Greetings!

Hello! My name is Dan, and this is my blog.

"You must be new to this! You haven't posted in a month," You say.

Two things: 1) This is true; 2) I haven't been in the mood to post, 3) Fuck you; get off my back - QUEEN OF THE HARPIES!

"You said two things, that was three," You say.

Please, refer back to number 3. It's been a rough month.

"Why? What's so rough? You're a weak, weak man, Daniel," You say.

Don't call me Daniel. Are you my mother? Girlfriend? Alright. Take it easy then.

My month was spent doing the following: 1) Being sick, 2) feeling sick, 3) dealing with final exams, final papers, and final projects, 4) drinking/socializing (on occasion), 5) Working 20-30 hours per week.

You'd think with only 3 classes this semester that it would have been more manageable down the stretch. Well, I've learned there is a God, because s/he really fucked me over to make it even harder this time with a lighter course load. Another thing that made it so difficult - I hated all of my classes (This seems to be a pattern as I get closer to graduation).

About 3 weeks ago, I got tonsilitis. I missed 3 days of class, a day of work, and I was in bed for 3-4 days - something that hasn't happened to me since Junior High. I haven't seen a doctor, taken any prescription medication (that was prescribed for me) in college. I started getting better from the antibiotics I was on, and immediately thought I was healthy again and started drinking and going out and partying, etc. I'd say of the 10 days I was on antibiotics, I binge drank on, conservatively, 3-4 of those nights.

So I finished my antibiotics. I was healthy! Life was good. After about a week of feeling pretty good (but still not 100% for some reason), I thought I was coming down with a cold. Wow, lucky me, I keep getting sick - I've spread myself too thin and I'm not getting enough rest... Plus, I'm overdue for illnesses having had a pretty solid immune system until now.

Well, it wasn't a cold. It was a relapse of tonsilitis. More antibiotics, a throat culture, and I was back in bed - missing work (though, thankfully not class, because class had just ended) and staring a paper and two exams in the face without the energy to get out of bed, let alone focus, research, write, study. Well, the throat culture was negative, so either it was a bacterial infection, or... (drum roll please)... Mono. Yay! Mono BEFORE finals!

Somehow, I got through all of this, I wrote my paper (it was garbage), I took my exams (didn't do particularly well on either - the first was the hardest exam I've ever taken and the second, well, I just didn't give a damn). I never could have done it without the glory that is the overdiagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder and the over-prescription of stimulants to "treat" it. I love this society.

But you know what? Life is good. And you know why? Because it's all over - and the only things standing between me and my bed in Michigan is a week and a half of work, a bit of rest & relaxation, and an 11-hour drive across Massachusetts, Northern New York, and a section of Ontario (that's in Canada, folks). I am going to enjoy this.

Next on the agenda: find a job for next fall. Boston? DC? San Francisco? Anything out there for me? Hopefully I can score something sweet because of Ginger Affirmative Action. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Everyone have a wonderful winter vacation (if you get one), and a great New Year. Who knows if I'll be inspired to check back in before then - something tells me I'll have a bit of extra time on my hands these next few weeks.