11 in 2011

Reverb 10

December 11: 11 Things
What are 11 things your life doesn't need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them?
How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?
(Author: Sam Davidson)

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I'm not going to answer the second question; it requires too much thinking. And I refuse to answer the Captain Obvious third question.

1. Migraines, or pseudotumor or whatever else my neurologist thinks I might have. I just refer to them as hellish headaches. I have had a headache every day since January 2009. A couple of times a month, the headache is unbearable. It can last up to a week. I've missed work. I've thrown up. I've blacked out. I get dizzy. My vision starts to blur. I curl up in a ball and cry.
2. Clutter. I always wonder how it's possible that I have so much crap in my apartment. I started cleaning this weekend, and I got rid of a lot of stuff; yet there still seems to be clutter strewn about in different rooms.
3. Belly jelly. This year I played in 3 volleyball leagues. Unfortunately, it looks like two of my teams are splitting up (or possibly fortunately...after playing with them for years, I could use a break). But now that means I need to get off my lazy butt and get rid of this belly jelly. I think I'll run the Capitol 10K again in March, which means I need to start running again so that I can beat my time from last year.
4. Ugly, fragile knees. Due to years of playing volleyball with no knee pads, my knees have taken a beating. I usually have a new bruise after every game, and I have a permanent scar from bleeding game after game. A little girl was sitting in front of me at the UT game last month and she told her mom, "She has boo boos." If the bruises weren't enough, it's getting to the point where I feel like my ligaments are about to rip. My left knee gets pretty swollen, and there are times a searing pain shoots through it during my game. Last week as I ran after the ball, the pain caused me to scream and brought tears to my eyes. I'm afraid that one night I will be playing and my knee will finally give out and all the ligaments will tear apart. And then I think of my insurance deductible and our crappy high-deductible plan.
5. Bills, bills, bills. Okay, I will still have my regular monthly bills. There's no getting away from those. I would like to try to put a dent in my college loans, but I don't really see that happening. You see, I work for a non-profit, which is apparently an excuse to pay us barely enough to scrape by. I'm not over-exaggerating; and no, I don't spend outlandishly.
6. Lack of happy hours. There once was a time that BJ and I would go to happy hour almost every Thursday. Now my happy hour outings are few and far between. This must be remedied in 2011. I need my fill of chips, queso and margaritas!
7. Ipod nano, 1st generation. Yes, they still exist. I must replace it with a new ipod soon. I finally reached the limit on the amount of songs that I can upload, and that is no bueno. Especially because I've been listening to Pandora a lot at work. I keep a draft email to myself, and whenever I hear a song that I like, I write down the artist's name and song title. I usually let the list build up for a week, and then I do a massive download. It's frustrating that I can't listen to my new purchases in the car (yay for auxiliary connections) because they won't fit on my ancient ipod.
8. My ex's t-shirts. Yeah, I don't know why I still have some of his shirts. And no, I don't wear them. It just happened that I came across them while cleaning out my closet and drawers earlier today. Oh wait, there is one shirt that I do wear. It's long-sleeved, and I love long-sleeved shirts. I don't have many, and it is one of my favorites. Do I have to throw that one out, too?
9. Fear of the unknown. My cautious nature prevents me from taking chances in all aspects of my life. I'm worried that I'm going through the motions of life without really living.
10. Choo choo bullshit train. This is an inside joke that Courtney and I share. But to give a quick explanation: A boy enters your life; things look promising; things start dying down; it appears boy makes an exit from you life; then boy randomly reappears; things look promising again; repeat (and repeat, and repeat). Throughout the whole train ride, you hope that when your phone goes off - whether it be the sound of your ringtone or text message or even facebook notification - that it will be his name appearing on the screen. When it isn't him, you are bummed; when it is him, you get excited again. But after riding the train for so long, you finally get to the point that when it is him on the other end, you think "oh crap, here comes the choo choo bullshit train again." C-Rat and I have a penchant for riding these types of trains.
11. My snippy snappy attitude. Psshh. Like that's going to happen.