The Vog and Other Nasty Things

So, not to give the impression that things have been bad and only bad, here is the good stuff: I have finished my first year of grad school; Michael has finished his first year of college. I'm pretty sure we both got straight A's. We are accomplished, and more plans for the future are in the works. I think what I want to do this summer is "bust my ass" so that I can be all ready to go with proposing my thesis and data gathering, etc. come this fall semester. It is a very exciting idea. I'm already going on my next stage of research and I'm learning really cool things all the time. Michael has decided to get an Asian Studies Certificate while he finishes his Associates. Some of these credits (though not all of them) will transfer on to UH for his Bachelors, which looks more and more like it's gonna be in History.

He'll be auditing an extra Chinese language class this fall so that he's comfortable moving on with that course of language study (for a BA in History, he'll need two languages) (other than English) and I'll be sitting in on a World Religions class this fall so that I can learn cool stuff that I want to learn. The professor said I'm welcome to sit in as long as I agree not to do any of the work, or if I do do the work, I must agree not to turn it in to him. I thought, I can do that. Learning with no strings attached. Yee-haw.

The worms are doing well. They seem to be multiplying, and they like our food leavin's. I can already see huge chunks of compost in the midst of our bin. In a couple months, we'll be jake for growing stuff out on our lanai. Also, G.P.E.C.W.A.O.S.H. has made a new film. It didn't go over real well in the screening, but even still I think it's a huge step up in our movie-making abilities, and I'm very proud of it. And fun stuff for me, barbecue on the beach, twice, with Melodi and her family. Those guys are awesome. When my family comes up, we are totally having barbecue on the beach.

In less-than-stellar news, Michael got sick about a week ago. A couple days into sicknessing, "The Vog" came pouring into Oahu.



Yup, that's not a great picture, but it is a picture of 4:00pm sun that you can stare directly into because of all the stuff in the air. That's stuff in the air is the vog. For those of you that don't know, vog is a fog-looking layer of air pollution caused by volcanic eruptions. As one doctor said in the Star Bulletin, it's like breathing in bleach. It's usually okay for people with no respiratory problems, but if you have asthma or emphysema or a bad cold, further complications may arise. Michael's bad cold turned worse, then he got an ear infection, and then, yesterday morning, his eardrum ruptured.

The good news (less-bad news) is that he had already started a round of antibiotics by the time his eardrum ruptured, and the doctor seemed to think that was a good thing. He was also of the opinion that Michael's eardrum troubles are not that bad, and most importantly, not permanent. He says it will probably heal in about three weeks, provided Michael doesn't go swimming, or pilot any aircraft. Michael tends not to do either of those things, so we're hopeful that it'll be okay. In the meanwhile, he's not feeling very well and brain matter is leaking out of his ear.

My foot's been on the fritz again for about a month and a half now. It never got too bad, because the beginning of pain coincided with finals, and I had decided it was a really, really bad time for my foot to get bad. So I used my cane, I took anti-inflammatories, I kept my foot propped up as much as possible. It didn't get bad. But, I didn't have a chance to stay off of it for a couple days at a stretch until this week, so it never got any better either. This week, I was off of it for three days. The following day, Michael and I went up to the campus clinic, we went grocery shopping. Everything was fine until halfway through grocery shopping, at which time my foot promptly went kaput.

It's ouchy. Bad ouchy. Michael's eardrum ruptured the next morning, so we went back to the clinic. Since we were there anyway, I asked if they had a recurring-foot-injury doctor on staff. They hooked me up with a sports medicine physician who was very sympathetic to my plight. She gave me a very thorough foot checkup. She thinks I have synovitis, which is when fluids build up in and around joints, and particularly as a result of trauma (like marathon training). She has referred me to physical therapy, starting next week. She said, "Hopefully we can get you running again soon." Like she believed I would run again. I dare not hope it. I'd settle for walking without a cane, even after having carried heavy things.

So, the moral of this story is that campus clinics are cool. And also, Michael and I make quite a pair right now. When it rains, it pours, and then the vog comes and then you hurt your foot and rupture your eardrum. But now's as good a time as any for this to be ongoing, and a better time than most. So, all in all, things are fine. Bit of a slump, but a well-timed slump. Booyah.