Have YOU ever licked a lamppost in winter?

Definitely on the mend, definite progress being made. :) I'm happy, I'm able to get things done that need doing again, and if I'm not 100% I'm noticeably working my way back there.

Torchlight is crack. It's Diablo, crystallized. It's really hard to put down.

Dragon Age: Origins is also phenomenal, and this is played lowest possible settings on my laptop. It's absolutely the same brains that did the Baldur's Gate series, right down to dialogue options that makes you desperately want to be a jerk to everyone you meet (with fewer ill consequences, people just think I'm quirky versus outright threatening, so everyone is happy). The graphics pull is like Crysis, but my new box (which gets here in a few weeks) will be happy to run it. I can't wait to see WoW on it.

So I'll be in the US for Black Friday (as well as Thanksgiving!). It sounds a lot like Boxing Day (Dec 26th) to me, but I'm getting the feeling that it's a little more full-contact and a lot more crowded. Should I be considering going out that day? Or is it safer to stay home and just watch the Amazon deals roll by?

I'm getting pretty frustrated with Kotaku (a game review/news site).

They have a system where people get promoted to moderator abilities in the general comments section of each article, where they have the ability to bold, bump to the top or delete comments made.

A couple of people were caught red-handed promoting anti-gay comments and deleting EVERY single contrary one (regarding an article that was, for once, not riddled with homophobia and sexism like so many of them are). The people involved were slapped down and had their moderator status removed, but for the better part of 8 hours every single comment was getting deleted that didn't agree with "LOL YEAH FAGS ARE PUSSIES HILARIOUS".

The site over the last couple of years has gone from informative and interesting to 50% "tit shot from this game" front-page articles, and the average age of commenters appears to have dropped to 16 or so. It's frustrating as hell because there are people I like to read from and people I enjoy talking to there, but overall the site tends to have my blood pressure up at least once or twice a day.

I like Giant Bomb, but they're much smaller so they're not dropped info by nearly as many companies (and their video reviews annoy me). I like 1up, but again, it's mostly video reviews and the commentary is really light. I'd really like to find somewhere that isn't completely scummy but still manages to stay informative, argh.

Damnit people, this is why people feel gamers are the bottom of the barrel when it comes to humanity. As long as people keep putting forth that it's OKAY (and expected) to act this way, no progress is being made from it being a past-time for anything but unwashed mouthbreathers sitting in their mom's basement, instead of a legit industry. Rrr.

My computer is currently being held together by duct tape and paperclips. It's been slowly deteriorating for the better part of a year and a half, but today the motherboard started having issues and it's almost time to lay it to rest.

Honestly? 5 years out of a computer, especially one I use for gaming (although it didn't run Crysis) is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, it means it's time to start looking for a new one. However, a new one will be able to run Dragon Age: Origins (and WoW much better!), so that's sort of exciting. I've been expecting this for the last couple of years so I've had money set aside as a computer fund (either to repair it or replace it, and currently to fully repair it would cost half of what a new one would and it still couldn't run games made in the last year) so that'll be my task this week.

It's a little heartbreaking, though. Sadly, none of the components will be salvageable, but it still runs so I might find a use for it, even if it just gets hooked up to the TV so I can stream stuff to a bigger monitor. Heh.

I am very much on the mend. I'm walking every day, and while I do get back exhausted I'm managing at least a couple blocks further each time, so that's pretty amazing. I also rented The Goonies so I have a reason to walk back to the video store, heh. It helps a lot -- I don't feel nearly so isolated or down if I can just see and be around other people and interact with them a little. I like being part of the world. :)

If I could just get my nose to stop running and the fire alarm to stop going off at 4am then I would be fantastic, rawr.

Sloooowly on the mend. I got sleep today which was amazing.

My folks dropped by yesterday (surprise parents!) and dropped off some birthday stuff in the form of a cake, which was just really awesome of them!

I'm more than a little squirrely having been stuck inside for over 5 weeks now, so I'm walking every day, but it's really frustrating at how even a few blocks tires me out (and the weather's been pretty rotten). You'd think that recovery would be a lot faster, but well, someone was saying that "Being too sick to play video games is awfully sick, you know". It just feels dumb, being laid out so hard by a glorified cold (or flu or whatever the hell it is, the jury's still out), you know? I'm frustrated and lonely and bored and have been awfully down but I swear, a good night's sleep has done so much all of that. :) I will get better and soon will be bouncing around as normal, hooray!

I haven't been online much, which is probably part of the problem -- I have been reading lots, however, and working on christmas presents because I need all the time I can get for them. ;)

In other news, antibiotics are awesome and I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER. I can breathe, I can talk, I'm up and about a little. I just need to get back in shape, although my short walk today feels like I sort of overdid it. BUT I NEEDED BANANAS.

I'm still coughing a little, but only a tiny bit, and sleep's still bleh (I sleep from noon to 4pm every day now, so messed up) but I'm pretty sure things will start to get back on track soon.

Missing Halloween is really sad, it's my favourite holiday of the year.

I'd really like to get Borderlands to play with friends, it looks like a fantastic game, but Dragon Age is coming out in a few weeks and I'm definitely picking it up. Don't know how I'll cram in more time for another really big game but oh, it's so pretty, and Bioware Does Good Things.

I HAVE been playing Neverwinter Nights 2 with friends, which is hilariously awful, because we play it on max difficulty and well, we're really, really bad. Especially now that Dave has learned Fireball and friendly fire is enabled. His judgment calls tend to be "Is killing the melee worth killing 3 low-level bad guys? YES. FWOOM." Between that and the endless voice acting cutscenes (which we discovered are AMAZING if you Enlarge Person the person they're talking to, all you see is them talking to a crotch) we're not very far along, but we're having an excellent time. When we're not all dead on the floor.

I don't FEEL 28, but I'm pretty sure my warranty expired last month.

Two bugs -- bodily and a bad case of Vundo trojan. Friends linking you to "Free Snuggie Blanket" promotions are not to be trusted, and AVG doesn't pick it up. I now have Avast! running alongside it.

So really, the source of my frustration today boiled down to Snuggies.

I have antibiotics, rice krispie squares and several bottles of various drugs and vitamins. The doc (another new one!) was fairly reassuring, I have a two-week run of sinusitis-specific antibiotics with the caution that I may need to come back for another six weeks (!!!) worth if this doesn't clear it up. Fantastic. At least I'm not dying, my cough is SO much better today, and apparently this explains the sweats/chills/icepick-in-the-face pain. The OTC meds really, really clear up the goop, too, which is likely why my lungs are so much happier.

The rice krispie squares are just for EATING.

Honestly, today's the most human I have felt in weeks, and if I could just get a good night or two of sleep I might have really turned a corner. Feeling REALLY hopeful, tomorrow I'll probably be flat (I'm exhausted right now but dreading bedtime, everything gets so much worse when I try to sleep) but man, I sure hope this works.

My WoW authenticator also came today, it's so cute and little. They don't mess around, it came shipped in a tiny cardboard box, wrapped in bubble wrap, inside a bubble mailing envelope, inside a GIANT 2'x2' Fed-Ex bubble mailer. I cracked up once I finally got to my thumb-sized prize inside!

My head feels like it's about to explode, but my computer is happy again, I can breathe, and maybe I'll be able to fall over and get a good night's sleep tonight.

I wonder if the clinic is tired of seeing me yet. I'll find out tomorrow.

I think right now the weirdest thing is constant sweats/chills without a fever -- it broke last week and hasn't come back, but I'm still managing to change clothes 3-4 times a day because I'll sweat through my shirt just sitting.

I may cause a bit of a fuss tomorrow and see about getting maybe a full CBC, because Week 5 says "Are you scared yet?". The answer is no. Maybe.

I'd really like to get better. Please?

What the heck did I even write yesterday -- clearly, narcotics and the internet are a really bad mix.

Not dead!

Nother doctor (I like this clinic even though I see a different doc every time, they document very well and like, listen when they document, which the ER did not, clinic notes are good) who has pumped me full of longer-lasting steroids in mah nose and lungs than the previous inhalers were. Cortisone baby. Also some kind codeine pills for my ribs and to let me sleep and sit up. Everything tastes bad though.

Doc was V. confident that this would have me feeling a LOT better in a few days, something about virus + nasal drip + irritated as hell lungs + wrecked muscles all around my ribs all stemming from my nose at night. Also to stop taking sinus meds as it was spiking my blood pressure which was causing the whole "I can feel my heart beeeeeating, do you understand, do you feel the same" thing.

Maybe I can get some sleep that isn't interrupted every hour by breathing or sweats or chills or really really really weird nightmares, if only I could stop clearing my throat, but he said that's normal too and in a few days I'll cough and sneeze all the junk out. He really really really really thinks he's right which is a lot better than well maybe you might have whooping cough we don't know by the way did you know it was the 1800s how about this electricity.

Will worry about school tomorrow/when codeine isn't so fuzz in my brain. I really, really want to nap right now but it's sort of too late for a nap but I might anyhow.

I'm going to admit, I'm sort of scared. Partly because the diagnosis keeps changing (I'm going to the doc on Monday to keep up the documentation and because my cough has changed yet again, I'm coughing stuff up again after a week of blessedly dry coughing for all it hurts), partly because I have a tendency to overreact when it comes to my health. Partly because well... I just can't catch my breath.

It's so frustrating because it has completely consumed my life. There is nothing new in my life because I can't do anything. I can't even think. My life consists of breathing, coughing, and worrying. I'm about the most boring person in the world right now. :/ Except I don't even have the energy to be bored. Snails have more exciting and productive lives than this.

Honestly, I'm just worried, and my family is worried which is worse, because they're a lot more worried than I am, but that's normal. I'm trying to balance "Of course my mom is concerned I'm sick" against "My mom was a nurse for 20 years and has forgotten more about health than I'll ever know and she's SCARED" and that's not helping.

So yeah, that's where I am going on week 4 of this. It's whining. I'm doing that, too. Despite my reprieve from school, I'm fast approaching the point where I am going to have to stop dropping classes if I don't think I can keep up, and honestly, I don't know if I can catch back up with some of them on my own.

Happy Thanksgiving, Canucks!

I... missed thanksgiving with my family and am heavily bummed out about it. My antibiotics ended yesterday and I woke up today with a fever and out of breath, which has continued all day. I was feeling a little more human a few days ago, but that's about it, not the bounceback I was hoping for. Just standing up has me soaked with sweat, and sitting up has me dizzy after a while.

Doc tomorrow, more antibiotics, I'm stressed so hard over school because midterms start Saturday and I haven't a clue if I'll be able to GET to them. I'm getting a ride to the doc tomorrow so I don't have to walk any distance, and in case I need more chest x-rays.

Ugh. Everything is just a blur right now and I'm spending most of my time in bed or laying on the couch. I'm really, really tired of being sick.

I am feeling human today! Taking it easy, but DEFINITELY human. HOORAY FOR SCIENCE!

Saw doc again today (hooray for early morning appointment times open!), she listened to my breathing and coughing and said "Gosh, you weren't kidding when you said you get nasty secondary infections! Here's a lab requisition, you need chest x-rays."

Pneumonia? Gee, I didn't see that one coming. :/ The x-rays came back to say it's just on the left side this time, but definitely going on.

However, I have antibiotics, I have an inhaler, I have nasal spray (I dunno, she was looking up my nose and decided I needed it!), I have kleenex (NAME BRAND even), I have cough meds and sinus meds and a warm bed and lots of orange juice. If reading back is anything to go by I'll be feeling human in a couple of days, which would be fantastic as it's Thanksgiving this weekend and I have so much schoolwork to catch up on. Also, if reading back is anything to go by, these antibiotics will destroy my guts, so I'm also getting ready for that.

Biaxin from orbit: it's the only way to be sure.

It's really hard to do school stuff when you realize you've spent the last three hours being fascinated by breathing slowly enough you don't make yourself cough. So very zen, but so very not productive. Multiply this by 10 days and that's what I've been up to.

I've been too sick to play VIDEO GAMES.

Not dead just wishing I was. Back to the doc I go, now that there's stuff that's treatable. Sorry I'm not around, I'm mostly in bed.

Doc said it was too late for antivirals (but they're not open on the weekends, ugh), too early for antibiotics (because there's nothing to kill yet) but she could give me lots and lots of sympathy.

Hell yes for docs with good bedside manner. She did say to go back if my fever didn't break in a couple of days or if my cough got worse and took me seriously about the chronic bronchitis/pneumonia, and said she had some ideas, so that's pretty cool.

Thanks for all the well-wishes, I'm just a grumpy/whiny sick, I don't like being reminded how fragile our bodies are sometimes.

I have a cold but there's a new swine flu scare going on, which is making this more difficult. My mom's convinced I have swine flu. It doesn't help that the symptoms for it are cold-like as much as flu.

The upshot may be that they're actually dosing people with Tamiflu who go to clinics currently, which might be enough to nuke this bug from orbit (as opposed to the usual "fluids and rest" route which, in me, turns into bronchitis and pneumonia and me being sick for a month) before it discovers my lungs. If I can get an appointment tomorrow I'm definitely going to ask, I'd LOVE to be able to bounce back from this, not spend yet another fall coughing my brains out.

Growr doom gloom. I hate being sick.

Augh school. It's going well but a ton of work and is eating up pretty much every spare waking minute I have. That and walking, I've been well past my 10k steps a day and have stepped it up to 15k as my daily goal, which is having me see more. Walked to Kensington Market from school and went :O :O :O and bought many gud things.

I also have bakeware. And sharp knives. And made muffins y'all.

I'll bet I gain a little weight, but oh man, cooking is new and exciting and awesome. And I can do it while reading the textbook!

Aaaaaugh group projects that is all.

No it's not. http://www.direct2drive.com/d2dturns5

D2D is like Steam, fully legal etc, just really freakin cheap games once in a while, and now is one of those times. Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, NWN2 $5 apiece? Uh huh uh huh. I should have posted before, because Saint's Row 2 was up there for $5, but I really don't think anyone cares about that game except for me.