DickConfetti

I like it better this way than in that silly game. Oh dear god.
That is all.

A wild UE appears :O
Anyway… As some of the blog readers may have known, my side’s been bothering me since the beginning of December. I waited a couple weeks and it still didn’t go away, so I figured I would make a doctors appointment after New Years, mainly because I had plans on New Years Eve for the first time in my life and didn’t want to miss them. So, Long Story Short, on New Years day, the host of the party I went to had to drive me to the ER because my side began to hurt unbearably. In the ER I was forced to roll around on a stretcher for at least three hours before I got any type of painkiller, finally being given morphine.

After that I had to drink the drink that you have to drink for a CT scan (editor: barium sulfate? That’s a lot of “drink”, btw, just to make sure no one missed the emphasis on drinking it versus any other route. enema. ::giggles::) and they also drew blood/took a urine sample to see what it could possibly be.
I had a theory that it may have been a kidney stone but of course with my luck, the CT scan came up clean, the blood test looked fine and the urine test was also clean. So I was prescribed 12 vicodin to get me through the weekend just in case the pain came back.
I was told to make an appointment with my primary as a followup as well, so I did.

Later that week I went to my primary, and he was under the impression also that it could be a kidney stone. However he told me to just drink a lot of water and didn’t prescribe me any painkillers in case it was because “You’ll get addicted to them” (idiot). He also had me take another urine test, which ended up once again being clear.
He also suggested a kidney doctor to make an appointment with, he highly recommended him even. So an appointment was made with said doctor. Mind you this is still the beginning of January; I was unable to get an appointment until February 11th, three days ago.

So I’ve been pretty much going to work and living life as normal with the occasional annoyance of my side twinging here and there, but I did notice one change: there began to be little black specks in my urine. Now this completely confirmed it for me; it had to be a kidney stone. I started overdosing on cranberry juice trying to dissolve the “stone” that was inside me, making sure I’d be able to pass it asap since the only painkiller I had left on me was 2 vicodin from the ER visit. The night before the eleventh I even passed a slightly larger, crescent shaped red speck.
So I went to bed that night, or rather, I should’ve been able to go to bed.

That week I had come down with a cold. My nose was sniffly, but that was the worst of it. I had actually thought my cold was improving but nope, that night I kept getting a fever and the chills and was pretty much tossing and turning. I was up all night and unable to sleep, though I did have one nice dream about Kevin and I being at a Burger King and cuddling after ordering food. (don’t ask) (editor: but I wanna.)
Anyway, enough of that. Finally I get to my appointment which was for 10:30 in the morning, around 9:50. My body’s weak, I’m sick as a dog and barely able to walk. I check in and get called back and asked for another urine sample. I give it, however this one was small because I was so sick I forgot not go to the bathroom before I left.
The nurse puts me in a room around 10:25 to wait for the doctor. That doctor didn’t get into the room until 11:20… my appointment was for 10:30, that’s almost an hour and in my opinion completely unacceptable. So he gets in, pushes on my sides (“does this hurt?”), goes through the “turn your head and cough” thing and says “I don’t think it’s a kidney stone, we HAVE found some red blood cells in the urine sample you gave us however that’s normal with a cold” (uh, since when?) He also had the nurse take my temperature (it was 100.9) and tried to write off the pain in my side on that.
I quickly informed him that it has been bothering me for MONTHS, and that I would like an ultrasound, to which he replied “if the ct scan didn’t find anything the ultrasound isn’t going to find anything” and tried to rush me out of the room again. I replied to him “I’m sorry, but part of this appointment’s description included an ultrasound and I want one to know for a fact. I don’t want to have to go to the ER again.”
So I was given an ultrasound, which was, sadly, clean.
After that horrendously awful kidney doctor appointment (what a douchebag), they gave me a cup and told me to give them another urine sample in two weeks. I’ll do it but I really hope they find something, because this is ridiculous.

So that’s the story of my life for the past two and a half months; incompetent doctors and not knowing what the hell is wrong with me. Since then I’ve been pretty sick and at home.
Had to call into work this weekend but did have a doctors note. Unfortunately my supervisor called me today and informed me that nobody told him I had called in for the entire weekend and thought my call in was just for Saturday. I had to tell him the entire story all over again about how I told the morning supervisor on Saturday that I had a doctor’s note for the weekend. So if I somehow get in trouble for that I will raise hell, otherwise I honestly don’t care.

A few pretty good things have happened recently though. I finally got my new debit card in after I had to cancel my old one due to a Hungarian trying to order a plane ticket with my old card’s information… somehow. Goddamn identity theft. I ordered the Kevvy-cat (editor: did you just call me “kevvy” in public? -.-;;) some valentines gifts and have been chatting with him all day this Valentine’s Day. I love him so much :) <3 Happy Valentines Day baby, and I hope everyone else is having a good one as well.

Thank you to all who had the patience to read this rather long post.
Until next time! -UE-

I’m going to attempt to write a post of substance. Be gentle, I’m on pseudoephedrine laden cough-syrup. =P
Tweakers and my family have very little to do with one another, really. No one in my family (that I know of) is a tweaker… Though I know my dad was getting involved with some less than kosher substances when my folks split up in like 02 or 03, or whenever that was.
It’s mostly that because I now have to live with my family, I get to deal with tweakers since we’re living in Tweaker Valley.
I don’t understand what the draw to this place is, really.

The city of Manteca is beset by agricultural land and unincorporated towns. Our nearest big cities are Tracy, Modesto and Stockton.
All of which, including Manteca, have been in the news since I was in highschool at least once each due to hate-crimes against white people and the LGBT community.
There have also been a number of KKK/White Supremest related murders and assaults in Modesto, both targeted at non-whites, and whites of alternative lifestyles. (What do you mean I can’t wear a cute kerchief around my neck or face being shot? Fuck that.)

Manteca and Tracy are the kinds of cities where you don’t really DO anything.
They have expansive footprints and very low density overall, meaning it takes forever to get anywhere or do anything.
Not that there’s a whole hell of a lot to do unless you’re the typical American who loves nothing more than playing baseball and drinking beers.
The main congregation spots in Manteca, that I’ve found, are all centered around mock-up Baseball stadiums.
Manteca is now home to the 9th Big League Dreams Sports Park. This is a complex made up of several small baseball fields all designed to look like a larger, more famous stadium from around the nation.

Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

The one good thing this city had going for it, the Manteca Water Slides, was demolished a few years ago (2004) and is currently sinking under a lake. Land developers are proposing doing a new housing tract given it’s proximity to the freeways to encourage more Bay Area commuters to move here and wonder “Well, we’re here. Now what?”

Back to tweakers.
Given the high poverty rate in the Central Valley and the large amount of unchecked land, it’s become home to a lot of California’s methlabs and, understandably, meth users. With very little to do otherwise, a lot of people, lacking any form of sunshine in their lives, have turned to creating their own sunshine with a crystalline substance and small glass pipe.
Drive down any main street (Main, Louise, Airport, Yosemite) and you’ll understand precisely what I mean. The closer you get to the freeways, the more of it you’ll see.
Even the “nice” areas of Manteca aren’t safe from the stigma and apparent problems this city has.
Last time I lived here with my family, we lived in one of the newer areas. There were nice parks, a brand new Kaiser Permenante facility, and a shopping center that had been given a new paint job and some structural face lifts shortly before we moved in.
On a 5 minute walk from my apartment to the grocery store, I would, on a good day, be asked twice if I wanted to buy crystal. Seriously? We were three blocks from the police station. Admittedly, there were times when I wondered if it was the cops themselves trying to nab people and get them to buy, but there were times when you could see the damage the drug had done to the people, and you knew it wasn’t a sting… Unless the cops are hiring really good make-up artists to help their undercover busts… but I somehow doubt that.

I’m just hoping I won’t be here for much longer. I can’t stand looking at this city. I can’t stand the boredom.
I haven’t left the house much because it’s just so depressing to see what this city is. It was once a really nice agricultural area, but it’s just fallen to shambles. The whole area has what with the drugs and gangs.
I had sort of hoped that maybe with the market crash and the influx of investors buying homes here and selling them at well above market value, that it would in a way improve the face of the city. More wealthy investors and homeowners would make one think the city would in turn be forced to give the city a facelift, or improve safety to keep the well-to-do pleased… In reality all it did was force more people out of their homes and on to the streets.

I don’t know if there was a point to this. I just felt like ranting.
I loathe the central valley. I loathe the long drive I have to endure to see my friends. I loathe the lack of any jobs here. (It’s mostly residential and retail, so there’s very little in the way of IT and I refuse to drive buses here. Did I mention I don’t like tweakers?) I know my family likes it here, and that’s great for them… but I can’t bring myself to be okay with the state of things here, and I’m not about to run for office to fix it. Just because Campbell got a (hot) 25 year old gay Asian for a mayor doesn’t give me much hope for the Central Valley.
The area I’m in, specifically, and the area my sister is in, aren’t horrible. Mine is patrolled regularly by the Manteca PD due to vandalism and “hooligans” in the park down the street congregating in the evenings to enjoy their Mary-Joo-Wanna and Crystal. (Police blotters are pretty descriptive sometimes.) My sister’s area I don’t know much about. On the surface it looks a lot nicer, and aside from one or two Sheriffs rolling around on holidays, I haven’t seen or heard of much police activity or increased patrol there.
Sometimes I forget what it’s like here, and when I talk to my friends who are from the area and either got the hell out of dodge and moved to the Bay, or are trying to, their stories seem to be somewhat exaggerated… And then you get here.
The strip of Louise I have to take to get from my parents house to my sisters house changes faces at least twice in the couple of miles you’re on it… Then from my sisters to I-5 about another 3 times and it’s disgusting.
Yes, the cost-of-living is monetarily lower, but it comes at a much higher emotional tax for some than anywhere else in the state. It balances out to being “not really any better” in my book… But then, most people don’t comprehend what I mean when I say “emotional tax.” That’s fine. It’s my bag, not yours.
When am I going to Massachusetts, again? ._. fffffu–

When it comes right down to it, I guess, I don’t have to pay attention to any of this. And if I don’t, then the only way any of this really affects me is that I can’t buy my decongestive NyQuil as readily as I might need since the pseudoephedrine is used in Methlabs and they control it’s sale.

::sneezes:: Did I mention I have a really bad cold/flu thing and need more Pseudoephedrine cold/flu medicine?
- K

Playing with Tumblr while sitting on my ass at home, sick.

It’s weird.
You can click on this to check out my Tumblr Feed or whatever the hell they’re calling it…
I’m not sure if I’m going to keep it or not, it seems unnecessary right now, but we’ll see.

Also: I can’t stop listening to Bhangra style music… Though right now I’m listening to what I imagine is “bastardized bhangra” (Panjabi MC – Snake Charmer).
Screw it, it sounds good. :D

Tunak tunak…
- K

I present to you: Owl City (in a nutshell)!

Death Cab for Cutie fucked Postal Service and had an incesutous, slightly retarded child.
That child would later fuck the singer and writer from “Hello/Goodbye,” and their child would be named “Owl City”

It’s so clear to me now.
You will all thank me some day.

Is this the face of a man you’d fuck with while he’s playing games?

Shit no, son. It isn’t. He’ll stab a bitch. True story.

I can’t even tell if he’s actually enjoying it. Though he’s just as intense about DJ Hero as he is the new Ratchet and Clank (which is what he’s playing in this snap.)

And look at those Christmas lights. That’s nothing to mess with either… Yea. o.o
>.>

K. I’m done.
<3

I really want these stickers.

Please? Someone?

Vinyls would work, too. Decal my car with Billy.

Or my house.

Or UE. I’m sure he’d like that as a halloween costume.
Damn straight.

Merry Christmas from the dickconfetti team! (Yep, that’s it :P)

DAW in this case refers to Digital Audio Workstation — My current project.

Using what was once my PFSense router, Baker, I’m attempting to set up a Ubuntu recording/editing box for my DJ sets.

This is easier said than done though… Apparently one of my requisites, webcam streaming of both audio AND video for the purpose of streaming said sets is “okay” in linux.
My idea was to stream the audio+video packaged together to a Windows Media Server/Encoder on a virtualized Windows 2003 Server install, then ship that out to the listeners… This is not possible.

I may be stuck just recording sets and shipping them, instead of doing live streams like I wanted to.
At least not live video streams.

I’m thinking maybe I should just install Server 2003 on the machine and skip the Linux host+virtualization.
I’m wondering if a server OS would make for a decent DAW or not. I don’t really see why not, but I’ve been tricked before.

Or I could just skip the video thing all together and stick to audio shows. I’m not particularly charismatic behind the decks, so I think UE is the only one who would want to watch. And even that would just be out of obligation =3

In other news, I’m a Norco Rock Star at this point.
That drug ain’t got nothin’ on me anymore. Though it does help me sleep through the night, which is nice.

More meat!

Hooray for the limbo process with blogs! Right?

This is the first post done by myself, UE on the blog. You can read more about me in the section about this blog.

There’s only five more days until Christmas so I hope everyone got their christmas stuff out of the way and can relax until then. I personally have to work for the next three days but after that I’m off until after new years ^_^. I can’t wait to get some rest from work. Especially since I have a particularly annoying supervisor who thinks she rules the world. Okie dokie, I just wanted to get a new post up here since there hasn’t been one in a week. So with that I hope everyone’s doing well and has a good Christmas week.

The best kind of reindeer are tsundere

~ UE