I went to the gym for the first time in two weeks yesterday.  My usual gym closed their Edison office, so I transfered my membership to another that was close to work (as if I’m going to drive all the way to Sayreville during my lunch hour … right).  Man, though, was I feeling it last night!  It was good to go again, though, and I aimed to go every day this week, except …

… apparently now I’m on the same level as those middle-aged folks in those commercials you see primarily during daytime television and news programs.  I think I may have had my first bout with indigestion!  Ugh.  Last night I made an awesome Thai-style peanut and coconut chicken noodle stir-fry thingy, ate it fast, and went to bed straight afterwards - big mistake.  I woke up at five this morning with the most intense abdominal pain ever and couldn’t get back to sleep to save my life.  And it hurt all day today, until I finally had enough and said to myself, “I’m going to the doctor’s.”  (Note to audience: sometimes I’m a bit of a drama queen.  I had myself convinced that I had an ulcer or food poisoning or both.  Stupid internet.)  Of course, my doctor’s office doesn’t open until four, so I changed tactics and grabbed some Alka-Seltzer from Target instead, and now I feel fabulous!  Plus, that Alka-Selzter stuff was lemon-lime flavored, and it was amazingly refreshing.  Nice.

That being said, I will go to the gym tomorrow.  And I will check out the tae kwon do place I found online the other day.  I had a blast doing tae kwon do in high school, and while I’ve neglected it the past … um … seven years  (holy crap!), I think getting back into it would do wonders for my physical, emotional, and mental health.  There is no better stress-reliever than punching and kicking stuff, trust me.  Especially if you’re good at it.

So! I am, like, way sick, I’ve decided. When Meg came over last night, my headache was still in full force despite being fully medicated, and my throat was wickedly sore. By the time my flatmate TJ got back from dinner at about nine, I was completely feverish and a bit woozy, so much so that the minute he walked in he said, “Are you drunk? Stoned? Are you on drugs?” I denied it, claiming illness, but I don’t think he believed me. He simply shook his head and went back to playing Party Poker, adding, “Man, I wish I felt the way you looked. Then I’d know I was fucked up.” Haha.

Per the proclaimed TMI post in Becca’s journal, I’m going to continue. Basically, you knew I was delirious when I decided, firmly, that I had mouth cancer. I spent over an hour looking up the symptoms online yesterday and this morning, and came to the conclusion that all of them fit me: heavy smoker (well, used to be), a couple of small sores on my bottom lip, a white patch on the inside of my cheek, a feeling of weakening of the gums, and so on. But you know what? I can blame the white patch in my cheek and the weird gum feeling on my grinding thing, which will be resolved this weekend, otherwise I’m popping over to Sports Authority and getting a bright red mouthguard. As for the lip thing, I think it’s just a cold sore. Now. Hmm. I’ve never gotten cold sores before. This is one thing for which I can most definitely blame Meg, I think. *winks*

Anyway, let’s hope that’s all it is! I’m going to pop to CVS on my lunch break for some Carmax; I have approximately six tubes of the stuff, I’m sure, but they’ve all decided to play hide ‘n seek with me this week.

On another note, Meg and I had a long talk yesterday afternoon as well, and we’ve cleared the hurdle. It was basically resolved by agreeing to disagree about the aforementioned issue, and refusing to allow such a thing, so long as we can, affect our relationship. I am very, very happy about that, and we ended up having a really nice evening together - well, save for me feeling like I was going to faint from time to time, but you know.

My jaw is killing me today, and it’s started to affect my left ear. I know why, too. Apparently it keeps Meg up at night. Yes, I’m a teeth-grinder. It’s come back to haunt me after a few years. Dentists call it bruxism, a disorder caused by stress or anxiety that causes people to bite or grind their teeth violently, usually while asleep (though I’ve noticed I do it a lot more often now, and am trying to make a conscious effort not to - do you think chewing gum would work?). Let me tell you, it’s killing me. And the sad thing is, I do have a mouthguard specifically made for this, but it’s down in VA, which doesn’t help me. I’ll have to be sure to get it this weekend.

What do I have to be stressed about? Work, of course, and life, and everything. Ugh. I’m exhausted just thinking about it all. I just want these certification exams to be over, I don’t want to go to Texas in July, I don’t consciously know how I feel about my mom getting remarried, my car sounds like it’s about to die, I still haven’t told my dad about me and my … persuasion, my room is never tidy because I don’t have enough places to put everything, and to top it off, Meg and I hit another wall last night. This one was a doozy. I don’t want to go into it, but let’s just say it was an ideological conflict from which I can’t actually see a resolution. We’re both extremely set in our beliefs.

Man, I feel awful. Bed is screaming my name, as is Tylenol for this goddamned head/ear/jaw-ache. I just want to crawl into a hole and not see anyone. Or maybe watch some cheesy romantic comedy.

After chatting with Christina about this, I’ve decided that I’m going to continue seeing my Turk, though I’m still a bit overwhelmed by his height. We do get along famously, and he’s got a great sense of humour; basically, I just have a good time with him, even if I’m not completely smitten yet. And Ness told me that I absolutely have to keep dating him until I catch a glimpse of the ‘Prince Albert’ that he claims he has. Haha. We shall see.

Due in part to my completion of Bill Bryson’s book Into the Woods, wherein the author details his encounters on the Appalachian Trail during the ’90s, I dragged Christina out near the border to West Virginia and we wandered up and down the trail for a few miles. I love hiking; it’s a very peaceful activity. I’m definitely going to try and go hiking whenever I get the chance on the weekends. Now all I need to do is quit smoking and all will be well in the world (I’m down to Marlboro Ultra-Lights, which is a start, right? And it’s good to know I’m not the only one having issues with that). I miss being fit. My ass still hurts a lot from the walk.

The hot chocolate in our office takes me back to my seventh grade French class trip to Nice. Wow. Pretty good for instant cocoa!