Nausea

Chemotherapy is loosing it's charm.

The first couple of times it was okay; the novelty of it all, the day off from work. But now I'm over that. I have to get up very early in the morning and sit in a chair all day hooked up to bags of poison. At least there is WiFi available, but the drugs knock me out for several hours anyway. I have to unhook from the power supply and drag the stand into the bathroom with me. And they pump enough liquid in through my chest that I have to go to the bathroom a lot!

And I simply dread the week after a treatment.

They give me all kinds of anti-nausea medications, but I still get these random waves of stomach upheaval. Thankfully I don't actually throw up, but sometimes I feel that It might be better if I did. Eating does nothing to calm my stomach, nor does not eating... The anti-nausea meds are to mitigate the side effects of the actual chemo, but then I have to take pain meds for the side effects of the anti-nausea drugs. And all of these drugs make me drowsy. (I love the one that warns: prolonged or excessive exposure to direct and/or artificial sunlight should be avoided while taking this medication.)

I can only imagine what it would be like without the drugs...

At least I'm likely to live through all this, today I met a woman named Evelyn who listed the extensive cancers she was being treated for, including breast cancer (double mastectomy), several organ cancers including a brain tumor, bone cancer, and a seizure that she woke up from four days later. She still has an amazingly positive attitude, at least to people she's just met.

I don't put much stock in the idea that a good attitude can actually affect the cancer, or any disease for that matter, but it can definitely help you achieve a better quality of life during whatever time you have left.


(but that's true for people without horrible diseases too.)

Too Bad About 'Prometheus'

SPOILERS! 

SPOILERS! 

SPOILERS!

Remember in 1979 when a movie called 'Alien' came out? Remember how it was good?

'Prometheus' should have done more of that.

Bad Science. Bad Scientists. Unnecessarily secret competing agendas. The thing is really just a mess.

It suffers from what I call the five minute problem. If the major characters could just wait five minutes before jumping in there would be a lot less trouble. But then there would be less "drama" too. (notice the quotes)

The characters don't have what you could call personalities so it's hard to care about them. When Sigourney Weaver was running around in her underwear fighting for her life it was compelling (even apart from the underwear). When Noomi Rapace is running around in her underwear it's not very compelling (even in spite of the underwear).

If these supposed professional scientists on a direct corporate funded mission had a plan they could have all come home just fine. If the corporate backers had told anyone what the actual goals of the mission were, the plan would have been obvious.

Instead everyone just goes farting around like they're in someones back yard instead of on an alien planet! Y'know, just because the atmosphere is breathable doesn't mean its safe, don't take off your helmet! And please, lets not go wandering around getting lost until our magic floating balls finish making us a map of the endless caverns! Oh, and if you find a completely new alien life-form, don't poke it.

And let's not let the robot go wandering off and infecting the humans with alien bio-weapons with no more plan than 'let's see what might happen'. And hey, maybe we shouldn't go insulting the super-robot-man when he says things like 'Wouldn't you be mad if your creator said that to you?' I think he might take your anti-robot racism personally...

Also, there are about half a dozen examples of 'Chekhov's gun' in this film. I can't help but notice that stuff nowadays.

But it's got a wonderful cast, and really good production values.

Captain America's headgear

It is really a minor point, and I know I should be able to get past it but...

Oh, hell! You guys know me better than that - I can't stand this stuff.

They had a perfectly good helmet in his own movie:















It looked cool and appeared to be functional.

Then, in the Avengers, they had to go and fuck with it!

Now his head looks like a mushroom.

By the way; if you haven't seen The Avengers yet go see it! There is no better movie this year.


(okay, I haven't seen the new Batman flick yet... but you get the idea)

More Pictures

Someone said there should be more pictures from the recent trip...

Apollo - Soyuz linkup

Voyager and the Spirit of St Louis

A V-2 Rocket with Skylab in the background

A Statue - sometimes a sword is just a sword...

The Grand Army of the Republic

A Golden Naked Chick

The Navy Memorial - Decked out for Memorial Day

Lincoln in front of a Court House

Ford's Theater

The Department of Justice

The Capitol Building

Keith - We finally got him...

That's not every picture I took, but I think it's enough.

What? You expect me to update this thing?

Okay, a couple things have happened since the last time I wrote an entry in here...

My friend Keith and I returned to our nations capitol memorial day weekend (just Sunday). We spent most of the day in the Air and Space Museum. That is one fun place! I took some photos...

The Apollo Lander 'Eagle'

John Glenn

 Space Mural

Me, in front of the FBI building.

We also went to the Spy Museum, they don't allow photos. :(


And also, as an aside, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma at Easter time.