Laughter Through Tears

Yesterday, in Pilates, I pulled a really annoyingly specific muscle in my left arm. Its location is difficult to stretch and especially awkward for placing a heating pad, especially if I want to work at the computer while I'm treating. A night's sleep helped somewhat, so I'm hopeful that it'll be better by tomorrow.

In writing terms, I'm making slow but steady progress on the third draft of my outline. The endgame bits are naturally the most involved to write, not to mention, the part with the most changes from the previous draft. Still, I have hopes of finishing this version before the end of the month. And if not that, then before Pesach.

I'm in the throes of a cold that just won't let up. Trying to work through it, but I still have days when all I want to do is watch TV and feel sorry for myself (in between drinking herbal tea and blowing my nose).

I spent about half of this week hammering away at a classically multiplying list of bugs in TC's climax chapter. Dropping my glasses and having one lens pop out of place was a headache I did not need today. I crawled into bed and ignored the world for an hour (I'd been planning on napping) and it actually worked! When I got up, I got dressed to go out to the optho before it closed, and when I fetched my spare pair (walking outside without any glasses is, uh, inadvisable) I found the case my new pair came in, which came with one of those tiny screwdrivers. Between the spares and the screwdriver, I managed to fix the glasses without going out at all.

However, I do have a literal headache now. I took a pill and had some water and it should clear up soon, but IDK. What a way to end a week that was supposed to be major progress on the very final scenes in my game.

I am also currently reading Witch Week out of the Chrestomanci series, and it's activating all sorts of dormant feelings re: being a child subject to the authority of adults. I think it might be stressing me out too much. I might have to consider DNFing it, or at least taking a break.

In happier news, I've been getting back into Fallen London and boy, did they add a lot of content while I was gone!

Still fighting off the dregs of that cold, made better and then worse by my having a very long, busy day on Sunday. I accomplished most of what I intended to (what I didn't wasn't up to me), but I also paid the price the next day. This morning, I woke up feeling so much better, but throughout the day the cough trickled back in. However, I have a significant deadline this week, so today I'm trying to caffeine up and work through it.

Sore throat. Stiff neck muscles. Mucus. Very tired. Probably just a cold but I'm waiting on PCR. Drinking tea and hoping for the best.

After all my fears about covid-19,l I was only ill for a week, or so. On Friday night, I took another antigen test and it came out negative. By Saturday afternoon, I was able to visit my parents, and this week I'm catching up on all the chores and errands that I put off.

True, I'm still cautious of long covid, but I don't want to borrow problems, as they say.

I don't want to talk about the cough I had yesterday and maybe having the first cold of winter in October, so I'll write about my dream:

I dreamed that I was walking with my sister. At one point, we went into a bookstore and talked about YA books and romance books (two categories I have an ambivalent relationship with). Then we were gonna get a snack because the store stocked snacks and I always dream about food when I fall asleep again in the morning. We were gonna get some candy bars. Then we asked the person at the till why they didn't stock granola bars or something healthier, because by dream logic, we both mystically knew that high school students and teenagers often stopped at the store on their way to school, and we thought they should have better breakfast options than candy bars. And the employee answered that they wanted to, but their license (???) prohibited them from stocking any food except candy. Even granola bars.

Then it segued into the usual "lost and late to the airport and also I haven't packed" type sequence. Real tell me you have anxiety without telling me you have anxiety stuff.

It's my birthday and I'm taking the day off.

Granted, I already took Thursday off, and spent the whole day playing with my new The Sims 4 expansion pack, and granted, I already celebrated my birthday three different ways. But also, late Friday night I was ill because of some food that disagreed with me (...strenuously), and then I lost some of Saturday to trying to recover from that.

And besides, usually, when I take time off, it's for a migraine or something similar. It's nice to occasionally take a day or two just for myself, without a crisis. And two days isn't very much, in the grand scheme of things. So the only work I'm doing today is setting my work schedule for the rest of the week.

I have some errands for later today, but I don't really want to write about that.

I was checking my personal records to try and figure out whether I might have had any menstrual-related side effects of the vaccine, at the same time as trying to "take the day off" for the worst day of my period, this month. An odd little coincidence.

Not that It matters very much if I did, a month and a half on.

I'm still ahead of word count, despite a minor setback each today and yesterday. I also have two more Zoom write-ins with the local group this week, and at least one late-night (for my timezone) write-in on the NaNo YouTube channel. So if I have a bad morning, I can recover. Evening writing is often only a few hundred words, though, so that's a good reason to make an effort in the morning, regardless.

Quarantine is still hybridized, and there are active restrictions on the Pilates studio I attend. Soon, it may be too cold for outdoor lessons. I have to decide what I'll do, then.

Anyway, the book is going well, so far. Even if I haven't gotten to the good stuff, yet. But honestly, even the "not having gotten to the good stuff" feeling is a good one. New book energy. It's revitalizing.