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Brickeens

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Blog Entries posted by Brickeens

  1. Brickeens

    WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT

    By Brickeens,

    Is Pohatu a new colour, or is he burnt orange? If it's a new colour I'd be cool as long as we get more of it, but if it's burnt orange making a glorious return, I will throw money the at the screen.
  2. Brickeens
    Quick recap, six months ago I got pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to me, which was a sort-of diagnosis from the metabolic unit in Dublin. What they found is that I have SOME FORM of fatty-acid metabolism disorder, which is good, but it's not really a diagnosis in itself, because there's a big range of the disorders and I could have any one of them. Because of that, treatment so far has been extremely limited.
     
    In a nutshell though, the problem is this: I can't metabolise fat properly, which causes a couple of problems: Firstly, I'm only getting a fraction of the energy I should be (explains the fatigue problems I've had since childhood), so feeling exhausted all the time is a given. Secondly, all the fat I can't metabolise properly builds up in my organs, and also leaves a load of toxins in the blood (explains why I experienced so much nausea on a daily basis and also why my concentration deteriorated in recent years) so the two explain basically every problem I've ever had.
     
    Treatment so far has consisted of taking carnitine, which helps take some of the toxic stuff out of my system, and eating a very low-fat diet to keep further damage to a minimum. The good part is, I no longer experience nausea on a daily basis and my concentration and general ability to think have picked up a bit (still a long way from normal but it's better than nothing). The bad part is, even though it's helped my head, the diet has had a really, really bad impact on my strength and energy, which were already bad to begin with. I'm really weak, I'm tireder than I was before, and I can barely get out of house most of the time. Exercise has been pretty difficult the last few years but I always forced myself to do it, but now it's nearly out of the question. If I walk anything more than a short distance I feel like I'm going to collapse, and I feel awful afterwards.
     
    I'm really glad my head has improved a bit, but I'm so exhausted and physically even more incapable than I was before, and it's getting really hard to keep myself interested in doing anything. I'm either physically unable to do things I want to do, or just so tired I don't enjoy what little I can do.
     
    (That was a really long quick recap sorry)
     
    Here's the not so great news: I saw the head doctor of the metabolic unit yesterday, and they're at a dead end with my case. Whatever I have, it doesn't meet the criteria for any of the disorders they're familiar with, and they're much more confused now than they were six months ago. Not only that, they've run out of tests to do, and all they're doing now is re-running my blood and DNA tests in the hopes they'll show up something they didn't find last time. In other words, if they can't find something else, this is as good as it gets for me. I stay on my current treatment for the rest of my life so I don't get worse, but I don't get better either.
     
    It's not a definite no, it's not really a definite anything, but it's not good and I don't know what do do with myself. I've got another long wait ahead, and it's agony not knowing whether I'm ever going to get better or whether I'm just hanging onto false hopes. I'm sorry I've been short with people recently, I'm sorry I'm grumpy and I don't respond to messages and do things I mean to do a lot of the time, but I'm at my wit's end and I don't know what to do. All that's kept me going the last few years is the hope that maybe someday I won't have to live like this, and now I'm back to being stuck in limbo with no guarantee of improvement.
  3. Brickeens

    Old MOC time

    By Brickeens,

    1 | 2 | 3 | 4


     
    No topic because Mr Tentacles was posted a couple of years ago and hasn't changed since, but I've been thinking for some time that I should rebuild and re-photograph my best MOCs, because they really deserve decent photographs, and I can do better now. It'll probably be a while before I do any more, but in the meantime, Mr Tentacles is back. Hope you all like.
  6. Brickeens

    BIONICE 2015

    By Brickeens,

    It's weird, I never thought I'd see the day BIONICLE would return, and I would have imagined I'd be more enthusiatic, but I'm not particularly moved one way or the other. I am happy though, because whatever new BIONICLE is like, it means A) new pieces for MOCs, and B) more activity for BZP. Here's to me making things again and more active days for BZP.
  7. Brickeens

    Brickfair

    By Brickeens,

    Because Zatth and Sumiki are the sweetest people ever, I may be getting a video tour of Brickfair at some point the next few days. So if you see someone being ferried around on an iPad, that's probably me and you should say hello. I wonder if I should be writing out some messages on pieces of paper or something.
  12. Brickeens
    I've been meaning to mention this for a while, but a month or two ago a guy from town bought a field just down the road from where I live, and has since converted it into a grass airstrip for his microlight aircraft. This is funny enough in itself, seeing as I now live about 60 seconds away from an airstrip, but what's even better is that today my dad got talking to the owner, and he offered to take him up in the plane. I am just back from watching a two seater microlight take off with my dad in it from a field down the road. I don't even.
     
    E: I should add, I would have got pictures of the takeoff, but dad took the camera with him. He's not back from the flight yet, but he had better be getting some good pictures.
  14. Brickeens
    Find two pieces that make a good chest when put together at difficult to achieve angle
    Spend ages achieving said angle at the cost of structural integrity
    Impractical backwards facing shoulders
    ?????
    Mctoran heads

  16. Brickeens

    Great and not great

    By Brickeens,

    This happened a while ago, but basically, a guy I know straight up offered me a job in his photography shop. He said he's having trouble doing all the work himself and that he'd teach me how to edit, print and frame photographs to a professional standard. It was an amazing offer, because I mean, it's not every day you just get offered a job, let alone a job you'd actually enjoy.
     
    But of course I couldn't take it. I can still hardly cope with basic day to day life and there's no way I'd last working in a shop. It's been a while, but I'm still upset and frustrated about it, because it was such a fantastic offer and I don't know if I'll ever get an opportunity like that again.
  17. Brickeens

    The Spire of Dublin

    By Brickeens,

    So I was in O'Connell street in Dublin a while back. If you've ever been to O'Connell street or anywhere near it, you'll know that we have this giant pointy metal thing called the Spire of Dublin, which is I guess the Irish Government's idea of a tourist attraction.
     

     
    I've seen the Spire loads of times, and I've always thought it was a pretty bland idea for a monument. But last time, it hit me that there is actually a way to rectify the situation. Give me a Kaiju movie where a Jaeger rips out the Spire of Dublin and uses it as a weapon. Someone get me Guillermo del Toro on the phone.
  18. Brickeens
    So I got out of bed this morning (and by "this morning" I mean "midday" because I was up late okay) opened my window for a bit of fresh air, and was greeted by a cat mewing at me from the path. I said hello, and next thing I knew it had jumped up and got in my window. I petted it a bit and then it jumped onto the floor and proceeded to scout my entire room out, because I guess that's what cats must do. It didn't seem in any hurry to leave so I let it up to the kitchen.
     

     
    Long story short, I think I made friends with a kitty? It eventually wandered out another window, but not before it spent like 15 or 20 minutes excitedly checking everything in kitchen out, and also coming over to me and rubbing itself off my legs. I hope it comes back again.
  22. Brickeens
    So if any of you remember, I got a skin biopsy a few months back. I thought they would have been well done with the sample by now, but they're still testing it, and it's ACTUALLY SHOWING STUFF UP DO YOU KNOW HOW GOOD THIS IS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
     
    It's complicated, but how I understand it so far: They've found my metabolism isn't breaking down fatty acids properly, which my doctor is excited about because apparently it explains so many things. Poor energy, difficulty exercising, muscular discomfort, stress on the liver, the need to eat often, they all make sense if I'm unable to properly break down fatty acids. I'm not getting an important source of energy and it also causes stress on other parts of the body. The whole thing is confusing and there's much more to it than I can do justice, but you get the idea.
     
    It's a huge step forward and I'm really, really happy that we finally have a clue what's going on. It's going to take more time for them to determine exactly where in the metabolic processes things stop working, but in the meantime, they're putting me on medication in the hopes that it will aid my metabolism. It's unlikely to be the cure, but it'll hopefully be a boost/help until they can pinpoint exactly where things aren't working.
     
    I've waited so many years for this. I'm so happy.
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