queer as folk...

the new season started up this weekend - i taped the first episode, because i wanted to watch season 3 over again since i have it on dvd. for some reason, i thought i'd missed some episodes, but now i don't think i did. i think i just WISHED i'd missed some of 'em. the whole ted on drugs thing hits pretty damned close to home - i hadn't noticed my similarities to emmett previously, going from being blissfully ignorant to just totally enabling the drug use and lies and thefts...pretty weird how my situation with kris was years ago and it still affects me the way it does - well, perhaps it's NOT so weird, but i guess i just wish it didn't affect me the way it has. it'd be nice to go back to that blissfully ignorant phase, where i could trust and depend on people.

summoning the weather spirits...

alright now, it's becoming obvious i shoulda scheduled the AIDS memorial cleanup for LAST weekend - we had such beyootiful weather, now it's just rainy and soggy and i dunno if we'll be meeting up on sunday or not...

physical therapy...

did the physical therapy thang today for my wrist...so now i've got a list of exercises to do 2 or 3 times a day - can't quite do them all yet, it's still too painful. argh...too bad that physical therapist only massaged my hand and wrist - i think a full body massage might be rather useful nowadays....

wasting the days away...

sheesh, it's a good thing i didn't have a job to go to today, otherwise i woulda really been screwed. went to dr. tumuluri's office since my hand is STILL hurting after falling on it last tuesday. then i had to run around to several different places, getting an x-ray and such. my appointment was at 1 o'clock - i finally got home at 5:30....grrr! alas, there were no fractures visible on the x-ray, so i have a new splint and appointments for physical therapy and i go back to the doc in a couple of weeks. fun fun fun.

a new 'do...

Kat made me her guinea pig and i now have a new hairdo - i'd told her that no matter how she asked, i would NOT shake my butt like Ray the Blockbuster guinea pig, but who knows, maybe now i will....*8-)

more cool posters...

similar to the propaganda remix project, c-r-a-p.org has some cool posters...

slowly recooperating...

taking longer than usual to recover from that last seizure, i think - my mind's just blank. don't have the words for what's going on - a sign that things are getting more fucked up in the temporal lobe? not sure. the endocrinologist wants me to take lots o notes on how my blood sugars are doing, and we're making a few changes to the meds, so hopefully that will help things a bit. the last thing i need is seizures while i'm sleeping because my blood sugar drops too low...

new clothes woo hoo!

my new t-shirts from ebaynham.com arrived today!

VNS Update...

Dr. Mohan mentioned the S word today - SURGERY. since the VNS isn't controlling my seizures as much as we'd like it to, perhaps i need to be thinking about it. eh, i'm not using all my brain anyways, let's just carve out the malfunctioning parts. hopefully there'll be some left over!

before today's appointment, the VNS was set at 1.25, with the magnet zapping it up to 1.5 - today, when doc tried upping it to 1.5 / 1.75, it was clear that i couldn't take the boost - i started choking, tears streaming down my face. kinda weird, i haven't had such a strong reaction to this before. so, he backed it down to 1.5, with the magnet also zapping it at 1.5 - generally it's standard to set the magnet activation at .25 higher than the ongoing setting, but we'll see how this goes for now...

he's also wondering if the seizures i'm having could be related to low blood sugars, so i'm going to have to chat with the endocrinologist about some potential changes to those meds...fun fun fun!!!!

VNS Update...

time to schedule another appointment with the neurologist - had a seizure early this morning. as far as i can tell, i missed one dose of meds - definitely not enough to warrant having a seizure. dunno if dr. mohan will wanna take me off the lamictal and try something else, or just up the VNS stimulation...

a phrase that irks me....

"just friends" - as in, "let's just be friends" ...

hey, having a good healthy friendship is a good thing, and to add a "just" to it seems to cheapen it. yeah, okay, an intense physical/sexual/emotional/spiritual/ relationship might not be around the bend, but having a great friend is a damned good thing to have...

perhaps it's that "just friends" thing that scares me from telling people when i have an interest...kat eked it out of me, but generally a lot of crushes i've had have been completely ignored or shuttered to the back of my brain, because i'm scared of that "let's just be friends" comment, which generally means "ooh, you're interested in me, i don't feel that way about you, so now let's just let the cool friendship we had die a slow and painful death"...and i told kat that i felt that way, that if she wasn't into a relationship idea that i didn't want her thinking i had any ulterior motives and i didn't want it to affect our future as friends. those "just friends"...

Kat's outta the bag...

...so to speak...i told kat about my crush on her. i think we'll have to talk more about it later (we had to go pick up her son) but at least it's out in the open now, and she didn't puke her guts out and flee from the car when i told her, so that's a good sign - right? right?

the Indiana AIDS Memorial @ Crown Hill Cemetery

definitely in need of some spring cleaning - Crown Hill does an okay job of keeping the branches picked up and the grass mowed, but c'mon now - we need to make this baby look FABULOUS!

Social Attachments

so, i was driving through Crown Hill cemetery yesterday, and took a different route than usual. a sculpture that's on display there caught my eye, so i got out and took a look at it. pix don't do it justice, but here's one anyhoo:



i was taken aback when i read the artist's commentary - on a stand next to the sculpture, it reads:

Social Attachments

My intention with Social Attachments was to illustrate different relationships. Some are solid; some are passive; others are tenuous at best.

Michael B. Wilken $8,700

ya know, i don't think i drove past that sculpture - i think something out there drove me to it. just looking at it was cool, then reading about relationships and knowing how i'm dealing with that sort of stuff in my life right now just really freaked me out a bit...

solid...passive...tenuous...

hrmmm, perhaps i should get my brother this t-shirt...

the American Traveler International Apology Shirt says "I'm sorry my president's an idiot. I didn't vote for him." (in the six official UN languages) - what with adam doing gigs in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia this month, it may come in handy...let's just all work to make sure that it'll be obsolete come election time...

:-(

that pretty much sums it up.

go alanis!

apparently the statement's beyond comprehension of most farkers, but i think alanis morrissette's bit at the Junos was rather amusing...

Hosting the 2004 Juno Awards ceremonies, Canada's version of the Grammies, Morissette disrobed on stage to reveal a skin-colored, naked body suit with nipples and pubic hair.

As part of the skit, Morissette was then told by the show's assistant-director that "actually, we can't show nipples or pubic hair on national TV," at which time the Ottawa-born singer pulled off the fake body parts.

The satirical act, says Morissette, was aimed at U.S. government institutions for over-reacting to cultural, free expression, as a result of the fallout surrounding Janet Jackson's Super Bowl faux pas, when her breast was accidentally exposed to millions of television viewers.

fuck yeah, the Puritanical bullshit that's taken over the US is more than deserving of parody!

babies babies babies...

being the old maid of the family, i've left mom without grandchildren...i suppose adam could still provide an extended branch o' the family tree, but it ain't happening with me. (it's cute to hear him or codi make some sort of comment about "well, if we have kids..." but if ya mention marriage or kids to 'em, it's just not a subject for discussion...)

however, we do manage to get our fill of babies by visiting my aunt sherry - her daughter marian's got four kids and sherry's stepchildren have provided several other grandbabies in the family...

saturday we got together for marian's daughter alanis' 3rd birthday. we went to Build A Bear to create various stuffed animals (no, i didn't get one, although i did get a pair of sunglasses for Puffy, the pig that my brother gave me for Xmas) then we went back to sherry's to do what the whole family knows how to do: eat.

anyhoo, here's a pic of me with alivia, marian's most recent addition to the family:



see the big yellow blob on my ear? i had sticker earrings put on me by alanis, and forgot they were still stuck to me....

DST

all you never really wanted to know about Daylight Saving Time...

ya know, i suppose it's cuz i'm a born and bred Hoosier, but i just don't get the whole DST thing. and every fricking year we have to have a big discussion about it at the statehouse, only to do nothing about it - hell, it's even the cover story on this month's Indianapolis Monthly. seems like we've turned into such a 24-7 society that it really doesn't matter all that much, we should just all be consistent...

Flash Mountain...

Click here to see wardrobe malfunctions at Splash Mountain. *8-)