What's the RDA for pep?

We could all use one of these from time to time. The best one I've seen relatively recently comes from the kid president :-D If you're familiar you'll know he gets the job done, every time.



I've used this a couple of times before but I never get tired of it!

So what else get's me fired up to do something? Well I mentioned before about a line in Eminem - Lose Yourself:

"If you had one shot or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted, in one moment. Would you capture it or let it slip?"

Kinda links back to my previous post or posts I'm having troubling sifting what I've written with what I want to say. X-O it really is a wibblywob timeywimey thing. When I heard it, it shocked me into action. Even now if I remember/hear it I always wonder how many of these opps I've let slip through my fingers. But that's kinda defeatist thinking. Using the past for motivation is cool :-D But torturing myself with past failure? Seems a little loony when I look back. Don't miss them in the future! :D

So now on to some more obscure sources of inspiration.

Can you name these legends of the anime world? If you can then I'll buy you a beer, I'll limit this to the first 10 people who can name these dudes! Just to be clear that's first and last name :P

Let's kick things off with Rock Lee: 

For the uninitiated Lee is from the popular Japanese manga series Naruto. His main thing is hard work, he doesn't know how to quit. The phrase used by his sensei, Maito Gai, is "genius of hard work". Not talented but works his ass off. I'd encourage you all to watch the anime. Watch out for filler arcs as they will no doubt bore you to death. These are mainly inserted to let the manga, comic, storyline get ahead.

Spoiler! So when we first see Lee he knocks ten bells out of Sasuke the guy that the main protagonist, Naruto, looks up to. But Lee was holding back. When he fights Gaara, the dude with all the sand, he lets loose. The fight showcases a lot of speed + skill that Lee has built up allowing him to overcome Gaara's seemingly impenetrable automatic sand defences. Oh yes Gaara controls sand and uses it as if it were an extra limb/s. He can also encase himself in it, sand armour!

Lee use certain techniques that allow him to push his body beyond it's natural limits. Muscles tear, metabolism increases to unsustainable levels etc. He is literally tearing his body apart to win. Lee performs an all or nothing attack that doesn't take Gaara down. Gaara is severely hurt though. Lee is out of juice and Gaara traps his arm and leg in sand and crushes them. Gaara is in full flow and ready to kill Lee, Gai steps in and stops the fight. Gaara quizzes him about why he'd do that? Gaara loses his patience and starts to walk off, exclaiming that he quits. This would leave Lee as the victor but seeing as Gai already intervened it's too late.

There are gasps from the assembled crowd. When Gai turns around he sees Lee standing up in his fighting stance. Gai explains to him that he's in no condition to carry on. He suddenly realises that Lee is unconscious! Even with his lights out Lee refuses to go down. If you want to watch the fight you can here it's an English dub so not ideal but still worth a watch :D

I was going to leave it at that but it hardly seems long enough, and I know you lot love to plough through masses of my mumbo jumbo, so I'll throw in another one.This questions is which one? Well I may as well go with the tale of two brothers who tragically lose their mother. You can see it all here This is of course the story or Ed and Al Elric - Fullmetal Alchemist. They live in a world within which science kinda exists but you can transform things into other things using alchemy. The primary rule of alchemy is toka koka in Japanese - equivalent exchange. So they gather together the ingredients required for making a human being:

• Water, 35 litres
• Carbon, 20kg
• Ammonia, 4 litres
• Lime, 1.5kg
• Phosperus, 800g
• Salt, 250 g
• Niter, 100g
• Sulphur, 80g
• Fluorine, 7.5g
• Iron, 5g
• Silicon 3g
• And fifteen other elements.

This is from the beginning of the story after Ed has become a renowned alchemist. The girl is hoping that by being devout to this particular temple the priest will be able to bring her dead fiance back to life. Ed launches into his list.


They researched Human Transmutation, a forbidden art in which one attempts to create or modify a human being. However, this attempt failed, resulting in the loss of Ed's left leg, and Al's entire body. What happens next pretty much brings a lump in my throat every time. 24 minutes? Can you spare that to see what I'm on about? If so watch it here :-D

Freedom

If you were "free" what would you do? Owing to a situation that's out of my control I've been handed quite a bit of free time. There is an old cliche that applies here "only boring people get bored" Guess that I wouldn't get bored if something wasn't taken away from me. Urgh, being cryptic for the sake of not shattering an illusion is ever so tedious!!!

Anyhow there are a load of films/TV series' I wish I could watch but I think I may have reached saturation point. Below is a list of films I've watched in the time I've been off. This isn't exhaustive as I am fully up to date with New Girl, Happy Endings and Apartment 23. Oh and I've caught up with Naruto and Bleach too :D

The Watch - Features Richard Ayoade, need I say more?!
Aeon Flux - Nice to look at, somewhat boring.
Skyfall - Javier Bardem really kills it, THAT VOICE!
Jack Reacher - Little predictible but I did actually gasp from time to time! Well worth a watch.
Chronicle - Amazing! Mystery unsolved!
The Dark Knight Rises - Good film, rip off of the Alabasta arc in One Piece:-O
Ted - Seth Mcfarlane is a genius. 
Dredd - The Judge, end of.
Dark Shadows - Quite tedious till Jonny Depp. Are there any films he's in where he isn't sexy/kooky?
Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides - I struggle to remember any of this film, may have been all the opiates in my system.
Green Lantern - I liked it
Men in Black 3 - Old school K is the dogs proverbials :D

So what would you do with your free time? Well I'm physically limited, as far as I'm gonna go so hurtling around doing back breaking labour and generally being a daredevil is out of the question :-(. But beyond that there are numerous skills I'd love to master e.g. cold reading, the memory palace, VBA! Plus there are soooo many books I want to read. I don't know what it is but once I arrived at this freedom all I found was frustration! There's a phrase from Wild Hogs of all films that springs to mind. Ray Liotta's character shouts angrily "YOU WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS KIND OF FREEDOM!"

I've arrived at some kinda freedom and have no idea what to do with it :-S. I have a focus, overcoming this particular physical limitation. But that's not full time there are fallow/rest periods. Also I don't sleep a lot so what the hell do I do!? The grass is always greener also leapeth forth.

Here's something weird for you, I woke up this morning with a real desire read Faust. German story of a dude who makes a pact with the devil, sounds a little like bedazzled to me. Anyhow I was determined to acquire it on Amazon, to the interweb! Do you folk believe in serendipity? Well as luck would have it there is a free kindle version of Faust available on Amazon! Now that sure is lucky right? It's a volunteer translations, akin to the fan translated manga I do so enjoy, so dunno how good it is. But here's where my luck stems from, last year I won my kindle in a Metro Radio competition!



I'm a lucky old soul but that doesn't stop me from slipping into the odd funk. Right now I've been given some freedom in exchange for losing something. You give and in exchange you get, or you don't X-D That's the madness here. Well maybe it's not so mad.

Say you give someone a kiss and you were expecting a kiss in return. Depending on who you kissed, time of day, weather or any given combination of variables you may receive a Glasgow variant in return. Now you did receive something in return but you may not want it or you may not be able to recognise it. There is also the fourth dimension to consider, time! Say you tend an apple tree for the first 2 years of it's life, you're motivation is to devour the tangy fruit it shall produce. After 2.5 years you give up and forget about the tree, 5 years pass. You come back and BOOM apples!!!

This kinda relates to Newton's third law of motion, google it :-P. Equal and opposite reaction, savvy? Without appreciating all the effects, perceptions, moods, distortions etc. how can you possibly hope to predict the kind of return you'll always get? Sat here giggling a little whilst I write this. Basically telling you that when you do something you don't know exactly how it'll turn out. But you already knew that right?

Guess who's back?

The pressure of trying to write something terribly sincere is wearing on me! I'm gonna let loose so in the immortal words of Dave Vitty

"LET'S GET READY TO RAMBLE!!!!!"

Oh I did hear about a 100 page book that I'm itching to read, The Testament of Mary. It's the story of the world favourite carpenter/son of god Jesus from his mothers point of view. Now the thing that made me want to read it first off is that it's so short! Secondly the reviewer said that you could really tell that the author had really thought hard about every word. Additionally I am a weirdo who'll no doubt follow a peculiar path in life. My poor mother will watch as I do so. Not saying me and Jesus are anything alike, well we both have beards but that's about it. Well I kinda have a story for every situation as well. But other than that I'm no where near as brave as the dude was, if it's all true that is.

Well when it comes to bravery I'll dive into the middle of any melee face first with little or no hesitation. But I'm not one to take massive risks. Yeah I'll stop comparing myself to Jesus.

Unrelated image of a fox chasing a lion, no you didn't read that wrong just now :-P

Anyone heard of the Q brothers? Well they were charged with remixing Othello. Now I was rather dismissive as soon as I heard this but once I heard and example of what they said it made me want to go see them so bad! Sadly that's not been possible, but that's a story for another post/s.



How many calories does an After '8 have? 33! Surprising low right? But then again it is terribly difficult to stop at just one. Brings me onto another book, Consumed: How Shopping Fed the Class System. Sure to be a good read. I'm kinda putting these here to motivate myself to finish reading quite a few other books so I can get started on these. I am terrible at finishing books.

Ooh I did finish Clovenhoof the other day! It's a funny story really. The Devil is deemed to be underperforming so he's kicked out of  hell and has to live in the real world. ***SPOILER ALERT*** Go read the book it's only £2.99 and you won't be able to put it down. He runs rings around conventional thinking and subtly challenges some of our ideas about right and wrong. There is also a nice nudge at the lengths we'll go to to protect people we care about.

Might as well finish on this little ditty that I heard on the Zane Lowe show some time ago. But I've been sealed away by that the powers that be to see what would happen if I were to disappear from the face of the earth. Turns out Russia gains a diplomatic upper hand X-O

Pt 1: My right leg AND my left leg, well let's just say it's my legs in general!

Prolapsed discs eh? What's all that about? Well in the olden days they'd have said it was a slipped disc but now it's be rebranded to sound less like an accident, e.g. I slipped and fell flat on my face! And more like something that has gotten lazy e.g. a lapse in concentration/performance etc. I'll try and explain but I am prone to being overly verbose at the best of times so this may take some time!

Discs are like spongy shock absorbers that sit between the vertebrae of the spine. When place under odd pressure they can deform and bulge outward. This puts pressure on the nerves in the area and causes a hell of a lot of pain. This time round I prolapsed two discs in my back as a defensive measure my back muscles went into spasm.

The resulting pressure on the nerves causes sensations of pain and numbness through my legs and lower back. Now this isn't your usual ouch that kinda hurts pain. I laid down and would only get up to answer the call of nature. Something that decreased once the kind doctors decided to prescribe me opiate based pain killers. Co-codamol initially followed by Tramadol for the pain. This was teamed up with naproxen, anti-inflammatory and diazepam, muscle relaxant. Oh and naproxen causes stomach acid to flare up so I was prescribed lanzaprazole to counter that. Now I've had high blood pressure for some years now so I'm used to taking regular medication but this is ridiculous!

The initial bits are all documented here for your reading pleasure! Some of you may know that I don't tend to see any problem as being particularly serious. As Mark Taylor would say I'm known for being laid back and casual. My right leg was practically paralysed below the knee and I didn't see it as a big problem. I dealt with it for a few days and waited for my appointment with the specialist spinal surgeon. The moment he knew what had happened he told me that surgery would be his recommendation. This is an emergency and has to be treated as such.

So I go and sit in A&E at Lincoln County Hospital. In this time I go for my second MRI, I've had another since then! I fully appreciate why some people can't stand them loud and cramped for shizzle. My shoulders brush past the sides as I was being pulled in. I really didn't want to be in hospital but at the time of writing this it's been just over a fortnight and it's not so bad. I'm admitted at the same time as a rather...unique individual. He's 72 years old and got in a fight resulting in him breaking his shoulder in 3 places. He's waited as long as I have for a bed and to top things off he worked in a factory for 30 odd years resulting in him being practically deaf. Wondering why this is a problem? Well it's a problem because he shouts everything he says.

We're put into a bay that can accommodate 4 patients in total. But for now there are only three. Myself, Jason and Malcolm. Jason has been in for quite a few weeks and is a thoroughly nice chap. Turns out he has a septic spine! The next day I'm instructed to not eat or drink anything as the surgery will happen if they can sequester the theatre space. I don't really eat a whole lot, usually. But on account of being injured my dear mother went into overdrive and seized the opportunity to feed me regular food for a couple of weeks. It's not so bad as mum sneaks into the ward and hangs with me for the day. As the day draws to a close I get the news that the surgery won't be going ahead and I'm presented with a sandwich!

Added in later from a memory that popped up! I had blood taken three times on the Friday by three different junior docs! The first used a syringe, the second I barely felt at all and the third reminded me of Cynthia from Malcolm in the Middle. If you get that reference I love you and insist you marry me this instant. One of these days someone will get one of my obscure references and I'll get hitched, you mark my words :-P

That's how she looks now not back in the day. Would you believe she's two years my junior!

At this point in time I am still gloriously unaware of the permanent peril my right leg is in. The longer paralysis is left the less chance movement will return. So Saturday morning and I'm wheeled out of Stow ward. As luck would have it I pass my mother and brother on the way! They are ever so pleased to have seen me before I go under the knife. Funnily enough I've faced the threat of many a knife...

Thinking about it I wonder why people want to see you before you go to surgery. Boost your morale? I think it may be because you won't it out the other end, all surgery however minor has it's risks. The anaesthetist plugs me with a cannula and I barely feel it! I think this is more testament to his skill than my uber hard as nailsness. This is when it gets weird. They are basically working to slowly yet surely knock me out. I feel things going hazy. Breathing is becoming peculiar as well, no panic mind you. I can see my heart rate on the monitor. And that's when the lights went out.

Is anyone reading this familiar with the Master Chief - John 117? Well he's a fictional super soldier, stolen from his family as a six year old boy and indoctrinated into the military. 75 children were conscripted for the project. They underwent hellish training and in their early teens underwent physical augmentations here's a handy table:

Procedure	Description	Risk(s)
Carbide Ceramic Ossification	Advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3% total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis.	Specific risk for pre-and near-postpubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization.
Muscular Enhancement Injections	Protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time.	Five percent (5%) of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.
Catalytic Thyroid Implant	Platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues.	Rare instances of Elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive.
Occipital Capillary Reversal	Submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of the subject's retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase.	Retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness.
Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites	Alteration of bioeletrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. 300% increase in subject reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity.	Significant instances of Parkinson's Disease and Fletcher's Syndrome.

They had to be put under for the process and were told to count down from 10 to 0. The Master Chief managed a couple of rounds before succumbing. I had meant to try this out when I was being put under but failed to remember!

I think that'll do for the first instalment. I was going to write this as one enormous text dump but decided not to. Dunno why if I'm honest.

Taught or learning?

From time to time I feel like someone is trying to teach me a lesson. Thing is I don't really like it if someone is trying to teach me something. Kinda feels like it's being enforced, know what I mean? Alternatively I could see every experience as an opp to learn. Puts it on me to try and get something useful out of all the shizzle that goes down.

I was intro'd to a structured way to do this, really simple once you've heard it:

1. Sit down at the end of each day, reheheally hard right?
2. Go over key interactions/events
3. Identify what you did "right" so you can repeat/build on them.
4. Pick up what you did "wrong" so you can improve/not do it again.

Simples, right? I do try to do this so I can become more effective! But I tend to get sidetracked by all the other interesting, but inane, things that are occurring around the globe.

Yep that's a mongoose facing off against a cobra. You see the kind of distraction I have to put up with?!? Did you know that the mongoose isn't immune to cobra venom they're just really fast so that can dodge, hence Ace Ventura's phrase "Speed of a mongoose!"  

Anyway onwards to what I think I should be learning from my current situation. Now we tend not to appreciate something till it's gone. Friends, parents, weather etc. I'm totally guilty of this and recently I was reminded of something that I shouldn't take for granted. My health. I've prolapsed a couple of discs in my back which has resulted in a lot of pain. Not only pain but my mobility has been reduced spending most of the day laying down in my side.

Before you all get incredibly worried this is not a big deal. It hurts and it sucks that I can't leap about for the time being but I've got my bro and my lovely mother with me. And a network of medical contacts the likes of which the world has never seen before ;-D

When it first happened the muscles in my back went into massive spasm. So I went home and laid down. And in a time honoured tradition of sportsmen everywhere I tried to walk it off! I did this by stretching my lower back and buttocks with every technique I had encountered in my many years of being a gym dweller. When nothing worked I called physio, he gave me one exercise n told me it was way too early to do anything. I needed to rest. So after a bit word spreads and what followed was an intense intercontinental discussion about wtf my next step should be.

Whilst the debate was raging in the background nature inevitably called. I had to bite the bullet and get up. So after a lot of shuffling I got up and experienced the most pain I had ever felt in my 26 years. Now I've broken my toes, fingers, had numerous cuts, torn many a muscle and been punched in the face more times than I care to remember but this pain was on an entirely different level. Every movement sent a crazy jolt of new pain through my back. Once back I crashed on the bed and could hardly breathe. This was because when I inhaled the pain would increase, making me breathe in little and out quickly.

With tears in my eyes I gained a glimpse into the world of those who live with levels of pain equal to or above this on a daily basis. The muscles in my back were in such tight spasm that I could only take small steps, also saw what it must be like to be old n stiff. Everything was such and effort, still is atm so I have massive respect for all those old folks out there doing it for themselves.

Funny thing about me is that I don't progress or grow when the going is good. If things are easy I tend to sit back and rot. There is something I heard once that applies here I think.

This pain first started sometime in 2009 when I felt a pop in my back when getting up from the decline bench. This wrecked but being the stubborn twentysomething that I was I went back to the gym the next day and did a full bi n tri workout. After a bit of rest I hit cardio like a madman and experienced a time of well being. But then old habits resurfaced and started building it up again. In my foolishness I neglected my lower back. The excuse was that it was weak and I didn't want to hurt it.

Surely it's the weaknesses that need addressing before you strengthen your strengths, DUH! Well my back was always a bit iffy, stiff, sore etc. In 2011 I went for a programme called BSP which was the most intense experience of my life. Made all my muscles ache like nothing I'd ever felt before. Once the fatigue wore off my back pain was gone! I was over the moon. But bad posture etc brought the pain back soon enough.

I got a taster of my current situation in Feb '13. My arrogance got the better of me and I decided to move 60kg of water bottles in one go. What happened was either muscle spasm or prolapse. This particular brand of agony kept me awake for a week straight. My mood deteriorated and I grew increasingly angry at the pain that wouldn't let me rest. I found my release when I realised who was to blame for this situation. ME! In my foolishness I had hurt myself and so I was reaping what I had sown. I actually laid on the floor laughing at myself, actually hurts to laugh! Cruel and unusual punishment indeed!

On a sidenote I love the saying "Reap the whirlwind". Looked it up and apparently it's from the hebrew bible!

I grew kinder from my pain and became even more sensitive to my surroundings. Then my world was shaken up and I hardened up. It's well documented what happened, have a read through my shtuff from April and May :-D So this time the pain is back. But that's not all. I've got numbness running down my right and left legs. Recently I've lost most of the movement in my right foot. Means I kinda drag my lower leg around from my quad.

I did despair when I first noticed this was the case. My mind started racing thinking what happens if this is permanent? But I've seen a bigshot spinal specialist and he's not so worried. Off to see him again soon so I'll know if this is something to be worried about or not. It has given me an insight into what it's like to be paralysed. Not saying I can fully appreciate it but I've got a teeny tiny idea.

Picture this, you're sat in a chair. Your favourite chair, you've got a fave chair right? If not pick one that's nice n comfy. But really who doesn't have a fave chair? Your legs are out in front of you with your feet resting on the floor. You want to raise your right foot whilst keeping your heel on the ground. Follow what I'm asking you to do?

That kinda movement but whilst you are sat down. What is it that you think in order to make that happen? In my case it's not really a thought. In so much as I can't really explain what I'm doing when I command my foot to move. Now I stare at my right foot whilst thinking whatever it is that makes it move and nothing happens. Now that is such a weird thing to see! My foot is there, I can feel the floor under it but when I tell it to move it does nothing.

I know why this is happening so it's not as worrying but it's still a little scary :-O ;-D The prolapsed disc is pushing on nerves thus causing the tingling and also reducing the movement in my right foot. Should sort itself out in a few weeks. It has given me a reason to bust out the cane I bought for a costume party 11 years ago! Yep I am using it in the wrong way, on the same side as my weak leg. I really need a crutch but I'm debating whether to buy one or see whether I can score one off the NHS.

Impact...

I did start writing this ting quite a while ago but got sidetracked...something has happened that makes me think maybe it's time to see this through. 

Hope yall don't suffer the length of this too much, THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID ;-D

There have been times when my perception has flipped, instantly, on a certain subject.

Has anyone else had this happen?

Strange thing is that we are, usually, formed into who we are over years. Opinions, behaviours etc. A process that is so slow that we don't really notice it happening. But if something makes sense and stands in direct contradiction with how you saw the world before, then would you accept it?

Well I would and do but not before playing my favourite thing to do in the world ever, devil's advocate :-D.
Old habits die hard n as yall know I love to argue the toss. I initially thought the whole world was like this but alas, after some experimentation, I came to find that this is not the case. Far from it! Other than those in my immediate family there is only one other I have come across who likes to chew over everything! You know who you are, never change! Wonder if you read these, I'd like to think you do but I know you are too busy living :-D

E.G. 1
So I guess I better give you a few examples of when this has happened to me right? This first one is a loss of innocence that we all go through at some point in time. But because of my uber memory I know exactly when it happened to me. This is the idea that death really is the end. Now when we are young, most of us, are told comforting tales of heaven/afterlife etc. I mean no disrespect to anyone who is religious. I don't know what lies beyond and this is about the point in time when I realised that the afterlife may not be a certainty.

There was a lovely gent who used to coach my dad in various writing techs for his exams. I too have never been one for writing stuff at school. I sucked at history n english, I didn't know what was being asked of me so I didn't know how to structure my answers. My dad is the same way + we tend to be too concise. Hehe yep I do tend to be concise when I'm being assessed. Anyway after a while the guy became a family friend and we used to go hang at their house from time to time. I also had a bit of a crush on his daughter Megan, I was 6/7 at the time. They lived relatively close to where we lived in High Wycombe. After we moved to Grimsby we once went to stay the weekend.

We got there late, no idea of the time but it was dark. And that's when it hits me. I don't know why it occurred to me but the image was my body in a grave. Now this was a shattering of something that had been enormously comforting. The end of this conciousness, darkness etc. Scared the bejesus out of me! So much so that I didn't sleep that day. It's kept me up on occasion since as well. I've come to terms with it and see it as more of a motivation than something to fear.

It's gonna happen so why spend all your days fearing it? Surely everything should be sweeter if you know that it's not gonna be that way forever? If I don't stop here we'll end up going down a road about moments and uniqueness :-O

E.G. 2
Heavy stuff right? Let's lighten things up with a bit about our nations overly verbose, dandy, lady killer that is of course Mr. Russell Brand. Now he's a bit like marmite, savvy? I personally think he's a genius after seeing his stand up and how he regularly runs rings around politicians and broadcasters. Flawed for sure. There was a time when I thought he was a waste of space. Back in the days when I was a fresh faced student of the University of Nottingham. Some where down the line we were discussing Mr. Brand and how he was indeed very funny but that did not redeem his other more annoying traits. I presented the well known fact that he was an addict.

Perhaps it was my upbringing or just what society thinks as a whole but for many years I always thought that if someone was addicted to something then they are bad. I presented this to Richard, a devout Christian and all round awesome bloke. His response to my point was

"Just because he's an addict that doesn't make him a bad person"

Now this is mad so much sense it knocked the momentum out of my argument machine. I stopped in my tracks and had to have a good long think about WTF was going on. It resulted in a restructure of my thinking around addiction and addicts. Where the blame/responsibility lies etc. So that's the end of my second example!

E.G. 3
So here's one of my more extreme views that may end up in many of you turning your backs on me.

 

Hopefully this example of how extreme a move turning your back on someone is, will prevent any premature back turning that may occur ;-).

So here we go! I thought that modern medicine had gone too far. We were extending life expectancy as well as keeping people alive who would have died without medical intervention. My thoughts on this stemmed from the belief that the world is overpopulated and we are heading for a crisis the likes of which humanity has never seen. Food, water, land etc. Without concious action from us all then future generations are in for what I've come to call a painful correction. I hope it doesn't come to this as it will truly be terrible.

So the idea of being against medical procedures that extend life meant that I was against organ donation. A way of extending a life that would have otherwise ended. This view is an oldie from my days as a bit of a hardass douche who thought that subtlety was not the answer. Things had to be severe. I think this is what they call a "young man's problem." Everything has to happen quickly etc. Still impatient but slowly learning that the world moves at a pace akin to a zombie snail that has been hit with a hefty dose of slow down serum.

So this discussion popped up at work one day. And I was witness to an emotional exchange from a co-worker, SDRG, afterwards I saw the flaw in my argument. It was the level of sincerity and rawness of emotion that opened my mind to the possibility that I might be wrong. The flaw is where to draw the line and who makes the call. For example are antibiotics ok but a heart surgery not ok? And who the hell is qualified to make that call?

I arrived at one of my either it's all ok or none of it is ok. And I am not qualified to make that decision. Based on that exchange and the subsequent reasoning I am now an organ donor. I've got one of those fancy cards and everything!

Strangely enough longevity kinda runs in the family. So by the time I'm done with my organs they'll likely be no use to anyone anyways. Maybe some wannabe doctors will be let loose on my corpse. I've put my body through so much that I reckon it'd make quite the interesting study tool. Lots of healed up bits in pieces for them to puzzle over! For example an orthopaedic surgeon was giving my lower back a once over and almost recoiled when he started palpating my muscles. Turns out there are enormous knots in the muscles of my lower back the likes of which he's never seen!

E.G. 4
This is a bit of an odd one that gave me a peek into the nature of reality! And it happened whilst listening to Eminem - Lose Yourself, there it is if you want to have a listen.


It's the bit at the beginning:

"If you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment. Would you capture it or let it slip?"

Now I was 15 when this happened, on a school bus heading home. I'd heard this song many, many times before and then I actually listened to the opening. And it was like BOOM! I was still a teen so tried to seize the one dream I had at the time. That was to play rugby :-D. Dunno if the guys noticed but I got super motivated and built some rather mean speed for a guy my size as well. At the time I was about 100kg, well I'm currently around that weight but I have been immobilised for a couple of weeks so...

My luck being what it is I got into the best form of my life! And just before I could unleash this lean, mean rugby machine upon our rivals my hamstring snapped. As I already mentioned I'm a large lad and it'd be a bit of a feat to carry me off the pitch. Well it'd have been a doddle if the team could access the medical room, within which there was a stretcher for such occasions as this! But we couldn't find the key :-/ So the coaches team up and with their combined might they manage to get me halfway back to the clubhouse before having to call for reinforcements! Funny thing was they carried me off the pitches past my dad who was waiting to take me home in the car. He glanced my way but didn't recognise me in the dark!

This thought of being able to capture what you want in the moment has followed me around forever since! Moment to moment we are presented with choices/opportunities. Our ability and willingness to seize them dictates if we can get what we "want" At least that's how I see it :-D

There are quite a few more that I can think of but if I were to scribe them all down then I'd turn this post into something resembling a tediously long book. If you have any moments that have done something similar for you please share. I'd love to hear all about them!