Trinity

I just finished Leon Uris' Trinity a few days ago. What a story! All about the Catholics' fight for freedom from British oppression and Protestant bigotry in Ireland. At first I was loving it so much because it seemed to be "the other side" after I've read so much from the British/Industrialist/Capitalist point of view. But there's a courtroom scene (aren't they always the best?) where Conor is put on trial after a gunrunning blunder at Sixmilecross, and the British just make a complete farce of the hearing. Conor then, without the help of any counsel or resources whatsoever, uses English common law to show how English presence on Irish soil is unlawful. Awesome!

The more that I read and the more that I thought about it, the more similar I began to see not only Conor Larkin and Howard Roark, but Trinity and The Fountainhead overall. Extremely long, detailed epics, both tell the plight of a man who puts his virutes and values above anything and everything else in the world. Neither allow the world, nor a single individual in it, to compromise him or his values at any point for any thing. Both have a singular, virtuous, passionate affair. My favorite: both give incredible courtroom speeches that encompass and embody the heart of their respective novels. Both novels focus on scenarios which I was previously quite ignorant of and now greatly revere. Indeed, I now wish I would have visited Ireland during my tenure in Britain last summer, in precisely the same way I longed to have studied architecture more upon completion of The Fountainhead. I also now contemplate yet mildly fear reading another of this author's works. (Although I doubt this author has ever published anything near the calibre of Atlas Shrugged!)

Resume Here

One day shy of eight months since my last post! And am I ever worlds away from where I was then!

At the beginning of May, I woke up horribly nauseous, and had violent vomiting spells for a good six hours. And I've been nauseous ever since. I saw a doctor in SLO three times, who put me on a course of antibiotics (which did nothing), and ran a full gamut of blood tests, during the procurement of which I lost consciousness repeatedly due to my malnourishment and extreme dehydration, and eventually had to have an IV placed. Once those came back with still no answers, I returned to my hometown of Oxnard to see my regular physician. He gave me several medications. I felt slightly better once I started those, but have not gotten any better since. I have had another round of blood tests, as well as a CT scan of my abdomen, which have all come back normal. I'm now seeing a GI specialist and go in for an endoscopy on Tuesday. So hopefully then we'll be able to see what's going on!

But over these weeks of rest and attempted recovery, I've watched the second season of Showtime's The Tudors with my Mom, as well as restarted the entire series with my girlfriend and father. I'm still only a couple of episodes into the third season, but I am still utterly engrossed! I hope they continue it through the Tudor dyansty to Mary and Elizabeth, with five minutes for Edward VI and Lady Jane Grey of course.

I've also gotten into Leon Uris' Trinity yet again, and cannot put it down! It's becoming difficult to juggle the book, the Tudors, and the Dodgers everyday! But I would gladly take these days full of history, literature, and baseball, over the days of stress and anxiety I continually feel I endure up north.

There is also no doubt in my mind that the combination of the stress and anxiety, and my poor methods of dealing with them are what led directly to this illness I'm now dealing with. I cannot wait to get into our new apartment. I hope for next year to be 180 degrees apart from the past.