So far in 2010

I noticed I haven't really updated in a while so I thought I would make a blog talking about what's been going on lately.

Well I woke up this morning and realized that the year is over half-way done. It's crazy how fast the time has gone by. It seems like just yesterday it was January 1, 2010 and we were shooting off fireworks and celebrating the new year! Now we're planning Thanksgiving and Christmas and how we're all going to bring in 2011! Crazy right?

So far this year the following has happened.
1) Brought in 2010
2) Went through a break up
3) Found out I had lupus
4) My friend came to Alabama to stay for a while
5) Celebrated my 19th birthday
6) Started a Twilight themed website
7) My mom and sister came from Kansas to visit us
8) Finally walked in my graduation
9) Went to see The Twilight Saga: Eclipse at midnight!
10) Watched the Runaways and loved it
11) Watched Remember Me and loved it!
12) Went to the lupus doctor
13) Found out I'm allergic to shrimp
14) My uncle got his finger cut off at work
15) My friend went back home to New Mexico


Here are some of the most recent pictures that I've taken from things that have happened this year.




All pictures taken with the Samsung Impression

The Truth About my Internet Usage

I will be the first to admit that I love the internet, maybe a little too much. I've gotten better over the years but I still use the internet quite a bit every day. Now that I think about how much I do on the internet I honestly don't know what I would do if we were to have a blackout that lasted more then a month.

I've been without internet a few days or a few weeks, but never been without internet for an entire month. I'm sure I'd probably find something to do, take more pictures, read more books, watch more movies, but really I would be thinking about how I wish I could check my emails or play a game after about 2 weeks without being online. With me being as sick as I am some-days I don't even feel like moving at all. I've gotten used to sitting or laying on the couch with the laptop sitting in front of me while I work on things that don't require much movement.

The internet has become a large part of our world. I'm sure there are many people who wouldn't know what they would do if they didn't have the internet. It's been apart of us and will probably be apart of us from here on out.

We use the internet for business, entertainment, school, and as a means of communication to our family members. Using the internet we share our stories in words, songs, videos, and photos. We can book a flight or plan a trip to the other side of the world in under 3 minutes. We can buy cds, movies, books, clothes, shoes, and much more with the click of a button and a debit or credit card.

Really I'm thankful for the internet and I hope it never goes away for too long but I'm going to make an effort to get off the computer more often. Find another hobby that doesn't involve typing on my keyboard or clicking a mouse. Maybe it'll do me some good.

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

I know that this topic is off from what I usually post but it'll be my first attempt at making an actual blog post that has some sort of point to it behind just sharing my life with the world. This post will be more of a rant then anything else but please feel free to comment with your thoughts or opinions on the topic.

If you're easily offended or impressionable I don't recommend reading on past this.

Last week California revoked Prop 8 which was the law that said that gay marriage was illegal. Now I know that this is a touchy subject so I'm going to attempt to be gentle with it. I for one think that this law should have never been put into place. No matter what my personal views or opinions are, to me I don't see why I should stand in the way of someone else living their life how they want when clearly they aren't hurting me or anyone else by doing so.

This brings me to the original topic at hand, respect. A friend of mine was talking to me this week and was telling me about how people were hating on her and sending her mean and hateful things because she's a lesbian. She doesn't want to go back to church thanks to those people. I've seen this time and time again. We push our personal beliefs onto someone else and expect them to be ok with it. When in fact it's very disrespectful.

I may not be a Bible buff but I know enough to know that the Bible clearly says that the only judge is Jesus our Heavenly Father. So please tell me why is it that we feel the need to judge and condemn every person who doesn't see things the way we do.

Now I'm sure that some of you are sitting on the other side of this computer shaking your head, looking up something to counteract what I just said or thinking "I don't judge people." Well truth be told we all do. Whether it's about church or whether it's about everyday life we all are guilty of being judgmental.

Anytime you say something like "That person must be gothic because they're wearing black." or "That girl must not be in the church because her hair is short." you're judging. You don't know their story. For all you know the person could have just got back from a funeral and that may have been all the clothes they could find to wear. The girl who you think isn't in the church because her hair is short may in fact just be a cancer survivor who lost her hair during treatment.

Be careful how you think of people and how to act with them. If you're a christian be sure to be respectful and understand that not everyone sees the way you do. If you're not a christian be respectful and understand that people have feelings. Like they always used to teach us in school

"Do unto others as you would have done unto you."

Think about that next time you're at the mall or you're with a group of people and you see someone you would normally pass judgment on.



A show everyone should watch: If you really knew me, MTV

Picture from google images © to rightful owners

Photos from the day

Today was so busy with everything that went on this week. With me being sick most of the week, my dog being put down because his cancer got so bad, and my great grandma passing away the same day my dog did, there has been little time for much else. This morning I was up around 9:00 trying to find out what my tasks were for the day so I'd be prepared. The I had to go over with my cousin so I could help find and scan the pictures for my great grandma's funeral. We found a lot of really amazing pictures of grandma that I've never seen before. After I left their house I went back home and got about 30 minutes of sleep. Now I wouldn't have taken a nap but I didn't get any sleep at all the night before so I was already tired as it was. My grandma came in and woke me up to tell me that all of the girls were going shopping so I got up and get dressed so that I could go with them. We went to two different stores and I managed to find a full outfit, which was better then I thought I would do. After the trip to the store we went to my cousin's baby shower. The shower was fun and had plenty of people there, some of which I'd never seen before. When the baby shower was over we went home and my friend and I took my sister for a walk down the road to a creek we'd been wanting to take pictures of. These are the pictures from that adventure. I'm off to sleep finally. Goodnight/Good Morning world.







All pictures taken and edited by me.
Taken with Nikon Coolpix S230

Finally!

After nearly 4 months of not being able to sleep in my own room, I finally got my bed back. My family is coming down to visit us tomorrow so yes I'll have to give it to them, but it's nice to be able to sit on my bed and relax while watching TV and posting my blog. Oh the sweet relief.

The reason we took my bed out was so that we could fit a bunk-bed in there so my friend would have a place to sleep. I figured that was a good idea at the time but once we got the bunk-bed in I realized that we might as well have just left my bed because only one of us was going to be able to sleep in the room at a time. So who got to sleep on the couch or air mattress for the last several months? Well if you're guessing that my friend did you're terribly mistaken. It was me! It's frustrating beyond belief. In case you were wondering, I couldn't sleep on the bunk-bed because the top bunk was too close to the bottom bunk so I would hyperventilate every night. The reason I didn't make her sleep in the living room was because it wouldn't have mattered I still wouldn't be able to sleep because I hate wooden bunk-beds.

Well long story short I'm loving being able to use my bed and my room again even if it's just for tonight.

The Update

So I figured I'd updated everyone on what's all going on. If you're a returning friend or family member you've probably already heard about most of this. If you're a new visitor let me start off by saying, hello and thanks for stopping in.

Yesterday was a very interesting, frustrating, but completely worth it. For those of you who know me, you know that I've been sick since I was about 16. We found out that year that I was allergic to everything under the sun and I was started on allergy shots. Those seemed to be working just fine until about the end of 2009. I started having nausea and the sorts all the time which led to not being able to keep anything down which then caused me to have dizzy spells and sometimes even pass out.

As the months went on I realized blotches on my cheeks that at first glance look like acne but if you look a little closer you'll know that it's anything but. Around the same time was when the pain in my lower back and entire left side of my body starting to hurt and the fatigue really started to kick into full gear. I knew from other family members that these were the signs of lupus.

I was desperate to find out what was wrong with me so that I could hopefully get my "normal" life back and be able to do the things I love without being in pain. I set up an appointment with my local doctor and asked her if she could please run some tests to see if I had lupus. I was hoping they would come back negative but I knew in the back of my mind they more then likely wouldn't.

After waiting the 3 weeks for the results the doctor called me in and said very little other then that yes I do have lupus antibodies and that she was going to refer me to a doctor a hour and a half away at the university. I was confused because of how little the information she gave me was but I took the answer and started doing my own investigating on the disease.

As anyone who is or has been sick and having to go to doctors, you'll probably know that it's wise to do your own research on topics so you'll know the right things to ask and what tests should be done. The person who knows you the best is yourself and only you can know about your type of pain and or sickness more then anyone else.

Well as I was reading through the Lupus Foundation of America's website it was almost like someone had knocked me upside the head and I finally was seeing the light of day for the first time in years. Many of the symptoms and things that no one could ever figure out was on the list and things like lupus fog (where you lose your train of thought mid sentence) and that allergy shots can cause lupus flair ups. Everything started making sense.

Unfortunately I had to wait from February till July 20th for an appointment with the specialist but I'm happy to say that the wait was worth it. The doctor was amazing, he asked me a lot of questions check out my joints and looked over the red patches on my cheeks. He also ordered more tests to find out how bad the lupus is. 10 vials of blood! I don't recall ever getting that much blood taken at one time before! Thankfully the technician was a nice guy who kept my mind from jumping out my ears and running away by talking to me the whole time.

So despite all the trouble I had to go through to get there. The fact that my local doctor didn't fax over my referral or that I had to wait a whole hour before I could talk to any of the nurses to get them to fax the papers over. I'm glad to be finding out what's wrong and how I can better manage it. Like I've already said before, I'm hoping that this treatment will help and that I'll start to feel better again.

Here are some pictures from the day







All pictures taken with my camera phone
Some were set on the black and white setting, others weren't.
Edited all of these in photoshop.

Outtakes From Today

These are outtakes from today's pictures for my 365 day self portrait set.







All pictures taken with my camera phone on the black and white setting.
To see the picture I posted for today check out my flickr stream.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickeymouse91/