I'm still alive

My health is steadily improving. My lungs are actually filling with real air!

My relationship with Thomas is still going strong and we are very, very much in love. We celebrated two months together the other day, and he brought me a balloon at work that reads "Thanks for a job well done!" He's a smart-ass.

Work is going well. My stats are slowly improving and my confidence in my knowledge is growing. I've found my informational niche and enjoy being the go-to person for my peers on a couple of topics. I also got to see some hard work pay off the other day when I made a specific caller my personal project for a portion of the day and resolved a complicated issue, getting a charity account back up and running. It felt good to get the account functional, and to solve the problem, and to have been the only one to solve the problem so far.

My trip to NYC was pretty good. I got to fulfill 3 of my 4 cuisine procurement objectives, and see about 75% of the people I hoped to see. I got very drunk and left my phone in a cab, but I have my replacement and I'll survive the loss. I hashed twice while I was there, and it feels like New Yorkers do it all wrong (how's THAT for an exchange of loyalties!) I'll post about that eventually in my Hash Blog.

Updates

Health:
I am finally over the worst of the plague. I had a 102.7 fever, chills, body aches, weakness, etc, and it was pretty scary. It's settled in my chest so I have a pretty gnarly sounding cough, but I am definitely on the upswing. The really good part is that, as a result of being sick,I finished reaching one of my big weight loss goals and I am now half the weight I was when I began my journey 4 years ago.

Love:
I am still head over heels in love with Thomas. He took really good care of me while I was sick, and as a result ended up catching the plague from me. He ended up with a fever over 105 degrees, and was delirious with hallucinations at one point. He really freaked me out. I mean, I was mostly scared for his safety, but I was certainly also concerned about the possibility of being stuck with a boyfriend whose brain cells were all cooked. I mean, it's not like I could leave him after he got that way taking care of me. I keed, I keed.

Money:
Still fretting hardcore about money. I'm supposed to meet with Michael today to do taxes, but he hasn't gotten back to me. I'm really afraid we will owe again this year, and I have no idea where we'll find that money. I'm frantically juggling my bills and keep discovering ones I've missed. My plane tickets for my trip on the 18th to visit my family are paid for, but just totaling some of the incidental expenses for the trip in my head is making my stomach hurt. I put in my application for West at Home, and am hoping to get a decent assignment where a handful of hours a week will mean a little extra breathing room. I'll have to get a land line installed in order to do it, so that's an expense... sigh.

Miscellaneous:
On a lighter note, my cat gave me a back massage the other day. No joke. He was doing that kneading thing that cats do, and he was a few inches away from the part of my back that was hurting from my shoulder injury. I gently scooched a bit so his kneading would line up with it, and he gave me a really nice massage for a full minute. I wish I could train him to do that on demand.