Update on 101/1001 project

Days: 29/1001
Tasks Completed: 2/101
Tasks in progress: 8/101

In progress:
2. Read 100 books Finished book #3, American Wife, which is based on Laura Bush, former First Lady. It’s fiction, but depending how much is based on truth, I can’t believe she married W. I’m currently on book #4, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, which is really good.

27. Join Postcrossing.com and send 10 postcards I’ve joined Postcrossing, and Moo was having a sale on postcards (and mentioned Postcrossing in their newsletter), so I ordered some postcards.

28. Pay off all credit card debt Still working on paying the try to pay it off in 3 years amount on each of my cards. This one is going to take most of the challenge, if not all of it to accomplish unless I find a much better paying job.

29. Research and explore online/digital scrapbooking and decide which I want to pursue – and then make scrapbooks I imported wedding photos and started a Scrapblog account last night, haven’t had a chance to play with it yet.

52. Beat 5 video games I’ve been playing lots of Puzzle Quest. I think I’m up to level 25.

72. Watch every James Bond film I’ve watched 10 out of 22. Waiting to get to two of them in our Netflix queue since the older Bond films (at least) aren’t on streaming.

75. Participate in a worldwide cultural item exchange at www.worldswapping.com I made an account on worldswapping, but it looks like no one has been active on there for awhile. This goal may not be achievable and may need to be changed.

83. Save $10 for every task completed I’ve moved $10 for each of the 2 tasks I’ve completed over to my savings account, which right now is going towards saving up for a Mac mini and an iPad to replace my laptop since the Apple Care will be up for it around Halloween. Plus the mini makes more sense since I want to get more seriously into photography, and the iPad would be for traveling and times I would normally bring my laptop.

There was a discussion on the thread about this project on The Nest today how we should be completing one task every 10 days or so to stay caught up, and how most of us have some catching up to do! So here’s one I can knock out:

90. Make a list of cities I want to visit.

San Diego
Seattle
Portland
Chicago
Atlanta
Boston
New Orleans
Dublin
Sydney
Amsterdam
Berlin
Rome
Montreal
Vancouver

So now I’m at 3/101, which is a bit closer to where I should be almost 30 days in!

Number 92 of 101/1001!

1. Getting married
2. Meeting Kevin
3. Graduating with my master’s degree
4. Getting Gracie (my friendly,fat, calico kitty)
5. Moving back to Philadelphia from New Jersey
6. Meeting my best friend’s newborn son
7. Attending Society for Neuroscience meeting
8. Graduating with my dual bachelor’s degrees
9. Being accepted to Jefferson’s neuroscience Ph.D. program
10. Being a co-host on Girls Gone Geek
11. Podcamp Philadelphia
12. Our honeymoon
13. Our vacation to San Francisco last August
14. My brother getting married
15. Kevin proposing
16. Going to London
17. Going to Turkey (twice!)
18. Acting in a one-act as a freshmen in college
19. FIRST Robotics
20. Teaching science for the summer at a charter school
21. Graduating from GSGIS
22. Performing in my high school’s Ren Faire
23. Being on the German Battle of the Brains team
24. Junior Prom
25. After-prom senior year
26. The “surprise” 16th birthday party my friends threw me
27. Battle of the Books team captain in 5th grade
28. TAing AP chemistry
29. Getting my Powerbook G4
30. My best friend’s wedding
31. My 21st birthday celebration my roommates and friends threw me
32. College orientation
33. High school orientation
34. Assistant directing a one act senior year of high school
35. My first Valentine’s Day with Kevin
36. Pi Nu Epsilon in college (co-ed performing arts fraternity)
37. My brother and his then-fiance visiting me
38. My mom visiting me
39. Moving out of my parents’ house
40. My grandparents coming to my master’s graduation
41. Taking Chronoengineering I in college
42. Twestival for charity:water
43. Twestival for Concern
44. Entrepreneur Expo 2009
45. Barcamp Philadelphia 2008
46. Volunteering at the 2004 Virginia FIRST Robotics regional
47. Reconnecting with my cousin as an adult
48. Taking care of my cousin’s kids
49. Being called Aunt Melissa
50. Participating in the Geek is Chic podcastathon
51. Watching my younger cousin row in the Stotesbury Regatta
52. Meeting Liana Lehua IRL
53. My first Christmas with Kevin’s family
54. Spending time in Wildwood, NJ with my ex and his family
55. My best friend from high school’s wedding
56. The community and becoming a moderator on BYDLS.com
57. Attending a Gordon Research Conference
58. Shake Shack & karaoke tweetup in NYC in July 2008
59. Finding the Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Center
60. The bridal shower my friends threw me
61. Being accepted to my current laboratory
62. Attending an NSBRI conference as a first year grad student
63. Being interviewed/courted by the Hopkins circadian rhythms lab for a job
64. Being the photographer for the Virginia Orchid Society
65. Being chosen for the finals at the first Virginia FIRST Robotics regional
66. Winning the Driving Tomorrow’s Technology award at the second Virginia FIRST Robotics Regional
67. Attending FIRST Robotics National championships junior year of high school
68. Attending the premiere of Where the Wild Things Are to benefit the Rosenbach Museum (for free)
69. Getting accepted to GSGIS
70. Getting all As and Bs my first quarter of college when I was convinced I’d failed at least 1 class
71. Getting my first co-op job from a cold call
72. My family telling me that they are proud of me
73. Consolidating all of my student loans in my name, thus being completely separated from my parents financially
74. Attending FIRST Robotics National championships senior year of high school
75. Assistant stage managing a show with Kevin as stage manager
76. Acting in a one-act with Kevin as assistant director and stage manager
77. Falling in love
78. Seeing the original Mark and Roger in RENT for my birthday
79. Waking up next to the love of my life
80. Falling asleep next to the love of my life
81. Being told that I am loved
82. Being recognized for my skills, not because of my gender
83. Realizing I am more than my collection of illnesses
84. Having a doctor actually believe there is more than just stress wrong with me
85. Knowing that I have someone who will be there for me the rest of my life
86. Becoming a member of MENSA
87. Having a custom designed wedding band
88. Trusting someone completely
89. Meeting lovely people via Twitter
90. Meeting lovely people via Wedding Buzz/The Nest
91. Making the leap to an iPhone
92. Presenting my study design to a well-known collaborator
93. Having my grandmother alter my wedding dress
94. Trying on my wedding dress for my mom and my future mother-in-law
95. Spending time with someone for his/her birthday
96. Having my one grandfather give me away at my wedding
97. Dancing with my other grandfather at my wedding
98. Brain lab during medical neuroscience
99. Baking my first multilayer cake
100. Teaching science to 7th graders as a freshmen in college

This weekend was a very homebody weekend for us. Lots of movies, video games, and reading (on my part). We watched Taken on Saturday night, and (500) Days of Summer last night. Taken was a very well done action movie (Kevin loves this movie and had been trying to get me to watch it for awhile). (500) Days of Summer was our current Netflix DVD; it was cute, and not entirely what I expected, but I really liked it. It was romantic, but real.

We also finished Fairytale Fights, so 1 out of 5 video games beaten for my list. I also finished reading Evil Genes, so 2 books down, 98 more to go.

I think this week, around all the IRBs and reports I have to do at work, and the fibro doc appointment I have on Wednesday, I’m going to work on some of the list/writing goals on my list. It’ll be something to do while working overnight yet again on Wednesday night if nothing else.

I haven’t completed any of my 101/1001 goals, but I’m working on several of them!

For the read 100 books goal, I finished one book, and started on another. I finished reading The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British over the weekend. It was hilarious, very well-written, and enjoyable to read. I’m now reading Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother’s Boyfriend which is a little more pop culture neuroscience than I thought it would be, but the science seems sound enough. How quickly I finish depends on how much Kevin plays Borderlands over the weekend

For the pay off my credit card debt goal, that’s another one I’m working on. I’ve been paying the amount recommended to pay off each card in 3 years instead of the minimum, and I haven’t been charging anything except my compounding pharmacy prescriptions to my cards for several months. It sucks, but I’m slowly getting the balances down. Anyone know of a compounding pharmacy that takes insurance? That would help immensely.

For the beat 5 video games goal, Kevin and I have been playing Fairytale Fights on the Xbox our awesome friends got us as a wedding present. It’s not really that great of a game, but it’s such a fantastic stress reliever. Slashing demented fairytale characters and getting to skate in their blood is just so cathartic! I’ve also been playing Lego Indiana Jones mostly by myself, but with me working overnight every Wednesday night for the next 6 weeks or so, I don’t really have any just me gaming time (i.e. time when Kevin’s not home and I’m not sleeping). I haven’t played any of the other Lego video games, but I really like the Indiana Jones one. It’s fun and amusing.

For the watch every James Bond film goal, I’ve actually seen several before I started this project. Kevin and I watched On Her Majesty’s Secret Service last night (which was really cheesy and bad). I’ve seen Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, and Quantum of Solace. That’s 10 out of 22. I’m almost halfway there! We don’t have Thunderball or You Only Live Twice on DVD at home, so they’ve been added to our Netflix queue. I do have to say Sean Connery and Daniel Craig are my two favorite Bonds so far.

Hope everyone on the East Coast isn’t melting in the heat wave! Stay hydrated!

My 1001 days for my 101/1001 list started yesterday. I had worked overnight the night before, so it was a mostly lazy day of catching up on TV and sleeping. I’m the only tech in the lab today, and my PI and lab manager are in Europe for a conference, so I’ve been a little swamped so far today. Not my favorite way to start a holiday weekend, but whatever.

Some of the items on my list are going to take planning. #18 is See a Lunar Eclipse. So when’s the next one that’s visible here in the States? December 21, 2010! It’s now on my calendar, so I can make sure I’m up super-early to see it.

Also starting to look into all the various classes I want to take. That’s going to take a little bit of planning as well with my work schedule (and being able to afford fees and such). Plus I need to get my shiny DLSR camera before I can take a photography class. These will classes for ME that I’ve wanted to take, but never got around to it, but I’m going to now!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I’ve been ignoring this blog/website for over a year now…bad Melissa! What better thing to do while working an overnight shift at work than update your blog!

So let’s see…I’m getting married in 38 days. I’ve been on antibiotics for almost 6 months because I was diagnosed with chronic recurring Lyme disease last summer, probably caused by a mosquito bite, not a tick bite. With the help of my lovely friend Gloria Bell, we’ve put on three (!) Philadelphia Twestivals in the past year. I’m currently taking a hiatus from events around Philly until after the wedding. Mostly for my own sanity. I graduated with my Masters of Science in Neuroscience last May and was hired full-time in the lab in which I did my thesis work. In fact, my 1 year anniversary of being a full-time employee will be the day I get married

My life in a nutshell right now: work (including overnights almost every week now), taking lots of pills for Lyme/fibro/etc, wedding planning, and trying to stay sane.

As I’ve mentioned in passing several times, I have quite a list of chronic illnesses. At the end of my junior year of high school, I was bitten by a brown recluse spider, one of the only two types of poisonous to humans spiders. I had a hard, purple indentation on the outside of my upper left thigh; I thought nothing of it originally. I was a busy student, and it didn’t hurt. My bus driver saw it the next day, since I was wearing shorts, and she recognized it as a brown recluse bite. My mom took me to Patient First that evening, and the doctors there didn’t quite know what to do with me. I ended up with a tetanus shot, giant antibiotic pills, and instructions to call a plastic surgeon immediately the next day. The plastic surgeon the next day said the antibiotics were like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer, so I stopped taking those. I spent the summer going to the plastic surgeon to have the necrotic tissue scrapped out every few weeks. I have a small round scar on my leg, that occasionally hurts because of some slight nerve damage.

When I started back at school in that fall for my senior year, I started having digestive problems. I’m not a big fan of doctors, so I just kind of dealt with it for several years. By the end of my freshman year of college, I was down to 85 lbs, and couldn’t keep much food in me. So I finally went to a gastroenterologist, who told me I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), did some blood tests, and gave me a prescription for an anti-spasmotic for my intestines. About a year later, I was back up at college in Philadelphia, and was having horrid abdominal pains, and once again wasn’t able to eat much. I went to another gastro doc, who ran all of the invasive tests this time – abdominal and pelvic CT, endoscopy, and colonoscopy. She ended up diagnosing me with IBS again, and tried me on several different meds, each one just giving me nasty side effects. I got online, did some research, and started treating myself with peppermint oil capsules, soluble fiber supplements, and watching what I eat. I’ve still had flare ups, but I’ve pretty much been able to handle my digestive system ever since.

About six months later, I started having muscle pain in my shoulders and legs. I thought it was just because of my backpack and walking so far from my apartment every day. However, nothing I did made it go away, it just kept getting worse, and I was exhausted all the time. The message boards I was on for my IBS had several people who also have fibromyalgia, a frequently comorbid condition. They suggested I get checked out for fibro as well, as my symptoms sounded very similar and weren’t getting better. I went a rheumatologist who told me I couldn’t have fibro because I wasn’t depressed, which I knew was not a diagnostic criteria for fibro. Doing my own research online again, I found a fibro clinic just north of Philadelphia. I started seeing the doctor there the summer of 2005, and have been going there ever since. Even with all the blood tests other doctors had done, diseases had been missed. I was shortly diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic viral infections causing viral arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (autoimmune hypothyroidism), Addison’s disease (low functioning adrenal glands, probably autoimmune), and a serotonin deficiency. I take a large number of bioidentical hormones, vitamins, and prescription pills, as seen above. The above picture is 1 day’s worth of pills for me. I have my blood tested every 4 months, when I can afford it, to check my levels of hormones, etc to see if my pills need to be adjusted.

I wear a medic alert bracelet every day, I have a collapsible cane when I’m having a bad flare, various braces, and heating pads to help with the pain. I don’t take any pain meds, they don’t work. I occasionally end up having to take a day off of work because I’ve done too much and I literally can’t get out of bed. I have to get 8 hours of sleep as many nights as I can, or else I get ill and flare up. Unfortunately, this can limit how much I can do sometimes. I’m usually pretty bad at saying no, and love doing as much as I can. Blogging, podcasting, and freelance voice work are all very illness-friendly tasks for me, which helps immensely.

The ligament in my left wrist is still torn (from being mugged at the end of September, and then exacerbated by me twisting caps on tubes at work a few weeks ago); this means that I’ve got a fairly heavy brace on my wrist/hand. And that I can’t really use my left arm/hand effectively. I can’t wash dishes, or really clean my apartment. Typing much on the computer just hurts (thus the purchase of MacSpeech Dictate recently). I’m a VERY independent person, so this almost two months of limited use of one of my limbs is very frustrating. My boyfriend has been wonderful about doing what he can in terms of housework, like dishes and cleaning the cats’ litterbox, so I don’t screw up my wrist again. However, I’m so used to being able to do cleaning around the house myself, and keeping our apartment clean myself, and I haven’t been able to.

Nothing I can do about it, just need to give my wrist time to heal. I managed to tear my ligament even worse when I messed it up at work, so I need to just keep it in a brace and give it time to heal, and occasionally use my heating pad on it. I’m not the most patient person, especially when it comes to myself. I guess for now I just have to live with being useless around the house for at least a few more weeks. Doesn’t mean I’m happy about it!

Change is stressful; uncertainty is stressful. I’m a planner; I write to-do lists constantly, I’m usually pretty uncomfortable if things are in flux and not figured out (though I’m getting better about that). I can be spontaneous, and I enjoy change and surprises; I just tend to plan more so than just act.

Which means my mind has been going crazy the past few months since my future has been up in the air. I’ve gone from planning to be in school for a few more years to graduating in May, being done with my thesis by March. I’m severely limited in what physically I can accomplish due to a torn ligament in my wrist. I’m limited financially by unexpected medical expenses due to crappy student insurance and getting unfortunately screwed over by a family member. Life as I planned it is no longer feasible.

And I’m trying not to plan it back out. Because so much is still up in the air right now. So I want to ask you, those who read this humble blog, what do you do to stay sane in times of change?

Right now, I’m being a bit more spontaneous, remembering to breath, reaching out to people I love and care about, and constantly reminding myself it’s ok to not know. And still writing to-do lists constantly. Any further suggestions? Greatly appreciated in advance.

I’m having one of those periods of time in my life where a lot of things aren’t going as planned for awhile, and I’m having to rethink almost my entire life plan, and it’s hard not to just keep spiraling deeper and deeper down. Occasionally there are things that knock me back up the spiral a bit, like BarCamp this past weekend, but then something else happens to knock me back down.

So I’m working on trying to at least stop the spiral before I hit bottom. Hopefully I can even spiral back up a little bit, but right now I’m working on things at least not getting any worse. I need a second job; a big part of the spiral right now is unexpected bills and expenses that are draining me financially and therefore also draining me mentally and emotionally. The entrepreneurial spirit of many of my BarCamp Philly friends is infectious; I’m working on looking for a job or clients to start freelancing. I’m going to start searching a bunch of sites for projects or potential clients, and update either a page here on my blog or on my other site, melissathiessen.com, as a portfolio/resume type thing.

I can do this. I can stop my life from spiraling down further. And then work on pulling myself back up.

P.S. I missed yesterday’s entry for NanoBloPoMo due to working on a departmental presentation today. This is entry 1 of 2 today to make up for that.