I'm feeling pretty good, all things considered. First: I've had a terrible, albeit tolerable, case of strep throat since about Friday. It's not the worst I've ever had, and if you know me, you know that strep is my arch nemesis. The only thing that makes this one different, and in my opinion a bit more annoying, is that sometime last night my left ear became plugged and has refused to pop since then. This morning it had me worried quite a bit, as I've never gone that long without being able to get pop them on my own, through swallowing or yawning and such. So I googled it. Turns out, often times when you have a bad sore throat and your glands swell up, it pinches something in your ear (since they're all so conveniently attached) and that causes the ear to feel as though you've just stepped off an airplane. I think this must be what's going on, because the ear that hurts is on the same side as my most swollen gland. Anyway, I woke up this morning and my fever seems to have broken, so I'm hoping that by the end of the day today/sometime tomorrow this nasty ear business will have gone away. It doesn't hurt, but it's about an 11 on a scale of most-annoying-things-in-the-world. I'm kind of thankful that I've got to work a 12 hour shift today; I'm hoping it will take my mind off of it. Sitting here, it's all I can do not to try and pop it ever other minute. Ridiculous.

Other than that, this weekend was pretty uneventful. Oh, except for Mom and I got a little tipsy waiting for Jules to get home from the Prom, so we got our noses pierced. Which sounds extreme, but it could have been worse. We wanted tattoos but the artists had already gone home, so we settled for the nose piercings. So far, I've definitely grown to love mine. Which is good, since it's got to stay in constantly for six weeks so the hole doesn't close, and then an additional recommended year after that. Oh the things they don't tell you before you do stupid shit like this. Anyway, it's just this small, classy stud, but I am excited to check out my other options in a couple weeks when I go back to change it out. Sam and I have a date for our second tattoos on the 13th of June, and then I'll be able to get this changed on the 27th. Maybe they'll invite me to live with them in their biker/tattoo world. I am that cool.

Other than that, not a lot going on. This week is a bit of a cake walk compared to these last three; I actually have an entire day to myself on Thursday. I haven't had an entire day off from work since my birthday so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I need to do some Spring cleaning in a big way. I've got a couple of new goals I'm going to try and accomplish this week and in the one's following so if everyone can help out with those I would greatly appreciate it. Firstly: stop buying meals at the mall. They're expensive and not even close to nutritionally balanced. They make me tired, and angry, because at the end of two weeks I wonder where all of my money has gone and discover I've spent around a hundred bucks on curly fries. NOT economical. This goal does not, of course, include coffee from Dunkin', which I will never tell myself I cannot have. I've already cut back on that considerably since the introduction of the Keurig into my life. If you're a coffee lover and you're mostly lazy (hello, me) then it's pretty much the best invention in the world. Costly at first, but definitely pays for itself in convenience. Makes a good cup of coffee too. My other goal for the week is to start reading again; I've had to put it off lately because I've been so, so busy. By the time I get home at night, all I want to do is relax and head to bed. Mrs. McKinley, my English teacher from high school, let me borrow a book of hers and is anxiously awaiting my return of it, with, she hopes, notes in the margins. I could never deface a book in that way (I got in trouble once in college for refusing to do so) but I told her I'd leave sticky notes throughout. Compromise, it's all about compromise.

I suppose I should go shower now and do something useful with my time. It always depresses me a little when it's beautiful outside, as it is now, and I realize that 12 hours from this very moment I will still be stuck inside. Blech. At least work tonight is with Bettina. She's a healthy dose of entertainment I could certainly use in my life right now. Everyone else: please pray that my stupid ear pops. It's driving me insane. I know. Short trip. You're all very funny.