Why the F Does Recovery Take So Long?!

I never realized that being sick for three weeks would really mess with my mental and physical state. It's like hitting a new low for the year. My mind felt achy and dull for a really long time and it seems like I am coming out of it with still a slight buzz. Even though I am eating more frequently, I feel like my body's physical state is in terrible condition. My muscles feel like they are shriveling up, and the first workout I went to since I got back was pretty damn hard. I doubt I will feel sore because I struggled the whole time trying to keep up and didn't.

Chicago hasn't really been snowy this year but it doesn't mean it doesn't get cold. These days, with the degrees below the 20's, I just feel like staying home reading, playing around with my art, listening to music, chatting with people, and working on my Etsy site and trying to find local places where I can display my mugs. In the last six days, I have been working and obsessing over it. The fact that I actually did it, made me realize that maybe I shouldn't have. Now I gave myself another thing to worry about. Haha! At the moment I found three places locally here that would be willing to see my work. I am just learning how difficult the world of art and craft is. Seller's permit, consignment deals, renting tables and spaces. How do people start without that much volume? I suppose I'll learn a lot this year by taking the plunge.

Like last year, I'll set my goals on my blog, and probably by the end of 2013 look over it and see if I was able to semi-complete some of it.

Work on a website and focus more on my art. I started to do that the last year, but I guess I need to get the wheels turning a little more.

Network. I meant to do that last year and never did. God damn it, it will happen this year! I separated all the meetup groups that are more for social networking, from the ones that are for my craft and goal to do art for game developers.

Run the Hot Chocolate and maybe some other races. These things are expensive though... so maybe I'll just say run outdoors in the Spring until the weather gets blistering hot because of Summer.

I will never be able to stop procrastinating on my computer... so I won't make a goal for that.

Also, I want to thank Helen for the greeting card! While I was sick it was nice to open something other than bills and junk mail. I look forward to our Boston/Chicago trip in April!

When I came back I really wanted to see my friends, but I guess being sick, and it being a long three day weekend means most people are out of town. I did however get to see Stella and Christina for sushi, so I was really happy today! They saved me from a mediocre long weekend, and from obsessing over things and re-evaluating what I am doing this year.

This morning I decided to play around with my characters for Valentines Day. Here's some mucho love for all of you. Send one to someone you like!

Back From The Far East And As Sick As A Dog!

After being gone from the states for almost a whole month, I have to say, that I have never been more happy to be home after going to China and Myanmar. For my first international trip, it was pretty epic. I saw a world and culture pretty different from the one I have known my whole life and now I have a greater appreciation for the quality of life I have.

BEIJING- THE HERO'S STEELE AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY

We went to the Great Wall the next day and did the Hero's Steele climb. The incline along the path was pretty steep. I totally felt out of shape doing this hike. While Ping Jing went to the restroom, I noticed a bunch f cats coming out of the hole in the wall like rats. They were pretty cute.

Someone must be feeding them since it's cold around the Great Wall.

GARGH! Great Wall!

McDonald's and taro and pineapple pie! My first encounter with candied haw fruit! I only had it as haw flake candy as a kid. The real fruit is so much better!

The Forbidden City was pretty nice. It certainly reminds me of the Dynasty Warrior games on Play Station. It seems fortresses and walls were built around huge cities as a good defensive measure against neighboring cities and threats. I don't recall other countries building walls around entire cities.... just castles and palaces. Either that, or they just had forts in certain places.

Forbidden City

KARAOKE! Not much more I can say about that!

Sing!

They serve food at karaoke. The song selections were much better too!

XI'AN- THE TANDEM BIKING, WILD GOOSE PAGODA, AND THE HOSPITAL

When we left Beijing and got into Xi'an that afternoon we found a lot of good eats. Cumin lamb skewers and candied haw! When we got to the hotel her friend booked, we were horrified at how dirty the place was and how cold it was. I felt pretty dehydrated.... and the next day everyone ended up with a bit of a fever. This was probably the shittiest place we stayed in the whole trip. We moved to a Super 8 Motel after that.The following morning we went to the old wall to bike.

Met up with Ping Jing's friend Jessica and visited the Old Wall

 Since I don't really bike, Ping Jing and I rode a tandem bike. I had no idea that I had control over the seat she was sitting on until much later when she was wondering why it kept turning. Haha.

You can tandem bike all along the wall

 We climbed up to the 7th story of the Wild Goose Pagoda in the afternoon. I started to feel crappy and strangely not hungry at all after the morning....

Not feeling so good...

By the evening I started to vomit. At first Ping Jing thought I just needed to vomit what I ate that morning and I would be okay after that. But then, for the next hour or so I kept vomiting and dry heaving. When I started to feel like I was losing consciousness, we went to the hospital. The first hospital said they didn't treat foreigners so we went to another one. The smell of the streets and the poor air quality made me feel nauseous. I have never been more scared and sick in my entire life. The hospital hooked me up with some IV, antibiotic fluids, and stomach medicine I had to take orally. I vomited that out during the night.That was New Year's Eve and New Year Day. We missed the Terra Cotta Warriors because I was sick. At this point I was thinking about how I wanted to either go back home to America or go straight to Myanmar. After getting through the worst part, I decided I should keep going because I might not come back again and that this wasn't going to kill me.

TRANSITION POINT CHENGDU- BED REST

The next day we flew to Chengdu. Since I was still feeling sick and unwell, I stayed at the next place we booked sleeping the day away before we leave for the mountains. It made me think about how terrible it must be to live in a place where the air smells terrible. It was a mixture of pollution from factories, cars, smoking, and food. My body really hurt the following day after getting out of the hospital. I also was afraid of eating at this point and haven't eaten in the last two days since the night in the hospital.

This is actually in Chengdu after I got out of the hospital

Since this was almost a 3 week trip, I won't be able to post more about it till I get photos.