I'll be MIA for a while

Finals loom! Christmas looms! I love you all but won't be able to keep up for the next few weeks... not that I've been able to for a while now. The good thing is I'm not going to be pulling all-nighters this quarter the way I did in Spring because I've gotten better about keeping up with my schoolwork along the way. That and the final project for my router class is a) not as intense as the Spring course's was and b) I have two functioning lab partners and not the flake I had last time.

Also, my muse struck on the Christmas card but I have yet to start it. It will be a New Years card this year! Maybe.. We'll see. My idea is pretty simple so there's a chance I'll be able to mail them in time. I'll be posting it here but if you want a paper copy and weren't on my list last year, please email your address to me at sugarplumkitty @ yahoo.com.

I had a wonderful conversation with Jonathan and his girlfriend Hannah last week. He wanted me to "meet" her! Later he asked how I liked her. Isn't he sweet to want her to meet me? We were goofy on the phone for about an hour. She's exactly the kind of girl I'd like him to be involved with. I wouldn't be surprised if this lasts a long, long time.

Yesterday I had a surprise call from ninjafeline all the way from Scotland! We both laughed because we both sound like we're 12 years old on the phone. Young spirits! I hope that didn't cost you too much, sweetie! I love talking to you.

I was home because my lab partners and I were going to meet at school during the day, so I took the day off from work. Unfortunately, one of them got the flu and I lost the other's phone number. I found him in the lab when I went in about 6PM. At first I was upset about losing a day's pay for nothing, but the phone call from ninjafeline and the fact that I had time to finish all the online modules for my router course made it worthwhile. I've got one stuck "assessment" that I'd started and hadn't got back to in time that I still need to take before I take the skills assessment that covers everything. Then it's the practice final and the final final. We'll have a hands-on lab final to complete. I'll do that after I finish the last two labs. Almost done with the second-to-last. I'll be finished in plenty of time! :)

My neighbor is driving me crazy. He's apparently heating his house with his fireplace. His chimney lines up with the front of our house and he's upwind of us most of the time. Our windows are 60 years old. Any seals they had are long gone, so our living room is constantly full of smoke. I'm so allergic to smoke that we don't use our own fireplace. It triggers my asthma big time. Yesterday I picked up window sealing strips that we'll put on this weekend. In the meantime, I also picked up an industrial strength air filter mask to wear at home. Eric says I look pretty funny in it, but it works! My eyes still burn and I wake up with them swollen and red, but my sinuses and lungs don't burn as much.

I used to love winter because there were no pollens to trigger my allergies. Now I hate cold weather because I know I'll be struggling to breathe when I'm at home. Now before you ask, I'll tell you I haven't said anything to him about it. He's a good neighbor and I don't want to poison that by trying to tell him what to do in his own home. I've had enough people turn on me when I asked them to please not wear perfume to work that triggered me. They were offended enough to pour it on thicker even after I showed them the bloody tissues their perfume was causing. I've learned to avoid those situations if possible and deal the best I can if it isn't.

Well, late to work again. Guess I'm going unshowered.

Later my dears!