the fantastical life of me

So get this... I was walking down the street last week when I found this lottery ticket and whadaya know, it was a winner! So I went to the bank on my way to cashing it in because I wanted to make sure the bank could handle all my winnings. And whataya know, as soon as I walked in the door some guy in a ski mask said stick 'em up! I asked for clarification because it was quite chilly in the bank and I was pretty sure I fulfilling all the requirements but the guy in the ski mask didn't seem to be paying any attention to lil' ol' me. Or so I thought. He soon grabbed me by the hair and dragged me into the back room and told me I had the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen. And he asked if he could sketch them really quick. I said sure and didn't even bother to charge him my standard fee because he was having a really bad day, you know. So he stuck his hand down his pants and pulled out a pencil but whadaya know, he couldn't find any paper! So he opened a desk drawer and instead of paper he found a wormhole space portal hidden under a bag of candy corn. It was cool. Until, that is, I was sucked into the portal by its awesomely powerful gravitation suck forces. I landed in some alien disco room and boy was I out of place with my 'Polka will never die' t-shirt on. After hanging with the Hell's Bots from cellblock Alpha 3.2 for a couple of hours I hopped in the U-Turn-Suck-O-Matic machine and went back home. And whadaya know, I think one of those Hell's Bots stole my lottery ticket. Bitches!

What can I say? It's been one hell of an exciting week. :)

But seriously...

I was a little stressed last week. Well, actually, I was mildly stressed about two weekends ago and I carried a smaller version of that stress through most of last week. I had a paper to write, the first paper I'd written in, oh, five years or so, and I was a bit too hard on myself. Why? I don't know. That's just the way I am sometimes. I knew what I was supposed to be doing, how I was supposed to write it, but nothing was working the way it should. And it frustrated the hell out of me. So much so that I actually thought about crying about it. I didn't, because that would have just been silly. I also thought about punting the text book out over my second floor balcony. But I didn't. Because I paid too much goddamn money for that book to cause it any on-purpose toe dents. So I walked away from computer, putting some much needed distance between us. And then I spent all day at work Tuesday finishing it. D'oh! Not the greatest plan in the world, but by then I was in "Ah, fuck it!" mode and just wrote the damn thing. (It was due Tuesday night). I think it turned out all right. The only down side is I felt guilty for doing so little 'work' work at work that I tried to make up for it by working super hard during the rest of the work week. Oy. That cut some serious time into Mandatory Goof Off Time (my sanity at this job depends on at least some small amount of goof off time).

The Mandatory Goof Off Time, as of late, has consisted of crossword puzzles. When I only have a few minutes to pop into internet land that's where I head. To crosswordville. I've become flat out addicted to them! So much so that this last weekend, as I was writing another paper for my other class, I couldn't do any writing until I completed a crossword. I'd write a bit, then I'd get up to pee or watch a half hour of tv (very important study tool) or wash the dishes or something of the sort. When I sat back down at the computer I could NOT do any more writing until I did another damn crossword puzzle. It's like the mind refused to think about anything else until it got its crossword fix.

The creative part of my brain just loves to scoff at deadlines. Sigh.

So I was super stressed two weekends ago, less stressed during the midterm that was two days later (hopefully I found out the grade for both tonight at class *toes crossed*), a lot less stressed during this last paper-writing-weekend (the chill pill I took is working marvelous, thanks for asking). Adding to the stress were these really annoying headaches I've been getting lately. I think they're less 'stress' headaches and more 'holy crap I need glasses I'm blind' headaches. I've been thinking I might need glasses for awhile now, but I've been hoping it was just eye strain from work, something that would go away, eventually, even though the hours spent computer-monitor-ogling hasn't decreased. So now, with the headaches, and the exponentially increasing squinting that's going to give me serious eye wrinkles by the time I'm thirty, especially with all this reading I'm having to do for school, I've decided I need to go see an eye doctor.

[Insert dramatic epiphany music here.]

Now I just have to get around to finding an eye doctor that takes my insurance. And then I have to actually call and make an appointment. And... and... I just don't have time for that right now. Actually, I just can't be bothered with it. Which doesn't make sense, what with all the ouchy headaches, but that's just me. Partly its because every time I remember, hey, I need to find an eye doctor I'm nowhere near the computer (because I need to do my eye doctor research online). And if I am near the computer, like I am now, I have no idea what my health coverage plan thingy is. That information is in the car. Where's its doing a lot of good. Sigh. I'm just too scatterbrained right now to do it. But its on my To Do list. And my To Do list is written in big-ass 'look at me' letters on the dry erase board in my kitchen. So I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually Thursday (when I'm done with classes for the week).

Now, I'm off to sign up for NaNoWriMo because yes, I am a masochist that way. :)

Yes, school was stressing me out, but I'm dealing with it, and coping with it, and everything's peachy. And yes, I have at least one research paper due in the middle of November, and quite possibly another analysis paper due in November as well. Those, of course, will take priority, but they won't fill up all my waking hours. I'll still have some bit of 'Me Time' to write another crappy incomplete novel. Heh. I can't wait until November!!!

(And shit, if I can ramble on like I did here I'll be able to reach my word-count-goal-of-the-day easily!)

Total Word Count of Post (Including Title): 1,215
NaNoWriMo Daily Word Count Goal: 1,667