Author: Dan Dickinson

Well…it's not flesh-eating disease…

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It’s shingles.

Seriously.

Because, apparently, I’m 72. What the hell?

Sigh.

I’m staying home the rest of the week because my co-worker, who I sit next to and probably have the most contact with in the run of a day, has never had chicken pox (which is the virus that causes shingles) and there’s a chance I could give it to her. This sucks, because I have a very busy week of stuff that I was looking forward to, including tomorrow night’s Rheostatics concert, their penultimate show.

Frack.

This just seems weird to me. Not the shingles themselves; apparently it’s not at all uncommon. Anyone who’s had chicken pox can get shingles, but it’s usually triggered by something. Here’s WebMD’s list of typical triggers:

  • Have a weakened immune system (such as people with cancer or HIV)
  • Are over the age of 50
  • Have been ill
  • Are experiencing trauma
  • Are under significant stress

Cancer: nope; HIV: nope; over 50: nope; ill: nope; experiencing trauma: nope; under significant stresss: not that I’m aware of. Honestly, the best that I (or Nellie) could come up with is that my body might be rather weakened by the recent drastic shift in diet. Whether that’s it or not, I can’t ignore the fact that I’ve been sick more in the past three months than I had been in the past three years. Maybe that’s coincidence, but when you consider that we haven’t done a great job of adjusting our diets (I know we don’t get enough protein, for example), it seems to be something that I have to address. So, reluctantly, I think I shall have to start eating fish again. Temporarily, until I can adjust my eating habits enough to be vegetarian and be healthy about it.

Goddammit.

.:.

OK, changing gears now: is it wrong that I want to eat Jesus?

.:.

The proposed 60-story condo on the southeast corner of Yonge & Bloor has become a proposed 80-story condo. Any new development on that intersection would be an inprovement. As (city councillor) Kyle Rae put it, “I sorely would like to hide the Royal Bank building on the northeast corner. It’s brutal.”

.:.

There’s so much stuff in the new Harry Rosen magazine that I want that my wallet has begun to glow, kind of like Frodo’s sword when there’s an orc nearby.

.:.

I’m with Serge Savard: hockey should be banned from fighting. It has nothing to do with the game. No other pro sport allows it, let alone condones it. If you’re excited about watching two guys fight, there’s another sport called boxing which I believe would be right up your alley. If I’m watching hockey I prefer skill plays and hard bodychecks to pre-arranged fights and tough-guy posturing.

[tags]shingles, chocolate jesus, toronto condo, yonge and bloor, harry rosen, serge savard, hockey fighting[/tags]

Sold for a smile

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I love how music will just unexpectedly yank me back to specific moments. My nomad played “Waiting For Something To Happen” by The Gandharvas this morning on the way to work, and I could suddenly remember sitting in my friend Ken’s car, in the parking lot of a beer store on Victoria Park, on the way to a party at our friend’s apartment in the beach. We must’ve been listening to the CD, or maybe it came on the radio…not sure. That must’ve been in 1998, and I haven’t thought of that moment since  — why would I? Beer store parking lots aren’t very exciting — but hearing that song this morning dragged me back.

[tags]gandharvas[/tags]

It'd better not be flesh-eating disease

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I have a doctor appointment tomorrow, since whatever it is that’s affecting me is getting worse. The sunburn-like pain on the left side of my face and neck has spread to my shoulder blade, as well as to the back and top of my head. In some places it’s actually turned into a rash or something. The thing (it’s too small to call a lump) on the back of my head is still there, and rather painful. My wrist is also really sore, but I think that’s ’cause I had to sleep funny to stay off my left side and jammed it somehow.

I took some off-the-shelf allergy medication today but it didn’t do anything, so the doctor it is. I didn’t sleep well either, between the pain and the partying asshole neighbours, so I now have a tired-headache. I’m going to bed right after the hockey game. Then the doctor tomorrow. The jammed wrist can wait. One thing at a time.

[tags]allergic reaction[/tags]

The dreaded cheese-lump

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Is it possible to have an allergic reaction to cheese? That lasts for several days and causes (among other things) a lump on the back of one’s head? ‘Cause if it isn’t, then I don’t know what the hell’s happening to me.

[tags]cheese, allergy[/tags]

Coinstar, Battlestar and my latest star

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Today wasn’t quite as nice a day as was forecast, so we stuck to doing some errands, cleaning and (in my case) watching more basketball. We traded in a bunch of loose change ($120 worth, in fact), picked up our tickets for the two documentaries we’ll see at this year’s Hot Docs (Let’s All Hate Toronto and Ghosts Of Abu Ghraib) just before we move, got some excellent snacks at Cobs Bread, picked up a few groceries and got home just in time for the opening tip of the Florida/Oregon game. Since I finished my case study yesterday I can now relax until the season finale of Battlestar Galactica tonight.

.:.

Speaking of basketball, I’m doing quite well in my March Madness pool. I’m currently in 3rd, but I can take the $600 prize if Florida beats Georgetown in the final. If my calculations are correct there are also two other scenarios where I’d finish 2nd (for which I’d get $200) or tied for 2nd ($100).

I’m also doing well in my other (non-money) pools. I’m leading my NHL pool; some other guys got within half a point of me, but I’ve gotten some breathing room back, mainly by adding Jordan Staal to my lineup the other night. I’m starting to love that kid as much as Don Cherry does. In my NBA pool I’m only four points back from the leader, but I don’t think I can catch him. I probably could’ve if any of Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce or Dwayne Wade had been able to play a full season, mais c’est la vie. I’m just hoping to hang on to 2nd place.

[tags]hot docs, let’s all hate toronto, ghosts of abu ghraib, cobs bread, battlestar galactica, march madness, hockey pool, jordan staal, don cherry[/tags]

"If I wasn't a transvestite terrorist, would you marry me?"

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The three funniest things I read yesterday:

.:.

AOL picks the top 25 sports movies of all time. Apparently AOL knows nothing about the genre; no way does Bull Durham (or any other sports movie) beat Hoosiers, no way does White Men Can Jump beat When We Were Kings, no way does Friday Night Lights finish 25th, and no way does Eight Men Out get left off the list entirely.

.:.

Breakfast On Pluto (imdb | rotten tomatoes) has been sitting next to our TV for six weeks. We just never got around to watching it, until earlier this week. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t that good either. Cillian Murphy was excellent playing Patrick “Kitten” Braden, but mainly I hovered between dislike and disinterest for the film. I’m glad we didn’t waste a TIFF pick on it a couple of years ago.

[tags]scott adams, ahnuld, lolcat, cheezburger, sports movies, breakfast on pluto, cillian murphy[/tags]

Clear plates, full tummies, can't lose

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I love love love spring. It was so nice out today that T-Bone and walked up to Summerhill and did a little food shoppin’ (some light rye, some banana loaf, some wine from the Loire Valley). I decided that we should just snack for dinner tonight so I popped over to Pusateri’s for some cheese and fruit, picked up a book (Friday Night Lights, the book which the movie was based on and the show was inspired by) at Indigo and returned home to blast some Hidden Cameras. I figure gay church folk music is well suited to the early days of spring.

I also sent off my first maple order of the season today. For some reason I thought this year’s order would be smaller, but I must’ve hit 60 litres easily. My poor dad.

[tags]spring, friday night lights, hidden cameras, maple syrup[/tags]

Bring the sked

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Travel plans for the fall* are coming together. We’re very excited.

.:.

Our schedule for the next little while is becoming very clear. I actually don’t like having this many plans; I prefer to stumble into each day and do whatever, but that’s not in the cards right now. This weekend I have a paper to write for my course. Next week we have a busy social calendar and then I’ll finish off as much of my course as I can before we take possession of our condo on the 9th. Around this time the NHL & NBA playoffs begin. We’ll be cleaning, painting, etc. for the next two weeks (and ignoring most of the Hot Docs festival) until our actual move-in; a few days after the move I go away on course for a week. No sooner do I return than the social activities of May (the Santé wine festival, a reunion in Niagara-on-the-Lake with some Dal alumni friends, Victoria day, GB’s birthday) begin. June is fairly light, though I disappear for another course toward the end, and nothing’s really planned for July or August. I suppose I should be using that time to do the giant integrative paper that’s due in the fall, since September (between an abbreviated film festival, another week away on course and two weeks of vacation) is a write-off.

*Yes, we plan this far in advance. Make fun of us all you want; it was taking our time with planning and research that made the Rockies trip our best vacation ever.

[tags]vacation, sante festival, dalhousie university[/tags]

Let's all hate polar bear cubs

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I don’t think it’s any secret that I like animals. However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m an animal activist, especially when people who describe themselves as such claim it’s better to euthanize this polar bear cub than to raise him in a zoo. Now, I don’t think animals should be in zoos in the first place, but if the cub was born in a zoo and was rejected by his mother, I can only think it would be better off experiencing a life of some kind than to be put down because it’s not living the predictable life.

If the question were whether we should be going into the wild to adopt abandoned bear cubs, I’d say no, that’s disrupting the natural cycle. But, as I said, I also don’t think we should be putting animals in zoos, so until that practice ceases I don’t think we should be euthanizing healthy zoo-born animals just because, all other things being equal, they’d die in the wild.

.:.

There’s a new crosswalk in the Annex. Why is this interesting (to me, anyway)? Because I (and many others) damn near died crossing the street there to get to the Dominion. I don’t get back up to that neighbourhood very much anymore, but at least on the few occasions when I do (like the occasional concert at Trinity/St. Paul’s, or when I want to trade some coins for cash) I won’t be muttering “This &%#$ intersection needs a crosswalk!” as I dodge Hyundais.

I expect a hallelujah from Duarte on this. Stanzi and T-Bone used to live over there too; I suspect they dodged cars there more than once. It’s like a Toronto rite of passage.

.:.

Actually, one good reason to go back to that neighbourhood: the Hot Docs documentary festival. If you live in Toronto and you haven’t been, you owe it to yourself to go. I’m bummed that we won’t really have time to see many films this year as we’re moving right in the middle of the festival. Too bad; I really want to go see the reaction to Let’s All Hate Toronto.

[tags]knut, polar bear cub, annex crosswalk, hot docs, lets all hate toronto[/tags]