awakenings...

Sometimes all it takes is a two minute scene from a movie to get you to start thinking.

This time it was from the movie Awakenings, with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro. If you have never seen this movie, I highly recommend it. In fact, stop reading this right now and go rent it, watch it, then come back.

The scene I am referring to is when Leonard (DeNiro) calls Dr. Sayer (Williams) early one morning and tells him to come to the hospital because he needs to talk to him. The ensuing conversation is thus:

• Leonard: We've got to tell everybody. We...we...we...we've got to remind them. We've got to remind them how good it is.
  Sayer: How good what is Leonard?
  Leonard: Read the newspaper. There, what does it say? All bad. It's all bad. People have forgotten what life is all about. They've forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded about what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life. The gift of life. The freedom of life! The wonderment of life!

Dr. Sayer is then seen conversing with another staff member and he says:

• He kept saying that people don't appreciate the simple things. Work, play, friendship, family. It's...he was so excited he talked 'til five o'clock in the morning. What he's saying is absolutely right, we don't know how to live.

Then it struck me, and it has stuck with me for the past two weeks or so. The simple fact that I too had forgotten how to live. But I was reminded at the end of the movie:

• The human spirit is more powerful than any drug. And that is what needs to be nourished. With work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter. This is what we've forgotten. The simplist things.

And so a part of me goes back to seeking the simplist things, as well as things in life not so simple. I can't help but ask myself though; if I had not seen this movie, how long would I have been willing to stay asleep?

inflammation of the hand... (part ii)

So after seeing the dermatologist this morning, my "infection" has been narrowed down to a severe allergy. Not only is my hand still swollen, but my ears are as well as below my eyes. I never knew an allergy could be so much fun.



As for medication, I am now primarily on Prednisone; a corticosteroid used to treat severe allergies. My schedule for the next two weeks looks like this:

• Days 1-5: 60mg a day
• Days 6-10: 50mg a day
• Days 11-15: 40mg a day

I'm also taking Zyrtec; an antihistamine, and Benadryl at night.

The most exciting part about all of this? Well that's simply the fact that I'm on steroids and I'll be playing softball Thursday night. I figure my left arm will just have to hit the ball over the fence all by its little lonesome...

inflammation of the hand...

I know the title of this blog doesn't necessarily sound pleasant or happy-happy-joy-joy, but hey they all don't have to be fun and games.

So my hand has been healing pretty well from when I fell off my scooter (a Piaggio [maker of Vespas] Liberty 150[cc]) two weeks ago. I've accidentally knocked a couple of my scabs off, but overall the function of my hand has become pretty normal. That is, until last night.

It actually started yesterday afternoon while I was hanging out in my friend's dorm room. My hand started itching more than normal, and I noticed that small bumps were beginning to rise between my wrist and knuckles. Being the intelligent one that he is, he went to webmd to see if we could find anything. We think it could be some kind of fungus that has entered through my wounds and onto my hand, but we're not quite sure. I went home and it seemed to slightly go away, away enough so that it didn't bother me when I played softball. But I woke up at 5 this morning because my hand was itching like crazy. Turns out the bumps have spread up my arm.

So I called the dermatologist to schedule an appointment, and of course neither of the doctors are in until Monday. So let's hope that my hand doesn't fall off before Monday, that probably wouldn't be the most enjoyable thing.

Update: At 1am I went to the emergency room. My hand had swelled to about twice its normal size. They have no idea what it could be, their best guess is an allergy. They sent me home with prescriptions to fill in the morning.

Current mood: Tired yet trusting.

books...

I have discovered, albeit through friends, that I am in the middle of too many books. Now even though I didn't need my friends' observation of this fact, it has still been helpful. Maybe it says something about me, maybe it doesn't. You could say that I am someone who starts things yet never finishes them, or maybe that I cannot commit to anything whatsoever. Whatever you may say, I still enjoy the books I am in the middle of, and I know that one of these days I will read them one at a time.

For now, I will continue to read the books I feel like reading, whether or not I have finished the one before it. And as to the books I am in the middle of? Here they are:

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Edit on 12/17/06 - Will not complete before 2010)
A Million Little Pieces
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Disgrace (Edit on 5/14/05 - Disgrace completed)
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
Fight Club
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Edit on 12/17/06 - Will not complete before 2010)
Life, the Universe and Everything
Pride and Prejudice (Edit on 12/17/06 - Will not complete before 2010)
The Hobbit (Edit on 5/10/05 - Hobbit completed)
The Mysterious Island
The Towers of the Sunset (Edit on 11/19/05 - The Towers of the Sunset completed)
Two Years Before the Mast (Edit on 12/17/06 - Will not complete before 2010)
Vernon God Little

So that's 5421 pages altogether. That is, if I were to start from the beginning of each one. I know for certain that I have not passed 100 pages on any of them except The Hobbit and A Million Little Pieces...

I think I need to start finishing what I have started.

there are first times for everything...

I still remember the first time I learned how to ride a bike. Maybe it was because we have it on video and I've watched it since then, but I still have that bike.

I remember the first time I played little league. I was on the Twins, and we won third place.

I remember my first kiss. I was eight and it was at the park that is behind my house and we hid behind a tree and gave each other a peck on the lips. I'm pretty sure we got made fun of by each other's siblings.

I remember being homeschooled first, and only having school three hours a day and loving it.

I remember when I first went to school in third grade, and had to be shown around by another classmate. We were good acquaintances for the next ten years.

I remember a lot of other firsts, but I suppose only because we add to our list of firsts daily. Like today, when I got this new blog, yet another first.

We'll see how this first works out.