DStilled

Allergies and Ego

“Allergic reactions occur to environmental substances known as allergens; these reactions are acquired, predictable and rapid. Strictly, allergy is one of four forms of hypersensitivity. It is characterized by excessive activation of certain white blood cells called mast cells and basophils by a type of antibody, known as IgE, resulting in an extreme inflammatory response.”

Thanks Wikipedia.

So I’ve been allergic to stuff my whole life. Mostly it’s normal things like pet dander, ragweed, dust, seafood, and all of my reactions have been epidermic. I developed hives that would move around my body and itch like crazy. If for whatever reason, mold or smoke was exceptionally bad I might sneeze but this was rare. So in sixth grade I saw an allergist and he told me the 60 things I was allergic to. I took Benadryl for the longest time but its affect lessened over the years. Then I cycled on Zyrtec, Claritin, and Allegra all trying to find what worked best for me. Turns out the most expensive of the three was indeed the best. It killed my indoor, outdoor, and food allergies all the while lasting the longest. They all claim to be 24 hour drugs but that is an average. For me Zyrtec lasted the longest at about 22. So Zyrtec it was. And we paid for it. The insurance kept paying less and less of the asking price so it kept going up and up for us. By the time I was out of college the price was stupid. So I went back to Claritin, but not the “real” stuff but the Kroger kind. It worked just as well as normal Claritin and was MUCH MUCH cheaper. So I’ve been taking that for about a year now and about a week ago it hit me. I sneeze hugely about every 10-20 minutes. I have a nearly constant runny nose, my right eye itches (this NEVER happened before), but no hives. I don’t understand what my body is trying to tell me but I assumed it was that the generic Claritin wasn’t cutting it anymore. Obviously this also coincides with the beginning of warm weather, lots of blooming, and having the windows open a lot. So I went to Kroger tonight and bought some authentic, good-stuff Zyrtec (FINALLY without a prescription and prescription prices!). I hope it starts working soon because I lived with this my whole life and I hate to see it actually get worse.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America does a study on the worst allergy places to live every year and this year’s Loser is Lexington, Ky. So I guess it’s good I moved away to only number 21! William, I apparently was quoting last year’s numbers. If you look at the “Rank Last Year” column there’s not too much consistency with this year’s so I wonder if this thing changes all the time and really it’s relative or cyclical. After all, what I’m allergic to in Lexington, I may have gotten used to but moving to Louisville actually is worse for me. The same could go for someone moving from pollen-infested Augusta, GA, to sunny San Diego and having new allergies kick in. So I wouldn’t put too much stock in this other than knowing more people in the last year had allergy issues in Lexington than anywhere else in the country. (Either that or we just have more allergy doctors!)

Cole Pence, an old friend sent me a text the other day asking if I had seen the recent movie Revolver. I said no and I hadn’t even heard of it (because it wasn’t released in the US). He said it was awesome and right up my alley. So I just watched it and he was pretty close to right. A bit heavy on the cussing for my taste but the plot was great. Guy Ritchie wrote and directed the flick and I haven’t been impressed with the intricacies of a plot in a while. Aspects of the film aren’t original but the way they are woven is both stylistically and intellectually stimulating. I think I understand it all but a couple of the “answers” could go one way or another. I really won’t give anything away because I believe most movies, especially ones like this, need to be seen without foreknowledge of anything in the film. Just know is rated R for a reason, but not gratuitous. It’s still wiggin’ me out a bit it was so thick. Perhaps my dreams tonight will reveal something in the movie I didn’t catch. Afterwards, I watched drank chocolate milk, ate a homemade frisco melt, and watched Space Jam.

Thunder Over Louisville

Saturday morning I woke up as I have done for the past several days, in the middle of a dream. I’m astounded how real they are to me and much I want to remain in them! Seriously, I wake up and forsake all to simply turn over and go back to that magical world. The dreams aren’t even all that pleasant, but they do give me adventure and purpose; two things I feel like I often lack in this reality. I’m not quite ready to leave the Matrix right now.

Anyway, I woke up and had a bite to eat and jumped into a car with Emily, Marie, and Sarah to head off for the day’s festivities to begin. Jonathan chose to opt out of having fun because he thought it might be irresponsible to neglect two papers more than he already had. So we went to Adam and Essie’s place closer to downtown and met up with them, Rachel, Brianne, Jennifer, and some peeps I had never met. So as the eight of us walked the couple of miles to the Louisville Slugger Stadium, we enjoyed the warmest weather of the day - 50. It didn’t take too long of sitting at the stadium to make me wish I had worn better (or at least more) clothes.

The Bats are the AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati (I still sing the song from Babes in Toyland to spell it) Reds and handled the Pawtucket Red Sox 3-1. Our seats were on a sloping lawn that reminded me of UVa’s stadiums. We did had some blankets and cuddled up for most of the game. It will never cease to amaze me how much money we spend/waste on stadium food. I was VERY conservative and only spent $8 on the day. I say day because after the game was over, we were just beginning.

After the game we had five hours until the fireworks. Fortunately Thunder over Louisville isn’t just the biggest fireworks display in North America. It is also an air show featuring dozens of jets, fighter planes, helicopters, and even a Harrier. The Harriers are the jets that have thrust vectoring (the engine rotates) and one of them actually did a vertical take off for the crowd. I remember once hearing that they initially cost $2 BILLION a piece in the 80s! My friends were not nearly as impressed with the showcase of might and power. Ryan Bradney actually chose not to come due to the fact that much of the day was an advertisement for the military. Emily actually was appalled that children were playing in and around some tanks they had set up. I asked her why and her simple but convicted answer and the consensus of my friends was, “Tanks KILL people.” The wow factor of technology and power still override my passion for the sanctity of all life to this extent. Plus, I’m not a pacifist at heart. I wish I didn’t enjoy violence, but I do. I just wish we could be violent without causing people permanent harm.

Another thing I will never stop being amazed by are jet planes. First of all, the NOISE! If any of you have been around me when really good bass is being utilized well, you know I get excited. Now imagine seeing FIRE exit the back of a large piece of metal that’s FLYING and hearing - no FEELING - the tremendous power of sonic vibrations! Ah, I feel good already. Secondly, there are people in those planes and those people are flying. If I could have any super power it would be to fly. I will be watching Top Gun very soon.

So after wandering a bit we went back to the stadium and waited. Anticipating rain, we moved our stuff under an awning in the actual seats and waited some more. There was lots of food eaten, some card games played, and just general hanging out. As dusk rolled in, there was a country/bluegrass/jam band concert that became quite enjoyable. I’m not at all into country, especially the twangy kind, but this group had a good variety. That ended a bit before 9 and we had some more time to chill.

Adam and I decided to search for a better spot to watch the soon-to-be fireworks. I said left and he said up. So we did both and got the rest of our people into the seats just in time. So yes, the fireworks were HUGE and it lasted 28 minutes. The reason why this is the biggest is that there are two sets of fireworks going off at the same time. So it would be like going to a normal big show that happen to last for AN HOUR! This is the 19th year they’ve done “Thunder” and lately it’s been attracting over a million people. We in the stadium were only a very small handful. Most of the people were down on the riverfront. This year because of the cold and moment of rain was probably a couple hundred thousand less. But still it was packed.

Thunder is the kick of of Kentucky Derby Festivals and was an awesome way to spend a Saturday. We walked back to Adam and Essie’s and drove home after watching the most recent episode of the Office. A long day indeed. The short clip below is what I filmed of the last part of the fireworks. Not the greatest quality but you’ll understand how massive these explosions were. When I got back Jonathan was still working on one of his papers and said he could hear the fireworks easily three and a half miles away. One of the Louisville guide websites put it like this for the average visitor: “You may be surrounded by strangers that are standing closer to you than you care for, you may be covered in ash and soot when the show concludes, and you may sit in your car for three hours in a parking garage trying to get home, but you’ll smile through all of it and swear to go back next year.”

Wow.

I’m impressed. I really am.

I am amazed, surprised, affected, astonished, astounded, bewildered, blown away, dazed, dumbfounded, electrified, flabbergasted, impressed, moved, shocked, staggered, startled, stricken, stunned, stupefied, and most importantly, touched.

I doubt you’ll read this, but thank you.

Renaissance

Rebirth, renewal, born again, metamorphosis, change. These words and so many others describe what happens to us everyday we wake up and take a breath. Each time we think a new thought we are somehow different than before we thought it. Every time we take a step we have gone farther than we had gone before. Often our direction is what trips us up.

In physics, speed is the absolute value of velocity. Velocity has direction while speed only has movement. In velocity you can go either positive direction or negative direction with the difference being where you put the arbitrary parameter of zero. Speed on the other hand has only positive numbers. It cares not about where you are going but only how quickly or slowly.

In life we worry so much about direction we many times forget to enjoy the simple fact that we are moving. This truth can radicalize the way we live life. My dad is pretty postmodern and will tell me that the present is much much much more important than either the past or the future. He will almost never be a destination person but focuses on the journey. He loves life more than almost anyone I know and I believe one of the reasons is that he has discovered the difference between speed and velocity. Not that he would EVER put it that way. Science? That’s what makes him able to drive his Prius and blog on Myspace.

Last week I spoke about my “depression.” I still put it in quotations because there’s no way that loaded, clinical word is clinically accurate in my case. Since I wrote that I have actively engaged people in social settings and really haven’t shied away from people at all. In fact, I feel more extroverted than I’ve ever been. I’m going to class, so that’s good. Now all I have to do is write the papers needed to not fail. OK……go……wait, I’m still here.

Since the new year I’ve been thinking about change, both how people change in general and how I specifically change. Change is not always growth. Change can be negative or positive while growth is only positive. But change in my life has pretty much always been associated with growth. Much of this has to do with my perspective on truth. I know I can learn something from every situation in order to make myself a fuller human. I know someone that says she has to live in a constant state of change. However for her, reflection and insight don’t always accompany her flux so she often spirals both positively and negatively. It is difficult for us to not moralize each others’ paths for they are so fundamentally different from our own. In any case, our brains work differently so I chalk it up to that.

I hope you enjoy the new site design. This is much closer to what I want out of a site and Ryan was able to get paid while setting it up, so it’s a win-win situation! The picture in the background will change from time to time so be sure to come back!