(no subject)
I think it's been months since I last wrote anything in my LJ. I keep meaning to, but then I get lazy, or tired, and I decide to do something else instead. And ever since my fanfic reading has moved away from LJ to AO3, I've been hanging out more and more there than I do here which doesn't help things.
Anyway, a quick update. Right now I'm constantly tired. I always feel like I'm in need of a nap. Most of it is due to the fact that there are way too many things to watch right now -- the World Cup, Wimbledon, summer cable TV has started up and it seems like the big network channels have followed suit (somewhat) in the last few years giving us short summer series too... And add on to it, I've started watching Pokemon from the very first episode, in order. They have all of the episodes online to stream so it makes it easy. I think I got through almost 200 of the episodes before the World Cup started. I'll be going back once it's over but damn, there are a lot of Pokemon episodes out there! I remember watching up through the Orange League back when I was a teenager, which apparently is just a drop in the ocean...
What it has done is make me really into Pokemon. God, they're so freaking cute. I want plushies of all of them, but especially some of my favorite ones (Charmander, Pikachu, Slowpoke, Psyduck) and they can get so tiny and adorable that I want to spend all my money on importing them from Japan...
And it makes me want to play the games again... I stopped playing after the Black/White 2 series simply because XY was on the 3DS and I still only have a DS Lite... But now I want to buy myself a 3DS and Pokemon X (although I kinda want Y too...), and that's sorta insane, right? I didn't even get that far in White 2, mostly because most of my gaming now is done on either my phone (Android) or on the iPad, which seems easier? My DS Lite certainly has gotten much less love the last year or two than it has in any other time since I got it... :\ But still, I'm tempted.
Another thing that's been happening lately is that for the first time in a few years, my allergies went into overdrive. It was insane. I was sneezing all the time, and despite being stuffed up, I was blowing my nose constantly because of how much mucus was in my nose. It was super gross. At times, it felt like I couldn't breath, or rather, it was hard to draw a deep breath. I had that happen before but it usually didn't last as long or was as bad as it was this year. And it was affecting my sleep, so that also made me super tired. I kept waking up from it, which was not fun. And once awake, it was hard to fall back asleep with the brightness of the morning sun on me. The sun comes up so freaking early this time of year (before 5 AM even!) and while I never used to have a problem falling asleep with light, now I'm not so great with it. Or maybe I just dealt with bad sleep better when I was younger. I don't know, I just know that I sleep a bit better when it's completely dark.
Anyway, I turned to a nasal rinse to ease my suffering, which was something I never thought I would do. It's like the neti pot, except instead of using that, I use a squeeze bottle full of saline that uses a bit of pressure to get up into my sinuses and out the other nostril... It's a bit like trying to drown yourself. At first, I wasn't really leaning forward enough and it kept coming out of my mouth so that wasn't fun. It's salty and when it goes out your mouth, it also is going down your throat and I have a sensitive stomach and a super strong gag reflex. Suffice to say, it made me throw up a bit in the beginning. But I kept up with it and eventually, I got to a point where I could do it pretty easy. The trick really is to lean forward as much as you can, while tilting your head as much as you can. That keeps the saline from flowing anywhere but where it's supposed to go. For some reason though, it's a lot easier when I do my right nostril and harder from my left. I have no idea why that is though... It did seem to work. I wasn't able to stop taking my antihistamines, but I was less drippy, which is really nice.
Fast forward to this week and I finally feel like I'm to a normal allergy season. My symptoms are still there but it's not as bad as it was and is about as bad as it normally is in the past few years.
And to deal with the sleep issue, I bought myself a sleeping mask. I've become one of those people who sleep with a mask on. I never thought I could and that first couple of nights was a bit rough (I don't think I ever went into REM sleep because I felt half awake the entire time I was "sleeping") but I started to get used to it around the beginning of the second week. Now, it doesn't bother me. I can fall asleep with it and I can mostly stay asleep with it on the entire time. Sometimes I wake up in the morning before I'm supposed to be awake and I tug it off, but that happens far less frequently than it did in the beginning. I was a bit surprised at how it generally stays on my head all night unless I pull it off myself. I suppose I always thought it would fall off while I move in the middle of the night but then again, I've never been much of a mover while I slept... When it comes to sleep, I'm an extremely light sleeper (unless I'm absolutely exhausted), a rather still one, and I tend to wake up in the middle of the night regardless of allergies (although allergies makes it much worse). I suppose my light sleeping has something to do with that too... But at least the mask seems to help with that... The only problem thus far seems to be the fact that it's harder to wake up with it on. I don't know how much that is to do with the fact that I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, but on the odd days that I do, I still end up having that problem... And it takes me a bit longer to fully wake up in the mornings. I feel like a zombie much longer than I generally do...
Right now I'm watching Nishikori Kei play Bolelli. It's a replay since I didn't get to see it live. Play had still been suspended due to rain when I went to sleep and I really didn't want to stay up watching Nadal play whomever he played (he had been down but then started to steamroll over his opponent when I finally went to sleep) until play resumed on the outer courts again. If it had resumed because at that point, I had no idea if they would get any more play on the courts. Plus, the soccer match between Brazil and Chile had been in a few hours and I wanted to at least get some sleep before that match. In the end, I watched Brazil luckily win with penalty kicks against a pretty good Chile team and I'm once again, sleep deprived.
This Nishikori match though, it's a bit worrying. I'm at the point where Bolelli is leading 5-4 in the fourth set, two sets to one, and after losing Li Na a few days ago, I really want the last Asian player I'm rooting for to make it but damn Bolelli's service games are so freaking good. For a lucky loser, he's playing really well! And to make matters worse for me, I find out that Serena has been upset to. :\ That freaking sucks. It's like everyone I'm supporting are dropping like flies in the 3rd round. Or even earlier like with Sloane Stephens... I can only hope I have better luck with the US Men's National Team but I'm not sure how far they can make it... I think they can beat Belgium but really, who knows with these things? I mean Brazil almost lost today, and there are people biting other people. Soccer is super unpredictable...
Okay, I'm going to try and toughen out the rest of this match and then I'm gonna take that nap that I've been putting off. I can only hope I don't fall asleep while watching it...
Anyway, a quick update. Right now I'm constantly tired. I always feel like I'm in need of a nap. Most of it is due to the fact that there are way too many things to watch right now -- the World Cup, Wimbledon, summer cable TV has started up and it seems like the big network channels have followed suit (somewhat) in the last few years giving us short summer series too... And add on to it, I've started watching Pokemon from the very first episode, in order. They have all of the episodes online to stream so it makes it easy. I think I got through almost 200 of the episodes before the World Cup started. I'll be going back once it's over but damn, there are a lot of Pokemon episodes out there! I remember watching up through the Orange League back when I was a teenager, which apparently is just a drop in the ocean...
What it has done is make me really into Pokemon. God, they're so freaking cute. I want plushies of all of them, but especially some of my favorite ones (Charmander, Pikachu, Slowpoke, Psyduck) and they can get so tiny and adorable that I want to spend all my money on importing them from Japan...
And it makes me want to play the games again... I stopped playing after the Black/White 2 series simply because XY was on the 3DS and I still only have a DS Lite... But now I want to buy myself a 3DS and Pokemon X (although I kinda want Y too...), and that's sorta insane, right? I didn't even get that far in White 2, mostly because most of my gaming now is done on either my phone (Android) or on the iPad, which seems easier? My DS Lite certainly has gotten much less love the last year or two than it has in any other time since I got it... :\ But still, I'm tempted.
Another thing that's been happening lately is that for the first time in a few years, my allergies went into overdrive. It was insane. I was sneezing all the time, and despite being stuffed up, I was blowing my nose constantly because of how much mucus was in my nose. It was super gross. At times, it felt like I couldn't breath, or rather, it was hard to draw a deep breath. I had that happen before but it usually didn't last as long or was as bad as it was this year. And it was affecting my sleep, so that also made me super tired. I kept waking up from it, which was not fun. And once awake, it was hard to fall back asleep with the brightness of the morning sun on me. The sun comes up so freaking early this time of year (before 5 AM even!) and while I never used to have a problem falling asleep with light, now I'm not so great with it. Or maybe I just dealt with bad sleep better when I was younger. I don't know, I just know that I sleep a bit better when it's completely dark.
Anyway, I turned to a nasal rinse to ease my suffering, which was something I never thought I would do. It's like the neti pot, except instead of using that, I use a squeeze bottle full of saline that uses a bit of pressure to get up into my sinuses and out the other nostril... It's a bit like trying to drown yourself. At first, I wasn't really leaning forward enough and it kept coming out of my mouth so that wasn't fun. It's salty and when it goes out your mouth, it also is going down your throat and I have a sensitive stomach and a super strong gag reflex. Suffice to say, it made me throw up a bit in the beginning. But I kept up with it and eventually, I got to a point where I could do it pretty easy. The trick really is to lean forward as much as you can, while tilting your head as much as you can. That keeps the saline from flowing anywhere but where it's supposed to go. For some reason though, it's a lot easier when I do my right nostril and harder from my left. I have no idea why that is though... It did seem to work. I wasn't able to stop taking my antihistamines, but I was less drippy, which is really nice.
Fast forward to this week and I finally feel like I'm to a normal allergy season. My symptoms are still there but it's not as bad as it was and is about as bad as it normally is in the past few years.
And to deal with the sleep issue, I bought myself a sleeping mask. I've become one of those people who sleep with a mask on. I never thought I could and that first couple of nights was a bit rough (I don't think I ever went into REM sleep because I felt half awake the entire time I was "sleeping") but I started to get used to it around the beginning of the second week. Now, it doesn't bother me. I can fall asleep with it and I can mostly stay asleep with it on the entire time. Sometimes I wake up in the morning before I'm supposed to be awake and I tug it off, but that happens far less frequently than it did in the beginning. I was a bit surprised at how it generally stays on my head all night unless I pull it off myself. I suppose I always thought it would fall off while I move in the middle of the night but then again, I've never been much of a mover while I slept... When it comes to sleep, I'm an extremely light sleeper (unless I'm absolutely exhausted), a rather still one, and I tend to wake up in the middle of the night regardless of allergies (although allergies makes it much worse). I suppose my light sleeping has something to do with that too... But at least the mask seems to help with that... The only problem thus far seems to be the fact that it's harder to wake up with it on. I don't know how much that is to do with the fact that I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, but on the odd days that I do, I still end up having that problem... And it takes me a bit longer to fully wake up in the mornings. I feel like a zombie much longer than I generally do...
Right now I'm watching Nishikori Kei play Bolelli. It's a replay since I didn't get to see it live. Play had still been suspended due to rain when I went to sleep and I really didn't want to stay up watching Nadal play whomever he played (he had been down but then started to steamroll over his opponent when I finally went to sleep) until play resumed on the outer courts again. If it had resumed because at that point, I had no idea if they would get any more play on the courts. Plus, the soccer match between Brazil and Chile had been in a few hours and I wanted to at least get some sleep before that match. In the end, I watched Brazil luckily win with penalty kicks against a pretty good Chile team and I'm once again, sleep deprived.
This Nishikori match though, it's a bit worrying. I'm at the point where Bolelli is leading 5-4 in the fourth set, two sets to one, and after losing Li Na a few days ago, I really want the last Asian player I'm rooting for to make it but damn Bolelli's service games are so freaking good. For a lucky loser, he's playing really well! And to make matters worse for me, I find out that Serena has been upset to. :\ That freaking sucks. It's like everyone I'm supporting are dropping like flies in the 3rd round. Or even earlier like with Sloane Stephens... I can only hope I have better luck with the US Men's National Team but I'm not sure how far they can make it... I think they can beat Belgium but really, who knows with these things? I mean Brazil almost lost today, and there are people biting other people. Soccer is super unpredictable...
Okay, I'm going to try and toughen out the rest of this match and then I'm gonna take that nap that I've been putting off. I can only hope I don't fall asleep while watching it...