abrigodebomba

The last episode of X-Files wasn’t anything special. It was sort of a cliff-hanger, but most of the episodes X-Files is made of are neo-cliff-hangers. I really wish it hadn’t ended the way it did. It was just like the ending of a regular episode - heck, it was more anti-climatic than most of their season finales. Oh well, the show still kicked ass!

i have to say that that movie kicked ass, expensive as hell but damn good. yoda is the man. not knowing that 10 tickets had already been bought, i told my mom to buy 8. well of those 8 i sold one so i had 7 more to sell, well i didnt. i gave 2 of them to my mom and brother and the other 5 were just a big waste of money. that kinda pisses me off but its toward myself. i shouldve called to make sure no one bought tickets already BEFORE i told my mom to go get them. i am still gonna try to sell them to stupid people. when i get my computer running i know exactly what my wallpaper will be. if you saw the movie you will know what i am talking about but its the scene where Boba Fett is holding his fathers decapitated head in the colliseum. that was such a cool shot

Proof…what I’ve been looking for. For over a year, I’ve bitched and complained about my smell and taste disorder. For a small summary, everything I taste is altered, everything I smell is altered. That’s if I’m on a day of smelling. Usually I don’t smell anything at all. Sweet foods, particularly chocolate, are awful. If I smell them, I nearly gag. Alright, enough explanation. Those reading probably know about my condition anyway. On to the good stuff:

I was talking to good ‘ole Tabetha, and she suggested that I look on the internet for medical journals about my condition. “Go to Google,” she says. HA HA! Google. Ok, fine. I go to Google. Searched for: Loss of Smell.” I click on the first page. Now let me tell ya…I haven’t been this excited in a long time. What’s the first thing I see? Here it is:

smell loss due to injury of the specialized nerve tissue at the top of the nose (or possibly the higher smell pathways in the brain) from a previous viral upper respiratory infection. Individuals who lose their sense of smell as a result of a respiratory virus generally give us a very clear history of dating their smell loss from a time when they were experiencing cold or flu symptoms.

Alright. After reading that, I almost shat my pants. Back in April of 2001, two things happened: I got over my 4-month long bronchidis/flu/strept throat. My parents made me go to school everyday of that. In the latter part of April, I realized that it was time for the Bristol Drag Race. We went, I sucked in massive amounts of nitro methane, and almost passed out. After returning home, the next morning I get up. I have a VERY bad taste in my mouth. I take a shower, it goes away a bit.

Recurrent, rapid, temporary improvement in the ability to smell, often after exercise or showering, is often reported.

It does this for a week, only in the morning. The week after that, my smell ditches. Gone. Nothing. We think it was the nitro-methane breathing…but I just figured out that it’s not. I was kind of cautious about that conclusion, anyway. Why doesn’t everyone else lose their sense of smell and taste at drag races? It must be the four-months of sickness I had. Everything I taste for the next year is bad. I drink month old mouldy iced tea, eat soured foods and don’t smell gases or foul stuff. I haven’t eaten desert in over a year. I hate candy and most soft drinks. I hate most foods. Everything I smell is weird. We go to the doctor, and they have no idea what it is. Now, for the really, really fun part.

There is no known effective therapy for taste and/or smell problems due to presumed viral damage.

You read it here first! On to the diagnosis of my problem. I looked into the main diseases listed with smell and taste, and have come to the conclusion that I have these three:

Hyposmia - partial loss of smell
Parosmia - perceiving a smell when no odor is present or perceiving familiar odors as smelling strange
Dysgeusia - a persistent taste, usually unpleasant

I have been waiting for information like this to arrise for a whole year. I am very happy I figured out this information. I actually want to go to the National Clinic that was founded for my condition, but it’s in Connecticut. Oh well. The main thing I am excited about is the fact that this is fucking cold, hard proof that I am not bullshitting. My taste and smell are fucked up, nice and REAL. Happy and sad at the same time, Goodnight and Godspeed.

No one has really posted anything about our experience, so I suppose it’s my turn. And the fact that I haven’t posted but fives times in 4 months makes me feel obligated to type something. After going to Wal-Mart and buying the material we needed for the costumes (including two lightsabers), we assembled them and picked up Nick and David. Me, BlueMax, Nick, and David all went to the Wynnsong theater in Winston-Salem. Nick brought his Episode I Soundtrack CD along. As everyone knows (or don’t, but you’re about to hear it), my car has a respectable sound system. When we were about a football field away from the Theater, on the 6-lane road headed to it, we turned my car speakers up to 28 volume (I listen to it casually at 12) and blasted the Star Wars theme as we pulled into the Wynnsong parking lot. There were around 150-200 people (possibly many more, it was hard to count..wasn’t a single-file line) already in line at 10:05. They heard our system playing Star Wars before we got to the theater parking lot. The entire line of people started cheering as we drove in. All four of us turned on the lightsabers and raised them out of the four car windows in salute as we drove by, system blazing. It was awesome. After getting in line, we noticed that many people were staring at us. We wanted this, of course. The first news guy came up. He wanted us to have a small-duel, right in line. Nick and I were against BlueMax (he was dressed up as Count Dooku, the bad guy). Me and Nick killed him, and BlueMax fell on the ground. It was awesome, all caught on TV. After waiting for a good bit, the same camera guy, back with a host this time, asked anyone who had lightsabers to come into the street in front of the line/theater. The four of us plus two other guys went in the street. The host interviewed us, asking us about the movie and who we were portraying. I said Mace Windu, for humor and the fact that my mind was blank (Mace Windu is played by Samuel L. Jackson in the movie…I’m white). After interviewing us, the host asked us to have a 6-person lightsaber match in the street. So we did, and it was funny as hell. We were literally beating the shit out of each other. I got hit hard, and fell on the ground. I believe I was the second person out. David broke his lightsaber hitting so hard (second time it’s been broke). That’s number 2 duel on TV. We returned to our place in line. People were cheering. By now, there were at least 300 people in line (again, it must be much more…I’ll explain later). A guy and his two friends walked up after a few minutes with a digital camcorder. He wanted the four of us to do another lightsaber duel. Me and David decided to take a break. Nick and BlueMax went at it, and after a few seconds, Nick fucking beat BlueMax in the head with his lightsaber. Jeremy (BlueMax) got pissed, and went crazy on Nick. It was awesome; you could hear the smacking of lightsaber on skin. Now the fun begins: A tall guy in line, around 20-25 years of age, no doubtedly making fun of us, decided to break up Nick and Jeremy’s fight. “Break it up guys!” Then the tall stranger made a very bad move. He attempted to take Jeremy and Nick’s lightsabers. Jeremy grabbed his back. The stranger tried to get it again. Jeremy drew back, and started tapping the guy on the shoulder. “You want some of this? Huh?” Jeremy was taunting the guy. The stranger dove for Jeremy’s lightsaber, and I joined the actual fight now. I drew out my lightsaber like they do in the movie, and started beating the guy on the back with my saber. Nick and Jeremy were tag-teaming him. He quickly ran away, and got back in line. I would pay $100.00 for a copy of the recording that guy got of the entire fight. Shelby, Chris, Rod, Duane, Michael, and Ian show up later on, the latter three getting in late and barely finding a seat. The Wynnsong theater has stadium seating, along with all of the neat-O DTS/THX stuff. Wynnsong 4 life. Oh yeah, was about to forget about the under-estimating the number of people in line thing. Wynnsong had 4 screenings. Each screen holds 350 people. All four of them sold out for the midnight show. That means 1400 people saw it, making my estimations for the people in line not very accurate. The movie started. That movie has fucking atmosphere. It did not seem like a Star Wars movie at all, but almost better. The romance scenes were cheesy, but since when was George Lucas good at that? The movie was spectacular, making the entire theater’s crowd cheering and jumping at some parts. I’ve read three reviews with the critics saying that the last 45 minutes of the movie is the best action sequences in any movie. I would have to agree with that during some spots. The Jedi are all badasses in the movie. Yes, I’ll say it, just like everyone else: Episode II shows why everyone calls Yoda “Master.” Jeremy just downloaded a bootleg copy, and we watched the last 45 minutes again. It was amazing, even on a resolution 1/8 the size of the monitor. Go see Episode II, you will not be disappointed. Hell, go see it for the action. Goodnight and Godspeed.

Click for the big version.