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If you all aren't careful, I'm going to end up with a big head.

...not that I'm complaining or anything.

First, one of my entries was nominated for a Diarist.Net award. That was pretty exciting, although I'm up against some stiff competition. It's an honor just to be nominated and all...

Then, there's been the email. You people have been sending me tons of email. I was buried, up until three hours ago when I started replying to it all. I'm almost caught up. Almost.

A lot of it has been really helpful. I've gotten advice on the Pill, on gynecologist visits, on urinary tract infections, on birth control in general, on long-distance relationships and on relocating to other places to be with the Significant Other. I've really appreciated everything everyone has sent me.

Finally, there's been the general fan mail. That just blows me away.

I have two voices in my head that influence my writing. (There are actually many more voices in my head than that, but I'm only going to discuss the two. I don't have all night, after all.) The first voice swaggers around, and is all "Yo, I told ya ya could write, girl!" She's not always loud, but I like it when she says stuff to me. "You need to devote all of Sunday to writing out that story we've been working on for a while. It's already written in your head, you just need to get it on paper. It's brilliant!" She's my Muse.

The other voice is much louder and more obnoxious. She says, "Why bother," a lot, and never likes what I write. "It's all tripe, it's all trash. Just delete it and sit in a dark room for a while until you get over this needing to write thing." She's my Anti-Muse.

Anyway, the fan mail shuts Anti-Muse right up, and Muse goes over to kick Anti-Muse's ass around for a bit. Meanwhile, I file the email in a folder named Ego Masturbation and float around for a while. (When Anti-Muse is on one of her rampages, I'll pull out the Ego Masturbation folder and read all the messages again. Makes me feel better.)

I love you guys. I really do.

The Reason for the Sneezin'

Today I dropped by my parents' house to pick up some mail (the next ER bill came, joy) and they invited me to go on a hike with them.

It's been a long time since I was on a serious hike. I'm more inclined to walks rather than hikes. Hikes are hard work. You have to think about where you're putting your feet. You have to watch out for poison ivy and scary spiders and big holes in the ground. Walks are more leisurely, not as strenuous, and lets your mind wander.

But I agreed anyway. I went home, changed into some jeans and boots, and we drove up to a nearby reservoir. The boaters and jet-skiers were out in full force, since it was beautiful, warm, sunny day. I watched them enviously before we disappeared into the trees.

We hiked a (very small) section of the Buckeye Trail, half an hour in and half an hour out.

It was a good hike. I was a little hot in my jeans, but I was thankful for them later when my dad found a tick on his leg. We saw tiny little frogs, lots of red-tailed hawks, ducks, geese, a rabbit, and I found a dead mouse. My mom found some marijuana growing alongside the trail; since it's a plant native to Ohio, the forest services doesn't go out of their way to eradicate it. (Yes, we left the marijuana where it was.)

Tonight, I feel really tired. It's been so long since I did anything that strenuous, I'm really out of shape. There were lots of hills, and the trail was rather tricky at times. (At one point we had to jump across a washed-out dam.) I worked up quite a sweat, so much so that I felt the need to sponge off and change my shirt before going grocery shopping later in the afternoon.

But it's a nice tired. It's a good tired. My legs are just slightly sore in the calves, and my thighs are starting to tingle. For some reason my arms are achy, too, but since I didn't do anything with my arms I think they're just sympathy pains for my legs. And I may have sunburned my lips again.

Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight.

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I was getting all ready to upload this entry when I realized I'd never mentioned anything having to do with sneezing, as per the heading for this section. So insert some witty comments about my allergies, or hiking and allergies, or hiking and allergies and large game animals. Thank you.