Hello there, little blog. It’s been far too long since I’ve written. For some reason, I’ve had complete writer’s block when it comes to this blog (blogger’s block?). Now summer is drawing to a close and the first whispers of fall are in the air.
The best way to push through writer’s block is to write, so here I am, and I figured I could break the metaphorical ice by writing a little update about the goings-on in my life over the last few weeks.
I Was Bitten By A Cat
My sweet kitty Darwin bit me on the hand repeatedly as I attempted to give him a shot. It wasn’t his fault – I had restrained him and he got scared, and he only bit me because he could not run away from me – but the injury left me unable to use my left hand up until a few days ago. I had to keep my hand in a splint, wrapped with an Ace bandage. I was taking antibiotics that give me terrible headaches and at times make me sick to my stomach. I missed work for nearly a week, spending my days recuperating on the couch.
I was bitten on a Saturday, and didn’t go to urgent care for treatment until Sunday. Please, don’t do this. If you are bitten by an animal and suffer actual puncture wounds, go get checked out right away. Animal bites are nasty things. Left untreated, they can develop dangerous infections. I received a tetanus shot and antibiotics, and even with all that, I still developed an infection in my bite wounds and had to be prescribed a second antibiotic to supplement what I was already taking. I also had to have X-rays – at times, a part of the animal’s tooth can be broken off when they bite, and if you have a tiny piece of tooth embedded in your wound, it will never heal. One of the doctors who treated me told me a scary story about a woman who was bitten on the hand by a cat, and developed a severe infection that required hospitalization. So, even though it might seem like a huge inconvenience to go to urgent care or the Emergency Room for what you think is just a minor wound, go anyway. I’m grateful that a couple of friends of mine urged me to seek medical treatment, because my situation could have been a LOT worse if I’d persisted in trying to tough it out on my own. Bite wounds are no joke.
Thankfully after a week I started to really feel better, and my hand is on the mend. I have had an absolutely wonderful week so far, which may be due in part to my get-well present to myself. Which leads me to my next bit of life news….
I Bought A New Car
Second only to my reputation of being a cat lady is my reputation for trading cars. What can I say? I spend a lot of time in my car, and a new one is always so much fun! This time, I feel that I really treated myself to an indulgence. My latest vehicle is a 2009 Infiniti G37x, a beautiful, sleek car with 330 horsepower and enough technology features that I still haven’t quite figured out what all the buttons do!

In short, this car is AWESOME. I love everything about it. It’s comfortable. It’s a blast to drive. Friends have told me that it suits me, and I quite agree. Yesterday I had a particularly frustrating afternoon, and was in a sour mood. But once I got into my car to head home, I found myself feeling more relaxed and happy.
I Started Fall Semester
Yes, college is back in session, so I am hitting the books. I doubled my course load this semester (doesn’t that sound WAY cooler than saying I’m taking two classes instead of one?), and I’m finding the increased amount of work challenging. I’m grateful for the opportunity to go to school and feel incredibly fortunate that my employer pays for my tuition. But it’s difficult trying to go to school while working full time. Sometimes I get very discouraged, because I am super busy trying to keep up with everything and yet I’m plodding along toward my degree at a snail’s pace. But I’m determined to keep going, even when I get depressed at how long this is taking. I keep reminding myself it’ll be worth it in the end.
So That’s Where I’ve Been…What’s Next?
September is going to be a very busy month for me. Paul’s parents are coming for a visit,  and Paul and my sister have birthdays this month. I’m heading to Vegas for my cousin’s 40th birthday, and I’ll be celebrating my ten-year work anniversary. I’m really excited for all the fun plans we have in the next few weeks!
 
 

Recently, a very close friend of mine was bullied at the gym. She was in a workout class, and the woman behind her insisted that she move aside because “you’re too tall and I can’t see over you”. And of course, having someone twice her age calling attention to her size really bothered my friend. When I found out about it, I was pissed off and could barely keep myself from marching over to that woman and telling her off. I didn’t find out until later that this had been going on for awhile, and it both enraged me and made me sad. When class started, I planted myself smack in the middle of the front row, my friend next to me. The woman urged us to move to the side, whispering over and over “Scoot down, scoot down!”
“No,” I said flatly. “We’re not ‘scooting down’.”
Why is this kind of thing still happening? I felt like I was back in middle school, being ordered to leave a certain lunch table because that was where all the popular girls sat (I was new to the school and had no clue where it was and was not acceptable to sit). I’ll never forget the shame I felt as the cool clique tried to force me to sit on the steps with the only girl less popular than I was, saying to me, “We think you should be friends with her, since nobody likes her either.” Thanks, you little twats. Scarred for life, I commenced eating lunch in the library every day until I made some friends and felt safe eating with the masses again. My only crime was being the new girl, but that single incident set me up for all sorts of teenage insecurities that I could have very well done without.
I was twelve when the lunch incident happened. At twelve, I was certainly not confident enough to tell an entire table of my peers to go fuck themselves. But I’m twenty-nine now, and I won’t put up with being bullied – and I won’t stand by when it happens to my friends, either.
Maybe I was wrong, but I seriously thought things had changed. I’ve seen all these Anti-Bullying campaigns and harsh penalties for kids that pick on their peers., and I thought that it was more or less socially unacceptable to be a jackhole to someone simply because they’re different than you. So I have no idea why the incident at the gym occurred, or how that woman felt that there was nothing wrong with bashing my friend for her height. I don’t understand every time one of my thin friends is told to skip the gym and eat a cheeseburger. I don’t understand why some anonymous person commented on my friend Kate’s blog and asked her whether she was too fat to write a fashion blog. I’m not saying I’m a saint and that I’m never critical of anyone, but I really try to refrain from making ANY judgments based on appearance. And that goes twofold at the gym, where people are coming to improve themselves. The last thing someone needs when they’re trying to make healthy changes is to feel like they’re unwelcome or judged when they go to the gym. I remember when I used to work out at Curves, and there was a woman who must have weighed at least 500 pounds. Every evening when I got to the gym, she was there, doing her workout. I remember how hard it was for her to settle herself at the machines, how she had to go much more slowly than the rest of us. But mostly I remember her because she was there, doing it. She was making an effort to be healthier. I don’t know what in her life caused her to be that heavy, but I do know that I had nothing but admiration for her because she was trying to change things. She could have easily gone and had weight-loss surgery, but she didn’t, she chose instead to go to the gym and do it on her own. She was amazing. If anyone had ever made fun of her or said something cruel to her, I would have been outraged.
To anyone who reads this, I hope nothing like this ever happens to you. I hope no one ever makes an unkind remark to you about your looks, at a gym or anywhere else. If it does happen at the gym, my advice would be to let the instructor know what’s going on. You deserve to be comfortable and to have a good time with your workout. And if it happens out on the street, I would say the best course of action would be to trip the asshole that said something mean to you. Just make sure it looks like an accident.