annie are you ok?

so now that my majorly huge ireland post is out of the way, i can start blogging normal again. it's weird how i felt like i couldn't really tell you anything until that was done. whatever. i'm happy i did it, finally. i hope you all read and enjoyed.

a few things to tell you before i am off to sleep. or, "sleep" as it's been lately.

nice segway.

.....i started taking a new allergy medicine the other day. after my 'wait a sec, my allergy medicine isn't really working' epiphany i decided to go to the pharmacy and see what was up. so, i had been researching and researching online about all the different drugs and types and dosages and brands and oh my god there are so many drugs. here was my situation:

---i was currently taking 10mg of certirizine (zyrtec), an antihistimine, every night before bed. it lasted for 24 hours.
---the med i wanted to switch to was 5mg of certirizine and 120mg of pseudoephedrine (zyrtec-d). the pseudoephedrine is a decongestant, which i wasn't getting before.

my question was this: if i'm taking 10mg of certirizine right now and it's doing nothing, would it be smart to switch down to 5mg? does the decongestant really help that much?

i thought it was a fair question. and, i had researched EVERYWHERE, and the don't make a 10mg certirizine, 120mg pseudoephedrine combo.

SO. the normal zyrtec is available OTC, but the fancier one you have to take the little card to the pharmacy to get because of the pseudoephedrine. so, i brought it up and said that i wanted to talk to the pharmacist. she was on a phone call, but i could wait in the "questions for the pharmacist area." great.

so, i waited for her. her name was Dorota, which made me happy because that is the name of Blair's hilarious housekeeper on Gossip Girl. i wanted to ask her the question about switching from 10mg to 5mg, but she kept cutting me off! and she would just tell me that i should definitely switch because the decongestant would really help with my stuffiness and YES it was a good idea.

so FINALLY, i got in a word with her. i said, "okay, i still have a question." and i asked my question. and she said,

DOROTA: Hm, this is 5mg?
JULIE: Yeah. And I was taking -
DOROTA: 10mg?
JULIE: Yeah..
DOROTA: Okay, let me see if we have this in a 10mg....
JULIE: (i know that you don't because i've already researched it online.)
DOROTA: It looks like they don't make it like that. Hm, that's funny. Let me check the computer......(checks computer).....No, they don't make it.
JULIE: Do you think it will make a difference?
DOROTA: (thinks for a minute) No, I think it will still be better. Because once you have the decongestant you'll definitely start to feel better.
JULIE: What about for itchy, burning eyes?
DOROTA: Oh!! Here, you'll want to get these eye drops (writes it down), these are what I take. They work great, and no more burning, itchy eyes!
JULIE: Great! Thanks so much.

so, i have new allergy medicine and new eye drops!!!! christmas come early!!!!! it was substantially more expensive. and, i only got enough allergy medicine for 6 days because i wasn't sure how it would work.

but the eye drops were the killer. $14.99 for a little bottle. YIKES. before i was paying like, $4.97.

and the allergy medicine is different because they are only 12 hour tablets, so i take 2 a day. and i had to pick two times during the day when i would most likely be awake. and i realized this was hard. so, i took the first one at midnight, and then the second one at noon. it's been working pretty well. today i didn't take one until 2pm, so i just took the second at 2am.

but MAN, what a difference!!!! I CAN BREATHE!!!!!! for serious. GOOD PURCHASE. i mean, i'm still sneezing a lot. but i DEFINITELY notice an improvement. and the eye drops are wonderful. i put like, 2 drops in in the morning and my eyes are good for the day!!! incredible!!

but, the pseudoephedrine really is awesome. when i bought it from the pharmacy, i had to show my license and then sign a thing promising i wouldn't start a meth lab. i said, "i promise." but after seeing how well the drug worked i got so angry at all those meth lab workers!!!! i mean, COME ON. if you are stuffy from using meth then hmm....maybe you shouldn't do meth. you are just using for fun what some people really need. i curse you non-allergy sufferers who are users of meth!!!!

but, downside - i can't sleep. i feel with you here, meth users. like, i fall asleep fine, but then i've been waking up a million times during the night and it's sooo hard to fall back to sleep. i guess it's a small price to pay for a more enjoyable day. although, not enjoyable if i'm tired.

anyways, that is my allergy success story. we're almost at total relief, friends.

.....in other news, i don't have a phone. after 6 enjoyable years, my cell phone finally decided it was too old to work. i guess i don't blame it. it had slowly been dying over the recent years. i have been browsing new phones and plans, and i should have one fairly soonish. but not right now. believe me, i am enjoying this more than you know.

.....also, my laptop has crashed like, 3 times in the past 2 days. and i just want to say that if my laptop and my cell phone both die in the same summer i will not be happy. i mean, it's HIGHLY possible. my cd drive no longer works. i'm 95% sure there is some kind of undectable virus somewhere on here.

and, they say death comes in three, so why not throw in my car too?!! that thing has been running pretty horribly. i should say, "running" pretty horribly. it's super hard to drive at slow speeds. and acceleration isn't really happening. some cars boast, "0 to 60 in ten seconds." mine is like, "0 to 60 in three minutes."

but hey, if my cell phone, laptop and car all die in the same summer, i suppose it would be kind of incredible.

.....and, they say death comes in three. ed mcmahon. farrah fawcett. michael jackson. sad and weird. love to their families.

.....i have some other things i want to post. links. the fun section!!!

--- the first thing i am very excited about. it's an article called, 'The 21 Best Web Comics.' now, this may seem unrelated but it's not!!!! BECAUSE!!!! my super awesome famous canadian relatives are NUMBER 11!!!!! everyone should go read their comic, The Joy of Tech. i've been super excited to share this all day. i've had the tab to the article open for like, 13 hours. no joke. :)

---"Olivia Wilde is so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands." - Top 10 Megan Fox Quotes. i.just.don't.know.what.to.say. i can't stand megan fox. and these quotes aren't like, made up by David Letterman for a joke. they are things she ACTUALLY said in interviews. they could be a Letterman top 10 though, because they're so ridiculous and she comes off as dumb and arrogant. UGH.

---now, we have a two-sided debate. United States v. Cuba. am i right? i don't know if anyone is following the story of the Cuban Five.....the five cubans who were arrested in miami for being "spies" and were thrown into prisons around the country and they were just denied an appeal to their case. i saw the first article on CNN.com and then immediately said, "ooo i hope there is an article about this on the Granma!!" (the cuban newspaper) and there was!!! so, please read. it's like they are completely different stories.
CNN
Granma
Please read. it's seriously important. and, i think, pretty interesting. especially to read the Cuban article and to see how much support these five men have around the world. for serious. it's like, every major city worldwide has tributes to these guys. they are heroes in Cuba. i was reading the CNN article thinking, "man, i have no idea how powerful the media is in this country."

---i saw STAR TREK!!!!!! no, i really did. and it was totally awesome!!! i bet you didn't know that i used to watch The Next Generation on tv all.the.time when i was younger. i have a clear memory of making up a dance to the theme song of Star Trek in my family room and thinking, "wow, this could be a really great dance!" so, i embraced that memory and went to go see the movie with my dad and kara as a father's day celebration. and it was so great. yeah, four stars for Star Trek. five stars for the hotties in Star Trek. Spock and Kirk? forserious. they could have called the movie, Hottie Trek. and, there are seriously a ton of famous people in this movie! i couldn't believe it. i realized sitting in the theater that i had not even seen the trailer for this movie. no tv spots. nothing. weird, right? but, it was awesome. those Lost guys are pretty crazy. OSCAR PREDICTION: Best Visual Effects. actually, prediction that it will do well in all the technical categories.

---i bet you're all wondering what i'm thinking about the changes for next year's Oscar ceremony. TEN BEST PICTURES NOMINEES?!?!!? i am not happy about this. think about it, there are 12 months in a year. that means that a 'best picture' will be released almost every month of the year. NO. NO NO NO!!! Hmm..what will be June's best picture? The Hangover? the 8 millionth Ice Age? Bruno?? COME ON. being one of the five nominees was special and classy. now, they're just gonna throw in a bunch of other non-worthy movies. i disagree. unapprove.

---speaking of unworthy oscar nominated films....i finally finished Benjamin Button. what a snoozefest. this almost three hour movie was based on a 7 page story. it was like, sooooo draggy in some parts, and then in some of the really important parts, they just zipped by. i was like, "what...they're not gonna spend more time on....oh, okay, we're moving on..."

wanna see the movie? here, i'll show it to you:


THIS IS WHAT THEIR FACES LOOKED LIKE THROUGH THE WHOLE THING. Brad Pitt seriously has no other expression. and if he does, it's a computer making his digital face smile. unbelievable. and he maybe has like, 2 pages of on screen dialogue. the rest is voice over. for all we know, he could have been sitting in a recliner in his bathrobe saying those lines. "oh wow, let's give him a nomination!" "yeah! great idea!" WHAT?! NO!?! no great idea!!!! i mean, yeah, it's an interesting story but let's credit that to Mr. Fitzgerald. they totally bombed the story on film.

Taraji P. Henson was the only good part about it. she played Benjamin's mother and she was great. i loved watching her. good job. nomination was worth it.

Pitt? i like him when he wears fancy suits, steals casinos and eats sandwiches. that's about all.


well. alright. i think i've just about exhausted my allotted time for your internet attention. i'm gonna go try and get some sleep. kitty has no problem with that. she's been tired because she's constantly on Finding Bug Patrol. it never stops. hard work, though.

have a great day. i think it's friday. so, that's good. any plans for the weekend? i do. i bought hefty super trash bags today and i am going to clean out my recycling closet. more about this later. i'll post pictures.

love you! goodnightall.