September 2008 Archives

I didn't mention that I was going to have another PET scan this past Friday. Not because I was hiding anything, or that I didn't want to face anything. No, I didn't mention it because...I just didn't. I don't really know why. I will describe my physical well-being since August.

Basically, the morning stomach pain after eating started to subside. It was instead replaced by a different pain, very intense at times. This pain was in and around my stomach, but often it really manifested itself in my back on the left hand side. I traced it to two things. The first was constipation. The first time this happened was around August 15. Once I took some proper laxatives, that pain went away immediately.

The second factor was eating too much too late at night. Previously, the worst that would happen was that my reflux would be so insane that I would vomit fire for 30 minutes at 4 am. This happened a few times. I tend to have late evening cravings of junk food, and sometimes I backslide. This is no longer the case. What happens now is that the next day, I would suffer from an intense pain as described above. It lasts for 24 hours, and the more I have it, the less that painkillers and laxatives work. The worst of it happened about 3 weeks ago. I stayed home from work and ended up having to go to the hospital. I stayed there overnight and even had to take morphine around 2 am. It was nucking futs.

-This is real shit.
-This is good shit right?
-I mean bad shit.
-Bad shit, like the shit is bad?
-This is shit shit! The shit isn't worth shit! Anyone get caught on the street with this would get killed! This is real shit.

If you work in an office with many people, and you know that the company provides some drinking mugs and cutlery, here's how you can tell that you are allowed to take that bowl/mug/whatever:

1. If there are many identical ordinary, white mugs in the kitchen cupboard on your floor, then you might be allowed to use the mug. These belong to the company.
   
2. If these mugs mysteriously disappear after you leave for the day and return to the cupboard washed and clean, then you might be allowed to use that company mug. The company bought the dishwashers that you see in the kitchen, and the cleaning staff takes them from your desk at night and washes them for you. Paid for by the company.
   
3. If the mug or bowl looks in any way cool or interesting, ESPECIALLY if there is exactly one, then it probably isn't yours or the company's, so you should probably leave it alone.
4. If the bowl is a beautiful handmade bowl given to someone by their sister that they see once every few years and that lives in another country, then it is almost certainly unique, and not something that someone picked up as swag from say, a gaming conference that they went to, and not property of the company, and NOT FUCKING YOURS. So not only should you not use it without permission, you definitely do not have the right to FUCKING STEAL IT.

I think that these guidelines are pretty simple to follow, and result in fewer bad feelings and broken teeth, you fucking asshole. You know who I am talking about. If I ever see that bowl on your desk, you had better have a damn good explanation for it being there.

A white man in Council Bluffs, Idaho has had a black baby doll tied to a cross hanging from the eave of a home removed. Neighbours were scared and offended by this and tried to have it taken down, but legally they could not make this happen. The First Amendment is the First Amendment, and every American has this right.

The man also has a dog named Hitler and a white pride tattoo on his arm. People are afraid of this man. The doll brings back some of the most violent memories and images in American history, and some people presumably think that this man might be willing to visit that kind of violence upon them. As it turns out, the law could do nothing, but the man's landlord could. He personally removed the doll, and said that things that like would never be displayed on his property.

There are many that would say that this is nothing for people to be offended by. That this is just a doll. Is it just a doll that you should just ignore? Are people being too stuck up, politically correct and sensitive over nothing? Are the neighbours at all responsible for their hurt feelings? Did they react appropriately? What do you think? I think you all know what I think.

The following email was sent to me this morning by a friend of mine. Feeling cynical as I too often am, I sent the following reply. The stuff in bold is my response. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this entry do not necessarily reflect the views of the owner of this blog.

Dear friends,

Imagine the sea rising around you as your country literally disappears beneath your feet, where the food you grow and the water you drink is being destroyed by salt, and your last chance is to seek refuge in other lands where climate refugees have no official status. This is not a dream, it's the fearful reality for millions of people who live on islands around the world, from the Maldives to Papua New Guinea.

Not a dream, it's a disaster movie. Hella entertaining. Yeah, I said "hella".

That is why these small islands are taking the unprecedented step of putting an urgent resolution before the United Nations ahead of next week's global climate talks, calling upon the Security Council itself to address climate change as a pressing threat to international peace and security.

This is a creative move born of desperation, a challenge to global powers to end their complacency and tackle this lethal crisis with the urgency of wars. But the island states' campaign is meeting fierce opposition from the world's biggest polluters, so they need our help. Sign the petition now to raise a worldwide chorus of support for this call -- it will be presented by the islands' ambassadors to reinforce their resolution at the UN next week:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/sos_small_islands/98.php/?cl_tf_sign=1

These so-called "nations" are just pissed that they don't have all the stuff we have. Like HD, The Amazing Race and supersized everything. Maybe they mean "nation" the same way that Stephen Harper means "nation", whatever that means. They had their chance to run with the big dogs, but they wanted "independence". Watch out, Quebec, this could be you someday!

Click me!

Also, Palin says "fuck science, more development!". Her speech at the RNC last night.

Growing up, Labour Day was the saddest day of the year. Why? Because of Jerry Lewis and his damn telethon.

Every year I would sit in front of the TV for hours and hours, watching the lives of children being destroyed by this terrible disease and all its variants. I felt that it was my duty: I couldn't do anything for these kids, and I didn't have any money of my own, so I would watch. God, it was tough. I hated every second of it; I cried inside. They looked like they were suffering so much. Watching the telethon was all I could do for them.

Then, suddenly, I stopped watching after 1987. We moved on November 7 of that year. I never saw another telethon for some reason after that. I also stopped going to church that year, too.

This Labour Day is a bit of a Thanksgiving. I am thankful that I have this cancer instead of muscular dystrophy. I think. I don't actually want to live through both to compare.