Floral Lovelies & Highly Unpleasant Rambling

January 14, 2015; 10:29 pm

Today was just… one of those days. You know the kind of day I’m referring to. The rotten, no-good, terrible, awful, very-bad type of day. I am writing about it now; though it’s nearly eleven pm, I’ve of course managed to unintentionally shake off the faint urge to sleep I had earlier this evening. Please excuse my desire to vent, and feel free to simply peruse the floral photographs and say ‘au revoir’.

Goodness, where do I even begin?

I suppose all icky days begin with an all-too-early start, no? Such was mine this morn… I set my alarm for seven am, and was forced to awake precisely at that time and not a minute later. ‘Why?’, you may be wondering. Well, I’ll tell you why.

Today was my OFII medical appointment. As I am residing in France on a long-term student visa, I was obligated to participate in a standard series of health tests and such to ensure that my wellbeing is 100% A-OK, and that I pose no danger to French citizens. Surprisingly, this bore of a rendezvous may have been the least irritating bit of my day. I was in and out within two hours, cleared as healthy, and in possession of the necessary paperwork to acquire my residence permit. Hurrah.

Unfortunately, however, the weather was not quite as pleased as I was, upon my exit from the OFII premises rain began to pour. The sky was dismal and grey… as luck would have it, the one day this entire week with a frigid, drizzly predicted forecast was the day of my checkup. Because, of course.

I popped into a ‘lil Mono p’ near the Bastille metro stop, and purchased water, coca colas, and a few other itty-bitty everyday necessities, cursing myself all the while for not coming prepared with a durable, reusable shopping bag. The weak plastic sac provided just held together, however, thank goodness. I headed straight back to my flat, despite the early hour. It was around 11 am, I believe. I was shivering from the biting cold and in much need of substantial rest.

At first, all in my apartment was well. I vacuumed the kitchen and my bedroom, then proceeded to wipe down our shared counters with antibacterial wipes. I placed the products I’d purchased earlier in their proper ‘homes’, then quickly showered and dressed in fuzzy, warm pajamas. Around this time is when I noticed… the odd… red… bumps… on my right arm. There were about five or six, each smaller than a penny, and they freaked. me. out. After fifteen minutes of fevered googling, I determined that these raised, colored things on my arm most closely resembled bedbug bites. I then proceeded to freak out even more. This is when I texted my dad, who is currently in Thailand on a business trip, something along the lines of ‘what are these weird bumps on my arm are they bedbug bites omg’, along with a highly unflattering photograph of said ‘bumps’. He did not respond.* Terrific.

And so, I took matters into my own hands and completely unmade my bed, scrutinizing each and every layer of blankets and sheets, searching for any sign of potential bedbugs… little dark stains, tiny reddish dots, actual, live bugs, etc. In my eighteen years of life, I have not experienced a more frightening ten minutes. But… nothing. I breathed a sigh of relief, though was still not completely convinced.  For all I knew, I had missed an integral clue.

I immediately contacted my doctor and booked an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Just in case.

At this point, I was utterly drained. My unusually early start had thrown me off kilter, and I was in no state to run errands, shoot photographs, or meet up with friends out and about in the heart of Paris. Instead, I curled up by the radiator in my room and wasted the afternoon away doing absolutely nothing/everything on the internet, from Pinterest, to publishing to a blog post, and so on and so on. I munched, clicked, and was able to forget my bite(?)-related troubles for a few hours, at least. And then… I became aware of a rather unpleasant sensation ’round my lower back. It took me about five seconds to realize that I had literally burned myself on the boiling radiator, and now had a sensitive, red patch of skin beneath my (apparently) too-thin top.

So, I online shopped. What else is a girl to do when her day has been this freaking – for lack of a better word – bad. Modcloth – kind, sorta, almost – saved the evening. Not really.

And now, here I am. Unable to sleep at 11:02 pm, which is far from ideal. Obviously.

Apologies for the rant, lovelies. But… gah. Tomorrow can’t arrive soon enough. One fresh start, please?

Mercury is SO in retrograde.**

xx Abby

*Update: January 15 – the text messages actually hadn’t gone through. Sorry, dad. I know you care.

**It is, isn’t it? I’m no firm believer in astrology, but when the stars align, right…?

Update: January 15, 2015; 5:07 pm

Welp. It appears as though bedbugs were indeed the bites’ culprit. These next few days sure will be fun.*

*sarcasm.