Powering through

I just finished the fall quarter and am enjoying a short break before my interterm class starts. Fall was stressful and as I turned in my project on Friday, a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. This project was 100% of my grade and I spent 10 weeks on it. I think I did OK but I'm really just too tired of worrying about it that I don't care. I do care, but I don't care right now.

Interterm is going to rock my socks off... I'm leaving on Monday for Belize. Central America. A dream come true. Or one of them at least. Just when I paid the last part of the program fee I learned that the course was downgraded from a 3000-level course to a 2000-level course. I'm at 4000-level with my master's, so a 2000-level is questionable for credit. Now I have to apply for an exception so it will count toward my degree. If it doesn't, I'm sure I'll get over it, but I really won't be happy. I was counting on these 4 credits for my degree and without them, I have to take yet another class on top of the two I'm already taking sometime between now and June.

However, this is the least of my worries right now. I'm going to Belize in a week. What's not to like? My worries right now swirl around Ace, my mental health and my physical fitness. The last nine months have been killer at work and school. There just isn't enough time in the day to take care of everything and everyone. I let exercise slip off the priority list and now I'm paying for it. Ace keeps acting like a woman, always asking me "where is this thing going" and telling me that I'm "not ready for a serious relationship." I always love it when people make up your mind for you. I really love it when I'm the one acting the guy in the relationship.

Then there was the ER visit. Long story short, I fell and hit my head. When I came to, the paramedics were there and forced me to go to a hospital I didn't want to go to (one my insurance won't pay for). They shot me up with sedatives and delivered me into a nightmare. I was restrained, stripped and injected with even more drugs while at the ER. They tell me I got a concussion, but I think I was mostly pissed off that I was begging for someone to help me but no one would listen. I'll never watch medical dramas the same way. Tonight I decided to stop bitching about how I was treated and do something about it. I've started making contact with the ambulance company and patient advocates at the hospital. I'm not going quietly into the good night on this one. H-E-double hockey sticks, no.

As a result of the concussion, I've been operating with 80% brain power for the last several weeks. Makes it hard to finish a project and go to work without falling asleep at one's desk. But somehow I made it through. The only thing that kept me going was Belize. Ahhhh, Belize.

Nevermind the $1700 for the ER and $800 for the ambulance, I'm going to Central America. Where malaria pills are highly recommended. And it's 70 degrees. In December.

The only question now is, which swimsuit should I take? Answer: all of them.