Not Feeling Good (relatively)

Things are not always perfect in your mind.  Or, to be more specific, things are not always perfect in my mind.  Sometimes you plan things that don't work out exactly the way you want them to, and that just kinda throws everything off kilter.

But, as I was thinking earlier today, sometimes you just have to take your "problems" and force yourself to contrast them with some other situations in life:

Wake up.  Wake up.  Wake up.  Your life, by and large, is probably fantastic compared to the REAL problems that people have in life.  Maybe your job isn't perfect, maybe the food in your fridge is bland, maybe your furniture is shabby....there is a higher purpose to life than dealing with issues like that!

We all need to remember what we want is often very far from what we actually need.  I've been doing way too much bitching lately (although admittedly, I currently have some super considerably good reasons to do so:  i.e. my motorcycle accident and all the resulting health problems see this recent post: HTTP://shadowofacloud.blogspot.com/2014/05/first-update-in-long-long-time.html).   Anyway, make the best of what you do have and try not to worry too much about you don't.  I know that's usually easier said than done...

first update in a long, long time

ugh.  this is my first post since 10/29/2013.  You may want to grab a beverage and/or a snack, because this a long, long tale (that still continues).  In my defense (not that I have any followers/fans to apologize to or whatever), I was in a catastrophic motorcycle accident on November 7th of last year.
I was on my way to meet my girlfriend for dinner when a young woman (I'm not sure how old...)"failed to yield " and hit my motorcycle with her  SUV.

  Since then I have been in 4 hospitals: UCLA   Harbor, UCLA Ronald Reagan, Vibra Hospital, and Sharp Memorial (in which I went through  in-patient therapy).  I also went through a program that is part of Sharp, called 'the Community Re-Entry Program, or CREP for short.  This has definitely been the most challenging chapter of my life (way more challenging than puberty, haha).  I have had to re-learn how to walk, dress myself, bathe, groom, etc.  Maybe "re-learn" isn't really the right verb.  It's just that doing all of those things is now horrifyingly difficult.  Now I am doing out-patient therapy through a program called "Rehab Without Walls," in which therapists come to my house to do rehabilitative things with me (basically it is all the various kinds of therapy: physical, occupational, cognitive, and even recreational <the fun one>.  It is relatively cool.

Perhaps I should explain what happened so that this epic tale has some context:  I was in a coma for I believe about a month.  My parents were in Hawaii at the time, so I guess I cut their vacation a little short.  I broke both of my legs, my left arm, some of my ribs, my left hip, and my nose.  Additionally, as a result of the broken ribs, my lung collapsed.   I'm just damn lucky I didn't break my spine.  However, as a result of my head being shook (shaken?) around inside my helmet, I have a severe traumatic brain injury.  Bummer!  Luckily, I'm still very intelligent and I can still speak Chinese, although reading and writing Chinese is a little more difficult.

So, basically every weekday, I have one of those kinds of therapy, and often more than once a day (for example, I might have physical therapy in the morning and cognitive therapy in the early afternoon
(this is where a sarcastic "yay!" is inserted).

Currently, as I write this post, I am waiting for my physical therapist to arrive.  Physical is always my least favorite type of therapy.  I was never much of an athlete in high school or college.  I did like to go to the gym when I was in college, but in typical male fashion, I basically only paid attention  to my upper body.  Recovering has definitely been the greatest challenge I've ever been through.  And I suspect I won't ever be the same as I was before my accident, physically, mentally, or emotionally.  "Emotionally" is an interesting dimension to examine  though.  I'm definitely just as friendly and kind as I was before my accident, but after seeing all the people in the 'CREP' program, I definitely have a new (or somewhat modified) sense of appreciation for what I do have.  A lot of the other people in that program were in similar situations, but were much older.  That's always a bummer, as recovery becomes more difficult as you age.  As part of my progression back into real life, one of my therapists (I believe it was cognitive) recommended I continue blogging.  Thus this post was created.  Farewell for now.