pieces

I just noticed something while browsing amazon. And yes, I browse amazon. It’s not as good as browsing in an actual bookstore, but amazon also contains things a typical bookstore doesn’t have - like pot racks. Which is what I was looking for when I noticed something particularly strange. Which quickly became amusing when I realized what it meant.

Amazon has a feature called “What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing Items Like This?”
I occasionally look at this section if there are several similar items from the same manufacturer that I am trying to decide between (since the links can be found there, not so I can buy what everyone else has chosen), and I also use it to see if there are any other comparable brands I’ve missed.

Only now, there’s something a little different about the lists.

Every single item that I’ve seen on amazon now has, somewhere near the bottom of the list,
“3% buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J. K. Rowling”

Think about that.

Are you kidding me?

The percent varies between 1% and 3%, but really, are we that obsessed? That everyone, regardless of their tastes, has prepurchased this book?

I don’t want to be a mailman on July 21st.

Just a short accutane update - I’m still sniffly, but the humidifiers have been lifesavers, and I started feeling human again Saturday morning. No more throat ache, and my entire head doesn’t feel like it’s full of snot (yum). My body still aches, but it’s manageable, and only when I do something like climbing stairs, not when I’m just sitting.

I feel like I missed an entire week. It was so easy to pay attention in class today, and that in turn, made the class, which, by the way, has been awesome, that much easier. And I was actually able to focus enough to get work done afterwards.

I could do this for six months.

Yeah, I’m much better.

As some of you know, as of this Monday I have started on a second course of Accutane. (I mean, when you’re piling on the work, why not start something that will make you feel completely awful and have no energy?) This time, I am taking a higher dosage for the entire 5-6 month period, as opposed to ramping up and only having one month of a semi-high dosage (about 2/3 of what I’m taking now). Supposedly, in the two years since I had my first treatment, studies have shown that the higher dosage for a longer period is what really kicks the stuff (Rosacea) for good.

But man, I hate Accutane.

So far, my skin is dry, and as expected, my face is red and breaking out. The dryness will be a complaint throughout the treatment, since that’s what the medicine is supposed to do. I expect to start shedding soon, and my dandruff will be crazy. But the breakouts should go away - for good - after a few weeks.

Accutane has some lousy side effects. Because of the much higher dosage, I am already feeling pretty miserable. My muscles are stiff and achy, my nose is runny (soon to be bleeding, if last time is any indication), and my throat hurts. That last symptom is not on this list, but it could easily be a side efffect of the lack of saliva. Which I am trying to counter with water. I already drink at least 10-12 glasses of water a day (Jack would probably claim this number is higher), and right now, that doesn’t seem like nearly enough.

Ugh. Only 178 days to go.

I just wanted to touch base to let everyone know why I’m not touching base lately. It’s because I’m crazy. Specifically, I am taking a 6-hour class (which meets three hours a day five days a week for the next five weeks) and still maintaining a 40-hour per week work schedule. And the class is not Accounting 101, but Second Year Portuguese. The entire second year of Portuguese. And for those who haven’t taken a foreign language in college, it is a totally different experience than high school language classes. We covered every single verb tense in the first year, and by the end of it I was able to have actual, albeit rudimentary, conversations with the Brazilian who sometimes dropped in at work. So to do an entire year in five weeks is in some ways completely crazy because of the amount of reading and writing outside of class, but in some ways amazing, because, really, outside of going to Brazil, it would be impossible to get this kind of immersion. And I won’t be going to Brazil for five weeks anytime soon.

So I will continue to post random thoughts as they come to me, and random funnies like the one below (which you have to watch, by the way, it’s hilarious), but don’t expect much more. I have three hours at the end of the day to do homework, eat, and relax before I have to go to bed, so this blog will probably not be high on my list.

Yes, the title was supposed to hurt.

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