Like today!

So I woke up at 5:15 and I tried to get back to sleep but I just couldn't. Stuffy nose, cramped calves... yeah. Not workin'. So around 5:40 I got up. Figured I'd get some WoW in before it was time to get ready for work. Not much - just a little - because on Tuesdays they do maintenance from 6 AM to about 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

And don't you know I had to download a patch. Not a big one - just wee - but just enough that it wrapped up at 5:58, which gave me just enough time to log in and open ONE of the auction sales in my mailbox before I got booted off the server.

AND THERE IS MORE MONEY WAITING FOR ME ON THERE! WAAAAH!

Grr, I say!

I am SUCH a miser, too. Not RL - though I am stingy, it's more from a sense of being choosy about what I want to spend money on - but man, in WoW? When there's not a whole lot you can buy that really matters? I love having gold. Getting gold. Seeing the numbers by the little gold indicator in my bag increase... yay!

I feel like Prince John in Disney's Robin Hood:

Gold, gold, GOLD!

So, Yeah.

I hope that having cancer hasn't turned me into a spoiled brat.

Lemme 'splain.

When people hear that I have cancer, they offer support and encouragement. [Side note: I think I am probably cancer-free at this point, but as I'm still going through treatment, I'm not going to split too many hairs. Anyway.] And they buy me things. And they listen. My God, do they listen.

And it's soooo easy to get - well - taken in. It's like I have this free pass that says, "I Have Cancer: Give Me What I Want!"

Good Habits - November 13

So yeah. The reason my fingers and feet feel so weird is also because of the chemo. *sigh* It's called "peripheral neuropathy." I am SO GLAD next session is my last. I'm going to get another bottle of my daily multivitamin (cuz there is only one lonely ill gummy left!) and Imonna pick up some B6 and B12 too because they may help.

The creepy thing about this is that based on what I'm reading, it may not go away. :( Some people wind up with permanent nerve damage. EFF. I'm pretty hopeful, though, because I don't have any of the other risk factors. Also, it kind of comes and goes. Right now my index and middle fingers are worst, and my pinky fingers are almost fine. Also it's just the tips.

Plan for today is to play WoW this morning, maybe nap later since I woke up sooo early, go to the Indian restaurant for lunch, pick up any groceries we need (we're also out of salad fixins but I don't know if I want more since we'll be leaving Wednesday for NCTE) and then visit friends and play games this afternoon/evening. I think I want to bring Taboo. My favorite part is holding the buzzer. Except I kind of wore it out. I do have this nifty little desk-bell, though. It is REALLY LOUD... >;) hahahaha...

Fun times... ^.^

Good Habits - November 10

McD's again today. After Papa John's last night and Arby's for lunch. *sigh* But it tastes SO GOOD. Oh well.

Today's prompt is: Discuss an important personal relationship you have had and explain how it has changed your life.

Well, the obvious choice is my husband. I've written about the Hunk before. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that he renewed my faith in humanity - or at least in the other half! He is incredibly patient and ... easygoing? It's not "cheerful" so much as almost always content. It is good to be around him because he's almost always in a good mood.

He is a one-on-one parapro, and this year his student is a freshman, so he's now at the same school I am. I love getting to ride to school with him. If I'm having a rough day I can go and get a hug during lunch. It's pretty awesome.

It is hard to know the full extent of his influence on my life, because I really can't imagine my life (as it is now) without him. I probably wouldn't live in this part of the country. I might not even be a teacher.

Doctor's appointment today. Need to fill out my professional leave form for Friday's field trip. Parent calls after school tomorrow. Doctor's appointment Monday. I don't know WHEN I can get my blood work done... *sigh* maybe I can put it off until Tuesday, especially since I'm pushing my last chemo treatment back a few days too.

Good Habits - November 8

Today's prompt is: What is your favorite word, and why?

Since we're freewriting, I'm going to say that right now I can't think of a favorite word. One that came to mind was antediluvian. I like it because it's much more common to have "anti-" as a prefix, and it's "ante-".

I spent a lot of time over the weekend playing WoW. I got to talk to a GM about not being able to use primary professions and the GM I talked to was able to fix the problem - yay! so I leveled tailoring almost a hundred points yesterday. But more significantly (not that THAT'S saying much) I spent some time thinking about the interplay between story and mechanics in MMOs.

Like death. In WoW, death is nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. If your character is killed, you have to spend time moving its spirit back to its body before it can interact with the game world again. But that's not reflected in the story within the game: characters apparently die only once. And that is different from the mechanics with NPCs: NPCs, whether they are alive or dead, tend to stay that way. Sick characters can be revived, but it's only temporary, as the game is static.

The Hunk mentioned a game that was in development that was planning to incorporate permadeath. As in, each character has a certain amount of "lives," but once those are used up, the player can't revive that character ever again.

My fingers are tired and I'm sure I've met my word count. Neener!

Good Habits - November 4

So I fixed oatmeal for breakfast and I brushed my teeth. Everything was going well up until the senior group photo. THEY WERE AWFUL. Ugh. Worst group photo I've ever supervised. Good gravy. So then when my second-block students had leftover junk food from another class I made a bit of a pig of myself. Tasty, though.

Today's prompt is Sartre said "Hell is other people," while Streisand sang, "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world." Which is right? Why?

This is supposed to be a prompt for a college application essay. I figure colleges want to hear you say that you agree with Streisand. They don't want students who are misanthropic because you're going to be around people all the time and if you're miserable it might make the other paying customers unhappy and less likely to continue paying. So insert some blather here about how everyone needs community. Oo, a good place to reference Donne's "No Man Is An Island" schpiel.

It looks like they're finishing up - by the time I get the writing prompt up and then they start writing and I take attendance and put that in the computer as well as in my notebook and check for SSR books and ask those who don't have them about them well ZOOM... it's very nearly time to quit writing anyway.

Hope to dance tonight.

Good Habits - November 2

I'm not dead. Sometimes it seems like it, with as much as I've been sleeping lately. As ridiculous as it sounds, I'm tired of sleeping. :P

I think I've finally started to find out what it feels like to be a cancer patient. Yesterday and the day before were ... enlightening. Walking across the room left me glad to drop into a chair. Going down the hall to another classroom required a plan - no stopping along the way in case I couldn't muster enough willpower to get moving again.

But I accomplished everything I'd wanted to yesterday. AND MORE. I even found the ad binder. And today I feel more alert and my fingers are less puffy. Can't quite tell about my feet but I'm kind of hopeful that the swelling has gone down there as well.

Got my fingers crossed to do the whole day at school today and then dance tonight. We'll see...