Days of My Life

A lot has happened since the last time I blogged here, though I’m still unemployed.  I’ve read that there are over a million unemployed people in the U.S., so I figured I wouldn’t be able to complete.  I’m not even looking for one right now, but I’m planning to start next year with some help from vocational rehabilitation as soon as the economy improves a title and unemployment goes down which is above 10% now.

Anyway, my 5th maternal aunt (youngest) has finally immigrated to the U.S. from Korea.  One of my older cousins in Canada took the chance to invite his mother (my 2nd aunt) and my family to his new place.  I believe I’ve written about my recent visits to Canada and Yellowstone which wouldn’t have been possible without my GPS.  Since then, my 5th aunt purchased a car, got a job at a Korean market and moved out of our place.  Because of that, I’ve been quite busy with searching, researching, purchasing, interpreting, consulting, etc.  I’ve spent days searching for a car that’s under her budget and setting up the VoIP equipment she brought behind my own network.

These days, I’m also her English tutor.  She attends a free ESL program offered by a community college twice a week, but she came too late–if you know what I mean.  And it’s harder to teach an adult than a kid because of their ability to retain what they learn.  It doesn’t help that she’s not into learning, either.  Oh, well.

By the way, I don’t expect to blog that regularly like before… so if you still check in sometimes, you have my gratitude.   In case I don’t write again this year, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I had to go early in the morning to see my neurologist today.   Instead of fooling along with other settings, he suggested that we turn extra contact points on since we’ve tried almost everything else.  I believe contacts 3 and 4 are on; consequently, the amplitude had to be turned down to 2.2.  Pulse width and rate (frequency) remains the same at 450 and 60, respectively.  I don’t feel anything different yet, but it took about 2 months the last time for the changes to take an effect, so I’m hoping for some benefits after this year.

There are no plans for any kinds of surgery, which I was a little disappointed that he didn’t discuss anything about it.  I was told that there was an experimental surgery, but I guess I don’t qualify or something.  Oh, well…

My family and I visited a cousin of mine on my mother’s side in Vancouver, Canada, for about a week.   Since his mother was staying with us, and I haven’t seen him for over 15 years, he invited us all.  He paid for almost everything while we were there… lodging, food, tour, etc.  He properly spent over $2,000 on us.  His youngest sister, whom I’m very close to, also came with her family from Winnipeg.  It was nice to finally see her husband in person who is pretty easy-going and kind-hearted.  Although I had some “trouble,” which I shall not mention publicly, it was a nice vacation compared to the trip to Yellowstone. 

Continue reading ‘A Trip to Canada’ »

Since two of my maternal aunts came from Korea about a month ago, we’ve planned road trip to Yellowstone National Park which is over 800 miles from my place.  However, Dori (father’s dog) suddenly got a spinal injury from jumping off the kitchen table after being yelled at by him.  I thought he was going to die, because he was running a high fever, and he was limping so bad that he couldn’t stand still.  He wasn’t eating, either.  As far as I know, he had an ataxia due to abuse and cruelty: he was tied outside when it was over 100 degrees.  I kept telling him to bring the dog inside, but he just didn’t listen.  Fortunately, Dori got a little better after taking some medications from his vet.  Because of this, the trip was canceled; therefore, I canceled motel reservations and everything else.  Then the next morning, I was told we were leaving right after when I awoke.  The ol’ man suddenly decided to go without notice that early in the morning; by then, I only had the time to set up my GPS.

Continue reading ‘A Road Trip to Yellowstone National Park’ »

Ever since my previous neurologist started decreasing the pulse width about 4 or 5 months ago, I’ve been getting progressively worse; i.e., my left leg was much more rigid than ever with both of my ankles turning inward, making it difficult to walk even with help.  I’ve never had this problem before, so I’m hoping the change made today will get rid of it: pulse width is back at 450 which is pretty high.

By the way, I’m seeing my original neurologist now that the other one was “transferred” to Wisconsin.  Oh, and they’re considering an experimental surgery — Subatomic Nucleus (STN), I believe — that targets another area of the brain.

I didn’t think Terminator Salvation was as bad as some said it was, although the chareacter Marcus was a little confusing.  I mean, why create only one hybrid that doesn’t even take your side?  Anyway, I think the liquid-based one in Terminator 2 was way cooler.

I’ll rate this an C+.

Looks like I’ll have go in for another battery replacement as I’ve found out yesterday that the DBS implant in my right chest plate is dead.  My condition has been getting progressively worse, I believe, for the last two weeks. I’ve an appointment on Tuesday for a scheduled adjustment, so I’ll wait until then.  It’s not something like a pacemaker anyway.

We’ve planned two trips in July and August, one of them will be for over a week.  So it’s good that it died now while I’m home. It was due anyhow.

UPDATE: It was a false alarm.  It was the battery of the controller that was weak; as for my condition, I’ve no idea.  Instead of surgery, I had a setting adjustment: pulse width was lowered even more.

The new Star Trek film is nothing like the original (first) TV series which it’s based on — especially the characters.  It shows the events that lead Jame Kirk to become a captain and of his father.  The plot is just brilliant as well as its casting.  A mere presence of Leonard Nimoy made it more real.  Yeah, I’m a trekkie.

I rate this an A!

We undid the previous change, as I’ve been doing pretty bad after about 2 weeks of it, but increased the rate (frequency) a little.  Other patients in New York apparently received some improvements with low pulse width, high rate and moderate voltage, according to my neurologist.  I don’t expect much, though.

Continue reading ‘Settings Change, Etc.’ »

The movie “Knowing” conveys three messages in my opinion.  First, our future is pre-determined — that apocolypse is inevitable.  Second, the “2012″ astronomic  prophecy could actually come true.  Third, the Bible is indeed true in a scientific way — that Adam & Eve started the human race.  In this sense, our time is in a loop no matter what we do.

As a film, I found it quite intriguing.  I rate it an B.