Swappin' Paint

Boy's Night Out

As it turns out, folks, us three boys had our first night on the town. We mentioned that we would like to see some movies i.e. The Dark Knight, and the latest Mummy installment. That was when mom kicked us out (figuratively, of course) We went by the local Fry's first, and gave my youngest brother time to look at a fan for his computer, while my middle brother and I looked at car stereos (ours conked out again.) Then it was on to the theatre. I had us buy both sets of tickets up front. The Dark Knight was terrific, but it needed watching again and again to get all the details- the halmark of a good movie. During the 45- minute break, we went out to eat at Jack In the Box. You know, up to then, I'd never been to a Jack restaurant ever! It is now among my favorites; just need them to go easy on the grey poupon. After a series of mis- adventures, we arrived for our second feature, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor just in time. Now this movie, being the third installment in the series, struck me as being a little wild, but it was fun. I remember looking down at the tv that night when we got home at the Olympic Games. There's a part where they phase out and go to scenery of China outside Beijing. For those of you who've seen the movie, they showed the Great Wall of China. Yep, been there.

As the Washer Turns

Turns out my mom got a new washer and drier yesterday. Now, that, folks, reminds me of a five- paragragh essay I wrote two years ago. It describes how my seizures relate to the actions of a washer going through the motions of cleaning clothes. It's funny, the timing. Last night, I also had a Grand Mal. The essay is entitled "As the Washer Turns"

As the Washer Turns

The brain is the body’s most important organ, seeing as it is the command center for the human form. A specific interruption in the brain is called a seizure, and having them changes your life. Imagine, if you will, a giant washing machine at rest and empty; this is an epileptic on medication that is controlling the seizures he is having. Now picture again, a full washing machine; this is the epileptic that will have a seizure in the near future, and is on medication that is not working for them the way the neurologists wanted. Witness with me what happens when that washing machine is loaded to the maximum, washed and spun; more than likely it’s going to spin off balance, making a terrible noise. This is the epileptic having a seizure. All of this commotion within the body throws the brain into shock and causes it to feel no pain----at least for a while.

Kind of throws you for a loop, eh? The reason I'm blogging about this is that the washer and dryer gave me a good excuse to mention it. Oh, yeah. That washer won't be giving us any trouble, and neither will that loud dryer which I love to hate. Those men that brought us the new machines, they took those away to the big scrap yard in the sky.

Vacation?

I've been sprung this day for six years. No, not from prison, and not from JD. It was from the children's hospital. Not that I didn't enjoy my time there, but I'll tell you something, the work load was horrendous. But, without it, I couldn't have used my whole right side again. OT, PT, and other T's I can't even remember were very strenuous on me in that condition, but I'll admit, it helped. The therapists and I worked 6 days a week, and thank goodness their were some leisure classes worked into my schedule, not to mention a mini-library, and computer so I could keep tabs on my favorite racing sites. My favorite books to peruse were comic books (Garfield), and my mom brought some regular reading books from home. In my leisure classes, we put together small crafts such as bead designs, and small stained- glass projects, and the like. Needless to say, I grew tired very fast. One of my favorite days was Sunday, where I could turn the race on the tv, and my dad would bring lunch in, usually bratwurst in a tortilla, and watch the race with me. He would relieve mom, who had been staying with me for the entire rest of the week. Also, on Sunday evenings, the music therapist would drop in with a keyboard and Beethoven cd's. You know the old saying that "music is medicine." I wound up making friends with the therapists (I'm a very friendly guy) and my eventual neighbor and his mother. Now this fellow patient had been in a horrible bus wreck. and had some kind of acid on his face plus a staightner on the top of his leg. His mom, my mom, and I had a lot of chats together. He had to be temporarily moved to another hospital for another procedure, but he came back. When I looked in on him later, after I'd been sprung, he'd changed rooms, and much later, I read an article in the paper on the guy at home playing video games. That's the last I've heard of him, but I hope to meet him some day, face to face. As my release date gote gote nearer, I managed to burn all nine of Beethoven's symphonies to my own CD-Rs, and then waited impatiently for my release orders as I helped my mom pack up. I was originally supposed to leave August 8th, but I proved to the doctors that I was well enough to leave on the 6th. And so that was how I was sprung.