HOLY CRAP

ahem.

Evidently I have severe obstructive sleep apnea.  I go back for the follow-up March 18th, where they do the same thing as the first one (I presume) with the wires and the ick, and add a mask that will add pressure to my system to keep my airway unobstructed, so I actually get to sleep.

My plan:

Get good sleep for the first time in like 20 years.

Wake up at 7:30 instead of 9:30.

Exercise in the morning.  Stretch a lot, do as many sit ups, push ups, bends, etc as I can, then a little jogging in place to get the heart rate up a little.

Get to work by 9ish.

Leave work at 5:45-6, leaving an hour or so for lunch.  This will enable me to nearly double my time at the office, which, since I get paid on an hourly basis, will help the paycheck some.

During the summer, swim every day I have access to the pool (depends on weather and swimteam) for half an hour as hard as I can.

During the summer, 2 soccer events every week (Friday is either practice with the Kileys or actual games at a facility close to me, Sunday is games with the Kileys)

During the winter, 1 soccer event every week (the facility close to me has an adult league, y’see)

Hopefully, this will end up with me losing 50 pounds by the end of September.  Likely will be much less of a loss.  But my goal is to hit 180, where I’m currently hovering around 235-240.

The good:  At the urging of a certain bronze molehill, and finally deciding I have had enough of falling asleep at any given moment of the day, I recently went to a doctor and said “I fall asleep during the day.”  He said, “Go to this sleep center, and they will watch you sleep, and if we all agree that you need some sort of thingy to help you sleep, we’ll get you that thingy.”  Last night, I slept very poorly, but with a bajillion wires glued, taped, strapped and otherwise attached to my person in places various and sundry (a strap around my chest, a strap around my abdomen, wires to each leg (2 per leg), neck, behind the ears, chin, right temple, left upper cheekbone, forehead, and a bunch in my hair).  The guy manning the sleep center was very creepy, and at times I thought to myself, “Dude, if he is a serial killer, I am COMPLETELY FUCKED!”  As you can tell, not a serial killer.  He woke me up at too fucking early in the morning considering how poorly I slept and peeled the wires off (along with some hair where the shit was taped down), and told me

The ugly:  I evidently need one of those CPAP machines that push air pressure into your lungs while you sleep so you don’t snore and wake yourself up.  Lovely.  I have to go BACK to creepydude sleep center in a couple of weeks (unscheduled as of yet) in order to test said machine, which means another night of horrible sleep while strapped into a wire torture mesh with a strange machine sucking face with me.

On the plus side, I may actually get to work at 9AM instead of 11AM from now on.

Austin had a friend over, and the three kids (Serena, Austin and Katherine) were tromping around the house playing with the dog.  I’m sitting in the living room nursing a sore shoulder, and Laurette is upstairs cleaning Serena’s closet out of old clothes.

The three kids are in the room next to me, in my sight, when I hear a loud CRASH.  I immediately look over at the kids who all say “NOT US!” (well, effectively).  I can verify this, because they were in my sight when it happened.  So, I think la femme is hurt, so I start to get up, when she comes downstairs and says ‘uh, was that you?’

Well, no.  The Snow-pocalypse left a metric shitton of snow on the roof.  This of course melts slowly, which leaves these lovely icicles on the back gutter.  Which can’t quite handle the weight.  Which decides to detach itself from the roof and smash down on the supporting framework for our patio awning.

Hello, insurance claim!

1>  I have kind of failed to do the photo thing I posted about a while back.  Still there, just on the back burner.  Fill in the excuse you like.

2>  Now that it’s been announced, I can talk about my new short-term Directing gig at Pendant.  The director AND assistant director for Umket Industries Presents: The Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion Adventure Theatre both had to step down as of the end of episode 44, and I’m taking over as primary director, with assistance from Bruce B.  The show is ending as of Episode 50, so I’ll only have 6 episodes to direct (45-50).  Ought to be fun.

3>  Work is becoming challenging for me, because I’m doing more client-facing stuff.  Our current client…needs some direction, and we’re providing that, and I think my boss is attempting to get me in a state where I can manage the process myself so that the QA department (such as it is) is independent of his interference.  I think that’s a long way away, but an excellent goal.

4>  I think I need to do a sleep study, as I really have a shitty sleeping experience.  I’m always tired, and it’s long been at the point where I feel like I should have gotten enough sleep, but I am still tired every day.  Between deviated septum and fat, my snoring is probably getting worse and waking me up (or is a symptom that I have apnea).  I just hate doctors, so am putting that off far longer than I should.

Anyway.

My current list of songs:

rosindust: Butthole Surfers - The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey’s Grave
shumashi: The Clash - Rudy Can’t Fail
lordjulius: Gregorian Chant - Victimae Paschali Laudes
ScottyV: John Williams - Superman Theme
TrinaS: Moondance (no specific artist mentioned)
Zarobi: INXS - Need You Tonight
traceracer: The Replacements: Achin’ to be
Basia: XTC - Senses Working Overtime
NathanF: Russ Childers - (Stop) Kickin’ My Dog Around
TinaT: 2Live Crew - Back at Your A$$ For The Nine-4 (I hope I’m interpreting the title correctly!)
Carneggy: The Magic Number (no specific artist mentioned)

Some interesting choices there. I haven’t heard most of ‘em, so I’ll have to go digging around the intartubes to get a hold of the songs.

But keep giving me songs! And, Z, fuck you.

Crossposting this to Facebook to generate more song titles, too.

Also, two weekends ago, I went for a day event with the cub scouts, where there was a lot of hiking, and then the next day did a swim meet where I was standing on a pool deck for about 8 hours, give or take. Since those two events, when I climb stairs, I hear a loud *click* in my right knee when I climb stairs. This is new behaviour.

So, I have an appointment on Friday to talk to an Orthopaedic doctor (with the same last name as me, no less) about these two issues. I expect I’ll be under the knife within the month.

A> NO SHIT premiums will go up. Every healthcare insurance company is gonna rake in all the profits while they can.

B> When premiums go up due to A>, everyone who wants to kill this bill is going to say, “LOOK WHAT HAPPENED, KILL THE BILL!” when it’s clear it’s bullshit political maneuvering.

Of course, the bill is flawed, but that’s not really the subject of this post.