LESS THAN A MONTH! HOLY CRAP! I just want to get married already! Shawn and I did Thanksgiving together this year. For the most part things turned out great! Shawn took pictures. More later.

D.A.R.E.

thirty eight days left
cute house! It's on the "tree streets" as they're apparently called. My aunt told me. Cedar Avenue. two seconds away from: the creamery, my work, subway, campus, a church, and the temple. This could get very dangerous. Or very helpful. Or both. We'll see!

up to four prescription medications now. Including a narcotic. Isn't that exciting? Remember that part when Meredith broke her pelvic bone and Creed started listing off all these drugs to see which one Meredith was on? Kinda feels like that. I'm talking about the Office, for those of you who aren't following. All this on a week with basically four mid terms. OH MY LIFE!! I missed work and school today, and it looks like I'll be doing the same tomorrow. This morning I woke up a few times gasping for breath, and having to really focus on regulating my breathing pattern. Sick, huh. Shawn was super sweet. He stayed home from school and work, too, made breakfast, lunch and dinner for me. Called the Health Center to see what we should do since it seemed I was getting worse instead of better (that's where the fourth prescribed medication, the narcotic, comes in, that's supposed to help me sleep), and basically catered to my every need. Is he a keeper or what?

Let's see if I'll be able to actually do any homework tomorrow. Today I was in such pain I couldn't even play my favorite VIDEO GAME. WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THAT?!?!

If anything, this whole experience has helped solidify my already solidified knowledge that Shawn is perfection itself for me, and I have made the best decision possible in the history of humans.

our house, in the middle of the street our house

We got the house we wanted! It's thirty seconds from where I work and forty seconds from campus. I know, right? And it has a washer and dryer and everything. The only thing I DON'T like about it is the sink is about the size of two small cups, but never mind. Good reason to stay on top of the dishes. The carpet is great. It's CHEAP. We live in a basement under a young family (two kids...apparently it's noisy between 5 and 7, hopefully not TOO noisy). We've got a backyard (I hope they clean up their stuff! YEEEESH!) which we can do some gardening in! Yay! So excited! That's such a huge load off! Here's Shawn's and my reaction when we found out:
I know. I'm ashamed of myself. I'll do better with a more decent picture next time, rather than a rip off pop icon one. Something like that. Anyway, at least that's ONE thing off my chest. Huzzah.

No Rachel, you don't get to know where we're moving to. Heh heh heh. Just kidding... maybe...

I'm freaking out man!!!!

So for the past several days, I've been becoming increasingly short of breath, and my chest has been feeling tight and painful. Finally, Shawn talked me into contacting the Health Center (which I did by E-mail. Of course.). They said I should make an appointment with the doctor. Bleh. I called finally, and they suggested I go right into urgent care, rather than wait for an appointment today. So I went in and started describing my symptoms, and right away the receptionist calls over a nurse, who starts firing different questions at me (does it hurt here? here? here? if you do this?). Most of the time the answer was no which seemed to relieve her. Anyway, I finally saw a doctor (thanks Janay for driving, and for you and Shawn being there!), who also asked loads of questions, checked my pulse among other things, did this breath force thing (is around 300 really low? he made me do it twice because it didn't seem too accurate to him), and decided to have me get chest x rays. After he said that my heart and lungs looked great (well that was the gist of it among all this medical jargon--yay), and had me step up and step down thing with a measuring thing on my finger, and said that was fine, too. Guess what his diagnosis was?




I have six months to live.



No, not really.



I probably have a mild and hopefully temporary form of anxiety. I know, right? I nearly puked in his face. So I'm on drowsy-causing (as a side effect) medication. I've taken two so far, but I've only felt fatigued, the breathing/heart difficulties are still there. Hopefully those'll scoot soon. Good times.

GOOD TIMES!!

And another example of people not thinking...

Girl, 13, gets detention for hugging two friends

Illinois middle school bans public displays of affection; parents urge change

MASCOUTAH, Ill. - Two hugs equals two days of detention for 13-year-old Megan Coulter.

The eighth-grader was punished for violating a school policy banning public displays of affection when she hugged two friends Friday.

“I feel it is crazy,” said Megan, who was to serve her second detention Tuesday after classes at Mascoutah Middle School.

“I was just giving them a hug goodbye for the weekend,” she said.

Megan’s mother, Melissa Coulter, said the embraces weren’t even real hugs — just an arm around the shoulder and slight squeeze.

“It’s hilarious to the point of ridicule,” Coulter said. “I’m still dumbfounded that she’s having to do this.”

District Superintendent Sam McGowen said that he thinks the penalty is fair and that administrators in the school east of St. Louis were following policy in the student handbook.

It states: “Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved.”

Parents urge change in policy
Coulter said she and her husband told their daughter to go ahead and serve her detentions
because the only other option was a day of suspension for each skipped detention.

“We don’t agree with it, but I certainly don’t want her to get in more trouble,” Coulter said.

The couple plan to attend the next school board meeting to ask board members to consider rewording the policy or be more specific in what is considered a display of affection.

“I’m just hoping the school board will open their eyes and just realize that maybe they shouldn’t be punishing us for hugs,” Megan said.

OH MY LIFE!

the search for housing continues.
46 more days. Might as well be 46 billion gazillion. That's what it FEELS LIKE.
The end.