Chibi Drunk Sanzo Adventures

There are no words for how awesome this image is:

http://spacecoyote.deviantart.com/art/Kefkamari-Damacy-144352464

Yakety Sax plus sped up film makes anything funny.

Current Mood: amused

Costco has their annual great big tins of Walker's shortbread cookies in stock. These are the best shortbread cookies to ever be packaged. I have a tin. I am a happy person right now. ^_____^

So, it's been awhile since I've updated, but hoo boy do I have a doozy of an update today. I nearly died this morning. Literally. There was a carbon monoxide leak in our apartment.

( Yeah. )

I got this video from squeakchan a bit ago, but I forgot to post it. This person is amazing. She has a lot of other great videos and covers and original lyrics as well. I highly suggest visiting her YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/katethegreat19

I think my latest pulmonologist finally found the answer to my illness. When I went to her, I mentioned my fatigue and general foggy-mindedness as symptoms. She said, "Hmm, let me check your vitamins D and B12 levels, just in case." She also sent me for lung function testing from the premiere doctor in that area since one number there had been low and neede following up, and my previous pulmonologists hadn't done so.

After the tests, when I went back to her, she told me that my lungs were absolutely fine, and in fact in very good shape. The one low number had improved greatly. My vitamin B12 levels were really good, too. My vitamin D levels, on the other hand, weren't. Optimal vitamin D levels are between 50 and 80 ng/ml. Below 25 you're considered deficient. I was at 13.

I had no clue why my levels were so low, though. I do get a bit of sunlight every day, and I drink 2-4 glasses of milk a day, which is fortified with vitamin D. (I loves me my milk.) My mom is in town, and when I was talking with her about it, she said, "I bet it's one of your medicines." When she said that, I said, "You know, I bet it's the Prevacid." Sure enough, when I got back to work (no internet at the new place yet) I poked around and found out that Prevacid, which is for acid reflux, has a semi-rare side effect of leeching out vitamin D and preventing its absorption in some people. I just have to be different, I guess. =P

Then I remembered, when I was on the antifungal medicines, I had to stop taking Prevacid as well. Ding, ding, ding. Now, I do think the mold was a factor as well and it was the combination of stuff that caused my symptoms. Back when I was sick from exposure (which was not long after I started taking Prevacid), just moving out of that room made me feel better. And then, after I got better while taking the antifungal medicine then relapsed when I started taking my inhaler, I did stop taking Prevacid for awhile to see if that was the cause. There was no change.

My going theory is that is was the combination of vitamin D deficiency plus the mold and fungus in my system (although not an active infection, I don't think) that caused me to have such severe symptoms. Once I get the vitamin D up, my body will probably take care of the rest of it. To that end, I have stopped Pravacid altogether; Zantac works for my acid reflux, it's in a different family of drugs, doesn't affect vitamin D, and my doctor says it's safe to take long-term; I'm taking vitamin D supplements; and I'm taking the homeopathic stuff from Dr. Frazier to balance out my system, get rid of lingering fungus, and further help my digestion and acid reflux. With all the information I have now, I'm actually grateful to the mold, as weird as that may seem. Without that we probably wouldn't have found out about the D deficiency until my bones started getting brittle.

I feel really good about this. Things have clicked into place, and my gut feeling (which I'm sure is the Spirit in this case) says that this is it, this is right. And the best part? It's just in time to still make it to the water park this summer. ^__^ Next weekend, anybody? August 29th, Raging Waters in Salt Lake City? Yes/yes?

Current Mood: joyful

I wanted to post a link to this article about virtue that I got from double_dear. Sheri L. Dew says things much better than I can. I agree with what she says, and I think it's important that people know what I believe. I also respect that other people believe differently, so please don't look at my posting this as any sort of condemnation of anyone else.

And you thought clowns were scary:


see more Fail Blog

Okay, this isn't about drinking, but it sounded like a clever title. And hey, I've heard that sleep deprivation leads to behavior that's similar to drunk behavior.

Anyway, pixiepilot and I are here in LA at AX. Well, technically right now we're here in Burbank at my brother's house chillin' and sleepin' and stuff because despite how nice it might be to be closer to the convention center, a free place to sleep is better than hotel costs. Anyway, yesterday we drove here from Utah. Neither of us had gotten enough sleep the day before, and then there's me with my breathing issues. (Amusing interjection, at work I now have the nickname "Gus." It's short for "fungus lung." XD)

Today, after getting badges and checking in stuff at the art show and checking myself in for the masquerade, we were exhausted. We decided to call it an early night and headed to the car. On the way there, after crossing the street... I totally biffed it. Tripped over either my own two feet or the curb, I can't remember which. Normally I can balance myself out no problem when that happens, although it takes a heavy, hopping step or two. Today not so much. The exhaustion combined with the slight overbalancing from the messenger bag with my laptop in it proved too much for me, and gravity won the day. I went down hard.

I'm okay, and the laptop is okay. I whacked my knee pretty good, bruising it up and getting a minor scrape even through my jeans. After icing it the swelling went right down, though. I'm just feeling the bruising (no colors yet, but I'm sure they'll show up later), and I can't kneel on anything for a bit. So no, this is not a repeat of A-kon*, and I will still be doing the skit. \o/ Other than that, there's the tiniest little scrape/cut on my finger, even smaller than the papercut I got earlier today, and another finger had the skin roughed up, but not enough to even call it a scrape.

Small miracles were at play, though, which I am completely grateful for. I tripped at the corner, and the ground past the sidewalk was about half an inch below the cement. That half inch saved my face and possibly some teeth. I only ended up with some dirt on my nose and chin. I also happened to be carrying my messenger bag so the laptop was behind me instead of in front of me, unlike how I'd had it all day before then. If I had fallen on it... yeah, that would have given me one dead computer screen at the very least.

On another note, when doing the at-con check in for the masquerade, I found out that unless they make some last-minute changes, I'm the very last skit. But hey, they'll finish with a bang! Alright, technically they'll finish with a ninja running awkwardly off stage, but even that bit will be awesome!

Also, double_dear, if you have your laptop at the con and check LJ, we should set up a time to meet. I'll be checking my e-mail and LJ at night.

*At A-kon last year I was planning on doing the same skit. Then I tripped on the escalator and ended up partially tearing a ligament in my ankle. When your ankle is about twice its normal size it's probably not a good idea to dance on it. Especially when you're by yourself and your whole cosplay skit is dancing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NIKKIBUTT~!!!!

Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart," the literal video version:

Current Mood: so very amused

Pix and I are officially going to AX. ^_^ We've got our registration, we've got a place to stay, and we've got transportation. Woo! I also got a table in the art show (not the alley) so I can display and possibly sell some etched shot glasses, other glasses, and mirrors.

On the downside, about the Chrono Trigger group. I don't think I'm going to be able to get Robo done. I'm still sick with this "can't breathe right" thing, and even if I get the proper treatment today it will probably be a week or two or three before I can work on Robo. (At this point I get out of breath making a sandwich. No way I can do the necessary work for Robo until I'm better.) That's really not enough time to get him done like I want to, and I don't want to be a slap-dash Robo. However, I think I can do Frog, and we don't have a Frog yet. ^^d And if worst comes to worst, I can get a green wig and be the human version instead of the frog version. Robo will just have to wait for a later time.

I read Watchmen for the first time, just finished tonight. You know a novel (graphic novel or not) is dark and depressing when after reading a chapter or two you get a spiritual lift from then reading the Old Testament. XD Still, I don't regret reading Watchmen. Having read comics from all parts of the 80s, and read some in the 90s and some more recent, I can see at least some of the boundaries that Watchmen didn't just push, but looked at, rolled its eyes, and shot. It's also one of those where the more I think about it the more I realize, "Oh, hey, I see what that was about." All in all, I'm still kind of processing and probably will be for a long while.

Also, if you know anything about Watchmen but haven't seen this, you must:

I was having an especially hard time with the breathing today, so I stayed home from work. Then I figured, hey, I've got all day, I might as well finally play FFXII. I played all day (because, let's face it, to get a good feel for Final Fantasy games you have to play for quite awhile), and finally stopped right as I got to the sky city place. Bujherba, or however it's spelled.

I have to say, the game so far? I'm rather underwhelmed. The characters are recycled and one-dimensional (maybe two in some cases), the voice acting is, eh, not bad, but not good enough that I don't notice it (if that makes sense), the music is forgettable, and the plot is predictable. I'm not wholly impressed with the license system and I'm undecided about the battle system, but I'm warming up to it. I do like Balthier, but that's the attitude and accent, really. He has yet to do something I wasn't expecting. It is very pretty, though. The cut scene flying over the sky city was dang cool. Still... Please, somebody tell me the game gets better.

I saw the new doctor about the relapse breathing issues on Tuesday. He doesn't think it was/is a fungal infection either, and he had the same reasons as the other doctor, but he actually, you know, explained them so I understood and was willing to keep testing other stuff instead of brushing it off as all in my head. He seems to think my getting better on the other medicine (Vfend) was a fluke or a placebo reaction. I personally remain unconvinced simply because through all my weird medical history, even when I was desperately hoping or was sure a medicine would work, I never had a placebo effect before. And, in fact, I was scared that the Vfend wouldn't work either, not so certain it would that my body took over. Still, I think with this guy I'll be able to jump through the right hoops. I honestly do not care if it's a fungal infection or something else entirely. I just want to be better.

Anyway, aside from scheduling tests and taking blood and a urine sample, he also gave me some Singulair to take. I have an allergy to NSAIDs, which means pretty much every over-the-counter pain medicine out there except for Tylenol and Excedrin. Singulair is a pill that treats both asthma and allergies, and sometimes people with NSAID allergies develop a weird asthma. This brings me to my sigh about doctor logic.

My doctors have said there is no physical evidence beyond the difficulty breathing that I have asthma. Singulair marks the fourth asthma medicine they've thrown at me anyway, just to see if it works. On the other hand, when I tried Vfend to see if it worked, I got better. But my doctors say my problem can't be a fungal infection because there is no physical evidence beyond the difficulty breathing. ...I may bring that up at my next appointment.

Happy birthday double_dear!!

Even though you guys probably won't read this until tonight. Still!

Current Mood: cheerful

So, I took advantage of the Orange Box sale that I posted about before. I've been playing Portal and loving it. I've beaten storyline mode, but only one of the advanced stages so far. Part of that is because, as much as I love the game, I get motion sick if I play for too long. =P

Oh well, it just means I'm self-limiting on how long I play, right? Right!


"Aperture Science: We Do What We Must Because We Can."

Make a note here: HUGE SUCCESS

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/469/

The Orange Box, which includes Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal, is only $10 this weekend. Only this weekend, though, so sorry for the late posting.

Click the link and buy, already!

Addendum: So, I totally forgot I already owned Half-Life 2. Only the basic game, though, and I didn't have any of the rest of the stuff that came in the Orange Box (Portal! C'mon!). This means I have an extra copy that I can give to somebody through my Steam account. Let me know if anybody wants it.

H'okay, so, I did not have enough money for registration before San Diego Comic-Con was sold out. ;_; (And of course it's after the fact that I find out my brother can get me in for free or for a discount. Next year I'm so going.) I am definitely going to AX, though. My only new cosplay plans this year are Robo (Chrono Trigger) and Sasori (first version, Naruto). Oh yeah, and Shino if I can get into the Masquerade. Heck, I'll probably wear my Shino Dynamite costume anyway. ...And maybe Navi, although I need to make version 2.0.

Which brings up the Chrono Trigger cosplay group. So far we have me, double_dear, sporkkunoichi, and... xian_pu? Are you official? I'm Robo, Spork is Crono (because dangit, if you don't have the wig already I will freaking make you one), and Xianpu will be either Ayla or Magus, depending on the fitness factor. I can possibly rope pixiepilot into being somebody. >) Any other takers? Double_dear, do you guys have characters picked yet?

That's all from me for now.