Even in Australia

This week hasn't been good to me so far, & it's only Tuesday. I recognize that a majority of these are #firstworldproblems, but they're still affecting my life & my mood. I'm trying to keep it all together & stay upbeat (see also: soy chai, "Next Iron Chef," a little bit of shopping), but sometimes a girl just needs to rant.

• Last night my computer began sending me threatening messages like, "SECURITY BREACH!" & "STEALTH INTRUSION!" No joke. It was like my laptop wanted to play Battleship with me. Today, it wouldn't let me do a damn thing - red alerts all over the place. Our IT guy couldn't fix it remotely, so I paid $66 to overnight it to him in New York in the hopes he can fix it before our major conference next week - for which I need it.
  
  
• I am sick. Not, like, I've-got-a-cold sick, but that lethargic, feeling-like-crap, headachey, body-achey sick. It's probably a result of stress, but it doesn't feel good.
  
  
• Yesterday morning I learned that a high school peer died in October after a car accident. I didn't really know him, but he had just graduated from seminary & was doing great things with his life, especially with his passion for making houses of worship accessible to people with disabilities. What a tragic loss.
  
  
• I went to bed at 9pm last night (seriously, I was in bed by 8:37), & I woke up at 11:30, 2:30 & 4:30, each time totally awake & ready for the day to begin. Of course, when my alarm went off at 8am, I thought I was going to die of exhaustion - a feeling that's continued throughout the day.
  
  
• I've been struggling to hit the 10-lb. weight loss mark. I actually hit it last week, but the numbers on the scale have gone up again, & I'm not pleased about it. I'm so tired of paying attention to every single thing I consume & worrying about how many calories it has. I want Chinese food and looser-fitting jeans. Is that not how this works?
  
  
• I went to the Post Office yesterday, where I dropped a ton of duckets on mailing holidays cards. I had to wait in line twice because I didn't get enough stamps the first time & forgot to pick up international stamps for cards to Spain, Canada & Israel. In the time it took me to complete this holiday goodness, a meter maid was writing me a $10 parking ticket for going over my allotted 15 minutes. Bah humbug.
  
  
• You may have been following along with my occasional tweets about a loved one who was recently discovered to have a rare lung tumor. I won't get into it here, but today we learned that this loved one faces chemotherapy and/or radiation before the possibility of surgery. My heart, it hurts so badly...
  
  
• To top it off, there's some evangelical self-help dude talking a woman through her life problems at the table behind me in this Starbucks. SERIOUSLY, UNIVERSE?

I guess some days weeks are like that, even in Australia.

</rant>