Maritzia’s Thoughts

Yes, I know the site disappeared for a couple of weeks.  I forgot to renew the domain, but it’s renewed now and back up and running.

For all of you guys that have been clicking on my link all this time to find no updates…wow…I didn’t think I had a following, much less a loyal one *laughs*.  Thanks for the support.  It makes me feel good to know people actually like what I have to say.

And now on to the update….

First of all, the new job has been very, very busy.  They are really utilizing all of my experience here, and that’s a good thing.  I feel like I am really having an impact on the organization, and it’s been a long, long time since I felt really good about my work.  In November, we had our big, annual fundraiser, which I spent hours and hours working on.  I feel really good about it because it was the most successful fundraiser in the history of the agency, and my work added to that.

November was also NaNoWriMo.  I threw caution to the wind and signed up this year.  The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days.  How did I do, you ask?

Yep, I wrote 52,548 words and finished my novel.  It’s about a man and woman who have a relationship almost entirely by mail.  It’s based loosely in my husband’s and my relationship, which started by e-mail.  I’m in the process now of researching, editing and rewriting.  I’m really proud of it, though.  Writing a book has long been a dream of mine, and I’m thrilled that I actually did it.  Much thanks to my darling husband and his family for all the encouragement and support!

In gaming news, we played a variety of games.  We went from Shards of Dalaya, to Anarchy On-line, to Eve On-line, to EQII.  We really enjoyed EQII, but after a while, it got boring.  Pretty much each tier of quests is the same, just with harder mobs.  So, now we’re back to EQ, playing on Test Server again.  I forgot how much I really enjoyed the people there.  The people really do make all the difference.  In about 3 months on EQII, the only time anyone talked to me was when they wanted something.  I didn’t really think we had made such an impact on the server community, but everyone seemed to remember us when we got back.  I had welcome backs from people I don’t ever remember meeting in game *laughs*.  So, for now, we’re back in EQ and having fun.

On the health front:  I just finished the Phase II trial on the Milnacipran for the fibromyalgia.  I knew I was doing really well, but I thought most of it was due to the increase in thyroid I had around the same time.  Well, in between the rollover from the Phase II to Phase III trials, we had to wash off the drug.  Man, it’s amazing how much of an effect it was having.  There were a lot of problems I hadn’t even noticed were improved, which I noticed strongly when they came back *laughs*.  I’m starting back on the drug today, with a two week ramp up on the dose to the first dosage level of 100 mg.  I am so looking forward to being back on the drug.  These last two weeks have been really, reallly hard.  So, all you folks with Fibromyalgia, keep an eye out for Milnacipran to get FDA approval.  If you are in Europe, I believe it is already available.  Don’t know about Canada yet.  But I do know that I have had a tremendous response to the drug.

Lots of other things to write about, but I’ve exhausted my little store of energy, and I really need to get some work done.  I’ll try and add more later.

Ohh…one last thing.  Mark has an interview Thursday morning with a First Nations group to do some teaching.  Say a prayer, cast a spell, think positive thoughts, whatever your religious philosophy allows.  Mark and I both appreciate it very much.

Wow…I’ve been really bad about updating, haven’t I?

Well…let’s see….where to start?

First and foremost, I got a job!  (and there was much rejoicing)  I got the job at the youth services place I talked about before.  You know…the job I really, really wanted?  *laughs*.  It’s a pay cut, but one I can live with because I really like the place.  I started a week ago, right after Labor Day, and I’m still getting my feet wet.  There’s a huge amount to learn, because this place just does so many different things.  Last week was a little slow getting started, but it’s beginning to pick up.  The Executive Director is feeling more comfortable throwing things at me, so I now have a number of things on my to do list, which is good, because I bitterly hate to be bored *laughs*.  The only bad thing is I don’t have much time for things like blog browsing like I used to!  So I apologize in advance to all of you who may feel neglected.  I’m still reading a number of your blogs, but I just don’t have that much time to reply like I did.

Second….a new game!  My husband and I have been looking around for a new game to play for a while.  It’s been well over a year since we left EQ, and finding a new game wasn’t that much of a priority for me while I was so sick.  I didn’t have enough energy to play for the most part.  But now that I’m feeling so much better and have so much more energy, I really want to play again.  So, I finally was really pitiful and my husband agreed to give up on the Sony hate enough to let me get EQII.  I’ve been playing the Trial of the Isle, which is a one week free trial of the newbie area.  I have to admit that I haven’t enjoyed a game so much in ages.  The quests are interesting and are backed up by the story line.  There’s a variety of things to do, including tradeskilling, which I love.  So, he’s out getting the game for me today if he can find it locally.  Otherwise, we’ll have to order it on-line.  We already have a DVD reader/writer on order.  It’s something we need anyway, so we decided to go ahead and get it since more and more software media is being released on DVD only.  The only problem is that Mark’s computer doesn’t run the game that well.  The lag causes the screen to be jumpy when he moves and it gives him a headache.  He’s working with the options to tune performance, but it’s obvious that upgrading his computer is going to have to be a priority when we get more money.  In the meantime, he’s still working on studying for his MCAD exams, so he doesn’t want to get heavily into a game right now anyway.  But I intend to get my enjoyment’s worth out of it!

In other news, I’m doing much, much better on the new treatments.  I don’t know if it’s the increased thyroid dose or the study medication (which judging by the side effects, I’ve got the medication and not the placebo), but I’m feeling tremendously better.  Much more energized.  My mood is incredibly improved.  My sex drive is even starting to kick back in a bit.  We’re walking 45 minutes to an hour on weeknights and going much further than we were before.  And on weekends, we’re doing a 3-4 mile walk, which isn’t nearly as exhausting as it used to be.  It takes us about two hours, and we then take the next day off of walking.  So, all in all, my life is definitely looking up!

Not a lot happening. The long weekend was good. I really needed the extra day off.

I got a little bored with Shards of Dalaya. Mark doesn’t really like to play, and without someone else to keep me company, I started losing interest. Mark is doing a free trial of Eve Online. I beta’d Eve and didn’t enjoy it that much. Was a little too impersonal for me. But Mark likes RTS games, so this is something that he enjoys. I think it’s the programmer in him. I’m currently playing a free account on Anarchy Online. I don’t know if I’ll upgrade to a paid account or not. The level of dudishness is quite high among most players. *shrugs* I’m really torn about what I want to play. With Vanguard out of the picture, I’m not sure which direction to go in. I won’t play another Sony game. Maybe D&D Online? I’ll probably keep playing AO for a little while. The thing about this game is that with the back story, there’s a huge potential for roleplaying. I just don’t know how to find that roleplay community.

In other news, I’m teaching myself to knit again. I’ve always been an avid crocheter, but I’ve been a bit bored with crocheting lately. So, I got a book this weekend and am teaching myself to knit again. I’m currently working on a ribknit scarf just for practice, until I get comfortable again. Then I might make an afghan for my sister. Or a scarf for my boss. He’s up for a job in Chicago, and if he gets it, I might make him a scarf and hat for a going away gift. God knows he’ll need it in Chicago. *shivers*

I’m of two minds about him going. I really want him to find a better place for himself than here. He’s not really appreciated here, and this place isn’t a challenge for him. The extreme they take things to in the area of community governance makes him crazy. He’s the kind of guy that likes decisions to be made and not to waffle forever because you want everyone to be happy. Sometimes, someone has to be the bad guy and make unpopular decisions. And no one here wants to be that person. And, of course, there’s the problem that this city is just *so* incredibly white. I mean, really really white. He’s black, his wife is cuban, and he’s afraid to have his kids grow up without sufficient rolemodels of color in their lives. So, if he gets this job in Chicago, I’m happy for him. But, it means real flux for me. I’ve had this happen before, when as an assistant you get a new boss. It can turn out to be good, but on the other hand, it can be a complete disaster. To have a successful boss/assistant relationship, you have to have a certain report, which I don’t have with many people. I’ve had a great one with Val, so I’m not looking forward to him leaving me.

In the health news, I had more bloodwork last week, and it looks like the numbers have stopped going up just on the low side of normal, so it’s likely I’ll get my PICC out next week (hooray!). I’m so tired of wearing that sleeve to take a shower and not being able to life things. I’m ready for this interval in my life to be over. And once I can say officially that the anemia is fixed, I can start annoying doctors about my thyroid dose. First thing I’ll do is see my doctor of record. I’ve been seeing the nurse practitioner, and she won’t even talk about increasing my thyroid dose. So I’ll see the doctor, and if she’s of the same mind, I’ll send letters out to all the doctors on my insurance taking new patients and see if I can find someone more compatible. My energy levels are still very low, and I have got to do something about it.

On the college front, I got my transfer report this week, and it looks like I’ll have all but 2 classes of my core curriculum covered, and I have more than enough classes to cover any and all electives. So pretty much all I’ll need to take are my major requirements. I’ll make an appointment with one of the advisors in the Psych Dept over the summer and talk about what exactly I’ll have to take and start planning classes. I figure for now I’ll take 1 class a semester. I don’t think I have the energy levels to do more than that and work too. But it’s a start! It’s a start.

He’ll decide when I can go back to work. On the one hand, I wouldn’t mind having a little extra time. My energy levels, while greatly improved, still have a ways to go. On the other hand, though, I’m out of leave time and have no guarantee of getting further donations of leave through the shared leave program. So obviously, I’ve been stressing myself out worrying about it *laughs*. I think I’ve put myself into a fibromyalgia flare, because I’ve been hurting all week, I’m not sleeping worth shit, and my IBS has been really mean to me this week. Well, I’ll see the doctor this morning and let him decide and leave the rest in the hands of the Gods.

In other news, Mark and I finally sat down with his mother and told her that she is really, really depressed, and that she had been for years, not just the last couple of months. She thinks that just because it’s only in the last month or two that she hasnt’ been able to cope that that is when the depression started *laughs*. But, we really got through to her. Mark and I both talked about our own experiences with depression and coping with abuse. Man, that woman’s life makes mine look like the Brady bunch. Being abandoned by her parents when they escaped from East Germany, left with an abusive grandmother, escaping East Germany herself just to have her parents send her back, escaping again after her brother was tortured to death by the KGB while she and her sister were listening to it, almost dieing of meningitis, marrying an alcoholic, paranoid, narcissitic,sociopathic schizophrenic, escaping from that with her 3 kids, then marrying a total narcissist that she waited on hand and foot who eventually left her for another woman. Let me tell you, if anyone has a right to be depressed it’s this woman. And we told her that. So she promised she’s going to talk to her doctor this week about meds. She wouldn’t promise anything about therapy, but I think once she’s on meds that work, she’ll be able to cope better with the thought of working out some of her issues. She’s really a sweetheart of a woman and deserves to let herself be happy.

Other than that, not much happening. Mark and I have been playing a lot of Shards of Dalaya and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. They haven’t trivialized the low end game like EQ, so it’s a lot of fun starting new characters. I’ve got a druid/warrior combo who are 22/19 respectively. If anyone joins, look for Marydale and Marybell.