And down and down we go!

Today was quite a rollercoaster. There were some highs, there were some lows, and there were even a couple screams. But the fact that I'm writing this is proof that I survived to blog another day. Man, I'm one tough cookie. ;)

This morning my alarm went off at 8 o'clock just like it always does, but I must have had a premonition that today was a day where I would be much safer in bed, because not only did I hit snooze, but I set an additional alarm in between the snoozes. That means that my alarm went off every three minutes right up until 8:30. That's a phenomenal feat of laziness for me, but somehow I managed to pull it off. After a full half hour of obnoxious alarm noises, I managed to get out of bed, but I was running terribly late and barely had time to throw some coolant in the car before I left. (I've decided to rename the car from Sissy to Posie. I think Posie fits her better because now when I'm angry I can call her POS for short. :P ) I missed the bus from the commuter lot but I managed to make it to work just in time. It was a beautiful morning though, so I decided to give the day the benefit of the doubt and I was in a decent mood as I settled in to my desk.

That's when the day really started to fall apart. My office computer refused to start up and I sheepishly had to bug our IT department for help. As the nicest IT person in the whole world coaxed my computer back into consciousness, my phone went off. I glanced at the caller id to see who was calling as I fumbled to quickly silence my very loud Stevie Ray Vaughn ring tone. It was my mom. And that was the first big drop of the day. My mom never calls me when I'm at work unless some thing's wrong. I abandoned the still in progress computer therapy session to call my mom back. She was sobbing when she answered the phone. Our 15ish year old dog had finally gotten too sick to go on, and my mom had made The Appointment. She was heartbroken. And while I was upset about the dog, I was devastated by the sound of my mom crying. Death is something I expect from life, and so it doesn't bother me as much as it does most people. But even now thinking about listening to my mom this morning makes me teary...ugh, moving on.

I returned to my desk and after another hour we had both the computer and the email system up and running. Fortunately, I was very productive for th next few hours and was starting to feel a little bit better about the day..for a little while. As the afternoon went on, the slight discomfort in my neck started to turn into an ache and that can mean only one thing: Migraine. Sure enough, by 3:30, I was in full migraine mode. I was cranky, nauseous and most of all, in pain.

At about 4:30, the sky outside my window got dark. Now, I know that I'm moving to a country that is known for it's horrendous monsoon season, but the truth of the matter is, thunderstorms terrify me. I manage to do alright at home, but if I'm out and about, I feel more like a 5 year old than a 25 year old. I took this as a sign that it was time to go. I asked my boss not to notice that I was sneaking out early and took off in the hopes of beating the rain. I didn't beat it. Instead it caught me, sans umbrella, on my way to the car.

So I rushed to the car, doing my best drowned kitten impression and headed towards the freeway. On my way there two things happened; the heat gauge on my car started speedily climbing (apparently, it's the only part of my car that still moves quickly) and I got stuck in awful traffic. So now I'm sitting in traffic with the the heat on full blast and the windows open despite the pouring rain, trying not to let my migraine get the best of me. I jumped off the highway at the next exit, hit up a gas station for a quick coolant refill and headed towards the only other exit out of town. No luck, that was backed up too.

At this point, my head is pounding, I'm soaking wet, my car is so hot I feel like I'm boiling myself, my car is still overheating and I'm back in the traffic jam I started out in. Fortunately, desperate prayers and coolant go a long way, and I finally made it out of traffic and safely home.

I decided that this was a good time for ice cream (my second serving of the day, but I needed the help) and a nap. The ice cream was expectedly delicious, but the nap just wasn't happening. My head just hurt too bad to sleep. Fortunately, my mom called again to say she was feeling better and to find out if I had any migraine meds left. Of course I didn't. I have a scrip for them, but they are crazy expensive, so I usually treat them like emergency miracles and only take them when I have a daytime appointment or work activity that can not be missed. Mom told me that she had some extra pills at the house that I could have, so I decided to splurge and take one, even though it was after hours. (For all you migraine sufferers out there, I highly recommend Amerge, it's amazing!)

The result: Several headache free productive hours. I managed to send all six of the social emails that were outstanding, get registered for my GRE, get my passport stuff in order, get some of my Nepal trip networking done, take care of my brother's bday gift, find a concert my dad would be interested in seeing before I leave, and write an incredibly long and maybe slightly boring blog post. But I'm proud of myself for making some use of this day despite all of my setbacks.

Phew, alright, I think that's it. I'm going to go get that well deserved good night's sleep now!