When we left off the fair maiden was cowering under the
table, as the giant fire breathing dragon towered over her. But alas the
valiant knight was nowhere to be found. Then suddenly he.... Wait, wrong blog
or wrong story, perhaps not even mine...
So here we are the middle of October, in what was supposed
to be a great year. I am not sure why, I just thought the number 2 0 1 2 seemed
like a good, maybe lucky kind of year. Of course that was before I heard about all
that Mayan calendar malarkey, and Hollywood started to predict our fate with
CGI filled disaster movies... Now of course the Mayan issue has been cleared up,
thanks to the discovery of page 2 of their calendar hidden away in an ancient
house in Guatemala (in May). Phew disaster averted, or has it. I haven't heard
the latest from the experts in Hollywood - if you do let me know...
In any case it has only snowed here once, and we have now
successfully survived 9.93% of winter 2012/2013... Insert streamers flying
through the air, and confetti, of course all biodegradable, bird and squirrel friendly...
but still festive and, therefore, driving home my point of how exciting
whatever the fact was that I just shared and you lovingly lapped up with your
eyes... (Now of course at writing this, there are some rumours floating around
that Calgary, Alberta, Canada, which is where I call home, (no idea why since
there are too many people, and it gets cold, and white even colder stuff floats down from the heavens - potentially during
every month of the year)) can expect some snow this week - what? No thanks!
Didn't order it, don't want it. I would like to return it for store credit in
the form of a gift card.
 |
| Number of Historical Photos of Canadian Thanksgiving on Google |
My week, hmmm... Well, as some of you may know, Monday was
Canada's official Thanksgiving Day. Now I am very familiar with the reasons for
the American version. I have heard the stories, watched the TV specials, and
even partook in Charlie Brown's vision of its wonder - But I, until now after a
little research, had no idea why we (Canada) celebrated it. So apparently we,
Canadians, used Thanksgiving Day for a variety of reasons from 1604 (for I am
not sure I guess just being thankful); 1763 (the end to the Seven Years' War);
1799 (off and on, not sure how that was determined); following the American
Revolution, American Thanksgiving traditions like having turkey started to appear,
as American refugees (them that still treasured Great Britain) migrated north;
then blah blah 1800 whatever the west did this, the east did that; the first Canadian
Federation Thanksgiving Day (actual civic holiday) was on April 5, 1872 (and in
our strange Canadian fashion it was actually to celebrate the Prince of Wales
(later King Edward VII) feeling better after some serious illness); then more
blah blah in 1957, it was officially declared to be the second Monday in
October. "The theme of the Thanksgiving holiday also changed each year to
reflect an important event to be thankful for. In its early years it was for an
abundant harvest and occasionally for a special anniversary." - Now I know
this all to be factual, as I referenced Wikipedia for all the data. (and we
know if it's on Wikipedia, it is gospel.) That there kids, is some vital and
chilling history, no one should be without... except all of us that read it.
J I
celebrated the special day in jammies and did nothing... yay me.
The week was like most, up and out the door - drop son off
at school, help friend, pick up son from school, take son to rTMS treatment...
and so on and so on... He is doing very well with treatments, no issues and
huge positive changes - damn, if you know anyone with depression or Bipolar
depression send them for rTMS - yes it costs a mitt full of $$$$, but worth
every penny (do we still have pennies, if not it's worth every nickel)! I
really must get those darn form letters done, and that Facebook page created...
I have to get this life changing treatment COVERED for everyone. Let's shoot
for the end of this week for at least the letters, and see what transpires...
I have still been struggling with the dosage of this damn
Dexedrine. I seem to be able to cover off a day, if I don't get out of bed until
12 or 1pm, but if I have to start the day early I am a wreck. I start off ok taking
20mg, but trying to space the remainder of the dose over the day is killer. I
have tried 20mg, then 10mg, 10mg, and 10mg (so basically maintaining the
prescribed dose, but spreading it out over the, way too long, day with a dose administered
about every 3.5 to 4 hours). That did not go so well. The drug only seems to
last about 3 hours, and when you ingest a Dexedrine it takes about an hour to
start working, so I would have these huge patches of the day that I would be
crashing (not fun, tight throat, dry mouth, heavy chest, sometime arm and chest
pain - blah I think I already bored you with this). Anyway, it would happen 4
or 5 times a day, and the one at the end of the day was almost unbearable. So I
said screw it to 50mg a day, and at writing this (Mon Oct 15/12) I decided to
take 60mg today (20, 20, 10, 10mg spaced every 3 hours) and so far so good. No
crashes, although I am feeling pretty tired all of a sudden, and my final dose
isn't due until 6:15pm (it's 5:24pm/update to this update - still writing, well
proof reading, it's 7:09pm. I did not take the 6:15pm dose, as I am trying to
hurry for my son to get the computer - so far still just super tired no other
bad stuff....yet). Whatever, I spoke to my pdoc today, (for two seconds, as I
did not have an appointment, but I was there for rTMS so I figured what the hey)
as Dr N suggested I get some 'cards' from my pdoc for Vyvanse. Then if it works
he can see if my extended medical will make an exception and cover it. So with
cards in hand I tried to get the prescription filled today, but my pharmacy's
computer system was down.
L
Perhaps I will start Wednesday. Vyvanse 'should' last longer than the Dexedrine
Spansules that I am currently taking - 'should' being the key word - Like I am
sure I mentioned, Vyvanse is just a hi-tech version of Dexedrine. Supposed to
last longer, and is smoother - no crashes... Eases you in and eases you out. We
shall see. It seems to work well for my son, so why not. If this doesn't work,
Dr N suggested I try the Ritalin family. Ritalin has a hi-tech version as well,
called Concerta; same premise as Vyvanse, but a different technology for its timed
release. They are both 'one a day' pills, which sounds awesome to me...
 |
| He is literally this old. |
Saw my new Family Doc this week as well. Nothing exciting, I
just needed some IBS prescripts filled, and I wanted to update him on my
current meds, and how the facet injections have fared my back. The cool thing
is, although it took a bit to get an appointment (a little over a week), I only
had to sit there for 15 minutes waiting for him (I was there on time). Still my
old doc you were there for hours, as he tried to keep up (I swear they
constantly double booked appointments.)... Speaking of IBS - Dexedrine has
saved me. And with weight loss too...
J Double whammy of awesomeness!
Wednesday, October 10 was my mommy's birthday, so we took
her out for, a not so grand, supper. We went to the casino - the food is usually
pretty good, and reasonable, but on this night not so much. Every Wednesday is
Asian night. I was thinking, Native casino = very bad western Chinese food...
But no, it actually = bad eastern Asian food. Well those of you that like
traditional Asian cuisine, would disagree with me and probably tell me it is
actually good. Some proof to back you would be the very large number of Asian
patrons, and the substantial lineups for the Sushi Bar. For me however, not so
much - kind of just ate a little salad, and a couple of pieces of dessert. But
they did bring a piece of cake with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday to
my mom, so that was nice... We, well not all of us, then partook in some
gambling. I really shouldn't be allowed. I am a 'just one more' guy. I started
on the slots, put in twenty, won a little, lost a little more, and then cashed
out at $20.50. BUT then I was, "oh just one more." I put in another twenty, and once again lost
some, won some, lost some more, then cashed out at $30.50. Having still not
lost any money, I figured 'just one more'. So I took the $10 that I won, and
put it back in the machine, boom it was gone! Prior to this, I was taking my
time with the one arm bandit - wanted to feel like I got some sort of satisfaction
of time between start and the loss of all my money. This last time the $10 went
way to fast. So what do I do??? I take a twenty dollar bill to the change
making machine, and break it into $5's. Then I make my way over to where my son
and nephew are standing. My nephew was wondering where the million dollar
machines were, I am like, "Over there, where the giant flashing sign says
'A Million Dollars' (or something). So we wander over to the machines, and discover
each spin is $1 (the slot machine I was playing earlier was a nickel a spin). We
figure what the heck, and we each put $5 into our machines. Boom it was gone in
two seconds, and we were still no richer. Then I had been eyeing my favourite
game - the big 'spin the wheel' thingy that has various amounts of Canadian
currency on it, the lower the value of the currency the more it appears on the
wheel. You then bet whatever you feel comfortable, on the currency you think
the wheel will land on. The value of the currency, times the value of your bet
= your win, or in more cases your loss... I have no idea why I love the game,
but I do. So we played that for a long 'casino' moment - seemed like a good
amount of time, and was fun. I started losing, as usual, but then my tide
turned and I hit a $20 (with a giant $2 bet
J), and then a $10 or two (again with sadly small
bets) in any case I finally left the building up $35.... not a lot by any
stretch of the imagination, but still not a loss - unless you count the money I
spent on that food...
J
So sleep has been for SH#T, as usual... I have been
struggling to get to bed, as someone doesn't want to go to bed. He (not mentioning
any names/my son) instead wants me to play video games with him. We don't spend
a lot of time together, so how can I turn him down. We have been playing
Resident Evil 6, which is actually fun (when I am not being yelled at, because
I am doing this wrong, or I'm too slow, or can't aim). We have finished the
first campaign; there are still two more to go. The last couple of days he has
been busy with a school project, so I have been somewhat free - yet still
taking forever to get to bed and sleep (usually around 3am). My son's school
project is pretty cool. It's for a Media option (not sure official title). He talked the teacher into letting him do an
audio project. Sorry if I have already mentioned this. I find it hard to recall
what I wrote in each of the previous posts (too long in between). For those
that have read this sorry, maybe skip a line of two. To those that have not,
the class he is in the options for projects are like; photography, vlogs, movie
like things, mainly visual mediums. My
son loves music, so he convinced the teacher to let him engineer/produce a song.
He borrowed some equipment from the school, downloaded some programs (free for
thirty day trial), then met up with a couple of his friends and set to
recording a song or two or three. Now (at writing this Oct 15 @ 6:18pm now) he
is impatiently waiting for my computer to record some more, and finish up some
of the work he did yesterday. So I should really hurry, got all the pics to
insert and proof reading, and on and on... Anyway, I am proud of him, the song
sounds really good, he and his buddy are singing and playing guitar, the other
buddy on bass. Pretty cool stuff...
On Friday night I was minding my own business, and finally got
into bed after cleaning - I am comfortably checking out Netflix (hmmm, perhaps
that is why it is taking so long to go to bed, damn Netflixs and your Netflicory...)
Suddenly my phone announces I have a
text message, (hmm it was between 1 or 2am). I am thinking it must be my son
asking me a question, texting is pretty much how we communicate for everything
(at home or out). But nope it was the most awesomest person ever... She used to
work for me in another life, and she is the funniest person ever. Anyway, it's
been a good year and a half to two years since our first 'drunk texting'
experience. So I was ecstatic to hear/read from her. She is mighty funny sober,
but even funnier texting while drunk. So we had a lovely conversation, her in
the bar, me in my bed... (keep a lid on the dirty thoughts people, it's not
like that
J)
I totally love trying to decipher what she is attempting to tell me,
hilarious!!! The texts eventually stopped, that's just how it works.
J Eventually sleep found me, way later, and
only briefly... but still some, which I needed for round two of my mom's
birthday...
We had my mom's Family Birthday Party on Sat, October 13 at
my house. Except for the cleaning the night before, I got off very well on this
function. My sister bought and prepared the food for tacos, my niece made a salad
and my sister (who was in town to visit) brought cupcakes... There wasn't a
huge crowd, but good enough. I had two sisters, a sister-in-law (who, let it be
noted here for the world to see, IS more than happily invited and encouraged to
attend ALL and any events at my home (where family is not excluded
J)
- I suck at communicating invitations to people, and sadly rely on others to do
the inviting - so I needed to put that out there to my sis-in-law (you know who
you are
J)....
my mom was there obviously, and my son, and a niece, a nephew and
nephew-in-law, and two great-nephews, and two great-nieces, also via Skype for
a bit (my other sister, two of my nephews and ever so briefly my brother-in-law
- from their home in Bermuda), and then back to my house - two dogs (they were
entertaining all on their own). The two great-nieces are pre-teens, so that
should tell you the joy we experienced with them.
J We ate, we talked, we
tried to play cards but waited too long, as my youngest great-nephew was ready
for bed - and he may not have a huge vocabulary, but there is no mistaking when
he is ready for bed.
J
He hadn't had a nap, so he did very well for a long time - I think it was
around 7 or so when he was ready to pack it in...
Well I guess that concludes this immense piece of amazing literature.
I hope you didn't snore too much while reading it. I did want to update you all
that my once a week rTMS is still holding. Except for that little blip on the
eve of Thanksgiving, I have been suicidal ideation free and in a seemingly good
mood. I am still waiting for this rush of motivation, and drive (passion) for
something, but I am thinking that might not be coming anytime in the near
future. It is something I should, and perhaps will, work on to see if I can try
and kick start it. Hell I spend hours and hours writing this blog, there must
be a way for me to harness that and use it for my other writing, or some sort of
education to aspire to more, to attain some greater future. Hmmm perhaps on
that note I will bid you adieu...
Talk to y'all next week...
No comments:
Post a Comment