Five Minutes a Day, No More

I haven't posted in a while. I'm buried up to my eyeballs in coursework this term.

And since I've begun my allotted five minutes per day of whining, I might as well use it all.

I have horrendous, agonizing, throbbing carpal tunnel in my left wrist; it's been bothering me since January but it has become much more acute in the past week. I can visualize that part of my anatomy all too well since we dissected the carpal tunnel, well, specifically the tarsal tunnel, on one of Little Blackie's hind feet. And I've learned far more than I really need about the metabolic pathways of prostaglandins. There are more than thirty types of them but they are often associated with pain and inflammation. My left wrist and arm are no doubt flooded with prostaglandins. NSAIDs inhibit prostaglandin synthesis but ibuprofen puts me to sleep like it was a narcotic and I don't have any aspirin in the house.

It's raining. I've been waiting almost a full year for the infamous Pacific Northwest rain. It's here. It's been raining for days.

I drove an hour to Salem last weekend to look for some wet weather shoes. I found some--my feet are at last toasty warm and dry as I slop around campus which makes me happy. But the mall experience was rather disappointing. The two malls in Dhahran had more shopping options, and they were really just the same half-dozen stores repeated over and over.

The cat is eating his bed. I don't know why.

Harry's senility is increasing and he has not been handling the lack of attention from me well (I'm studying nearly 8 hours a day on top of the 5 to 6 hours that I'm in class every day; on the weekends I can get in 10-12 hours of studying a day before my brain gives up). The girls seem to be able or at least willing to amuse themselves but Harry gets very anxious if I don't pay attention to him often. It makes me sad to see him confused and worried.

Oh, look! Time's up! No more whining allowed today.

I've got to go play with the dogs.