uprooted

Good, quick, satisfying. Kind of nice to read a book that ends happily. Perhaps I've been reading too much dark or somber stuff, or perhaps the story seemed a little too predictable as I went along, but I expected the Dragon to die and was pleasantly surprised when we get our nod at a happily-ever-after. Would read the sequel if Novik writes one.

whoops-a-daisy

Well, Pakistan's atrocious drivers finally caught up with me. Got into a fender-bender on the way to work this morning when a Prado in front of me first swerved partway into my lane and then braked suddenly to a full stop while straddling the two lanes. For no apparent reason. I hit the brakes hard but bonked into his right rear bumper. Pulled over and got out to look at the damage to our cars. I can't have been going more than 5 mph by the time I bumped him, so apart from the headlight being busted and some warping of the bumper and fender the car's fine. Similar damage to his car. He got some nearby dude to try to interpret, sounded like they were trying to get me to go to a nearby house. Not to put too fine a point on it, but fuck that, I'm not going to some stranger's house to negotiate I don't know what in a language I don't speak. Called my friend AP, who's renting me the car, and he was not fussed at all, just told me to leave and then take pictures once I got to work and send them to him. So that's what I did.

Worried slightly that the guy would follow me after I took off, but he didn't. I'm fine, apart from being irritated. Checked in with myself while I was driving the rest of the way and after I got to the office, my heart rate isn't even elevated.

Glad my first ever car crash was in Pakistan, because in the States the person in back is always at fault and I'd be looking at a hefty rate hike. In this case I truly don't feel at fault. Many don't even use their mirrors. As it is I'm not sure I'll have any liability at all, although if I were AP I'd raise the rate next month. Interested to see how this all shakes out.

goodreads

I made an account on GoodReads years ago but never really used. SRB convinced me to start again. It is a much more efficient way than Blogger to track books read and books to read, and to write down thoughts. I will maintain the 2017 list on here out of inertia but any thoughts and stuff are going over there.

Sundries:

1. I'm now on the two-day break between courses of giardia drugs, so planning to have friends over tonight for white Russians in celebration of the 19th anniversary of the release of The Big Lebowski. It's a very long movie so the festivities will probably not involve a viewing. But the spirit of the Dude will live in us. Now I want to go bowling. No apparent lingering effects of the giardia and had no drug hangover this morning. Inshallah the next course of antibiotics will also not hurt too badly.
2. One of my team members resigned after getting a job on a UN project. He seems kind of ambivalent about it. I recognize the loss but actually that vacancy solves a minor HR issue for me and opens up some possibilities in terms of reshaping the team so that it better fits our mandate. Having two senior-level monitoring and evaluation guys doesn't really make sense.
3. SRB and I had something of a fight, or rather we mutually offended each other unintentionally. My offense worse than hers, in part because I could have headed off the thing that she did easily and quickly but did not, and so let her keep doing it until she put something on FB about it. Then I overreacted. Dumb. However, I bring it up because instead of avoiding it or brushing it off, I apologized completely to her last night and then listened to her explain why her feelings were hurt, which was for the reasons I expected. This is again to draw a contrast with my relationship with CZ, in which we never even really argued and it would have been healthier had we had done so more. Vulnerability is good and, to state the obvious, honesty is good.
4. Have you called or written to your senators and representative today? Today's topic: the ACA.

what the dead know

Eh, not bad. Probably won't remember it very well. 

cure worse than disease

I slept until 11:30 today and woke up feeling badly hung over, despite obviously not having touched alcohol last night. On the plus side, the bloating has diminished and I didn't have diarrhea last night. On the minus side, wouldn't be surprised to find myself quite constipated.

On the super-plus side, had a few friends over last night for a game of celebrity. After several midweek game attempts that flamed out, we actually got six people together at a reasonable hour and went through a full game! So much fun, I love celebrity. And then even got to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Feeling slightly better now after some coffee and cereal with low-fat milk. Giving up booze won't be hard but cutting back on fat will. Gonna eat a lot of plain rice and pasta with veggies and lean meat for the next couple of weeks. Sigh.

giardia

Note: This post is mostly going to be about my bowels.

Diarrhea started Monday afternoon. Figured it was food poisoning from the day before, or even from that day's lunch. Went home early, took some pepto, felt a little better, went to bed. Tuesday was okay although I was a bit bloated and stools alternated between constipated and very soft but not diarrhea-y. No big deal, went to pub quiz at the Brit Club and had a good time finishing right in the middle of the pack (fourth of eight teams). Wednesday the office was closed because of security -- no threat, just that the hotel was hosting a very high-level conference this week so they weren't letting anyone into the complex -- so I worked mostly from SRB's place while she studied. Felt a bit weak but chalked it up to dehydration despite the care I'd taken to stay hydrated; SRB even picked up some ORS for me on the way home from one of her yoga classes. Oh, one side note: I'd also been intermittently burping a lot, and the burps had a very specific taste that didn't seem associated with anything I'd been eating.

Wednesday night (i.e. last night) was rough. Woke at god knows what hour of the night and spent what felt like at least an hour either on the toilet or lying in bed waiting for the need to build back up again. This morning SRB told me to go to the doctor, that it sounded like I had giardia and it can last for weeks untreated. She has a friend who had it and it laid her up for more than a month. Going to the doctor and taking time off work feels like admitting defeat, especially when most of the time I feel alright: minimal to no headache, not feverish, mentally with it. But I said okay and sent TR a message asking for a recommendation.

After he responded I drove all the way out to E-11, about as far out as you can go and still be in Islamabad, to the office of a lovely British doctor named Jenny. She also started the email listserv where many expats post things like leaving-town furniture sales, recommendations for Urdu tutors, etc. She took a history and confirmed: classic giardia. Rx is two separate courses of targeted (i.e. not broad-spectrum, not Cipro) antibiotics of five days each with a two-day break in between.

She also took my blood pressure and it came out at 135/90, which is normal-ish for me. I've had BP in that range at least since I was 19, although sometimes it tests in the normal range. But it alarmed her a bit, apparently her brother-in-law had a stroke at 35. All three internists I've had as an adult* both told me not to worry about it too much, maybe watch the salt a little. Anyway Jenny prevailed on me to get a cuff and measure once a month just to monitor the situation.

All in all a productive day so far. It'll actually be good not to drink for two weeks. Alcohol intake hasn't been especially high recently but never hurts to take a complete break. Still planning to have some people over tonight for a game of celebrity, which will be a fun last hurrah before I start the drugs and am possibly nauseous for ten of the next 12 days.

*That guy I saw one time when I first moved to DC doesn't count, he was a weirdo and his practice was terrible.