The GirlAlive Blog

hot and melting

It’s been painfully hot here for the last week or so.  I don’t do well in hot weather.  I am from Minnesota.  I need to be refrigerated.

At the same time that the weather got hot, the management of my office sent out the edict that no one is allowed to wear sandals anymore.  Grr.  

Life has been rather boring.  Work and then more work.  I got a chart recently for a woman who was in the labor ward, and got up off the toilet and as she did, she spread her legs too far and the baby fell out onto the floor.  (The baby was fine, so it’s okay to laugh.)

I’m out of money because we had some unexpected expenses, and I only get paid once a month.  So I’ll be okay after Thursday, but for now I’m all kinds of broke.

I’ve been getting really annoyed lately with living in a beautiful country with rolling hills and all manner of sheep, and because we don’t have a car, I only see the bits along the bus route.  I’m thinking of getting a bike.

I’m not in a very good mood today because last night I found out that a friends’ husband has been abusing her for the last 10 years, and she has been hiding it.  I just hope she really goes through with her divorce.  She deserves so much better.

Alana 

Tattoo #4

My husband has decided that for our pseudo-anniversary in October, we should both get tattoos.  He has one already, and I have three.  My current tattoos are a small celtic cross on my ankle, the alchemy symbol for purification by fire on my wrist, and some thistles on my upper arm.

I’m planning a few more tattoos.  I was originally going to get something on my right leg, since I have tattoos on both arms and my left leg.  But there’s also a scar on my left forearm (the arm with the thistles) that I’d like to cover.  It’s right up near the elbow and it is shaped like this:

I would like to use the shape of the scar in the design of the tattoo.  Originally I planned to put a little fish over the scar.  And I still might do that.  But I’ve been kicking around some other ideas relating to the shape of the scar.  Here are a few ideas I’ve had:

• a flower
• a brazil nut
• a penguin
• lips
• corn on the cob
• a fat butterfly
• Mr. Hanky (the Christmas poo)
• a slug
• a lizard
• a banana
• a lava lamp

If you have any other ideas for my scar, post them in the comments thingy.  (You’ll have to register to use the comments, but it’s a registration thing that’ll carry over to a lot of other blogs, so it’s good.)

Alana

Infant?!?

I was coding maternity charts like usual, and I got one that said, "Spontaneous vertex delivery of live female INFANT."  Why emphasize the word "infant"?  It was hand-written so it couldn’t be a caps lock issue.  So why draw attention to the one part of the phrase that isn’t a variable?  Was the midwife expecting it to be a middle-aged man?  Or a puppy?  Or a hamster?

I for one am very glad it was an infant.  I have no idea how to code the spontaneous vertex delivery of a hamster.

Alana

Nothing, I guess.

I haven’t written an entry here in a while.  Not because I’ve been doing nothing, but more because I’ve been doing so much stuff that I don’t really have time to write much without getting all stressed out about how much time is being allocated to husband and rodents and work and everything else.

So I’ll try to cover the main points of the last week or so.

I’ve been working.  My supervisor, who we will call #2, was out all week, so the main boss, #1, was hanging around a lot more than usual.  Particularly around my desk.  She apparently ran out of things to do and started auditing my work.  The thing is, she would find some correction I needed to make, and usually I had it right in the first place and ended up explaining why I did it the right way in the first place.

I have 2 doctor’s appointments coming up this week.  The first appointment I made was with an eye doctor.  I can only see clearly if my glasses are pushed up to the "proper" position on my nose, and then I can only see things that are directly in front of me.  I can’t see at all in bright sunlight because my eyes start to burn and water because I can’t wear sunglasses.  So this appointment is to try to get myself back into some contact lenses.  I’m not staring at a computer screen 8 hours a day anymore, and I am tired of having no peripheral vision.

My other doctor’s appointment is on the subject of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  I was diagnosed with the condition a lot of years ago.  I haven’t been on medication because the only meds available before made me sick.  But now there are new drugs, and I want them.  I don’t fancy getting hypertension and diabetes within the next 10 years because of this stupid disease, and I want it drugged into submission with some Metformin.

I’m having more money issues.  I have no money left in my US bank account, but my US credit card wants money.  They don’t want it bad enough to give me the option of direct debit from a UK account, but they do want it bad enough to harrass my parents.  So I’ve been working on juggling paypal accounts to be able to transfer the money to my US account so I can pay my stupid credit card bill.

On a happier note, I have the day off on Tuesday.  I’m celebrating July 4th because I’m an American.  I told #2 that it is traditional to set off fireworks and barbeque things, which I could either do at home or in the office.  For some reason she gave me the day off.  The husband and I went out yesterday and got ourselves a little barbeque grill.  It’s pink, which seems to bother my husband, but it was the only color it came in.  I hope you all have a good 4th of July.

Also, if you aren’t playing Kingdom of Loathing yet, why aren’t you?  It’s oodles of fun.  I just donated $10 to the site to get myself an Astral Badger.  It poops magic mushrooms.  If you join because of me, consider joining our clan "The Good Ship Serenity".

Alana