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My Almost-daily Journal |
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| About I love trying out new things, especially when it comes to internet technology. I never really kept a journal, but it's something that I've always wanted to do. Now, everybody will get a chance to look inside my twisted, and somewhat-warped mind.
I've also subscribed to Audio Blog, so a few times a week, I'll leave actual voice blogs. Very cool!XML Newsfeed Previous Posts
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Monday, July 28, 2003
The Psiatic Nerve Injury I'm not sure if the drug cocktail of Vicodin, Vallium, and Motrin actually did anything for my pinched nerve. The injury happened in such a casual, non-eventful way, I figured the rehabilitation would occur in the same fashion. Needless to say, I did suffer mild to medium discomfort on my vacation in Greece, but it did not prevent Danielle and I from doing everything we wanted to do. Right now, I'd say I'm 75% healed. I'm just doing some stretching exercises now to regain some of my mobility. Paralyzing, death pinch feeling in now gone, and replaced with just a tight muscle in my lower back. Cigarette Detox We're back from Greece. It was amazing. It really served two purposes. It was a long-needed and deserved vacation for both Danielle and I (we didn't use up our vacation time last year), and it served as cigarette detox for me. Yes, I admit, I've been a nicotine junkie probably truley since 1996, when I changed jobs AND moved AND ended a three year relationship. I dabbled with cigarettes and chewing tobacco in college, usually smoking in the bar or while working on my '65 Willy's Jeep, but I never really thought I was addicted to nicotine. I think I became a regular smoker six months after I moved into my new house, since I was surrounded by continuous smokers-- my brother and his friends. From 1997 - 2000 I guess I was pretty hooked to cigarettes. Then I met Danielle, and switched to chewing tobacco, since that was more concealable. I quit smoking cigarettes, and became a pretty regular Skoal user. The body's nicotine requirements stayed pretty constant with the Skoal, but I found myself chewing pretty much non-stop throughout the day. Danielle hated the stuff, and after a few accidents of Danielle drinking out of my spitter bottle (I feel really, really bad... poor girl), I decided it was time to quite that nasty habit. I quit chewing, but my body still demanded nicotine, so I started smoking again... lightly at first, just to wean me off of the chewing habit, but then it became pretty regular. Working in Decoma Development Center didn't help much, since almost all of the technicians in the back smoked regularly... it was the only Decoma facility in the world where you could smoke IN a Decoma building. It was in the back in the shop, but it was nice to smoke back there while working, having discussions or just socializing. Now I'm back at the main building, and smokers are looked at like leper's. Hardly anybody smokes there, which is a slight incentive for me to quit. So, while on our Greece vacation, I did not smoke one single cigarette! I did, however, buy some nicotine gum, that got me through some pretty difficult chemical-deficient times. At the end of the vacation, I was only chewing one or two sticks per day, compared to the one stick every one to two hours. I thought I was cured. Cigarette addiction is a funny thing. I don't think that it's 100% chemical. I think it's 50 - 50, perhaps even 40% chemical and 60% mental. I didn't even think of cigarettes while on the tail end of the vacation. I thought they were out of my mind. But as soon as I got home, to my house, Jeep, garden, and all things familiar, I started craving cigarettes again. Can you believe that!? Cigarettes! Right now I'm craving a fricken cigarette. I wish I had one. I just want to light one up, listen to the crackling of the dried tobacco leaves as they turn from leaf to ash, all while releasing their nicotine, transported on a delivery system of smoke and tar. I WANT A CIGARETTE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm master of my domain. I'm master of many domains. Quitting smoking is mind over matter, and if my mind had wheels, it would be a Ferrari Dino with the shell of a Sherman Tank. I'll quit smoking just because I want to, and because I can. Perhaps I'll start on heroin and crack, get addicted, and show myself I can quit that too. One thing at a time, though. I think I'm ready for another stick of nicotine gum... it's been two hours. Greece Recap Here's a recap from a previous BB post: Zakynthos was very nice, since it was very lush and green. It was Danielle's favorite island. We didn't get a chance to visit the bones of the saint (didn't even know there were bones of a saint on display). However, we did bump into a really old man walking the streets with some dingy ol' shoes. Perhaps it was him. The only thing I didn't like about Zakynthos was how overly commercialized it was for tourism in too many of the cities. Granted, an island of its beauty warrants tourism, but the Zakynthos jewelry and postcard shops gotta go. You really only need one per city, not 50-100 per city. However, once you got out of the "Honk if you're Greek" towns and into the outskirts (especially the mountains), the island seemed to timewarp you into the pre-1800's. That's the part of the island that I really liked. For me, however, I still revell over the island of Santorini. The islanders still boast of stories of the ancient city of Atlantis, and the tragedy of the volcano (supposedly it's still active) that incinerated 80% of the island. I even somewhat enjoyed walking the streets of Athens at night. There's something invigorating about walking the streets of a city that is thousands of years old... cities built on cities, built on cities, built on cities! Athens is a city where you can dig a hole in the ground and discover a lost civilization (which actually happened when they were cutting tunnels for the new subway system). Patras and Agios Basilios (St. Basili) were as equally impressive to me, since they are the hometowns of my parents and 100% of my relatives. We even had a chance to stroll through the Agios Basilios cemetary so I could snap some hard evidence for my genealogy work-in-progress. I took pictures of almost every grave in that cemetary! I kept asking my parents, "Is this person related to us?" She responded, "We are related to EVERY person in this cemetary!" Wow. I hope the gene pool had some variance. This vacation ended up being five vacations in one: Athens, Agios Basilios, Santorini, Zakynthos, and a mini-tour of Peloponisos. I think you can compare Peloponisos/Greece to Michigan/USA. Oh, and one thing that we did discover about Greece, and Greek mentality, is that the transportation system has no order whatsoever. People have no patience on the road, and there is no such thing as road courtesy. You are expected to drive on the shoulders of highways to let everybody pass. There is no waiting. Stoplights are just opportunities for the impatient to inch their way in front of you, as well as to allow motorcycles, mopeds and scooters to move ahead to the front of the line, only to be passed again a mile later. The disorder, lack of courtesy and impatience doesn't only apply to roads and the transportation system. It applies to anywhere there is a line and anwhere people will have to wait. It's not uncommon to be standing in line ordering something from a fast-food restaurant, and some impatient Greek flanks the line and impatiently starts to order food from the person you are ordering food from. And nobody seems to get pissed, since everybody is doing the same thing. The ironic thing with all the line-cutting, traffic swerving, traffic cut-offs, and general lack of courtesy, "Road Rage" does not exist. If someone cuts you off aggressively and almost removes your front fascia from your vehicle, you just exchange stares, while offended driver exclaims, "I should tell you off!", and the incident is forgotten about while both drivers drive away. In Greece, it's the land of the fittest, where courtesy doesn't exist, and impatience is ruled by Darwin's Law. Mentally, I had a hard time with this, since I wanted to teach every discourteous Greek driver a lesson in patience and respect. But every time I did, the other driver just said, "I should tell you off." We took a shitload of pictures and vidoes. There are some that you just gotta see. In the next few days I'll be posting some of the "Best of the Best" pictures so share. Some of these, in my opinion, are pretty top-notch pics. Keep an eye out. posted by Dino at 11:25 AM (permanent link) |