Health 2-11-2013

Well that doctor appointment didn’t go as well as hoped. It was to be a procedure to lance the remaining infection if needed. Instead, the infection is much deeper and in treacherous territory, so surgery is the most likely outcome. I’ll know more after the referral appointment on Thursday.

My blood pressure is still sky high though I’m a lot more alert than I was during the worst of it. Still, it is disappointing and I’m to keep taking antibiotics in the meantime. It would be nice to catch a break in my life, even just once.

Ah well. All I can do is deal with things as they come and focus on the little things.

UPDATED:

After being told that I should continue to take antibiotics and then double checking before leaving the clinic (or so I thought), it turns out that the prescription is not being renewed. This is after sending my father 80 miles round trip to get it. This should get interesting…

What’s Going On

While I’ve been ill, that doesn’t mean things stop happening. Life is like that, it moves on whether or not you think it should. Look around you at the small changes and events occurring without cease. They add up to a lot of things happening if you just open your eyes to them.

Oh and if your were expecting some Marvin Gaye, here he is and you don’t have to read any further:

Fantastic song from a tormented soul.

Now for what’s going on in my life.

Phony Phone Scam Returns

I posted about this particular one before and the ring behind it was supposedly busted. Well, guess who called my father’s phone today? Online PC! They are back like the athletes foot that never quite goes away.

Since I feel particularly cranky today, I didn’t allow the Indian gentleman on the other end get very far this time. Otherwise, it was the same exact con being run complete with a delay before the circuit connects to hear anyone.

I think I confused the guy on the other end, for I was very gleeful about letting them know I would be blogging about it to warn an international audience. Sadly, that appears to be all that can be done.

So if someone with a heavy Indian accent calls you and tells you that you have a virus on your PC or a security problem – hang up. It is all a con to get a credit card number out of you.

Along with some well composed phishing emails I’ve seen recently, it looks like 2013 is going to be a bad one for con jobs and spam.

Finally a Half-Life Movie?

From J.J. Abrams of the Star Trek reboot and director of the next Star Wars movie to boot. Or it could be a Portal movie, though that wouldn’t take a big budget director in my opinion. I’ve waited so long for a movie based on Half-Life that I’m having trouble generating any enthusiasm now that it may happen. That may be because I’m ill right now, but I’d be more interested in Valve finishing the dangling storyline from Half-Life: Episode 2 before all the voice actors die of old age.

Health 2-5-2013

This infection has been impressively debilitating. Now I understand how people can die from such things as I’ve had the oddest impression that I’ve gotten closer to death than ever before.

The initial outbreak site, or hard lump, is significantly larger now being roughly the size and shape of the butt of a rifle or shotgun. It’s a source of continuous pain if I don’t focus on ignoring it.

Oh and that brings me to yet another bizarre experience out of all this during the first days. I use stress reducing meditation methods involving moving my perception around different areas in the body. This actually increases blood flow and lessons pain in my experience, but wow was this different.

Everywhere I moved my perception to immediately began to sharply hurt!

It was the exact opposite result of what normally happens and don’t have a clue about the mechanisms involved. This infection has been a strange odyssey so far.

Today has shown some improvement. Breathing had been difficult and is now easier, which is a big relief. My extremities aren’t icy and appear to be getting decent blood flow again. Stretches of sleep are longer, but not what they should be.

Iron Man 3 Super Bowl Ad: Extended Look

Robert Downey Jr truly is a master thespian.

Some fun for a cold and dreary Monday morning.

Hate: My Personal Origins

A continuation of my essays on hate, this time focusing on how I learned to hate with every iota of my being when I was young. As I’ve grown older, it has become apparent that nurture overwhelms nature to a great degree and looking back at how being bullied changed me I can see that now. Why? Because one can change back after being changed…

I was a cheerful, happy kid who got criticized for talking too much in my early years. The world was so fascinating and a source of constant wonder, so I wanted to share that with others. Born into a family where my siblings were half-brothers sixteen and twenty years older respectively, that meant I was dealing with adults full time and they don’t like to hear from kids. They were also more concerned with extending their adolescence or reliving it, so that had something to do with it.

To be clear, I was never beaten, abused, or mistreated. Instead I was pretty much left to do whatever I wanted -- which could have been disastrous. Fortunately for my parents, I was a relentlessly good kid enamored of heroes and acts of valor. Sadly, I never had the kind of health or physical strength to do much with those impulses.