Stuff in My Head

I'm sure nobody really cares, but I have several new posts running around in my head:

- the repatriation process and its challenges
- the new house and ALL the things that need to be done with it
- New England living
- making friends
- getting older
- going on the job market again this year

I'm hoping I'll get time to write more, but next week brings the imperative to finish revisions to my article. The following week brings a day surgery for me and Hannah's return from Home State, where she's been visiting grandparents and her biological dad. The week after that brings my Mom's first visit to our new house--so excited for that! Then, we're head to Ocean City, N.J. for another vacation at the shore, where Hubby's parents have a house and his aunts and cousins are also renting a place for the same week. Then school starts...ZOMG at some point I'm supposed to have two syllabi ready to go. Yeah, so don't know when I'll have the time to do anything again, but I'll try.

RBoC: Sunday Edition

• I've finished what will be my first publication (an essay in a collected edition) one day ahead of schedule--woohoo! I'm using this last day to take care of any stylistic revisions that need to be made, since I'm not familiar with the style the editors are using. I'm happy with what I've written and the research it's based on, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the other essays in the collection (as well as any suggestions for further revision the editors might have).
• Now, I look forward to ASECS in March. I'm participating in a roundtable, so my paper will be short and sweet. I'm excited to get together with all the 18th-c. peeps, but I do not look forward to the OMG number of travel hours that are required to get to Vancouver. The only saving grace is that I was able to use my Qmiles through Qatar Airways to upgrade to business class on the flight to Houston (16 hours!).
• The spring job market is non-existent. Really and truly, there is nothing to speak of at this point, and it makes me want to crawl into bed and never come out.
• Hannah's birthday is coming up, and that will make me the mother of a 12-year old daughter. I sure hope 12 will be easier than 11, but something tells me it won't. I've tried some new parenting strategies since we returned from holiday break, and they've worked well so far. Really, it just amounts to me setting firmer boundaries and not engaging her when those boundaries are crossed. We'll see how this goes.
• The best discovery we made upon returning to our compound was that our evil heathen neighbors had been moved!! YIPPEEE!! It's almost unbelievable the difference that it's made in the dynamics of this compound. You see, there are only 16 villas (houses) here. To compare, many of the other compounds (think gated living, Middle East style) have between 100-250 villas. The latter results in a greater mixture of types, personalities, etc. of the residents. Our compound, however, is comprised solely of people who work for the same university, and almost all of them have children (mainly girls). So, if you have a problem at home, it has a much higher chance of carrying over to a problem at work, even if it's just an HR issue of requesting a house change. But now, we don't worry about our kids going to play outside, there's no more drama, and it's soooooo much more quiet!
• At some point, I will have to turn my attention to revising the dissertation. I'm trying to get myself psyched up for this, but I haven't had much success yet. I know I'll need to get Bill Germano's work, From Dissertation to Book, but I realize that I'm still very much isolated from any kind of intellectual community remotely related to my field, and that's something that can't be duplicated.

The Ball, The Aftermath, and London

So, the day of the Ball came, and I was all prettified with a fabulous updo and the best make-up job ever! Truly, Debi at the MAC store did an amazing job, and it was worth every penny to feel beautiful, if only for the night (well, part of the night anyway). The dress fit like a glove, thanks to my diligence in watching what I ate in the days preceding the event. Hubby and I arrived, had a glass of wine, watched all the pomp and circumstance of the cake presentation, etc., and then settled in for the buffet dinner.

I have to pause here and remark upon how conflicting this was for me. On one hand, they played the Star Spangled Banner, something that is rarely heard where we live now and has taken on somewhat of a new meaning since we’ve been living overseas. On the other hand, I'm against both the war in Iraq and Afghanistan; in fact, I’d call myself a pacifist. I found it hard to balance the recognition of the sacrifice and loyalty of service of the Marines, while firmly believing that so many are still being senselessly injured and killed in what I consider one of the biggest foreign policy fuck-ups in US history. Nonetheless, there I stood, with my heart over my hand, proud of my former-Marine Hubby and those who’ve been willing to serve, no matter the cost.

We sat at a table with two other lovely couples. The first are the parents of one of H’s schoolmates, and the second couple has an Education City connection, so we were able to talk shop a bit. The food wasn’t great, and I started getting chatty very early because apparently that’s what I do when I’m drinking red wine on a deadline. You see, we’d already booked the driver to pick us up at 10:30, so when dinner was over at 8:00 (and I’d barely eaten anything all day), my thought was, “I need to make sure I drink plenty of wine before we have to leave!” Clearly, I’m a moron, who equates obnoxious drunkenness with fun. It was a clear reminder of why I usually *don't* do the drinking thing. Technically, I didn’t drink *that* much….Okay, 5 glasses of wine (I think), in about 2 ½ hours. The real kicker came when a co-worker caught me at the bar and said, “Hey, you have to drink a shot of tequila....we all did it!!” Mind you, I haven’t taken a shot of tequila in YEARS. Needless to say, that put me over the edge, and the drive home wasn’t a pretty one. I must mention, however, that Hubby was a devoted, relentless caretaker, and I love him dearly for taking the bazillion bobby pins out of my hair for me.

Fast-forward to London. Despite a raging hangover, I survived the 7-hour flight and tried to re-hydrate myself. It was a loooonnnng journey from Heathrow to my hotel near the British Library, and I was exhausted and starving by the time I finally made it. I was also utterly displeased to find that my room was on the 3rd floor(!!), which can only be reached by several deathly flights of steep and narrow stairs. I’m entirely convinced I’ll meet my death carrying my luggage down those stairs on Thursday morning.

I had a great dinner at a local fish and chips shop that a friend recommended to me, and then I crashed. Sunday, the Library was closed, so I checked out the Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery. I was disappointed in both for different reasons. The TB had the rooms I was most interested in (Historical Britain) closed for some reason. And at the NPG, I was overwhelmingly struck at the sheer lacking of female portraiture in the early modern period. Aside from Charles II being surrounded by only a few of his lovely ladies, so many women’s faces are literally missing, and it’s not because they didn’t have their portraits made. It’s because nobody has thought of them as important enough to hang on the damn walls of the Gallery!! But I digress….

Monday (today) brought work. A bit delayed thanks to my forgotten reader’s pass, but back on track and in the manuscripts reading room for a good portion of the day. Then back to the hotel to work on the writing, which is currently not. moving. forward. easily. I don’t know what the deal was today, but I’m fairly certain it’s because I was working from the bed in my room instead of at a table or desk. So, in the hopes of being more page-productive tomorrow, I’m invading the dining room after breakfast to work. I have to make use of this time because when I get back to Doha, I’ll be swamped with catching up on grading, planning the last weeks of the semester, and preparing for my Thanksgiving dinner party next weekend.

For now, it’s past 10:00, and I can’t sleep…
1. I keep thinking about this essay, and how little progress I made on the actually writing today;
2. I miss my babies at home;
3. I’m lonely;
4. I’m worried about the job market and again feeling like, while I could take another year in Doha (if I HAD to), I can’t take another year in our compound;
5. The hotel is made of paper-thin walls, and I’m stuck next to a family who come in late and wake early (seriously, they are my alarm clock). For the proximity to the British Library, you can’t beat the place. But honestly, it’s my least favorite of the three places I’ve stayed when in London. The others (all comparable in price) were quieter, more amenable to my preferences, and one even had a real closet!

I’m hoping tomorrow is a better day.

RBoC: The Stateside Edition

• I cleared the thesis office a while ago...this means that the only thing standing between me and my PhD is..oh yeah, nothing! I shall be hooded by my advisor next month, and my biggest challenge will be to keep from crying like an idiot in front of everyone.
• I don't want to leave and return to Doha. Please don't make me go!
• The job market season is fast approaching and this alternatively makes me nervous and terrified. There is one job that recently openend out of the blue, and it's in my field, t-t, and it's in an area that would be really good for Hubby's research. It's also at a school where I think I'd be a pretty good candidate (based on the profiles of their current English faculty). It's hard not to get my hopes up, but seriously, I'd absolutely love it if, by some miracle, they pursued me as a candidate, hired me, and the girls and I could just move there and set up shop while Hubby went back to Doha and supervised the packing of our things! I know that sounds horrible and completely unprofessional and makes me look like an awful employee. But, just like over Christmas break, being back home has made me realize how much I really, really, truly don't like living in Doha. Can I tolerate it? Yes, of course, but primarily because my kids are happy and that makes most everything/anything tolerable. But, am I happy? Not really... Am I happy back here in the U.S.? Hell. Freaking. Yes. That doesn't mean life is perfect here, but it's OMG a thousand times better for a thousand different reasons. Case in point, my mother was recently hospitalized and my dad couldn't get out of work to be with her after they admitted her. Because I'm here, I was able to drive down, stay with her, and help care for her while she was in the hospital for two days. Thank God I was here...but what if it had happened while I was in Doha? It would have killed me to not be able to see her and be with her while she was sick.
• I'm working steadily and on schedule to meet the goals I set for getting out a revised article and a proposal for a collection of essays and the annual conference in my field of study. Go team! :D
• Hubby and I are taking a "Job in the U.S. or Bust" approach to this year's job market. This is to say that we are coming back to the U.S. after the 2010-2011 school year, whether we have academic jobs or not. This is ballsy, I know. This could involve all sorts of added stress as we apply to EVERYTHING we're qualified for, but it's what we have to do in order to optimize our chances of landing academic jobs, even if they're short-term.
• Sometimes I feel like there must be something wrong with Hubby and I because it seems like we're the only couple who really don't like being in Doha. We continue to hear how other expats from the US "love the adventure" and are "cherishing" everything about the culture, and we just look at each other like, "What are we missing? Is it just us?" Don't get me wrong....sometimes you can talk to someone who's lived there (or in the area for many years), and they can give you a laundry list of things they've grown to hate over the years. I guess it just feels, occasionally, like people are telling themselves how much they love it, over and over, so that they'll eventually believe it. Or, maybe Hubby and I are just crazy...who knows.
• Did I mention I don't want to go back? Yeah, I don't.

RBoC

• The Best Thing: Hubby has a phone interview today with Small Midwest Regional School (SMRS), and I am completely in love with the idea of this school, the town, the area of the country, the chance to go back to the U.S.--everything! They also have an English position open, but it's in a period just a tad bit earlier than my work (Renaissance). All good prayers, vibes, well wishes would be most appreciated in the AcadeFamily household. OMG, I want him to do well. Unfortunately, he's had almost no time to prepare, and since he's not back on our main campus, he doesn't even have the colleagues to conduct a mock interview. I put together a dossier about the school for him, a list of questions to expect (based on the placement seminar I had, Chronicle resources, and other files I've accumulated), and I offered to listen to his answers, etc. They're interviewing 10 other candidates, so he's got his work cut out for him, but he really would be a fantastic fit for this school!
• I've applied to more CC jobs than 4-year schools...Job security (tenure-track) and a place where my family can settle has now trumped other considerations. I've also taken to heart much of the conversations about new PhDs needing to alter their expectations of what constitutes academic success. Okay, consider my expectations altered. Now give me a job.
• My anxiety levels are back to where they were when we were preparing to move over here. I have an enormous amount of difficulty falling asleep, and then, if I get up with the baby, I have just as hard a time getting back to sleep. You'd think that would exhaust me? But no, the following night I'm still wide awake, brain won't shut off....worried about all things dissertation, job market, and moving.
• I am so irritated with some of my students! Seriously, some student issues are seemingly universal. They don't like writing...they procrastinate...they forget their books, etc. That happens everywhere. There are some problems, howeve, that I have learned are specific to students in the Gulf region, and they are driving me insane! I have at least one student each semester who thinks it is acceptable to belligerently argue with me and insist that I take hir work, despite the fact that it is late; or, that I at least give hir partial credit. And when I mean argue, I mean stand in my face and repeat the same things over and over again, despite me saying, "No. I'm sorry, but it isn't fair for me to accept work you didn't bring to class when everyone else *did* follow the instructions. This is not negotiable." When I point out to said student that ze is arguing, ze claims "I just want to understand." What the hell is there to understand? Follow directions! Come to class prepared! Pretty simple stuff.
• Also, I have three little doe-eyed Qatari girls who clearly worked so closely together on their first essay that it constitutes plagiarism. They all wrote on the same "event," despite the fact that the assignment was a Narration and Description Essay on an important personal moment, time period, or event. Apparently, they all had the exact same life-changing event happen to them.
• I am desperately looking forward to returning to the main campus to defend my dissertation! That is, of course, unless I end up having to re-schedule my defense date because I am lame and can't finish the revisions in time, in which case I would rather hide in shame and drink myself silly. If things go well, though, I shall eat wonderful Mexican food, drink wine and martinis daily, consume large amounts of pork, chill and catch up with dear friends, and flitter about a very cool conference that our department is hosting that week. Oh, and on top of that, my Mom is driving down to spend time with me!! I don't remember the last time we spent time alone together, much less more than a couple hours.
• I truly believe Amelia is allergic to this country. She's constantly got a runny/snotty/stuffy nose, and it can't be fun for her. It seems to get worse the more time she spends outside. She is now saying "Mama" daily, which makes my heart sing! She has a giant, toothy smile that's surrounded by chunky, rosy cheeks, and I just love her to pieces. Hannah continues rehearsals for her role as a member of Fagan's Gang in Oliver!, an outside activity that she's taken to like a fish in water. Eliza is happy, healthy, and smart, and I'm amazed at how much of the Arabic language she is picking up at her nursery.

Doha Diaries, no. 4

• Well, the psychiatrist visit turned out to be a bust after all. When I took the prescription he wrote to the *one* hospital that carries the medication, they wouldn't fill it because it was issued by a private psychiatrist. They will only fill scrips issued by their own physicians...great. So, we get to do the whole thing over again when we're back in the States for the holidays.
• We *finally* got tickets home!! Did I already mention that? Don't remember, but I'm so excited, that I'll mention it again. Knowing that home is just a few days away--we leave Saturday, Dec. 12th--makes everything better. It was a completely horrendous process to get the tickets because our bank in the US has a limit on purchases made with a debit card during the first six months an account is open, so we couldn't use that card. Then, Qatar Airways--the only airline with a direct flight to Houston--doesn't allow debit cards to be used at all for purchasing tickets online. What did we have to do, you ask? We had to go to the bank, take out almost QAR68,000, bring it to campus, and pay a travel agent in the faculty lounge. Completely fucking bass-ackwards, but we got the tickets.
• We *finally* got our car loan! The new minivan has been with us since Thanksgiving, and Hubby adores it. When all was said and done, we got totally screwed because of the global recession and its effects on lending everywhere, including Doha. Even though our contracts are renewable (and this is indicated on our salary letters, which one must provide for the bank), they would only give us a loan for the term of our current contracts--a year and half (remaining time). Add to that the over-pricing that happens on vehicles in Doha, and our car payment...ready for it???.... $2,220/month! Now, we get a $575/month car allowance to help offset this, but holy shit! This will cut into our monthly cash flow in such a way that it will make the debt elimination process a bit slower. The flip side to this is a) we'll have it paid off before we leave, and b) when we leave, we'll be able to sell it for more than we would back in the US, and we'll get the vast majority of our money back. We can then use that money to pay off debt or to put down on a vehicle or house back in the States. I'm not happy about the way it all shook out, but it was the lesser of two evils.
• The Thanksgiving dinner party went really well...more food than a small army could eat, and good company. One of my colleagues is particularly fabulous and is now my Super Smart, Funny, Gay Friend :) He's truly thoughtful, hilarious, honest, and he's lived all over the Middle East. His company and conversation brighten my time at school, and I'm smitten with his Sri Lankan partner as well...Lovely guys!
• Amelia has had The Worst Cold in the Universe for the past four weeks. It has necessitated one ER visit, a visit to her pediatrician, one inhaler, and four other minor medications. She's pretty much healthy now...and getting her healthy before our trip back to the US was the important thing for me.

Random Bullets of Yuck

• For what it's worth, I fucking hate bathing suits right now. I've discovered one of the undesirable consequences of having a baby in late April is the impossibility of being "swimsuit season ready" by the time the pools open in this town. Seriously, after trying on several, I couldn't bring myself to take the girls to the pool and be seen in public, so I had Hubby take them instead. I'll just sit home and be disgusted with myself, thanks.
• I'm not breastfeeding anymore. Kinda by choice, but in a way not. One of those rock/hard place kinda things. Formula stinks (literally).
• H decided she'd run away on Saturday. Yes, she did. She ran around the block a few times--in the rain--then came home to a shitstorm of trouble. She's grounded. From, like, everything.
• I feel like I'm clearly fucking up my oldest child somehow (see above bullet). Seriously, I must be doing something wrong, really wrong.
• Yesterday morning, a discussion about disciplinary duties for H turned into a major fight with Hubby....Unbeknownst to us, H was eavesdropping from behind the couch in the next room....that's just great.
• I want desperately to be able to go to the gym each day, but I feel like I can't ask Hubby to take over with the kids while I do so because that will cut into his work day, which equals cutting into his ability to finish up his dissertation in time to defend before the deadline in a few weeks.
• The in-laws are coming on Friday. The good news is that they're getting a hotel. The better news is that I'll be gone for most of Saturday to take H to meet my mom (H is going back to Home State for her Summer Tour). I hope I'm in a better mood before they arrive.

Caffiene Gods, Why Have Ye Forsaken Me?

Still sleepy on my first day without caffiene.

I decided to start weaning myself off caffiene before the bebe arrives. Apparently, my version of weaning is more like cold turkey. That is, there's not really a space for a gradual reduction if the starting point is just one cup of coffee a day anyway. But, ohhhhh, how important that one cup evidently is! Luckily, I haven't gotten the usual withdrawal migraine that I get without my morning fix. Instead, I'm just sluggish and tired...all day (at least thus far in the day). Bleh...hopefully it will get better over the next few days.

RBoC: Friday Edition

• At my OB visit this morning, my doctor proclaimed that I'd "have this baby by the end of April." That's it. No reasons given. Just an arrogant proclamation, which seems to be based on I don't know what. According to U/S measurements, the baby is measuring one week ahead. My fundal measurement is one week ahead. However, with two previous pregnancies and deliveries, my body has *never* shown any inclination to go into labor naturally. H was induced a week late, despite me being 90% effaced and dilated to a 2 for more than 4 weeks prior. Seriously, I hope this little bird stays in at least until her due date if only to prove the doctor wrong! Hmmph!
• My doctor heard my yucky cough and congestion today and was concerned enough to give me a scrip for a Z-pack and order me to pretty much stay off my feet and do nothing but drink liquids all weekend. He doesn't mind the international flight in one week, but he doesn't want me getting on the plane unless I'm completely 100% healthy. Given this, he wants to do an U/S next Thursday to peek in on the little one, check the location of the placenta, and generally make sure everything's okay before I fly overseas.
• I'm sad for my Mom, who is devastated at the loss of her cat, who had to be put down this morning. She's had the cat for more than 10 years, and over that time my mom has nursed her through kitty anxiety, a heart problem, and all sorts of things. Not that there's a good time to lose a cherished pet, but this is a particularly hard time for my mom to go through such a loss.
• I got funding for my ASECS trip at the end of March!! All but about $75 of my trip will be covered--woohoo!
• After I finish at ASECS, I'm heading to DC to visit my aunt and uncle, who are taking me to the fancy schmancy Italian restaurant, Obelisk. Five-course fixed-price menu that changes daily? Count me in! Personal tour guides for my first trip to DC? Check. Getting pampered at a house that could double as a B&B and is full of quiet, as they have no children? Yep, I'll take one of those too. Just the way to finish my travels before I come back for my lying in :)
• H got her braces on yesterday! She's got a mouth full of teal-blue and metal. Since I associate braces with teenagers, this instantly made her look more grown up than I'd like. She looks like more of a typical pre-teen than a 10-year old.

Food Issues

Is it wrong for me to keep a giant bag of Cheetos (and various other snacks and treats) at my office rather than at home, so as to avoid having to share with my husband or children? I mean, seriously, Hubby can take out an entire bag of chips in one sitting, and I could be eating a bowl of shit and the kids would still want a bite! What's up with Mama never getting to have her own damn food?! In my defense, I kind of live at my office, M-F, 9:00-5:00, so having food up here makes sense, especially when I forget to bring my lunch sometimes. Nonetheless, I feel guilty when I see my cheesy fingers...a bit like blood on my hands.

Random Bits of Goodness

I've been waiting for the moment when the job market makes me crazy, yet it still hasn't come. There are several reasons why this is: the MLA trip is paid for with award funds; I don't truly expect to get any interviews this year; and I'm plenty busy with my final dissertation chapter. I haven't gotten any rejection letters, but I know a couple of the schools I've applied to have already sent out requests for writing samples or interviews (and I did not receive one). This week, however, a job opened up in my field at one of my university's satellite schools. I applied for the job and did some poking around, only to find that the department/search committee chair is a graduate of my university *and* my current department head knows hir. So, I trot my happy self into the department chair's office and let him know I applied for the job, and he explains that our satellite schools are traditionally quite happy to hire our grads and, even better, our grads usually are pretty happy with the jobs they take at our satellite schools. Anywho, he was more than happy to offer to pass along a e-mail of recommendation on my behalf to the dept/search chair and indicated that they'd be "really happy" to see my application. Yes, a random bit of goodness today :)

I'm still hoping for the best but completely prepared for nothing to come from this year's search. I've done everything I can do at this point, and my focus is on finishing the dissertation, the final chapter of which will be the topic of my next post.

RBoC

- My colleague and I successfully hosted our very first all-day symposium, which centered around our time period/specialization. The keynote speakers were amazing, and everyone who participated (and some that weren't able to make it) were singing our praises. I think I got quite a bit out of the experience, especially in terms of contacts in the field, but I'm not itching to do it again anytime soon.

- I've discovered I do not have the endurance for the whole job market thing. I applied to about 15 or 16 jobs, and I had 3 left that required a writing sample up front. I revised and revised, and I have only minor revisions left, but I decided I'm not investing the time to finish them, at least not right now. I started resenting each minute I spent on the writing sample, because it was time not spent on my last dissertation chapter (which I'd hoped to have done by the end of October!) The three jobs that required the writing sample in the application packet were long shots anyway, and one of them was for a position in Canada. The ad for it explicitly said they'd give preference to Canucks, so I don't feel like I'm missing any opportunities here. I just sorta got to the end of my job list and felt done. That's the best way I can describe it. The process, thus far at least, hasn't made me crazy, and I still don't expect anything to come of it. My decision is simply that I'm not finishing the revisions on the writing sample unless somebody actually requests it.

- The whole family was stricken with a nasty stomach bug this week. Eliza had it on Monday, Hannah and I had it yesterday, and Hubby got it today. All of this has made for little work getting done on the diss this week, but at least it's on the top of my workpile again!

- I finally told my advisor I'm pregnant. It wasn't a big deal to anyone but me, I'm sure, but I'd been dreading that conversation because of my own irrational fears. I was afraid that she'd be disappointed in me, think I wasn't "serious" about my scholarship, think I was plain crazy, or think I was a failure. As it turns out, she thought none of these. Indeed, she laughed out loud! Not at me, mind you, but laughing in the sense of disbelief that I'd add another thing to my plate. She actually had lots of very nice things to say, and the conversation went better than I could have imagined.

- In addition to braces, it looks like Hannah will need glasses too! I think I'll need to have a long talk with Santa Claus this year.

- Eliza has started referring to herself in the third person and by full name, as in: "Eliza Grace ______ is eating raisins." Good to know, Your Highness!

- MY BRACES COME OFF NEXT MONTH!! WOO-HOO!!

- I've started having Braxton-Hicks contractions at 15 weeks pregnancy...WTF? I've never had them this early before, but apparently it's not uncommon for women who've already had more than one pregnancy. I've also put on a few pounds now...this does not make me happy, but I keep reminding myself this is my third child.

Clearly, I'm Stupid

...as I have to stop every 5 pages or so and look up the "big words" (numismatic, epiphenomenon, anomie) that the author of Secondary Literary Criticism uses in her book. Doing so simultaneously interrupts the flow of my reading and makes me feel like a moron who doesn't deserve a job in academia. And it's not like I'm reading theory...ugh...stupid big words!

Word of the Day

Claque: an organized body of applauders in a theater; a group hired to applaud their leader or taunt a designated target

Just thought you should know....maybe I'll have a claque at a conference some day when I'm all grown up and academic-like.

RBoC

• At the suggestion of Supadiscomama over at The Rhetorical Situation, I made reservations for high tea here, where one can sip divine teas of all sorts and relish every morsel of aesthetic and culinary goodness that comes with cake, mousse, cremeux, and biscuits that are inspired by the haute couture fashions of the Spring/Summer 08 runways. This is my birthday present to myself, and my husband can never know how much this cost.
• So, the branch block procedure didn't exactly work. I don't really understand why, and I have some specific questions to ask my neurologist. I'm still having pain, which ranges from basic soreness to the feeling that someone has attached a jumper cable to the nerves in my neck. They've scheduled the next step up in the line of procedures for next week. I'll have a Radio Frequency Neurotomy, which isn't as bad as it sounds. They basically burn the nerve endings (denervation), which prevents the pain signals from being transmitted to the brain. Fortunately, if this works, it should stop the pain for 9-12 months! Unfortunately, 50% of people of who have this done on the neck report increased pain in the area for up to 2 weeks.
• The semester is over!! Thank God! Since I have a non-teaching fellowship for the summer, I can get down to some serious dissertating. I'll be turning in the 3rd of 5 chapters at the end of the month, which puts me in a good position for finishing the two remaining "set up" chapters over June and July, revising my writing sample in August, and hitting the market in the fall.
• I ditched the Technical Communication class I'd been assigned to teach in the fall. It's a long story, but the short version is that there is absolutely no damn reason I should've ever offered to take that course.
• Hubby sold over $400 of books in the past 2 weeks! It's a good thing too, because I just found out that MRIs aren't so cheap. After insurance, our portion is a little more than $600.
• I'm really tired of pills. I've only been taking the vicodin and Soma when I absolutely have to, as I want them to actually work when I take them and, obviously I don't want to become dependent on them. But, I've still ended up with enough pain that I have to take a dose around midday and then again in the evening.
• I really don't think my husband has anything at all planned for Mother's Day....really, nothing. I hope I'm wrong.
• I'm super excited about this weekend, because I'm getting together with friends for a girl's night out, and part of the plans include going to see Baby Mama with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.