"Epic" Tuesday Morning Post, featuring Lady Gaga and Ke$ha
I should LJ more. I'd rather share things here than in Facebook or twitter though because ... Facebook is littered with people that I don't care to share information with and twitter is just a joke.
So I guess I'll start with work. This is the third week back from my month of leave I took and things are finally going well. Apparently the people here went crazy while I was gone trying to figure out my job (even though I felt I had spelled it out pretty well for them before I left). But, whatever. Work is fine. I'm trying to get a second job, and I've only applied to one place so far: Panera Bread. I won't put all my eggs in one basket, but my hope is once I do secure a second job, I will be able to save/spend money for my new medication regimen (not that I can't afford it right now, but I'll just be very secure in all of that if I was to get another job).
Let's see. What else? The MS symptoms have dissipated somewhat. My eyesight in my left eye gets worse with a rise in body-temperature, I've noticed. After I work out or take a hot shower, the sight issue gets increasingly worse; however, it becomes near normal (I say "near" because it never gets back to what it was before the situation in February) in colder settings. The prickling "needle" pain that I was randomly getting in my back and chest has completely gone away, which is so good because that was extreme pain and I can live without ever feeling that again.
The only other symptom that I notice (and perhaps has been the hardest to deal with) is fatigue. The last month or so has been a BIG problem when it comes to this. If I had an energy bar, it would have been on about 5% to 0 within the last few weeks. I have never in my life been so drained of energy. I've never had to just stop what I'm doing in the gym because my body just couldn't keep up. After starting the self-injections, I was hoping that the fatigue would magically go away, but I've since learned that the particular medication I'm taking doesn't actually help symptoms go away. It just helps prevent new attacks.
I finally went to the doctor yesterday about the fatigue and he recommended that I take vitamin D supplements. He also prescribed me Provigil, which is used for people that have narcolepsy. But I guess it's used for chronic fatigue syndrome too. Or something. I dunno. Either way, it works! I can't remember the last time I felt so good. Today, I'm absolutely beaming with energy.
Weight-wise, I hit my goal of 100lbs lost about 2 or so weeks ago. It's a pretty big achievement, and I cannot say that I ate very well over the last weekend, but .. you know what? I can afford it. Because of my energy problem, I didn't do the gym at all last week, but I'm looking forward to getting back into it this week. I pretty much feel good and I feel like I look good too.
I've been a lot more social lately. I think a lot of that has to do with pulling myself out of the rut I was in last August. I generally just enjoy life whenever I'm around people. The MS has made this somewhat hard, but I've often forced myself to be social (like, going out with friends to Badlands or going to a friend's birthday party) when I'd otherwise not feel up to it. It's been healthy for me to do this.
Man, it's taken me all day to finish this entry due to interruptions.
In WoW, I've been taking it extremely easy. I haven't fully gotten back to raiding, though I did raid one day last week and was able to see all of the current content. It felt like I was cheating almost because I wasn't there while my guild was struggling on these encounters. I pretty much had a smooth run through (save any hard modes). I finally got myself to do ZA yesterday. I had only done ZG. I enjoyed both, and my guild is currently doing bear runs (though I haven't been in on any of those yet). Otherwise, I'm leveling a worgen through battlegrounds with a friend. That's been fun.
The show has been going great. We had our first international guest a few weeks ago, and we're gaining UK listeners, which is awesome. I even checked our show's page at the UK version of iTunes and we have a few reviews there. I'm glad my off-beat sense of humor has a home there. Nothing like joking about butt plugs and WoW in a british accent.
In music, I'm in a total white-trash Ke$ha phase. Hey, don't knock it until you tried it. I think she's fun and produces music that's pretty much throw-away silly fun. I find myself humming it at work. In a few years, I'll probably be like "Ke$who?", but right now I like it.
I prefer her over Gaga, anyway. Speaking of, I listened to Gaga's new album yesterday because I at least want to have a leg to stand on if I'm going to continue not liking her. hehe, I kid. The thing I have a problem with is that it's really just okay for an album. Like, not spectacular. I liked Heavy Metal Lover. The album is very over-the-top 80's pop, but I don't know if I'd consider it good 80's pop. I hate the word "epic" because it gets thrown around all the time (especially for this album, I mean, what really makes a song "epic" anyway?), but if I'd have to use it in WoW terms, I'd put it like this:
Madonna's "Express Yourself" = WoW Vanilla AQ 20 Epic Loot
Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" = WoW Cataclysm Grim Batol Heroic quality Loot
Madonna's "Like A Prayer" = WoW Vanilla Epic Naxrammas Loot
Lady Gaga's "Judas" = WoW Wrath of the Lich King Epic Naxxrammas Loot
The thing is, I'm not a die-hard Madonna fan either, but I recognize something when it's unique, and these new songs just aren't, imo. Ooooh, one other thing, and this is really nit-picky, but I have a friend that speaks fluent German (she was partially raised in Germany), and I had her listen to the new song "Sheisse" (which means "Shit" in German). She couldn't make out any of the lyrics and said that they sound "swiss". Also, the symbol for "ss" which looks like "ß" has been "discontinued" according to her, which just makes the name of the song seem even more pretentious than it did before. "Oh, I know, I'm going to call my song 'shit' in German and include a symbol that even Germans don't use and speak Swiss because I'm Mother Monster and people will eat my shit up!!!1"
I say that and I still think it's one of the more tolerable songs on the CD. haha
Btw, she's 25. Everybody calling her "Mother Monster" is creepy. She has yet to even realize her full potential, which is glaringly obvious when I listen to any of Born This Way.
And I've talked about her way too much. I suppose when you don't like something, you talk about it more than if you like it, right? Or maybe I secretly like her and want to come off like I hate her. I doubt that last one, but perhaps if you like her, you'll believe it. haha
So I guess I'll start with work. This is the third week back from my month of leave I took and things are finally going well. Apparently the people here went crazy while I was gone trying to figure out my job (even though I felt I had spelled it out pretty well for them before I left). But, whatever. Work is fine. I'm trying to get a second job, and I've only applied to one place so far: Panera Bread. I won't put all my eggs in one basket, but my hope is once I do secure a second job, I will be able to save/spend money for my new medication regimen (not that I can't afford it right now, but I'll just be very secure in all of that if I was to get another job).
Let's see. What else? The MS symptoms have dissipated somewhat. My eyesight in my left eye gets worse with a rise in body-temperature, I've noticed. After I work out or take a hot shower, the sight issue gets increasingly worse; however, it becomes near normal (I say "near" because it never gets back to what it was before the situation in February) in colder settings. The prickling "needle" pain that I was randomly getting in my back and chest has completely gone away, which is so good because that was extreme pain and I can live without ever feeling that again.
The only other symptom that I notice (and perhaps has been the hardest to deal with) is fatigue. The last month or so has been a BIG problem when it comes to this. If I had an energy bar, it would have been on about 5% to 0 within the last few weeks. I have never in my life been so drained of energy. I've never had to just stop what I'm doing in the gym because my body just couldn't keep up. After starting the self-injections, I was hoping that the fatigue would magically go away, but I've since learned that the particular medication I'm taking doesn't actually help symptoms go away. It just helps prevent new attacks.
I finally went to the doctor yesterday about the fatigue and he recommended that I take vitamin D supplements. He also prescribed me Provigil, which is used for people that have narcolepsy. But I guess it's used for chronic fatigue syndrome too. Or something. I dunno. Either way, it works! I can't remember the last time I felt so good. Today, I'm absolutely beaming with energy.
Weight-wise, I hit my goal of 100lbs lost about 2 or so weeks ago. It's a pretty big achievement, and I cannot say that I ate very well over the last weekend, but .. you know what? I can afford it. Because of my energy problem, I didn't do the gym at all last week, but I'm looking forward to getting back into it this week. I pretty much feel good and I feel like I look good too.
I've been a lot more social lately. I think a lot of that has to do with pulling myself out of the rut I was in last August. I generally just enjoy life whenever I'm around people. The MS has made this somewhat hard, but I've often forced myself to be social (like, going out with friends to Badlands or going to a friend's birthday party) when I'd otherwise not feel up to it. It's been healthy for me to do this.
Man, it's taken me all day to finish this entry due to interruptions.
In WoW, I've been taking it extremely easy. I haven't fully gotten back to raiding, though I did raid one day last week and was able to see all of the current content. It felt like I was cheating almost because I wasn't there while my guild was struggling on these encounters. I pretty much had a smooth run through (save any hard modes). I finally got myself to do ZA yesterday. I had only done ZG. I enjoyed both, and my guild is currently doing bear runs (though I haven't been in on any of those yet). Otherwise, I'm leveling a worgen through battlegrounds with a friend. That's been fun.
The show has been going great. We had our first international guest a few weeks ago, and we're gaining UK listeners, which is awesome. I even checked our show's page at the UK version of iTunes and we have a few reviews there. I'm glad my off-beat sense of humor has a home there. Nothing like joking about butt plugs and WoW in a british accent.
In music, I'm in a total white-trash Ke$ha phase. Hey, don't knock it until you tried it. I think she's fun and produces music that's pretty much throw-away silly fun. I find myself humming it at work. In a few years, I'll probably be like "Ke$who?", but right now I like it.
I prefer her over Gaga, anyway. Speaking of, I listened to Gaga's new album yesterday because I at least want to have a leg to stand on if I'm going to continue not liking her. hehe, I kid. The thing I have a problem with is that it's really just okay for an album. Like, not spectacular. I liked Heavy Metal Lover. The album is very over-the-top 80's pop, but I don't know if I'd consider it good 80's pop. I hate the word "epic" because it gets thrown around all the time (especially for this album, I mean, what really makes a song "epic" anyway?), but if I'd have to use it in WoW terms, I'd put it like this:
Madonna's "Express Yourself" = WoW Vanilla AQ 20 Epic Loot
Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" = WoW Cataclysm Grim Batol Heroic quality Loot
Madonna's "Like A Prayer" = WoW Vanilla Epic Naxrammas Loot
Lady Gaga's "Judas" = WoW Wrath of the Lich King Epic Naxxrammas Loot
The thing is, I'm not a die-hard Madonna fan either, but I recognize something when it's unique, and these new songs just aren't, imo. Ooooh, one other thing, and this is really nit-picky, but I have a friend that speaks fluent German (she was partially raised in Germany), and I had her listen to the new song "Sheisse" (which means "Shit" in German). She couldn't make out any of the lyrics and said that they sound "swiss". Also, the symbol for "ss" which looks like "ß" has been "discontinued" according to her, which just makes the name of the song seem even more pretentious than it did before. "Oh, I know, I'm going to call my song 'shit' in German and include a symbol that even Germans don't use and speak Swiss because I'm Mother Monster and people will eat my shit up!!!1"
I say that and I still think it's one of the more tolerable songs on the CD. haha
Btw, she's 25. Everybody calling her "Mother Monster" is creepy. She has yet to even realize her full potential, which is glaringly obvious when I listen to any of Born This Way.
And I've talked about her way too much. I suppose when you don't like something, you talk about it more than if you like it, right? Or maybe I secretly like her and want to come off like I hate her. I doubt that last one, but perhaps if you like her, you'll believe it. haha