Conscience in the Gutter, Dreams in the Sky

Doing better, finally. On top of strep throat and ear infection, I ended up with a sinus infection also. I was pretty much a mess for 2 weeks. >< I'm feeling lots better now, except that I still can't hear out of my ear properly, and still have occasional bits of coughing/sore throat. =P I haven't been that sick in years.

Job hunting continues to suck. That's all I'll say on that.

Zelda is absolutely amazing and eats up a lot of my recent time. I'm slowly backing off a bit now, but still nowhere near close to beating it. Today, for example, I spent my entire time wandering around Death Mountain looking for fireproof lizards to upgrade my fireproof armor. I've also spent a large amount of time wandering around the tropical waterfalls waiting for night time so I can shoot that silly dragon that keeps electrocuting me. I still need one more piece of his horn.

It really is the best game I've played in ages. I'm trying to gather/collect everything that I can, but still have some gameplay left when the DLC eventually hits. I'd like to get back to Omega Quintet soon, too.

I've also been reading lots of comics lately. James has been buying them digitally when they're on sale, and I've now read so many things I've only had passing knowledge of. I've read all of Alan Moore's run of Swamp Thing, 3-4 volumes of Hellblazer, and a ton of Valiant comics including X-O Manowar, Harbinger, Bloodshot, Quantum and Woody, Eternal Warrior and Archer and Armstrong (probably the best of them). I've also gotten to read a tiny bit of Batman, and currently I'm obsessed with getting through Fables, which I've read 4 volumes so far. (I waited ages for Fables to go on sale.) It's all been fantastic so far, and I still haven't touched Lucifer or Sandman that James got for me also, nor have I had time for any of the TMNT or Transformers he got for himself. Reading comics before bed on my super cheap Kindle tablet has become part of my nightly routine.

But now that I'm getting better I need to keep making myself work on things. Yoga, Japanese, and website stuff, if nothing else. I also need to catch up on a ton of wrestling. I wish I didn't need to sleep. =P

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...the good news is that my managers at work have been working with me to give me easier physical jobs to do until my muscles can heal. They've been overall flexible, and I'm really grateful they're taking it seriously. And overall the pain has gotten a bit better.

The bad news is that Sunday I had a bit of a sore throat, which by Monday I was sure was a cold. And then this morning the pain had gotten 10 times worse and also included my left ear.

So I went back to urgent care today (second time in 2 weeks, and I've never been in my life until now!) Same doctor saw me, asked how I was doing, did some tests, had my ears cleaned out to look inside properly...

...and it turns out that I have strep throat AND an ear infection. XD;;;;;

Now I'm on antibiotics as of an hour ago, and I'm not allowed to go back to work until Thursday. Both managers I talked to on the phone agreed that I sounded horrible. ><

I'm going to be taking this unexpected extra time off to play Breath of the Wild because the Switch is super cool and I can pick it up and play in bed when I'm feeling worse, and then put it back on the tv when I'm doing better and can sit on the couch with blankets and kitties.

Job search will resume once I feel like a human being again.

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Pain from my shoulders has traveled up my neck and into my head, and the last 2 days has given me the worst migraines I've had in 8-9 years.

Went to urgent care today, because seeing my doctor takes a month or longer. They told me that I have muscle strain, and I need to tell work that I can't do any heavy lifting or repetitive tasks.... but the whole job is nothing but repetitive tasks. Otherwise there was nothing they could do for me because my strength is fine and I have no tingling/numbness.

I don't know what to do.

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Before my vacation, I made it a point to bake cookies this year for the holidays. I really wanted to do something special, since I never bake for myself outside of work. So every day for the week before Christmas, I got up at 11am and baked until leaving for work at 3:15 (we were so busy I had to go in early), get home at 3-3:30am, and continue baking until 6am. Then I went to bed and did it again the next day, and the day after, from December 18 until December 22.

I made: Linzers, Snickerdoodles, peppermint tree shaped sugar cookies, Mexican hot chocolate shortbread cookies, vanilla chai tea shortbread cookies, cranberry sugar cookies, buckeyes, no-bake cookies, pumpkin cookies, vanilla Cool Whip cookies, and an apple pie.

Yes. I was insane. I gave some to my coworkers, and a lot went to James' house to help out his mom for her party. We went over a day earlier than usual to help out, because his dad ended up having emergency open heart surgery the week before. >< (Yes, he's doing okay. It was just a little scary for a day or two.) So December 23 consisted of James cleaning the house while I helped with pirogi making, a pumpkin cake roll, and dirt cake for the party. Then I promptly took a 3 hour nap on the couch because I had finally used up every bit of energy I had from the past week. ^^;;;

So. Things I accomplished on my 10 days of vacation:

- Christmas Eve and Christmas with family. Much more chill. Played with kitties, ate food, drank rum punch and whiskey shots. (I ordered a tasting sample of Japanese whiskeys from a website in England, because they looked interesting and I'd never tried any before). Oh, I also spent Christmas day playing Dead Rising 4, because killing zombies in a mall on Christmas is fantastic.
- Finally beat Batman: Arkham Knight. Still need to finish some after story DLC.
- Beat Telltale's Batman game. Very cool take on the characters.
- Watched a TON of Batman stuff. 6-7 episodes of the 1960s show, The Killing Joke, Under the Red Hood, Return of the Dark Knight, Son of Batman, Batman vs Superman, Batman and Robin, and a couple Justice League things. Some of it was great, some of it not so much.
- Watched several other movies including Secret Life of Pets, Despicable Me 2, Kubo and the 2-String, Final Fantasy XV: Kingsglaive, several Godzilla movies, and Rogue One.
- Watched while James played a lot of Final Fantasy XV. Not done yet.
- Cleaned my kitchen until it was spotless after all that baking, and made a home for my new Christmas present, the airfryer. Yes, I know it's just a little convection oven, but it worked wonderfully the one time I've used it so far. I want to try making tonkatsu with it once my grillpan accessory gets here from Amazon.
- The reason for all the Batman stuff is that we want to get into playing the Batman Miniatures Game from Knight Models. So I've begun the process of assembling some of the minis. A lot of superglue and cussing involved. I've discovered I really enjoy assembling them. I also learned about green stuff and used it for the first time. So far I've assembled somewhere between 30 and 40 models. Marvel Miniatures game will be next, whenever I get to those.
- Finally caught up on my WaniKani. I've been behind on reviews since a year ago November when I stopped for school reasons. Took me most of a day to get through my 500 reviews. @.@ (Currently at 230 again, but we'll get there.)
- Also read lots of comics, as well as half of book 2 of the Night Watch series.

I did not get caught up on wrestling like I wanted, or work on my blog yet, or do much job hunting for the new year. But today I'll work on cleaning the bedroom, then most of my big projects will be done and I'll have more time.

I also want to catch up on old broadcasts of HyperRPG, in particular Death From Above, because we started watching this channel on Twitch lately and I think they are fabulous and deserve a lot more attention than they currently have. They just announced a partnership with Penny Arcade, however, and I think they will start to draw in better numbers of people soon. Plus a new HeroClix show and a new Star Wars RPG starting this week!

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So my newer manager has just approved of my vacation request. I have 7 more days of work left this year, and then after the night of December 22, I don't have to go back to work until January 2.

I know this should not be a big thing, but I haven't had 10 days off in a row since before I got this job in 2008. My old manager constantly requested that we only take partial weeks off because it was easier for the schedule. Better for the business. Not better for me.

10 DAYS OFF. Including Christmas and New Years. My mind is racing so hard right now. I feel like I'm back in high school counting the days until I graduate.

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I'm trying to keep things in control to make myself feel better. I've been slacking far too much lately.

Japanese studies are going to come back. In the last 24 hours I've gotten my 522 WaniKani reviews down to 190. Tomorrow's my day off so I'll try and work through some more then. I also got my Genki 1 textbook and workbook, as well as my beginner Human Japanese app. These things will start to be used every day, gosh darn it.

I will get back to my DDP Yoga, because I think it'll help with the back pain I've had lately. I also got a copy of Just Dance 2017 today, and it WILL be loved, just like the old days when I played DDR nonstop. Maybe not quite that much love, since in high school I played DDR 3 hours a day, but still. I ordered a fancy new workout outfit online yesterday for motivation.

And most important, I will get my new blog up and running. It's going to be fantastic and make me really happy, and get me writing again. And it will give me an excuse to watch lots and lots of wrestling. I will share with anyone interested, and maybe even anyone who isn't. XD

Speaking of writing, I just can't commit to NaNoWriMo until I get a new job, because November sucks. =P But I did start writing a scene for a potential new story idea, and I will plug at it when I feel up to it.

Otherwise I've been playing a lot of Disney Magical World 2 on my 3DS. Yes, I'm serious. Yes, it's the best game in existence, as a mix between Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon plus Disney characters. And outfit collecting. And running a cafe. And fishing and mining. It's marvelous.

And James and I have been trying to get through all of Dragon Ball Z, because I have never actually seen it and we have it all on blu ray with original Japanese mono recordings. Dragon Ball I'm watching in my random spare time alone. Next after that on the queue is the original Mobile Suit Gundam. We also keep up with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as it comes out in Japan, because it is the best series ever.

So much to do, so little time.

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Had a job interview today.

I knew how to do 85-90% of what they were asking for. The rest I could figure out.

Was basically told "Well, you have no experience, so I doubt we'll hire you. But I'll pass it along anyways."

No one will give me experience. No one will give me a chance.

I feel so pathetic and angry right now. I'm trying my best that I can.

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...Waited a month to see my general doctor. Got 2 new medications to try. Have to go see a specialist.

Called to set up appointment with said specialist and have to wait another month to see her.

In the meantime, I've had a migraine for about 9 days now thanks to new medication, and my other problem still isn't fixed.

Gah.

One of my co-workers is using completely different doctors under a different hospital system, and she's waiting for over a month to get her shoulder looked at, so I'm not sure yet if switching would even help.

Our system is flawed. This is ridiculous.

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So work really kind of sucks, but perhaps a bit less now... because I just got a pretty decent raise.

^_^ My first raise in 3 years, holy crap. Love the fact that my new managers recognize how important I am, and were finally able to convince the higher ups.

And also, not counting my car, I'm 1-2 payments away from being completely debt free. All school completely paid for and everything.

I am really tired and sore, I almost sprained my ankle when I fell down the stairs the other day, and I've had a headache for a week ever since I switched meds. But gosh darn it, I have one thing in my life that I finally have under control, and I'm so excited about it.

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I I I...

...I don't want to jinx anything, but... I've got a recruiter interested in me, and have a potential job. And if they aren't interested in me, he'll keep sending other jobs my way until I get one that actually does work out. I feel so anxious but hopeful about this. Fingers are all crossed.

Also officially have 4 kittens sitting in my living room as of this morning. They are 5 weeks old, 3 blacks and 1 orange. Two of the black ones are girls, the other two are boys. And they are friggin adorable. Amaya couldn't care less about them (except she wants their treats). Logan is so afraid he ran in the bedroom, vomited out of fear, and has refused to come out all day. >_< And he's probably four times the size of said kittens, not to mention they are his cousins/siblings. (Same momma cat. It took them 3 years to finally catch her, and she's finally fixed to not have more litters.) I'm worried about my baby man.

I'll post pictures soon!

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