9:39 PM

Spilling My Guts

Alright, I didn't spill 'em. But a piece of them that was here last time I posted is gone now.

Last Monday, I woke up at 4AM with horrid abdominal pain, which, after a rushed trip to emergency, an hour and a half of ultrasounds by three different doctors, and a few bags of morphine, turned out to be acute appendicitis. I had surgery the same day and spent the week in and out of sleep, on and off of percocets, tylenol 3s, morphine, gravols, and naproxens, and antibiotics for one post-surgical infection, which had me in and out of the hospital again.

In any case! I've been healing since then. It's a pain in the ass when you're impatient to be a... sickly patient? (That was tragic writing, I apologize. Ridiculous. Yeesh.) So, yeah, here's what I've been doing: Lying on the couch. This includes sleeping, trying to do weakass exercises, pointing and flexing my toes, watching bad TV, reading gossipy magazines, and (again) sleeping. I've sat in the shower. I didn't get to shower for the first four days. I am so unproductive and sad, it's just not right. I feel like an elderly person. I'm embarrased!

However, despite all the suckiness of doing absolutely nothing productive and guilt for missing work and terror of missing school, I have discovered one most excellent thing: my husband is even more darling, sweet, dreamy, wonderful, and awesome than I had suspected before this. He's been a most excellent caretaker.

He's made me laugh so much it hurt when I wanted to weep from the pain. He's coined the Helping Hug, a crafty manoeuvre that helped me get up to standing position when I couldn't by myself. He's held my hand, pushed my hair out of my face, provided me with a big ziploc container to vomit in (and cleaned it afterwards without vomming himself), and set me up in bed so my abdomen would be in the least painful position. He's made me breakfast in bed, sat with me for entire days in the hospital when I was so drugged up I was the least entertaining company evah, and made sure my lip gloss, painkillers, at least one crappy magazine, and water were set out beside me and within my reach wherever I was. I love him!

Truly, I knew he was le best boy evah. But this? This is like level of best boy evah that I didn't really even realize existed. Aw, l'amour.

Between this and the five pounds I'm sure I'll have lost by the time I'm really back on my feet, I guess spilling my guts wasn't so bad after all.

9:19 PM

On Girlfriends

I am going home in a few weeks for a short but very-much-looked-forward-to visit. As I counted down the days tonight, it occurred to me how very much I miss my few favourite people.

My two closest friends and my sister -- all home in Halifax, enjoying the prettiness of the city and the kindness of the people within its walls. Then there's me -- here all by myself, not really knowing many people despite many efforts to get to really get a few. And I love the city, it's not that I'm not happy in my new home. Truly, it's been so good to me -- I don't know how I got so lucky with the progress in my academic and professional lives. And I've met some really great people here that I feel pretty lucky to know. It's just that... no matter how many times I try, I just can't seem to get to know anyone like I know those girls from home -- clever, interesting, charming, and just basically wonderful in about every way possible.

My most brilliant friend -- we used to get beers after philosophy class, mock boys who recited bad poetry, and talk way into the night. We would go see bands and flirt with the boys in the worthwhile ones. We would hang out in cigar bars so we could smoke cigarettes for hours on end while chatting about everything under the sun. She would talk about things I knew nothing about and was spectacularly knowledgeable about everything that mattered. She's still it, baby.

My most darling friend -- it wasn't a night out without giggling, mocking, and sharing a plate of nachos (and beer with lime cordial). She is probably the sweetest person ever made and everyone I know loves her endlessly for that guileless charm. There are few people in the world you never want to let out of your social circle -- this kid is definitely one of them.

And of course, the sister -- it started with harassment over Barbies and moved into the terrain of cheap pink champagne. She's more sensible, honest, ethical, and brainy than anyone else I know, yet miraculously just as fun as I am (hah). Truly, there wouldn't be anything worth doing without her around and if she'd just move here, my life would be complete.

So? Only 22 days 'til I see the lot of them again. And what a weekend it will be!

6:20 PM

Ka-CHOO.

Holy crap. I wish I'd kept track of how many times I've sneezed today because I'm pretty sure it would be a record.

My nose is so grossly red and runny, I am mortified that even my husband to has to see this hideousness.

I don't feel sick, per se. Just frustrated and fluffy-headed. And slow. And, um, okay. It hurts. Why?

I can feel the sinuses behind my cheekbones!

My right ear will not pop!

The puffiness level of my eyes cannot even be fixed with Clinique!

I am patiently waiting for the Tylenol Cold to kick in, but I fear that I should've taken the night remedy instead of the daytime dosage. It's been nearly two hours and, um, nothing is happening.

This'll be gone by tomorrow, right?

Right?

Damn you, ever-changing weather, lacklustre immune system, and overly-jam-packed lifestyle.

Bah.

3:29 PM

Farewell, Old Chum.

When I started my MBA program, I knew I'd be placed in a group. This group was to be my team for the first four of nine semesters of the program. We would do all collective projects together and be responsible for helping each other keep up if any of us had to miss a day of notes. I was terrified by this prospect -- in the months preceding our program's beginning, I had an impending fear that I'd be stuck with business-y jackasses who felt superior to me, lazy people for whom I'd have to do all the work, or anti-social, competitive maniacs.

Then school started. And my group was -- in layman's terms -- the bomb.

When the school set us up, they did so via some statistical analysis, based on goals, personality, and achievements to date. Most groups had six people, but ours only had five. And what a group of five we were. We had an architect from Columbia, who had the most fabulous sense of humour and tended to look a bit like U2's Bono. We had a computer programmer from the Phillipines -- a little shy and incredibly sweet in his modesty -- with such innate understanding of financials that I was constantly in awe. We had an engineer from India -- currently working as a pharmaceutical consultant -- who played the group father figure with incredible brilliance, diplomacy, and one of the kindest hearts I've had the pleasure to see. We had the adorable marketing whiz-kid from Hong Kong, whose organizational skills and sensibility towards stellar teamwork kept us all on perfect track. And we had me: brand junkie, paper-writing fiend, presentation dynamo, and overall Perky Pollyanna.

We worked exceptionally well together. We had similar styles for putting projects together and highly connected attitudes on learning and teamwork. Each of our skills really complemented those of our teammaters, and I'm certain that we learned as much from each other -- if not more -- than we did during our lectures. We spent time together outside of the classroom, discussing life, politics, entertainment, and aspirations. It was an amazing relationship and I was thrilled to have the lot of them in my life.

Then first semester ended and second semester began. Our architect disappeared. He sent us an email saying he'd withdrawn for personal reasons. It was an unusual exit, but we respected his need for privacy and carried on. We often chatted about him, wondering if his family was okay, hoping the best, but never heard from him again. We went through another semester, reassembled our skill sets to cover what he'd contributed and continued kicking ass.

The second semester ended and third semester began. Next thing we know, we're getting an email from our engineer/consultant. He's been offered a position as associate VP at his company -- a huge honour and a real testament to his talents and kind personality! -- and will have to leave the program, as his new position requires him to live in India and spend a good deal of time in Europe. He met with our classmates for the final post-lecture beer-fest on Thursday night, then met with just our team today for our final post-group-meeting lunch at our favourite cafe by school. We reminisced, laughed, talked. He told us that his wife is newly pregnant and that he expected each of us to come visit him in Delhi.

We really do miss him already. It's quite incredible the close relationships you can form with people when you work so very well together. So to one crazy-exceptional friend: good luck, congratulations, and stay in touch. We all feel lucky as hell to have known someone as fantastic as you!