Funny how sometimes, you're life can change in a moment--and you can learn so much about yourself in one moment. Like...you are stronger than you thought you were, or you're actually not as strong as you thought you were; how much you rely on a person, or how much you don't.  It's also interesting how everyone feels your pain in that moment, because most know how it feels to be you, in that place.

You feel low.  Uncomfortable.  Lost.  Humiliated.  Alone.  You want to hide, but you can't because you're feelings just leak through your pores, and they can guess what's going on.  The world seems dark, and the path home is a hard climb uphill.  You have to gather up the pieces of the broken picture and try to glue them back together.  Sometimes the pieces are so sharp and so small and so shattered it can take months or years.  You love but you're angry.  Maybe you hate, but you don't really. Frustrated.  Food has lost its flavor.  Flowers have lost their scent.  Sense of time is lost.  Tissues lay crumpled in a pile on the floor.

Sometimes distractions work. For a little bit.  But then you remember, because that was the color of the roses and that scent is still in the air.  It's the ghost of those memories.

In this case, time and love are healing powers.  God is one I always run to afterwards.  Maybe that's why He allowed it to happen.


Brownie points if you know (or guess) what I'm talking about.

Having the wind comb through your hair as your zipping along the street on a bicycle is the greatest thing in the world, except for a nice MLT: mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, when the mutton is nice and lean.... However, this feeling can be gone in an instant when you're flat on the cold concrete in mid-October with no recollection of how you got there, except that you were trying to jump a curb.  Yes, that's right--I'm finally getting around to writing a post about my half an eyebrow and how you should always wear your helmet. :P

So picture this girl: confident and cautious, except for the cautious part. Nothing out of the ordinary ever really happened to her. She never had broken a bone, never had a concussion, and never been really sick. Her dad is an ER doctor, so it naturally goes to reason that this fact alone could keep her out of the hospital no matter what she did. At least, that was her reasoning, and why she didn't bother to go out and buy a helmet and wear it while riding her bike around campus. Besides, you have to admit, bicycle helmets aren't really that cool-looking when you're just riding to get from class to class.

And so it happened in mid-October, on a Tuesday that I was riding from sandwich shop on to campus. I was wearing a very heavy backpack, and going on very little sleep from the night before. It was mid-terms week, and sleep came as a luxury.  I guess sleep-deprivation is a little bit like being a little intoxicated--good descision-making skills seem to run out the door.  I was crossing the street on my bike, looked both ways and found no cars approaching--all good.  I was even a little cheery, and feeling a little daring. I came up to the hugest looking curb, and decided, Hey, I could jump my bike up onto it no problem! even though previously, I've never ever in my entire life been able to jump a curb or a little slight step up or anything. And why I thought I could jump a 4-5 inch curb that morning still remains a mystery to me today. 

Well, I didn't make it. All that I can remember is pulling up my handle bars to jump the curb, and then... Hey! Are you okay?? OMG she's BLEEDING!  It's okay, head wounds normally always bleed profusely.  What's your name, honey, can you tell me your name??!??  The ambulance is coming, just hold on. Can you tell me your name?  Here, pull her head up a little and put this under it.  No, don't take the jacket off her yet.  We can't move her until we get her checked out.  All the while I'm thinking, Oh geeze, what did I get myself into this time.  It's not that bad.  What's all the fuss? I don't need all this attention.  I'm totally fine.  I couldn't make out any faces.  They were all a blurred blobs of pink.  One of them took my iPod and asked if it was ok if they gave it to my boyfriend.  I remember thinking,  My boyfriend?  Wait, wait!  What if he's not my boyfriend and he's just saying he is to take my iPod or get out of class!  [Thinking back, it was pretty dumb that I was worried about my iPod when I was lying there on the ground after just crashing my bike and I could potentially have messed up my face permanently.]  I tried to look for him and was semi-assured when I could make out a fuzzy yellow head of hair somewhere in the distance.  It was all a mess of colors and noise for me and I just wanted it to be over. I was so embarrassed that the EMTs knew my dad...and I was going to have to eventually face him in the ER for something he's always warned me about: wearing my helmet.  I even told them over and over again, I don't need an ambulance, I don't want an ambulance, and fortunately they ignored my demands. It was so cold there on the concrete.

I have always wanted to ride inside an ambulance and to be right there as the EMTs were trying to stabilize a patient on the stretcher while the ambulance was racing along to the hospital.  My trip in the ambulance wasn't nearly as glamorous.  It was actually not exciting at all.  I wish I could have been more alert and really experienced the ride, but all I wanted to do was take a nice long nap and I kept my eyes closed while they continued to pound me with questions to try to keep me awake. 

The hospital visit was also very long and boring.  They tried to stick me with an IV three times and failed.  I was X-rayed and scanned, and everything found to be intact.  I had a concussion, and I seemed to be doing okay for the moment.  Thank you, Lord!  And I waited for the doctor to come and sew me up.  I had about seven ugly stitches right where my left eyebrow used to be. I still had a little piece of eyebrow left, and the stitches filled the rest of it back in.  The best part of it all was the shiner I got the day after, though.  It looked like I had got in a fight with a ninja or got involved in a bar fight or something. (This is me the morning after--It's hard to see half the eyebrow because of the stitches (they look a lot like hair!), but once the wound calmed down a little and the stitches were taken out, there was indeed no hair there. Sadly, I neglected to take pictures after the stitches were taken out.)



I left the hospital four hours after I got there in the ambulance.  I would have gone home earlier if I hadn't almost fainted in my wheelchair.  :P Oh well.

So that, my friends, is the story of how I ended up with half an eyebrow, which, fortunately for me, is finally slowly growing back.  It is also the story of why I go around trying to convince people to wear helmets--and I say try, because I don't think they're really listening.  After all, I never did listen either.  :P

So funny thing...I've been so busy with school lately, I had to give Xanga a break in order to keep up my grades. 18 credits plus a job is no easy schedule! :P So back to the funny part... I returned to Xanga via Mystery Google. Ok...nevermind that's not funny. That's sad. :P But anyways...I was playing around with Mystery Google since I was too tired of working on my essay and it brought up Overly_toasted_bread's site and a semi-recent post about MLIA. I guess it was a subtle reminder that I needed to revisit my friends on Xanga again. Sorry I've been gone so long.

Anyways... since I've been gone so long, I think I owe you guys a list of random things/advice about/from me to remind you of who exactly this girl is exactly who has come back from the dead :P

1. I'm addicted to ice cream.

2. Tea is my one and only comfort drink...no other drink can quite calm me down or sooth me like tea can. And it has to be the real good stuff--loose leaf black tea. Favorite right now: Early Grey with Lavender.

3. When cycling, always wear your helmet... I have half an eyebrow now because I didn't wear one...

4. Half-way through this semester I found out if I took one more credit, I could be a Junior next semester. I registered for the half-semester Abs and Glutes class. Hardest. Class. Ever. but also really awesome at the same time. And I will be a Junior because of Abs and Glutes. Heck yeah.

5. I can't cook worth a darn, but I can sure bake you up a batch of amazing cookies!

6. I love surfing, but am not good at it and haven't done it in awhile. I really really want to try skimboarding.

7. I play guitar, but don't ask me to play a song for you.

8. Easter is my favorite holiday.

9. My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice...and I'm dying to read the zombie version.

10. I'm very opinionated, but ask me tomorrow and my opinion will probably be changed.

11. I pray rosaries over the phone with people.

12. I love to dance and was on my university's ballroom team...but you wouldn't guess it from my clumsy nature.

13. This band made me change career goals completely. I went from majoring in Pre-med and English (weird combo, I know) to Human Resources and Management with an emphasis in Management.

14. I always seem to leave awkward telephone messages. I just don't know how to leave them properly. And I left the most awkward one (like so-awkward-it-should-have-been-scripted-and-put-on-TV awkward) in August... since then I have been very wary about three-way calling and leaving messages.

15. Shoot dang dizzle. I'm out of things to write. If one of those above catches your eye, let me know...maybe I'll type up a more elaborate post about it. Maybe. If you're good.

;)