As I round out a total of TWO weeks spent in the hospital with this kidney infection nonsense, I thought I’d take a moment to share how I’ve kept myself from going insane with boredom.

1. My first line of defense is and will always be the computer/internet.  Chatting on IRC, AIM, gtalk, YIM, etc with my friends is the best way to spend hours and hours AND not feel lonely at the same time!  The best part is my friends live all over the world, so usually at least one of them is always available if I need to vent or just want to chat.

2. There is nothing like a good book.  Reading has always been a favorite past time of mine.  I’ve been immersed in the Dune series during this hospitalization.  Getting wrapped up in a good book lets me forget my own troubles for a while and be someone else and somewhere else.  When I finish Dune, I plan to read my first ebook on my iphone!

3. And now for some mindless entertainment… Computer games!  I love playing little free flash games especially of the point-and-click and escape variety found in vast quantities on sites like Jay Is Games and LazyLaces.  But I was feeling the need for something a little bit more hard core, so I installed Fable on my latptop and have been playing that when I’ve been bored.

4. Visitors are the best!  When you are in the hospital nothing can replace human contact.  It quickly becomes very lonely in those isolating hosptial rooms.  My mom, dad, sister, and caregiver Melissa have been here most days to keep me company.  Their presense has been a huge comfort and I am very grateful!  Also the hospital has volunteers who sometimes come around and talk to you.  I spent a half hour with a very nice volunteer the other day.  It was really nice to have someone new to talk to.

5. Yesterday Melissa lugged a TON of my scrapbooking stuff to the hospital so I could partake in my VERY favorite activity!  It’s so nice to be creative!  I was exhausted by the time I finished just two pages (even with lots of breaks), but it was well worth it!

6. Finally when I’m totally out of ANYTHING else to do, I can always write a blog entry… or heaven forbid work on my novel !

In other news, I was hoping to go home today, but it doesn’t look like I’ll have the IV antibiotics I need to recieve at home setup in time to go home today.  My doctor thinks I’ll at least be going home by Monday though!  Yay!