this is the story of how I died

actually, this is the story of how I got bedbugs, was diagnosed with a chronic disease, got my driver's license (finally!), and won NaNo.

should I address those subject in alphabetical or chronological order?

yes, it is I, your absentee blogger. Yes, it was November. Techincally, it still is, but whatevs. I finished NaNo. Therefore, November is over.

mwahahahahahahahaha

I write this on my mother's computer. Among the other sundry things that happened this month, my computer also decided to have fits and not work. Fear not--the great ones and the general AND my NaNo project are safe (thank goodness for Google Drive), but I'm having to search for gifs like crazy on Pinterest. Excuse me if I'm not up to my usual caliber.

have a pretty Hyun-woo smile in apology

So. Let's catch up. How are you all? Did you do NaNo? Did you win? Or more importantly, were you happy with where you are right now? I had a friend ask me that today, and it really made me think "Am I happy with what I've written so far?" My first impulse was say no, because it's a first draft and I was writing completely with an unwritten, unsorted outline, but after I thought about it, I realized I was pretty happy. I like the idea of my story. I like my characters, even though I wish I had more time to flesh them out to what I originally envisioned them to be. I like the fact that I took a tiny sliver of a story and brought it to 50k words in less than 30 days. And I like that I can see where to go from here. After finishing NaNo, after finishing the great ones and the general...I know what I want to do with this story. I have ideas again, and that's something to be thankful for.

But wait. You all are smart. You noticed when I said less than 30 days above (and if you didn't, it's okay. I'm not going to judge you.) You're probably kinda confused right now. "I didn't realize November has less days now," you might be thinking. Don't worry.

On November 1st, a lovely Saturday, I started on Bless the Eyes that See. Emerson and I traveled across New York City, we met Lumin and Mrs. Tyler, we even saw things that weren't supposed to be visible in the dark.

And then on November 4th, I suddenly lost my steam.

All because of one stinking plot bunny.

I have pretty descent self-control when it comes to sticking to an idea these days. I've been writing the great ones and the general for a year and a half now, and I've managed to stay true to it and it alone.

Obviously, Bless the Eyes and I didn't work out in the end.

So I had some catch-up to work (aka, almost 7k words to write in one day...) but by the time I caught up, it was evident  that this was the story for me to write. Yeah, it was rough and choppy and plot holes aplenty, but I wanted to write more. With Bless the Eyes, I looked at my outline and said, "yup. here it is. Do i need to write more?" And I guess that's the point in time when you know a story isn't right for you at the time: when you think your outline tells enough of the story.

So Wake Me Up November and I started collaborating. And now we're here.

I don't know how much I want to say about Wake Me Up November. Writing as a girl character was fun. I haven't done that in ages, except for Sam's occasional parts. If you didn't know me and read what I have written, you might think I have a strange fixation on the symbolism of  macaroni and cheese (is there any?). My 50169 words are EXTREMELY ugly right now. Like, unshowable to the light. But it'll get there. I'm proud of my Ember and her tenacity and ability to make me want to write in the midst of chaos.

Yeah, we're getting back to my list at the beginning of this post. Chaos definitely happened this November.

So, we covered NaNo. That's obviously the biggest topic of discussion for today. But what about the other things? Like the bedbugs--I'm sure you all are itching to know about that.

I'll let myself out.

I'm so punny.

I'm really ready to punch the next person who says "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite." (except if it's my little brother. then I might gently smack him upside the head. which is a good thing because he's the only one who really says it). Bedbugs...are an interesting fact of life. I'm not a squeamish girl. Bugs are just bugs to me.  Spiders and snakes and I get along as long as we keep our personal distance. But bedbugs...bedbugs are a whole other level of uncool.

This actually started the week before NaNo. I'd noticed small inflamed bites on my arms, legs, and hands after coming home from my grandparents' house in October, and for a while, I just chalked them up to a mosquito in my room. Then I noticed little spots of blood on my sheets...when I didn't have any open sores or anything--especially not by the end of my bed or on my face, where several spots were. And I itched. Boy, did I itch. I'm itching now, just thinking about it, and I bet you are too. So I told my mom about it, and she told me to strip my bed and wash my sheets, hoping that that would solve whatever problem (the blood stains were unanswered, but whatevs). And when I did, I noticed for the first time a few little buggies crawling across my bed. Just one or too, but when I squished them, they made the same red stains as were already on my bed...

so with a semi-worried soul, I called my mom to come inspect. She was just as confused and weirded out as I would. The bugs looked like ticks, but ticks that small don't squish easily. It was all very strange.

And then we lifted up my bed.

I didn't have a bedframe then. My boxsprings rested on the floor, with my matress on top of that. Unfortunately, that made a perfectly LOVELY hiding place for a veritable nest of buggies to sleep away until they got hungry and wanted to drink up my blood.

Summons quite a picture, doesn't it?

this is you guys                           this is me   

We didn't know what they were at first. We just knew they were gross and creepy and nasty and I'm pretty sure I did that girly shaking the hands and shuddering dance because of how many there were. It was NASTY. And then mom said the fatal words, "I don't want this to be right, but get on google and look up bedbugs. Just do it."

The picture barely even loaded before I knew it was a bedbug epidemic.

Man, I'm itching SO bad right now, and we've been clean for almost a month now. I love the human mind.

We got my bed outta there so fast... I moved out into my sisters room almost as fast. Just the idea of them sucking my blood gave me the heebie-jeebies. So that threw my life into chaos. I was still prepping for NaNo, working on getting the great ones up to 50k before November, and struggling with a big essay. Such fun, right? At least my computer didn't have bedbugs.

At least, that was what I thought until the exterminator told me they could've climbed into my laptop.

Yech.

Long story short, we got our house exterminated of the nasties, and they are LONG gone. Hallelujiah. Still...it's not often you get referred to as "the host" of a tribe of bloodsuckers and then told to look for "Walking Dead" in my room after the heat treatement.

Aparently there's a whole language of bedbug terminology that I never knew existed. You learn something new every day.

So that's the bedbug saga. All that's left cover is the fact that y'all should stay off the sidewalks now and also the unfortunate fact that, after I get a camera shoved down my throat and into my stomach and intestines, I shall never be able to have Cheerios again.

Yes, I have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It's actually the most recent event, although I've been dealing with the symptoms and side effects throughout the whole month of November (boo stomach pain!) We got the test results back on Wednesday, and I'm currently being scheduled for an endoscopy--the camera thing. I think my favourite thing about this whole mess is that the typical response to that news is: "Well, at least you don't have to have a colonoscopy."

Amen.

I'm actually really glad I've finally been diagnosed. We've known I'm sensitive to wheat and other glutinous stuff, but identifying it as Celiac addresses so many other things. It explains the naseua I've had over the past two months. It explains my tiredness and semi-anemia. It explains why I've had a continual brain-fog, and why I have more mood swings/depression than anyone else in my family. All those things are symptoms of Celiac. And all those things make sense now.

I'm supposed to stay on a gluten diet until the endoscopy, because otherwise they won't be able to tell if my villi are being destroyed because of the gluten. This is both sucky and nice. Sucky, because gluten makes me feel like crap and destroys my ability to function as a human being for a day or two. Nice, because I'm getting to enjoy my favourite foods with gluten in them for one last time.

Hence the reason why pie and Cheerios have been a thing, recently.

So yeah. That's my life recently. I'm happy to be back to blogging again. I've really missed it, but I've obviously had other things to deal with (mainly NaNo). I have a few more posts swimming around in my head, so I should be back to my semi-regular schedule now! I look forward to sharing my brain with you guys once more! I've miss you all so much! Thank you for sticking with me!

Have a fantastic week! I'm going to go celebrate winning NaNo with a bowl of Cheerios and maybe finally watching TFioS at last! Love you all! :)