66 and 55

I have applied for 66 jobs since the bar exam, and have now received 11 rejections. That means that I still have a chance at 55 jobs :) Luckily, I started a new part-time contract position in my field to help pay the bills until I find a full-time job. I am learning a lot there, so that's good. I am toying with the idea of opening up my own law practice, but I feel like I need a few more months (like until February or March) to make a well-informed decision. Of course, if I find a good, full-time job before then, that would be ideal.

It is a little frustrating for me because I tend to be "Type A". I am trying to keep a positive attitude. It's easier to keep a positive attitude on the days that I go into the office. It's a little more difficult when I am spending my days off at home. I know that once I find my real full-time job, I am going to miss the freedom that I currently have during the day, though.

This past spring, I attempted to run a 5K. I didn't train for it at all. I couldn't run most of it. On Sunday I decided to start the C25K program. Today was my second day of Week 1. There are a lot of C25K podcasts that you can download and listen to while you run, so you don't have to keep track of the time. I have really enjoyed it (all 2 days) so far.

Since my surgery, I have been worried about using headphones. Apparently headphones have magnets in them, and my neurosurgeon uses a giant magnet when he wants to adjust the setting on my shunt. Magnets in headphones can reset a person's shunt. If that happened to me, I would have to go into the doctor and have him set it back to the correct setting. Because our health insurance doesn't have the best coverage ever, it is really expensive for me to go to the neurosurgeon and have him readjust my shunt. I try to go in as little as possible (especially considering my current employment situation). My shunt is located really close to my left ear, so I have just been avoiding the use of headphones.

E came to my rescue so that I could listen to a podcast while running on the C25K program. He cut the left earbud off of a set of headphones for me. Now I can listen to my headphone in my right ear while I am running. This is a little thing, but it really made all the difference for me. It's so much easier to want to exercise when I can listen to music.

8.5 days of studying to go

I'm finally in the home stretch of this evil bar exam. I don't feel like I'll ever be ready, but I'm just ready for it to be over already. I can't wait to enjoy the rest of the summer, and to find out what it is like to live a life free from law school and standardized tests. Well, mostly free from standardized tests... I have another one coming up in a few months, but I'm not going to go into great detail about it, because I'm not sure that my blog is anonymous enough for that. Let's just say that I am full of surprises, and am glad that E is always up for an adventure (or at least the possibility of an adventure) :)

I feel like my renewed sense of adventure is a product of my surgery. In the last few months, I feel like I've returned to "normal"... well, the "normal" that I was before my cyst became symptomatic. Maybe this sense of "renewal" is all psychological, but I am willing to bet that at least part of it is not. My brain was pretty squished before I had surgery.

I plan on doing a blog series about my cyst and surgery after the bar exam, mostly because there is a lot of scary/bizarre anecdotal information on the internet about arachnoid cysts, and I want to provide recently diagnosed people with a more optimistic (and probably a more correct) source of information.

Yesterday I took the day off from studying. I realized that I hadn't taken a full day off from studying and class in about a month (yes, I even studied for a few hours on the 4th of July - lame!). My brain and my body didn't want to study yesterday, and I didn't feel like pushing myself. I think I made the right decision. I feel about a million times more focused today (except for this blog-writing study break, of course).

Anyway, wish me luck :) I don't know if I'll post again before the bar exam, but I will definitely update when I'm on the "other side" of this exam. Can't wait!!!

Headaches & Prescriptions

I woke up this morning with a migraine; my guess is that it was caused by a combination of the weather change and the SUPER uncomfortable chairs that we sit in at the bar prep course. I skipped bar prep class today, and instead went to get my migraine medicine refilled (because I must have taken the last pill some time last week).

When I get a headache like this, I wonder if having surgery was pointless. Then I remember how big my arachnoid cyst was and how it was probably causing other problems (i.e. with concentration) and that it could cause even more problems in the future (possible temporary paralysis on one side of my body). I'm glad that I had the surgery, but I feel guilty for spending so much money on the co-pay for the surgery when it didn't cure my headaches. 

On a sidenote: health care reform definitely needs to happen. The co-pay for my migraine meds was $30 for 12 pills. If I didn't have health insurance, my meds would have cost $307.99. That is outrageous. I like the idea of a single-payer health care system because it would take the insurance companies out of the picture, but I am also not so sure that I trust our government (or any government) with running such a system. The government is inefficient and can be corrupt, and businesses (I mean, "non-profit health insurance companies") are greedy and also can be corrupt. I honestly don't know which way is better. The current system definitely isn't working, though, and it is way too expensive. As human beings, we all have a right to affordable health care.  When people argue against universal coverage by saying that it will lead to longer waits to see doctors, I understand where they are coming from, but it offends me on a spiritual and moral level. We currently benefit (by having shorter waits to see doctors) because some of our brothers and sisters are lacking access. 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 is one of my favorite Bible passages and I think that it is somewhat applicable to such an argument against universal coverage.

Weather changes & headaches

This week's weather has wreaked havoc on my head. I've had headaches on Tuesday, Friday, and another one today. I'm pretty sure that it's because of the schizo-weather. Snow on Tuesday, warm and sunny (like it should be) on Friday, and today the weather is changing again. Yowzers! It makes it hard for me to get my homework done.

I hate to admit that I still get headaches after having surgery. It makes me feel guilty for having surgery and spending lots of money on my shunt.

But these weather change headaches are different than some of the awful headaches that I had pre-shunt, so maybe the shunt wasn't pointless?

Updates

I finally got over my sinus infection. Thank God. It was not very pleasant. Also, it's sunny and somewhat warm here, so that is nice :)

I'm trying to be more optimistic about the job search. I've started applying to jobs where a J.D. is an asset but not a necessity. They are jobs that I would enjoy working at, and where I would still be helping people. Hopefully something will eventually pan out. The job descriptions for the positions to which I am applying are jobs that I think would be a really good "fit" for me. I feel like I would be happy working at them. This makes me feel more optimistic, too.

I am pretty sure that my tube moved to my left side (instead of hanging straight down). It's causing me some pain, but I know that it could be worse. And I will either get used to it soon, or it will move again. I know that I could have it much much worse. A girl from my h.s. just found out that she has an orange-sized tumor in her brain. She is having neurosurgery this week. I hope that it isn't cancerous, and I hope that she makes a speedy recovery. I'm so thankful that my problem wasn't a tumor. An arachnoid cyst (even a huge one) really isn't a big deal at all.

Now for some recipe updates.

We tried the chicken stew recipe. I couldn't taste it (thanks a lot, sinuses!). But E really enjoyed it, so it must have been good :) I froze 4 chicken thighs, some bacon, tomato paste and chicken stock, so we can recreate the meal in a month or so without having to buy very many ingredients.

We also made a beef barley soup in the crockpot. Again, thanks to the sinuses, I couldn't taste it. The only thing that I could taste was the thyme, and it was actually overwhelming to me. But, again, E enjoyed it. We got a lot of leftovers, and we had some to freeze. So that's good :)

Old Friends and Dryers

Last night I had dinner with some old friends from high school. I showed off my new "neck straw" (aka my CP shunt). Tried to explain how it works, but I don't really even get it. It was fun to see them; I wish we all had more time so we could hang out more.

This morning I've been dealing with some bad customer service issues; when we bought our new washer and dryer, the customer service in the store was excellent. Unfortunately, the delivery department's customer service has been very poor.

We are also trying to deal with our home warranty company. I would consider their behavior to be criminal, so I guess it's a good thing I'm not a prosecutor. Jerks. I don't want to have to sue them; I just want them to fix our house!

Messy and gross

I got home from the bank today, and saw that Ratdog had an accident in our basement. I went to clean it up, and dropped part of it...and accidentally stepped in it! EW!!! I threw that sock away. I'm really glad that I was wearing socks.

We got one of the bills from my surgery today. This one was from the anesthesiologist. I just want to get all of the bills so we can know how much we need to pay and stop worrying about it already. I'm just really glad that I have health insurance.