"TV's" Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show was on a roll about Halloween last night on TV.
He had a couple of good points in his jokes.
1) "I don't get Halloween at all. You scare people... and then demand things from them. That's... extortion!"
2) "We don't really 'do' Halloween where I come from. I'm from Scotland. We have all the ghosts and haunted castles, so for us it's no big deal. We thought "The Addams Family" was a documentary."
3) Craig was talking about going to the Playboy Mansion for a Halloween party, and all he had for a "costume" was his actual kilt. So he wore it and everyone thought "What a great costume."
One girl came up and asked him, "What do you have undearneath?"
Craig responded, "On a good day... lipstick."
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Having cancer sucks....
I had recently mentioned in my previous blog that I had gone to San Diego Comic Con, and gotten sick there. Well, I'm here to tell you finally what really happened...
I started with a sore throat when I got to San Diego. What I didn't know was that this was the beginning signs of something more drastic than simply strep throat or pharyngitis (which I had been diagnosed as having).
On Fri., July 29, I had gone to my doctor's for another visit, and a random blood test. I had been hoping to fly to Los Angeles the next day and then come back that night. Friday afternoon, I got a very distressed phone call from my doctor begging me to not get on the airplane in the morning or, I would "not come home, ever". How true that could have been. I was checked into the hospital immediately that Fri. evening and felt myself physically sinking lower. It turned out that I had almost NO white blood cells, NO platelets (that help your blood clot), and was getting anemic And my blood count was dropping by the hour. Literally, I was dying as I stood.
For three days, no one could figure out what was wrong with me. They kept me pumped with antibiotics and transfusions. On Saturday morning, I seriously did not think I would make it through the following Monday. They were worried about my getting a fever, infection, or starting to bleed out. Well, as it happened, I did get a slight fever, and my nose started bleeding for over two days. As I write this, it has slowed down. I was a bit scared, to put it honestly. But worse, I had a few very close friends who were even more traumatized by what they heard. No one could believe that someone like myself, Mr. Get-Up-And-Go, who lived active and overworked, could ever get so sick, and so suddenly.
They took a bone marrow biopsy (no fun stroll in the park, I tell you), and finally found out what happened to me by this Monday, Aug. 1. It turned out that I had Leukemia. But they were not sure what type yet. I was given a 75% chance of recovery - meaning that it could recur, or cause other cancers later. On Tues. Aug. 2, they had it figured out. I have a subset of AML Leukemia called Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia.
Now, here's where the clincher, and the fun part begins. Of course, I would now have a new chapter to my life's adventures. It turns out that I have a form of Leukemia that (as my doctor told me) "If you had to have any form of Leukemia, this would be the one you want to have." It is a very rare type, and happens to be the easiest to treat. AND... has a 90% cure rate (meaning, no coming back). Also, it is not inherited, so I can still have kids later with no fear of transmission... provided I make it through.
They are trying to control my bleeding currently, and I am already being treated. Another strange portion of the story... instead of bombarding me with two or more major forms of chemotherapy, it is treated with ONE chemo drug cocktail (a rather milder form) for eight days, and... a derivative of Vitamin A. Still a cocktail, but not nearly as bad. I may or may not still lose my hair, but whatever.
So here I sit in the hospital for the next four weeks hoping that it all works and my recovery is healthy. I have a pretty good mindset that it will all work out. I've got way too much to do out there to call it quits yet.
I just wanted to let everyone know what's been going on with me. And to those of you who got my rather cryptic emails about going to the hospital, I am not dead yet, but only had some scares along the way in the past few days. Now I am chipper, upbeat, and ready to have my ass kicked a bit so that I can kick ass back and get this beat, and get back out there with everyone.
Wish me luck and I appreciate all the well-wishing's, prayers, and thoughts.
See you soon!
PS... I will be checking my emails as well so that I don't just sit around bored.
(For more on what happens, check my other blog - Leuk I Am Your Cancer
I started with a sore throat when I got to San Diego. What I didn't know was that this was the beginning signs of something more drastic than simply strep throat or pharyngitis (which I had been diagnosed as having).
On Fri., July 29, I had gone to my doctor's for another visit, and a random blood test. I had been hoping to fly to Los Angeles the next day and then come back that night. Friday afternoon, I got a very distressed phone call from my doctor begging me to not get on the airplane in the morning or, I would "not come home, ever". How true that could have been. I was checked into the hospital immediately that Fri. evening and felt myself physically sinking lower. It turned out that I had almost NO white blood cells, NO platelets (that help your blood clot), and was getting anemic And my blood count was dropping by the hour. Literally, I was dying as I stood.
For three days, no one could figure out what was wrong with me. They kept me pumped with antibiotics and transfusions. On Saturday morning, I seriously did not think I would make it through the following Monday. They were worried about my getting a fever, infection, or starting to bleed out. Well, as it happened, I did get a slight fever, and my nose started bleeding for over two days. As I write this, it has slowed down. I was a bit scared, to put it honestly. But worse, I had a few very close friends who were even more traumatized by what they heard. No one could believe that someone like myself, Mr. Get-Up-And-Go, who lived active and overworked, could ever get so sick, and so suddenly.
They took a bone marrow biopsy (no fun stroll in the park, I tell you), and finally found out what happened to me by this Monday, Aug. 1. It turned out that I had Leukemia. But they were not sure what type yet. I was given a 75% chance of recovery - meaning that it could recur, or cause other cancers later. On Tues. Aug. 2, they had it figured out. I have a subset of AML Leukemia called Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia.
Now, here's where the clincher, and the fun part begins. Of course, I would now have a new chapter to my life's adventures. It turns out that I have a form of Leukemia that (as my doctor told me) "If you had to have any form of Leukemia, this would be the one you want to have." It is a very rare type, and happens to be the easiest to treat. AND... has a 90% cure rate (meaning, no coming back). Also, it is not inherited, so I can still have kids later with no fear of transmission... provided I make it through.
They are trying to control my bleeding currently, and I am already being treated. Another strange portion of the story... instead of bombarding me with two or more major forms of chemotherapy, it is treated with ONE chemo drug cocktail (a rather milder form) for eight days, and... a derivative of Vitamin A. Still a cocktail, but not nearly as bad. I may or may not still lose my hair, but whatever.
So here I sit in the hospital for the next four weeks hoping that it all works and my recovery is healthy. I have a pretty good mindset that it will all work out. I've got way too much to do out there to call it quits yet.
I just wanted to let everyone know what's been going on with me. And to those of you who got my rather cryptic emails about going to the hospital, I am not dead yet, but only had some scares along the way in the past few days. Now I am chipper, upbeat, and ready to have my ass kicked a bit so that I can kick ass back and get this beat, and get back out there with everyone.
Wish me luck and I appreciate all the well-wishing's, prayers, and thoughts.
See you soon!
PS... I will be checking my emails as well so that I don't just sit around bored.
(For more on what happens, check my other blog - Leuk I Am Your Cancer
Thursday, July 21, 2005
San Diego Comic Con adventures - 2005
Some of you might have wondered if I'd disappeared.
Indeed, to some (most) I may have, but for a short while only.
I had gone to the San Diego Comic Con International for about a week. And what did I get upon my return? Ill. Nice.
What was once a comic book geek-fest, is now the world's largest comic / film / literary / fine arts / pop-culture convention. I've been attending it for 15 years now, and just gets bigger and better. What makes this trip more worthwhile is the group of people I go with.
This year was a good batch of friends for sure. Some are even on MySpace. Of course, when you get any number of people crammed into a hotel room - to keep costs lower - you find out quickly about everyone's quirks, habits, and opinions. But, that's what keeps it all interesting.
What was I doing there? Different things, mostly networking. I went down with a couple of friends, and several models to help promote a T-shirt company named Dirty Little Tees. The girls dressed up in the hottie-wear and walked around the (almost 1/8 mile long) convention center filled with what seemed to be around 150,000 people, getting everyone to come to the booth and spend money.
Why girls? Simple. Never underestimate the financial power of a horny 14-year-old boy with allowance money in his pocket... especially when a pretty girl smiles at him.
The booth aside, we all networked with several companies, artists, and film-makers for future possible jobs. I apparently had earned a friendly reputation with the catch-phrase "Hey folks, it's that guy with all the girls! Give him a big hand and follow him around." Well, I could think of worse things said in passing.
The convention itself was fun, albeit a bit mellower than usual.
So... the Good News / Bad News portion of my trip...
Positives -
* Stayed at Embassy Suites - 2 room suites with all the amenities (kitchenette, fridge, microwave, 3 beds, and more). Free breakfasts cooked to order, and all the booze you can drink (FREE!) during a 2-hour happy hour.
* Staying in a suite with a couple of friends, and a variety of models. Yeah, don't that suck. HA HA!! OK, granted, most had serious boyfriends... but a guy can embellish on the settings, can't he?
* Meeting more celebs and fantastically creative, artistic, and ambitious people in one area than one could imagine.
* Getting paid to be there. (Always nice, even if it wasn't much.)
Negatives -
* Apparently I got sick with a sore throat from the second day I got there. I also don't usually sleep much, and even less during this trip... so the equivalence was almost 4 days with no sleep, on a potential illness brewing.
* Hearing flapping noises from the front tire on the way home (with a 500 mile drive coming up) - luckily only one mile away from home. Finding out that my front tire was about to blow. Took that bad boy off immediately.
* Adventure-Man Phil, puts on the donut spare tire and drives back almost 500 miles. But wait... this is the second time that I have driven that distance on the same donut tire (this happened 2 years ago also). AND I was doing about 70 - 80 mph (yeah, yeah, I'm a bit nuts).
* Upon getting home, and feeling like absolute crap, finding out that I have pharyngitis and possible strep throat (and somehow no one else got sick). So, I've been back for a few days, feeling like crap, wishing I would feel better so that I can go through my bags of new stuff, and contact information.
Alrighty... there was the extended version of my last couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more tales later.
Indeed, to some (most) I may have, but for a short while only.
I had gone to the San Diego Comic Con International for about a week. And what did I get upon my return? Ill. Nice.
What was once a comic book geek-fest, is now the world's largest comic / film / literary / fine arts / pop-culture convention. I've been attending it for 15 years now, and just gets bigger and better. What makes this trip more worthwhile is the group of people I go with.
This year was a good batch of friends for sure. Some are even on MySpace. Of course, when you get any number of people crammed into a hotel room - to keep costs lower - you find out quickly about everyone's quirks, habits, and opinions. But, that's what keeps it all interesting.
What was I doing there? Different things, mostly networking. I went down with a couple of friends, and several models to help promote a T-shirt company named Dirty Little Tees. The girls dressed up in the hottie-wear and walked around the (almost 1/8 mile long) convention center filled with what seemed to be around 150,000 people, getting everyone to come to the booth and spend money.
Why girls? Simple. Never underestimate the financial power of a horny 14-year-old boy with allowance money in his pocket... especially when a pretty girl smiles at him.
The booth aside, we all networked with several companies, artists, and film-makers for future possible jobs. I apparently had earned a friendly reputation with the catch-phrase "Hey folks, it's that guy with all the girls! Give him a big hand and follow him around." Well, I could think of worse things said in passing.
The convention itself was fun, albeit a bit mellower than usual.
So... the Good News / Bad News portion of my trip...
Positives -
* Stayed at Embassy Suites - 2 room suites with all the amenities (kitchenette, fridge, microwave, 3 beds, and more). Free breakfasts cooked to order, and all the booze you can drink (FREE!) during a 2-hour happy hour.
* Staying in a suite with a couple of friends, and a variety of models. Yeah, don't that suck. HA HA!! OK, granted, most had serious boyfriends... but a guy can embellish on the settings, can't he?
* Meeting more celebs and fantastically creative, artistic, and ambitious people in one area than one could imagine.
* Getting paid to be there. (Always nice, even if it wasn't much.)
Negatives -
* Apparently I got sick with a sore throat from the second day I got there. I also don't usually sleep much, and even less during this trip... so the equivalence was almost 4 days with no sleep, on a potential illness brewing.
* Hearing flapping noises from the front tire on the way home (with a 500 mile drive coming up) - luckily only one mile away from home. Finding out that my front tire was about to blow. Took that bad boy off immediately.
* Adventure-Man Phil, puts on the donut spare tire and drives back almost 500 miles. But wait... this is the second time that I have driven that distance on the same donut tire (this happened 2 years ago also). AND I was doing about 70 - 80 mph (yeah, yeah, I'm a bit nuts).
* Upon getting home, and feeling like absolute crap, finding out that I have pharyngitis and possible strep throat (and somehow no one else got sick). So, I've been back for a few days, feeling like crap, wishing I would feel better so that I can go through my bags of new stuff, and contact information.
Alrighty... there was the extended version of my last couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more tales later.
Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Well here's a good "Howdy Do" to me in the morning...
This is a Yahoo message that I got this morning from a known MySpacer friend of mine.
xte****:
Good Morning Sunshineeeeeeeeeeee lol
dammit, i stepped in cat shit! lol
That was the entire message.
Always good information to share with someone.
It certainly inspired me to have a wonderful and productive day.
On the other hand... I wish that I had slept more than two hours.
I'm tired and bitchy... but, amused none the less.
xte****:
Good Morning Sunshineeeeeeeeeeee lol
dammit, i stepped in cat shit! lol
That was the entire message.
Always good information to share with someone.
It certainly inspired me to have a wonderful and productive day.
On the other hand... I wish that I had slept more than two hours.
I'm tired and bitchy... but, amused none the less.
Art imitates life - My oral surgery... bloody hell!! I'm going to miss an "Angel" episode!
Another chapter in the Aventurous Life of Phil - April 2005:
The trip to the Dentist ending in a game of Slice & Dice -
On Monday, April 25th, I went to my dentist to finish the job of putting a crown in (actually two, apparently).
Simple enough, one might think (unless your squeamish).
But no, as she is poking and prodding around in my food-hole, she realizes that I have issues. No, not as in personal mental issues, but something more insidious (that means serious). I need some serious surgery, and, like, now! Before any infections can set in.
Presto! I am scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th - two days later.
No time like the present, they say.
Wednesday comes around, and I am watching an episode of "Angel" on TNT, the great drama re-run network.
"Angel" for those of you uninitiated, is about a vampire of the same name... who has a soul. Get it? Good.
This episode concerns a woman who wants to become like him. In a fit of outrage, Angel forces her to drink blood by pouring it down her throat. At this point, I have to leave to make my appointment time. (And if you know me, I'm almost never on time... except this time.)
I get to the dentist and it's wham-bam! Right down to it. I'm settled in, injected with foul-tasting anesthetic, and promptly started upon with the scalpel.
In no time, I am suddenly reliving the very scene I just left from "Angel".
I am now forced to drink an onslaught of blood... my own... right down my throat! Perhaps the "Angel" episode was a sick look into what was about to happen to me. Thrilling, to say the least.
But wait... there's more... Sensing my twitchy behavior within my chair, my dentist informs me, very non-chalantly, that, "There is nothing in your mouth that you cannot swallow. So go ahead."
At this point a thought came to mind, followed later by another...
1) What if I do not WANT to swallow the viscous red liquid flowing freely down into my gullet?
2) What about the surgical tools jammed into my yap? Are THEY OK to swallow? Technically, she did mention that anything within the confines of my jaws was "OK to swallow".
There is a further thought to this situation... The idea of someone suggesting that whatever is "in your mouth is OK to swallow", seems to be something that mostly guys are famous for saying to unsuspecting girls. Usually in high school, before common sense sets in.
Was this my doctor's way of getting back at me for being a male? Forcing me to swallow something, that was created by my own body, but that neither taste, nor texture, nor desire made me wish to do so. Interesting theorems. Yes, some of you do worry that I over-think too much. Perhaps I do. I like it. You should too. Someone has to ponder these odd problems out. Stay tuned for further adventures...
The trip to the Dentist ending in a game of Slice & Dice -
On Monday, April 25th, I went to my dentist to finish the job of putting a crown in (actually two, apparently).
Simple enough, one might think (unless your squeamish).
But no, as she is poking and prodding around in my food-hole, she realizes that I have issues. No, not as in personal mental issues, but something more insidious (that means serious). I need some serious surgery, and, like, now! Before any infections can set in.
Presto! I am scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th - two days later.
No time like the present, they say.
Wednesday comes around, and I am watching an episode of "Angel" on TNT, the great drama re-run network.
"Angel" for those of you uninitiated, is about a vampire of the same name... who has a soul. Get it? Good.
This episode concerns a woman who wants to become like him. In a fit of outrage, Angel forces her to drink blood by pouring it down her throat. At this point, I have to leave to make my appointment time. (And if you know me, I'm almost never on time... except this time.)
I get to the dentist and it's wham-bam! Right down to it. I'm settled in, injected with foul-tasting anesthetic, and promptly started upon with the scalpel.
In no time, I am suddenly reliving the very scene I just left from "Angel".
I am now forced to drink an onslaught of blood... my own... right down my throat! Perhaps the "Angel" episode was a sick look into what was about to happen to me. Thrilling, to say the least.
But wait... there's more... Sensing my twitchy behavior within my chair, my dentist informs me, very non-chalantly, that, "There is nothing in your mouth that you cannot swallow. So go ahead."
At this point a thought came to mind, followed later by another...
1) What if I do not WANT to swallow the viscous red liquid flowing freely down into my gullet?
2) What about the surgical tools jammed into my yap? Are THEY OK to swallow? Technically, she did mention that anything within the confines of my jaws was "OK to swallow".
There is a further thought to this situation... The idea of someone suggesting that whatever is "in your mouth is OK to swallow", seems to be something that mostly guys are famous for saying to unsuspecting girls. Usually in high school, before common sense sets in.
Was this my doctor's way of getting back at me for being a male? Forcing me to swallow something, that was created by my own body, but that neither taste, nor texture, nor desire made me wish to do so. Interesting theorems. Yes, some of you do worry that I over-think too much. Perhaps I do. I like it. You should too. Someone has to ponder these odd problems out. Stay tuned for further adventures...
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