Warning - allergy rant grossness ahead. Skip this one, I promise you.
Man, I hate having allergies. I hate my probably-small nasal passages, whatever's infecting them, the fact that I haven't been paying for insurance to get them fixed as they slowly-but-steadily degrade. I hate that I can easily go through a box of tissues in a week and that losing all that weight in snot doesn't translate to lost weight on my fat-ass stomach. How do I lose this much liquid in a day, honestly? That alone can't be good for me, right? And it's affecting my sleep, and the sleep of my girlfriend, as I'm now smashed into a post-nasal-drip-throat-rattle that is as disturbing to sleep as it is to gross. Probably unhealthy, too. I might drown. That would suck. Also, trying to swallow is annoying because my nasal passages are entirely clogged, so it's like pinching your nose entirely closed and feeling your ears try and fail to pop as your eardrums flex under the pressure. What. The. Fuck.
Decongestants only make my lips crack and bleed as I blow my nose. Allergy pills tackle the sneezing and itchy eyes (sometimes), but not the sinus pressure, the neti pot screams for mercy as i can't even put the thing into my nose without it backing up. If there was a water jackhammer, that would work, only I'm convinced that anything powerful enough to dislodge the snot would start by blowing a hole in skin and cartiledge. The ibuprofen that I took this morning to numb the pain of my broken toes (kicked the couch on the way into bed last night, blood, swelling...) hasn't done a thing for my swolen nasal passages, it would seem.
I know, it's time to go see an alergist. I know. I'm getting there. That's another resolution - live simpler, fewer "things" so I can afford medical attention for what has become the single biggest obstacle to a passable standard of living, surpassing my ignored dwelling and my stagnant career and muddied project goals. I'm going to at least price them out and see what they might charge to see me and give me advice (because affording medicine is unlikely, too). I wonder if I went to the emergency room and put this on taxpayers if they'd take me. I'm not doing that, just for the record - just wondering about it.
On the flip side, the little sleep I *did* get was graced by a dream of the convertible tablet that Lenovo introduced at CES yesterday. I also finally hung my whiteboard and started my project notes. I ordered lights with my amazon gift card, lights that have already left the sorting facility in Dallas. I've contracted (unofficially, of course) with my friend Natalie to edit Choice Investigations for a few hundred bucks on her new Avid system. I'm hoping that we can start a partnership out of this thing, at least somewhat. Having someone willing to edit some stuff would really be key for me at this point. My 2009 experiment in finding and maintaining a team of players didn't really pan out. Oh, and I've also decided to get my damn hair cut. It's time. There's a barbershop in the valley, I think, that will be earning my custom tomorrow or so.
Enough of this - time to get some real work done.