it wasn't engorged, and i don't think it had been attached for long, as i'd had a shower earlier in the day after skipping rope on my lunch break, and i didn't notice it then. and if i missed it, i didn't see it the night before, either.
regardless,
downstairs to get the designated tick-tweezers, and i pull it out, and flush it (don't do this; you're supposed to save them if you can, for statistical purposes and testing). until i go to sleep, my skin feels like it's crawling. ticks are awful, and i had it beat into me from an early age that deer ticks are bad bad bad, being able to pass on lyme disease.
i pulled it out and took some skin with it. so there's a mark from where it bit me. and a little rash that hasn't been growing, but hasn't been going away, either. so today i dropped my partner off at work, and then took the car to go to the clinic to talk to a doctor. i talked with a nice nurse first — and she took me off-guard, because she was a dead ringer for an old friend — and both the nurse and doctor said not to worry, that lyme isn't generally passed unless the tick's been attached for 36 hours, and the nurse also mentioned that most of the ticks here in town are dog ticks. which helps. but. my worry being what it is, i've got three weeks of worrying myself ahead of me.
i got home just before noon. walked the dogs, practiced my fiddle, did some composing, worked on a couple little projects. it helped a little. my partner came home, we talked about it, she gave me a big hug. it helped a little. three weeks to go.