Boo!

This is us before dinner. I'm the one in the pointy mask.

And we had brains for dessert. They were tasty. 

And so, finally some Halloween pics. I will post more, but I didn't have any full-body/full-costume pics with my own camera. I will post them if I get any from my friends.

*Thanks Becca and Chelsea for a fantastic, spooky dinner.*

Tonsillitis

That is the verdict from yesterday. I've been given a script for antibiotics to take every six hours, and bought myself some painkillers.

Today, swallowing is still painful, but getting better as the day goes on. I may even be able to go to work tomorrow.

The doctor reminded me that tonsillitis is bacterial and so not contagious. This means that it is just a coincidence that my sister had it when I last visited her. It must be stress. She's just finished her last year of high school, and I'm about to finish my last year of uni. You know how it is.

Being Sick

Readers, I am sick. It started yesterday with a sore ear and throat. I went to bed, planning to give myself a sleep in to give my body a chance to repair.
 A storm woke me up at 5:15 this morning and I never really fell asleep again. I sort of drifted in and out of a painful drowse. I have had trouble swallowing anything since. Even my own saliva.
 I've got a doctor's appointment in about an hour, so hopefully they can give me something to perk me up a bit. At least some appropriate painkillers because the ibuprofen (being all I have in the house) hasn't done anything.
 My glands are tender, and there are two possibilities that I am thinking of. Both of which my sister had when I visited her two weeks ago. Tonsillitis, or glandular fever. I doubt it's the second, but even the first is kinda strange to me. I've never had tonsillitis. Bronchitis, strep-throat, sinus infections, even an ear infection when I was ten or eleven. But never tonsillitis.
 It also sucks because I've been healthier this year than I have in any other year I can remember. Why'd I have to break the streak now?

I'll be back with the doctors orders in a couple of hours.

Holy Cow

It is raining, raining, raining here. Swimming Saturday may as well be about swimming in the rain, there is that much water falling from the sky. But no, I will stick with actual swimming.

I said in my Theme Days post that I would post what I have learned each week at my swim teaching job. This week is kind of hard because I haven't learnt anything new. As I write this, I'm realising that there are many important things I learn and relearn each time I teach a class, yet there are rarely any epiphanies. So I will write about something that was brought to my attention this week.

I teach children from two to pre-teen. And one thing that I have learnt is patience, and how to deal with frustration. There will always be those days where I am tired, or the kids are tired (for most people, swim-teaching is part-time alongside study). If I am having a particularly hard day, the one thing I never (one should never) do is tell the kids they are being a pain. Or tell them that their friends or siblings are being a handful. You just don't. There are swim-school coordinators and staff on pool-deck who you can ask to come and watch those classes that are particularly boisterous. And a lot of the times parents are fairly understanding when you decide to sit their child out for bad behaviour. But discipline is not about criticising children, it is about enforcing safety in an equatic environment.

 I hope this all makes sense. Kids should be treated with respect. I've come to be very surprised about how well people will respond to a smile and positive encouragement.

The Body Positive Thursdays (on a Friday)

'Cause yesterday I was procrastinating about writing the next article for my internship. By reading The Scar by China Miéville. Good book. Procrastination-worthy indeed.

Anyway, TBP Thursday. On a Friday.

In the past week I have read two posts that made me so happy. The first was Sarah J Maas's You Are Not Your Clothing Size. I linked it last week but here it is again.

The second was by Karen Healey, author of Guardian of the Dead (another great book, go read it if you haven't already). She posted on the topic of Food is Not a Sin. It really isn't.

That's all on TBP Thursday, because I'm actually getting into this article today. But in honour of food, go eat something yummy. Because you're allowed to.

Not so Wordless Wednesday

My internet is taking its sweet time to upload the photos, so no Halloween pics today. Sorry :(

Theme days

So, it's the first day of not-NaBloWriMo. And I want to keep blogging! If the month of blogging did nothing else, it made me realise that blogging is fun. I've always liked reading other people's blogs, but never thought I would have anything worthwhile to say. But thanks to you guys who followed and commented in October.

I have come up with an idea that will keep me blogging regularly. It's something a lot of bloggers already do, but I'm going to borrow ideas as well as start my own. And it will give me (and you lovely readers) some structure to stick to so I can write about the many things I'm passionate about, yet not worry I'm leaving anything out. It will also be a pirate rule (more of a guideline) just so I don't stress. The main idea is to get rid of rambling posts (like this one).

At the moment I don't have one for every day, but here's a list of my ideas thus far:

Wordless Wednesdays: Post pictures :D I got this idea from The Giraffability of Digressions and I'm Not Hannah

The Body Positive Thursdays: A bit wordy, but I wanted a day where I could write about the importance of positive body image.

Fiction Fridays: This was inspired by the idea in my last post, but I realised that with work and current WiPs, I wouldn't have the energy to post to another blog regularly. Hence, a once a week treat for you guys.

Swimming Saturdays: Where I can talk about what I learnt about swimming and the teaching of swimming that week.

Salsa Sundays: This one I won't start for a few weeks, as I've taken a hiatus from salsa dancing until uni finishes this year :( but keep a lookout.

And that's what I have so far. This is going to be fun.