Out With A Bang, In With An OUCH!!

The beginning of 2013 had me fighting a bad case of pneumonia, followed by a few months of worry and concern, with return visits for X rays and CT Scans, following the progress of, what was described to me as a "black mass" on my lung.  That turned out to not be as serious as was initially believed. (Phew!)  Then the last half of December, I found myself sick, again, which I eventually found myself battling an excruciating bout of pneumonia, once again.  That fight took up most (if not all) of my two week shutdown break from work.  Yay!  At least the weather was shitty and cold, so I never had much need (or desire) to leave the comforts of my house.

January 2nd, 2014, was my first day back to work.  While I didn't feel a 100%, I did feel (or so I thought) well enough to return to work.  I knew that there'd be at least a couple of people still gone with extended vacations, but we were down four in actuality.  I managed to muscle through my Thursday, but with a badgering cough that was fueling an exasperating headache.  With every frenzied cough attack, the world would fade through my eyes and the painful pounding would commence.  Thankfully, it being the first day back, my job wasn't too strenuous and was easily manageable, despite the discomfort.

The fight never ceased after the final bell rang and it was home time.  I came home to a snowy driveway, packed with hardened snow that I foolishly took a stab at clearing.  The hard packed snow had accumulated a few days prior, so much so that it blocked my front door, which caused the bottom of the door to bend and tear away, upon my exit on Tuesday.  (Great!  More expense out of pocket.)  The temperature had warmed up significantly, but not enough to avoid heavy breathing.  With my asthma, I find that the cooler temperatures really have an adverse effect on me.  Especially since the discovery of the "black mass" on my lung.  Earlier in the season, with the dropping Mercury, I found my breathing to be difficult and laboured, at best.  This is something that the specialist relayed to me as the norm for the remainder of my days.  (I really gotta win that lottery, so I can retire to Texas or Arizona.  Or maybe New Zealand.  That place looks like it could be kinda cool..., except for all the god damned Orcs.)

Thursday night and Friday morning was disturbing.  It seemed for every thirty minute to hour patch of sleep, I'd be woken up abruptly with a coughing frenzy.  Even in the darkness of my bedroom, with my head pounding hard, my surroundings seemed to fade from my view.  Reluctantly, I contacted my employer in the morning, notifying that I regretfully would not be coming into work.  I hate leaving them in a lurch like that, despite my boss thinking that I do.  I went back to sleep for (thankfully) a very restful hour, before I got up and drove myself to the hospital.  This is something that I really should have addressed over my break, but I had my pal's van while he and his family were on vacay in Florida and I didn't want them to come home to needing to be taxied to my house to pick up their van.  However, I do think that if I'd had addressed my illness in a more timely fashion, my current predicament could've been avoided, possibly.

I was hooked up to a nebulizer, where medication was administered into my lungs.  "Breath deeply." I was instructed by the wee little blonde nurse.  On completion of that, I was ushered to the X ray department to get an X ray done, then ushered back after that.

The beginning of 2013, I fought a terrific case of pneumonia.  The end of 2013 had me fighting the worst bout of pneumonia (or any sickness I've ever experienced, including Swine Flu in 2009), and now, I'm barely ankle deep into 2014, and I'm forced to fight a f*cking lung infection??

I don't subscribe to any sort of religion and you'll never see me crouching at my bedside with hands clenched, praying for this or that, but in case I'm terribly mistaken, if there is a God, he'd better bless me with a substantial lottery win pretty f*ckin' soon.  I've paid more than my fair share of dues in this shitty life of mine.  I deserve a god damned break.  This inability to breath, bullshit, is just that.  Bullshit!!

Reindeer Games

So you should already know Dasher, Dancer, Blinky and Vixen.  Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.  No, wait!  I'm pretty sure Blinky is one of the Pac-Man ghosts.  So who am I missing?  Uh...  Prancer!!  What the hell kind of name is Prancer?  Suitable for a reindeer, I suppose.  And I always thought Cupid was that fat kid that shot people with arrows on St. Valentine's Day.  Someone's pulling double duty, maybe?

The most famous reindeer of them all, though is Rudolph, of course.  That little fetal-alcohol-syndrome reindeer, born to alcoholic parents, hence the big fat rosy-red nose.  Luckily for Santa Claus, his handicap benefited all on that fateful night that almost grounded the jolly fat man and his team of reindeer.

According to the song, however, young Rudolph was victim to bullying.  Shunned by his peers because of his glowing appendage.  Teased, mocked and bullied, rejected from playing any of the games that they'd play on a regular basis.

I'm sure the little reindeer had entertained thoughts of leaving the confinement of the North Pole, heading south to  civilization, where no one knew him, and starting over, but hesitated because of the extreme limitations bestowed upon a four-legged creature whose only skills were flying and firing up a glowing red nose.  Unfortunately, when you're born a magical reindeer, no matter your skill set, your vocational options are pretty limited.

So on that fateful foggy eve, it came as some surprise when the jolly elf himself, Santa Claus, came a knocking on the barn door and "volun-told" Rudolph to guide his sleigh that night.  The song suggests that St. Nick asked Rudolph to guide his sleigh, but being that he owned his ass, it was high-time to return the favour from years of free food and shelter.

So now, his very existence validated by the big boss man himself, the other reindeer now honoured and respected Rudolph because of his glowing red nose.  So upon the return from that global tour, they now accepted him into the fold and allowed him to play the very reindeer games, that they prevented him from participating in all those previous years.

This song has always pissed me off some, because of the sudden change of attitude by the eight reindeer.  To bully someone because of a physical handicap, only to then accept them just because one person vouched for them being cool?  If I were Rudolph, suddenly faced with a new important role on the team, so important now, that I'd inspired someone in the world to compose a song about me, I'd tell those reindeer to "piss off".  They could now join ME in MY reindeer games.

What kind of games can a reindeer play anyway?  They only have hooves and antlers.  Doesn't leave much room for anything but running and locking up horns.  Sounds like a lot of work if you ask me, and Rudolph was probably better for never having to had played at all.

So have yourselves a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone.  Now that you know more of the facts, enjoy singing about the most famous reindeer of them all, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, with your loving families around the ol' Christmas tree. Wish you all the best in 2013.