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Sat, Dec. 19th, 2009 04:18 am
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Originally published at Parenthetical. You can comment here or there. This year when by really fast for me. I mean *really* fast. I can’t even remember what I was doing last January without looking back through every old journal entry I’ve got, and even then, I journal so sporadically, I can’t rely on that as an accurate portrayal of what I was doing. I think I did a “summary of the year” post last year or the year before (or some time), and it went horribly when I FORGOT THANKSGIVING. Yes, we flew out to the east coast for Thanksgiving, and I met what felt like, at the time, STEVEN’S ENTIRE FAMILY, plus a few. And it didn’t make it onto the list, even though I wrote a mere few weeks after the trip. Even though it’s a distant memory, it feels like 2009 just began.
So while I am able to recall specific details of specific events, I can once again prove to you that my ability to place anything in a time-line without a sheet of paper in front of me to write it all down is completely non-existent. But yes, as a matter of fact, I *do* remember my bedroom from when I was two years old in minute detail–and I know I was two in that memory because Meghan was three, and because she lived with me, and because it was before we moved to WA. That was the apartment where I met my first cockroach, and played with Rosa, my downstairs neighbor. Rosa is probably not her real name, because while I remember her mother (who made excellent empenadas and spoke to me in Spanish), I do not remember my friend’s name. Just her mother’s Spanish.
Anyway. I’m rambling. Sorry. I do that after my mind has been scrambled by finals. It’s part of the process of “re-entering the world” I think. Like an astronaut re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, only WAY less cool.
So some of the biggest highlights from the year 2009, as of today, which is still in 2009:
- I still haven’t gotten the AC fixed in my car. That makes two summers now that I have gone w/o AC in my car, which is tiny and black, and LOCATED IN A DESERT.
- But I was too busy trying to figure out how to eat gluten-free to care much about the heat. Because in May I finally got a diagnosis for my unexplained fatigue, migraines, random aches and pains, bloating, non-existent menstruation, and brain fog like a centenarian, among other things–Celiac Disease. We still aren’t sure if it’s the genetic variety or the we-don’t-know-what-causes-this-but-can-we-experiment-on-you variety, but either way, I can’t eat gluten ever again, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Plus, I’m in no mood to be experimented on.
- I finally conquered the Term Paper From Hell given to us by The Evil Syntax Teacher who turned out to be The Nice Syntax Teacher Teaching An Impossible Subject to a Bunch of Ungrateful and Difficult Students in the single-semester Syntax-Should-Never-Be-Taught-in-Only-One-Semester syntax course. Whew. And yes, that’s a fun sentence to diagram.
- I started a Linguistics Club on campus. I’m *still* starting it. Getting people on board has been difficult, and navigating the bureaucracy on campus is frustrating. But I won’t be around the Linguistics department much next year, so as long as I get us established, someone else can keep us going.
- Which reminds me, I’m working on applying to the CSUN education department for the credential program starting Fall semester. I still have a thesis to write at that point, in order to finish my MA, but this is all very strategically planned. I’ve passed the first two tests of the Single-Subject exams in English. English has four exams total, so I take the other two in January. Other than that, I have a ton of paperwork to do to get into the program–TB tests, background checks, and all sorts of other stuff. And in January, as soon as I find someone to take me in, I start volunteering in the classroom. Why did I switch to this? I’ll be teaching language-related subjects, just like I wanted, only the pay is better and I won’t have to wait as long to start working again. Plus, I actually like working with teens. They have spunk.
- I got through my first set of finals without feeling like I was run over by a truck. Maybe just a golf cart this time. Vast improvement from last spring, and I’m crediting the improvement to all celiac-related changes that have happened in the year.
- My mother was diagnosed with diabetes, and for the first time in my adult life, she is now smaller than me. By a LOT. I know I should be using this opportunity to celebrate that fact, but it’s almost 3AM, and I’ve celebrated with her, so here, in my blog, I’m just going to take a minute to talk about how it effects me. Otherwise, why blog? I think I am now officially the heaviest person in my family, and the good news about that is that I’m actually losing weight quite easily now. It’s actually become a problem for my wedding gown. It used to be I’d have to practically starve myself (and my food journals verified this w/ the dietitian pre-diagnosis) in order to lose weight. Turns out it wasn’t starving myself that made the weight drop off, it was the reduced gluten-intake. When you can’t absorb nutrients, your body has two choices: waste away, or horde every little ounce it can actually manage to absorb. My body chose the latter. I’m not really sure about the science behind all that, but that’s the best explanation I could find on why some Celiacs gain weight and can’t lose it, and others lose it and can’t gain it. (Until after they stop eating gluten, that is.)
- I finally found a pair of shoes that don’t make my plantar fasciitis (spelling?) flair up. I’ve had few flair-ups since I got them, and even then, I think it was after walking quite a few miles on concrete. They’re not hiking shoes, after all. They’re Nike Free shoes. I actually found them rather on accident, trying to order something comfortable that didn’t look hideous. And I got these, and Steven went “oh you got THOSE? There’s some interesting technology and sports science behind how those were designed, you know.” He went on to tell me all about it, and it really IS some interesting background story. I walk FAST in these compared to before, so they’ve been re-named my “Goblin Rocket Boots” in honor of the speed and technology behind them.
- I sent out wedding invitations. I know this sounds like something normal, but it took a team of people to gather all the information together so that I even knew WHO to invite. Steven’s got a family the size of a small country. I’m not complaining, they’re all nice and will be tons of fun at the wedding, but I’ve never had to keep an address book before. I can count my extended family on two hands, with fingers leftover, if you don’t count cousins. If you do count cousins, then I think I need three hands. Steven needs something more like ten. Or maybe twenty. I lost count. So really, this item should read “I figured out how to keep an address book. Kind of.”
- I sent out Christmas cards. Not to everyone in my address book (see the segue?), because I ran out of cards somewhere midway through. Like I said, Steven has a lot of family. Next year, I’ll know better and stock up on cards. I figure it’s our first Christmas-card-sending, and Steven’s family is so nice, they’ll just laugh at our newbie Christmas-card-sending and love us anyway. For those of you who know Steven, and how nice he is, imagine fifty of them in the same room, all of whom speak different languages and look remarkably nothing like him, making it extraordinarily difficult to guess how they’re related if your memory fails you. That’s his extended family. (And eternal thanks to Ann for patiently drawing me family trees every time I encounter more family, and reminding me which family stories belong to which family members. Whatever happened to those trees? I think I need to get copies to keep.)
- Oh! Speaking of family…. Aunt Martha took us on a cruise! It was my first cruise ever, and it was the weekend after I was diagnosed. I was terrified of the food on the ship, and it all worked out fine. Plus, Martha is tons of fun to hang out with, and being on boats never fails to amuse me.
- I think we did more traveling earlier in the year, but it’s now 3:11AM and I’m running out of steam fast. Maybe I’ll do a travel post later after I’ve gone over my notes…
, navel-gazing, school, thesis, wedding, work   
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