ben griffiths
an insight into the mind of a genius

Posts Tagged ‘sick’

All your illness are belong to us

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

Since I’ve been back from Thailand (last Thursday), I’ve been holed up in bed with an evil EVIL sicknesss.

I put off going to the hospital as long as possible, but yesterday after almost colapsing after walking down the street - it seemed it could be put off no longer, so I headed to the Ren Ai branch of the Taipei Hospital system.

I was a bit apprehensive as I don’t have any medical insurance and was worried it was going to cost a bomb, however they assured me it wouldn’t and that I’d be able to see a doctor shortly.

True to their word, only a minute or so passed until I got ushered to a doctors lounge type thing where I was asked my symptoms:

  • Severe nausea
  • Breathing difficulty
  • Fast heart rate
  • Stuffy head
  • Fever
  • Sweating all the time
  • General crap feeling

He wrote these down and from this point, we shall pick up the conversation:

Dr: Do you use a computer a lot?
Me: Yes
Dr: How often?
Me: Every day.
Dr: How many years ago did you first start to use a computer?
Me: About 20
Dr: The computer has made you sick.

Yes, you read that correctly - infact, I’ll write it again in bold and big:

THE COMPUTER HAS MADE YOU SICK

Yes - I have caught a computer virus and all my sickness are indeed belong to them! The Dr said it, so it must be true….

So what next? Well I’ve been given 4 bags of medicine which I’m very doubtful about whether they will work, but hey, we’ll give them a chance - after all, you only have to read online to know how dangerous these computer virus’ can be….

Marble Floor + Winter = BAD

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Yes, it’s official - I’ve decided that it’s really not good to live in a marble floored apartment in the middle of winter.

Sitting at my computer is now just painful, I’ve actually had to put pillows on the floor so my feet don’t get too cold! Even this only works for an hour or so though until it’s just too unbearable again - I really wish I hadn’t sent my slippers back home!

The other thing of course means the whole room in general is just cold cold cold! Went to buy a heater yesterday but they weren’t coming in any cheaper than £30. I’m only here for 3 more weeks, so no way I’m shelling out that much - though Victor saw a place near Taipei Main Station which apparently has them for £15, will go there later.

However until the unit is actually in my room, spreading its warmth and love - I shall continue to work from my bed, periodically blowing my nose to try and clear this stinking cold I have now aquired…. bah!

Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 25th, 2005

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! :)
Well, it would be - except of course here we have no christmas, however, wanting to get into the christmas spirit and all - here are the first photos of my christmas …

[IMGT=154][IMGT=155]

I would say those antlers are quite fetching, no?

So how was my christmas night then? Well, a mixed bag really - i shall explain, however, first my dear friends I will give you one very important piece of advice ….. NEVER STUFF YOURSELF COMPLETELY FULL AND THEN GO DRINKING….

So, here’s how it happened…. ;)
Saturday day time was the usual no food affair (and indeed staying in bed until about 7pm!!! :eek: ) - however this time Seiko wasn’t going to come home first (we were going to meet in Shibuya). To get myself into the christmas, it seemed like some red wine + vodka was in order, along with a bit of a mix session.

In fact, I’m quite pleased with myself, even totally wasted, I was still mixing quite well (and I know this as I recorded it ;)) until about 10:30 when it was time to meet up with Seiko to get some food, so off to the station I went.

Arriving at Sangenjaya however, the train wasn’t for 10 minutes or so - and not wanting to sit around doing nothing (I was feeling quite impatient) - I decided to make the almost ritual trip to McDonalds to purchase a Big Mac and Chips.

Of course, this was very nice - but I was now kinda full - though I had promised I would eat with Seiko, so eat again I must (I threw away the bag when she wasn’t looking) - we therefore headed off to the curry shop. Again, another fatal mistake was made - due to my drunkeness, I was almost sure that one curry wouldn’t be enough, so ordered some chicken tikka to go with it….

20 minutes later and we were both so full (me even more so, for obvious reasons) and Christmas was fast approaching (it was now 11:45) so we had to scurry off to find somewhere. This is easier said than done, because as you know, I don’t particuarly like Shibuya for nights out, so there was quite a bit of bumbling around until we chose a direction.

Now though, it was 11:55 and we really weren’t going to make it into anywhere in time - so drastic action had to be taken……. can you guess…… ?

Yup, the nearest department store ;) (well we figured it would be playing christmas music and would have some trees on display!!) - hence the photos of us both wearing christmas hats (we didn’t buy them, just took the photos :D)

So that done, and our “Happy Christmas’” said, it was time to actually find something to do. Now last time we were here, we tried to go to @tom (read: Atom) however it closed at 2 - though I really wanted some good music, so we decided we would give it a go….

And am I glad we did….

FINALLY - a club in Tokyo that plays my music (well as near to it as I am going to get), all drinks are 500yen (£2.50), holds 1500 people (and fills it) AND…. AND…. AND… THERE ARE NO FOREIGNERS!!!! - yes people, there is a heaven and it’s name is Atom :D
Ok as far as clubs go, UK ones kick it’s ass - though (and I really don’t want to annoy anyone here ;)) - @tom does have one regaining feature - a special “gallery” thats basically a raised platform along the side of the club - women only …. UK clubs might kick JClubs for music + fun, but the women…. :eek:
And no, before anyone asks - I didn’t take any photos :p
So all is well and good for the first hour or so, but this full feeling really isn’t shifting so we decide to go and explore the rest of the club. It’s 3 floors in total, with a “Trance Cave” at the bottom and an R’n'B/Hip Hop room up top with a huge TV showing endless “Viva La Bam” — SUGOI-YO! There were also a load of tables up here, so we decided to sit for a bit….

Unfortunately though, all was still not good - and realised I was going to throw up at any moment (and not wanting to do it in a club … i can imagine the looks i would have got - “drunk gaijin throwing up”) we had to make a quick exit (about 3am)…

I would also like to point out for the record I was not drunk, mearly very full…. so jumping around hadn’t been a good idea :o

So that was the end of the night - we got home by Taxi, which suprisingly was only 2000yen (£10) - this is great, as Seiko loved the club too, it’s cheaper than Roppongi AND we can get a Taxi back after….. HAPPY CHRISTMAS INDEED ;) :D
So, what else has been going on then…. hmmm….

Wednesday was my last day of Japanese School (which was sad, I’m really liking going there now) and doesn’t start back until the 10th of Jan. I also got my test result back - 82.4% (or was it 84.2% - not sure) - which means I passed :) I’ve now got a great opportunity to fully catch up until the restart, not too much to do now - and stuff is certainly coming a lot more naturally.

Thursday I started work at 6:40 - so was able to spend the rest of the day working on a new project. Without getting too nerdy, I’ve now just started renting a new webserver in Germany. It’s purpose to provide backup DNS and also keep a copy of all databases held on the main server. After the unfortunate incident with the FCCUK forum (ie, they lost it) - we don’t want to take any chances.

This new server (AO - it means Blue) runs Linux (Debian) - but I have never used Linux before, so it’s also going to be a great learning tool for me. Funny story, it was setup for me on Thursday morning and I managed to lock myself out of it by Thursday afternoon :eek: :) Luckily the guy I’m renting it off seems to be a great bloke, and reinstalled it for me for no charge.

So I’m not going to make that mistake again - infact - now it is happily up and running and doing it’s job :) Never will there be a mail outage again, hurrah!

Thursday night after work, some of the chaps were going out for a quick drink, so I joined them. Due to the time I started work, I hadn’t eaten (planned to after) - so decided alcohol wouldn’t be a good idea so had coffee instead. Or at least I did for the first two, then thinking “what the hell” - had a glass of white wine (just to fit in and all ;) lol) This didn’t seem to be a problem until i got home (maybe an hour later) - when suddenly - WHAM!! Yup, ONE glass of wine and suddenly i was battered… not even slightly either, this was full on wasted…. it was pretty obvious why, i hadn’t eaten all day so it had just gone straight to my head. To rectify this situation therefore, I cooked some yaki soba (and returned to slight sanity!) - not before having some fun with the new knife…

You won’t believe how sharp this thing is, you just push it on chicken and it cuts straight through it !!! Seiko had cut her finger on it earlier in the day, so was warning me to be very careful with it…. of course, after hearing such a thing, what is the first thing you do …. hehe… yes, the exact opposite - walking into their room and holding it against my neck had them screaming and hiding under the bed covers…. lol…. what fun… :D
So onto Friday, which has to be one of the best days at work I have ever had:

First lesson - No show, giving me a load of time to plan for lesson 2

Second lesson - Probably the most fun lesson I have ever given, we were doing restaurant complaints - and by the end of it, everyone was just laughing so much :D
Lesson Three - Voice: And just a single woman (as in, just her…) who had been to England so was very happy to talk about it. As with all these lessons, it soon gets around to me complaining about Japanese food and how much better it is in the UK. We therefore had a 30 minute or so conversation on food you can get in England and what I will be eating in a month :D - I was so hungry by the end of it !

Lesson Four - After the success of Lesson 2, it seemed a good idea to do it again. And again, it worked out brilliantly - especially as one of the guys seemed to have so many complaints :) Great Fun!

Lesson Five - Last lesson of the day and another voice. This time, just one (high level) guy in there. My first question - “So what is your job?”; Answer “Web Designer” :D w00t! And there began an hour conversation on programming and the internet - it was just like talking with a friend :) We got into the idea about design and hosting combined, so possibly we might be able to sort something out (he designs and I host) - either way, I think he’s going to be an interesting person to get to know :)
Finally (and now in a really good mood) - it was time to leave and as we had some money (as i hadnt eaten the day before :eek: ) - Yumi and I had planned to go to an okonomiyaki restaurant (these places are getting popular!) - as the stupid ATM wouldn’t give me any money (on a public holiday they don’t unless it’s your own bank) - we had to go back to mine to get some cash, before onto the restaurant.

This is the same place I always go, so I won’t bother to explain it all again, however there was a slight difference… this time we were joined by Santa and a seemingly pissed off rudolf ;)
[IMG=160]

After a few hours in here (and a few drinks) it was time to go - after paying a modest 4000yen (£20) bill - we both got up and went down the stairs to the exit… well, at least, that’s how it should have happened. It seemed however that suddenly the alcohol just decided to hit Yumi, who had gone from 0 to wasted in like 3 seconds. I’m not talking Seiko drunk either, this was full on out of it :D hahahaha… It therefore wasn’t practical to walk back, so a train ride was in order. I can’t even begin to count how many bad looks I got on that train (with Yumi seemingly passed out) - I’m sure everyone was thinking - “look at the gaijin, just taking advantage of that poor girl”…. but oh well, i get that every weekend with Seiko anyway :D
I did get her home (eventually) - and it must have been the funniest journey ever - she was basically sleeping as we walked (well, she was being half carried) - but kept making random noises in a really cute voice. Sooooo sweet :) haha….

I still can’t believe how drunk she got though, I don’t think we had loads (maybe 3 drinks tops) - though still better than my effort the other night … lol…

So here we go, back to today - so whats happening. Well, in an hour or so Seiko will come back and we are going to meet some of my work friends for drinks. Then Seiko, Shiho, Toshi, Yumi and I are all going for dinner somewhere - not sure where exactly yet - though KFC is traditional christmas food…. (really!)

grrr….

Monday, June 11th, 2001

just after i get over one illness i start to get another one, its this room, its horrible and makes me feel so sick.. hmph :(
i’ve been ill all weekend (started on thursday) so had ‘g’ looking after me :) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX so i ain’t really complaining ;) :P but it did kinda stifle things as we were supposed to be group out on friday.

anyway, i got some really nice picture frames from clinton, i will try and scan em so you lot can all see em, but they are great :) woo hoo! and we played the n64 which was quite good fun aktually…..

eurgh, feel crap, need to go……. :(