Rough night/day

Yesterday, I had a fantastic day! Seriously, I love getting positive feedback, especially from someone I respect so much.

Last night was not so good. I went to bed and my stomach was kind of uncomfortable. Not painful exactly, but felt like things were not quite in the right place. It also was a little swollen. No biggie, I thought. It happens, I fall asleep, and it is usually better in the morning. Not last night.

Discomfort quickly progressed to pain. Severe pain. Shaking and sweating, I could barely get out of the fetal position to walk down the hall to take some pain medication. I took one and waited for it to kick in. An hour later, it was clear that it wasn't doing anything. So I took another...nothing. It took 4 hours to have any pain reduction at all. I went from a 9 (out of a 10 point scale) to about a 6. 6 isn't pleasant, but I can deal with a 6.

It was pretty scary - I've never had this medication not work for me. Ever. I'm terrified to eat anything today, so I'm going to stick to chicken broth, water, and possibly some yogurt if i feel I can handle it. I can't do 2 days in a row with that kind of pain.

In addition, to having a crappy night, I'm having a rather crappy day as well. I found out why my credit card company will start charging me an annual fee. Checked my credit report and scores ($29.95) and found that I had a past-due bill from last year for a radiologist. It had been sent to collections. I had gotten a notice last summer, but the charity application from the hospital was still processing, so I figured that it was covered through that. If I did have to pay, the collector would surely be on my ass, right? WRONG. I never got another notice. Did the collection agents for this company get trained? Isn't the first rule of being a collection agent to harass the hell out of people who owe money? Seriously, WTF?

Due to the collection notice on my account, my credit score dropped 125 points, from excellent to fair. In addition, I found out that I cannot get it removed from my credit report even though I'm going to pay it - it will be on there for 7 years. I have never made a late payment to ANYONE in since I established credit 12 years ago. Not one late payment. NOT ONE. And this one thing screws me over. Dammit.

Hoping the day will get better. I have managed to work on my dissertation thus far today. But I'm going back to bed if one more thing goes wrong today. Seriously.

It looks great!

I met with a friend at Panera today. I got quite a bit done today, mostly editing sentences in Chapter II. Feeling pretty good about it; getting the wording right will really help. Next step is to organize paragraphs and fill in missing information. Feeling pretty good about it.

Got an email back from my advisor that stated that Chapter I looks great!!! That makes me so happy!!! I felt that it was good and I’m thrilled to get some positive feedback. And the turnaround time? Overnight on a weekend? Amazing.

One of my challenges for Chapter II is possibly changing a variable. It would seem to make sense to do it, but i dread completely changing the whole section. But if it needs to be done, it will be done

Overall, it has been a great day! More to come :-)

Better late than never

So those plans I made to get my taxes and Chapter I done? Yeah, they got messed up.

Lost passwords + getting sick/pain + sheer laziness = tasks left undone.

The taxes got finished the following day. Chapter I revisions finally got finished today! I actually went to my office! I haven't been to my office in a looooonnnnnggggg time. My mailbox was stuffed with journals and flyers for events that had already occurred.

Chapter I revisions were quick and painless. It took me MUCH less time than I anticipated and was in better shape than I remembered it to be. I finished the final edit, then scanned the document again. and again. I was done! Wait, what? How did that happen?!

As for the day's to-do list, I am on pace to complete it! It also helps that I finally made a realistic list. I'm feeling rather odd, however. I'm not used to achieving what I set out to do.

Onto Chapter II and III!

The to-do list

Today, like many days, comes with a long to-do list. I seldom get through my to-do list for the day. I pretty much design it that way. Everything that I possibly need to do in one day, I put on the list. I'm not particularly bothered if I don't complete the list; I don't expect to.

But today I've got a long list as usual, but it comes with some big items. If I get these done today, it will really be a weight off of my back. The big ones are taxes, financial aid, and completing another draft of Chapter 1 of my dissertation. All are urgent and I am sick of worrying about them.

So taxes are up first. Even though I only made a meager amount on unemployment last year that I technically don't even have to report, I feel like it is a good idea to have a record of my (lack of income). So I'm filing anyway. It shouldn't take long, but I can't remember the password to the tax program that I use. So I'm waiting on them to email me the password. It has been over 45 minutes and I'm getting impatient. I procrastinate, but when I want to do something, I want to do it NOW. Geez.

Chapter 1 is honestly close to completion. I'd really prefer to send over another draft of the whole proposal, but I can't do that right now. Plus it is probably much easier to edit one chapter at a time. So I'm just going to focus on Chapter 1 and then worry about 2 & 3 another day (soon!).

So I'm off to do a whole bunch of stuff I dread doing, but I'll feel a whole lot better once they are done. I'll update later.

Dear mini legal notepad;

How I love thee. I buy you in bulk. I've got 12 of you, brand new, untouched. However, I cannot find any in which I've already began a relationship. So I pull another out of the package to write a to-do list on your first unblemished yellow page. A new relationship has begun, however I'm not sure it will last.

I have you EVERYWHERE. Just like hair elastics and lip balms, your population is large yet elusive; I can never find you when a grocery list needs to be written, a phone number needs to be jotted down, or a random idea pops into my head. In my time of need, I must stray. My needs are not being met. But rest assured, I rarely reach for a spiral notebook or a post-it note. My heart is is with you. You are just my type.

Levels of Cleanliness; a confession

As a grad student (or any person, for that matter) your current residence often becomes untidy. I propose a new system for assessing cleanliness (or dirtiness if it suits you) of your apartment/condo/home.

Level 7: Hoarder

Level 6: State of Emergency

Level 5: Major Disaster

Level 4: Pigsty

Level 3: Messy

Level 2: Clean but disorganized

Level 1: Slightly cluttered

Level 0: Immaculate

Level 0 is like self-actualization; few people ever get there. They are called neat freaks. Some likelihood of OCD. Level 7 people definitely have OCD and need help.

I would venture to guess that a majority of people oscillate between Level 3 and Level 1, with the occasional Level 4 crisis.

My apartment typically ranges from Level 2 to Level 4, by my own assessment, usually Level 2 or Level 3. The best I can seem to accomplish is Level 1 and even then i have boxes of random items shoved in my closet/under my bed/in various drawers. I never seem to have "a place for everything and everything in it's place". My windows are usually dirty (but isn't that what curtains are for?), there are often unorganized stacks of papers on the floor/desk/counter/dining room table, and I rarely clean the tray under my toaster oven. I have never cleaned my oven (although to be fair it has rarely been used). There are still pictures leaning against the wall that I've never bothered to put up.

*This post is brought to you by coffee, procrastination, and the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7

::cue Sesame Street theme song::