The LATE Edition

Hah! Tricked you all. I bet you thought I had forgotten to post today, didn't you?

In point of fact, I did not. We've had a couple of things going on today that I thought would be interesting to talk about, so I decided to wait around a bit for the final post of the week.

First Interesting Topic: Clothing. I know, I am about as interested in clothing as the next man - not so much. The subject came up as I was attempting to dress myself - something I have been doing, more or less regularly, for 40+ years now. I wandered into sight of Lor, and the following conversation took place:

Lor: Untuck your shirt.

Me: Untucked shirts look sloppy. I only wore them untucked to try to hide the fact that I was fat.

Lor: No, t-shirts should never be tucked in. It's a fashion rule.

Me: A fashion rule? Prove it!

Yeah, can you say "Challenge accepted"? She proceeded to beat me about the head and shoulders with fashion advice from web site after web site. Executive Style said t-shirts are worn untucked. Men's Flair said the same thing. The Art Of Manliness went a step further and said that ANY shirt with a square hemline (which includes t-shirts) should be worn untucked.

Pretty much the only place that said I could wear my t-shirt tucked in was Esquire - and then only under the following conditions: A) I must be wearing the t-shirt under a $1000 blazer and B) My name must be David Beckham.

Chastened, I untucked my shirt. But this brought up another point: untucked, a great number of my t-shirts appeared, as my Mother once observed, like I was wearing a tent. This led us into the great closet purge that I have been avoiding for weeks:

More room for new clothes for Lor, I suppose.

That huge empty space above was once filled with t-shirts, polos and dress shirts. Over 20 shirts got removed from my wardrobe, and at least 10 more are currently in the "sketchy" category - they might not fit as soon as next week.

Undeterred, Lor then led me into dress and casual pants purging. Let me give you a single example:

(WARNING: Please avert your gaze if the sight of loose skin makes you naseous!)

Yeah, that was the best fitting pair I owned. Every single set of slacks I owned is now headed to a donation box somewhere.

Wounded at the thought that I may soon be wandering naked through daily life, I turned my back on my empty wardrobe and headed to the neurologist's office.

Second Interesting Topic: Epilepsy treatment. I was due for some good news at this point, and boy, did I get some. My Neuro congratulated me on my weight loss, and told me something very interesting: Since I have lost over a quarter of my body weight, it is time to re-evaluate  my seizure medications! I submitted to the usual battery of blood tests and am now waiting to hear back as to whether or not I can start reducing dosages on my brain-clouding meds. I have gone through years of increasing dosages to help contain my seizures, and every time the dosage goes up, my brain function, especially my memory, goes down. 

So, I am now crossing my fingers that a reduced dosage will allow me to start remembering things that are currently totally lost to me  - things like Junior High, all my technical training, and most importantly my FIRST wedding to Lor. These items and lots more are completely empty rooms within my the vaults of my memory right now, thanks to the combination of seizure drugs and brain damage from seizures. But, if I could regain even a fraction of my missing memories... words can not adequately express what that would mean to me.

I will keep everyone posted on how the tests go - I am excited, but also afraid to get my hopes up too high.

Also, if you hear reports of a large hairy creature wandering naked through the streets of Albuquerque, don't worry too much - more than likely I just finally ran out of clothing that fits.

I Am Gonna Be Living At Thrift Stores For Months,

- Hawkwind