Health Status update

So, I called ahead to the Peterborough Clinic and arranged for an appointment today at 4:45.  I arrived an hour early (Expecting the lines to be like that my girlfriend faced almost simultaneously, and waited for 4 hours), and was informed that there was cancellations, so I could be seen to immediately.

Getting comfortable in the very classy new room at the doctor's office, I was asked to weigh myself (Since I could only estimate the weight I'd lost.  I went from a solid 230lbs to a simpering 205 lbs now.  Which the doctor said wasn't entirely bad, as I could stand to lose some weight anyway.

So, the doctor came in and pressed on my stomach a few times, and localized some pain (I was amazed at how tender I felt).  Finally, she asked me to open my mouth and say "Ahhhh", when I did, she nearly jumped backwards, and informed me I had a very serious case of Sinusitis, and refuses to send me for any other testing, incase the sinusitis is giving me all the stomach problems lately.

Erin suggests that I stick to a Celiac diet right now anyway, which is what I was thinking regardless, since it's mostly light weight foods.  Hoping to soon get back to social issues and stuff, but my health is occupying most of my time right now.

Coeliac Disease?

It's funny, growing up it seemed like my stomach mirrored that of my mother's; always seeming to come down with the same things she came down with when she was younger, but I seem to be catching up again.  A few years ago while playing indoor soccer, I'd begin to have certain gastro-intestinal issues while playing that would make me rush to the bathroom immediately and have to stay out of the game afterwards.

Frustrating stuff, particularly when you were one of your team's greatest assets (in my humble opinion, I'm not bragging).  Mum suggested I swap my diet to that of a gluten free diet, and all seemed well.  Eventually I began getting off dairy too, as intensely dairy things like Sour Cream and certain flavours of Doritos chips.  All seemed well, not only did I lose weight, but my acne began to clear up, and I wasn't having those problems I was having at soccer.

Sometime later, I was off the diet, I think I decided I couldn't take it anymore, and just went back to eating regularly again.  I experienced lessened problems I'd had before, but decided to just bear with it.  Why?

Because chocolate cake is damn good and I will cut anyone who says differently.

However, I'm beginning to think I might actually be coeliac, and not even the sweet deliciousness of chocolate cake will deter me now.  I'm going to get tested sometime this week (Peterborough Walk-in having the equipment and time to do so), even if they have to stick a tube down my throat and into my guts (which is likely what they will do).  Even if I'm not, this is ridiculous, I've been sick or bedridden for a solid month now.  I turn 20 in five days, and I can barely eat soup safely (which is about the condition I've been in all month).  I don't want to spend the night of my twentieth year staring jealously as everyone else eats dinner...

At this point, even if it isn't Coeliac disease, I can't keep living like this.  I'm starving.  I've lost at least two pant sizes, and I'm down to Medium shirts from XLs.  I mean, were I being a gym rat and working all this off, great!  But I'm not, I'm just losing it in existing day to day, which is physically and mentally straining.  Thus, I proclaim, here!  On the Internet, where EVERYTHING IS FOREVER!

I will eat healthier.  I will have salads instead of pizza, I will eat healthy choices, not garbage grease!

An author's perspective on Egypt and my subsequent tale of my experiences.

A few years ago, an American named Rosemary Mahoney dumbfounded Egyptians by rowing 120 miles down the world's grandest river by herself, traveling in a country where bold women aren't the norm. She told her story in 2007's "Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff," which The Christian Science Monitor named one of the 10 best books of the year.

The article is here.

Again, an article obtained from the CSM, this time about this author's views on the riots in Egypt.  Now, I personally had been to Egypt about two years ago now, and I had possibly my worst traveling experience ever.  Of course, we were on our 9th day travelling, fourth time on a plane, and landed in somewhat of a sandstorm.  As soon as we disembarked, we were ushered into a corner, and told that the Egypt customs agents will be horrible to us and ask many, many questions, and then we had a bus tour to do before hitting the hotel.

I was tired.  I got to the front of the line, and a shrewd looking man took my passport, and looked at the picture, looked at me, asked my nationality, and sent me on my way.  Well, that was pleasing, glad to not have to deal with more customs officials, I groupe dup with everyone else, and we were on our way again.  Our teacher guide again took us aside and informed us, repeatedly, that EVERYONE here was out to pick pocket us.  If we saw someone we didn't think had noble intentions towards us, we were to say to the rest of the group "Meerkat".  He told us to keep a constant eye on what was going on, and to never let anyone see where your wallet was.

To say that we got off on rather the wrong foot with Egypt was a bit of an understatement.  But we boarded the bus, and we met our tour guide (a rather nice man, actually, he liked Iron Maiden).  As the driver took us through several strange backstreets in Cairo, most of the people on the bus were going wild with how to locals were staring at us.  To be honest, I thought it was more leering, but we seemed to be the most exciting thing on the block, and many of them followed the bus up the street.  We ate on a boat on the Nile, which was neat, the food was pretty basic.  Boarding the bus again, we went to our hotel, where we were told to avoid showering as much as possible, because there was a parasite in the Egyptian water that burrows through skin.

So now I'm showerless, tired, cranky, and coming down with something (most people on the trip were coming down with something, it was like a chest cold, and in the throat).  My friend and I were put in the same room, and we were both cracking from the sickness.  That's when we found the minifridge.  Now, we were told to only drink a bottle of water if the seal was still intact.  In this fridge, the seal was still intact.  We might as well have found the holy grail.  Between us, it lasted maybe twenty minutes, and we felt a bit better, more on this later, remember it!  Anyway, the next day comes, and we're off to see the Egyptian Museum (Which is an army stronghold now, after Rioters broke several pieces of their nation's history).  Very nice building, although crowded.

I enjoyed the museum, seeing a different culture's artifacts in a bigger setting than say, the ROM.  After the Egyptian Museum, we trekked out into the country side, and went to some ancient Pyramids, of the step stone variety, not the ones that Egypt is famous for.  Amazing sights, I really loved seeing them, and wandering around the site.  The locals who were inside were a little pushy though (We were told not to shake hands with anyone, because they shake, and then drag you away with them) including a man and his camel which someone had to ride a bit.  We left the Pyramid, and we went to a small museum, which was a historical site (I don't remember what it was, though).

For dinner, we went to a fairly nice restaurant, and all got the same chicken dish, with the same sides.  Bland, but alright for the day.  We head back to the hotel, and get told on arrival that we should go straight up to our rooms, and not come out until morning, no visiting one another or anything.  So, sometime during the night, we start hearing strange noises, like the foundations of the building have suddely been knocked out.  But nothing happens, and we go on our next excursion the next day.

This is where all my feelings for Egypt go downhill.  We visit a Mosque first thing, we arrive between prayer, but honestly, you wouldn't know it.  We're trying to move with the crowd, when suddenly a woman steps between my girlfriend and I (not current girlfriend), and smacks her before running off.  Both a bit disturbed by this, we talk to our tour guide, who acts awkwardly, and apologizes to us.  Once in the mosque, we are sort of at a loss for what to do with ourselves.  It's a beautiful place, but positively hostile; we're glared at everywhere we go.

Leaving the Mosque, we head to the Pyramids, those claustrophobic (Me!) get to wait outside while everyone else goes in.  Apparently it was dark, hot, smelly, and genuinely unenjoyable, so I'm just as glad I saw from the outside.  Crossing a bit of a sand plane between the Pyramids and the Sphinx, however, a friend of mine was accosted by a man with a camel.  He made the mistake of shaking this guy's hand, and was suddenly wisked onto the camel, and they began to ride off.  My friend jumped down and ran back after about 50 feet, but yeah, not great.  Sphinx was sketchy as all hell, people constantly eyeing us, watching where we moved, etc.  One small boy, egged on by an older man, followed closely behind us, and made several attempts to get into people's pockets.  We were all so flustered, I'm not sure anyone enjoyed the Sphinx.

After the Sphinx, we were moved to another location, where we were to have our camel rides.  Cool, not a lot can go wrong on a camel ride that was arranged and paid for, right?  The first group went out and came back without a hitch, so my group boarded, and our camels began their galumphing walk around the block.  The Camel guider asks me if I like the Camel, and I reply that it's pretty nice.  The Camel guider then replies that if I don't like it, he'll kill it.  I've seen people joke like that before.  He definitely wasn't joking.  We arrive back, and I dismount quickly, thank him, and hurry off to a group of people that I barely knew, because I just wanted to get the hell away from him.

There's now two problems.  Primarily for me, is that he's following me, everywhere I go, trying to get my attention, because he wants a tip (Which our teacher guide is paying for himself), secondarily (although more importantly in a long term sort of sense), is that two girls from the tour group are missing, and they went out on the same Camel ride that I did.  Eventually I give in and give the guy 20 Egyptian pounds, but he still won't go away.  I'm not sure what triggered him leaving, it might have been when our teacher called the police, but anyway, we all get on the bus, and wait anxiously for word of them.  I witness some boys trying to torture a dog while sitting on the bus, and want to go smack them about.  Then a police officer does my wishes for me himself, waving his bully club at them and letting the dog down.  The girls appear around a corner, scrambling back on foot, relating that their camel drivers dropped back from the rest of the group and took a different rout from the rest, and when they got too far, the two of them jumped down and hauled back.

So we stick around for a little while, and then head to this amphithetre area, where we're to watch a light show (which was awesome, except my girlfriend at the time whined continuously about the cigarette smoke in the air).  After the light show, we headed to the restaurant for our last night in Egypt.  Sitting down at the tables, all of us ravenous, we received bread in small bowls.  The bread in the bowls frmo the table next to us?  Yeah, it started moving, turns out bugs get into dishes often in that restaurant, the management looked like they had no idea why we were upset.  We were taken to the restaurant from the night before, and given dinner, and sent back to our hotels.  Again, no visiting.

We're leaving (Finally!  Shouts a slightly younger Victor), when we all get onto the bus and comfortable, my Teacher looks in and calls my name up to the front, so I head up and back into the Hotel.  Turns out the one bottle of water split between my friend and I?  Had the economic value of three bottles of water, a coke, a root beer, and two sprites, and I needed to pay them around 20 Egyptian pounds to leave.  Guess who was pretty much out of money?  I barely remember how I resolved that, to be honest, I think I threw a five dollar Canadian bill at them and stormed out (Roughly the amount I owed them).

The author of the book talks about how resourceful and friendly the Egytians are, and how nicely they treat foreigners, I saw none of that, to be honest, more a willingness to take advantage, or play on Westerner's emotions.  I won't go back to Egypt, it was my worst travelling experience.

Attacks on planned Parenthood

So I subscribed to the "News" packed on Google Reader, and was surprised (and a little disappointed" to see the Christian Science Monitor in it's bundle of subscriptions.  At first I was tempted to drop it like a pile of bibles, but decided I'd read a few articles before I did anything rash.  I'm glad I did, because I have two blog posts out of it!

So, to begin with, there's an article here which talks about attacking planned parenthood.  Not new news at all, I realize; however this is a new brand of attack video.  The article itself states that the videos are "highly edited", and that Planned Parenthood has "Zero Tolerance" for unethical behavior (we see your sarcasm eyebrows raising, CSM, and it's a low blow).

The article is here.

What I really don't understand about this is how it's any of the protestor's business?  As far as I can tell from posted accounts of going to the clinics, people there just scream and yell at you, and make the otherwise caring and friendly process a little more stressful.  I realize it's because they disagree with the idea of the abortion aspect of planned parenthood, but that's not really much different than a group of militant Atheists going to a church and protesting the Old Testament.

It may be my own naivety, but if it's not their daughters going in, then what right do they have to say anything?

Greetings to my new blog a chance for a new beginning.

I have tried my hand at blogging before.  First solo when I was quite a bit younger, and I found my attention waned pretty fast.  The second time, I tried with a partner, whom had radically different ideas about what the blog was for.  Thus, I am trying now.  The following was one of the last posts from my last blog, which I felt could have been given more attention.

Today I'm here to talk to you about something we're doing wrong, in my humble opinion.  I was watching a movie with my girlfriend today, and there were women being raped and murdered on the screen.  I can't describe how much it upset me, I almost wanted to go and sit in another room.  She observed that most people were hardened enough about that sort of thing, and we continued watching the movie.  As it went on, the Police picked up a survivor girl from one of the rapes, but she wouldn't talk about it, so they arrested her.  Then, they cut a deal with the accomplice of the multiple rapist murderer.

I'm sorry, excuse me?  Label me the Law-Abiding Citizen here but that shouldn't cut it.  I realize that in order for the justice system to function, there needs to be informers, and sometimes those are the accomplices.  But it doesn't mean they should get off with no more than a possible wrist slap.  Something wrong has been done, and they should be dealt with as well.

I'm noticing that although society is taking steps to alleviate certain things like Racism, or Sexual Assault, or violence against the innocent, and this is at it's core well-meaning folk, wishing the best for others; however, not everyone gets to have such things.  We're focusing too much on the smaller problems of a bigger whole.  What I'm referring to here, is that while we sit here in our stable temperate country, while crimes go through as shocking tidbits in a regular day for most or a life changing event for the unlucky, they're common place in other places in the world, even within our own country.

The world is not a nice place, but it has it's moments.  Overall, this world is ripe with hatred and violence, and most reasons are dumb.  One thing that came up during the movie was that I didn't really care about Native American/First Nations culture.  I don't mean that disrespectively, but rather that I simply view them as equal to everyone else.  The same goes for Asians, Afro-Canadian/Americans, etc.  I don't see Arabian's as any different from other people either.  It's just not my way of life, and I don't really understand why people can degrade eachother so senselessly.  I mean, as anyone can really attest to, people of every ethnic origin are people.  They have relatively speaking, the same flesh and blood as everyone else, but this doesn't seem to register.  I don't know where they lost this idea.  Perhaps it's in the religious texts from ages past, from the mouths of hateful and greedy leaders, but it needs to stop (Goblins still get +7 on Dwarves over ancient feuds, though)

Now, I don't really mean to Patrick Stewart Speech you, but Humanity has so many great qualities going for it.  We're infinitely adaptable, inventive, compassionate, capable of great feats.  I believe that religion does a lot of good for people, which is why I'm currently looking into a religion, however I also know that there are people that use belief out there for ill and for abuse of fellow man.  Take a look to the middle east, with the Israelis and Palestinians.  This is not right, this is not just.   People should be happy where they are, or if they aren't, they should have the freedom to try to do better, to strive for more out of life, not be shot down at gun point for not bending under a boot heel.  This is a system created by evil men, whom have gained power.

I do not understand how people can do so much damage to one another.  Speaking as someone who has hurt people emotionally and physically before, I regret everytime I did it and I'd take it back if I could.  But lately, I've taken a step back from the world and watched, and found that in my dealings with people, there isn't a lot that I should be very offended about.  I may be upset for a few hours after it happens, but it's not worth stressing over.  I'm used to people not believing what I believe in life, so maybe that gives me an edge, but I'm satisfied that people have their own beliefs and I have mine.  My beliefs keep me happy, and living, and theirs do the same for them.  Why is there conflict?  There shouldn't be any there.  I do not know enough about politics in Africa, or perhaps the lack of politics, to make any real commentary about that land, I wish I did though.

To finish up this blog post, is a quote I found which I like.  It's from Robert Heinlein, Sci-fi author and man of the belief that personal liberty and self-reliance were the greatest virtues a man could have.

...  And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown --in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability....and goodness.....of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth, that we always make it just by the skin of our teeth --but that we will always make it....survive....endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes, will endure --will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets, to the stars, and beyond, carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage --and his noble essential decency. 

This I believe with all my heart.