Gluten glutton

Perhaps I have conquered gluten.
I ate a chocolate cupcake.
Well, half of one.
And then a couple bites of spaghetti.
I am not yet ill.
It has been long enough.
Perhaps, then, I am alright.

Midsummer's Education Nightmare

Introduction to Shakespeare.
I should have known.
Introduction. For people who've never read Shakespeare.
I, on the other hand, have read more Shakespeare than the average person.
The second day of class (the first official day, because we were going over the syllabus the first day), we talked about what it was like during Shakespeare's time. And I don't mean describing the political atmosphere, or the social conditions that the people were forced to live in.
Nope. We talked about what the Renaissance meant. We discussed the fact that it brought about the scientific method, a renewed interest in philosophy, math and science.
Duh.
Everyone from the age of 10 on knows this.
Easy A, I know, but brain torture. I feel dumber already.
I do this. I sign up for classes that sound easy because I'm afraid to actually come across a challenge that I can't meet.
I met this one, though, my junior year of high school.
Shakespeare, I'm so sorry that your work has been dumbed down for college students who never got it in high school.
The teacher, a middle aged man, socially awkward, was asking the class about their anxieties for the semester. (yeah, any professor who brings emotion or fear into the first lesson is going to be a total pushover, even though he wants to pretend he's a hardass.) And as we were talking about maybe not understanding the language (grrr...... it is, after all, English), a book dropped in the hall and he asked the class if we were worried about bullets in the halls. As soon as he said it, he chuckled, and then must have seen the looks on our faces because he immediately corrected himself.
Ah, the glories of the politically correct statement.
Introduction to Shakespeare, here I come.

The downside

Fall break can't come soon enough. Shortly after Mom, Mike, Aunt Sally and Grandma Mary come through Chicago, I hope to be heading off to Oregon to spend a long weekend there.
My stomach has been increasingly more upset lately. I'm never hungry, but I often feel faint or sick. It's as though I need to eat, desperately, and even though I do, it seems like nothing is ever enough. I can't eat much, because if I do, I'll be sick, but I know that I need to eat. It's a difficult situation that I am wondering how to handle. There have been no substances entering my bloodstream via lungs or stomach, and I'm wondering how that is affecting my feelings of illness. Certain things do tend to take away the nausea that I often feel.
I'm sure this cold isn't helping. I feel tired because I am so sick, and I can't kick the cough or the sinus drainage.
Way too much information, I know, but it feels better typing it all out. I know what you're all thinking, "Hey, doesn't Loyola have a Wellness Center?" Yeah, we do, but I am not going. They're going to tell me I have IBS and then give me cough drops. I'll just wait it out.

Address:
26 East Pearson
Box #0601
Chicago, IL 60611
Use my full name: Katherine

Danny and I have been communicating via iChat, which allows us to talk and see each other through our computers. Mom, all you have to do is set up that camera and then get on AOL (so you can Instant Message me) and then send me a video invitation. It works. It's pretty sweet, actually.

I think I'm going to go make some breakfast. I'm not sure that it will help, and I'm nervous that this is going to turn into something worse. Emily was hospitalized last night again for the same reasons as before. Stomach. Stomach. Stomach. And they never find anything, and there's never anything they can do, but she's still really ill. I think it's odd that the two of us are both so sick for no apparent reason all the time, although hers is most definitely more severe.

Adjustments.

The building rises out of the ground, standing among the others, not different, and somehow not the same. 25 stories tall, it is hardly the tallest building around, yet it rises slightly above it's neighbor, the top of it proclaiming it's affiliation for all the world to see. My room is plain, for the moment, white walls and clutter, furniture against most of the walls. Two desks, dressers, beds, chairs and closets. One bathroom. All mine. Shower, only, of course, although since I am alone in this room I would have enjoyed a tub, and been able to make sure it was clean.
Groceries. Gluten free. The words pop out at me from the boxes that line the shelves and I see them, pick them up, and hope that they'll taste even adequate.
I hear his voice in my ear, he's telling me his fears, and I'm unable to comfort him. I told him my story, how even this year, I cried and cried and begged her to take me back with her. He's scared. I'm scared for him.
But here it goes, on and on.
Broken toe. Kicked a couch. Problem. It's purple. First broken bone of my life.
Roommates are awesome. Love them. Thank god.
Classes are not bad either.
Coughing fit in the bookstore. Lawyers. Awkward. The salesclerk handed me a cough drop and it didn't work.
Love.