Awkward and Awesome Thursday: Donde Esta Mi Brain???

 

Today is a very Awkward and Awesome Thursday indeed, the most awkward part being that it's actually Friday and not Thursday at all. 

Yes, I forgot again, but I have a really good excuse this time.

Pictured above is the chemical makeup of the prescription drug Amitriptyline Hydrochloride. It is a powerful antidepressant but in low-doses is prescribed for neuropathic pain. Right now, it's what I've been prescribed for my IC discomfort.

I am on a mere 30 milligrams a day, but the nurse practitioner under the specialist I have been seeing of late recommended that I work my way up to 50 mg a day since I have not been experiencing dramatic relief. Yesterday I took a fourth 10 mg pill, bring me up to a whopping 40 mg--about enough to sedate a small hamster.

I swear these things happen to me every now and then just to remind me why I don't do drugs.

I AM SO MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY COMPROMISED RIGHT NOW!

I would call it "high," but that implies a good feeling, and me no likey this one bit! I could write pages and pages of awkwardness resulting from this drug-induced stupor alone!

• Thinking that the combination of a bird flying by and a car driving by equaled a fighter jet about to crash into the house
• Watching the windowsill turn into a snake
• Repeatedly thinking that I heard my host mom pass gas
• Speaking better Spanish when trippy than when alert
• Being immensely fascinated with hairs I find on the couch, peeled skin on my lip, lint on the floor, etc.
• Trying to explain my symptoms to my host mom. Apparently the Spanish word for "throw up" literally translates to "to return." Your food returns to you. Lovely.
• Writing trippy poetry because I'm so bored of being in bed.
• Really wanting french fries and having my host mom tell me "No, not while you're sick. Eat soup . . . and fish." Que???

Okay, I guess you get the point. I could use some prayer right now. I get so frustrated not having full control of my faculties, but the security of knowing that it's just a side-effect of my meds (thank you, internet) has made me feel a little better.

Back to the usual program.

Awkward:

• Saying "estoy caliente" in Spain, which literally translates to "I am hot," apparently implies "I am good in bed." My professor had to teach me this in the middle of class. I should have said "Tengo calor," literally "I have heat."
• Refusing second helpings is harder in another language.
• Plankton of the Spanish Spongebob has a high squeaky voice. It's just not the same.
• I was all excited to have my first dream in Spanish, but then I realized in retrospect that I hardly understood a word they were saying . . . in my own dream.
• In Spain, they don't say "excuse me" or "thank you" in public. And you get weird looks if you do. 
• Facebook blocking my blog. What is this?
• Paella with whole baby squids in it. Tasted good, though.

Awesome:

• "Amitriptyline" autocorrects to "Pantyliners." There's my laugh for the day.
• Being able to walk to school in five minutes and not needing to trek anywhere else until school is over.
• Watching Monk in Spanish <3. How I've missed you, old friend.
• Apple flan. I didn't know that such a thing existed!
• Being told by my host sister that I speak Spanish very well. She "understands me perfectly."
• Writing a fairy tale for class about a boy who gets drunk on mushroom ale he got from a pixie.
• The grandson of our host mom who spends a lot of time over here after school has taken to calling Josh and I "Chaqueta" and "Mesita," which mean "jacket" and "endtable." I have no idea why, but it's hysterical.
• A pillow fight with Miguel (the grandson in the above post)
• Planning travel for spring break.
• Spanish coffee. It doesn't even belong in the same family as Starbucks . . .
• The view here. Period.