July 24, 2013

Trying to sleep last night was like a horrendous joke. I probably slept about four hours in two hour increments. It started with trying to find a position to sleep. I have a persistent chigger bite on the back of my right ear which means I can't sleep on my right side or on my back without aggravating it. And I can't sleep on my left side because of my eye. This leaves me with laying on my back slightly tilted to the left. And I was trying to keep my head somewhat elevated to maybe prevent swelling in my eye. Not only is that not my normal sleeping position, it is pretty uncomfortable. But I kind of managed it for a minute or two. And then the chigger bites on my ankles started to hurt. They weren't itchy, they were just painful. So I got up and put some Benadryl on them but that takes awhile to have an effect so in the meantime I read a whole bunch about chiggers.

Putting clear fingernail polish on chigger bites is a myth because that is based on the idea that chiggers burrow into your skin and the polish suffocates them. But chiggers don't burrow into your skin. They just bite you and inject you with a an enzyme that liquifies your insides so they can drink it up. This enzyme also hardens the area surrounding the bite, creating a straw that the chiggers and drink from. Terrifying.

The Benadryl still hadn't kicked in yet so I played some Euro Truck Simulator 2, driving to Paris for the first time. I also have to say that of the places I have gone so far, I really enjoy the the English countryside. It just looks to inviting.

When I finally went back to bed I somehow managed to fall asleep. And was awakened about two hours later when my chigger bites started to hurt again. Apparently Benadryl only lasts about two hours. So I got up, put more Benadryl on, read my book a little, made more deliveries in Euro Truck Simulator 2, paced back and forth for awhile, and eventually got another two hours of sleep. It was a really long and uncomfortable night to say the least.

On the plus side, my eye was only little bit swollen in the morning. Much better than being almost completely swollen shut the morning before. But it was still pretty red and kind of scary looking so I let my mom cover the library in my place. And I was tired as hell from getting very little sleep. Throughout the day the chigger bite on my ear has been a nuisance but my ankles haven't bothered me, so my fingers are crossed that will continue when I try to sleep tonight. If not, I am going to see if I can find the WD-40 because my dad said it works wonders on chigger bites, and I saw this confirmed on the internet. Hopefully it doesn't come to that but I'm willing to try almost anything at this point.

My day was spent taking a nap, playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Trials Evolution and Cube World, watching TV, and watching YouTube videos. And popping pills. At least one of which seems to be having a positive effect on my eye and forehead. Maybe it is a combination of two of them or all three. I will never know. I'll also never actually know what the hell happened to my eye and forehead in the first place. That kind of sucks because I would like to know if it was something I did or didn't do that I could avoid or not avoid in the future.

In Euro Truck Simulator 2 I now have enough money to buy a truck and start working for myself rather than taking odd jobs but I think I am going to hold off until I can get the more expensive truck that I want, which also requires a higher level. I should have more than enough money by the time I reach that level to get my truck, and maybe start hiring other drivers. I'm going places.

Tonight was Chipotle night but I wasn't really interested in making the trip but my sister and her significant other offered to go so I consented. It was pretty good. Then I went back to watching videos and driving a truck. It was a very exciting day.

If my eye is still doing alright in the morning and I get more than a little bit of sleep tonight, I plan on going to work in the morning. So I can go back to reading my book, listening to the radio, and working on my cross stitch. My life continues.