The Rice Bowl

Looking Alive

Once again, I feel neglectful of my writing, though this time, it wasn't by choice.  It simply just happened.  The fates were against me and the planets were not aligned in my favour, it seems.  My plans for spring break dissolved before my eyes due to doctors appointments and a mystery diagnosis.

It seems that I am not allowed to have an enjoyable spring break, because something always seems to jump in the way or some sort of event prevents me from doing the things that I want.  I have a track record with this, unfortunately.  Spring break, you are cursed, and I've never been able to enjoy you.

Weeks ago, I noticed something was not right with my belly button.  When a part of your body that has no actual function starts acting funny, it causes a strange amount of alarm to arise.  I figured I would fix the problem in no time by keeping an eye on it and being careful.  In a week, I ended up doubled over in pain and unable to walk or even breathe without being in pain.  I sought medical attention, which I tend to avoid. 

I dislike doctors, mostly because growing up overseas didn't inspire much faith in the medical community.  For the most part, I was diagnosed by my mother and placed on antibiotics by her.  The handful of times that I've needed to see a doctor for something 'serious' the issue was skirted around for months or even years before anyone would take my issues seriously.

My issue was not taken seriously for several weeks.  I was placed on different antibiotics while my symptoms merely escalated before my eyes.  I Googled and WebMDed my symptoms and even presented my findings to the doctors.  They were less than impressed by this telling me that self diagnosis never works.  Instead, I sat around, taking antibiotics waiting for the moment when things would get bad enough for someone to do something.

It happened.  My normal belly button began to protude from my tummy along with the counless other symptoms that I had.  I was told that I had a cyst and given more antibiotics which didn't work.  I came back and was told I had a hernia and given a referal to a surgeon.  I met with my surgeon and found that my issue was more serious than a mere office job and needed to be put under for a day surgery.

Buh-bye Spring Break.

Last week I went in for surgery and found out that I really did have a cyst, after all!  I cannot complain about my surgery at all though.  The doctors and nurses were all amazing and very attentive which helped me out incredibly.  When your parents are thousands of miles away and your friends are scattered throughout the world, it can be scary.  I'm so very thankful that I do have family around here though.  The staff was amazing with me and laughed at me as I raved about Twitter and Linux in my drug induced state.

Last weekend was spent in bed, sleeping and recovereing (knitting).  Being whacked out on Vicodin and having no motivation to move and aggravate my wound was a good inticement for me to stay put.  However, I (once again) found out that I don't deal well with pain releivers much stronger than Tylenol.  I was struck with dizziness, headaches, nausea, and severe mood swings.  I was every where from laughing hysterically one second to curling up in a ball crying that I missed my family, friends, room mates, and surfing.  It didn't take me long to realize that I was no good on the drugs and stopped taking them.

It's disturbing waiting for your body to do normal things though.  It's frightening waiting for the moment when you have to go to the bathroom again, just to make sure that everything is working fine.  And it's worse when you can't and you're curled up bawling because all you want to do is make your body work again.  It's like being broken, only you can't find the glue to put the pieces back together.

I am happy to report that I am fully functional once again and I am back at school and busy as ever, which excites me to the extremes.  It's good to be back in action and busy with things again.  It distracts me from my mind and gets me away from the phone that never seems to ring when I really need it to.

It's good to feel alive again.

Political takeovers

As our friends here tell us...the Unocal takeover bid was crushed because of political reasons.  What about this one??

Sort of a protest song

While I’m sitting here procrastinating and contemplating thinking about doing my French homework, I’m staring at the news headlines.  A little bummed today.  There’s a protest today.  A protest in Guangzhou.  The last time we had a protest here I was quite young, and it was a little scary for me.  It was back when Clinton was in office and NATO/The US bombed the Chinese embassy (can’t find any good sites on this…most are conspiracy theories, so there you go), thinking that it was something else.  Not many people remember it, but I do; probably because I lived it and I had to try to figure out why I got pulled out of school on that day.

But, there is a protest today.  We were going to sit and watch it.  My dad’s office is right across the street from where the protest would have started…down stairs there’s a Japanese restaurant, but looking at the headlines it looks like we would have been egged.

Still I love how the government works here…

Okay here it is.  Japan has this textbook coming out…a history textbook to be exact.  In it there is, of course, World War II.  However, the authors of the textbook took a little detour around some of their countries atrocities, i.e. The Rape of Nanking.

Wrong on Japan’s part.

All right, my point of view is this; Japan needs to own up fully about what they did in the War.  Yes, they have apologised and all that, but still, they cannot hide from the demons of the past. 

It’s like the atom bomb and the US.  Yes it was horrible that we dropped it.  Did we know that it was going to do all that?  I don’t know…I wasn’t inventing it.  Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t.  New technology.  If we didn’t drop it would the War have ended so soon?  We dropped it because there are some people in this world that only understand violence.  Japan, at that time, only understood violence.  We tried dealing with them diplomatically and trying to sort things out like adults, however, they turn around and bomb the hell out of Pearl Harbour during Peace talks with President Roosevelt.  Do you think you can end a war peacefully when you’re dealing with people that go and bomb you while you’re trying to sort things out with them?  I don’t think so.  Ultimate back stabbing.  It’s like Julius Caesar all over again.  So, we dropped the bomb on the.  As horrible as it was, we did it, and we have stood up and said, “Yeah, we did that”.  We’re not proud of it, but sometimes that’s what needs to be done.

However, what Japan did during the War was not right at all; the atrocities in China and the ‘concentration camps’ of the east.  It’s disgusting.  What they did was as wrong as what the Nazis did, maybe even more so.  The fact that the US has owned up to the fact that they dropped the atom bomb on two cities in Japan and has taken full blame and huff from Japan on killing thousands of innocent people, and yet Japan is still hiding from the millions that they killed in China during the War.  Not right.

On the other hand, what China is doing is also wrong, in ways.  Yes they have every right to be as pissed off as they are about Japan trying to save face and hiding from their terrors, but, what about China?  What about Mao and the great leap forward…or backward?  What about the students that were killed in Tiananmen Square (Hmm..I like how I have a hard time accessing any websites about the Tiananmen Square massacre.)?  Shouldn’t China fess up to that?  Apparently not.  China is doing everything in its power to try and stop progress from happening.  Recently, China has protested Japan due to the fact that Japan is asking to have a seat in the UN.  What’s wrong with that?  Apparently China thinks that they own Japan like they think that they own Taiwan.  God forbid that any sort of democratic (well sort of anyway…my views on the UN later) influence come anywhere near China.  Since the iron curtain fell on the Soviet Union and all that collapsed China, and all the rest of the Communist countries, have been trying too hold onto their last little bits of totalitarianism.

Moreover, China’s dealings with Taiwan are going to screw them over big time.  What I see right now is a repeat of the Soviet Union before it fell.  There was this big flex of muscle; the Soviets took over most of Eastern Europe and then BAM!  Reagan gets into office and by the end of his term the wall is falling in Berlin.  It’s all happening again.  China is saying to Taiwan that they’ll shoot if Taiwan tries to claim democracy.  Yes, militarily China could easily take them out.  Look at them.  Taiwan is a small island compared to China.  However, if anything happens to Taiwan the US is going to start pulling out of China and the country’s economy will collapse completely.  Sure, the US will suffer, but China will die.  Easy as that.

Also, there has been no coverage of the Pope’s death or funeral in China.  If the Hong Kong new reports it, it gets censored and we get to see a commercial about some hair product.  China was and is afraid of a frail old man and the power that he had over people.  The words of peace that this old man spoke scared China.  We cannot have our people thinking that there is something better than our government.  That peace could exist if we got our country into the 20^th century and stopped living without our heads up our Asses.

Personally, I think that it is wrong that the Chinese allows their people to protest other countries and yet blind them to the happenings of their own country.

It’s sad when you’re the only one in class with an opinion on something.  It’s sad when you talk about communism and you get blank stares.  It’s sad the children are taught to follow the words of others and not think about what they think.

By all means, protest.  You have a right to after what happened in the War and how Japan still hides from their past.  But, before you go out and protest, think about the happenings in your own country and then ask your self if you really have the right to join in the hypocrisy and protest someone else’s country when you’re not allowed to protest your own.

Those are just my thoughts.