Stress, Excitement, Illnesses...And Dancing Monkeys

Thank you all for the nice, supportive responses you gave me from my last blog. They were so quick! I guess that just proves you like my blogs short, sweet, and straight to the point. Fair enough.

Right after I blogged that I got hired at this place, I went straight over to Burlington to put in my notice. I made the rounds to let people know so they could hear it straight from the horse's mouth before I actually handed in my goodbye slip. While I was up at the desk talking to Olga, our store manager walked by, looked at me, and snapped, "Don't you have something to do?"
Um...are the purse on my shoulder and the car keys in my hand absolutely no indication to you that I'm not working today? Before I could answer, she had walked away, so I made it a point to walk after her.
She turned around, looked me up and down, and said, "Oh, you're not here today?"
"No, I'm off." Yeah, bet you feel like a real ass now, don't you?
She started to walk away, but I caught her by handing her the piece of paper stating my last day of employment. She read it and simply said, "Ok," and walked away. I'm just another person walking out on that place, in addition to the 11 others the past month.

Even though I'm really thrilled about leaving, I'm a little stressed out because I know there will be a change in routine and my environment a week from now. I always get a little antsy when I'm switching jobs. I felt the same way when I went from Dollar General to Burlington. Even though it was still retail, it was a whole new setting.
On top of this stress, I'm sick. Oh, no, I can't enjoy the fact that I'm leaving Burlington and retail without something to drag me down. I'm not sure if what I have is a cold or allergies, but I can barely talk, I'm coughing up a storm, and my nose is itchy/runny/stuffy/etc., etc. I'm trying to make this blog halfway coherent because I'm hopped up on Benadryl (one tablet, and I'm out of it for two days). I slept a grand total of four hours on Thursday night, and last night I slept from midnight until 3:00, and I didn't fall back asleep until around 7:00. Do you realize how many weight loss infomercials I viewed while trying to get back to sleep? More than I cared to see. I even watched an episode of Dawson's Creek on TBS to bore myself to slumber. Didn't work. I'm hoping this subsides in a day or two.

In the meantime...only five working days left in hell! I can't wait until the end of my shift on Friday.

To Whom It May Concern

In case any of you happen to be concerned (maybe you're not, and that's okay too), I went through Fast Track at St. Vincent Hospital last night because the the left side/the back of my neck was hurting, and it was giving me a headache.¹ I didn't really think much of it until I told my mom when I talked to her on the phone, and she got kind of concerned. After looking it up in her medical book, she said I should make sure I don't have meningitis. Eek.
I went to the hospital, and I got checked out. Thankfully, it's not anything at all but a pulled muscle in my neck, so they gave me some Motrin [I can see it: "That'll be $25 for that tablet." Cha-ching!], and I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy and take it easy. It feels a little better today, but I can feel it lingering in the background.
They didn't really say anything about my cold/flu thing I have going on, so I guess I'm safe to assume it's just that. I just wish I were feeling better. I can't say I feel much better than I did on Friday. I'm barely going to make it through the night at work. Just one more night, and then I have two days off.

¹This is purely to satisfy all those who have been pressuring me to get checked out to make sure I don't have anything serious.

This Is Getting Old

I just got done posting last week about my bout with bad allergies. This is just a never-ending cycle for me right now. Just as I started feeling near 100%, I got kicked in the butt yet again.

Jon and I went on a double date with Tam and Matt Wednesday night to Outback, and then we saw Night At the Museum at the dollar theater. During the movie, my throat was starting to get a little dry, but I just pushed it aside, assuming it was just the air in the theater. However, yesterday morning, I woke up to a somewhat sore throat. It wasn't so much that my throat itself was sore, but the muscles in my neck and around my ears hurt whenever I swallowed. I knew it had to be because of my post nasal drip on account of my being sick last week.

I took some aspirin and went work, and I was feeling alright until around 1:00, and I just started going downhill. My head was beginning to hurt, and all my muscles were aching. I felt like I was getting a fever, and the problem with my throat was gradually getting worse. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it until my shift ended at 7:00, so I waited until my coworker, Sue, took her lunch, and then I left at around 3:00.

When I came home, I took some Benadryl in hopes that it would do something for me (usually that knocks me out cold). It didn't seem to be helping because I couldn't even sleep for the next five hours that I was lying down. My body just ached all over. It didn't help that I had gone to the Y the night before, so my chest, shoulders, and arms were sore already. I felt like I was getting a fever, but sometimes I have false alarms, but I decided to take my temperature anyway. It was a brisk 102.4. It makes it even worse that it was so warm out, so I was sweating like crazy. I'm still a little overheated today, as well.

I called in sick to work this morning because there was no way I was going to make it. I was hoping our store manager wouldn't be there because I didn't want to have to explain myself on the phone. My voice should have been enough indication that I needed to stay home. I barely squeaked out that I wasn't going to be into work. Thankfully, it was our third key, Becky, who I spoke with.
I'm just hoping that I'll be better by tomorrow because I can't call in sick at all during a holiday week or else I don't get paid for the holiday. Thankfully, I'll only have to work Saturday, and then I'll have Sunday off to give me an extra day of recovery. I'll just drug myself up with plenty of Tylenol (or aspirin) and possibly Benadryl.