I have never won anything by participating in a radio-call in. That's probably in part because I hardly ever call in to radio stations, and that's because there are hardly any good ones to call into. But I am all about college radio, and WLUW 88.7 fm outta Evanston, IL kinda rocks my socks.
And I won some tickets from them today. So woo-hoo for me and college radio!
Actually, I don't know if I won them, per se, but since I was up at 7am and listening to the radio, I ended up with them. And that means that on Thursday night I'll be rockin' out to the Von Bondies at Subterranean.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Seizure news
Seizures are symptoms of a brain problem. They happen because of sudden, abnormal electrical activity in the brain. When people think of seizures, they often think of convulsions in which a person's body shakes rapidly and uncontrollably. Not all seizures cause convulsions. There are many types of seizures and some have mild symptoms. Seizures fall into two main groups. Focal seizures, also called partial seizures, happen in just one part of the brain. Generalized seizures are a result of abnormal activity on both sides of the brain. - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
It begins with my head.
Soft and warm and frayed, like an old electrical cord that’s been plugged in for too long, the sensation moves under my scalp like a magnetic liquid. It dances down into my face, fills the elastic fabric of tissueswith its activity and moves into my arms and torso. At some point it shows up in my eyes and causes flashbulbs of red and yellow to go off in the dead space where I no longer see. It’s actually still just buzzing in my brain, not sparking in the orbs of flesh capped with brown corneas, but because my eyes get weird during the seizure, it feels like there's something going on in my eyes, too. Running in rivulets of electrical currents along the scar tissue where parts of my brain were clipped out, the seizure happens because of misfiring neurons, internal communications gone awry along my optic nerve, damaged and dead.
Most seizures last just a few seconds, without much harm done to the body. But anything that goes on for longer than 5 minutes is considered a "medical emergency" and should be treated.
It took me almost two years and the concern of a friend to consider my random electric activity a "medical emergency," but once I finally admitted to myself that something else might be wrong with my brain, the presence of seizures in my life became even less of a medical concern than it had before.
I went through the testing, the ups and downs of chemical effects on my brain and body from new medications, and finally in January, my body and I reached an agreement about meds.
When I left the hospital after brain surgery nearly four years ago, I vowed to remain "drug-free," meaning no synthetic substances. I didn't want to ingest a pill (or pills) on a daily basis, and the thought of some external influence controlling or affecting my life was not in the plans. But then again, neither was brain bleed and stroke that had put me in the hospital in the first place, but seizure is common after this. So In January, having found a neurologist and a plan that fit into my twenty-something lifestyle, I hopped on the medication bandwagon again, and have been rolling with it since.
I'm lucky, in that my seizures are only "partial," meaning that I don't convulse, fall, etc. With more than 3 million seizure patients in the US alone, there are so many sterotypes of the "typical" seizure patient out there, and one of the best things about sharing this information with people for the first time is the look they give me when I explain that my little yellow pill controls my seizures. I don't like being on meds, but at least they work for me.
In the May issue of Molecular Pharmacology.
The World Bank report "Investing in Health" (1993) states that, in 1990 epilepsy accounted for nearly 1% of the world's disease burden. Epilepsy commonly affects young people in the most productive years of their lives, often leading to avoidable unemployment. - World Health Organization
Click here for information on finding a doctor who can help you or a loved one (or a not-so-loved one, I don't care), or Here, for my own doc.
It begins with my head.
Soft and warm and frayed, like an old electrical cord that’s been plugged in for too long, the sensation moves under my scalp like a magnetic liquid. It dances down into my face, fills the elastic fabric of tissueswith its activity and moves into my arms and torso. At some point it shows up in my eyes and causes flashbulbs of red and yellow to go off in the dead space where I no longer see. It’s actually still just buzzing in my brain, not sparking in the orbs of flesh capped with brown corneas, but because my eyes get weird during the seizure, it feels like there's something going on in my eyes, too. Running in rivulets of electrical currents along the scar tissue where parts of my brain were clipped out, the seizure happens because of misfiring neurons, internal communications gone awry along my optic nerve, damaged and dead.
Most seizures last just a few seconds, without much harm done to the body. But anything that goes on for longer than 5 minutes is considered a "medical emergency" and should be treated.
It took me almost two years and the concern of a friend to consider my random electric activity a "medical emergency," but once I finally admitted to myself that something else might be wrong with my brain, the presence of seizures in my life became even less of a medical concern than it had before.
I went through the testing, the ups and downs of chemical effects on my brain and body from new medications, and finally in January, my body and I reached an agreement about meds.
When I left the hospital after brain surgery nearly four years ago, I vowed to remain "drug-free," meaning no synthetic substances. I didn't want to ingest a pill (or pills) on a daily basis, and the thought of some external influence controlling or affecting my life was not in the plans. But then again, neither was brain bleed and stroke that had put me in the hospital in the first place, but seizure is common after this. So In January, having found a neurologist and a plan that fit into my twenty-something lifestyle, I hopped on the medication bandwagon again, and have been rolling with it since.
I'm lucky, in that my seizures are only "partial," meaning that I don't convulse, fall, etc. With more than 3 million seizure patients in the US alone, there are so many sterotypes of the "typical" seizure patient out there, and one of the best things about sharing this information with people for the first time is the look they give me when I explain that my little yellow pill controls my seizures. I don't like being on meds, but at least they work for me.
In the May issue of Molecular Pharmacology.
The World Bank report "Investing in Health" (1993) states that, in 1990 epilepsy accounted for nearly 1% of the world's disease burden. Epilepsy commonly affects young people in the most productive years of their lives, often leading to avoidable unemployment. - World Health Organization
Click here for information on finding a doctor who can help you or a loved one (or a not-so-loved one, I don't care), or Here, for my own doc.
So graphic
"That sounds like a Vivid production," he says after I tell him about the storyline. "The plot.... is it Vivid?"
I can't help but laugh out loud. Jay is the closest thing I have to a boyfriend (maybe he
is my boyfriend?), and I'm telling him about the bit of adult entertainment I recently watched and reviewed. Our talk of moving me to California has got me concentrated on finding work in LA or the surrounding area, and even though I've been saying this since last year, the next job I have is going to be a journalism job. I've been ready to leave Chicago since October, but have put it off and put it off, because while there's nothing keeping me here, there's also nothing anywhere else that makes me want to leave.
Except now, maybe him.
Either way, I'm ready to get back into the newsroom, and if that means southern California, fine. We've already made plans for me to whip up some articles while I'm back in Long Beach next week, and I'm working on a cover letter for an unnamed business, one that is in the "adult entertainment" industry, on the media side of things. And I don't mean like raucous newsroom sex scenes. Although that might be a pretty rockin' beat (Time for some research).
Thus the porn review.
I'd say I'm more knowledgeable than many when it comes to the history of adult entertainment industry, because I find it so interesting, and because I'm a staunch advocate of First Amendment rights and a student of journalism law ( ex: miller v. california). These are two areas in which the adult entertainment industry and my industry have come together (love it when that happens) to defend each other. And if I can get a job working in one to learn about and report on the other, that sounds like a great opportunity to me.
So the porn review.
With the advent of online journalism and new media as the media these days, many adult websites have set up user review sites so that "people like you" can write, comment and critique the subject matter they know so well. It's the same thing as the news revolution we've seen over the past few years. Who needs a journalist unfamiliar with a neighborhood to come in and report on it when the residents themselves can provide better coverage? The premise of these websites and reviews is the same.
So I've signed up for a site and am now a bonafide video reviewer. It's a new process, but thus far, a fun one. And having support from others is always nice, no matter what I'm writing about.
Jay and I have been able to talk about anything since we met, and when I tell him about the reviews I'm writing, he's excited for me and happy that I'm doing something proactive for my career. And happy, of course, when I ask him to "research" with me.
And then when I tell him about "Pretty Girl" and he can tell it's a Vivid production, I laugh even harder. It's like we're playing "Name that Tune" or something. I'd like to think it's my stellar description that clued him into the production company, but no, he just knows his um, production companies that well. Sounds like I'm got a great research assistant on my hands.
I can't help but laugh out loud. Jay is the closest thing I have to a boyfriend (maybe he
is my boyfriend?), and I'm telling him about the bit of adult entertainment I recently watched and reviewed. Our talk of moving me to California has got me concentrated on finding work in LA or the surrounding area, and even though I've been saying this since last year, the next job I have is going to be a journalism job. I've been ready to leave Chicago since October, but have put it off and put it off, because while there's nothing keeping me here, there's also nothing anywhere else that makes me want to leave.Except now, maybe him.
Either way, I'm ready to get back into the newsroom, and if that means southern California, fine. We've already made plans for me to whip up some articles while I'm back in Long Beach next week, and I'm working on a cover letter for an unnamed business, one that is in the "adult entertainment" industry, on the media side of things. And I don't mean like raucous newsroom sex scenes. Although that might be a pretty rockin' beat (Time for some research).
Thus the porn review.
I'd say I'm more knowledgeable than many when it comes to the history of adult entertainment industry, because I find it so interesting, and because I'm a staunch advocate of First Amendment rights and a student of journalism law ( ex: miller v. california). These are two areas in which the adult entertainment industry and my industry have come together (love it when that happens) to defend each other. And if I can get a job working in one to learn about and report on the other, that sounds like a great opportunity to me.
So the porn review.
With the advent of online journalism and new media as the media these days, many adult websites have set up user review sites so that "people like you" can write, comment and critique the subject matter they know so well. It's the same thing as the news revolution we've seen over the past few years. Who needs a journalist unfamiliar with a neighborhood to come in and report on it when the residents themselves can provide better coverage? The premise of these websites and reviews is the same.
So I've signed up for a site and am now a bonafide video reviewer. It's a new process, but thus far, a fun one. And having support from others is always nice, no matter what I'm writing about.
Jay and I have been able to talk about anything since we met, and when I tell him about the reviews I'm writing, he's excited for me and happy that I'm doing something proactive for my career. And happy, of course, when I ask him to "research" with me.
And then when I tell him about "Pretty Girl" and he can tell it's a Vivid production, I laugh even harder. It's like we're playing "Name that Tune" or something. I'd like to think it's my stellar description that clued him into the production company, but no, he just knows his um, production companies that well. Sounds like I'm got a great research assistant on my hands.
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