2006-06-28 - Not nearly as grouchy as I sound:

Well, the good news is that my lymph nodes are A-OK. Last week I noticed that my left armpit hurt like a mofo. It was pretty weird, I thought, to experience armpit pain. When I investigated, I found extremely swollen and painful lymph nodes. Unsure of the cause, a quick Wikipedia search told me that lymph nodes can be caused to swell by anything from cancer to a dental abcess. Since I felt otherwise fine, I wasn't sure what my problem was. Then I found this Medical Encyclopedia entry which put me at ease.

A gave myself a quick nodal once-over, and found no other problems other than my stupid left armpit. So chances are it was because of some kind of infection. Since I didn't feel ill, I decided to go with the medical encyclopedia and ride it out, seeing medical attention if it didn't clear up in a few weeks.

So, my armpit is back to its normal un-swollen self. It's still a bit painful, but not nearly as bad as before. Before it was a constant pain that hurt a lot if i moved my arm too much. this is more of an occasional throb and all is well. I'm not nearly as worried as I was last week, when it was in full force.

Still no clues as to what caused it. I eat right, I take vitamins, I drink plenty of water... so whatever it was probably is clearing up on its own. But still, it was all pretty weird, because I've never had anything like that happen before.

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THE HEAT

The rainy season started a few weeks ago, which means that while its technically cooler than usual, it is also HUMID TO THE MAXIMUM. I check the humidity index on a daily basis, and it likes to stay around the 75-100% range. So while the official temperature is maybe 27 or 28 degrees cecius, it feels completely awful. So far I have been dealing pretty well, but yesterday I thought I was going to go crazy.

It's so hot that fans don't really do much after a certain point. Some rooms have air conditioners in the schools, but they are never used for some reason. My theory is that its because a) Koreans are used to this kind of thing, and I'm not, and b) From what I've observed, Koreans are generally frugal, especially older-generation people.

With those powers combined, I am one sweaty canadian. (You should say that line Captain Planet style.)

Yesterday, as I mentioned, was pretty bad. The office I was in didn't have A/C, and the fans didn't make much difference. Around 1 o'clock I got a headache, which progressed into a migrane. I had to go downtown immediately after work in order to book my airline ticket for August. The bus I took into town was not air conditioned, and the windows were shitty and half of them didn't open. Then, right before I was getting off the bus to transfer, the driver put the A/C on. Oh, joy.

So I got off the bus and waited for my transfer. When I got on, that bus had its A/C roaring (YAY!) but the driver turned it off about 2 minutes after I got on, and didn't turn it on again until i was getting off (BOO!).

Downtown was even hotter, and it everyone was walking around aimlessly (read: colliding with me at every opportunity). I was so sweaty, and my head was pounding, and I was trying to hurry up before the travel agent closed, that I started bitching out loud to myself as I was walking around.

Anyway, finally, I book my ticket and everything, picked up bread for the morning, and hopped on another bus home. This bus was air conditioned, but it was so crowded, so I had to stand. The driver was driving in the most jerky-and-lurchy way possible, and everyone seemed to crash into me as they boarded the bus. This one lady completely lost her balance and fell full force into me. Luckily, she was a tiny person and I'm pretty much a stonewall, so I didn't fall or anything. It was just annoying because I was in maximum MIGRANE-SWEATY-STICKY-DON'T-TOUCH-ME-MODE.

As soon as I got home I popped some tylenol and had a cold shower. Then I lay in bed with the fan directly on me until the meds took effect. I made a quick dinner, checked my email, and went to bed, because I was too grouchy and uncomfortable to do anything else properly.

Luckily, this morning I woke with a good night's sleep. It's hot and humid still, but I feel a lot better!

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CANADIAN IDOL

Okay, since you've stuck with me this long and listened to two bitchy topics in a row, I'm going to give you a link to some Candian Idol audition that is pretty funny. Enjoy!