250 Followers!

For whatever reason more people have been reading my blog allowing me to recently reach the 250 follower milestone.

 

 This is like an achievement.

So thank you all for staying with me up to this point. It's much appreciated and it's nice to know that people are with me through whatever problems I encounter. Whether it's my joblessness, the health issues, or being an all around derp.

But do leave a comment on improvements that I could make. What do you want to hear more about? What interests you in this blog and what can I do to keep you interested? Also, I really should make some aesthetic improvements. This is much too drab and simplistic if I'm going to keep blogging seriously.

As with all posts of this nature I'm keeping this short but attaching a Youtube video. This one is 10 minutes long so be warned but it also one of the best things I've seen in a long time. I highly recommend you watch it.

Me Not Healthy: Always Tired (Part 1)

What you thought the allergies and the lung cysts were the only health issues I had? No, unfortunately not. At this rate I'm going to die pretty soon so enjoy me while you still can.

I wish.

For the last few years, I have always been tired. I fall asleep on car rides, in class, while eating... Actually now that I think about it place me in a sitting position and you risk having me passed out and drooling all over myself. Part of it is my fault. I mean, I probably should go sleep earlier but classes and exams sometimes don't allow for that. And when I don't have work, well, the internet is there to keep me company.

Who needs rest? I have my computer!

But this problem continued even when I get more than 8 hours of sleep. On the few days that I do end up sleeping earlier I still wake up tired. My favorite thing to see in the morning is that it's still dark outside so I can go back to sleep. I began to suspect it could be a medical problem. No amount of sleep was enough for me, I often woke up with headaches, and I snored really loudly. My siblings complain about it on vacation whenever we share a room. These symptoms fit that of someone with sleep apnea.

Basically, sleep apnea is when you wake up numerous times while sleeping, disrupting your sleep cycle. A lot of it has to do with your windpipe being closed due to being too fat or odd sleeping positions. You may not even be aware of it happening because it can last for seconds before you fall back asleep. If it happens enough it can cause 6 hours of sleep to feel more like 3.

Unfortunately I don't share the other symptoms which include smoking, being overweight, and being middle-aged. Regardless, I decided to get a level 3 sleep study done which means I'd bring a device home, it would record things and then I'd bring it back for analysis.

You get the idea.

The results... were inconclusive. Yes they confirmed that I was waking up several times a night and I snored really loudly for large portions of time but I didn't use the device long enough for any conclusive results.

The only thing left for me to do would be to either take a level 1 sleep study (go to a hospital and get even more things stuck to my face) or I could try using a CPAP, a device meant to aid in breathing to help me get a better night's sleep.

I opted for the CPAP and I'll share my experiences and results in a future blog post.

Link to Part 2.

I suck at Scheduling

Due to my inability to find a job I figured I might as well enter a fourth year of University and graduate with a degree. I think I know what I'm doing, I mean I've signed up for classes for 3 years already, how hard can a 4th be? But just to be safe, I go to talk to a co-coordinator.

She takes one look at my Fall term, and her eyes just widen.

"Uh Damian, we got a problem here".

Crap.

Turns out I've already hit my cap for the number of Junior/100 level courses I can take. In other words, the course in Java and Economics that I was taking wasn't doing anything towards my degree. I was paying for deadweight courses.

Luckily, I managed to work some things out and I've dropped both courses. I'm hoping that I have enough credits for graduation and if not, the Winter term will fix that. This leaves me with a ton of psychology courses. Research psychology is research, there's not much to say about it. I enjoy it.

The other courses, I am having issues with.

For starters, my Abnormal psychology class while interesting has a DVD lecture available for purchase. The prof strongly suggested that we buy and use it. A quick listen reveals that it's basically 4 DVDs that cost $100 for the exact same lectures we hear in class.

I'm serious, the things are word for word, I'm guessing he hasn't changed his lectures in a while because I hear that this guy has been doing this for a number of years. We also think he has several DVDs that he rotates through because the DVDs from just last year are somehow obsolete.

As if I wasn't poor enough already.

And then Developmental Psych is uh... different. Lectures consist of her standing in from of a classroom asking the class for their opinions of various concepts or groups of people gathered together to "discuss" a random concept. Half the class doesn't show up anymore and I sit around, vaguely paying attention.

Or catch up on some much needed rest.

Round #2 of midterms are soon so hopefully I do well on those. Maybe I should start studying now...

Happy Turkey Day!

As most of you probably know today was Thanksgiving for those of us up north in Canada. So I got an extra long weekend to spend with family and eating food.

I didn't have any pumpkin pie though, maybe I'll buy one just for myself.

So I'm going to keep this post short because I feel lazy. Quick update regarding various things. Unfortunately I was unable to find anything on my date with Theresa so I'm thinking of just getting her a game via Steam. BUT, she's busy this entire week and next week so I could play the "I had your gift but you were to busy so I saved it for later" card and just have more time to get a gift. If that made sense.

This would also buy me more time to find a recipe for something to cook/bake for her. If I can't find one in time I think I'll just cook her lunch on campus using one of the few recipes I'm actually good at. It's angel hair pasta in a tomato broth and she loves it BUT I've cooked it for her a few times and I don't want to look like a one-trick pony.

This bird could probably cook better than me.

And to end, here's this cat video that I find hilarious but Theresa finds really annoying.

I feel bad for laughing but that doesn't stop me.

Presents for Theresa

Hey my midterms are done (at least, round 1 of them are) so I'm kind of free now! Well, not really.

I wish.

Regulars of my blog will remember my panic of buying my Mother's birthday present. And at the end I mentioned that I had to start hunting for a present for my girlfriend Theresa. Well her birthday is next week so let's see how well I'm doing.

Note before we start, I have a thing for the number 4, thus my goal is to always give my girlfriend 4 gifts. (Somehow Bersercules remembers my obsession with the number 4, I'm not sure why....)

Gift #1:

For those of you unaware of Squishables they make great gifts. Basically they're giant plush animals.

I think this is their second largest one.

Theresa already has both of the turtles offered but recently she really likes koalas. So the obvious thing to do was to buy her the koala Squishable as well. Gift #1, easy.

Gift #2:

This is also easy. On her birthday I'm taking her out to lunch at her favorite Italian restaurant. It's been a while since we've been there so I think she'll like that. I'm hoping I can get the waiter/waitress to give her a slice of cake with a candle in it or something. No singing though, Theresa embarrasses easily though and she'd kill me later.

Gift #3:

A lot of you suggested making things. Good idea, so I've been looking through Lizzy's blog to try and find something that I can bake without dying.

WHO LET DAMIAN INTO THE KITCHEN?!

Ok, I'm not that bad but my baking isn't exactly my strongest suit. Things to note, Theresa doesn't like cupcakes or pastries that are too sweet.

Gift #4:

I'm actually uncertain for this last one. I have a date with her on Sunday so I'm thinking of buying her something then, you know, like an early birthday present. But Theresa is really, really, hard to buy for. As in, she'll see something she'll like, refuse to buy it because "it's a waste/no necessary/I don't need it/[insert stupid reason here]" AND refuse to let me buy it.

I'm still bitter about that dress she wouldn't let me buy her.

Worse comes to worse I'll gift her something from Steam. It's a cop-out gift but I'm kind of running out of options.

Plus, I need to start thinking about Christmas gifts too. Can't use up all my ideas yet.

Midterm Week Post

It's midterm week and by midterm week I mean all my midterms have been crammed into one week. Thus I haven't been getting around to as many blogs as I would have liked so I apologize for that. Don't worry, I'll still be posting every third day.

And with that, here's a short post with 4 short Youtube videos that I've personally enjoyed. I know you're all busy people so I try and keep them to a minute long. Now if you'll excuse me, Abnormal and Developmental Psychology aren't going to study themselves.

Wonder what else he can imitate

Omnomnom

Clever

You're still watching? Fine, here's a video that's double the length of the others.

Wish my profs were like this...

And with that, I'll see you guys Friday.

Me Not Healthy: The Lung Cysts (Part 3)

For those that are new to my blog, welcome! You're joining us at the end of a small story arc about my poor health and lungs. Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

A quick recap from last time, I've been deemed healthy enough to be sent back to the comfort of my own home. They bandaged up the hole where the chest tube was and told me that the stitches in the other two incisions would eventually dissolve on their own. I only really remember two things from my at home recovery. 1. I slept a lot. 2. My hair starts to smell really bad even after just a week without a shower.

In the hospital I was pretty much just given a damp cloth to wipe myself down with. At home I was too busy sleeping, glad to no longer be interrupted by check-ups and x-rays. I couldn't shower at home just yet because I had to wait a few days to allow for the chest tube hole to partial heal up because I don't think I want excess water just sloshing around inside me. You have no idea how good it felt to get that first shower. You just feel refreshed, clean and rejuvenated.

That cat has no idea what it's missing out on.

A few more weeks pass and we go to see the doctor again. More x-rays are taken and I look and feel perfectly fine. They remind me again that there is a 95% chance that they got all the cysts. I should not have anymore problems.

And four days later I feel what I think is a cyst bursting.

Seriously?

And this hasn't been an isolated situation. Either they didn't get all the cysts, they're somehow coming back or I've gone crazy. Sometimes it's just a short period of difficulty breathing but recently pain has returned. Just last week I was walking up some stairs when suddenly I bent over in pain and stood there for a good minute. Oh, and did I mention that my right lung probably has cysts too? I've felt something wrong in it but a cat scan wasn't done on that side because it didn't happen as often as the left lung. And did I also mentioned the only way they can do anything is probably with more surgery?

So there's not much I can do other than hope the problem goes away on its own. I don't have time to go for another surgery even if it is free in Canada. It took me well over a month to recover so I think I'll just let it keep happening.

Insert obscure MSPA reference here.

On a side note, everytime it does happen I have a tendency to sleep in which pisses off my parents to no end. They think I'm being lazy and I'll let them keep thinking that. Better to have them think that than worrying about my stupid lungs again.

Speaking of sleep, that's another health problem I probably have. Maybe another day I'll discuss it.