Archive for the year 2003
The Case of the Missing Period
Posted on April 26, 2003 by Ching under Life.
Brian and I have a dilemma that we are both trying desperately to solve. I call it “The Case of the Missing Period.”
My period usually comes sometime around the 20th of each month. It’s been as late in coming as the 24th but never :this: late. Brian can always tell when my period is about to come because he can sense simply by the way I smell. Sometimes I think that he knows my body even better than I do. He said that I had period smell sometime during the week but it just came and went. It lasted about a day he said. Brian described it this way: it was as if your body said, “Hey, it’s period time! Oh wait. Nevermind.” His theory: I’m pregnant. With us being successfully on the Billings Method, which is kind of like Natural Birth Control Method only better because you have fewer days to avoid, for the last eight months now and with only the ocassional condom pregnancy is a bit of a concern. Brian has never really had total faith in the method so everytime my period is even just an hour late he always deems it to be the culprit.
So there we were, laying in bed, discussing our options. We both agree that having a child right now would be completely wrong. With me finally returning to school in the fall, it was just bad timing. But as they say, it hardly ever is the right time when it does happen. We are both praying that my period will miraculously come and we won’t have to worry or discuss it any further.
Last night we had to do some grocery shopping for our barbecue this coming Sunday (and just grocery shopping in general because our refrigerator and pantry are practically empty). We decided to buy Ept. We only bought the single pack and now that I’m thinking about it, we should have bought the double pack because as it is I have to take the test again anyway. It would have been more cost efficient. I think Brian and I both had ourselves convinced that I’m really pregnant, even before taking the test, that we felt one test would be good enough.
I was so nervous last night that I couldn’t get myself to pee. I had to drink half a liter of water and wait almost three hours before I could get it to come out and when it finally did, it was like “Whooosh!” My bladder was full but my body was so tense that it wouldn’t come out. When I finally got a few drops out, my body relaxed and just let it all go.
I followed the instructions and lay the Ept on the counter. The lines were very slow to develop. Brian said to just leave it alone for three minutes as it said in the instructions because standing there and watching it was like watching water boil: really stupid and boring. I told Brian that this could be a good sign because the last time we were in this situation and I took the exact same test (almost four years ago) the lines came up and became fully developed within ten seconds. Like a lightning bolt, the lines appeared before I could even lay the test down on a level surface as it instructs you do to. I remember telling Brian to wait three minutes like it said in the box to see if the line would disappear. He laughs about it now but it wasn’t funny then. Once the line shows, up it’s time for Final Jeopardy. It’s not going to disappear. When it’s there, it’s there for good.
It seemed like I was checking on the progress of our test every thirty seconds. Brian finally got fed up and called me to bed. He said, “Leave it alone baby. We’ll check on it later.” I checked one last time after the allotted three minutes was up: still no line in the round box and a distinct but faint line in the square box. You figure that I’d be rejoicing but something deep down inside me tells me that I screwed up the test somehow. As I told you before, Brian and I have ourselves thoroughly convinced that I am.
We lay in bed and watched tv for a little bit. Ten minutes later I’m begging Brian to check again, just to make sure. He grumbles but complies. Still negative. But I’m thinking, “Then where the hell is my period?”
This is where the thought that we should have gotten the double pack comes in because it would have been more cost effective. Brian and I agreed that if my period is still MIA, I am to take the test again next week. It said in the instructions that if the result is negative and you feel that this is wrong (e.g. because your period is MIA like mine) to take the test again. If it is still negative and your period still hasn’t come, it tells you to check with your doctor — because your body is totally fucked up.
I’m hoping that I’m not pregnant. Brian is praying for the same thing also. I’m taking the test again in a week and let you guys know if the outcome is good. I’m just hoping that (a) I’m not pregnant and (b) there is nothing seriously wrong with my body. My body is probably just revolting against all of the exercise. After all it is possible to miss your period due to (mental or physical) stress, right?
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Tricked
Posted on April 22, 2003 by Ching under Life, School.
Easter Sunday has been a real blow to my diet. The whole holiday weekend has been a blow to my workout regimen period.
Friday was actually somewhat okay. We woke up, had some McDonald’s breakfast (I usually have a sausage and egg McMuffin with a folded egg when I eat McDonald’s breakfast; this was early enough in the day that I knew I had plenty of time to burn it off), then proceeded to Ashley’s because I promised her that I would help her with her class project. We worked on it for a couple of hours and took off at a little past eleven to go to Shooters (free pool with lunch) to meet his dad and Don for their lunch break. I skipped lunch because I just had breakfast and kicked serious ass at pool (as in Brian lost to me three times and I only lost once to Dave and almost won cut-throat if I hadn’t scratched and put Don, who actually ended up winning after having been out of the game for a while already, back on table).
Next on the agenda was WSU. I knew this was trick from the very beginning but I told Brian (he’s the one who really wanted to go back to school, I had no intention of going back up until that fateful afternoon) that I would go with him anyway because I was more familiar with the buildings and stuff. In the middle of getting re-activated he gets a phone call so I had to complete the re-activation process for him. The lady was just updating information on the computer prior to the re-activation anyway and I told her that I would be able to answer on his behalf. After we finished and he was still on the phone, I asked her in passing if it cost anything to get your school account re-activated and she said no. I thought, well if it’s free then might as well re-activate me too. I’m already here. It’ll save me time when I get a bug up my butt and decide to return to college later on. So she did. She then sent us to the College of Fine Arts office, which was in the same building, so we could get a printout of all of the courses that we had taken (since it wasn’t an official transcript, it would be free). The lady there was really super-nice. She printed Brian a list and, instead of sending me to another place, she printed me a list also.
Brian and I took a minute to pause and ponder our lists. I had 86 credits already (should have 100 or so, because I went for four consecutive years, but I ended up losing a whole semesters worth of credits due to slacking off and stupidity — meaning, audits and withdrawals) and Brian thought it would be such a shame to waste all of those credits. We ended up talking me into returning to college (I’ll be one of those returning adults who used to creep me out when I was a freshman — yikes) in the fall. I’m actually excited because lately I realize how much I loved going to school and I really miss it. I hate doing homework but I love doing projects and helping Ashley on hers just made me realize it even more.
After our campus shennanigans (which consisted of a lot of walking around, good calorie consumption right there) Brian took me to this gown/dress store. It was crappy. I knew there was a reason that,although they’d been in business for several years, I’ve never been there. We ended up looking for dresses (for the upcoming June Filipino ball) at the mall and I actually found one at Maurices. We did some more walking around in the mall (burning more calories, yeah baby) until I finally started getting tired (and cranky). We went to mom’s house in the afternoon and had some leftovers. She had fried tilapia and nilagang manok for me and some fried chicken for Brian. It was so yummy! It was before five o’clock too, so it was the perfect time to eat dinner (for me anyhow, Brian would still need to eat at around ten-ish because of his biological clock). After showing mom my dress and being disappointed to learn that she did not have any shoes that would match my dress in her almost Imelda-like collection, we ended up going to Payless and KOHL’s in vain. I ended up just ordering a pair from the Spiegel website when we got home.
I don’t remember working out on Friday but I did work out on Saturday morning before Brian and I started our day. We both had to work that day. Normally I wouldn’t have to but I traded my Friday (so we could hang out that day) to work on Saturday instead. I remained faithful to my diet and workout regimen through Saturday.
Sunday was the killer. I did not work out at all and Brian refused to allow me to remain within the bounds of my diet (at the risk of offending his mom who was our Easter Sunday dinner host). I can’t say I was averse to it either because I took full advantage of my food freedom. Needless to say, I ate a lot! As in, totally pigged out. And I’ve been pigging out on leftovers since.
I told myself that it was no big deal because it would only be for one day and I would be working out on Monday anyway. Well, guess what. My friend Pia caught me as I was coming home on Monday night and I ended up walking her through a successful installation of Moveable Type and an unsuccessful attempt at installing Image Magick (I finally told her to just email her webhost about it) on her server. I was with her from eight to midnight (two hours on the phone until my cellphone finally ran out of battery and then the rest of the time on Yahoo! Messenger — I’m afraid to ask what her cellphone bill is like) working on her photoblog idea. I didn’t get to work out as planned but I did get some laundry done. So it wasn’t an altogether unproductive evening for me.
Today is a new day and, by golly, I’m really going to work out because my belly is getting super-big again!
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Stuck
Posted on April 16, 2003 by Ching under Health.
I got stuck in the dress from hell for almost two hours. It would have been funny — if I didn’t feel so ridiculous. My regular workouts deluded me into thinking that I can fit into a SIZE 3 again. In my dreams! The reality of it was a total nightmare..
I was having a hissy last week so I ended up buying these two Ruby Rox party dresses from Dillard’s. I’m partial to strapless dresses (if I could only count how many I have — different styles from different stores — yes, I’m a clothes whore — err, clothes horse) so I bought two of the same style. I got the periwinkle one and the black and white print pictured left. I had seen similar dresses in the Victoria’s Secret catalogs last season but they cost twice as much. Naturally, I thought the less expensive Ruby Rox dresses were a steal!
To tell you the truth, the material isn’t that great — the black and white print one is actually a white screen-print (seemed like screenprint anyway) on black fabric — it wasn’t even woven. The material on the periwinkle dress is different and, I think, is much better quality — although I haven’t taken it out of the plastic yet, so I haven’t inspected it all that well. I can see why they are selling for a much lower price.
So anway, anytime I get a package in the mail I get super-excited (I get three times more excited these days because my mail order shopping has become less frequent due to financial woes) and I feel compelled to try on my new outfits. I did a quick eenie, meanie, minie mo as I undressed. The black and white print dress won the toss up, so I eagerly took it out of the plastic, slid it off the hanger, untied the belt and unzipped the back. I stepped into the dress and pulled it up only to find out that my hips were too wide. Rather than risk tearing the dress by forcing the issue, I decided to try putting it on the other way — through my head. I couldn’t just slip it on because the opening wasn’t wide enough (frankly a longer zipper in the back would have worked wonders) so I had to force the dress on, sliding one arm at a time. Getting the dress on wasn’t even nearly as challenging as getting it zipped up. Not even close!
I finally just gave up on it because I couldn’t get it zipped. But then I couldn’t take it off! I couldn’t slip it down to my feet because my hips were too wide and I couldn’t take it off through my head because it was too tight. I was stuck! I really wished that Brian would come home so he could help me get it off (I own a couple of other dresses that require collaboration between Brian and I to get on and off so he’s used to it) but he was running late coming home for his lunch break tonight.
Alright fine, I thought. Since I can’t take it off, I might as well wear it. After struggling for almost thirty minutes I finally had it zipped up almost completely in the back. Looking at the glass as half-full, I thought I might as well forget about working out tonight because I can’t take the stupid dress off but at least I had a thirty-minute workout out of the whole ordeal.
Brian finally came home for dinner (on his lunch break) at a little after nine and he helped me out of the dress before he returned to work. Whew! What a fiasco!
I really love the dresses and I want to return them for ones that fit better but the SIZE 3’s are just a teeny bit tight (they fit as long as I don’t wear a bra and someone else has to zip them up for me and help me take them off at the end of the day) and I’m worried that the next size up (5’s) will be too big. It’s a strapless dress so that’s a big no-no. I wouldn’t want them falling off (specially since I have no boobs to hold them up). I guess just chalk this up to even more motivation to lose weight! ~sigh~
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Mirror Project Photos
Posted on April 16, 2003 by Ching under Memes.
Here are the Mirror Project pictures that we took at the mall before this mean store clerk at Hotline ruined our fun and told us we couldn’t take pictures anymore.
Have you guessed the theme? These pictures were taken the weekend that Brian and I went shoe shopping — an even that has been a major blow to my spending freeze. Once I get started, I can’t seem to stop! Hopefully, I can start taking control of my spending again..
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Militaria Show
Posted on April 13, 2003 by Ching under Family.
Went to the Militaria Show at the Cessna Activity Center today to show our support for the Mid-Kansas Military Vehicles Preservation Association today. It was a lot of fun! Even though Brian and I don’t have a vehicle of our own we usually come to their functions to help and hang out (mostly just hang out for me) because his dad is the president of the organization. The turn-out for the Militaria Show wasn’t great but they actually managed to recruit three new members to the club. We took lots of pictures — and that’s always fun for me! Here are some of them..
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