My immune system is fighting really hard but I can’t tell if it’s winning or not
Yesterday wasn’t a very good day, but it ended on an okay note. I tried to get up early but didn’t get out of bed until after 7. Then I sat down and tried to write my paper. I added some more references to the works cited page and got one more paragraph I think. I ate an apple and then had some hot chocolate. Then I had a stomach ache and felt sort of achey plus I was blowing my nose every five minutes and my ears felt weird. Kyle got on aim at some point, which he said he had just gotten in from being with his friends in Richmond. And I’m not supposed to write this because his mom reads it and says he shouldn’t stay up that late, which he shouldn’t, but it was nice to talk to him.
I tried to go back to my paper but didn’t really get anything accomplished before lunch. I stretched, crocheted, got teary-eyed on my bed when I tried to lie down for a bit. I agree with my mom that you get more homesick when you’re sick. I wanted to be home in my own bed, wherever that may be, in my dorm, at Kelley Ridge, or at the apartment, but still. Be in a familiar place and not have a paper looming over my head. And it sort of makes things worse because I know everyone is getting together with family and having breaks and I wish I could be there and be having a break. Oh well, soon!
So I eventually walked over to Regent’s with my laptop and went to lunch and ate the salad bar. Ruth wasn’t there so I sat and talked with some other people, I don’t remember who. I wasn’t very hungry but I made myself eat because I know I need to even if I don’t feel well. Then I went up to the library and started typing. I got about 1500 words down in about 2 1/2 hours or so. And it was terrible, none of the paragraphs went together and each one led to three different subtopics and I felt like there was no way to fit in all the information. I knew it all pretty well, just couldn’t figure out how to organize it and write it. So I went and wrote Mark an e-mail and asked for suggestions, even implying maybe we could put the paper off a week, which I didn’t really want to do because it’ll be nice to not have to write anything next week, but this paper was turning out awful.
I was getting a stomach ache again, which I wasn’t sure if it was nerves or actually being sick, but I didn’t like it. So I went back to my computer and was reading through an article for like the 6th time and came across a sentence that gave me an idea. It sort of got in my head how I could organize the paper, starting from a different point. So I started all over, opening a new blank document, and wrote and used only one paragraph from the previous paper. I got a little over 2000 words in about an hour and a half. I think that’s the fastest I’ve written a paper since I’ve been here, but it was much better than the first one. I’m still not sure if it’s great but it’s at least decent. I went and checked my e-mail and Mark had written me back, somewhat in an apologetic tone saying how it makes things harder when we deviate from the set Oxford reading list and questions. I never really realized how the reading lists somewhat point you in the right direction for the essay question. So he gave me some points I should cover and said if I just wrote one or two paragraphs on each, that would be fine. He said to remember I’m doing a week’s worth of work, not writing a book. So I added a paragraph and a couple sentences, but I mainly had what he had said I think. He said to focus on the big picture, which I think I did. So hopefully it’s okay.
After that, I crocheted some. I had brought my yarn with me, expecting to get done sooner. Then I e-mailed Kyle just to sort of vent about my frustrations. Along with the paper being bad, my Word program randomly told me that my proofing tools were not installed so it wasn’t capable of doing spell check or anything. Which I’m normally pretty good at proofing but I was going to be revising less this time since the paper took me so long and sometimes you just miss things. So this morning I used the spell check on the computer I printed from, which was good because there were a few words where I just had typos but that wouldn’t have looked good. My computer is going crazy and I don’t think I did anything to deserve it but I don’t know.
So then I read through my paper once and then went down to dinner. I wasn’t hungry again. When I told Ruth this, she said, wow you really are sick. I’ve already gotten the reputation here for always being hungry and eating a lot. She asked me how my day was and I told her not so good. Then I asked how her’s was and she said sort of non-stop so not the best. Then she asked Jonnie how his day was and he said not great. So apparently everyone was having a down day. Dinner was actually pretty good, though dessert was a little weird. The starter was spring rolls which are always good, but I just wish my stomach had been a little less achey so I could have enjoyed the food more. Oh well I still ate it.
I walked home after that, intending to go to bed early again. I talked to Kyle and figured out how to download aim, for some reason it worked this time. I also got windows media player which hadn’t worked before but I haven’t been able to see anything on it. I tried to play some things and it said either it wasn’t compatible with Macs yet or there was a failed path or something. Then I called my mom and talked to her for a bit. And then I almost fell asleep and Amanda messaged me on aim so I talked to her until she left G-town to head home. Then I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and went to bed, without reading over my paper again. I figured I would just do it in the morning. Mark knows that I don’t think it’s the best paper and I don’t think I can change it around with one more reading through. So revising was somewhat lost on this paper, unless you count the first one as a first revision. Anyway, I set my alarm, took my medicines and vitamins to help out my immune system in its battle against whatever this is that is trying to make me sick, and fell asleep.