Friday

Yesterday was mostly good, and I'm optimistic about next Wednesday.

Caught the 7:30am bus out to get to the CBD before 9am. The bus went a funny route that took in at least four schools and the Westfield's at Kotara before arriving. I met my care worker / key person and we went shopping for interview clothes. I ended up with a nice pair of leather court shoes ($40) and a dark green / pastel shirt ($29) from Rivers (oh, and a pair of socks). It was all bought for me by the employment agency!

I had a "personal development session" in the afternoon between 1-3pm, and we'd done our shopping by 10am, so I had a few hours to spend until then. I went to the library, then the Southern Cross food hall for lunch, and finally to Graphic Action before returning. Actually I detoured via the library again so I could change into my new shoes and shirt for the session. Something "funny" seemed to happen then - I felt more "clumsy" with them on, like I'd just dropped 30 pts of IQ.

Went to the session. It was all full of "common sense" tips and ideas that make good sense, but which I probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise. I also might have had a "seizure" during it as well, but that's for the next post.

Caught the same bus that I did on Tuesday which took me home via Westfield's again and the Sugar Valley bus to Barnsley. However, this time I caught it from outside Marketown in West Newcastle. Had plenty of time until the bus came, so I checked out a newsagents, and more interestingly, a place called the Newcastle Antique Centre in West Newcastle which lies just around the corner from the shopping centre. The place is filled with old and interesting hats, clothes, records, computers and stuff. I spent a while browsing before the bus came.

I felt totally stuffed by the time I got home. I tried to do things on the PC but settled for falling asleep watching the final episode of Churchill's Bodyguard.

Am I still having seizures?

After yesterday, I'm worried that I'm still having epileptic seizures.

There were two instances that seemed to match my fears on the matter. The first was at the public library just after I'd changed clothes in the disabled toilet, and the second was some very puzzling experiences during an interview presentation seminar. The night before I was up 'til 1am, and woke up at 6am in order to catch a 7:30am bus.

Post Lunch

I had a large Chinese lunch at a food hall, and then went to the disabled toilets next to the city library to change into some new clothes - brand new leather shoes and a shirt. It was like my concentration just seemed to dissolve. A strap on my backpack broke and I tied it off, then it was like I was moving in slow motion.

During the Seminar

After that I returned to the employment agency for a training session on interviews. There were three of us at the session, not including the two trainers. One had to leave and two more showed up. This was in a medium sized room with two fluoro lights. We watched a Powerpoint presentation from a small projector.

Anyway, I was paying attention to this, or trying to, when I started feeling odd. I felt incredibly sleepy and started blinking my eyes at a rapid rate. I think I had a micro sleep and then woke up when one of the instructors asked me a question. It was like a corner of the room had become dimmed. The person asking the question was in that corner, and they seemed less 3D than everyone else. This weird effect continued while I was still in the room. I turned my head from side to side, and moved my eyes, but the effect stayed in that one corner of the room.

After it ended, I went to the toilets to change and when I came back the effect was gone. I asked the presenters about changes in brightness, and one of them said that she thought that I'd been having a seizure because of my heavy blinking.

I've never had the second happen to me before. I have been concerned of late that I am having seizures and not knowing it. Early this year I seemed to lose the power of speech for 30 minutes. A few years ago I just couldn't talk properly for about the same amount of time.

Toasting the Moon

The last two nights I had intended to do some sort of ritual while it was a full moon.

On Thursday I visited Jenny and noticed that she had a bottle of beer in her fridge. I mentioned that, and she said that because of medications, she couldn't drink it! She'd been given the bottle on her birthday and it'd sat there ever since, so she gave it to me.

I was going to drink to Jenn's health (such as it is) to a full moon, but the last too nights I've been either too distracted or too tired. Maybe tonight.

Scary Go Round

They got this one right (the Phil Collins Reference, that is)...

( Sample Page )

Actually, I'm a big fan of ScaryGoRound - still working my way through it (I have 3 years to go, yet).