IUD & SQL

I'm sick of being in pain. If it isn't a migraine, it's stomach cramps or menstrual cramps. Or me burning myself trying to heat my bedclothes, cutting myself on unseen sharp things without realizing it, or the ear piercing that still hasn't entirely healed.

I got some blood test results in the mail yesterday, and, despite my period being lighter since I changed my diet, I'm still iron anemic. The doctor with whom I had the birth control consultation added a note to the results reminding me that the IUD we discussed might help with the anemia (by stopping my cycle).

Eh. Can't I just consume more iron?

I got these results early this morning, on my way out for my walk. It's too cold to check the mail in the afternoon, when it usually comes. Walking the silent neighborhood, I had a good think about this IUD. Having this thing squirting hormones into my body sounds horribly unnatural. I'm worried about weight gain. Will the hormone do anything to my mind? I don't feel like being a lab rat, and I inevitably will be because I've always been sensitive to medication.

Plus the risk of pregnancy is still rather high.

I've never seen an IUD. In my imagination, it's an awkward, hard plastic contraption, so large and with edges so sharp that I could practically feel it sitting inside of me. It's so painful to put in, to freaking install, that the doctor brought up painkillers. Shudder.

Ah, but wouldn't it be great to have more energy? I've been assuming that my low energy has been caused by the lack of sleep and overdosing on sleep-related supplements, but low iron might also be the culprit. And then there's sex.

I just started my period yesterday, and it's lighter than ever. What if I just keep altering my diet to minimize blood loss so that I won't be so anemic? Trying, at least, seems the safer option.

Savory food has begun to make me nauseous again. I can hardly wait for grocery day so that I can get more fruit.

For Mandarin I'm now using a Taiwanese textbook called A Contemporary Course in Chinese. I can already hear a difference in the pronunciation. Praise Allah for these people who upload PDFs of textbooks. The five volumes of this book would cost a small fortune. I'm a bit relieved to know that I'm now getting the proper vocabulary and pronunciation for Taiwan. As a beginner, differentiating between accents and such is next to impossible.

I had to quit Taiwanese podcasts and youtube videos for now. I'm just not ready yet. Trying to absorb the more advanced vocabulary, especially since I would have to learn at least half the words in each sentence, was taking too much time and effort. Once I've learned some more basics, I'll return to it.

So my Mandarin roadmap is all planned out and will take less study time that what I've been putting into it; now I can pay more attention to other languages and SQL.

I've been doing the SQL tutorial on w3 schools and it is so boring. I like to learn broad concepts, not details like syntax. I already understand databases, so for me SQL is largely about learning syntax. It's mostly memorization, so I'll have to use the language to retain it, but I have no database that I actually need to manage, so I'll have to resort to exercises with fake databases ugh. If I can get a job soon after finishing the tutorial, I could be getting paid to use/retain it.

Now that I'll no longer be doing Pimsleur, I'll have more time to listen to other languages while I'm out walking. Pimsleur audio lessons are half an hour each, but that half an hour draaaags aaaaaassssss. I've started listening to a new Spanish-language horror podcast.

My new shoes are supposed to be here on Jan 2! That's fantastic considering that they are coming from Germany.