*sigh*
My AC died July 5th, obliterated by post July 4th firework residue, firmly etching that holiday as the worst of all holidays, not even close, no not even you New Year's Eve Dodge the Redneck and Gangbanger Bullets Extravaganza, sit the fuck down! Used to love it--swimming, family, grandpa's burgers, tag football games that only ended when someone dislocated a shoulder...but now? Hate it. Loud, noisy, scares the cats, turns the valley into an asthmatic's worst nightmare even more than it usually is, and oh yeah, KILLS MY FUCKING AC.
DURING THE WORST HEATWAVE FRESNO HAS SEEN IN A FUCKING DECADE.
Maybe two.
TWO FUCKING DECADES.
When Britney Spears only sang about being a slave, but wasn't an actual fucking slave, that's how long ago!
*sigh*
I survived miserably for five nights. Not well, every moment a struggle, but...I kept going. Saturday it was 110 degrees out and my body with its tiny bariatric stomach and lovely Scot-Irish What's the Sun? Genes had enough, I developed the first signs of serious OH SHIT heat exhaustion. I don't know if my neighbors deciding to have a live mariachi band in a residential neighborhood until 3AM contributed or not, but I'm guessing it didn't help.
Covered in wet rags and cold packs after two hours I finally cooled down and slumped into a restless sleep.
Sunday morning I could barely walk and decided to not fuck around anymore and went to the ER.
They were barely helpful, but...I got eight hours of free cool during the peak of the heatwave (115) they gave me obvious-but-fine-I'll-do-them tips and an IV, as well as warning signs on what to watch out for. Spent the rest of the day in a Taco Bell, went home for a small miserable sleep in a house that wouldn't cool down past 90, and repeated at my uncle's place the next day.
Despite all this...Tuesday morning at about 2AM it got even worse in a terrifying escalation of symptoms, so...back to the ER.
*sigh*
New doctor. They were...insultingly unhelpful. I quote "your organs aren't failing yet, so there's nothing we can really do for you."
OH, I'M FUCKING SORRY ABOUT THAT, MY BAD!
I've only got uncontrollable body shaking and I'm so dizzy I can barely walk and hey, if I wasn't dizzy every muscle below my knee and elbow is cramping and spastic, and I'm so fucking smooth-brained it took me a whole minute to spell out my own name to the nurse, but no biggie! Also I seem to have forgotten how to sweat, sure that's not important or on that list of shit you told me to watch out for. How rude of me, I should have waited until my kidneys were giving out!
"Get some sleep and wet some towels to throw over you".
Oh yeah, why didn't I fucking think of that?
*sigh*
So I moved in with the uncle for three days to borrow his couch and luckily I somehow didn't get worse. Thursday the new AC got put up and I'm finally back home. I've slept about 12 hours a night since that last ER visit and I'm just to the point where the dizzy and cramping seems to have gone away, still can't go outside for longer than five minutes, even at 90 degrees.
I've also lost ten pounds in the last week...which is VERY not how my surgeons expected this shit to go at this point.
Obviously no writing has been done, this is the first time I've touched a computer ever through all that. I'll probably need a week more of rest, then we'll see where we go from there.
I was just starting to think that maybe, just maybe I could get one of these books out to you guys before December rolled around, but it would probably take a miracle at this point. So we're looking at February at the earliest. If I don't self combust. Which...is probably 50/50 at this point!
Part of me wants to change things up and switch over to the Vicky novel and put some time into that, readthrough, fix some problems, and reenter into the world of elemental politics, pretty dresses, and art collections. But I also might just type the 69 (nice!) pages I have into the computer and keep going with THE BEST STUDENT ADVISOR EVER. None of them have died yet, have they?!?! Sure, one of them is raising up animals from the dead as pets, but you try to stop her!
Not necessarily boxing myself in to whatever you lot say, but...any desire on which you'd rather read first, Vicky Present Time Line One Month Before FM7 or Last School Story MEGA EDITION?
Anyway...I'm going back to napping...
And maybe I'll have some sugar free popsicles...
Well crapioca pudding, as a fellow I worked with on my very first "real job" used to say.
ReplyDeleteNorthern European sort that I am, I can recall crawling out of bed to lie on the cool linoleum floor during the nights in July and August when the summer heat in our no-AC house was too much for even my room in the basement to combat. To this day, I deal with cold much better than heat, although I am not fond of either.
My earlier in the year ER visit was "better" for some value of not being treated like a moron for not having a freshly amputated appendage or some sort of wood or metal object still protruding from my body.... My reason for going was a spasm in my colon, which was brought about by the antibiotics I was taking for something else.
Yeah. Spasming colon- hur hur hur. What a weakling. For those who think that, imagine one of your largest muscles seizing up- only it isn't like a calf or hamstring where you can just- "straighten it out; it will be fine." On top of the fact that my wonderful wife had her colon rupture and nearly died some 20 years ago.
So yeah- when the pain not only does not go away, but gets worse... I drive myself to the ER- at 3 in the morning. And park on the opposite side of the hospital from the entrance that is actually unlocked at that ungodly hour. Give them my info, and then get to lie on a barely-padded bench in the waiting area for what felt like... a week? Finally got taken back and will only say that- IV morphine is a wonderful thing in moderation.
Otherwise- the tiny,fit into my one hand fluff ball I rescued from the parking lot at my work a year ago is now bigger than any 2 of our other cats combined. I think that may explain why the unconscionable arschlocks who put him out did so- he is actually a mountain lion....
I feel slightly better about my paltry writing output now- I think I have only added a few thousand words.
As for your question- which should you work on- Vicky or the Greatest School Story of All Time (TM)(C)(pat. pending)? Several thoughts (what the heck, I am Scots-Irish-German- EVERYTHING with me is a debate- one that usually ends with someone bleeding- or passed out)....
First impulse is- work from the hand-written material- it is "there" and will feel like a lot of progress as you massage and revise it. But--- it is also your "reserve tank." As in, when you just aren't "feeling it" but want to do something to not beat yourself up for NOT doing something- those pages are there.
Second idea is- "Do the thing that 'sings' to you." That may not make any sense to anyone else- it is the best way I can describe the feeling of "rightness" when the story just seems to tell itself. (In the interests of honesty- this one is my choice).
Or you could go the masochistic route- "What is the thing I dread the most?" And work on THAT one.
As to MY preference on reading- To paraphrase Pocket... "Dude...." Which is my way of saying- I will be thrilled with the words that you give us, because I have faith that they will be wonderful. Eat those popsicles- dehydration is ... bad.
I'm just jonesing for a good story and will take whatever you give us.
ReplyDeleteI feel like your description of how shitty Fresno is every book might have a bit of extra zing this time around... Make sure you get an air purifier so the smoke doesnt kill you when the west coast burns down this year!
ReplyDeleteStay healthy (if possible) and try and survive the awful heat wave. Also I would suggest getting a window ac unit for emergencies (personally I have central air, but have a window unit from a time when it went down). I feel spending ~$200 is worth it for decent cool sleep any day :)
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