Portals 3

Today was my last (hopefully) optometrist appointment for a long time. They still don't know what caused the injury in the first place, but the treatment seems to have healed nearly all of the damage. I will continue with the drops, but I no longer have to use the ointment.

I had the same doctor and intern as last time, as well as the intern from the time before that. He just wanted to sit in to see how my case had progressed, as he had never seen my type of problem before. I'm glad I could help him further his education.

Portals 2

I went back to the optometrist for a follow-up. This doctor did not see that I had REC (recurrent corneal erosion). I suggested it was IFCE (infrequent corneal erosion), but he said that the technical term was OIAW (once in a while). I am to continue with the ointment, as well as some more viscous eye drops.
The doctor hopes that the treatment will stop me from having any further attacks. Of course, we won't really be sure for months...I'll believe it once I've been fine for half a year.

Cobalt

Last month, I went rockhounding up in the Cobalt area, 140 km north of North Bay. I went with my Great Uncle and 3 members of my rock club. The 3 other members go there often, looking for silver. Cobalt and the surrounding area was famous for the amount of silver hauled out of the numerous mines. The weather was miserable, so we were collecting in the rain for most of trip.

We stayed at a hunting camp just south of Cobalt, on the shore of Lake Temiskaming. You could see Quebec on the other side. There are mine shafts all over the place, many of which haven't been capped, or even marked off with fencing. You have to watch where you step, lest you fall down a few hundred feet. We collected at old abandoned mine sites here and there, including some of the famous and most successful ones in the area known as Silver Centre.

I was lent a metal detector, set to ignore iron, but still pick up silver and other metals. I found a pop tab on the beach. One foot beneath the surface. Through clay. I did find some samples of silver and other minerals. I found a lot of cobaltite (silver in colour) and bright pink erythrite (which cobaltite decays into). There was also a lot of nickeline (coppery-silver in colour) and annabergite, a bright sea green mineral (the decayed form of nickeline). I found a few good pieces of silver, too.

I explored a bit around the Keeley and Frontier mines, right along the most abundant discovery of silver: the Wood's Vein. The concrete foundation of the old refining plant is sill there, and I found a couple of iron mill balls. There was a lot of really pretty creamy-pink calcite around the Keeley's ore dumps, and some lovely black rock with olive green veins.

Before heading back home, we stopped in at the mining museum in Cobalt. They had many, many high-grade samples of silver, from huge cut slabs, to fine naturally-formed wires. The mayoral chain of office was on display, too. It's made of a number of large (~4"x 2") rough discs (organically shaped) of solid silver!

Portals

For over a year now, I've been having eye problems. On numerous occasions I have woken up in the morning in agony. I have the most excruciating pain in my right eye. I'm not sure how to describe it. I know that the pain is on the front of the eye, under the upper lid. I've never been scratched there, but I assume it feels similar.

All my attempts to alleviate this pain do not help. Rubbing it, trying to hold it open, trying to hold it shut, warm damp cloths, cool damp cloths -nothing works. I'm extremely light sensitive during these attacks, making it unbearable to open my eye more than a slit when a light is on.

The extreme pain lasts about 10-15 minutes, after which time it begins to dull and move to the sides and back of the eye. The aching lasts for a few hours, sometimes for the rest of the day.

One week ago, I experienced the worst one yet. I got in to see the optometrist the day after. They could not find anything wrong. My eye was apparently perfectly healthy. It happened again this morning, and I managed to get in for an emergency appointment. I had hoped that by being checked out while the pain was still present they might find something.

I don't know if it was because I was checked so soon after the attack, but they found something this time. My cornea has an excess of water, and in certain spots one of the layers of my eye is not anchored to the layer beneath. I am to start using eye drops and an ointment to fix these problems. It is uncertain whether or not these are the cause of the attacks.

I return for a follow-up appointment in two weeks.

Doors Open 9

This past weekend was the 9th annual Doors Open event in Waterloo Region. I had planned out all of the sites Mom and I would visit, but of course we did not get to see them all (the sites are only open from 10am-5pm -not enough time to see everything).

We started off at the AirBoss rubber plant, which is just down the street from us (and looks a lot like Midgar). Our group saw hundreds of skids stacked with sheets of rubber to be sent to various companies. The tour guide showed us one of the mixers and passed around a block of natural rubber. The plant ships worldwide.

We next went to the Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro station (also right near our house). Mom went up 60 ft in the air one of their bucket cranes. The displays inside were fairly boring, such as collection of usage meters (including the smart meters introduced by THE TAX MAN! Dalton McGuinty), different types of cables, and the ever popular diorama of the many ways a person can be electrocuted (with the awful grating buzzers).

The Communitech Hub was a huge letdown. The tour consisted of walking past a bunch of closed doors to offices, a giant role of snow fence in the courtyard being passed-off as "art" (they specifically had some international "artist" fly in to do it), and a lounge full of modern furniture where the hip young minds do whatever it is that they do. The only reason I had wanted to go there was to see the HIVE, a virtual immersion room using funky green glasses. Basically, a holodeck. It was temporarily out of operation.

Next was the Ratz-Bechtel Funeral Home. It was nice to get to see more of the building, and without my dead father or grandfather on display. The staircase up to the tower was beautifully-carved oak. There was a lovely little office in the tower on the second floor. We weren't allowed in the top floor of the tower, which is an attic.

Of all the sites open this year, I most wanted to see the newly-opened Sorbara Law, located in the Seagram (and later Bauer) Estate. I had been wanting to see the inside for years, well before Sorbara bought the abandoned building. I even suggested it be added to the list of future sites on the survey handed out at last year's Doors Open. The new owners did a terrific job on the restoration, keeping nearly all of the wood panelling and fireplaces. Every bench opened up for storage space, including one hidden comnpartment going straight to the basement, where they may have hid alcohol during Prohibition. There were all sorts of wonderful window alcoves, too.

From there, we went to Cambridge for the last few sites on our list.

I wanted to see Grandview Public School, soon to be demolished. The interior was like any other school built in the 1920's, cozy, with nice ironwork on the railings. The exterior had a number of relief panels of grotesques doing learning-related activities. The entrance had a rope motif surrounding the jamb, with the provincial emblem at the roof's peak. All of these decorative features will be saved and incorporated into the new school, thankfully.

We next visited the Col. J.A. McIntosh, DSO, ED Armoury, home of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada. The interior is remarkably well-preserved. There were knives, guns, bayonets, and swords (lots of Scottish broadswords) on display. The reserve members there were quite friendly. There was also an empty vending machine, the sign taped to it saying, "CATCHES ON FIRE WHEN PLUGGED IN".

Our last stop was Central Presbyterian Church. The sanctuary had patterned red carpet and a balcony with golden floral facing. The main reason to go was to see inside the bell tower. There was a little door to the side, from which the cupola could be reached via a narrow plank, only the plaster of the ceiling to either side. We only got to go inside the first floor of the tower. The man overseeing the area had to leave before we had a chance to climb the ladder to actually see the bells.

We stopped in a couple little antiques stores afterwards, and I bought a small (non-antique) dagger from Pakistan. Good for a fantasy costume.

BANG!

On the way home from a concert last week, I saw something hanging from a power line in front of the apartment building across from my house. It was a strand of something, glittering as it blew in the wind. I could also hear an electrical buzzing. I showed it to my mother, and she suggested it may have been the magnetic tape from a VHS. There was an intermittent blue-white spark where it touched the power line, accompanied by the buzzing noises (similar to the sound a bug zapper makes).

We weren't entirely sure what to do about it. Do you call the police? Or the Electricians Guild? About five or ten minutes after we went inside, there was a cacophonous BUZZ, the outside flashed blue-white, and we were plunged into darkness. It was quite startling. The entire street was pitch black.

The power came back a couple minutes later.

Chamber Music

The first concert I ever went to was at the Music Room (the K-W Chamber Music Society) in October of 2008. I had recently taken an interest in classical music, and my friend, Lois, treated me to a series of concerts. The Aviv String Quartet was performing all 15 of Shostakovich's String Quartets. I had never seen (or heard-Shostakovich is pretty insane/dark) anything like it before. It was fascinating to watch them play their instruments, especially the cello, fingers dancing frantically over the strings.

Concerts at the Music Room are held in the living room on the upper floor of the organizers' own house. It is a lovely atmosphere. It seats about 85 people, positioned around the floor space accorded to the musicians. The audience is just feet away from the performers -the way chamber music is meant to be played. The room is high-ceilinged, with wood beams, a fireplace faced with cobblestone, and various interesting artworks.

After the last concert of the Shostakovich cycle, a party was held at the house of my friend Leslie's boyfriend (she usually helps set things up). This was also coincidentally my first real party. I was able to meet the musicians -all very nice people, especially the cellist, Rachel Mercer.

I have been back for many concerts since then. They manage to hold some world-class performers. Till Fellner, an amazing pianist from Austria, came a number of times to play all of Beethoven's sonatas. I made sure to be there when he played Sonata No.23 'Appassionata', my favourite piece of classical music (thanks to Anne Rice, who inspired me to listen to it due to the large part it played in 'The Vampire Armand'). It is such a tempestuous work, and hearing it live was exhilarating; my heart was pounding.

I also try to go any time Rachel Mercer is there. In 2009 she won the privilege from the Canada Council to play the 1696 'Bonjour' Stradivarius cello for 3 years (it is insured for nearly $8 million). I saw her play in early 2010, and she let me touch it!

See Sarah McLachlan Live: Check!

Another goal fulfilled. I had been waiting for years for her to come back to Kitchener, ever since I discovered her music 14 years ago. She is my absolute favourite singer. She has such a powerful voice, and tends toward the dark. Like myself, the most depressing music makes her the happiest.

The concert was great. She brought some fellow singer/songwriters to perform with her: Melissa McClelland and her husband, Luke Doucet. They each played a few of their own songs. Sarah played a number of her newer songs as well as the greats. I did not care what else was played, as long as she did 'Possession'. I have the live version on iTunes and wanted to see her do it. It was incredible; she really held that last note forever. I am so glad I was able to see her perform.

Psidaprazam

Possible side effects may include:
dry mouth, fatigue, nausea, heart palpitations, rash, hives, blisters, welts, hair loss, blindness, difficulty breathing, liver failure, aphasia, mania, depression, shivers, hysteria, phobias, uncontrollable laughter, facial ticks, restlessness, paralysis, racing thoughts, paranoia, low blood pressure, anemia, an abnormal amount of somersaulting, voracious apatite, decreased apatite, hallucinations, migraines, obsessions, compulsions, spontaneous dance, monotonous voice, atheism, pantheism, excessive complimenting, lip syncing, foreign accent syndrome, aggressiveness, agreeableness, lack of depth perception, development of alternate personalities, bleeding, kleptomania, death, memory loss, abuse of metaphors, and torture.

I went out to buy a new laptop today. On the way to the bus stop, I could hear bagpipes being played. At Future Shop, I met a very talkative 11th grader who wanted to go into politics. He plans to be Prime Minister, and do a much better job than Harperor Palpatine. On the bus ride home, the ceiling lights leaked a pale blue liquid on me. There was also a girl who fit the stereotypical description of a prostitute: overdone makeup, fishnets, etc. Upon exiting the bus, a man swerved on his bike to avoid running into me. In a cascade of mishaps, he crashed over onto his side, and upon righting himself, dropped his bag of beer cans, which exploded, spraying beer all over the sidewalk.

Help

I have been encouraged by my therapist to ask these questions, despite the fear of alienating people.

Friendships have always been a source of pain and frustration for me. I have lost many friends, the reasons for which are unknown to me; they just kinda went away. I would (I thought) be a good friend, initiating conversations, plans. It seemed I always ended up doing all the 'work' in the friendship, however. Eventually I would hear less and less from them...I've learned to give up trying to keep a friendship going after a certain amount of time. Friendships need participation from both sides, right?

More and more I wonder if I am the problem. Is it that I keep choosing the wrong kinds of people? In that case, why? Is it that I'm too negative? I think that I am more positive when in the company of friends. Perhaps it is due to my AS. Not always responding appropriately (physically), missing various social cues "neurotypicals" take for granted, could be off-putting? I truly do not know.

I am not trying to complain. I just would like to know what I am doing wrong (if anything) so I can begin to work on it.