You Have Feet in Your Shoes

The snow's melting and it's officially "mud season" in Colorado. Mud season does have its advantages though: a crisp cool feeling in the air, the sound of rushing water from all directions, the start of hiking season, the start of bear season (maybe not such a plus), kayaking/rafting, being able to change out your snow tires, and the ability to turn off your heat and save money on utilities. I've gotten really into a lot of the trails in the area, and hope to climb a 14er before the season's out.

What amazes me are the sights to see on these trails. These sights are only visible after hiking for a good hour or two (or five). You can't drive there, you can't fly low enough to see everything, and there's no gondola to carry you up the steep parts. How many people have seen these trees? These rivers? These falls? This mountain from this angle with the backdrop of that sky? Maybe 1000, maybe 10,000? I'm lucky enough to be able to see and do these things at any point in my life.

As you can see from one of the shots, people have been hiking these trails for decades. I like looking at all the carvings on the Aspen trees. I like to see who loved who back in '89. Or who was here in '95. The aspens grow around all those carvings and freeze that moment in time for everyone in future years to see. (That aspen is a shout-out to you, Rosebach, by the way)

I can't imagine what it's going to be like to leave here... to drive away from my mountains for good. You don't get this stuff anywhere else. This is the goods.

O, and I got into the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine's post-bacc for the Fall 2006 term.

Holy shit

The title says it all. I am just about over my 36 hour experience with food poisoning. I'm pretty sure the culprit was a certain fast-food deli-meatish type of place that likes to advertise its low calorie subs by using a thin man that was once fat.

I've never been so violently ill in my entire life. My entire body still aches from the pulled muscles I used to eject the poisoned meat out of me. I showed up for work on Saturday night only to be sent home a couple hours later because I was blacking out and having mind-numbing stomach cramps.

Fortunately, Justin happened to get into town that night and took care of me for the entire 36 hours. (Thank god for amazing boyfriends) I don't remember much of the first night. I only know I wasn't sleeping because I was vomitting every 20 minutes. Everything was a blur and I'm sure I was hallucinating on more than one occasion. I finally kept down some solids about 24 hours later and began my slow road to recovery.

As of this morning, exactly 36 hours after the ordeal started, I'm getting ready to head into work for a double shift. I still can't stand for long periods of time without feeling faint and I have a lingering headache. When I breath too deep, my entire chest and neck screams in pain due to the exasperated muscles that have been working way too hard. I think they might fire me if I call out of work again though.

So, lesson learned... don't get food poisoning. (I vaguely remember saying to Justin that if childbirth was anything like this, I was never having his children)

Waiting

I hate waiting. I'm a very impatient person. I hate waiting in traffic, in lines at the bank/post office/anywhere, for phone calls, for answers, for it to snow, for the snow to melt, etc. And I especially hate it when what I'm waiting for is important and completely out of my control.

Currently, I am waiting for a specific graduate school to respond to my application I handed them a little over a week ago. It's the only school I've applied to thus far because it's my number one choice, and I'm also very lazy along with being impatient. If I had just applied earlier, I wouldn't be driving myself crazy right now trying to figure out my plans for the coming year. I'd know how long I'd be in Colorado over the summer, what kind of life I can expect for next year, where I'll be living, the status of my financial situation, etc.

I'm not expecting a positive answer from the institution that is mulling over my transcripts as I type this. Which makes all this waiting worse in hindsight. In which case, I'll apply to the next school on my list and go through the same agony I am now.