so another week passes and i'm still prisoner in my own home. not much has gone on in the last week. wendy was gracious enough to pick up a gamecube for me. so i got 2 extra controllers and mario party 4. diem made a post on her blog yesterday. sounds like she's having a blast. i'm going in to get a mri done this thursday. hopefully it will reveal that i won't need surgery. i am finally able to lye down flat with only very minor discomfort, which should speed up the progress and let me get some descent sleep for a change.



i'm finally starting feel that i've run out of things to keep me occupied. i'm just doing things to keep me occupied, so i don't go insane. my latest downloads have been season 1 and 2 of x-men on the FOX network. then it was Ducktales. I think I have all but a handful of episodes. now i'm starting the most challenging collection of all. The Twilight zone from the late to mid 60's. none of that new crap. i have close to 100 episodes so far. which means i'm about 2/3 of the way done. and the other 1/3 is hard to come by. i have come up with all these different tips and tricks to get the downloads going through kazaa lite. pretty sure i won't have a complete collection. but that's better than spending $500 for the 48 dvd set.



one thing that did happen is that i was able to do my taxes, almost completely paper free. all i had to look for were the school loan interest forms that they had sent me that i discarded into a plastic bag, also known as my misc filing cabinet. i had also lost my w2 forms. being stuck at home, and only having a day and a half to complete it, i was getting a little frantic. so i gave turbo tax online a shot. and wow. i'm never doing taxes without turbo tax again. last year, i used taxact, and it wasn't nearly as good. i ended up losing a few hundred dollars last year because i did not know the proper time to file my losses in the stock market. turbo tax costed me $70 this year....way more than i was expecting. i'm definitely going to look for better deals online rather than paying full price because i've waited till the last minute. turbo tax is so convienient. i can download my w2's right from the website. and i can download my etade data right into in. right then and there, i have completed 65% of the forms i need to fill out. just click through the rest and you're done. i couldn't be a happier customer. i ddn't have to mail anything. i had to go jump through multiple hoops california has set up so i can file online. but after that got taken care of, i got away scott free without having to send a single piece of paper to the IRS.



i only have 2 weeks left before my vacation time runs out. i really hope that i'll be able to make it into work by then.

all speculation but...i think the herniated disc is definitely showing signs of moving back into place. every day, it seems like there is less and less discomfort/pain when i try to lye down flat. i think i am a few days away from being able to completely lye down flat without any discomfort. which i hope it means that i'll be able to stand up straight. it will still mean that i'll still won't be able to walk normally until the disc moves further back. and after that i'll definitely have to limit my physical activity for another 3 months....so if i do go go the gym at all in the next 3-4 months, it will be strictly off limits on anything that puts pressure to my lower back. i'll probably just work on cardio and body fat loss.....cause i definitely have gained some during the injury and before while i was bulking up. i'll probably walk to school mondays and wednesdays for health reasons.



as for the injury that has already taken up 6 weeks of my life, and possibly a few weeks more, i've been wondering if this was going to be a life altering experience. and so far, to be honest, other than being stuck in bed all day, i have been able to keep a relatively good attitude towards all this. i have not fell into depression to where i thought i had to make a journey to crawl out of a cave, raise my fist into the air, and swear that from now on, i'm going to stop to smell the f'ing roses. its not that i don't miss doing things that i've been deprived of....going outisde....walking...hiking...hanging out...working out....just about everything that isn't tv/computer related. i guess its not a bad thing i'm doing well...relatively speaking. friends taking time to visit definitely has played a big part in keeping my spirits up. and i shouldn't rely on a foreign intervention to make me appreciate more things in life. if i want to bring on this change, its something i'll have to do myself, injury or no injury.



the weird thing is that you would think that lying in bed for a month or two would seem like an eternity. but that is not what it has felt like for me. it just feels like a slightly extended weekend. and when i do make it back to work and going outside, i think i'll be able to pick up without missing a beat......the downside to it is that i would have used up all my sick and vacation hours without it feeling like i got any kind of rest or vacation at all. being in bed doesn't mean that i have been getting good rest...because i have stopped taking that cyclobenzaprine hcl that was supposed to help me sleep with discomfort. without taking it, i am able to sleep 4-7 hours a night probably tossing and turing probably the whole night. i stopped taking it because i would wake up in some uncomfortable position and have aggravated the inflammation by morning. its only when i stopped taking this the inflammation subsided and i was finally able to make some progress. so you can see i have taken all the time off without any benefits at all. oh well. i shold stop complaining...my injury, even though it is a long term injury, there are far worse injuries things that can happen to a person.

went to the doctors today. i was mistaken. the x-ray can't detect herniated discs...just bone fractures and stuff like that. so it is a herniated disc. but i'm going in for a MRI to see what point we are at. i think i'll stop blogging until i hear some good news. i should definitely have some news in about 3 weeks.

well, good and bad news. the x-ray results came in and they said everything appeared to be fine. the bad news is, if everything is fine, what the ~!@# is the problem? i'm going to see the doctors again tomorrow, and see if i can schedule an MRI.

just came back from a 6 day stay at my parent's place in Gardena. I could have, and maybe should have stayed longer there, but i wanted to leave there before it got too depressing. they don't have the internet. and all my friends are at SD. and with my parents being gone all day, you can see how one can easily tire himself from all the nothing one can do. so i came here so that i can socialize with people that come by to visit, and also through AIM.



other than that, there's not much else that has gone on during the whole week that i was gone. i've been to an acupunturist 3 times, and i think the first one i went to in LJ wsa the best. i'm planning on going to the chiropractor tomorrow. hopefully i'll be able to drive. i'm still not able to walk much at all. all i can do now is pray, rest, and hope for the best.

well, the inflammation seems like it's getting better slowly. yesterday was definitely an improvement. for example, i would describe my symtoms as heavy discomfort, and not use the word pain, agony, or excruciating to describe it. i hope its not cause i'm just used to the pain now. the doctor finally called back today (i guess he wasn't in friday or monday). and he got me a new prescription. NAPROXEN (aka NAPROSYN) 500mg to be taken twice a day. wendy was gracious enough to pick it up for me and bring it by. i only have taken it once so far, but i think it definitely works better than 800mg ibuprofen taken 3 times a day. i had been taken the ibuprofen with Flexeril (aka Cyclobenzaprine) 10mg...a muscle relaxant that helps me deal with muscle spasm's while i sleep. but i'm going to guess i shouldn't take that with the Naproxen because that also makes me drowsy. I don't want to accidentally go to sleep and never wake up again. Especially my roommate being gone for a week, that just won't be pretty. Even though I no longer have pain, just discomfort, i have to keep contorting my spine in some weird position. still can't walk much at all....and even if the inflamation is gone, my back is really contorted. i have to get it straighted out now by a chiropractor. i'll probably get the adjustment on friday.



so yesterday, my dad stopped by with a whole mess of korean food. basically consisted of cold noodles, korean bbq seasoned meat, pot stickers, and soup. i told him no pot stickers, but he still broght me a motherload. so if anyone wants to feast on pot stickers next time you're over, let me know. i'll start defrosting them. my dad also brought me these 3 ointment rubs...kinda like bengay....except made in mexico of all places. his acupuncturist gave him those, and he said they're good, and they can't sell those here....so i'm guessing they got some gnarly ingredients. coca extract perhaps? haha....ok...just did some research. the magical ingredient is arnica. bunch of warnings from people in discussion groups on not using arnica on open wounds, and definitely no eating.....i wasn't planning to eat the ointment but i guess i should definitely wash my hands thoroughly after application. arnica is toxic if eaten. come to think of it, i applied some of this arnica ointment, and took an induced nap yesterday (or maybe even passed out), and woke up with super dry hands....hmmm....gotta be careful.



its surprising it has been 3 weeks since i got the herniated disc. good thing time passes by faster as you get older. i think what has helped a lot are the tv shows that keeps me distracted. i'm all caught up on csi and csi miami. i'm 1/4 of the way done with watching all the sopranos that i downloaded. and i just finished downloading all the Alias epsidoes today. after that, i'm going to download all the seinfeld episodes. hopefully i won't still be stuck in bed before i get to all of those shows. another thing that's really helped me deal with the back injury is that just about everyone has been going out of their way to help me out and keep me company in a difficult time. i'm really thankful that i'm surrounded by such great friends. its true that i would be doing the same thing if one of my friends were injured. but it is because i've been molded into who i am today by all the kind hearted souls that i'm blessed to have as friends.

latest bit torrent site where you can get your csi, csi miami, 24, smallville, simpsons, and other shows before they even air it on tv.

http://torrents.noneleft.bm/



this is a link to kazaa lite. different than kazaa, because you download about 10 to a 100x more with this program. i've been averaging about 10 gigs a day with this thing.

http://doa2.host.sk/



corey clark has been kicked off american idol. just when he lands his best vocal performance, and gains some fans. was never a fan of corey anyway. if they are going to bring anyone back, my vote is for candice coleman. she has a very smokey and unique voice. kinda like in the category with nora jones. i was hoping that she'd be in the wildcard show. but she wasn't.



a 1000 hp cadillac straight from the factory.

the problem with a cadillac is that their badge/emblem is so infused with old grannies, and pimps from the 70's and 80's. they need to come up with a different line of cars...the way that honda, toyota, and nissan do with acura, lexus, and infiniti.