Day 18

Noticeable Side-Effects: Generally None, Some Expanded Balding
Weight: 102.9 kg

Reflection on Treatment:

Somebody chuddered in the treatment room to which I am assigned on Thursday, so I had to wait about an hour before they gave up getting it clean for my appointment and put me in a different room. That was okay except that the headrest in other room is thicker; making the mask extremely tight.

I felt so great Thursday I rescheduled Friday's treatment to the afternoon so I could visit my first-grader's art class that morning. That was really fun, but there wasn't much for me to do other than hand-out dittos and provide escort to the potty.

The bottom line is, I've been feeling really excellent the last couple of days. I felt so good, in fact, that I got out to do some real fishing (not just staring at the lake like last weekend) and managed to catch a couple of 2-foot Northern Pike! This was especially great for me because I'd never managed to catch one before. Great fight; super delicious!

Although I am really feeling better, my hair has finally made the leap from "thinning" to "bald."

I've come to learn that even when caused by a side-effect of medical treatment, this type of balding is still called alopecia areata ("areata" as opposed to "totalis"). I found that interesting because I was familiar with the condition, but was unaware that the name was used regardless of the cause. Again, hair loss has been the side-effect about which I care the least. Go get 'em, hairline! Recede on!

Today is all about catching up on projects:

I managed to make some progress on waraji and may various T-shirt projects the other day.  (Here's one of the T's):

There's still much to do, but waraji is time-consuming, and I'm fresh out of blank T-shirts...

This morning, I've been ripping music to the living room PC (aka "Garbage Computer").

* My "Garbage Computer" is constructed entirely out of parts I found in a (clean) dumpster (plus wires and screws I already had and 1 stick of Ram I got on eBay for $5). It was completely disassembled and the case was bent and smashed, but I don't look "found" parts in the mouth.

PLEASE everyone, DON'T BE LIKE THESE PEOPLE: Among the parts were two hard drives; intact with none of the data erased. Further, the former owners were smart enough to name the spreadsheets and documents very clearly: "Account Passwords," "Banking Info," etc. They are extraordinarily lucky that I picked-up those parts and not someone with malicious intent! I didn't open any files that were not located in the "My Music" folder (because that's all I was looking for), and after salvaging all the music I cared, I formatted the drives to prevent any evil befalling the previous owners.  Seriously people, that was REALLY, REALLY DUMB!

Anyway, a coat of paint, a few screws and Interweb searches for drivers, and presto, a PC for the living room that the whole family can use together for Interweb surfing, video chat, doing homework, etc.:

I finished building it months ago, but there was no need to get it running until school started. Progress feels good!

Now that much (though not all) music has been ripped, I think I'll start putting things together for tomorrow. I'm going to be helping out in my fourth-grader's art class, and his teacher has asked me to show the class some of my art. Harry Potter wands, waraji, T-shirts, etc. are all readily at hand, but I might dig-up some old things as well... maybe something I did in fourth grade? Only if I can find something that would REALLY embarrass my son!

After that, I still have wristwatch gearing to calculate, leather to cut and stitch, jute to weave, circuits to solder, and recorded Star Trek episodes to watch.

Hurray for things to do while sitting in bed!
The Chungerpung