The Mausoleum

Mixed News

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:38:48 GMT

Good news and not so good news.

The good news is that the semester is pretty much over.

The not so good news is that said semester was a total disaster and I won't be coming back to school next year. That is, I think I made it to less than half of my classes this time around, which is even worse than I usually do (and my usual attendance is not great). Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, including bouts of flu, intestinal flare ups and sinus infections, and as if that wasn't enough, car and computer trouble.

So I'm withdrawing for next semester. I don't know yet if this will be a permanent withdrawal or just until my health is under control--but at this point, God only knows how long it will be until I can call myself "healthy" (and I wouldn't be surprised if it was never). I walk and feel like I have arthritis, and I'm only 23. I take more meds per day than my grandfather, and he's nearly 80. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

At the very least, I won't have to worry any more about my grades steadily declining as I lay in bed wishing I didn't feel like crap. Now I can just lay in bed wishing I didn't feel like crap.

Movie Stuff

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:07:31 GMT

The longer I look at Keanu Reeves, the more I think he looks like an alien. I decided this at about the same time I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still, so I guess it fits.

My mom seemed surprised when I told her that the character of Van Helsing was played by Laurence Olivier in the production of Dracula that starred Frank Langella. I further had to explain that the character in the book was in fact an old man. I guess she expected him to look like Hugh Jackman. Sorry to disappoint you, Mom.

Good News!

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:27:17 GMT

The drug dealers downstairs moved out. So our apartment is now ever so slightly safer.

Also, in my health--or lack thereof--news, two weeks ago I had a sigmoidoscopy, which is a lot like a colonoscopy except not as invasive. And I woke up in the middle of it, which was not cool. The doctor concluded I have proctitis, which sometimes goes along with inflamatory bowel disease (like Crohn's etc.), which explains why I've had pain and bloody diarrhea recently--so, she upped the dosage of my meds, as if I wasn't taking a ton already, from three horse pills a day to four.

I've also been taken off of my progestin injections and put back on regular birth control pills, because apparently the bleeding and cramps I've had were due to the shots themselves--or so my new gynecologist supposes. So far, I'm doing okay. I think.

And, I'm just getting over a sinus infection, which had me bed bound with a splitting headache and several bouts of chunk-blowing most of last week. I seem to be doing better now. Let's hope that lasts.

Also, our couch--which I have deemed The Ugliest Couch in the World--seems to be on its last legs. A couple Thursdays ago, I sat down on it to tie my shoes, and it collapsed under me. Actually, it didn't just collapse--it wobbled a bit first, and then very slowly sank to the floor. So it's kind of going out with a whimper instead of a bang. This is a third-generation couch by the way--it used to belong to my grandparents. And, like I said, it's the Ugliest Couch in the World. And right now, its legs have been removed, so it's like an oriental couch, at the risk of generalizing--or, you know, like a couch from one of those countries where they sit really low to the floor. Once you sit down on it you'll dislocate your knees trying to get back up.

Anywho, that's what's up at the moment. I have a lot of work to do for school as well, considering I've missed a lot of class, what with bleeding rectums and blowing chunks. I do not as yet have H1N1, but if things continue the way they have been, that'll probably be the only thing I don't catch by the end of the year.

I Wish I Was a Hermit Crab

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:05:05 GMT

So I could crawl in my shell and never come out and tell the rest of the world to fuck off.

Checking In

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:34:59 GMT

Lots of stuff happening right now. The new semester has started and my roommate has pneumonia to name just a few. I'll post about it later. Maybe.

Writer's Block: Fantasy Sports

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:38:41 GMT

Imagine you manage a coven of baseball-playing vampires. The Cullen family is really strong this year and you want to bring in a ringer. Which currently active MLB baseball player do you sire?

Submitted By seannau

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I don't like baseball, so I really don't care. Why are the vampires wasting their time playing baseball? I'd think they'd prefer hockey--more bloodshed. Or, maybe that Aztec game where the losers were all sacrificed to the gods or something.

I really don't care for sports at all, but I attribute my complete lack of interest in baseball to the fact that my father is a die-hard Cincinnati Reds fan, and they suck. And he'd probably be really insulted if he knew I said that, but they really do suck.

Sick as a DOG!!!

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:23:31 GMT

The trash can is sitting next to my bed. In case I need to puke.

And I think my rectum is bleeding--there was something that definitely looked like blood last bowel movement I had, which obviously is not cool. My colon hates me!

Indiana--Worst Roads in the Nation!

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:29:50 GMT

I just found out that the street I lived on until a couple months ago is being resurfaced this week.

My reaction was something like, "Seriously?!" and then, "Well, it's about friggin' time!"

Of course, they would wait until I don't have to drive on that street anymore to resurface it. I swear, that's one of the worst streets in the city, apart from Westfield Boulevard, which will likely be repaved on the 12th of Never, because the Indiana government is too cheap to do it.

I've said it before, but when driving along the border between Indiana and Ohio, you know you've crossed into Ohio when the roads suddenly become loads nicer.

Jekyll and Hyde

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:52:14 GMT

Anybody have any tips on how to train out dog-on-dog agression?

B.B. King is pretty much the perfect dog, except for one thing: he hates other dogs.

It's so bad, we actually discussed getting rid of him, but we decided that he's already part of the family, and we would deal with it. The problem is, the people at the shelter lied to my brother and sister-in-law when they bought him--they told him he was "skitish," when he's actually extremely agressive to other dogs.

You wouldn't think it--I mean, look at him:

He's perfectly fine around people--he's incredibly sweet, and he loves giving kisses. But put him with another dog, and he does a complete 180. He's like a completely different dog.

Anyway, I have my own opinions about how to deal with agression like this, but I wondered if anyone else had any ideas.

I Finally Finished Something

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:29:00 GMT

I finally finished and turned in my first paper for the Greek Independent Study I'm taking with my favorite professor. It's called, "Euripides' Alcestis: Satire or Tragedy?" and can pretty much be summed up like this: "I don't know what the hell is going on with this play, and I think Euripides wanted it that way, because he's weird like that."

Actually, I think it's probably a satire, but with Euripides, who knows? He likes to be clever, I think. Although, maybe in trying to out-clever Euripides, I'm really just out-clevering myself. I don't know. This paper has me thinking in circles.

As I told my sister-in-law, "I like it when I finish stuff. It makes me feel like less of a loser."

B.B. King is Shedding on my Bed

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:22:31 GMT

Good Fences...

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:15:02 GMT

We have been warned by the college dudes who live across the hall not to "mess with" the guys who live downstairs, because they are drug dealers. I do not doubt this, considering all the people who come knocking at their door for thirty minutes plus at a time at all hours of the day and night, and the distinct odor of "an herbal something-or-other" we occassionally detect wafting from their apartment.

An Addition

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:45:49 GMT

So, we have a new roommate. His name is B.B. King and he's a three-year-old Manchester Terrier mix. My sister-in-law had been planning on getting a cat, but we had a somewhat unpleasant argument about it, due mainly to the fact that I'm allergic to cats, and while I like cats, I wasn't comfortable living with one. Next day, she and my brother went out, and when they returned several hours later, it was with B.B. King.

It was a surprise, but I think a mostly pleasant one. I tell people I'm a "Dog Person by Default," since I'm not allergic to dogs, and as long as B.B. doesn't pee or poop on the carpet, I have no problem with him. He is very sweet, and apparently already house-trained, so hopefully things will work out.

Writer's Block: It Sounds Better When You Say It

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:38:22 GMT

No matter what language you speak, you've probably come across words or phrases in another language that sound better than their equivalents in your native tongue. What's your favorite word or phrase in a foreign language?

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I like "Je ne sais pas," (approx. pronounciation is Jeh-neh-say-pah) which is French for "I don't know." It's fun to say.

Writer's Block: My Biggest Environmental Pet Peeve

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:13:31 GMT

Littering, long showers, not recycling... What's your biggest pet peeve about the way some people (mis)treat our planet?

Sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco.

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Right now, it's littering, because I just saw some people throw trash out of their car when I was behind them in the Taco Bell drive-thru. I wanted to find out where they lived, then drive over there in the middle of the night, slash their tires, and spray-paint "LITTER BUG!" on their back window. Of course, I would never actually do that, because I'm too afraid of breaking the law, but I wanted to.

Under normal circumstances, my environmental pet peeve would be that my dad steadfastly refuses to believe in global warming--he says it's BS, which I think he says just because he works at a coal-burning power plant and admitting that global warming is real would mean accepting that he is partially responsible for screwing up the planet.

Bad News

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:04:54 GMT

Mom called earlier--she and Dad have had to put our Bailey-dog down.

This sucks.

Bailey was our Sheltie. He was fourteen, and we've had him since he was a year and a half old. He's been sick for awhile now, probably with kidney and/or liver disease. He's the only dog my family has ever owned.

I guess the upside is that we all saw it coming. We knew he was going downhill. I was way more devastated when Charlotte died, because it came as a huge shock.

Mom said originally she wanted to bury him out at Grandpa Bear's farm, but now she's saying she wants to bury him next to where we buried the mice and Velvet (the diabetic cat). Bailey and Velvet were good buddies, so that seems appropriate to me.

Checking In

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:50:55 GMT

So, we're in the new apartment now, but until my room is painted, I can't really unpack anything. I also don't have internet yet--I'm "borrowing" my sister-in-law's computer at the moment.

My room also seems to be infested with large black ants. I'm not real happy about that, as you can imagine, but other than that, no real complaints.

The French Class I was supposed to be taking over the summer was canceled due to not enough people signing up for it, which sucks. I need to take that class now, otherwise I won't be able to graduate after next semester, which I would really like to do. I'm going to try to get into the class at another college, providing the credits will transfer.

Also, I'm doing an Independent Study in the Classics this summer with my favorite professor, which is cool. Not sure yet what exactly I'm going to do, but we're supposed to meet on Monday to discuss it.

So, that's pretty much all that's happening right now. The finger has gone back to its normal size, although it's still a little sore. Much better than it was, though. I think I must have just bruised the bone pretty badly.

Moving Day

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:58:27 GMT

Okay, so I'm moving to a new apartment today, and it will be the first time I am not living in university housing or my parents' house. As such, I do not know if I will have internet access, or when I will be able to get internet access--I hope soon, seeing as I really need internet access to communicate with my Classics professor.

Anywho, I'll talk to y'all later.

(As a sidenote, the finger is still enormously swollen and still very sore, which is making carrying all these boxes a bit of a challenge.)

Interview

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:15:59 GMT

redcoast gave me these questions to answer.

1. What good things have come about as a result of your struggles with various illnesses? Is there a silver lining?

Honestly, not really, at least not right now. My health problems have really complicated my life, made it hard for me to get through college, and occassionally made doing everyday things a challenge. So, really, at this point there's no upside to it all. Come back to me in forty years--maybe I'll say something different.

2. I read that people with Asperger's Syndrome often get obsessed with patterns or other odd things. Do you do that?

Oh my God, I do. And I didn't realize it until you asked. I have this poster on my closet door with multiple colored cubes on it, and sometimes in the morning, when I'm thinking about whether I should get up, I'll just stare at that thing, trying to find color patterns. The weird thing is sometimes I try to make patterns where there aren't any, or try to figure out how things would have to be moved around to make a pattern ("if they moved that blue cube one space to the right, it would make a pinwheel!").
As for being obsessed with other "odd stuff," you know how much I talk about my mice. :)

3. What's your favorite MST3K episode? (Mine is "Timechasers!")

Ha, that's a tough question. I'm personally fond of the "Hamlet" episode, although I think "Space Mutiny" is also a classic. And let's not forget "Prince of Space." Right now, I'd have to say my favorite is, "Samson vs. the Vampire Women." A Mexican Wrestler fighting the Powers of Darkness--doesn't get much better than that.

4. Why do you like rats?

I like rats for much the same reasons I like mice. I like most rodents, really. People don't think about it, because they're small, but pocket pets like mice and rats have their own personalities just like any other pet, and they have a lot of the same behaviors that cats and dogs do. They're very cute, at least I think so, and they are perfectly designed for the role nature gave them. You'd be surprised if you were to pet a mouse, because they have very soft fur, almost like a rabbit's. And they make very good pets. Rats in particular are usually described as very affectionate towards their owners--in my experience, mice are generally indifferent, but rats really love attention, and crave interaction with their humans--and they're also very intelligent, meaning you can teach them tricks. I think if they only lived longer, they'd be the perfect pets.

Writer's Block: LiveJournal Book Club

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:53:55 GMT

Out of all of your favorite books, pick just one you'd recommend everyone read. As a bonus: why did you pick that one?

View 505 Answers

Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett. It's a Discworld book, but you don't have to read any of the other books in the series to understand it. I love it because it is hysterically funny, but at the same time it also makes you think. And its premise is that gender doesn't matter, people are just people, which is something I've thought for a long time.

Ouch!

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:02:08 GMT

I think I just broke my finger. Damn.

4-28: My finger is about twice its normal size today. It's really stiff, and it hurts when I put pressure on it. (It's my right middle finger--I guess I'm just lucky I'm left-handed, otherwise I'd be in trouble.)

Barbie Girl

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:57:25 GMT

Anybody else think they should make a "Paraplegic Barbie," with her own sparkly-pink wheelchair? Considering that Barbie's truly bizarre body-weight distribution would make it impossible for her to stand up if she was a real person, she could probably get a lot of use out of her own wheelchair.

(Bed pan and bed sores not included.)

An Old Nemesis Returns

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:08:56 GMT

My long-time nemesis, Insomnia, appears to be making a comeback. I've had trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember, probably since birth, but I've been taking a melatonin supplement for awhile, and it has helped me sleep. However, recently my bottle of melatonin pills ran out, so I had to make a trip to CVS to buy another bottle. Unfortunately, the stuff I got is a different brand than I used before. With the other brand, I was taking two pills a night and that was enough, but this brand is a different "blend" or whatever, with a different amount of melatonin. With the result that I've spent the last two nights rolling around in bed at about sixty miles an hour, wishing I had someone with a large club nearby to cudgel me into unconsciousness.

So, anyway, got to get the dosage right. Especially considering I have Finals next week.

Happy Easter

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:30:28 GMT

For those of you who celebrate Easter, anyway.

I went out to eat with my brother, his fiancee, and a mutual friend. We went to this Mexican restaurant nearby, which I have never gone to despite the fact that I've lived within five minutes of it for almost five years now. Turns out, it's really good. I'll have to take my mom there sometime.

Also, my future sister-in-law says that I look like I've lost weight, which would be cool, since it would mean I haven't been starving myself in vain.

Okay, I'm not starving myself, but lately I've been eating just one real meal a day, generally between noon and four o'clock, and then a smaller snack before I go to bed. I can't eat in the morning, because for some reason it makes my stomach hurt.

And considering I've been feeling surprisingly well the past few days, apart from a killer headache that I've been keeping at bay with some heavy-duty pain pills and that I hope doesn't signal another sinus infection, the One-Meal-A-Day diet seems to be working for me.

A Room With a View

anita_montresor@hotmail.com — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:22:32 GMT

I've lived in the same apartment complex for the past two years, although in two different buildings. Around here, if you're lucky, you'll get a window with a nice view.

Here was the view from my window last year:

Here's the view from my window this year:

So, yeah, slight improvement.

Incidentally, I finally found that computer/camera cord I was looking for. Apparently, I left it at home over Christmas. So, more pics will follow.