Long Time No Blog...

Written on 3:17 PM by Jack B.

I haven’t blogged in a long, long time (it seems to me, at any rate). I’ve had some personal issues to deal with that occupied my attention. At work, I’m on a deadline with a particular project to get it down before November begins. At school, I’ve got two term papers to write (and a large annotated bibliography to hand it to my professor – again at the beginning of November.

One of my term papers is on St. Elizabeth of Schonau – the choice was entirely mine to make. I could have picked a more accessible medieval writer like Chaucer or Marie de France or somebody but I chose St. Elizabeth (well, she’s never been formally canonized but they still call her that anyway). My main problems deal with the paucity of secondary sources on her – despite the revival of interest in female medieval mysticism she just hasn’t been a major topic of scholarly study.

Then there is the health issues I’ve been dealing with. Now don’t get me wrong I feel fine (mostly) but it seems years and years of putting things off is coming back to bite me. First, I’ve finally decided to get my teeth fixed – they’ve been crooked for as long as I can remember and I probably should have gotten braces when I was a teenager like everybody else does but...I put it off. Now I have finally made the decision to get them straightened there is no turning back from what’s ahead – which included the extraction of 8 teeth (four of which are impacted wisdom teeth that will require oral surgery), then the wearing of braces for 2 ½ years, then a retainer at night for the rest of my life.....nice, huh? Not to mention the nearly $6,000 its going cost me ($2,000 of that as a down payment) since my insurance doesn’t cover orthodontics. I’m on a student budget as it is, this is going to wipe out what’s left of my savings account.

Then there was the news I got yesterday during what I assumed would be a regular yearly check-up. Turns out I have hypertension (i.e. high blood pressure) and while I have been on the borderline for many years, now I have gone over it. So I have to take blood pressure pills (one a day), my gosh I feel like my mother now (her doctors keep prescribing her all kinds of pill – most of which she is dubious about needing). Hypertension is known as a “silent killer” because there are really no warning symptoms to let you know you have it other than getting your blood pressure (and blood) tested regularly. My doctor says I’m lucky because I’m young enough to halt it before I get a stroke, or heart attack or blood clot or something (trust me, the alternatives have been all I can think of since). It all depends, of course, on me changing my own behavior.

He sent me to a dietician – it seems if I want to lower my blood pressure, stop taking pills and save my life, I have to start eating healthier, cutting down on sugar and salt and carbs. Apparently eating junk food and Coca-Cola as your breakfast, lunch and dinner is NOT healthy (who knew?), in addition to the half-dozen cups of coffee/tea with at least 2 packets of sugar apiece I treat myself to at work. My lack of any exercise (I sit behind a computer all day at work, a desk all day in class, and then I just flop into bed) doesn’t help either. Of course the fact that I have gained 20 pounds in less than two years after an entire adult life of having my weight at a stable (and much, much slimmer) 143 lbs. should have been my first clue to change my habits. But that is easier said than done, isn’t it? It just takes discipline – something I’m not really experienced at. Let’s see how it goes.

Oh and did I mention I also seem to have dry eye? Looks like I’m going to have get some of those artificial tears.

I know it seems silly. Lots and lots of people are going through horrible, sad, heart-breaking times in their lives right now and I’m complaining about this (which in comparison doesn’t seem so bad). It just seems to me that all my sins are catching up to me. Sloth and Gluttony, they are more deadly than even Lust or Pride.