I had my first experience of a migraine headache today, starting on my bike ride to work and ending after a couple of hours of taking it easy at the desk. It was a bizarre experience: the headache itself wasn't all that bad, but the aura was fascinating/frightening. I lost vision in my left eye at the peak of it, although I could still see things. It's hard to explain, but it was like the world became this pulsing, pixelated mess. Like a broken kaleidoscope. And then it dimmed, and then I just felt odd. Then the headache. And then it was gone.
I went to the doctor and he asked me some questions that involved talking about how much stress I was under (a lot, frankly), how much sleep I was getting (often interrupted), and the possibility of any of this changing in the near future (none). How about this weekend? he asked. I drove for 10 hours to Wales and back, through winding back country roads with children screaming for some percentage of that time. It wasn't bad, I wanted to say though: the only reason I bring it up is that you asked. It wasn't that bad of a trip actually.
Anyway, there is no end in sight for the amount required of me from my wife and daughters, supervisors, and bosses. I imagine the day when this might subside. I can't see it in the short run, so I think I will have to just live with it and hope that migraines don't become too common of an occurrence. And avoid passive-aggressive behaviour in the meantime.
But one bit of good news through the pixelated vision: my abstract was accepted at a conference in Bristol in April. Title is: ‘I love your metaphors so much’: Anaphoric metaphor use and reference in YouTube comment threads.