Don't Wanna Go Home

This morning I was swimming with sea turtles. Now I am sitting in an airport waiting to go back to Albuquerque. Life is so unfair.

Hello From Hawaii!

Figured I'd post an update, although posting from my phone is a little bit annoying to do.

Anyway, Hawaii is pretty awesome. Here's a quick list of what we've done so far:

Monday we went to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial, which was rather somber but well worth a visit. Then we visited a pineapple plantation. Fresh pineapple = very yummy.

Tuesday we climbed up Diamond Head, a very steep walk, but worth every step for the view. Then we went swimming at pretty much the most beautiful beach I've ever seen.

Wed. we went snorkling, then drove around Oahu for a while.

And now I am siting in an airport waiting to go to Maui the Big Island.

(ETA: sorry, posted in haste earlier. Maui is next week!)

Aloha, Suckers!

Am on the way to Hawaii! And since you're probably not, you have my permission to be jealous. Except maybe not quite so much right now, since at the moment, I mostly feel like someone who had to get up way too early to catch a plane and is thus extremely bleary. Still, it beats being at work!

Apparently They Weren't Lying To Me About This Whole "Going To Hawaii" Thing.

Leaving in a day and a half! And, OK, now I'm starting to get a little excited.

Yep, Totally Ready!

Well, I picked out which books to take with me to Hawaii. That's the important part of the preparation, right?

Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Shift-Workers

And, after yesterday's bout of insomnia, today I somehow accidentally slept for 14 hours.

I don't think this is helping.

Current Stuff

Current clothes: Black sweatpants. Brown shirt with a picture of a shelf of books and the words "Life is short. Read fast." White socks. White sneakers.

Current mood: OMG, SO STRESSED. I woke up at 1:30 in the morning, tried and failed get back to sleep, and finally just gave up and got up at 3:00. And my day has just gone downhill from there.

Current music: "Crazy Train" was playing on the car radio when I was out running errands earlier. It seemed reasonably apropos.

Current annoyance: Extreme lack of sleep and other sources of MASSIVE STRESS.

Current thing: Panicking about aforementioned massive stress. Also, trying to get six million things done at approximately the last minute. Which, of course, is the source of a lot of the stress.

Current desktop picture: Still the same lunar eclipse pic as last month.

Current book: Just finished Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson, which was cheesy and ridiculous, but reasonably entertaining. Next up is The House of Doors by Brian Lumley, which looks like it also might be cheesy and ridiculous, in a less action-y, more horror-y kind of way. Apparently, I am starting on my mindless vacation reading early.

Current song in head: Mostly it seems to be "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. I blame one of the current DVDs.

Current DVD in player: In the player in the living room is season 1 of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, a British sketch comedy show from 1989 starring the great Stephen Fry and the also great Hugh Laurie. Although the show itself is only just okay, really. I keep comparing it to Monty Python or to Mitchell & Webb, and it comes up a bit lacking somehow. But, oh, they are both just so adorably young! Meanwhile, in the player in front of the treadmill is disc 2 of Pinky & the Brain volume 3. When I'm finished with this set, I will have no more cartoons. This makes me sad.

Current refreshment: Nothing. I should have some soothing tea or something. Except that I have to dash out soon to get my hair cut. Because everything needs to be done today, for some reason. Sigh.

Current worry: There are many, but the biggest and most recent one is that apparently my dad's pancreas has decided to attempt to explode again. Get well soon, dad!

Current thought: I am leaving for Hawaii in five days. How is this possible?! I am not remotely ready! Help!

Functioning Within Normal Parameters

I had another doctor's appointment today, and I'm pleased to report that my thyroid levels are now -- and I quote -- "perfect." Yay, tiny little doses of hormone! My kidneys also appear to be functioning properly, which is good to know. The doctor thinks maybe the high readings the first time were due to me being dehydrated or something, although, being painfully thorough, she still wants to have it re-re-checked again in three months. So I have not entirely escaped the curse of the vampires yet.

It was rather entertaining, by the way, watching her look through my lab results and get all confused about which samples were taken while fasting. "But this was done at 4 PM!" Well, yes. 4 PM was also known as "too damned early in the morning" for me that particular day, and I most certainly had not had breakfast yet.

Actually, there are lots of practical issues with medicine and shiftwork that doctors and pharmacists don't even remotely seem to be aware of. Like, my thyroid medicine is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach, so the instructions for it say to take it when you first get up, at least half an hour before eating breakfast. They also say to take it at the same time every day. Um, yeah, which is it, guys? Because those two things are mutually exclusive for me. Fortunately, the compromise I came up with for that seems to have worked fine, based on the empirical evidence. But, still. This sort of thing can be a huge issue when it comes to medications you have to take every day -- or, much worse, twice a day -- and in all the stuff I've read about the health effects of shiftwork, I've almost never seen it addressed.

Well, That Could Have Been Bad.

I just pulled about three feet of used dental floss out of the mouth of one of my cats.

WTF, kitty? WTF?