Sanity

My Facebook status is all about how I'm not furiously writing my dissertation, but it's clever as opposed to whiny (I reserve the whining for you, dear blog readers). I know why I'm not writing. I don't want to. I'm enjoying reading for fun and sleeping late and finishing projects around the house. I'm enjoying spending all day on the internet. There is no pressure. And the semesters are all pressure for me. But it is the end of June and I have to start writing. I have to finish at least one chapter this summer (two would be better). I'd like to be able to graduate in the Spring, which is crazy talk (4/4 load AND self-imposed deadlines).

I still like my topic, but it's work. Also, two of chapters are articles that are coming out this year. And they damn good, if I do say so myself (one is in press, the other in proof, and I was amazed by how smart I was when checking the edits in each). And they took SO MUCH WORK to be that good, and now I have to dismantle them. It's scary. The other two chapters have seminar and conference paper drafts. So I have places to start. This is all very good. Bah, I just have to make myself do it until I get sucked in.

I started a new migraine med a week and a bit ago, gabapentin. The sheet that came with it was all scary with a list of horrible side effects and a whole paragraph(!) devoted to SUICIDE with SUICIDE as a side effect in BIG BOLD LETTERS three times. Scared the crap out of me. Then I started taking it, and I feel all happy and normal.

The first thing I did was spend three days cleaning the kitchen--not just doing dishes, but taking care of all of the projects that we have been putting off. And I have been able to force myself to exercise. The first day I did it because I couldn't sit down and was just pacing our tiny hall. I still have one big household cleaning thing to do (which I'm waiting on because I need Husband's help and he's got a painting deadline this week), but then clean the floors and I'm done. I feel like a sane person, who does things when they need to be done (except write my diss obviously).

So anyway after having this side effect that is not listed anywhere on my fact sheet from the pharmacy, I did a little internet research. It turns out that happiness and sanity are very common side effects with this drug. It's also used to treat meth addiction. And I can't find anything that says it interacts with birth control pills, so that also makes me happy.