i’ve been resmacked. the first time was last November. the second time was yesterday:

We?ve got a tweaked WordPress template. Not bad, not great. Eh.

Two sidebars. One is dedicated to links and junk with a couple of personal things tossed in. The second is all that blogroll and recent comments/posts/categories thing. Oddly, she has a rolled up blogroll but a huge category list that is not rolled up and more recent comments than recent posts. There are way too fucking many recent comments. I marvel at the brightness in rolling up the blogroll but leaving the categories sitting there hogging shit. I don?t get it. As far as double sidebars go, I?ve seen worse. I?ve seen better too so eh on that too.

Ok, she whores her Rent My Blog person which I guess is kinda nice. She?s got some medical problems. She?s bi-polar and a huge part of her blog discusses her experiences and feelings associated with it. (Categories show 132 posts regarding manic depression. The next highest is blogs and internet.)

She ?cat blogs.? ~swoons~ One of her cats looks exactly like my retarded kitten.

Now, I?ve seen some of the other bitches gripe about archives. I generally don?t because who the fuck really reads them anyway and because I sorta hide mine as well. However, I now see why this annoys the other bitches so much. Clicking on a category gives you a whole page of stuff ?mostly? about that thing but I don?t have enough minutes in my day to look at all categories. I guess this proves my ?who really looks? theory.

She links to someone I cannot fucking stand, heh. Do I care? Why no, no I don?t.

What I do care about is the lack of uppercase lettering. As I regularly point out, only I can do the lowercase thing–only in comments and only if I?m on my ancient laptop. She says in one of her posts that she?s an excellent typist with only 2% error rate. I?m going for 99% error rate because capitalization is your friend. You can?t claim to be an excellent typist if hitting the shit key makes you break out in hives.

In summation, I kinda like this blog. I could probably read it every now and again. She does write reasonably well though it is a bit dry. It?s not completey terrible. It?s not great either. It?s just a person blogging about her life. Sometimes that?s interesting and sometimes it?s not. And that?s her blog, sometimes interesting, sometimes not.

However, as a Canadian born person who is less than thrilled with the US these days, I hate Chicago with a passion. (You?ll see where that statement makes no sense. Go with it anyway.) It?s where I developed my irrational fear of bridges. Do I care that she lives there? Why no, no I do not.

Constructive criticism: Roll up your categories. Reduce the number of people commenting. Get a better template. Never accidently get on the skylane at 3 AM. The ?last? year thing at the end of every post is kind of annoying. Do something about that.

i’m not complaining. i improved since the last review, and of the 3 total blogs reviewed yesterday, i was the only one who got smacked. go, me! and i love the post title: I’ll take the manic chick for $500, Alex. note that i submitted my blog for review knowing that it could get completely torn up.

Bitter Bitch, the reviewer, has brought up a lot of valid points, including a reminder for me to start looking for a designer. she’s right–my blog reflects my life: sometimes it’s interesting, sometimes it’s not. it was far more interesting before i was diagnosed, but not particularly stable, either. i don’t think my writing is normally dry, but i admit that lately i’ve had a hard time fighting my mood states to get anything done–including blogging. it’s like i have word constipation. just. can’t. get. themmmmmm……out.

i may be trying out different templates over the next few days, just to see how they look. what do you guys think about the double sidebars on one side? should i just have one sidebar? what about categories? i agree, there are way too many there and i’ve been in the (slow) process of combining some to delete others. do people really look at those, or at monthly archives? i would love any and all suggestions.

Almost an Angel is a lawyer, a mom, and supporter of our troops in Iraq–not of the war, mind you–of our troops. she also has a son stationed there. her current post is about the Adopt-A-Platoon Program, in which she participates. she will be blogging about her adopted soldier soon, so make sure you keep clicking on her thumbnail, ok? i have also known Almost an Angel for over a year and she’s a very good blog friend. go say hi!!!

as you all know, i can only have one tenant at a time. thanks to everyone who bid. if i didn’t choose you this time, please try bidding again, ok?

i’ve felt really “off” these past few days, and i can’t put my finger on it. it’s anxiety of some sort, that’s for sure, probably based on the whole sleep thing, and going to therapy. i’ve decided to take a break from therapy until the sleep issues are resolved. i can’t stand going to so many doctors/healthcare providers all the time.

that’s why i blew off seeing the ENT for so long. i guess it’s a good thing that i finally saw him because he caught my sleep problems, which is probably a big part of my depression. who wouldn’t be depressed if they didn’t get enough sleep? for years? i always thought the dark circles under my eyes were just part of how i look.

i feel bored and…empty. not spiritualy empty, just emotionally empty. i’m not sure how to describe it. maybe this is the “flat” feeling i’ve read other bipolars describe on their blogs? whatever it is, i don’t like it.

i’m looking forward to the new week.

I have mild sneep apnea. The doctor thought I was tested for 2 nights instead of just one, so now I have to go back! Argh. At least I know what to expect this time — and I’ll try to take better pictures. Also, Omnibus Driver pointed out that the 2 straps they wrap around your torso, for which I couldn’t see any obvious purpose, actually measures “the rise and fall of your chest and abdomen to get a feel for how much oxygen you are or aren’t taking in.” In other words, they’re important.

As for treatment, instead of a CPAP machine, I may undergo the pillar procedure, which is a relatively new treatment that’s done in the doctor’s office. As it happens, my doctor is one of the guys who developed this. Three tiny, little, pillar-shaped implants are inserted into your palate in order to stiffen it to lessen the vibration. A soft palate vibrates, which is what causes the snoring, and sometimes it collapses, which is what causes the blockage of airflow while sleeping. As I understand it, the pillar procedure is for people who have mild to moderate sleep apnea and may not be covered by all insurance companies.

Because of my constant sleepiness and lack of energy, the doctor thinks that I might have narcolepsy. When he said this, I twisted around in my chair to face him, and was like, “What?! I’ve seen movies in science class, and I’m not like that! I don’t fall asleep while I eat, or anything like that.” He and Brian laughed, and the doctor said those were the worst cases, that there are varying degrees of narcolepsy. Um, OK.

Now, I have to get yet another sleep test in which they put me in a dark room to see if I fall asleep. If I do, they let me sleep for 15 – 30 minutes. They wake me up, and I have to stay awake for 2 hours and read or watch TV. (This is done during the day, by the way.) Then they put me in a dark room again to see if I fall asleep. Repeat 3 more times. I have to have these tests done so the doctor will know the right way to proceed with my treatment. He mentioned the drug Provigil, which I only know about because the pdoc thought about prescribing it to me. Instead, we tried the Ritalin first.

I just want all this to be over with!!!