Just call me the Human Autoclave...

Well, I realize that I've been talking almost exclusively about mono in this little journal, so I thought maybe I could call this my....(wait for it)...Monolog! ha ha ha ha ha. Or maybe: MonoBlog!

Here's today's update:

1. No temp today so far! 98.7 when I woke up and after my morning nap as well. Bwah ha ha ha.

2. Lymph nodes continuing to retreat.

3. Throat less sore. Tonsils, being largely lymphatic, are also starting to de-swell. I can eat people food now!! Yesterday morning I was daunted by the very thought of a cracker, but today I have eaten a slice-and-a-half of casserole and not flinched.

4. But I still sleep a lot. In fact, gonna go do some more of that now.

Next time: Fun facts about Mono.
Future blog topic: This whole Sonia Gandhi thing and what I think of it.

But for now, zzzzzz....
- posted by k @ 11:51 AM

 
No thesis news today, but here's a mono update:

1. This is cute. Link thanks to Mojo.

2. My temperature-lowering trend was thrown off when I woke up this morning with 102.? in my armpit. Had some Tylenol and felt--not fine, but pretty good. Then after my nap they wore off and I went up to 101.

3. However, the good news is that my lymph nodes are a lot softer/less swollen, so it's possible that the high temps killed the virus. Go, body, go!

I realize that not everyone may be interested in these details, but OTOH, a precedent has been set by a certain Friday Fiver's blogging of his vasectomy and the aftermath. Arguably, that could be seen as a public service, convincing other men that it's really not that bad, and my blogging about my feeble disease could be entirely self-indulgent, but......well, that's what comment boxes are for. Discuss. Talk amongst yourselves; I have to go eat dinner now.

- posted by k @ 4:56 PM

 
Well, I sent my advisor an email today saying "Did you receive my thesis?" and he emailed back "Got it." So now I just have to hope that he assigns it a grade and turns in the requisite paperwork.

Um, in other news, my high temp yesterday was 101.5, but today's high was only 100.4. So there! And my spleen still isn't swollen.

I have 2 things to blog about as soon as I am able:
1. My birthday presents.
2. "My brush with discomfort" about my non-life/death struggle with mono.

Stay tuned!
- posted by k @ 8:24 PM

 
Well, I have submitted a final draft of my thesis to my advisor. Hopefully he will send me something saying he's received it and it's passable.

Gonna see Shrek II tonight (in an hour) with my sisters. That should be fun.

Big storm here just cleared out. Northern Californians are so freaked out by thunder and lightening, but while I wouldn't say it's *routine* here, it certainly isn't infrequent.
- posted by k @ 6:10 PM

 
Hi.

I'm in Illinois now. It's rainy here.

Sunday night I went to the high school awards assembly where my sister won a bunch of awards, including one for which the sole criterion was "Mathematical Power." Tonight I went to her track banquet. Tomorrow night is the district's "Celebration of Excellence."

Meanwhile, I have to make final revisions to my thesis and I'M AFRAID.

Oh, and in other news, I have mono. At least it's not a tumor.
- posted by k @ 8:46 PM

 
Two age-related poems. One by A.E. Housman, and one by a Housman satirist.

1.When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your hear away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

-A.E. Housman, 1896

2. What, still alive at twenty-two,
A clean, upstanding chap like you?
Sure, if your throat 'tis hard to slit,
Slit your girl's, and swing for it.

Like enough, you won't be glad
When they come to hang you, lad:
But bacon's not the only thing
That's cured by hanging from a string.

So, when the spilt ink of the night
Spreads o'er the blotting-pad of light,
Lads whose job is still to do
Shall when their knives, and think of you.

-Hugh Kingsmill, c. 1920

Ok, a little dark, but you have to admit it's funny. Or something. Anyway, today I am twenty-three.
- posted by k @ 1:20 AM

 
Tra-la, it's May!


If you believe in a deity and you are ever presented with a day like today, the first thing you should do is give thanks to that deity.

Since I missed posting on the equinox, here's my Spring poem for May Day:

Come, Spring, reckeless lover of the earth, make the forest's heart pant for utterance!
Come in gusts of disquiet where flowers break open and jostle the new leaves!
Burst, like a rebellion of light, through the night's vigil, through the lake's dark dumbness, through the dungeon under the dust, proclaiming freedom to shackled seeds!
Like the laughter of lightning, like the shout of a storm, break into the midst of the noisy town; free stifled word and unconscious effort, reinforce our flagging fight, and conquer death!
-Rabindranath Tagore

Some corrections from recent posts:
-Hillary Clinton spells her name with 2 Ls.
-I don't know what I was thinking, but although Sanskrit is indeed a language I'd like to learn, it is severely outranked by Spanish.
These corrections have been made below, but if you're bored and want to re-read with the changes, knock yourself out. If you're really bored, you can read my archived posts. Raisins good! Chocolate chips bad!

Finally, in 3-4 hours I will have sent the last section of my paper to my para-advisor. Then I will finish the corrections to my draft by Monday or Tuesday. If you believe in a deity, pray for me.
- posted by k @ 11:54 AM