taking care of it, it will relent and be healed.

There's probably not too much I could've done to NOT get sick, but I wonder if drinking orange juice will really make me better at this point. Oh well, at least it tastes good.

Unlike cough medicine.

I remember being forced to drink it as a child and taking ages to actually get it down. Then wanting to toss it all back up again.

I tried a couple years ago to take cough medicine and as soon as I smelled it I just couldn't even do it. Does that make me a coward? Perhaps. But I'd rather cough my head off than drink that cough medicine that smells like horribleness and makes my stomach churn.

Sorry about how gross this blog is today. At least you can all rest in the knowledge that I am sneezing and coughing into my elbow. And washing my hands a lot.

And drinking orange juice. So, you know, that should do it.

It's a Wonderful White Christmas

This is about the third day of a really annoying cold that I have. You know, the kind of cold where you just feel all stuffed up and achy, like you just want to sit and stare into space because you can't sleep reallly well.

Thankfully, I happened to have a day off from work today, so I have time to get better.

So, after sitting around for a while trying to come up with something to write about today, I thought, forget it! I'm posting some YouTube clips.

So now you can enjoy clips from two of my favorite Christmas movies, It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas. I haven't watched either of these movies yet, but these clips get me excited to enjoy them soon!