Screw.Public.Healthcare

After spending several months on trying to get through to calling to the local clinic, having the doctor cancel my appointments on the previous day, going through loo-ong queues for different tests, waiting for new appointments and so on (and the whole process started in March), I didn't really get anything out of it. Ok, I know I don't have any pollen or animal allergies, but that was to be expected. Besides, that was found out over a month ago. The last weeks I've been monitoring my breathing with the PEF meter thingy. And what for? To find out whether I have ordinary asthma. I never thought I had it, only that I have exercise-induced asthma. And what did the doctor say? Sorry, the public health care has no ways of finding out whether I have exercise induced asthma - you must go to a private clinic. So I've wasted almost 4 months - 4 vital months considering cycling - for a slow and useless thing which didn't get me anywhere. Ok, so I know that I don't have some nasty conditions, but that doesn't really help me. The doctor was also kind enough to say that the queues at private clinics might be long as well. And, needless to say, a private clinic is more expensive. Oh well. That's what my parents take care of. It's not like I couldn't afford treatment and tests on the private side. Anyhow: Lesson of the day: Public health care services are not that fun. Boo.

Also. The nationals for road cycling are on right now. Should I have been allowed to use the damn medicine, I'd have done pretty well. Considering the winner's time, great weather conditions and my own skills.

Speaking of cycling, I got into this "slightly" uncomfortable situation the day before yesterday - I had gone home for the change, on my bike of course. It was sunny, so I didn't bother turning off the electricity from the computer&Internet devices of the TV/DVD/Stereos/home theater thingy set. The moment I got home, I noticed that there was a huge ominous dark rumbling cloud approaching at an alarming speed. Remembering how a pretty much nonexistent thunder storm had broken down my modem & router & pretty much everything needed for my Internet connection to work, I got pretty scared. This was a huge storm coming. So, I was left with no chances but to get back to the place where I'm currently living, and fast enough to turn off the electricity before the thunder storm would break the equipment. It's not my place, I'm just living here for this week. And these people don't have cheapo equipment. Far from it. I'd be pretty much dead if anything happened. They had even told me to close the electricity if a thunder storm came by. Go me.

Anyhow, I cycled back pretty fast, despite an asthma attack. It wasn't that bad, really. Maybe I'm just a whiner. After all, considering the 11 km trip, it rained loads only during the last 9km, it hailed (<- is that a word) for the last 4 km only and the hailstones were of an about 1-2cm diameter for only the last 3.5 km. And needless to stay, I had to stop at every single crossing with traffic lights. And with a surprisingly huge amount of traffic, there was no way I'd be able to cross the road on red lights. And there were a lot of crossings. Also, the ordinary people who hid under trees or bus stops or something must have thought I was a maniac. This is fully possible, but still. And mark my word, there was an unusually large amount of people outside, despite the sucky weather. If I had had any extra time, I'd have shown an international and rather rude finger gesture in more than one occasion. Hello, it was not funny. And dumb bald guy who was trying to be funny: I was fully aware of the damn storm. Was not funny. You'd have deserved to be hit by lightning.

Oh. And what happened? Surprisingly enough, the storm hadn't broken down anything before I came. Meaning that I'm not in a huge debt right not. Good thing. Also, it only took me 18 minutes for the trip, not counting all the times I had to stop, or taking into account the weather conditions, that is an average speed of almost 37km/h - not bad. And on a mountain bike, which is slower than a road bike when on asphalt. And the weather and traffic lights slowed me down. Not bad at all.

Trust me, it hurts like hell when you're cycling in this hailstorm with a short-sleeved top and short shorts. My arms and legs ached for several hours. The skin remained red for more than an hour, too. Not to mention that the rain had made every single piece of clothing I had on soaking wet. They must have soaked in several liters of water, considering their weight afterwards.

Oh well. Considering my experiences in hail/rain/blizzard/etc. conditions, I sure hope the weather conditions are extreme and wet on the day of the MTB nationals. I've got some experience.

I have to write my EE a lot next week. I need to email my supervisor a draft by next week's Sunday. Boo. As if I didn't have enough stuff to worry about without this deadline. I so hate mnemiopsis leidyi.

And back to cycling - I'll go play this nice game called "let's-go-cycle-up-and-down-this-stupid-yet-huge-hill-without-taking-my-asthma-medication-and-let's-see-how-long-it-takes-me-before-I-suffocate". Yay. I better go. What fun.

Oh Noes

After a certain weather phenomenon (also known as nonexistent thunderstorm - hello, it didn't even rain and I only heard the thunder once) broke down all of our Internet equipment, the connection is working again. Nice.

It's raining, and I should take the dog out. Boo. Not fun. I had to cycle to work yesterday with my mountain bike. Must have looked pretty dumb. And it's surprisingly hard to cycle with my Shimano pedals (to be used with special cycling shoes only) with ordinary shoes. And it rained, so I was pretty soaked. Or more like, my hair and legs were soaked, since my coat is supposedly water-proof.

I'm living this week alone, which means - dieting. Otherwise I'd end up snacking or something, and gaining weight. Geh. The diet food tastes like sh*t, but last time I actually got rid of some weight. Nice. And that was only for 2 days. This time I'm in it for a week. That is, if I won't stop for some unknown reason before that. Which is very likely. Boo. And a good thing is that I'm spending now about 3 hours per day running with this dog, which ought to burn some more energy.

This is the point where people like my doctor would say that I shouldn't lose any weight, since I'm underweight on her scale, but she happens to think that the Body Mass Index range for normal weight is 20-25. Hello-o, it's 18.5-24. I wouldn't be surprised if the doctors started to comfort-size the Body Mass Index scales just like clothes. Boo.

Also, I should practise cycling - a part of my must-get-into-a-certain-college-plan. My chances of getting in would be greatly increased if I win the nationals - in about 1.5 months. Yay. Not. knowing that the competition site has this nice little hill with a height difference of 200 meters isn't that nice.

I have an Extended Essay meeting on Friday - I should maybe write something about the M. leidyi. Not fun. I got this way cool scientific article from my supervisor, but it's pretty horrible to read. I've never seen that many scientific terms (or any words in general) stuffed into 6 sheets of paper. Not fun.

I'll go shopping now, just to get my mind away from the dumb little jellyfish and dieting.