5 Things to Do When Bronchitis Has You in Its Clutches...

For the past two weeks I have been trapped in my home, forced to wallow in the knee-deep piles of cough drop wrappers and Germ-X bottles that litter my bedroom floor, shut off from the world to the point that even school seemed a welcome reprieve from the germy boredom that has overtaken my life (unfortunately, the whole "school seems like a good idea" thing died as soon as math class started this morning). Who or what do I blame for this sad, sad fate? BRONCHITIS. 
This accursed inflammation of the main air passages to the lungs not only gives you a heinous cough that interferes with even the most basic, necessary things like, oh I dunno, SLEEPING, it also is contagious enough that you can't spend any time with your friends for the 3-6 weeks that it lasts, and your physician father forces you to wear a medical mask (like the one pictured above) any time you leave your room.
So what, you might ask, does one do to stay sane when held in the clutches of such an abominable illness? The answer is this: nothing. There is nothing you can do to stay sane -- it's just impossible. There are, however, a few things you can do to postpone the total mental/emotional breakdown that must eventually hit.


These are my personal favorites:

1. Sleep. Really, I think that one is pretty self-explanatory. When the coughing keeps you awake, medicate yourself. Look for the cough syrups that say "may cause drowsiness" and then take as much as you can without killing yourself. (Even though death might seem preferable to your current state, is OD-ing on cold medication really the way you want to go?) Once you finally emerge from your sweet, medically-induced slumber, move on to things 2, 3, 4 and 5.
2. Watch *insert TV show title of choice here* reruns until your eyes fall out. My *TV show title(s) of choice* are Pushing Daisies and Chuck. Anything silly, fun and slightly weird that doesn't involve too much thought on your part. If you're particularly medicated, though, you might be able to throw in a little Primeval or Heroes, just to shake things up.
3. Eat anything and everything in sight. Make 16 servings of your comfort food and then label the container "Poison" so no one else touches it. 
4. Listen to music. Once your favorite radio stations start repeating themselves, admit defeat and go to your dad for music suggestions. No matter how strange the 80's may have been, the music was pretty good. And really, anything's better than listening to nothing but the not-so-dulcet din caused by your own hacking (up a lung, that is). Or, if you're really lucky, you'll discover that a band you sort of like did a cover of a song you sort of like -- and the result is a sound that caresses your ears and sooths you like a shoulder rub to your soul. Yep, I'm talking about this one:

5. And five, if you ever start to sink into a deep despair because you are feeling sorry for yourself and your admittedly pitiable condition, ask your friends for a pep talk. Because if your friends are half the friends that my friends are, you will get wonderful, comforting, heartfelt messages like this:
  "Oh, you have a cold? You can GET OVER IT."
Yep. My best friend actually gave me that note. Feelin' the  love, Not Cosmo -- reeeaaally feelin' it.

I hope, but don't expect, that you have found this blog post helpful, that you will take it to heart, and that it will come to your relief the next time you suffer from acute bronchitis.

Love,
ME

Some random pics I took and edited...

Tumblr

Okay, so there is this blogging site called Tumblr that I was introduced to by a friend. It seems pretty cool so I set up an account. That doesn't mean that this blog is toast, just that I might not post on it for a while...and that it might be toast in the future...We'll see. Maybe I can find a way to link the two of them or something and then take turns posting on both...
Anyways, just letting you guys know. Here's the link:
Unwritten
If that doesn't work, here's just the plain URL to copy and paste:
themusicofthespheres.tumblr.com

I love you all!

A Not So Girly Post

Here it is, as promised: the post full of non-girly things. We'll start with a list of non-girly things that are on my mind right now.

1. I have decided that I want to join the Peace Corps after I get my bachelor's degree
2. I have re-discovered my love for One Republic, especially "Stop and Stare"
3. I adore the casting for The Hobbit film
4. I have made a slightly late New Year's resolution to start reading comic books (mostly so my dad will take me to Comic-Con). Methinks I'll start with DC...Justice League, here I come
5. Today I made my best horchata so far

Now, a couple of non-girly pictures:

And to finish it all off, a video about Spock from the 2009 Star Trek movie. Set to a non-girly song, no less.


Love,
A very geeky me

Girl Party and TV Couple Ships

I realized I've only really been writing girly sappy posts for a while, so I'm gonna get all the rest of it out right now so I can go back to writing about National Geographic and science fiction. If girly things offend you (pointed look at Kaytlyn), then just skip this post and wait for something more...masculine?

Girly AND true!

I am currently sitting on the bathroom floor while my future-cosmetologist sister attempts to crimp my hair (my "dang crap hair" as she puts it. you know, if that's what she says to her customers, I don't think she'll do so well in the business. she yanks ears and hits, too.) We do this sometimes (not the dang crap thing, the hanging out thing) and she tries to convince me that I don't have to be a slob all the time. I allow her to think she's succeeding just because I like not having to fix my own hair.
It's funny, really, because with my friends I am one of the girliest but with my sister I am manly, unfashionable, and all-around geeky. A slobby slob, as opposed to a sappy sap. Ah, well. No way to win, I guess.
So here is a list of the most girly things about me. The things my friends (except Kaylla) make fun of me for. Here goes:

1. I LOVE a good chick-flick now and again. Not the gross raunchy "romantic comedies" but the ones like Letters to Juliet or The Notebook (censored, of course) or Tangled. I hold Disney and Jane Austen fully responsible for my "ridiculously high" standards when it comes to guys.
2. Flowers. I think if a guy got me flowers I'd be hard-pressed to not like him, at least a little. (That doesn't mean there aren't exceptions. You know who they are.)
3. I shamelessly ship TV couples. That means from episode 2 I've decided who ends up with who, and if the writers of the show do it differently than I want...beware, Lilly. Us shippers (me and middle-aged women across America) even have nicknames for these couples. Caskett, Rayne, Pyka, Charah... Yeah, a whole new kind of geeky you didn't even want to know about.
4. I love this song:

5. I like smelling like sugar cookies. Yes, you needed to know that.

Okay, the end. Expect the next post to be full of Sherlock Homes, mummies, country music, and how stinkin' EXCITED  I am for Andrew Garfield to be Spiderman.
Love you all,
 - Me