Newness in Allison's Land

It is entirely possible that there a few people out there who read my blog because they are curious about my life, and are not so interested in my random, phylisophical rants. I am dedicating this post to you.

There is lots new in my life right now. For instance, today I picked up keys to my new apartment. I will move in after the wedding, but the bf will be moving in soon. It's really nice. I like it alot. In fact, I am very excited. I have never had my name on a lease before.

Yesterday, I bought my wedding dress. That is such a load off my mind. I love my honey very much, and I do want to be married to him, but sometimes I am frustrated with the whole getting married process. Give me a preist, and the people I care about, and that is enough for me. I am doing my best to stream line the details. The dress is beautiful, and more importently, makes me feel beautiful. After all, the event is about me, not the dress, right?

Lastly, I am leaving for Santa Fe, New Mexico on the first. Me and three other girls from work are piling into a truck, and driving off into the sunset. I am sure it will be a very interesting trip! I am returing a week later.

I hope everything is going well, and is exciting, with all of you. Happy New Year! I'll post from Santa Fe if I get a chance.

On Christmas....

It has been said best, already, so I will merely quote a late, great:

"...I am sure I have always thought of Christmastime, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calender of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."

-an excerpt from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, spoken by Scrooge's nephew.

An Ode To Carrots

I eat carrots everyday
How many, did you say?
Two if big, three if small
A sad day is when I have none at all.

I like them because they’re crunchy
They satisfy when I feel munchy
The colour orange cheers me up
Almost as much as a full coffee cup

Finally they are very healthy
Which is far better than making me wealthy
And so I enjoy my daily treat
With a smile on my face, as I put up my feet.

It never rains, but pours

Last week, my major stress was that there were many things that I wanted to happen, that were not happening:
*I wanted the person to whom I gave my paper for editing to give it back to me...with the corrections!
*I wanted to start wedding dress shopping
*I wanted to have some semblance of an idea of where I was going to live after I tied the knot to my intended

This week, I have my paper back and am scrambling to make the many corrections. And there were many. These are not easy corrections like detections of spelling and grammatical errors; rather, phrases like "expand this topic" and "rework this paragraph" litter the margins.

Monday, I went dress shopping for the very first time. I found a dress I like, but, it is unfortunatly a little over my price range. I asked my betrothed if we could skimp on his outfit, in order to make us still come within budget. He used a different phrase on me, but I believe the final message was "no".

Yesterday I called the rental office of an apartment complex that was ideally located, and sounded really good, to see if there were any vacancies, and if not, if I could go on a waiting list. Later yesterday, I found out that a suite just came up for sublet...available January 1st. We are seeing it Thursday.

So, contrary to last week, my major stress is...things are happening!

And, it actually is kinda raining today. :)

Maybe I Should Watch....

I got my annual flu shot yesterday. I like to get vaccines. I figure it gives my immune system practice. You know, keeps it in shape so when I get sick for real, I'm good to go! What I do not like so much is the idea of a long pointy object sticking deep into my flesh, so, I do not watch. The pain does not bother me, rather, the idea of my insides makes me squeamish.

I showed my bf the bandage, proudly, yesterday, after the shot was over.

"Why do you have needle-stick scab below the bandage?" he asked.

"That's not a scab..." I said as I checked it out. But, sure enough, it was. Today, however, I discovered that I had another one underneath the bandage, too. Couldn't tell you which was which, because, as I mentioned, I do not watch.

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. I encourage everyone to show support and solidaratory for the people affected by this disease by wearing a ribbon or saying a word. This is possibly the most devastating infectious disease to face humankind. Recent advances in antiviral treatment have helped improve life conditions for many people, but this is not a cure! Furthermore, not everyone can afford or access these important drugs. What we need to stop this pandemic is a vaccine. Perferably, one that can be made inexpensively and one that does not need to be stored frozen, so it can be easily shipped to the places it's needed most - places like Africa, where in some regions, 20% of people are infected with HIV. Worldwide, over 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Over 3 million have died.

Some of you may not know why I care so deeply about this disease. I work in a research group that studies HIV/AIDS. Our ultimate goal is to help discover a vaccine for HIV. We specifically have a collaboration with the people of Nairobi, Kenya. For twenty years, we have been studying a group of female sex workers. Some of them, despite many years of active sex work, remain uninfected, but we know they have had over a hundred exposures to HIV. Some of them are infected, but remain healthy for many years, in the absence of antiviral treatment. We believe that these women offer hope to the world, that there is a possibility to finding a vaccine, to solving this world problem.