Today is the last class day of the semester. I have students doing presentations in my one class, and I still have a load of grading. (One set of exams, papers for another class, lab books).
I didn't get as much done yesterday afternoon as I hoped - midday, one of my teeth (one of the crowned ones) started to hurt. The pain carried with it the worry of "Oh crud, is the tooth inside the crown (it was just a big old filling that needed to be fixed, not a root canal) dying, and I will need a root canal or worse?"
Then the pain spread to the other teeth on that side and migrated up into my cheekbone. So: sinus, I guess. This morning the joint of my jaw (on both sides) is sore, like back before I had all the dental work and would chew gum obsessively when I was stressed and then got a sore jaw the next day. I don't THINK I have been clenching my jaw (and anyway, the nightguard is supposed to prevent that when I sleep). I also feel very congested now and woke up with a sore throat.
I'm not going to go to the doctor right away; apparently the new consensus is that many "sinus infections" are viral in nature (so you just wait them out) or even fungal in nature (so then you have to wait them out, sometimes for months). And even at that I understand that because the sinuses aren't well-perfused with blood or something, it's harder to get antibiotics to them, so antibiotics that might clear up, say, bacterial bronchitis in a jiffy don't always work so hot on a sinus infection.
Oh well. (This might just be bad allergies though; we've had more leaking in the building with the recent rain and it could be my body reacting to the soup of mold spores that's probably in the air).
I will say I'm relieved to find out it's sinus and not bad tooth.
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We're supposed to get enormous storms starting tonight and going through tomorrow. This displeases me: I need to do some grocery shopping and I don't like driving to Sherman in bad weather. So I guess I go with the Mart of Wal for another week, or at least until I can steal a little time during exam week to run to Sherman (I also need a couple things from the Ulta.)
(The enormous storms a-comin' may be linked to my sinus pain).
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This is a favorite "standard" of mine, and it's interesting to hear Willie Nelson do it.
I like Willie Nelson. I'm not a country fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I think he's a fine musician and he has an understanding and appreciation of a lot of different songs in a lot of styles - I also like his version of "Always on my Mind" and also "Hallelujah"
He doesn't have a beautiful singing voice, but you know, a number of greatly loved vocalists did not - Louis Armstrong did not, really, Billie Holiday did not. (Nor did Leonard Cohen). And yet, their understanding of the song and its emotions transcends singing "beauty"
Oh, he did another standard I love and also find kind of heartbreaking: "What'll I Do":
(If you're like me, you probably should not listen to that if you are not somewhere where you can quietly shed a few tears).
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My gift obligations for the next couple weeks are taken care of. (My sister in law's birthday on the 3rd, and then Mother's Day). I used my $20 "sorry we donked up your order so bad" credit from Isabella and ordered a "berry colander" (this is a hand-thrown pottery thing that looks like a mug, but is a colander for washing small quantities of fruits or veggies. I got one for my mom a while back and she loves it and says it's super useful). I also ordered some beeswax-impregnated muslin wraps for food for her - my sister-in-law is an organic chemist and she tends to like not to use plastics for things that touch food (and also, these are reusable).
For my mom, I got a butterfly puddler she can put in her garden. This supposedly will retain trace minerals from rainfall, and then butterflies can come and land on it and get the minerals. In the wild, butterflies will "puddle" on bare soil that is damp (or even on scat). I have also occasionally had them land on my arms when I'm out in the field; I think they want the minerals from the perspiration.
I still have to think of something for my mom's birthday but I have part of a gift already and can probably come up with something else.
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I dunno. Feeling rather poorly and tired and burned out today. Part of it could be the sinus crud but I think part of it is I've done virtually nothing this week BUT grade, and I still have grading to do. (I am cursing giving my students a few extra days to complete stuff, now - instead of having the grading all spread out, it's as a giant lump that I have to deal with all at once. I told people "Don't expect stuff to be graded as fast because I have so much" but I hate that feeling of grading hanging over my head.)
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At least Baby Ribbs and Baby Whirly Twirly are supposed to arrive in the mail today. (I ordered them from "Picky Pony Vintage" and one thing she does that is kind of special and I like - she includes sketches of the ponies you bought with the invoice. I have kept several of the ones from past ponies I've ordered from her. I hope she still does it...)
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