a reason people should go to church

My left eye is trying to sabatoge my semester. At various moments in the semester, it turns red (especially on Tuesdays), and occasionally hurts and gives me a headache. But after a week of glasses wearing I can usually get it under control. Last night it started feeling funny, so I took out my contacts earlier than normal, but alas, this morning I woke up to the climax of eye pain.

But, it just so happens that I go to the most educated church ever, and am in a Sunday morning Bible study with two lawyers, the retired head of the English department at Syracuse university, Tim, someone who is also smart but whose profession I don't know, and, EUREKA! an eye doctor! The eye doctor in the closest proximity to my apartment! I didn't go to church because I was sensitive to light and was feeling nauseous (I think my eye and my stomach have an express route, because this happens more than you might think). But the heroic eye doctor was able to diagnose me through the phone and Tim's summary, and he met me at his close office to write a prescription.

It turns out I've had a virus (not herpes, which is the only virus a google search will lead you to believe exists) in my left eye  all semester, and an increased sensitivity to the preservatives in the off brand contact solution, which stresses out both of my eyes. So basically the point of this story is that my eyes are drama queens, and somehow know that they have all control over my ability to write and teach, and like to dangle that in front of me. And everyone should stop using offbrand solution because it's not the same, and preservatives are going to destroy all of us!

Some dreams do come true

A non-graphic story about giving blood

Today I gave blood, and immediately after being stuck, the nurse said, "Whoa. WHOA. wow! Did you feel that?"

I've given about two gallons of blood in my life... enough so I wasn't concerned going in, but I was freaking out after the first Whoa. Any  physical sensation bottlenecked with panic.

"No," I said, trying to concentrate to see if I felt anything unusual. I didn't.

She said, "The needle just completely turned around."

I just looked at her so she explained further. "Sometimes we just let the needle do what it wants after it goes in, and it just turned completely around. Wow!"

I did want her to elaborate, but I couldn't bear any gross image during the actual giving blood process, so I decided to ask after it ended. Unfortunately, she wasn't there when I finished, so I could never ask.

But, like, whoa! What happened?!?

This weekend I take a test that determines whether or not I can graduate in the spring.

Whoa.

The good and the bad

The bad: Time Warner cable did something and now we don't get the Oxygen network which means now we don't get SNAPPED, thus killing my fantasy in which I eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and watch Snapped for six hours straight (except for a pause in which I check the mail and have received at least three letters).

The good: The only reason I know this is because UNCW canceled classes because of the rain, and then because of fall break, so I had time to watch television beyond the Thursday night golden hour.

The Creek of The Creek Apartments

The bad: Because of all this rain and closings (22 inches in 4 days!), I went stir crazy.

The good: This weekend was also Riverfest, so I got to fight through the same amount of people in an hour that I would normally have seen in a four day span. Plus, I purchased pumpkin barbeque sauce and jalapeno dill salsa, and they're both amazing.

The bad: Tim and I looked at our living room fan today and noticed it had an appalling amount of dust, and wondered why we hadn't noticed it in the (surely) months it had looked that way.

The good: I've also had time to notice all of the crazy little birds that comes to my porch bird restaurant. Cardinals, hummingbirds, finches, mourning doves, blue jays, and two or three kinds of sparrows have provided me endless entertainment.

The bad: Just like that, I've turned into a crazy bird lady. Or a 90 year old grandmother.

Bring it, TS Nicole

The highest score I've ever bowled included no strikes. Granted, the score was only, like, 107, but it was made of all spares and 9's.

Likewise, Wilmington is about to receive it's record amount of rain (after being in a 15 inch drought), surpassing the amount that Hurricane Floyd brought. That's the most destructive Wilmington hurricane.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20100929/ARTICLES/100929608/1155?Title=Rain-tonight-could-break-Hurricane-Floyd-record

See. Wilmington and I don't need major events to set high scores.

He's just not that into you

It's taken me until my mid-20s, but I've figured you out, Fall. Everyone loves you because you're beautiful and a nice change of pace. Suddenly we can open our windows and keep your perfume throughout our house. You bring gifts of football and apple cider and make us remember all the good times we've had in the past, jumping into leaves, carving pumpkins, taking hay rides. I love these days, Fall. It makes me remember what a perfect world it can be

But that's it. It's not like you stick around long. A few weeks for some leaves to change, a few days where we can wear jackets in the morning, tee shirts and jeans comfortably in the day, and then you're out of town, goodbye, see ya later, sucker. And you know what? Even when you're here, you're kind of moody. Cool one day, hot the next. I never know how it's going to be with you.

So I understand. You're just a little fling trying to ruin my one true relationship with summer. So I won't fall for you. Especially since you don't even change the leaves much in Wilmington, and the beach doesn't go anywhere, and I saw an amazing football game in the heat and it was still just as fun. So there.