Summer is here and Kendra over at Catholic All Year
has done the entire internet a huge favor by bringing back probably my
favorite link-up in the history of ever: Answer Me This! Every Sunday
from now until August we will answer 6 questions as asked by Kendra and
link-up to share our answers. It's the internet's favorite cocktail
party and I'm so happy it's back.
Posting late this week, sorry. I got dragged to the middle of nowhere in Eastern Nevada last week and it feels like I'm still catching up on life, let alone the blog. On to the questions!
1. How long have you lived in your current home?
I have lived on Jacaranda Lane (not the real name of my street, but might as well be) for 4 years now. I have yet to really finish "unpacking" or learn the names of more than my absolute immediate neighbors. This doesn't bother me, though, because the not-immediate neighbors are way more transient and short-stayed than I am it seems. I've thought about moving out many, many times in the past, but ever since my uncle moved out and I realized that I actually like it here, I've been okay with staying. This is not my for-ever home, though, but it's a good for-now home.
2. How do you find out about news and current events?
This is shameful: Twitter. I get Tweets from certain celebrities, actors, and public figures sent straight to my phone so sometimes I wake up in the morning and there's a dozen or more tweets about the same thing. Also Facebook tells me things sometimes, too. If neither of those is quick enough on the draw, I know my roommate will fill me in when I get home. I actually like hearing news from her because she's able to tell me really awful things without making me super sad about them because that's why I avoid news in general: I'm trying to keep the sadness at bay.
3. Would you be able to make change for a twenty right now? For a dollar?
Nope. I'm that typical millennial who almost never carries cash. I have plenty stashed at home for emergencies, but I feel really vulnerable if I'm carrying around lots of cash. It's like, "Hey, muggers, please come steal my purse!" and I'm just not a fan of that. I have recently started carrying smaller bills (tens, fives, and ones) because I feel silly going to Del Taco or something for a $1 burrito and using my debit card to pay for it. That's kind of dumb.
4. What's the craziest food you've ever eaten?
I'm not the most adventurous eater (not picky, just not super adventurous) but I had some really gamey venison in Germany several years ago (like, really gamey) which was a bit much for me, and I've had squid and octopus and the usual "exotic" foods grown-ups scare 5th graders with. I also ate catfish in New Orleans (I never thought I'd actually eat catfish) and it was one of the most delicious things I've ever consumed. I'm working towards being more adventurous and not always getting "the usual" when I go out to eat. I'm pretty good at eating like the locals when I travel, though.
5. Which of the commonly removed parts have you had removed? (tonsils, wisdom teeth, appendix, etc.)
I am currently (not) missing:
Wisdom teeth - all of them - from the summer before I started college. Extremely painful, came out of anesthesia hysterically crying and disoriented, and couldn't take the Vicodin because it made me violently ill and threatened to undo my stitches. Also, I couldn't kiss my boyfriend for 2 weeks. When you're 18, two weeks is an eternity.
Appendix - removed 3 years ago this past April. I went to urgent care thinking it was an abdominal infection or something (this had happened twice before mind you, and both times they said it 'probably wasn't as bad as you said it was' and gave me a shot of antibiotics and sent me home. I hate doctors). After a pregnancy test and lots of vomiting they let me go to the ER where I took two more pregnancy tests before they determined it was clinical appendicitis and gave me morphine and scheduled surgery. You can read all the details of how awful that whole experience was HERE. (Warning: I was under the influence of a lot of painkillers and cabin fever so there's quite a bit of swearing in that post - sorry.)
6. What's your favorite sport to watch on TV?
Basketball. Lakers' basketball. Otherwise, I don't like watching sports on TV. I'll attend a volleyball game or watch a minor league baseball game if I have people around me to talk to between interesting things. Generally speaking, though, I'm not a sports watcher or enjoyer. At all.
That's it for this round of Answer Me This! If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post.
Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because the whole
thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the
comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from
you!
love,
Willow
*Note:
The Answer Me This logo image belongs to Kendra Tierney over at
Catholic All Year and is used as part of a link-up only. The "Evil Appendix" comic is from Awkward Yeti and is used with permission. The "Basketball Season" t-shirt image has been sourced. All other
images in this post are property of Whitney Miller.*
Yeah, so I totally fell off the planet there for a while, and I have good excuses, I promise! (Okay, they're kind of shitty excuses but it's my blog so suck it up.)
EXCUSE #1:
Acute Appendicitis. Although, when I heard that, I looked at my doctor and was all, "My appendix is not CUTE it's TRYING to KILL ME." He didn't think I was funny. I mean, I almost *died* and nobody in the hospital thought my jokes were entertaining. I swear, I'm like one of the Weasley twins when there's a life-and-death situation and I'm all trying to relieve the tension and nobody cares... But yes. It was about 3 weeks ago, and I'm just now completely back on my feet. It started on a Saturday morning, I took my sorry self to urgent care at noon, spent 4 hours throwing up and going through every test and exam they could think of (No, it's not a pelvic or cervical infection, no it's not a urinary tract infection, no it's not an intestinal infection, NO I AM NOT PREGNANT!) - much to my irritation - until my dad showed up and was like, "'Kay, I'm taking her to the hospital now." Most agonizing 10 minute drive of my life. I felt every bump, every dip, every uneven surface in the road and each one sent new stabs of pain through my entire abdominal area. From my ribs to my pelvis. Agony.
We got to the ER (thankfully my doctor called them and they were expecting us) but I still had to sit in the waiting room (still vomiting!) for almost an hour before they got me into a bed. And then they wanted to get another blood and urine sample. Unfortunately for the ER staff, I'd been vomiting almost constantly for over 4 hours at that point and was so dehydrated that my veins had shrunk down onto my muscular tissue and wouldn't budge. I'm not sure how I managed to take another pregnancy test in the ER but apparently people are compulsive liars even when their parents aren't present and wouldn't believe me when I swore up and down that me being pregnant was a biological impossibility (I went to Catholic school - I'm pretty sure I get how babies happen and that's not something that's happened recently enough for me to be pregnant). Eventually, my mom showed up, gave me a rosary (I seriously thought I was dying) and bitched out the doctor who was ignoring me as I started hallucinating because they hadn't given me a painkiller yet, and then they gave me morphine and 2 liters of fluid via IV and then they were able to take 6 more vials of blood.
A few hours later (still in the ER and the morphine had worn off!) I got wheeled away for a CT scan which of course came back normal, but apparently my white blood cell count was skyrocketing which I guess tells medical people that it's clinical appendicitis, even if it's not visual. So at about 1am my parents left, I got wheeled to a hospital room, was dosed with an extremely heavy narcotic and told to get some sleep as I would be getting cut open in the morning.
Morning came around and I was transferred to a gurney (ow!) and wheeled to the OR where my parents were waiting with my anesthesiologist (that's a fun word to spell...) who looked kinda like a hippie-Jesus-doctor. He stuck me real quick with something, then put the magic sleepy stuff in my IV and told me to count backwards. I made it to 5 and was out. When I came to I had an itchy oxygen mask over my face which I promptly ripped off and was woozy, confused, and in pain. I finally got Mr. Anesthesia-Jesus to give me the nose-oxygen instead (not itchy). Unfortunately, the idiots who wheeled me back to my hospital room were NOT paying attention to the fact that there were bumps marking every doorway and hallway and my cries of pain went unheard until they none-too-gently pushed me off the gurney and back onto my bed. They were cursed a blue streak that had my day nurse running in to see what the hell they were doing to me. Thankfully, he understood (yes, *he*. I had cute guy-nurses, my one compensation in this hell.), sent them out with a scolding and pumped me full of painkillers.
The next 3 days were full of sleeping, painkillers, jello, boredom, gorgeous flowers from the people I babysit for, visits from my parents, and more painkillers. I finally got them to spring me out on day 4 of my imprisonment, spent the rest of that day and night at my parents' house, and then (stupidly?) drove myself home to hide in bed. Then K--- came to visit me and took me for a walk. It was days before I could go up and down my stairs without having to stop halfway up and make sure I hadn't started bleeding, and showering was bliss. (On my last day in the hospital I took a shower out of a bucket in my hospital bed. Shaving from a bucket is not pleasant, I do not recommend it.) It's been a while but earlier this week I finally went back to work and have been pretty much back to normal.
EXCUSE #2:
I've felt like shit. For other reasons I shan't go into here. Basically it's been migraines and cramps around my stitches and general weakness and irritability. Not conducive to blogging.
EXCUSE #3:
My laptop is on the fritz. I seriously think Penelope might be dying. Like, she has viruses and I'm not sure the anti-virus software I have is up to the task. So I've been using my laptop from work to check e-mail and stuff, but it's not the same. I mean, I spent a year collecting quotes and images from the internet, lists of blog topics and documents (not to mention my NOVEL) that are all saved on that laptop. On top of that, I don't have the cash flow to take her to a professional so I'm kinda freaking out about that. Yeah...
So those are my reasons, take it or leave it. But thankfully I've only got one appendix, and mine is in a jar somewhere, probably being experimented on. At least it's out of me, though I still have funny little phantom twinges and my internal organs are still a little shifty sometimes. The Great Appendix Episode of 2012 is passed, and I'm mostly back in action.
Did ya miss me?
