Swimming FAIL

The past several weeks have been chaotic, to say the least. My dad crashed the family car into a hill and left me without MY car for two weeks while Ed (the car) was getting a makeover - replacing the axle, the lights, rims, etc. It was rainy, he is fine, car is better now, life is back to normal, right?

Except it's not.

I'm taking Swimming I this quarter, because I needed an extra hour of classes to get all of my scholarships. Last Wednesday we tried diving out, something I think half the class was unprepared for. I am a terrible diver, absolutely atrocious. My first jump off the one meter board had my face smacking the water at a bad angle - my neck still feels iffy now and again. My second jump, though, is the thing that has messed up my past week. My legs flipped up toward my back, snapping back when they hit the water. I didn't keep my legs in any sort of correct position. I felt something... shift. Snap. Crackle. Pop. SOMETHING went wrong. The lifeguard called out, I think, to see if I was okay as I sloooooowly doggy-paddled to the side of the pool. 

I thought it was just a simple twist. I've had issues in my lower back this past year; it usually strikes on the weekends, when I can't go see anyone. So I took some iBuprofen at the start of my macroecon class and figured I would be fine. I ended up lying on the floor at my job not even two hours later, the meds doing jackshit to help me feel better. 

A few hours and a visit to the student health center later, I had THREE different medications to take and a bandage on each hip from the painkillers the doctor had determined I needed immediately. My lower back muscle was spasming so badly she could see it. She touched it to confirm, asked a few questions, and told me that the drugs she was prescribing would help. If they didn't, I would go back in and get a scan.

I thought I was doing better. It turns out I just hadn't been walking enough for my back to put up all of its 'on strike' placards. I went back yesterday and was told that my back is not doing as well as it should at this point in my 'recovery.' I was given more drugs (!) and given a referral to the physical therapy department. Next Friday, I will be getting an ultrasound of my back to determine what is wrong with my 'lumbar vertebrae' and what the course of action will be to make it so that maybe, just maybe, I will no longer find myself unable to move for an entire day. I am rapidly reaching a level of chronic pain and I'm hopeful that the PT will help me heal and no longer experience this pain on regular basis.

Day two of finals

I only have two finals left. I should be overjoyed about this.

But.

My remaining two finals are both at 8 a.m. For those of you who don't know the difference between a.m. and p.m., that is eight in the MORNING. As in, the sun will have only been up for maybe an hour at that point. Which means that I will be driving when the deer are still frolicking through the fields near our house.

That is a much nicer way to describe the way the deer STAND ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD and stare at you as you slam on the brakes. I swear they fist bump after I can't see them anymore, because they get such a thrill from how I pale I get when I see them.

Also, this is for my co-worker, Bryan, whose name I will actually spell right. See, Bryan, I AM mentioning you in my blog. HA!

My exhaustion runneth over

I have spent the entire day attempting to not fall asleep in class. The ENTIRE DAY. The only time I've not found myself struggling to not nod off has been at work or while I was writing a story for my news writing class. I find this absolutely arbitrary, because I actually fell asleep relatively early and didn't wake up until after seven a.m. 

Anyway, of all of my classes this quarter, my favorite class is news writing followed by oceanography. I love news writing because it is actual journalism, instead of information about the history of journalism or an unhappy education in the area of independent and dependent clauses. I also love that class because there is no homework. The most effort I put into that class is going over my assignments and AP style quizzes and figuring out what I did wrong so that I do not repeat that mistake. As much as I loved telling people I wrote an obit for a Finnish man with 22 grandchildren, as gleefully as I reported this fact to people because it made me giggle, it is the (lack of) homework that has won me over. I often have a laundry list of things competing for my time, a list that never, ever gets shorter. I am caught up for perhaps 2.1 seconds before I realize that I can't remember when I last showered or that my dishes are all dirty or that there is a third component to my Chinese homework. 

It is insanity, this college life, make no mistake.

But I love it. I am good at this education thing. I have been struggling this quarter, really struggling under the amount of homework and class hours and work hours and the fact that I really love spending time with my family, boyfriend and friends, to find a balance. What takes a priority on a day-to-day basis? Usually my schoolwork sucks up all of my attention until at least eleven at night, then I talk to Jon, then I sleep or keep doing homework. I am trying to find some time for myself - time to just sit and breathe, to not worry about stuff. But even with all of this, I love the things I am learning, I love having to push myself, even.

What was it that I was saying the other day about crazy flakes?