Category Archives: Ideas (blog)

bug babble.

Snow snow snow

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Let’s see… on 2/6 we got about 18″ of snow. that melted down to roughly 1/2 by the time the snow started Tuesday night. I wasn’t smart enough to measure in advance, but I’m guessing based on the current piles & the fact that I was clearing roughly 4-5″ every time I shoveled, that we got at least another 18″ between Tuesday night & late Wednesday.

The dogs are confused.

This snow’s much heavier. a neighbor lost roughly half the branches on his 20+ foot tall pine. We only lost power once, but I expect we’ll lose it again now that the melt has begun.

Got the cars dug out this morning, and got to work just before noon. Royersford’s roads suck, the highways (422 & 202) are clear-to-wet, and Great Valley’s roads suck. So, situation normal.

Pictures later, when I get home.

More lessons learned the hard way

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Public service announcement for people as dumb as I am: “maximum strength” doesn’t mean the same thing everywhere.

Maximum strength Sudafed is 30mg of pseudoephederine. I used to take 1 a day.

Maximum strength Mucinex D is 120mg of pseudoephederine. I’ve been taking 1 a day.

AND I WONDER WHY I’M NOT SLEEPING.

So, back to the drawing board…

Tales of a 33 year old green belt: returning to the flock

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Had my first martial arts class since – ohIdunno – August, maybe earlier, tonight. To tell you the story of that, I have to tell you a different story first.

Why you always read your mail from the pharmacy

I mentioned in the last post that I’ve been kind of checked-out for a while, and there are a lot of reasons for that. One is a very slow slide into depression that started probably last summer. It was one of those insidious unnoticeable deals where I didn’t realize I was depressed until I also realized I was eating maybe once a day, stopped listening to music, stopped calling friends….

So, angst, stress, depression, coupled with the pressure I put on myself to do something about the angst, stress, and depression. And I thought I’d had all the crazy under control, so add on the angst, stress and depression of feeling like I’d lost control of the crazy. At some point, I started to get nightly heartburn from the stress and it was the general all around miserable feeling that finally drove me to see a counselor.

The day after I finally saw a counselor, I got an email from our pharmacy. Now, keep in mind that the pharmacy doesn’t know about the counselor, but they do know that I’m already on prozac. Their email said, in short “Hey, that exercise-induced asthma drug you started last summer? You might want to know it causes…

Cough; dizziness; headache; indigestion; nausea; stomach upset or pain; stuffy nose; tiredness; trouble sleeping; weakness. Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); aggressive behavior; agitation; dark urine; fever; flu-like symptoms; hallucinations; irregular heartbeat; mental or mood changes; new or worsening wheezing or other breathing problems; numbness or tingling of hands or feet; seizures; severe or persistent stomach pain; severe sinus inflammation; suicidal thoughts or actions; swelling; unusual bruising or bleeding; upper respiratory tract infection; yellowing of the skin or eyes.

Hmmm, stomach upset, nausea, agitation, mental or mood changes…. boy, that sounds familiar. Would have loved to know that THREE MONTHS AGO. Might’ve saved me a trip to a counselor….

So, off I went to the doctor, who immediately pulled me from the asthma drug and bumped my dose of prozac from “infinitesimal” to “tiny”. And what do you know? The heartburn is gone. A big portion (but not all) of the anxiety and depression are gone. The appetite is back. The clouds are gone. Life is great!

….And the asthma’s back.

Don’t know what you’ve lost ’till it’s back

I didn’t leave Tang Soo Do because of the depression. I left because Nighthawk was hospitalized and after that we had a bit of getting our lives back in order to take care of. But for almost 6 months I did nothing involving Tang Soo Do. I didn’t study my Korean terminology. I didn’t study my one-steps or forms. I didn’t stretch. I didn’t even do side kicks to loosen my back up.

On the other hand, I did wear my MBTs every day and I’ve been walking the dogs to various degrees every single day.

Today I learned..

  • I’ve lost some speed, and some power in my kicks.
  • I’ve lost what little technical finesse I had. I look like a flailing loon.
  • I’ve lost the callouses on my feet. My big toes both blistered, popped, and blistered again this afternoon. Ow!
  • I’ve lost my confidence that I know my stuff, even though it looks like I’ve retained more of my forms and one-steps than I thought I knew in the first place.
  • I’ve gained some balance, and some (but not a lot) of core strength, thanks (I think) to the shoes.
  • And I’ve regained the asthma.

There’s nothing so delightful as being out of breath for the first full 20 minutes of an hour-long class. It’s so incredibly hard to concentrate on having good form in your kicks when your brain stem is screaming AIR GODDAMMIT WHERE’S THE AIR?

And I do martial arts in part to learn self-defense. Something tells me that if I ever am mugged, I won’t be able to stop the mugger and say, “Hey, can you wait 10 minutes while I hit my inhaler and then we can try this mugging again so I can kick your ass?”

So, Monday, I’m back to the doctor. The goal is an asthma drug that doesn’t come with a side order of crazy. Wish me luck.

Rambling

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First, let me say I have a massive headache. So this post likely won’t make sense.

I’m currently at my computer wearing gloves. The heat’s working, the rest of my body is warm, but my hands are ice cubes. I hate winter.

I’ve been neglecting my website and my comic. Dunno why… sometimes a person just grows away from a thing. I’m going to try to grow back toward it.

It’s going to be a challenge though. Used to be this was my creative outlet. Now, as an information architect, I get paid to use those same creative bits of my brain at work, so when I come home they’re tired and they don’t want to play anymore.

On the other hand, the characters won’t necessarily shut up. Marin and the dogs especially. Not sure what to do about that.

Not sure what to do about the fact that I’ve left y’all in a mid-plot lurch either.

We’re working these things out, at any rate. Things are due for some changes.

You might start to see some short twitter-esque posts on here over time…. I sometimes only have a few minutes to say a thing. But I prefer to say the things that are comic-related here rather than the twitter feed. Which is really just me rambling on. Sort of like this, but shorter.

Anyway, things are in the works.