My Day July 28th, 2008

As you have probably guess by looking at the title of this post, I will not be doing any news tonight. The reason is because I had an extremely long and trying day.

Actually everything started last night. You see, yesterday I had a shamisen practice with a lot of other shamisen students. This is a rare thing so a party was planned for after the practice. That would normally be a good thing, right? Well in this case that's not true. It was a good party, but about halfway though the evening people started singing karaoke. Since everyone was drunk people were dancing. I was told to go dance, so I did. In the middle of a perfect rendition of a cancan something bad happened. I put my right leg down on the ground and slipped. I ended up putting all of my weight on the right knee. That was followed by a lot of snapping noises and pain.

Let me tell you, there is no better way to get sober really quick than a lot of pain. I stumbled off the dance floor and went to sit down. I found that I couldn't really walk at all. I had to get around by dragging my ass on the tatami. Not a convenient way to get around, bit it worked. After the party someone was kind enough to give me a ride home. When I got home I crawled my way up the stairs and fell asleep with my right hand on my right knee.

During the middle of the night I had to go downstairs and I found that there was no easy way to do that. I ended up going down stairs on my ass as well. Now that was painful. I ended up sleeping on my first first just because I didn't want to go back upstairs.

In the morning I took time off from work to go to the hospital. I couldn't find the place my teacher suggested so I went to the closest one. It was one hell of a long wait but I got some cold patches for my knees and some pain killers (yay for pain killers).

Any way so today had a major meeting. I was told it would be at 2:30 but my boss ran in panicking around 1:45 and said that he was wrong and it actually started at 1:30. I never felt like smacking someone so much in my life. Any way it took me about 10 minutes to limp to the building that the meeting was in. I had to limp from group to group to make sure everything was going smoothly for everyone.

After that I saw the teacher that recommended the hospital that I should have went to. She drew me a map and I was off to the hospital again. I get to the hospital and I filled out a lot of forms and waited yet again. I wish I could add up all that time I waited today and use it for something good. I see the doctor and he takes some x-rays. All I can hear him say in the other room is "this is not good." That is not something you want to hear your doctor say!

He comes back to me and tells me I have osteoarthritis of my right knee. Arthritis at 30! What the hell! He showed me the x-ray of my knee and it was very pointy where it was suppose to be very smooth. They said I should use the cold patches and pain killers from the other doctor. They were going to give me a brace, but there was no brace there that would have fit my legs. Damn the Japanese and their tiny legs!

I just got to take it easy and let it heal up a little. Osteoarthritis never really heals, but if there is no pain than it really is the same thing as being healed in my book. If all goes well I will be back on my feet and walking straight in about a week. I hope.

I guess since it is science day I will talk about Osteoarthritis a little bit. Osteoarthritis is actually the most common form of arthritis. It is caused when the cushions between two bones in a joint get worn down and the bones start rubbing on each other. The cushion is actually made from a slippery version of cartilage. Osteoarthritis is a common cause of water on the knee. This happens when liquid such as blood or any other body fluid starts building up in the knee. It can severely limit the motion of the knee joint.

Any way I really don't want to talk any more about it.

Talk to you all later.

My Day July 1st, 2008

Hi guys

Today was a hectic day. I know hearing about other people's hectic days cheers people up so I figure I will skip the news for a day and just talk about my personal news.

So, since this Sunday i noticed that my car's battery light was lit. You know, that red warning light that says "you should really do something about this before it is too late." Well, since I had a busy Sunday I pushed going to the garage back on my list by a day. On Mondays I have to drive about an hour to work. Normally I am all good with an hour long drive, but there is something a long drive with one of those warning lights lit that make it seem so much longer than an hour.

Any way, I get to school, do my thing and go home. My car is starting to act a little strange at this point. The windows are taking longer to go up and down and it is not starting as smoothly. I drive my car to a place where I can get dinner and get my car worked on in the same area (not the same store though heh). So I have them change my oil and have a look at my battery. The oil change was the good part. All they said about my battery was the Japanese equivalent of "I don'no" I wanted to smack the guy at this point. It is his job to know for the love of (some) God! I payed for the oil change and got out of there.

I knew one more place a little bit closer to my house. But, because the first guy made it sound like the battery was low I went to a gas station first. This is a station I always go to. They know me well here. I drove in and asked for some gas and a little (electric) charge. They refused me the charge. I couldn't believe it. They know me there and I know all of the people that work there. They said that they were busy, but there was no other car in the place. Technically gas stations in Japan are suppose to be full service and are suppose to do something like that for free or a low cost. Maybe they just didn't feel like being nice that day.

Any way, after that debacle was over with I headed towards the other garage. I told them I needed a charging and they said they needed to keep the car over night. That wouldn't do because I have work in the morning, so they said they will look at that battery instead. I agreed thinking I would just get another "I don'no," but this place was better. They checked the whole electric system. It turns out that my alternator went bad. The alternator a a device that uses the spin of the engine to produce electricity and recharge the battery while the car is running. A bad alternator means that the car is running of the battery alone. This leads to a battery that quickly dies.

So the second garage says they will look for alternators and call me the next day. From what they said at the garage it sounded like I had at least a week left just on my battery so I decided to drive my car to work today. I drove to work with not only the battery red warning light flashing at me but the ones for the ABS. ABS are very important to staying alive if you need to stop suddenly. ABS uses power and the system could not run off just the battery alone. After I finished work I drove home with yet more red lights flashing at me. I was so relieved when the garage called me not a half an hour after I got home. They said they found parts and I should drive my car over so they can put them in the next day. I said that I needed a car for the next day, but they insured me they had a spare car I could use. I agreed and went to get into my car.

This is where things went down hill. I got into my car and turned the key. Nothing happened... I tried again. Nothing happened... With a sigh I did the only thing I could do. I called the garage and had them come and do something about it. The guy from the garage came with a couple of batteries. He hooked up a used battery to mine and started up the car. In order to get that car to the garage he had to keep the batteries hooked up so he had wires trailing from under my hood, though the passenger side window and to the used batteries on the floor of my passenger side.

Well we got to the garage and all would seem set. The garage guy gave me the extra car and I was on my way. Halfway over the bridge back to my house I get a phone call. The guy left some wires in the in the car and wanted me to bring them back to the garage. With a sigh I said I would get back there. So I arrive back at the garage and handed over the wires.

I was so happy I could get back home and eat some dinner. When I got back home I walked up to my door and got ready to pull out my key to get into my house. That is when I released my house keys were attached to my car keys, back at that garage. The expletive I let out of my mouth at that moment could have set and alarm off on the car that garage gave me if it actually had an alarm. I had to race back to the garage and get my key so I could finally finish my day. It feels good to be back home again.

The good thing I got out of the deal is that car they are letting me use. It is so tiny. After almost 2 years of driving a car that can literally called a whale it feels good to drive a tiny car. Sure the car has no real power under the hood, but it will get me where I need to go for the next few days. I will be fun to put again in a tiny car for a little while.

Any way, I am sure I will find news for you tomorrow.

See you than.