Tickticktick

"..."

I woke up this morning feeling... "off," and by the time I got home I felt like a steaming helping of crap. Still, this is nothing more than a precursor to illness, some minor body aches, fatigue, and throat scratchiness. I haven't been full-on sick for a couple years *knock on wood* so it wouldn't surprise me if I were better tomorrow. On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if my body's just decided it needs a vacation, too. So we'll see.

I'm plodding ahead on the magazine project. Last weekend Justin and I went to the mall, Goodwill, and some second-hand stores looking for kanji shirts with "bullshit" potential. I picked up many of the shirts with the full intention of returning them when they've served my purposes as material for a "fashion" feature in (my) Tanuki magazine. So far Hot Topic gets the biggest points for it's TOTALLY made-up kanji character on a shirt that reads "Anime Junkie" and appears to be copyrighted by "Fashion Victim" inc. Is the name of the company coincidental? I wonder.

We also sampled and "graded" some grocery store sushi for the 'food' section of the magazine. PC Market's fresh sushi? B at best. Trader Joe's? Surprisingly, a solid C-. Even stranger, the made-daily sushi at the campus convenience store looks like it will be better in price and quality than either of the two larger chains. But I haven't tried it yet.

Tomorrow and the next day I'm conducting interviews with Japanese and American students for the Culture Shock Triggers article. Hopefully I'll finish transcribing the 3-hour interview with clasically trained swordsmith Michael Bell either today or tomorrow.

All this so I can put in LONG, LONG hours this weekend and get a good burst of progress on content. At least I've been producing fairly decent writing for the things I have done. If only I all the time I wanted to spend on it. Alas.

Back on the personal health front, I've been having problems with the right hole of my right nipple piercing. No matter what I do, it seems to remain inflamed, tender and oozy. Must be partly because the strap of my messenger bag pulls on that breast. In my usual paranoid fashion, I went back to the piercing parlor (again) for my 3rd check-up in 3 1/2 months. Again, they took a quick look at it and told me it wasn't infected and I didn't have anything to worry about-- but to up my salt soaks. As if I have the ability to bathe my nipples while on campus or chilling in my office. >_< Grr. I picked up more saline wipes as a compromise and I've been packing them on. It seems that the problem is that I actually tore the hole a wee bit (it's considerably looser than the other 3 exit wounds). It's trying to heal the same way most owwies heal, with scabs and pus and that other fun stuff, but it keeps getting stuck to the metal of the barbell which then tugs at the skin and keeps the wound from healing. Fun times. It's not a big pain but I just want it to be better so I can enjoy it (or at least accessorize or something).

And with that, I'm off to take a bath so I can feel a little less like crap and a little closer to human.

G'nite.