Okay, December has never exactly been my favourite month. (Well, nothing between Hallowe’en and the spring equinox ever is.) Even though I don’t do the Christmas thing, it still always manages to be a hectic and stressful time of year.

This year, no exception.

The financial situation, after a year and a half off work due to a depression that lasted about six months, is a nightmare, and is periodically triggering some rather unpleasant anxiety. ‘Nuff said, I’ll spare you the details.

Getting enrolled in college and getting my student loan sorted out turned out to be a bureaucratic hassle, and for a while it was looking like I might not be able to go after all.

My mom moved to a nearby city in mid-December, to be with her new partner, a really nice guy who makes her happy.

Had a few minor computer headaches. The good news is, I have a brand-new MSI Wind netbook, which is basically a specialized and extremely inexpensive mini laptop (9″ screen!). You can even get them with Linux pre-installed and skip paying for Windows, a bonus since I would have (and have done, since it came with suse) put Ubuntu Linux on it anyway. Unfortunately, it’s pink, but it was on sale so I got it even cheaper. To tell you the truth, I haven’t been on my desktop since I got this little baby.

What have I been doing on it? Reading my own older stories, until the last few days, and trying to get familiar with it so I can use it for school. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I had planned to get the apartment all cleaned up, get back in touch with friends, all over the holidays proper. Well… I got sick. Y’see, I react very poorly to dairy products… it’s not an anaphylactic allergic response, but it’s a whole awful lot worse than “lactose intolerance”. Headaches that were originally diagnosed as migraines, nausea, body temperature spiking, very bad mood swings (mostly into anger), difficulty concentrating, and utter exhaustion… and this can last for up to a couple of weeks, depending on how much I got. I watch my diet very closely, as a result (oh, I hate potlucks!), and it restricts what I can eat quite a lot (I canNOT find chewy granola bars without whey powder or other dairy in them *sigh*). However, food ingredient labelling laws are a tad lax in North America, and sometimes something that looked safe turns out not to be. So, I got to spent from a few days before Christmas until day before yesterday feeling utterly miserable.

And now… for the past couple of weeks, Loki has been losing weight quite noticeably. It’s been a gradual trend for about three years, he’s about 14 and has always been the long and lean type, but he’s starting to look rather hollow behind his ribs, even though he’s eating. He’s alert, has playful moments, no litterbox problems or vomiting, but he’s cold all the time and more clingy than usual, and his pupils just don’t contract much. Took him to the vet today, even though we really could not afford it ($400, ouchie…). Vet checked him out. Blood pressure high normal, chest x-rays show his asthma is well controlled and there are no masses or fluid build-up, she couldn’t find any masses or sore spots in his abdomen, temperature’s normal, his teeth are excellent, no signs of anemia like pale gums, and yeah his pupils don’t contract much but there’s no sign of retinal problems, just very mild cataracts. At this point, we’re just waiting on the blood-work results, which we should have on Friday or Monday (oh, I hope it’s Friday… ’cause I start classes Monday!) I’m worried about him. At least Sean’ll be here with him while I’m in school.

Other than that, well, been writing just a little, trying to get back on a more stable sleep-and-wake schedule, and trying not to be nervous about starting college again on Monday morning.

And right now, New Year’s Eve or not, I think it’s about time to round Sean up and head for bed. With any luck at all, I can get back to my friends on ICHC tomorrow. I miss them. I wish Real Life didn’t get in the way of important things like friends and fun and writing.