An update of sorts

Since my first seizure in the early morning hours of 17 November 2009, I have had three more seizures, one with me arriving in the Sutter Davis ER unconscious, one conscious seizure and being transported to the ER, and one conscious seizure with me staying home. All these events have been rather mind-blowing and life-changing, and rather painful, having dislocated my jaw twice. But on a postive note, I have gotten to know the emergency services personnel of Davis rather well, receiving comments of: "I think we've been here before"; "He looks familiar"; "Your jaw looks better"; "You must be getting tired of this." That was an understatement, as tears flowed down my cheeks as I was rolled into the emergency room for seizure 3, with the water fall in full effect not from fear but from frustration from not being able to control my body or mind and being in the same position again. After many trips to the doctor, I have more trips ahead. Who could have known that having a suspended license, not being able to ride a bike, or being able to drink would be so fun during winter break? Not I. But it's all good. Don't seize up folks.

Well, it seemed like a good idea...

I woke up, trying to regain my focus. I had no idea where I was. I soon came to find out that I was in the emergency room at Sutter Hospital, Davis. While my memories of that morning are rather fuzzy, I found out I had had a seizure, which is defined as "the physical findings or changes in behavior that occur after an episode of abnormal electrical activity in the brain," according to the MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia.
It had been a regular night, with me working until 1 a.m. and then going to spend the night at my girlfriend's house, where we promptly fell asleep without any problems. I was informed later that I had began to thrash around and moan. My girlfriend thought I was having a dream, but when she turned on the light, she could see that that was not the case, with my lips turning blue and my tongue hanging out and my body completely stiff. My eyes were also open and completely dilated. She tried to wake me, but with no luck. She called 911, and within ten minutes the paramedics were on scene, along with firefighters and police officers. They were interested in figuring out what was going on, and they asked if I was an alcoholic or a druggie, but all she could say was that I was a good and healthy boy, except that I eat a lot of ice cream, which is very true. They tried to put oxygen on me, but I pushed the mask away. My memory of the event begins at the hospital, with me wondering what the hell was going on. I gave blood and urine samples, and submitted to a Cat scan. I called in my shifts for work and began to wonder just what had happened, and by 6:30 am I was released, with me still attempting to understand what it all meant.

What it all meant was that I could no longer work, drive a car, or ride a bike. It also meant that I had to make an appointment for a neurologist as soon as I could. It also led to an extremely sore jaw, which I had dislocated during the seizure. Since this was just in the last few days, I am still sore, still out of work, and still rather nervous about what it all means. Does it mean that I will not be able to do the job that I love now and in the future, being bus driving and law enforcement? As of now, I have a restriction on my driver's license, effectively holding me back from work and putting me in a rather difficult spot. My family has become terribly worried, as am I. If there is one piece of advice I can give you, my faithful reader, it would be: DO. NOT. HAVE. A. SEIZURE.

Below: My claim to fame, and the early wake-up call, as portrayed in FireDispatch.com:

11/17/2009 3:43:53 AM (24 min)

Davis Fire Department Medical emergency

Losing touch

As years have passed, American society has become enamored with technology; Blackberries, Ipods, Iphones, computers, TomToms, Iphone apps, etc. As a result, our society has lost touch with itself as it becomes stuck in the technological sandpit. People walk around with Ipod earbuds, with the music playing so loud that you can clearly hear the lyrics of the music, even though you are 25 feet away. The person is insulating them self from society and everyone else around them, preferring to hear their own, self-constructed reality. This attitude is common among young people and older people alike, as people begin to ignore the others around them. People become lost in their cell phones, playing games, texting, blogging, or even worse...Facebook status updating. We have begun to lose touch with each other and the things that make our society what it is. The little interactions between people are lost once people put the earbuds in or look down at their cell phone and go to their own constructed reality. Besides, once the earbuds go in, one cannot hear the snippets of conversation from those around us, which so consistently amuse us. The "Good mornings," and "Have a good day" are lost in the sound of Chris Brown screaming into some one's ear canal. Simple courtesy is shoved to the wayside: "Oh sorry, I didn't hear what you said, I had my earbud in." Here is a solution: Take out the earbuds, listen to those around you, actually interact with them, and contribute to society without insulating yourself with an Apple-constructed reality.

Bad luck, Chuck.

Driving is like Russian roulette; you do not know what or when something is going to happen and you have no control of it. Most of us take driving for granted, as a normal task that is done almost every day and requires little effort or thought. But as the daily newspaper reports read, it is not as simple and safe as it seems. Reports tell us about accidents that happened on the very roads we travel every day without a problem. We see the crosses memorializing the victims of the accidents, with the fresh flowers left by the families at the foot of the cross, and debris of the accident still littering the side of the road. What is it that leads to some people getting in accidents while we do not? Take a recent example from my home county: A girl who went to my high school before my time was driving to a Halloween party on Highway 101, heading south. Out of nowhere, a vehicle heading north is in her lane, she swerves, but it is too late to regain control. She was killed, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As drivers, we have all had close calls, where we say, "Wow, that was way too close and scary!" The scariest thing is that you can be the best driver you can be, obeying all the rules, being observant and safe, and still there is the possibility of getting in an accident. Scary thought right? You can be having an ordinary day driving to work, school, your friend's house, and then bam, your life has changed forever, and there is not much you can do to have changed it. If it wasn't you, it probably would have been someone else.
Unfortunately, there's not much you can do other than can about your daily routine and hope for the best. Or just sit at home and not go anywhere. That would probably be pretty safe, but not very fun.

Time for an update....

Procrastination is one of the most dreaded afflictions college students face, among others such as swine flu and STDs, and one of the symptoms of procrastination is Facebookstatusupdateitis. This is one of the most painful symptoms, as it leads to the readers of the statuses having an unfiltered knowledge of whatever, and I mean whatever, their friends are doing at any one time.

Updates are posted about the most intimate details of writers’ lives, inviting all those who can read into their world. Some of the more recent examples: “F$%@ THE CHP! (pulled over by the CHP), “work till 1 p.m. (I’d guess they’re working), “Megan McPherson had murder burger last night…and now wants to die…” (I don’t want to know that), “Megan McPherson just took an AWESOME procrasti-shower,” “Heidi Thompson drank so much on tuesday that even her backyard was hungover,” and “Joe Schmoe drained a redbull, studying for midterm tomorrow-1:17 a.m..” Some posts are obviously looking for reader responses, whether it be looking for comfort (“Virginia Ha had a horrible day L”) or assistance (“Tommy John totally could use some help like right now!”).

The most perplexing thing for me is why do people feel the need to update everyone about every single event and problem in their lives? It brings people who are not involved into the situation and almost puts an obligation upon the reader to respond to the posts as they see it (Do I respond to the update saying my friend had a bad day, or do I ignore it?). The question that begs to be asked is what were people doing before Facebook and Twitter were created? How did they survive without telling everyone about every single thought on their mind? Did they just randomly burst out into updates in the middle of the Coffee House: “I just took a shower, and I feel GREAT!” or “I need a hug….like RIGHT NOW!” I think that most people would refrain from doing that, but then why do it on the Internet? Do not get me wrong, social networking is a good thing, but the level of Twittering and Facebook status updates is at an absurd level, and it should lead all those involved to ask themselves a question: Do I really need everyone to know that I got trashed last night and threw up and ended up feeling crummy this morning? I believe the answer would be a resounding NO.

Workin' on a Friday

After a nice, relaxing week of school and work, why not top it off with a 16-hour workday on Friday? It seemed like a good idea to me at the time. In any case, I decided to sell my soul to work for 16 hours on Friday. I work for Unitrans, the big red bus system in Davis, transporting everybody to class. I just recently got hired as a supervisor so now I am lucky enough to be the guy who makes sure everyone is on time. At 5:05 on Friday morning, I was woken up by my alarm and I dragged myself to work. From 5:20 till 3:45 in the afternoon, I sat in the dispatch center, trying my hardest to make the buses run on time (Sorry if your bus was late by the way :( ) After doing that, it was on to Tipsy Taxi in the evening. Tipsy Taxi is a service where people call in from 10 pm-2 am on weekend evenings to request a pickup in one of our four vans running. Talking with drunk people on the phone is a good time, but then cleaning up their puke from the van isn't so much of a good time. I dispatched vans and answered phones at Tipsy Taxi from 9:15 till 3:00.

Some of the highlights from working for Unitrans in the morning are the drivers that sleep through their alarms, leaving the dispatcher scrambling to find someone to drive. It is not a welcome phone call at 6:25 in the morning: "Ughhh..Hello?"
"Hey Gary, it's Forest from Dispatch. I had you down for a start up this morning ten minutes ago...." "OH S@!%!!! I'm so sorry!!!!!! I just slept through my alarm!" Or even better they don't pick up their phone, and you have to find someone to drive a line that starts in fifteen minutes. After the first hour of scrambling and phone calls, things started to calm down. Things stayed that way until later in the day, when a bus missed a turn and kept going another half-mile. "Hey Dispatch, so....I just missed my turn." It is not a welcome call on the radio, leading to re-routes and a late bus. After that, the highpoint (or low point if you were a passenger waiting) was when a bus that was supposed to pick up passengers decided to go back to the terminal instead of picking any of the passengers waiting to go back to campus, leaving unknown numbers of furious people waiting on the J line (I apologize), and many questions being asked. Tipsy Taxi later was more relaxed. Sample phone call follows:
Me: Tipsy Taxi.
Drunk Guy/Girl: HELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Is this, like, Tipsy Taxi?!?
Me: It sure is.
Drunk: Can we, like, get a ride for four of us to, (yelling to friends) where are we going? La Salle!
Me: Sure, 4 to La Salle. Where are you?
Drunk: UHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...like, I think...South Davis?
Me: ............


Fun times and getting paid bank!