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this is only day 12. there is a loooooong way to go.
so i got maybe 4 hours of sleep on my camp night. first i was too hot. then too cold. then too sticky. then too scared of bugs and pigs. then too tired. but hey, those hours that i slept? i was getting paid.
in the morning, after someone woke me up (finally. some sleep.), i was getting ready and put my boots on and was walking to go brush my teeth and wash my face and stuff. and my foot kept feeling tickly. so i stopped and rubbed it around inside my shoe - you know how you do when it itches a little, but not enough to take your shoe off? well, it was still tickly. so i took my boot off and. there was a bug. in my boot! it was so hard not to scream.
when i was walking back from brushing my teeth, suddenly the side of my butt (as in, kind of by my hip, but more on my butt than my hip) felt like it had a scratch - that kind of burny, papercut feeling? i just brushed off my pants and kept going - i just figured a twig or a piece of grass got in there or something.
but while i was putting my bag on the engine, my little scratch kept hurting more and more. and then it was like i was getting paralyzed. so i went behind the engine and pulled my pants down to check for bugs. nothing.
i was getting more and more paralyzed. i limped into the truck and laid in the back because it hurt to sit. it just kept hurting more and more, and i kept getting more and more paralyzed.
we left and drove for about half an hour. my butt just kept hurting and hurting. finally, we stopped, and i was freaking out. something had to be in my pants. you don't just get paralyzed out of nowhere. so i jumped out, as much as a paralyzed person can jump out of an engine, and somehow got in front it, so i could safely pull down my pants without too many boys seeing my undies(!).
guess what i found. a fire ant.
do you know they are the size of a wyomingish wood ant. do you know that they actually sting you (or something) and they have venom? true story. my butt was paralyzed, yet hurt, for hours.
i'm not saying all that was worth it. i'm not saying that working a 30 hour shift was worth it. but we did get all afternoon off. i laid by the pool and listened to music, and swam, and napped (a bit - but not too much so i wouldn't get sunburned), and it was beautiful! so beautiful.
trying not to think about the burning, horribly feeling of fire ant venom in my butt
contemplating how i will live my life with a paralyzed butt cheek
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