Anyway, I strongly recommend the Lighten Up! device to anyone who has to wake up in the dark in the winter and doesn’t like it, or anyone who is fascinated by the idea of sunrise simulator but doesn’t want to blow an absurd $90-$120 on a fancy alarm clock with a built in light.

1) They were giving them out in the lobby of the SSA Building which was designed by Mies van der Rohe. The lobby is one of the nicest spaces on campus, and it made me sad to come back to our horrible, cramped-feeling, overly flourescent offices. I have high hopes for the renovated Illinois Bell Building which we are supposedly moving to in January.

2) Google can now predict flu outbreaks better than the CDC! This is so cool.

Today I am feeling much better. One of my cheeks is pretty swollen and sore but other than that I am not in very much pain at all. No more nausea. I’m assuming my vomiting was a reaction to whatever anesthetic they used to put me under. Going to ask the doctors when I have a follow up on Friday so I can avoid it in the future. I wish they had warned me it was a possibility so I wouldn’t have immediately scarfed down that milkshake on the way home. I ate oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast with no problems and took some ibuprofen and penicillin. What I really feel like is potato chips but I don’t think I can handle those for awhile.

Thankfully for lunch of Thursday Maurie and I went to Tastee Diner and I got the works — hot chocolate, sausage, egg and cheese on a English muffin, and fries to share. Enough greasy food to satisfy me for the week I think. Unthankfully yesterday Maurie left to go hiking in North Carolina. I miss her already.

The feeling begins about twenty minutes after you take the pill: a mental tightening, as though someone had refined your scope of vision into a narrow and penetrating line. All peripheral distractions disappear (you would make a very poor hunter or soccer player). There is a slight fluttering of the heart, and gentle, persistent waves of warmth that are not distracting unless it is hot outside. This is how I experienced Adderall; some people have panic attacks and others feel nothing at all.

Any actual amount of time spent under the influence is hard to describe, because time passes very quickly. It’s a euphoric drug, but also an alienating one. If I took a pill with my morning coffee, it would wear off by early evening. All of my work for the coming week would be finished, and I could take an aspirin, shower, and go to bed. Having missed the transition from day to night as well as all three meals, my dreams would be hysterical, but I always woke the next day feeling chipper and accomplished.

By the time the nurse finished cleaning out all the pus, more had already started to form.

The neti pot is totally amazing although it takes concentration not to snort the saline solution up your nose by mistake.

Other health things also acquired recently: CVS brand instant hand sanitizer with shea beads, Vicks digital thermometer, Airshield Immune Boosting Formula, generic Nasal Decongestant Spray, Tobramycin antibiotic eyedrops

Sore throat
Raspy painful cough
Yellow mucus
Runny nose (when upright)
Clogged nose (when prone)
Bloody nose (after nap)

and last but not least
c-o-j-u-n-c-t-i-v-i-t-i-s spells pink eye!

Glycerin is base. As soon as I get home I am going to scrub my head with lemon juice or vinegar to get it out once and for all.

I still like Dr. Bronner’s as a soap, but I’m not so sure about those 18 uses…

I had my midterms last week. Did a bit better on Econ than I expected and a bit worse than I expected on Criminology. It is a pleasant surprise. I’m tempted to take more economics now when I get back to school. I’m already registered for Economics and Law. Urban Economics and The Welfare State in America look interesting. I guess this is that the point in every student’s undergraduate career that they especially start to regret taking certain classes rather than other ones. Why did I ever take American Popular Culture or Philosophy and Psychoanalysis? And I probably could have skipped out on Human Factors too.

To my amusement I got an letter in the mail from the Dean of the College at Brown informing me I have been placed on “Serious Warning.” I assume this has something to do with the fact that it took weeks and weeks for the Registrar to post grades for all but one of my classes. At first I was a little worried — could my transfer credits have gotten muddled? — but no, of course not. On the Registrar’s site itself I’m listed as in good academic standing. Maybe this will give me a bit of kick in the butt to do better next year though, or at least work harder.

I’ve started listening to music again. I figured out how to connect my computer to my mom’s amplifier in the living room. The speakers are a little fuzzy, but much better than the tinny ThinkPad ones. I’ve been listening to a lot of electronic dance music lately: Tussle (thanks McComas!), Simian Mobile Disco, Justice, and of course old favorites like the Knife and Madonna. All sweet chiptune music from Nullsleep and Bitshifter which is available free for download at 8bitpeoples.

I hula-hooped until I dripped sweat this morning.

At the recommendation of Maurie’s mother I have purchased Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Oil Magic Soap to remedy the coloy of acne that cropped up on my forehead since I have come home. I wonder if the other flavors are just as effective? Peppermint is all right but makes feel like I am lathering up with toothpaste.

What else? I purchased Final Fantasy VII this morning. And I’m not embarrassed to say it! A good video game is just what I need to fill up lonely hours, and it gives me an incentive to do my homework faster. Haven’t figured out how good it is yet, but as far as I know it’s as critically acclaimed as RPGs go.

I asked my grandfather what the point of his research is right now (on phase transitions, I think) and he told me that was a philosophical question. I asked him what was in it for the people who were funding him. Didn’t get a straight answer either. Did you know Physics used to be called Natural Philosophy? I’m not surprised. Maybe it’s not so surprising I ended up studying philosophy.