Zatth

Hey friends! Today is Rare Disease Day. For those of you who don't know, Rare Diseases are those that (in the U.S) affect less than 200,000 people. Nonetheless, there's over 6,000 Rare Diseases, and this is an important issue for me because I suffer from Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndrome Type 1. Yes, it's the reason why I seem to spend half my time in a hospital. These diseases are called rare, however, because we don't understand them. Because we don't get as much funding as other better known diseases. Because there's such lack of knowledge doctors don't know about them. Because so little people know about them we can be called liars, or hypochondriacs, and all because of an illness that's not well understood. And for every Pablo that that survived to this day and can live a relatively comfortable lifestyle, there are ten of me who have never been diagnosed correctly. Who have never had the financial access to support them. Who, like me, may have started in a third-wield country, but unlike me, didn't live past three due to the lack of awareness. I write this all today because I recognize how lucky I am. I know it sounds horrible to say, but I don't deserve it. So I use the little time I have to speak out about these issues; so that twenty years time a child with a rare disease can know, so their families don't treat them like a shameful secret that must never be discussed, so they can have one specialist that knows what they have and treats them. John F. Kennedy, Pope John Paul II, Stephen Hawking, all suffer(ed) from rare diseases. And look at what they did. How many have we lost because of our lack of awareness? If anything, I hope you read this and do a bit more investigation on rare diseases. As long as you know we exist, as long as you know that we are present, as long as you know that we suffer but push through, then I feel like my advocacy will have educated a bit more on this issue.

Yeah, it's certainly a lot of

I remember the CSI-type Metru Nui one, as well as the different movie parodies. I'd be very ok with seeing those again.

You'd be shocked just how hard it was to convince anyone in Venezuela 2000-2009 that LEGO was cool or mainstream. I must've been, what, one of five KFOLs in the country?

When a performance of "Everything Is Awesome" is featured at the Oscars, when LEGO is called the world's most recognized brand, when BIONICLE has come back, that I want to shout into the annals of history... HEY THERE, FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS FROM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THAT MADE FUN OF ME AND CRITICIZED ME FOR LIKING AND BEING OBSESSED LEGO, LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENING, IT'S BECOMING COOL AND MAINSTREAM AND I'M STILL HERE LOVING LEGO AND ALSO COVERING UP THE YEARS OF EMOTIONAL PAIN CAUSED BY YOUR OSTRACIZATION THAT MADE ME RETREAT DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO MY INTROVERTED SHELL AND PROBABLY ACCOUNT FOR AT LEAST A BIT OF MY SOCIAL AWKWARDNESS AND GENERAL LACK OF LIFE SKILLS BUT YOU'RE NOT SO AHAHAHAHAHA LOOK WHO'S TAKEN CENTER STAGE NOW

Question answered by topic starter. BY THE POWERS VESTED IN ME, I CLOSE THIS TOPIC ONCE AND FOR ALL!

IT'S OK, NOW YOU CAN MANAGE THINGS AND STUFF IF NOTHING ELSE NOW YOU OUTRANK ME IRL DON'T WORRY, FRIEND, YOU WILL "MANAGE" TO GET THROUGH THIS

Thanks! I only just started to actually be able to laugh today, so there will be much luff-related recovery. Thanks so much! Yeah, I was kinda scared about the procedure itself, but it turns out that the combination of my obscenely long intestine and my high tolerance of pain made the procedure and the recovery go surprisingly well. Still hurts, though, but they do say no pain no gain

Thanks, friend

This is mostly for the few of you who follow A Mystery Explored, but it also applies to anyone who felt my presence or productivity decline over the past two weeks. I had an operation on Tuesday of last week for the removal of a polyp in my small intestine. Long story short, they snipped off a part of my intestine, sewed it back together, and I've been recovering since. Nothing to be alarmed over, I had great medical care, a very high pain tolerance which has the doctor and my parents amazed (and angry), and good spirits that have carried me through. I didn't mention anything before the operation because, well, to be honest, I was given the date the Sunday before the operation, and Monty Oum's passing was announced on a Monday. I'm not lying when I say I tried to keep myself as awake as possible after the anesthesia, making it to seeing the lights in the operation room, because my sense of mortality was that much heightened, and so only close family members, friends, and my professors knew about the procedure. But hey, now I'm out and recovering well! I go back on campus on Monday, and though I can't lift anything over 10 lbs for the next four weeks, my gut hasn't burst open and that's all we can ask for.

First part: You must learn to embrace the nonsense. Then you will accept it. Second part: I have no idea what that is. First part response: “Ah you think nonsense is your ally? You merely adopted the nonsensical. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see rationality and logic until I... well, I've yet to see it, and I imagine it will be nothing to me but blinding!” Second part response:#neverforget

I support all claims (especially #galidor2015), except for this nonsense on BZPower. Do you already forget DinoZonePower? Some things can never change.

Dear friend, fantastic MOCer, and all-around nice person and wonderful fella Brickeens is celebrating his berfday today! I don't think there are many funny or silly ways to spin this topic (aside from bean core and parkour, I got nothing), so I'll allow y'all to congratulate dear Birks in whichever way suits you. Me? I'll be sending a giant cyberhug to Brickeens, because WAT THE CEE YOU'RE 19 ALREADY

I took SOCI 101 and loved it. Though I'm now majoring in Language Arts for Education, the course helped solidify many ideas I was vaguely aware of, as well as give me terminology and concepts to know more about. Truly a fascinating course and field of study.

YAY! Congrats, Scott! I'm sure you'll be awesome at the new job!

Sumiki y u hurt me so It's a labor of love, my friend. The tiredness was due to the events of Vakama Eats Spam and Yo Yo Piraka, not necessarily lugging the Hagia Sophia across a parking lot. HEY IT WAS A HAGIA SOFIA, THE CATHEDRAL OF BARICHARA, POPORO QUIMBAYA, LEGO PORTAL GUN, 20 BIOICLE-BASED MOCS, AND THE GALLIFREY RISES DIORAMA. ALSO KEK POWERIZER.

Sumiki y u hurt me so

Took a class last year called Religion, Fantasy, and Imagination. Taught by an 80-year old Scottish professor/actor who graduated from Saint Andrews, and the required readings were The Chronicles of Narnia, LotR trilogy, and the Harry Potter Saga. COLLEGE.

I think it's a blessing and a curse to want to switch things up while simultaneously one-upping myself. Anywho, I've delved into mosaic building. I've made models of the Hagia Sofia, the Poporo Quimbaya, and the Cathedral of Barichara (these last two are Colombian in origin). So of course it makes sense that I now want to devote myself to a quasi-microscale model of a theme park in Colombia. A theme park which, I might add, includes a 1:25000 scale raised-relief map of Colombia, an actual Colombian destroyer that fought in WWII, a 1:1 scale replica of the Taj Mahal, mini replicas of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, castles that depict the Divine Comedy and the 1,001 Arabian Nights, a self-titled "Museum of Man", and an entire section of the park which is a zoo. Please. Send help.

Okay, you win. I audibly chortled.

THAT'S WHAT SOMEONE WHO WANTS THE PRIZE FOR THEMSELVES WOULD SAY OH NO I'VE BEEN DISCOVERED DETONATE THE FAKE MASK NO, DON'T DO IT! OTHERWISE WE'LL NEVER GET THE MASK THAT MAY OR MAY NOT EXIST. SCHRODINGER'S MASK

THAT'S WHAT SOMEONE WHO WANTS THE PRIZE FOR THEMSELVES WOULD SAY

I'm Zatth, and I'd turn away a Klondike Bar.

^ And all was well with the world.