In which I show off my wallpaper! (Taken from eviljr)
01:38pm 24/08/2009
mood: tired
1. Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal. 2. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper! 3. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!
So, I woke up this morning to see a lovely sheet of ice covering everything. I heated up my car, and tried to move it... yeah, that wasn't happening. My neighbor saw me trying, and asked if I needed help. "Naw," I replied. "The money I would make from a single day of work isn't worth the chance of damaging my car or myself." So, home I stay!
So I take this day to catch up on all the crap I never get to do when there are people online distracting me. I finally watched the Baccano! DVD I got Saturday, and my GOD is that series awesome. I can't wait for the next volume.
I also got a late Christmas gift in the mail from Micaila; the entire box-set of Jubei-Chan 2! I don't even know how she knew I wanted that, but I'll be watching it with great interest! If it's as goofy-fun as the first series, it'll be awesome.
I also have THREE books to read that I haven't even opened... I'm so bad. :(
Also, I've started up the online WoD chat roleplaying, again, after a three-year hiatus. It feels good to do it again, ESPECIALLY without being a staff member. It's sad that the New World of Darkness exists, crowding out the old; the old is so much more comfortable for me. And the New WoD Mage makes me want to punch a baby.
Grandma's surgery is... kinda done. She's already home, because they only did part of it.
Apparently, last night her surgeon called and said something had changed in her CAT scan of her chest, so he was going to do the surgery in two stages.
Today, he noted something looked "suspicious" about one of her lymph nodes and more tests had to be done.
From what I know of cancer, something wrong with the lymph nodes is bad... but I'm trying not to worry about it until we have more information.
So far, 2009 has been spectacularly crapful. My "classified" New Year's Resolution ended poorly, so I won't speak of it anymore. The 2k8 bug seems to be killing more than Zunes; it killed the computers at work, causing a hellish day on Friday. Not only that, but my friend, who just started working in the warehouse at my office, had to be sent to the hospital in an ambulance after 1400 pounds of cast iron boiler section fell across his legs (I'll have to call him later today to see if he's okay). 2009 is shaping up, somehow, to be worse than 2008.
But, thanks to wilhelmina_d, I saw this video. It's 16 minutes long, but VERY much worth watching... particularly if you're in a rut like I am.
Smile!
For those dorks like me; yes, that's the guy from Bones. Yes, that's Kelly's Mom (of "Shoes" fame).
Proposition 8... what a horrible Human Rights violation. I don't speak out about politics much (I don't even tell my own friends or family members who I voted for), but some things are just so blatantly, obviously wrong that it makes me grieve for the state of humanity.
I saw this video in a friend's LJ, and I felt compelled to share it.
Not all of these are LJ people! D= Sorry! Even using non-LJ people, I... can't think of many names!
EDIT: I can't get this to format properly! T__T I am sorry.
1. ainslye
2. ainslye
3. -_- Too many to list!
4. Karen (she probably is)
5. kwviola
6. Denny
7. o_o I honestly don't know.
8. Torasuki
9. :o Cai
10. XD AINSLYE (Gee, wonder why?)
11. Me. ._.
12. >_>
13. <_<;;
14. I don't quite understand how you're supposed to answer this one...
15. Mike
16. Luridel
17. Vorash
18. I don't know anyone who fits that description!
19. ... of what? XD
20. Mike! XD
21. I'm with Jen on this one... huh?
22. Ditto
23. Nobody! D=<
24. Reiko
25. Noooo comment! ^_^;;
26. Nobody. At all.
27. Ainslye, clearly.
28. Who HASN'T?
29. Not commenting, but they're on this list.
30. I'm sorry if you're not on here, but don't feel bad!
Another update from my grandmother... news has just gotten worse. They've spotted another "mass"; this time on her brain. All I'm hearing, so far, is "mass" with no indication of if it's malignant or not... I'm going to the hospital right now to question the doctor myself.
Before they could do the surgery to clear out her carotid arteries, they did a sonogram of her chest to make sure her coronary artery was clear. The doctor said "there'd be no point in clearing out your carotid artery just to have you die of a heart attack from your coronary." A bit grim phrasing, but he had a point.
There, they found a "mass" behind her lungs (which is lucky that they found; they weren't even looking there to begin with). They have to do a biopsy and tests to find out just what they found, but it's yet another thing for me to worry about.
So I got a call at work today from my stepfather telling me my grandmother had a "mini-stroke". Then he told me "don't freak out about it." Yeaaaaah, okay. My boss basically said "why are you still here?" and off I rushed to the hospital.
She's doing fine for right now. Apparently the doctors should avoid the term "mini-stroke" for this reason (I wish my stepfather had). However, the situation is still somewhat dire.
As the vascular guy explained to me, there's four main arteries that go to your brain; two in the back (forgot the name) and two in the front (the carotid arteries). Between those two carotid arteries, one is 99% (!!!) blocked, and the other is 70% blocked. That means surgery has to be done to clean her pipes. There's a risk of causing a stroke with this surgery, but not nearly as much of a risk as there would be if she DOESN'T get the surgery!
Thank you all for your hopes and prayers. The doctor made this sound like a very routine surgery... but I doubt a doctor would come in and act like there was something horribly wrong. Not very good for patient morale. Either way, I'm somewhat assured that she will come through this alright. She's only 67... I can't imagine losing her this soon...
I saw someone post a few days or so ago that they got "Salmoned", with no explanation as to what this meant. It seemed to be just a thing that happened to people who posted on LiveJournal, which I hardly ever do, so I figured that, whatever "Salmoning" was, I was safe from it.
Well, it turns out that these Salmoners are watching DeviantArt as well! I posted my screenshot of my Lord of the Rings Online character (finally got her to level 20), and I got an IM from "BalefulSalmon" with a vague allusion to Starcraft. I remembered the term "Salmoning" and, in a panic, blocked BalefulSalmon. Then I went to research what this meant.
Turns out it's actually something I find cool. Educate yourself here:
I don't think the Salmoners are doing anything bad, now. Quite the contrary; getting strangers to talk to each other seems like a very nice gesture. Then again, I'm quite a "care bear" and want everyone to get along and be happy.
So I had the MRI last Thursday night. I didn't know what to expect out of it, really. I got undressed, got in the MRI room, and the technician told me I'd have to lay still for 45 minutes to an hour. "Great," I thought, "I can take a nap."
"Now, put these in your ears," she said, giving me a set of earplugs.
I wondered what they were for... until I got into the machine. Parts of it sounded like R2-D2 was being shoved through a malfunctioning garbage disposal, and other parts of it sounded like a remix of the "Strong Bad Techno". After what felt like an eternity, I heard the technician's voice (barely, through the earplugs):
"Okay, I'm coming back in to pull you out..."
"Oh, thank the gods!"
"... for your injection."
Blink.
Oh, yes. I was only halfway done. They had to inject stuff into me for the second scan; the MRA. I'd forgotten all about that, and someone on the board actually told me there was an injection to be had. I'm not afraid of needles, but I AM afraid of someone not knowing how to properly give an injection.
My fears were well-founded, and I have the "oops, the needle came out" marks to prove it. Finally, after pincushioning both of my inner elbows, the technician or nurse or whatever (it was a different lady than who showed me into the machine) got the needle in and injected me. Then back into the machine I went!
This time was a little different, though. The noises were still obnoxious, but this time I swear I heard a cowbell backbeat behind some of the grinding sound of the MRI Industrial House Mix.
Thankfully, the whole process was over in only 35 minutes, but it felt as if I'd been there for much longer. I think we take little things, like the ability to scratch our faces, for granted.
-------------
After over a week of waiting, it seems the neurologist let me know in a letter (odd) what the results of my MRI and MRA were. I just got that letter today. Exact phrasing as follows:
"Your recent MRI is normal. You may continue the current treatment plan as discussed at the time of your last visit."
Under that, handwritten:
"MRI reveals a benign cyst, probably of no significance. Please set up a follow visit."
I'm confused... the (form) letter said my scan is normal, then he wrote on there that it's not quite normal. I have two cysts on my head, under my hair. In high school, I had a cyst inside of my sinus that was causing unbearable headaches. This makes me uneasy, because the non-threatening nature of this cyst means that insurance probably won't cover the costs of having it removed, and the medication doesn't really stop the twitching as much as it used to.
I see a lot of people who post many times a day on LJ. Some just post daily. Some have, literally, posted with "nothing to say" (which makes my mind boggle). Well, on this rare occasion, I am posting because I actually have something I want to share. Something that will haunt my thoughts for at least a few weeks to come.
I have been experiencing a twitch in my left eye for the past month or so, and when I attempt to sleep the entire side of my face begins to twitch (which makes sleeping quite difficult). Finally, last week, I saw my doctor about this. She deduced that the twitch was not stress related, despite my assumptions of this. She referred me to a neurologist.
After running a few routine tests, the neurologist knew exactly what was happening; the nerve on the left side of my head was being irritated either by a blood vessel... or a brain tumor. I now have to schedule an MRI to see exactly what is causing this, but either way it equates to something being messed up in my head.
Hopefully, after the MRI, it will be discovered that there is no serious threat to my life. Cancer runs in my family, however, so my already-paranoid and pessimistic thoughts are being weighed down by that knowledge. I'll find out for sure after this MRI. Until then, that Tim McGraw song continually plays in my mind...
(Comments are being screened, in case anybody wants to say something private... and also to prevent any flames from people who wish ill fate upon me.)
81% Mike Gravel 79% John Edwards 75% Hillary Clinton 75% Bill Richardson 74% Dennis Kucinich 73% Barack Obama 72% Joe Biden 71% Chris Dodd 42% Rudy Giuliani 34% John McCain 31% Tom Tancredo 30% Mike Huckabee 28% Mitt Romney 25% Ron Paul 23% Fred Thompson
Well... I didn't think it would happen like this. I thought that about halfway through, I'd just get bored with writing, or distracted by a game, or just plain give up. I was typing like a maniac... so many ideas for this book. It's a story I've wanted to write for a long, long time... now I had an excuse to get it all down and see how it looked.
Then... someone insulted it. I actually didn't see that coming.
I don't take criticism well...
So.. at 9,231 words, I quit. Writing just isn't for me.
Even if my book really WASN'T that bad of an idea... I can't be a writer if I want to give up after the first negative word about my work. I actually haven't typed anything on it for about a week, just because I kept thinking of how fucking STUPID it all was...
So, today was the day! I plopped down and cranked out 2,262 words toward my 50,000 word goal for this year's National Novel Writing Month!
For the sake of those few of you who may care, I am posting each chapter as I finish it on my DeviantArt. The first chapter can be found HERE! Wheeeee! 8D
Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night to check on my ant farm. They still haven't grown anything. I'm pretty sure they're just in it for the government subsidies.
These are some really cool fucking people. We just talked for hours about things we write, things we've written, why we write... it was really inspiring, to me. I definitely have a rekindled interest in attempting publication, now!
I really do like watching my ant farm. It may be childish, but I don't care; it's an odd sort of fascinating therapy, really. Watching as they work so hard to build all these intricate little tunnels. They're also infinitely amusing pets.
I don't have much else to say, here... next month, I begin writing like mad to finish a novel in a month!
I looked over at my book case devoted to World of Darkness books... and realized that I have an entire book case devoted to World of Darkness books. My new digital camera was just begging for me to post something up for bragging rights!
Yes, there's some other books stuck horizontally on top of my WoD collection; I have no room for them anywhere else!
That's for anyone who didn't believe me when I said I own almost every WoD book ever printed. Not pictured: the books for the New World of Darkness and Vampire: the Requiem... I keep them hidden in shame away from public view.
One book, however, requires special mention!
That's my special limited-edition Mage: the Ascension (Revised). The greatest RPG ever printed. Sadly, in the New World of Darkness, the entire premise (and originality) of the game was destroyed; it, along with the rest of the old (better) World of Darkness is no more.
*Pours some Courvoisier on the ground* For the fallen. ;o;
I'm also trying to take pictures of my ant farm for a sort of "Progress Journal", but the glare from the side of the farm makes it impossible to see how much work those little guys are putting in. I'll figure out something, soon!
Okay, I use the text messaging on my phone a lot. It sure beats having to keep a phone to my ear and hold a conversation when I'm trying to do other things! I can't multi task if someone is talking to me; it just can't be done (probably the same mental issue I have that keeps me from watching anything with subtitles).
What's the best thing about my text messaging? T9 input, that's what! For those of you unfamiliar with T9 input, it basically means you hit the buttons that would spell out a word, and it will automatically put in the closest word that can be spelled with those keys. For example, 4-3-5-5-6 will spit out "hello". Simple!
As anybody who's talked to me for more than 5 minutes knows, I abhor the great majority of abbreviations and web-slang. Shorthand is just NOT my thing. This even applies when I text people; therefore, I do not use phrases like "idk my bff jill?" I don't use 4 instead of "for", I don't use 2 instead of "to" or "too", and most importantly... I do not use U instead of "you!"
Recently, I got the Sync (a nice Samsung phone). Everything about this phone is pretty nice... except the T9 input. The T9 works just fine... until I try to say "you". Whenever I press in 9-6-8 to spell "you"... it automatically gives me "Wmt".
What in the everloving FUCK is a "Wmt?!" Why would THIS be a more common match than "you?" I text pretty fast, so it's not unusual for someone to get a message from me that says "What are Wmt doing, tonight?" Naturally, they text me back with something like "What is Wmt?"
This is the DEFAULT for the T9 on this phone, and it royally pisses me off! If there is a way to remove that word from my dictionary, I sure as hell can't find it! I looked for any justification for this abbreviation to exist, and have found none! The only thing I could find is that WMT is the Stock Symbol for Wal-Mart! Even if that were the reason for being in T9 input, would it really be used more than the word "you?"
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lokicaprion's journal
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ICED IN!
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